--April 11th
Today, I had an interesting meeting with yet another bard, at the Prancing Pony.
At first we simply took turns playing tunes and shared a toast. She eventually reveals she is looking for someone and asks if I have seen her, though I initially do not recognize the person by description.
The beorning woman from yesterday turned up briefly, but left soon again, which was a relief.
Another woman came in, whom the bard momentarily mistook for who she was looking for. She called the woman a coward, only to realize her mistake and backing off.
We play some more music and the bard lady casts some kind of spell on me, which she claims to be 'the Blessing of the Traveler'.
Eventually, this bard reveals that the person she's looking for is her sister, who was apparently roaming around bringing shame to the family. Now that sounded oddly familiar and I told the bard as much.
She begged me to tell her what I knew and, while I was not certain it was who she was looking for, I told her about my meeting with Braxwald yesterday. After all, she had mentioned she thought she was bringing shame to her family, due to not being able to play as well anymore. Though I had not yet mentioned Braxwald's name, the bard lady seemed to think that was indeed her sister, who's life was apparently in danger.
I told her about how me and and a hobbit bard had cheered her sister up, and inspired her, thinking it would make her happy. It did not. Instead, she seemed even more worried and ran off to find her sister.
I was left confused and hoping Braxwald would be alright, as I worried I may have caused her trouble.
I played some more music after the bard lady left. Then I went to have another drink, only to find myself a little drunk. I sat down to rest and eventually had some water, to help me sober up. Got back to playing and listening to the conversations around me.
Eventually, the bard lady came back and took me outside, to see an elven band playing in the street. She told me she found her sister, who had apparently been 'inspired' to go to some cursed mountain in the north, but was alright now. I finally confirmed that her sister was indeed Braxwald and express my surprise at what she had been inspired to do. All me and the hobbit had wanted to was to give her more confidence in playing music, but I was assured it wasn't our fault we had done more than that.
I was gifted some pipe-weed and finally learned this lady's name. She is Annatolia, of the Bree-lands. I told her my name in return.
She eventually left, after making a pipe-weed deal with some Hobbit. I stayed around for a bit longer, before going to my Bree-home to cook some fish.
That was an interesting encounter.
