My Arm?

The Hoversmith is floating down the road by the Temple of Angoron, hovering off the ground.

As Razen comes out of the temple of Angoron he pauses, staring at the strange contraption that is sitting just a little outside of it. It is clear he has never seen the likes of it before, and determining quickly that it is likely magically made he starts to head away from it. "What in the name of Angoron..."

"AH! IT IS BEING THE ARMS MERCHANT! I --" blares from the cube, then stops. A moment later the cube itself stops, lowers to the ground, and a three-foot tall artifice-covered humanoid steps out. "It is for other markets for your limbs you are looking?"

It takes several moments - and thus steps away from the cube - for Razen to realize that it's him being addressed. He stops in his tracks and gawks a little bit at the person striding toward him. "What?" He asks, clearly not understanding.

Alik sighs. "Is it --" he begins, then waves the thought away. Behind him, the no-longer-floating cube opens up to reveal a small market stall. "Your arm," he says, pointing at Razen's arm. "Are... you... still... looking... to... sacrifice... it." He speaks slowly, enunciating each word, in the manner of someone communicating to a non-native, or perhaps an idiot.

Razen waits patiently for the Alik to speak more clearly this time, but the words still don't make much sense to him. Not really. He considers trying a different track, but he finally turns toward the other. "Why?" He's clearly almost amused with his next suggestion. "You know any other arm-eating demons that need putting to rest?"

GAME: Alik rolls knowledge/religion: (13)+5: 18

Alik considers the question thoughtfully before shaking his head. "No. And for meat arm, am not knowing of market. But artifice replacement still can offer! Much improvement. See!" He demonstrates his right leg, which you can see is not simply armored in artifice like the rest of him, but entirely composed of it.

Razen mouths the words 'meat arm' to himself and shudders a little bit with unease. "I don't need a replacement, I still have my arm." He glances toward the artifice limb being showed him and frowns at it. It clearly makes him a little uneasy, and there's more than one reason why. "That's... magic right?"

Alik shakes his head, then pauses, then gives a yes-and-no hand gesture. "Is artifice. Draws from the Sea of Magic, it does. Magecraft, is not."

"How can it be magic and not magic?" Razen draws no closer to Alik, but seems very curious about the subject now. "And what is the Sea of Magic? Is that a place around here somewhere?" Alik frowns. "Magic, a source is being, like... like the storm clouds, a source is. From it, power can be drawn. But also, magic, a _way_ to draw power is being. A style. The god-magic, one style is being. The mage-magic, another. The dragon-magic, another. Yes? Well. Artifice, from the same source is drawing, but a different style is being. A better style," he adds confidently.

"Ah!" Razen states brightly, finally getting it. He seems to gather himself a little and takes a step toward Alik. "My name's Razen Diharth by the way. And you are?"

"Alik n'Noz puVern Sparkthrower, of Happy Valley and the Morduzumite Inquisition," the little gnome introduces himself, "though of the latter than the former more am being, tonight," he adds disgruntledly. "Pff. Spouses. And you," he asks, "from where?"

Razen blinks and offers to shake the gnome's had briefly. "The Bonesworn clan in the Northern Tundra." He scrubs the other hand over the top of his curly hair and shrugs. He seems to be a little uncomfortable with the line of questioning, nearly as uncomfortable as he had been with the Artifice limbs until learning that they are 'different magic'.

Alik shrugs, clearly not knowing where Razen is talking about. "So, then. What is your..." he pauses, uncertain. "Ach. The Tradespeak word I am never knowing. Your time, your energy," he asks conversationally, "on what is it spent?"

The lack of interest on Alik's part relaxes Razen and he considers the question for a moment then grins. "Recently that demon was taking up most of my energy. I am not really shure what I will do with it sleeping again. Alexandria is a... odd place." Razen glances around the streets as if by their very existence they prove his point.

Alik gives a bark of laughter. "Ha! Yes." He looks around, shaking his head. "Was a demon being, that old man? Strange. Lost and hungry, mostly seemed. A demon-hunter, then you are being?"

"Do not let his appearance fool you, he was a demon all right." Razen shudders with memory and barely manages to keep from itching his fingers toward the heavy mace at his hip. "If I am a demon hunter, then it is by chance more than choice. It seems likely though that this is indeed a challenge that I am meant to face!" This idea seems to bolster him a little, and he looks at the gnome. "You should stay away from that creature if it was lying and does not go back to its rest. It is undying."

Alik seems interested. "Undying? Hm. Unending power source, then, is being?" The whole stay-away-from-it-it's-evil thing doesn't quite seem to be registering with the gnome. Then again, that's perhaps unsurprising, as both gnomes and artificers are rumored to be quite mad. "Its nature, what is it? Demonic, yes, but... of what sort? What is its patron?"

Razen thinks hard for a long moment. "Thumb? Thing? Thull? I think I heard someone say that it was a creature of Thull, but I have no idea if that is true." He looks at the gnome with interest. "Do demons have patrons?"

Alik shrugs one shoulder. "Thul, it is being. Ah. Then no. Is wrong tool," he asserts with finality. "And why would they not? Require minions, the gods of evil must... is it not evil minions that demons are being?"

"They are evil, but in stories they are always... their own thing." Razen makes a small motion with his hand which isn't helpful and tries to think of a way to explain. "I have never heard much of the evil gods, though if one was to have demon servants it would be them. But having met a demon... If that is a servant then I can not imagine how terrible must be the one it serves."

Alik nods. "Well. Yes. Gods, greater than we imagine, else not gods they are being. But... not fundamental, is. Merely power. And power... well. Power, power is being. Yes?"

Razen lets out a low laugh. "I have /no/ idea what you just said!" He grins a little, but doesn't seem that concerned with his lack of understanding. "But I think Gods must be more than just... power."

Alik hms. "Oh? What, then?"

Razen thinks about this again. "Like..." He's clearly having trouble thinking of the right thing to say but finally he nods. "Like this." He punches the air. "I have the power to make a punch, but I am more than that strength."

Alik nods. "Yes, more than a punch you are being. But, more than you are with a GREAT punch, are the gods being? What, then?"

"I think so?" Razen laughs again and shrugs. "I think you would have to ask a cleric because I hardly know how the gods work at all." He motions toward the temple he just came out of.

Alik waves a tiny hand dismissively. "Pfah. Clerics." He shakes his head. "If to know a god's nature we are wishing, ask a god we should!"

"If only they answered our questions so directly!" Razen leans over and clasps a hand on the gnome's shoulder with measured strength. "If you come up with a way let me know! I have questions aplenty for Angoron."

Alik thinks about it, apparently seriously, for a long moment. Then he hops into his vehicle and arranges it so it is facing the Temple of Angoron. "It is the simplest answers that we are first testing, yes?" he says, before speaking into the loudspeaker. "ANGORON!" his amplified voice blares. "IS IT MORE THAN MORTAL WITH POWER YOU ARE BEING?"

No divine response is forthcoming, but several angry-looking worshippers come out of the Temple.

Razen can't help but laugh. The loud noise makes him lift his hands toward his ears with surprise, and he chuckles again at the gnome's initiative. "EITHER HE IS BUSY RIGHT NOW, OR YOU NEED TO /SPEAK UP/." Razen yells the words back at Alik, nearly as loud as the loudspeaker but not quite as blaring.

Alik hrms. "It is a louder amplifier I must maybe be building." But as the worshippers continue to approach, he turns the cart back on. "And I think it is elsewhere I must be being!" he says before driving off.

-End-