Sierra Ju'ent: Rhinestone Cowgirl
-
_The Slide
I lie down and die
I return to the same place
My pen, a blank pageI write down my distrust
My disappointments
Cutting pain deepI withdraw into myself
With few people
On which to dependThey make a promise
Then take it back
So just leave it aloneIt may not be meant
But every little bit
Kills me even moreIt’s just easier to hide
To be always alone
Be numb and not to feelThan to put trust in a person any more
I feel my mind slipping away
And know not whether to kill the sickness
Or just to stop caring.But I suppose the journey is the hardest part_
-
Reflections
~Journal~Yesterday…. I died. I really rather hate dying. It hurts quite a bit, not to mention you’re always left in some sort of awkward pose like your rear end sticking up in the air, or with your shirt half torn away, so that your juggies are just there hanging out for every perverted gnome and hin to see.
However, I was lucky in that this time, Kara wandered by eventually and found me, killing the two dozen or so wolves that had begun nibbling on my body by that time.
I must remember not to travel alone again.
Despite what I think my chances might be even when wielding two lollipops of doom.Later that day, Rolan told Kara, Mel and Me that he thought we were “plump”. This of course is not at all true, because I’m as thin and fit as ever, if not more so, with the exception of the unfortunate incident earlier. Either way, his words merited retaliation. Knowing Rolan, it wasn’t difficult to get him up to a room alone so that Mel, Kara and I could honey and feather him. He made a very… interesting…. Giant chicken man.
Sadly though, not everyone was amused by our practical joke when we marched Rolan out into the Jiyyd Square, for next you knew Star was there weapons drawn threatening to cut up someone. I think it may have been me, but later she ended up whooping some elven girl. I’m still very confused about what was going on actually, and why Star did that.
Even later, a naked gnome who’s been running around the town lately, trying to send out exploding targets to the orcs, appeared again. His latest target failed to make it to the orcs again, or so I think, but from the sounds of things, he’s got well over a thousand more to send out…. Frightening. I tried some sort of apple juice concoction he made, and Mel ate a lollipop that he had modified. The ultimate result was me being a Sierra-sickle and Mel turning into a faerie. No, really! A Faerie!
I was finally taller than her!
Ah well, eventually it wore off and things went back to normal. Good thing too….
I don’t even want to think about what would have happened the first time someone tried to stick their tongue to me.
-
Intermission
A gray recollection of being here
I’ll say it’s mist and hazy at best
Long to have walked the roads
Tiring, cold and longing for restUpon her return, her beloved Nico was less than thrilled to see her. Infact, his greetings could be summed up to have been rather cold, with him simply saying, “Good to see that you’re alright. So when are you leaving again?”
But Sierra guessed that she probably deserved that.
Sierra begged, pleaded, recited poetry, and even going so far as to wear a dress one day and tote about a mop, Nico only thawed slightly towards her.
While I come back to you, my friend
But something swallows me within
Days and hours pass, weeks, years
It would be so damn easy to give in.But, she kept at him. Some things were important enough that you never gave up, despite difficulties.
Meanwhile, the tattoo that they had scribed onto her upper right arm back in Thay, felt as though it was burrowing deeper and deeper. She even swore that the ink that was burned onto her skin, was spreading further up her arm, as if trying to drag its way over to her chest, and finally, her heart.
When things had once fit together
The edges are becoming frayed
Compellation to torture myself
Give me relief, my tired body badeShe always felt a fear within her. And it made her body tired.
And she felt her emotions going numb. It made her stomach sick.
Then there were times that her head hurt so much, that she couldn’t think.It was as though…something was eating her up, from the inside out. Just a small bit at a time.
I left behind and took a wander
Not missing what I did not see
Hard to grasp a remembered past
Wondering if you’ll know me–-----------------------
Somewhere else:
He stuck a finger in, swirling it around, and put it in his mouth, savoring the taste.
Mmm mmm….good.
Pick it up and eat with a spoon.
-
The Law of Effect: 6. Reversal
It hadn’t taken long before Sierra was caught by the city guards, and was taken to a dark and damp room in the jail.
She didn’t struggle when they grabbed her, and then knocked her out.
But now, she wish she had, Sierra thought to herself as a whip made a sickening snap on her back.
