The door to Doc’s lab squeaked open, and Etho shuffled in lazily. The man himself was standing at a lab bench, fiddling with something- on the bench beside him, a machine the size of a filing cabinet was whirring away noisily. Etho paid it no mind.
“Got the last of ‘em for ya.” He said, holding up a jar of blue slime and giving it a shake, “The last artifake.”
“Perfect,” Doc rumbled, peering in at something through a microscope.
“So, uh, do we have an answer? About the Iskallium eye?”
“Hmm? Yeah, we do. That’s definitely Iskall’s eye. Same materials, same composition, same power supply- matches all the diagrams he gave me when asked. Only difference is, all the artifakes are beat to hell. I don’t know what could possibly have caused these dents, man. Does Tango-?”
“Tango is saying the same thing Tango said yesterday, which is, quote, “they came with the dungeon!” Etho rolled his eyes, leaning up against a workbench that was cluttered with his hard-won artifakes, “So, ah, any luck? I’m risking my life in there for this, you know that, right?”
“You’ll respawn,” Doc muttered, holding a hand out and waggling his fingers. Etho dropped the jar of speedy slime into Doc’s metal palm with a clank, and Doc moved whatever he was examining off the microscope and set about preparing another slide.
“So,” Doc said, “There is a commonality, across all items.”
“Oh?” Etho echoed, hopping up on a bench and shoving a well-loved pickaxe out of the way, “And what’s that?”
“A dusty...residue...thing. Tastes and smells like spent gunpowder, like a rocket that’s just been fired,” Doc said, dropping a slipcover on top of the slide, “It’s fine, particulate residue.” Doc shrugged, and slid the sample of slime onto his microscope, peering in for a closer look.
“And it’s...EVERY artifake, you said?”
“And every artifact, I’ll bet. Keralis’ slippers were a goldmine- just choked with the stuff. Seriously. I put them into a bag and shook them and a ton of that dust came out.” Doc twiddled the focus knobs, and sighed.
“There's more of it. Man, and it's even, like, mixed into the slime! I’m gonna have to ask Jevin for a sample when he’s around next so I can compare.” Doc nodded, and Etho smiled behind his mask.
“Soooo... that’s it, then? The mystery of where the heck Tango got all these artifacts from is...magic dust, I guess?”
The machine dinged, like an egg timer, and printed something out on a long strip of paper. Doc extracted it, and started to read over his results.
And as his eyes scanned down the page, he went very, very still.
“Etho. Composition of this dust...it’s rock.” Doc said slowly.
“Roughed edges. This rock has never seen water.”
“This rock hasn’t been oxidized. Predominantly...reduced. No clay, no mica...which means...”
“Doc!” Etho sighed, “What are you trying to say, here?”
“Every single one of these artifakes is covered in moon dust.” Doc said flatly.
“Wherever the dungeon is getting these artifacts-” Doc started, hands trembling.
“-Is someplace we didn’t get lucky last season.” Etho finished, "Ah. O...kay."
Both men stared at the jar of slime in silence.
“...Cool. Well, anyway, have fun with your crisis. I’ve got three more frozen shards left!” Etho said cheerfully, and he skipped out the door.
