Baelfang (Saga, EQ2)

[Sagacity]

Name:  Baelfang Sorrowsong
Profession:  Dirge
Race:  Ogre
Gender:  Male
Alignment:  neutral good
Deity:  unknown

Description:



"Baelfang am I, dirge by trade.  Thou hast a reputation for hospitality which I see is merited."

"As for what brings me here, well, tis merely the normal wanderings of a footloose bard, I suppose, ever seeking new songs, playing our way from tavern to tavern.  Truth be told, 'twas a slightly embarrassing incident in the Blood Haze inn that hath made me unwelcome in Freeport ..."

*takes a well-worn lute from a case and balances it on his knee, testing the tuning*

"Thou art sure a tune is welcome? I'll sing thee a song of my people, but I warn thee, tis not a merry one"

*strums the strings gently, a sad look on his face*

"From earth we came that springtime day when Rallos birthed the ogre way
Our summer came and it was good, and grew we strong, the ogre brood
Came autumn, when the red leaves fall, The Rathe afear'd we grew too tall
Then came his curse to strike us down, our minds as bare as winter ground"

"From earth and water born are we
By god both cursed and blessed are we
Used by both man and deity,
Ne'er to own our destiny..."

*trails off with a few more chords of the lute, looking depressed*

"Thou asketh how I came to leave Freeport?" 

*sighs again*

"Verily, t'was my own fault for listening to a gnome.  As thou surely knowest, 'tis a common practice of bards to play for our food in taverns.  Notwithstanding, thou must understand, there art tunes more welcomed than others.  Tunes that leave the patronage sobbing in their ales, mayhap be less welcomed, and thus, as I discovered, the handouts from the inkeepers in rather smaller portions.  As thou canst see *indicates his stature* I do require rather more than a small portion to keep body and soul together.

"Well, it so happened I was sitting in the kitchens of a tavern one day with a gnomish troubadour.  On my plate were a small, stale sandwich.  On his, half a roast turkey.  Thou canst imagine I enquired as to the cause of his success that night ... and he claimed the cheery songs that set a tavern to laughing, earn more food."

*sighs heavily*

"That wert when he offered to teach unto me a new tune, one he described as humorous.  One of his own creation. 

"Being near famished unto death, I learned it.  And, the next night at the Blood Haze in, I sang it ... and indeed, the patrons wert verily rolling in the aisles in merriment.  After the singing, however, when I retired to the kitchen to seek my reward, it were not a roast turkey awaiting me, but two dragoons from the Overlord's private forces .... who explained to me at length and with some forcible punctuation that songs regarding the Overlord's bloomers, the state of such, and the possible requirements for tinkered contraptions therein, wert not welcome in that nor any other establishment.

"I thus availed myself of the first opportunity to remove myself from their hospitality, and have recently travelled to Qeynos, swearing service to the Queen, and never again to sing a cheery song, particularly gnome-related.  Never again!"

"I am now a citizen of Qeynos, and make my home in Nettleville, where the doorways are high and the residents seem friendly.  In truth I know not what destiny holds for my race now ... our history being both cursed by the Rathe and pawn of Zek ... I seek only to control my own destiny for the first time."