#item #stoneroad #arcane #rare A short, thick rod of pale composite material matching the Stoneroad bricks - about eight inches long, with polished copper fittings at both ends. The body of the rod is a clean silver-white. The copper caps are embossed with survey runes, weathered but legible to anyone trained in ancient construction practices. **Value:** 5,000 gp - Available at [[The Shady Gnome]] in [[Hedgehaven]] ## Description The [[stoneroad builders|Stoneroad builders]] used Dowels as calibration tools during construction. Pressed into a socket in a partially-laid section of road, a charged Dowel would draw ambient magical energy through the Veil and hold it in suspension, powering the road's functions until each section was complete and self-sustaining. Once the section was laid and locked, the Dowel was pulled and reused. Most are inert now. The sockets they were built for no longer exist, and without the network to feed them they drain slowly over centuries. A live one - silver-white rod, bright copper ends - is immediately recognizable to anyone who knows what they are looking at. A spent one tarnishes from the ends inward: the copper dulls first, then blackens, and the silver body follows. A fully spent Dowel is a uniform dull grey. ## Known Parties of Interest - The [[The Ashen Well Keepers|Ashen Well Keepers]] hold the ancient well infrastructure knowledge that makes Dowels usable again. A Dowel was the agreed payment from the [[Mountainview Barony]] in exchange for AWK permission to establish a Barony settlement in [[The Sere]]. - The [[Academia Arcanum]] in [[Syl'Dareth]] holds Dowels in their collection and sourced this one for [[Hadrian Riggs|Hadrian]]. - [[Hadrian Riggs|Hadrian]] was carrying it back to the AWKs when he was ambushed and taken by the [[The Church of Shargaas|Shargassans]]. They do not know what it is. - How it eventually made its way to [[Stellan Quickfoot|Stellan]]'s shelf in [[Hedgehaven]] has not been established. ## Charge State | Appearance | Charge | | --- | --- | | Silver body, bright copper ends | Full | | Silver body, dull copper ends | Partial | | Silver body, blackened copper ends | Low | | Uniform dull grey throughout | Spent |