She is shocked back into silence as he starts whistling an odd, discordant tune and heads toward the rest of the group.
&&&&&&&
Deekin seems insistent that Valen tell at least some of his tale and it's starting to make Valen a bit uncomfortable. He's not yet ready for Nessa to get a full mental visual of him being covered in blood, killing everything that moves and loving every minute of it. He raises his hands in a gentle, defensive gesture. "Please, Deekin, another time, okay?"
Deekin sighs heavily and puts his notebook away. " Okays goatman. Deekin lets you off hook. For now." Valen nods gratefully. "I will share with you in time. Maybe when all this business with the Valsharess is over, we shall go sit and I will tell you my story." Deekin's smile splits his face as he nods enthusiastically. "You gots deal! I makes sure to have new notebook ready." He looks thoughtful for a moment. "Maybe I gets new pen, too," he mutters to himself.
Valen heaves a sigh of relief. "One potential disaster averted," he thinks. He begins to hear a strange noise in the passage behind them and grabs his flail, expecting trouble. He is surprised when Burg steps out of the darkness, whistling his little tune. Instinctively gripping his flail tighter, he looks at the devil with curiosity. "Kill it! Kill it now!!" screams his inner voice. The tiefling feels his blood begin to boil, so he turns quickly and steps away to put down his flail. He looks at Burg again and cocks his head. That tune is familiar. "Um, devil…?"
Burg looks at Valen and gives a gentlemanly smile. "By all means, call me Burg, milord. What can I do for you, sir?"
"That tune you are whistling. It sounds strangely familiar. Where did you hear it?"
Burg chuckles. "Honestly, milord, I am almost embarrassed to say." The devil seems reluctant to give further information, but an arched brow from the tiefling encourages him otherwise. "If you truly must know, I was sent to the Abyss on an assassination mission. Can you imagine? ME? An assassin? How utterly barbaric. I mean, the very idea that I would have anything to do with sneaking around and…" Another look from Valen stops Burg in mid-rant. "…ahem…right. Where was I? So, I was in the Abyss on my…mission…and decided to treat myself to a nice night at a place I know that also invites traveling entertainers. One of the specialties of this place was that they would often have entertainers from other planes. While I was there this time, they had a troupe from…oh where WAS it?" The devil scrunches up his face as he wracks his brain for the memory. "Oerth! That's where they were from! Anyway, they LOOKED human, but I wasn't sure. Their costumes were…very strange."
Valen listens thoughtfully, also trying to scour his brain of the memory of where he has heard that tune before. His eyes widen as it hits him. "Right!" he exclaims as he snaps his fingers and points at Burg. "I saw those guys, too! They came to our camp once for entertainment. One had some sort of hat on with all these feathers and another one had some sort of strange coverings over his eyes." The tiefling frowns. "I remember…the way they danced. It was…unseemly for a male to behave in that fashion." Both of them fall silent as they try to extract the lyrics from their memories. Valen starts humming and Burg begins to whistle.
Nessa and Deekin are watching the two of them in confusion. "What are you guys talking about?" asks Nessa. What song? What troupe?? She looks frustrated and crosses her arms over her chest.
Valen begins to sing softly…
"Young
man, there's no need to feel down
I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground
Burg nods emphatically and joins in. Valen raises his volume to match.
I
said, young man, 'cause your in a new town
There's no need to be unhappy
Young man, there's a place you can go
I said, young man, when you're short on your dough
You can stay there, and I'm sure you will find
Many ways to have a good time
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
They have everything for you men to enjoy
You can hang out with all the boys
Nessa and Deekin look at each other in complete shock as the demon and the devil continue their duet. Nessa finds Valen's speaking voice to be a delicious blend of smoke and silk, but his singing voice is another matter entirely. This is more like scratching stones on glass and she finds it to be terribly creepy. The devil's voice, when speaking, is a nice, smooth tenor, but his singing voice sounds like someone is stepping on their cat with no intention of getting off the poor creature. The resulting cacophony must certainly be enough to wake any dead laying around the area. The two bards continue to stare in horror as they each slowly raise their hands to try to keep the noise out.
It's
fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
You can get yourself clean
You can have a good meal
You can do whatever you feel
Young man, are you listening to me
I said, young man, what do you want to be
I said, young man, you can make real your dreams
But you've got to know this one thing
No man, does it all by himself
I said, young man, put your pride on the shelf
And just go there, to the Y.M.C.A.
