Bardfest 5120 Performances

The 25th Annual Bardfest

House Argent Aspis held this annual showcase of talent inside their Den of the Dragon Theater.

7 Contestants took the stage for the 5120 Bardfest Finals on Friday, July 24, 2020. The results:
1st Place: Meril
2nd Place: Juspera
3rd Place: Regwen
4th Place: Alosaka
5th, 6th, and 7th Place: Tolwynn, Nazarr, and Traiva (in no particular order)

Their challenge from the judges for the words of inspiration were: booze and reminisce.

Semifinals Night 1

The first day of the semi-finals featured 5 contestants on Monday, July 13, 2020: Soliere, Yukito, Elphieya, Nuc, and Faerinn.

Soliere

Soliere steps through the curtains and walks out on stage.

Soliere smiles.

Soliere curtsies.

Soliere recites:

    "Solie an' Polvie"

Soliere blushes a nice shade of rosy pink.

Soliere recites:

    "A wee love story. well mostly"

Soliere grins.

Soliere recites:

    "Friends an' friends-ta-be, here be a story
     Of a sorcerer named Polveiss in all his glory.
     He has most surely been tested an' tried,
     Nothin' in Elanthia makes 'im horrified."

Soliere winks at Polveiss.

Soliere recites:

    "One day Polveiss he did set out a-travelin',
     All the world's mysteries ta him unravelin'.
     At a tavern he was drinkin' but he did stop...
     The barmaid sauntered over, handed 'im a mop!"

Soliere appears to be trying hard not to grin.

Soliere recites:

    "Polveiss was one very surprised little elf.
     He said, "Young miss! But I've been compliant myself!
     Not once have I made any messes or spillage...
     I have not even begun ta rove nor pillage!""

Soliere recites:

    "The barmaid winked an' said with a big smile,
     "You, fair sir, have traveled many a mile!
     I have it on good authority that your money,
     Is not worth peanuts here, so GET MOPPIN, HONEY!""

Soliere raises her fist defiantly.

Soliere recites:

    "Polveiss responded by moppin' an' cleanin',
     But while he mopped, information he was gleanin'.
     The owner of this bar was a very fine fellow,
     Who, Polveiss discerned, was named Mister Armadellow."

Soliere recites:

    "Polveiss finished moppin' an' the barmaid he found
     Outside pickin' up trash an' sweepin' the ground.
     Polveiss said "Honey cake, you come across ferocious
     But look: 'SuperMaliFrockaLipstickKoboldPallieDozeious!!!!'""

Soliere gasps.

Soliere recites:

    "The barmaid scratched her head, looking distraught
     By this new incredible unforeseen verbal assault!
     She went inside, returned with Armadellow in tow.
     Matter-of-factly she stated, "I'm gonna lay this giant low!""

Soliere flutters her eyelashes.

Soliere puckers her lips expectantly.

Soliere recites:

    "Mr. Armadellow, he looked quite frightened!
     His grip on his bar owner's broom he tightened!
     The barmaid proceeded ta kiss our hero Polveiss
     And laid 'im flat faster'n a gigantic arctic poltergeist!"

Soliere wiggles her eyebrows.

Soliere recites:

    "Polveiss squealed an' moaned, fell over like a tree!
     Mr. Armadellow, ta his home, he did flee!
     The barmaid poured herself a nice big whiskey,
     Satisfied in her abilities, fast an' friskey!"

Soliere folds her arms over her chest.

Soliere recites:

    "The chapter ends well: Polveiss recovered...
     For months after that, round the bar he hovered
     Courted that ole barmaid Soliere til she fell
     Steadfast in love, an' this their story I tell........"

Soliere recites:

    "One night while ole Polveiss was a-moppin',
     In came Soliere, dancin' an' a-hoppin',
     Polveiss raised his brow, Solie started grinnin',
     "Polveiss you know, your hand I am winnin'!!""

Soliere glances at Polveiss and folds her arms over her chest.

Soliere recites:

    "Polveiss denied it with all his might,
     But ole Soliere she put up a fight!
     She threw 'im down, put a ring on his hand,
     And never again was he a single man!"

Soliere recites:

    "The rest of the story came too quick,
     Children were born an' beat with a stick,
     Polveiss an' Soliere, with smiles an' laughter,
     Went on an' lived happily ever after!"

Soliere says, "Thank ya all so kindly, yer a fine crowd."

Soliere beams!

Soliere waves.

Soliere smiles and blows kisses.

Yukito

Yukito steps through the curtains and walks out on stage.

(Yukito holds up his cloth-bound book, the words, "Dawn to Evening", written with large, bold letters across one page as he holds it high overhead for a long moment.)

Yukito put a deep blue cloth-bound book in his hooded cloak.

(Yukito walks toward a small section of an old tree stump prop set in the middle of the stage, just high enough to make a comfortable seat.)

Yukito sits down.

(Yukito carefully adjusts the silver bells hung at his hip, letting his fingers linger over each one as they descend in a line from their gathered ribbon.)

Yukito smiles almost contemplatively from where he sits on the stage, face slightly flushed.

Yukito glances anxiously around the room.

Yukito removes a set of tiny silver finger cymbals from in his hooded cloak.

(Yukito lifts his arms up from his sides, and slightly tilts his slend wrists so that the silver finger cymbals on his hands glint off of his fingers.)

Yukito pats the base of one palm lightly with the fingers of his other hand.

(Yukito turns his wrists upward and begins a clapping beat with his silver finger cymbals, their ringing tones muted into hushed taps.)

Yukito grins impishly.

Yukito releases a slow, low whistle.

Yukito winks.

Yukito emits a skillful reproduction of the delicate chirp of a sparrow.

(Yukito purses his lips and blows air through his clenched teeth, mimicking the hollow sound of rushing wind in the confines of the stage area.)

Yukito glances at the stage left exit.

Yukito tilts his head up.

Yukito emits a fair reproduction of the whistle of a thrush.

Yukito tilts his silver finger cymbals side to side, making the light play off it.

(Yukito continues to play a soft, muted rhythm on his left hand, but brings his thumb inward on his right hand to tap out a faster, more sprightly beat.)

(Yukito drags his fingers lightly down the length of the silver bells, creating textures of ringing melodies that are interwoven with his simple bird calls.)

Yukito closes his eyes for a moment.

You hear a soft tinkling as Yukito slowly turns the bells.

Yukito slowly empties his lungs.

Yukito smiles while giving a shy, sidelong glance at the audience, offering a bird whistle that almost fumbles for his slight trembling.

Yukito licks his lips.

(Yukito slightly lifts his left foot and stomps it down hard onto the stage floor in an booming THUD, sliding his boot back in a loud, slow rasp.)

Yukito strums his fingers over the bells.

(Yukito opens his mouth to attempt another imitation but makes a quiet, rather garbled noise instead.)

Yukito releases a tiny squeak of surprise!

Yukito clears his throat.

Yukito clenches his jaw.

Yukito blushes a pink hue to the tops of his ears.

Yukito breathes very slowly and looks much calmer.

Yukito produces a passable imitation of a cougar's purr.

Yukito tilts his head up.

Yukito beams, his eyes filled with delight!

(Yukito stomps once more and sweeps his foot again.)

(Yukito moves his hands quickly, the silver finger cymbals clattering as he plays wildly discordant tones, clapping his hands together and letting the disks rattle, clank, and slide.)

(Yukito intersperses coughing, hacking growls and halting purrs with strident whistles, his boots lightly brushing over the floor from where he sits.)

Yukito takes a deep breath.

Yukito stops dead in his tracks.

Yukito glances apprehensively around the room.

Yukito grins sheepishly.

(Yukito shuffles his feet with increasing softness, the growls tapering off into silence filled with the hushed, muted clap of his silver finger cymbals.)

(Yukito allows the silence to linger a few more heartbeats, staring upward.)

Yukito emits a fair reproduction of the whistle of a mockingbird.

(Yukito hides a bit of a wry grin as he slowly fills the stage with the calls of multiple birds, chasing the effervescent noise with the bright sound of the chimes at his side and at his fingertips.)

Yukito makes a subtle shushing sound!

(Yukito tapers off with his playing until there is silence, and presses a finger to his lips, staring up toward the ceiling.)

You hear a skillful imitation of the hoot of an owl come from Yukito.

(Yukito stills his playing and bows from his seat.)

Yukito stands up.

Yukito bows.

Elphieya

Elphieya steps through the curtains and walks out on stage.

Elphieya's wings flutter, trembling slightly.

Elphieya kneels down.

Elphieya carefully places her white square candle on the ground.

Elphieya lights the white square candle, which flickers and begins to burn.

Elphieya breathes very slowly and looks much calmer.

(Elphieya stares at the candle. Her voice is quiet and timid as she begins to speak while keeping her focus solely on the flame.)

Elphieya recites timidly:

    "The Bard"

Elphieya's wings flutter, trembling slightly.

Elphieya closes her eyes for a moment.

Elphieya takes a deep breath.

Elphieya slowly empties her lungs.

Elphieya recites quietly:

    "He speaks in flickering pictures
     He spins his stories in sight.
     Defying all audible strictures
     Elicting awe and delight."

The white square candle burns warmly, lending a soft light to the surroundings.

Elphieya smiles quietly to herself.

(Elphieya raises her eyes to the crowd. The shy smile on her face takes on a haunting quality in the flicker of candlelight.)

Elphieya recites wonderingly:

    "Each flick and flip of his tongue
     Paints passing prose in archive.
     Each silence and sentence unsung
     Echoes memories barely alive."

Elphieya stands up.

Elphieya sways back and forth.

Elphieya calmly flutters her wings to an unheard rhythm.

(Elphieya closes her eyes and sways in time to some unheard music, making the light glisten off her features. Her head tilts to the side as if listening to something and she starts to move her feet in a slow dance. Eyes no longer on the crowd, she glides across the stage with her head tilted back smiling up at her invisible partner.)

A lily-scented white square candle burns with a warm golden light.

Elphieya recites melodically:

    "He whispers in wavering melody
     His brush varies shades of the truth.
     Betraying the weight of fidelity
     His words drip a tune quite uncouth."

Elphieya dances around the room to music only she can hear.

Elphieya calmly flutters her wings to an unheard rhythm.

(Elphieya starts to spin and twirl around the candle. Each swoosh of her skirt and flutter of her wings teases the flame into dancing with her. She loses herself in her dance moving faster and faster around the candle but her words continue to come steadily.)

A lily-scented white square candle flickers a moment and nearly goes out, then its flame springs to life again, burning merrily.

Elphieya recites animatedly:

    "With a smirk and a sly disposition
     He beckons and banters and lures.
     With baited and hung proposition
     His listener's will he secures."

(Elphieya spins to a stop behind the candle. The flickering light casts shadows on her face that twist and shift with each movement.)

Elphieya pants, trying to catch her breath.

Elphieya recites breathlessly:

    "A jester or juggling poet
     A scoundrel and sometimes a thief."

Elphieya kneels down.

Elphieya flutters her wings before they droop tiredly.

(Elphieya stares vacantly at the candle appearing completely lost in thought. Her slender fingers reach out as if to touch the dancing flame.)

Elphieya snuffs out a lily-scented white square candle.

(Elphieya sucks in a quick breath as the stage is plunged into complete darkness.)

Elphieya recites shakily:

    "If his word could be kept, I would stow it
     Useless dagger now dulled in a sheath."

Elphieya picks up a lily-scented white square candle.

Elphieya blinks.

Elphieya blinks.

Elphieya stands up.

Elphieya rubs her stormy green eyes.

(Elphieya stares with wide eyes at the crowd as her eyes adjust to the ambient light in the room.)

Elphieya gasps.

Elphieya clasps her hand over her mouth.

Elphieya's wings flutter, trembling slightly.

(Elphieya runs off the stage.)

Nuc

Nuc steps through the curtains and walks out on stage.

(Nuc quickly walks to center of the stage.)

Nuc coughs.

Nuc coughs.

(Nuc clears his throat violently, unleashing a digustingly large amount of phlegm where small droplets fly far enough to reach the closest audience seating areas.)

Nuc casually exclaims, "Much better!"

Nuc turns his shoulders to the left in a long, slow stretch.

Nuc turns his shoulders to the right in a long, slow stretch.

Nuc sings horribly off-key:

    "They stand in the square, without a worry and care
     Kindhearted, generous and oh so very fair
     But predators come, in both darkness and light
     And for their affection these men do fight"

Nuc sings painfully badly:

    "For they are the healers of many and they nurse us all
     To many lonely hearts does the Lady Empath call
     Whether human, or dwarf, or Aeletoi
     They heal, they smile, they play coy"

Nuc utters a low, long-lasting growl of pleasure.

Nuc sings painfully badly:

    "For they are the healers of many and they nurse us all
     To many lonely hearts does the Lady Empath call
     Whether human, or dwarf, or Aeletoi
     They heal, they smile, they play coy"

Nuc utters a low, long-lasting growl of pleasure.

Nuc sings deafeningly:

    "Its not hard to notice that in men's eyes they are meat
     But a great one comes, to whom they will all admit defeat
     Healers' passion overcomes them like Ivas herself
     He appeals to each nurse, be it gnome, erithian, or elf"

Nuc takes an aggressive stance, lowering his head as he growls in challenge.

Nuc sings tunelessly:

    "He will stand out from the lewd ones in the square
     And they will soon realize this contest is not fair
     Be careful sir, of your beloved healer,
     Or this one of Krolvin blood will steal her"

Nuc unleashes a string of quick, excited barks in a high tone as his eyes grow large with greedy desire.

Nuc sings proudly:

    "Triumphantly, he will step foot into the area,
     People will cover their noses, and ensue mass hysteria
     If others go near, they won't be able to swallow or eat
     For even being able to breath around him is an insurmountable feat!"

Nuc throws his head back and howls, sounding quite like a night hound!

Nuc sings shriekingly:

    "He carries a unique, fetid stench of decay,
     Always told by many that love it would dismay
     But he captivates the heart of the ravishing healer
     His pungent odor, the secret to seal her"

Nuc sings thunderously:

    "He'll step forward and give her his heart,
     She may not accept it at first, but it is only the start
     As next will be a stomach, or an intestine,
     As he sees that their eternal love is destined"

Nuc removes a fat-laced fleshy black heart from in his spidersilk cloak.

Nuc kneels down.

Nuc raises his fleshy black heart skyward!

(Nuc pulls out some long, black, withered instestines from his cloak.)

(Nuc skillfully twirls and twists the intestines into a perfectly symmetrical shaped silhouette of a heart and holds it up for all to see.)

(Nuc suddenly swings the bound intestines above his head and tosses them high into the air towards the audience, making a loud squishing sound as it lands around Balley's neck.)

Nuc stands up.

Nuc sings shrilly:

    "When she opens wide her eyes
     And with an awkward twitch she replies
     "No thank you sir" in utter disgust
     He knows this beauty to be pursued is a must!"

Nuc sings seductively:

    "In a sudden flash without hesitation
     He will fall to his knees to formalize the relation
     A ring in his hand, and in the other a tumored liver
     This Krolvin's marriage proposition he will deliver"

Nuc kneels down.

Nuc removes a simple wedding band from in his spidersilk cloak.

Nuc raises his wedding band skyward!

Nuc stands up.

Nuc sings horribly off-key:

    "It may only take the seventeenth or eighteenth attempt
     Confident in his filth and soiled hair unkempt
     He knows in due time she will undoubtedly say yes
     For he will not settle for anything less!"

Nuc nods vigorously!

Nuc sings gravely:

    "So young man it is imperative that you beware
     Of that bethrothed empath that is in your care
     Treat her like an unremittingly sweet and gracious queen
     Never take her for granted or dare to be mean"

Nuc growls ferociously!

Nuc sings:

    "Or you will suddenly smell the stench
     Your nose you will forcibly clench
     And your empath's heart and soul will no longer belong
     To you ungrateful man who has treated her wrong"

Nuc sings proudly:

    "She will be swept away as you stroll through the park
     With a slew of intestines and a triumphant bark
     He will walk away with a proud bristle
     As your once beloved waves you a gesture of dismissal"

Nuc holds himself in dignified silence, bristling with pride.

Nuc bows.

Faerinn

The backstage curtains part slightly, and Faerinn steps out onto the stage.  A glimpse of the shadowy backstage is briefly visible before the curtains close behind him.

Faerinn waves.

(Faerinn strides across the stage.)

Faerinn recites jovially:

    "I'd like to tell y'all a story my mother used to tell me at bedtime."

(Faerinn sits over the edge of the stage with his legs hang over the side.)

Faerinn deftly removes a two-toned snakewood kora with onyx pegs from his thin leather straps.

Faerinn places his hands on his kora, then, seemingly without a thought, begins to play, his fingers beginning a little ditty almost of their own volition.

Faerinn recites devilishly:

    "About how peace will finally come between the eastern and western sides of the Dragonspine."

Faerinn recites:

    "In fact all across Elanith."

Barely paying attention, Faerinn noodles through a lightweight improvisation on his kora, capriciously using random chord-progressions and simple melodic lines.
Neopuron nods at Darksin.

Faerinn brushes his fingers over the strings, modulating softly from chord to chord as if playing to himself.

Faerinn brushes his fingers over the strings, modulating softly from chord to chord as if playing to himself.

Faerinn recites:

    "The first sign will be on the beaches. The whales and the creatures of the deep will let themselves strand."

Faerinn recites:

    "As if throwing themselves against an enemy wall."

