January 29th Writing Prompt: Gold
After a series of stagecoach robberies, the master of the treasury devises a plan to protect their dwindling stock of money. They work with an arcanist to create enchanted fool’s gold that will help to capture the bandits who keep robbing the kingdom. What happens during the next stagecoach robbery?
Ideas and questions:
If the next robbery goes off as planned, and the enchanted fool’s gold does nothing to stop the thieves, it could lead to the master of the treasury and the arcanist believing that there is someone on the inside who has been sharing details with the bandits.
It could be possible that the enchanted fool’s gold explodes in a dazzling display of color when it is handled by the thieves. This could leave them with their skin and clothes magically dyed, allowing the kingdom’s guards to more easily find them.
Magic tends to be a little unpredictable by nature. Though the arcanist might have planned for the fool’s gold to do one thing, they could act quite differently in the stagecoach. If a mightily disproportionate response occurs, the master of the treasury and the arcanist might find themselves in a poor light to the citizens of the kingdom.
Does the master of the treasury want to capture the robber, or find a more permanent solution? Would they be remiss if anything occurred which hurt or killed anyone who was stealing from the kingdom?
Is there a reason that these robberies are occurring? Is the kingdom painfully unaware of the struggles that the citizens are experiencing, and that is the reason for the thefts?
Challenge:
Write about a scenario in which the fool’s gold does not eliminate the problems with the stagecoach robberies, but escalates the issue. Perhaps a desire for revenge has the bandits eager to track down the master of the treasury, or the citizens no longer favor the tactics of the kingdom.