Ask for death, said a voice.
….No, she said in a whimper.
The whip snapped again.
Ask for death, or I’ll next break you bone by little bone.
…..she didn’t respond.
Again, the whip snapped.
The skin on her back hung off of her in fleshy ribbons, every thing else in her was wrapped in the pain. She couldn’t take it anymore, she knew it. The sleep death would bring would be void of the pain that gripped her senses now. She did so want to die, and all she had was to say the words…
Another snap of the whip, but she didn’t feel this one, all she felt was pain.
And the pain brought her sleep.
–-----
Fingertips nudged her broken body, a voice saying something in the background.
Go away she wanted to say, I’m sleeping.
More nudging.
“Wake up.”
Groaning softly, she lifted her head, her eyes blurred and cloudy.
“Who’re you?”
“That doesn’t matter. Hurry and get yourself up if you want to leave. Oooor.. You can just lay there, and wait for your torturer to come back with more toys with which to torture you with.”
Sierra tried to push herself up, falling back down immediately with a thud. Get up they said, I’d like them to try to get up if they were in my condition, she thought to herself. Another try, and then another, and then finally she got up off of the stone slab that she had been laid out on.
“Here, take this…” the figure said as it handed her a thick brown robe with a hood. “Put it on.”
Slowly, painfully, Sierra put the robe on as ordered.
“Who’re you?” Sierra asked again.
“Does it matter? You’re going to go home, back to Na…. Back to your home.”
Blinking, she tried again to clear her vision, but the figure became no clearer.
“Do I know you?”
The figure just stood still, at first, appearing not to have heard her question.“I said, do I kno-”
“……. No, you don’t know me,” came the reply, laced with an angry edge.
No more was said until they were far out of the city, until they were nearly to the borders that marked the end of Thayan lands. There, the figure told her in short, clear details, how to get past the border guards, and where to go, what to do, and what to say.
“Thank you..” she said, as the two parted.
Go home the figure had said.
She could barely think of what home had meant to her.
Home…
Nico.
Sierra began moving down the road, walking with her head bent, her eyes cast to the ground.
Never had she longed for home so much.
-
The Law of Effect: 5. Regret
Sometimes
Sometimes the body betrays the heart
And I let my feet carry me far away
Sometimes I let my mind take over
When everything else told me to staySometimes,
Just sometimes,
I don’t know what to do
Or what to say
When sometimes
I wish I did
And could take the pain awaySometimes I want to give it up
And I feel to tired to go on
Sometimes I want to forget it all
About how it felt to you to belongSometimes,
Just sometimes,
I’m not sure
If it’s right I stay
When sometimes
I remember
How I threw everything awayBut every day, every night
I’ll ask you to take me back
Take me with every flaw
Every perfection that I lackEvery minute, every hour
I swear I’ll never try to leave
Hoping that someday
You’ll listen to my words and believe
-
The Law of Effect: 4. Aggression
I wake up every morning
Knowing I’ve died the night beforeIt had been years by now.
Gods had been abandoned.
Hope had been lost.Not many people know
What it’s like to have died
The freedom in itThey did not treat half elves well in Thay, especially because of their relations with half elven Aglarond to the south, the land which they felt should be theirs by right of power, but always beyond their grasp. So she was lucky, to be in the position she was in. This is what she was told, by some of the men she was made to entertain.
She didn’t know what was worse really.
What they did to her, or that she had to listen to them drivel on.To tell that while a body walks
Talks
Lives and breathesMost important, she’d learned simply not to care.
Pain had become part of everyday life, when they used their knives to cut into her, while at the same time they defiled her body in other ways. Or when they burned her, all the while crying out their pleasure and glee.
It just didn’t matter anymore.
Of course, if she was still inclined to give her faith to anyone, she could assume that maybe it was partially because of the prayers the mistress made them all give at the house, at the Loviatarian altar before they were taken out, but she always laughed her way through those prayers internally, often changing some of the words around to make them much more amusing. She remembered that she used to do things like that a lot, and no one else ever noticed.
Whatever got her through the days.
The heart of the person
Who was born into a body
Once living but now deadAfter all, most of her had died years ago.
