PULL UP A CHAIR
THE LIFTEDSPIRITS
Home of the Vigilant Kinship
A gathering place for songs, stories, familiar faces, unfinished business, and the occasional terrible idea.
TONIGHT'S ENTERTAINMENT
The Stage
The Raven Bard takes the stage. Choose a performance from the Set List, listen here, or take a copy with you.
Suggested file: images/stage.webp
NOW PERFORMING
Choose a performance
The Raven Bard
EQUALIZER
Shape the room
THE LIFTED SPIRITS HOUSE BAND
The Restless Spirits
A remarkable collection of musicians, a stage to call home, and a story behind every song.
Meet the band. Select a performer to discover their story.
The Restless Spirits · Drums & percussion
Alfonso
Alfonso is a human alchemist in service to the Temple of Selûne and an old friend of both Paxton Barnes and Orpheus Tye. He also happens to be a werewolf, though calling his lycanthropy a curse around Alfonso will usually earn you a raised eyebrow. Years of discipline and Selûnite guidance have given him remarkable control over the beast. In his human form, Alfonso has only one arm, something he adapted to long ago in both his alchemical work and everyday life. When he transforms, however, the change restores what was lost, giving the towering werewolf two powerful arms and a rare sense of physical freedom.
That freedom may explain why Alfonso took so naturally to the drums. Behind a kit, he can be absolutely ferocious, hammering out complicated rhythms with a precision that seems impossible for someone his size. Despite appearances, he isn't an angry performer. Alfonso genuinely loves playing, and the more energetic the song becomes, the wider that wolfish grin gets. His percussion gives the band its heartbeat, and when Alfonso really gets going, it's sometimes difficult to tell where the disciplined musician ends and the delighted beast begins.
The Restless Spirits · Banjo & baritone
Doc
Doc hails from Sunrise, the same small frontier town Paxton Barnes calls home. Quiet even by the standards of people who describe themselves as quiet, Doc is far more comfortable letting his banjo do the talking. That works out well, because he plays the thing better than most people speak. When Doc does decide something needs saying, what comes out is a deep, booming baritone that seems completely impossible for someone his size. The contrast has become something of a running joke among the band, though Doc himself rarely does more than grin about it.
The blond hair, fair skin, and enormous goggles aren't really Doc. Beneath his Hat of Disguise, he's a drow who escaped a life where violence was expected of him and failure could end with something far worse than death, including the threat of being transformed into a drider. Doc found something entirely different beneath the open sky: sunlight, music, friends, and the chance to decide for himself what sort of man he wanted to be. Only his bandmates and a trusted handful know the truth. To everyone else, he's simply Doc, the strange little fellow from Sunrise who doesn't say much, but can make a banjo sing.
The Restless Spirits · Fiddle & lead vocals
Silver
Nobody seems to know exactly where Silver came from. He simply walked in one day, asked about work, and proceeded to demonstrate that he could sing country tunes, rock songs, old ballads, and just about anything else thrown at him. Charming, confident, and irritatingly handsome, he didn't stay a stranger for long. Some of the tavern's older patrons affectionately dubbed him "The Silver Fox," a nickname he pretends to dislike considerably more than he actually does. When Paxton is away, Silver steps into lead vocals alongside Lyric, and he has enough presence to command a room without ever making it feel like he's trying to replace the band's usual frontman.
Silver's real gift, though, is his fiddle. In his hands the bow moves so quickly it can become a blur, and he's equally comfortable playing a mournful melody or something fast enough to get half the tavern stomping their boots. There's a persistent rumor that Silver was once a sailor, and another that he was the only survivor when his last ship went down. He neither confirms nor denies either story. These days his afternoons are considerably less mysterious. Once the lunch crowd clears out, Silver pushes back the tables and teaches line dancing, patiently instructing everyone from seasoned regulars to hopelessly uncoordinated adventurers who have no business attempting a heel-toe shuffle.
The Restless Spirits · Lute, vocals & composition
Lyric
Lyric first met the Vigilant Kinship when they rescued her during one of their missions. At the time, she was a street thief surviving however she could, made all the more vulnerable because someone had cut out her tongue and left her unable to speak. Paxton and Raven took a particular interest in the young woman, and Paxton quickly became fiercely protective of her. He bought her proper clothes and a weapon, made sure she was safe, and expected nothing in return. Then he noticed how closely Lyric watched whenever he performed. Paxton asked Orpheus to restore her tongue, and for the first time in years, Lyric had her voice back. What nobody expected was just how extraordinary that voice would be.
