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12/1/2024 Update:
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Hello everyone, this is Asclepius. Once again I’m glad to welcome Isaiah, to bring us the third instalment of this captivating story. This is entitled Spies Within, – Part 2. Background music is “Evasion” by Matthew Pablo, at www.matthewpablo.com

Spies Within, by the Vagabond – Part 2 of 2.
She furrowed her eyebrows and said, “Are you serious?” when I continued she said, “You are really crazy, I’m taking our daughter and we’re going to your parents’ house.” I could not believe her reaction. We were married for years, and we had a child together. How could she turn on me so quickly over something as simple as this? How could she choose them over me? She would rather protect the Obsidian’s secrecy, than be up front with me? Then I thought, why is she going to my parent’s house? Is it because they live closer than her relatives? Wait, what if she was going to go to my relatives and try to turn them against me, and make them think I was crazy too? I immediately saddled up and headed toward my parents’ house as fast as possible.

When I got there my father greeted me, still a strong man, stopped me at the door and would not let me pass. I was talking a mile a minute trying to explain everything, but she had already got to him. I tried to tell him that she was a member of the Obsidian Order, and she was choosing them over me. I was close with my father, I knew he would understand. He didn’t understand though. Instead he acted cold towards me, and said, “Yeah, yeah, and the walls can talk to you, and they are always listening, Right?” At that point my heart almost stopped. How did he know about the messages on the walls, and one of the messages said they are always listening? I told nobody about that!

I told my father, “It is one thing for my wife to turn on me, but you are turning against your own flesh and blood. I’m your only son. You know me, and you would rather side with them? I don’t know what they have over you, but this isn’t right. This is the most evil thing I’ve ever heard of. Choosing an organization over me.” He wouldn’t listen to a word and kept talking over me. Finally, he said he would call for the guards to have them throw me in prison for threatening his life. I NEVER THREATENED HIS LIFE!!! Why is he making this stuff up. This is all so evil. I HATE IT! I hope there is a God, or some type of force that will punish this evil. I DID NOTHING WRONG! I only made the mistake of speaking directly about the Obsidian Order. Any organization that would deliberately ruin the life of somebody in order to hide their secrets is an evil organization! I hate this. They are all so passive aggressive, there’s no way to prove anything!!! Anybody who reads this, this is only part of what I experienced. I will write more. Stay away from the Obsidian Order!

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11/27/2024 Update:
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Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, welcoming back our guest narrator Isaiah, for the second of three parts in this fascinating story. This part is entitled Spies Within, Part 1. Background music is “Evasion” by Matthew Pablo at www.matthewpablo.com

SPIES WITHIN, by The Vagabond (Part 1 of 2)

Ever since my encounter with the guard, I’ve been encountering clues everywhere. Each day I keep thinking I’m getting closer and closer to joining the Obsidian Order, or whatever this is. They keep testing me and I keep clearly passing the tests. Some of it almost seems like hazing. Although I’m starting to feel a little confused as to who these people are because they are acting so secret, and indirect. The strange thing is my wife seems to know about everything going on. I don’t know how, but she always has a smile on her face as if she were keeping something from me.

How could my wife have been a member of a secret organization and I never knew it? This has been fun so far, but now it is starting to get a little bit annoying. Just let me join, or have me meet some guy in a private room already! I’m tired of all this feeling out stage, why don’t they just send a note to me telling me to meet some guy in a hooded mask in some private place, and initiate me already? That’s it! I’m just going to pry a little with my wife.

When I returned home, I saw my wife busy as usual working in the garden which she always enjoys doing. This is one of the things I love about her. I greeted her with a kiss. I didn’t begin asking questions all at once. But I began with simple indirect questions about me changing careers. I told her that I think I could do much better in a job that uses my mind, rather than working as a blacksmith. She agreed with me and gave me a smile. She said, “Don’t worry, I believe you will find something soon that you will enjoy.”

This was the type of conversation we kept having off and on for the next few days. She obviously knows that the Obsidian Order is considering me as a recruit, but why is it taking so long? Why all this hidden stuff? I finally just got frustrated, and figured since she’s my wife we can keep a secret. So I asked her plainly, “So when is it going to happen?” Then she replied, “When is what going to happen?” I replied angrily, “When are you guys going to let me know if I’m accepted or not?” She kept acting confused as if she didn’t know what I was talking about, but I could always tell when she was holding something back. She is not a good liar. It was very clear she knew darn well what I was talking about. I started getting angry, and flat out said, “I know you are a member of the Obsidian Order, and I know you are trying to recruit me. Why the hell is this taking so long, I’m tired of this!”

