Several things happened at once. Fin stowed his rock to see if there were any changes. It was now labeled as an Oath Stone. Before he could investigate further, he noticed a quest notification.

* Earth Quest Complete: Enter a bond with an Earth Plane creature. +1 Level, +1 Active ability.

* Active ability: Lesser Earth Control

* Path Quest Complete: Enter a bond with a higher being. +1 Level. +1 Quest.

* Transcendence Quest: Enter syphon sleep. +5 levels, +5 basic stat points, +5 golden stat points, +1 passive ability, +1 active ability.

* Affinity Quest Complete: Chaos (1 of 0): Trade everything for CHAOS! +1 Level, +2 Intelligence. Chaos Affinity. Forfeit Further Affinities.

* Chaos Quest complete: Enter a bond with the Anthectis Destroyer. -1 Intelligence, -1 Level, +2 Levels, +1 Active Ability, +2 quests, Forfeit all Transcendence quests.

* Active Ability: Alter Ability

* Chaos Quest: Activate all abilities simultaneously. +1 Active Ability, -1 Random, +2 Random. Forfeit Random.

* Chaos Quest: Fuse all abilities with chaos. +1 Passive Ability, +1 Active ability. Forfeit all Random.

Seeing the multiple quest achievements made Fin dizzy with excitement. However, the longer he read through them, the more weary and confused he became. To start, Fin had no idea what one of zero meant. He tried doing the math, but math wasn't his strong suit. He then realized that one percent of three thousand was thirty. He felt disappointed for the mistake but had to push the miserable thought away. He had more pressing things to focus on. On the bright side, he had just gained a point in intelligence, however obscurely, and decided he would never make a deal based on percentages again.

He looked back at his achievements to find something to cheer him up. The transcendence quest looked promising. If he was able to figure out anything about Syphon Sleep, the rewards would be substantial. Then he noticed that had forfeited all his transcendence quests. There would be no transcending for him.

Three quests were almost identical, and he was able to learn a few things about the Earth Sprite currently sleeping in his inventory. He already assumed it was an earth-plane creature based on the golden glow it emitted. He even risked a finger on that assumption. What was interesting to learn was the sprite was also considered a higher being and the Anthectis Destroyer. He didn't know what the first word meant, but he knew the word destroyer, and it made sense. There was no way a dragon could sleep a wink on its piles of treasure with the Anthectis Destroyer around. It would wake up as destitute as the day it was born.

The two chaos quests were interesting, and he was excited to try out his new abilities. He also needed to come up with a plan to get rid of the Anthectis Destroyer before he too became broke.

Fin unstowed the oath stone and a lunch box. He ate while he considered his old favorite rock. There was a reason why the sprite made it. His inventory wouldn't classify the sprite as a higher being without a good reason. Had it tricked him into forming a bond and had no intention of eating the gem or the coin? He considered destroying the Oath Stone but thought better of it. What if it was there to ensure both parties held up their side of the deal? He felt like the stone was on his side, and all he had to do was get the sprite to finish the arrangement and leave.

He unstowed the sprite and shoved the silver coin into its center. However, the coin was not dissolving. He noticed that whenever the coin got close to the creature, it turned silver in those places. Fin learned two things, when the sprite was silver, it was not corrosive, and the sprite had no intention of being corrosive around the two treasures. He was forced to stop when the small elemental appeared in his hands and started hitting him.

Fin immediately began dialogue with the sprite and yelled, "Just eat it and go away!"

The sprite gave him the picture of moss.

Fin's curiosity won out over his rage, "What is moss?"

The sprite pulsed and showed the vision again. This time, Fin concentrated as the scene played out in his imagination. There was moss, but it began growing and receding on a cave floor. The longer he watched, the more the moss fluctuated. Looking closer, he noticed that the moss was dying as it receded and slowly grew back. It took a while, but he realized it was equivalent to an image of the sun spinning overhead at a blurring speed. It meant "for a very long time" or worse, "forever."

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"No," he stated before getting up and sprinting for the exit. The sprite had no trouble keeping up with him as it hovered close behind and even jumped in his inventory to go along for the ride. He tried appeasing it with hidden gold stores in the mine, hiding from it with Stone Visard, and blasting it with Caustic Breath. When nothing worked, he tried out his new abilities.

