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It was fun for a long time but towards the end it just started to drag

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I wish I could have joined in.

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Total Members Voted: 28

[WillowLuman]

[Interesting note: the Haya people of southern Africa were likely the first humans to make steel, having made it since prehistory. They made it in small earthen furnaces, worked by 8 men, out of iron ore rocks found lying around the land. This steel wasn't the crappy brittle stuff of medieval europe (?-1500's) either; it was on par with the good stuff produced in the 1600-1800's before the bessemer process. I don't think us or any of the dwarves would know the craft, though. Professors have tried and failed to replicate it; they had to go see it done by natives themselves.]

HugoLuman tried to lie down, but it was very uncomfortable. It had been tricky to hitch the small cart to him without compromising his wounded wing, and everyone had rushed over to Weird to watch him work a kiln. He sighed. Repulsive as eating raw fish was, again it seemed very appetizing. If only he could get some without breaking the pots. He felt compelled to go try and catch some for himself, but his splint and the fact he didn't want to drop the cart in the stream stopped him. Maybe they'd come help him out when they were done over there.

It has started raining.

[wierd]

[Damn you hugo! That will ruin the greenware! The kiln is firing empty to finish its construction!"

"Shit!" Shouted weird angrily. "Get the pots covered!"

He didn't have much time. He temporarily stopped firing the kiln, delicatly pushed a lump of clay over the inlet hole to keep the heat in, then set about frantically trying to get the pots covered. Anything would do, he just had to keep the rain off.

He settled for having to build an ice structure around the rows of greenware pots, and barely finished before the rain started to come down in sheets. The ice structure he had put up kept the rain off, but would greatly complicate further drying the next day. The pots would have to be moved, and the ice broken up and tossed into the river to remove it.

The dwarves that had showed up to watch the kiln firing took refuge in the hastily conjured ice structure, as weird resumes his lonely vigil tending the kiln. More than ever, it was very important that the kiln not suddenly drop in temp from the rain. If it did, it would ruin the kiln.  Why did the gods hate him so much?

He took a little sadistic comfort that just about everyone else was getting rained on, of getting froze as well, and tried to take comfort in the radiant heat pouring off the door. He had to turn up the flames to make up for the rapid heat loss the rain hitting the bricked up front was causing. He wished he could just will the rain away, but that was something nobody could really do.

The rain lasted for over an hour, before finally dieing down. Shivering in the cold had worn him out, and it had been hard to concentrate on the magic with the bodily distractions... he was wet, and tired, and so was pretty much everyone else. The heat from the kiln front had made a small pocket of dry, and the onlookers who had come to watch the spectacle of the massive kiln running has all come out of the ice covering he had made. The rain had nearly melted through it a few times, and he had been forced to rush between the kiln and the pots, keeping the kiln hot, and the ice frozen, but now things had calmed down.

He was glad for the company, as a lone dwarf sitting in the dark would attract the horrors of the night. Rikod had been talking with some of the onlookers about wierd's dedication to his work, but really, deep down, weird just wanted to find his warm, dry bed. It would probably be weeks before anything like that could happen though.  The sooner this kiln was running on production loads, the sooner he would stop being caught in the rain, and burned in the sun.

Gods. He could kill Happyface right now.

[WillowLuman]

[Just read Wierd's ninja edit.]

The rain poured at first, but quickly subsided to a dribble. It didn't stop, though. The light rain continued on and on. The sky had been overcast when they'd come out, but they were all too panicked and/or dwarvenly to notice the weather. Perhaps they should have. Gizogin, seemingly furious, had unhitched HugoLuman from the cart, demanding that he get inside before his wings got wet.

Roead sat just inside the entrance to a tunnel atop a heavy steel box. He had sat there all day, unnoticed, but hadn't minded in the least. Finally some peace and quiet. And no one messing with the box was good, too, he supposed.

[wierd]

The night wore on slowly. The only thing that kept him awake was engaging in idle chitchat with the onlookers, who had taken to warming themselves in the cold misty night air by the glowing hot kiln.  Among them was Udib, the foundry worker he had shown the calcite "discovery" to just weeks before. God.. it felt like years. The glove made handling the magic considerably easier, and let him tap absurd amounts of power, but it wasn't completely free of mental fatigue. Keeping the spell in the front of his mind, and controlling the energy nonstop for hours had made him just as tired as if he had stayed up cramming for an exam. His eyes were crossing, and his thoughts were getting woody.

