JAC strutted into the tavern, his lute slapping against his back. The notif that he'd entered a free speech building greeted him as soon as he opened the door. He clicked accept, wincing as the voices of dozens of other Players filtered through his headphones. That was the thing about free speech zones; you didn't have to type in chat but too many people used it at one time, rendering any decent conversation moot unless made a private chat party.

The {Bard} didn't intend to do that. He had news to share and he wanted everyone to hear. Instead, he went to settings and turned the voice chat option down to 34%. Satisfied, he strode up to the stage, greeting the familiar characters of Players he knew as he walked.

"JAC!" one Player called out.

He paused, looking around the crowded tavern. Upon seeing the Player who grabbed his attention―a slim dragonkin wearing a typical {Truth Seeker} robe―he smiled. Lue was one of his best gaming buddies, although JAC didn't see him often unless he went down to Underworld regions. That was pretty much the only place where {Truth Seekers} were useful in raids, seeing as their skill/spell set revolved around revealing lies. JAC personally couldn't stand having leveling restricted to one zone; {Bards} deemed cross-country traveling a necessity!

"Hey, Lue," he said, raising one hand in greeting. "You gonna stay for the show?"

"Oh? You made a song?"

"Yeah, I put in some lyrics into the bard maker mod. This song gives a curious boost; 25% higher rewards when finding hidden treasure for, like, three days, I think."

"Cool. I'll stay."

"Great!"

Lue went back to his seat while JAC went up to the stage. The few players who had bothered to pay attention to their conversation were staring up at him, expectant. None of them had seen the {Bard} class in action but quite a few had read about how good their boosts were―from a high-leveled {Bard}, anyway.

Alas, for JAC, the five Players―Lue included―watching him was not enough, so he shifted into a more feminine form. Thanks to his shifter race, he could have up to five forms on one character; more if he paid but the option was expensive. His sexy female character caught a few of the hornier guys' attention, one going so far as to whistle at him.

Good, but the others were still ignoring him. Sighing, he played the /callout command in tavern-chat―there was always the option for such chats in free speech zones in case somebody didn't want to access it. The command made his character cup her mouth with her hands and shout in both the VC and the TC. "Hey!"

Most people stopped what they were doing and looked quite aggravated at the ping. Pleased to get their attention, JAC switched back to his former Human form - a tall, wiry brunette with daring green eyes and a strong jawline - and commanded his character to play his custom made song.

"In a land far, far away, there's a person named Kane¹Schwab to you Scribble Hub Readers," he began, strumming his lute. His voice, smooth and melodic, attracted the gazes of the unattentive Players. "The greatest Kane²Again, Schwab on scribble in all the land; to all the world as the greatest Kane³(Schwab) known to man. This Kane had a message for yooou~..."

His character paused, took a deep breath, then started strumming the strings fiercely, tapping the ground with his shiny leather boot.

"Ohh, this Kane⁴i.e. Schwab has a Discord, open for you and me! It's great and fun, totally! In my own unbiased opinion, I'd join right away! I say, I say, you must not delay! Get pinged for new updates, talk to the great Kane, play with bots, this discord has it all! Why, if you join, I promise you'll have QUITE the ball!"

"And that's it. Goodbye."