There was very little light in the Great Hall of the Forgotten Kings. How could this be the home that I was to protect? The chaos CinderXIII saw below in the monstrous cavern was nothing like the Kingdom that was home. The image was of tens of thousands clawing and climbing over each other, screaming and crying. There was a tumult of sound. It could hear the pleading, a deafening wall that crashed in waves in its fervor and insistence. It saw a rampant craze of need implicit on every face seen by the twilight and knew that the whole thing would implode before too long. It checked the cross bows at It’s hip to be sure of easy access and charged bolt incase the thing was needed.
That was when the first bolts shot across the artificial sky made by the ceiling so far overhead. The sounds changed, to heavy bass and the high brass. This was a call to arms that It had never heard but had been created to respond to. This call was supposed to be answered by every dwarf that could lift an ax or hammer arming him or her selves and defending their ancestral home but no weapons were lifted this day. The crowd surged forward and met resistance from the shields of the high guard. Bolts of fire and rays of ice latticed the air over the heads of the thronging citizens and earned another wave of screaming sound for the efforts. The wizard work continued, with the play of sorcerers lending chaos to the fray. A concentration of arcane light fell to the raised platform that the Dwarven Shield was so vehemently protecting. The next notes where so pitched and loud they made every thing else seem quiet for a second after their release. The crowd answered in kind by matching the volume of that first strum.
Amidst smoke and light, sound and color, Its assignment arrived on the scene.

Landed more like it. Appearing to have fallen from the sky. Anna Lynn landed, knees bent, then slowly stands arms outstretched, chest high, and chin down. She reached up and took the lyre of her back and strummed a chord. The crowd’s noise died down. It analyzed the mood change and recognized this to be less than the violet outbreak that It had prepared for. Never the less, It stood at the ready, as per It’s programming.

Anna Lynn’s first set was over. The already energized room erupted into cheers and applause. The mage-made light show took over the entertainment as Anna walked towards It behind the stage to the right. She grabbed a towel from the table and looked at It.
As she wiped her brow “So, you are the stone-head they hired on this time,” she goaded.
“Looks like.” CinderXIII replied in monotone.
“They certainly know how to pick ‘em around here.” Anna jabbed and tossed her towel in his direction.
It caught the towel reflexively, refolded and placed the towel back where it came from.
Anna shook her head and scoffed as she headed back to center stage.
“By the way” Its words stopped her, she turned to face the construct “I heard ‘Stay Away from the Bitey End’ in a pub some weeks back. I liked that version better than the one you just preformed”
Anna smiled, nodded, turned and sashayed on stage.