She had even made a little anniversary of it, the night when she was first killed, one that apparently the house mistress actually thought she celebrated, instead of damned. Granted, the house mistress was also a devout follower of Loviatar, so she didn’t see things in the same ways others did, and expected them to enjoy pain as much as she. Because of this “anniversary”, the house mistress had chosen her on this particular day, to be part of a special gift ordered by one of the more important men in the city. It was the son of the man’s birthday, and this man wanted to make the day, and more importantly the night especially memorable.
Trussed up as usual, to be made as attractive as possible, she was loaded into one of the nicest carts, and quickly transported to the house, where she was quickly shut into one of the bedrooms. There she would wait until the man was ready to unveil his gift to his son.
She always felt like this before what was bound to happen, happened.
Shame of betrayal.
Regret over all the decisions she made that lead her here.But sometimes the ghost of the day before
Reminding me of the days that belonged to youThen numbness, and apathy.
While waiting by the window, she heard a voice. Such a familiar voice, it cut through her, making her heart thaw and clench painfully. Then she heard the voice again, laughing.
And then a name.
Her own name, her real name.
Sierra.
_At my own hands
By my choiceI’ll know that I’ve died the night before
I know that I’ve survivedTo my ghost I say goodbye_
She didn’t remember snapping the son’s neck or any of the other things she did to him. Or leaving shortly after and walking back without her usual escort to make sure that she didn’t run away. But, she knew that she had done it, as though it had been told to her as an afterthought. She’d gone back to the house and collected her things before anyone seemed to have found out what had happened. The blood didn’t phase anyone, for it was not at all out of place, and for that, no one seemed to ask why there was so much of it.
Somehow, someway, she left.
She never even knew why.
_Yesterday was your day in my life
Today is mine_
Sierra went out for a walk.
-
The Law of Effect: 3. Remembrance
My gift to understanding is a scene
To illustrate heart’s demand
Stillness of dark shades of night
Giving restlessness to the idle handShe leaned against the wall of her cell, which was packed with the bodies of many others. Some living, some… not so living. But all bound either way for Thay. A place so close to where she had come from, but because of her situation, may as well be lost to her, for it seemed doubtful that she’d soon find a way to escape.
The trip left her many, many hours, to think about what had been, and what might have been. And who she had left behind.
She let her hope fall away, and wondered if she would really ever see him again.
Down the alley ways of no light
Something taken for granted, is unseen
A pair of lovers bound together
By silence, walking shadows inbetween…………
Nico took Sierra’s hands in his, for all the world to her seeming as loving and gentle as she liked to think him capable of being. And so he was, loving, gentle, understanding, and always kind… at least with her.
As they sat before the fire, he slowly and calmly finally told her what she’d been wanting to know for so long, but had always known somewhat instinctively.
And as much as she said it didn’t matter, it did.
Later that night, Sierra packed up her tools, her weapons and anything else she needed, and left to take a walk.
She just needed to think.
A dangerous taste, love of life's passion
sanctuaries unknown and not their own
Lady of life and Night companion seek
What they reap is what they have sown
-
The Law of Effect: 2. Consequences
You don't know how you got here
You just know you want outFibers pulled at the rawness of her skin, with the scents of blood, sweat, and other fluids trapped inside of the burlap bag that contained her. She tried to hold her breath for as long as she could, afraid that if she breathed in the acrid scents, she’d vomit, and be trapped with that smell as well.
Outside, she heard him. He was bartering with someone, periodically poking the bag, laughing, but all in a language that she couldn’t understand. She strained her ears and tried to concentrate, hoping that she could figure out what they were saying, but holding her breath finally got to her, and she sucked in a lung full of air and stench.
Gagging hard on her bile, she thankfully, passed out.
………………
Sometime later, perhaps days, maybe weeks, she woke up. Bandages were wrapped around her wounds, her hair cut, and washed. Things were feeling, and smelling, much better than she last remembered.
Some women came to talk to her, again, in the same strange language as before. She still didn’t understand though.
It didn’t take long though, to figure out even though she didn’t understand the language, that she had been sold by him, to someone else. She was now a slave.
Trying desperately to hold onto hope that somehow she’d find a way out of this, part of her nagged from within, whispering that this was punishment.
She just should have stayed put.
