#kenku bard

[handskiki]

A lil rare comm I did! Of Caw Carl!!! A kenku bard

[oldspruceinn]

Cricket Songs

Bards! Kenku lore! There's some fantasy racism against Kenku here, but I think that's all that needs warned

Cricket's earliest memories were of their parents. They were gentle folks, kind and resilient, and firm in their beliefs.

"You are more than what they say you can be," they had always promised. "You are not a stereotype or a statistic, you are your own person."

They had lost those memories during their captivity, their mind too addled and afraid to allow them the hope of happier days. It had been easier to just accept the dark, the damp, the silence. Since their rescue, though, they had been rushing back.

Their next earliest memories were of Bards.

Vague, hazy memories returned first. Their first pinfeathers, and the way their parents had used both their beaks and their hands to help them along. Family bathtime, especially important during molting season, and the way they all preened each other after— so careful to make sure each feather was comfortably in place. Drying off together, all fluffed up and warm and safe.

Kenku were a cursed folk, and they would never forget it. But that didn't mean they had to suffer for it.

Community parties were bright, vibrant affairs. Bards were common, weaving stories and songs, teaching communities new words and phrases. Cricket remembered one, a few weeks before they had been taken. The day had been stormy and cold, but the night was clear. It had been a double new moon, one of the darkest nights of the year, but the stars always shined so brightly.

They lived in a smaller, poorer community in one of the outskirt towns. Communities took turns hosting the Dark Nights, Bright Lights festival to commemorate each double new moon, and this time, it was their turn. The community had gone all out— hosting the festival was an honor, after all. Worries loomed, though— that the impending storm would keep folks from coming, discussions were held over how much food was reasonable in proportion to cost, or even whether they could afford to host at all, based on how crops were looking.

But Kenku are Kenku. They love a party, especially when it can be an excuse to help. Kenku are known for their trickery, after all. And what better trick than to try to help folks without it being noticed?

Their next earliest memories were of community, and the value of cooperation.

It ended up being the largest festival their community ever hosted.

The typically night-long festival lasted for three days. Everyone brought in food from neighboring communities and recipes from far off travels. They gained new crops and learned how to help them thrive, and even built some simple greenhouses— something they hadn't had the resources or blueprints for previously.

When everyone finally left, it seemed that nearly everyone "accidentally" left something behind. But no one could be bothered to come back for that big cooking pot, or their old tool set, or all those "old scraps of fabric" that happened to be more than enough to make new quilts for everyone in need.

This was how stubborn communities supported each other without stepping on toes. Because Kenku are know to be prideful folk, after all.

This inner world, though, is known only to Kenku.

"The outsiders made up their minds about us before we ever had a chance," they remembered their father saying one night. "They thinks us thieves, they think our lack of words means a lack of intelligence. But they are wrong." Cricket listened to the array of voices, woven together effortlessly, as he spoke.

"[Thieves]," they repeated, head tilted.

"We steal voices, so they assume we steal everything else. We are intelligent, so they assume we scheme. Let them assume."

Kenku were a cursed folk, without voice or wings and most of them unable to imagine new things. But that didn't mean they had nothing.

Far from it.

One night, Cricket asked their father why the outside hated them so much, if bards existed to travel and share. Couldn't the bards explain it?

"Kenku are outcasts, my dear. Our beloved bards who bring us song and dance and voice and ideas are the bravest of us all. They face an unkind world. They do not sing and dance out there, they would be captured. Instead they travel, under cloak and pack, and listen. They listen and watch and sneak and read, and bring all of that back to share with us."

Cricket absorbed his words. Words spoken in voices that had long since passed. Voices passed down through generations.

They absorbed words in all the songs they heard, capturing voices along with the sounds of the instruments that accompanied them.

"They say that we're accurs-ed/ They say that we all lie/ But if you ever met us/ You'd know we'll share our pie"

"Voices come and voices go/ And there are some that linger/ No one here is truly gone/ When we share their voice together"

"I sing for you and I sing for me/ And for all who came before us/ We claim these voices as our own/ So why don't you now join us?"

Simple rhymes, simple melodies, dozens of voices, but they had heart.

The melodies trickled back as Aspen preened their feathers that first night, but it was weeks before the words returned. It took a few months before their mind and voice and feathers were all whole enough to really begin thinking about the bards again.

"The bravest of us all," their father had said, and having now faced the outside world, they agreed.

They began to wonder if there was a way for them to find other Kenku, to begin sharing their own stories. Maybe one day they'd become a bard themself. Maybe they could be brave, too.

Masterpost

Taglist: @wolfeyedwitch @littlebookworm69

[styxthecaracal]

I finally got around to drawing my DnD character! She's just a smol little bean!

I've been trying to be more size and body type inclusive in my art, so please feel free to give me some tips on how to do it better :3

Also feel free to ask any questions about her! I've put a pretty good amount of work into her and I'd be happy to talk about her :3

[misterparadigm]

The friends started up a new DnD campaign and I created a Kenku Bard named Mr. Siegel. Since I'd dove so deep into Tom Waits tunes last year, and I'd never played a Bard, it sounded like a lot of fun in a homebrew setting that's all about music.

And plus, doing the Tom Waits voice for the character is a blast. Very fun character. Dodgy, aloof, manipulative, and often loaded to the beak on whiskey and wine.

[that-weird-mushroom-guy]

compilation of my oc nomnom who is a kenku bard that is trying to make it big on the stand-up industry, but is terribly unfunny

[aznpew]

quick doodle headshot of my kenku bard, Click!

He just likes shinies and wants to be a musician against all kenku-defined odds ✌😔

[netoey]

how did i forget to post this?

this is my kenku bard Rattle. most of his spells are psychic damage, he wants to hurt his enemies the same way he hurts, edgy boy. he was the kings jester and got sick of being mocked so he fucked up some shit and now he wonders the world to exact revenge on the world in the form of beating the crap out of anything he can justify murdering :)

[ezeravar]

This is a drawing I did of my D&D character, The Bird! Yes, their name is The Bird. It fits. They’re a kenku bard who was raised as a member of the Sea Maiden’s Faire (a sea fairing circus, which travels along the Sword Coast on three galleons called The Hellraiser, and The Heartbreaker, and The Eyecatcher). They’re chaotic good, mischievous, sneaky, fun-loving, goofy, and surprisingly intelligent and observant. They avoid violence as much as possible, but they have lots of useful spells, and they’re very stealthy and charismatic. They also work for Jarlaxle Baenre as a spy, but they lost contact with him a few months ago after wandering into the domain of dread, Barovia. I’m pretty sure Strahd hates them. But, hey, they hate Strahd too. So, it’s mutual. Wish them luck in Barovia! Their poor innocent soul’s gonna need it.