‘We haveanother clue to this puzzle. This creature’s a male Newman probablya wizard, who’s been polymorphed, and they’ve done something nastyto his mind. We need to dispel the magic effects from him.’
Chantalot saidthat he could sometimes dispel magic enchants but tried three timeswithout success.
‘By the Powers!He’s got some very powerful magic on him. My skill at dispellingthis magic is not adequate we will need the skill of eitherFeatherdown or Granwell and that’s not easy as both of them havebeen called away.’ said Chantalot.
‘Is thereanyone in Twin Towers with a rod of greater dispel magic.’ askedAquitain.
‘Yes I thinkboth mages have one but I don’t have ready access to either,’replied Chantalot. ‘We’ll have to wait. Is there anything else wecan do?’
‘We could findout about who made this ring, that might be helpful. But I wouldneed access to a magic item artificer in one of the other towns whomight know about local item marques.’
Chantalot stoodthere thinking for a minute and then said.
‘Aquitain,Featherdown seems to think very highly of you and your family andso do I. Can I trust you to keep a secret?’
Aquitain was alittle uncertain what he was going to tell him, so he said
‘I don’t likecarrying around secrets, it makes me vulnerable, but as a mindwizard I can erase any knowledge that I don’t wish to remember. SoI guess you can tell me and then if you change your mind I canerase it.’
‘There is aworkshop nearby, but not exactly in town.’ he said. ‘I’ll take youthere, but I’m not sure the owner will cooperate. Artisans seem tobe very touchy about anyone using their equipment. Don’t shapechange to that spider thing while you are there as you’ll probablycause a riot.’
Aquitain wasnot sure what he was talking about. So he simply followed Chantalotto the teleport circle in Granwell’s tower to see where they weregoing.
Chapter 9 Shopping atGnome World
‘You won’t be able toget to where we’re going without a ward stone and there are only acouple of people that have access to them. I am one of them.’stated Chantalot proudly.
He rested hishand on Aquitain’s shoulder and uttered a word and they wereteleported to a circle at the end of a cobblestone-paved street ofstone brick shops, all underground in a giant cave. There weregnomes everywhere; ancient ones wearing sombre earth colouredclothes, hobbling along with the aid of sticks made out of highlypolished gnarled tree roots; younger adults with brightly colouredclothes and of course mischievous little children running aroundchasing each other and laughing happily. They all wore variouscoloured conical shaped gnome hats. He had no idea how far they hadtravelled but now they were in the middle of a gnomish town.
Aquitain fittedright in from a size point of view although he felt a littleself-conscious not having a pointy green gnome hat, but Chantalotwas a giant, being more than three times their size. Some of themrecognized him and politely wished him a pleasant day as theywalked down the road. He stopped outside a shop that had a largeglass window in the front to display its goods. Aquitain could seea sprinkling of various items. He used his detect magic ability andthey all glowed in various shades of the magic colour that depictedmagic items.
Aquitain wascurious as to how Chantalot was going to fit into the shop, as hewas considerably taller than the top of the doorway. He solved theproblem by producing a ring that allowed him to reduce his size byhalf. He was now similar in size to Aquitain. Before entering theshop he said
‘This fellow isnamed Rumple. He’s a wonderful artisan and the leader of thecommunity but very difficult to deal with. Let me introduce you andwe’ll see if he will help.’
They enteredthe shop. It was made of neatly cut stone blocks, joined togetheron a thin bed of mortar. The inside walls were covered in smoothwhite plaster that had seen better days. There were glass-frontedcupboards against the wall and two glass-topped wooden showcasesstanding in the middle of the shop floor. A doorway led out to asmaller area, which was the workshop and a staircase led upstairsto where they lived when not in the shop. Aquitain could see twoworkbenches, with small sized anvils, an oven, and a large varietyof tools. It made him feel a little homesick.
Chantalotintroduced Aquitain and told the old artisan that he was also anartisan far from home and would like to have the use of someequipment. Rumple was not happy about that. No artisan lent hisequipment to outsiders.
‘How do I knowyou’re an artisan? You might break something. What do you make?’asked the gnome.
‘I learned mytrade making magical items. I am a crystal tuner. I specialized inembedding magic into gems and crystals.’ replied Aquitain.
The gnome wentover to his workbench and returned with two rings. ‘Tell me aboutthese.’
Aquitain usedhis detect magic ability to examine the two rings. Both were ofgold and each was set with a single gem. One was loaded withillusion magic and the other not. He concentrated carefully andused his ability to visualize the internal structure of the gemsusing his crystal sight. He noticed that the gemstone in thenon-magic ring had a structural plane slightly out of alignment,which was caused by a thin layer of an iron impurity.
He told thegnome what he had found. The gnome grabbed a magnifying glasspulled the gem out of the ring and examined it carefully.
‘Damn fine eyesyou got there, but it doesn’t mean you’re an artisan.’
He grabbed holdof Aquitain’s hands to look at them.
‘I thought so.You’ve never done an honest day’s work in your life.’
Aquitainthought for a moment, then reached inside his shirt and pulled outa small leather bag held by a thong around his neck. He opened thebag tipped out some gems, selected one, returned the others and putthe bag back. He passed the gem to the gnome and said
‘That
