A Christmas Tale

Luke's Story 3: Warm Spirits are Good Spirits

The Man becomes very stressed out over the next two hours, acting panicked whenever he feels as though the Mage doesn't know something. The Paladin and Crusader both attempt to calm him down, their sets of armour lying along the shoe rack as they all talk about what the next move is. The Mage remains tight-lipped, choosing to enjoy the Man's great panic over informing the others of the risks ahead. The bell tolls, the Mage jumping to her feet with a great look of pride spreading across her body like a wildfire "Everyone gear up!" The Paladin and Crusader almost spill their drinks as the Man rises from his chair "Thank you for this, despite your strange methods..." He nods to the mage, giving her a comforting yet harsh look of dependency. She smiles as the Crusader finally hooks his blade to his side, looking over to the Paladin who is already on her way out the door. The Mage pushes the Crusader through, giving a sincere smile back to the Man who promptly replies with an awkward grin as the door is shut behind them. The Mage taps both of their chestplates before placing her finger over her mouth. They glow red for a moment before she grabs their arms and teleports. They land in an icy cold cave, as they hear a squeak from below them. They sit in the sleigh, that still appears to be slowing to a stop as the Mage stands up, grabbing a small elf that she had appeared on top of. She places it in her satchel before showing it a note as it becomes as stiff as a board, pointing further into the cave. They all jump from the sleigh, landing on the hard ground without a sound. "My armour is silent?" The Crusader starts as the Mage punches him in the back of the head, placing her finger over her mouth with a menacing stare. He nods, rubbing his head slightly as the pain sinks in and they begin to move towards the elf's point. They move with complete silence, casually walking past a line of elves that move back and forth from the sleigh to unload it. The Paladin whispers under her breath "Why are they here?" The Mage turns back, her staff glowing slightly as a voice replies in her head "The elves have been taken here to do the enemies bidding if you will." She responds as the Crusader adds a question "If they're now working for the big bad then they'll be alerting him as we speak won't they? Why aren't we moving in the shadows?" "They have not been told to respond to intruders; instead they are only to 'work'." The Mage replies quickly, checking the next corner before turning it as the elf's hand moves to point to a door on the right. The hallway continues in an icy blue like it has been but one of the doors on the left seems to be open, the large flow of elves entering and leaving as if that's where they're storing the sleigh's goods. The group begins again; walking normally before the Mage holds out her hand "Wait, the door may be in someone's line of sight so wait here..." her voice echoes in their minds as she checks the open door that's opposite to the elf's point. Surely enough, there is a figure standing with their back turned as she looks in, a blinding light behind him as hundreds of Christmas ornaments pile up around the room. She jogs back to the group pulling them closer to the door but still out of sight as she takes a deep breath. She raises her staff, tapping the bottom of it as a smaller second gem glows lightly. The group teleports into the room and the Mage smiles, a tinge of pain ringing in her head as the Paladin holds up her hands. A bright light emits from them before she throws it to the ceiling. The pitch black becomes coloured in an instant as stacks of disorganised presents glisten before them. The Mage wobbles forward as she trips over herself, falling to the floor as the telepathic line disconnects. "Get the king's present..." She tries to be stern as the Crusader kneels next to her, having the still frozen elf pushed into his chest as she tries to get up. As she places her hands on the ground to stand the Paladin kneels beside her, reaching down to her hand as she shakes her head. "We'll take it from here. Restore your mana while we find it..." She gives the Crusader a glance as he nods, watching as the elf points to a massive box nearby. "That's got to be it!" He says energetically as he runs over to it, tearing the wrapping away to find himself faced with a great black metallic cube. The Crusader looks around it, tapping it with his knuckle as he searches for some kind of crest. "Is this it?" He calls over to the two girls. The Mage just groans in slight pain as the Paladin rubs her head through her hat before getting up. "What does it look like?" she keeps her hand on the Mages head as she receives a dark glare. "It looks like a precious metal, I can't find a crest though...?" He places his hand on the back of his head before giving a confused look towards the elf who still devoutly points at the cube. He taps it again as the Paladin yells back "I'll be right there, don't touch anything!" She hears no response as she looks down at the Mage "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere." The Mage says as the Paladin jogs around a pile of presents that block the view of the Crusader. The room is silent as the Mage hears the door begin the unbuckle. She points her staff to the roof, dispelling the Paladin's light spell as she crawls to a nearby pile of wrapping papers, burying herself