To be continued….

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11/22/2024 Update:
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Hello everyone, this is Asclepius. I’m very pleased to introduce another guest narrator, this time Isaiah, from the SotA community. He will be presenting an enthralling story in three parts – here is the first part, entitled “The Cursed Mind, by the Vagabond” Background music is “Evasion” by Matthew Pablo at www.matthewpablo.com

THE CURSED MIND, by the Vagabond

To anybody who reads this,

I know that I’ve been cursed. All these seemingly unrelated people are all members of an underground Obsidian Order. I use to think the Obsidians were just a historical group, and nothing of any real significance, as you might have thought. I also never thought of myself as a conspiracy theorist.

This is where it gets weird. It began one day as I spoke with one of the guards in front of Owl’s Head. He said I was an outlander, then he changed his mind. He smiled at me, turned his head, and then he looked back with a smile and winked. I looked in the direction that the guard turned his head. I looked closely, and scratch marks on the wall said, “The Order welcomes you”. I thought it was just graffiti, but I kept noticing more small words in town on the walls. One said, “We are watching,” and another said, “We are many”. Every time I noticed these markings I had just been thinking about the Obsidian Order.

I went to the pub, and a new bartender I never met before served me a drink. I talked to him and he said, “Oh, I’m part of a new guild that came to town the other day. We need of some fresh minds to do some magical research.” After saying this, he winked at me exactly like the guard at the front gate. He looked over at a table of four people sitting adjacent to me, and they all looked back and smiled. At this point I realized that it is possible that I’m being followed, and that these people were some how inviting me into their group, but trying to keep it very secret.

I was excited at first, but one day I made a huge mistake. I directly asked one of the people I thought might be a member of the Obsidian Order, if in fact they were a member of the Obsidian Order. They laughed and denied it, but looked at me with furrowed brows. After this people started looking at me strangely every place I went. I thought, maybe I made a mistake by being so direct. Perhaps a group like the Obsidian Order would want to keep their existence a secret I thought. Were they able to read my thoughts? I don’t know. It seemed like everybody was against me, and that they were pushing evil thoughts into my head. I couldn’t bare the anxious thoughts, so I left town and have lived on the streets ever since.

I know that these things seem like they could just easily be made up by my mind, but they aren’t! It really happened, and it is unexplainable. I write this so that anybody reading this, will please watch out, they are all around us. My whole life was ruined. They made me look crazy so nobody would believe me. Just don’t get involved.

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11/8/2024 Update:
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Hello everyone, this is Asclepius. I’m delighted to welcome another guest narrator, JLWChambers, who is also an avid podcaster. He is bringing us a great story by zerowon, entitled True Fear – True Evil. Background music is “Evasion” by Matthew Pablo, at www.matthewpablo.com.

The night was black. So black, that Nomad felt as though the absence of light was a sign that the stars and the heavens had forever abandoned him in that dreary tract of forest. The trees barely visible, seemed to howl as the cold night air blew between their branches further magnifying the haunting feeling of desolation. For Nomad knew that no beneficent god would ever allow such a disturbing place to exist within the gaze of the righteous heavens and it t’was by that logic that Nomad knew he must be blindly trekking through the space between the living and the damned.

What to do? What could he do? The minutes stretched on for hours and the hours melted into days. No sign of life, no sign of the world he knew – Nothing but cold and unrelenting darkness.

It was from within that primal part of Nomad’s body that the true fear unchecked and flooded his logical senses. The fear grew into an unsettling feeling so deeply rooted into the darkest pit of Nomad’s brain thus paralyzing all of his thoughts other than survival. It was within this darkness that Nomad encountered true evil. A lord undone, a life bereft of humanity, a creature so foul that it could only be perceived as a lich.

With steady speed the lich closed on Nomad raking its skeletal hands across his chest with fury. Nomad frantically tried to fight back but it was to no avail. It became clear as the darkness crept into Nomad’s consciousness that one cannot encounter such menacing evil and hope to survive. It was in that blackened forest of evil that Nomad’s candle was extinguished.

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11/5/2024 Update:
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Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, and it’s my pleasure to introduce a new guest narrator, littlegeek lost. She will be bringing us a great story, entitled Jarial’s Magic Recipe, by Bronwyn, and it’s written by Greyhaven. Background music “A Little Faith”, by Smartsound.

