QueensSacrifice

A thematic piece of the SagaOfClivesdale, written by StephGrush (joined by a wildly enthusiastic WillShipley). The Queen's Sacrifice deals with the choices various party members have made, and their motivations for those choices. At its core, it asks: can anyone truly be forced down a path not their choosing? Must every sacrifice instead be born of a free mind, deciding for itself what road it takes?

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 The street is cold and barren still tonight I dare not rest.
 The inn provides me nothing but a moment's peace at best.
 The tavern's fire warms my hands, his eyes they bring me chill;
 And yet tonight I'll go to him, and let him take his fill.
 Tomorrow you'll condemn me for the gifts that I must share,
 But I do what I have to, it's the burden that I bear!
 The sacrifice I make, and the chances I must take,
 The only coin I own I offer for survival's sake.

In a heart that longs for virtue, survival favors vice:

Why must it always be the queen who makes the sacrifice?

The more you treasure freedom the more you have to lose,

But how can you embrace the choice if you're not free to choose?

 She knows the path is perilous, she knows the foe is strong;
 She sees the darkness she must face if she has chosen wrong.
 She knows not what her power nor the price that she must pay,
 And yet she'll brave the demon if she must to win the day.
 If magic harbors evil she will fall to power's lure--
 But she does what she must to face the peril she'll endure!
 And maybe she will fall alone, a sacrifice of war . . .
 Survival is a blessing - but her family matters more.

See her throw herself to peril, without her thinking twice:

Why must it always be the queen who makes the sacrifice?

The more you treasure freedom the more you have to lose

But how can you embrace the choice if you're not free to choose?

 His body wracked and battered, his squire surely dead,
 His captors seek to serve him to enhance their daily bread.
 How can this evil flourish in a world he's swourn to guard?
 His kinsman fall, it conquers all, while he lies sore and scarred.
 He's found a chance to triumph, to become a voice and hand.
 So he does what he must to gain the chance to make a stand!
 Now friends take care and wonder at the power he's become;
 His family fading faintly in the light of what he's won.

In his solitude he wanders, as Order's artifice:

Why must it always be the queen who makes the sacrifice?

The more you treasure freedom, the more you have to lose

But how can you embrace the choice if you're not free to choose?

 I sit in indecision, my road too dark to see,
 Do I acknowledge loyalty or do I struggle free?
 A pawn may rise to providence, a queen to sweep the land,
 Yet every pawn is bound to serve and fall at one command.
 How can I trust these favors if I cannot know their aim
 So I do what I can to keep the freedom of my name:
 My quest is begging guidance from the power I have spurned,
 But if I give my honor, that what's left of all I've earned?

Now he yearns for grace and glory, but stumbles at the price:

Why must it always be the queen who makes the sacrifice?

The more you treasure freedom The more you have to lose

But how can you embrace the choice if you're not free to choose?

 And when decision comes to you - Which pathway will you tread?
 Defy what you've been taught is true and risk that you're misled?
 You know not what is right or wrong, yet you must take a stand;
 It seems that either way you fall, and with you falls the land.  
 If all who speak to you insist the path you choose is wrong,
 Then will you walk alone and let your own dreams lead you on?
 Don't ever doubt your courage to accept the path you take . . .
 The freedom to consider every sacrifice you make.

For the king can't throw his crown down when every choice is grim

And so it rests upon the queen to end what he begins

The time will come one moment when all eyes look to you;

Find your strength alone to take the throne . . . and walk the path you choose.