I was at least looking for some pay dirt with the wizard's debt and the silver hand

No kidding. Talk about two really promising possibilities that went nowhere.

I keep thinking of a character in Charlotte Macleod's The Odd Job who's horrified when she discovers a really fine cut of steak (i.e., one that should have been simply grilled and served as a filet) got hacked up into beef stew. Nothing wrong with beef stew in itself, of course, but such a waste.