Jarial’s Magic Recipe
by Bronwyn

I’ve got all the bits!

Everything I need to make Jarial’s Magic Recipe!

Oh, this is going to make me so much faster and stronger. I will be transformed into an instant hero flying up and down the King’s Road, slaying the monsters and saving the trade caravans in no time! I might even go further! Not as far as that Shadow Wood place though. As well as wolves, I’ve heard that there’s spiders as big as a cow wandering around in it!

Anyway, here is what I’ve got, just in case you want to have a go at making the recipe yourself :-

1) Some dregs of Scrattocks’ “Old Clobber”
Luckily, I managed to get hold of this through my own clumsiness. I tripped over my own feet as I went running through the door of the Hearth of Britannia, and went crashing into a nearby table knocking the flagons of ale flying. Amidst shouts and insults hurled from all corners, I managed to snatch up a cup with a bit of the ale still in it, and made a speedy exit out through the window.

2) Some “Wasp Squeezings”
I was a bit dubious about this one, but I reasoned that the recipe needs a bit of power and spiciness! As the Apothecary was showing me some of his stuff, I accidentally (on purpose) knocked over his bookshelf. Occupied with fussing over his precious tomes of herbal remedies, and calling me names that sounded most unnatural, he did not notice some of the “squeezings” go missing!

3) Horse Spittle
The amount of treats that I had to give old Smith in order to acquire sufficient of this was ridiculous! That horse is going to get so fat I reckon his legs will snap!

4) A Dry Bun
Broken in half this will suck up the mixture nicely. Jarial calls this a “delivery medium”. Sounds posh so it’s bound to work! And no, I don’t feel guilty about going into the bakery and shouting, “THERE’S A GIANT RAT IN HERE!”

And now I am ready! I will mix it up, eat it, and let you know how great I feel!

Oracle preserve us! Everything’s hurting really badly! I reckon my poor belly’s gonna rise up through me, leap out my mouth and escape! When I find that Jarial, I’m going to kick him in the…

Aye, yer a rum one Bronny – that’s a very tall tale! Well I’ll tell ye this: if ye ever come running through here again, knocking over my drink, ye’ll be gettin a “Scrattocks Old Clobber” around the ear hole!

Now, pull up a chair an listen to some proper tales…

I’m OK! I’m OK!

Look – the room has stopped spinning and everything!

I tell you what mateys, I feel really bleedin weird an all that. I guess it must be the MAGIC WORKING!

I’m gonna test out my new speed right now! I’m gonna run up these stairs and back down again real fast and you will see how much quicker I am than usual! (And let me tell you that even without the magic I am as fast as a mongoose – so this is going to be a blur!)

Here goes…
….
(There’s more stairs than I remember…)
….
Yay! At the top! Now down again…
….
Yipes!
….

Oh that was definitely faster than normal but I don’t think it counts because I fell when I was half way down! And there is no pain! Well, not much anyway. That will be the MAGIC!

I’m gonna test out my strength now, and bend this iron bar! I will pretend it’s a dragon’s neck, only thinner! And not scaly. And more metally. Just like a bar. Which is what it is. So that just goes to prove that everything is working!

I will bend it with my bare hands. Here goes…
…..
My bare hands and my knee…
…..
Two knees…
…..

I think that has bent it! It just looks straight because of a trick of the light. Well, it is still pretty straight, but I think that it is less straight than it was! I could have bent it more but I think there is something wrong with the iron.

And now for the last test – my improved marksmanship! I will be able to hit I flea in the eyeball from 100 paces! Although I have decided to use a standard practice target to keep things simple.

One bullseye coming up. Here goes…
….
Obviously the first arrow doesn’t count…
….
Third time lucky…
….

Is it just me, or is it windier than normal ?

Oh, you’re right – that magic recipe has made sod-all difference. Perhaps I got the mix wrong. Do you think you’re meant to use a chocolate bun ? I used a vanilla one, perhaps that’s what has thrown it…

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10/28/2024 Update:
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Hello everyone, the is Asclepius, with a wonderful story from LadyAijou, entitled “Journeys of Aijou Sekishin” This reading also features the voice of Lady Adnor. Background music “Long Distance Breakup” and “One More Day”, by Smartsound.

