Dragon gold Hunters: Dragon gold - Part II
Octaria Pulnassea's note #14
As I worked with dragon gold, something changed in me, a thirst took root in my mind. I could see it in my eyes, reflected on the bright surface of the coin, I could see more gold, the desire for it, the need for it, and it was then that I understood that dragon gold was cursed, and that to understand why and how, I should resort to the people who relentlessly search for it,
Dragon Gold Hunters
Dragon gold hunters are a curious bunch, a special kind of adventurers, they seem in love with excesses, as if their bravery was feed on them, but knowing the hunger in their mind, the one I was feeling myself, I understood those excesses for what they really were, a desperate attempt to quell the hunger for more, to silence the deadly need for dragon gold.
When they speak, they seem to look at something beyond the person with whom they are talking. Their eyes shine with a strange light, akin to that which can be seen in feverish people.
Most of them have some kind of tic, and many of them are always playing with a coin in their hands, something I have caught myself doing.
The hair and nails of dragon hunters seem to shine brighter. Looking at them more closely, you can see some golden strands of hair on their heads, and small lines of gold on their nails.
Their sleep is light, and they always seam in alert, but when they awake from their slumber, you can see that they are not here, that their mind is elsewhere. Sometimes they talk in this state, perhaps a spell of some sort, something in a secret language that I don't recognize, but that nevertheless I understand, “shine shine, bright home, come come, in the chime, in the chime come home”.
Rumors, research, tales, and testimonies
I joined a band of dragon gold hunters.
I found them at the town’s inn, they rented the whole place to themselves, for several weeks, ravenously spending everything they had, they wanted to be empty, empty of reasons to stay in town. I know this because one of them confessed to me, “if I had nothing, I had a reason to hunt for more”.
I showed them the gold I had, and told them that I wanted to travel with them on their next hunt, as an observer. I performed before their eyes some simple alchemist tricks, to show them that if it came to it, I could be of some use to them.
But they didn’t care, they had already accepted me when they saw me entering the inn, as if they could tell of the itch in my head, as if I were one of them.
I was the excuse they needed to leave.
We gathered everything we had and followed the rumors and tales of the nearest dragon lair.
We traveled for a month, deep into the most hazardous landscapes of the region. We only had the stories of some children to guide our search, but with each league we traveled, I felt a stronger attraction, a violent need.
I was not the only one. All my traveling companions fell into the same voracity. We felt like a band of beasts running through the night, dancing, drinking, singing, and howling at the dark road ahead. It was a calling.
When we reached the entrance to the cave, we all saw the great beast, glowing like a burning coal, slumbering, deep in its den.
I felt the urge to run to them, but one of the dragon gold hunters held my arm, “now you wait hidden, now you’ll see how it’s done”, they smiled at me, as if they knew what was going to happen, as if they simply wanted a witness.
I enter with them halfway in, and sought refuge in a nook that went deep into the stone, “the dragon is too big to reach in there, now to be quiet”.
I saw everything that happened, how they were devoured, I was somehow sad not to leave with them, I wasn't surprised, I knew what I was witnessing, and all I could do was sing their song in that lost unrecognizable language, “shine shine, bright home, come come, in the chime, in the chime come home”.
It was then that I understood what the philosopher's stone was.
Alchemical uses:
Anyone who has been cursed by dragon gold, if eaten by a dragon, will be regurgitated by the dragon, only bones and a large sack of thin skin in its belly. The thin skin will dry up and be torn to shreds, and new dragon gold coins will fall from it.
If you dissect a person cursed with dragon gold, you will find a collection of small nodules and cysts, black as coal, hot to the touch. If a paste is made from them, they can be used as a healing ointment, which will close a large wound in just a couple of days. However, I suspect that the use of this ointment will create more nodules in the body, and will only be safe if used by someone who is already cursed by dragon gold.
I tried to transform these black cysts into gold, using every trick I could think of, but all I managed to do was to give them the appearance and hardness of gold for a day, after bathing them in sunlight for a week.
However, if two handfuls of them, are dissolved in aqua regia, and burned in a solar furnace, at the temperature necessary to dissolve common gold, they will create a homogeneous brown and golden liquid. When cooled, a few small drops can be used to enhance plant growth, and if a glass of it is used, it can make a plant grow five times its normal size in a matter of seconds.