underneath it as the door swings open. The light from the corridor floods inside, as the figure from before walks through, a gleaming smile piercing into the darkness of the room. A blue shine illuminates from his feet, sliding towards a mountainous pile of presents before him. The atmosphere changes in a moment, a gigantic icy spike replacing the pile in an instant. The frozen cone glows with a cold shine as the figure picks up an icicle from the floor, slamming it into the middle of the structure as a tunnel shatters through the middle. The ice flashes with a greater light, flickering at a capacity that rivals the Paladins magic. His steps echo through the humungous hall. "Well well... I wonder who may have sent such wonderfully geared warriors. Santa maybe? Or are you just passing by?" His voice is cold and demanding as the knights can finally be heard along with a constant bang of metallic bars. "Who are you and how are you controlling these elves?!" The Paladin stands tall over the short-statured boy who pulls a cane from his belt before tapping the dark metallic cage "Same way that you tried to?" He says with a familiar looking cocky smile. The Crusader draws his blade, shoving it towards the boy's stomach. A flash of pale blue light engulfs the end of the sword as the sword disintegrates into shards of metal that fly across the room. The light clears, showing a curled branch in the place of the cane. A frosted white lines the top as the handle of the former blade falls from the Crusader's hands. Meanwhile, the Mage watches from her cover as she notices the flash of light. A second goes by with the right of snapping metal still lingering in the air as something shiny lands before her. Her eyes adjust to the sight, giving her a full view as a segment of the blade that she recognises immediately. She gasps through her hands, trying to keep her mind steady as she processes the situation. "They're fighting a magic user, the Crusader's sword has shattered in a single spell, and I barely have a mana supply... Think damn it!" She  shouts under her breath as she knocks on her head. She notices a small elf walking inside of the room, picking up a nearby box as the Mage gets an idea, quickly scribbling something down as the two knights watch the boy pace beside them. "Let me get this straight... You have no idea what I'm talking about when I say 'same way you tried to?'" The boy talks to the Paladin who has calmed the situation down to a regular conversation. "Yes, we have merely been sent here to retrieve our King's present to his daughter. He seemed quite distressed about it..." She looks off to the side slightly, remembering the King's expression as they left. She turns to look back, her eyes catching on a small light as an elf offers a letter to the boy which he promptly reads aloud "What is this? 'Show this to anyone you work with..." He pauses, realising what the rest of the note must say without finishing "...Attack your boss...'" He says from prediction as he stares down at the elf that is now hugging the top of his shoe. He lets out a sigh of relief "That's quite pitiful." He chuckles, causing the Crusader to look up "What's so funny?" He says with a grieving anger sprinkled in his cheeks as the boy just tosses the note into the cage. The Crusader promptly shakes his head in disappointment as the Paladin looks over at the scrap of wrapping paper in confusion. She reads it in her head in full as she looks up and cracks a snicker. A crowd of elves run into the room, taking the form of an orderly line as each begin to hug the boy. He stares at them confused as their weight begins to add up "What are you doing? You're first command is to avoid violence? How are you breaking one of Santa's rules?!" He begins to peel them off but they pile on top of him faster and faster before he's completely smothered in seconds. "Your attention span is the only thing that's pitiful." the Paladin stands as a voice echoes from the icy tunnel, a red light flashing with each spoken syllable. The boy looks back with fury "If it isn't a third little knight, get them off me and I'll let you leave with your body heat intact." He says threateningly as he barely manages to stand with all the elves clinging onto his every limb. A streak of flame bursts from the light, absorbing into the cage as nothing happens The boy raises his staff in return, firing a blast of cold air towards the Mage as a large shatter echos throughout the room. A couple seconds pass before the boy finds himself lying on the floor along side the Crusader who is also being trampled by elves. The Paladin picks up his staff, raising it to her chest and snapping it over her knee as the boy looks up at her with horror. "What did you do?" He shouts at the Paladin while she points towards the unconcious Mage. "It's strange to see how adorable she is when she's asleep isn't it?" She says, looking at the pile of elves that create a mountain over the manaless woman. "W-what did you do!" The boy repeates, stuttering with anger as the Paladin just gives him the piece of paper. "Once the illusion wears off, pile on everyone who is on the naughty list this year." The note ends with a carefully drawn heart with the small inscription of 'better luck next time' painted across it in smug hand writing. "That's our Mage for you..." The Crusader says with an unimpressed look, still trying to pick himself off the ground as even more wieght is applied.

