Menu History Enter Deeper Trouble Statistics Download Stories Weddings Races and Guilds The Merchant System Levels Rules The Creators Players Pictures Gatherings Homepage links	Knippy's Robe (Ninguable, 18, Fri May 28) ell, just the other day I decided it was time to upgrade my current set of threadbare robes by killing knipotec for his. I zipped over to Occam in a few short minutes, and tracked down the poor bugger. I found him in the slammer pub, slumped over at a table in the corner and I decided that perhaps I should just once talk with him before mercilessly hacking him to pieces... (One moment, need to dampen my throat with some wine) HMm.. now where was I? Oh yea.. I saw knipotec, and decided to talk to him before I slaughtered him once again. As I approached the table and sat down next to him, Knipotec drearily lifted his head, and said "You again? Go ahead, just try it you bastard...". Having said this, he tilted his over one side of the table, and proceeded to spew forth his last hour's worth of food and drinks on the floor. After some coughing and hacking, he finally looked up again, and I can almost imagine that he looked BETTER than he did before. He looked at me and said "Wait.. I gotta story. You really ought to hear this...". I nodded and he continued "Once..." he said, "Once there was a proud man..." Once there was a proud man, a man greatly accomplished in the arts of wizardry and arcane science. This man lived in a quiet corner of Artesia, in the southwestern part, where it was always sunny, but never too hot, and the rain refreshed rather than dampened. The man was very proud of this fact, because he was the reason it was so. The man was so great in his art that the seasons proceeded their yearly cycles at his bidding, and the five and a half winds of the world were his to command. He created for himself a beautiful tower, and, despite the fact that he lived mostly by himself, built a huge and beautiful fortress. The tower and fortress were considered from all around to be the most beautiful and well built structures throughout the land, and the man himself was widely acknowledged as the worlds greatest wizard. This man was rather happy, living in his beautiful castle in the corner of Artesia, and was proud of all of his accomplishments. But he was never completely satisfied with them. Striving to find a source of even higher knowledge, he began to scour the land in order find a person even more accomplished in wizardry than himself. After months of searching and seeking, he began to wonder if his reputation of being the most powerful magician in Artesia was more or less accurate, when, one autumn day (autumns there were like spring everywhere else, except the leaves looked a lot prettier) the wind of the north west wafted into his tower, and mustered itself into the shape of a small young boy. "Masssssterrrrr" it said, its breath full of the wind's hissing, "I know of one who is greater than you... one who is truly accomplished in all of the arcane arts! His name is Beldin, and he is the creator of peoples and lands, and a friend to gods!" After delivering this news to his master, the northwest wind blew back out of the tower, leaving its master to ponder. The man now knew that there was a higher source of knowledge in the world, but he did not know how to find it, or to coerce it into sharing its power. He began to study rigorously all of his collected tomes of knowledge, and when these proved inadequate, had his servants go forth and collect more for him. Soon, almost all recorded knowledge of magic was located in the man's stronghold, where he spent night and day, day in and day out, studying and searching for the information he needed to accomplish his goals. The great sorcerer continued his studies relentlessly, but, after a few months, was convinced that there was nothing available anywhere to help him. Finally, on a cold winter's night, after many hours of restless work, the man found that which seemed to be what he needed. It was a piece, a fragment really, of a page from a book, or a scroll. While it was very incomplete and obscure, the things that it told of and hinted at tantalized the sorcerer so much that he finally convinced himself that he had found what he needed. This is what the paper said... "Take any wizard, be he scoundrel or adept, and clothe him in white linen over which the four great Herbs Of Crushed, and which with the herbs has been steeped a full week in the three great liquid essences of live (that is to say, soft, drunk and heal), and he will be hindered in power, and compliant to the wishes of anyone who places upon him any sort of geas or charm." So reading this, the wizard worked even more furiously to acquire the components needed for his endeavor. Finally, after all of the Herbs of Power had been gathered, and the three liquid essences of life had been properly distilled, the wizard was ready to meet his future teacher.. and slave. Climbing high into his tower one starry night, he cast a great spell of summoning. All wizards and being of magical nature, all over Artesia, felt the impact of this great sending, but only one knew that he was worth enough to respond. With a simple "pop" beldin appeared in the cell of the tower, scowling fiercely at the wizard who had summoned him. "What do you want?? I'm Busy!" he said angrily. "Great master, I bow down before your omnipotence and blatant superiority. I have called you here so that