You stake out a corner table from which you watch the goings-on in
the tavern. The regulars are out in full force: drunkards,
buffoons, madcaps, rogues and wenches, not to mention persons less
seemly. The bartender and barmaids serve the patrons with
solicitous charm, yet haven't a single qualm about strongarming any
any rabblerousers off the premises. A typical night at the tavern.

But tonight, much attention seems to be directed at one individual,
a dwarf garbed in the tattered robes of a priest. Obviously soused,
he tries to make himself heard, only to be overridden by sneers and
ridicule. You recognize him as Comus, an acquaintance you have not
seen him in some years, and when he finally grows disheartened with
his attempts at public address, you catch his eye and gesture him
toward you.

Though too wasted to recognize you, he is still in convivial
spirits. He greets you with an ingratiating smile, especially when
you order an ale for him along with your own drink.

"Where have you been hiding, old man?" you inquire good-naturedly.

As if having hoped for just such an inquiry, his eyes light up.
"Oh, I'm glad you asked! I've been trying to tell these fools all
night, but no one wants to hear sense. Half-wits and idiots, the
whole lot of them! But I'll tell you, since you were smart enough
to ask: I spent the last few years in a city of clouds!"

You almost choke on your drink as you struggle not to laugh.
Oblivious to your reaction, he continues animatedly. "A paradise in
the mountains...high high up...inhabited by angels, oh, so
beautiful, every single one...and what riches, what wealth! It's a
city of angels and sparkling jewels, it is!"

Such a tale could easily be dismissed as prattle or pipe dreams, but
Comus continues all evening with his depictions of this fantasical
city. What begins as idle entertainment for you soon takes the form
of an interesting fantasy, then an intriguing legend. A city to the
south, high in the mountains, opulent and unimaginably affluent.
You know Comus to be a drunk, but not a liar nor a lunatic (unless
he went crazy since you knew him), and to hear him expound at such
length, with so much fervor, upon this one topic piques your
imagination. And your curiosity.

Later that night, having dipped into the keg a few too many times
with Comus, you give in to a strange desire to journey southward,
having made the impetuous decision to listen.to/comus.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
The moral of this tale: View the website at http://listen.to/comus!
(Sorry if this wasn't the place for such a posting.)

- Nyxx -

Penned by my hand on the 15th of Aeguary, in the year 262 AF.