Your fingers twitch as the ominous words on the coin register in your mind. Without hesitation, you let the copper piece clatter to the obsidian floor, backing away with hands raised in supplication. Every instinct screams that you've stumbled upon something far older and more dangerous than mere financial troubles.

Valthorix's laughter shakes the cavern, dislodging more precious stones from the ceiling. 'Wise, for a mortal,' he rumbles, watching the coin roll in lazy circles. 'Though perhaps not wise enough.' The dragon's massive head tilts, his horns scraping against crystalline formations overhead. 'That little trinket has been... problematic in my collection.'

The abacus suddenly explodes in a shower of molten beads. Valthorix doesn't even flinch as burning fragments embed themselves in the treasure piles. 'Tell me, financier,' he purrs, smoke curling between his teeth, 'how does one account for cursed assets in your ledgers?' The ground trembles again, this time accompanied by a distant, metallic clanking from deep within the mountain.

From the shadows emerges a skeletal figure clad in tattered accounting robes, its bony fingers clutching a ledger that oozes black ink. The creature's hollow eye sockets fix upon you as it rasps, 'Compound interest... accrues... eternally...' Valthorix sighs, a shower of sparks accompanying his exhalation. 'Ah. The previous financial advisor.'