The stick begins to smoke, a lightly coloured gas pouring from where it was snapped as the room is engulfed and the hero's fall to their knees in a moment. The Paladin runs, pulling the Crusader and Mage up from the now unconscious piles of elves as she leaves the room. She blinks and in the next moment, she's alone in a soft bed in the kingdom as a large bell rings through her quarters. She holds her head, promptly staggering to a sit as she looks around. She finds kind eyes to be staring at her as she mumbles something under her breath "St Nick?" "Not quite. Are you alright now ms Paladin?" She wipes her eyes, finding herself face to face with the King who is sitting by her ward bed. "Sir. I'm so sorry about this. I will be able to work in an hour." She says in surprise as the King chuckles "You have done quite enough. You three have done my task and can now have the rest of the day off." He assures the Paladin who turns around to find the Mage and Crusader snickering to themselves "Always the righteous..." They sigh in unison as the King stands. "I'm sure you have better things to do than report to me for the moment. Thank you, my knights, your rewards are ready to be claimed whenever you next arrive at the castle." He leaves before the Paladin can protest as the giggling continues "Calm down, he's just making sure that we don't overdo it." The Crusader starts. "One day off won't kill us." The Mage sarcastically finishes as she gets out of covers, stretching her legs slightly as her eyes catch on a multicoloured box at the foot of her bed. She stares at it, finding a label tied to the ribbon that she reads from afar as the other two finally leave their warm sheets. There, beside their sleeping bodies, someone had placed three strange packages that the Mage immediately doesn't trust. The Crusader and Mage look sheepishly at each other before the Paladin unties a small ribbon on top of her present. The wrapping unfolds gracefully to the floor, revealing a green gemmed necklace that she looks over before slowly raising it over her head. She looks up at the other heroes who are still acting nervous before smiling and opening their own...

..."Coal and a new sword?" Everyone's heads rise from their papers as they all immediately stare up at two bright red eyes. Their eyes adjust to the light as a tall boy waves his hand, pointing one finger at the short-statured girl who had made the passing comment. "You just had to ruin the ending didn't you?" Tet rolls her eyes sarcastically as the couple sits on a log next to her. "Good of you to finally show up." Tet springs into a hug as Luke puts down his script. "I didn't think it was that predictable." He says with a huff as Ol puts down his character sheet and stretches his arms "Try hard..." "That Mage was a bit of a deus ex machina weren't they?" the new girl holds out her hand for the script as Luke reluctantly tosses it over. "Aliza, he did make it on a whim, don't go too hard on it like you normally do..." The boy holds her shoulder as she looks up at him "It's the only way to get better. I consider doing this part of my duty." She sticks out her tongue at him as Mischief calls over "Dat, she's a lost cause. you of all people know that won't change her mind."  She spends the next few minutes basking in the improve before handing the papers back with a wavey hand "For a whim, it's fine. You kind of need more time to flesh out good characters."