Wild Beyond the Witchlight (Inactive)

Game Master Evriani

Somewhere in the ocean of Karleys, the familiar one raised a magical syringe of brontosaurus fat. But just as that spell reached its crescendo, a burst of energies split across all parallel universes and a new reflection manifesting from the wild surge slid into view...

This one reflection had a giant syringe full of Karleys aimed at Sowpig and was itself a large green cube of vaguely translucent gooey lipids...a creature known to some as a gelatinous cube. Floating there in its mass was a tiny mechanical alarm clock that resembled a cartoon face, the hour and minute hands spinning on the creature's nose. It turned to look at Karley and startled "No! You aren't supposed to show yourself to that one! Not now!" using Karley's exact voice. It dropped the syringe of halflings and quickly cast an illusory veil over the area.

Every reflection of Karley vanished as the true source of light was concealed from the mirrors. This thing had done it, whatever it was.

"...can't identify." Karley pondered just before the gelatinous cube with an alarm clock in it likewise vanished.

It was still there however "I'm you of course. I mean, we're each other. Call me Kube. You sent me here...I mean, I sent yourself...er...the one we know as ourself...gah! You know, I hate parallel universes. We need to invent new pronouns for these kinds of crossovers." the geometric jelly noted.

Karley gave an honest moments thought to the matter "...hmm, nope!...didn't send." smiling, proud of herself for remembering.

"Did send." Kube corrected. "And you said you would say that. Memory loss is a temporary condition of Collateral Transmigration. You became this Karley to hide from the Nemesis, but I came to warn us...he found you on the bridge of the Spelljammer and is closing in on this strand. He just destroyed a carousel of Unicorns only 3 strands over. You need to wake up and remember your true self before..."

The invisibility flickered as the wild surge started to dissipate. Karley and Kube were slowly becoming more visible. "...before you can end it once and for all..."

The gelatinous cube with an alarm clock in it burst into a thousand colors as it was ripped back to its own universe. Karley stood unable to speak, either from dumbfoundedness or just politely waiting for the thumbs-upping Sammy and Rubin to stop their slippery slide down the hall.

With a weak smile on his face, Vashrin nods and says to Willow and Nuruk. "Thank you for your understanding, a single reflection I have trained myself to endure, I suppose just the sheer volume of images and all the horrible possibilities got the best of me."

Turning to Khalil, he offers a heart-felt thanks. "I greatly appreciate what you did for me in there. I certainly wouldn't have made it out on my own. If not my life, you certainly saved what's left of my mind. On top of that, I owe you an apology for my initial reaction to you when you had referenced my sister...just being back here, my thoughts don't necessarily to others being well intentioned straight away."

Glancing around a bit more he says, "Karley and Sammy are still in there? Hope they are alright and are having better luck finding Rubin than the rest of us."

Kettlesteam stumbles back out of the entrance to the Hall, feathers quite ruffled, head bobbing in a perturbed way. "It was a trick of the mirror!" she exclaims, imitating Vash's earlier call to Rubin. She settles herself and cocks her head at Willow. "I feel like you know more about her than I do?" she repeats back, questioningly.

It would seem lacking a voice of her own would make it difficult for her to help.

Candlefoot, on the other hand, is a storyteller.

"She goes by many names," he interjected quietly, still watching for spies. "Dreamwalker. The Witch Queen, or Dream Witch. Some say her true name is Iggwilv. In Prismeer, she's known as Zybilna. On this plane, she's oft known as Tasha." He gestures towards the entrance, and the enchanted mannequin outside that casts her spell upon guests, causing them to laugh uncontrollably.

"She is one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse."

------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, inside, Rubin gets to his feet, shaken but unharmed. He runs a hand through his curly brown hair. "What...what was that? I saw a creepy little girl and suddenly everything went dark...wait, where's Ween? My girlfriend?" He looks around frantically, seeming to have forgotten the last few minutes and Ween's inadvertent laughter at his proposal.

Sammy and Karley can see the exit across from the mirror the ghoulish girl disappeared into.

*crunch crunch crunch*

Karley somehow had actual snow and was packing it into a tight ball. "...shattering!" she warned before letting loose with a snowball fury.

