Celeste, Elana, Oakleaf and James leaned against the stone slab of the passageway and contemplated their collective fate. Faint sounds permeated the silence, emanating from the direction where Erik had disappeared. The noise seemed mechanical in nature to James’s ears. Time passed slowly, and James found himself wondering what the company would do if Erik failed to return, but there was no need to face the possibility as a few minutes later Erik Blarneysson's shocked face reappeared in the passageway.
“Yeel never believe whot ay jest saw! They’ve gone an built themselves a friggin Blue Stone mine! Heaped and piled the refined Blue Stone raight in the center of the top of the mountain! An the Waagerssons are een terrible shape from the emanations of the Blue Stone!” Erik was speaking even faster than he normally did, his tongue stumbling over itself as he struggled to explain the scene to his comrades.
“Ay need to grab my crystal,” explained Erik as he bent over and fumbled through his pack of mining gear. Finally extracting a clear tapered crystalline stone from his pack he stepped towards James and asked him, “Master Jamersson, are yees familiar weeth thees? In my profession wee call eet a ‘Lodestone’ since eet can tell us what and what not ta deeg.”
James noted the crystal was large, almost twelve inches tall and remarkably pure and transparent. Tapered at the top. it was possible to see into the center of the crystal with ease, and even right through and out the back side of the hexagonal structure. Inside the crystal was a clear liquid or so it seemed to James when he took the stone into his hands, careful not to drop the device. A moment before he was to ask Erik what the purpose of the crystal was, James noticed a faint track appear inside the crystal, leaving behind a white murky trail that soon dissipated. “It’s a bit like a cloud chamber,” observed James. “We use them to detect radiation where I come from. But I have never seen a liquid version of the device. Is this a natural crystal, Sir Blarneysson?” asked James. While he had spoken several more white trails had formed and dissipated.
“Naye, naye master Jamersson. The manufacture of thees stones be a long held Blarneysson secret. My famlies been makin Lodestones for centuries up narth in the mountains of Norgeland. Norgeland be ware ay larned ta fight the bastards of Chaos. Thar’s a demon in avery pot in Norgeland! ‘Show em na mercy!’ That’s wot my pa always told me. Na mercy at all!”
The Dwarf left the crystal in James’s hands and turned towards Oakleaf Gilderwood. “Ay’ve marked a route for the five of us. Their caverns a biggun, and we shud bees able ta git to a safe spot with those camo robes ov yers, without those bastards seein us. Pat the rad lights in yer packs and follow my marks. James’ll pick up the markers as he passes tham. Stay low, stay quiet, an stay on the route aye marked!”
Erik led the way, as he always did, followed by Celeste, Oakleaf, Elana and James. The route led upwards with James noticing tiny fragments of red glowing crystals lining the passageway. After a hundred yards or so Erik motioned for the group to fall to their hands and knees. This accomplished the mechanical noises began to grow louder and a faint blue glow penetrated the gloom. It wasn’t long and James noticed the passageway expanding to form the entrance to a very large cavern. Also, for the first time since the very first resting place James began to notice a faint unfamiliar metallic scent in the air. Perhaps Oakleaf’s protection was wearing thin, or maybe so much of the pollutant was in the air that even Emerald magic could not provide complete purification. In either case, James was growing concerned that the ‘Blue Stone’ so feared by Dwarf Blarneysson was actually a radioactive substance of some kind. Just one more reason to fear for his life in this world.
As they climbed up the side wall of the cavern James caught the occasional glimpse of the source of the blue glow illuminating the chamber. It looked to be an enormous pile of blue white sludge, situated in a depression in the rocks. Also visible on the roof of the cavern were the largest stalactites James had ever seen. These were mostly grey white, but exhibited yellow, blue and brown staining. The longest must have been ten feet in length. Ever upwards the group climbed until surely they had achieved a vantage point higher than the inhabitants of the chamber. The machinery sounds were quite loud by now. Erik motioned for the group to join him behind a group of stalagmites shielding their presence from any gazing eyes below the party. James gathered up the last of the glowing red marker stones as he joined his friends behind the cover.
“Wot der yer think, Sir Gilderwood?” asked the Dwarf, speaking respectfully for the first time in James’s memory. Clearly, Erik Blarneysson was concerned about the situation. Mage Gilderwood peered down between the calcite pillars and made an assessment. Several such vantage points presented themselves so James also took the opportunity to view the scene below.
The blue glow from the sludge pile was sufficient to illuminate the entire scene, and James noticed for the first time that a fine mist rose from the pile. A network of metal scaffolding (which much reminded James of the bleachers at a football match), provided access to the top of the pile. In fact, one of the Chaos Dwarfs was lugging a pail full of the sludge up the scaffolding to the apex of the structure, where he dumped his load onto the top of the pile. As he delicately descended the structure James noticed the once powerful Dwarf staggered and wavered in his descent. He appeared to have lost weight, and hair for that matter. Bald patches on the Dwarfs skull were visible, even at this distance.
