Chapter 1 - Bliss & the Lonely Bard

The Lonely Bard Inn. Owned and operated by Beauregard Woodrake for seven years prior to our story. It is a small, quaint bar/inn located in the Nation of Thul city of Bliss. It is here where our hero's first met. It is here where they first formed their ideals of freedom and belief. It is here where Wee, Twitch, Bean, Hobbes, Fan, and Clyde met and formed The Grateful Six, after stumbling upon the small, Lonely Bard both separate from one another and by happenstance...

Bean opens the doors of the bar and quickly approaches Beauregard, otherwise known as Ol' Beau with a meaningful intent.

"Where's my brother?!" Bean demanded.

Shocked by the force of her entry, Ol' Beau can only barely stammer out, "I-I- I don't know! He was here a little while ago but he left already! I didn't even know he had a sister! Honest!"

"Fine, where was he headed then?" she responds.

Ol' Beau hesitates as he ponders the consequences of the coming decision he is about to make and then answers, "He said he was headed to see one of the boss'. Didn't say which one, and I didn't care to find out neither! He's in with a bad crowd, miss. He's a good lad, but he's in over his head. If you really are his sister you had better catch up with him sooner than later."

Bean turns and leaves to the exit of the bar in a hurry to find her lost sibling. In her haste she had forgotten her small satchel she placed at the bar. Ol' Beau found the bag and placed it in his private quarters for safe keeping, feeling if it was important enough she would return for it. Bean makes her way past the small table in the corner next to the entrance of the inn and through the door, not noticing the lone patron sitting in silence and shadow.

"What was that marking on the left side of her neck?" the stranger interjects.

Ol' Beau quickly scans the room and locates the stranger responsible for the question, "Couldn't tell ya, looked like a branding of some sort in black ink. Why d'ya ask?"

"No reason." the stranger responds as he looks back down at his table and drink. Ol' Beau shakes off an uneasy feeling about the mystery being in the far corner and goes back to his business behind the counter and serving the patrons of the establishment.

"Listen, I know that you know that your boss knows where he is. And, because of that, I know that you know you're going to tell me where I can find him. Right? You're not going to disappoint me, are you?" the elderly man says, wreaking of cheap alcohol.

Bystanders begin to crowd around, in both amusement and bewilderment they watch on.

"TELL ME WHERE HE IS, DAMMIT! I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY!" the drunkard proclaims as he stumbles into a shallow puddle amidst the cobblestone streets of Bliss. The gathering crowd moves to avoid the splash of filth and water and begin to laugh and mock the man.

The man, who is definitely intoxicated, as the crowd has so eloquently point out with their shouting and jeers, had been quite confused. He comes out of his momentary, drunken delirium to avoid the swat of the local bakers broomstick. As the local kicks and screams behind the drunkard, our inebriated hero realizes the person who was trying to get information from was not who he intended that person to be. At all. It was the bakers young son, not older than 13 he had been threatening in his stupor over a subject matter he was unsure about to begin with.

The man quickly makes haste down the narrow street with the baker and his boy quickly behind. As the drunkard manages to dodge and weave through the people and stalls, he attempts to lose the two pursuers by a nearby alley. He darts down the corridor between buildings and finds himself across the street from a small bar, and rushes to get inside before the baker and his son catch up and can make eye contact.

Ol' Beau looks up from his counter top, still pondering his recent conversation with that woman who claimed to be Twitch's sister just as the drunken aggressor enters his establishment.

"Oi, well then! You look good and proper sloshed already, sir. Why don't you just go and head on back home. I think you've had enough for one day!" Beau proclaims, in an attempt to keep problems from arising in his establishment.

Paying no head to the words be spoken in his direction, the man soon notices the stranger in black sitting in the corner by the door and immediately sits down with out asking permission or proper courtesies.

"Been a while, huh?" he says.

"I don't know you."

"Oh, ho ho. Yes you do. Yes, you do. Name's Hobbes. We've met in the past on occasion."

"No, we haven't."

"Well whatever you say, pal. You'll learn soon enough." Hobbes responds. "Beau! Bring me a pint, please!"

Beauregard moves behind the counter for the glass and drink, wondering to himself how this man he'd never seen before knew his name with out any introduction. He brings the ale to the table where the two men sit and heads back to his duties as barkeep, thinking nothing else of it. He's been a local business owner for sometime now, perhaps it caught the name through word of mouth.

Hobbes takes a drink from his pint, and as he lowers the glass back to the table he smiles with a sly grin saying, "I know more about that sword you carry than you do. It is the sword of legend, is it not?"

The stranger in black raises his head, showing his gaunt, almost lifeless facial expression made of pale skin and sunken eyes and responds with only, "I'm Wee."

Twitch can taste blood as it trickles down his face from the wound in his forehead. He slowly raises his head, disoriented and confused, just barely able to open his eyes. He glances around the cold, dark dungeon, the smell of the cold damp dirt floor and mildew reach his nostrils. He spots a young woman across the room, hidden in the shadow of the corner opposite him.

"What'cha in for, bud?" the woman says.

Twitch only wheezes and coughs bloods from being kicked in the chest repeatedly just before being tossed into the cell he has found himself in.

"The El'dor really did you in good, huh?" the girl says solemnly, "...I'm sorry for what those goons did to ya. I really am. I'm called Fan and you're going to be ok." the woman says, as she approaches and begins to cradle Twitch in her lap, calming him into sleep.

Twitch barely gurgles an almost silent, "Thank you." before drifting off to a painless sleep.

Rain begins to fall across Bliss.

Low, deep thunder growls over the fields that surround the city as the unrelenting rain falls. Business' and home shack up for the night and the city goes quiet for the night. Lightning reaches across the sky in brilliant bolts of light blues, violets and purples.

Clyde rushes into the Lonely Bard, knowing full well that Ol' Beau won't be happy with his tardiness, and now he's soaked on top of that. Clyde runs up the steps and across the porch of the inn and quickly goes through the front door in and effort to escape the rain. He barely notices the two men in the corner chatting silently as he passes through the room and into the back to search out a set of dry clothes.

Ol' Beau stops the young boy before he makes it to the employee door and grabs him by the arm, "Where've ya been, lad?" he exclaims.

"It's raining outside." Clyde says staring at the floor.

"Dry yourself up and get to work, we've got customers." Beau responds.

Clyde thought the bar had been empty, but quickly spotted the two strangers seated at the small circular table near the door. Clyde wondered how he had missed them on his way in. Dismissing the though, he heads behind the employee door and out of sight.

Beau hurries in behind him and Clyde notices he looks worried and says hushed town, "Those two in the corner... they ain't got no shadows.

Clyde absorbs the new information and stands in shock for a moment. He'd only ever heard of such a thing in the legends and tales of his youth.