To Fin's disappointment, Lesser Earth Control did not allow him to sculpt stone like clay. The ability seemed to irritate the sprite but did not cause harm. Only when he activated Caustic Breath and Lesser Earth Control did he notice he could lengthen, shape, and project the golden mist further than before. He then tried Alter Ability, directing the ability toward Stonespire Wings. It was an ability he couldn't use anyway, so if the alteration was permanent, he wouldn't use it on any of his useful ones. The combination changed the ability to Stone Simulacrum Wings, and it appeared as if it was permanent. He still couldn't use them.

While looking for other abilities to alter, Fin saw that he still had two from Affinities he would never have, Dark Sight and Hydro Lung. The first became Inverse Sight, which did everything he assumed Dark Sight would do. The tunnels became bright as day, with pools of shadow coalescing around the glow moss. Hydro Lung became Absorb Ambient Energy, and he was delighted to find the Earth Sprite did not like it, just not to the point where it would agree to leave him alone. But it was a bargaining chip nonetheless. Fin sat down with determination, pulled out the Oath Stone, and began renegotiations. If they were going to be stuck together, it would be better if they could at least be a team.

Near the mine exit, Brando slept despite his many and unconventional efforts to stay awake and guard his pillow. Ultimately, he couldn't resist the lure of the cave's cold and uneven dirt floor. Startling awake to the sound of approaching footsteps, he regripped his dull pickaxe and took an alert posture. Most of his fears were reserved for the danger of taxation more than the danger of theft, a fear that soon diminished as Fin came into view.

"What took you so long?" Brando asked, gathering up his things. "Did you get rid of it?"

Fin sighed and unstowed the golden, gold-eating orb, and after a glare of warning, it turned silver. "It's an Earth Sprite, and I didn't get rid of it as much as I found myself stuck with it."

"What do you mean stuck with it?" Brando said, flinching as the orb investigated him, floating around his head.

"Don't worry," Fin said, trying to calm Brando's nerves. "As long as it's silver in color, it can't hurt you."

"It's always been silver!" Brando protested, "And I don't want it shredding me to pieces like it did your clothes!"

Fin's clothes were shredded and disheveled, and his right sleeve was bunched up around his wrist. As he changed out of them for clothes in his inventory, he explained the predicament he had been in and the resulting negotiations. He then unstowed the small earth elemental from his inventory. The creature made out of the elemental core and various rocks strung together by the sprite made Brando marvel. Having already fought a larger version of the monster in Clive Rae, he knew that it would make a powerful ally.

"Splitting your half of the treasure seems harsh, but this," he gestured at the stationary elemental, "I don't know… This could be good. Will it help us fight?"

"It won't follow my orders, but I think I can get it to work with us somehow," Fin restowed the elemental along with his discarded clothes. "It's too early to tell, and I'm too exhausted to think anymore tonight."

Fin brushed himself off and turned to ask if Brando was ready to leave, only to find him holding out a piece of gold toward the greedy little sprite.

"Don't feed it!" he shouted as it absorbed the gold and settled on Brando's shoulder.

"I think it likes me," Brando beamed, running a finger over the lump.

Fin's lip curled up into a sneer. "Of course, it's going to like you if you feed it! If you had any idea how much gold I've already fed this thing, you wouldn't want to be its friend. It's an endless pit of hunger that sucks all riches into its void. In fact, I'm going to call it Void."

Path Quest Complete: Become named by a higher being. +1 Charisma. +2 quests revealed.

* Royal Advantage: Create a kingdom. +1 Passive Ability. +5 Charisma, +5 golden stat points. Nobility Ranking Increased. Forfeit all Royal Conquest quests.

* Royal Conquest: Destroy a kingdom. +1 Active Ability. +5 Constitution, +5 basic stat points. Renown Ranking Increased. Forfeit all Royal Advantage quests.

Fin looked at his stat sheet and sure enough, where it used to say, “Name: Lord Finlay of Dragonthrone” now said, “Squee”. He shook his head, but he was too tired to comment on it. He stowed the pillow before he, Brando, and the indomitable Void left the mine.