Lyrad's Lachrymose Lesson
- Adventuring On
- 2020-10-05
- Commentary
-
- Retelling
- We suspected that our dear Loreena
Had ingested lots of mana
But it seemed she'd learned some stuff
About all of this magic snuff
She'd poured some of the powdered mana
Into a drink, as she didn't wanna
Ingest the powder via huff
She said that route was pretty tough
Some people had all their magic return
But others found themselves concerned
They got back only some of their tricks
Manatea wasn't a guaranteed fix
Still the progress gave us hope
And Juniper, who is no dope,
Said that we should go and see
The Treemother and the Watcher Tree
To see if we could perhaps restore
Magic to Rampart's waning food stores
She grabbed Loreena by the arm
And headed straight off to the farms
We all arrived at the Conclave
And to Treemother, Juniper waved
The centenarian invited us in
And then discussion did begin
About whether to water the Watcher Tree
With some of Loreena's Manatea
The Treemother opted to try it first
And drank Manatea to slake her thirst
She gasped, she heaved, she coughed and sputtered
We thought perhaps we'd lose the Treemother
But then it seemed the worst was past
And her magic skills returned quite fast
She felt excited and said she'd soon
See the Watcher Tree and commune
To see if the thirsty tree
Might want a swig of Manatea
Without much left to do 'round there
The group all set off to prepare
Themselves for their next part of the quest
We all went to do what we do best
Juniper stayed at the conclave
Hoping that some crops she'd save
By giving water and some aid
And sought to get some potions made
To Philipe, Juniper went
The blue Tiefling with his French accent
Was overjoyed at the notion
That he could help make healing potions
To the lower quarter, went Hoj and Vale
And Rys ended up as their tail
Rys had some new material to try out
About these works he felt much doubt
So he thought it best to perform
In taverns that were not his norm
Lest his new works were a bomb
Though great bards rarely have such qualms
Haiku after haiku, Rys did read
Haiku after haiku, did no one heed
It was as though he read to the air
It seemed that no one even cared
Rys was crushed as his latest work
Fell on the deaf ears of these jerks
Who were they to ignore his verses?
At them he murmured many curses
Rys slunk, defeated from the stage
Too sad to even feel enraged
His failure had a bitter taste
The tavern, Rys wished to leave in haste
Off to the Exped Forces' camp
Lyrad and Mugs did merrily scamp
Lyrad talked with her old Forcey friends
While Mugs sneaked off to pretend
To be a member of the force
To look for evidence, of course
Of what had happened to the folks
Who'd left Rampart to live in the oaks
She broke into Zakaria's room
An act that would soon spell her doom
The office was packed full of gear
Where Mugs should start wasn't too clear
Lyrad thought it was time to go
And when asked, said she didn't know
Much about the column of light
And departed from her friends' campsite
Mugs rifled through the Captain's stuff
And found a drawer that was quite tough
To open, then she heard a knock
And heard Lyrad quietly squawk
"Is that you Mugs? Are you inside?"
Mugs pulled in Lyrad so they'd both hide
Mugs returned to fussing with the drawer
Certain it had what she looked for
She heard a click and felt a dart
Stick into her leg's softer parts
And felt some poison flood her veins
All this sleuthing was a pain!
Lyrad healed her up real quick
And Mugs pocketed her set of lock picks
And yanked the drawer further open
But did not achieve what she was hopin'
Instead a cloud of white powder shot
Into her face and she quickly dropped
Knocked out cold by some sleeping dust
This investigation seemed a bust
Lyrad slapped poor Mugs awake
And took over the search for Mugs' sake
Lyrad yanked the drawer once more
And released a storm of darts that tore
From the walls and into the pair
And many more passed through the air
Lodging in arms and legs and walls
And all their poisoned tips did cause
Lyrad and Mugs to feel quite sick
But still they didn't yet feel licked
Lyrad yanked the drawer out from the desk
And Mugs swirled round, feeling quite wrecked
Then came a jiggle from the door
And both felt frightened to their core
When the door came crashing in
Mugs quickly assumed Hoj's skin
Then Zakaria rushed in, great sword drawn
And could not believe what she saw
Lyrad stood, mind in a fog
Bristling with darts like a hedge hog
"I'm knight Hoj" Mugs blurted out
Casting her disguise in doubt
Zakaria demanded to know
Why these two had thought to go
And break into the Captain's room
Zakaria clearly fumed
"I'm knight Hoj" Mugs repeated
Losing cred each time 'twas bleated
"I know it's you Mugs, please drop the act"
Zakaria said with tact
"Now explain before I run you through
I'm quite disappointed in you two"
The pair explained they sought to know
What happened to the people who did go
From the city out into the woods
Something about it seemed not good
Zakaria explained the need for hush
Lest the EF's reputation be crushed
That one of their own had lead the group
Of villagers to fly the coop
"You want to know what's in that drawer,
To know what your treachery has scored?"
Lyrad looked down inside
And probably felt her heart just die
All the drawer seemed to contain
Was a letter, a picture, and some remains
All pertaining to Zakaria's sis
With sorrow, Lyrad's heart dihisced
Their investigation came at great cost
For damages, and Zakaria's trust lost
Lyrad and Mugs felt dismayed
At the debt they could never repay
To the Deathlord, Fenn and Selene went
To tell him of all the recent events
Thromgar said his life's a bore
Without connection to Kelemvor
Fenn said there might be a solution
To Thromgar's feelings of destitution
He spoke of Mayo and Manatea
And the kind of help that they may be
But before Thromgar could reply
Something odd caught his eye
Cinnabar appeared and looked quite pleased
"I knew you'd find just what I need!"