Before We Venture Forth

Bank the coals, the road is sleeping, Smoke in the pines and blood on the mail. One cup waits for the friend we're keeping Only in names and firelit tales. Patch the cloak and pass the bottle, Count every scar by the lantern's breath. Tomorrow's gate is cold and hollow, But tonight we bargain softly with death. One brings the map with the edges burning, One brings a prayer for the lost at sea. One hides the key no guard saw turning, One keeps a song where fear should be. One sharpens steel in a silence heavy, One reads old stars through a storm-torn sky. We came as strangers, hungry and wary, We stayed because no one else would try. No crown awaits us. No clean reward. Just muddy boots at a tavern door. A blade. A shield. A spell. A scar. All we are when the dark draws near. Before we venture forth, Gather the wounded, gather the worn. No soul walks into the dark alone, No name is left to the teeth of dawn. Raise up the cup, keep watch by the flame, Laugh through the smoke, remember the slain. The road may break us, but oath by oath, We go together before we venture forth. From Candlekeep's towers to the Sword Coast rain, From Baldur's Gate to the Underdark cold, We traded sleep for a village name, And carried strangers worth more than gold. Under the keep where the dead roots twisted, We found a lord with a crown of bone. It spoke in the voice of every friend we missed, And promised each of us a throne. You begged me turn from the burning bridge. You chose the path where the children cried. We saved the dawn by a narrow inch. And buried Rowan on the other side. Not every victory sings like glory. Some are ash in a shaking hand. But every wound becomes a story Only the fire can understand. Before we venture forth, Gather the wounded, gather the worn. No soul walks into the dark alone, No name is left to the teeth of dawn. Raise up the cup, keep watch by the flame, Laugh through the smoke, remember the slain. The road may break us, but oath by oath, We go together before we venture forth. Your eyes accused me across the embers, And I wore silence like a chain. My hands still tremble when I remember Who called for help in the red-lit rain. I do not bless you for every burden. I do not forgive myself at all. But when the horn sounds from the hills, You are still the name I call. Leave a place beside the fire For boots that never came. Pour one more ale into the night For those we reached too late. Their ghosts are not behind us, They walk in every star. They are the weight beneath our armor, They are the road inside our hearts. If I fall where the black doors open, Do not let the dark wear my face. If I fail when the last oath is spoken, Carry my song to the next camp place. Not all who wander home together Find the same road when morning comes. But while this fire remembers us, We are not lost. We are not done. Before we venture forth, Gather the lost, the brave, the torn. The dragon waits beyond the pass, The devil smiles behind the door. Bring me the cup, the map, the flame, The foolish joke that fights the pain. The road may break us, but oath by oath, We go together before we venture forth. Before we venture forth, Count every heart by the flame. If one is gone, then speak their name, And carry it through the rain. Before we venture forth, Before the dark is drawn, We gather close, we lift the song, And leave as one at dawn. Bank the coals, the road is waking. Shoulder the grief and guard the light. Whatever waits beyond the morning, We face it side by side.