Esarvee [42 HALF-ELF BARD]
- I began Esarvee with the idea in mind that she would be a completely different type of bard than those who had come before. What had concerned me most was that when evil characters wanted to marry, oftentimes the only bards available to perform the marriage ceremony were good aligned and would not do the deed for them. This concern developed into a character who found that only the evils could be trusted, and the goods (who she gave the chance to prove their goodness) were not to be entirely trusted. Perhaps it was because she was neutral, and to the goods this was a taint upon her character. The evils didn't seem to mind that she was not evil.
Another aspect of the bard character was the posting of songs. Those who had posted songs in the past had often brought the anger of the evils (and some goods and neutrals) down upon them. Many of the bard songs were personal attacks upon certain characters who had done them wrong in some way. Some were very bawdy and others were just plain boring/annoying (in the opinion of certain evil ones). The kinds of song that seemed to be missing were personal portrait songs (sincere attempts to immortalize a character in song) and adventure songs (an incident in the life of a character, overcoming evil -- or good -- or magic -- or anti-magic -- or whatever). I considered that perhaps these sorts of songs, taking from the lives of the other characters and turning them into something entertaining, might be the path to Esarvee's immortality.
The idea of turning Esarvee into the Paul McCartney of Thera occurred to me. I would have to post frequently and the songs would have to be popular. It was a challenge I gladly took on after the long weekend when Vandral the Thief (evil), Arden the Ranger (evil) and Esarvee the Bard (neutral) ran ourselves up the ranks together in Emerald Forest. The first song to be posted was "Dena's Song" which was based on the description of Dena the Ranger. It concerned how you could get away with just about anything in the forest except 'pissing on the trees', for if she caught you doing that she'd attack you. I thought the description would make a good drinking song, so I wrote it and posted it. Shortly thereafter, a character named Gruff attacked and killed Esarvee as soon as she sang a magical spring into existence for the parched throats of her companions and herself, and "Ode to Gruff" came out of that incident. Shortly thereafter, a young Anti-Paladin named Krizzan contacted Esarvee to give her a harp. Esarvee had only 1000 gold coins on her person so she paid her that for the harp, and Krizzan asked Esarvee to write a song about her after the bard had a look at her and made a comment about her fine clothing and weapons. "Song for Krizzan" was what came of that, and it received much praise.
Becoming the Paul McCartney of Thera didn't seem quite so impossible now. "Song for Thalior" followed shortly thereafter. It was the first commissioned song. Esarvee had no price list, so she left the prices open (and indeed, never established a price list for anything).
It was about this time that Esarvee met Jandor, a dark-elf necromancer who wanted to join Master Cabal. They became close friends. He finally did make it into the cabal, and directly thereafter she performed her first wedding ceremony, for Iswan (Mortal Leader of Master Cabal) and DeMarsie, both Anti-Paladins.
Then came a request from a Ranger named MacMowren that Esarvee write a song about a betrayal and murder in the Ranger's Guild. Esarvee had already paved the way for this type of song when she posted the first blues songs ("The I Can't Get Anywhere Blues" and "Bard's Revenge"). Following MacMowren's song of woe came an interview with the BattleRager Sastumonger and the resulting "A BattleRager's Tale." By this time, Esarvee and Jandor had discovered they were in love with each other, and she had agreed to marry him. Neither of them thought she had a conflict of interest to worry about in meeting with BattleRagers or even adventuring with them. Nor did the BattleRagers have a problem with her being engaged to the Master. As long as they did not catch her with him, she was safe.
Like many bards before, Esarvee took from experience for some of her songs when commissions were not forthcoming (after all, she had to be prolific). Unlike those other bards, she did not write bard-specific songs (with perhaps the exception of the "Bard's Revenge" blues song, which had actually been a tribute to a certain Assassin named Vespasian who had become a good friend of Esarvee's).
Esarvee set precedents which other bards began to copy. The first of the historic songs ("Daeldron and Saphyra") brought much praise, and may have been a precursor to the "Chronicles of the Dead" series written by Pippin (which, despite the name, celebrated lives and not deaths). Various introspective songs, and the seemingly drug-induced Ramblings series, may have paved the way for some of the other bards' descriptive songs. "Llothian Chant," written by Nepenthus the Ranger and edited slightly by Esarvee, was the first of the songs posted that she did not originate. Only one other song did she post which was not written by her, "Makita's Song of the Warrior." I think it was Pippin who sometime thereafter posted a contest or challenge to the Theran population to submit songs to him to post, so that non-bards with a musical bent could be heard around the world.
Another precedent she set was when she was both bride and officiating bard at her own wedding. No other bards were around at the time, and for the previous week none would answer her request to officiate for her. The entire wedding was weird. For lack of a friend to act as maid of honor, she accepted Jandor's clay golem and suggested that all the guests hallucinate to make it believable. Every Master in Thera at the time was present for the wedding. Sparks, a storm giant paladin Master, was the only good-aligned wedding guest; he protested the wedding based on his desire that evils not reproduce. Zauephuaes, another Master necromancer, was Jandor's best man, and also blessed the ceremony with a dose of 'scourge', a Master spell, resulting in Jandor's becoming poisoned and unable to accept his wedding band. There followed a chase through Galadon to heal Jandor, and a return to the Shire, location of the wedding, for the exchange of the rings, the declaration of marriage, and Nepenthe's blessing of eternal marriage of the spirit. (Nepenthe is the only Immortal, besides Cador, who can do that. Marriages in Thera last only until final death. A blessing from either Nepenthe or Cador takes it beyond final death.) Early on in the wedding, various females were summoned to entertain the guests, and before the final declaration of marriage, Dybbuk (human anti-paladin Entropy) dispersed Jorak (human warrior) to the Blight where he died before anyone could rescue him. (Master weddings, as a rule, are very chaotic.)
