milliways_bar | (no subject)

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(no subject)

[OOM: A discussion is had.
No decision is reached.]

Felix is sighing as he comes into the bar. Then he begins noticing things - the general worry, the unusual cold, the glimpses of red out the window, the lack of people around the Bar itself - and his face hardens. There's something wrong here, and even if this isn't his world he's going to find out what and how to fix it.

It's about then that a slightly confused waitrat shows up and offers him a tray containing four crystal spheres, about the size of softballs. One yellow, one blue, one purple, and one red.

Felix stiffens in shock. Are those...? He gingerly takes the tray. "Could you get me some kind of mithril glove or something?" he asks the rat. As it scurries off, he carefully makes his way over to a table and sets the tray down. Then he falls into a chair, now both frustrated and bewildered.

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Enzo is pacing the room, taking notes on anything that seems out of the ordinary (for Milliways). He's hung about (mostly on his belt) with assorted gear such as a practice sword, a personal forcefield generator, and a guitar.

One thing that's maybe strangest of all: he's started smelling things. Usually, around here, it's all matter, and things with enough energy for him to smell are the exception rather than the rule. Now... well, he's getting whiffs here and there.

And there's something that's far more than a whiff. Enough of an odour to follow to its source. Dirt... something burning... a powerful smell of the sea... and something he can't even identify. By the time he reaches Felix's table the smells are almost overwhelming, and they are definitely coming from the shinies on the tray.

Felix keeps shooting said shinies worried glances. As if he's expecting them to jump up or explode or something.

This, of course, means that he's not paying particular attention to people in the vicinity. He does notice them - which is to say, him - eventually, though.

"Oh, hello, Enzo," he says, distractedly.

Enzo barely acknowledges the greeting. "What the /dev/null are those?" he breathes.

They look like the kind of quest-driving items in Games that force you to trek all over the world to the point where you end up needing some kind of airship. Fancy that.

"The Elemental Stars," answers Felix with a sigh. "They used to hold nearly all of my world's magic, until my friends and I released it back into the world."

Quest-driving items? Trekking all over the world? What ever could you mean?

"That they are here, and with all their power from the feel of it, is... worrying."

"No kidding. There's so much energy coming off them I can hardly breathe."

Felix grimaces. "Sorry. Mythril seems to block most of that, but it's not a very common material."

"It's not?"

It's pretty darn common in Games.

"What is mythril, anyway?"

"Well, not on my world. It's a rare type of metal that the dwarves are particularly fond of. I know a few people who can work it into armor and weapons, although I think they prefer to use a silver alloy. And it can shield these Stars so that they're less noticeable and safer to hold."

"What do they do when the magic's in them?"

"Nothing on their own, as far as I know. But they're uncomfortable to hold for very long, and it's easy to use their power."

He's heard of things like that.

"How? Can people use them by accident?"

"I don't think so, not if they know there's something there to use. But... My sister is talented with fire spells, and only fire. But with this," he taps the blue one, "she could make miles of ocean freeze solid, or move water around to threaten cities or irrigate farms or scour islands. And she would know, just by touching it, that it could let her do all those things."

He shrugs. "I don't know what someone who couldn't do magic on their own would know or be able to do. A scholar I know, who had studied them, seemed to think that anyone who got one would be able to conquer the world with it."

"...we need containment for those."

Felix nods. "They used to be in a special chamber under a volcano, and then in four mythril bags, but I don't know how to make either of those."

And, it goes without saying, he doesn't particularly want much to do with volcanoes.

The way things are going, they might end up with a nice convenient volcano whether they like it or not.

"I could set up a containment field?"

"What would that involve?"

Enzo explains. More or less. 'Redirection node' is in there somewhere, and 'energy cycling'.

Essentially, devices are placed at the vertices of an icosahedron, and the energy from the Stars is sort of made to keep going in circles within the field.

A lot of that goes over Felix's head, but he gets the gist of it.

"Will you need anything from me?"

"Just to hold my Door open while I run home for a nano. I'm not taking any chances."

"I can do that." Though he's going to keep an eye on the Stars while he does.

Well, good.

"Thanks. I won't be long. Oh, and don't lean through after me or put your hand through or anything, it'd be a really bad idea."

He crosses to the door and exits, letting Felix keep the door open. On the other side, he summons a vidwindow.

"Dad?"

"...little to the left."

The vidwindow opened to find Welman in a lab, directing something that was more in the background. You could hear the sound of a crane involved. The null sort of did a double-take at the window in question.

"Ah, hello son. Everything alright?"

"Yeah, well, more or less. Ish. I mean, the place hasn't collapsed yet. But there're some powerful... artifacts, I guess, turning up, and I need to put up a containment field. I oughta be ready to do more than one, really. Think you could hook me up?"

"Hold on. I'll get right on it."

He steps out of the picture and his voice is heard talking over sounds of work in progress. It went like something something Containment Field Arrays something delivery, and then he was at the window again.

"How many of these artifacts are there? Is there anything else there that needs to be contained?"

"There's four of the ones I'm looking at, but they're small. Hang on."

Back through the door, he calls, "Can they all be contained together?"