14 Tally

With everyone back in town, it's time to take a tally of the less experienced adventurers around.

Coill: 
the guy with the bird. Note: not a sorceress. 1,000 experience, Sorcerer 2

Kabyaar: 
myself. Kab. ½O Storyteller extraordinaire. One day a famous bard, now Rogue 2. 1,000 experience.

Rivyre: 
the halfling monk on a dog. Likes to chase cats up trees. Monk 2. 1,000 experience.

Drai. 
Man who stares down boulders if they get in his way. Do-gooder, lizard-worshipper and enemy of floors everywhere. More recently owner of a weird-looking key. Cleric 2. 2,000 experience.

Luck:
the pointy-ears who started investigating what happened to the farmer's kid. Also has a dog. Has he gotten hitched with Coill in the woodlands? Ranger 1. 500 experience.

Emma.
The pretty human female with ruby lips and steel bra and golden hair. Not my type but my tastes are particular.... whom am I kidding. Of course she's my type. Fighter 2. 1,000 experience.

Ivy.
The gorgeous half-orc maiden who saved the day again with her emerald lips and her grace. Well in touch with her wild side though more tame in towns. Apparently has many friends who give her gifts for a little time with her. Druid 2. 1,000 experience.

Corwen.
Scary looking, scarred gnome who likes to play with things that go whirr or boom or both. Has a metallic spider as toy / pet. Wizard 2. 1,000 experience.

Yep, it's a diverse bunch. All we need is a paladin. And maybe a rogue or a bard.

I expect there will be many new notes on the board soon. What we'll do? And who are we? Go rescue a lost elf with a dog, and a farmer's kid? Go teach an untrustworthy lighthouse some manners? Say hi to the cat lady again and hope that her dead friend doesn't want his hat back? Get another gig from the clown or Joseph or go explore the marshlands and kill a black dragon there? Spend some quality time with sweet Ivy? Or something else?

Time shall tell. And when time does, I'll make songs about it.

13 Song of the White Dragon

Drai met someone on his outing. A 10-foot bipedal lizard with weapons and armor.. and I suppose at that time he might have remember that solitary adventurers tend to DIE young. Cunningly he got the lizard's trust by talking to it in Draconic, a language he has diligently learned.. and this time, the languge skills saved his life. The lizard took Drai to its camp where several others of its kind awaited. Drai was careful not to say too much, and learned all he could of the lizards.. it seems they revere a white dragon, which is bad news, and oppose a black dragon, which is unexpected news but not necessarily bad. If there really is a black dragon nearby, though, that could be horrible news. The creature that had surrendered to Drai's magic was at the camp, and proved to be the same one that the gnome had hit with a spell. Now its head was in bandages, but it still lived.

Drai gave me some more information, and said he had started working on a song.. the Song of the White Dragon. I'll be happy to help him complete it.. but given that dragons with a color in the name are rarely popular in towns, I doubt it will be a big hit. Maybe white gold dragon?

Maybe I'll add the song here when it's done. But unfortunately Drai and I and Drai had some beeeer to celubhrtnnhg hiss returrRrn to town. *hips* and right now we have some turr.. some tarr.. some trooooth.. some trubble getting the rhymes just right. Maybe when he's sober. *hips*

12 Farmhouse

A long session of rowing and the team found its way to a farmhouse at the edge of the marshlands. That was the place of the rendez-vous with the ship, and the farmers were, after initial wariness, happy with the company. The group didn't eat much, and paid its way by doing security and maintenance work. Drai however.. wasn't content to sit and wait, and went scouting, alone. The others fixed the yoke, cut firewood, chatted with the farmers.. I suppose it helped that one of the adventurers was a tiny gnome and the other two lovely women.

In time the ship arrived, and Drai was, by his choice, left behind. He spent time practicing making a boat to be able to return at his own time, but whether he actually used it, or returned to town on the farmer's carriage, he did not say. It's irrelevant anyhow, what matters is that he chose his own route.

That can be foolish. That can be suicidal. But.. that is also something to be respected.

