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The Lay of the Grandmasters Way
by Pyewacket
Act 5 The Lay of Nerala. Part I.
As a purely scientific undertaking, it was perhaps the most ambitious project ever devised by the Council of Ergo-Gnomic Technicians. In theory of course, it sounded not only practical but also practicable. The harnessing of geothermal energy and conduction, to convert into raw transpositional magic waveforms, in order to power multi carbon based repositioning technology seemed flawless on paper. True, there were questions raised as to whether the input of the power equations was realistic at first, since they were truly massive requirements on spec, but these minor quibbles were soon laid to rest by the multitude of reports submitted from the CEG's hastily-found experts in geothermal geography.
The fact that there had not previously been experts in geothermal geography before the reports were required, raised no concern; for no one outside the CEG team was aware of this strangely instantaneous propagation of expertise, and the CEG's went to great lengths to ensure this remained so.
The reports themselves stated that sufficient power to power the, as layman put it, "teleportals" could be found in abundant supply from the various volcanic sites around the Irillion continent. These volcanic sites could be harnessed carefully, and the geothermal activity from them would be used to convert to energy for powering teleportation anywhere on the continent, "with a possible capacitance of stored power, it is conjectured there may indeed even be sufficient power conversion to allow travel to places outside of the known continents and islands, providing a suitable point of egress is researched and implemented".
With such glowing recommendations behind them, the CEG's (colloquially known as "kegs", less from the lettering and more from the gnomes abilities to empty barrels of local inns, alas, mostly from the inside out) quickly garnered enough power and influence, as well as having substantial private fundings from various anonymous sources, to get the project from the planning stage into actual groundwork.
It quickly became apparent however, that the two sites that had been recommended for the volcanoes were in fact far too dormant to produce the power requirements. So much for instantaneous expertise. However, the CEG's were undaunted and merely extended the project timetable, whilst they sent out these now humbled and ridiculed experts out "into the field" in order to research better and more suitable locations.
Due to the nature of some of the private funding, however, it was felt necessary by the Council as a whole, to provide escorts for the volcano experts. Not for protection, more a case of persuasive encouragement, although this of course would not be admitted by the Council if anyone inquired.
The term "for their own good" can have a multitude of meanings, some of which are entirely in contrast to the term itself.
It was under these circumstances that a small group of volcanic researchers and engineers traveled to the outer regions of Irillion, searching the wild lands and more inhospitable places for better sites for the project. Such was the fear amongst them, however, that they soon realized that using the more dormant sites, a suitable yield of explosive combustible materials could be a viable method of increasing localized volcanic activity.
This would not only take the all-too-immediate pressure from them to produce results, but also save them considerable time and effort in exploring the harsher and less well known environments around the continent. A carefully calculated mixture of saltpeter, charcoal and sulfur, it was felt, would be a good catalyst for creating enough tectonic movement, if the quantities involved were sited in the most prime position, and then the alchemical mixture ignited.
The researchers reasoned that since it was the job of the CEG overseer to ensure they performed their task on time and to an adequate standard, it was therefore the overseers' "privilege" to be "allowed" to ignite the mix and be the one to blame if anything went wrong to take credit for a job well done. It is to be noted by the casual observer that the researchers made no effort to educate the overseer into the properties or indeed the nature of the alchemical mixture in any way whatsoever, beyond a simple "make sure the fuse stays lit, will ya? But don't light it until it is Time".
And so it was, that the researchers packed their campsite up and retreated to a nearby lakeside and watched the distant hills in nervous anticipation.
It is again to be noted that the words "nearby" and "distant" are both somewhat vague descriptions applied to distance, and it is in fact this very vagueness that proved an almost fatal flaw in their plans, coinciding in direct proportion to their new-found understanding of just how ignorant they truly were about matters of expertise in regards to volcanoes, and in specific relations to the area of knowledge surrounding the phenomena of eruptions.
A peculiarity to all bipedal species however, is the ability to generally proclaim those whom survive such dire straits; as being experts. There is probably a good reason for this. Unfortunately, there are definitely several bad ones. And since none of them bear any relation to the rest of this tale they are all omitted.
What is also worthy of note is the fact that, not only were the researchers not as expert in volcanic matters as they should have been, they were also not experts in more mundane matters relating to natural geography. Such areas of neglect included facts about water drainage.
Whilst this also seems at first glance to bear no relation to the story, it is necessary to point out the words "distant" and "nearby" once again. These now bring into sharp contrast the fact that the water from the lake drained off from the hillsides under which the now not so dormant volcano lay. And if water flows in a specific geographical direction, it is not unreasonable for even those who lack expertise, to conclude that lava too will also flow in the same direction, if it begins from the same point of origin. And whilst any volcanic expert will tell you that lava moves at a slow but unstoppable pace, an expert on gnome physiology will tell you that gnomes have bloody short legs.
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