She should have never chased him.
She should have listened to her gut.Why can’t we ever be happy with what we’ve got?
Believing in yourself
Almost as much as you doubt
-
Law of Effect: 1. A History Lesson.
You don't know how you took it
You just know what you gotShe slowly came to, a pain rippling through her head. As she tried to move her hand to feel for bumps on her skull, she found that both her wrists and ankles had been tied.
She had left her future to get even with her past. To get even with the man who had cheated her all those years ago. Such a pursuit is always a gamble.
She had tried, and she had failed. Now it was time to pay up.
The door creaked open, and in he came. Cocky walk, smile on his face. Just like she remembered him. But his smile held a special sort of glee this time, a sick anticipation.
Circling around her, he ran his hands over her naked body, giggling in a high pitched octave.
Pausing, he laid to rest his hand on the top of her shoulder, and then slowly begin to glide it down, until he reached her fingertips.
“How lovely…” was what he said, as he began to bend each finger backwards, in unnatural form, one by one.
He was an artist. He didn’t begin simply by beating her. No, he worked up to that.
First her fingers
Then her hands
Her wrists….
He burned with fire
With ice…
Cut with glass…
And then left her alone for days
With no light
No sound.
Just complete …
Emptiness.
Eventually he got bored of making her cry though.
And she thought, “Good. Maybe he’ll just kill me now.”
…If I’m lucky…
Oh Lordy you've been stealing
from the thieves and you got caught
-
**The Simple Knight – A Tale of Many Parts
I**
I wish to tell you a tale, a very important tale, though all are,
For tales chart the passing events of life that run swiftly by.
So many stories of heroes, villains, grand nobles and peasants-
Some brimming with joy, some with tragedy to make you cry.What my tale is to be is quite up to you, the listener, but to be certain,
This tale begins with a simple boy, on a simple farm, simply farming.
Many tales begin this way, with the boy growing warrior tall and strong,
But with this simple boy, another soul he would not think of harming.Toiling away on his farm daily, year after year things were the same.
This boy, as simple as he may have been, did however, grandly dream.
Until one unusual day from over the mountains came a wondrous king,
And wise, for he knew things were not always as simple as they seem.“Of you I have a dangerous request,” said the wizened wondrous king,
Approaching the boy at his duties, the monarch looked him up and down.
“A journey of great adventure, and peril, requiring honor and duty,
To recover for me a rare, luminous jewel, to set in my golden crown.”Such a thing the boy had never thought would happen to him, he was sure.
But simple boy agreed, and packed his belongings and put his hoe away.
That night he kissed his mother on her cheek, and wiped at her sad tears,
In the morning he said farewell to his father, promising to return one day.
-
-A Study of the Bard-
_Sitting within a town’s walls
Does a true bard not make
Singing of other’s journeys
Sounds pleasant, but fakeFind the many tales that wait
Go out, walk the tired lands
Not simply read, but experience
Stories endless at your handsHands that grasp the blade
Scream into battle at the ready
Sculptor’s delicate hands
Hold your sword ever steadyHeart of a warrior driven
Hands of an artist inspired
Tongue of a tired poet
For telling tales of what transpiredKeepers of tales and song
Live lively, live well and long
Find many secrets, find your tales
Find your road and walk on_
-
-In the Legion-
(( To the tune of "In the Navy" as sung by the Village People. ))
_Where can you find your pleasure
Search the Nars for buried treasure
And blow up Gnomish technology
Where can you begin to
Wear nothing but black and blue
On your armor and facially
Where can you launch hins in the sky
Poke out an angry orc’s left eye
And not worry about giving an apology
You’ll run screaming from Bigby’s hand
Or be the last one in rank left to stand
When the sh*te hits the gnomish fan!In the Legion
Yes, You’ll eat nothing but lotsa peas
In the Legion
Yes, you’ll battle scary mutated bees!
In the Legion
They’ll make a man out of any Narfellian
In the Legion
Even the male elves, yes we can!
In the Legion
Come on protect the snow covered land
In the Legion
Drink as much dwarven ale as you can
In the Legion
Together we’ll protect Narfell land
In the Legion, in the LegionThey want you. They want you. They want you as a new recruit.
