But that is all behind me now. In the coming weeks I’m planning on posting a “behind the scenes” look at a campaign world I’m working on for our local game club. I’m hoping you’ll enjoy it. This is heavily influenced on the new BioWare game Dragon Age, as well as bits and pieces from other existing campaign settings. Not to mention there’ll be some influence from a past setting I worked on many many moons ago.

That doesn’t mean I’m abandoning any of my existing writing projects – namely Bard. This is still being worked on (as of now I’ve completed eight chapters), and I’m also working on something else for Bard as well…so stay tuned.

With luck I can keep this writing feeling going for a while

Take care all!

So here I sit on the S-train to Norreport. Thankfully it’s mid afternoon on a Saturday and the train isn’t as packed as it could be on a normal day. Or rather, at least there’s no soccer match going on. Something I’m extremely thankful for. The only thing worse than a train packed full of drunken human soccer fans is a train packed with drunken Troll soccer fans. Those guys are ugly on the best of days, and when they’ve been hitting the Carlsberg hard, especially during a Brondby vs FCK match, they get really ugly. At least they’re not as bad as the Brownies on the British Isles. Now those guys get vicious when their teams don’t win. At least here in Denmark the worst that tends to happen is a Troll will tear up a stop at one of the train stations. That or an Alfen woman goes streaking across the pitch.

Yah…I love it here.

But aside from a few people on the train, nothing is really out of the ordinary this afternoon. Which in and of itself would be fine, but things haven’t been exactly normal for me these past few weeks, which is the other reason I’m off to see Sonja.

About a month ago I had a rather nasty encounter with some Siryns. Now these chicks do not play very nice. A small flock of them, led by the Crone Katheryn, had setup shop in the area around Copenhagen’s Central Station, and had been harassing the club scene in the area for some time. When I call these creatures chicks, I quite literally mean it. Usually they look like gorgeous women of Mediterranean descent. That is until they are on the hunt. That’s when their true nature comes out.

What they’ll usually do is set up roost near a city’s major club district. Prime hunting grounds for many of the world’s predators actually. While many of them aren’t out to kill their prey, this is where Siryns are particularly vicious. What they’ll do is prowl the clubs, looking for young men and women to party with. Then when they find a victim, which is when the fun for the Siryn begins.

Normally when a Siryn talks to a person, nothing happens. It’s when they sing that things go to hell in a hand basket, and quickly. So what the Siryn will do is seduce the person in question, getting the victim to follow them willingly. Once the victim is under the Siryn’s spell (well figuratively at any rate), it leads the victim to some secluded location then begin to sing. As the Siryn’s song progresses, the victim falls more and more under the spell of the Siryn, all the while the Siryn begins to change its form from that of a beautiful woman, to some hideous combination of woman and buzzard.

The song doesn’t only keep the victim in the Siryn’s thrall though, it also acts as a signal to the rest of its flock to come join in on the feast. Once the flock arrives, they begin to feast on the poor soul, slowly tearing bits of flesh and muscle from its bones. I won’t go into too much more detail, as what is left once the flock is finished is not exactly pleasant to look upon.

So anyways, the local Council called me in from a job I was working on in England at the time to come investigate what was going on, and also find a way to stop it. Another of the perks of being one of the few living Word Smiths, not only are we needed for most Magic, we’re also the judges, juries, and sometimes executioners for the Otherworlders (which is by the way just my name for all these beings who are not “human”).

Yah I know, lucky me.

It didn’t take long to track down this particular flock. It wasn’t like they were being overly discreet about their activities. I mean, when a dozen patrons of one of the most popular clubs in Copenhagen suddenly disappear without a trace, it doesn’t exactly take a rocket scientist to track the culprits down, at least not when you have a pretty good idea on what it is that’s causing it. Normally the Otherworlders know how to stay under the radar, unfortunately this particular flock was proving to be a little problematic.

One of the reasons that the local Council had called me in was that the local police were beginning to start piecing together some of the goings on at this particular club. While it was one of the hottest spots in Copenhagen for humans, it was also a sanctuary for many of the more normal looking members of Otherworlder society.

Normally this wouldn’t be a big problem, but once normal humans get too close to the truth of their existence, things can go south in a real big hurry.  Us Bards tend to have a bit of a reputation as being fair, and reasonably open minded about things. I mean come on, when you have to deal with the likes of Elves and what not on a semi-regular basis, it kind of comes with the territory.

