Sevryn’s Shanty is a comedic sea-shanty recap of sessions 1 through 16, written in a Wellerman-adjacent 4/4 call-and-response form for catching new players up at the table. The chorus invokes Sevryn’s catchphrase that “it’s all going to plan, lads” after each disaster — the lost egg, three dead party members, a year of questing spent chasing the wrong dragon — and the closing verse flips into the campaign’s thesis statement (“everything’s happening the way it’s supposed to”) as the party sails south toward a city that hates magic.

The Sevryn Shanty

A comedic sea-shanty recap of sessions 1 through 16, for catching new players up at the table.

Style: Sea shanty, Wellerman-adjacent (4/4, call-and-response, single lead voice on verses, full table on chorus). Recommended tempo: Bouncy, not mournful. The dissonance between the cheer and the body count is the joke. Performance note: The chorus gets a beat louder each time. The final chorus is shouted by everyone; one player (the “Sevryn voice”) delivers the closing line dead calm.

Chorus (sung between every verse)

And soon may the Sev’ryn come, To point at the dragons that need to be done, We’ve lost the egg and we’ve lost three sons, But it’s all going to plan, lads!

Verse 1 (sessions 1 to 3, Wyrmbough)

We answered the call at the Hollow Hall, Five strangers, one egg, and a dragon to maul, Sev’ryn the wizard said “magic shall fall, Unless you absorb a hoard, lads!”

(Chorus)

Verse 2 (session 3, the first death)

Death-at-Sunset went down in her lair, The egg turned green from the essence in there, Then Cholmondeley caught a yuan-ti pair, Of fangs, and he died, oh dear! His final words were a curse, in fact: “I hate you all,” and that’s a fact, We buried his moustache, we shouldered our packs, And we marched on south to Mirestrand!

(Chorus)

Verse 3 (session 4, the Mask)

At the Still Current Inn we met a Mask, Hugo signed up for a seven-year task, A devil’s pact (don’t bother to ask), For a ring he can’t take off, lads! The Mask said “Corvin” and Hugo went pale, And the Project recording told quite a tale: A hundred-and-forty thousand, and seven survived the trial, And our Hugo was one of the seven!

(Chorus)

Verse 4 (sessions 5 to 7, the Warrens)

We crawled into Umbrafall’s Warrens of slime, Through phase spiders, bookshelves, and bio-gloom grime, Caelumn dropped a fireball one time, And he downed himself in the blaze, lads! Maelis Dirn sneered, “I see the project’s mark,” Then her Titan said “no more” in the dark, A natural twenty turned the witch into spark, And the Titan, he vanished forever!

(Chorus)

Verse 5 (sessions 7 to 8, Mercy and the Quarry)

Vasquez got nabbed and his cellmate, Jack, Called him “Bruise” and the nickname stuck back, The urn smelled of lye and we knew the attack: The Aurelians were stealing the gifted! Then off to the quarry where the miners had died, And something inside Vasquez whispered with pride, “Take the weight,” and he did, and his elf-blood lied, And horns grew right through his skull, lads!

(Chorus, slightly darker)

Verse 6 (session 9, Harvo)

A succubus charmed our Hugo for spite, She pointed his axe at Harvo that night, Twenty-three damage on a critical strike, And the artificer dropped, “well, fuck”-ing! We burned him by moonlight where the crystal lay, And a letter from Sev’ryn arrived to say, “I knew he would die, but he had to, in a way, So the rest of you keep going.”

(Chorus)

Verse 7 (sessions 10 to 11, Mercy cracks)

Three nat-twenties Caelumn pulled in a row, On an orderly Drew at the Mercy below, Who cracked like an egg and let the truth flow: The Aurelians were taking them home! Mira Hale, gone, by boat at Dock thirteen, An ambush followed in an alleyway scene, The paladin’s blade burned through Vasquez’s spleen, And the demon inside hissed in fury!

(Chorus)

Verse 8 (sessions 12 to 13, the Cottage)

Ruin showed up from Sev’ryn anew, A tiefling warlock to round out the crew, We met Phil the baker with a tale we pursued: A small red dragon in his oven, lads! We chased a candy trail east through the wood, To a cottage of sugar (you knew that we would), We faced Uncle Nibblecheek (toothless and rude), And we bluffed our way past the slaughter!

