I woke up with renewed energy in the morning, determined to crack the performance issue. After a breakfast of meat pie and a delicious fruit salad, I sat on the porch, thinking of a solution. It struck me that I needed something so different from the reality of this place that it would be immediately clear it was a tale or a story, preventing any arguments. The first thing that came to mind was science fiction, so I tried to think of a suitable story.

Star Wars?

I considered how to arrange it, but even the first scene of the first movie—or the fourth, depending on the numbering—was ten minutes long if I turned it into a song.

Hmm, the full movie would take two days. That won’t work.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial?

Nope, they’d probably think he’s a monster.

Then I had a stroke of genius—Aesop’s fables! Despite the talking animals, I was confident the moral lessons would resonate with them.

The first story that came to mind was The Tortoise and the Hare. I knew the word for tortoise, and we’d seen plenty of sea turtles on the island, so I was sure there were tortoises on land, too. The problem was that I didn’t know the local word for hare or seen anything similar. As I tried to devise a solution, a few animal names popped into my head, but with no mental images or information—just words. I didn’t think it would work without knowing what animal it was.

I’ll set it aside for now until I find the other main character.

Next, I moved on to The Boy Who Cried Wolf. That wasn’t an issue—there are boys and wolves here, so it was perfect!

I spent a few hours playing with the words and melody until I arranged the parable as a bardic performance.

Success!

Just to be safe, I decided to prepare two more stories. If one didn’t work, maybe the others would.

The next story I tackled was The Ant and the Grasshopper. There were definitely ants here—I saw them everywhere, behaving like regular ants, walking in lines and carrying stuff. I didn’t know the word for grasshopper, but I knew the word for cricket, and I knew there were crickets here. In the mushroom valley, we heard them cricketing every evening. Given all the noise they make, I thought a cricket might even be more fitting for the story.

I organized the story in verse and even searched through my notes to find a suitable piece for the cricket to play on the violin. I settled on Czardas by Vittorio Monti. After practicing the fast sections on the violin, I successfully arranged the story.

The third story I chose was The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. There were wolves here, and we’d even debated them. While there were no sheep, I’d seen woolly farm animals with goat horns called ofsuns, which bleated well enough. Preparing these three stories took me all day.

In the evening, I did a last rehearsal through the three stories, and our butler—who I learned was called Rid—found plenty of reasons to spend more time than usual in our suite while I rehearsed.

During the last rehearsal, Rue sang-howled along with me. When I reached the part where the cricket’s tune came in on the violin, he danced all over the living room, looking so adorable that I had an overwhelming urge to squish him. The only reason I didn’t was that he was just too damn big for that kind of squishing.

When I finished, I told him, “When I perform stories, you can join in. We’re doing this for fun, and there’s no reason you shouldn’t have fun too.”

In response, he wagged his tail a hundred times a second, slobbered all over my face, and exclaimed, “John is bestest best friend!”

In the morning, as we crossed the lobby, I stopped in my tracks. There was a man there, deep in conversation with someone else. Perched on his shoulder was an enormous bird, similar to a bald eagle, but far more colorful, with shades of green, brown, and yellow. A pale yellow snake coiled around his hand, and beside him sat the biggest cat I had ever seen—nearly as large as Rue, and it looked fierce and dangerous.

I remembered to use Identify!

Manul Astadi

Beast Master Level 13

He noticed me and bowed slightly. I returned the gesture. Rue, curious as ever, approached the cat to make friends. They both sniffed each other, then locked eyes. I was sure they were having a silent conversation. Manul finished his chat and walked over to me.

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“Greetings, esteemed Bard,” he said with a respectful nod.

“Greetings, esteemed Beast Master,” I nodded in return.

“It’s a pleasure to meet someone else with a familiar.” He turned to Rue and added, “Greetings, distinguished familiar. My name is Manul; what is your name?”

“Rue.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Rue,” Manul said, pointing to the eagle. “This is Lepim,” he pointed to the snake. “This is Shashik, and you’ve already met Daran.” He gestured to the massive cat.

“My friends stay in the room when I run errands in the city. I’m sure they’d be happy for a visit. I’m staying in suite 3304 on the 33rd floor.”

“We’re neighbors!” I exclaimed. “We’re in suite 3302, also on the 33rd floor.”