Faerinn plucks a quiet song on his snakewood kora with ease and subtlety; the musical nuances appealingly intimate.
Faerinn recites:

    "The estruaries will became dammed by the walls of dead fish pouring in from the river."

As Faerinn intertwines the lines of a solemn fugue on his kora, he produces lingering, moving lines that are neither miserable nor depressing but intriguing.

As Faerinn intertwines the lines of a solemn fugue on his kora, he produces lingering, moving lines that are neither miserable nor depressing but intriguing.

Faerinn recites:

    "Then finally the sea will rise and the mountains will meet each over in the center as Cholen and Imaera clash."

Faerinn recites:

    "They attack each other ferouciously."

As Faerinn intertwines the lines of a solemn fugue on his kora, he produces lingering, moving lines that are neither miserable nor depressing but intriguing.

Faerinn recites:

    "Mouth on each other's mouth. My childhoode self knew that this was a serious fight."

Faerinn recites:

    "Imaera would gain the upper hand."

Faerinn brings a hard-hitting fresh energy to the chorus as his hands race over his snakewood kora, barely touching one string before attacking the next.

Faerinn recites:

    "Pinning down Charl."

Faerinn recites:

    "And piercing him through with a spike thorn."

Faerinn recites:

    "Over and over again."

Faerinn recites:

    "Until he rises to his feet and puts his hands upon her shoulders."

Faerinn brings a hard-hitting fresh energy to the chorus as his hands race over his snakewood kora, barely touching one string before attacking the next.

Intricate double counterpoint adds interest to the composition as Faerinn's fingers strike his kora's strings with rapid rhythm.

Faerinn recites:

    "She furiously uses the palm of her knife until his blade is sharp again."

With a thoroughpaced drone in the bass, Faerinn plucks the melody on his kora with measured vigor.

Faerinn grins.

Faerinn recites:

    "They wrestle back and forth like this until it reaches the climax."

Faerinn says, "Just absolutely going at it."

Using thirds in the right hand and simple dominant chords in the left, Faerinn partners with his kora to sing with clean, clear sound and strong rhythm.

Faerinn says, "An epic fight for the ages."

Faerinn says, "Elanith is leveled in their struggles and then goes still."

With a marvelous display of the sublime, Faerinn strikes his kora with intense energy, giving profound voice to the composition.

Faerinn recites:

    "As all the waters pours across Elanith. Peace will finally come to this continent."

Using thirds in the right hand and simple dominant chords in the left, Faerinn partners with his kora to sing with clean, clear sound and strong rhythm.

Faerinn's final forceful chord progression produces a unique and strong close to an excellent kora performance.  Faerinn stills the reverberations with both hands and looks up, a satisfied look on his face.

(Faerinn rolls back into a standing position on the stage and bows.)

(Faerinn doesn't seem to notice that baby opossum that pokes its head out from behind his shirt collar.)

(Faerinn withdraws back through the curtains, grinning at the audience.)

Faerinn retreats through the backstage curtains, vanishing from sight.

Semifinals Night 2

The second day of the semi-finals featured 6 contestants on Tuesday, July 14, 2020: Traiva, Balley, Nazarr, Jersea, Meril, and Talinvor.

Traiva

The backstage curtains part slightly, and Traiva steps out onto the stage.  A glimpse of the shadowy backstage is briefly visible before the curtains close behind her.

(Traiva is preceded on stage by a quartet of slim figures dressed in black carrying instruments. One sets a polished maoral cittern inlaid with mahogany onto a gleaming metal stand, while another sets some black leather bagpipes with iridescent green ribbons woven around the drones onto a carved ebonwood stand. The third figure places a silvery mistwood flute encrusted with faceted firestones onto a spindly ebonwood stand, and the fourth sets a wooden drum down on its side, supported by a brushed metal rack. The figures then dash off to stage left.)

(Traiva gazes lovingly at the instruments set out for her before picking up the cittern. She cradles it against her torso and begins to strum a quiet melody.)

Traiva recites melodically:

    "Many of you here know me as a healer from the Square, or as Paupers's Chatelaine."

(Traiva walks slowly about the stage, her fingers bringing forth a series of soft notes.)

Traiva recites amusedly:

    "Or perhaps you are confused because the last few Bardfests saw me in a much more enviable position."

(Traiva turns her head toward the Judges' table and smirks before giving a cheeky wink.)

Traiva recites melodically:

    "But I could not let this momentous occasion go without a return to the stage."

(Traiva suddenly stills her fingers and stares out at the audience.)

Traiva recites reflectively:

    "Twenty-five years of Bardfest!"

(Traiva resumes her quiet strumming, the notes plucky and lively, and paces across the stage, the hem of her skirt brushing against the well worn boards.)

Traiva recites airily:

    "So many artists brought their songs and stories here during the last twenty-five years. So many instruments have sung out from this stage. . . ."

(Traiva leans forward toward the audience.)

Traiva recites incredulously:

    "And, if I recall, even a weaver's loom!"

(Traiva straightens and stares around her in disbelief, then turns her incredulous gaze to the Judges' table.)

(Traiva makes an exaggerated motion of letting out a breath before letting her lips spread into a wide smile, her eyes sparkling.)

Traiva recites melodically:

    "It is always a wonder, how these performances are put together year after year, to showcase the finest among us."

(Traiva stops her melodic strumming to run her fingers across her cittern's strings in a loud, trumpeting chord that reverberates from the stage.)

Traiva recites proudly:

    "And here I am, one of them!"

(Traiva laughs softly as the chord fades. She begins to strum a bright melody, the music slightly at odds with her passioned singing.)

Traiva sings earnestly:

    "Night after night by the candlelight gleam
     I go through the parchment, ream after ream,
     Looking for the right word, just the right rhyme
     To perfectly capture this one moment in time."

(Traiva gazes up toward the sky above the audience, her lips slightly pursed.)

Traiva sings liltingly:

    "I see the moons wax, I see the moons wane.
     The sun, how it taunts through my window pane!"

(Traiva returns her gaze down to the audience, a pleading expression crossing her face.)

Traiva sings earnestly:

    "My quill spits and it splits, ink's all over - and yet
     I'm still striving for the one song no one will forget."

(Traiva stares down at her cittern, stopping the melody to strum a simple chord on every other beat.)

Traiva sings flowingly:

    "What is the melody that will hook them in?
     What is that lyric? Where does it all begin?"

(Traiva begins to layer a lush melody as a bright smile spreads across her face, her chords interspersed with light, jubilant notes. She strides across the stage, the platinum-threaded indigo silk of her skirt shimmering with each step.)

Traiva sings powerfully:

    "Then all of a sudden it all comes together
     When the words and the music come spilling out.
     And I'm in the magic when it all comes together -
     That wonderful moment when I lose all my doubt."

(Traiva comes to a stop near the instruments and their stands set on the stage, the last bright notes from her cittern fading away.)

Traiva recites whiningly:

    "Wait a moment! The words -and- the MUSIC? Thinking of the words is hard enough, and now I need to add music to this?"

(Traiva casts her gaze over the audience with a look of bewilderment at the perceived injustice before turning to stare at the judges.)

Traiva recites indignantly:

    "That table really does ask too much of us."

(Traiva lovingly caresses her cittern as she sets it onto its empty stand.)

Traiva recites resignedly:

    "Very well then."

(Traiva grins smugly as she lifts the black leather bagpipes with iridescent green ribbons woven around the drones.)

Traiva recites slyly:

    "But I think a bit of change is in order."

(Traiva walks to the front edge of the stage as she settles the bag in her arms and places her fingers along the chanter, then leans forward to shout into the audience.)

Traiva recites loudly:

    "I told you I would work them in this year!"

(Traiva gives a jaunty toss of her head before taking the mouthpiece between her lips and playing a few lively notes. She suddenly stops, frowning slightly.)

Traiva mutters, "Ahem."

(Traiva carefully cradles her bagpipes in her left arm as she gathers some of the right side of her skirt and tucks it under the bottom hem of her cincher, then swaps her bagpipes to her right arm to repeat the process with the left side of her skirt, lifting the hem from the floor enough to uncover her dark blue silken slippers.)

(Traiva gives a firm nod of satisfaction and again settles her bagpipes into position. She begins with a low bass drone as she strides back to the drum set onto its side, then returns to the lively melody she started a moment ago.)

(Traiva uses her foot to kick out a steady beat on the drum as her fingers dance over the chanter for a sprightly jig. Her hips sway slightly as she shifts her weight with each beat, the platinum threads in her gown catching the light as she dances in place with the music.)

(Traiva spins the reel into an increasingly paced whirl of notes, her cheeks puffing out with each exhalation. She finally gives the drum one final THUMP with her foot and lifts her mouth from her bagpipes, the last bright note seeming to hang in the air around her.)

Traiva sings melodically:

    "And all of a sudden it all comes together
     When the words and the music come spilling out.
     And I'm in the magic when it all comes together -
     That wonderful moment when I lose all my doubt."

(Traiva turns to set the bagpipes on their ebonwood stand and tugs on her skirt, letting the hem fall back to the floor as she gazes evenly at her instruments.)

Traiva sings softly:

    "Then finally the moment of truth is here,
     And it's time to push aside all the nerves and fear."

(Traiva picks up her silvery mistwood flute encrusted with faceted firestones and cradles it against her chest before turning to the audience, the stage going dark except for a solitary spotlight on her.)

Traiva sings clearly:

    "It's just me and the stage - and all of you -
     The time has come to see exactly what I can do!"

(Traiva gets a determined look on her face and lifts her flute to her lips. She goes still for a moment, her fingers poised to play, then suddenly lights into a lilting melody.)

(Traiva's sprightly melody sings out from the stage as she sashays and spins about, her skirt swirling around her legs.)

(Traiva comes to a stop in front of the Judges' table and leans forward, a mischievous glint in her eyes as her wings spread in an iridescent emerald fan behind her. Her fingers fly nimbly over her flute, the spill of notes almost, but not quite, running together.)

(Traiva winks at Ruthiford before straightening and skipping over to the flute's empty stand. Bringing the melody to an end with a joyful trill, she sets the flute down and quickly reaches for her cittern, strumming the first triumphant chord even before the instrument's body is set in place against her. The stage lights gradually return as the spotlight dims, bathing Traiva and her instruments in a warm glow.)

Traiva sings powerfully:

    "And all of a sudden it's all come together,
     When the words and the music come spilling out!"

(Traiva gradually slows her song through the final bars, drawing out her words, and strides to the front of center stage.)

Traiva sings jubilantly:

    "I'm here in the magic of it coming together. . .
      
     That wonderful moment when I've lost all my doubt!"

(Traiva is nearly lost in darkness as all lights go out, except for the dim backstage light visible from the wings. A few shadows can be seen darting across the stage, but when the stage lights return, Traiva is alone at the front, her instruments and their stands cleared.)

(Traiva clasps her hands at her waist and sinks into a deep curtsy, her skirts pooling slightly. She straightens gracefully and makes her way from the stage.)

Traiva retreats through the backstage curtains, vanishing from sight.

Semifinals Night 3

The third day of the semi-finals featured 6 contestants on Wednesday, July 15, 2020: Juspera, Alosaka, Regwen, Tolwynn, Cyar, and Mekimin.

Juspera

Juspera steps through the curtains and walks out on stage.

(Juspera comes to stand front and center, clad in simple, dark clothing that fades into the dimmed background of the stage. In point of fact, it's a little difficult to see her.)

Juspera removes a dark ebonwood lute from in her cloak.

Juspera recites:

    "This one is inspired by some recent events in the Landing and Mist Harbor. It's called:
     'Of Justice and Romance.'"

Juspera smiles faintly. She strikes a ringing chord, embarking on a nearly martial tune that steps out at a jaunty cadence.

Juspera sings clearly:

    "All across the empire's watch, the crowds cry out for more --
     They strain to hear the sentence when old judges take the floor
     And barristers may count their coins, but lonely mothers know
     That justice is an old man's game where children keep the score."

(Juspera shifts her hand to play a few tripping notes at a higher pitch, weaving a bright, wistful melody into the martial beat. She nods her head in time with her picking.)

Juspera nods rhythmically.

Juspera sings:

    "And all across the nations bright, the crowds cry out for more --
     They weep for joy at balls to see young sweethearts take the floor
     And swains may count their conquests, oh, but lonely mothers know
     That romance is a young man's game where children keep the score."

Juspera put a dark ebonwood lute in her cloak.

(Juspera reaches the end of her stanza and simply stops, slipping the lute back into her cloak. The strings reverberate discordantly for a moment before muffling. She then takes out a boxy object about the size of a crate.)

Juspera indicates her dollhouse toy with a smile.

Juspera carefully places a small maroon dollhouse toy on the floor.

(Juspera sets up the dollhouse, dusting off its little roof. She opens and closes the little windows, sets a tuft of cotton on top of its little chimney in a perfect facsimile of smoke, and even knocks the tiny knocker on the front door. Then she swings the door open, peering inside.)

Juspera glances over her shoulder.

Juspera sings:

    "A boy. His name is Terrin. On the post beside his head,
     A mark denotes each night his mother failed to come to bed.
     Is she drinking in the tavern? With some stranger? Or in jail?
     Young Terrin carves another mark, and prays in mama's stead."

(Juspera's voice rings out unaccompanied across the silence of the amphitheater. She extends her skinny arm through the dollhouse's open door, pulling out a diminutive figure.)

Juspera carefully places a copper praying child miniature on the floor.

(Juspera pulls a little bed out as well, setting the praying child miniature upon it. The figure is small compared to the size of the bed; it seems to engulf him.)

(Juspera manipulates the figure, moving it against the tiny bedpost as if he were carving another mark into the wood. As Juspera's dark clothing and cowl shroud her from the lights, it seems as if the miniature is moving on its own.)

Juspera sings:

    "Perhaps she lies in jail, he thinks -- the taxman's got his due --
     The taxman who campaigned on guarantees of law and truth
     And where do all these taxes go?  Young Terrin wonders now
     He's never seen a penny come to pay for bread or stew."

Juspera smiles wistfully and shakes her head, gazing pityingly down at the little praying figure.

Juspera sings:

    "Or if mama were out drinking, what had stirred her grief tonight?
     Was it memories of papa, who could not forgive the sight
     Of her flirting with the minstrel? -- he had spat and cursed her name,
     And quit on her and Terrin both, and broke his vows for spite."

(Juspera reaches again into the house, rummaging around, and draws out a male and female figure.)

Juspera carefully places a pewter tavern wench sculpture on the floor.

Juspera carefully places a malachite innkeeper miniature on the floor.

(Juspera shifts her black-gloved hands, and the serving wench and innkeeper seem to move on their own, turning their backs to each other.)

Juspera sings clearly:

    "Is there romance in our justice, when we love the law so much
     That reproof becomes our idol, and integrity our crutch?
     Is there justice in our romance, when we hold to wrongs so tight
     That forgiveness is forgotten, and we shrink from passion's touch?"

(Juspera shakes her head, and her gaze sweeps over the audience, her eyes landing on one listener after another.)

Juspera sings:

    "But all across the parish halls, the crowds cry out for more!
     They scorn the vile adultress as if kindness were a chore
     And priests may count their converts, but the nuns in ebon know
     That doctrine is a grownup's game where children keep the score."

Juspera smiles sadly, regarding her little family unit, each of the figurines apart from the others. Then she thrusts in again through the house's door and feels around, coming up with a maiden miniature.

Juspera carefully places an ebonwood maiden miniature on the floor.

(Juspera draws out another bed, setting the maiden on it, separated from the other figures by the house looming between them. As before, the child is dwarfed by the bed, and both look tiny indeed upon the great sea of the stage.)

Juspera sings quietly:

    "A girl. Her name is Aya. Is she Halfling, Elf, or Gnome?
     Does it matter if her hair is sleek, or never sees a comb?
     Does it matter if her father serves a regiment at war
     And she marks each day with chalk until they let him stumble home?"

Juspera claps her hands together and opens them to reveal a rough stick of white chalk!

(Juspera scrawls a line of chalk on the side of the house. The contact of chalk on paint makes a faint whispering sound that echoes through the amphitheater.)

(Juspera delves into the house and retrieves an axeman miniature, setting it a good distance away.)

Juspera carefully places a mahogany axeman miniature on the floor.

Juspera sings:

    "Depleted by his battles, still he manages to find
     A shepherdess's friendly face -- and bed -- to soothe his mind.
     When orders come, he carries both his greataxe and his guilt
     That now there'll be a second little child he'll leave behind."

(Juspera pulls a shepherdess miniature from the house and sets it beside the axeman.)

Juspera carefully places a garnet-inset shepherdess miniature on the floor.

(Juspera makes an unseen motion and the figures turn to face away from each other, staring outward. Then, on the stage between them, she places a bundle, small enough to be a swaddled babe.)

Juspera sings:

    "Though Aya and this girl will never meet, they share a life,
     A loneliness, their melancholy trenchant as a knife.
     Their father's careless actions bent to suit the course of war --
     And yet they curse their father's flaw, and not the battle's strife."

(Juspera stands up, dusting her hands, and reaches into her cloak.)

Juspera removes a tiny pearwood matchbox from in her cloak.

Juspera opens a tiny pearwood matchbox, revealing several matches.

Juspera gets a match from a tiny pearwood matchbox.

Juspera lights a match by flicking it against her thumb.

Juspera smiles faintly, wryly, holding the burning match up before her as if it were an accusation.

