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As Mira and Tiamat made their way to the last passage, the sense of foreboding seemed to magnify and spike. There was nothing in sight, but they swiftly ran to the last (now unguarded) door. Everything felt strangely off. The shadows were deeper, sounds seemed muffled, and even the air felt somehow heavier. As they rapidly approached the last door, a gathering mist began creeping down the halls from the warehouse area they had left behind.
A sense of predators nearby, despite the lack of visible evidence soon had them panicked. At the door, Mira fumbled the complex latch multiple times before finally opening the door as the rising mist lapped at their knees. The need to run and hide was overpowering. The door latch finally unlocked, and the pair crashed through blindly into the next room. Mira slammed it shut behind them.
“Lock it. Lock it! LOCK IT!” Tiamat screamed at Mira.
Mira struggled with the heavy latching mechanisms until she finally latched the door firmly. She swiftly pulled in some mana and hurriedly traced the door with a runic sigil pattern to [Lock] the door. She pushed her power into the doorframe’s new sigils. In her mage sight, Mira saw the spell runes bloom into an Akasic lock, sealing the door to its frame. Breathing with difficulty from the effort and fear beginning to fade, Mira spoke.
“That was close! I must consider having a locking spell pre-cast in my array. Holy shit! What the hell was that? Did you see it?” she asked, still panting as the adrenalin wore off.
“I didn’t see anything, but it felt like something big was coming fast. Do you think the lock will hold?” Tiamat asked, pale with fright and shivering.
“It should, it's one of my most powerful sigils. The door or frame would break sooner and those both look very strong.” Mira said.
Despite her confident words, she summoned her staff and pulled mana from the air to recharge her lost reserves. Mira surveyed the small room. Only one other door stood on the other side of the small room. A table with some tools and a large ornate box on it was to the left and a series of hand carts lined the wall on the right. Mira investigated closer while Tiamat nervously continued to listen for any sounds from the other side of the locked door.
“Hey, these carts are all empty, but there are some scraps of veggies down at the bottom. Left behind maybe. I’m thinking that maybe those golems come here for cooking supplies?” she guessed.
Perusing the tables she saw an array of clippers, saws, and blades. They all looked more specialized for harvesting than for combat. The box was the most interesting thing in the room, shining brightly in her mage sight. Mira could see the complex runes lining its surface, invisible without mage sight, but glowing brightly for her. The symbols were familiar to her from her classes at the Arcanum; the Eternal Arbor rune, the Harmonic Mandala, the Echelon Echo, and the Aetheric Spiral.
“The sigil work implies resonance, enhancement, and duplication” Mira pronounced.
“That's nice, but instead of guessing, why don't you read the tag hanging off the back of the box?” Tiamat said sweetly but with heavy sarcasm.
With a cross look, Mira rounded upon the large box, and she found the tag that she had missed. She cleared her throat and slowly read it aloud to Tiamat.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“The Conjuror’s Cornucopia Coffer: instantly multiplies samples interred within, including enchanted items. The quantity returned is based upon the coffer’s stored power divided by the value and power of the sample contained. Duplication may also be limited by the available space of the coffer. This Coffer recharges with ambient power and cannot be forcibly recharged. The coffer offers astounding efficiencies for mundane items.” She recited.
Mira had a good feel for estimating a device’s potential power and status from her experience in creating enchanted items. Using her magical sight, she looked at the device’s charge and its potential capacity. “Looks like this thing is pretty well topped off. It's got more energy than my staff can hold, which is a lot. And right now, it's got somewhere around 95% of its full potential. The question is, how much can it do with that power? It seems like we’re safe here for the moment. How about a quick test?”
Mira found a carrot in the bottom of a cart. She put it in the box and closed the lid. She could see the runes light up as the Akasic power raced through the magic circuits along the box’s surfaces. A second later the sigils dimmed. She opened the lid. Sure enough, the box was filled to the brim with carrots. She inspected the device's power levels.
“It doesn't look like the power shifted at all. Mundane efficiency indeed! Next test!” Mira tried to lift the box and pour out the carrots, but it was too heavy. She cheated by magically pulling all the carrots into her dimensional storage.
“Let's try something harder. Something unenchanted but maybe a magically resonant material, I think.”, she said. She summoned a small ingot of Aegisite that they had gathered from the warehouse area from her Talisman’s storage. Aegisite was a top-tier magically resonant metal, even better than the stoney Magicite. Placing it in the box and closing the lid, she quickly reopened the box to see neatly stacked ingots filling the space.
“Wow! And the power level moved but only a little bit. Ok, now a magic item with some kick but small enough to duplicate inside the confines of the box.” Mira said.
Tiamat coughed audibly so that Mira would look over. Tiamat was turning her crudely fashioned flame-throwing crown over in her hands, looking innocently around the room.
“Alright, stinker. Let’s give your item a try. Always good to have extras, right?” Tiamat put her new crown into the box and peeked at Mira with a shrewd look. Mira was concentrating, looking inward into her dimensional storage space for more potential tests. Tiamat quickly and discretely slipped her shape-changing ring into the box as well with a grin and closed the lid.
Mira stepped up to the device, looking over to Tiamat. The small dragon gave her a smile and a thumbs up. Mira snorted and activated the Cornucopia. The box shuddered and a screeching grinding noise peeled out. The lid popped open with a puff of smoke and the smell of burning oil.
“What the hell?” Mira asked.
She looked inside and pulled out a small ring with a tiny ruby embedded in it. Mira looked with suspicion at Tiamat. Her magic senses picked up on the phantom sigils and icons embedded in the item’s energy matrix. A series of shape-changing mandalas, flame evocation runes, and fire resistance glyphs. After a moment’s thought, she realized the item encompassed the abilities of both of Tiamat's magic items and understood what had to have happened.
“Damn it, T! You put all your items in there at once! I don't think we’re supposed to mix items. Shit. Is it broken?” Mira inspected the box. Its power was almost completely drained with the smallest residue of mana remaining, but none of the sigil patterns seemed to be broken.
“Well, it looks okay but there’s no power left, so no more testing today, I guess.”, Mira said with a sigh. Mira gave Tiamat a withering glare as she began to pull the box to her inventory. She was surprised and dismayed when the box refused to disappear into her storage.
“Argh! No! Son of a Lich! Ok, calmly Mira.”, she fumed and finally took a deep breath. “The Cornucopia must have some spatial enchantments as well as duplication. It won’t go into my storage. Tiamat, we are definitely coming back for this box. It’s unbelievably valuable. Maybe we can use one of the carts to carry it or something. Got it?” Mira growled.
Tiamat nodded guiltily as she slipped her new ring onto her wrist, hidden from view behind her back. Only once Mira turned around to study the next door, did Tiamat allow an enormous Cheshire cat grin to split her snout. She couldn’t wait to try her new device.
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