“Excellent, excellent! I’d love to chat more and learn where you found this magnificent creature, and of course, my friends would be delighted to have a new companion to share stories with. But I must warn you that the only thing that interests Daran is food, so after the visit, your familiar might be hungry from all the stories.”

I laughed. “The only thing Rue is interested in is food, too. Looks like both our familiars will be starving after their visit!”

He chuckled as well. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Bard John, and I hope we can chat again soon. For now, I must hurry—I have an important meeting.”

“Don’t let us delay you,” I said, still smiling. “It was a pleasure meeting you, and we’ll definitely meet again.”

Again, I made my way to the performance square, set up a chair, and arranged my guitar and violin. After announcing a Bard performance, I waited until several people had gathered around.

I took a deep breath and reassured myself, You can do this, John.

Starting with the story of the cricket and the ant, I activated Harmonic Illusion while playing. Rue occasionally sang-howled along and, of course, danced during the part where I played the cricket’s music on the violin. As my performance continued, more and more people approached, and by the time I finished, there were over twenty people gathered around.

When I finished, I braced myself for arguments, negative reactions, or strange questions, but instead, I was met with loud applause, even stomping feet and whistles. People reached for their coins, looking for something to place them in. Of course, I hadn’t prepared anything—I was ready for arguments, not appreciation.

A tall man with a weathered face and kind eyes took off his hat and placed it on the ground, allowing people to toss their coins in.

I smiled at him and said, “Thank you. I forgot to put down a container for donations.”

“It’s okay, son. It happens sometimes,” he replied, his voice warm and reassuring.

I quickly took out a metal bowl and placed it on the ground. The man transferred the coins from his hat into the bowl, dusted off his hat, and nodded, putting it back on his head.

I overheard enthusiastic murmurs from the crowd. They weren’t speaking to me directly, more to each other, but it was still fantastic to hear.

“What a clever story...”

“The moral of the story is important. I wish my children could hear it...”

“The cricket’s playing was simply exquisite...”

I took another deep breath, finally feeling a sense of relief.

After the crowd finished chatting, I asked, “Would you like to hear another story?”

Everyone nodded eagerly or shouted loud affirmations of “Yes!”

A couple of voices called out from the crowd, “Wait a few minutes, I’m going to call some people.”

“Can you wait while I bring my wife and son?”

“I’ll wait,” I assured them with a smile.

A tall woman with blonde hair approached and asked, “Where is this tale from? I’ve never heard it before.”

“From my homeland in Lotam,” I replied.

“Where is that?” someone else inquired.

“It’s a smaller continent, northwest of the Lumisor continent.”

“How long did it take you to get here by sea?” another person asked, their curiosity piqued.

“Two months,” I answered.

They seemed very impressed, with some letting out exclamations of amazement.

I continued chatting with them until the two men returned with more people. Meanwhile, others joined in to listen, and by the time I was ready to start the next story, over forty people had gathered around.

This time, I performed The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and once again, the responses were warm and appreciative, with many coins flying into my bowl. After I finished, I noticed my red light flashing, but I ignored it for the time being.

“Would you like to hear one more?” I asked.

The response was overwhelming applause and cries of “Yes!”, “Of course!” and “Much more!”

I then performed The Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing, and the reactions were incredible once again.

May the Spirits bless you, Aesop, wherever you are!

By the third story, over fifty people were around me. After hearing I had told other stories before they arrived, they wanted to listen to them, too. I spent the rest of the day in the performance square, singing the stories over and over with short breaks to drink and chat with the audience. At some point, Rue stopped singing along and wandered off to watch other performances around the square. I was a little embarrassed to realize that I probably stole most of the audience, as when I glanced around, most of the other shows had only a few people watching. At the same time, a considerable crowd continued to gather around me, growing larger by the minute.

In the early evening, as more people arrived at the square—probably after finishing their day’s work—pushing and shoving started around me as everyone tried to get close and have a good view. As a solution, I took out my operating table from Shimoor, climbed onto it, and continued performing so others could see better.

By the end of the evening, when it was completely dark, I felt exhausted. My throat was sore from singing all day, but I felt elated. I had earned thirty gold and some silver and copper and couldn’t have been happier.

Back at the hotel, I finally checked the flashing light.

Level up

+3 Perception, +3 Vitality, +2 Creativity, +3 free points

Bard Level 6

Stat points: 3

I remembered my decision last time and added the free stats to Constitution. To top it off, Harmonic Illusion leveled up to 7.

It was a good day.