The Ballad of Stagbold Keep

Initially, I confess, I had intended to write this as verse and then find some poor and credulous musician to supply music. But frankly the story is too complex for such treatment and I lack the patience.

In short the story is simple. I was lured to Stagbold Keep by the promise of commissions, it was sacked, and I fled. I am perhaps the only person still living who emerged from the sack without making a large amount of money out of it and this Ballad is my last opportunity to remedy the oversight.

Let us start at the beginning. Lord Stagbold, the eponymous holder of Staghold Keep, had a daughter. I’d like to say she was as beautiful as she was virtuous, but whilst I can vouchsafe her beauty, her virtue I am in no position to discuss.

Still her father must find her…