Shortly (relative to elvish years) after their wedding, Jandor disappeared from Thera for a time, charging Master Cabal with the responsibility of looking after Esarvee during his absence. Gyrodex (dwarf cleric Master) and Zauephuaes looked in on her from time to time, providing her with good equipment, and Zauephuaes providing her with adventures for songs and praise for her efforts. Another Master dark-elf necromancer, Zraqkhyss, was personally charged with looking after her, and he and Nepenthus the felar Ranger spent a very long time with her. The three of them became very close friends and rose in the ranks together. It was during this time that the dark forces in Thera truly took hold of Esarvee. What few times she joined forces with followers of the Light, she was punished by the Immortals. Every gain she made while walking with the evil ones, she was not punished. Convinced that her path truly lay with the walkers in shadow, Esarvee concentrated her music and her other bardic duties on aiding the dark ones. It was also during this time that Esarvee gave birth to a half-elven son, Tresarveus, who rose only as far as 2nd Rank Bard, performed a song once before Esarvee and Pustofioll (BattleRager wife of Battle's Mortal Leader Barbarus, and Esarvee's best friend after Jandor, Zauephuaes, Zraqkhyss, and Nepenthus), and shortly thereafter contracted a wasting disease and perished.
Toward the end of her life, it became common knowledge that Esarvee was the closest thing the evil ones had to an evil bard (the Implementors of Carrion Fields refuse to allow an actual evil bard). That she had written two songs for a Master Necromancer (actually, she did more for another one but it was not common knowledge that a Master Necromancer was behind those songs), that she took the side of certain followers of the evil Goddess Lloth against the pure and honorable Knights of Thera, that she dared to mention an evil Immortal in one song (and as a result wrote a song for him at his request), that she married an evil Necromancer... these things set her apart from the other bards. By this time, many who had hated bards now respected them, and many who had thought the bards useless had come to learn that while they were not heavy hitters and could not tank in a fight, bards had some aspects which other characters did not have, which made them desirable companions. BattleRagers, the haters of magic in Thera, loved bards for their healing songs. Masters, the high mages of Thera, came to love bards for their song of resistance (similar to sanctuary spell and cumulated with the sanctuary spell would greatly lessen the damage a Master took whiletransferring mana). Members of Shadow Cabal, those evil ones dedicated to the destruction of everything good in Thera, enjoyed Esarvee's company, since she wrote, in the words of one particularly evil fellow, 'wicked poetry.' Everyone who grouped with her (and other bards) benefited from the Shield of Words (AC-20), song of blessing, and resisting songs, not to mention the healing songs. When conditions were right, bards could pack a musical punch worth remembering. When they did so for the benefit of a group, opinions of the musician class rose. Esarvee had once told Jandor that she envied his ability to bring life to the dead (his ability to raise zombies from corpses), likening it to a god-like power, and Jandor had told her that she more than he gave immortality to the people of Thera, because through the songs of the bards, the memories of the lives and names of Therans lived forever.
Having always said that her life had ended too soon and her work was left undone, Esarvee determined to reincarnate upon her death, so that she might return to Thera and continue her work. She also vowed to quest for the reincarnated spirit of her husband Jandor.
Esarvee's Songs
With the exception of the first two songs and one song that an Immortal got after me about, here are the songs Esarvee posted during her first incarnation in Thera. To the best of my recollection, they're listed in chronological order.
Song for Krizzan
Song for Thalior
The I Can't Get Anywhere Blues (Blues 1)
Bard's Revenge (Blues 2)
Betrayal In The Guild Blues
Tuition Blues
A BattleRager's Tale
Berkowitz: In Memoriam
Daeldron & Saphyra
The Master Necromancer's Tale
Ponder
Another Master Necromancer's Tale: Two-Day Battle
Llothian Chant
And We Still Don't Know Her Answer
Masumi, Avatar of Cador
Birth Announcement
Final Death? You Can't Get Rid of Me That Easily!
Ramblings of a Soon Dead Bard
Whither Honor?
More Ramblings of a Soon Dead Bard
Ramblings of a Soon Dead Bard III
Makita's Song of the Warrior
Jandor's Death Song
Esarvee's Final Words This Incarnation
One of the projects Esarvee took on (and worked with a Master Invoker and a Master Necromancer) was a cateloging of the instruments of Thera. Others had already gathered information on various armors, weapons, and magical items, etc., but until Esarvee hunted for and lored the instruments, or gave them to Jandor to identify, or asked Xaiphyronoth to identify any she came into contact with, no such catelog had ever been available. Here, then, is the latest compiled list of the musical instruments of Thera:
Musical Instruments of Thera
Also have a partial list of
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