Amulets of the Winter Knight 1

"Amulets of the Winter Knight" is a series of non-sequential fantasy MMO short stories. Read as few or as many as you want…and in any order.


Herald of the Winter Knight
--------------------------------------------


"Tell me more about Goldennoon," the adventurer said, stroking his long grey beard thoughtfully as he leaned back on his staff.

"What?" I asked.  My "Hello and welcome to Goldennon. Are you buying or selling today?" line was originally penned to generate conversation, but only the locals ever want to chat.

"Tell me more about Goldennoon," he said again. Bani—she runs the booth next to mine—was giving him a funny look. Her customer, a woman wearing so little she could only be an adventurer, was pawing through a chest of valuable magic rings as if Bani didn't exist.

"Goldennoon started out as a simple farming village," I began, not entirely sure how to explain it to an adventurer.  "We really started to prosper once we learned to plant crops in staggered cycles so that we have enough to eat all year—in both the sunny season and the rainy season"

At Bani's stall, the female adventurer made a small groan of disgust as she turned away from the chest of rings, and started rummaging through the magic cloaks, a small frown on her face. Bani looked hurt and I didn't blame her. Anyone could see those rings were top quality. One could put a spring in your step and let you walk just a bit longer without tiring. Another would send a spray of little sparks shooting out of your finger wherever you pointed.  Nobody here understands why adventurers find these fascinating items worthless.

"How did you start trading in magic items as well as produce?" The wizard asked. (With that beard and staff, he must have been a wizard).

"Well, it actually wasn't until the first adventurers braved the journey through the mountains around Goldennoon," I replied. "They needed supplies and healing, and for payment, they offered us magic items taken from the bodies of slain mountain beasts.  We were amazed—nobody had ever killed a mountain beast before, so we had no idea they possessed such wonderful things. Now hundreds of adventurers are in the area at a given time, which keeps the plains near the mountains clear of monsters, and that lets us use more land for farming. Some brave souls go out and gather the magic items discarded by adventurers, but for the most part, we just buy them from the adventurers themselves."

A knight had walked up behind the old man. He looked antsy, and I didn't want to lose a customer, so I regretfully had to cut the conversation short.

"Well, are you buying or selling today?" I asked.

"I'm looking for some alipwort," he said. "I've traveled a long way in search of it. Do you have any?"

"I've never heard of that," This confused me even more. Adventurers never ask for anything specific, much less mundane. They either buy the most powerful item I have or turn my shop inside out looking for something even more powerful before grumbling something and leaving.

"Oh well," he sighed. "I guess I'll sell then. I just have this." He pulled an amulet out of his bag, and I gasped in horror.

"Where did you find that!?" I asked, dreading the answer. I had already forgotten about the knight.

"It was hanging from a tree at the edge of the fields near the mountains. Funny...it was the only tree I've seen here where the leaves have started to fall."

"No trees here lose their leaves naturally," I explained. "That amulet is the calling card of the Winter Knight. He is a malevolent magician who constantly plagues us from a hidden lair deep inside the tallest mountain."

"How?"

"His magic drains things of their warmth," I said bitterly. "Before he strikes, he rings the valley with these amulets to help focus his spell. Once he has it ready, the very air turns frigid. Rain turns to ice crystals, and the trees withdraw deep inside themselves and lose their leaves—all of the trees, not just the ones he afflicts with amulets. He collects the warmth as magical energy, saved for some horrendous ritual someday."

"What will you do?" He seemed genuinely worried.

"Our only hope is to get to a safe place in the mountains before the spell goes off and we all freeze to death," I told him…and then the idea hit me. "Wait--you might be able to help us! If you can gather the other nineteen amulets from around the edges of the valley and bury them miles away somewhere in the mountains, it will delay him long enough to let everyone escape to the caves while he does the spell the long way. If you can do this, you will be well rewarded."

"Of course I will!" The wizard turned and hurried off. Bani and I packed up as fast as we could, while the knight gave us a funny look and walked away.

Between the two of us, we mobilized the village, hoping against hope that the wizard got all the amulets in time.  We all made it into the safe place—for the first time in years, everyone had survived the magic of the Winter Knight …but the wizard never made it. After two days, some of the men grimly volunteered to go out and search for him. As we pulled the door open for them, though, no blast of cold air greeted us. No frozen rain swept in. A few hours later they came back with the wizard who saw me and immediately walked over.

"There you are," he said. "I've been looking all over for you. I have some more things to sell, and they're getting heavy."

As soon as he handed them to me, I knew why adventurers scorned our trinkets. These items were so powerfully magical that my divining amulet told me their properties as soon as I touched them—I didn't even have to say the command word. As I began to tell him their properties, the entire village fell silent, and my words echoed throughout the cavern.

"Staff of the Winter Knight. Damage: 350-500. Mana cost: 30. Target reduced to half speed.

"Robes of the Winter Knight. Defense: 12. Cold resistance: 40. 50% of damage taken replenishes mana.

"Amulet of the Winter Knight…." I trailed off. There was still a pair of boots, a  ring, a cloak, and the wizard had yet to take the remaining items out of his bag.

"How did you…?" I started.

"You defeated him?!" I wanted to say.

"I don't think I can afford these," I finally said. "I don't think the entire village can afford these."

"I'm just looking for some alipwort," the wizard pleaded.

***

Meanwhile, at the edge of the fields near the mountains, a lone adventurer frantically searched through the skeletal branches of a dormant tree. Finding nothing, he slowly walked away, paused and disappeared.

xXi<3fantasyXx sighed in frustration as he logged off of "The Treason of Morivath", the new online fantasy game he was beta-testing, and began typing a comment:

"The smarter artificial intelligence caused a whole bunch of bugs. I can't find that high-level wizard standing around the town square in the very beginning—the one with the "find me some alipwort" quest.  Then, later on, the Winter Knight quest randomly vanished too."