The Harvest Moon Consortium

[Winterhawk99]

Melissa Meets a Wizard

Melissa was happily browsing the wares at Morzelmore's outdoor market. She had just bought herself some climbing equipment, which she thought might come in handy if ever she ran out of Flying-Scrolls. Just then, she noticed out of the corner of her eye a new arrival, and her ears perked up as she heard the merchant addressing the newcomer as mr "Lute Fisk".

"Haha!", she said to herself, "If only he knew what that means in my native language!" (Bard's Note: Lutefisk is the name of a particularly foul dish of fish in Melissa's world.)

Mr Fisk must have noticed her smile, because suddenly he turned to her and introduced himself! "Oh, er... hello to you as well" said Melissa, "My name is Melissa of Bithynia. Well met!" She was well pleased with herself for having managed to stifle her giggles and answering the dragonkin in such a polite manner.

Much to Melissa's surprise, Lute Fisk then told her that she was just the person he was looking for, and that his mistress, Alvinia, would like to meet Melissa in the Wizard's Tower.

"Maybe she has a job for me?", Melissa wondered, and without hesitation (though quite intrigued!) she went with the dragonkin to the tall and imposing Tower of Wizards.

"My mistress is on the top floor", said mr Fisk. "Please follow me!". Up and up the winding stairs they went! But as they passed some prison cells, Melissa noticed that they were filled with sick and dying people who seemed to have been experimented on. "I must be very cautious" she said to herself, "Because I am clearly surrounded by evil." Deftly, she threw a set of lockpicks through the bars to a prisoner who looked a little healthier than the others, but that was all she dared to do right then.

Finally, they reached the top floor, and Melissa was introduced to Alvinia, who she realized must be a very powerful wizard.

"I have watched you and your friends for some time, And I have an offer for you" said Alvinia.

"You have watched us?", said Melissa. "But how?"

"Through my scrying devices!", said Alvinia, and pointed at some odd devices in the middle of the room. Melissa felt quite uncomfortable to think that someone had been watching her friends and her without them knowing about it. She tried to peer into one of the devices, but saw only swirling mists.

"Don't worry about those", said Alvinia. "Come with me."

She went to a platform and said some arcane words which Melissa couldn't quite catch. Suddenly, magical lights began to swirl around the platform, and Melissa understood that it must be a teleporting platform of some kind. "Come!" said Alvinia, stepped onto the platform, and promptly vanished! Melissa crossed her fingers, and trembling just a little, the brave girl climbed onto the magical platform.

There was a heart-stopping moment, a dizzying feeling of falling endlessley into a void, and suddenly Melissa found herself in another place!


Wide-eyed, Melissa looked around at the new surroundings in which she found herself. Alvinia was standing a few feet away, and they were both standing on top of what must be the tallest mountain in the world! Far below she could see endless grasslands stretching into the distance. But didn't she feel a bit lighter than usual, and wasn't the sun a little smaller than it should be?

"We are no longer on Sierra Na" said Alvinia. "This is another world, which circles the same sun as Sierra Na!"

"But why have you brought me here?" asked Melissa. "The view is breath-taking, but there doesn't seem to be much to do here."

"I have brought you here to make sure nobody can overhear us", said Alvinia, "Because I am going to tell you about a great secret!"

"On the deepest level of the Dwarven Mines in the forbidding Morzel Mountains an ancient artifact is hidden", she continued. "This is the sword Sightblinder, which according to the lore can hide the true nature of it's wielder!"

"You mean it makes them blind?", asked Melissa.

"No, no" said Alvinia. "It makes your enemies think you are one of them; A trusted friend who it is no surprise to find among them! The one who wields this sword can go wherever she pleases and spy out any secret. Dragons will see as you a fellow dragon and brood-sister at that, undead will think you're another undead, and so on."

"If I had that sword, I could set those poor unfortunates in the Wizard's Tower free", thought Melissa, but to Alvinia she said: "Why are you telling me all this?"

"I want you and your friends to go the Dwarven Mines and find the sword. It must not fall into evil hands, and your group will use it only for good, I'm sure!"

Melissa had her doubts about Alvinia's sincerity and wondered if it was not some sort of elaborate trap, but pretended to agree to what Alvinia said.

"Very well! I shall gather my friends, and together we will secure this sword!"

Then they shook hands, and went back through the portal to the Wizards Tower in Morzelmore, on the World of Sierra Na.


Melissa was greatly relieved to find her friends Nora and Tralla sitting around the campfire in the Vale, for it is no fun hunting all over the forest for one's friends when one has important news to tell them!

"Let us go into the Lodge", she said, "For I have important news to tell you! It is a long story, so we should seat ourselves by the fire, and order Ale and Tea for all."

Nora and Tralla readily agreed to this, for they both enjoy sitting in front of a fireplace whilst listening to a story and quaffing good Ale or Tea.

