Okay, in my game, I dropped a hint to one of my characters that there’s a lost Dwarven city of gold out there somewhere. They found an undead bard — who they named Rick Ghastly and absolutely got inspiration for it — and they paid him to sing a song about the City of Gold. For the coin, he promised a grand, epic poem, and began to perform. He sang it in Dwarven (a language they don’t know). When they asked him about the lyrics, he admitted he only knows it phonetically. But for a few more coins, he wrote down the lyrics phonetically in giant (another language they don’t know). So, they have to use comprehend language to read the lyrics written in giant to a dwarf to get it translated.
I’ve been picking at the poem this morning and this is what I came up with. This will be their first real clue to finding the road to the lost city. They have a map with some of the locations listed in the poem.
Her bronze hair was braided
She had silver eyes that shone
She had copper skin and a golden crown
A princess of wealth untold
She was fair and strong and swift
She sought adventures in days of old
She stole a mighty hammer
From the king of the golden throne
In times long ago, in legends never told
She left her friends behind, in the dwarf kingdom of gold
With the hammer at her side
The stepped upon the Under-road
Every step took her further
Away from her rightful throne
She followed the ancient markers
As she read the ancestral scroll
She passed the stone ram guardians
Along the Under-Road
In times long ago, in legends never told
She would never again see the dwarf kingdom of gold
Through White Mountain and Black Rock Dam
Through the Silver Forge stronghold
She fought for glory and honor
Along the Under-Road
She fought the beast of Demon’s Rock
The mighty Shadow Troll
She freed the folk of his dark reign
Along the Under-Road
In times long ago, in legends never told
She swung her mighty hammer, in the name of the golden throne
She climbed the Fallen Cliffs
To return the stolen scroll
To the Blacksmiths of the Maker God
Along the Under-Road
She challenged the Orc King in battle
And fought him in the mountain cold
They then named the fortress Hammer Fall
To honor the final blow
In times long ago, in legends never told
They made statues along the path of the princess of gold
When the dragon war reached the dwarf lands
And the bells of war did toll
She united the nine mountain clans
Under the her banner of shining gold
She raised her mighty hammer
And donned her armor gold
They marched to face the Five-Faced Queen
And the battle did unfold
In times long ago, in legends never told
She entered the realm of endless sky and left the Under-Road
When the the time came she swung her hammer
And faced the red tieflings
They battled the infernal armies of
The titan five-faced queen
She fell the dragon’s hand of Bael Turath
Faced the Anointed under dragon’s control
And when the war seemed lost
To her warriors, she told
Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you
In times long ago, in legends never told
She swung her mighty hammer, in the name of the golden throne
She fought alongside Bahamut’s knights
The Five-Faced Queen did behold
When she protected the Hero, Erast
As his spear delivered the killing blow
The Five-Faced Queen roared in pain
She thrashed in her death throes
And none within five hundred miles
Survived her destruction’s toll
In times long ago, in legends never told
She bathed in dragon’s breath, the princess of the golden throne
In the wake of the queen’s destruction
Cities fell into the sea
The ancient empires fell
And this tale now falls to me
The elvish trees did fall away
And the dwarven mountains quaked
The realms of fey and shadow
Were never again the same
The Under-Road was broken
But her statues still mark the way
If you can find her path
You can follow her glory this day
Some may say this tale is far too long
And others don’t believe the scrolls
But I say that none was mightier
Than the dwarf Princess of Gold
It’s their own fault for naming the bard 'Rick Ghastly.' :)
It took months... literally months, but, my player finally translated the scroll and got Rick Rolled. It's their own fault for naming the bard Rick Ghastly...
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Okay, in my game, I dropped a hint to one of my characters that there’s a lost Dwarven city of gold out there somewhere. They found an undead bard — who they named Rick Ghastly and absolutely got inspiration for it — and they paid him to sing a song about the City of Gold. For the coin, he promised a grand, epic poem, and began to perform. He sang it in Dwarven (a language they don’t know). When they asked him about the lyrics, he admitted he only knows it phonetically. But for a few more coins, he wrote down the lyrics phonetically in giant (another language they don’t know). So, they have to use comprehend language to read the lyrics written in giant to a dwarf to get it translated.
Sounds cool. Maybe they could come back to it at a higher level to find the city. Or it could be the start of a new campaign...
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It took months... literally months, but, my player finally translated the scroll and got Rick Rolled. It's their own fault for naming the bard Rick Ghastly...