Opus - The Bard

Early Life
Astrafela Opulus the Bard, also known as Opus by his closer companions, was born as Willem in a small village in the middle of nowhere called Phobos. His parents Dunwick and Leena met when Dunwick courageously saved Leena from a gangly group of drunken bandits who were attempting to escort her home. No bandits survived the encounter. Dunwick and Leena fell in love instantly and quickly consummated their love on the side of the road. And so Opus was conceived.

After saving Leena, Dunwick thinking himself as an adventurer set out to claim glory and riches. He spent the next three years traveling the country taking odd jobs and doing his best to act like a hero. After spending most of his measly income at the pub and finding absolutely no glory at the bottom of his mug, he set out to make a name for himself. Stumbling outside the pub he noticed wanted poster for the infamous Vanderbin who as luck would have he overheard was camping near by. He grabbed his pistol and stormed off towards Vanderbin's camp.

After getting lost for an hour and another drink at the pub, Dunwick finally found Vanderbin's camp and stormed into the middle of it waving his pistol. Vanderbin calmly stood up, shot Dunwick in the leg and then dragged him into the middle of a nearby road where he was found by a group of traveling minstrels. After spending weeks recovering from both the gun wound and withdraws Dunwick finally was well enough to travel again. Giving up adventuring he traveled back to his hometown of Phobos. His leg would never be the same and he walked with a terrible limp the rest of his life.

Upon his return he is shocked to discover he has a son, Opus, who Leena has been struggling to take care of since he left her on the side of the road. Attempting to make amends, he marries Leena and settles down in Phobos. He also begin distill his own liquor in his basement at this time.

As Opus grew up, Dunwick tells him of his wonderful adventures and heroic acts saving the world. Opus becomes infatuated with his father's tails and asks him to recount the tales every chance he gets. Every time Dunwick tells a story it becomes more elaborate and exciting. By the time Opus is ten, the tales of his father had grown from pub fights to pistol duels with the Mayor of Lunopolis. And while his father's tales grew more wondrous with each year so did Dunwick's taste for terrible liquor.

Dunwick began to resent Opus and Leena, blaming them for his inability to go on new adventures. This of course started off as snide comments here and there buy by the time Opus was 14 had turned into drunken arguments. Opus did his best to protect his mother but one night Dunwick was in a particularly bad mood and hit her solidly across the cheek. Infuriated, Opus decked his father sending him crashing to the ground. Leena defending his husband, threatens to kick Opus out of the house with nothing but the clothes on his back.

Becoming a Bard
Confused, frustrated, angry and being a teenager, he stormed out of the house and into the village. After destroying a few helpless windows, he stumbles upon a strange man he's never seen sitting outside of the local pub. The man motions for Opus to come over and introduces himself as Baldric the Bard. After a few meaningless words, Baldric hands Opus his Ocarina and instructs him how to play a few basic notes. Opus quickly picks this up and Baldric begins to instruct him even more notes. Seeing the sparkle in Opus's eyes as he plays with the Ocarina Baldric invites Opus back to his groups camp outside of town.

Upon meeting Baldric's fellow musicians and traveling companions, Opus immediately becomes infatuated with the group. Seeing Opus's infectious enthusiasm for music the group invites Opus to travel with them. Previous to this point Opus went by his given name Willem. However, wanting to start new he adopts the name Astrafela Opulus, and in respect of Balric, Astrafela Opulus the Bard.

Opus spent the next year traveling with Balric's group mastering the Ocarina, storying telling and singing. It quickly became clear he had a natural affinity for showmen's ship and could often persuade others to give him whatever he needed. This often got in him trouble however and on more than one occasion he was chased off by an angry father.

It was during this time that he met Seraphine, a beautiful young girl of mysterious origins. While wandering through a new village he heard a divine voice. He followed it until he found a girl, Seraphine, in nothing but rags singing with a cup in front of her. Taking pity, Opus gave her a coin and introduced himself. Instantly, they hit it off and he convinced her to join him and his group as they travelled.

For a month, Opus and Seraphine travelled, sang, played, and fell in love on the road. They would often meander together away from camp playing and singing songs together. One of these times, they stumbled across a large strange bear with three small bite marks on its shoulder. Determined to win Seraphine he jumped in between her and the bear pulling out his pistol. The bear stood up on its hind legs and roared knocking the two of them back. As they scrambled to their feet the bear disappeared into the forest before Opus could take a shot at it. They rushed back to their camp and began to tell stories of how Opus defeated the bear.

Opus and Seraphine were unseparately duo of trouble until one day when a group of mercenaries showed up in their camp. The mercenaries dragged Seraphine into the back of their steam powered carriage and locked her in. Opus attempting to save her grabbed a pistol but before he could fire a mercenary knocked him out. He awoke to find Seraphine gone and only a general direction she was taken: east towards Lunopolis.

Eager to rescue the love of his very short life, he talks his group into going after her. However, being a wandering group of bards, they quickly get lost and distracted. Getting frustrated with his inability to find her he again corrals his group and they set off towards Lunopolis where Opus figures he might be able to learn more about what happened to her.

Unfortunately, this turns out to be a nearly fatal mistake. On the road to Lunopolis, the bards are attacked by bandits. Opus is brutally knocked unconscious and left to to die while the rest of his group is slaughtered. Upon regaining consciousness to the horrific scene of his friends remains, he see's an erie wolf with three small bite marks on its shoulder staring at him very similar to the bear he encoutered with Seraphine. As he stands up the beast quickly disappears into the forest. Injured and alone he becomes determined to never again let anyone take anything or any one from him. He finds Baldric's Ocarina and continues his journey to Lunopolis.

The Search
In Lunopolis he finds no signs of Seraphine but quickly finds people love the sound of his Ocarina. He quickly gains a name for himself as a talented musician and coins come freely to him. He spends most of it learning how to fight and take care of himself. Not caring to repeat his previous loses, he doesn't join another musical group. His fame spreads over the next couple years and he's soon entertaining all of the high born women of the town. He quickly finds he has a natural talent with words as well as music and several of these women he becomes their private companions.

Even though two years and many lovers have passed, he still misses Seraphine but has been unable to find her. So, he decides to start traveling again in the hopes he'll stumble upon her voice again. Fearing another bandit attack, he hires Ruddiger to protect him on his travels but doesn't reveal the true nature of his journey. Calypso, owning a dept to Ruddiger, follows quietly behind them.

Opus's first destination is his hometown of Phobos but his navigation skills haven't improved and the group quickly gets lost in the forest. Ruddiger uses his wilderness skills to help the group get back on the road and going in the right direction where Ruddiger stumbles upon familiar tracks. Damarra appears out of the woods with her bear. She had been watching the group for sometime and calls Calypso out of the shadows.

Opus immediately recognizes Calypso from the stories he's heard in the pubs but doesn't say anything. He acts reluctantly and agrees to allow her to continue to travel with them. Damarra having a special affinity to Ruddiger agrees to travel with the group of misfits at Ruddiger's request.

With a ranger's help, they quickly find the tiny village of Phobos. It's been four years since Opus had last been back and not much has changed. He heads towards his parents house but stops at a distance. He can see both his mother and father in front of their home screaming at each other. His father is obviously drunk and his mother is limping as they blare obscenities at each other. Calypso creeps up behind Opus and asks if Opus knows them. Opus turns away from his parents and starts to walk away, "no." Having seen what he wanted to see, Opus heads to the pub hoping hearing something that will help him in his search for Seraphine.