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1 (3.6%)

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

6 (21.4%)

I wish I could have joined in.

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Total Members Voted: 28

[wierd]

[Personally, if the mechanism to operate the door is intact, i'd just hotwire the thing.]

[WillowLuman]

[Personally, if the mechanism to operate the door is intact, i'd just hotwire the thing.]

[Well, first we'd have to find it. And we'd have to bring more tools and people who could hotwire it. And I don't think mister Great Sparrow had a clue about hotwiring. But unlike him, yeah, I think we'll find a way to open the door.]

[Ball's in your court Gizogin.]

[Gizogin]

[Oof, bad timing.  I'll be indisposed for the next three hours or so.  I'm sure Lana can get through the door, though she might not want to teleport somewhere without a clear line of sight.  She has some other abilities beyond that, which I'll go into as they come up, but I can't type a lot right now.]

[WillowLuman]

[Very well. Don't worry, I've got an idea. I just need to know if we should go back and get the others first, or open it ourselves now.]

[Gizogin]

[I'm all for opening it now.]

[wierd]

[I feel bad about leaving Udib buggered up. I'm gonna deal with that with some handwavium.]

"How am I s'posed te larn how te use dis thin', ifn we ain't ne'er gonna use wood init?" Complained Rikod.

The fact that no wood was to spare from making relief structures, and scaffolding to hold the hallways up during the fortress's re-excavation was problematic. He really wanted Rikod to get a feel for the kiln while he was still enamored with it. If he was held back too long, the shiny would wear off, and he'd never fall in love with it.

Instead of getting the wood and firing gang he had hoped for while at the fort earlier, he had sent Rikod off to get the ceramacists together and had followed X back to the medical pitch. Udib was there in bed, sick as ever. It had weighd heavily on him that he was that wasy BECAUSE of him, and with only a few moments furtive looking around to ensure some semblance of privacy, he had finished what he had started last night befor Nir's unwanted "intrusion".

Confident that Udib would be back to melting metal in no time, he had relieved X of his borrowed glove from the pair. X had been a bit displeased, not having had the proper time or equipment to examine the artifact the way it deserved, but agreed to let him have it back again after assurances that it was just for tonight.

Now, wearing both gloves, and crouched in front of the fireing hole of the now fully loaded kiln,he was trying to explain to his co-worker how to do a salt fire, but meeting resistance.

"You heard Eric.." weird groaned. "There isn't enough free wood to both prop up the fortress while they dig it out, *and* fire the ware the correct way... we could get some scrub wood to chuck in as a token gesture, but we really gotta get this show goin'."

Rikod shook his head. He didn't like relying on magic so much. Weird had told him that the kiln was designed to use wood to fire, so naturally, he wanted to see it fired the way it was meant to be. It was such an amazing construction, it just seemed wrong to fire it this way.

"I know how you feel, but he also said that if we can get him a load of bricks, it'l free up some of the wood demand, and we can fire it properly."

"Aye.. its jest...."

"Yeah. I know." Groaned weird. "But at least you don't have to get the magic headache by pretending to be a blast furnace. Just pull up a rock here next to mine, mold some more bricks, and blab at me while I light this bitch up. When its ready for the salt, we'll do it together, alright?"

Rikod nodded, gathered his tools, sat down on a nearby rock the two had moved in to serve as makeshift seating, and started press-molding a second batch of clay bricks. The day had been pretty hot and dry, despite the rain the night before, and by laying the bricks that were now inside the kiln out in the hot river sand after molding, they had dried sufficiently to be loaded in a very short period of time. This batch didn't need to dry immediately, so he was taking his time, even making the occasional mug and clay craft just to keep it interesting.

As for weird, he had already consigned himself to yet another boring night at the kiln. He just hoped Gizogin came back with that tank before he passed out. He'd sleep in the mud outside like hugo had over getting cuddled again... bleght. The memory would stain his mind for weeks.

At least the fire was hotter, with less effort with both gloves on. He just wondered how long he could deal with it before passing out again.

[WillowLuman]

[Maybe we should leave and come back, so Wierd can crash in the tank.]
Lana leaned her head over the edge of the concrete floor, looking down 50 feet below. "HEY!" She called. "YOU GUYS FIND ANYTHING?"

"WE GOT A HUUUGE DOOR AND A DEAD GUY!" called HugoLuman. Suddenly, Lana was beside him. He twitched a little, startled by the teleport. "Forgot you could do that."

Gizogin climbed down all the ramps and scrambled over the rubble. The journey took him about 2 minutes, and when he at last hopped over the last chunk and jogged over, Lana laughed. He took a moment to catch his breath. "Well, we found something about that door. Apparently, someone came here in the past and spent a long time trying to open it. Obviously, they didn't." He looked at the skeleton. "Looks like some people have come and gone some time more recently in the past than this place's abandonment. They left behind some scratchings on the wall, and some refurbishments. There's a carving of a gun by the original builders on one of the walls, too."

