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Darl sidesteps carefully around the trash, attempting to get a look behind the large pile of junk before he finds himself too close to it ... wanting to see just who and what he was to help with, but not so hesitantly to appear that he isn't willing to help. Perhaps this individual's being too preoccupied to notice the 8 foot being walking through thier door would allow him to break through the otherwise impenatrable stigma that being one of his kind brought with it.

- J

As Darl rounds the corner of the heap, he spies a skinny man with thick, multi-lense glasses (the kind where he can flip down various lenses to magnify what he's looking at). His hair is a wild, unkempt black. His beard has the look of failure to bother shaving for a number of days rather than one intentionally grown.

"Whoa, you're a big one, aren't you!" The man says in surprise as he looks up at the face peaking around the edge of the stack. "No matter, you'll do nicely. Come quick, I need a hand. I need this piece of pipe right...here.." he indicates with a free hand as the other holds the pile above from falling over on him. "Hold this up for me while I pull it out, will you?" The upper portion of the pile wobbles precariously as the man shifts over to allow Darl room to move into position.

Moving into position, Darl holds the pile in place and helps position the pipe.

"I must say, this is quite the assembly!" he states, just a bit curious as to what this apparent lunatic ... or genius ... was attempting to construct.

"This?" He says as he grabs the end of the pipe and tugs with a grunt. Darl feels the pile threaten to topple again, but his superior strength allows him to re-steady it before something catastrophic can happen. "This is just a pile of parts. What I'm really working on is over here." His voice fades a little as he walks away from Darl, leaving him supporting the pile...preventing it from falling over. "This is my penultimate achievement...or at least it will be if I can ever get it working." The man disappears behind a large object sitting on a workbench. Pipes, tubes and wires flow in, out and around.

"Facinating ..." Darl responds, with at least a hint of truth in the statement. One thing he had found about these humans on Wormwood, they were occasionally good for a surprise or two ... the conditions of life on this planet did force them to go to great lengths to keep on going; which occasionally could lead to a magnificent discovery.

Of course, much more commonly, the conditions of life on this planet could break the mind, and leave the individual nothing more than a raving lunatic. So the trick was ... which did he have here?

"What is it?" he asks, playing to the man's pride in his invention. "What's it do?"

"This, my rather tall friend, is a Global Magic Positioning System." The man says with a flourish. "When I'm done, and I'm close, I'll scatter these little balls around the globe and they'll all talk to each other and me...well, not me directly, but me here on a master receiver. Once it's calibrated I'll be able to see where there's magic anywhere in the world, and since armies are full of magic users I'll be able to tell where armies are on the move. This will be invaluable to our forces. We'll know where the Horde armies are at all times...at least the larger chunks of them." The man seems very enthusiastic about his work. A typical fanatic, in fact.

If it weren't for Darl's superior strength, his arms would be getting fatigued standing there keeping the pile of junk from falling over. As it is, it's just a minor annoyance at the moment. The techno-wizard seems to have forgotten that he left Darl hanging, so to speak. Darl sub-consciously shifts his weight and the pile threatens to topple over again. The pile of junk is so precariously stacked that it seems to be almost alive and that it would rather be short sprawl of a stack rather than the tall skinny one that Darl is supporting.

"Intriguing ..." Darl muses. "But it would take ages to scatter those balls all over Wormwood ... I'm guessing that task would take years without the help of a friend or two. Someone who frequently braves the wastes, travelling outside of the city walls. Someone ... tall, perhaps," he adds with a smile.

"Such a useful device ... though it would be dangerous if it were to fall into the wrong hands - as it could perhaps be used to track the movements of the Cathedral's forces as well. Unless ..."

Darl pauses slightly, as if pondering something ... though really just to ensure his words have had a second to sink in. While continuing to hold up the stack of garbage, he purposely dislodges a loose item; allowing it to fall to the floor.

"... but what if the device was tuned such that only you could use it? If the forces of darkness were not able to operate the device, then there would be no risk!" he adds, ignoring the noise made by the fallen item.

"Ah yes," the man responds "All well and goodly advice and I shall indeed consider those very things when the time comes. Those are concerns for the future, however. I must get the prototype working first." He says indicating the contraption on the counter.

He looks at the item dropped by Darl in a state of almost confusion for a moment before seeming to realize that he left Darl standing there supporting a small hill. With wide eyes he mumbles "Oh dear" before grabbing what appears to be a broken chair leg and squeezes past Darl. "Pardon me." he says apologetically before proceeding to jam the table leg in where the pipe used to be. Amazingly the pile of junk stabilizes somewhat and Darl is able to release his hold on it without the thing coming crashing down. It is now back to leaning happily against the wall; likely just waiting quietly for some unsuspecting being to walk by so that it can come down at the most opportune time.

"Now then, as grateful as I am for your assistance, I'm sure you didn't come here to listen to the ravings of a mad scientist." The man smiles at his own wit and awaits Darl's response.

"True enough," Darl acknowledges. "I'm after two things, to be honest. First, I'm looking for help identifying the functionality and use this TW staff ... I've pumped in a significant amount of power, so I believe it to be highly charged ... but I haven't been able to sort out just how it works." Gambling, and hoping to play on a perception that the individual likes his gadgets, Darl attempts to link his second request directly to the first. "And ... as I got a bit carried away in my experimenting with it ... I'm looking for some help in quickly regaining some of the energies I've wasted on the staff; and was wondering if you may perhaps have a PPE battery or other such device which I could make use of in exchange for any services I might be able to provide you."

"May I?" The man says holding out his hands to take the staff. He looks it over thoroughly from top to bottom, paying special attention to the lines of metal imbedded in the wood. Talking to himself as he inspects it, he mumbles "Ironwood...approximately six pounds...copper inlays...probably one or more ruby stones in the core...no maker marks...sloppy work at the terminus...perhaps a prototype or experiment..." He attempts to twist the top near the end of the wires first one way and then another but nothing happens.

His examination complete the man turns his attention back to Darl "You said you charged it up and then attempted to discharge it and nothing? Typically a staff weapon has safety protocols built into it to avoid accidental discharge of the magic within. Either a manual or maigical switch of some sort to turn it on or a certain amount of force that it must be swung with to activate. Prevents one from accidentally do oneself harm. Not seeing a switch of any sort on this particular one, I'm going to assume it's the latter. Likely a pressure sensitive switch that the action of swinging it causes the release of magic. These external metal lines here," he indicates pointing at the staff "Indicate that this is likely an electrical discharge weapon. Before we go testing it, however, is there anything else you know about the staff or its prior owners? It might help me determine who made it."