From the introduction: Bards of the College of Rhyme are experts in the spoken word, able to compose verse and prose almost effortlessly. Rather than the conventional ballads and sonnets, these bards perform by improvising rhythmic poetry accompanied by music. They often gather in taverns or mead halls to participate in contests of wit and verbal mastery, in which two bards recite insulting poems about each other while the audience decides who got the better of the exchange.