"Wait, what?" said Oliolli and HugoLuman in unison. HugoLuman cocked his head.

"Yep. It's pretty detailed, too, and has little words with lines drawn to parts. Looks like a diagram of some sort. Can't read any of the words, though, they're in a dead language."

"Hmmm," said Oliolli. "This just keeps getting more and more interesting. Now I'm really wondering what's behind this door."

"That sounds familiar," chided Lana.

"Huh?"

"Oh, right, the journal," continued Gizogin. "The person who tried to get in there was a Necromancer called The Great Sparrow, and he left a journal in a chest up there. It seemed a bit insane, but it had some pretty interesting clues. Apparently," he said, stepping over and knocking on the inner wall, "This is adamantine rebar. But that's not all. This person apparently found a clue to opening the door; the word 'Kognassussun.' Well, at least something that sounds or is spelled similar to that. He wasn't quite sure. Don't see how that might be much help, though."

"Well, Oliolli and I were just talking about how exactly this door might be opened. We think it might be voice activated."

"Really now?"

Oliolli nodded. "There are now obvious mechanisms for opening it, nothing like a lever or a wheel or switch, and I don't see any panels that might have something advanced like a keypad or a retinal scanner. So maybe it's voice activated."

"Or it could just have some kind of very advanced, very well concealed mechanism. Or perhaps it's magical."

"I don't think so," said HugoLuman. "I think I'd feel it if there was magic strong enough to move this. Well, I guess it could be concealed magic, but I still doubt it. Hey Lana, do you think you can teleport to the other side?"

She frowned. "I dunno. I can't see in there, and I don't want to teleport to the inside of a wall."

[Mrhappyface]

Mrhappyface groaned and he slowly returned to consciousness. Apparently, becoming an immortal and higher being didn't mean he lost his pain receptors.
"I just wanted to say hi." he wheezed. "The other dimension is really boring."
The others just scowled or shook their heads.

[Gizogin]

[Well, I'm free again.  That ended up being almost exactly three hours, which is a bit odd, since I was just estimating.  Anyway, the plan is to head back to the fortress and come back again the next day?]

Gizogin looked up at the light streaming through the narrow windows.  There seemed to be quite a bit less of it than earlier.  "Hey, anyone have the time?" he asked.  The others looked up from the door, and noticed what he was seeing. 

"Sunset's on the way," Hugo noted.

"We should probably head back," Lana suggested.  "We can tackle this door in the morning."

"Oh yeah, wierd wants the tank to sleep in tonight," Gizogin remembered.  "I did make a promise.  We'd better get going before it gets too late."

Hugo, Oliolli, Gizogin, and Lana left the tower and piled into the tank.  Gizogin drove, with Lana riding shotgun.  Oliolli sat in the back, with Hugo on the roof.  As soon as everyone was settled, Gizogin started the reactor and set off for the fortress.

[wierd]

The moon rode high in the night sky.

Hours earlier, the kiln had reached white-hot inside and was ready for the salt.  He had walked Rikod through the steps needed to gently spray highly saline water up into the kiln through the stoke hole. It had dawned on weird that the only mist sprayer they had was the one built into his hazard suit. Tomorrow, he'd remedy that situaton, if at all possible. Despite the irritating setback though, several pounds of dry salt got re-mixed with river water, and gently introduced through the firebox, dissociating in the intense heat of the kiln, and fluxing the outer surfaces of every piece of exposed ware inside. He wondered if the saggers they had build around the bricks weould be sufficient to keep the glaze off.

He and Rikod had talked about just about everything, including the off-color question the dwarf had tried to ask about earlier that day concerning human females and body hair. The implications of the question left him a little disturbed, but what was worse was Rikod's proposition of introducing him to his sister, who was a cheese maker and soap maker. The combined prospects left him feeling very uncomfortable indeed, which Rikod thought was rip-roaring funny.

Now though, both dwarves sat in the glimmering orange light of flickering flames from the kiln, waiting for the exhaust hole on the top of the kiln to show that the upper kiln had reached full maturity, and that the fire and salt injections could cease.

Using the second glove had let him be less careful with the mental gymnastics needed to keep the fire lit, but he still had the dulled wit and slowed thought of pushing his head too far that he had felt the night before, now coupled with slight nausea. He doubted he could do this again another night. Concentrating on one thing for so many hours was horrible. Eric had better share the logs tomorrow. Slowly but surely, the chokeing air coming out the top of the kiln took on a lovely orange glow of excited sodium ions and hot glass as the kiln reached full maturity. Looking in through the stoke-hole, the sample clay cone he had erected inside had slightly bent over at its thinnest extremity. The kilning was done.