"How much long'r d'ya ken it ta take?" Asked Udib, sitting in the dry patch of dirt surrounding the front of the kiln.  The soil of the hilltop was steaming, and nobody was brazen nor stupid enough to climb up there, lest they destabilize the dome, and fall into the inferno inside. Others had given up watching and chatting, and had gone back in pairs to see to other things in the main camp.

"When the hill stops steaming." Said weird drowsily.

"It ain't never gonna stop steamin in this shit!"

"Tell me about it..." weird groaned. "But if I stop, the kiln won't cool right, and it'll be ruined. We *need* this kiln."

"'Tis a shame ain't no other fire tossin wizard folks te rest ye off."

"Don't talk about it. I haven't had any alcohol all day..." he muttered. "and I haven't eaten either."

"'Ere was fish at camp..."

"I know. I caught them." Weird groaned. "But kilns don't dig or fire themselves."

"Ye want me te get ye sommat?"

"I could kill for roast beef anf potatoes, with a huge bottle of port." Weird rasped. "But baked fish and water will do, if that's all we got. No nasty roasts though. I'd rather die than eat one of those."

"What's wrong wit' de roasts?"

"What's NOT wrong with them!? Blendered meat smoothie in a baking pan is NOT a roast." Weird complained. "A roast is a lightly seared hunk of beef rump, baked in an oven with potatoes, carrots and onions, with beef broth, celery bits, and a bay leaf."

"I dunno what half that stuff is!" Udib laughed. "You queer folks 'ave some real strange tastes. I heard ye left some baked flour boulders in the kitchen a'wile back... but I 'eard dat 'cake' ye made was decent."

Weird laughed, then wished he hadn't. He was starting to get a concentration headache.

"Those were probably the bread rolls. Don't you folks know what bread is? You gotta eat it before it dries out."

"Can't say I dah.." said Udib, shrugging. "Ye cook some really crazy shite. Dunno ifn i'd ev'r get used te yer cookin."

Weird shook his head.  He was a dmaned good cook. It wasn't his fault that dwarves ate a straight diet of meat, berries, and mushrooms.

"Speak for yourself. I can't stand those nasty turtle roasts."

Udib laughed, then said he would find somebody to walk with back to the camp to collect some fish and water for him.

Weird was grateful. He couldn't leave the kiln in this weather.

[WillowLuman]

Vemini came running back to the camp. "Someone approaches from the woods. I could not see them clearly through the rain."

Ironblood and one of the other watchdwarves (who had not cave adapted due to their duty) rushed over to look. Several figures, about 8 or 12, they could not be sure, were approaching the fort. One of them seemed to have a scorpion tail.

[wierd]

[Weird won't be doing a whole lot there. Munching on warmed over fish leftovers, and nasty water, waiting for the weather to clear, and the hill to dry so he can pass out and sleep 10 hours. If you have a plot arc brewing, you'd better fleshit out yourself hugo. ]

[WillowLuman]

[Saving plot arcs until after we get pounded by... well, I wouldn't want to spoil it. Zanzetkuken will spring it soon enough.]

Eric, tired as all hell, looked to HugoLuman. He'd been the one who talked with their neighbors most, although admittedly that consisted of visiting them twice. Unfortunately, the dragon was sound asleep, probably under orders from the doctors. He sighed and pulled his hood up. It didn't stop the drizzle from soaking through into his hair though, so he was even more exasperated on addressing Askak. "What do you want?"

"We heard a huge noise from over here a few hours ago, and felt the earth shake. We came as soon as we could to see if you people were alright." Suddenly he seemed to notice the sheer amount of dwarves present, and marvelled at how many had shown up in just the 3 weeks since the handful he first met had arrived. He also noted the large depressed areas in the earth. "What happened here?"

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Now seems like a good time.

