The Croaking Lily Pond

[Mudguard]

It was the worst of times, it was the worst of times...How long since the beauteous winged one hadinto the nether blue and left him in the coop?

Agneus hunched his shoulders and  scowled along the meandering dirt track. Not for him the bustling smoke filled taverns, filled with colour and toothsome wenches.
A follower in the footsteps of a certain renowned Actor...With a gob that turned cherubs into hoodlums...Ha!

Agneus drew out a shiny black Oboe,keys fondled smooth, and glaring at the undergrowth embarked upon a rude riposte to the Crows roosting in the twilight trees. 

[Zee]

((I think I got that you're in a tavern, so I'll go with that.))

The tavern the man was in is quite busy as it is now in the dusky hours of the day. Patrons coming and going but far fewer going and the inn starts to pack up, the proprietor of the establishment stokes the fire to make sure it's pleasantly warm. A burly man who has been into the mead barrel for quite a while stumbles through the patrons and bumps into agneus. "'Ey outter the way shhrimpy."

[Zee]

((Seems I didn't follow his initial post so disregard my previous post))

The moon reflects off the surface of the pond casting both an eerie and beautiful light about the trees in the distance and the cattail growing around the rim of the pond, the chirping of crickets and croaking of frogs only enhancing the atmosphere. From the shadows a tall thin man dressed in a robe colored in a dark shade of blue emerges. Handsome and graceful he runs a hand through the cattail smiling before disappearing into the shadows and the reeds. Emerging back into view the man now carries a black wooden box and his robes now appear a dark green in color.

Lifting a hand he points a boney finger at agneus' instrument. In an elegant and melodic voice "You any good?" His attention having been drawn by the sudden and odd approach of the man had pulled his attention away from what Agneus suddenly noticed what was absent. The forest sounds had been silenced.

[Mudguard]

Agneus stops mid-hoot, and warily eyes the man, before turning his attention to the pond. He wraps his gob around his oboe and begins to play: Murmuring low notes, folding in upon themselves; rising in volume.  A tremolo of high notes begin to play across the lower like the moonlight upon the pond.
Bubbling to the surface comes a persistent D minor held long; cut short, then rising up again. Then an E sharp, then a G flat. The three notes play above all the rest in increasing frequency, a cacophony rising to a crescendo, piercing the night.
Agneus turns his eyes back to the man and draws the oboe from his lips.

[Zee]

The man smiles and hops up on a hickory stump "Boy let me tell you what, you prolly didn't even know it but i'm an oboe player too and if you care to take a dare i'll just make a bet with you. Now you play a pretty good oboe boy but lets give the devil his due I bet a oboe of magic against your soul cause I think i'm better than you."

[Mudguard]

Agneus gives a derisive snort, narrows his eyes at the man and firmly tucks his instrument under his right armpit. He starts to walk away in search of a path around the pond. He glances back warily in the direction of the stranger as he does so.

[Zee]

The man waits until agneus glances back at him pointing a finger. "Get to keep your soul today boy." With that the man vanishes into the shadows of the night and the sounds about the pond return.

[Mudguard]

Agneus wends his way through the woodland along the moonlit trails, lost in thought...after a while he yawns, his legs grownn weary and searches for a tree with great arms to rest. A great oak, tower like, ancient scales of moss covered bark, glossy leaves glinting. The lost bard nimbly climbs into its folds, settles somewhere in the canopy and leaning against the massive tree trunk wraps his cloak close around him. He stares at the moon for a while, then closes his eyes to sleep.

[Zee]

As the man curls up in his tree the woodland animals set about their nightly rituals. Deer come to drink, frog croak and bugs light their luminescent tails. A nice scene that slowly fades as the soft moonlight fades from the ponds surface and the morning sun makes the setting entirely to bright to be as bueateous as it was during the night.