Paxton offered to teach her, and Lyric took to music with an almost frightening natural ability. He bought her an enchanted purple lute and made her his apprentice, teaching her everything he knew while openly admitting that his goal was for Lyric to someday become better than he ever was. She is already well on her way. Lyric is a gifted singer and instrumentalist, but her real talent may be composition. She hears melodies where other people hear noise and has begun writing songs of her own, often building them around people, places, and moments she doesn't want forgotten. For someone who once had her voice stolen from her, Lyric has become determined to make very good use of the one she got back.
The Restless Spirits · Woodwinds & harmony
Kaelynn, Zahara & Maribel
Kaelynn, Zahara, and Maribel came to the Lifted Spirits together, following what each describes as an unmistakable calling from Milil, god of song and poetry. The three musicians had served Milil's church together, performing sacred music and carrying his songs wherever they traveled. Their calling was strangely specific: travel to the Lifted Spirits and find a man named Morris Barnes. They did exactly that, only to discover that the mysterious Morris Barnes was Paxton, whose first response was to beg all three of them to please call him Pax, Paxton, literally anything except Morris. Whatever Milil's reason for sending them, Paxton wasn't about to argue with a god who had just delivered three exceptional musicians to his doorstep.
Together they form the band's woodwind section, with each accomplished on several instruments and able to shift between flute, pipe, whistle, and whatever else a particular arrangement calls for. Their real surprise comes when they put the instruments down and sing. Kaelynn, Zahara, and Maribel have individually beautiful voices, but together their harmonies have the rich, soaring sound of a gospel choir, something their years singing in Milil's church made almost instinctive. They've become the backbone of the band's backing vocals, able to turn a simple chorus into something that fills every corner of the tavern. Paxton still isn't entirely sure why Milil sent them to him. The three women seem perfectly content to let him wonder.
The Restless Spirits · Cello & bass
High Priest Debbins
High Priest Debbins came to the Restless Spirits' open tryouts after some persistent prodding from Alfonso, though few expected a senior cleric of Selûne to actually show up. Debbins is a classically trained musician who spent years performing alongside other Selûnite clergy, providing solemn accompaniment for worship services, ceremonies, and funeral rites. He is very good at it. He's also spent most of those years desperately wanting to play something that didn't require everyone in the room to sit quietly and contemplate the mysteries of the moon. When Alfonso told him there was a stage where he could finally cut loose, Debbins decided the temple could survive a few evenings without him.
The result was something of a revelation. The gnomish priest attacks his enormous cello with joyful abandon, using the instrument to provide a deep, driving bass line that pushes the entire band forward. Debbins can still play something haunting enough to bring a tavern to silence, but he's discovered that he greatly prefers making the floorboards shake. Between sets, he's often found with Alfonso, talking rhythm, experimenting with new arrangements, or working out ways to make two traditionally dignified Selûnites sound considerably less dignified. For Debbins, the Restless Spirits aren't just another musical obligation. They're where he finally gets to play simply because it's fun.
The Restless Spirits · Accordion
Birt
Birt wasn't looking for a job when Paxton found him. He was sitting on the docks with a fishing line in the water, lazily playing his accordion while Paxton was headed down to check on business aboard his ship. The sight of an Aarakocra who looked suspiciously like a duck was enough to make Pax do a double take, but it was the music that stopped him. He pulled out his lute and joined in. Birt immediately squawked with delight and started pumping the squeezebox for all he was worth. The resulting sound was unlike anything Paxton had played before, and he loved every ridiculous second of it. When Pax asked him to audition for the Lifted Spirits' house band, Birt was stunned. As he put it, nobody had ever asked him to keep playing before.
Paxton insisted that Birt's accordion was exactly what the Restless Spirits needed, an instrument capable of filling the spaces between everyone else and somehow binding the whole strange collection of musicians together. He was right. Birt can jump from a gentle dockside tune to a rowdy tavern stomp without missing a squeeze, and when the band really gets moving, he's usually right in the middle of it with his wings spread, his beak open, and the bellows pumping like they're trying to keep up with him. Whatever doubts Birt had about belonging disappeared quickly. He hasn't missed a set since.
THE HOUSE PARTY
The Vigilant Kinship
The adventurers whose victories, disasters, and unpaid tabs have become part of the Lifted Spirits' history.
Meet the Kinship. Select a member to discover their story.
FAMILIAR FACES
The Common Room
Friends, regulars, allies, employees, hangers-on, and people who somehow keep finding their way back here.
WORD GETS AROUND
The Tavern
Some of it is work. Some of it is gossip. Some of it should probably be ignored.
POSTED WORK
Quests
OVERHEARD TONIGHT