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| - It was bright summer afternoon on the dirt road. The air was dry and there was little to no breeze. The sun beamed down on the back of Seb’s neck and was starting to burn. With the heat and the weight of his backpack, Seb was starting to wish he had never bothered leaving Bowerstone this morning. Seb had been travelling for hours. He was a travelling weapons vendor that was having a run of bad luck. Mostly his route was Bowerstone to Greatwood Lake and back. That route’s trade had seemed to have dried up recently and he hadn’t had a sniff of a sale for weeks. He had decided to try heading up north this week. As Seb contemplated where his travels would take him this week, he came to a fork in the road. There was an old sign post, barely standing upright, worn by years of weather and rot. It had an arrow pointing left and right. The right was marked “Gibbet Woods” and the left “Farna”. Seb, realising that he didn’t have anything to lose and didn’t particularly like the idea of running into some hollomen, took the left path. As he plodded on, he felt his calf start to cramp. “Damm it!” he shouted out in pain. The pain suddenly worsened and he had to drop his back pack and sit down. He found a shaded area under a tree. As he rubbed his calf, he noticed a way up the road there appeared to be a little building. Dehydrated and possibly suffering from heat exhaustion, Seb decided to head towards the inn. He picked up his back pack and hobbled down the road feeling sorry for himself as he did. The small building was actually a fair size. It looked large enough to have a few rooms available and it also had an attached stable for horses. He could already taste the ale. Above the door to the inn was a large signpost. “The Axe and Scottman”. Seb stood there looking at the sign for a second. It made no matter though as the only thing on his mind was quenching his thirst. As he entered the inn the first thing he noticed was the characteristic smell of stale ale. He wondered if his excitement could be seen on his face. “Hello…young lad…You seem very happy to be in my inn.” The large man behind the bar was cleaning a tankard with a rag and with a welcoming smile waiting for a response from Seb. “I am…I mean I am thirsty. I mean…can I have a pint of ale?...too hot today.” Seb stood there embarrassed by his mix up of words. “No bother at all lad, Come in, take a seat at the bar.” The large man said pointing to the chair closest to where he was stood. Seb wandered over towards the bar. He noticed that there wasn’t anyone else in the bar except a strange looking old man with a red hood in the corner playing with some cards. As Seb took his seat, the old man started to mumble something inaudible and then simply go back to playing with his cards. Sebastian thought nothing of it and turned to face the large colossus of an inn keeper. “Big Jacks the name Lad. Nice to meet you.” “Sebastian. Yeah nice to meet you.” Seb placed his backpack down. Jack passed Seb a pint of cold ale. As the tankard was placed down the foam leaked down the sides. Seb quickly drank half of the tankard. It tasted so cold and so refreshing. He did notice that it was a bit gassy though. “My kind of drinker.” Jack said with a big smile through his stumbled chin. As Seb placed the tankard down he was about the reply to Big Jack, but was stopped mid-way when he saw it. It hit him like a horsecart going at full pelt. The axe was magnificent. Seb’s attention was now totally focused on the axe. The axe hung on a massive rail behind the bar and was the biggest axe Seb had ever seen. It was worn but looked to be kept in good condition, made of various metals and had a whole variety of decorative patterns on it. There appeared to be some words engraved on it, but he couldn’t make them out. “Ahh….Sebastian. You like my axe do you?” said Jack chuckling. Seb had seen and sold many great axes on his travels, but this axe was different. It seemed to radiate. It seemed alive. “I do. It’s awesome!! Its extraordinary. How do you even wield it? The head of the axe must weigh the same as a horse!” “It does…trust me.” Jack said continuing to chuckle. “Where did you get it? Who made it? How much did you buy it for? Did you get it in Bowerstone?” Seb, fixated on the axe, had forgotten about his ale. “Well I didn’t buy it I was given it and……are you drinking?” Jack said cutting the answers to Seb’s questions short. “errrrr…….yeah….I am.” Seb started to drink again continuing to stare at the massive weapon. “It’s a long story young lad and I’m sure you have better things to be doing with your afternoon.” Big Jack was right, Seb did have better things to be doing, he needed to make some money. He was down to his last few gold. This though, this was amazing. The axe was intriguing. How did such a weapon come to be made? What was it used for? Seb just had to know. “Jack…do tell…. Please can I have another pint?” “Absolutely lad….. The story starts with a boy…..” Jack said. The old man in the corner of the bar started to laugh out loud. Seb didn’t notice though, he was intoxicated by the radiance of the axe.
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