Musical Inspiration Challenge Part 12: The Reward

Jonas Psalter by Styx

Oh boy. For all the songs we could have gotten regarding rewards for the players, we get this one.

Jonas Psalter dates back to when Styx, a band renowned for broadway style arena rock, was still trying to be a progressive hard rock band in the venue of folks like Hawkwind.

As to why this song gets my eyebrows up, well.. In case you didn’t listen to it back in post 2..

The lyrics

///

When Captain Jonas Psalter
Sailed his ship to sea
Anne Bonny kept him company

The skull and crossbones flew
Above the ocean blue
The captain's men were a pirate's crew

The ships they sought to take
Were of the Spanish Main
A gift from Ferdinand of Spain

And though you rob and kill to find your dream
Your crimes are hardly what they seem

Tortuga held the treasure of a thousand kings
So Jonas planned to steal everything

Two hundred men stood guard
Around the fortune's nest
But Psalter's steel slew all the rest

And when the smoke had cleared
And bloody bodies lay
Everyone could hear the minstrel play

Woo woo Jonas Psalter
You've captured every prize
There is to dream of in one life

And so we wonder why
We found you in your bed
With that bullet in your head

///

Yeah. It’s about a man who lives on the edge, eternally attempting to gain what he’s seeking, and ultimately failing. Having supposedly accomplished everything a person in his profession could, he still finds himself empty, and kills himself.

Our reward song, folks!!

Also, hilariously, has the pirate theme going for it.

So, since the reward represents what our heroes find waiting for them at the end, what do they get? Well, the obvious response is, they get the pirate booty that’s in the old stronghold. Treasure, glittering gold, precious baubles. And they’ve stopped the HK commander’s plans but..

There is no going home again. Between the storm, the brainwashing and gas lighting, they’ve lost their hometown forever. Oh, it’s still there, and parts might remain, but it will never be the same again.

They’ve ended up in a situation similar to the Hellknights, defeating evil, but losing something precious in the exchange, and it’s up to them whether to become lost to nostalgia, or to move on.

On the upside. Piles of pirate booty!