Little Things: Great Swords of Fire!

by: Niami DenMother

Despite numerous distractions, Niami finally managed to finish unpacking from her near-disastrous house move. Sadly, between the breakage from the move and the larger home, the place still looked a bit desolate, at least in her eyes.

"I'll jus' run oe'er tae th' market an' pick up a few things tae spruce th' place up a bit, methinks!" And with that, she was off, scampering through town as fast as halfling feet could scamper.

She returned home, several hours later, footsore and in a foul temper, carrying the entirety of her purchases ... one lone little lab flask to replace one broken during the move. Mind you, there had been quite a bit available from the furniture shops and from the brokered items in the market, but it was all the same-old same-old and she desperately wanted something new and different for once.

The next morning, armed with a list of names from the broker furniture listings, she started tracking down independent carpenters to see if any were willing to produce some innovative designs. The results were underwhelming.

Over dessert at lunch, she explained the situation to a couple old crafting friends, knowing that if they didn't have some suggestions, they would at least be able to provide some sympathy.

"... an' if they had th' skill tae experiment, they didn't want tae deviate from th' tried an' true. Or they were adept at following sketches an' such, but could nae jus' improvise tae save their lives," she concluded with a tired sigh.

Kiana, a noted woodworker, looked up from a piece of cheesecake she had been devouring (bardic metabolisms being what they were, she was already pondering seconds). "Well, why don't we? Get them sketches, that is."

"That's actually not a bad idea. I'm sure we could find a couple carpenters willing to experiment if we provided them with sketches." Adeste, a noted interior decorator, chimed in, nibbling on a chocolate-covered fayberry. (Since she was watching her monkly figure, she'd been savoring that one small bit of decadence for quite a while.)

"Hmmmm," Mum pondered, in between bites of cheesecake, chocolate-dipped fruit and some fudge. (Halfling metabolisms being what they were, nobody was surprised by the gusto with which she devoured anything and everything.) How about ..."

"... a field trip ..." offered Kiana, already reaching for her lute.

"... to Stormhold!" Adeste exclaimed, before popping the rest of the berry in her mouth.

"But why ...?" Niami paused, her bemused frown turning into a huge grin. "Aye! Lots o' dusty old furniture in there that would be wonderful if shined up an' gi'en a newer look!" Snagging another piece of fudge 'for the road', she grinned at the other two ladies. "Shall we?"

Fueled by Kiana's travel song (and chocolate) they picked up some sketching materials and some odd tinkered gadget for Kiana, and were off.

Making arrangements to meet back in town in time for dinner at Mum's house, the three women split up once they reached Stormhold, each with a different room in mind.

Niami, after scaring some zombies out of what was left of their wits (served them right for trying to mess with her!), filled several pages with sketches before teleporting back to her home to "Get dinner ready."

Adeste was next to arrive, barely visible under the stack of items she lugged back with her. "This is just the first batch. I've hired a burly ogre to carry the rest over later."

Shaking her head and giggling about muscular monks, Mum went back to her dinner preparations until Kiana arrived, carrying only an odd contraption.

"It's a tinkered imagographer! I just point it at the item and press this little button here, and it takes an image. Here, let me set it to display mode and show you what I found!" Deftly pressing a few buttons, and fiddling with a couple knobs, she aimed the device at empty air.

After peering at the projected puddle of darkness a moment, Adeste and Niami both turned to look at Kiana. "Um ..."

"Drat, I forgot to change the wisp again! Hang on, I'll be right back!" Leaving the imagographer behind, she zipped out the door in a flurry of musical notes and a streak of ... plaid?

"Bards!" Adeste and Mum exclaimed, in near-unison, then turned to the task of dusting off Adeste's finds.

It seemed as if mere moments had passed before, with another flurry of notes, Kiana reappeared on Mum's doorstep, arms laden with bits of this and that.

After a dinner spent marveling over what monkly muscle and bardic zing had unearthed, Niami dragged out her sketchbook.

Page after page was laid out, each with a recurring theme of food, and more food.

After laughingly being teased about halflings and their appetites, Mum exclaimed, "Well, I was hungry! But that's nae th' point! See, here, in this one, th' candlestick? An' in this one, the candelabra shedding gentle light on the meal, an' the pillar in th' background? An' here, th' tapestry behind th' dining chair?" Quickly, she defended each sketch, other than the last one.

Still laughing, Kiana said "Well, this one is just a tabletop covered in food, and you can't see enough of the table to ..."

"Och. Um, well, ye see, I was daydreaming aboot th' possibility o' some tableware. Ye know, plates an' cups an' silverware an' such. Only, when I got done wi' it all, I just couldn't bear th' thought o' empty dishes, an' just had tae fill them all!" As Adeste giggled at her, she continued, defensively. "Well, it had been a whole three hours since lunch at that time, an' I was hungry!"

Kiana and Adeste just looked at each other and exclaimed, "Halflings!" before all three women broke down into fits of giggling again.

Editorial note: Sometimes it really is all in the little things! GU36 adds a dozen new furniture recipes to carpenter and craftsman books. For details regarding this and other tradeskill-related items in GU36, check out Mum's "(Not So) Little Things" guide to GU36.