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"This is your burden now. The fate of the world will be decided by the choices you make."

As Pythagoras of Samos handed over the Staff of Hermes Trismegistus to Amanda, she beheld the light leaving the ancient philosopher’s eyes and instantly dropped her new charge - it clanged to the ground as the vixen caught Pythagoras, gently settling him down to the ground.

Amanda could see that he was clearly dead, the life-sustaining power of the staff having finally left him. She drew the lids over his blank, lifeless eyes - it was the least she could do.

This done, Amanda turned her attention to the real reason she has here:

[i]The Staff of Hermes Trismegistus.[/i]

She picked it up off of the floor - on her journey here, Amanda had collected many a fearsome weapon and many a desirable item, but this thing was an acutely rare combination of [i]both.[/i]

Holding it in her hands, the thick vixen drank in its looks:

First and foremost, the entire thing appeared to be made out of solid gold, a theory that was confirmed by the fact that all that her hands could feel was the coldness of said metal.

Looking closely, Amanda could have sworn that it didn’t even look used, as she could see none of Pythagoras’ fingerprints on it - the craftsmanship was definitely of Olympian origin - maybe even from Hephaestus himself!

When upright, the staff was around her own height of 6 feet, with the spearhead on top adding a couple of inches to that.

The spearhead itself seemed to be protruding up from an inverted pyramid which was covered in thick scales, like that of a stately General’s breastplate.

As if that were not enough, the pyramid plinth was adorned with a pair of grand golden wings, and, twisting up from the top of the staff to support the pyramid, a pair of golden serpents.

Amanda lightly tossed the staff into the air a couple times, twisting it as she caught it again: despite the size of the staff’s ostentatious head, it felt perfectly balanced in her hands

A rare smile came to the vixen’s face.

She could do some [i]damage[/i] with this thing…

Before hooking the staff into the sheath on her back, Amanda looked it over quickly, resolving to heed the words of Pythagoras and never let go of it…

“Ah, greetings, Kallistrate.”

…until one of the snakes started talking to her.

She promptly screamed and dropped it again.

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Top work as usual by [iconname]SnapInABox[/iconname]