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Melelyn's Journal [a Ptolus Campaign Journal] - Updated: Feb. 6
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<blockquote data-quote="arnon" data-source="post: 3972344" data-attributes="member: 23185"><p><strong>Melelyn's backgound...</strong></p><p></p><p>Melelyn isn't my real name but I adopted it as a sign for my inspirations. How early? I think I was about 9 when I first heard the story of Elyn of Calendale. What are my inspirations? Aren't they obvious?!? To make lots of money so I could take my family out of the Warrens... no, not all of them just my younger siblings... maybe even just my baby brother cause my two younger sisters are already turning out to be obnoxious annoying sluts. Of course Menon as well! That's so obvious I don't even have to mention it. It would have been impossible to survive without her. But she wouldn't need my help too much, she can do anything.</p><p></p><p>I was running away from some guards for some reason, running almost blindly in the dark alleys of the Warrens. I don't know for how long, but after a while I found myself in the Midtown district in an alley behind some tavern. The back door was partially open and I could hear, above the sound of conversation, music and singing from inside, and while I did not understand the language I was fascinated. From the window I somehow managed to see the man singing: he was a fat, ugly little man, but his voice was clear and strong and beautiful and his fingers danced on the lyre producing the sweetest of sounds. Most music I had heard till then was the rowdy songs from the taverns in the Warrens: explicit, sang badly (usually by drunk people) with music so off beat it can make the ears bleed. It took me some time but I finally found my way back home. Father was passed out on the kitchen table and my brother was trying to relieve some copper pieces from his belt. It wasn't hard to sneak past them and into our small room. Menon opened her eyes the moment I got near and asked me what got me so excited and I spent the whole night trying to explain to her the beauty of the music I heard. I know I bored her for a bit but the next night when we were laying trying to sleep in bed she slipped into my hand a simple wooden flute... I still have that flute. I spent days upon days trying to teach my self how to play that flute (never at home though, cause that would make father angry) not really getting anywhere. I also started to go out in search of more places to listen to music and singing (that would get father angry because I brought home less money than usual. He would beat me or Menon since he gets confused, but I went on anyway).</p><p></p><p>One night I found myself by a tavern in one of the better areas (not very hard compared to the Warrens) of Ptolus: Ghostly Minstrel. Looking through the window I saw the most beautiful woman I have even seen captivating her audience (mainly men) with her voice and dancing... I was captivated as well. She appeared again the next day. The day after I saw a handsome bearded man on stage playing a lute and singing sweet love songs (there were lots of women in the audience and they couldn't take their eyes of him); he appeared for 3 days. After him there was a strange duo: a dwarf and an elf that drew a mixed crowd; and after them a band of eight Halfling who put on a merry show with tumbling, music, singing, and comedy. I never got to see whole shows since I always had to run when the guards came to patrol the area.</p><p></p><p>It happened when a gnome called Delwin was performing (singing about a gnomish spirit falling in love with a beautiful gnomish female) when a large hand grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me around. At first I thought it were the guards but it was that big man that I saw walking around the place the nights before. He was holding me fast in place and I was too afraid to move anyway, he looked me up and down, wrinkled his nose and said: "Come here tomorrow morning. You will help Dila clean and prepare the place for the evening and when the show starts you may sit in the corner by the stage... Now go before the guards arrive." My heart was fluttering with excitement as I raced back home. Menon of course knew something was up and was very excited for me when I told her what happened.</p><p></p><p>Dila worked me hard and long the whole day but it was well worth it. That night I got to see a complete performance (by Delwin) for the first time. Seeing everything, hearing everything... it was divine. When I got home father started beating me because I was late and did not go to Mrs. Gandry to work the laundry... until I showed him the money from my new job. It was more than double what I made at Mrs. Gandry (it was actually more, but I constantly hid a third of what I made from him).</p><p></p><p>I remembered everything. Every song, word, note and cord. Every movement of the dance and every look that made the crowd clap stronger and louder and longer. I would talk with the performers every chance I got (some ignored me and some were very nice) asking them about the songs that were not in common, about the instruments they played, and about other places and people they've seen. Delwin was a recurring guest in the Tavern and was the nicest of them all; he knew many languages and would translate for me songs I heard in other languages (he knew them the moment I started to recite them) into common, explaining to me the meaning and the history of the song.