[open] a fantastic public charity event!

[cointosser]

Who: Jaskier, open to all of the Free Cities!
What: The bard is holding a concert at Cadens's Old Public Hall in order to raise money for its renovation!
Where: Cadens
When: The end of March, a bit after the eclipse/Singularity event shenanigans
Warnings: None. This is a family-friendly event. :)

The Event

[Flyers hand-written and posted around the city of Cadens promise many a thing: a lovely night of community and belonging, beautiful decorations, a precious place to bring your bonnie sweet (the most important.) Jaskier fully intends on this being the perfect date night; the more lovers who become closer thanks to him, the better. The hall will see a larger audience than it ever has before! And hopefully more money will be thrown at it than ever before.

Of course, that’s what this is: a charity concert being held to raise funds for the old Cadens speaking hall, a large hall that has long fallen into disrepair. Through the efforts of Jaskier (and mostly) Alucard, restoration of the hall has begun. However, it has far more renovations ahead of it, and coin will be needed.

The concert is meant to be a grand time, but, it is about the money. This is a charity event, technically. But there's no reason he can't have fun with it.

And since Jaskier does nothing by halves, he has gone fully all-out. At the concert, any goers will be free to partake in:

+ free food (courtesy of himself, Alucard, and Sam's cooking, generally fresh bread, rolls, sweets, cheeses, and various finger foods and slices of roasts)
+ free wine and local juices (mostly paid out of Jaskier's pocket)
+ flowers will be given out, though it is STRONGLY IMPLIED a donation is expected (bouquets can be purchased for your honey, as well)
+ Nadine will be going around the crowd and providing small samples of tonics and potions

There will also be a small raffle that Jaskier will be running. Tickets can be bought for a small fee, and ticket holders can win small prizes of bouquets (courtesy of yours truly), a box of fresh pastries from the local bakery, an array of prized feathers from his pet toy gryphon, or a slightly fancier bottle of wine. The ultimate prize will be a free song written personally for you by Jaskier, all topics and requests accepted. Yes, it is a grand prize. For the small prizes, you can decide whether your ticket is a winner or a loser!

Please, remember to keep your behaviors amenable, fair citizens of Cadens. This concert is for charity, and no roughhousing, fighting, or generally ill tempers will be suffered. And as an event on city property, it is meant to remain completely neutral. No politics or you'll be kindly escorted outside the event!]

The Old Public Hall



[The Cadens Public Hall is an old, large speaking hall hosting distinctive architectural features that are strongly Thornean in influence. Like the old days, the concert is mostly meant to be standing-room only; the second floor mezzanine has been blocked off due to unsafe conditions (mostly old, rotting floorboards.) There's a slight musty smell that lingers despite Jaskier's best efforts to hide it.

His attempts to hide it are vast in number: every where one looks are richly colorful groupings of flowers, tied to pillars, hanging from strings of semi-magical lights that have been criss-crossed over the main concert area to mimic the sight of stars, and growing from pots meant to hide dusty corners. Illusionary birds fly and flutter about, adding spots of color and life to the old hall.

Small tables and chairs have been set out the entrance for folks to eat and relax at while music fills the hall and spills out.

Jaskier himself headlines the music, accompanied by a flautist, a drummer and a cellist. Songs that he performed at the Summit are part of his set: a song that venerates the magical accomplishments of Thorne (which may earn some grumbles from local Cadenites, but that same magic flows through the hall itself, amplifying the music and preventing echoing and regulating temperature.) His ballad about Lyfbringr, one of the gods of Solvunn, features, with a slightly baudy edge to it. But most prominent are several songs about the Free Cities themselves: bastions of hope for those who have lost their home, rich mixing pots of culture and people, with fantastic advances in technology.

Peppered among the songs are general fun, upbeat songs. As the night draws to a close, the songs become slower and softer, meant for dances between lovers.

Between sets of songs, Jaskier can be see moving through the crowd, shaking hands, dancing, and showing off his precious new pet toy gryphon named Mog, with black fur and feathers and an owlish face. (Yes, you can pet him.) Mog accompanies him on stage as well, flicking his tail and sleeping inside his lute case.]

Speech, Speech, Speech

[Like all good events, it must begin with a speech.

At the beginning of the concert, while his band behind him plays quiet music, Jaskier takes the head of the dais that is acting at the stage, giving the concert-goers a hearty bow with a sweep of his large, feathered hat.]

Hello and greetings, my fellow citizens of Cadens! While you may not know me -- though I highly doubt that, if you've ever stepped foot into a local tavern -- I have been dwelling in your city in some time now as the conveniently-dubbed Summoned. I am the Master Bard Jaskier, and tonight we have gathered for a few hours of good will and merriment.

I have been welcomed into your city ever since I came here by chance, and have long wanted to give back in what ways I can. This concert is being held for the good of the very hall we stand in, long having fallen to disrepair in lieu of other pursuits -- important ones, I'm sure! -- by the city. However, as a musician, I have high respect for any such beautiful place, and I have recently began working tirelessly with an anonymous patron and friend to restore this grand old beauty for the use of all Cadens citizens.