The other three returned to the marshlands, and recovered the ship that had gotten stuck there - it took quite a bit of work, but with another ship and able crew, they managed to yank it out and tow it back to town. It needs new sails and a new mast of course, but other than that was largely intact.. except for lacking some valuable cargo. And lacking a crew.

The trading house asked the three about the details.. especially the fate of the crew, but also the cargo, and once content, rewarded the three with what they had promised.. a bit of pay and free passage on the ships. It seems that in this town, adventurers are usually not awarded great lump sumps of treasure for completing missions.

11 Ship Discovery

During the night the team noted the ship change course. It was fortunate there were ones sensitive enough to spot that, and wise enough not to miss the significance. They manned the deck.. though they could see nothing in the dark.. and I suppose they could have sniffed for smells of the land - but humankind has relatively useless noses, so they are visually oriented. So instead, they used their tricks to send light into the dark, as far as they could.. and saw it reflect from the marshlands dead ahead. An alarm they sounded, and did an anchor turn, avoiding barely running the ship aground in the marshes.

Then, the ship halted, they could see the flickering light of what should've been a lighthouse, inviting them into the marsh.. which they could hear and smell and see, only a bowshot away.. and spent the night there. In the morning it was decision time, and the captain decided to press on to the next town for news and delivery, whereas the team stayed with a longboat to explore the marsh.

It did not take them long to realize that they were observing creatures who were observing them observing the marsh. Drai used the might of the Big Lizard in the Sky, and COMMANDED one of the creatures to surrender! And it raised scaly front paws, understanding the common tongue of humans.. but that's as far as the surrendering went, as its companions yanked it back. No surrender there, not even a clear sighting, but Drai felt smug. It was always good to show someone the might of the Platinum Dragonfather of Good Dragonkind.

With nothing to do at that point save await retaliation with of slingstones and javelins and spears and arrows and bolts, the team wisely moved on, searching the coastline, and found the ship they were hired to find. It had hit the marsh at a considerable pace, making a shipwide ditch of broken, rotten wood and plowed-through vegetation - and been camouflaged since with sticks and plants. It would've been hard to spot from a passing ship, but from a nearby boat it was obvious. Getting past the camouflage took some work and time, but nothing unsurmountable, so soon the team was on the missing ship.. finding it abandoned.

Most of the cargo was there, the cargo hold door open. The present cargo was high-quality wood from the forest that I had explored with the others.. it made sense there were lumberjacks someplace, and sawmills. An area of cargo was missing though, and the team deduced from scrape marks that something coffin-sized and shaped had been there, and something that could have been a treasure chest. Drai spotted something glinting under the deck, and searched the ballast area finding a fancy silver and ruby key there. It was covered in coded writing (that Scars decoded but didn't tell anyone), and it made Drai think of vampires. Drai also picked some bags of sand and gravel that were probably make-shift ballast where someone had run out of rocks, but could be something else.

A few coins, and some clues.. black lizard-blood and red human blood, absence of people, weapon damage to walls and doors, some paperwork.. and the team was content to leave. As they came on board they noted that someone or something with a pale white head was trying to steal their boat, so Scars blasted the creature with his magic, calling upon the forces of the universe to blast the impudent creature to pieces.. and it sank under the waves, leaving the boat be. Soon the team recovered it, and started a long rowing session out of the marshlands.

Apparently that's why Jerry had insisted that the cargo belongs to the shipping company. I can't say that I am impressed that he withheld information from Drai and the others. Neglecting to mention that could've gotten them killed or stuck in a marsh, instead of just calluses from rowing for hours.

10 Jerry's Job

Jerry the trade person was concerned that a trading ship had gotten delayed. It was weird as the cargo was inexpensive and the route short and safe. Drai's group got offered as reward free passage on the trading ships, and a chance to get paid if they served as security, which they promised to do. They could also keep anything they found, except of course the cargo of the ship they were meant to find. First though, they needed to get to the ship, and that left outside the town on a separate, walled port area.