</p><p></p><p>Delwin disappeared for about a year. When he came back I was about 12 years old and he offered me a job as his assistant. I never really like my voice till then. It was only in my heart and mind that I would sing and dance, and anyway, whenever I started to hum a song during work Dila would shush me immediately, and father would slap me for making too much noise. Menon said my voice was OK, but I knew it wasn't even close to the voices of the worst performers I have heard. When Delwin took me in he started to teach what it really means to be a Bard. "There are singers, dancers, buffoons, and musicians... all of them are performers, only a small part of them are Bards," he told me on the first day. He said I have great potential and that is way he asked the owner to get me to work in the Tavern. For more than two years he would teach me how to sing, dance, act, and play instrument (though I was never really good at that); how to perform in front of drunk sailors and nobility; how to convince people to see things my way using only words, and many other things. I would accompany him to his performances, and then one night he called me on stage and asked me to sing with him a most beautiful duet. I wasn't prepared at all, but he insisted and I didn't want to let him down. My heart was pounding in my chest and I could barely hear the music... but when I started singing everything seemed to be just right and Delwin was next to me supporting me and encouraging me and it was perfect.</p><p></p><p>We did this for several more months until he received an urgent message from his homeland calling him back home and that his father is very sick and also something about his brother that I did not really get and he did not want to talk about. He left me in Ptolus, telling me that I cannot come with him: “it’s a family thing. Stay here, get famous… keep your sister out of trouble,” he smiled. “I don’t know how long I’ll be away, but I have confidence in you. You are a Bard. You were born for this.”</p><p></p><p>It was harder to get jobs alone. They knew me at the Ghostly Minstrel and would squeeze me in if they “couldn’t find anyone better.” But usually I found myself performing either at the Docks or in some of the “lesser” taverns on Tavern Row.</p><p></p><p>But things are improving… slowly for sure, but still improving. I found that I like performing at the Dock, sailors are easily entertained and with the “right moves” they’ll part with their money willingly. And after almost a year of performing in the smaller and cheaper (sometimes down right sleazy) places in Midtown and a couple of places in South and North Market, I started getting some invitations from other, let’s say even more respectable (though for some of those respectable might be too strong a word).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="arnon, post: 3972344, member: 23185"] [b]Melelyn's backgound...[/b] Melelyn isn't my real name but I adopted it as a sign for my inspirations. How early? I think I was about 9 when I first heard the story of Elyn of Calendale. What are my inspirations? Aren't they obvious?!? To make lots of money so I could take my family out of the Warrens... no, not all of them just my younger siblings... maybe even just my baby brother cause my two younger sisters are already turning out to be obnoxious annoying sluts. Of course Menon as well! That's so obvious I don't even have to mention it. It would have been impossible to survive without her. But she wouldn't need my help too much, she can do anything. I was running away from some guards for some reason, running almost blindly in the dark alleys of the Warrens. I don't know for how long, but after a while I found myself in the Midtown district in an alley behind some tavern. The back door was partially open and I could hear, above the sound of conversation, music and singing from inside, and while I did not understand the language I was fascinated. From the window I somehow managed to see the man singing: he was a fat, ugly little man, but his voice was clear and strong and beautiful and his fingers danced on the lyre producing the sweetest of sounds. Most music I had heard till then was the rowdy songs from the taverns in the Warrens: explicit, sang badly (usually by drunk people) with music so off beat it can make the ears bleed. It took me some time but I finally found my way back home. Father was passed out on the kitchen table and my brother was trying to relieve some copper pieces from his belt. It wasn't hard to sneak past them and into our small room. Menon opened her eyes the moment I got near and asked me what got me so excited and I spent the whole night trying to explain to her the beauty of the music I heard. I know I bored her for a bit but the next night when we were laying trying to sleep in bed she slipped into my hand a simple wooden flute... I still have that flute. I spent days upon days trying to teach my self how to play that flute (never at home though, cause that would make father angry) not really getting anywhere. I also started to go out in search of more places to listen to music and singing (that would get father angry because I brought home less money than usual. He would beat me or Menon since he gets confused, but I went on anyway). One night I found myself by a tavern in one of the better areas (not very hard compared to the Warrens) of