“Long Distance Breakup”

On the deck of the storm-battered Wayfarer, a figure sat hunched against the rail, her silver-white hair matted from the spray of the ocean. The vessel’s owners rushed to and fro, ignoring her as the watch changed again. Wrapping her dark cloak about her more tightly, she gazed at the full moon rising above the horizon. Aijou could not remember now how long ago she had boarded the Wayfarer, having asked the captain to grant her passage to wherever he was bound. She cared only to be away from her homeland, and the painful memories which seemed as though they would never fade. Her very name meant “love,” and it was that which she most desperately wanted. She had been convinced she had found it once, but as the years passed she realized that it was little more than a stranger she was bound to in marriage. That she had divorced him was a scandal, something not done among her people, but she couldn’t remain his prisoner any longer. In the cover of darkness she had fled, making her way to the docks. She used her only funds for passage to remove herself far from those who openly scorned her now.
Shaking her head to drive away the memories, Aijou rose to her feet, reaching down to retrieve her only companion on board the ship: a lethal 2-handed sword which she handled better than most would expect. It was certainly an unusual choice for a lady, but it mattered little to her. The weight of the weapon felt good in her hands, and with it she felt safe. She staggered into the rail as a heavy swell rocked the ship, but was quick to steady herself. Another storm was coming.
“How long till we sight land?” She questioned the ship’s first mate.
“A day, maybe two, m’lady.” He answered, deftly handling the wheel in spite of the increasing ferocity of the winds that now buffetted Wayfarer and all aboard her.
“Where will we be docking? Please tell me it’s somewhere with a good inn, and plenty to eat.” She favored him with a rare smile as she spoke.
“Aye, m’lady, Port Phoenix is prosperous enough, and the Baron is an honest fellow. Ye should do well enough for yourself there I’d wager.”
Aijou nodded to acknowledge his words, and made her way back to the ladder leading below deck. It would be safer to ride out the storm in her own bunk. Rest eluded her as lightning split the night sky, giving way to the deep rumble of thunder. She shivered in the darkness. Storms had always upset her even on land. Eventually she slept, dreaming of starting a new life in a land where nobody knew her name.

“One More Day”

Dawn broke clear after the night’s storms, and Aijou gathered her few belongings. Her sword was sheathed on her back, and her few clothes and blanket made a light bundle. Overhead she could hear the crew making preparations to dock the ship in the harbor at Port Phoenix. Climbing the ladder, she stepped up on deck, and caught her first sight of the place she would now call home. It was beautiful, and she couldn’t help but stare. A deck hand bumping into her shook her back to the present, and she watched as the men secured the vessel and began to unload wares to trade with the town. The captain was finishing transactions with 2 men standing at the end of the dock. One was clearly the Baron, his stately appearance easily marked him out. The other she could not identify, but his presence too seemed to command respect. Knowing she needed to secure a living, her first steps would be to introduce herself, and see if her skills could be of any use. Aijou wove her way through the crowd, coming to stand near the two men.
“Pardon me, m’lord, are you Baron Phoenixfyre?” She asked.
“The one and only!” He quipped brightly, chuckling at her. “Something I can do for you, miss?”
“Well, now that you mention it, I have nothing to live on, and I’ll be in need of work. I had a bit of experience with the town gazette back home, if you’ve need of an editor or a newshound.” She returned his smile.
“I’ll admit I’ve never had someone wander off a ship and ask me for a job, but I like your spirit. I thinkPort Phoenix could use to keep up with current events. Come see me later at the manor and we’ll settle everything. If you’re in need of a place, I’ve got some vacancies in town that I could rent cheap, at least till you’re settled.” The Baron answered, motioning to the town as he spoke.
“You have my gratitude, on both counts, m’lord.” She answered, struggling to contain her emotions. She had expected things to be much more difficult, and had been fully prepared to be sleeping outdoors.
“Then it’s settled, think nothing of it. I wasn’t always a Baron, and I do what I can for those less fortunate.” He turned then to the man next to him. “Damien, there’s a home still available across the way from yours, isn’t there?”
“Aye, it’s still unclaimed, and is in fine shape. Shall I show her?” Damien Ragnarok glanced at her, and then back to the Baron.
“If you would please, Damien, I’ve got to settle up here with the captain, and then still see to the other ships.”
“Follow me, miss…?” Ragnarok paused, waiting for her name.
“Aijou. Aijou Sekishin.” She supplied her name for him.
It was all she could do to keep up with the man, he was much taller than she was, and his confident stride spoke of a military background, as well as a noble one. She scrambled off the ship after him and hurried along, not wanting to waste his time or be a bother to him or the Baron. For better or worse, she was now a citizen of Port Phoenix.