Speaking of the Raccoon Rune quest... here's a little-known fact about quest rewards in general:
Whenever there's a gem offered as part of the reward choices, you have a chance of getting a malachite gem instead. I always Q-save before turning in quests so that I can reload until I get a malachite gem. The last time I turned in that Raccoon quest, I got five (5) malachite gems on my 8th reload. My previous record was 3 gems from a malachite ore cheer

I'd like to close by quoting Bellegar's famous last rhyme:

"Cursed be the mother that bred thee!
The wench must have been a hell-spawned banshee!"