As it had taken Mr Scarred a while to find the Jerry's trading house, the group got there after sunset, and was denied entry.. except the ruby-lips fighter, who got invited to spend the night with the wall guard. Scars hid under Ruby's cloak, and the others decided to rough it out in the wild. That was not cool.. they were in danger during the night, and had Emerald or Drai been hurt it would've been upsetting. Fortunately things turned out well. Drai claims he did NOT spend the night snuggling with Emerald.. though that is the only sensible way for them to have spent the night. Shared body warmth, team cohesion, safety.. all things suggest they should have been together. But apparently Emerald is saving herself for me. Or then Drai lies. He's honest in general, but come on.. a lovely woman and he says he spent the night praying, and watching the sun, dreaming of dragons?

Right...

The team reunited in the morning. Apparently the wall guard had had an intimate encounter with a length of wood that connected forcefully with the back of his head so Ruby Warrior could sleep in peace in the guard's bed.

After reuniting the team found Josef, a colleague of Jeremiah, got more info about the ship lane and the terrain.. that is, overland traffic to the next town is hard due to coastal marshlands, and it takes about 16 hours to get to the destination, so the ships usually departed in the evening, headed for a lighthouse until dawn, and then adjusted course to reach the next town by noon the next day. That gave them enough time to unload, load something else, and move on before nightfall. Apparently for some reason the shipping company thought that sailors on land at prime pub time was a bad idea, so the ships used night hours for sailing.

The team went on the next ship after loitering outside the harbor area made the miss a ship.. fortunately that one didn't disappear. And with Scars and Drai using their magics to make the crew nervous and entertained, the ship set sail and set off into the darkening night. Soon in the distance came the one light to pierce the blackness, the one light to follow, the one that guides to safety.

Come to think of it.. that sounds quite religious. I wonder if Drai sees it that way.

09 Miss Emerald Lips

The guild master told me that veteran adventurers got the big jobs, and those were handled as hush-hush. There had been two publicly available tasks.. ones with lesser rewards but more honest patrons.. and those had gotten an interested crowd. One was about a farmer's kid who had gotten lost. That sounded like either a parenting issue.. or then a wildlife matter in which case the kid was wolf fodder or something.. or, maybe it was a love story. Who knows, maybe the kid had gotten bored of milking cows and taken up juggling or tinkering instead. Why someone would involve adventurers for such, and what adventurers could do about any of those, sounded odd. Anyhow, some pointy-eared guy had shown an interest in it, probably because it took place in the wilderness. Maybe there was a story to it.. and maybe he and Coill might meet somewhere in the woodlands.

Lots of questions. So the more interesting thing was the other story. It involved a real quest and a real employer. When pointy-ears bolted, the group of new people was a man short, so they said a pretty please to Drai when he dropped by at the guild house, and a group was formed.

Drai told me that the group consisted of a slender hottie with complexion like mine... I've got to meet her at some point. Hm. What happens of two half-orcs have children? Do they get a full orc child? Another half-orc? A quarter-orc? A two-quarters-orc, which would mean a half-orc? ...but there was also some human female who liked to wear metal.. those are always handy, metal heads for the front row and stops attackers and arrows, and females smell better than males. And there was something small with lots of scars and a half-animal half-machine science project that crawled across the tables on eight or so legs. That one sounded.. like a walking do-not-try-this-at-home lesson. But, it is good that he had emerged alive from whatever had happened to him, and that shows that the gods are either merciful or then lazy at collecting souls for the afterlife, and that the life spirit is strong.

Oh, my sweet lovely, I don't give a toss
for any save one with skin the color of moss
Not for the woman with gold for hair and sword
and armor of steel, no, she's pink and I am bored
by the thought of her lips.. like rubies some called
so dull.. but yours, soft and sweet like emerald..
May you both be kept safe by Drai and Mr Scarred
..who is either incompetent... or then a wizard..

Or both, I suppose. But wizard blow stuff up, regardless of whether they are good at wizardry or not.

The team followed the elf.. pixie.. gnome.. something around town, and finally to a trading house where honorable Jeremiah.. story says that he likes to have a pint in the evenings at some high-class drinking establishment with a young woman as his good-luck charm, and bet on dog races. Apparently the charm works as Jeremiah has a habit of winning quite often at the games.

But what Jeremiah told them to do.. proved to be quite hazardous, which explained why this time they would be actually getting paid.

