Gnom had woken up sometime after Dylk did. He knew because Dylk was the one nervously shaking him around.

“Gnom? Gnom!”

“Hi, Dylk,” he said drowsily, stretching his arms. “What’s up?” There was a crick in his neck that he had trouble working out.

“Nothing,” Dylk said, “just need to get what we came for and leave ASAP.” Voolio stirred next to Gnom on the ground.

“Whadda we need?” Gnom asked, standing up. He got his first real look at the dark room since he’d woken up.

Dragon’s dead, that’s nice, he thought. And Bauwls is carrying an… egg?

“A part of the hide will do, I bet,” Dylk said. He went over to the body and Gnom followed, tapping Voolio’s sleeping head on the way.

Ballin and Salman were already there, looking it up and down. Salman had climbed up the back and was standing on top, periodically crouching to examine the scales.

“What’s going on, Salmy?” Gnom asked.

“I’m looking for a weak point from which to harvest the hide. Would you two care to join me?” The two of them took a path up the rather spiky tail and crouched on different parts of the body.

“I’m not sure I’m totally cool with this right now,” Ballin said, looking at the head.

“Why’s that?” Gnom asked, tracing the outside of a back scale.

“I’m a… are you serious?” Ballin asked, looking up from his work.

“Dead.” Voolio had gotten up and approached Ballin silently from behind, startling him in a big way.

“Either way, this dragon tried to kill you, Krerrhenthes,” Salman said, not waiting for Ballin to regain his bearings. “Feel no sympathy for it. More light please, half-elf.” Gnom just then noticed Vix, who was laying in the remains of a table and producing a meager light from his hand. He would’ve looked asleep but for the marginally increased light and the thumbs up he gave.

“Here’s a place,” Salman said, hand on a particularly grody patch of green on the sea of blue. He took a small knife from his pocket and started chopping away. Ballin looked away in disgust but didn’t have to for long. Soon, the job was over and they were on their way out.

They emerged from the tomb to the faint beginnings of sunrise. Within ten minutes of walking, the light was strong enough to show the street beneath them and the city around them. Gnom could make out the sign of an unusually tall trader’s shop, Chuck’s Supplies.

“Hey, could we stop in?” he asked the others. “My neck is killing me.”

“Good plan,” Ballin said. They redirected course and walked in the unusually tall door one by one, activating the bell on the door every time. Before they could really get a groove going, they were all inside. Behind the counter stood a hulking man, easily taller than anyone in the group, towering over even the 9 foot tall Voolio.

“Howdy folks, I’m Chuck. How can I help y’all today?” His voice was deep and friendly.

“We’d like to buy some stuff, please!” Gnom said.

“That’s what I like to hear, friend! Anything in particular yer lookin’ for?”

“Anything to help a crick in the neck?” Gnom asked.

“Yep, got just the thing for that,” Chuck said, turning around and opening a crate. He pulled out a glass bottle filled with a swirling, glittery red liquid. “This’ll help ya!” He placed it on the counter. It was half Gnom’s height.

“Hey, guys,” Gnom said, turning around to his friends, “anyone got any money?” There was a smattering of no’s.

“I’d be willin’ to trade, if y’all have anything worth trading,” Chuck said.

“Oh!” Bauwls said, reaching into her cloak. She retrieved a slimy ball of goo about the size of Gnom from her cloak, which smacked wetly when she placed it on the counter. “What’s this worth?”

“Cover that!” Chuck yelled, throwing a cloth over it. “Where’d you get this?” he asked, leaning over the counter.

“Killed a dragon,” she said.

“Killed a… you got this yerselves?” Nods all around. “Hmm… I can’t think of any other explanation for how you got yerselves a fresh dragon’s heart. You must’ve. Anyway, it’s too risky fer me. They’re illegal, dragon hearts. They make invisibility potions, but making ‘em takes days. Too risky. Far too risky.”

“But what if we give it to you for a low, low price?” Bauwls asked. “Name it!”

“Well,” Chuck said, rubbing his stubbled chin, “one of this size could make 100 potions or so, and I’d sell each for 70 gold. I’d usually give you 2,000 but I’m taking a risk on it. I’ll give ya a thousand. That’s the best I can do.” Gnom’s jaw dropped. We were lucky to make 30 gold in a day at the blacksmith! he thought. He had to act fast.

“We’ll take-”

“1,700,” Dylk said, cutting him off. Gnom’s jaw dropped incrementally more at the audacity.

“Hmm,” Chuck said, “I could do 1,100.”

“1,600, Chuck, c’mon.”

“Maybe eleven fifty.”

“Woah, don’t slow down on me, Chuck. Let’s do 1,400 and make it a deal.”

“Huh… oh, alright, 1,400 gold fer the heart. Now, would ya like to buy some’un?”

“How much for the red thing?” Gnom asked.

“3 gold,” Chuck said.

“How many you got?”

“I got this one and two more back here, you want ‘em?”

Gnom looked around and everyone nodded.

“Yeah, let’s do all three,” he said.

“A buy out! I love to see it!” He placed the other two on the counter. “Now, anything else, folks? Anything fer the lady?” He looked at Bauwls.

“A new cloak would be nice,” she said, waving a cloak which was more air than anything else.

“I just got a new one in, a Black Cloak w/ Hood for 15 gold,” Chuck said, pulling out a brand new cloak and placing it next to the potions.

“Perfect!” Bauwls said.

