Grenfell and the Star-gift

Grenfell and the Star-gift is a stage play written by the playwright Ruhan Sarkar. It was Sarkar's final work, as yet unperformed at the time of his death. Sarkar was so distressed by not being able to see his final (and best, in his estimation) work performed, his spirit remained in the theater where he and his company performed during Sarkar's life, haunting it until a group of adventurers were brought to him during a Dreamfasting ritual and performed it for him.

The dreamfasters do not know where the theater lies in reality, but if it could be located, it is possible that the manuscript of the play could be found there. They were not able to keep a copy of the manuscript after waking from the dreamfasting, so at least for the time being, Grenfell and the Star-gift exists only in memory.

The action of the play is based on a true tale, part of the story of the adventurers Taliesin Grenfell and his wife Elenanna.

The surviving characters in the play -- Elenanna, the Lady of the Lake, and Aeson Haluin -- knew nothing of the play until it was later described to them by the adventurers who took part in the dreamfasting, when they confirmed the basic facts of the tale.

Cast of Characters

• Taliesin Grenfell, a human bard and adventurer, husband of Elenanna
• Elenanna, an elvish wizard and adventurer, wife of Taliesin
• Grandmother Bathory, the matriarch of the Assassin's Guild
• Banshon, a human warrior who falls from grace and is the enemy of both Grandmother Bathory and Taliesin
• The Lady of the Lake, an archfey who gives Taliesin a gift that -- at least for a little while -- allows him to stop Banshon in his plunge into wickedness

Synopsis

Taliesin, Elenanna and Banshon (along with Banshon's wife, who does not have a speaking role in the story) begin as friends and companions in adventure. As Taliesin and Elenanna's relationship blossoms into love and marriage, Banshon's pride and arrogance begin to overtake him.

When Grandmother Bathory sends one of her assassins (Aeson Haluin) to kill Banshon's foot soldiers, Banshon kills the assassin, exhibiting his severed head to all and sundry. This repulses Taliesin and Elenanna, who at first try to convince Banshon he has gone too far. Banshon turns on them.

Taliesin and Elenanna seek help from the Lady of the Lake, while Banshon murders Grandmother Bathory (who had just given birth to a daughter and was giving up her evil ways). Taliesin traps Banshon and his wife in a magical mirror, the gift of the Lady of the Lake. Both Banshon and Taliesin know the mirror can only hold three souls at one time.

Time passes, and Taliesin and Elenanna celebrate the birth of their son. Meanwhile, Banshon has hatched a plan to escape the mirror -- by making his wife bear children. When the second child is born, it is the one cast out of the mirror.

Outraged beyond bearing at this, Taliesin writes a farewell poem to his wife, and calls first Banshon's wife, then Banshon himself, out of the mirror, challenging them to duels. Banshon's wife dies, and then Banshon and Taliesin kill one another. Elenanna vows to honor her husband's memory by raising her own son and Banshon's children together, as her own.