Table of Contents
- The Elves / ELFS
- The Story
The ELFS
Alabaster Snowball
One of the oldest elves in Santa’s Village, Alabaster has made a name for himself. He is probably one of only a few elves that has a college degree (two, actually!). In his younger life, he practiced magic and became a powerful abjuration wizard. He is currently the Keeper of the Naughty and Nice list and developed a magical algorithm to determine how admirable the children of the world are. Every year, he submits the list to Santa Claus before reporting to ELFS to volunteer. It keeps his mind busy!
Cookie Tinselbottom
Cookie is an apprentice engineer and artificer in Santa’s Village, primarily working with Master Tinkerton on the Sleigh. She’s a feisty elf who rambles on and talks a lot, sometimes bothering those around her. Nevertheless, she is very brace and proves herself to be capable in a fight. She built a metal snowman named Winky and uses it to help her fight battles when necessary.
Jingle Sleigher
Years ago, Jingle was the martial arts master who trained the Christmas Defense Squad. But when the engineers created flight packs and ELFS was born, Jingle was resilient to the change. He was forced onto the ELFS B-Team and was the recipient of ridicule and derision for years. He became the commander of B-Team and has waited years for a chance to prove himself and his students in battle. His weapon of choice is an enormous metal nutcracker.
Cindy Lou Stocking
Cindy Lou is a master fencer, wielding a sword made of sharpened reindeer antlers and a shield made of a sled. Time and time again, she’s proven herself as a powerful combatant, but has unfortunately been stuck on the B-Team instead of the A-Team where she feels she belongs. Despite this, she is ever cheerful and is always willing to stand by her companions. Her current assignment is as bodyguard to Master Alabaster.
Bernard Snowball
Alabaster’s grandson and twin of Junior. Bernard is Jingle’s greatest student. Using his skills, Bernard can teleport between shadows and deal heavy blows with his icicle darts and a flail made of sharp Christmas ornaments. When he was younger, Bernard went to study far away from the other elves and ended up developing a strange English accent that comes and goes. But in a fight, Bernard becomes ruthlessly dangerous.
Alabaster Snowball, Jr.
Alabaster’s other grandson and twin of Bernard. He’s commonly called Junior by his friends and family. Most of the family think that Junior joined ELFS only because his brother, Bernard, had done so. As the younger brother, Junior tries his absolute best to prove himself a worthy member of ELFS. He uses candy cane sais as his primary weapon, and is almost always trying to impress his grandfather.
Chapter 1: Gathering Storm
It’s Christmas Eve, early in the day. Around Santa’s Village, everyone works tirelessly to make sure things are going correctly. The toy workshop is working a quadruple shift at the moment. The sleigh is being polished. And in Santa’s House, Master Alabaster Snowball and his guard Cindy Lou Stocking have given Santa Claus the Naughty and Nice List. Santa checks it briefly before thanking them for their work and service. Alabaster chooses to volunteer down at the ELFS barracks, as is his Christmas tradition, and Cindy Lou offers to take him there.
In the Reindeer barn, Master Peppermint Tinkerton and his apprentice, Cookie Tinselbottom, have finally put Santa’s sleigh back together and have it fully polished and ready to go. Tinkerton thanks Cookie for her work (especially for her help with the magical coupling), but then suggests that she volunteer at the E.L.F.S. barracks for the rest of the day. Cookie happily complies, taking her mechanical snowman Winky with her.
At the ELFS barracks, B-Team Commander Jingle Sleigher looks wistfully at his A-Team comrades, all suiting up and preparing for their night of watching over Santa Claus. Jingle’s B-Team hasn’t ever been deployed and he feels like his training all these years as a master of shadows is going to waste, but his students, Bernard Snowball and Alabaster Snowball, Jr., try to cheer him up.
