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Message: <blockquote data-quote="simmo" data-source="post: 1437734" data-attributes="member: 9744">We Interrupt This Adventure to bring you the following scholarly excerpt by the noted sage Littleby Cakebeard[Note: this chapter was written by Crater, who plays Littleby Cakebeard]Chapter 3 - Stonecunning One day, the legendary engineer Ripshack Stonecunning was measuring the cogs of Mechanus when he espied his friend of old, Obvio, a daring young Halfling planewalker of no small experience. The old Dwarf hi-ho’d his alemate and after they had greeted each other they began to exchange tales of all the wonderful things they had seen and learned on their travels: “I have walked The Great Wheel,” declared the Halfling, “and I have seen the gloomy streets of the City of Signs, whose shape reminded me of my grandmothers homemade cruzzlesvits. This is proof indeed that the ring is the most natural form of all towards which all things are inclined.” “I trust you have also witnessed the cyclic nature of time, how things sooner or later arrive back at the point at which they started?” inquired the old Dwarf. “Why that I have!” enthused the Halfling, “I set off on my journey seven years ago, I have fought many battles, eluded certain death, I have ridden Nic’Epona over the river Oceanus, tumbled in Arborean hay with maidens of savage virtue, leapt between cubes as the armies of Archeron waged bloody, mindless war all around me, picked goodberries from the branches of the World Ash, tumbled in Arborean hay with maidens of savage virtue...” “...you said that bit already,” interrupted the Dwarf, chuckling. “It sounds as if your journey has been fraught with many dangers and triumphs, why I’ll wager my beard that your life, and those of many others, hung in the balance so frequently you almost grew bored of Death’s company.” “Well yes, I have cheated fate on more than one occasion...” explained Obvio, “but the point is; here we are once again nattering away as we did years back, gazing at the marvel of the grinding wheels of Mechanus, as once we did. Even my ring of invisibility is... well... ring-shaped. That, for me, concludes the matter. THINGS FORM RINGS!” Stonecunning pondered for a moment, then turned to his Monodrone assistants who had been pacing out some invisible geometry. “Modrons! Form a circle!” he ordered. Promptly the little creatures came bobbing along and huddled into a more or less circular formation. “There you see,” gesticulated the old Dwarf, “I think you’ll find that things actually form squares!” Obvio scratched his neck, looking suspiciously out of the corner of his eye at the engineer. “You appear to have swallowed a sextant you old bearded boffin." he remarked after a pause, "May I suggest you have perhaps left your lenses in Limbo? It’s a ring. It is a ring that they have formed.” The Dwarf squinted at the Modrons who were patiently waiting further instructions. “Erm...” his voice petered out as he began to walk around the perimeter of the ring inspecting them, pausing occasionally to tap his chin and look a particular Monodrone up and down. At length Stonecunning completed his circumnavigation and came to stand once again next to his friend, still with his quizzical gaze fixed on the circle. “They have formed a ring.” repeated the Halfling carefully. “Indeed.” said the Dwarf, “But at what point did they do so?” “Well, when you told them to.” replied Obvio. The Monodrones were trying not to appear awkward. “Quite so.” affirmed the Dwarf, “There was a pivotal moment in which their actions were determined.” He continued: “I could have said.... nothing, for example, and they would have carried on doing what they had been doing. But as it came to pass, I decided to issue them with an instruction, and now they are somewhere other than where they would have been. There are many such pivotal moments, or ‘decisions’, from the Dwarven word ‘decik’grakk’, meaning keystone. They are points at which things change direction, or ‘corners’, from the Dwarven word ‘corn’ngrakk’, which also means keystone. Things, therefore, form squares.” The Halfling thought for a while. “Maybe there actually are no corners because our destinies decide our actions for us!” challenged Obvio. “And you a Halfling, shame on you!” mocked the Dwarf, “Destiny, like Luck, is just another loaded dice. A and B should result in C but Hey Ho, Grumbar has a bad beard day one day and we end up with D. Destiny decrees by it’s very presence that there shall be corners.” “Ah! But then there are so many corners that the whole appears circular!” emitted Obvio triumphantly. “Perhaps...” began the Dwarf “...to one who does not possess the knack of stonecunning.” “Why not Dodecahedrons? They have corners, and they’re almost round too.” chanced Obvio. “Boccob’s Razor.” replied the Dwarf. “Triangles then?” “Issues of balance.” “Ah, well, fine!” the Halfling shrugged, “Keep your squares, and I’ll keep my circles.” And with that he departed. As the rotating cogs bore him away, he could be faintly heard over the noise, shouting something to do with Arborea. Finally Stonecunning turned his attention back to his work, and soon discovered the Rule of Fours.</blockquote>

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