Please, peruse the first floor of the hall to see our recent work in restoring and preserving historical Cadens architecture. There is free food and drink for all -- though, if you're a known glutton, learn a bit of restraint for the sake of the children. [Laugh track.] There are small gifts available in return for donations at the stands just ousdie. There will be collection plates placed around the tables, and by the door -- you'll see that lovely young man there, yes? He'll be glad to take your coin off your hands! [Another laugh track. He's hilarious, he knows.] All donations will go straight to the restoration of this historic hall.

By your leave, lovely gents and beautiful dames, I bid you a wonderful night. May your hearts be light, and your coin purses even lighter!

For ideas about the general mood of the music:

Youtube Bardcore Playlist

Comments

[fourarmedandangerous]

Goro takes the round jar in one of his abnormally-large number of hands, paying Nadine's shock at seeing him no mind. The oil looks comically tiny being held between his three fingers. Goro raises it to his eyes, examining it.

"You are...the apothecary. On the network." He says, turning the jar over in his hand. The one advertising her services. Goro remembers now. "Are you well-versed in this art? I do not recall." He had found the message bothersome when it first appeared, and actively tried to ignore it.

[nadine_he_loves]

"Yeah, Nadine. I'm a healer and an herbalist. Relatively experienced, at this point."

She can keep people alive, and she has yet to lose a patient. Despite a few of them being in very bad shape. Even before coming here and beginning an official apprenticeship, she'd learned enough from books back on Earth to bring Joe back from death's door. Now she knows even more.

"Most of my official education comes from here, though. I'm studying at the medical academy. If you ever need patching up, feel free to look me up."

Sure, he looks terrifying, but that's no reason not to extend the same offer to him as to everyone else.

[fourarmedandangerous]

Goro nods. "The medical academy. Yes, perhaps I will." He looks down at the tiny vials being held in his hand. "I wonder. If you had an available subject upon which to test your creations, would you consider attempting to create elixirs strong enough to affect Shokan?" He asks. "Your wares sound useful, and the medicines I have encountered in this Realm so far have been...insufficient." Fortunately, so far nothing he's encountered out in the desert has been strong enough to place him in any serious danger, but the bruises and cuts he tends to accumulate do sting and ache enough to bother him.

"I'm sure you would find the process...educational." The fact that she exhibits only the usual fear and awe that humans tend to show when confronted with a Shokan for the first time suggests that perhaps his reputation has largely passed this one by. If so, so, it's an in. Besides, weren't human doctors forbidden to "do harm"?

A shame that wasn't really the law in what passed for Outworld's medical profession.

[nadine_he_loves]

"Uh....I mean, theoretically, I'd be interested. But I don't know anything about your biology or anatomy."

Other than 'big' and 'four arms', which she can clearly see. But of course the idea is an interesting one. It's one thing to just follow recipes, another entirely to develop something new. Nothing Nadine thought she'd begin experimenting with any time soon.

And it brings a valid point worth considering. Not all of the Summoned are human. Even those that might look it - half of her potions don't do anything for Geralt, for example. If she's able to alter what she knows to be useful to more among them...that's worth looking into.

"Unless you've got a copy of Shokan?" she hopes she's saying it right, "Biology For Dummies, I'd probably have to poke at you a lot before I could get started anything."

Which gives her some hesitation. Nadine's not one to judge a book by its cover, so to speak, but she still has a healthy sense of caution. This....person could snap her like a twig, and neither her sword nor her shape changing ability would be much help if he decided to.

[fourarmedandangerous]

"I do not." Goro replies, folding his lower hands across his chest, tucking them into the sleeves of the robe he's wearing. "Shokan medical practices are passed down more by oral tradition than writing anything down." Shokan chirugeons did exist; in a place like Outworld where casual brutality was a way of life someone had to be able to stitch bodies back together (sometimes literally).

Still, the idea of being...poked and prodded as Nadine puts it does give Goro pause. His reputation proceeds him around Cadens; if this young woman learned who he was, and it is almost a certainty that she will if he agrees, she would be in a rather...powerful position. She might be the kind to try and take matters into her own hands, or let herself be encouraged by others. He rubs his chin carefully in thought, unknowingly almost as conflicted as Nadine herself is.

Still, the prospect of having useful tonics and elixirs available to him is too tempting to pass up. Human chirugeons have a tradition of "do no harm"...at least on Earthrealm he hears they do. He'll trust that's a universal constant.

"I am not opposed to exploratory procedures." He says finally. "In the interests of being able to access more potent stock. "What sort of procedures would be required?"

[nadine_he_loves]

"I'm not entirely sure, I'll have to look into exactly what I have access to. But I'd guess I'd need to draw some blood, at the very least." But it all depends on what sort of tools she can use at the academy.

"If there's anything you could write down for me, about...uh, things like how quickly you naturally heal, biological functions, that sort of thing. Anything to give me an idea of what I'm working with."

Do they have X-rays here? X-rays would be helpful. She can't even begin to guess what sort of organs they're dealing with here. Is he even mammalian as she understands it? Well, she supposes she'll likely find out.

This will certainly be an undertaking.