High Commander Sprinkles Von Sugarsnaps approaches them and tells them to meet their volunteers for the day just as Alabaster and Cookie arrive with Cindy Lou. Sprinkles orders the B-Team to produce toys for the toy workshop and asks Alabaster and Cookie to assist. The elves each make their toys and prepare to deliver them to the workshop. Cookie creates a snowmobile (seemingly out of nothing) to haul their creations over.
As they are traveling in the village towards the workshop, Commander Jingle senses something. A storm is approaching. A very powerful storm…
Chapter 2: Defending the Barracks
The elves arrived at the toy workshop and met with Brownie Brownington, the clerk. He openly mocked the B-Team, insisting that their “toys” were hardly worth putting into Santa’s bag, but a sharp word from Alabaster shut him up. As the elves were ready to leave, Jingle received a message from the High Commander. “Commander Jingle, report back to ELFS immediately! We have a situation!”
Heading outside into the snow, the elves were met with a blinding storm that made travel difficult. Cookie, having built a snowmobile as her volunteer work, helped the elves return to the barracks. The barracks were strangely empty! High Commander Sprinkles approached them and said that this strange snow storm is causing problems all around Santa’s Village, but the A-Team has already been dispatched to deal with it. The B-Team is ordered to check out their equipment from Forgemaster Pudding McFrosting and stand guard.
“I feel that this storm is somehow magical,” said Alabaster. “Something is certainly wrong here.”
“Students, be on your guard,” said Jingle to Bernard and Junior. “Cindy Lou, stay with Lord Alabaster. Cookie, stick with me.”
As the elves checked out their equipment, they stepped outside. With a sudden stillness, the storm was gone and the world was frozen with thick strange magic. A large snowman with glowing blue eyes stood in the courtyard and immediately shot a blast of cold energy, striking Jingle in the arm.
Bernard and Junior immediately shadow-stepped to flank the snowman, but both were caught off guard by smaller animated snowmen that attacked. Cindy Lou pulled Alabaster out of the way of one and began her own attack against it. Cookie, cackling with crazed delight, began launching ornaments from a large cannon at her side while her robot snowman began slamming one of the dark snowmen. Jingle drew out the Nutcracker and clove the large snowman in twain.
“Grandpa, watch this!” cried Junior, swinging his candy cane sais into another snowman, tearing snow from its body.
Alabaster, seeing Junior holding his own, aimed a blast of fire at the snowman currently pinning his other grandson, Bernard. The snowman almost entirely evaporated and Bernard, using his ornament flail, ripped the snowman apart.
With the crazed snowmen defeated, the elves rested while waiting for the next orders from Sprinkles. Eventually, Sprinkles came back to the elves and told them that she had unfortunately lost contact with the A-Team. Commander Spicy Appletop was last seen in the Reindeer barn, having been following something that Sprinkles did not fully hear.
Chapter 3: The Reindeer Barn
Cookie led the team through the snowy roads to the Reindeer barn. As they traveled, the elves saw that the normally bright and cheerful village was now almost entirely dark. Commander Jingle came up with a plan as the elves approached the Reindeer barn. He and his students would approach from behind while Alabaster, Cindy Lou, and Cookie went for the main entrance.
Alabaster sent his penguin familiar, Pablo, into the barn first and saw three of the reindeer, Dasher, Blitzen, and Vixen, restrained in their pens. High up in the rafters, an A-Team member of ELFS was standing still, bleeding profusely. An evil elf stood over him, impaling him with a long knife, and the A-Team member fell from the rafters to the ground with a sickening thump.
In the sleigh garage, Jingle, Bernard, and Junior heard the thump. “Ready yourselves!” whispered Jingle. He shadow-stepped up to the rafters and briefly fought against the evil elf before a blast of lightning from Alabaster slammed into it. The evil elf fell to the floor dead. But as it struck the ground, a dark bluish wisp of energy flowed out of it and into the three reindeer. They broke free of their bonds, eyes glowing eerily blue.