(Juspera touches the match to the eaves of the little house. A glow of flame begins to flicker in a line along one side of the structure, blackening its painted shutters and gables.)

You see a burning match being waved around.

The burning match goes out, disappearing in a small puff of smoke.

Juspera sings gravely:

    "Have you swindled? Have you stolen? Have you broken someone's heart?
     Have you spoken ill of friends, and later claimed to have no part?
     The streets are filled with liars, and with suitors bearing gold
     Who whisper of undying love, and then one day depart."

Juspera gazes thoughtfully at a small maroon dollhouse toy.

Juspera removes a dark ebonwood lute from in her cloak.

(Juspera begins to play, making an ambling circuit about the stage as if there were not a burning dollhouse in the center of it. She strums lightly, revisiting the jaunty tune from earlier.)

Juspera sings:

    "Of justice and of romance: one is cold, the other hot.
     I've cried the call for justice much, though cried from romance not.
     To stake our lives on either is to bind ourselves in chains,
     And neither brings the comfort that good whiskey could have bought."

(Juspera continues playing brightly. A chunk of charred wood and paint separates from one side of the house, hitting the stage.)

Juspera sings loudly:

    "And all across the continent, the crowds cry out for more --
     I'd linger singing on this stage until my voice were sore
     If I could spare one Terrin from a single bedpost mark
     For neither love nor law can reign 'till no one's keeping score."

(Juspera sounds a final chord. She glances to the dollhouse, which has failed to fully catch fire and now sits smoldering, only a few licks of flame showing. A sluggish wisp of smoke trails from the chimney up to the ceiling of the hall, almost as if a little fire were lit in the home's tiny hearth; but the figures that had once inhabited the house remain scattered, alone.)

Juspera mouths, "The end."

Juspera put a dark ebonwood lute in her cloak.

Juspera curtsies.

(Juspera stomps out the remaining flames, crushing some of the dollhouse in the process.)

Juspera picks up a small maroon dollhouse toy.

Juspera curtsies.

Alosaka

Alosaka steps through the curtains and walks out on stage.

Alosaka carefully places some soft white linen robes on the floor.

Alosaka carefully places a bone-inlaid ora headband on the floor.

Alosaka slowly empties his lungs.

Alosaka closes his eyes for a moment.

Alosaka bows.

Alosaka distantly says, "I wandered, one day, to the Sea of Fire's shore, beyond which the Tehir dwell. The Empire's guards raised their shields and spears, and shouted to me from behind their walls, 'Beware, beware!'."

Alosaka blinks.

Alosaka tilts his head up.

Alosaka loudly says, "I called to them, 'I am looking for a story!'."

Alosaka says, "'Beware, beware!,' they shouted again. 'Only ghosts and death walk these sands.'."

Alosaka says, "And nothing more they said. I wandered past, beneath their frightened gaze, into the sands."

(Alosaka steps lightly across the stage, from the right wing to near the center, where the crumpled robe lays unfolded on the floor. He stops, his foot just inches from touching it, and looks down.)

Alosaka says, "I met another wanderer, in that foreign land. A ghost, a slip of moonlight caught on a yucca's spiny leaves. I asked him for a story, and he whispered, 'Find the beginning.'."

Alosaka picks up some soft white linen robes.

Alosaka works his way into some soft white linen robes.

Alosaka says, "Further I wandered into the wastes. And as night fell I came across an arid stream, cracked and lifeless. And there I met another traveller in that foreign land. He was a pile of bones, as dry as that river, with one arm outstretched, pointing the way. Beside him, drawn in the sand, was written: 'Find the beginning.'."

(Alosaka walks from the center of the stage to the left, where the headband rests. He leans down and snags it with one finger.)

Alosaka picks up a bone-inlaid ora headband.

Alosaka puts a bone-inlaid ora headband on his head.

Alosaka says, "Further I wandered into the wastes. And there rose before me an ancient forest, seared into ash. Black trunks rose like tombstones from the gray and blasted sands."

(Alosaka walks in a meandering path back to the center of the stage, one hand raised beside him, brushing against unseen giants. The hem of his robe drags in the ashes of Juspera's dollhouse fire, staining it with dark streaks.)

Alosaka says, "At last, I found the wandering Tehir. And they were not warriors to beware. They loved peace and hated violence. A full year I spent with them, and not once did I witness any conflict or quarrel. No fights over spilled mead or unfaithful women."

Alosaka says, "I saw, once, a young shepherd who fell asleep on a hill while stargazing, and woke to find a colony of anxious blister ants crawling across his legs. Rather than beat them off with stones, he suffered the pain of their countless footsteps, and used a blade of the softest willow to brush them away, one by one."

(Alosaka holds out his arm, perfectly still, and with his other hand gently touches his fingers to it, as though allowing some unseen insect to walk up into his palm. With exaggerated care he leans down and deposits his little friend in the grass.)

Alosaka says, "In the watch-grass fires they set each night, they made a game of discerning fantastic beasts whose shapes were traced by flickering flames. I joined their games, and they let me work the bellows that stoked the fires, sending clouds of embers miles into the desert sky. They glittered like stars."

Alosaka tilts his head up.

Alosaka says, "They taught me stories, around that camp fire. Stories about the legendary Mir Ul'din, who first stole fire from the gods for the mortal races. About the Ur-Daemon princess Traces-of-Snow-in-the-Void, who taught the young Lorminstra the names of every mortal who would ever die of cold."

Alosaka says, "But none of these were my story. For all they helped me, I still could not find the beginning."

Alosaka closes his eyes for a moment.

Alosaka says, "And I asked them, once, when my year with them was nearly complete, why they set the fires at every sunset, no matter how hot the summer night."

Alosaka says, "And they told me a new story. Of Nurul abu Sana, a shaman so ancient that only his name remains. His name, and a prophecy he delivered one night in the grips of a terrible fever."

(Alosaka hunches down and wraps his arms around his knees, shivering. He wipes an arm across his forehead, then gazes up with glassy eyes into the bright stage lights.)

Alosaka says, "He saw a monster that walked among the stars. A monster in the shape of a raven, whose wings stretched from horizon to horizon, and each of her thousand wings bore a thousand feathers, each of which bore a thousand eyes, and these eyes were as countless as the stars."

Alosaka says, "The monster drank enmity and violence, and her infinite eyes watched the world, searching the souls of the mortals below for the spark of hatred. And every thousand years, when she was gorged and rotten and bursting full of darkness, she came upon the world as a great mass of fire, igniting everything."

(Alosaka lowers his face between his knees and covers his head with his arms, cowering from some unseen wrath.)
Hycis winces.

Alosaka says, "Only by forswearing the emotions she consumed, and distracting her eyes every night with the light of countless embers, could her reckoning be delayed."

Alosaka says, "And then my year was done, and I packed my meager things, and went back into the desert."

Alosaka says, "I wandered into a forest, lush and green, with trees like giants rising toward the sky."

Alosaka says, "And as I looked up the sun grew hot and fierce and burning, and the heavens wept with fire, and all around me the trees turned to ash. And when I woke, all was as I saw before: gray, blasted sands, with black trunks rising from them."

(Alosaka traces his fingers in the ashes on the stage.)

Alosaka says, "And still I wandered, until I found a dried-out desert arroyo, and I laid my weary bones to rest in it."

Alosaka takes a bone-inlaid ora headband off his head.

Alosaka carefully places a bone-inlaid ora headband on the floor.

Alosaka says, "And, relieved of half my burdens, I wandered further, searching for my story. And I found a stubborn yucca with spindly leaves, and I hung my spirit on it to rest."

Alosaka works his way out of some soft white linen robes.

Alosaka carefully places some soft white linen robes on the floor.

Alosaka says, "And still I wandered, looking for my story, to the Sea of Fire's shore. And there I found the Empire's guardsmen. 'Beware, beware!' they shouted, as they always had. As they always would. 'Only ghosts and death walk these sands.'."

Alosaka kneels down.

Alosaka says, "Walk back with me, friends. Walk back with me through our history, through our countless wars, through our love of death. Sift your hands with me through these sands, through this dust of empires. To the start of our story."

(Alosaka reaches down and cups an invisible handful of sand, letting it sift through his fingers to the floor.)

Alosaka says, "Help me find the beginning."

Alosaka bows.

Regwen

The backstage curtains part slightly, and Regwen steps out onto the stage.  A glimpse of the shadowy backstage is briefly visible before the curtains close behind her.

Regwen sincerely greets, "Good evening friends and esteemed judges.  I'm delighted to be here tonight."

Regwen clearly announces, "I have a little play for you this evening.  I hope you enjoy it."

Regwen smiles as she takes her position, center stage, a pace away from the burn spot, facing the audience.

Regwen theatrically orates, "Once upon a time, not far from here, there lived a lovely elven queen."

Regwen candidly explains, "A bit cliche, but, the Queen told people that she liked long walks in the woods, good food and lively music."

Regwen bluntly confesses, "What she didn't tell them was that she complained constantly and she didn't like to do anything for herself."

Regwen smiles gazing around the audience as if to confide something to you.

Regwen leans forward.

Regwen emphasizes, "She liked LOTS of attention too."

Regwen simply states, "As a matter of fact, she pretty much demanded constant attention."

Regwen leans back.

Regwen grins wryly.

Regwen removes a delicate elven queen hand-puppet with a tiny gold crown from in her dark red sack.

Regwen slips a delicate elven queen hand-puppet with a tiny gold crown carefully over her hand and adjusts it.

(Regwen purses her lips and puts a hand her hip, mimicing the queen.)

Regwen shrilly demands, "I want this! I need that! Entertain me, I'm bored...NOW!"

Regwen's elven queen hand-puppet puffs out its little chest and straightens its shoulders.

Regwen shakes her head, clucking her tongue.

(Regwen casually walks toward stage left.)

Roelaren says, "Oh  how cute."

Regwen brightly states, "One rather misty morning, the queen decided to have a picnic at a lake in the woods so, she called for her knight-errand."

Regwen winks.

(Regwen puts on a haughty aire, imitating the queen and shrilly demands...)

From behind a delicate elven queen hand-puppet with a tiny gold crown, Regwen's voice shrilly demands, "Knight! I say knight!  I want a picnic today.  Now!"

Regwen snaps her fingers.

Regwen's elven queen hand-puppet folds its arms over its chest.

Regwen smiles at the audience as she walks back toward stage right.

Regwen removes a tall armor-clad male knight hand-puppet with dark hair from in her dark red sack.

Regwen slips a tall armor-clad male knight hand-puppet with dark hair carefully over her hand and adjusts it.

(Regwen assumes the stiff straight posture and in the deep voice of the knight, says...)

Regwen deeply acknowledges, "Yes, my Queen."

Regwen's male knight hand-puppet nods its head emphatically.

Regwen admits, "The knight wanted to please the queen, so he spared no expense and gathered a group to prepare an extravagent picnic."

Regwen brightly continues, "Soon the picnicers were headed through the forest, on the way to the lake, with the knight in the lead."

(Regwen Assumes a stiff posture and tilts the knight hand-puppet side as she marches a few steps across the stage.)

Regwen marches along, proudly displaying a tall armor-clad male knight hand-puppet with dark hair!

Regwen brightly states, "After what seemed like a long time, with all the queens complaining, the trees parted and they arrived at a lovely glade near a mist covered lake."

Regwen holds a painted banner depicting a mist-shrouded woodland lake scene in front of herself, displaying it for all to see.

Regwen continues, "The royal baker, who was following the knight, was carrying the picnic basket."

Regwen removes a flour-stained toy gnome baker from in her dark red sack.

(Regwen slouches, acting as the baker, and trudges a few paces while tilting the baker doll side to side as if he were trudging after the knight.)

From behind a flour-stained toy gnome baker, Regwen's voice grimly laments, "She probably won't like anything."

Regwen hurriedly says, "The baker unpacked the picnic basket quickly, sighing at how delicious everything looked."

Regwen removes a white wicker picnic basket from in her dark red sack.

Regwen drops a white wicker picnic basket.

Regwen removes a purple cotton blanket embroidered with a butterfly from in a white wicker picnic basket.

Regwen drops a purple cotton blanket embroidered with a butterfly.

Regwen teasingly discloses, "He then sat nearby; out of sight of the queen."

Regwen drops a flour-stained toy gnome baker.

Regwen grandiosely announces, "Then the queen arrived in her usual grand fashion; yelling that the picnic should commense....NOW!"

(Regwen sashays lightly farther along the stage tilting the queen hand-puppet side to side as if she were sashaying into a grand ball.)

Regwen sashays along, displaying a delicate elven queen hand-puppet with a tiny gold crown!

Regwen merrily says, "And lastly, the bard, who was dancing and playing a lively tune, while enjoying the spectacle."

Regwen removes a costumed bard marionette from in her dark red sack.

(Regwen puts on a sardonic smile, as the bard, and dances along the edge of the stage so that the footlights light her to perfection, and croons to the Queen.)

Regwen sings crooningly:

    "Oh lovely Queen none do compare
     To one as lovely and so fair.
     On this picnic fine,
     We all will dine.
     You do everything with such flair!"

(Regwen shakes the bard marionette to make it's eyes roll.)

(Regwen turns her Queen hand puppet to stare at the bard, briefly.)

Regwen smiles wryly as she carefully sits the bard next to the picnic basket; putting his little hands in his lap.

Regwen drops a costumed bard marionette.

Regwen smiles slightly as she moves silently to center stage.

Regwen runs her hand down the front of her brushed cotton gown, discreetly re-arranging the drape.

Regwen disappointedly continues, "Well, the queen started to complain straight away."

(Regwen puts on a haughty aire, scowls and with a high pitched voice and complains...)

Regwen shrilly complains, "I have to sit on the ground?!  Someone cut my food! There are ants on the blanket, kill them!"

Regwen direly warns, "The queens complaining was so loud, that it woke a dragon who had slept in peace for eons."

Regwen removes a grinning skeletal dragon marionette from in her dark red sack.

Regwen leans forward.

Regwen quietly explains, "He had slept for so long in fact, that he was nothing but a skeleton."

Regwen leans back.

(Regwen acts like the dragon; spreads her arms as if she were very large and bellows in a monstrous voice...)

Regwen angrily bellows, "What is that noise?"

Regwen excitedly reveals, "The dragon lumbered out of its lair to stop the noise but instead spots the queens tiny gold crown, in an instant."

Regwen leans forward.

Regwen quietly interjects, "Dragons have very keen eyes for spotting gold."

Regwen leans back.

Regwen's skeletal dragon marionette pokes its finger into its own hollow eye socket.

Regwen breaks out in a silly grin.

(Regwen moves like the dragon, trying to look even more immense, turns the dragon marrionette quickly toward the queen.)

From behind a grinning skeletal dragon marionette, Regwen's voice excitedly gasps, "Gold! ALL the gold must be mine!"

Regwen twitches at a grinning skeletal dragon marionette's strings, causing it to shuffle its bony feet forward, arms outstretched.

Regwen stubbornly protests, "The queen was not about to give up her lovely crown."

Regwen glances at her elven queen hand-puppet.

Regwen's elven queen hand-puppet shakes its head from side to side, as if saying no.

Regwen's elven queen hand-puppet folds its arms over its chest.

(Regwen yells and in her deep booming dragon voice...)

Regwen declares, "Then you shall be mine too...."

Regwen's skeletal dragon marionette turns in mid-air with a silent, deadly grace.

Regwen coolly blurts, "So he ate her."

Regwen's skeletal dragon marionette opens its jaw with a deathly clack.

Regwen leans forward.

Regwen quietly elaborates, "But, because the dragon's a skeleton, you can see her through the ribs, pacing about and you can still her muffled rantings."

Regwen leans back.

From behind a delicate elven queen hand-puppet with a tiny gold crown, Regwen's voice distantly exclaims, "Save me!  Help! You'd better get me out of here!"

Regwen smiles wryly as she quickly picks up the bard and mimics the bards next song.

Regwen picks up a costumed bard marionette.

Regwen sings merrily to her bard marionette:

    "Oh my! The Queen is in a dreadful plight!
     Her gold crown is now a Dragons delight.
     She became a light snack.
     Now how about that.
     Now lets see if there'll be a fight."

Regwen's bard marionette collapses to its knees, its tiny wooden hands clasping in prayer.

(Regwen chuckles at the bard as she reseats him at the picnic and twitches his strings so the bard seems to rummage in the picnic basket; finding the ale.)

Regwen smirks at her bard marionette.

Regwen drops a costumed bard marionette.
Regwen expectantly reveals, "The knight, who had been seated, jumped up, took one good look at the immense dragon and...."

Regwen's male knight hand-puppet flails its legs and arms in a brief moment of panic!

Regwen bemusedly observes, "Being true to his name, Sir Render, surrendered."

Regwen simply comments, "And the dragon ate him as well."

Regwen's skeletal dragon marionette opens its jaw with a deathly clack.

Regwen picks up a costumed bard marionette.

(Regwen singing whimsically as the bard, pulls the marionettes strings to cause melodramatic gestures...)

Regwen sings whimsically to her bard marionette:

    "There goes the "Brave" knight Sir Render.
     He did not even try to defend her.
     So with a big huff,
     He just gave up.
     He's an armor-clad sorry pretender."

Regwen's marionette begins to dance in mid-air, moving more gracefully than most of the bards you've met.

Regwen smiles as she reseats the bard, pulling his strings to play a more raucous tune on his little lute and to help himself to another ale from the basket.

Regwen drops a costumed bard marionette.

