Well, for a tradition to continue as long as alchemy did, with one purported goal that was never really achieved, I find it a fairly safe assumption that they were up to something else and that the something they were up to is hidden in their texts and symbols and images.

What specifically that something is, or are, is the subject of conjecture but I think they left a long enough, though enigmatic, paper trail that someday someone will decipher the nature and identity of the philosopher's stone and what the true goal of the magnum opus was, from nigredo through albedo, citrinitas and cauda pavonis (peacock's tail) to its final state, rubedo.

Or maybe it is one of those things that is destined to forever baffle us... and spark our imagination.

JBArk