Cookie reacted by ordering Winky to restrain one of the reindeer, Dasher. Dasher responded by exhaling a blast of cold energy, freezing Winky and throwing Cookie to the ground. Cindy Lou jumped over her and swung her reindeer sword wildly until Dasher was freed of the posessing dark energy. He speedily fled out of the barn and away.
The posessed Vixen and Blitzen charged at Bernard and Junior, but the two of them held the reindeer at bay until Jingle swung his Nutcracker and disabled both of them. The darkness posessing them was dissipated and they both fled, too.
Jingle fed a magic cookie to the A-Team member, who woke up despite the wounds. It was Spicy Appletop, commander of the A-Team! He was surprised to still be alive, but was eternally thankful of Jingle and his team. He said the A-Team were all dead now, having fought evil elves and snowmen all around the village. Spicy and the A-Team survivors came to the reindeer barn to secure the remaining reindeer, but they were set upon by another evil elf.
Jingle suggested that Spicy make his way back to the barracks of ELFS while he and his B-Team goes to Santa’s house to secure Santa and Mrs. Claus. Spicy thanked him again, apologizing for the way he and his team treated the B-Team until now.
Chapter 4: Ransacked Village
Alabaster led the way to Santa’s House. The village had been utterly ransacked by the magical storm. Houses were ruined by snow and ice. Doors and windows were broken. A few presents were half buried in the snow. But the worst vision of all was the toy workshop near the barracks. It was surrounded by thirty or forty animated snowmen, all with the same glowing blue eyes as the reindeer, the evil elf, and the other snowmen the elves had already fought at the barracks.
Santa’s House was just as the rest of the village: completely and utterly cold, so unlike the Christmas season. Cindy Lou went in first, eager to find Santa. Instead, she found the house devoid of its former warmth. The smell of cookies was still in the air in the kitchen, and crumbs were leading to a locked basement. Alabaster magically unlocked the door and they descended into the basement.
The basement was cold, even for the North Pole. Lit by a single candle, the elves saw a magical archway and a prisoner of the North Pole. The prisoner was man-sized, just like Santa, and dressed in thick animal furs. He introduced himself as Belsnickel, a Santa-like character. Just like Santa, Belsnickel gave treats and toys to good girls and boys, but he would beat the bad children with a switch. The A-Team had captured him not long ago to keep him from hurting people, but Belsnickel did not seem to mind.
“Where is Santa?” asked Cindy Lou.
“Safe room, that way,” replied Belsnickel, indicating the archway. “That’s magical. It’ll transport you to where Nick went.”
Jingle thought about this for a moment. “Did… did anyone follow him?” he asked.
“Oh yes,” said Belsnickel. “Big guy, dressed in furs like me, but nastier. Looked like a goat.”
Jingle and Alabaster looked at each other. They, being some of the eldest elves in the North Pole, remembered this figure. A creature dressed in nasty furs that looked like a goat could only be none other than the Krampus!
Belsnickel begged the elves to free him, but they left him behind, subject to Santa’s judgement. Belsnicked, again, didn’t seem to mind very much. He wished the elves luck. They each stepped through the archway and found themselves transported to a very dark cave. A sign was posted nearby that read, “Bumble Mountain. This way to the summit.”
Chapter 5: The Final Confrontation
The ELFS members guided Alabaster through the darkness until they came outside, high above Santa’s Village. Looking down, they could see the village was still dark and spooky. Hundreds of animated snowmen swarmed the village now. The elves followed a short path that led to the summit. At the top was the ugly figure of Krampus, standing next to a strange lamp post that glowed with white and red light.
“Children of Claus…” creaked Krampus’s awful voice. “Welcome to the show… You’ll all be witness to my revenge!”
Alabaster, remembering the Great War with Krampus centuries ago, told his companions, “Do not let him near you! He has very dark powers! We must strike quickly!”
