“Son of Wolfsbane!” proclaims a hearty voice, belonging to a grizzled yet balding man behind a counter before turning towards a coworker. “I told you Sarah, those insane priests were bound to be right one of these times!”

“Yes Mister G’rald, but can we take care of this out back?” Sia asks politely, primly straightening out her navy blue suit and white shirt despite the fact nothing is out of place. “These young escorts of mine have had a long journey since we had to take the long way out, and I’d like this to be done all at once.”

“Sure sure,” Gerald Stoneskin says, waving his left hand dismissively while turning towards the door on the back of the building. “Anything to help the young Miss who is helping the young lad carrying his father’s VIP coin. And the other Miss is a James? Your mother or father anyone of note?”

“Not that they told me at least, Papa was just the town baker, wanted have an easy life,” Madilyn replies, not aware of the fact that ‘James James’ and ‘Jamie James’ were thieves of some renown before their retirement, disappearing off the face of the planet some twenty years prior.

“Shame,” Gerald says, finally making it out of the building. “And I’m sure our lady in Blue is going to make a name for herself now that you’re out. Not ev’ry day you see someone with a Pixie Dragon ‘round these parts, or most other parts for that matter. Will be interesting to see what you three get up to on the Tele-Screen in the years to come.”

Hearing this, Sidney slows perceptively. “Up on the tele-what?”

“Oh right, only been out for about five years now, new fangled technology was made by somebody smart in the telepathy field with Ninehold Technologies. Been working on something similar for decades but finally had a breakthrough or something, used to just be recorded crystals we could play on the screen, now they can send out images and sound live as they happen. Been told it takes a good telepath though.”

While dissonance is ringing in Sidney’s mind, Madilyn is attempting to send comforting looks to him, and Sia smirks in the back, the group arrives at a small warehouse.

“Be’in as you’re the Wolfsbane’s boy, and with the deep pockets of your Mistress back there, I think this may do for now. Here’s the rules though, area’s marked out on the floors and walls, pile em up as gently as you can in the right place, makes things go quick like, prices on the walls too ’n case you want to try your luck elsewhere.”

Madilyn, smacking Sidney on the shoulder, start unloading their storage devices. Sia, tapping Gerald’s shoulder, holds a box the length of her forearm and motions to the “Rare and Tiny” section near the door.

“I think these will be sufficient for my contribution to the party-funds the Guild can keep on account,” she says.

Gerald, looking at the inlay on the box, nods with a grunt and leads her over while he takes a seat at the desk. “Reckoning it is, as that seems to be from those pale bastards on the 54th floor.”

“This suit was too,” Sia says, placing the box down, and sliding the top open. “Earned these myself mind you, a prize for taking on three of the elders on my own.”

“Bastards they may be, but stingy they are not,” Gerald replies. “Seventy five less three it seems? Not planning on going back into the dungeon and getting yourself killed that often it seems, these talisman are quite useful like that. You want to keep the box?”

“No, though Elder Clarkin did say it would make for a good humidor in the right hands. Teakwood he said. Though, I personally think those slots are about the right size for those money cards we used to use before my mother brought us to the village. Has the banking system improved since Wolfsbane left?”

“Not sure I believe that, but never smok’d myself… And not much really, still using those cards, but they can only be reloaded with coins run through a purifier now’days. Took ‘em three hundred years to replicated that cursed artifact on the fifth floor, and another decade to modify the cards, so at least in civilized parts you won’t have trouble.”

“And in the uncivilized parts?”

“Same as always, trade or die.”

After a short amount of small talk, the plucky young adventurers have finished unloading their mountains of materials. A short discussion later results in an agreement that the first 120 gold worth of materials be taken immediately so that the party can find lodging and food, leaving the rest to Gerald to place in the guild party account. Gerald agrees immediately and walks them out, locking the door behind him while still carrying the box from Sia.

After briefly forgetting that Sidney and Madilyn had never truly needed money to this point, Gerald explains the cards, handing them several in the smaller denominations and a single card with the balance of the gold.

“What do you mean I have to learn magic again?” Sidney complains as the group walks up to their room in Haverman’s Hollow, which Gerald suggested was the ‘cheapest place your Princess could maybe tolerate.’

“Because unlike at the village there are significantly more swindlers in these civilized places,” Sia states bluntly. “You tried to buy a fancy pocket watch, which I may remind you, you have never used before in your life, for the full cost of what it would have been worth had it ‘A,’ been working, and ‘B,’ been the real thing. You don’t even have to try for this one either!”