i might have the honor of bestowing upon you a gift... a fine set of robes that I have wrought with my magic." Beldin paced across the room to where the offering was held, and snatched it from the wizard's grasp. He held the white linen robes up to the night sky, and scrutinized them carefully. "Yes... these are fine robes, while they do not nearly surpass any of my own making... I thank you for this gift, young evoker. I shall try them on." With a soft rushing noise, Beldin's image blurred slightly, and when the wizard looked up, Beldin was clothed in the enchanted robes that had been made to trap him..... Upon seeing Beldin clothed in the charmed robes, the wizard immediately lept up and began to cast a spell of enslavement, when, Belding, having realized his intent, uttered a single word of power which send a wave of forces sweeping over the lesser mage, and causing him crash into the wall behind him. The lesser mage then returned the favor with a spell of stunning, which was deflected by beldin's diminished magical defense. So began a great and mighty battle which would last for more than four days of nonstop destruction. Despite the weakened state that the cursed robes had placed him in, Beldin seemed to be able to match anything that was throw at him, and return it in like manner. Finally, the lesser magician, having almost wasted away completely, managed to deal one last deadly bolt of magic which knocked the stunned and depleted Beldin to his knees. Beldin doubled forward, and appeared too fatigued or hurt to move. "I am sorry I had to do this to you, as you are truly a wonder of might. Now you shall teach me all of your knowledge and I will release you once I am sure I can counter your power". So quoth the lesser mage, as he began one last spell, the spell of enslaving which he had tried to cast on beldin days before. Suddenly, beldin jumped up from where he had been slumped over on the ground, and rose high into the air, glowing brightly. "FOOLISH SCUM!," he shouted, "DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT EVEN YOUR GREATEST WORKS COULD SO MUCH AS BLEMISH MY SUBLIME PERSONAGE? BWAahahaahahaahha!" Beldin, who now showed no hint of his earlier fatigue laughed and cackled with the sound of a thousand demons. He calmly alighted the earth, and approached the frightened and shivered mage who now cowered before him. "Did you REALLY think that such a petty hedge wizardry as the robes could affect me? You AMUSE me mortal!! You have brought me great mirth and sport, and for this, you shall LIVE... However, you will not be un-punished..." So saying, Beldin raised his arms into the air. When the mage looked down at himself, he saw that the robes he had made for Beldin now adorned them, though there seemed to be something different. "You thought to prison me and steal my power. Foolish wizard! No mortal should possess the power that I hold.. or the power that YOU now hold! For your impudence, you shall lose this power. The robes you now wear shall stifle your magics to mere spark of what they once were..." Beldin chuckled,"But that's not all! They shall be the envy of all that see them. Hereos from all over the world will be compelled to track you down and kill you like a DOG, and each day you shall be born anew, to suffer the same fate!!" Having said this, beldin pointed a crooked finger at the mage, who's form began to glow and blur. When the spell had been done, the mage no longer looked like the human he had been. He was now a thick , clumsy, and ugly thing with jutting tusks and foul breath. Beldin saw this and chortled, then turned around and raised his hands towards the sky. Suddenly, the sun grew a hundred times brighter than it had ever been there before, and all of the plants and trees and grasses in that land wilted and died. In a few short minutes the land for miles and miles around was reduced to a steaming waste. Beldin then turned towards the tower and fortress. With a negligent flip of his hands, the tower suddenly disappeared, having gone to another realm. The fortress, however, crumbled into a huge mountain of dust, which was then blown away by the wind (which no longer recognized its master) to cover the dessimated area. Finally, as his last act, Beldin turned back to the mage and moved his hands in a lifting jesture. As he did this, a great number of ugly creatures, all of which resembled loosely what the mage had been made into, sprung from the earth. "Now, wretch, I give you a new land and a new people. Rule them wisely!!". Having said this, beldin laughed and laughed, almost falling over. Then, he vanished in an instant. The tribe of creatures, and the mage who had once been human, began after some time to build a place of living for themselves. Unfortunately for the mage, none of them held any respect for his former power, and dubbed him 'Knipotec', which means in their tongue 'White Robed Foolish ToadsDung'. Knipotec accepted his sad lot, and lived with the orcs for some time. Then, one day, the first of the adventurers that Beldin had foretold of came and killed knipotec, beginning an age long cycle of pain and degradation. Well, having heard this story, I could help but feel a little sorry for poor old knippy, and I ALMOST let him go... but then I decided that Beldin was no one to screw around with, and killed the poor bastard anyways... besides, those are some cool robes he has, right? Back to Stories
Send stories, links or pictures to Zordiac