Zanzetkuken stood over the body of the master of Fire, and looked over to see Water and Air approaching.  Air was freed with a quick slash, and Earth had been slain by Water.  Fire was difficult and had to be put down, because the mana wouldn't purify him like the rest.  Zanzetkuken turned to leave, just as the masters of Water and Air were launched out of the doors with the bodies of Fire and Earth, and the doors baracaded themselves behind them.  Zanzetkuken spun, sword raised to see shadows condensing to form what looked like himself.  What was different was that the other him was completely black, except for the eyes which glowed red.

"Ever thought of how the Phyrexis got here?" spoke the dark him.  "Of course you have, and contributed it to Phyrexian portals, but I caused it."

"Who are you?"

"I am you," said the other Zanzetkuken.  "Though, from the opposite side of the multiverse, where all realities are changed.  I absorbed the power of Clockwork Hugo, Yawgmoth, and Oliolli and dominated them all.  Now, I plan to send the ultimate form of phyrexis to create a perfect multiverse"

"Not if I can help it," said Zanzetkuken as he stuck forth at the dark him, his blade clashing with his dark self.

"What you fail to realize," said Dark Zanzetkuken.  "Is that the plan is already active."


Across the entire multiverse, all beings inflicted by the dormant phyrexis became corrupted.  At the bay 12 fort, 100 of the dwarves became Phyrexians, but none of the forumites, except for happyface, were affected due to the injection that was given to them by a camoed soldier sent by Zanzetkuken.

[Gizogin]

Gizogin cursed the rain.  He'd had to scramble to get all his patients under cover, so they wouldn't come down with hypothermia.  Now they were all huddled in the lower levels of the tower, damp and shivering.  No-one had any dry clothes to change into, though, because they were all buried in the fortress.  This was a disaster waiting to happen.

They did at least have plenty of food and fresh water, thanks to the efforts of the fishery workers and Gizo X.  X himself was currently maintaining a fire in the center of the room.  It was a bizarre sight, a fire with no wood or smoke, but that was to be expected when magic was involved.  All the dwarves with wet clothes were warming themselves around it.

[ninja'd by Zanz, but this can take place just before his disaster]

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

By the way, Askak, Hugo, Oreosome, and Corai are naturally immune.  That same thing is happening at the kobold camp, but with only half of the kobolds instead of most of the place.

Note: there is the cure to phyrexis with a few of the guns in the lab behind my former room.  But there is a minute problem...

Note2: the phyrexis here is an evolved version, that when their 'host' is slain, they go and bond to another being, or form their own.

[Eric Blank]

[‼magic‼ We will destroy it with all divinity in tow.

There is no fucking way anyone is getting into your room for a couple weeks. The dormitories are the most heavily collapsed section, and even your room is buried under tons of rubble. In the process of clearing it, we'll have to built supports for the ceiling to keep it from collapsing further. We ahve to due that for several hundred yards of tunnel, with a total of 8 miners and two potential battlemages (Wierd and Gizogin)

You could have picked a better option for dealing with this. For now, divine magic will cleanse all. And no, you don't get to argue with that this time, because the initial plan is so horrible we should just come up with something completely different ]

[wierd]

[ok, mad science time! Since the MTG wiki is painfully scarce on details concerning what exactly the phyrexis pathogen actually *is*, and just describes it as a shiny and or black oily substance, I am gonna inject a little ad-libbing in here. If you dont like this description of the pathogen's basic nature, let me know, and I'll try to ninja edit it to a more satisfactory form]

Wierd nibbled on the fish. He really didnt like fish. Despite all the crazy things he had picked up in his childhood, his family had been rather poor for a fair chunk of his childhood. Their fortunes had turned around later, after he was 7 or so, but before that there was a time when they practically lived on bass and perch caught in local rivers and lakes. Just the smell of fish made him queasy.

The drizzle had subsided to a light mist now. Perhaps in another hour, maybe when the sun would come up, he could sleep.

Rikod and Udib had remained behind to keep him company (and safe from the monsters that would surely have poured out of nowhere to eat him had he been alone), but suddenly Rikod clutched his throat, and Udib fell to the ground in writhing pain.

Wierd stopped stoking the fire, and rushed to his companions. Rikod's throat was pulsing with disgusting black veins, and he was breathing hoarsely. Udib was clutching his left arm and side. Wierd ripped the shirt off, to see the same foul affliction cloying at his whole left side.

