Stone Beds
The best way for a traveling dwarf to sleep is on a bed of stone - Bodrick Rocknumber, stone bed salesman
The dwarven stone bed consists of two parts: The actual bed made of stone, and the covers for it. The stone bed does not need to actually be a 'bed' so much as it is a stone slab with runic enchantments engraved into it. It can even just be a flat area of stone still attached to a mountain, so long as the runes are inscribed, making for some high-powered military bunks. The covers are cloth of high quality with runic enchantments woven into them as well. Dwarven cloth being sturdy even at a luxurious level, the covers resist fire, water, mold, even tearing, but can be worked with traditional seamstress's implements. Some covers have clever coloration and stuffing, even internal folds and seems to disguise and camouflage them while in use.Â
To use the stone bed, the dwarf takes the covers with him as he travels, and when they bunk down for the night, he simply wraps up in the covers and is transported to the stone bed back in safety, for the night. The dwarf's body remains inside the covers, but is turned to stone beneath them, his presence at the bed a 'projection' of sorts, of the dwarf's spirit. He doesn't have to stay in the bed, but can actually get up, eat, drink, avail himself of the facilities or company, for the duration of the bed's activity.Â
After eight hours have past, the dwarf will be transported back from the stone bed to his body, sound and as mobile as ever after a nights rest. If the dwarf is not back in the bed at the end of the duration, his body remains made of stone, and his 'projection' becomes a figurine likeness, and will remain as such untill the two are reunited. Another concern is that during the duration, the dwarf is unaware of his stone body, so may wake up with an arm broken off, or in pieces if the stone is shattered while he sleeps. Most dwarves using stone bed are vigilant about setting a reliable watch to avoid the potential nightmare scenario of waking as pebbles. Destruction of the stone bed or the runic enchantments just leads the bed not to function, which could inconvenience a dwarf that didn't have a plan to endure the local evenings climate.
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? Responses (5)
It is a little confusing, so I get under the covers and I transported back to known place, while a stone avatar in my shape stays under the cover. During this time, I can get up walk around and everything else as long as I am back in the stone bed after eight hours. If I don't get back into the bed before 8 hours I am turned into a small figurine?
What if somebody pulls off the covers?
The idea of stone avatars being place holder for 'real' dwarves is an interesting one, and I think more interesting than the concept of the bed.
1) A cluster of statues is delivered to the urban estate of the lord, all the carved dwarves are armored and armed but appear a sleep. The lord is please for believes the statues represent his success in subjugating the dwarven lands, but then 4 hours, the statues pop up and the estate is occupied by dwarven separatists.
2) Perhaps a disturbed dwarven task master wanted to figure out a way for his men to work while they slept and thus he invented dwarven beds. Dwarves thought they were going to sleep only to walk up outside a mine shaft. 'Alrighty lads, your protections are doing the resting, and you can do the digging'
So what happens if the dwarf decides not to sleep while his stone avatar lies in the bed? Will he still wake up rested and refreshed? Overall a pretty nifty concept, though it could use a little clarification.
I would love to tamper with one of these beds by tweaking the duration of the bed's activity from 8 hours, say, to 8 days. Or 8 years. If you pulled a trick like that, it sounds like the poor dwarf would have to a) return to where his stone avatar lies asleep under the covers and b) guard it until the spell ends, less he wake up in pieces.
Oooh a character plotline! The dwarf goes to sleep as normal, but his avatar is shattered when his wizard friend nods off during the night. Knowing that the dwarf will die when the spell ends, the wizard works desperately through the night to reverse engineer the spell. He succeeds, mostly by increasing the duration of the bed's timer. Now the dwarf is still alive (though pissed-off and in a different place), but living on borrowed time. If the bed's spell ever ends, he'll die. Now he has a secret to keep, and a pretty cool weakness (protecting the original stone bed from being tampered with, and possibly renewing the enchantment every X years).
I love the idea that is shining through here, but I do find myself asking similar questions to the ones Dossta and axle are asking. +1 for the dwarvy 'feel'of the item. I can see these beds as part of an overall dwarven 'canon'.
Okay I will vote
This item is odd and interesting. Though if they had a reliable watch in the first place, why would they need such a bed?