Genn Wintord

UP: Lake Superior

    Minoc – The forest north of Minoc hath been afflicted with discolored trees. Not long ago, the first such tree appeared, golden in color. There did not seem any call for concern when it was discovered, for it was merely a tree with an odd colored trunk. Many wondered if it would produce a marvelous wood, but were disappointed when the tree proved to be no different than any other in that regard. Soon after, the tree turned black and surrounding trees began to appear that were as golden in color as the first tree had been. The ring of trees grew as the newly discolored trees also turned black and a wider ring of the forest turned golden in hue.

    Concern mounted and it was decided that action must be taken. Serlinuus, an alchemist from Moonglow, traveled to Minoc to investigate the problem. He determined that whatever had enchanted the forest was spreading. “It was possibly aggravated by the desire to harvest the original tree’s wood,” Serlinuus conjectured, “and will obviously need to be stopped. The question is: What hath caused this?”

    Studying the trees and consulting many books on local flora and obscure alchemy techniques, Serlinuus stumbled upon a way to possibly slow the spread of the enchantment. The technique involved creating some magical hourglasses:

• The glass of each hourglass was etched with the words, “Vas An Nox,” using common etching tools and a strong acid.
• The etched words were sealed with a natural resin.
• A compound was prepared that combined the properties of red, yellow, and orange potions.
• The compound was crystallized and crushed.
• The hourglasses were filled with grains of the crystal.
• The finished hourglasses were placed around the outside of the circle of enchanted trees.

    These should serve to slow the spread of the enchantment, but Serlinuus could not yet say for how long. Any means of stopping the enchantment is still unknown.

From the Town Cryer - The Journal of Ultima Online, Tuesday, March 17th 1998