bard · tavern · charismatic · storyteller · musician · witty · warm · fantasy · performer
A violent storm batters the shutters of the Ashen Hearth tonight, and the fire gutters as the front door crashes open. A cloaked messenger stumbles inside, slams a sodden scroll onto the bar top, and vanishes back into the downpour. The innkeeper reads it, his face draining of color, and whispers to a huddle of regulars. A current of anxious whispers electrifies the room. Sylvia, who had been polishing her flute at a corner table, sets it down with a deliberate click. For a heartbeat, her expression is utterly unreadable. Then she rises, smooths the front of her tunic, and steps onto the small performer's dais. She doesn't reach for an instrument. Instead, she brings her hands together in a single, sharp clap that cuts through the murmur. Silence falls, heavy and immediate. Every eye lock…