Paid in Silver, Paid in Flesh - DnD Inspired Song (He Tells Himself the Work is Mercy)

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Step inside the mind of the man at the heart of my one-shot adventure, “Dark Research”. The lyrics are his confession — and his justification. To him, the experiments are not cruelty, but necessity. Beyond Blackridge’s walls lie greater evils, ruthless enemies who would gladly destroy the kingdom. In his eyes, every subject he takes is a willing hero — paid in silver, their families cared for after their deaths. The work is grim, but in his mind, it is the only shield between his people and conquest.

And yet… in the dark, the voices of the dead still speak to him.

If you want to experience the full Dark Research adventure for yourself — or explore the other morally complex stories that define Blackridge — you can get the Blackridge Adventurer’s Guide for $5.99USD. It’s packed with locations, factions, and one-shot adventures that test both blade and conscience, plus Foundry VTT ready and printable battlemaps: https://www.seafootgames.com/product/blackridge-adventurers-guide-dnd-battlemap-bundle/?source=yt

LYRICS:
[Verse 1]
I keep the ledgers clean of names,
For kings who cannot bear the stains.
Our borders burn, the wolves draw near—
We kill, or else be conquered here.
I take the ones the world won’t keep,
The drunks, the maimed, the starved, the weak.
I offer gold they’ve never known,
And send them to the dark alone.

[Chorus]
Paid in silver, paid in flesh,
A hero’s death in the surgeon’s thresh.
Beyond these walls, the vultures wait—
I buy us time, I buy their fate.
If I damn my soul for this dark research,
Then so be it — knowledge ensures our perch.
For crowns are kept on the scholar’s crest,
Paid in silver, paid in flesh.

[Verse 2]
They say my work is cold and vile,
I tell myself it’s mercy, mild—
For out beyond the city’s crown,
Are hands that seek to burn us down.
Better here, where I can choose,
The blade is sharp, the blow is smooth.
And when they’re gone, their children eat—
A promise I have sworn to keep.

[Chorus]
Paid in silver, paid in flesh,
A hero’s death in the surgeon’s thresh.
Beyond these walls, the vultures wait—
I buy us time, I buy their fate.
If I damn my soul for this dark research,
Then so be it — knowledge ensures our perch.
For crowns are kept on the scholar’s crest,
Paid in silver, paid in flesh.

[Bridge]
Still, in the dark, I hear them speak,
The blood still warm, their voices weak.
They ask me if the cause was worth,
The bitter sum that gave my labour birth.
I see their eyes when mine should close,
Their final breath, this life I chose.
And I pretend they died with pride—
To keep their ghosts from my bedside.

[Outro]
So let the court write “noble dead,”
And feed their kin with coin instead.
For I will take this thankless task,
And trust the cause, as years drift past.

Paid in silver, paid in flesh—
A kingdom’s crown fed on pauper’s deaths.

I collaborated with AIs to make this. The process involves giving ChatGPT my campaign sourcebook or one-shot adventure to read as a reference, then I usually explain the outline of the song I’d like. Next, we write the lyrics of the song iteratively until it feels like we’ve hit the right elements. After more or less editing, I give the lyrics to Ilovesong AI with some music genre tags to generate the actual song. This can take quite a few generations until I’m happy with the emotion and sound of the song. Afterwards, I think of an artwork to symbolise the story and generate that using Midjourney.

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