Mega Gold's Breakthrough

Mega Gold

Hello @everyone. Earlier today, I made a fascinating breakthrough in my research, and luckily, I was recording audio as it happened and while I discussed it with @Doc Gibbons.

I don't have time to get into the details of what I uncovered as I have an impossibly long list of errands to run today - you'll understand why when you listen - but it is important. If all goes to plan, we will have made major progress in our mission in a week's time.

Let this be a reminder that our greatest discoveries can often derive from the most minute details.

13MB

Gold-Memo-071724.mp3

Audio Transcript

Mega Gold

Today is July 17, and this is part four of my memos about the tome. In case anyone ever hears this, which depends on whether I make any discoveries of note, I am including a brief explanation at the top of each recording. Doc has asked me to do a detailed search for anything that may be helpful within the tome. That enormous ancient magic book we brought back from the Obsidian Sanctorum.

So this chapter focuses on various metals and their uses in alchemy. There's information on some of the ordinary metals you'd find on the periodic table: Lead, tin, copper, iron, mercury, silver, gold. These pages all seem fairly typical. This next section details what it refers to as the Magitope of each metal, or the magically enhanced Plubum Umbre, Stanum Stellaris, Cuprum Ignatum, Ferum Fortis, Quicksilver Velox, Argentum Linare, and of course, the most powerful and my personal favorite, Aurum Elysium. Or as we call it now, Megagold.

Hmm. Hmm. Not much here either. I mean, these materials have so many fascinating properties that I could start an entire podcast about them, but unfortunately, nothing appears to be relevant to our current investigations, and I absolutely do not have time for a side hustle right now. Oh, and that's the end of the chapter. I guess I'll have to. Huh. What is this?

Okay, so there's a blank page between the end of this chapter and the start of the next one. I almost missed it, but there is a note written in faded pencil at the top. Could be demons handwriting, but its so small, I really cant tell. It says, can't believe the author had the gall to leave a blank page. Drives me nuts and fills me with vitriol. Weird thing to get so upset about. Oh, wait, I think I know what this means. It is a terrible pun, yet so clever. This was something doctor Mandrill mentioned when his lectures started to veer toward the unconventional. I always remembered it because it seemed so out of place. More like a fun chemistry party trick than postgraduate course material. Thousands of years ago, alchemists would use gallnuts from oak trees to make an invisible ink that became visible through a chemical reaction with solutions of copper sulfate and iron sulfate, known as vitriols. And luckily, those sulfates are extremely common in any laboratory.

Okay, I'm just gonna lightly brush the page with a solution and hope I didn't completely misinterpret the message. I can see something appearing on the page. Can't quite make it out yet, but that looks like a ton of words. It's getting clearer it's instructions for an alchemy ritual. It could be precisely what we need right now. Doc! Doc! Doc!!!

Doc Gibbons

My goodness. What in the name of ape kind is going on? Is everything all right?

Mega Gold

I uncovered something spectacular in the tome. You must take a look at it immediately.

Doc Gibbons

How was there an entire page of handwritten notes that we missed in our initial perusal?

Mega Gold

It was written in invisible ink, so it looked like a blank page before I figured it out. It describes in great detail an advanced alchemical ritual that can summon a targeted individual to a specific location. In this case, the Black Temple. It looks like it should work on anyone who is currently alive anywhere on Earth. I doubt it functions elsewhere in the metaverse. I can't discern whether Demon wrote it or someone else, but either way, if he is on this planet, we can use it to bring him to us.

Doc Gibbons

Eureka. Well, then, what are you waiting for? Do you need my assistance to begin the procedure or...

Mega Gold

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What? You're not even gonna question the source or give me a lecture about how alchemy is a pseudoscience and we can't trust everything we read in secret notes in ancient magical books?

Doc Gibbons

I have put you through that ordeal enough times already to know that my words will not change your resolve. On multiple occasions, you have achieved real, provable results using methods I believe to be fictional, so I trust your instinct. Also, I have exhausted all other options in my attempt to locate our former friend. There are no records of his existence since the Simian Path was active. He's not even on any social media. So, do what you must.

Mega Gold

Are you sure? This ritual is pretty intense. It requires a ridiculous number of ingredients, many of which are quite rare. Finding them and bringing them to the black temple will likely be a considerable time commitment. So I'd have to postpone my other research for a while. I'll have to go back to the Obsidian Sanctorum and try to find a piece of demon's fur. And I need to distill the essence of a rare carnivorous plant that only grows in...

Doc Gibbons

Please, spare me the lurid details. Connecting with demon is our greatest hope at this moment. Take the time you need, but work as quickly as possible.

Mega Gold

Wait. When you visited the other side, did you happen to collect any dirt or sand there?

Doc Gibbons

That is really one of the ingredients you need? Well, indeed. You are in luck. I have not worn my hiking boots since that excursion, so there should be still some other side sediment in the treads.

Mega Gold

Thanks, Doc. We're gonna find them. And pretty soon, we'll find the rest of the Megas. I can feel it.

Doc Gibbons

I truly hope so.

Mega Gold

Well, I have a feeling this recording has become significant enough to be shared amongst the lab. So hello and goodbye, everyone. I have some ingredients to hunt down.