Could be Useful is an introductory piece of fiction for Silkgift: The City of Sails, one of the supplements for Cities of Sundara, which is available in versions for 5th Edition and Pathfinder.
“Huh,” the dwarf grunted, looking at what had happened with the experiment he and Vondra had been doing. Or, at least, the remains of it which had clearly gone wrong.
Vondra raised her head above the bench she’d been hiding behind. “Thrask?” she asked. “Have you finished blowing stuff up now?”
“It didn’t blow up,” Thrask objected. “It just…”
“It just what?” Vondra asked. “Violently redistributed itself across the room?” She shook her head.” That sounds like blowing up to me.”
“Don’t forget you were involved in this too,” the dwarf told her.
“Don’t worry, this is not an experience that’s going to vanish from my memory any time soon.”
Vondra got to her full height which, as a gnome, was still less than Thrask’s. She gazed around the room. “So, what did go wrong?” she asked. “Just the usual things not working out as expected, or something else?”
“Hmm…” Thrask pondered. “I think… I think it was something else in this case.” He paused. “And yes, ‘violently redistributed itself around the room’ is probably a good description. It didn’t actually blow up; just all the parts decided to move elsewhere rapidly, but without an explosion.” He gazed at Vondra. “We both know what explosions look like and that wasn’t one.” He paused again. “Good thing we weren’t in the Ingenurium; they still object to things going violently wrong.”
Vondra nodded, remembering such times. “So… if it didn’t explode, just violently redistributed, could this violence be contained in any way?”
She and Thrask looked at the pieces of what they were working on, many of which were embedded in various surfaces. “There may be a use for that, if it can be contained.”
“Hmm,” Thrask pondered again. His eyes went distant as he thought through what had happened. “Hmm,” he repeated. “Could be useful indeed.”
