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You're now much more aware of Qibbi watching you. You figure she thinks you're an idiot, that you're wasting your time. Don't you want to explore beyond this musty old shaft?
Fine, fine, fine. One more pile, then you're done. You reckon it must be around 2-4AM, meaning dawn is about to crack outside, but it's probably still dusk for now. You hope that little nap earlier didn't distort your perception of time. Either way, just about time to move on. You've been sorting and sifting through rock for hours and all you've got to show for it are black fingernails and an empty potion vial, with the glass cracked in several places.
You stand up, defeated, wishing this whole episode could've been undone, or fast forwarded through. You curse your luck and kick a rock. You follow the stone with your eyes as it haphazardly tumbles a few feet ahead of you. As it comes to rest, you are transfixed with that rock, and it's symbolism in your life. Before you think anything too deep and groundbreaking, haha get it? Mining? Deep? Rocks? Groundbreaking? Ahh, I spoil you guys. I hope you are all ROCK HARD. (Your spirits, not your dicks.) Okay, back to the story, sorry. you see a glimmer. You try focusing on it, but whatever it was, it's gone dull from this angle. You cock your head around like an itchy wyvern, trying to find an angle where the object will glimmer again.
There it is, next to where you found the cracked potion vial.
"A-ha!! Gotcha!!", you exclaim, arousing Qibbi's interest. It's no surprise she didn't find this on her own -- this thing wasn't just hidden, it was utterly lost until you came along.
The item you found is a small crystalline gemstone, icy blue in color, but warm to the touch. You smile and your mind feels at ease as you twirl the gem around and look through it as light dances in and out of its many jagged faces. You've studied this gemstone before you came to Pigsnorts, and again at Pigsnorts in your Crystallomancy class with Professor Zneip.
You hold in your hand a legendary Gem of Life, a one-use item capable of raising the dead and bringing their soul back to its home, no matter how long they've been departed from this world. But beware, insanely chaotic things have been known to happen when these gems shatter before they are used. You could be horribly transformed forever, or sucked into a new world, or even turned into a zombie, among other mysterious fates. The effects of breaking a Gem of Life aren't well understood, because they are so incredibly valuable and hard to find, and no one wants to volunteer to be the test dummy. At least, no one has ever returned to tell the tale.
You doubt this whole chamber was filled with Gems of Life, but who knows? There's no evidence one way or another, and with the sparsity of the mine as a constant reminder, you doubt you'll find another Gem of Life even if you spent another week, or a year, or a century down here. You got lucky, real lucky.