Regwen begins chuckling at a costumed bard marionette!
Regwen picks up a flour-stained toy gnome baker.

Regwen boldly says, "Now the baker, who had been watching from the side of the glade, boldly stepped up and stared in alarm at the dragon..."

Regwen hugs her toy gnome baker, and its eyes bulge out alarmingly!

Regwen giggles.

Regwen boldly says, "He then threw a tart at the dragon and yelled something in protest, before running off into the woods."

Regwen put a flour-stained toy gnome baker in her dark red sack.

Regwen picks up a costumed bard marionette.

(Regwen adopts the bards wry slighty inebriated expression and sings the bards song.)

Regwen sings merrily to her bard marionette:

    "Well the baker decided to make a play.
     He told the dragon "What for", I'd say.
     He at least threw a tart,
     But without much heart.
     Who will finally save the day?"

Regwen's bard marionette raises its hand to its forehead and swings about, eyes peering out in wooden puzzlement.

(Regwen puts the bard near the picnic basket and raises his little ale mug with one string.)

Regwen drops a costumed bard marionette.

Regwen takes a deep breath.

Regwen attests, "Finally, the queen, seeing that she was getting nowhere fast, thought to herself, "I have to do something...MYSELF!"."

Regwen gives a short little hum of surprise.

Regwen agonizes, "What could she do?  All she had with her was her silver spoon from the picnic."

Regwen removes a polished silver spoon enameled with tiny white opals from in her dark red sack.

Regwen encouragingly regales, "She took her little silver spoon and started to run it back and forth across the dragons ribs."

Regwen waves a polished silver spoon enameled with tiny white opals around.

Regwen amusedly declares, "This tickled the dragon terribly, and he roared with laughter."

From behind a grinning skeletal dragon marionette, Regwen's voice incredulously bellows, "Stop! stop!"

Regwen's waves the bars above her skeletal dragon marionette, causing it to jerk its arms and legs around in a frenzied dance that threatens to shake its bones apart!

Regwen marvels, "The queen continued tickling the dragons ribs with her spoon until he could take it no longer."

Regwen surprisedly continues, "The dragon stood up to run, which allowed the Queen and the knight to simply step between the ribs and run away."

Regwen put a grinning skeletal dragon marionette in her dark red sack.

Regwen put a polished silver spoon enameled with tiny white opals in her dark red sack.

Regwen picks up a costumed bard marionette.

(Regwen moves to the front of the stage and stands poised in the foot lights once more.)

Regwen sings resoundingly to her bard marionette:

    "The Queen was left without a friend.
     Some effort she then had to expend.
     She tickled enough,
     That the dragon gave up.
     Sometimes you have to save yourself in
     The End."

Regwen smiles.

Regwen holds the sides of her brushed cotton gown outward and performs a graceful curtsy.

Regwen says, "Thank you, all."

(Regwen turns and curtsies gracefully to the judges.)

Regwen put a costumed bard marionette in her dark red sack.

Regwen picks up a purple cotton blanket embroidered with a butterfly.

Regwen put a purple cotton blanket embroidered with a butterfly in a white wicker picnic basket that is on the ground.

Regwen picks up a white wicker picnic basket.

Regwen put a white wicker picnic basket in her dark red sack.

Regwen flashes a wide grin.

Regwen waves.

Regwen beams!

Regwen retreats through the backstage curtains, vanishing from sight.

Tolwynn

The backstage curtains part slightly, and Tolwynn steps out onto the stage.  A glimpse of the shadowy backstage is briefly visible before the curtains close behind him.

Tolwynn removes a deep indigo thanot cittern trimmed with storm grey vaalin fittings and keys from in his blue drawstring pouch.

Tolwynn says, "And a fairest evening to all of you there."

Tolwynn recites:

    "Twenty five years."

Tolwynn recites:

    "Quite the span, and I am glad to have been a part of it both this evening and in the past."

Tolwynn says, "So then."

(Tolwynn makes his way to the front of the stage and cradles his deep indigo thanot cittern in his arms as the lights gradually tint to a muted orange glow.  He taps his foot a few times to set his beat and begins to lightly strum his cittern's strings.)

Tolwynn says, "We'll call this one guild for reasons which will become obvious very soon."

Tolwynn sings jauntily:

    "If your accounts are running low, and your skills could use a build,
     There's a place to help with both, you know, just head over to the guild.
     Talk with the master -  Klidel's ours, then put on your badge of tin.
     Gather friends and muster powers, and then you're ready to begin!"

Tolwynn taps a tin-bound ceramic badge that he is wearing.

(Tolwynn paces steadily across the stage as his fingers pluck the light melody, his gaze settled on the first few rows of the audience.)

Tolwynn sings smoothly:

    "When I used to still adventure, I would often haunt the guild
     And I'd structure things to ensure that each bounty could be filled.
     They've got broad and deep assortment, and most handle with great ease.
     But there's one that tests comportment, most avoid like a disease."

(Tolwynn comes to a stop and glares about him, his fingers abruptly lifting from his cittern's strings.)

Tolwynn disdainfully growls, "Rescue missions."

(Tolwynn resumes playing his cittern, though the melody seems somewhat more subdued than before.)

Tolwynn sings with a clear tenor:

    "Other bounties are a blessing, rescue missions are the curse.
     They're not as bad as you're guessing, no, they're sev'ral times more worse!
     You have to find some wayward sprat.  Their presence there's perplexing.
     The hunting part, it's easy that - escorting through is vexing."

(Tolwynn lifts his chin and squares his shoulders as he struts across the stage to the front right corner, his music returning to the bright notes from earlier.)

Tolwynn sings confidently:

    "So I thought myself quite clever as I strode into the hall.
     Rescue missions?  Let's try never, I had vouchers for them all.
     Klidel shot a withering glance as I passed up two and three.
     He said, "We'll do your little dance, but the one who leads is me."

(Tolwynn puffs out his chest and widens his stance as the rollicking melody spills forth from his cittern.)

Tolwynn sings with a clear tenor:

    "I declined a hundred more then, and requested my next task.
     "Ah, that's much more like it, Warden, I was hoping you might ask.
     You're annoyingly persistent, I think this task may best you."
     He was equally consistent - The next one was a rescue."

(Tolwynn gets a blank look on his face as his cittern falls quiet once more.)

(Tolwynn begins a plucky melody, his fingers dancing over his cittern's strings.)

Tolwynn sings brightly:

    "I've just the job for you," he smiled. "Now let's see you swiftly off.
     There's a precious little child lost beneath the Thanatoph."
     I sped there like a thunderbolt, and in nick of time arrived
     Well deep in Illoke's underholt, where the lad somehow survived."

(Tolwynn smooths out his notes with a gradual decrescendo.)

Tolwynn sings with measured tones:

    "I stared at the boy and blustered, "Do your parents know you're here?"
     He replied to me unflustered, "Yes, you'll see it's very clear."
     Two bandits roared with laughter as they sprung to the attack.
     I set both ablaze, then after brought their new-made orphan back."

(Tolwynn briefly flicks his fingers dismissively before taking a step forward and leaning toward the first row of seats.)

Tolwynn recites disdainfully:

    "I asked for doubled credit for the extra bounty done.
     Klidel said, "Just you forget it, that still only counts as one!"

(Tolwynn gives a sigh of exasperation and picks up the pace of the tune flowing from his cittern, the volume gradually modulating to the earlier tone.)

Tolwynn sings:

    "The next job was a rescue too, was there any sense of doubt?
     Down into Illoke's nest anew, to haul another young one out.
     A long stream of rescues followed, like some strangest ferry run -
     By the tenth I felt quite hollowed, and by fifteenth very done."

(Tolwynn winces slightly as he suddenly strums a discordant chord.)

Tolwynn dryly states, "To this day, I've never used a voucher again."

(Tolwynn stares down at his cittern and draws his fingers over the strings, the notes seeming to plod along as he paces slowly across the stage.)

Tolwynn sings lethargically:

    "I returned once more, strength fading, feeling that I might just die.
     Klidel simply stood there waiting, asking "Have you figured why?"

(Tolwynn turns to face the audience, the tone of his cittern's notes steadily brightening.)

Tolwynn sings with a clear tenor:

    "Rescue bounties hold a lesson, if not obvious at first.
     Dealing with them is unpleasant, I've heard most say they're the worst.
     You're dealing with some headstrong soul in a place they shouldn't go,
     Rushing headlong to reach a goal that no other soul might know."

(Tolwynn slowly strides forward, keeping his gaze steady on the crowd.)

Tolwynn sings with measured tones:

    "They act so rash, this wayward lot, doing things they oughtn't do.
     But take a moment, give some thought: Am I describing them - or you?
     So please show some understanding for these tykes of which we're fond.
     They'll in time defend the Landing and all else that lays beyond."

(Tolwynn relaxes his stance and strums a flashy series of chords.)

Tolwynn sings gleefully:

    "Now, let's get back to our routines, and get one last bounty down!
     Good Murdos requests seven sphenes . . . and he says please make them brown."

(Tolwynn's music fades away as he throws his hand up in exasperated defeat.)
Tolwynn sharply inhales and exhales a heavy breath in annoyance.

Tolwynn recites sternly:

    "So parents, please do listen hence, and take these words to trust:
     Teach well your kids some common sense, or they'll end up bad as us!"

(Tolwynn gives an emphatic nod of his head as he lowers his cittern to his side. He bows smoothly to the audience, then straightens to turn to the judges with another deep bow.)

Tolwynn retreats through the backstage curtains, vanishing from sight.

Cyar

Cyar steps through the curtains and walks out on stage.

Cyar exclaims, "Cheers to all of you!!!!"

Cyar yells, "By the gods!"

Cyar exclaims, "Blessed are we by such performances!"

Cyar exclaims, "We have seen many master!"

Cyar says, "Now something simple..."

Cyar yells, "By the gods!"

Cyar exclaims, "Blessed are we by such performances!"

Cyar exclaims, "We have seen many master!"

Cyar says, "Now something simple..."

Cyar smiles quietly around the room.

Cyar exclaims, "My thanks and welcomes extended to all in attendance of this special 25th! house aspis bardfest!"

Cyar smiles and strides to the front of the stage.

Cyar says, "25 years of awesome performances by honestly far more talenteted folks then myself."

Cyar says, "Indeed this may mark a pause or break in our fest for a while."

Cyar says, "So I thought I would give it a go."

Cyar says, "Again."

(Cyar walks to the center of the stage, turning to the crowd he says,.)

Cyar slings an ebonwood mandolin with star-shaped cloud agate inlays off from over his shoulder.

Cyar says, "For you see this is not my first performance."

Cyar grins.

Cyar says, "In fact."

Cyar slings a folded ebonwood chair off of his shoulder and secures its strap to the side of the chair.

Cyar says, "Being a bit erm wiser..."

Cyar unfolds his chair and carefully places the chair on the floor.

Cyar says, "Forgive me a sit."

Cyar settles himself on a lacquered ebonwood chair draped with silk.

(Cyar settles a bit forward on the chair, resting his mandolin on one knee and adopting a casual pose.)

Cyar carefully checks the strings of his mandolin, plucking them lightly and adjusting the tension until the sound is perfectly pitched.

(Cyar glances up thoughtfully.)

Cyar says, "This is my third performance for you the races of elanthia."

Cyar says, "And it is my great honor."

Cyar says, "I shall reminisce."

With a slow lead-in, Cyar begins a gentle ballad on his mandolin.

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "My first time on stage
      was not quite the rage
      for I was a pitiful youth."

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "For inspiration came
      My lust drove me insane
      My desire a beautiful lass."

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "So in a great rush 
     I mused on my crush
      and her suffering.... a bad cold.?"

Cyar squints.

With strong fingers, Cyar increases the complexity of his chords, taking the song to new melodic heights.

Cyar sadly says, "Yes i sang about my sick girl and my desire to help her."

Cyar distantly says, "Yes i know, i know... I didnt win."

Cyar nods approvingly.

Cyar says, "So then i tried again."

Cyar coaxes rich notes from his mandolin with a showy variant on the common strum.

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "My second time on show
      I had a skull from Nafuu
      a bard long dead and decayed"

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "And here on the stage
      I awoke his dead rage
      Awakening this magical sage."

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "That effort was better
      Nafuu was no quiter
      and I did make the finals I say."

With great proficiency, Cyar further complicates the melody, making it ever more elaborate until it is nearly lost in decorative notes.

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "With the word "finger" I toiled
      won my harp as my spoils
      and the title of "best new voice." of the day"

Cyar adds in a soft harmony, the muted strains complimenting the melody beautifully.

Cyar nods.

Cyar humbly says, "I was quite humbled."

Cyar says, "So tonight i will sing of the one thing I have loved since day one."

Cyar says, "House Aspis."

Cyar smiles happily.

Impishly, Cyar thumps out a complicated little beat on the belly of his mandolin, displaying a possible proficiency in percussion as well as strings.

Cryheart grins.

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "A choice of house
      one should not take lightly
      so many to choose 
      so many shine brightly."

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "I thought much about it
      listened to rumors and boasts.
      I wandered houseless
      which offered most?"

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "When i heard of bardfest
      attended my first show
      I sat there agape
      my mind was just blown."

Cyar makes the simplest of strains as complex as is possible, coloring it with harmonies and chord variations.

Cyar strums the strings of his mandolin with a wide sweep of his arm and a convoluted pattern of fingering.  Showoff!

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "Aspis it seems, was a hope and a dream
      found all that I needed
      I applied and in the next meet
      "your accepted" words that I greeted."

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "Now in just hearing your in
      you would think that is done.
      for many a house that is it."

Cyar says, "Not Aspis."

Suddenly, Cyar ceases his song!  With a grin, Cyar uses the opportunity to begin again in a manner that is more flamboyant yet.

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "Lead to a fountain
      told to kneel
     My neck was stretched
     I thought "whats the deal?""

Paying complete attention to the mandolin's strings, Cyar begins building an intense melody.

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "All sibs stood around me
      choosing my stuff they would hoard
      for standing above was the boss man
      in his hands held a sword."

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "For knowledge you must show
      the answer you must know
      or your head shall roll.
      then sibs loot your body and go!"

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "My heart is quite light
      My answer was right
     Kept head out of fear
     My new sibs happily cheer!"

Cyar plucks his instrument's lower strings, adding a driving bass foundation to the melody.

Cyar sings tunefully:

    "The years have gone by
      with new sibs and a few old
      but Aspis is plainly
      not just a house
      but simply my home..."

With a final dramatic flourish, Cyar takes his fingers from the strings, letting the notes fade into a profound silence.

Cyar stands up.

Cyar bows.

Cyar collapses the legs of his ebonwood chair and folds it up, tucking it under his arm.

Cyar unfastens the strap on the side of his folded ebonwood chair and slings it over his shoulder.

Cyar slings an ebonwood mandolin with star-shaped cloud agate inlays over his shoulder.

Cyar waves.

Cyar says, "My thanks to aspis."

Cyar bows.

Mekimin

The backstage curtains part slightly, and Mekimin steps out onto the stage.  A glimpse of the shadowy backstage is briefly visible before the curtains close behind her.

Mekimin reaches out and touches her Fash'lo'nae symbol.

Mekimin politely squeaks, "I beg your silence and attention, please."

Mekimin clears her throat.

Mekimin begins, "This is a story told to me by my grandfather. It's an old Vylem tale, from way back before the gnomes separated into the clans."

Mekimin takes a deep breath.

Mekimin continues, "It's a story from before the rest of the gnomes stopped tellin' stories with gods in them."

Mekimin muses, "We still tell it in the Vylem burrows though. Because it's true."

Mekimin rubs her chin thoughtfully.

Mekimin innocently asks, "How do I know it's true?"

Mekimin flashes a wide grin.

Mekimin confidently squeaks, "Because my grandfather was there!"

Mekimin clears her throat.

Mekimin slowly takes a few steps to her left.

Mekimin solemnly intones, "Long, long ago, Grandfather Fash'lo'nae first brought fire to the round-ears."

Mekimin flails her arms about.

Mekimin quickly interrupts, "But that's a round-ear story, and our tale isn't about that!"

Mekimin proudly crows, "It's about what came just after, and of how Grandfather made the gnomes what we are."

Mekimin lets out a long, contemplative breath.

Mekimin says, "Now, all peoples know of how Grandfather Fash'lo'nae stole the ember of fire from Koar's hearth and smuggled it to the mortal world."

Mekimin glances around the room.

Mekimin cocks her head.

Mekimin nods approvingly.

Mekimin ominously says, "Well, this theft so angered Koar that his fists shook with lightning. As he stood before his darkened hearth, poking at the cold, black ashes, he roared:"

Mekimin recites:

    "Someone bring me the head of that wicked, old Fash'lo'nae!"

Mekimin gasps, "And as he bellowed the ashes came to life!"

Mekimin frightenedly squeaks, "A great dark cloud poured forth from Koar's fireplace!"

Mekimin gives a slight flick of her wrist, and an onyx-inlaid Onar figurine suddenly appears in her hand!

Speaking grimly to her Onar figurine, Mekimin says, "The darkness' name was Onar, and it whirled about Koar, waiting for instruction."

Mekimin says, "And Koar hesitated but for a moment, before he yelled once more:"

Mekimin recites angrily:

    "Go forth! And don't come back without the head of Fash'lo'nae!"

Mekimin yelps, "With a 'whoosh!', the black wind flew up through Koar's chimney and out the top! Off Onar flew with his black knife, to claim the head of Fash'lo'nae."

Mekimin takes a few steps to her left.