08 Well-Deserved Rest and Recovery

Back from the wild
With a fortune to hide (or spend, that's better)
Done for now the lethal game -
of an adventure afoot, we revel in fame...

What little there is of it, anyhow. We got a nice medal, yes.. but it seems that it is not really recognized by, well, anyone.. so we were for the power-that-be heroes of the day, two at most. The prince might be grateful.. but probably to his doctor, not us. That is not right.. the doctor and his clown friend couldn't even get a flower from a shop but they get all the praise. If they keep that up, it might sap at the loyalty of some folks, and make them inclined to do something selfish at an opportune moment. For all my troubles, all I got...

...a fancy crown, taken from a dead guy's head. New friends. Something to sing about. And probably.. if I don't mind cats or spiders.. a place to drop by in in the woods. That might come in handy. And the lute and flower dealer there might like a song and company. She looked a bit lonely. Next time.. for a social call it might be best not to take Drai or the dog-rider along as they seem fond of breaking floors and furniture and chasing cats up tree. Besides, most cats are not very fond of dogs.

The problem with wealth is that either someone steals it, or then costs and care are needed to protect it - which essentially makes treasure pointless. So I sold the crown.. for something better than gold.

Well, of course there was gold involved too.. but more important than that, there were connections, and I got an agent, who will provide me with music gigs as well as training.

Kabyaar will finally be a real bard!

I wonder if that's because of the fancy new lute that the cat lady traded to me?

During my training I tried to keep my ears open about my colleagues. I hear that the halfling dog-person has been seen near the kennels. I think the idea is to teach the doggy new tricks. Drai has spent time at the temple, probably studying all those books he got from the cat lady.. and Coill, she.. hm? he, I must remember that... has spent time in the wilderness. Maybe the bird doesn't like walls and buildings.

While we were gone, other adventurers got to do some heroics. Feeling out of touch, I went first to the adventurer guild to ask around, and then to the lizard temple. I asked Drai out for a pint, and unlike some temples, this one doesn't mind, so they're all good in my books.

It turned out that Drai had quite a story to tell. Good thing I had my lute along so I could turn it into songs. Usually playing in taverns gets us at the very least free beers. Sometimes it also gets us escorted to a scenic table well outside the tavern itself, but this time, it was just free beer.

Silly tavern folks. How am I supposed to sing while guzzling beer?

07 Triumphant Flower Hunters

The first dilemma with the flower hunt was that I remembered the instructions but the map had changed. On paper it made sense. Just go around, spot a tree, and head right.. but in the end that didn't matter. Directions were getting awry anyhow and both sets of instructions showed a fancy golden tree.. that will make a bardic song too one day.. and near it, the flower we had sought. My ax scythed it and and Coill made it float in the air into a bag. It seemed that the flower could defend itself as it burned through the bag easily.. a weird defense, why would a flower need to defend itself AFTER it has been cut down?

But Coill just made it float again, and his trained bird showed us where the city is. We headed there together. Rivyre left the cat and joined us, and Drai found the lute trader and bought a huge pile of books from her, then followed us, muttering of starlight and women and mistletoe and studying Draconic and of not having gotten the books for free. Hmph, the only ways to get stuff for free is to beg or steal. Unless the former owner is dead of course. Like in the case of my crown.

In town we.. Coill and me... headed straight for the palace. Coill was looking a bit strained after having concentrated on making the flower float for hours and hours, but managed it. We followed a floating flower into the palace, and were met with a very happy doctor who promptly burned it.

The clown was there, and said that we might get rewarded the next day at the adventurers' guild if the cure works. Not fair, that - why should the doctor's incompetence affect our paycheck? - but we were not in it for the money anyway but to do a good deed, so all fine.

The rest of the group met us at the guildhouse. Some were having trouble getting food...

Food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food

There's nothing you can serve that we won't eat.
Nothing you can give that we won't drink.
There's hungry folks to feed, and you can see - 
How to make us smile
It's easy.

All we need is food, all we want is food,
All you yearn is food, food. Food is all for me. 
Food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food
All we need is food, all we want is food,
All you yearn is food, food. Food is all for me. 