If you like adventure, don't you wait to enter
Their ranks are filling fast
If you like to hit things, with swords that clang
They're signing up front liners fast
You are never too weak so join up today
And don't you worry 'bout a thing
For I’m sure there will always be room for fodder
As long as you can heal, shoot or singIn the Legion
Yes, You’ll eat nothing but lotsa peas
In the Legion
Yes, you’ll battle scary mutated bees!
In the Legion
They’ll make a man out of any Narfellian
In the Legion
Even the male elves, yes we can!
In the Legion
Come on protect the snow covered land
In the Legion
Drink as much dwarven ale as you can
In the Legion
Together we’ll protect Narfell land
In the Legion, in the LegionThey want you.
They want you.
They want you as a new recruit.They want you.
They want you.
They want you as a new recruit.But, but, but I'm afraid of the pain.
Hey, hey look man, I have no sense of aim(They want you) oh my goodness
(They want you) What am I gonna do against a war machine?They want you.
They want you, In the Legion_
-
_For my love, Nico
Upon the occassion
-A Darker Shade of Night-
My gift to understanding is a scene
To illustrate what is a heart's demand
Stillness of darker shades of night
Giving restlessness to the idle handWaiting for the sign of purpose
Lady of life and secrets contained
Afraid to admit her desire, her want
Fantasies of mischief well restrainedThen comes along a companion
Someone to show her the way
Down to a darker shade of night
From set path she goes astrayDown the alley ways of no light
Something taken for granted, is unseen
A pair of lovers bound together
By silence, walking shadows inbetweenA dangerous taste, love of life's passion
sanctuaries unknown and not their own
Lady of life and Night companion seek
What they reap is what they have sownTogether they find
A darker shade of night
One of thier very own_
-
_Despite the initial roughness in our association, Nico and I worked together pretty well. Where as he was one to take times to consider things, I was impulsive. He could play the games of politics, but I simply wanted to get things done. I may have not been the most effective of employees, but it didn’t matter. It was obvious even to me that Nico mostly kept me around if only because I amused him, and he was a man who didn’t have much to make him really laugh or smile- and it wasn’t something he could buy either.
And at first, he tried his best to buy me.
At first, he gave me a new set of leathers and an armored harness to “protect me while I was on the job”. I accepted them, merely because I assumed that it was exactly that, and something that was extended to any one of his employees. Then he brought to me a new bow. It was finely made, and of much higher quality than I had seen or owned before, but I refused. Yet he insisted. “It’s for the job. It doesn’t do to have my employees dying because they’re ill equipped to handle the risks” he said.
So I began asking him about his wife.
Nico didn’t seem to want to talk about his wife much, and I had found earlier that it was a sure fire way of changing the subject. He always withdrew from me whenever I asked, making replies such as, “That’s my private life, and I prefer to keep it private,” or, “The state of my relationship with my wife is between me and her.” I hated to do that to him, but it was a good way of putting him off from giving me things.
But eventually, he would without a doubt try again. I ended up taking the bow one day when he said that it was my payment for services rendered that week. And he still persisted even after that, trying to give me anything he thought I’d like, but I became stronger at saying no, or so I thought….
I sat on the docks one day, locked deep in thought about my life so far. I had tried to be a good person, but I had trouble being that person. I felt horrible guilt. Not because I was doing bad things- but because I did what was necessary, and felt no remorse for doing so when others would have.
I knew that I had developed feeling for Nico. And I knew he had a wife. I also knew what I was about to do, and felt no sorrow for what his wife would feel. All I could think about was when, just after Nico told me he was married that a voice whispered in my head:
“You meet the man who was meant for you, and find you’ve dawdled. You finally arrived, only to find you’re five minutes too late.”
I knew that I couldn’t allow it to be too late, not without giving it a last shot.
Just about to go tie up my loose ends with Nate, I turned around to trip over something- a mace of exquisite design and enchantment. I knew that somehow, Nico must have left it behind me while I was lost in my thoughts, and seeing it there, instead of making me happy simply angered me. Nico would try to handle me by buying me, and prove I was fatally flawed. Anything that could be bought was cheap, and easily forgotten.
