Skip to main content.
Back to actions

Action Id: 3237 Crisis: Participants: Evaristo, Valenzo, Nemo, Raymesin, Gilroy, Zeia and Kaya
Status: Resolved Submitted: April 8, 2019, 3:58 p.m. Public: True GM: Puffin


Action by Evaristo

At the thirtheenth hour of the thirteenth day of the month, Evaristo gathers friends and acquaintances or even business partners, to watch his ritual to cleanse himself. He's on a small stage, with a long table that has thirteen lit candles on it, and items near those candles. He's got his lute, he's dressed in black and white with his favorite coat and favorite boots.

After a brief welcome and asking everyone to sit, he takes a deep breath and starts singing - a song with thirteen stanzas and no chorus, each stanza emphasised with a sacrifice to the flames.

Joy - He sings a stanza about the giggle in his heart, of feeling joy for life and adventure and to find it in small things and big things. Of entertainment and laughter; he sacrifices a small cloth juggling ball in multiple colors, burning it over the flame. The Dream is filled with Joy.

Music - The verse is about music, of how it envelopes his life and how everything can be made into a story on the strings through his fingertips and through his song, how music can touch and change people's lives. He sacrifices a catgut lute string. The dream is filled with Music.

Adventure - A stanza about adventure, of going out there and finding it yourself, of not being bored in life. Small or big, go out there and adventure! He burns a small well-used old belt that has come with him on many travels and many adventures. The Dream is filled with Adventure.

Future - The future is bright and what you make of it. Never despair for it, Evaristo sings, but work towards the best future there can be. He sacrifices a drawing his nephew did - the children are the future. The Dream's future is a happy one.

Hope - Hope is eternal and without it there is no meaning, the Bard sings with passion. It brings the darkest hour to light and puts determination back into a man's heart. He sacrifices the copper scarf he wore when he sang to people to remind them of Copper's hope. The Dream is filled with Hope.

Chance - Life offers you chances - you just got to be brave enough to take them. Don't be afraid to jump at them, Evaristo sings energetically, or find that you will regret it later in life. He sacrifices a small white pearl, to signify that any oyster might have one if you dare to open it. The Dream is filled with Chances.

Beginnings - If one thing ends, something else begins, he sings. New beginnings are everywhere and you can start over, do new things and move forward. He burns his Bard's college copper brass pin he received when he first joined them, a new beginning for him. The dream is filled with new beginnings.

The Sea - So vast and wild, so soothing and chaotic, so cold and warm - it carries you towards adventure and brings you back home. Evaristo sings with a lot of passion about the ocean and the sea, sacrificing a piece of sail cloth. The dream has a free, vast ocean with many adventures.

Freedom - He sings about freedom, to have free will, to be able to do what you want as long as it doesn't harm others, freedom to pursue your dreams. He burns a gold link bracelet, to signify the breaking of chains - he's not bound to all the shinies he likes either. Freedom is in the dream.

Family - Family is not about what blood runs in your veins, but who you can rely on and who can rely on you. It's those that you trust and that will pick you up when you're low and lift you up to great heights. He sacrifices an old bracelet he got from Joscelin when they were young, an item she gave him when he'd been getting hurt to make him feel better. The dream has a loving family.

Love - Love, that feeling which without, you are nothing but an empty husk. Love will triumph, love will soothe, love will surprise you and love will overwhelm you - but without it, you are just darkness. He burns a small leather bracelet he got as a gift from his first love when he was very young.

Luck - Luck is a constant companion and luck is there if you look. He sings with humor about it but also with some humbleness. He sacrifices a luck charm made out of silver and white coral, that he picked up at a second hand market by.... pure luck, the seller thinking it was tin and fake stones. The dream is filled with Luck.

Loyalty - To be loyal to something or someone, though not to be done lightly, gives meaning and satisfaction. Evaristo sacrifices a letter he got from his patron. The dream is filled with loyalty.


Action by Valenzo

Valenzo arrives at the thirteenth hour as requested, Kevin nowhere in sight (also as requested). He sits back with a mug of ale and watches the ritual in fascination -- though he also claps and cheers where appropriate!


Action by Gilroy

Having no real idea what this is all about, Gilroy shows up and listens to the song, appreciating his friend's performance if not the reason for it.


Action by Zeia

Arriving as early as possible, not wanting to in any way show disrespect or disrupt anything, Zeia sits against a wall, deep in the shadows where he's been quietly waiting. He had offered to help but was told in no uncertain terms to not touch anything and just watch, so that's what he's doing, keeping his hands amused by practicing some knots on a short bit of line.


Action by Kaya

Kaya is invited to come watch by Evaristo so she could do the ritual herself one day. She arrives early to find herself a good place to sit so she can get the best view of everything


Action by Raymesin

Raymesin is present, lurking quietly in the background and watching /everything/. And, as far as he can, everyone else, as well. Maybe he's been hired to keep the riff-raff out, or maybe he's been hired to make sure nothing goes too badly wrong, but either way he says very little and keeps his eyes open.


Action by Nemo

Nemo arrives at the appointed hour. It would appear she is nothing more than a witness to the performance, and perhaps only heard about it through word of mouth. Throughout, she watches intently, and keeps to herself.


Result

In the thirteenth hour of the thirteenth day, Evaristo gathers friends together to cleanse the primum. He brings his lute, and he sets up on a small stage. And when everyone is gathered, he strums his instrument and starts to sing his sacrifices into the ceremony.

He sings of joy, and music, and adventure. He sings of the future and hope, chance and beginnings, love and luck and all the things that are thoroughly and wholly Evaristo. He sings to the people he's gathered - merchants, the crew on his ship, his friends. Street kids he knew once upon a time. Friends and family and people he's trusted in the hardest of times, and in song he shows them his heart, and shows what he truly hopes for from the future.

It's a joyous song, evocative of the man who sings it. And as he sings, the ceiling of the theater darkens as spiders spew forth from every crack, and a humming can be heard - like the sound of a low song sung by a thousand voices barely heard as individuals, together almost enough to make sense. As he finishes his song, the counterpoint continues now, and the words are finally loud enough to hear.

"Round and round and round we go,
Never stop and never know,
Beginning's end is just the start,
Of loyal, joyous, happy heart.

When once the steps were tired and slow,
The dance a burden, the past to know,
Now find the joy from life to life,
And revel now in mortal strife.

For favor asked and life be given,
Each time the soul is neatly shriven,
Returned to world with blessings light,
With hope to chase away the night.

And then the song fades, but the spiders remain - watching. Always watching.