...so I paid for it with a song, and we were served immediately.

In the morning we got the reward. It was even better than we had expected, a rare honorific with medals and titles of some sort. Money comes and goes but reputation is forever. Life's great.

Drai wanted to go to the temple to sell the dragon books there. Makes sense, he has a mobile lifestyle and carrying the books all around is inconvenient. Again there were music lovers there... they just can't get enough? We are building a proper fan base in this town. The priests wanted a song before they'd properly take a look into Drai's bag of books, so I sang to them, and Drai was very happy with the money he got. Of course.. they could have just asked rather than involve dry's dirty bag of books in it.

It's time to wind down. Rivyre probably misses the cat, but at least she has a dog, and they do whatever it is that halflings and dogs do. Coill ponders that the tricks served him so well that he'll meditate and discover what more he can do, and Drai talks about spending time at the temple, serving the big holy lizard and learning more Draconic.

As for me, I'll probably learn a bit more about the new fancy lute of mine. It's no better than the old one I think, but it's not the same, so more learning is needed.. and besides, practice makes one a master, and the masters practice more than anyone else. I also need to decide what to do about the crown.. and after falling off a building twice and failing with a rusty lock, it would do me good to learn to practice those skills too so Drai and the others won't break down a door next time.

Well.. they'll probably do it anyway just because it's there. So I think that learning to run better would also be good.

06 The Building

The house, fortunately, was a safe environment, as had it not been we would have been in serious trouble. Even as is, we managed to harm ourselves on a hot kettle and by tripping on stairs.. which were quite a trip in their own right, being way taller than they should be. Coill continued his good deeds by fixing windows, by that didn't help him get much reading done upstairs when the spiders covered the window, blocking the only light source. I stayed with him for a while, then headed downstairs, and Drai and Rivyre were somewhere in between. Had there been an ambush.. anywhere.. we would've been picked off one by one. But there wasn't so all good.

Rivyre found a cat, the only create indoors and the likely reason for all the mouse skeletons, and followed it around. Being small, she followed it to a room with keys, or so she later told us, and retrieved a set that opened any door we found. Drai called on divine powers to create a truly divine meal for all of us, and all was rather cozy. And then Rivyre got busy searching the place floor by floor.. without informing anyone of where she was or what she was doing. Drai did the same, but as Rivyre had the keys, Drai did what came naturally; used power or might and muscle to make his own doors. That made for quite a bit of noise but also new routes between locations. Eventually he was bloodied from head to toe, but the blood was fortunately not his own while with that strategy it could well have been. Coill and I found it best to make a base on the first floor and wait it out, as those two clearly had no wish for our help. Would it have been different if they had been attacked? Maybe.

Eventually Rivyre got tired of it, or scared, or something, or maybe it's just that Drai made Rivyre's sensitive ears hurt. She left us with the cat and ended up, of all places, on a treetop above spider forest. How or why I have no idea, but the sight of the small dog rider chatting with a cat in a tree was memorable, and definitely song material.

Once there was a halfling
From a house she flee
And finds a cat to have a chat
and they talk way up a tree

The halfling  said good morning
Most politely, I allow
But what she learned from all that talk
was a paw lick and a meow

Get along home, lovely kitty
Get along home, lovely kitty
Get along home, lovely kitty
I'll give you cream sometime 

That song will be a great hit someday.

I found that Coill was frustrated, having done his best to be nice to the person with the house.. as we knew there was someone here, there was smoke coming up the chimney and an army of spiders guarding the region and a kittycat and magical interior decoration and all that.. and then we had Drai cutting holes in the floors. It was time to get going and solve the quest.

I checked the rooms they had passed through, and found Coill's spirit friends cleaning the place up again.. after Drai's adventure through the floors and ceilings there was much more to do.. and found some dead guy with a fancy crown so I pocketed the crown as the dead guy clearly didn't need it anymore.

Going higher I found a room with an elderly lady in it. I said a polite hello, and would've apologized for the noise but we never got quite that far. She was appreciative that Coill had fixed her carts and cleaned the house, and asked me what I wanted. To be a great bard of course, and to heal a prince. Which one I wanted more..? To be a great bard of course. Others can heal the prince too, but only I can make me a great bard. So she offered me a lute, and when I asked if it was a gift, she said she'd trade it. For what..? My old lute? That's fine. It had served me well, but didn't have a story to it, and this one did, and mine will have a tale for her.