Mekimin gently says, "Now, of course Grandfather saw all of this."

Mekimin explains, "In those days, Fash'lo'nae had a mirror with a hundred-and-one facets that showed a hundred-and-one worlds, and he could look in it to see anywhere he pleased."

Mekimin says, "And so, with his hundred slitted eyes fixed upon his mirror, he saw the coming of Onar."

Mekimin says, "Quick as a thought came Onar to the castle of Grandfather! But Fash'lo'nae is quicker still, and fled on a moonbeam to the mortal world."

Mekimin says, "Grandfather found himself in a great field of grass, and his hundred eyes saw Onar hurtling down from the Moon."

Mekimin glances apprehensively up.

Mekimin exclaims, "And so Grandfather turned himself into a tiny snake, and slithered into the grass. But Onar became a Black Mongoose, and gave chase!"

Mekimin exclaims, "But Grandfather is faster still, and became a songbird and flew into the sky! But Onar became a hawk, and followed!"

Mekimin exclaims, "On and on the chase proceeded, now trout and garr, now velnalin and lion, now fox and hound, round the whole belt of the world!"

Mekimin exclaims, "And just as Onar was about to catch him, Fash'lo'nae became a muskrat and dove into a hole in the ground!"

Mekimin ducks slightly and covers her head with her arms.

Mekimin says, "Down, down, down, went Grandfather. Down all the way into the winding depths of the earth, taking many a secret, twisting tunnel."

Mekimin says, "Finally, grandfather pushed his way through a tangle of roots and dirt and found himself in a dark cave."

Mekimin asks, "And what did Grandfather see there?"

Mekimin gasps, "Seven little muskrats!"

Mekimin exclaims, "Grandfather stared back at the muskrats in wonder, hidden so deep in the ground that not even his gazing-mirror had found them!"

Mekimin says, "And Grandfather said:"
Mekimin recites:

    "Secret dwellers of the earth's belly: will you help an old man whose death is near?"

Mekimin begs for mercy!

Mekimin says, "And the seven muskrats turned to each other and consulted among themselves."

Mekimin whispers quietly to herself.

Mekimin says, "Then the wisest and most beautiful among them smiled and nodded, and so the seven gathered around Grandfather, moving to protect him."

Mekimin says, "And Grandfather said:"

Mekimin recites dramatically:

    "Gentle, secret dwellers of the underground!
     You shall be my refuge!"

Mekimin says, "And Fash'lo'nae took his form of an ancient old man, hunched and wizened."

Mekimin exclaims, "And he lifted his gazing-mirror high above his head!"

Mekimin seems to be waiting for something.

Mekimin excitedly hollers, "And he brought the mirror down upon the ground, shattering it into a hundred-and-one pieces!"

Mekimin gazes with awe at her surroundings.

Mekimin gasps, "As its shattered pieces fell, the faces of the cave dwellers were caught in its hundred reflections, and lo: Their forms suddenly hunched and sprouted great, long beards to match Fash'lo'nae's own!"

Mekimin says, "And Grandfather said:"
Mekimin recites:

    "You will be the grandfathers of the people I name Gnomes!"

Mekimin grins wickedly.

Mekimin recites slyly:

    "And you are all named Fash'lo'nae!"

Mekimin purposefully walks to stand behind a podium.

Mekimin says, "Now, Onar still poured like black smoke through the tunnels, tracking the scent of Fash'lo'nae. Round and round he circled, until suddenly..."

Mekimin waves an onyx-inlaid Onar figurine around.

Mekimin raises her Onar figurine skyward!

Mekimin roars!

Mekimin suddenly bellows, "He burst through the wall and into the cavern!"

Mekimin blinks.

Mekimin blinks.

Mekimin says, "Dumbfounded, Onar looked over the many identical faces turned toward him."
Mekimin recites angrily:

    "I am here to claim the head of Fash'lo'nae!"

Mekimin says, "So Grandfather turned to greet Death, flashing his yellow teeth. Grandfather grinned and said..."

Mekimin recites dramatically:

    "I am Fash'lo'nae, the Firebringer!"

Mekimin says, "And the little one next to him said..."

From behind a podium, Mekimin's voice exclaims, "I am Fash'lo'nae, the Firebringer!"

From behind some open curtains, Mekimin's voice exclaims, "I am Fash'lo'nae, the Firebringer!"

From behind some heavy wooden pews, Mekimin's voice exclaims, "I am Fash'lo'nae, the Firebringer!"

From behind a long fel table draped with silver and green bunting, Mekimin's voice exclaims, "I am Fash'lo'nae, the Firebringer!"

From behind Seomanthe, Mekimin's voice exclaims, "I am Fash'lo'nae, the Firebringer!"

Mekimin crows, "Their voices all cried out in a jumble!"

Mekimin grips her Onar figurine a little tighter.

Mekimin glowers.

Mekimin exclaims, "Enraged, Onar rushed forth, quick as thought, and thrust his knife at Grandfather Fash'lo'nae!"

Mekimin softly says, "But Grandfather is quicker still..."

Mekimin says, "...and moved a step to the right..."

Mekimin takes a few steps to her right.

Mekimin wails, "And Onar's knife cleaved the neck of the gnome that stood behind him!"

Mekimin squeamishly moans, "A spray of gore!"

Mekimin gives a slight flick of her wrist, and a small totem head suddenly appears in her hand!

Mekimin exclaims, "The sickening thump as a head hit the floor!"

Mekimin drops a small totem head.

Mekimin whispers aloud, "Onar's inky fingers wound through the hair of the decapitated grandfather and lifted it from the stained dirt."

Mekimin picks up a small totem head.

Mekimin dusts herself off.

Mekimin glances around the room.

Mekimin nods firmly.

Mekimin hisses, "His duty dispatched, the head claimed, Onar vanished through the tunnels of the earth to deliver his prize to Koar's table."

Mekimin put a small totem head in her barkcloth pack.

Mekimin put an onyx-inlaid Onar figurine in her barkcloth pack.

Mekimin turns around.

Mekimin strides a few steps forward.

Mekimin says, "Grandfather Fash'lo'nae spread his arms wide as he turned to the gnomes. And he said..."

Mekimin recites solemnly:

    "You gave me refuge in my time of need. And so I, Fash'lo'nae the Firebringer, shall be among you always."

Mekimin recites:

    "The secret places of the the world shall be your home
     And all the secret things of the world shall be your delight."

Mekimin flashes a wide grin.

Mekimin chirps, "And so the gnomes ventured from their cave and went out into the world, and spread far and wide among the cities of men, and elves, and dwarves, and everyone else too, for that matter!"

Mekimin exclaims, "And, as Grandfather promised, we found safety in secret places, and solace in secret things!"

Mekimin warns, "But to this day, one can never be too sure..."

Mekimin whispers aloud, "Should an ancient gnome give you a wink as you pass them by, remember..."

Mekimin recites triumphantly:

    "They might be Fash'lo'nae, the Firebringer!"

Mekimin folds her hands behind her back.

Mekimin bows.

Mekimin glances up.

Mekimin winks.

Mekimin retreats through the backstage curtains, vanishing from sight.

The Finals

The finals featured 7 contestants on Friday, July 24, 2020: Traiva, Nazarr, Tolwynn, Meril, Alosaka, Juspera, and Regwen.

Traiva

The backstage curtains part slightly, and Traiva steps out onto the stage.  A glimpse of the shadowy backstage is briefly visible before the curtains close behind her.

(Traiva pauses at the rear of the dimly lit stage as a simple vanity and bench are set into place and three musicians take their seats. The vanity is angled so that Traiva is still clearly visible as she settles onto the bench and gazes into the mirror, the lights dimming to a pale blue glow.)

(Traiva appears oblivious to the fact that she is on stage as the harpist behind her begins to play a soft melody, a repeated cycle of the middle strings followed by a soft *plink* of a soprano chord.)

Traiva sings quietly:

    "There's so much emotion - how to begin?
     How long will it take for it to sink in?
     This is it, there's no more Bardfests to win -
      
     The Bardfest Era has come to a close."

(Traiva continues to gaze at her reflection in the mirror as a flute joins the harp, starting with the last note of Traiva's verse.)

Traiva sings softly:

    "I feel it could have been just yesterday
     I learned the greatest were showcased this way.
     But they'll find new stages which they can play - 
      
     That's how the life of a performer goes."

(Traiva lifts a bright white cloth from the vanity as a third musician joins with a set of finger cymbals. She places the cloth against her right cheek, then against her left, as if cleansing her face.)

Traiva sings liltingly:

    "I first heard about it on summer's breeze:
     "Go to House Aspis to watch, if you please!"
     I swelled with wonder as they sang with ease - 
      
     But Bardfest's time is now coming to close."

(Traiva at last turns her gaze to the audience and leans toward them, her eyes shining brightly as a smile spreads across her lips. The music behind her increases slightly in volume, the pluck of the harp strings and the tinkling of the finger cymbals mirroring the growing excitement in her voice.)

Traiva sings brightly:

    "There was more magic the following night
     With stories, and songs, and dances delight.
     Being amidst it to me felt so right - 
      
     I found myself spurred to write and compose."

(Traiva slowly rises to her feet and strides a few steps forward toward the edge of the stage as the music modulates to a series of flowing, melodic notes.)

Traiva sings with a warm alto:

    "So next year I stepped on stage here to sing
     A small song I wrote, not such a big thing,
     Except the thrill I felt the applause bring - 
      
     But Bardfest's time is now coming to close."

(Traiva slowly paces the front of the stage, the skirt of her silver dressing gown peeking out from beneath her viridian robe with every measured step. She glances quickly at the musicians and flashes a bright smile.)

Traiva sings earnestly:

    "Of course, we know I'm not a Bard by trade,
     But that's no reason for passion to fade.
     So I took to heart the notes that they made - 
      
     And to their challenge I eagerly rose."

(Traiva strides over to the vanity and perches on the end of the bench. She crosses her left leg over her right knee to remove one slipper, then mirrors the action to remove her other slipper.)

Traiva takes some sparkling crystal-heeled slippers off her feet.

Traiva put some sparkling crystal-heeled slippers in her paeline robe.

Traiva sings proudly:

    "Another year passed and with practiced hand
     I joined in with the brightest of our land.
     And in second place I took my proud stand! - 
      
     But Bardfest's time is now coming to close."

(Traiva pours herself a glass of bright purple wine from the carafe on the vanity and takes a small sip. She turns to gaze at her reflection in the mirror and places her palm against the intricate knot of hair twisted at the back of her head.)

Traiva sings with a warm alto:

    "The prize was so near, I heard its sweet call,
     So I tried yet again, bound not to fall.
     I sang and I danced - I flashed them my all! - 
      
     I prayed I'd be the one the judges chose."

(Traiva takes another sip of her wine, then sets her glass on the vanity and bends down to slip her hands beneath her skirts. Lifting one foot and then the other, she pulls her stockings down each leg and off her feet.)

Traiva removes some opaque spidersilk stockings from her feet.

Traiva put some opaque spidersilk stockings in her paeline robe.

Traiva sings melodically:

    "With bated breath I awaited my name
     (While sipping the booze - how could someone blame?)
     And then they called - TRAIVA! - I'd found my fame - 
      
     But Bardfest's time is now coming to close."

(Traiva gazes proudly at her reflection and reaches up to pull her platinum hairsticks free as the flute and the finger cymbals begin to play a light staccato over the harp's warm gliding melody. She gives her head a gentle shake, sending the twisted cordovan mass of hair spilling down her back.)

Traiva quickly removes some twisted platinum hairsticks from her deep cordovan hair, and returns it to its normal style.

Traiva put some twisted platinum hairsticks in her paeline robe.

Traiva sings with a warm alto:

    "With title in hand, I felt quite able
     To now sit behind the Judges' Table,
     And my position there remained stable - 
      
     Each year the wish to perform again grows."

(Traiva's gaze suddenly turns thoughtful as the musicians make a sharp decrescendo, her wings twitching slightly across her back. Her voice, while soft, maintains a clarity of tone.)

Traiva sings softly:

    "The stage is a Siren, she loves to sing
     To make you recall that glorious thing,
     And long for the thrill you feel applause bring - 
      
     The Bardfest spirit will never be gone."

(Traiva takes one last sip of her wine, draining the glass. She rises to her feet and unties the silver cords securing her robe to shrug free from it, fully revealing the dressing gown beneath. She drapes the robe across the bench and slowly paces the front of the stage, the lights catching the rose pattern woven into the moonlight silver flyrsilk with each deliberate step.)

Traiva sings softly:

    "I've sung and I've danced, and instruments played.
     Soon the notes and lights around us will fade.
     And we'll reminisce on magic we made - "

(Traiva comes to a stop in front of the vanity and turns to face the audience, turning her head slightly as she gazes over those assembled. She folds her hands over her chest and bows her head slightly as the musicians still their instruments, a smile spreading across her lips as the final notes fade out.)

Traiva sings tenderly:

    "Through those here the spirit lives ever on."

(Traiva lifts her head as the stage lights go dark. There is a soft rustle as the vanity and bench are cleared from the stage. When the lights return, the three musicians are standing behind Traiva.)

(Traiva sinks into a deep curtsy as the musicians bow slightly behind her. When she rises, Traiva sweeps her arms toward the musicians and clasps her hands with a bow of gratitude toward them. She turns toward the judges and dips into final quick curtsy before following the musicians off the stage.)

Traiva exits stage right.

Nazarr

The backstage curtains part slightly, and Nazarr steps out onto the stage.  A glimpse of the shadowy backstage is briefly visible before the curtains close behind him.

Nazarr recites:

    "This is called 'Strange Wine.'"

Nazarr recites:

    "Over the years, I've sampled almost every form of booze available in the Landing."

Nazarr places his hands on his harp, then, seemingly without a thought, begins to play, his fingers beginning a little ditty almost of their own volition.

Barely paying attention, Nazarr noodles through a lightweight improvisation on his harp, capriciously using random chord-progressions and simple melodic lines.

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "Absinthe at the Enclave, stout and bitters at Troll's Head.
      The gin fizz at the Sleeping Dragon will just knock you dead.
      The very finest whisky? Go to reivers. Check with Jock.
      When I squired for House Onoir, I bought up all his stock."

Nazarr recites:

    "Squires supply food and drink for Onoir meetings, and since I always brought a backpack full of beverages,  I got to know Jock very well."

Nazarr aimlessly plucks at his harp, first trying one tune, then another, then playing a continuous set of phrases packed with familiar song fragments.

Nazarr recites:

    "I also learned the name of every shop in the lands that sells doughnuts, but that's not relevant."

Nazarr plucks one harp string, pauses, then plucks another, then produces a sprinkling of cascading notes like sparkling droplets falling in a pond.

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "At Helga's you'll get Blackdew grog, which will help you relax
      House Paupers serves you Poison and a stunning sort of Tax."

Nazarr grins evilly.

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "And Aspis has the Bardfest Brew for which contestants pine 
      But the oddest drink I've ever found is Old Elbanev wine."

Nazarr thoughtlessly wanders through an improvisation, using fifths in the bass -- little melody snippets issue from his harp through happenstance and  spontaneous invention.

Intricate double counterpoint adds interest to the composition as Nazarr's fingers strike his harp's strings with rapid rhythm.

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "When I was young, I stumbled on a path in manticores
      My battles with the beasties left me thirsty and quite sore
      The path led from the Mine Road to a halfling town benign
      And a tavern with some troubadours and Old Elbanev wine!"

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "Just four things on the menu, folks, and none of them were tarts.
      I'm sure that simple fact has broken many halfling hearts.
      I sampled their best honey mead, roast haunch of rolton too 
     Not chocolate-covered grasshoppers. Some things I just won't do."

Nazarr's harp playing becomes breathless in its inexorable pace, his fingers flying faster than a hummingbird's wings.

Nazarr shudders.

Nazarr recites:

    "I'm not saying I haven't eaten lizard and locust kabobs--and enjoyed them--but there's just something about combining insects with chocolate."

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "The one thing left to sample was the Old Elbanev wine.
      The barkeep gazed at me as if he'd just drunk turpentine.
      'This wine is very powerful,' he told me with a glare,
      'And once you drink it you could wind up almost anywhere.'"

Nazarr aimlessly plucks at his harp, first trying one tune, then another, then playing a continuous set of phrases packed with familiar song fragments.

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "He said the grapes that formed the wine grew in enchanted soil,
      And sometimes, in the fermenting, a grape or two would spoil.
      Still flavorful and succulent, but magic would leak through
      And the drinker would with oddity be on a rendezvous."

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "'You might awake before there was a world on which to stand,
      Be flung into a future where your armor's contraband,
      Or crash into red Tilaok, the moon that loves to roam 
      All places without portals, so you'd never make it home.'"

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "'How do I know the wine can do a single thing you claim?'
      I asked the barkeep, eyeing him. He seemed devoid of shame.
      This was the sort of joke some folks would pull upon a rube,
     A  youngster who's no brighter than a stale bouillon cube."

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "'Oh, it's done that and even more,' he told me with a scowl.
      'It turned the inn's last customer into a waterfowl.
      'The one before was wise, but now she sips from Zelia's cup.
      'But if you will not heed my words, then go ahead! Drink up!'"

Nazarr slides his right hand up the strings of his harp repeatedly in ringing glissandos while his left hand deftly plucks quick triads.

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "I gazed upon the sideboard where the tavern menu sat.
      I didn't have the slightest urge to be a hog-nosed bat
      Or waken in a time from which I never could return.
      I couldn't face such prospects then with reckless unconcern."

