34 Battle of the Bards (1/2)

Princess was ecstatic. It had been a long time since she participated in competitive dancing. She stepped up onto the stage.

Carn came forward. ”To ensure fairness, the dancing competitors will dance to the same music and lack of music simultaneously. The competition of the bards will happen afterwards.”

Hearing this, Princess smiled bigger as she equipped a pair to tap dancing shoes she obtained while Jericho and Ken were hunting and a casual shirt and pants she had sown for herself.

A satyr, with a groomed look, stroked his goatee as he ascended the stage. ”I am intrigued by your enthusiasm and drab choice in cloths young elf. I will see you asking me to teach you the ways of the dance by the end.”

Princess tapped her shoes on the stone a few times. She spun silently before enthusiastically moving both her body and feet. She paused. ”A dance-off should be spoken with action and not words my friend.” She started to pick up the pace of her tapping as she sauntered towards him.”

Seeing this aggressive stance, the satyr grinned and started to match her rhythm. His movements started combining a variety of dance styles into the tapping of his hoofs.

Hearing the rhythm of the duo's feet, the minstrels started playing.

Ken stared wide eyed at the energy and passion both parties were throwing at each other.

The two circled one another. Their feet clacked perfectly in sync.

The satyr performed a few spin kicking like motions as he bounced back and forth continuing to clack his hoofs on point. His hoofs came extremely close to the girl's face.

Princess fell backwards to avoid the kick, caught herself and continued to dance wildly from the ground. Not a single beat was skipped.

Jericho suppressed a laugh as he knew exactly what is sister was doing.

The girl propped herself onto one hand kicked in the air a few times, flipped around to a pushup like position continued to tap as she spun her body around her hands. She pushed her body into the air and flipped. The dance continued.

The satyrs watched her aggressive movements in awe.

{What type of dancing is that?} Ken whispered quietly.

Jericho grinned. {It is known as tap style break dancing. You need to have a strong body, decent flexibility and a lot of swag to pull off this aggressive style. Despite my sister's delicate appearance, her muscles are really well formed.} He warned.

The dancing satyr was sweating. He didn't know how she could move like that. He leaned forward and started performing a few steps Ken recognized. {Is he mixing the swing with the earlier type of dancing?}

Jericho shook his head. {The movements are similar, but the swing isn't the only type of dancing that uses those types of moves. But knowing Moira she will take control of the entire dance shortly.}

As if completely on cue, Princess mirrored the goat's movements and the dance off suddenly changed vibes as if instead of competing they were dance partners.

The dance-off continued for a few more minutes before everything came to an abrupt close.

Princess received a few notifications. [Your dancing skill line has increased to Tier 4.] [You have shown your dominance on the dance stage and have completed the quest Dance-Off of Arglwydd y Ddawns. You have gained 3000Exp.] [You have leveled.] [You have defeated your opponent so one-sidedly Arglwydd y Ddawns has approved of your prowess.] [You have gained 5000 Exp. You have leveled.]

”I admit defeat, you are definitely the superior dancer.” The satyr gave a nod. ”You have my respect young elf.”

Princess gave a nod. ”You are quite skilled yourself. Most dancers would have lost composure facing off with you. Let's dance again sometime.”

The satyr bowed. ”It would be an honor.”

Princess received a strange notification she had not anticipated. [You possess the skill Summon Background dancers. You can now summon Satyrs to dance with you. Satyrs do not give a specific boon to any one type of dancing. They give an overall boon to performances in general. If you perform dances of worship with satyrs, the satyr god will be pleased.]

The two left the stage. The audience was both shocked and impressed into silence.

Jericho came up to the stage where two large panpipes, two large drums, two fiddles, and two very long wooden horn like objects he instantly recognized as an alphorn were placed. ”This is going to be fun.”

Two satyrs approached the stage.

”You may begin the battle of the bards!” Carn shouted.

Jericho and Jericho picked up the two panpipes and started playing a gentle melody in the minor tone. Partway through his piece, he put away one of the pipes and moved over to the fiddle. The calm song rapidly turned heroic. The second panpipes when away and Jericho moved over to the alphorn. He breathed deeply and with a buzzing of his lips created a heavy undertone like something ominous was approaching. The fiddle wielding Jericho rolled a drum next to his clone's leg. With the supported drums and kicked them.

(He's playing A Legend through the Ages even though he doesn't have enough hands to play the completed version.) Princess whispered to Ken.

The fiddle came to a tragic sounding climax as the alphorn ceased. The original minor toned panpipe melody returned.

Jericho lowered the instruments. He gave a slight nod to his competitors.

They lifted their instruments and countered with a peppy melody. When they finished they returned with a light nod.

Jericho received their acknowledgment and pulled out both fiddles. The sounds of a strange mix between fantasy and country music styles reverberated through the surroundings.

Some of the satyrs in the audience couldn't resist the urge to quietly dance. Jericho pulled an epic surprise by using the alphorn to beatbox.

The exchange of music went back and forth another three times before the two satyrs admitted defeat.