Ryze Firedancer
Ryze Firedancer started out as a carnival worker who spit fire and juggled flaming torches.
He traveled the roads of Merida from The Dales to the port of Wassailing Gale with a Circus Troup called the the Flying Dragon Troupe. They performed gymastics and small plays that entertained townsfolk. They had several moveable carts that they unfolded to build a stage that they brought whole new worlds to life. And most of that magic was not in the costumes or the makeup and the amateur actors, it was in the words that Ryze scribbled onto paper and enhanced with his magic.
The Flying Dragons traveled from town to town throughout most of the year. In the winters, they stayed within Tylren, Meddivale or Olivet to perform inside taverns or barns when they could find them. That is until one day, the owner of the Cherry Blossom Theatre caught one of Ryze's more popular plays: the Winter Blossom, a play created to take advantage of the cold weather jackets and clothes his players had to wear outdoors. No one questioned why they were bundled up - the audience was enthralled by the story of a young girl Rizaella and the Wizard Ashan that fell in love with her as he saw he gathering wood in the forest.
The tale of the lovers who had to overcome the mother's prejudice against magic and wizards kept people standing still in the cold, breathing out over mugs of hot cider sold by the troop to keep their hands and insides warm. The heartwarming end made most of the crowd cry. Most clapped and then the crowd dispersed, some well to do folks in the audience dropping coin in the buckets near the stage.
In Olivet, Players from other traveling bands complained about the Flying Dragons to the local Wizards' Council, saying that the crowds that gathered outside of taverns to see them were enchanted. That he was using wizardry or witchcraft to bind people to their chairs and to ease the coin out of their meager coin purses.
When the Wizard Council members finally came to watch a performance of the Winter Blossom, they stood outside to watch them drag the players off to prison.
"You'll see," they said. "Words alone can't produce this kind crowd," they muttered.
That is what most of them believed until they waited outside of the Theatre for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, then an hour. Then the crowd poured out of the theatre, red-eyed. The council rep that had gone in to see the play came out dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief.
"Come now," they said, gathering around him, "tell us the truth - Ryze Firedancer cast a charm on the crowd, right?"
The wizard blew his nose, wiped it and put his handkerchief back in the pockets of his robe. He looked at the group of players in motley colors surrounding him.
"No gentlemen," he said shortly. "The play has some artifice, that is true. And there is some magic in the way the wind seems to blow snow down from the tree branches, but we sensed no compulsion and no charm cast upon the crowd, save that done by the words spoken by the actors. Ryze Firedancer has a way with words."
And with that, he pushed past them. After the winter passed, the owner of the Cherry blossom Theatre knowing a good deal when he saw it, decided to keep the Flying Dragons on as the Cherry Blossom's In-house Theatre troupe. It was in the Cherry Blossom Theatre that Firedancer's greatest works were written and performed.
He traveled the roads of Merida from The Dales to the port of Wassailing Gale with a Circus Troup called the the Flying Dragon Troupe. They performed gymastics and small plays that entertained townsfolk. They had several moveable carts that they unfolded to build a stage that they brought whole new worlds to life. And most of that magic was not in the costumes or the makeup and the amateur actors, it was in the words that Ryze scribbled onto paper and enhanced with his magic.
The Flying Dragons traveled from town to town throughout most of the year. In the winters, they stayed within Tylren, Meddivale or Olivet to perform inside taverns or barns when they could find them. That is until one day, the owner of the Cherry Blossom Theatre caught one of Ryze's more popular plays: the Winter Blossom, a play created to take advantage of the cold weather jackets and clothes his players had to wear outdoors. No one questioned why they were bundled up - the audience was enthralled by the story of a young girl Rizaella and the Wizard Ashan that fell in love with her as he saw he gathering wood in the forest.
The tale of the lovers who had to overcome the mother's prejudice against magic and wizards kept people standing still in the cold, breathing out over mugs of hot cider sold by the troop to keep their hands and insides warm. The heartwarming end made most of the crowd cry. Most clapped and then the crowd dispersed, some well to do folks in the audience dropping coin in the buckets near the stage.
In Olivet, Players from other traveling bands complained about the Flying Dragons to the local Wizards' Council, saying that the crowds that gathered outside of taverns to see them were enchanted. That he was using wizardry or witchcraft to bind people to their chairs and to ease the coin out of their meager coin purses.
When the Wizard Council members finally came to watch a performance of the Winter Blossom, they stood outside to watch them drag the players off to prison.
"You'll see," they said. "Words alone can't produce this kind crowd," they muttered.
That is what most of them believed until they waited outside of the Theatre for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, then an hour. Then the crowd poured out of the theatre, red-eyed. The council rep that had gone in to see the play came out dabbing his eyes with a handkerchief.
"Come now," they said, gathering around him, "tell us the truth - Ryze Firedancer cast a charm on the crowd, right?"
The wizard blew his nose, wiped it and put his handkerchief back in the pockets of his robe. He looked at the group of players in motley colors surrounding him.
"No gentlemen," he said shortly. "The play has some artifice, that is true. And there is some magic in the way the wind seems to blow snow down from the tree branches, but we sensed no compulsion and no charm cast upon the crowd, save that done by the words spoken by the actors. Ryze Firedancer has a way with words."
And with that, he pushed past them. After the winter passed, the owner of the Cherry blossom Theatre knowing a good deal when he saw it, decided to keep the Flying Dragons on as the Cherry Blossom's In-house Theatre troupe. It was in the Cherry Blossom Theatre that Firedancer's greatest works were written and performed.
Children
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