"Certainly," Gareth said. He opened the wooden case, picked up the lyre inside, and plucked it a little bit while tuning it. He then started to sing, accompanying himself on the lyre. He sang of a handsome, low ranking Solamnic Knight and his heroics. How he met a most beautiful Kagonesti female and how they fell in love. How war came and dragons followed and they, despite all conflict and hardship remained together.

He sang about the evil dragons and how their victories multiplied and threated to cover the world in darkness. And about the lovers fleeing to safety, where their love could flourish and the duo could be together forever.

But he stopped. He could not escape honor. He had to protect his people at any cost. And his love revealed herself as a silver dragon in elven form. And with the power of the gods in his arm, riding a dragon of his own, Huma risked the life he could have had with her to save the world. And as he banished Takhisis, the silver dragon was mortally wounded. And in his wrestle between love and honor, he had won one and lost the other.

His performance was exquisite. A true masterwork.

Roisins eyes widened as she heard the song. "I.... words escape me. A performance worthy of the Gods themselves. I'd suggest that you travel with us and make your songs known to the King, but if you travel seeking inspiration, you must do so. It would almost be criminal not to. I wish we could help you seek that inspiration, but our story is mundane." she looked somewhat saddened as she lifted the silvered slave collar around her neck "As for this. I'm afraid I cannot speak of how I earned it. There are powerful magics binding it to me, and me to it, and as I.." Roisin paused struggling as she tried to continue "umm travel through life, I may not discuss it."

Roisin looked sad as she spoke "I feel blessed to have heard your song. Powerful and old."

D'aden sits silent, staring at something a quarter mile away, then he turns to Roisin. "You see. That's why I annoyed you with my little dittys. If I could have done that, perhaps we wouldn't have had to bash in as many skulls, or maybe those ghostly elves would've taken less of my spirit. The only way I know to get closer to what he did is to practice, constantly."
Bowing to the gentleman, D'aden says, "I am in your debt, such a fine performance can not help but teach something to such a poor performer as myself."

"Thank you, both," Gareth said. "I am going towards Kalaman, but my road doesn't take me in front of the king." He looked at D'aden, "I wouldn't mind hearing you sing."

Roisin raised an eyebrow at D'aden's comment "I fear that what you call practice, I consider an assault on the ears, unlike Gareth's singing which is a feast, both sensitive, responsive and delicate to my sensibilities." she smiled at the bard "You'll soon regret saying that." she grinned as she sat back to listen to D'aden feigning covering her ears to block out the noise.

D'aden retrieves his mandolin, carefully arranges himself and fiddles with the tuning, then smiles and says, "Ok, this is a song I wrote about a gypsy lass I knew... once upon a time..."
After a short intro which includes tapping the mandolin's body as will as some acrobatic picking, he sings,
Farther on up the road
Someone's gonna hurt you like you hurt me
Farther on up the road
Someone's gonna hurt you like you hurt me
Farther on up the road
Baby you just wait and see

You got to reap just what you sew
That old saying is true
You got to reap just what you sew
That old saying is true
Like you mistreat someone
Someone's gonna mistreat you

Now you're laughing pretty baby
Someday you're gonna be cryin'
Now you're laughing pretty baby
Someday you're gonna be cryin'
Farther on up the road
You'll find out I wasn't lying

Farther on up the road
When you're all alone and blue
Farther on up the road
When you're all alone and blue
You'll ask me to take you back baby
But I'll have somebody new


https://archive.org/download/B...RoadDukeOrig1957.ogg
https://archive.org/download/B...RoadDukeOrig1957.mp3
OOC: I apologize and take full responsibility for this bit of whimsy.
20:11, Today: D'aden Tor VIII rolled 13,13,16,10,12 using 3d6,3d6,3d6,3d6,3d6.  Breath Control -12,Musical Comp -12,Mandolin -12,Performance -13,Singing -14.

OOC edit: Still, can't nobobdy complain about a little Bobby Bland
This message was last edited by the player at 05:30, Thu 22 Feb 2018.

"You have some good instincts and techniques," Gareth said. "But some of it was a little weak in execution. Your singing is fine, better than most who make a living at it. I have a feeling your companion may have her issue more with your material than with your singing. But I've just met you and probably shouldn't make such remarks considering your hospitality." Gareth then proceeded to give D'aden some musical pointers.

"I'm sorry if I gave you the impression I hated his singing. I don't really mind it. I just like teasing him about it." she smiled "I sing sometimes too, but mostly for my own amusement. My real talent is in languages...but that's to be expected in a mage, is it not?"

