Chapter 177: 9: The Harp’s Dance

The innkeeper said grouchily, "I think it would be best if a bard like you who is just starting out steered clear of it, but you don't seem willing to take my advice."

Ryullusion smiled at the man and said gently, "Thank you for your care, please know that I take full responsibility for the consequences of my actions."

Danika reminded him worriedly, "The other bard said that it activated when he bled on it, but hopefully if you're careful you'll be able to put it into your inventory without being wounded."

In response to her words, Ryullusion looked at his hands, which were clean and free of injuries as far as she could tell. His elven fingers were long and delicate. She wasn't sure what to make of his odd half smile, when after a moment he looked at the harp again, and then strode forward. When he reached the harp at the center of the clearing, there was no hesitation in his movements as he reached for it.

His fingers had barely brushed the elaborately carved surface when the harp spoke. Danika froze in shock, but Ryullusion smiled as the harp said, "I've been waiting."

"You haven't gone back to sleep yet," Ryullusion replied.

"Not yet," the harp agreed sonorously. The harp's voice reminded Danika of Quin. It was pitched in a range that made her uncertain about what gender it might be.

"May I take you with me? I'm interested in the challenge that legend says you offer to those you find worthy, and I definitely plan to become more skilled in the future," Ryullusion told the harp seriously.

"You need only be willing to endure my teaching," the harp declared challengingly. "And I will give you the skill with the harp that I earned for myself slowly over many years in life."

Danika watched Ryullusion's face light up, and zipped forward with a quick protest. But before she could stop him, Ryullusion accepted the harp's challenge without a trace of hesitation, "I would love to learn everything you have to teach me."

Like the bard who'd died before him, he began to play.

The music forced everyone who could hear it to tread the circle like a dance, but Danika could still message as she was pulled into following the harp's musical command. She wrote to Aishin: "Sorry, I couldn't stop him, your father has already accepted the challenge of the cursed harp."

Apparently messenger animals were exempt from the harp's enchantment, because the snow leopard cub carried her message away easily, although with many interested backward glances.

Danika coordinated her movement with that of the innkeeper, until she could land on his shoulder. "I'm going to use a skill that will wrap us in silence, but speaking will dispel it and it won't last long," she warned the NPC.

The innkeeper brightened, and said with determination, "Then we must rescue my daughter first."

Danika replied worriedly, "The inn won't be far enough will it? You were all drawn into the dancing last time."

"I have to try," he insisted.

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After a moment she nodded, and then used her familiar Aishin's skill of silent movement. The innkeeper staggered as he was suddenly released from the harp's pull. He gasped, in surprise or in pain as ZipZing sank her little claws into his shoulder so that the abrupt movement didn't shake her free. Thankfully his gasp didn't seem to break the skill's effect.

After a moment, he dashed away from Ryullusion, and toward his inn. It didn't take them long to find her,  because the girl had already left the inn and was staggering toward the harp. Danika could tell that she was struggling to resist its pull, but she simply couldn't stop herself. Her father scooped her up and threw her over his other shoulder. Danika's claws bit into him again as she resisted being shaken free, but the innkeeper made no complaint.

The somewhat pudgy middle aged innkeeper sprinted like a boy a quarter of his age toward the village. Only his momentum carried him forward when the silent movement skill ended. The skill had a cooldown though, and Danika couldn't cast it again right away.

She'd been thinking about this problem since the last time that the harp had caught her and Aishin in its deadly pull though. She withdrew her aqua stone, and used her shape cantrip. She stuffed a ball of water into the innkeeper's ear, launched herself from his shoulder and used Aishin's thrown weapon skill to stuff his other ear with a little ball of water almost instantly. She crammed a couple more into her own ears as the harp's pull forced her to turn toward it.

It was a very temporary measure, but it muffled the sound sufficiently and the innkeeper ran forward again. When her energy ran out and the water dribbled away, they had traveled far enough beyond the range of the harp's song for the innkeeper and his daughter to continue on toward the village and warn others to stay away from the inn's vicinity.

Danika gulped an energy potion and turned back toward the inn.

The innkeeper stopped and looked back at her worriedly. "Little dragon, are you planning to return? I doubt that you'll be able to free your friend from the harp. You really shouldn't have brought him to it!"

"Were you and your daughter alone in the inn?" Danika questioned.

The innkeeper sighed and admitted, "There was a guest who had one of the cheapest attic rooms, and the boy who comes from the village to do chores was out tending the goats last, I think. Thankfully my wife and our youngest are visiting her parents in the next town over this week."

"Okay," Danika replied.

She zipped back toward the inn. She didn't fight the pull of the harp's music when she entered its range again. Anyone who was caught in the enchantment or spell, or whatever it was, would be drawn to circle the harp in the clearing where Ryullusion played.

She realized something that she hadn't noticed when Brannigan Bard had been playing. Ryullusion's playing had started out simple, with a tune crafted of single notes, but the longer he played, the more complex the music was becoming. There were never any mistakes either. Even as it grew more complex, the music remained clear and grew increasingly more beautiful.

A surprising number of people and animals circled the harp and the beautiful dark haired elf who played it with a look of concentration. Danika spotted the boy who had likely been tending the goats, as he danced around the harp in a sprightly manner, followed by three goats who leapt and gamboled behind him in a merry fashion. She turned her attention to the other dancers, and realized that almost all of the NPCs looked like they were actually dancing instead of the stumbling shamble that the victims had been reduced to when she and Aishin had first encountered the harp.

ZipZing wasn't forced to actually dance, just to circle the harp. The innkeeper hadn't been obviously dancing either, but he had also seemed to be actively resisting the harp's enchantment.

She examined the dancers and tried to determine who seemed most at risk. After a moment she targeted an older man in rather ragged attire and adjusted her progress to meet up with him.

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