One thing I can’t stand though is when people get it into their heads that they are above any kind of law, which this flock obviously considered itself to be. So off I went to confront the Crone and her flock. It was a tough battle, but one that thankfully ended up going in my favour. Mind, tell that to the Healer who’s apartment I’ve been crashed at for the last month.

So now that most of the acid and fire burns have healed, not to mention the broken bones from my escape, I’m finally making my way to meet with Sonja to see what all’s been happening in the city since I got laid up. Keeping my eye on the stop listing above the door opposite my seat, I can’t help but have this feeling that I’m being watched.

“Good morning Bard,” a soft, sensuous voice speaks from behind me, “what brings you here?”

Feeling like a hundred sharp pins were being stuck into the back of my neck, I turn around in my seat slowly. When I notice who it is that said those words, my jaw hits the top of the seat.

After a few brief moments, I manage to pull my eyes back into my sockets, and manage to not sound like a complete and utter moron as I speak, “Good morning to you too Katheryn, fancy seeing you here.”

********

“But Daddy, I know I saw him move!” exclaims a small child.

“Nonsense Jonny, that statue has been sitting there now for a long time.”

Jonny gapes in astonishment at the statue of Holger Danske which lies under Kronborg Castle in Elsinore. Then he shrugs his shoulders, “You’re right Dad, ain’t no way a hunk of rock like this could move.”

“Of course son, now come on, we still have lots to see here before we rejoin the tour.”

The father takes hold of Jonny’s hand, and begins to lead him out of the Casemate system beneath Kronborg. As they leave, Holger Danske smiles.

To be perfectly honest, my real title isn’t Bard. I mean, that’s mostly what I like to think of myself as. The more accurate translation of what it is I do is that of Word Smith. Every culture in the world has its own name for what it is I do. I just happen to prefer the one the ancient Celts use. Sounds much more, I don’t know, noble I guess. Basically what it means is that I know most of the Names of things, and I also know most of the Stories of the world. Some of them I know in their native languages, most I know in English.

I know it doesn’t sound glamourous, I mean yippee, I can tell stories and speak a bunch of different languages. Heck I don’t even get to perform any real Magic. That’s one of the reasons I’m heading to Norreport to meet Sonja. Despite what you may have seen in the movies and read in books, Magic cannot be done alone. It has to do with some rules that were set out back in ancient times, something to do with too much power residing in the hands of a single person or some such. Boils down to if I want to play in the big leagues, I have to follow the rules.

Most of the time anyways.

I have to admit – it’s been a lovely vacation so far. Wifey and I were in England for a few days where we met up with my parents who flew over from Canada. It was a really good time introducing my wife to the English side of the family. We also got a bit of sight seeing in – which was awesome. We went to Castleton, Nottingham, Sherwood Forest, Bath, Salsibury…I’m sure I’m forgettin someplace – but it was a lovely time  We had a nice little family dinner with my Aunt in Romsey,  so it was a nice vacation all in all

We then came back here to Copenhagen, and right now just spending a little bit of time touring around. We’ve survived the big “Meet the parents” weekend where my parents met the wife’s parents…and all had a good time!

But enough of the rambling for now. I hope to have some more of the stories up soon!

I’ve been working on Bard for the past while now, and have a bit more to share. I just need to touch up a bit of continuity things before I post it up. I’m still not sure where I’m going with it, well…that’s not entirely true, of course I know where I’m going with it, there’s just a few things I need to work on to bring it all together some

All in all though, since the last post things have been going fairly well. Work is going pretty good all in all, month end at the office has been

I also FINALLY got a chance to game again this past weekend – and it was awesome. We were a party of five in a fairly straightforward dungeon crawl. It was a little odd playing in Danish – well…weird for me anyways. The rest of the group spoke Danish, while I spoke English. Its actually quite funny just how much Danish I actually understand now…but then too I have been hear a few years. I still can’t speak it very well, but its coming, or so I’ve been told.

But I think that’s about it for now folks. I hope to have some more Bard up this week before I fly off to England on Friday. Can’t say for sure when yet, but hopefully in the next day or so. In the meantime, more Icy Grip and A Story to keep ya’ll entertained

Until then!

Peace out!