(Chorus)

Verse 9 (session 14, the wrong dragon)

But the dragon, oh dear, was gold-red, not the kind, The egg in the backpack had nothing to find, A year of our questing was wasted, you’ll mind, And Sev’ryn’s own magic misfired! Then Aurelia took Eldwythe in less than a day, Wanted posters of all of us hung in the way, White-and-gold banners and tabards of Pure, And we ran for the trees in the moonlight!

(Chorus)

Verse 10 (session 15, the chain)

A kobold named Althea rolled into our camp, With a gorget of silver and a holy gem’s stamp, The Aurelians chased her, and out of the damp, Stepped a chain-master, smiling like murder! Mharos said “blame her,” but Vasquez said “no,” He stepped to the front and he took on the blow, And the chain went through Ruin and his head went below, And the egg in the smoke was taken!

(Chorus, the loudest yet)

Verse 11 (session 16, the sewers and the sea)

Down through the sewers with Phil at our backs, He’d been a brigand (we’d had our hunches in fact), He gave us a name and a code and a map, To a man called Hett Varn at a shrine, lads! Now five of us sail on a skiff toward the south, Toward the city that wants every word from our mouths, And Sev’ryn’s calm voice murmurs into our doubts:

Final Chorus (slow build, full table, ALL CAPS energy)

EVERYTHING’S HAPPENING THE WAY IT’S SUPPOSED TO, EVERYTHING’S HAPPENING THE WAY IT’S SUPPOSED TO, EVERYTHING’S HAPPENING THE WAY IT’S SUPPOSED TO, THE LOST AND THE DEAD AND YOU, LADS!

(Beat. Then quick and bouncy, one last hit:)

So soon may the Sev’ryn come, With a riddle and a hoard and a “told you so” run, We’ve lost the egg and we’ve lost three sons, AND WE’RE GOING WHERE THEY HATE MAGIC!

Style notes

Why a sea shanty is the right call

The party just boarded a skiff at the end of s16, so the form is already diegetic. Shanties are built for group recitation around a table. The 4/4 march tempo and the cheerful call-and-response carry the comedic dissonance against what the lyrics are actually describing (devil pact, body horror, decapitation, an erased family, a year of questing wasted on the wrong dragon).

The Sev’ryn refrain is the engine. Hit “it’s all going to plan, lads” right after every disaster. The bigger the disaster, the more deadpan the delivery.

Reference tracks to listen to before performing

The Longest Johns or Nathan Evans, “Wellerman.” Build your meter from this. “Drunken Sailor,” any version. For the call-and-response intuition. “Leave Her Johnny Leave Her.” For the melancholy chorus energy that lets the comedy land.

Alternative styles, if you want a different colour

Hamilton-style hip-hop opener (think “Alexander Hamilton” or “The Story of Tonight”). Better if you want plot density delivered fast, with rhythmic name-checks of every NPC. Less group-singable, more single-performer showcase. Works if one of your players can actually rap.

Tavern bard ballad in the Flight of the Conchords or Tenacious D vein. Slower, melodic, more space for individual jokes to breathe. Solo guitar performance. Best if someone at the table actually plays.

Broadway ensemble opener (think “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast, or “Tradition” from Fiddler on the Roof). Each PC gets their own verse with character-defining lines. More rehearsal-heavy but very rewarding if your group is into it.

“We Didn’t Start the Fire” (Billy Joel). Rapid-fire reference dump, every NPC and event named, almost no narrative. Great nostalgia hits for returning players, but actually bad for onboarding new ones (the whole point is you already know who the names are).

Rules to keep the comedy working

Quote the actual table dialogue. “I hate you all” and “well, fuck” are funnier verbatim than paraphrased. The shanty already does this; don’t sand the edges off.

Resist the urge to make the dark verses musically sad. The Harvo verse and the Ruin verse should still bounce. The dissonance is the joke.

Sev’ryn’s catchphrase is sacred. Do not paraphrase “everything is happening the way it’s supposed to” anywhere it’s quoted. The closing line is the campaign’s thesis statement delivered as a punchline.

If you want to extend it at the table, give each PC one bonus verse roasting them specifically. Caelumn’s would obviously open with the self-fireball. Hugo’s would be the seven-year devil pact for vague intel about a name he doesn’t recognise. Vasquez’s would be “Bruise.”