Oy!

((Original thread is located here.))

In the City under the Mountain, Ironforge, there exists a great library and museum, the likes of which are difficult if not impossible to come by elsewhere in the living world. Behind the rows of exotic fossils and elaborate displays, and beyond the walls of books, past the studies, through the galley, down some stairs, around a corner, down the hall and third door on your right and you�ll find a small circular door with the name "Runegear" etched into a copper plate hung on the door.

Behind this circular door is what could only loosely be described as a room. Piles of bits of metal hide many of the walls and a shoddy bed and small work bench are the only bits of recognizable furniture in the chamber. Occasionally an actuator would actuate or an emitter emit or a whizzer would begin to whiz and on the whole the entire thing gave the impression of a great buzz of activity.

And in the middle of it all, hunched over the aforementioned workbench was a dwarf, clearly in the latter years, peering closely at a widget. "Oy! Ah think it be busted� Ah can't see da' hmm�  Is ta small�  Ah, me eyes!" After closely examining the small gadget, the dwarf set it down and called over his shoulder "Archimedes! Oy!  Archimedes!  Whot?"

From amidst the rolling hills of whatchamacallems, a miniature figure bounded forth on metal limbs of equal length. Reaching the summit of the mountain it stood up straight, looking at Pellinor with bright glowing green eyes, and made a high-pitched chirping noise. "Ahh! Archimedes. There ya be.  Could ya find me spectacles?"

The machination gave a warble, spun around and bounded back into the hills. The dwarf got up off his stool and began wandering the meandering paths between the mounds muttering under his breath and looking about. A few minutes passed and just as he happened to poke a head over the wheel of a steam tank there was a bang and the small chamber was filled with smoke. The engineer fell down on his bottom, his face and beard now coated with soot. "Oy! Ow! Archimedes!�  He hopped up on his feet and waddled about frantically, looking for the small mechanical creature he shared his chamber with.  "Archimedes?!"  He limped around a pile half-blown over and found one of his barrels of powder, or rather, the splintered remnants of it.  Next to the blast mark was a mangled bit of metal, clutching the twisted spectacles.  "Oy! yuir all banged up!" Bending over he picked up the wreck and winced as a limb, no longer really identifiable as an arm or leg, fell off and clattered on the floor.  He put the spectacles on his face, obvious to the fact that one lens was now over his forehead and carried the decimated Archimedes back to his workbench.

"Ahh, yuir frame's all bent and this actuator's shot, whot?" He continued the diagnostic, carefully removing the bits around the core of the little robot and until a gleaming gem in the center was revealed. It was no larger than his pinky knuckle but he examined it very carefully and nearly jumped for joy when he saw it was unmarked. "Yuir posetronic matrix be jess fine. Now, where'd Ah leave that spanner�  Ah'll get ye fixed back up Archimedes, jess gimme a moment!"

A few hours later Pellinor leaned back from his workbench triumphant. Before him, a small mechanical squirrel sat up, looked at him with green eyes and emitted a low warble. "Yeah, Ah know. Ain't as nice as the ol' one, but is all Ah could find a schematic fer.  We'll get ya a better body when we can.  Ya ok?" The squirrel bounded a few times, then moved all its limbs and gave a series of quick chirps. Pellinor grinned at it. "Tha's great! Ya had me worried thar."