The Gnome's Strange Device

"Yes," Fred acknowledged. "We are. How could you tell? We don't feel any different, though, so does it really matter?"

The appalled look on the gnome's face left them in no doubt that he thought that it did matter, indeed that it mattered a great deal. From out of his clothing he pulled a strange device. Someone from the modern day would have said that it looked rather like a crude firearm, as it had a trigger and a barrel. However the barrel was not cylindrical but was shaped like a cone, with the wider end - at the far end from the trigger - being some two inches across. The barrel was about five inches in length.

Apart from primitive siege engines, used by armies to fire cannonballs at castle walls (when the barrel didn't explode instead), Fred and Astra had never seen a firearm. Therefore they did not recognise the gnome's device as such, and they were not unduly alarmed when the gnome pointed it at them.

The gnome pulled the trigger, and Fred and Astra were bathed in an expanding beam of glowing green light. Was this some sort of magical weapon?

1. They immediately fell unconscious. When they revived, they found that the gnome had imprisoned them.
2. They found that the beam had a strange effect on them.
3. The green light had no obvious effect. "What did you do that for?" Astra asked. "We have no intention of harming you."

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