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "I knew he might be lying, but I couldn't take the risk.
      I had no wish to land myself in creamy lobster bisque."

Nazarr's harp sings in high, clear unaffected melody, while the bass strings hum a happy counterpoint.

Nazarr recites:

    "If I were human, I'd say 'land myself in a stew,' but I'm a Faendryl.  Even those of us who grew up on rolton farms in the mountains have to be fancy."

Nazarr grins mischievously.

Nazarr says, "It's a rule."

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "I gazed at him and shook my head. 'The wine I will delay.'
      My blush near-immolated me. I quickly stole away."

Nazarr's harmony dances about the melody, fingers of both hands plucking with clean clear sound in the higher octaves.

With lots of great chord work, Nazarr varies the rhythm, contour, and intervals as he pulls the tune from his harp, bringing an intensity to the air that is all his own.

Nazarr's final forceful chord progression produces a unique and strong close to an excellent harp performance.  Nazarr stills the reverberations with both hands and looks up, a satisfied look on his face.

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "Though now and then I've visited the town near Leya's shrine
      I've yet to nerve myself to taste its strange enchanted wine.
      And so I've brought some here tonight to test upon the stage
      And you can witness if I vanish to a distant age."

Nazarr removes a glass of Elbanev wine from in his cloak.

Nazarr asks, "What, you thought I was kidding?"

(Nazarr gazes at the wine with deep suspicion, and then says, "If I do end up getting hurtled into the future, I promise you that I will spend half the time reminiscing about all the great people I knew in my Elanthia and the other half complaining that I can't get back there." He smiles and raises his Elbanev wine in a toast to the audience.)

Nazarr takes a drink from his Elbanev wine.

Nazarr swoons.

Nazarr gazes in wonder at his surroundings.

Nazarr looks around with pleading eyes, wondering what's going on!

Nazarr blinks.

(Nazarr says in a slow, thoughtful tone that does not bode well for the subject, "That barkeep has been keeping all the good stuff for himself.")

Nazarr stands up.

Nazarr sings with a clear tenor:

    "If you'll excuse me, folks, there is a tavern I must raid
      And a greedy, selfish barkeep whose wrongs must be repaid.
      The prospect of a jail cell and Renpaw's hefty fine
      Mean nothing when they're weighed against the strange Elbanev wine!"

Nazarr bows.

Nazarr retreats through the backstage curtains, vanishing from sight.

Tolwynn

The backstage curtains part slightly, and Tolwynn steps out onto the stage.  A glimpse of the shadowy backstage is briefly visible before the curtains close behind him.

(Tolwynn saunters up to the front of the stage as a lively, tinkling tune begins. He juts his hip out slightly and rests his fist against it, his arm akimbo.)

Tolwynn recites:

    "It's been twenty-five years now!"

Tolwynn recites:

    "Now, those of you with very long memories might remember a piece I did many years ago."

Tolwynn recites:

    "Frustrated at Cholen and writer's block alike, I called the eventual piece 'Never Trust a Man Wearing a Dress.'"

Tolwynn deadpans, "And here we are today."

Tolwynn picks idly at a diaphonous white silk gown elaborately patterned with brilliant red veniom-threaded roses.
Tolwynn recites:

    "A patient human can take years to square things, a patient elf, centuries.  But an Arkati, well, their long game can extend to forever."

Tolwynn recites:

    "So in honor of Lord Cholen, and a game played long and well, I offer you...  'Forever.'"

(Tolwynn strides back to the waiting cart at center stage, pouring himself a glass of blood-red wine as the music gathers speed.)

Tolwynn sings rollickingly:

    "I remember far back, back when things were simple, And so very much simpler than this.
     I like to take my time and a small sip of wine, it makes for loveliest reminisce.
     I dwell well on the ways of those halcyon days, and the path I so willingly chose.
     It seems so long ago - oh, it isn't, I know, when I first gave myself to the Rose."

Tolwynn removes a delicate gold vaalin chain from in his blue drawstring pouch.

Tolwynn slips a delicate gold vaalin chain over his head and settles the chain around his neck.

Tolwynn sings jauntily:

    "I remember when I met my very first lad, in a smaller town, one much like this.
     I like to take my time and a small sip of wine, it makes for loveliest reminisce.
     I was fervently courted, proudly escorted to shine bright at each glamorous ball.
     Yet it still surprised me, when he dropped to one knee, and we were soon to the wedding hall."

(Tolwynn raises his glass of wine toward the audience in celebratory toast before taking a small sip.)

Tolwynn sings earnestly:

    "We pledged for forever, believed in forever, but oh, cruel fates in time interposed.
     My temple sent me west, and his folk forced him east, and our story was suddenly closed."

(Tolwynn turns sharply to the left, then to the right, then faces the audience once more.)

Tolwynn recites passionately:

    "We were young, but we both really tried. Oh, the both of us certainly tried."

Tolwynn removes a filigree-encircled milky jade wedding band from in his blue drawstring pouch.

Tolwynn slides a filigree-encircled milky jade wedding band onto his gold vaalin chain.

(Tolwynn strides to the left side of the stage, the veniom-threaded white silk of his gown catching the light as he moves.)
Tolwynn sings rhythmically:

    "I remember when I met the earnest young gent, in a frontier town very like this.
     I like to take my time and relax with my wine, it makes for loveliest reminisce.
     We set forth every day, and grew close 'long the way, we could neither bear staying alone.
     He offered me a ring, more than fit for a king, well-crowned with a magnificent stone."

(Tolwynn holds his hand out in front of him, as if to admire a ring on his finger, then takes a hearty sip of his blood-red wine.  As he lingers over the wine, the music drops to a slower pace, evocative of a funeral march.)

(Tolwynn places his blood-red wine back on the cart.)

Tolwynn sings somberly:

    "We pledged for forever, a second forever, but he died and then crumbled away.
     Had he passed the pale lady that stone and not me, we might still be together today."

(Tolwynn places his palm against his chest and tilts his head down.)

Tolwynn recites mournfully:

    "Keeping hopes up -  I certainly tried.  But it's hard when your other half's died."

Tolwynn removes a wide vaalin band set with a large diamond from in his blue drawstring pouch.

Tolwynn slides a wide vaalin band set with a large diamond onto his gold vaalin chain.

(Tolwynn turns sharply on his heel and returns to the silver-traced carved mahogany cart.  The music resumes its spirited pace as he pours himself a diamond-cut tumbler of rich amber bourbon.)

Tolwynn sings smoothly:

    "I remember when I met a silver-tongued man, and he sang to me something like this.
     I like to pause and think, with a bit of fine drink, it makes for loveliest reminisce.
     By days I was lavished, by evenings ravished, he swift set my head spinning awhirl.
     He then asked for my hand with a bejeweled band - if I'd swear pledge as his only girl."

Tolwynn sings:

    "We pledged for forever, a third now forever, then soon after, of his wife I heard.
     He offered me the sun, and the moons, and the stars, if he could have just kept his damned word."

(Tolwynn scowls darkly and throws back his bourbon before slamming the empty tumbler onto the cart.)

Tolwynn recites haughtily:

    "In his last act, that jewel he pried, he can have it, I still kept my pride."

Tolwynn removes a dented silver ring with an empty four-pronged setting from in his blue drawstring pouch.

(Tolwynn glowers at the damaged ring.)

Tolwynn slides a dented silver ring with an empty four-pronged setting onto his gold vaalin chain.

(Tolwynn takes a deep breath, then slowly exhales and smooths out the front of his skirt, the veniom threads shimmering softly.  He returns to the cart and pours himself a brimming mug of dwarven stout.)

Tolwynn sings liltingly:

    "I remember when I met the brazen young lass, I first saw her dressed something like this.
     I'll sit and I'll muse with a tall mug of strong booze, it makes for loveliest reminisce.
     She all but enshrined me, she wined me and dined me, and she whispered her nothings quite sweet.
     She lured with her carriage, and soon asked of marriage, and she swept me right off of my feet."

(Tolwynn hoists his mug of dwarven stout up for a toast before taking a long drink.)

Tolwynn sings harshly:

    "We pledged for forever, forth and fourth forever, she swore she'd be better than those men.
     She was best in persuasion but also deceit, there's not much to be proud about then."

(Tolwynn disheartenedly sets his dwarven stout aside.)

Tolwynn recites flatly:

    "Despite all her assertions she lied.  Not just me, but four others beside."

Tolwynn removes a delicate ivory wedding band intertwined with shimmering platinum that forms a setting bearing an exquisite polished haon rose from in his blue drawstring pouch.
Tolwynn slides a delicate ivory wedding band intertwined with shimmering platinum that forms a setting bearing an exquisite polished haon rose onto his gold vaalin chain.

(Tolwynn takes a moment to slide his hand beneath the rings dangling from his vaalin chain and gaze at them before letting them fall against his chest.)

(Tolwynn selects an icy cold bottle of beer from the cart.)

Tolwynn sings smoothly:

    "I remember when I met the bright sailing man, in a port town that's something like this.
     I'll have a good drink, and I try hard not to think, but I can't help but to reminisce.
     He served the Wavedancer, and served as the answer, to save me from my sorriest plight.
     He soon took me to sail, lofted at the bow rail, and we found ourselves wedding that night."

(Tolwynn takes a slow sip from his bottle of beer.)

Tolwynn sings sadly:

    "We pledged for forever, five times now forever, but forever is so very short.
     His treatment was royal, his manner disloyal, with a lass kept in every port."

(Tolwynn closes his eyes for a moment before taking another long draw from his beer, nearly emptying the bottle.)

Tolwynn removes a pelagian glaes wedding band from in his blue drawstring pouch.

Tolwynn slides a pelagian glaes wedding band onto his gold vaalin chain.

Tolwynn recites tiredly:

    "Rose, I'm tired of fighting the tide.  I'm so tired of fighting the tide."

(Tolwynn places his bottle of beer on the cart, swapping it out for another glass of wine.)

Tolwynn pours himself some blood-red wine.

Tolwynn removes a filigreed silver poison ring from in his silk gown.

Tolwynn slides a filigreed silver poison ring onto his finger.

(Tolwynn runs one finger around the rim of the glass, eliciting a clear, dulcet tone.  He traces around a second time, tilting his finger to allow a dusting of fine powder to float into the wine.)

Tolwynn sings dolorously:

    "I like to take my time and a small sip of wine, ah, remembering things just like this
     Oh, It serves me well still to full strengthen my will, and to not wallow and reminisce.
     I consider the ways of those poor squandered days, and the path I so foolishly chose.
     Had I been more aware, I'd have sought to prepare and avoid the sharp thorns of the Rose."

(Tolwynn shivers almost imperceptibly before lowering himself into a graceful descent.)

Tolwynn lies down.

Tolwynn removes an exquisite nedum vereri mask with lustrous vaalin eyes from in his blue drawstring pouch.

Tolwynn puts an exquisite nedum vereri mask with lustrous vaalin eyes on his head.

Tolwynn stands up.

(Tolwynn stumbles briefly and then draws to full height, scanning the audience with a steady gaze.)

Tolwynn closes his eyes in concentration for a moment.  When he opens them again, a flickering red glow fills them briefly before fading.

Tolwynn sings eerily:

    "Forever, forever, I've lived five forevers, I hope that it's not starting to show.
     There's no reason to fear me, come closer near me, there's no reason at all you should go."

Tolwynn recites seductively:

    "You can stay with me, right at my side.  For forever now, right at my side."

(Tolwynn drops into a low curtsy as the stage falls into darkness.)

Tolwynn exits stage left.

Meril (1st Place)

The backstage curtains part slightly, and Meril steps out onto the stage.  A glimpse of the shadowy backstage is briefly visible before the curtains close behind her.

Meril recites:

    "A fair evening to everyone! Thank you all for being here once again to listen to all our wonderfully talented performers, and to me."

Meril waves.

Meril clears her throat.

Meril recites curiously:

    "What is... a dryad?"

Meril gazes thoughtfully at her oaken dryad mask.
Meril recites:

    "In the Elven Nations, she is a bright flower that grows high in the mountains. For the Ardenai, she has become a symbol of solitude."

Meril shakes her head.

Meril recites playfully:

    "Elves have such short memories."

Meril recites:

    "For those who live near the great Wyrdeep Forest and remember the ancient legends, they are fey creatures bound by an old magic, who have never taken much interest in mortal folk. No one has seen them, after all, for a very long time. But these legends, too, say they have always been solitary beings."

Meril's expression is thoughtful, but her furrowed brow indicates she's working something out for herself.

Meril recites sincerely:

    "Stay a while, if you would, and let me tell you another story."

Meril takes a deep breath.
Meril raises her oaken dryad mask to her face, and it leaps toward the exposed flesh.  After a brief struggle, the mask attaches itself to Meril's face.

(Meril passes a hand over her oaken mask, her eyes now glimmering feystones. She takes another moment to compose herself and runs her fingers over the lyre, briefly testing its strings. Then the first chords begin to sound, quiet and somber.)

Meril sings somberly:

    "The skies were dark and moonless in a drear and cloudy gloom,
     The windows rattled heavily in a small and simple room,
     The wind was full of whispers on a bleak midwinter night
     As the ranger's wife lay dying in the waning candlelight."

Meril tilts her head down.
Meril frowns.

Meril sings grimly:

    "'It might not be easy to find him, even if he is still there,
     But legends have some truth in them, and this to you I swear:
     I shall seek the healer of the forest, and there his secrets learn,
     To find a cure to bring to you the day that I return.'"

Meril sings:

    "She did not argue with him then, but drifted soon to sleep.
     He lingered, weighed down heavily by a promise he must keep.
     The candle flickered out at last with the long night growing old,
     And he donned his cloak and steeled himself, and stepped into the cold."

Meril gazes hopefully at her surroundings.

Meril sings:

    "The road ended at the forest's edge, where the trails were overgrown
     With dry and thorny brambles over grey and weathered stone.
     He picked an old path through the rough -- the wild brush scoring his skin --
     And followed it into the wooded labyrinth deep within."

(Meril begins to weave a separate melody into the harmony, interspersed with a sweeping movement like wind between the trees.)

Meril sings:

    "Three days he sought the secret there, three nights he spent alone --
     No fawn yet walked the winter woods, and long the birds had flown --
     But the winds yet whispered in his ear, from dusk until the dawn.
     He heard the forest drawing him in, and with that -- he went on."

Meril sings:

    "As night fell on the fourth day there, beside a quiet pond,
     He bent to gather water, and first saw the lights beyond --
     The twinned and glimmering feystone lights behind the shadowy trees,
     The myriad eyes that watched him as he froze upon his knees."

Meril surveys her surroundings warily.

Meril attends to her oaken dryad mask, making the mask as presentable as possible.

Meril sings melodically:

    "Out of the shadows came a voice, a soft and songlike lilt --
     'You have come far, o stranger, and on your face such guilt
     As if a burden consumes you, and are afraid to rest --
     Pray tell, then, what desire has brought you this far on your quest?'"

Meril tilts her head up.

(Meril lets the music rest still for a space.)

Meril gazes anxiously at her surroundings.

Meril sings pleadingly:

    "'I... came for a legend,' he stammered, 'of a miracle in the wood,
     A healer who treats incurable ills, so long as the cause is good,
     But the tales I heard were from long ago, before my years began --
     O spirit of the forest, might there yet be such a man?'"

Meril closes her eyes for a moment.

Meril violently shakes her head in the negative, causing several strands of waist length hair to fall free and trail around her face in tiny wisps.

(Meril begins to play again, the melody soft and echoing.)

Meril sings melodically:

    "He heard a murmuring in the trees, as cryptic as a sigh --
     'A man there is not, and never was, for tales too often lie.
     But as you came to us in need, and as your heart is pure,
     The dryads of the deepwood might offer thee a cure.'"

Meril slowly strides a few steps forward.

Meril sings:

    "She appeared to him as a vision draped in shadowy leaves,
     A creature of shifting earthen hues, and lightly touched his sleeves --
     A sudden warmth ran through him, bringing his limbs to life,
     As she raised her hand before him, and bade him draw his knife."

Meril gives her head a gentle toss, causing her waist length hair to lift up and away from her eyes.

Meril sings liltingly:

    "'A dryad's blood is drawn from old roots deep within the earth,
     Suffused with the Memory of the Green, to serve it from our birth.
     You must keep this a secret, forever you must swear --
     Take but a little, freely, for some power yet lingers there.'"

(Meril plays the verse once more wordlessly, before the melody starts to shift. A quick procession of notes sparkle down like droplets before converging on a brighter major key.)

Meril sings merrily:

    "The tavern was full of noise and laughter on a summer night,
     For sweet was the kitchen's aroma, and the lamps were burning bright
     Where travelers and townsfolk alike were trading tales and far-off news
     Across the tables piled with plates and countless bottles of booze."

Meril sings:

    "The ranger was drinking with his friends -- more than his usual fill,
     For they had brought him there to celebrate and already paid his bill.
     They raised a toast to his wife's health, and one within the crowd
     Asked him about his secret, even as the cheers grew loud."

Meril sings brightly:

    "'You've never told us what you found that night within the wood --
     If it could aid the rest of us, I rather think you should!
     We've all had family taken ill and suffering from poor health,
     If you know some way to help, 'tis only right to share the wealth.'"

Meril ponders.

Meril tilts her head down.

Meril nods slowly.

