Fort De Bellegarde - Faerie Battle Singers
by an NPC

An off-duty soldier recounts his time serving with the Puca battle-singers at Fort de Bellegarde...

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"Have you ever seen a Faerie Battle Singer? The first time I saw one in action was during one of those, 'mob patrols' in the early months since their arrival here.

Now, you all know what it's like to hear the Faerie musicians and bards in the taverns and at their festivals, the melodies and the sounds of cheer and good times in the air. They say that music soothes the soul and is amongst one of the greatest creations of God in His Heaven. But when they say that Faerie music is magical, I didn't believe it at first. I thought, they were good, perhaps some of the best bards in the land, but musicians all the same.

Hmph. Kind of helps that Faerie women look as good as they sound. Lovely creatures, all shapes and all kinds... but I'm rambling.

It was that day in early fall that our unit's original Faerie attachment was rotated out. Our original bunch of Faeries were mostly Cait Syth. I think, they got rotated over to another unit in some outpost somewhere, to deal with some kind of mob swarm? Said they needed to get some wildlife experts in. Whatever it was, we had to accept one of the reserve units to replace them. Now, if the Cait Syth were spry, athletic folk, the Puca that replaced them?

Couldn't believe they were soldiers at first. They all looked so... different to the Cait Syth. Yes, that's a good word, different. Softer features than the Cait, mostly blondes and brunettes. Softer, fairer, more dainty. Most of them were mages, staves and wands being fairly common, unlike the more heavily armed felines. Most also had their arming swords, but by and by they preferred to keep their distance, bombard things from range like our own mage officers. But what was surprising was this one group of musicians. Musicians, proper musicians. Not drummers or buglers, proper musicians with fiddles and flutes and all sorts of strange instruments.

And these were soldiers, we were told. Not the finest of soldiers, but soldiers none the less.

Their first few days at the fort were very interesting. I remember our sergeant was laughing about some sort of outrageous request the Fae made to the captain, something about whether they could play music in the courtyard, liven the mood slightly, give a bit of um, 'bee-gee-emm' to the area. It's a Faerie thing, something about music playing at all times for the ambience or something like that. Later that day, some of these Puca musicians set up their instruments in the fort's courtyard. And this one beautiful Puca lady, slim and prim and proper all, walks to the centre of the musicians gathered there.

And she started singing to this wonderful tune.

So fantastical! It felt like our limbs were as light as the day we were born. Magic borne of music, so calming and serene. I think the entire barracks came out to see the lady and her musicians sing and play. I think... I think many of us were quite surprised when we heard their music. It was comfortingly familiar, yet strangely inhuman, like... like the Faeries themselves, come to think of it. Hah. Over the next weeks, we had these weekly performances by the lady and her band of players. I know for a fact, that a few of the officers and a few of the men tried to uh, court her. Such a tease she was, too. She'd let them close enough to hear and to see, but never close enough to touch.

But as usual, duty comes first. Everyone in the fort had to do their shift on patrolling the forests. Even the musicians, funnily enough. I guess my detachment got lucky enough to be assigned to her on that eventful day. Scouts and earlier patrols were confirming what the Cait Syth had told us weeks ago; Dagger Dogs were making their way to the area. Nasty beasts those. Clever enough to wield blades, fast and coordinated. Nothing like fighting orcs or bandits.

We got ambushed near the old river crossing. I remember that our first sign of trouble was this sound... this whining, a high keen like that of a feral wolf. The Cait trained us well. Keep the pack separated and at length. Wait for them to lunge at you with those daggers, then take their flanks as they pass. Keep the mages safe and with a good sight line. We told the lady and her retinue, armed as they were with staves, to keep to the centre of the formation so we could block for them, to 'aggro' the dogs and keep them occupied while they casted.

That was when I heard her sing a song of battle.

If a Faerie Ambient Song is comforting, calming, then the sound of a Faerie War Song was unworldly, terrifying! It electrified us. We felt aware, faster and keener than before. It was like we were all possessed by some spirit of battle, hearing this strange and alien sound resonating in our minds, the melancholic tune echoing through the woods. I felt emptiness, a strange emptiness as I swung into the hide of one beast, like, my body was not it's own. My sword felt like it was guiding itself, that my limbs were moving by themselves as I watched. Everything was so fluid, so... unreal, like a dream. Where the Dagger Dogs leapt, we matched them strike for strike with our swords, a feat many of us had never managed under the Cait Syth, who often took the brunt of the beast assaults with their lightning reflexes. We carved through the pack in short order, forcing them to run, tails between their legs.

After the battle as our arms grew heavy once more and our minds returned to ourselves, our sergeant marched right up to her, demanded to know what sorcery she used on us. She said she applied a 'buff' on us. A Song of Striking, to guide and improve our accuracy against the agile hounds. It was a powerful supportive magic, fairly common amongst their kind. She boasted that there are those amongst her kind who were much more skilled than her with songcraft, that they could sing songs of war that could bring strength to the weary, bring the wounded to their feet... and bring death to their enemies from afar.

If that Song of Striking was one of their common songs of war, I pray to the Founder that their songmasters never find a use for their finest dirges."