When I found him, I did so with the intent of informing him that without a doubt I was not cheap, easy, or forgettable. He merely looked at me with one of his rare grins, telling me that he had never seen the mace in his life, and then suggested that I accept it as a gift from Finder Wyvernspur, my god.
He found the one way I couldn’t possibly refuse.
I was touched that he’d gone through such effort, and conceded. From then on, things went increasingly better every day. I was preparing to break things off with Nate as soon as I could think of a good way how, and Nico was smiling and laughing more.
Then one evening, he stopped laughing. He nearly died, and I found myself in Jail._
-
_The entire trip I was miserable. Either I was being threatened by dwarves, ordered around, being shot at, or worse. But, once we arrived to our destination, I was allowed to sit in on the negotiations for the exchange of goods- which was the purpose of our trip I came to find out. While I listened to the prattle and verbal dance that was bartering, I almost had to smile at how well Nico played the game of reaching the most profitable agreement. He was really good at what he did, there was no denying it. But at the same time, it made me hate him more that I wanted to like the man who had just treated me like some sort of street urchin.
Finally the negotiations were closed, the bargain struck, and we on our way home. In the highs of the deal just made, everyone was nicer to me on the return trip, Nico included. And I began to wait for something.
That something didn’t take long, as when we arrived back to Peltarch, Nico invited me for dinner. While he’ll still claim to anyone that asks, he simply felt sorry for me, if you really ever got to know Nico you’d know that’s a line and nothing with him is really all that simple anyways. But anyways, he didn’t take me to anywhere nice. He took me to the Pissing Goat Tavern, a dive where the scum of the city college and congeal together.
Though a Senator, and a member of the wealthy classes of the city, he truly seemed more comfortable there than he had anywhere else. He was very charming the entire time, and seemed to suppress a smile during our conversation- as though if it broke out, whatever play acting he was doing as the intimidating and smooth merchant would fail.
During the dinner, Nico offered me a job. He had been told that I had a knack for trouble, and usually coming out in one piece in the end. And in addition, after all the pains he put me through on the trip, he was impressed that I stuck with it, didn’t give up, and perhaps most of all, didn’t follow through with my fantasy of “accidentally” shooting him in the eye.
For some reason, I began to think about Nate. I knew he was somewhere out in the city waiting for me, with his fair smile, warmth and goodness. He was something I could never be, never aspire to, never touch. To even think about it was painful.
Time stilled for a moment, as if to say, “Pay attention, this is when everything can change…”
I felt this run through me, and even almost a tiny glimmer of the pain I would be apart of causing, but how miniscule it compared with a something else that was unknown. It was a mystery that had not yet declared it’s out come, whether it was good or bad, but only that the journey would be something defining.
With only a brief moment’s hesitation, I took the job._
-
_While some people may have theories of how and why I came to be with Nico Black, and I’ve told many versions of how it happened, usually these stories are only partial truths. I could say that it wasn’t physical, or that it was love at first sight, or something much more romantic than it really was. But it wasn’t really romantic, at least in my opinion. In actuality, it was really a series of really wrong decisions and lack of conscience on both our parts that just somehow ended with a result that perhaps he and I both do not deserve.
However, it has always been my theory that is why Nico and I fit so well together. We’re not good people, but nor are we bad people. Sometimes we do the right things, and sometimes we do the wrong things. And a lot of times, we don’t care nor take into how others might feel about our actions along the way to a goal.
Nico and I probably wouldn’t have ever met if it hadn’t been for a man whom I was tentatively seeing at the time, Nate Wingates.
When I initially met Nate, I found his peppiness to be very charming and uplifting. That was important to me at the time, since I was strongly considering killing myself rather than live out Finder’s Curse (which is a whole other story all in itself). But what really made him romantically attractive to me was finding out he was being controlled by someone else through a spell. Setting myself on the task of helping him break the spell gave me purpose and I found that more than anything to be exhilarating.
Following the breaking of said spell, I found myself steadily growing irritated with Nate. There’s just only so much “whimsical” and cheerfulness one can take. Not to mention Nate was really good, and really nice. After I tried for a while to get him to do something daring and exciting, I came to the conclusion that he was at heart, a goody goody through and through. We didn’t suit as well as I thought we once had, and admittedly I was looking for a way out.
Here is where the irony begins.
