Loan me your eyes

Log Info

• Title: Loan me your eyes
• Emitter: Ashes
• Characters: Gadget, Ashes
• Place: A14: Artificer's Hall
• Time: Tuesday, August 25, 2020, 3:29 PM
• Summary: Ruthie continues to work on the mock-up arm, retrieving the first cast from the kiln. Gadget opines that working on the frames for both arms would be a good idea, and also that she would like to speak with the gnomes that make eyes. Ruthie agrees, as the lack of vision is becoming a bottleneck, so she leads Gadget to the eye artificers with Mr. JingleWidget pushing her along. The first, Reemerot, is doing some unsettling things with monster eyes, and Gadget decides she'd like to visit someone who works with gems. Wineth does, and has a few sample devices which she puts on Gadget, giving her brief and distorted sight. Ash arrives before they get too far into experimentation, with food, and insists on a break.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--<* A14: Artificer's Hall *>=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

The Artificer's Hall rests slightly off the ground, supported on all sides by eight strong, if nonfunctional legs. The entire Hall is carved from an ancient automation of a giant arachnid. While at one time--many eons past--it may have been functional, today it is a hollowed-out shell of its former self, with rooms made for professors' offices and class rooms. The Hall itself may be accessed by a stairway that leads up, and up...and up through one of its many legs.

Once inside, its appearance is anything but a mechanical spider's guts. With ceilings of polished stone and artifice-metal, the Hall possesses the same, ominous acoustics as any grand cathedral. Twisting, jointed arches of metal reflect its true form--as a great, massive structure hosted within an arachnid's mechanical belly. Everything is dark and metallic, with seams barely visible where pieces have been welded together. The whole building pulses every so often with a hum of energy, powered by a kind of arcane force scarcely comprehended by the outside world. Yet, the energy seems almost gobber-chaotic.

The centre of the building is a great octagon, with eight, great halls leading away from its core. Decorating its core are stained glass windows. They add to the almost holy ambiance. Instead of leading to the outside world, each shadowbox displays life-sized figures enact scenes from Alexandria's past from the Artificer's perspective. They display feats of Building, Achievement, and Experimentation. Towards the north is one depicting the Forge of the World. It depicts what is thought to be a snapshot of the tower at the center of the World Engine, the god's planar home.

The whole of the complex includes dormitories and construction rooms, where artificers compare notes, ideas, and puzzle over the grand works of history. These buildings spawn from the Central Hall in an almost arachnid fashion, connected by walkways of dark steel and overseen by golem guardians.

-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=-

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-  Appearing, in Order  =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Gadget       3'6"     38 Lb      Gnome             Female    A bundle of...possibly joy?
Ashes        5'11"    177 Lb     Hobgoblin         Female    A somber arvec in grey clothes with a skull face
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

'Bing'

An object that might once have been an egg timer goes off. It is now a far more complex timing machine, with several dials, protrusions and segments that can be twisted. It's shaped like a football, perhaps a decorative egg, but is far more busy and 'ugly'. It does however, work well.

"Kiln's cooled." Ruthie annouces, "We can see how the first shell attempt turned out." She hesitates, coughs, "Me and Mr. Jinglewidget that is."

The sound of boots and a husky, she prefers the adjective 'husky' gnome's pace heads out of the room as Ruthie goes to collect it. Ideally she would use her own kiln, but it bakes the room while it's operating and she isn't concerned with perfect temperature control on the first attempt.

Mr. Jinglewidget moves after her on all fours, looking around proactively as they move out of her workshop, since the monkey is not keen on the thought of an artifice tail after an accident.

Clang, clang clang... the sound of Ruthie's workboots fade into the background of the other artifice noises which echo around the hall and provide a background sound of industry and invention. Smells waft in, as experiments are attempted and sometimes successfully executed, from the nearby bays.

The community kiln has its own bay and an impatient next user. Greetings and salutations in the form of complaints and criticisms are exchanged, and soon Ruthie is returning with her work. She arrives at her workshop.

"Fired nicely. No glaze, obviously, wish you could see it. How would you like to examine it?"

"Mr. Jinglewidget?" Gadget's voice says, nothing else mattering. She sounds scared. Mr. Jinglewidget rushes to the side of the buggy. He makes monkey noises, at which point Gadget smiles, but begins to cry. "Oh, gods," she says. "I kept thinking what if you got too close to the kiln. What if your fur caught on fire, and you died. I felt how afraid you were. I didn't know if you were coming back, and I thought maybe the fire will spread. Maybe I'll be scarred all over and still not be greeted by Death."

