After another few days' journey, the odd duo of Crompter and the driver at last emerged from a path through the forest to see the Idealized Tower rising in the distance. The thing was enormous beyond description, to the point of seeming deceptively close. Even the wagons' horses seemed entranced by the strange sight in the distance.

As it became clear just how impressive this structure was, Crompter once again recalled the image of the entire Castlepass Mage Institute reduced to rubble, its mighty keep turned into a mere sandcastle by his own magic. Though that keep had seemed like a formidable bastion and a mountain of stone bricks, the image of a sandcastle was fitting: that's really all it was in comparison to [i]this[/i] place. No books or paintings that the Alterist had laid eyes upon had ever done the Idolized Tower justice.

"You're going to live [i]there[/i]?" the driver spoke in disbelief, as if Crompter was a filthy beggar that had announced he would be moving into a palace.

Crompter retorted in his usual drunken slurring, "Do I not look 'worthy' enough to you, boy? I'm as good as any, better than most! Used to be master of many fellow wizards, though our keep was still nothing like that..."

Once the Drunkard's thoughts trailed off, there was silence once more. After Crompter's display the boy had tried to ask countless questions, but of course the Alterist had silenced them all. Fortunately the driver had taken the message well, shut up and not even deigned to so much as ask for one free favor, and the rest of the trip had been peaceful.

That same silence persisted up until the point that Crompter at last ended it and their journey. He gruffly declared, "Ay, this is close enough. You can let me out now."

He promptly and unceremoniously rapped his wand on any of the possessions of his that remained whole in the back of the wagon. They all shrank to the size of thumbnails, and he stuffed them into a pocket along with all his other miniaturized books, containers of alcohol, and other miscellaneous things. Then he stepped out and addressed the driver, whose amicable nature yet tolerable presence had made the old alterist oddly grow fond of him. "This is farewell. Won't ever see you again," the wizard said curtly, but then his almost perpetual scowl made way for a small grin and he went on, "Take this, though."

He fished out a coin purse from some pocket of his coat and tossed it to the grateful driver. but then he pulled out a trunk from another pocket, the chest about the size of his thumbnail. He dropped it on the ground and waved a hand, and suddenly the container was several feet across and came up to Crompter's waist. The wizard opened the lock with a touch of his wand to reveal the huge chunks of solid gold inside, along with silver and jewels. The wizard raised a hand and a pound or two of the stuff flew from the chest and into the wagon, and then suddenly the chest slammed shut and turned tiny once more, retreating back into a pocket.

"You're a good lad and I tip well, so there. Don't piss it all away." Crompter spun around and began walking towards the tower with no further words.

Half sincere and half wanting to merely catch one last glimpse of the wizard that was something of a folk legend in his town, the driver cried out, "But how am I supposed to even keep it? The woods are infested with robbers, the lords will think I stole it..."

Crompter turned around once again, his face plastered with that look of agitation that the driver had grown so used to in their short journey. He spat, "Do you want it or not?" Taken aback and shamed, the driver looked down not knowing what to say. Cooling a little bit, Crompter eventually broke the awkward silence with a quip, "Hide the gold somewhere in your wagon. Cover the nuggets with the blackest mud you find, then use the coins to buy a bag of coal."

The boy smiled. "Then hide the gold inside the load of coal, and none will be the wiser?"

"Except me," Crompter laughed as he turned away once more to go, this time without looking back. Upon drawing close to the door, they swung open for him. That wasn't impressive to the seasoned wizard; any farce of a charlatan could work up some enchantment for that with some basic Alteration magic. Alteration magic was about as easy as breathing, at least in Crompter's eyes. Most weren't naturals like him, though, and might disagree.

A servant was immediately inside, the woman beginning to drone on about some nonsense. Crompter ignored the welcome, as he concluded within a moment that it would be just as boring as the servant. Crompter rummaged through his pockets all the while, until he found what he had been looking for. A fine bottle of wine that he had bought a week prior with the other six bottles. Enlargening it, he held it up to his mouth and began to drink. With the bottle in front of his face the woman was out of his side, and the sound of his gulping almost drowned out her drivel.

Once he was done, a good ten seconds later, Crompter staggered forwards and pushed past the servant. For the second time she said something about a room, but he didn't care. He shambled almost aimlessly in a state of stupor, yet somehow found his way to the meeting like everyone else. Barging in at the last moment, his glazed eyes looked over the people inside. He suddenly guffawed.

"Sho thish shorry lot is the world's besht?" he slurred in a hoarse voice between coughs and laughs. The fact that he was seeing a great big troll in the middle of the meeting only added to the hilarity. Stumbling forward, he collided with Matuna and realized with a start that [i]there actually was a troll inside the room.[/i] With that revelation he began to laugh even harder. Then he turned and suddenly noticed Umbrix. It was as if some demonspawn had met a moose and the two decided to see what sort of abomination they could hatch from an egg. [i]What a menagerie![/i]

Barely managing to stay upright, after a painfully long and awkward second burst of laughter he at last became slightly conscious that he was making a scene. [i]This would no doubt be a superb first impression for him to the Prince and the rest of his new colleagues[/i], he thought to himself sarcastically. Already he was just beginning to come back to his senses, unfortunately.