Weird fell back on the ground and let his eyes cross. It was a clear summer night, and the stars were out. This was the first time he had ever gotten around to looking at the alien constellations of this world, and in the pre-industrial night sky, devoid of outside light pollution sources, the sky was alive with a new and majestic splash of milky luminaries and bright flickering stars. It was actually quite lovely, even if none of the constellatons he knew were there.

"Ye allright?" Asked Rikod, leaning over from his perch on his rock to look at him.

"Blerrrrgh..." weird mumbled.. his brains felt like tapioca that had cooked on the stove too long. "....yeah.... just tired..."

"Kiln's a glowin out de top, like ye wanted... Ye wan' me te help ye back?"

"Yeah.... just... shove some clay into the stoke hole to kill the draw....and we'll go."

The dwarf stood, scooped up a wad of stiff, somewhat dry clay left over from the brick pressing process, stuck it on the end of a wooden stick, pluged the firebox hole with it then helped weird up.

"Ye gonna make it?" He asked politely.

"Yeah... "

"Ye wanna go to de dorm, or ye got someplace else?"

Weird shuddered and groaned. "No dorm... take me to Gizogin's tank...gonna sleep in the back."

"Ye can do 'at?" Asked Rikod with an incredulous tilt of the head.

"Yeah... its got room for 4 in the back or so..."

".......ye mind sharin?" Asked the dwarf after a pregnant pause. Weird looked at him blankly, trying to contemplate the prospect.

"Don't have a place?" He asked finally.

"Nae. No-one does realleh. Dis late, ain't no room 'cept on top o' sommat."

The realization that the 'uncomfortably close quarters' weren't just his problem made him smile. The thought of eric getting "sandwiched" was a delicous thing, if sadistic and crude.

"Allright, but you stay on your side, and the clothes stay on." He said at last. Rikod just started laughing raucously, and slapped him on the back as they wandered back to what remained of civilization. He didn't really care too much; he was too tired to think about it really.

Arriving at the nearly empty tank, X was hibernating in the driver's seat, and one of the G-bodies was similarly offline in the gunnery chair. Gizogin had apparently informed them that they would be having a 'guest', so they had entered sleep mode more courteously. The 2 remaining g-bodies were running the night watch of the hospital pitch. They must have hibernated earlier. Without a proper recharge, they were having to ration their duty cycles to conserve power. They might all shut down before the fortress was re-dug. Weird popped the rear hatch, and helped Rikod in, before entering himself, and closing it behind him.

The metal was cold, but he didn't care... moments later, he was fast asleep.

[Gizogin]

[I'm trying to think what it'd take to get through that door.  If Gizo X came along, and they loaded the back of the tank with the Gizogins' tools, they could probably figure out how to open it.  Assuming, that is, that it's mechanically operated.  Would wierd be interested in coming along?  He'd be able to help if it's magically sealed.  The only issue is going to be getting everything and everyone there, but I suppose two trips could be made.

The alternative is to try to break through the wall.  According to that journal, it appears to be fortified with adamantine.  Having contributed to the "Adamantine science and physics quirks" thread, I think it would be possible to tunnel through.  If the values given by the current raws are taken at face value, adamantine is strong but brittle.  A sharp enough impact could shatter it, if it's thin enough.  I'm assuming the rest of the tower is steel and concrete, which would be annoying to get through (as evidenced by The Great Sparrow's failure).

In-story, Gizogin is discussing this sort of thing with Lana in her tent.  They're going over their plans for tomorrow before they go to sleep.]

[Mrhappyface]

Mrhappyface scanned the area. Well, at least the others were asleep. Being tied up in this fashion was uncomfortable, and too kinky for his tastes. Concentrating, he tried to imagine himself as a terrifying, rampaging demon, trying to reform his body with his mind. A few seconds later, and...nothing.
Well shoots. Then he saw it. On the slumbering form of Wierd. A mug. Mrhappyface started to inch forward, using his thighs.

[wierd]

[He's inside the tank, with the access port closed. To get inside, you'd have to open the hatch. Without hands, that could be difficult.....]

[Gizogin: with the kiln full of ware it has a higher thermal mass. It will take substantially longer to slow-cool than when it was fired empty. Probably a whole day. That means weird can go, as long as it isn't an all day affair. He still needs to get another sprayer made, or else he will need to switch clothes with Rikod so rikod has the salt sprayer.]

[Gizogin]

[The service droids could throw something together.  If you tell X or Gizogin what you need, they'll get them on it.

Hmm, wierd's good with explosives, right?  We happen to have a stubborn door that we want to open...  I can just imagine how that conversation would go.]

[wierd]

[If the door is iron or steel, and flat on the ground, thermite's a dwarf's best friend.  The question though, is where to get all the ingredients........ ]

[Thermite actually causes steel to combust. It will burn a hole clean through the door.]