Ballad of the Night of Three Knives

[Inwintersshadow]

A Ballad of the Night of Three Knives
Here then is a song of good and of evil, of Daggerdale and the Drow...of life and death....

One rainy night in Daggerdale
A ribbon of spider silk flowed ‘long these roads
With a deadly purpose
Red eyes glinting in the gloom

Amongst these shadowed hills this fell ribbon became three
Upon each strand a Spider lady danced Her knife ready ...to sting!
Black jewels of lethal beauty bedeviled us,
On that curs-ed night

Dark strangers having come to town
Caught us all awry
That night our best gave their lives for those of us that’re left

The first to fall was the Forest Queen’s shrine
In hungry vengeance they attacked
Defiling the cathedral of her forest home

Kale Brows and his guards stood their watch,
Near the Black Road’s Forest Gate -One by one- those brave folk fell
By black-fletched bolt and stealthy blade

Within Lathander’s temple Hanella Rogerlin awaited dawn
then the Drow attacked - Sword spiders struck and demons feasted
upon her faithful ones

While fire licked the temple walls,
a drow high priestess came in lacquer blue array
Hanella battled on with swinging mace and chanted psalm
With a crack of her whip the drow wench joined the fray!

The two danced well, and evenly were matched
But the dark one destroyed the light by her Drow’s treacherousness
Hanella’s blood sprayed the room - the fight for her was done
Her body is lost to kith and kin yet her soul remains her own
-The spider lady raised a bloody knife-

And so fell Daggerfalls

The fields in front of River’s gate were littered with the dead
Freedom Fighters, dalesfolk, and adventurers
slaughtered like cook pot hens

Babras of the Ironstar, wise Dornstag and mighty Mykhal
Dwarf, wizard, and paladin fought through the hellish sprawl
Despite his good companions, brave Babras died

- He was brought back again
the hero’s end was not yet nigh

The Drow then struck Daggersprings poisoned bolts flew fast and far
Overwhelming nature’s warriors - the Daggers bold and hard
Old Manara was lost then, found was she never more
-Another knife; Another knife was splashed with gore-

Rangers, fangs, and villagers - they were torn apart by the Spider Queen’s hungry folk and their deadly art
Screams exploded in the night, wizard-fires roared
Dale Onyers gave his all against a drow priestess’ scourge

Babras came back to Daggersprings in a blinding rage
Because of Drow treachery,
He sought the villains out upon the Black Road again

Last overborne was White Chalk Hollow the village priestess there slain unawares
Her body, treated like a sack of wine -
Was uncorked till it ran clear…

The Drow wrung symbols from her blood - both vile and cruel
Defacing Chauntea’s shrine to taunt her chosen few
Starkly lay the dead - with eyes cold as clay

Concealed by magic and the dark moon’s wink
the Lethal Flower overcame the last holdout of the fruit of Daggersprings
From amongst the children fair Keriwen they stole,
daughter of Arien and granddaughter of Babras bold

Babras found his granddaughter’s kidnappers
not far along near ‘Lake of Shadows’ they
The Lethal Flower’s scion fired a venom bolt Babras staggered to his knees

- Then he smashed the bastard’s teeth!

The wing-ed wench called out to him
a dark kiss from her crossbow passed his ear
half-demon drow and dwarf warrior
Wheeled and clashed an ‘they neared

Dwarven battle rage ‘gainst demon’s might
The end lay not in doubt
Brave Babras bled from a thousand wounds
And then he was disarmed

The warrior dwarf knew he’d die
Herself battered and bruised but barely harmed
The choice seemed clear, even through his venom-fog

Granddaughter Keriwen was doomed sacrificed to dreaded Lolth …
-‘lest he did something soon!

With a cry of outrage his armored form launched them off the pier
the half-demon struggled, within the dwarf’s dying grip
As the poison flung his spirit clear

With frightened eyes,
And trapped within that steely grasp
The Lethal Flower opened her lungs,
and finally … breathed her last!

In death their shadowy forms, entwined and became one
Then sank deeper, down
–Into- the depth’s… and were gone!

Morning’s tears, then streaked the sky…
And Babras’ granddaughter wept …
…

[Mizbiz]

[Mikayla]

Ahhh...one of my finest moments in ALFA.


**looks at her bloody knives with satisfaction**








Truth is though, it would have been just another DM spawned monster fest had it not been for all the great DD players and DMs at the time who really brought the server to life and who made the raid mean something.

And Inwintershadow - I love the ballad. Thanks.

[wvincenti]

Sneaksie DMs that week in ALFA up to all sorts of mischief.

Nice to see that some stories just don't seem to go away in game.


-Bill

[Mizbiz]

Of all the horrible things that happened to my tragedy prone toon, this was it.

And Mikayla, I still think your FINEST momemt in alfa was turning around the day after the drow raid and playing traumatized Keriwen. One of those RP sessions that made me cry for real.

[Wynna]

You know, I wasn't there but always wished I had been, for one of ALFA's seminal moments. Well captured, IWS.

[Mikayla]

Wynna:

You know, I wasn't there but always wished I had been, for one of ALFA's seminal moments.

"And gentlefolk in Silverymoon now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their accomplishments cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon the night of three knives."

- Shak'sp're.