O, Cuerthalas, How We Hardly Knew Ye... (Rhubarb Pie Remix, 1113)

(Originally appears on Tales from the Fishwife, 1111, available digitally on Bandcamp and tapes/CDs through Barrow Hoard Records) "You've finally made it in the gate, and not a moment too soon. It seems they're about to shut for the night. Stepping in from the gathering dusk, you are lucky to find a seat amid the crowd. The act is about to begin. The tonight's bard is not one you recognize by name, you have heard stirrings in the crowd that they are 'not one to miss' and are 'known for a perhaps mildly excessive degree of panache...' In a whirlwind moment, the hearth's flame whips into a bonfire, and there before you stands a hooded figure clad in heraldic finery draped with leaves. Who is this strange arbor-man who now dons an ornate cittern? Only the night shall tell. He begins the revelries with a newly popular tale of a haughty elf who met a grisly fate somewhere in the south. You've heard it before, but never quite like this..." (Roll a saving throw vs. spells, or become enchanted by the song)