Meril sings:

    "He wavered in his promise then, meeting their expectant eyes,
     And though feeling a sense of dread, he affirmed their surmise --
     And told them of the dryad's gift, though he warned them not to go:
     For they only offer aid to those with hearts as pure as snow."

Meril looks up, as though searching for something.

Meril sighs.

(Meril continues to play, but the notes are growing heavier and more strident now, almost resembling a march.)

Meril sings:

    "But once it is cast to the wind, a secret cannot keep --
     And soon more came to follow paths into the forest's deep.
     Camps were made within its ways, and trails were newly blazed,
     And pilgrims journeyed ever more with every marker raised."

Meril sings:

    "And some returned with prize in hand, to soothe a pressing need --
     And some returned without, to leave an envious heart to bleed --
     Few spoke of those meetings in the woods, though sightings grew more rare,
     And some began to doubt if dryads were still dwelling there."

(Meril strikes a heavy chord suddenly.)

Meril sings:

    "Then came an early winter, and in its sudden chill
     Townsfolk and travelers alike began to become ill,
     Stricken by some strange sickness that passed perchance around --
     But of the dryads of the wood, no more could be found."

Meril gazes anxiously at her surroundings.

Meril sings:

    "They sought the aid of the ranger, who had yet remained hale,
     And though his dread lay heavy, he agreed to take to the trail.
     He had found them once when none else could, maybe he could again --
     And the need was just as dire as his own had been back then."

Meril sings:

    "For three long days he walked the paths, three nights he lightly slept,
     Carrying with him the burden of a promise he had not kept.
     The wind was quiet as a whisper, but he heard in it their song,
     And followed it ever deeper in, knowing it would not be long."

(Meril allows the chords of the march to fade away, until only the simple melody remains.)

Meril sings:

    "As night fell on the fourth day there, he saw her once again,
     Glimmering in the distance as a ghost upon the fen.
     He called out, and she turned to him, moving with flowing grace --
     And he swallowed as he saw the scars upon her ageless face."

Meril attends to her oaken dryad mask, making the mask as presentable as possible.

Meril takes a deep breath.

(Meril lets the last note of the verse hang for a moment in the air.)

Meril sings darkly:

    "'They hunted us with iron in daylight, and with fires in the night.
     They sought to force us to yield our blood, caring nothing for our plight.
     But by its use, they bound themselves to us by bloodline ties --
     Do you know what happens to the man, the day the dryad dies?"

Meril glances around, her eyes falling briefly on each aspect of her surroundings.

Meril sings pleadingly:

    "His face turned ashen, and he dropped down heavily to his knees.
     'I did not know they would come to harm the spirits of the trees.
     Forgive us for our trespasses, with all my heart I pray --
     If I could only make this right, there must still be a way.'"

Meril closes her eyes for a moment.

Meril violently shakes her head in the negative, causing several strands of waist length hair to fall free and trail around her face in tiny wisps.

Meril sings sadly:

    "'You cannot bring my sisters back,' she sighed to reminisce --
     'They each had songs upon the wind, each voice I'll dearly miss.
     Perhaps there might have been, if you had not come far too late.
     But one more spell I'll sing for thee, to unbind men from our fate.'"

Meril gives her head a gentle toss, causing her waist length hair to lift up and away from her eyes.

Meril sings:

    "Her face shone with a verdant light as she bade him close his eyes --
     She sang of the world when it was young, when trees reached to the skies --
     Of the first settlers upon the land, that she found passing strange --
     Of towns and cities, farms and mills, and how all things must change."

(Meril allows the music to ascend, the melody sounding with more brightness and intensity.)

Meril sings:

    "The spellsong echoed through the wood as she took back the gift --
     And far away, the sickness started gradually to lift.
     He opened his eyes to find her gone -- to nevermore appear --
     But in the remnants of the wind, the words he still could hear."

Meril's concentration shifts and becomes more focused as she slightly tilts an ear in a particular direction.

Meril looks up, as though searching for something.

Meril sings softly:

    "When the light of the fey has faded, when men have forgotten to pray,
     When the magic is gone from the forest and our roots are washed away,
     When the wind no longer whispers, as the world will come to be --
     When the Green is only a memory, please remember me..."

Meril closes her eyes for a moment.

Meril sings mournfully:

    "When the wind no longer whispers, as the world has come to be --
     When the Green is only a memory, please remember me..."

(Meril plays the refrain wordlessly once more, before letting it fall into silence.)

Meril recites sincerely:

    "Thank you all, once again, for listening. And to House Aspis, of course, for being such generous hosts over the years. May the music of the world never die."

Meril bows.

Meril places a hand over her heart.

Meril retreats through the backstage curtains, vanishing from sight.

Alosaka (4th place, Best New Voice)

Alosaka steps through the curtains and walks out on stage.

(Alosaka reclines against a simple stage block, a slight smile on his face as he plays with his ayr's strings, producing the occasional *ping* and *twang*. He looks up abruptly, as if just noticing his audience, and straightens.)

Alosaka says, "Oh, didn't see you there. Please, don't mind me. Just waiting for my lover to return."

(Alosaka closes his eyes, a look of thoughtless serenity flowing over his face.)

Alosaka says, "You'll like her. I think, in all the world, there must not be another so graceful and kind. Every morning when I wake up beside her, I have to remind myself that I'm not still dreaming."

Alosaka chuckles.

Alosaka wryly asks, "Love makes fools of us all, doesn't it?"

Alosaka stands up.

Alosaka stretches.

Alosaka brightly asks, "Well, while we wait! Perhaps a little story? About how I came to be so blessed?"

(Alosaka strikes up a simple, joyous melody on his ayr, his fingers climbing up the strings in a rising arpeggio accented with the occasional accidental for added color.)

Alosaka says, "I had a dream, one night. A terrible dream. Like my lungs were filled with cotton, and spiders were my clothes. I bobbed on the tides of conciousness, rising and falling, aware and dreaming, never able to wake."

(Alosaka slows the arpeggio, ending on the tonic and letting the note settle into silence.)

Alosaka says, "And in the morning, when I woke drenched in sweat, I found it on the pillow beside me."

(Alosaka looks around the stage, then hunches forward, shielding himself with the body of the ayr. Thus concealed, he reaches into the depths of his cloak, and...)

Alosaka removes an amber studded bronze flask from in his ivory cloak.

Alosaka raises his studded bronze flask in a toast!

Alosaka exclaims, "This!"

(Alosaka holds the flask before him, gazing at it with a beatific expression. All traces of higher thought are gone from his face -- only awe remains.)

Alosaka coughs.

Alosaka sheepishly says, "Sorry. Now, I know it looks like any old flask. But this is magic! A fragment of the dreaming world that got tangled in my thoughts, and washed up on our shores."

Alosaka wonderingly says, "It's a flask that fixes memories."

Alosaka says, "Yes. All your broken, terrible, hated memories. All the mourning parts of yourself you don't want to remember. Whenever they surface upon the waves of your mind, you just drink a sip of booze from it, and..."

Speaking raptly to his studded bronze flask, Alosaka says, "It repairs them."

Alosaka closes his eyes for a moment.

Alosaka says, "I know. I thought it was silly, too! But it helped me win my very first musical contest. Picture it: the empire's greatest bards and singers, all gathered to play in the Baron's court. And there I was, a young and foolish man who barely knew his keys."

(Alosaka strikes up another song on his ayr, an elaborate melodic progression into the instrument's upper register, followed by a quick descent.)

Alosaka says, "And when I was done, they... pulled me off the stage, and said I'd tried very hard..."

Alosaka slowly says, "And gave me a little purse..."

Alosaka furrows his brow.

Alosaka puzzledly says, "And... I started to walk away? wait..."

(Alosaka trails off, his fingers hovering just above the ayr's strings. His eyes tighten as he digs through the fog of his memories.)

Alosaka quietly says, "That's not how it went..."

Alosaka takes a drink from his studded bronze flask.

Alosaka looks rather relaxed.
Alosaka slowly empties his lungs.

Alosaka says, "Ohh... now I remember."

Alosaka grins.

Alosaka excitedly exclaims, "I started to walk away, and then I heard them shout! I turned and saw the whole court chasing me, led by the judges! 'Wait,' they cried. 'Wait!' they yelled!"

Alosaka recites:

    "Congratulations, Alosaka!
      We meant to say, you've won!"

Alosaka gasps.

(Alosaka spins in an ecstatic circle, whooping with joy! He overbalances, nearly topples, and catches himself with a nimble shuffle of his feet, arms extended out for balance.)

Alosaka exclaims, "Yes, That was the start. The day my life turned around!"

Alosaka put an amber studded bronze flask in his ivory cloak.

Alosaka exclaims, "And it was only up from there! With the Baron's prize in my pocket, I was off to make my fortune! And where better to do that than the streets of Tamzyrr itself!"

Without prelude, Alosaka begins a fast-paced tune on his ayr.

Alosaka precisely picks out his fast-paced melody across the frets of his ayr, each note ringing true despite the speed of the song.

Alosaka switches key signatures, playing a rapid off-kilter theme reminiscent of the gallop of a fast horse.

With a final rapid pattern across the strings of his ayr, Alosaka ceases his breathless playing.

Alosaka pants.

Alosaka asks, "Have you ever been busking, friends? Set out your hat on a street corner, filled it with your dreams, and played until your fingers bled?"

With a slow lead-in, Alosaka begins a gentle ballad on his ayr.

Alosaka absently asks, "Have you sat there in the sun, for hours at a time? Letting your instrument speak for you?"

Alosaka sits down.

Alosaka strums the ayr's lower strings, adding a heart-trembling low rumble to the melody.

Alosaka haltingly says, "And watched the noble citizens walk by, never making eye-contact. Never noticing you. Maybe one tosses a few silvers in your hat, and you wonder if she loved your song, or just felt pity..."

Alosaka furrows his brow.

Alosaka removes an amber studded bronze flask from in his ivory cloak.

Alosaka says, "That's... no..." He stares down at his instrument, as if seeing it for the first time. His fingers brush across its cracked and glued neck. "That's not right..."

Alosaka takes a drink from his studded bronze flask.

Alosaka closes his eyes for a moment.

Alosaka softly says, "Oh, yes. Yes."

Alosaka beams!

Alosaka stands up.

Alosaka exclaims, "Have you ever been busking, friends? And watched the rapturous crowds fill your hat with silvers? So many you can't carry them to the bank? To swim in riches like a river? So rich, you think you must be dreaming?! Yes, that's what I meant to say!"

Alosaka laughs!

(Alosaka dances in a circle again, leaping with joy! He spins, arms outstretched, as if hugging the world. His flask sloshes and spills out its dark red contents, leaving a puddle on the floor and staining the air with the sharp tang of alcohol.)

Alosaka exclaims, "Yes!"

(Alosaka comes to a stumbling stop, still laughing. His foot splashes in the puddle of spilled booze, and he steps away with a little hop.)

Alosaka says, "Oh, and that brings us to the best part. How I met her."

(Alosaka trails off, his eyes staring out above the crowd, fixed on some distant point. Lost in his reminiscence.)

Alosaka says, "Even now, words fail me. She was graceful as a treble clef, every footstep a chord. When she looked at me, a symphony played, sung by angels."

Alosaka sighs.

(Alosaka lets his fingers wander across the ayr's strings, plucking out a succession of pure, innocent tones.)

Alosaka asks, "She saw me, playing there in the streets. She, the daughter of a merchant captain, whose boat was in the grand port to offload its cargo of spices and lore. What must she have thought, hearing my humble ayr?"

Alosaka closes his eyes for a moment.

Alosaka smiles at some half-remembered dream and strums a faster melody, rising in time with his heartbeat. The simple song builds into a complex air, his fingers dancing over the ayr's strings, ringing out the highest note in each arpeggio as a layered melody.

Alosaka sublimely says, "We snuck away to the docks one night, and exchanged our first kiss. And we whispered promises to each other, sweet notes of a new song, and..."

(Alosaka strikes a minor third. The note hangs in the air, a half-step too low for joy, like a solitary cloud in an endless blue sky. He blinks in surprise and stares down at his fingers.)

Alosaka quietly says, "We promised each other, and... wait..."

(Alosaka plays a diminished chord next. His face twists in puzzlement as the dissonant notes sweep through the amphitheater, echo back emptily, and die unopposed.)

Alosaka softly says, "We promised, and... she got on her father's boat. And they cast off the lines, and she said..."

Alosaka says, "Goodbye? No..."

(Alosaka lets the ayr fall silent. He draws a sudden, frantic breath.)

Alosaka says, "No no no..."

(Alosaka raises the flask for a drink, but nothing remains. He stares into the empty flask, an uncomprehending look on his face. His eyes slowly widen in shock, then horror.)

Alosaka exclaims, "No!"

Alosaka drops an amber studded bronze flask.

(Alosaka spots the puddle of spilled booze on the stage. With a hollow cry he tosses himself at it, face pressed hard against the stage's floor boards, lapping at the filthy liquid.)

Alosaka desperately shrieks, "Get back! It's mine! I need it!"

(Alosaka claws at the puddle, trying to gather it toward his face. He licks at his fingers, desperate for every last drop. On and on it goes, mixed with his frantic, hiccuping breaths. Finally he shudders and sits up, the red wine a dark stain dripping down his chest.)

Alosaka closes his eyes for a moment.

Alosaka faintly says, "Ohhh..."

Alosaka smiles.

Alosaka says, "Yes. Yes, that's right."

Alosaka laughs!

Alosaka exclaims, "Yes!"

Alosaka wraps his fingers around the neck of his ayr and strikes an ecstatic chord.

Alosaka exclaims, "Yes, friends! Her boat came back! And she stood on the prow, leaning over to shout!"

Alosaka recites:

    "I'm sorry, Alosaka,
     I LOVE YOU AFTER ALL!"

Alosaka throws his head back and howls!

Alosaka says, "Ah... ahh..."

Alosaka pants.

Alosaka picks up an amber studded bronze flask.

Alosaka slowly empties his lungs.

Alosaka says, "You're looking at a very lucky man, friends. For he who has love, has the world." He straightens his stained shirt and smiles. "She'll be along any moment now, I'm sure."

(Alosaka lifts the flask to take a drink, and realizes again that it is empty. With a shrug he slips it away into his cloak for later.)

Alosaka says, "And if not, well, that gives us more time to reminisce."

(Alosaka walks his fingers up the ayr's strings, sounding out a low, aimless melody that slowly fades into silence, like half-forgotten memories of snow falling in a soundless forest.)

Alosaka smiles.

Alosaka bows.

Juspera (2nd place)

The backstage curtains part slightly, and Juspera steps out onto the stage.  A glimpse of the shadowy backstage is briefly visible before the curtains close behind her.

(Juspera steps to the edge of the stage. Her threadbare, oversized clothing hangs limply from her small frame, and she pulls a ragged handkerchief over her hair, taking care to tuck her ears up under it as well.)

Juspera says, "This story takes place right here in the Landing. It's called..."

Juspera recites:

    "The Master Thief."

Juspera flashes a quick grin.

Juspera recites:

    "It hid behind some knickknacks, fine and private like a pearl...
     And yet she saw it instantly, that perspicacious girl.
     She wanted it. She asked the kindly chandler for a pan,
     And when he bent to pick one up, she grabbed the thing and ran."

(Juspera stuffs something small into her sack and jogs across the stage, the rags she wears flapping loosely on her body.)

Juspera recites:

    "The chandler yelped, which woke the dozing guard outside the store.
     Then he yelped another yelp, which summoned six and sundry more.
     The girl, in castoffs, barefoot, dodged a dozen grasping arms --
     Slapped one aside, bit two, and sprinted off from their alarms."

(Juspera darts to the left, then the right, bobbing and weaving, her bare feet making little squeaks on the wooden boards.)

Juspera glances at her sack.

Juspera grins smugly.

(Juspera begins stepping sideways, awkwardly, as if squeezing into a narrow place. Reaching the stage curtains, she pulls one aside and takes a quick peek behind it.)

Juspera recites:

    "The call of "Thief!" pursued her. "Where'd you go, you little sneak?!"
     As if it were her fault she'd barely eaten in a week!
     She squeezed into an alleyway between some merchant stalls,
     Panting, wondering if they'd follow -- if they even had the..."

Juspera glances nervously over her shoulder.

Juspera blinks.

Juspera glances over her shoulder.

A pained expression crosses Juspera's face.

Juspera mouths, "Balls!"

(Juspera suddenly turns and runs straight toward the audience, taking a flying leap off the stage and landing in an aisle.)

Juspera tucks her chin towards her chest and falls forward in an elegant roll.  She tumbles effortlessly and springs to her feet, ready for action!

(Juspera darts into one of the rows of pews, squeezing past knees and stumbling over feet, her slight form quickly becomming hidden among the mass of seated spectators.)

Juspera recites:

    "She plunged into the Landing's heart and tried to disappear --
     Her artery to liberty remained as clear as beer.
     They'd hunt her if they wanted, but they'd never claim her prize!
     She hit the ground, and all the city's stockings met her eyes."

For no apparent reason, Juspera flings herself at the ground.

Juspera crawls around a bit on her hands and knees.

(Juspera crawls under the first pew, then the second, grabbing onto Bluey's leg and then Terabor's ankle to help pull her through. When she finally pops up halfway into the audience, she is covered in dust; a small dust bunny clings to her collar.)

Juspera stands up.

Juspera vigorously shakes her head.

(Juspera shades her eyes with her hand and makes a quick survey of her surroundings, then swears under her breath.)