“Now, anything else?” Chuck asked. Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads. “Alright then, folks, that’s it! Your change today will be 1,376 gold.” He opened something below the counter and pulled out a sack. Into it, he poured rolls of 50 gold pieces each, totalling 1,350, and another 26 individuals. “Thank you very much, folks. If you can’t find anywhere to spend it all, come right back here! I always have some’un interesting!” He smiled.

“Thank you, Chuck!” came a chorus of voices.

“Y’all have a nice day now!” And just like that, they were out.

“Now to the council, right?” Bauwls asked, putting on her cloak.

“Right,” Salman said.

They came to chambers, the entrance of which was guarded by a very tired Scrum and his co-worker, who let them by without a word. Walking past the hall and arch, they returned to the chamber proper, where four silhouettes awaited them. Gnom sat on a couch with Voolio and, having none of the items of interest, sat back and smoked his pipe. And so began the proceedings.

“You return with new arrivals, and good news? I hope?”

“We do,” Salman said. He gestured to the dragon scales on his back.

“Excellent. Now, for your payment.

“The piece of metal you have shown can only be one thing, all our mages agree. What you possess is the material known to us as godsteel.”

“Godsteel?” Salman asked. “This is foreign to me.” Even Gnom had never heard of such a thing in all his years at the forge.

“Godsteel is of great import to the powerful people of the world, almost as great as its rarity. Our mages have searched for its fragments for many years, yet they have gathered precious few. They study its properties as we speak.”

“And what have they found?” Salman asked.

“Their efforts thus far have been… mostly fruitless, they have admitted. We have told you all we know, though we recognize now that this meager information is not proportional to the task you’ve undergone. So we offer this:

“Bring to us 10 pieces of godsteel, all of that size or greater, and you will be rewarded handsomely. The city of Rattwater will give, for all 10 pieces together, a sum of 10 thousand gold pieces. We give, also, the opportunity to sell the council the fruits of your labor. That is, the dragon hide and other such things. The alternative is the black market, which I can personally recommend against.” Personally? Gnom thought, taking a hit. “The hide, we will take for no less than 400 gold.”

“And this?” Bauwls stood with the egg, glittering purple, raised above her head. There was mummering from the balcony.

“For a dragon egg, there is not enough gold in the treasury to trade. The council is willing to offer housing in the middle district, should you accept.” Not enough gold in the whole treasury! Gnom thought, giggling.

Gnom looked around to find that the rest of them were just as excited as he was. They all nodded violently to Salman and Bauwls. Salman nodded to her last.

“Deal!” she said, handing the egg to a guard.

“The housing is empty and ready for your arrival,” the councilman said. “A guard will guide you as soon as you are ready.”

“We’re ready,” Salman said. Scrum sauntered through the archway again with a mortified look on his face.

“C’mon,” he said.

“Yes, oh courageous one,” Gnom said, bowing. He could hear Voolio stifling a laugh.

Scrum took them down a path past the meat market, which was unfortunately still up and running, complete with rotten fish. After that, though, the walk was nice. At some point, though Gnom didn’t consciously notice, the stuffy city layout gave way to something more akin to the rich district they’d just returned from. The only difference was that there was only one mansion in sight: theirs.

It was painted in a spotless white and accented with gold corners and windows. Gnom thought he was dreaming. From that smelly smith shop to this?

They entered and saw that the entire, massive first floor was indeed completely void of life. All that populated it was them, and the most extravagant furniture Gnom has ever seen. To the left was a kitchen with a dedicated cooking fireplace and pizza oven; to the right, an army of couches and chairs separated by a huge, carpeted common area. And directly in front of them was a shining, white staircase leading up to gods know where.

Being not too interested in the kitchen amenities, Gnom made his way up the stairs, Voolio scooping him up from behind and bringing him the rest of the way. The second floor was the home of the bedrooms, of which there were far too many. There was even a room of sleeping bags and unlit candles in case of scary storms.

“Hey, Voolio,” Gnom said, “we got first pick of the rooms, let’s split up and find the best ones before anyone else comes up here!”

“I think I already found mine,” Voolio said. Gnom turned around to see Voolio stuffing himself into a storage closet built into the middle of the gigantic hallway. “I’ll take a bed from another room and I’ll be set!”

“Hey, good for you, man!” Gnom said, high-fiving him. “I’m gonna go look around for mine.”

“Sorry I took the best one,” Voolio said, firmly planted in the worst one.

“That’s ok.” Gnom went into a corner room which, unlike all the others, had signs of previous habitation. Strewn across the floor and desk must have been thousands of parchments, most with writing on them. He picked one up at random but found it was in a language he couldn’t read. In fact, he didn’t even recognize it.

He picked another off the floor. This, a bound stack of twenty sheets or so, was written in what Gnom could only assume was four different forms of nonsense Dennish⁵. Just as he was uncrossing his eyes looking at it, Dylk walked in behind him.

“Hey, Gnom,” he said, looking around in awe.

“Someone left a bunch of nonsense here,” Gnom said, handing Dylk the first piece of parchment and the bound book.

“Hm,” Dylk said, scanning them. “The book is in code but I can read this one.” He tapped his hand on the single piece.

“What is it?” Gnom asked, taking it back.

“Oh, it’s just a page from the middle of a pop fiction book,” he said.

“Could you read it to me?” Gnom tried his best puppy smile.

“Yeah, I could. But we’d have to find the rest of the book and put it in order first.”

“We can do that!”