We then spoke of the prince to heal, and I drew a picture of the flower we needed. She told us how to get it.. it involved a sort of dance in the clearing, some steps this way and some that way and then running like crazy towards a tree. I don't mind running like crazy.. and if that was the price for the information, all fine. She warned that it might be scary to get the flower... right. How scary can a flower be? I thanked and left with my new lute, not much different from my old. The others left the building too, and we assembled in the meadow. Except for Rivyre who was up a tree talking with a cat. Silly, I always thought she were a dog person. But that would sound catchy.

Kabyaar has left the building.

Hm. I like that.

05 Not breaking, but entering

The clearing had several broken carts on it. My other friend Coill, he... at least I think he's a he... spent some effort in repairing them. He has some special things he can do, and calls them tricks. That is certainly a very handy trick. Having trained a talking bird that actually makes sense when we talk to it instead of always calling for a cracker or saying hello, is an even better trick. I've seen Coill play a game with the bird, but of course he... yes, he... won. Despite being able to talk, Ean the raven is still just a bird.

We heard the forest we had passed through make a rustling noise, and noted several spiders there.. big ones. It was obvious enough that they were linked to the building somehow, or the people in it, so Coill and I decided it's a good idea to be on our best behavior. Maybe that's why he fixed the carts... maybe. Or then he's just a nice person. Unfortunately, entering the hut didn't prove easy, as the door was shut tight and the windows so dirty that we could not see through them. Coill used another trick and had the hut somehow clean itself, which is certainly useful and a nice thing to do, but that didn't mean the door would've opened. I could of course have broken it down, but that wouldn't have been nice. There was another way in, a cellar door with an iron lock on it, but the lock was so rusty that my lock picks didn't work on it. Again, I could've broken through.. but that would've been what a non-music lover would do, and I try not to be like that.

Eventually we noticed that there is a third way in high, near the roof, with a ladder hanging down from it. After some effort we had one of us go in that way.. Rivyre is light to lift.. and I lifted Coill there too. He cleaned the attic.. and we got showered with mouse skeletons and dirt. Seems Coill is the only one cleaning anything around here. Unfortunately Rivyre coun't open the door from the inside either, but she did manage to open a window. and the rest of us got in that way. Even Rivyre's dog, and that was a good thing too, as he spiders got restless and we needed to use the house for shelter.

But once again, we avoided a needless battle. The spiders wouldn't want to be killed by us, and we didn't really want to kill them, nor be killed by them. Whether they wanted to kill us.. well.. I don't speak spider, but they didn't seem hostile, just out to defend the place, so I think not. No battle, everybody happy, whether on two legs or four or eight. Rivyre found and befriended a cat.. Coill had a knowing smile about that, and later said that the cat was a 'familiar'. I don't know about that, though. It didn't seem very familiar to me. Maybe he meant it was familiar to Rivyre sharing a treetop with her. But that came later. For now we were hiding from spiders at the house.

It was spacious too. From the outside if seemed about as tall as all of us combined, sitting on each other's shoulders, dog included. From the inside, at least five times as tall - and mainly consisting of a huge, winding staircase with 20 levels of doors, from the attic at the top..  with a bookshelf on plants and arcane stuff.. to the kitchen and cellar on the ground level. It was time to explore, and Drai and Rivyre got into that. Rivyre is good that way, being so small. And Drai.. has tenacity. If he ever finds a big rock in his path he will probably keep punching it until it goes away and makes way. Or his hair turns to gray he doesn't remember anymore whether he was going to get past the rock or had already passed it. But either way, that guy never, ever gives up. Gotta admire him for that. It makes for great stories too. Heroic when he's right. Hilarious when he's not. But great stories either way.

04 Introduction: Kabyaar

I think it is due to take a tiny break and do a proper introduction.

My name is Kabyaar, at your service. Kab, to my friends. I have lots of those, as despite misunderstanding and prejudice, people are united by their love of music.

