Triple Strength

71. Entertaining: Tabitha

While Wiremu is off Monster hunting, I am stuck here in Kulle like a caged Predator. I am in two minds about going. I quite like not fighting. There is an entertainment Troupe here in Kulle who were heading up to Jern to earn some money busking for the rich and hopefully get a Tavern, or preferably a rich Trading House, to hire them. There were four Musicians and a Singer. I didn’t even know Singer was a Class, although Identify had hinted that I might learn the Musician Class with some training.

I watched them busk for the crowds crammed into the walls of Kulle. Their frontman was an Orc called Zabavno. He had a repertoire of funny stories and jokes and would entertain the crowd between songs. They had a Dwarf on some hand drums, a human with a Recorder, and an elf with a Fiddle. The Singer was also an elf, and she could reach some really high notes. I discovered that Zabavno was a bit of a jack of all trades and would play the Tambourine and join the singing. Duets with him and the elf Singer were amazing as he had the typical Orc bass notes, and with the elven soprano on top, it was a spellbinding performance.

When they saw my Lute, they invited me to join them after their performance when they were messing around, playing some familiar Tavern songs and getting the crowd to join in the singing. I played the Lute with the ones I knew and added some percussion sounds with my Distract Skill when I didn't know the songs. They were rapt when they heard that and wanted me to keep going. Apparently, it has a name and is called Beat Boxing, don't ask me why it is called that. It makes no sense to me. After the first song where I was, ‘Beat Boxing,’ Zabavno brought me forward to introduce me to the crowd and encouraged me to keep it up. I activated the Mimic Skill and started mimicking him; the crowd thought it was hilarious.

We did several more songs, and I got the hang of using the Distract Skill while playing the Lute. When Zabavno launched into a longer story about a barman and a noble's daughter, I started mimicking his actions behind his back, and the crowd went wild. When he spun around to look, I was acting all innocent. He winked at me, and we turned it into a game. It was an enormous amount of fun. When he got to a particularly lewd part of the story, I used Distract to add some appropriate sound effects, and I saw one woman laughing so hard she fell over.

Eventually, we had to stop because we were exhausted. The crowd just wanted us to keep going, but Zabavno expertly wound things down, and we escaped into the Tavern for a drink. I introduced myself as Skygge of the Elemental Traders.

“Whatever it is you do for those Traders,” Zabavno said, “you are wasted there. Two months with me, and I can train you in the Entertainers Class, and we can name our price in the capital!”

I didn’t even know there was an Entertainers Class, but Zabavno must be at least Journeyman level in it. Identify was telling me two months was a little light on what I had to learn for the Class, but it was certainly easier and shorter than many apprenticeships.

He went on to introduce me to the rest of the group. Trummer was the dwarf on drums. She had only joined the group about two months ago in Hrothgar. Manus was the human on the recorder. He had been with Zabavno for three years, and they had written a lot of the material for the stories and jokes. He could play several different instruments but liked the wind instruments the best. Canwr was the Singer, and she and the Fiddle player, Bwa, were a couple. Zabavno loudly declared that the Barman and the Noble’s Daughter story was based on them. They hotly denied it and said none of it was true, apart from Canwr being the daughter of a noble. They had been with Zabavno for almost two years.

They seemed like a good bunch. I got a level in Lute and two levels in performance from the afternoon. They really, really wanted me to join them. It was a very tempting offer and seemed like it would be a lot of fun. Zabavno even offered to talk to my boss at Elemental Traders to negotiate a way out of my contract. I said we would see when we got to Jern. I did emphasise that I was committed up until the auction. When I mentioned my brother Sten was here, they all wanted to meet him. When I said he was out scouting the Army camp with his Mercenary group, that sobered things up.

Then Modrica found me as it was almost time for our shift on the walls. The fact that we even had a shift on the walls meant I was a fighter, and Modrica’s looming presence with her scars and the fact she was obviously with me, made a big statement. Zabavno asked her something in Orcish, and she replied. He then went very quiet. Things are not so simple that I can just run away and join some entertainers.

As we walked to our shift, I asked Modrica what Zabavno had said.

“He asked about our relationship.” she stated.

“And you said?”

“Krvne sestre, which means Clan and Blood Sisters through battle.” she replied.

I nodded. We were definitely that. “You had better start teaching me some Orcish, sister.”

She nodded.