One day, I received a note stuck under my door with some such thing about how I had “won a dinner with Nico Black”. I didn’t know who he was at the time, nor did I care. But, I did care that someone was leaving notes under my doorway, and I wanted to know why. The best lead I had obviously was to find this Nico Black and ask if he knew anything about it.
So, I ran around the city trying to track this man down. Finally one of the guards tell me that he’s near the docks, preparing to board a boat. Upon arriving at the docks, I find the ship he is supposed to be on, but yet no one is there. I search below decks in the hold, and still yet, no one is there. I then decided to give up on my search, and my hand begins to turn the handle on the hold door. Only to find it locked. Finally, some hours later I was let out of the hold, to face an angry man with the oddest haircut and choice of facial hair I had ever seen. I almost felt like asking him if he knew that mutton chops ceased to be fashionable sometime in the last century, but considering my position at the time, I thought it best to stay quiet on that subject.
However, one thing was very apparent. Nico Black, the man with the muttonchops, had taken an immediate dislike to me on first sight. Almost immediately, he began yelling at me and screaming, asking who I was spying for, what I was doing on the ship…All sorts of things. I kept wondering why he even bothered asking me, seeing as how he had decided I was some sort of spy.
The very next thing I knew, I had a mop thrust into my hand and I was told to begin mopping the deck, or begin my swim back to Peltarch. Though I am a very good swimmer, I assumed that mopping wouldn’t be so bad, but in hindsight, I sometimes wonder if I shouldn’t have just taken my chances with the Icelake._
-
_Personal note: I've finally broken out of my creative block that had plagued me ever since my….. accident.
It was hard for a while. I had felt like I had lost something... something that I couldn't put my finger on. Then I realized it was apart of myself.
For days I spoke in nothing but rhyme to recover what I had lost, or some thread of inspiration. Finally, I gave up when I realized that it wasn't to be seen as something lost- but a chance at reinvention.
I just hope it turns out well.
Commissioned song- Dolvak Pest Control, for the purpose of advertisement
"Save a Headache, Hire the Dolvaks"
((set to the tune of - "Save a horse, Ride a Cowboy"))_Well, you walk into your room
To see a scene that makes you ill
Rodents are tearing and chewing
on your furniture and window sill
But who do you call around this town
Someone who’ll get dirty and get down
Dolvak Pest Control is the one and only name!Oh we they are your salvation
From rodents in the city
Things that make a lot of noise
Vermin that are disgusting
And so dirty
Go to Dolvak Pest Control today
For an end to your troublesIf you want to
Kill the rodents, Hire the Dolvaks
If you want to
Kill the rodents, Hire the DolvaksCommissioned song- Annonymous Party, Noble Lady Desdirita to be the recipient
"The Lonely Heart Love Sick Blues"
A lady of peerless beauty
From the rest she stands a-part
She’s not just class and style
But a genuine work of price-less artShe’s got skin of fine porcelain
Hair in long silky flowing braids
If she would give her love to me
Ohh… I’d have it for-ever madeBut she doesn’t know
What she does to me
Or how together
We’d live so happilyOhh… my beautiful lady
Just one chance with her
isn’t something I want to loseBut I can’t tell her how I feel
I’m too afraid that a life with me
isn’t what she’d chooseI’ve got the lonely heart
Love-sick bluesA voice to charm a dragon
She stole away my will-ing heart
Skin as smooth as mithryl
Lips as red as a –sweet- straw-berry tartA lady of classic noble tastes
Of her I’ll never-ever tire
If I could I’d make her my queen
And give her what-ever she de-siredBut she doesn’t know
What she does to me
Or how together
We’d live so happilyOhh... my beautiful lady
What I wouldn’t give
To live my entire life with youBut I can’t tell you how I feel
It’s tearing me apart
I just don’t know what to doI’ve got the lonely heart
Love-sick bluesYeah… I’ve got the blues…
Ohh… my lonely heart
Love…
Sick…
Blues…__
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Bravo!