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Casting his gaze further into the cavern, James could see the source of the sludge. Many tunnels stretched out into the surrounding rock walls. Pick axes, hammers and hand operated drills lay about the entrances to these tunnels. And beside the blue sludge pile was constructed something out of an H.G. Wells' novel about time travel. A brass carousel, powered by a Dwarf situated on a stationary bicycle, pedalling with all of his strength. This Dwarf too appeared to be suffering from ill health yet he pushed the pedals with all of his remaining might. Motivation was provided by a Chaos Chosen warrior who stood above and away from the sand pile, cracking a 30 foot black whip above the head of the unfortunate Dwarf. Whenever he slowed, the Chosen lowered the striking point of the whip until the tail of the whip struck the wounded back of the Dwarf. This caused the Dwarf to respond by increasing the velocity of his pedalling.
The Dwarf ultimately collapsed entirely and fell from the stationary bicycle assembly, to the ground. The spinning brass carousel slowed and the brass end containers in unison, slumped towards the ground achieving an upright posture once the carousel stopped moving. The Chosen barked out commands and the scaffolding climbing Dwarf moved to drag his fallen comrade to a recovery platform. Next, rather than take his place at the pedals, the second Dwarf began a painstaking process of draining a small amount of some substance out the bottom of each brass container. He poured this material into his metal bucket. A third Dwarf appeared and followed the movements of the first Dwarf. His job was to empty the remaining material from each brass bottle into the waste stream that exited the cavern. Next, this Dwarf refilled the brass container with fresh slurry being stirred by a fourth Dwarf over a large stone pool filled with what looked like mud.
One by one, the brass bottles were drained in this manner, and refilled with mud. The fifth Dwarf appeared at this point and took his place on top of the pedaling power source. With great exertion the fifth Dwarf engaged the pedals. No gearing assisted the start up of the carousel but with enough cracks of the Chosen’s whip, the Dwarf achieved the required velocity of the assembly. Whirring around the Dwarf in a circular motion all of the bottles swung out 90 degrees to their operational positions.
“A centrifuge,” muttered James to himself. He pulled himself back from the view and directed his comments towards his confused companions. “These Dwarfs have built your world's first centrifuge. I don’t believe it. This one tops everything I’ve seen so far. Welcome to the atomic age.” All at once James realised what the plan was for this Chaos Blue Stone mine.
“Wot on Earth be a ‘sinterfuge’ Master Jamersson? Never in all me time minen have I witnessed soch a construction. Wot be the purpose of a ‘sinterfuge’?” asked a concerned Erik Blarneysson.
“They aim to concentrate the Blue Stone deposits of this mountain and create an unstoppable heat reaction that will burn the mountain top and melt the glacier that sits above our heads. The glacier will be liquified and everything in the valley below us flooded with a radioactive pyroclastic flow. Nothing will survive, no matter what Wizardry protects it.” James paused for a response, and Erik Blarneysson did not disappoint.
“Aye Sir James. Thees be exactly wot Erik Blarneysson wos affeared of”, nodding his large bearded head, and then continued, with his words directed at Oakleaf Gilderwood, “Wall thars one thing we know now fer sure Oakerleaf! Ye summoned the right guy fer the job!”
Celeste looked at Elana, and Elana looked at Celeste. Then both cast their gaze back towards James viewing him with a new found admiration.
“We must make a plan to defeat Gloamanthal,” interjected Oakleaf Gilderwood. “I am prepared to confront the Chaos Lord, but several other problems present themselves. Dear Celeste, do you believe yourself capable of confronting the Chosen?”
Celeste beamed, as if she had hoped for this moment her entire life. Her eyes glowed with power, and her demeanor was focused entirely upon the task. “Theodor is with me,” she responded simply.
“Excellent!” replied Mage Gilderwood and cast his gaze towards James. “James, is there any way to counter Gloamanthal’s efforts? What must we do to stop the processes he has set in motion? Can the heat reaction be reversed?”
James racked his mind for memories as to the physics involved with radioactive element behaviours. What elements were involved here? What minerals were suspended in the mud? What were the Dwarfs mining here? What exactly is Blue Stone anyways? There were so many variables. James turned towards Erik Blarneysson and made a request. Master Blarneysson, would I be able to see your Lodestone again, sir?
“Ov curse, Master Jamersson,” he replied, and reached into his pack to once again produce the remarkable crystal, placing it on the stone ledge between two stalactites. James took the opportunity to glance back towards the Blue Stone sludge pile and noted more steam rising than the first time he had observed the structure. When he looked into the crystal, several trails were already visible inside the liquid, and more appeared, with much greater frequency than when the Lodestone had been deployed at their previous resting location.
“The pile is producing a tremendous amount of particles, and the heat down there is increasing. It is possible that the chain reaction has begun, and cannot be stopped,” replied James uncomfortably. The Dwarfs have obviously been severely irradiated, and touching or moving the pile will be impossible at this point. In my world we would use remote controlled machinery to disperse the material. Here and now, we just don’t have any options that I can think of.” James felt tears well up in his eyes as he strained to come up with some alternative that might provide an escape from this disaster. But there was none. He was just a teenager. Not even formally enrolled yet in a college. Trapped in a crazy world without any of the technologies he was used to. As he concentrated, he could actually observe an increasing frequency in the production of the milky colored trails. Something had to be done, and quickly.