Ptolus: Ghostly Minstrel. Looking through the window I saw the most beautiful woman I have even seen captivating her audience (mainly men) with her voice and dancing... I was captivated as well. She appeared again the next day. The day after I saw a handsome bearded man on stage playing a lute and singing sweet love songs (there were lots of women in the audience and they couldn't take their eyes of him); he appeared for 3 days. After him there was a strange duo: a dwarf and an elf that drew a mixed crowd; and after them a band of eight Halfling who put on a merry show with tumbling, music, singing, and comedy. I never got to see whole shows since I always had to run when the guards came to patrol the area. It happened when a gnome called Delwin was performing (singing about a gnomish spirit falling in love with a beautiful gnomish female) when a large hand grabbed me by the shoulder and turned me around. At first I thought it were the guards but it was that big man that I saw walking around the place the nights before. He was holding me fast in place and I was too afraid to move anyway, he looked me up and down, wrinkled his nose and said: "Come here tomorrow morning. You will help Dila clean and prepare the place for the evening and when the show starts you may sit in the corner by the stage... Now go before the guards arrive." My heart was fluttering with excitement as I raced back home. Menon of course knew something was up and was very excited for me when I told her what happened. Dila worked me hard and long the whole day but it was well worth it. That night I got to see a complete performance (by Delwin) for the first time. Seeing everything, hearing everything... it was divine. When I got home father started beating me because I was late and did not go to Mrs. Gandry to work the laundry... until I showed him the money from my new job. It was more than double what I made at Mrs. Gandry (it was actually more, but I constantly hid a third of what I made from him). I remembered everything. Every song, word, note and cord. Every movement of the dance and every look that made the crowd clap stronger and louder and longer. I would talk with the performers every chance I got (some ignored me and some were very nice) asking them about the songs that were not in common, about the instruments they played, and about other places and people they've seen. Delwin was a recurring guest in the Tavern and was the nicest of them all; he knew many languages and would translate for me songs I heard in other languages (he knew them the moment I started to recite them) into common, explaining to me the meaning and the history of the song. Delwin disappeared for about a year. When he came back I was about 12 years old and he offered me a job as his assistant. I never really like my voice till then. It was only in my heart and mind that I would sing and dance, and anyway, whenever I started to hum a song during work Dila would shush me immediately, and father would slap me for making too much noise. Menon said my voice was OK, but I knew it wasn't even close to the voices of the worst performers I have heard. When Delwin took me in he started to teach what it really means to be a Bard. "There are singers, dancers, buffoons, and musicians... all of them are performers, only a small part of them are Bards," he told me on the first day. He said I have great potential and that is way he asked the owner to get me to work in the Tavern. For more than two years he would teach me how to sing, dance, act, and play instrument (though I was never really good at that); how to perform in front of drunk sailors and nobility; how to convince people to see things my way using only words, and many other things. I would accompany him to his performances, and then one night he called me on stage and asked me to sing with him a most beautiful duet. I wasn't prepared at all, but he insisted and I didn't want to let him down. My heart was pounding in my chest and I could barely hear the music... but when I started singing everything seemed to be just right and Delwin was next to me supporting me and encouraging me and it was perfect. We did this for several more months until he received an urgent message from his homeland calling him back home and that his father is very sick and also something about his brother that I did not really get and he did not want to talk about. He left me in Ptolus, telling me that I cannot come with him: “it’s a family thing. Stay here, get famous… keep your sister out of trouble,” he smiled. “I don’t know how long I’ll be away, but I have confidence in you. You are a Bard. You were born for this.” It was harder to get jobs alone. They knew me at the Ghostly Minstrel and would squeeze me in if they “couldn’t find anyone better.” But usually I found myself performing either at the Docks or in some of the “lesser” taverns on Tavern Row. But things are improving… slowly for sure, but still improving. I found that I like performing at the Dock, sailors are easily entertained and with the “right moves” they’ll part with their money willingly. And after almost a year of performing in the smaller and cheaper (sometimes down right sleazy) places in Midtown and a couple of places in South and North Market, I started getting some invitations from other, let’s say even more respectable (though for some of those respectable might be too strong a word). [/QUOTE]
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