So they all went inside and Melissa told them all that happened the day before, when she went with mr Lute Fisk to the Wizard's Tower in Morzelmore and learned about the ancient sword Sightblinder.

They all had strong misgivings about the motives of the Archwizard Alvinia, but nevertheless resolved to go to the Dwarven Mines the very next day, in order to retrieve the artifact.

No sooner had they decided this, than there was a strange rumbling in the chimney and suddenly a strange person fell out of the fireplace! He was all dressed in red and looked like a large, burly dwarf with a white beard (and soot all over his clothes and face).

"Fear not!" he said, "For I have listened to your tales and concluded that you are good persons."

"Who are you and what were you doing up the chimney?", demanded Nora, but the strange fellow ignored her very reasonable question (under the circumstances), and kept on;

"I have come to give you a warning that you must not forget! WATCH FOR THE WHITE KNIGHT!"

With that he disappeared as suddenly as he had come (or even more so!) in a puff of smoke!

The three friends stood slack-jawed, but then Tralla suddenly noticed that the rug was on fire! An ember must have fallen onto the carpet when the dwarf arrived, and now the cabin was in danger of burning down!

"Fire!", shouted Melissa, and ran around in little circles whilst her friends were staring at the flames aghast. "FIRE! The cabin is burning down!" But Melissa could see no buckets of water anywhere. Then she had an idea, and ordered a large mug of ale from Los Lonelyheart, who seemed strangely unperturbed by it all. Quickly, she poured the mug of ale onto the fire, which had already gone out.

"Now that was a waste of perfectly good Ale" said Los. "Don't you know that the cabin is made of fire-resistant wood?"

Melissa admitted that she had no idea about this, and then everybody went to bed in order to be ready and rested for the great adventure which lay ahead.


The friends went all the way to the Dwarven Mines and met many orcs on the way. All the orcs wanted them to return home and not go to the Dwarven Mines, but they forged ahead anyway! Then the orcs were very angry and tried to kill the heroes! Luckily, the heroes were stronger than the orcs, so it was the orcs who got killed instead.

In the mines they met more orcs and the ghost of a black dragon. The dragon tried to frighten the heroes away but to no avail. Then they fought, but it was an even match so they all decided to discuss the matter peacefully. After a while, the ghostly dragon agreed to let the heroes pass and went back to sleep.

They went further into the mines and found a strange device that teleported monsters from other worlds to this one. They poured copious amounts of Holy Water on it, which put an end to its evil ways!

Down and down they went, and much to their surprise they met a baby Silver Dragon! They were just about to ask it for directions, but then a horde of orcs charged in and killed the baby! The heroes tried to raise it from the dead, but it was too late. Fortunately, there was a cleric of Bahamut nearby, and she managed to resurrect the silver dragon baby after the heroes had retrieved its body and found some other items to do it with.


After having rested a little, the heroes forged ahead into the deepest parts of the Dwarven Mines. There they met some very unfriendly people with wings, all dressed in red clothes! They were extremely skilled fighters who gave even our heroes a good run for the money! "Vhew! These red menaces are tough!", said Melissa, and Nora agreed. But Tralla said that they must be Elder Fey Ri, because that is what such ones are supposed to look like.

Finally they came to the last room, and there was the Sword Sightblinder lying on the floor! The friends were a little unsure about who should pick it up, because they were afraid it was evil somehow. In the end they decided that Tralla should take it, because she is part fey, and therefore not so susceptible to evil magics.

As soon as Tralla picked it up, she turned into an orc! Or at least, that's what Melissa and Nora thought! However, they soon realized that it was only an illusion, because Tralla still looked like Tralla to herself.

Now they had no problems bringing the sword all the way back to the Vale! When they met orcs, Tralla looked like an orc and explained that Nora and Melissa were ambassadors from Mercroanne. When they met dragons, she looked like a dragon, and when they met trolls she looked like a troll and so on. This way, they had no problems bluffing their way all the way home.

When they reached the Vale, they discussed what should be done with the sword, and decided to bring it to the Tansu for safekeeping. And there it has been ever since!


Epilogue

One day as Melissa was exploring a minotaur maze, a meesenger came running up to her! He said he came from the cleric of Bahamut in the Dwarven Mines, and that he had a gift for Melissa becasue she helped save the Baby Silver Dragon. The gift was a beautiful pair of Raven Wings that Melissa can use to fly with! Melissa happily accepted the gift, and the messenger continued on his way.

Later, Melissa tried the wings to see if they worked. At first they seemed to work fine, but Melissa soon learned that they came with a bad flaw. They were easy enough to take off and fly with, but landing was another matter! Whenever she tried that, she would crash headfirst to the ground!

Melissa decided to have a word with that cleric about it the next time they meet


Story Written by Nereng