"It's been... at least a week since a kiln accident, dear Gadget." Ruthie reassures, "It's practically certified safe for human use. I know your monkey fellow is important to you, I wouldn't have let him fall in. Had to wait for it to cool down, that was the timer. Opening hot will shock the pieces."

And cause explosions, and the aforementionned accidents.

Mr. Jinglewidget moves to the shop sink and washes again, then swings over on a chain and drops like a monkey into the buggy, causing Gadget to make an 'oof' sound. "Okay, buddy, okay." Gadget squirms a little. "Okay, so what am I testing?" she says.

"Well, if it's the right length and you're happy with the contours. Which would be much easier if you could see. Also, we'd pick out the glazes you'd want to use, either do a test coating of the whole arm or several sample patches." Ruthie explains, "Glazes firing differently than they paint. I've got sample plates, some like to see it on the final piece though. Depends how good their visualization skills are."

The gnome exhales, makes a tut-tut-tutting noise with her mouth. "Much easier if you could see. I suppose we could test dimensions, put it to your shoulder, see if the elbow and hand reach like you'd want them to."

"I've been thinking," Gadget says. "We should start the framework for both arms, even if the porcelain takes longer. I also think I'd like to talk to the eye guys, sometime." She shifts. "Sit me up, Mr. Jinglewidget, please," she says. The monkey lifts her like a board. "I also think all the sockets and nerve interfacing can be installed at once. That should cut down on synchronization and calibration errors," Gadget adds. She's obviously been giving this a lot of thought while she's been lying there.

"Ahead of you there Gadget. Once one of the casting moulds is finalized I can mirror it so the shells for both arms are done at the same time." Ruthie says, watching the monkey move her around. "Although you're right, the interior lattice and skeleton could be worked on concurrently. Still waiting on the Moonstone cores."

She hrms, "Well, we could go find some eye guys now, your visual approval is threatening to become a bottleneck. Also, if you could see you might be able to supervise your monkey enough he could copy what I'm doing."

"Mr. Jinglewidget is a fine builder," Gadget starts. The monkey beams. "His skill is slightly limited, however." The monkey's beaming quickly fades. "But I reiterate that he built for me this beautiful and perfect buggy." In truth, even someone unfamiliar with human infants would be able to tell that the monkey's contributions were in assembly, not fabrication. Still, Mr. Jinglewidget sat up more proudly as he held Gadget up. "I want him to stay near enough to help me, though," Gadget says. "We want to help where we can, but I can't be without him."

"He seems quite talented and you're very fortunate to have him." Ruthie agrees, watching the various expressions flow through the monkey's body language. "I'm certain he'll be able to get the buggy through the corridor. Lets go look for some eye guys."

She can be heard moving towards the hall.

Mr. Jinglewidget also jumps into action. He leaps out of the buggy, moving on two legs to the handle at the back, reaching up to grab it before turning the buggy around on the back two wheels and rushing after Ruthie. Gadget squeals, at least partly in delight.

"So, first one is Reemerot WarbleSprocket. He... ah, he likes working with organic eyes. You'll... be glad you can't see what's inside." Ruthie explains, stopping and pounding on a door, calling loudly, "Reem! Open up."

"Go'way 'm busy!"

"You're always busy. Got a client."

The workshop door rattles open, Reemerot's nasily voice is much clearer, "Client for me or client for you?"

"Reos' Augur! What happened to your head?" Ruthie exclaims.

"Tryin' a new thing."

"Hello, Mr. Warblesprocket," the bundle of blankets in the baby buggy says. From gnome-height, he'd easily be able to see Gadget's blindfolded face. "I have need of two eyes, though I'm not sure if I want organic eyes. Would they be pretty? Ooh..." she says. "Unless they're from something with eye rays." Gadget suddenly gets excited. "Do you do eye rays, Mr. Warblesprocket?!" Gadget asks, enthusiastically.

"Oh yesyesyesyes heeheee!" Mr. WarbleSprocket confirms, "I've got some great options. Eye-rays and gaze attacks! Have to keep the basilisk and medusa eyes in a special cabinet, loose too many apprentices that way. I've got a full selection of Beholder eyestalks, you can have them with or without the stalks."

He laughs some more, "I say with, allows you to peek around corners. Keeps people from talking to you. I see you've already completed step one, remove the obsolete eyes."

Ruthie makes a disapproving noise. Reemerot is almost as energetic as the monkey, moving around the bassinette to examine Gadget, then about the room. He giggles, "Other things, ooo, Eyebite, Doom. Some pretty dryad eyes if you want to charm someone."

"Beholder?" Gadget says. She shakes her head. "I mostly want to see, but if you can get something in a good laser vision or otherwise that I might use for welding, that would be amazing!"

