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Hello everyone, this is Asclepius, with a great story from Boomer, entitled

Sebastian Comes of Age

Background music “Blackmoor Tides” and “Soliloquy”, by Matthew Pablo at www.matthewpablo.com

The only memory Sebastian had from his former life was of his mother desperately holding on to his dying father as the ship heeled over from the enormous wind. The decks ran red with the blood of slain seamen, while skeletal warriors raised gory swords in salute to the black-robed wizard commanding their actions. The ship’s wheel had been commandeered by a skeleton, festooned with the tatters of a rotting naval uniform. This monstrosity had put the wheel hard over, steering the doomed vessel onto the roiling surf of the reef. Its fleshless skull was arched back, jaws agape in a macabre imitation of joy. Sebastian’s mother’s magic was holding back the vaporous stream of life-sucking black that swirled between her and the wizard.

A moment of distraction had been enough to end the fight. Sebastian had slid across the deck towards the tumultuous sea. In a blink his mother had shifted her attention and saved his life by casting him onto the beach while the blackness had engulfed her.

Now ten years later, Sebastian celebrated this day as his birthday, the day he was found by some villagers from Kingsport. Most of the wording on the water and blood soaked documents found on him was illegible. “Sebastian _____, aged six, beware Grand _____ Quel___” were the only words that remained.

For most of these ten years the villagers had treated him well. None had adopted him. The evidence of magic with his origins had provoked too much fear. Innkeeper Abbot had, however, set up a small room at the Hearth Inn in exchange for cleaning chores and killing rats in the sewers. Alchemist Julia had encouraged his reading skills and Merchant Nache had generously bought all the cotton he could gather.

Lately, though, hordes of skeletal warriors were preventing him from making any excursions into the sewers. Out of town, the trails and woods he know so well were occupied by hostile elves. In the deep woods, centaurs ruled. In the mountains, giant spiders roamed. Now that Sebastian was 16, villagers were starting to believe that he was somehow instrumental in the arrival of these infestations. Many villagers were starting to treat him with disrespect, especially Mayor Hargrove and some of the guards. Joining Anton and the smugglers seemed all but inevitable.

But then he found out that elves carry gold.

(to be continued)

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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.