Before they could react, Krampus cast a strange spell. In the center of the mountain, a fruitcake tin sprung open. The fruitcake began to grow, larger and larger, until Krampus was hidden behind its preserved and disgusting form. The Fruitcake blasted at the elves with its dried fruits and nuts.
“Grandpa, check this out!” cried Junior. He sprung forward and planted punch after punch into the Fruitcake. Bernard, seeing his brother run forward so recklessly, joined him and threw icicle darts into the Fruitcake.
“The preservatives! Look!” cried Cookie. She could see the sugars in the Fruitcake reforming and regrowing. She catapulted an oversized snowglobe at the Fruitcake, stunning it long enough for Jingle to slam the Fruitcake, tearing off one of its arms.
Alabaster began to cast magic at the Fruitcake, but the spell wouldn’t affect it. Cindy Lou jumped in front of Alabaster to protect him from an assault from Krampus, who roared when it saw Alabaster. “YOU! I remember you!” Krampus summoned an evil elf and flung it at Alabaster, but Cookie’s robotic snowman Winky jumped in the way and knocked the evil elf off the mountain.
The shadow monks made short work of the Fruitcake and charged at Krampus. But Krampus protected himself with a swirl of ice and snow, knocking the monks down. He raised up a clawed hand to rip Junior apart, but Cindy Lou dove between them and stabbed at Krampus with a fiery antler. Krampus’s clothes were on fire! He shrank back and raised his hand. Light from the lamp post was drawn to him. Cindy Lou heard a familiar “Ho ho ho!” coming from the lamp post.
“Santa’s in there!” she cried. “What did you do to him!?”
Krampus raised his claws to strike her, but he suddenly began moving very slowly. Alabaster’s spell finally hit Krampus as Krampus was too distracted by his injuries and burning clothes.
“No….” said the faint voice of Santa Claus. “Do not kill Krampus! He doesn’t know what he’s doing…”
Krampus turned to the lamp post. “You would… have them… spare me?”
Seeing Krampus distracted, Jingle dashed forward and landed a blow with the Nutcracker over Krampus’s head, knocking him down to the ground. In an instant, Krampus’s spell had broken. The lamp post shattered and the injured form of Santa Claus appeared.
“Ho ho ho….” said Santa. He smiled warmly at the elves and turned to Krampus. “What the devil happened to you?”
Santa waved his hands briefly. The darkness overhanging in the air disappeared. The lights of the village came back on. And the feeling of holiday cheer filled the air again. “Come along,” Santa said to the elves. “Because of Krampus, we’re off schedule for Christmas Eve!”
“And what of Krampus?” asked Jingle. “What do we do with him?”
“Perhaps we should lock him up,” replied Santa. “Take him to the basement of my house.”
“Oh, uh…” said Cookie. “There’s kinda already someone there. The weird guy with the stick.”
“Hmm?” said Santa. “Oh, you mean Belsnickel. He’s mostly harmless. Go ahead and release him, he can’t hurt anyone any more than Krampus already did.”
And so the elves descended Bumble Mountain with Santa Claus and Krampus, restrained in tinsel. They came through the archway and released Belsnickel, putting Krampus into the shackles.
As they went upstairs, Alabaster stopped and turned to Krampus. Krampus stared back at him for a moment but did not say anything.
“The fruitcake?” asked Alabaster.
“It’s my favorite,” replied Krampus.
Epilogue: Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve was saved and the village was quickly put back together. Commander Jingle, Bernard, Junior, Cindy Lou, Alabaster, and Cookie are all honored in front of everyone and are given medals of valor. Master Tinkerton and Cookie brought the sleigh and the eight reindeer out into the town square. The workshop elves loaded the bag into the sleigh and Santa climbed in. Alabaster approached with Cindy Lou and delivered The List again. Santa checked it twice and merrily waved to them all. Overlooking this was High Commander Sprinkes, cheering as Santa rose into the sky. To her right was Jingle, Bernard, and Junior, all wearing A-Team insignias on their uniforms.