8 New Runes

[Shyal_malkes]

well, now we know why Kestrel was so excited
<a href=http://npc.keenspace.com/d/20050420.htm ... 20.html</a>
, she is part of creating 8 new runes!

that (i imagine) is like making 8 new laws of mathematics we've never heard of before!

...all in one night...

...drunk...

...with two assistants, neither of which are experts in artimancy...

...and actually making an object that as far as it's field testing goes...

<a href=http://npc.keenspace.com/d/20030330.htm ... 30.html</a>
<a href=http://npc.keenspace.com/d/20030406.htm ... 06.html</a>

...blows the cmpetition away! (or cuts them in half, whichever you prefer)

not a bad thing to have on your resume!

[Squirrelly61104]

NOW HEAR THIS: THERE IS NO SECRET MYSTERIOUS PAST CONNECTED TO THE SWORD IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, FASHION OR FORM. ITS HISTORY BEGAN IN A BULK ORDER OF SUBSTANDARD GENERIC EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS AND ENDED IN A "FOR SALE" BIN IN A SECONDHAND STORE. ANY ATTEMPTS TO FIND INDICATORS OF AN "ANCIENT MYSTIC LEGACY" IN THE ABOVE ARE BASELESS, AND SHALL BE HENCEFORTH MOCKED WITH MAXIMUM CRUELTY AND POSSIBLY GREETED WITH BLUDGEONING WITH A LIVE TROUT.

So, stop beating around the bush. What exactly are you really trying to tell us?
Made in Atlantis?

[Sharuuk]

So, stop beating around the bush. What exactly are you really trying to tell us? Made in Atlantis?

Didn't you supply the trout you're about get whomped with???

Shaaruuk

[SolidusRaccoon]

So, stop beating around the bush. What exactly are you really trying to tell us?
Made in Atlantis?

Been there not really that impressive.

[Wayfarer]

So, stop beating around the bush. What exactly are you really trying to tell us? Made in Atlantis?

Didn't you supply the trout you're about get whomped with???

Shaaruuk

*brings a cartload of trout* Ok Got them ready.

Nope; that was Solidus.

[SolidusRaccoon]

*looks up from a cart full of trout bones and burps*
"Was I supposed to save these for something else?"

[CasVeg]

*looks up from a cart full of trout bones and burps*
"Was I supposed to save these for something else?"

Um. . .no, I don't think so. I'm surprised you even left the bones.

[Madmoonie]

Eeeww.

[CasVeg]

Fundamentally, there are only <i>two</i> (not three) gates: NOT and AND. "A OR B" is equivalent to "NOT(NOT A AND NOT B)". And, if you want to get <i>really</i> technical, NAND logic is based entirely on the NAND gate:

NOT A = A NAND A
A AND B = NOT(A NAND B)
A OR B = NOT A NAND NOT B
Etc.

[RHJunior]

NOW HEAR THIS: THERE IS NO SECRET MYSTERIOUS PAST CONNECTED TO THE SWORD IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, FASHION OR FORM. ITS HISTORY BEGAN IN A BULK ORDER OF SUBSTANDARD GENERIC EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTS AND ENDED IN A "FOR SALE" BIN IN A SECONDHAND STORE. ANY ATTEMPTS TO FIND INDICATORS OF AN "ANCIENT MYSTIC LEGACY" IN THE ABOVE ARE BASELESS, AND SHALL BE HENCEFORTH MOCKED WITH MAXIMUM CRUELTY AND POSSIBLY GREETED WITH BLUDGEONING WITH A LIVE TROUT.

So, stop beating around the bush. What exactly are you really trying to tell us?
Made in Atlantis?

***Pegs you with a rainbow trout from across the room.***

[SolidusRaccoon]

*looks up from a cart full of trout bones and burps*
"Was I supposed to save these for something else?"

Um. . .no, I don't think so. I'm surprised you even left the bones.

I will use those for a soup stock.

[Zorro]

So all you need NOW is C+++ For Magic Users!

[Skip Sanders]

Just possibly, the sword still may be more capable than the artifactors and wizards have realized, even yet.

If, and I have no idea, so it's speculation only, a 'weaker' rune (as in overwritten, semi-erased, etc, as most of what's been put on the sword is) is 'smaller', due to lower power, well, then all the runes ever put on the sword might still be there, just too small to 'see'.

However, the dragon line 'nodes' also become smaller with each iteration, so, eventually, even the weakest, least detectable runes might 'fit' a node just fine.

If the sword pattern can channel power down the line to a 'weak' rune, empowering it temporarily to full power again, the sword could indeed do just about anything.

[Bigdude]

What we have here is three drunk kits who instead of doing programming, did amateurgramming.

[Dragoncry]

I forget the name of the game... large board COVERED with little pegs. You drop a ball at the top and it bounces its way to the bottom, knocking off of peg after peg till it hits ground. But, do to the random nature of things (chaos theory *cough*) It never really follows the same path. Think of all the nodes there as 'pegs', and the lux flowing in as the ball. Bounces from node to node, getting directed onwards randomly until it comes out the other end at some point as magic.

The thing is, something tells me it is not COMPLETELY random. It appears tied to our dear little quester, and following at least unspoken commands. It did fly to him when he needed it, it did use the right type of ability to chop some gators into fish bait. When in testing it popped out with the date and time he didn't GIVE it any direction.. so it came out randomly. But, next when he did direct it the expirence was shockingly powerful.

Ironicly, if you are looking at a people that do linear coding, the idea to make a web structure of random nodes DOES sound like a drunk computer tech at his or her desk. Random creation of new runes is a little far fetched, but accidenly setting up a structer that needs those new nodes and creates them on it's own works. (Example, you need to get from A to B with your code, and in creating the code you accidently make a way to get to C, D, E, etc with ease.

As a little side note, and as a fellow writer, I am impressed with one aspect of the story so far. Just when the sword is found to be so powerful, RHJunior pulls it OUT of the direct storyline, and forces it in another direction. Rather then let himself be boxed in by an overly powerful weapon, and letting Quenton become dependent on that power he makes the poor boy grow and expand in other directions. The sword now, instead of becoming his -life- and a possible handicap as he depends on it, is now once again a tool, and nothing more. The hero is Quenton, and not the sword. Well done.

[SolidusRaccoon]

"plinko" is the name of the game.

[Sharuuk]

"plinko" is the name of the game.

I think that's "PACHINKO" but that may not be the correct spelling.

Shaaruuk

[SolidusRaccoon]

Err Bob Barker calls in Plinko.

[Wayfarer]

I would like to add...
WOOHOO!!!
Because even after asking what the new runes meant - and especially after looking up the link to the page about digital logic gates - I was thinking exactly what Quentyn said:

Okay, I give up. What does all that mean?

Yay for explanations that non-computer people can pretend to understand!

[Jfries289]

Err Bob Barker calls in Plinko.

Bob Barker is a dirty theif!
err...well, heh, sorta.
Pachinko is actually a Japanese gambling game. There are some terribly intersting japanese commercials highlighting Nicholas Cage's addiction to it...japanese people are...strange...