There was tragedy involved in the conditions of my birth, or, more exactly, the events preceding my birth. I never knew the name of my father, though after research into Orcish heritage I have learned the language so I could pronounce it. My human mother did not yield to him willingly, and cut him severely with a blade, which was one reason why his raid into the village was for the most part unsuccessful. The villagers were understandably rather upset as well, leading to father's severed head being mounted on a stake and his rotting corpse fed to the crows The sole legacy I got from him, aside of my greenish skin, is the weapon I wield - a huge double-ended ax with a blade at each end. Whatever else can be said about the orcs, it is a fine weapon, and I have put quite a bit of time and effort into mastering it.

However... despite the perceptions and expectations of most, I prefer not to use it in combat. To my experience, combat in general tends to be counter-productive. Usually, a song, a kind word, or sometimes an unkind word can solve things without violence, as can a bit of discretion of movement. Just - think about it. In the end of a battle, one side lays down on the ground, bleeding and possibly dying. Generally the winning side is wounded too in the process of the combat, and some of them may have died too. Resources have been expended by one or both sides, and the reason for the battle may have been lost from both. As such, the battle, glorious though it may have been.. proves pointless.

My name, in the language of those who raised me, means Poetry. Their wish is that I be a bard someday, making great tales to entertain and enlighten so that the word will be a better place. However... as it takes a while to master the art of the lute and the rhyme, I've started my career with less musical pursuits that enable me to stay alive until I do. People skills, discretion, entry and exit skills. All that speaks of my non-violent nature... I try hard to avoid killing people.

Unless they give me no choice. When that happens.. well.. I stop trying to avoid killing them. Some people are just beyond reason. Not many, but maybe a few.

Too bad my friend Drai feels differently about that. I'll need to tell you more about him someday.

But back to the tale. We had after some difficulty reached a clearing where a lonely tower-like hut stood... by all accounts, the place we had been looking for. The map given by the joker was obviously a joke.. ha ha... but we had a bird to follow, and traveling by foot, or paw (Rivyre), we finally found it.
.

03 Forest Stroll

The forest stroll showed us how dangerous it is to pick maps from a clown. Our Halfling friend wanted to check every path along the road, left or right, near or far, and wandered repeatedly off the beaten path to thickets and fields, disturbing innocent cows and serfs toiling on fields, and causing our team to nearly split in two as Drai got tired of that conduct. 

Oh, Drai.. such a fine person.. but it would be good to keep in mind that not everyone is perfect. In fact, there are a lot of not-so-perfect people in the world, and getting frustrated with them all means being frustrated much of the time. I'm sure it is not much fun to be a priest, seeing the perfection of gods on one side and the imperfection of all living things on the other, and being forced to live among the imperfect.

In time, we passed signs left by thoughtful locals, showing the path to a village on our left, and a re-ser-voir. An artificial lake? Why would anyone make such a thing - are there not enough lakes already? But we know the kind of people who live here, like the person who dresses as a clown and passes false maps that lead to dogs jumping into rivers or scared cows going moo.. all this while he is supposed to be getting help for a sick child. And women who need to sell roses but suffer from anxiety attacks that make them run away from customers, and scared children who hide behind their dads. At least the adventurers are a decent lot that appreciates music.

We moved a bit too far, as the clown had intended, and doubled back. Then Coill.. I think he is male, actually, just light and slender like a woman.. had had enough. He sent his pet raven to scout for us and after a while, and we could only be thankful that nature had given us the bird. Soon after we were near a clearing with a weird-looking hut on it. It was tall.. and round. Like a tower made of wood, which both makes sense and doesn't. It would be easy to build, as there is wood all around, but it would also be easy to burn. There were carts near it, eight of them, all broken.. which was another similar mystery. They were of course there as they were broken, but how did they all get there? And why would this be the home of a herb dealer?

Such mysteries. We needed to approach the matter in a constructive, logical, cohesive manner. Just like we approach all matters. 