"I see," Gareth said. "Don't worry about it. I am aware of the teasing now. And I think everyone sings. More or less. And if not, magic can sing for them."

"It is always good to understand and to be understood."

D'aden smiles, turns away from Roisin and winks at Gareth before saying, "I grew up on a hold sharing space with nine other children of similar size, but not age. If someone wasn't teasing me, I'ld probably do something to get them started. You know, just to feel at home."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 02:21, Wed 28 Feb 2018.

Roisin nodded "Worry when we stop teasing. Not when we do."

"Point taken," Gareth said.

D'aden nodded, "besides, I'm like any old farm boy. I'd do handstands to see a pretty girl smile."
Standing, he starts rummaging through their provisions, "like right now, I really wish I'd paid more attention when this old guy was showing me how to properly prepare a squirrel for stewing so I could cook something for everyone."
"I didn't pay attention, so the squirrels are safe, for now."

Roisin frowned "You know Ochre considers himself a good hunter....and perhaps more to the point, he can fetch something perhaps a little less meager than squirrel."

Roisin ordered the Guardian and her familiar to stand guard over the group as they slept. She also cast a spell. And they had an uneventful night.

They continued their travels until they were back at Kalaman. As they approached, they could see a few giants carrying large blocks of stone both on their side and on Kalaman's side of the Vingaard River.

Roisin smiled to herself as they approached the city. It wasn't that it was safer, except in a more general sense. It was more the sense of familiarity... and the fact that at long last she might be able to afford a place of living with a slightly higher living standard than "hovel" and perhaps a horse too. Walking was painful. She sincerely hoped she could persuade the King to gift her the Lyceum to reopen it. She needed a good place to teach and learn and she was sure the lyceum still had more secrets to uncover.

She frowned as she saw the giants "Construction underway? or perhaps fortifications?"

One of the giants on this side saw the heroes dropped his block of stone on the ground and approached them.

Roisin stepped forward trying to recall from her studies the most commonly used dialect giants used in this area. "Greetings. We are merely passing through this area on our way into Kalaman. Can you tell us any news of interest on the local area?"

D'aden waves to the giant, and says to Roisin, "we did meet a giant on the way to the Lyceum. It appears our advice was useful, and the giants have garnered gainful employment in the reconstruction."

As the giant came closer, you recognized him as the giant you met a couple of days ago on your way to the Lyceum.

"Thank you," the giant said. "My family and I thank you for alerting me to the needs of Kalaman. We have jobs and food, though no place to live yet."

The giant was four times as tall as the heroes, the rest of him proportional to his height, so finding a place for him and his family to live might be a little difficult.



[OOC: For a reminder, see link to a message in this game, starting with msg #175.]

OOC: It strikes me that the lyceum might have enough space for the giants....would that be true?

After a brief discussion with the giants and Roisin taking a note of the giants names and how they might be contacted, Roisin led the group to her home. A small But respectable place off a side street in a reasonable part of town. As she opened the door, Ochre bolted past her to jump up onto a perch near the fireplace, coiling himself around it, his nose scanning the area before he settled.

Roisin motioned to Utrecht to enter, lowering his head before he came in. Then finally she bid D'aden enter. "Cup of tea? I only have one bottle of wine, but I was saving it for dinner." she moved in her home, motioning towards the one empty chair near the fire for D'aden to sit in, as she emptied her backpack. "I have a question to ask. Do you mind if I keep the magical things here? I was going to study them all to see if I could discern anything about their origins." She placed all of the magical items onto the desk "If not, it's grand. It's just it's hard to figure out whether they should be sold or kept and for that matter knowing what they do is likely to be helpful."

She stacked some kindling in the fireplace, whispering softly and a fire crackled to life.

D'aden nods, accepting her invitation, "tea would be nice. But I won't stay long. There's something wrong with Olven, and I suspect it began before we left this city. I'm going to visit Reorx; I first met Olven when he was coming out of the temple."

Roisin set the kettle on the fire and prepared the tea, remaining quiet as the kettle slowly boiled. Only when she'd poured the cups and sat down did she speak "I...well, I worry about him. If there's one thing I have learned though, it is that if someone needs help, they should ask. If we try to help him without his asking for it, it might be that he ends up hating us for it. I did offer to help, and was flatly rejected. I was rather hoping that it was a magical affliction brought on by some of the things we recovered from the lyceum. That way, at least, I might find out what happened in an indirect manner."

[OOC: Each of you gets 10 CP.]