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Song Commissioned by Foilir Dolvak
((To be sung to the tune of "I'm gonna be" by the Proclaimers. I figured a song sung by two Scots about drinking seemed like a good fit for dwarves))
_The Dolvak Duet
(to be sung by two dwarves, probably mining and most likely drunk)
(First Part: Foilir)
When I wake up, well I know I'm gonna be,
I'm gonna be Foilir Dolvak, Dwarven cousin to you
And when I go out, well I know I'm gonna be
I'll be the Dwarf who tries to out drink his cousin too
But if I get drunk, well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be not nearly as drunk as you
And when I haver, hey I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the dwarf who's havering on the bard in blueBut I would drink 500 ales
And I would drink 500 more
Just to be Foilir Dolvak who drank a thousand pints of ale
To be the dwarf that drinks you to the floor(Second Part: Dwin)
When I'm working, yes I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be Dwin Dolvak givin’ orders to you
And when the money, comes in for the work I do
I'll still have more money than my cousin too
When I grow my beard, well hopefully and maybe
Just maybe I’ll have a beard like most dwarves do
And if I grow old, well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the dwarf who’s still out earnin’ youBut I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be Dwin Dolvak who walked a thousand miles
To mine that vein of adamantine ore(First Part: Foilir)
Fa la laFa la la
I can drink anyone to the floor and still drink more
(Second Part: Dwin)
Fa la laFa la la
I’ll make my fortune smithing weapons and mining ore
(Third Part: Foilir and Dwin)
We’re Foilir and Dwin, of the Dolvak Clan and family
Ore mining and ale drinking dwarves through and through
When we go out (When we go out), we know we’re gonna be
We’re gonna to be drinking the finest ale and Dwarven brew
And when we go mining (yeah mining), we know we’re gonna be
We’re gonna be carrying ten times more ore than your crew
And if you farkin’ try to mess with my cousin or me
We’re going to be the dwarves that kick the crap outta you
Yeah, we’ll be the dwarves that kick the crap outta youI would drink 500 dwarven ales
I would mine 500 ingots of ore
And if you mess with the Dolvak Cousins
We’ll settle the scorefa la la
fa la la
Yeah we’ll kick the ever loving crap outta you
fa la la
fa la la
And we’ll still be able to drink and mine more than you
fa la la
fa la la
Ore mining and ale drinking dwarves through and through_
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(( This is the song that Sierra would have performed at the mage fair, but something came up, so Mirkali will be performing it in her place. Sung to the tune of "Gimme three steps" by Lynard Skynard))
Gimme Eight Schools of Azuth's Magical Lore
_I was studyin’ a spell
It was difficult as the ninth hell
I was cursin’ my teachers cruel
When in walked a man
With a staff in his hand
And wearin’ a robe of azure blue.
He said, ‘My name’s Azuth,
And I’ll tell you the honest truth,
Why that’s spell’s confusin’ you
’cause that’s the abjuration school
Not the conjuration magical pool
And it’s third circle not two’(chorus)
’won’t you give me eight schools,
Gimme eight schools mister,
Gimme eight schools of magical lore?
Gimme eight schools
Gimme eight schools mister,
And you’ll get eight schools an’ no moreNow Conjuration’s a good tool
Manifesting objects is mighty cool.
Sometimes a transfer of power to you,
But if you want to protect,
Then Abjuration is what to get.
Casting Dispel may save your hide
Divination lets you see,
What the future might be.
Or secrets forgotten and long gone.
Enchantment will affect the mind
It’s good for when you’re in a bind
Usin’ charm on an enemy fool.’(chorus)
’won’t you give me eight schools,
Gimme eight schools mister,
Gimme eight schools of magical lore?
Gimme eight schools
Gimme eight schools mister,
And you’ll get eight schools an’ no moreWell the school of evocation
Is energy manipulation
So cast a magic missile or two.
And I’m telling you son,
Illusion is lotsa fun
Creatin’ magical images of you.
Necromancy’s is the power of death
It can give the rottin’ dead new breath.
And hold ‘em together with magical glue
If you want something with physical range
Try Transmutation for a change.
Turn into a troll and umber hulk too(chorus)
’won’t you give me eight schools,
Gimme eight schools mister,
Gimme eight schools of magical lore?
Gimme eight schools
Gimme eight schools mister,
And you’ll get eight schools an’ no more
Yeah Gimme eight schools mister,
And you’ve got eight schools of Azuth’s magical lore.’_