02 Ready to Leave Town

Such a sight, all those noble adventurers, gathered there to find a cure for prince! It was heart-warming and inspiring. My trusted lute in my hands, I sang to the crowd as I approached the door -

Oh! You noble lot of souls
How brave and selfless are our goals!
Finding a cure for this vicious ailment
Not one of you here for mundane payment...

And as I walked and sang, I saw the crowd politely part in front of me so that those nearest would not interfere with my song, and make way so all could see and hear. Such good souls, pure and fine. All around they were, though at more than arm's length, and soon I was there by the door, and none had barred my way.. and all around the sea of the adventuring brethren, listening to the song. I asked and knocked, and the door was opened... such kindness is received by those who are polite. And we accepted the quest - to find this mysterious herb, this lovely flower, to bring health to the prince.

Surely there'd be a supplier of pharmaceuticals in this town, se we set in search for that. On the way I met an elderly lady who was selling roses... she had anxiety issues and a poor balance, and tried to run faster than her feet could, but I helped her upright and she was speechless with gratitude and sadly also amazement of the kindness of strangers. We also learned that riding a dog while reading a map issued by a clown is a bad idea, and our Halfling team member rode the dog off a bridge into a river. That speaks poorly of navigation, but highly of her skills of training a very obedient dog.. or then it was just a very hot day. Eventually we found the pharmacist, who was fortunately near a family of two, a father with a very scared-looking son who tried to hide behind his leg.. hopefully his daddy will tell him that there are no monsters under the bed, and nothing to be afraid of. It's not true, but children should grow without fear.

The pharmacist told us that the flower cure we were looking for was out of stock - no surprise there, otherwise the clown would've bought it and we would have no heroics to do - and that it was usually delivered from overseas. Being in a rush we preferred a more local source, and fortunately there was one, an elderly lady living in a cabin, at the end of a path that is the last off the main road, to the right, before a river. I found those instructions unfortunate, as there was no way to tell which path is the last before a river unless we go too far, but there was no helping it. We left the town together, heading out in search of a path, a river, a cabin, a flower, a heroic deed, a cured prince, and a tall tale to tell about it.. and soon before us was a vast forest, slashed through by a road, and we followed it confident that we had enough information to go by.

01 Clown Lacking a Flower

No more the simple temple life, safe and pure.

No more the wilderness, cruel and true - 

it is time to witness an actual city. A marvel of architecture and stone, with actual gates, and walls, and a palace with towers and gates and walls of its own at one end for the high and mighty. What, one wonders, would happen if the city came under attack and the outer wall would fail? Would everyone be in that upgraded motte, or just the privileged, seeing the lesser folks die, cordoned in the bailey they thought would protect them? 

Not enough supplies for all they'd say.. 

and weep they would, and often prey

and think of how they are pure and good..

when the serf and baker die, run through..

Sad. Hopefully it doesn't happen. We were four at this point, me, Kabyaar, the Green Bard.. Kab to my friends.. and Drai, the noble priest from the temple of flying lizards. There was Coill, the quiet one with a bird, and Rivyre, the wee one on a dog. More friends we might soon see, that was why the adventurers' guild was there, and we'd find meaningful things to do. Me to make songs of them, Drai to save the world and fight all things wicked. Coill, maybe, to find his.. or her? kin.. I don't even know if he's a he or a she. And Rivyre.. I don't know why Rivyre rides with us. But the dog is cute. Sadly, the town folks don't seem to like dogs. We walked to a yard and people steered clear. They seemed frightened of us.. hey, folks! It's JUST A DOG. And a kind one at that. No need to act like that!

And there at the yard we saw someone who made enough noise to be a bard in his own right, though dressed like a jester. But though the outfit was funny, the message was dire for a prince had fallen ill and a cure was needed. A flower.. and we were needed for to become florists. Out very first truly heroic challenge - to retrieve the floral cure from the clutches of Dark Fate, and save the royal scion! A fine, noble act of search and rescue, a matter for song and rhyme, with a young life hanging at balance.

And perhaps, as added bonus, a monetary reward too. That would be nice.

We spoke with the clown, and learned that the details for this deed were to be unveiled at the guild of the brave adventurers. Surely there'd be many others also there to do a deed of selfless good, yet where 99 might not suffice, we, the hundredth to try, could succeed.