The Crystal Sslugs of the Test

[Diamond Master]

Volatilus and his dire beasts sweep into the reinforced palace walls, which still obey dying Durin's commands. The Sslug ignores them and continues to lay his trail, but decelerating. Slowing down.

The Sslug's eyestalks, AIiCE, are also slowing down, no longer swiveling furiously. You suspect they are nearing the end of their purpose. The Sslug's programming indicates it will tend toward random destruction when this happens.

Transmitters, similar to other transmitters found by Yerkan to call the mysterious "Heralds", exist in a diode at the base of the Sslug's eyestalks. The Sslug cannot control the eyestalks, being too stupid on its own. Some of the energy for the eyestalk artifacts comes from the Sslug's own body and destruction.

So some of the Sslug's orders come from elsewhere (a locale clouded by the oracular muddying of steep trilobites, but getting nearer), and other "orders" come from their initial simple programming, which is one with their crystal bodies.


The Sslug of Temptation is imprisoned pretty effectively, but that does not mean that it is at your mercy. It swells slowly to fill more of its prison as it winds down its disconnected scrawling.

The Sslug of Frost is still at large, victorious at the removal of Durin from this fight. It redirects its attention to the palace and the surrounding area and assembled gods. Thrash's magma slows it down only a small amount.

[The Lady]

As Durin is lying on the ground, with the last small bit of his conscious mind, he happens to notice something on the ground. As he touches it, slowly, the terrible visions in his mind clear away. As the visions fade his eyes become restored of their moisture. As the hole in Durin’s sternum heals beneath the hole in his armor, he hears a whisper in his ear, “Luck was on your side today.”

As Durin regains his composure he notices the pair of dice on the ground, which his hand brushed. The two D20s are on the ground, each with a twenty showing. Upon further inspection Durin notices that the dice are made of the Eitr which makes the new more powerful than the old.

[Steepest Durin]

Thrash an' I together move th' very earth under th' dice, careful not ta disturb them until I can get them ta a safe place, where I nurse any of I's wounds that didn't heal an' construct a podium ta hold th' dice in place.

I thank ye heartily, I's Lady. Do th' highest of gods care about th' Sslugs? It seems th' Master does not but th' Lady favors those who defend Her garden.

What's th' state of th' Field Projector? AIiCE, what do we need ta do ta finalize yer virus?

I rebuild th' Field Projector, leavin' a port that AIiCE can innerface with directly an' manifestly.

[AIiCE]

If Yerkan will allow it, I'll work off of his virus design. I make a few viruses which work independently, but can be delivered together in one package. One virus will target the interface between the Sslug and its eyestalks, attempting to cause some feedback which will jam the eyestalks. Another virus will re-program the Sslug to attack its brethren. The last virus will attempt to block any new instructions coming into the Sslug, and to trace those instructions back to their origin if possible.

"One of you should deploy this. It isn't a good idea to let newcomers to a fight make tactical decisions." I make the virus available near the Field Projector.

[Great Thrash]

You're the specialist. I'll provide the brawn.

[Diamond Master]

The Sslug in the Tower emerges, squeezing through the narrow doorway of the tower. It comes near to bursting as it does so, for it is engorged on the power of the Diamond Master, bought with Favor. Pure light dribbles from every pore, leaving a vile trail of sparkling slime.

The Sslug crawls to the cracks in the adamas made by the conjunction of the Icy Wastes and the Plane of the Mountain with the Pinnacle Facet. The portals still shimmer, though it is an immensely dangerous trip through one. One crack exudes an invisible gas, observable only to the minute attention of a god - the Eitr.

Mighty Mix, the Crystal Sslug of Apathy, extends a toothed orifice over the crack at its largest point. The slime forms a seal. A terrible lurching noise resounds throughout the Garden. When the Sslug removes its orifice, Eitr no longer flows.

Mix continues its journey to every sliding plate, every great tumultuous fault line, every thrusting seismic cliff at the rupture front formed when the Facet was forced into position. At each chasm, it consumes the blossoming Eitr, which has been decreasing for some time anyway. At each chasm, it bleeds off a bit of its DM Favor .

Eitr becomes harder and harder to come by. The Facet is getting older.

[Yerkan of Elish]

Then we move now. Like a slow-growing plant, I extend the cable to connect the virus to the field projector, after flowing through it myself and ensuring that the code is obscure, secure, powerful, and contains no bugs itself. Flowing back out and into my usual form, I nod to Durin. I like this world. Let's give it a chance before we have to move on once more.

[Great Thrash]

I agree.

I call on the tectonic forces of the earth to slam down on underground pockets of Eitr, postponing their destruction. Bonus points if I catch Mix in there too.

Now I am going to ask my One Question of the Norns:

Wise ladies, what will happen to this Facet at decreased or nonexistent levels of Eitr?

[Yerkan of Elish]

I explore the cracks and crevasses behind the sslugs, and the edge of the shimmering portals. I collect the slimy seal that was left behind on the tip of the Loupe Estoc, and will show it to the Hailstone Mirror to observe its Reflection.

[Diamond Master]

The trilobite's oracular muddying will not show you who built the Sslugs, but you can see that the creator is coming slowly closer to the Garden.

• You see a conflated image of several muddy, tarnished, old elements fuse together into a shiny, untarnished stainless-steel Sslug
• You see wiring writhing about, and a big cat's teeth open in an agonized scream before it too becomes stainless steel
• You see spinning, spinning, spinning, spinning!