“I heard my parents speaking of these magic skill scrolls, and that they are typically very expensive if you try and buy them, especially Identify,” Madilyn says, finally making it into the master suite and closing the door behind her. “And that’s because they’re only found in dungeons, this one being one of the few still known to replenish themselves. And also the only one that somehow manages to punish those seeking a monopoly…”

“Quirks of magic to be sure,” Sia says, with a flourish taking out two small scrolls bound with twine and wax. “Good thing for you two we have two right here. These in particular give you almost as much information as the version the Priests get. Pour a bit of magic into the wax and it will take care of the rest. Also, apparently they are called ‘Skrolls’ now, I heard some adventurers talking about them before leaving the dungeon.”

With an “Ugh,” and a “Fine,” Sidney takes the scroll that is no wider than his thumb and does as Sia said, only to be surprised that the scroll disintegrates and turns to white smoke. And then surprised yet again when the headache hits.

While clutching his head while sitting on the couch, Madilyn takes the other scroll and looks at Sia warily. “Never heard this was a painful process, is it supposed to be?”

“Not typically,” Sia states with a curious look to her eye. “At least, not with every other time I’ve seen them used. There’s a good chance that it is a Sidney problem though.”

Confusion, then understanding wash over Madilyn as she thinks back several years to when Sidney and his family found out his soul was unusual, though afterwards quickly found out that in the grand scheme of things, everyone is a bit strange in their own weird ways. Framing Fleur as a priestess tasked to ensure his soul’s stability helped.

A short time later as Madilyn and Sidney recover, and their companions spread out despite the ‘limited’ space, Sia declares it is time to make plans.

“What kind of plans? For food or what we are doing from now on?” Madilyn asks.

I believe it is time to part ways young ones, Luck states.

“Luck and I will be joining Ted shortly, once he is done with his business tonight,” Sia continues. “We likely won’t see you for quite some time, years perhaps.”

“What?” Sidney replies, sitting up straighter to look at the pair. “Why are you leaving us?”

“That has always been the plan, ever since we arrived at the village. And, admittedly, more so after we met up with Luck.”

“What does our talking Pixie Dragon have to do with this?” Sidney asks incredulously.

“We have been hiding a few details from you, and the village at large,” Sia says with a playful smirk. “Assuming you remember your father’s advice over the years, Luck is an Ancient Dragon, Bill over there is an Ancient Hyperion class duck. I’m older than everybody in the village combined except for Fleur, Lomri, Hammond, or Harris. And Ted is an acronym.

“Ted is an acronym? What are you talking about?” Madilyn asks, interrupted by two sharp clangs from outside their balcony window.

“It is somewhat complicated,” Sia says, walking over out onto the balcony. “Let’s watch the broadcast the clerk mentioned, first. The one that Winter Pharmaceuticals is hosting.”

“Stop dodging the question!” Sidney says, following the group out. “What…”

Sidney stops, staring along with Madilyn, at the massive projection of their childhood friend standing next to the CEO of Winter Pharmaceuticals.

“Why is he there? Who is that lady?” Sidney asks, and is about to continue when he is cut off by Sia.

“So curious today aren’t we? I am making a few assumptions, but that should be the leader of the company Ted is about to destroy. Oh look, there’s Beth and Jessie as well! And an angry looking man too!

The paradox of skill scrolls, in particular the ever coveted “Identify” and all its lesser forms, remains a frustrating conundrum within the magic and magitech communities. As near as we have been able to determine, the skills themselves are almost entirely contained within the waxlike substance while the scroll is something of a catalyst.

Oh yes, we have been able to extensively elucidate the magical inscriptions and functions contained within the scroll, even the magic formula contained therein. Upon further evaluation of the wax however, all efforts fall short. Even then, falling short implies that we could even see the goal but alas we cannot, as if a gaping canyon miles across and filled to the brim with fog stretches between what we know and how to obtain the results we see on the opposite bluff. Any intent directed towards these ‘wax seals’ results in the magic therein activating, yet frustratingly Identify itself seems to bypass this so that one can see the grade of the spell as well, though if one were knowledgeable enough, they could tell many of these details based on just the wax seal.

What we know for certain is this, that hundreds of years past, these were able to be made by archmages with moderate difficulty, and that analysis of the wax itself has flecks of what they used call soul crystals. This again leads us down a myriad of trails and paradox, let alone the fact one would need to attempt obtaining these crystals as the civilized world considers them a Class Zero artifact, that is, zero of the population should have it in their personal possession. I personally suspect that further research into this is doomed to anchoring on replicating these scrolls precisely rather than forging our own path forward. After all, we know this works, and ‘the International Banks have managed to replicate a dungeon mechanism, so why not this?’

~Introduction to Magic and Artifacts by Hibb Leamon