"I can't believe it. We actually killed an adult red dragon!" Edgin walked over in a daze, his eyes unfocused as he looked at the red dragon's corpse, which was as large as a small mountain.
"Yeah," Xenk sheathed his sword and said, "No matter how you look at it, what we did today was a great feat—another great evil has been vanquished."
Aoko didn't join in their celebration right away. Instead, she descended from the air to check on the state of her simulacra.
Simulacra created via the Simulacrum spell can't recover spell slots, but in this battle, it was mostly her original self who expended spell slots, so the consumption by the simulacra wasn't much. That meant she could still use them in the next fight.
"As expected of an 8th-circle archmage…" Simon looked curiously at Aoko's four simulacra. "Are these duplicates physical entities? Like puppets or something?"
"In terms of type, you could call them constructs," Aoko replied after thinking a bit. "They're duplicates created with my 7th-level spell Simulacrum. Although I can repair their physical forms, their spell slots can't be recovered."
"What material are these constructs made from?" Doric walked up, curiosity in her eyes. "They look so real…just a bit cold?"
"Of course they're cold," Aoko shrugged. "The spell components for these simulacra are ice sculptures, plus a bit of my hair."
"How exactly do we harvest materials from this thing?" Holga gestured at the corpse of Chiborchaad with her axe. "It's way too big—we can't possibly take it all with us!"
"It's like seeing a mountain of gold in front of you that you can't move—really makes you sigh…" Edgin came over and commented. "So, our noble paladin, what do you suggest?"
"I'm not giving advice, exactly," Xenk said. "But I have hunted dragons before with the Harpers, so I can share some experience."
"Only a small part of Themberchaud's dragonhide is worth taking," Xenk examined the body carefully. "He's just too fat, which means his skin and scales are all somewhat damaged. We'll just take the best parts. I can contact craftsmen to turn them into dragonhide gear for you."
"Besides scales and leather, dragon teeth, horns, blood, and liver are all precious alchemical materials," Xenk continued. "Our party's spellcasters probably know more about that."
"Um, can I have the dragon's heart?" Doric suddenly ran over. "I'm a druid specializing in transmutation. If I had a dragon's heart, maybe I could turn into a dragon in the future."
"Holga and I have no problem with that," Edgin said. "Just check with Simon and Miss Aoko. Oh, Simon definitely won't mind."
"Let Doric have the heart, I don't mind," Aoko said as she put away her four simulacra and walked over. "I don't really need anything from this red dragon… Well, leave me the dragon blood and a horn. I've been researching some Faerûnian alchemical potions and need those materials."
"Thank you," Doric smiled at Aoko. "Simon, do you want anything from the red dragon?"
"Hmm…" Simon hesitated. "I'd like a dragonhide pouch and a pair of dragonhide gloves…"
After a lively discussion, the adventuring party that had narrowly defeated Themberchaud finally settled the division of the spoils.
Holga was in charge of harvesting materials. As a barbarian with years of hunting experience, she was well-suited to the task. Even though dragons aren't beasts, there are similarities.
Aoko enchanted Holga's dagger and axe again, and it took the six of them about half a day to finish processing and packing everything they could carry.
"Next, let's head to the Neverwinter," Aoko stretched and asked, "What route should we take?"
"We should go southeast," Xenk pulled out a hand-drawn map of the Underdark. "We can rest for the night in that cave we found before, then take about two days to reach the Neverwinter."
"Will we make it in time for the High Sun Games?" Edgin asked. "I'm worried Sofina and Forge might hurt Kira…"
"From what you and Holga described earlier," Aoko said, "Forge treats your daughter well. Otherwise, he wouldn't have raised her in luxury all these years. But of course, that's only as long as she doesn't come into conflict with his treasure."
"That venomous snake…" Holga cursed fiercely. "If he hurts Kira even a little, I'll chop him in half!"
After venting about Forge and Sofina, the party set off again, leaving Themberchaud's butchered corpse behind.
Returning to the cave camp was easy, taking only an hour and a half.
"See, I was right," Edgin said smugly. "Aoko's protection spells are still intact, so it wasn't a waste!"
"Yeah, right," Holga slapped him on the back. "If we'd been slower, we might not have run into those assassins and the red dragon."
"But then we wouldn't have gotten so many spoils!" Edgin said, patting his share of the loot.
Doric and Xenk set up camp and lit a fire, while Simon sat to the side, muttering over the Helmet of disjunction.
"How's it going?" Aoko sat down across from Simon. "Did you manage to attune it?"
"No," Simon said gloomily. "There's an enchantment on it—I can't attune it without wearing it, but putting on a high-level magical item recklessly could be risky…"
"Can I take a look?" Aoko offered. "Maybe I can figure something out."
"Oh, of course!" Simon handed the helmet to her in relief.
Aoko examined the Helmet of disjunction closely.
She found it was exquisitely crafted, seemingly with a mithril core—very light, but extremely tough, and highly conductive to magic.
In the center of the helmet's front was a gemstone. Through her arcane sight, Aoko could see complex three-dimensional magical arrays inside the gem—the core of the permanent enchantment.
She closed her eyes, focusing her consciousness on the gemstone. After a few minutes, she opened her eyes, looking at the helmet thoughtfully.
"Well?" Simon asked expectantly. "Can you attune to it now?"
"There's a 9th-level Mordenkainen's Disjunction spell permanently bound to this… no wonder," Aoko said, and promptly put on the helmet.