Genn Wintord

UP: Sonoma

    In preparation of an upcoming wedding, the seer, Cepheus, wished to obtain a set of wedding rings for the engaged couple. He asked among the citizens of Trinsic for some aid. Quickly, many accepted. He sent his willing assistants to Fergus MacLeda, the renowned engineer and blacksmith, to find out if he could help. Fergus was happy to help. But when hearing that the rings were desired to be made of gold and platinum, Fergus admitted that he didn’t know how to mix such metals. Plus he didn’t have any platinum, regardless.

    Fergus sent them to Britain to speak with a jeweler there named, Morianna. According to Fergus, Morianna often dealt in jewelry made of precious metals and seemed to have a source for some of the rarer ones.

    When speaking to Morianna, she told them that she had no rings made of platinum and gold. She could make such rings, she said, but had no gold and platinum alloy at the moment. After a bit more questioning, she admitted that she had a source from whom she purchased rare metals and that this source was able to combine the ore into various alloys, including a gold and platinum alloy.

    Morianna revealed her source as a miner named Reghar. Reghar moved around from place to place in search of any exotic ore he could find. Morianna thought she knew where his latest site was, and led the party to it. As they approached, a small orc war group ambushed them. Morianna and her escort emerged unscathed, but quite shaken. Morianna feared for the safety of Reghar. They hurried to the cave and found many more orcs. After a fierce battle, they made their way to Reghar’s living area, and here they found Reghar’s savaged corpse. He had been brutally murdered by the orcs.

    After the shock of finding Reghar dead wore off, it came to light that a journal had been found on one of the orcs. The journal had belonged to Reghar. It spoke of many things, but among them was a passage revealing a secret hiding place for his precious metals as well as a method of mixing many of them. As hoped, the method of creating the gold and platinum alloy was included. The only thing missing was some platinum ore.

    After a thorough search of the cave, during which nothing had been found, they began to inspect Reghar’s belongings a bit closer. A wooden statuette of a dragon was found to have a hollow sounding area in it’s middle. Many frustrating attempts to open it ended when an axe was taken to the statue, and it was reduced to splinters. Inside was found a small pile of platinum ore.

    Morianna suggested taking the ore and journal to Fergus MacLeda. She thought that perhaps he could successfully mix the platinum with some gold in order to make an alloy for the rings. They made their way to Fergus’ house, and Fergus was excited by the prospect of trying Reghar’s method. After carefully studying the journal and preparing his forge, Fergus crafted a single gold and platinum ingot. From the ingot, he made two wedding rings which he gave to Seer Cepheus.

    All in all, the normally run-of-the-mill task of getting wedding rings turned into quite an adventure. Despite the death of Reghar, the future bodes well. I wish the happy couple much luck in the future.

From the Town Cryer - The Journal of Ultima Online, Monday, June 15th 1998