The Quarter Turn

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Peter_Abelard
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Joined: Tue Jul 01, 2008 3:42 am

The Quarter Turn

Post by Peter_Abelard »

The Quarter Turn

Click

Hunched over his workbench in the House of Inspired Hands, Sambar Zulthind leaned his ear in closer. The taut bundle of metal and cloth fibres stretching the length of his bench and beyond, tightened under the pressure from the gears he had shifted, and he placed his ear as close as he dared to listen to them.

There was a delicate music made from the tension, and Sambar was the most attentive of audiences, in anticipation of the penultimate note. The gear his hand rested on was critical too. The first gear had to be carefully chosen: too small, and it would lack the necessary torque to set events in motion; too large, and it would lack the subtlety necessary to find the correct pressure necessary to conduct the orchestra of mechanical instruments connected to it.

Sambar held his breath, calmed his heart, and listened.

All around his workbench and throughout the workshop was the most intriguing collection of tools, flywheels, strands of wire, crankshafts, pieces of armour, discarded sheets of paper, bits of steel wool…a stormy chaotic sea of junk to the casual eye. But to Sambar, a man of Gond, a man devoted to curiosity, discovery, ingenuity, the workshop and its contents were a sea of possibilities and adventure.

His hand trembling with excitement on the Gearwheel, he set his course of tension one further degree.

Click

Grinning, a sigh at the wonder of it escaping his lips, Sam sat back on his bench, contented and confident that the orchestra was ready, and the moment prepared.
“I do love this moment.”

“What moment is that, dear?”

Sambar turned on his bench to greet his Maman, the High Seeker of the House of Inspired Hands Jhoadil Zulthind, his greatest mentor in all things.

“The quiet moment, Maman. The quiet moment that precedes a new beginning. A new creation.”

“I’m glad you’re excited Sambar. It is an important task you are going to. I know you will make your Maman proud. You are all prepared then?”

Sambar nodded simply, and turned to look upon the taut cord across his workbench once more.

“Vana at the Adventurer’s Guild is expecting you at Highsun, Sambar. Do not be late please. Come have a bite to eat, and then you’d better be on your way.”

Sambar stood and walked to the doorway to embrace his Maman gently, and spoke softly to her.

“There is something more I need you to do for me, High Seeker, before I go. Would you..please move the Prime Gearwheel there, one more clockwise quarter turn?”

High Seeker Jhoadil Zulthind chuckled and moved to the gear, indulging her son’s wishes as she always had, her dear Sambar. Named for the capital of her homeland, and ever her hope for the future. She turned the wheel.

Click

The workshop exploded into sensations all around her. A triumphant march played from a hundred musical instruments hidden around the room, smokepowder puffed and burst flywheel sparks and a rainbow of coloured powder throughout the room and onto the High Seeker, and the arm pieces and heads of ten different automata blew metallic kisses in her direction.

Laughing and shouting at the same time, Jhoadil called to her son.

“Sambar Zulthind!!! Who is going to clean up this…whatever this is!?!”

But Sambar, perhaps as wisely as he had ever acted, was gone.

***

Dressed in his saffron and crimson robes, wearing his favourite hat, and draped in two bandoliers filled with his tools and tidbits, Sambar stood before the door of the Adventurer’s Guild in Kerrigan’s Square, marvelling at the import of this moment. He could not guess what capital collection of personalities and materials awaited him inside, but he knew beyond a doubt that it was the hand of Gond that had brought him here, and he was near giddy with anticipation of what sea of adventures awaited him once he sailed through the front door.

Hunching over slightly, grinning, he pressed down on the door latch.

Click
Character arcs are sharp, pointy little things. A little blood may spill!

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