Juspera recites:

    "Not only were the city guards advancing on all sides,
     They leered as if they planned to carve a kirtle from her hide.
     She paused to think. She knew they each had something that she lacked:
     A hundred extra pounds! She scaled the closest seedy shack."

(Juspera climbs onto the pew nearest her, clutching arms and shoulders to pull herself up -- then steps up further, balancing precariously on the top rail. She grabs suddenly at Kitagaen's hair as she wobbles.)

Juspera pants.

Juspera places her hand on her sack.

Juspera fearfully glances around the room.

Juspera takes a deep breath.

(Juspera begins to step from the back of one pew to the next over audience members' shoulders, making her way up the amphitheater. Here and there she continues to clutch at people's heads to keep her balance.)

Juspera glances over her shoulder.

Juspera recites:

    "One pursuer stumbled. Two fell off. One stopped and laughed.
     But the rest were gaining on her -- then she spied a chimney shaft.
     While pondering the plunge, she felt a grapple snag her hair
     And she lashed out like a banshee, tossing punches in the air."

Juspera just punched Aranrhod.

Juspera gasps.

Juspera clasps her hand over her mouth.

Juspera's face turns slightly pale.

Juspera whispers something to Aranrhod.

(Juspera hops off the final pew, then slides down a railing between the upper and lower sections of the amphitheater, landing on her rump. She jumps up and jogs down the aisle as far as the judges, scanning her surroundings.)

Juspera coughs.

Juspera dusts herself off.

Juspera looks with concern at a small sack.

(Juspera pulls the bauble from her sack and indulges a quick look, turning it wonderingly in her hands, then stuffs it back in and tugs the drawstrings tight.)

Juspera recites:

    "She tumbled down the chimney, bumbled past a startled dog,
     And then stumbled to the kitchen, found and drained a half-drunk grog.
     She tried to lift the door latch, but it wouldn't even crack --
     The iron was fast as shackles. She was trapped inside the shack."

Juspera glances up.

(Juspera grasps the sides of the judges' table before her as if the table were a recalcitrant door. She shakes it with both hands, sending the papers and quills on top bouncing.)

Juspera pounds a long fel table draped with silver and green bunting with her fist, but nothing happens.

Juspera abruptly kicks at a long fel table draped with silver and green bunting!

Juspera whimpers.

Juspera glances nervously up.

Juspera kneels down.

Juspera removes a tarnished mithril hairpin from in her cloak.

Juspera deftly twirls a tarnished mithril hairpin between two fingers.

Juspera breathes very slowly and looks much calmer.

Juspera smiles slyly and settles into the difficult task of picking the "lock" on a long fel table draped with silver and green bunting.  Then...CLICK!  It opens!

Juspera stands up.

Juspera put a tarnished mithril hairpin in her cloak.

(Juspera dashes off past the table, running the length of the front row.)

Juspera recites:

    "She fleetly fled her prison without any more ado.
     (The dog, now scenting freedom, chose to make his exit too.)
     At once, she knew the guards had failed to follow. She had won!
     The triumph made her reminisce on just how far she'd come."

Juspera places her hand on her sack.

Juspera leans against a vast stage.

Juspera pants, trying to catch her breath.

Juspera gazes in wonder at her surroundings.

Juspera recites:

    "Why, once upon a summer, she could barely crack a lock --
     Now she picked past seven cylinders to sneak into the docks,
     Where she'd gamble half the night away and hardly ever lose.
     And to think there was a time she hadn't even tasted booze!"

Juspera shakes her head.

Juspera recites:

    "Had there really been a moment when she didn't even know
     You could tempt a boy with kisses just to part him from his dough?
     Two years ago, she'd been afraid to curse. But bloody hells!
     That was back when she was ten, a little girl. Now, she was twelve."

Juspera grins slowly.

Juspera glances around the room.

Juspera whispers aloud, "I've done it. I've lost them."

(Juspera climbs slowly onto the stage.  She lets out a sigh of relief, then rakes her hand through her hair, pushing back the kerchief to reveal her sharply pointed ears, before sinking to crouch on the balls of her shoeless feet. She glances left and right again, then, secure in her isolation, withdraws her prize.)

Juspera removes a crystalline globe set upon a thick silver base from in her sack.

(Juspera holds the bauble up before her face. The globe encases an entire city in miniature: diminutive buildings huddle by the dozens, outlining grids of streets and parks. Over them looms a great basilica, its domes and spires skillfully cast in gleaming bronze. Instead of the usual snowflakes, scintillating flecks of sand swirl about, alternately shrouding and revealing the scene. On the base of the globe is etched: "The City of New Ta'Faendryl.")

Juspera gazes wistfully at the crystalline globe in her hand.

Juspera shakes her crystalline globe vigorously and then stops abruptly as she gazes expectantly into the sphere.

Juspera smiles faintly at the globe. Then her smile fades, her face becoming nearly blank, while the glittering sand flecks spill bright reflections over her cheeks and brow. Only her eyes retain some life, their wide pupils fixed raptly on the scene within the bubble. Moments tick by as she remains there, motionless.

Juspera shakes her crystalline globe vigorously and then stops abruptly as she gazes expectantly into the sphere.

Juspera quietly intones, "I was six when I was taken from my home."

(Juspera stands up, still gazing into the crystalline globe.)

Speaking to her crystalline globe, Juspera says, "Who would I be if I had grown up in New Ta'Faendryl, with my family? I don't know."

Juspera takes a deep breath.

Juspera says, "What do they look like now? Do I have any siblings? I don't know."

Juspera shakes her head.

Juspera says, "What did my house look like? I don't know."

Juspera asks, "How do you say 'I'd like a glass of milk' in Faendryl?"

Juspera gets a blank look on her face.

Juspera faintly says, "I don't know."

Juspera rubs her eyes.

Juspera pauses, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Juspera says, "Who am I now? That, I know all too well."

Juspera nods slightly.

Juspera recites:

    "For listeners who stand in awe of law-defying deeds,
     I'd like to share my recipe for girls who thieve with ease:
     One part longing, two parts fury, three parts devastating grief,
     And a pinch of dark despair -- that's how you make a master thief."

Juspera tosses her crystalline globe into the air, where it appears to vanish!

Juspera dusts off her hands.

(Juspera makes a swift, emotionless bow.)

Regwen (3rd place)

The backstage curtains part slightly, and Regwen steps out onto the stage.  A glimpse of the shadowy backstage is briefly visible before the curtains close behind her.

Regwen sincerely greets, "Good evening friends and esteemed judges."

Regwen sincerely continues, "I'm honored to be here tonight, on this final night of bardfest."

Regwen clearly announces, "I have another play for you this evening.  I hope you enjoy it."

Regwen smiles as she takes her position, center stage, facing the audience.

Standing primly, Regwen fluffs the fabric of her gown out until it drapes down in a perfectly smooth and unblemished fashion.

Regwen theatrically orates, "There is a little tavern not very far from here which many of you have probably visited."

Regwen clearly recalls, "It's an interesting establishment where the ghostly waitresses wear flirtatious attire and float around the tables."

Regwen taps a beautifully painted banner depicting a bustling tavern scene with a polished bar that she is wearing.

Regwen clearly posits, "And the bartender is quite a shrewd fellow."

Regwen removes a half-krolvin bartender marionette from in her slate grey sack.

Regwen's bartender marionette jerks forward suddenly, looking remarkably like a rogue falling out of the shadows.

Regwen smiles shrewdly, as the bartender, and struts confidently to stand in the footlights glow.

Regwen sings boisterously:

    "I serve the best booze around.
     Look anywhere else in the town.
     There's much to reminisce,
     About a bar like this.
     A place where good times can be found."

(Regwen steps back from the footlights and continues.)

Regwen candidly explains, "What you may not be aware of, is that in addition to we adventurers, other inhabitants of the lands also frequent this tavern on occasion."

Regwen cautions, "Usually, no other customers are present on these special nights. But on this night, Al the wizard was still seated at the bar, drinking."

Regwen removes a tiny scowling halfling wizard hand-puppet in cowled robes from in her slate grey sack.

Regwen slips a tiny scowling halfling wizard hand-puppet in cowled robes carefully over her hand and adjusts it.

Regwen removes a gilded glass of opalescent green absinthe from in her slate grey sack.

Regwen raises her green absinthe in a toast!

Regwen mutters something about alchemy.

Regwen put a gilded glass of opalescent green absinthe in her slate grey sack.

(Regwen sways and scowls as the wizard and starts to complain.)

Regwen sulkily complains, "I never get the good bounties."

Regwen sulkily insists, "I need a drinking bounty."

(Regwen smile around the room at the crowd and judges.)

Regwen dramatically regales, "So on this dark grey misty night, a group of old friends had planned to meet in the tavern for drinks."

Regwen dramatically continues, "The first to arrive was..."

Regwen removes a short-horned pudgy kobold doll with hazel eyes and a mischievous grin from in her slate grey sack.

Regwen wryly reveals, "The kobold; who fancied himself quite the man about town."

(Regwen tilts the kobold doll side to side as if he were swaggering in and pushes his head to nod at the bartender...)

(Regwen pushes the cross bar of the bartender to have him nod back at the kobold. Then in a deep voice, as the bartender, barks.)

From behind a half-krolvin bartender marionette, Regwen's voice offhandedly barks, "Evening, Kobold.  Table's waiting."

(Regwen positions the bartender near the bar.)

Regwen drops a half-krolvin bartender marionette.

Regwen whimsically continues, "As Kobold, swaggered to the table, he winked rakishly at the first pretty ghostly waitress and in a squeaky voice exclaimed."

Regwen squeakily exclaims, "Chasing!"

Regwen flashes a wolfish grin.

Regwen laughs softly, trying to hide her amusement.

(Regwen sets the kobold down near a table at the side of the banner.)

Regwen drops a short-horned pudgy kobold doll with hazel eyes and a mischievous grin.

Regwen announces, "Next to arrive was.."

Regwen happily reveals, "The Zombie."

Regwen removes a threadbare zombie handpuppet from in her slate grey sack.

Regwen attaches a threadbare zombie handpuppet to her wrist.

Regwen's zombie handpuppet waves hello with its barely attached left arm.

Regwen stumbles toward a short-horned pudgy kobold doll with hazel eyes and a mischievous grin before regaining her balance.

(Regwen speaking in a raspy voice, as the zombie, smiles brightly at the kobold and says.)

Regwen cheerfully greets, "What a lovely evening, kobold.  Good to see ye."

Regwen excitedly declares, "Just as the zombie was about to sit down, the door burst open with a **BANG!**."

Regwen dramatically exclaims, "In thundered the vereri on her warhorse!"

Regwen removes an emaciated skeletal warhorse marionette from in her slate grey sack.

Regwen removes a curvaceous vereri hand-puppet with flowing white robes from in her slate grey sack.

Regwen slips a curvaceous vereri hand-puppet with flowing white robes carefully over her hand and adjusts it.

Regwen raptly observes, "Every head in the tavern turned, to see what caused the commotion."

Regwen picks up a half-krolvin bartender marionette.

Regwen surprisedly barks, "The half-krolvin bartender initially barked a yelp of surprise, pulled a dagger and dove behind the bar."

Regwen's bartender marionette suddenly begins whirling around uncontrollably before collapsing into a tangled heap.

Regwen nonchalantly comments, "But, he quickly recovered and as nonchalantly as a cat who's fallen from a ledge, glanced around to see who saw him."

(Regwen turns the bartender slightly, then pulls the bartenders strings to wink at the vereri and dusts off his jacket.)

Regwen attends to her bartender marionette, making the marionette as presentable as possible.

Regwen chuckles.

(Regwen leans the zombie over to the kobold and whispers aloud, as the zombie.)

Regwen amusedly whispers aloud, "Vereri always loves her entrances and the attention."

Regwen smirks.

Regwen explains, "The warhorse stopped in front of kobolds table and the vereri slid off lithely."

Regwen smiles flirtatiously, as the vereri, and sashays over to her seat.

Regwen sashays along, displaying a curvaceous vereri hand-puppet with flowing white robes!

From behind a curvaceous vereri hand-puppet with flowing white robes, Regwen's voice flirtatiously gushes, "Hello, Boys."

Regwen glances between a threadbare zombie handpuppet and a short-horned pudgy kobold doll with hazel eyes and a mischievous grin.

(Regwen manipulates the warhorse, whinnies a greeting, and dips the crossbar, to to allow the warhorse to bow.)

Regwen flashes a toothy grin.

(Regwen mimicking the bartender, in an effort to glean more silvers from the patrons, steps into the footlights.)

Regwen makes her warhorse marionette prance anxiously, its bony head lifted as if it were sniffing the air.

Regwen flashes a toothy grin.

From behind an emaciated skeletal warhorse marionette, Regwen's voice hoarsely snickers, "MMMmmmm, that smells good!  I'm starving!"

Regwen glances at an emaciated skeletal warhorse marionette in her hand.

Regwen stares off into space.

Regwen animatedly enthuses, "Well, after several rounds of booze and food, the friends started to reminisce about the past get-togethers at the tavern."

Regwen notes, "Zombie stood up to stretch after having sat for too long."

Regwen smiles gazing around the audience as if to confide something to you.

Regwen leans forward.

Regwen deadpans, "Death's stiffness was setting in."

Regwen winks.

Regwen leans back.

Regwen stretches her arms out in front of her, attempting to loosen the tension in her neck and shoulders.

Regwen's zombie handpuppet moans softly.

Regwen concernedly laments, "Zombie lost his balance and toppled over."

Regwen tilts her head down.

Regwen's zombie handpuppet moans softly.

(Regwen moves to stage left slightly.)

Regwen simply states, "Now the wizard, who had been watching from the corner of his eye, turned to attack the zombie while he was down."

(Regwen turns the wizard to face the zombie and raises his little wand arm.)

Regwen cantankerously sneers, "You'll fill my crummy bounty!"

Regwen enthuses, "The warhorse, with amazing grace and speed, stood up and in one graceful move.."

Regwen's warhorse marionette rears up on its hind legs and bares its fangs.  The gesture would carry more menace if its fangs weren't already bared by a conspicuous lack of flesh.

Regwen warns, "Speaking to Al, the wizard, the vereri warns."

From behind a curvaceous vereri hand-puppet with flowing white robes, Regwen's voice wryly cautions, "Careful, the warhorse used to be a circus pony in her youth."

Regwen's warhorse marionette pirouettes comically on its hind legs like a performing circus animal.
Regwen twitches at an emaciated skeletal warhorse marionette's strings, causing it to frolic adorably, or at least as adorably as a warhorse marionette can frolic.

(Regwen moves to center stage.)

Regwen greedily says, "The bartender, upon hearing the attack and realizing what was happening, let loose a wild yowl of laughter."

(Regwen As the bartender, moves quickly to use the attack to his best advantage.)

Regwen sings raucously:

    "Ah-ha! The floorshow's started to the right!
     Order more glasses and enjoy the sight.
     Lay yer bet!
     It ain't done yet!
     These moves are a true delight!"

Regwen says, "The kobold, brave fighter that he was, hid under the table and watched."

(Regwen nudges the kobold doll under the table in the banner, with her foot.)

Regwen grins crookedly.

(Regwen spins the warhorse marionette which plants its front hooves firmly on the ground and kicks the wizards rear with both hind legs.)

Regwen gasps, "Al was slammed into the ground with a sickening **THUD**!"

Regwen soothingly coos, "The vereri cooed a soothing tune to the wizard as she sashayed closer; not wanting to miss out on the fun."

Regwen boldly marvels, "The kobold saw his chance and scampered out to drag his dear friend Zombie to safety."

You watch in horror as the left arm of Regwen's zombie handpuppet frays rapidly and starts to fall off, staying attached only by a mere thread.

Regwen comically tries to re-attach her zombie handpuppet's arm, while looking nonchalant.

Regwen gives a sigh of relief.

Regwen coyly distracts, "To give the kobold more time, the vereri smiled sweetly and said..."

Regwen eagerly distracts, "Am I not beautiful, Al?"

(Regwen turns the vereri to look at Al the wizard expectantly.)

(Regwen slackens her hand in the wizard hand-puppet as his resistance seems to melt away.)

As Regwen pinches the face of her vereri hand-puppet, its facial expression momentarily transforms into a horridly grotesque visage with a stretched smile and slitted eyes.

Regwen's halfling wizard hand-puppet flails its legs and arms in a brief moment of panic!

Regwen surprisedly blurts, "The wizard, Al Dunn, ran for the door and was never seen again."

Regwen grins impishly.

(Regwen confidently struts, as the bartender, to stand in the footlights glow.)

Regwen sings resoundingly:

    "The floorshow is finished, a good night overall.
     The zombie was rescued, as you do recall.
     Remember this lesson,
     When trouble is pressin'.
     Friends help one another, if one takes a fall."

Regwen philosophically quips, "Or, When your zombie needs a hand; don't fall to pieces."

Regwen sincerely concludes, "Thank you, all."

Regwen curtsies gracefully.

(Regwen turns and curtsies gracefully to the judges.)

Regwen smiles.

Regwen put a half-krolvin bartender marionette in her slate grey sack.

Regwen put an emaciated skeletal warhorse marionette in her slate grey sack.

Regwen picks up a short-horned pudgy kobold doll with hazel eyes and a mischievous grin.

Regwen put a short-horned pudgy kobold doll with hazel eyes and a mischievous grin in her slate grey sack.

Regwen retreats through the backstage curtains, vanishing from sight.