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jotawakening-blog · 8 years ago

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18 Fentuary, 5A 169: The Treasure in the Chalice

With the new day, I get started on the great gnome cookout I’d set out for myself to replenish my depleted stock of food supplies. Gnome cooking tends to be a bit more involved than the human equivalent, in terms of the ingredients used and preparations required, but thanks to Hudo’s excellent food shop I make good time in preparing the battas. Also, being in an environment with many skilled cooks provides a great learning experience: these gnomes are quite knowledgeable even about human dishes, and they share with me their recipes for tuna and apple pie!

Around halfway in, I decide that baking battas has become monotonous, so I try something I’ve never done before: a gnomebowl! Specifically, given that I’ve developed quite a taste for the gnomish king worms, I will be making one called a wormhole. The way it works is that you coat the inside of a gnomebowl mould (like a bowl, but steeper) with gnomish dough, add four worms and some onions, and top it with gnome spice and equa leaves. The worms are the hardest part of the recipe, as the gnomes don’t seem to sell them: if I want some, I will need to go down into the swamp at the base of the Grand Tree and get some myself. Oh well, it shouldn’t be that much of a delay.

After two trips down to the swamp to collect worms, I get going on the worm holes. It takes a while to make them, since the quantity of worms required for each is quite high, but by midday I have everything I need to make a second attempt at claiming King Baxtorian’s treasure. Yet it will all be for naught if I’ve put Glarial’s amulet permanently out of my reach. I’m afraid that might be the case, but if it isn’t, the logical place to look is back in her tomb. Accordingly, I remove everything that might be seen as a weapon of war from my person and return to the tomb, using the pebble from the gnome village to open it right up.

Down in the tomb, I run past the guardians to where I found the amulet and am delighted to find that it was magically returned to its chest! That means I’m in business. I return to Ardougne to re-don my battle gear, grab some food for the fights against the fire giants to come, some runes in case the pedestal in the inner tomb needs recharging, and, most importantly, the book on Baxtorian to see if there may be a way to avoid triggering the trap that got me last time.

Once I’ve made all my preparations, I make the dangerous traverse down the white waters of the Dougne to the waterfall tomb, and go inside. As usual, the fire giants defending it harry me (How long do these guys live, anyway? Or is there some magic here keeping them alive way past their time?) but this time I’m ready for them and cut the ones that dare attack me to ribbons without sustaining any major harm myself. Indeed, I have enough time to dissect one and dig out the fire giant bone I was commissioned to find before its friends come to take revenge on me.

I continue to the treasure room to find that the floor leading up to the chalice is still upraised, granting me entry! This time, though, I don’t touch the chalice outright, but see what happens when I approach it with Glarial’s burial urn. Nothing happens right away, but the idea strikes me to pour the ashes into the chalice. The waters within the chalice shimmer and dissipate upon contact with the ashes, leaving behind a treasure at the bottom, to the tune of two gold bars, two diamonds and a case full of small mithril pearls that look like… seeds? There’s also a little, twisted piece of metal that looks like it might be one part of a key. How interesting: I wonder whether the other half exists somewhere, or whether it’s lost to history. As I step back from the chalice (which is fixed in place by powerful magic, unfortunately, and can’t be removed), a wave of inspiration washes over me and images flash through my mind of King Baxtorian’s martial prowess and greatest battlefield deeds! Most excellent!

Before leaving the cave, I try throwing one of the mithril seeds onto the ground. Upon hitting soil, it immediately starts to germinate, and almost immediately, some beautiful orange flowers sprout up! They’re an exotic species, certainly like none I’ve seen before, and I reckon it might be profitable to plant the seeds and sell the flowers for a tidy amount! But this is not the place for gardening, and I ought to be heading home. So, I leave the tomb behind and abseil down from the falls, reaching Elena’s house in Ardougne, where I have an open invitation to stay, just in time for dinner. I tell her the story of King Baxtorian’s treasure, which she finds fascinating. ‘I wonder what other mysteries the elves have left behind in their exile?’ she asks. I don’t know, but perhaps someday I’ll stumble onto something more.

#runescape #journal #roleplay #chalice #waterfall

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