Tool Chest

The next chest had a set of tools. The craftsmen that made these tools were excellent.

"Look at the number of teeth in this little gear. Nobody in the Havnheim could have made these."

Checkers shook her head and her eyes opened wide. "Not only could my people not have done it, but nobody in the East could be that good. Where did they find this metal? It is so light, yet strong. It cannot be iron or copper, which are the two base metals that I know."

Fred replied, "This hardly qualifies as base, although it is far too light to be gold or silver." He picked up another object. "And here is some quicksilver in a little glass tube."

"It may be one of their oracles. Whoever carried it must have been superstitious. Look at all the little lines and the occasional mystical symbols."

Fred picked up another little object. "This is made of some glossy wood. Again it is very light. It must be another religious device. There is are some marks behind a little circle of a window, and a little arrow inside. I shake it, and it pivots around, but always points back in the same direction."

"Let me see that." Fred gave Checkers the little device. "It's a compass! You use these to find out where you are when the sky is overcast. Don't you have them in Allaria?"

Fred shook his head. Checkers replied, "Your land must not have lodestone. A crude compass is not hard to make, but it is hard to make one this good. There is a quarry of the lodestone that is needed for the needle somewhere in the Dolomite Range. I do not know exactly where - the Burgesses keep it secret. But this compass must have belonged to a rich man, or a general of an army. This much better than anything that I ever saw back at the Dolomite Range."

"Look at this." Fred picked up a cylindrical object. "This might be some kind of minature bit."

It was Checkers' turn to be confused.

"We have large machines that dig holes in the ground and cut through rocks. We use animals to move the bit around so that it can cut into the ground, or a current of water to turn a series of wheels that spin the bit around, if it is available. But this one is small. Whoever carved it must have been extremely strong and patient. It looks like it might fit into one of these devices. We have opened the chest of a master smith!"

"Well, I would like to take some of these, but we do not have anything to leave behind to placate the spirits of the place, other than one of us. Do you think that the spirits of this place would mind if we borrowed the items just to show to Astra?"

"I am not sure that she would want us to bring them back."

"Good point. Well, what do we do?"

1. Fred opened up another locker.
2. One of them would stay behind as "payment", and another would bring some of the items to Astra.
3. Both of them suddenly felt weary. The beds looked very inviting.

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