Before Jeb had opened the door to the Inn, he could already hear music from inside. It didn’t feel as though the music was particularly loud, just that it was made to carry. When he made it inside, he saw the Bard, or at least the person he assumed was the Bard.
After all, who else but a Bard would be playing an instrument on the Inn’s stage in the morning? Jeb tried to be unobtrusive while he thought of a way to approach him.
Apparently Jeb wasn’t as subtle as he had thought. The Bard turned to him after one of his songs.
“If you’re going to keep stealing glances I might have to call the Constable.”
Jeb was terrified, until he understood the joke. As he laughed, the Bard made his way over to the table.
“So what brings you in today?” the Bard asked Jeb.
“Hello, my name is Jeb,” Jeb responded, remembering the advice his family had given him. “The Librarian told me that I should ask you for help with learning Bardic Magic.”
“And why does a Mud Mage like you want to learn Bardic Magic?” the Bard replied. Apparently more people had Class Identifying Skills than Jeb had known.
“A few reasons,” Jeb said. He knew better than to mention the Major Quest that he’d been assigned. “The Magical Primer I was reading said that Bardic Magic is reliant on Charisma. I know that the Mud Magic Skill I’ve gotten has helped my other Mental Statistics, so I was hoping the same was true for Bardic Magic and Charisma.”
The Bard gestured for him to keep going.
“As to why I want Charisma, though, it’s a Mental Statistic. The rest of my family are Farmers, and even when their Classes focus on a single Statistic, they still find benefits in every other Statistic.”
“That’s good enough of a reason for me,” the Bard said. “I can help at least introduce you to Bardic Magic. After all, it’s the sacred duty of Bards to help others Sing.” That was unfamiliar to Jeb, but it seemed like an inappropriate time to comment on that. “Should I assume that you lack any proficiency in musical instruments.”
“Yes, sir,” Jeb said, “I was planning to get a Farming Class, so all of my efforts were focused on training for that.”
“Oh good,” the Bard said, “no offense to the region, but the most I would believe you’d learned here is bad habits. Before we can get you started on Bardic Magic, I’ll need you to get the Lute Skill.”
That would be a problem. “I’m terribly sorry, but I don’t believe that my family owns a lute, and I don’t know where I could find one.”
The Bard looked at him for a second, clearly confused. Then, looking around at the Inn, he seemed to remember where he was. “The Library will have a Training Lute available for rental. Go get it. I’ll be here when you come back.”
Jeb almost expected a Quest notification for that, but there was none. Jeb ran back to the Library.
“Back so soon? Did the meeting go that well or that badly?”
“I think that it went well?” Jeb hedged, “the Bard told me that I needed a lute, and that you would have a Training Lute I could check out.”
The Librarian seemed shocked by that turn in the conversation. “Hmm, the Training Lutes are only really given out to Unclassed and Bards. Then again,” pages flashed through the Librarian’s eyes, “there’s nothing explicitly forbidding this. However, Training Lutes are very expensive. If it breaks, the cost to replace or repair it falls on you.”
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“How quickly will it break from doing Bardic Magic?” Jeb asked. He knew that all tools needed maintenance, but he wasn’t sure how that translated to Magical Tools.
The Librarian smiled at that. “If you break it through Bardic Magic, I will pay the replacement costs myself,” the Librarian replied. “The issue is more-so in the carelessness of youth. I know that you’re a generally responsible child, but I would be remiss if I didn’t remind you of the costs.”
“I understand,” Jeb said, “and I will do my best to not damage it.” The Librarian had Jeb sign the rental contract, which gave the cost to replace the lute. A Tier Five stone!
That was more money than Jeb had spent in his life. Still, it wasn’t as though Jeb intended to break the lute, so he signed it.
“You’ll probably want a Lute Method Book,” the Librarian said, putting one in the case. “Though if not, feel free to return it at your convenience.”
When he got back to the Inn, the Bard nodded at the sight of the case on his back. “I appreciate the promptness, though I’m sorry to say that I think you will need to go back to the Librarian. I neglected to have you get a Primer on Bardic Magic and Lute playing.”
“I have both of those,” Jeb said, pulling out the two books.
“Good Librarian you’ve got here,” the Bard said. “Then again, you’re also a Mage, so I see why you’d want the books. Anyways, take out your lute.”
The Bard started by explaining the different parts of the lute. “Now, some of this may feel too basic, but I find it’s better to start at too low of a level than too high. These are the strings,” he said, pointing to the strings on the lute, “they’re how the instrument makes sound.” To demonstrate, the Bard plucked and strummed at his own strings.
“These are the tuning pegs,” he said, pointing to the strange gears at the top of the instrument. “You adjust these to change the pitch of the strings.” The Bard demonstrated, tuning Jeb’s instrument. After going through the rest of the instrument, including the maintenance Jeb should do each time he played the instrument, the Bard moved on to the practices Jeb should do.
“First, you need to stretch your hands and arms,” the Bard said, “though I’m sure that you’ve got plenty of Endurance and Dexterity, would I be correct in guessing that you’ve focused it mostly on large muscle groups?”
Jeb thought about that for a moment. He hadn’t even realized that the Statistics reflected not only how effective you were in an area, but also a focus within it. “That would be right, yes,” Jeb responded.
“These stretches will help you start to shift some of the Statistics’ benefits into the small muscles in your hands and fingers. Building proficiency on an instrument takes a while, and injuring yourself won’t help at all.”
Jeb nodded. Thankfully, the stretches were also in the Lute Method Book, so he would be able to reference them when he practiced. Jeb went through the stretches that he had been taught, noticing how strange it felt to move his hands that way.
“Once you’ve stretched, you should do both right and left hand exercises.” The Bard showed him a plucking pattern that would help Jeb in the future. It felt almost like a tongue twister for his hands. He knew intellectually that it wasn’t difficult, but his hands didn’t seem to want to move the way he was instructed.
Still, he started to be able to do it, though very slowly. “Keep at about that tempo until it feels comfortable, then slowly bring up the tempo. If in doubt, keep it slow. It’s better to have a good rhythm at a slow tempo than to be sloppy and fast.”
That made sense to Jeb, since it was the same advice he’d been given learning most anything at the farm. The Bard then showed Jeb some of what he called scales.
“Most music that you’ll play is built off of a scale,” the Bard explained. “Learning how to play them well will help you learn new music faster, and it’s a fast way to get proficiency on the instrument. Unfortunately, they’re less fun than playing folk songs, but that’s a sacrifice we must make.”
“That’s no problem,” Jeb said, “I’m happy to do what you think is better.”
“That’s a great spirit!” The Bard encouraged him, “so try to do these exercises at least a few times a day, making sure to stop if anything hurts.” Jeb noticed that his hands were getting sore, which was strange. “Come back in a week, and we’ll discuss where to move on from there. Any questions?”
“No sir,” Jeb said. He knew what he was supposed to do, and he had a book which would remind him how to do it. What more could he need?
“Then I’ll see you in a week,” the Bard said, moving back to the stage. Jeb noticed that the Bard watched him carefully as he wiped down his instrument and put it away. Lute case against his back, Jeb made his way back to his home.