Song of the Saurials - Kate Novak [2]
"The Nameless Bard experimented with altering the artifact's nature, something only the most skilled or the most foolish magic-wielder would dare to try. Into the crystal's heart he inserted a shard of enchanted para-elemental ice. Having survived such a risky undertaking, Nameless reaped a great reward. In his hands or those of his kin, the stone acted as a rechargeable wand holding those spells Nameless had acquired. Like the blank pages of a journal, the stone could store other information as well. Nameless claimed it could recall for him an entire library of tomes. It could also recall his songs and 'sing' them, as it were, in Nameless's voice, exactly as he sang them. He added other enchantments so it could project the illusion that he was actually sitting there, singing the song."
"A little stuck on himself, wasn't he?" Breck noted with a grin.
Morala huffed in agreement.
"More than a little, good ranger," Elminster replied, smiling at Breck. The sage was pleased that the young man wasn't afraid to speak out and even more pleased that the failings of others amused rather than annoyed the ranger. "Despite all that he had accomplished," Elminster went on, "Nameless still was not satisfied.
The stone's illusion of himself needed to be commanded when to sing and told what to sing. It had no vital force to sing of its own will, or judgment to choose a song appropriate to the moment, or ability to gauge an audience's reaction and build upon their emotions. So Nameless abandoned the stone as a failure. He planned next to build a powerful simulacrum of himself. The creature was to have Nameless's own personality as well as all the knowledge Nameless had placed in the finder's stone. So that none would shun it as an abomination, Nameless researched ways to make it indistinguishable from a true human.
Finally, he intended to give it immortality."
Breck gave a low whistle of amazement. The priestess Morala shuddered, even though she was already familiar with the story. Kyre's expression remained neutral-interested, but emotionless. The tune from the prisoner's cell swelled into a bold fanfare.
Elminster continued. "Having found it useful in his alterations of the finder's stone, Nameless obtained another shard of para-elemental ice for the heart of the simulacrum." The sage paused. It was easy enough for Elminster to speak of Nameless's brilliance and daring, and even his obsession and vanity, but the sage's heart ached to recall the bard's crime.
It was better he should tell it, though, than let Morala give the account. "Yet, for all his brilliance and natural ability with magic," Elminster explained,
"Nameless was a bard, not a trained magic-user. He recognized his own limitations and tried to enlist the aid of several different wizards, but without success. There were not many people whom he had not offended with his arrogance. Among those mages he counted as friends, many thought his project silly, a waste of time and energy. Some did not believe it would even work.
Others thought the creation he proposed to be a heinous act. A few pointed out that the creation could be copied and used by malicious beings for evil purposes. They tried to convince him that he should be satisfied with the finder's stone's recreation of his music. Whatever their opinion, every mage he spoke with told him the project was too dangerous. It would prove fatal to himself or some other."
"He went ahead and did it anyway, didn't he?" Breck asked, as eager as a child to hear the outcome of Elminster's story.
The sage nodded. "Yes, he did. With the aid of his apprentices, he built the simulacrum's body in