We’re all good? Happy, shiny people? Awesome.

I’m undertaking the incredibly epic project of reviewing and rewriting Origins of The Paladin. Its printed out and sitting next to me right now. Size 12 Courier font, double spaced…194 pages. Its a little daunting.

As the stories are edited, revised and rewritten (something I honestly should have done before publishing them), I’ll be putting them up on the site, and turning on comments for the stories. Just so you people can read and share your opinions on the final, completed versions of the story.

Don’t expect a lot to change. This is mainly to help clean up grammar, spelling and other issues. Not a terrible lot of rewriting is planned at the moment, as I am quite happy with how the story turned out, but there will be some additional fleshing out of moments. This project is also to help me get back in the mindset to finish “Legacy of The Paladin”. I’ve also been looking into rewriting “Origins of The Paladin” in a comic script format, and have about half of Act I rewritten as such, so if you’re a comic publisher or an artist, drop me a line and lets work something out!

So, leave comments! Tell me what you think!! And if you enjoyed “Origins of The Paladin”, go check out my on-going web comic Wiik Sauce at Stink Child Comics. Its good times!

Yes, comments on all new posts is enabled! Also, the Legacy Act I preview has been moved over to the sidebar, with the rest of the stories.

Further proof that I’m not dead:Act I, Part 1 and 2 of Legacy Of The Paladin after the jump.

More to come soon, I hope. Leave comments and tell me what you think.

I

Smoke rose into the air in wispy plumes, pierced only by the soft, sweet voice of the gorgeous brunette on stage, singing a solemn love song that touched the hearts of the dozens of love struck couples listening intently in the cramped bar, sipping on drinks and munching on assorted foodstuffs.

As she sings, she looks at a table to her side, where there sit four men, each listening but not wholly paying attention to her as they throw cards around on the table. Sitting directly in front of her is Michael. His hair, long and shaggy, his face obscured by a beard, he takes a long drink of the beer in front of him before tossing a handful of cards into the center of the table.

“Screw it.” He mumbles gruffly under his breath. “I fold. You doin’ any better Matthew?”

Matthew, a portly man with long, curly hair, sighs and lays his down in front of him too. “No, not really. Can’t really afford to just fold though.”

“Well then read ‘em and weep, fools!” screams the dark skinned man sitting next to Matthew. “Full house, courtesy of the almighty Phil!”

Matthew and Michael both sighed as they stare at the significantly higher cards. At the head of the table, a younger man runs his hands through his short, spiked up hair as he watches the lovely lady on stage bowing as she finishes her song and stepping off stage.

“Marie’s something else tonight, isn’t she?”

“Oh, come the hell on Robert!” Matthew groaned, leaning back in his chair. “We’re here to make sure everything goes smooth and keep her safe, not ogle the poor girl.”

“I know, I know. She just did really good tonight.”

Michael chuckled softly. “Well since you thought she did so well, you get to go check on her and make sure she’s all right.”

Robert rose from his chair, throwing down the cards in his hand. “Fair enough, just leave the money in a pile guys.”

Phil leaned over and stared at the cards he had thrown down. “Man, that just ain’t right.”, he mumbled before shaking his head and pulling out his wallet.

II

What feels like a world away, Victor stares on at the paper in front of him. He wasn’t quite sure what kind of assignment it was, being asked to describe an important event of the past 5 years, but he couldn’t help thinking back to the most important one. Of his friend, Connor, who had become the powerful hero the media dubbed Paladin, of how the woman Connor had loved secretly for years, Lea Riece, had died at the hands of a powerful demon. But as he twirled the pencil between his fingers, he knew he simply couldn’t do so. Connor probably kept his secret for a reason, and whatever that reason was, it was gone and had taken Connor with it. For 6 long months, Victor searched and waited, but it seemed his friend was now long gone.

And now, as he looks out the window, he sees the man standing there as he has for months now; a tall slender man with wisps of white hair dangling down his face. He was not sure who this man was, but knew he had been following him since Connor disappeared. The one time he had gotten him to speak, all he would say was that he was “waiting for someone important to return.” Victor assumed he meant Connor, but could get no more out of the man. Every time Victor got too close, the man would disappear, much to his dismay.

Slowly, pencil met paper as Victor sighed, wondering if he could come up with something interesting to say. But now, as his eyes focus on the line of graphite smeared against the off-white paper, he knows that there could be nothing grander than the truth.

The bell rang after what seemed like an eternity, allowing him to finally leave behind the writers block and the haunting memories of his friend, as well as the bizarre white-haired man and his haunting ways. But even as Victor left, Gabriel himself let out a soft sigh, watching as the young man left. He had been following him for some time, thinking that if Connor were to return he would surely greet his friend, but so far it seemed hopeless.

Gabriel turned and walked away, pulling his cloak tighter. Time was running out, and though he feared the Paladin would not return in time, he knew that there was still hope…

Just to let you guys know, “The Legacy of The Paladin” is almost completely plotted, which means the actual writing of the project will begin soon.

New shirt (shirts?) on the way soon.

Still alive, technically.

New Paladin stuff coming very, very soon. Thanks for still coming guys, sorry its been such a let down. Be sure to go read my web comic, Wiik Sauce, over on Stink Child Comics.

Check out the new page on the side….story teasers have been posted for the upcoming Paladin story, “Legacy Of The Paladin”!!

Go buy a shirt!! The current shirts will be discontinued soon and new Legacy shirts will be up…

Wow.

Just…wow.

According to that little doo-hickey down there, over 1,000 page views on The Paladin Online.

According to WordPress’ BlogStats feature, my views aren’t counted, and several unique IPs (no, I cannot see your IPs) have viewed the stories.

Translation: Holy shit, you people are actually reading this.

Thank you so, so, so, so much to the people who have read this. I’m working on releasing Origins as a novel, and Legacy is about to start going into production (I may knock out a separate, totally different, completely unrelated project first).

Buy a shirt!

Yup. Fin. The End. All Good Things.

Is this really the end of Paladin? Not really. There are sequels planned, but it will be some time before they go ito production. I’ll post more information about those later.

Is this the end of The Origins of The Paladin? Pretty much. Keep your eyes peeled for an epilogue, which will be your branching between this and the sequel, tentatively titled “The Legacy of The Paladin”

Thank you so much to everyone who has supported (or ridiculed me) throughout this. I’d list them here, but honestly it is far too many to name, and honestly I’d forget somebody. But you know who you all are, and I cannot thank you enough.

This is not the end of The Paladin Online. Please continue to donate, or buy some merchandise. Other movement will be made regarding the character, and in a few months you can look forward to Legacy, which will have a much more stable release schedule.

I hope you enjoy the end of Origins of The Paladin. This is truly the fruition of a dream years in the making, and I’m glad I can share it with you. Thanks for visiting.

God bless, and enjoy the stories.

Regards,
J. Christopher Baggett

Act 11 is DONE!

Yes, that’s right, the bulk of “Origins of The Paladin” is COMPLETE!

Act 12 is on the way shortly. It serves as an epilogue and such. Don’t miss it!

Hope you enjoy this. Act X: “The Ones You Love” is now available, and the sh*t just officially hit the fan for our cast.

You’ll see what I mean when you read it.

Get ready. The next ones a doozy.

Act IX is up. Hoo-ra, things are heating up!!

Things should move a bit more briskly now. I confess, poor planning on my part has led to a lot of the delays, in addition to my writers block. A lot of the material in this had to be created kinda on-the-fly.

See you guys in a couple hours (Or hopefully less) for Act X: The Ones You Love