I'm sure they can help you today
At this point, both Valen and Burg are standing and moving their arms in very strange motions in time with parts of the song. They try to teach the motions to Nessa and Deekin, but the two bards are too confused by the proceedings to actually take part. By the expressions on Valen and Burg's faces, they are having a grand time. Nessa and Deekin are just waiting for their ears to start bleeding.
It's
fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
They have everything for you men to enjoy
You can hang out with all the boys
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
You can get yourself clean
You can have a good meal
You can do whatever you feel
Young man, I was once in your shoes
I said, I was down and out with the blues
I felt, no man cared if I were alive
I felt the whole world was so jive
That's when someone came up to me
And said young man take a walk up the street
There's a place there called the Y.M.C.A.
They can start you back on your way
Nathyrra enters the cavern and, like the bards, can only stare, mortified by the sounds being emitted by the two creatures in the middle of the room. "This is worse than that damned DOOM Song the kobold sings all the time," she grumbles to herself. She covers her ears and stalks to the bards. "What the hells is going on?" she yells to them, trying to be heard over the racket. Nessa shakes her head and points to her ear. "Can't hear you" she mouths then points to Valen and Burg. Nathyrra rolls her eyes in irritation, keeping her hands over her ears.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.
They have everything for you men to enjoy
You can hang out with all the boys
Y.M.C.A.
You'll find it at the Y.M.C.A.
Young man, young man, there's no need to feel down
Young man, young man, pick yourself off the ground
Y.M.C.A.
Just go to the Y.M.C.A.
Young man, young man, are you listening to me
Young man, young man, what did you want to be
Y.M.C.A.
You'll find it at the Y.M.C.A.
No man, young man, does it all by himself
Young man, young man, put your pride on the shelf
Burg and Valen finish their song with an arm thrown over the other's shoulder. They are laughing heartily. The two of them look at their audience and can't help but see the mixed reaction. Deekin has grabbed his notebook and is moving toward them. "You tells Deekin lyrics to song?" he asks hopefully. Nathyrra's face wears a deep scowl. Valen looks at Nessa expectantly, "Well? Wasn't that fun?" She hesitates for a second, not wanting to hurt his feelings with the truth. "It WAS fun! That little dance you two did was certainly…unusual." He gives her a shy smile. "I'm glad you liked it. I wasn't sure about singing in front of you because your voice is so beautiful." He stops and chuckles at himself. "I know what my voice sounds like, Nessa. You don't have to worry that I'll ever to try to join you on stage."
Nessa laughs and grabs his hand. "I'm glad you won't try to get on stage with me, Valen." He looks a little surprised because such forthrightness is not her usual manner. She gives him a saucy grin and whispers in his ear, "I'd forget all about what I was supposed to be doing and try instead to drag you behind the stage for a bit of fun." Valen's eyes widen and he blushes as he looks at her with an embarrassed chuckle. "I do know some other songs if you'd like to hear them another time." She nods to him as she strokes the tip of his ear. "I'd like that."
Nathyrra sees the tiefling and the other elf murmuring to each other. "Oh, come ON, you two. Can't you keep your hands off each other for a few minutes?"
Deekin turns to Burg, notepad fluttering and pen ready. "Burg, what be words to that song?" Burg chuckles and pats Deekin on the head. "Of course, my little friend."
Nathyrra stomps her foot in frustration. "Are we EVER going to continue on our mission?"
&&&&&&&&&&
Valen cleans Beholder guts off his flail and looks down. "What be in that hole?" Deekin asks as he comes scampering up behind the tiefling. Valen shakes his head. "I don't know, but I don't like the smell."
Burg leans forward and gives a tentative sniff. "I smell arachnids, my large, horned friend. And…sniff…something else." The devil wiggles his nose a little as it trying to move the scent to another part of his nostrils. "I can't figure it out, though. Probably just dead stuff."
Deekin claps his clawed hands together. "Where there dead stuff, there be treasure, rights, boss?" Nessa chuckles and nods in agreement. "Absolutely, Deekin!" she responds.
Valen shrugs. "I hate to say it, but we should go down there. We don't know if there are more beholders…" he pauses and his next words come out as a growl. "…and I want to kill them all." Nessa looks at him sharply but cannot say anything before he simply hops up and lets himself go down into the chasm. "Valen!!" she cries as he disappears from sight.
Disclaimer: Just as we don't own any part of NWN or Bioware, neither do we own the Village People or YMCA. We didn't want to post it at the top so as not to spoil the lovely surprise.