Mission: Ice Is Back With A Brand New Invention

[overharrowed]

WHO: Julius, Sawbones, Amos, Holden and Wysteria
WHAT: Poking an artifact for science.
WHEN: A montage over Guardian/Drakonis
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: OOC post over here, no warnings for now.

Some initial groundwork has established that the pyramid is not going to turn on spontaneously, at least to the satisfaction of those who need to sign off on it being brought into Kirkwall proper after some out-of-town evaluation. The thing now has dedicated laboratory space, the room rearranged slightly to accommodate its size. The dark artifact rises roughly five feet high. Notes from those who found the thing indicate that parts of it were glowing before it was deactivated; these are added to the notes they found with the item (mostly in Trade, with several untranslated words surrounded by question marks and guesses).

Julius briefs those of them who weren’t there on the circumstances of its discovery, deferring to Sawbones when questions about those circumstances arise. His priorities for research, roughly in order, are as follows:

1. How does this artifact work?


2. Is there any red lyrium involved?


3. Does it seem newly constructed, or is it more likely an older artifact Corypheus’s forces turned to their advantage?


4. If the latter, who built it originally?

While he’s technically part of the Diplomacy division these days, Julius started out in Research, and it isn’t hard to see why. While the question does have strategic importance, it may be evident that the matter has captured his curiosity in its own right too. He's certainly in the laboratory as much as his other duties allow.

Comments

[overharrowed]

Julius absently watches Wysteria manipulating the paper, but he says to Sawbones, "Thank you. I'll compile a list of everything we have and let you take a look. I was hoping at least some of them might be spell glyphs, but if they are, they're not any I've encountered before. If they're mainly enchantment, though, that makes more sense."

At least in relative terms. As much as anything about this artifact makes sense.

[okayimin]

"Getting a runesmith might help," she points out, even as she nods in agreement, "Something like this ought to be recorded in the Shaperate, but failing that, at least a runesmith could give us specifics on what some of this means."

[heirring]

"Miss Merow is a runesmith," Wysteria remarks absently, and then the paper is folded once more and she laughs - a bright, sudden and delighted sound. "Oh, how clever. I didn't know you could modify them this way. --Well, theoretically. I suppose we don't know if it actually worked as intended, given the state that the artifact was found in."

The folded paper is abruptly thrust between them. With a few folds and turns, Wysteria has made considerable headway with turning Julius' notes into an arts and crafts project. In the process, a series of runes have been bisected by the edge of the paper or layered over one another.

"This side here. See? The jagged sweeping little legs of the character. That's a fragment of an amplification rune." The fold is peeled back so they can look at the other half without the matte of the paper over top of it. "But I don't have any idea what the rest of it's meant to be."

[okayimin]

"Amplification..." She plucks Wysteria's oragami up to turn it around in her hands. "Maybe that's to do with why all that ice and cold coming from it was so strong. And- Hang on, do you think there's parts of the pyramid that move? Like puzzle pieces?"

She turns the piece over and over, inspecting the runes.

[heirring]

"Oh, no. --Well, maybe. I've no idea. I think it more likely that someone was trying to alter runes. Well. Not alter. Create variations might be a better way of saying it. See here," she says, pointing to a different character entirely as Sawbones turns the paper around. "I recognize pieces of this too, but they orientation is all wrong. Though I rather doubt it was whoever took the notes we found. They hardly seemed the work of a true scholar, and this almost certainly is."

Is she giving the Unknown Notetaker too little credit? Possibly.

[overharrowed]

"I don't think it's fair to call the artifact unsuccessful," of the earlier comment, "when it kept a sizable chunk of Orlais frozen for years. Either it managed to do so without regular tending, or someone was regularly tending it and thus presumably wanted the effect.

He peers, thoughtful, at Wysteria's manipulated paper. "Oh that's interesting. My knowledge of runes is sadly elementary, but if they're anything like glyphs, you could ... wait a moment." He reaches for some more paper and starts sketching something out, trying to capture an idea. "Small variations can sometimes mean outsize effects," he says, absently as he sketches. "I don't want to over-generalize, runes may be quite different, but even so."

[okayimin]

"But was that the intended effect," says Sawbones, "That may make the difference in whether the result was successful or not. What specifically is the artifact meant to do?"

It's more of a rhetorical question. "Perhaps they meant for something more focused? Like a staff?"

[heirring]

"Let us say this is in part something of dwarven make," she interjects. "Have we any contacts among the trade in Tevinter or in Orzammar who might be able to help us identify the product? Or perhaps a maker's mark of some kind or...Surely they must use dwarves in Tevinter for their enchantment work, yes? I can't imagine there are many Tranquil in the North."

She glances toward Julius for confirmation.

[overharrowed]

He frowns, but says, "I am hardly an expert, but I believe they have Tranquil in the North as well. But either way, the Imperium's trade alliance with Orzammar is no secret. It's worth looking into." He moves to retrieve his notes, and adds, "I can ask Rutyer if there are any contacts that would suit. I don't know of any offhand, but that doesn't mean they don't exist."

[okayimin]

"I've got contacts in the Carta," Sawbones says, "Nobody in the Castes, but there's a chance someone might've heard something or been on a weird run in Tevinter. Something like this wouldn't be cheap." Or on the up and up, considering. "Though I reckon putting out word that somebody found a Dwarven relic that's been tinkered with by surfacers will pull some kind of results. The Shaperate at least will want to know about it."