Hearth

The artefact that 'makes'

Can only be safely left in the place most associated with unmaking/destruction

Extract from Chronicle - Malek

Lanzi then asked Jolt whether he would accompany us in order to operate the hearth...

Lanzi started negotiating again, which worried us all, asking what the cost might involve. Jolt said that his people wanted a claim on a land in the Prime so that they too had a homeland. Milai agreed that Orodruin's folk had a claim on Malek. I agreed, with care, that any of Orodruin's folk that were willing to live in peace with their neighbours would be welcome in Malek by the people of Sutur.

Lord Marin took Milai aside and warning her to be cautious with Jolt around, as he was not as sincere as he seemed. Meanwhile, Jolt was telling Lanzi that he wanted more than platitudes, and expected action to be taken at Sutur to free Malek. We offered direct assistance, but could not commit to a time. He seemed somewhat satisfied with this.

...

Again we travelled through the twisting roots of Yggdrasil, arriving in a small safe pocket of the plane of Limbo. The place was in chaos, with random bits of various elements represented all around us, falling meteors and all! ...

He welcomed us and beckoned for us to follow him into his halls. We approached and saw that there were stairs behind him leading underground, which we followed him down. We entered a maze of passages that he directed us through, and then he stopped by a small hole in the side of the wall. He explained that we would have to slide down a tube for the last part of the journey, and then jumped down into the hole.

We followed, sliding down a twisting chute and eventually arriving in a rich pasture; it was a fun ride! The pasture was surrounded by forests and a sea to one side, making a very pleasant area for the many gnomes there to enjoy themselves. Children were playing in the sea and on the meadow, and everyone was dressed casually as if perfectly safe.

Ichshoos took us into a large tent and assured us that we could talk safely. We discussed the hearth and how we had retrieved it, and he confirmed that it could not be destroyed, only used. He warned, though, that nothing good ever came from it. An ominous warning! On the other hand, food and drink in abundance were available so our spirits were high. We discussed using the hearth to unite the two rings held by Hintzu, and he agreed that such a thing might be possible without benefiting good or evil.

Of more concern, though, was the long term location of the hearth so that it did not fall into the wrong hands. Retrieving the hearth from the Abyss had seemed a little simple, and we wondered whether Orcus had allowed us to take it so that Inwe would be frustrated; they were not allies! Lanzi also asked about reforging Lastar's staff, but apparently this would not be possible without all the pieces, and we were still missing the pommel.

...

We talked candidly with Ichshoos about the gnomes' long term goals. They wished to return to the surface of Evrinstar without the interference of the Elves...

The next time I saw them was quite impressive; the gnomes had summoned a small volcano to heat the hearth and were working carefully on the rings, occasionally slapping each other in mild disagreements, and changing the flow of the volcano just using their minds. Eventually, though, they had bound them into a ring that sat naturally on Hintzu's finger. A scribe had also noted down the command words that appeared when on the hearth, although this was in Gnomish! Eventually a translation was produced that would allow him to use the extra powers that had been uncovered, although Ichshoos looked it over first with great interest.

...Extract ends...