Hero Quest, episode twenty
The Final Song
Character Sheet
Race: elf
Class: bard
Background: scholar/street urchin
The ferryman steps forward and grabs your brother’s forearm. He cries out and tries to pull back, but the ferryman’s grip is too strong.
“I’m sorry,” the ferryman says. “But I must do as I’m bid.”
He reaches for you with his other hand. Behind you, the king laughs.
You pull out your lyre and pluck a chord. The ferryman hesitates. You glance quickly over your shoulder. The king is shaking his head.
“A song for passage?” You say to the ferryman.
The ferryman lets go of your brother’s arm and steps back, pointedly not looking past you. He nods. “Quickly then.” He shambles back towards the boat.
Your brother smiles at you, and the two of you follow the ferryman.
Then a harsh, discordant tone erupts from behind you, rumbling through the cavern and echoing off the walls. “If a song is what you want, ferryman, then a song is what you’ll get!”
You turn. The flaming king bears a flaming lute with strings of molten steel. The king strikes another chord. A wave of heat hits you. You stagger back, barely keeping your feet. Then he plays, fast and furious. The entire cavern vibrates in time to his tremolo picking. Then he roars over the top. His voice is low and guttural, filling you with dread. His music, if music it can be called, is like nothing you’ve ever heard before. Such power. Such raw aggression.
The ferryman rocks his head back and forth. His whole body heaves in time to the clamour.
You make eye contact with your brother. He’s just as disturbed by the king’s song as you. Yet still, you nod to him and he nods back. The king’s music is terrible and mighty, but you still trust in the power of your own.
You and your brother straighten up. You pluck a soft progression of chords on your lyre. He hums a harmonious melody. A flickering island of sonic light amidst the seething dissonant darkness.
The king roars with laughter. “Your music is pathetic!” He plays on, roaring his guttural roar. “Give in! Your song is nothing beside mine.” The fire within him grows, raging around him, all-consuming.
You stagger back beneath a fresh wave of heat. Yet undismayed, you and your brother play on. The ferryman stands still, listening, seemingly unsure which song to listen to.
Then you sing, projecting your soaring voice through and above the king’s guttural roar. You sing of light and love and the blessed world beneath the radiant sky. The ferryman cocks an ear, and the tension melts from his shoulders.
The king growls, dropping into a savage breakdown of heavy, palm-muted power chords. Fire erupts from the gaps in his armour and… the molten steel of his left greave gives way. His armour is melting. He drops to one knee, yet still he plays on.
The ferryman rocks his head in time to the king’s music. You and your brother play and sing, fighting just to make your music heard. As you play, the king plays over you, louder and louder, and as he does, his armour cracks and melts.
The fire engulfs him. For a few moments, his song continues from within the raging inferno, then he falls silent, leaving only you and your brother playing.
Then, as the fire dies away, you and your brother fall silent as well, short of breath and slick with sweat. You look at each other, smile and nod.
“Yes,” the ferryman says slowly. “The price is right. Come, I will ferry you across the lake.” He climbs onto his boat. Your brother goes with him.
You go to follow, then within the king’s dying embers, you see his crown and lute lying upon the ground, black with soot and smoking.
You’d never heard such powerful music before. To take up the crown and lute, and claim it for yourself, would be such an easy thing.
“Come on!” Your brother calls from the boat. “We need to go.”
Thank you for joining me on this adventure.
I had the dueling banjos as my mental playlist for this!
The boys have suffered enough! Leave the lute and crown and go home!