"He's partly mad," Ruthie explains, "He makes up names for monsters he can't identify, they usually arrive here in pieces."

"Heeheeehee. Laser eyes! I'll send someone diving." Reemerot babbles again, "excellent choice. They're all preserved and enchanted, so they won't rot. You may experience perceptual and cognitive side effects as they bind to your head, but it's fine. It's FINE!"

The other gnome is rattling around inside his workshop, Ruthie leans closer to the bassinette, "I think he's used one of those school of fish potions, or combined one with something he's wearing. He has a lot of eyes floating around his head right now, all different sizes."

"Oh, I see," Gadget says. "Um...Mr. Warblesprocket...I think I'm going to look at other options. Keep trying to figure something out for me. We'll be back one way or the other, okay?"

The gnome laughs some more, "Okay. OK!" He can be heard moving to close the door. Something is distressing Mr. JingleWidget.

"Reems, you have an eye in her basket." Ruthie chastizes.

"Heehee, of course, of course, they get everywhere!"

Mr. Jinglewidget grabs and throws the eye out, swatting at other eyes that get too close. "Thank you," Gadget says, maintaining a strained smile. "Why aren't we moving, yet?" Mr. Jinglewidget rushes to the back of the cart and just starts going, without any idea where they're actually going toward.

"Sorry about that." Ruthie says, moving quickly and ahead of the carriage. "He's occasionally brilliant. Not today, each of those eyes left an empty divot, his head looked like myrrish cheese."

Her boots clank along, "Wineth Boggle is next. She's... she's all right. She works with gems primarily." A door is pounded upon, it clangs open. There's the sound of breathing from the other side, but no hello, or banter.

"Ooh," Gadget says, "gemstone eyes." She shifts her face toward the breathing. "What sort of gemstones do you do?" she asks, assuming Miss Boggle was standing there breathing at them. " "Precious... Semi-Precious..." Miss Boggle says, sounding somehow a little like a crow, "... common rocks. You want to try something?"

"Try?" Gadget says, perking up. "I don't care what it is, yes!" she says, trying and failing to sit up.

There is a crow-like hissing of laughter, the sound of someone moving around, then fingers are on Gadget's face. Old, wrinkled and dry, they contribute to both a crone and corvid impression. The blindfold is pushed up, something is placed across Gadget's empty eye-sockets.

Instantly, a headache! And Vision! Everything is very large. Wineth Boggle's face is right above Gadget's and seems twice as large as a giantborn's would be. It's possible to see every pore. See _into_ every poor. She's wearing a set of goggles over her own eyes which makes them bulge. So many wrinkles, and a few warts with hair grown out of them. Also the colour pallet is limited, it seems to centre around the mauve-blue-purple spectrum and little else, with a lot of shadows.

"Oh gods," Gadget says. Her revulsion quickly melts away as she says, "This would be so good for intricate detail work."

"Hehhehheh," Wineth chuckles, turning away. She's got a hunch to her back. Her workshop is interesting, on all walls on display are maniken heads of various races, each with goggles, glasses, or inset eyes. There are storage cabinets near the ground. The higher levels, since gnomes can install higher levels in a workshop scaled for human height, are primarily showing off the wares, but also serve as places for some hanging equipment to be tucked away. "Tiny Eyes. Tiny Eyes."

Wineth returns, "Far Eyes now."

Darkness! She's snatched the gogges away.

Headache and Light! Vision once more. It's almost the same effect. At first, everything seems very far away, as if gazing through the wrong end of a telescope. Ruthie, Wineth, are tiny. Focusing on one of them, and their image rushes forward, becoming larger. A similar effect happens when glancing around the room. Objects are far away, then appear much closer.

"Oh," Gadget says, curling her nose. "I don't like that. Take it out. I'm getting seasick."

Darkness again.

Another crow-like burst of laughter, "Spiders. Spiders!"

No headache this time, but it is very disorienting, as several points of view struggle for mental dominance. It's also very red, and black. The workshop is overlaid on itself, as if one had gone cross-eyed, but in this instance cross-eyed with a dozen or so eyes.

"See everything! See your enemies! Kill them." Wineth encourages.

"That's interesting," Gadget says. She furrows her brow. "Hello, Mr. Jinglewidget," she says. "I see the pillow, too."

In addition to the pillow, a tumble of flying skulls appears. Silent and unexpectedly, they're just there. It's hard to focus and determine what is going on. Wineth appears startled, Ruthie less so.

A monotone voice dictates, "I've brought food. I have enough time to feed you if we start now." It's Mourner Ashlee, interrupting the tour, bringing dinner.