Hastily, he tore off the glove. He didnt care how tired he was, something was really wrong. Maybe it had something to do with that portal earlier... He didnt know. Closing his eyes, he held out his now naked right hand and grasped Udib, who's affliction looked worse than Rikod's.

He could feel it; tiny contaminants were multiplying and spreading through the tissue, binding to nerves, and altering the flesh like fire through dry kindling. Wierd scowled. He focused on the infection, if you could call it that-- it wasnt made of living pathogens at all, and felt more like a complex nanomachine-- and started trying to arrest its replication, but it was multiplying faster than he could destroy it. Perhaps if he just damaged it sufficiently?

He focused on the site spreading to cover nearly Udib's whole left body, and concentrated on trying to identify the pathogen's structure.  It was a very complex structure comprised of fullerenes, covalent amine groups held together with hydrogen bonds, metal ions, silicates, and hijacked proteins from the host's own body. That must have been how it evaded being hit by the host's immune system; it coated itself in native proteins from the host, which it then used to mess with metabolic activities, and interface with cellular structures on nerve endings and muscle tissue.

[note, you can create integrated circuits almost exclusively by introducing carefully planned truncations and additions to the normally regular structure of a fullerene cage. the fullerenes I am describing above supply both the structural skeleton of the phyrexis infection form, as well as the programming and processing system. it accomplishes it's dirty work using the amide-bound protiens it has glued to its outer surface, which it controls via inernally regulated energization through it's fullerene matrix. The fullerene cages are nested, and very complex. they are powered by ion concentration in the host's blood, like a saline battery.]

Fullerenes were chemically inert. They were very hard to target with any known drug, because it was like trying to make something stick to teflon. He rifled through his mental collection of knowledge, grasping at straws. Thari's nastier magics involved the fusion of inorganic substances to living flesh, but he didnt have all the right reagents.. He didnt need a successful union; unsuccessful would be ideal. He wouldnt fuse the pathogens to the patient, he would fuse the protein shell these vile things had created around themselves to the surface of the buckyball cages inside, and render them inert instead. With the proteins that performed the dirtywork taken out, the pathogen, no matter how durable the core was, could be attacked by the immune system of the host, and eliminated.

But it was gonna take more energy than he had. Hesitantly... he put the glove back on....

[WillowLuman]

[Note: It is not actually possible to infect all of Reality. Evil Zanz might be able to get both this particular multiverse and whatever one ZTG comes from, but there are always alternate timelines where worlds didn't get infected. There are also universes and multiverses that cannot be accessed from whatever set of universes you might be in.]

Roead saw the dwarf approach his tunnel. There was something wrong; black veins bulged from every visible part of the Dwarf's skin, and his eyes pulsed red. Suddenly, it unleashed an inhuman cry and rushed at the mummy. Great, what now? Roead's eye-sockets flared orange, and he gestured at his assailant. He shouted in a voice echoed by many unseen voices, "Hear ye, ya bloody wanker! Ye are forever cursed for disturbing my rest! Now bugger off!"

The mad dwarf stubbed its toe on a piece of debris and tripped, breaking its ankle. The seething mummy marched over, holding the steel chest, and slammed it down upon the dwarf's head, flattening it.

[Gizogin]

[I'm completely exhausted right now, and I don't have enough energy to be creative, so I'm just going to say that Gizogin and Gizo X are frantically trying to help the dwarves under their care, but they've never seen anything like this before and don't know what to do.  I know nothing about phyrexis, but based on Zanz's comments, it seems like some form of corruption, maybe a "zombie plague"-type thing.  If that's the case, Gizogin's going to be in a lot of trouble.  He's trapped in a fairly-small room with around thirty dwarves and Gizo X.  X can handle himself, but Gizogin has no combat experience.

~100 dwarves are infected?  That should leave 15-25 healthy dwarves, depending on how many survived the collapse (did we ever decide on a number?).

also, ninja'd by Hugo]

[wierd]

[see my earlier infomatic post about 5 or 6 pages back.. Phyrexis is a spreading contamination that causes people to mutate into half-artificial lifeforms, called phyrexians. It originally started when a group of sufferers from a different, fully organic plague dedicated themselves to artificial perfection, after they had to embrace artificial components to survive. If you can handle the almost reckless use of the phrase "plains walker" in the text, here's a link to the wiki article. ]