The Tower Above the Road to Triboar

[Verse 1] We bartered in the moonlit keep with Xolkin and his band, For Kella’s life and three bright stones placed careful in our hands. Ten pieces more, a night of peace beneath the crumbling wall, And trusting thieves to keep their word, we laid our heads to fall. Yet in the dark a whisper came where none but one could hear, A god stepped from the midnight hush and drew their spirit near. “Walk my path and bear my sign, if such a fate you choose.” When dawn broke bright on Nightstone’s gate, there was no more to lose. [Chorus] Oh sing of the road and the dawn breaking wide, With orcs at our backs and the gods at our side. From Nightstone’s walls to the wild unknown, We follow the tracks where the lost have gone. [Verse 2] The sunrise brought a thundered roar that shook the broken ground, And one among us knew at once the meaning of that sound. Across the bridge came twenty orcs with axes raised on high, Their war chief led them through the dust beneath the morning sky. And there rode Xolkin at their head, his voice a desperate plea: “Stand and fight beside us now, or none of us walk free!” But fear and caution ruled our feet, we crossed the moat instead, Until one orc turned, gave chase at once, and northward we all fled. Then from the woods came arrows swift and singing through the pines, Eight wood elves rushed from shadowed trees and shattered orcish lines. [Verse 3] The battle stilled, the war chief fell with five dead at his feet, The bandits lay in blood and mud where fate and folly meet. And Xolkin too lay cold and still, with Kella by his side, While half the elves were carried home beneath the forest wide. We followed north the villagers’ trail until we reached a hill, Where one dark cave lay open wide and everything was still. Inside there sat an ogre vast enjoying muddy bliss— We woke him with a careless step and paid the price for this. For goblins came from every side, and then with furious cries, His wife burst from the stalagmites with murder in her eyes. [Chorus] Oh sing of the road and the dawn breaking wide, With orcs at our backs and the gods at our side. From Nightstone’s walls to the wild unknown, We follow the tracks where the lost have gone. [Verse 4] When all was still we searched the caves and listened down each hall, Till whispered goblin voices drew us to the largest wall. A spell was cast to know their tongue, and through the dark we crept, Where Hark the goblin boss sat grinning while frightened captives wept. We paid his price to free a soul, then stole our silver back, And hurried down the tunnel where he pointed out the track. But there above the cavern roof the angry bats still stirred— We’d all forgotten Hark’s warning, and soon the swarm was heard. Yet somehow through the dark we ran and brought the people home, To Nightstone’s cheers and grateful hands beneath the evening gloam. [Chorus] Oh sing of the road and the dawn breaking wide, With orcs at our backs and the gods at our side. From Nightstone’s walls to the wild unknown, We follow the tracks where the lost have gone. [Final Verse] One grieving man then begged us ride to distant Triboar’s gate, To tell his old friend’s former wife of love undone by fate. We took the road through rolling hills beneath the fading sky, When two among us stopped and stared at something drifting by. A cloud that moved too strange, too slow, against the evening air, Until we saw a tower rise impossibly up there. A stair of cloud came drifting down, a giant dressed in blue— “I am Zephyros,” he softly said, “and I have come for you.” [Final Chorus / Clean Ending] Oh sing of the road and the sky opening wide, With giants above and the gods at our side. From Nightstone’s ruins to Triboar unknown, We follow the path where the lost are led home. [Final Line / Fade Out] And up we climbed… into the wind…