For our final entry in the Crankbox Obeys series, we asked, "What do we absolutely have to do before we finish this series?" A good friend of Dylan's wanted us to write a song about his Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and since that was the winning entry, we had to comply. After a basement's worth of thought, we made this rock song about saying goodbyes to old friends and letting go of burdens.

...

All right, for those of you who want to know about the D&D story...

I run a D&D campaign for several friends, one of whom recently had to leave the campaign. Her character, a warlock with a mercurial temper named Riii (three i's), had had a curse placed on her that -- among other things -- removed some of her memory, and through a ritual, the party managed to find out who did it -- a woman named Miranda, halfway across the continent. The group takes six or seven levels to actually get there (which is a couple years in terms of our game), so they've been questing on Riii's behalf for a long while now. The other character of note right now is Chaedi: this song is from her perspective. She's the healer/cleric of the group and Riii's closest friend.

When the group finally does encounter Miranda, it turns out she was possessed by a sentient fire spirit. A part of this spirit is also living in Riii's amulet, connected to her through magic -- the spirit is what cursed her. Riii rebels and fighting breaks out, and when Miranda proves too weak, the spirit possesses Riii. The rest of the group is forced to fight her, and just when the spirit is about to escape, a final shot with an arrow brings it -- and Riii -- crashing to the ground.

Chaedi quickly takes stock of her and notes that she's still breathing, but incredibly cold. She rides ahead of the group taking Riii back to town, leaves her with a doctor, and seeks scholarly advice. They learn that the spirit was providing Riii with heat for too long -- that without that heat, her body can no longer warm itself. After much reading, they decide to hire an enchanter to summon and bind a creature of elemental fire; capture a piece of that fire; and bind it into a new amulet for Riii. This takes almost all of the money that the group has, but the summoning goes smoothly, and once the amulet is around her sleeping neck, she looks better; the danger has passed.

Finally, the long quest is over; Riii's curse is lifted and she's safe. They'll move on without her soon, leaving her to heal, but for now, the group suddenly has no pressing quest. Instead, they can, well, see what the city has to offer. Take a moment to breathe. Reflect on what they've done and who they've become.

A burden has been lifted, and Chaedi and her group are now, in a sense, free.