The Knights of Dragon Down

"The Knights of Dragon Down" was a ballad telling of the fate of seven dragon-slaying knights who were cursed with undeath. It was a standard of bards of Faerûn in the 1360s DR.

Lyrics
"Riding, riding across the plain, See them riding home again. Bright their shields, bright their chain— The Knights of Dragon Down.

They have gone where shadows creep. Their blades a bloody harvest reap. Another dragon put fore'er asleep By the Knights of Dragon Down.

On their fingers gem rings gleam. Of such baubles, the very cream Falls into the hands, in a steady stream, Of the Knights of Dragon Down.

In a dark hall a lady sits alone, Her bright eyes gleam as white as bone. Her dark spells a-hunting roam For the Knights of Dragon Down.

With cruel smile, a web she weaves. From each Knight, his soul she cleaves. Armored bones are all she leaves Of the Knights of Dragon Down.

Riding, riding, their skulls a-grin— Past the gates, the Knights ride in. Sorcery now their souls doth spin Of the Knights of Dragon Down.

Ladies scream at the touch of bone, As skeletal Knights come riding home. Undead now, fore'er to roam, Are the Knights of Dragon Down.

Hear them riding, nearer outside. Never sleeping, doomed to ride. There's no place where you can hide From the Knights of Dragon Down."

- Lyrics of the "The Knights of Dragon Down"

Music
"The Knights of Dragon Down" was normally chanted to the accompaniment of a dark and intricate melody played on a harp. However, Elminster noted it could be sung to the tune of a traditional Celtic song of Earth called "Down by the Sally Gardens".

Lore
The final verse was not often sung, except late at night and whispered around a dwindling campfire by the foolish or the foolhardy, for fear it would draw the seven skeleton knights or other undead to them. This verse was even outlawed in Elturel by 1366 DR because an evil archmage of the city made it the words of a summoning spell that quickly drew undead to those that sang it.

However, it remained the favorite drinking song of the patrons of the A Pair of Black Antlers tavern in Elturel. It was sung every night, but minstrels had to show the appropriate skill and treatment, playing it with a mournful and macabre tone, lest they earn the patron's ire. The patrons revered the ballad as an anthem to fallen friends, to adventurers still alive, and to the dark whims of gods who demanded to be appeased.