The Alchemist at Hell's Gates

37

^^ Dragonborn Golems ^^

After the massive room full of Scrolls, I expected the Vault Below to be a bit more than an Arcane Armory. Perhaps that was ungrateful of me, but I really did think I'd find some great hidden secret; I mean, it was hidden under a Gestalt Sphere, for Christ's Sake, it had to be important!!! Right?... The room full of Unenchanted Weapons seemed to suggest otherwise. Still, I didn't want to miss something due to negligence, so I identified each item, to be sure, before feeding it to my Acid Slime once I'd determined it wasn't enchanted.

After I'd cleared the entire room, I found a grand total of three interesting things; First, a two-handed Longsword of curious construction, with a Pure Mithril Blade covered in Runes, pulsing softly with divine radiance. Next, an Iron-Wood chest about the size of my torso, locked tightly closed, which sounded like it had gems or bottles inside. The Chest took up 12 of my Inventory Slots, leaving only 4 remaining and leaving me a little worried. The third was what had to be the weirdest-looking creature I'd ever laid eyes on, but was still oddly beautiful, reminding me somewhat of my Clockwork Fairy Dragons; a metallic animal, inactive, crumpled in on itself and thrown into a rubbish bin because it had been a failed creation. I kept it, however, because I could see the flaws in the design, and where they'd gone wrong; they'd been so focused on beauty that they hadn't considered structure, and so it's legs, hollow little things made of gold-filigree netting and nothing else, had crushed themselves under the weight of its torso, even as small as it was.

I walked back up the stairs, holding the crushed animal in my hands and slowly mending it while my Acid Slime remained to eat the rest of the room and search for anything else Hidden, and showed the creature to Hellen as I exited the illusory Dias. "Seems that's the rubbish chute... bunch of broken stuff, just scrap metal I fed to the Slime." I hummed, and straightened the creature's tail carefully.

"Pretty, though. Shame it doesn't work, doing whatever it's supposed to do." She sighed, rubbing the wide ears of the Fox creature curiously.

"You like Foxes?" I asked, straightening it's other ear.

"I do; They're mischievous little bastards!" She grinned in response, and then turned back to the group. "Alright, is that everything? No one found any more secret exits?"

"No, I think we've thoroughly stripped this place of anything of value... I say back to the Ship for now, then we divvy up loot, if you're all ready?" Grant (the Tank,) asked, then began leading the group back up the stairs carefully.

—

"Alright... each of you has about 30 Gems and 20 Mithril, plus about 10 pieces of Platinum because you don't listen, am I correct?" I asked the group in my new Laboratory, aboard the Ship.

The two Parties of Adventurers, (minus Derrick, who hadn't logged back in yet,) looked amongst each other with a little hint of guilt, before nodding. "That's... not Unfair..." Grant agreed carefully.

"I figured. Let me show you why you should've listened to me, and hopefully in the future this issue is resolved." I nodded and held up a Ruby Gem, showing them the Item Description and Value of 150 Gold, then purified it all the way to Legendary, increasing its value to 750 Gold and changing its color to a rainbow-range. "That is a x5 Multiplier to all the Gems you have in your inventory. Mark carefully who had how many, then place them in that bowl over there so I can purify them."

"Right away, Captain." Kenny chuckled, having already seen this lecture, and obliged with my Party's collection of Gems, followed by Grant with his, and Adam, (the Mage) hesitantly followed suit as well, still staring at the small rainbow-colored Gem in my hands.