Casting Ray of Frost repeatedly until Sowpig's mirror shatters, then walking past once Grease expires.

Willow's eyes widen slightly at Candlefoot's information, and she looks over the mannequin with awe. "Oh, wow. Okay. That's a lot to process. Well, as far as I am aware, she is on my side...and Kettlesteam's...and ours, by proxy. She's always looked out for me. Led me out of a really dark place when Karley and I realized we were more or less trapped here at the carnival." She shrugs and fiddles with the end of her braid a little nervously, a habit she had never really dropped from childhood. She looks around the room they've been standing in to make sure the halfling woman was still there. She had faith that the others would be able to find the man and bring him back.

Khalil accepts Vashrin's thanks and apology as gracefully as he's able. Not being used to either having lived with Gorm for most of his known life. His cheeks redden a bit as he shakes his head and smiles.

"No apology needed." He says to the half elf with a soft chuckle. "It was an...odd and uncomfortable moment for all. Atop what is shaping up to be about the most odd and uncomfortable day since...well...since the first time I set eyes on this carnival."

"As for helping you out of that visual nightmare, if we are to retrieve what was stolen and stop the powers arrayed against us we'll need to help each other and stick together." He says with all seriousness. "Seems to me that the fact that you are here and not simply engulfed in a wine induced haze from such visions is tribute to your own strength. I only hope when the world tests me that I'll be able to stand up to my own nightmares as well as you."

"Well...thank you none-the-less, Khalil." Vashrin says with a grin, adding with a chuckle, "As for that wine induced haze, I assure you, that has happened many times since the day Celeste was taken, so don't go giving me too much credit."

Nuruk listens intently to the information that Candlefoot's information, his brow furrowing slightly as he gave a nod. The situation had become more precarious if someone of such power was truly imprisoned. Were they really enough to change the fate of so many?

The doubt that had welled up inside of him was deflated a moment later by Khalil's words, the soft confidence of the dragonborn returning as he nodded with Khalil's words. Seeing a smile, even if it was in part of self-deprecation, brought a wider grin to his own.

"What is most important now, my friend, is that you are here now with us. You led us back then, you can rely on all of us now." Nuruk said, looking around for any sign of Sammy or Karley. He was growing worried for his silent friend and of the strange, chaotic, and wonderful presence that was the halfling. "With the guidance of your patron, we shall be successful."

Karley and Sammy re-emerge from the entrance, with Rubin in tow. "Ween?" he calls, looking around.

The halfling woman rushes into the tent, teary-eyed. "Rubin! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it! I do want to marry you!"

Rubin looks stunned, as his memory is a bit fuzzy from the ghoul's spell and he doesn't remember proposing, so he stands in awe as Ween throws her arms around him. Then a grin of joy splits his face and he returns the embrace.

Though you've never met either of them, it's hard not to feel a twinge of happiness for them. Candlefoot, especially, is fairly aglow, still enjoying having his voice back. He chuckles as Rubin spins his new fiancée in a circle, like something right out of a cheesy romance novel.

And so you have improved the mood of the carnival by another step!

After the adorable display from the halflings, Willow turns to the rest of the group, and Candlefoot, and looks thoughtful.

"Sammy, Karley...what happened in there? How'd you find him? If you need to write it down..." Willow trails off, cringing slightly. There was a tad bit of irony in the fact that the two people in their group who struggled to clearly communicate were the ones who might have some kind of information that they could use.

Karley again picked a bit of fluff from her bunny tail, causing Willow to flinch reflexively...she knew it meant the halfling was about to cast another illusion. And yes, it was the opera singer voice...Willow and Karley had been to the opera once and they couldn't stop giggling about it for weeks. Karley still returned it once in a while as sort of an inside joke.

This time the voice was accompanied by a 21 chair string orchestra. After a 3 minute introduction consisting of a melodic wandering reminiscent of spring, the exposition began in earnest. The notes danced a more playful tit-for-tat, and the voice matched "Tell Him, SIlVeRY moON, tHAT THe pIg FAce NEARly EmBRACeD him! fOR AT leAst MoMENtARIlY leT hIm REcaLl DReaMiNG of wEeN! i SPeak oF LOVE AwAKE, nOt In REFLeCTIoN, i Speak OF LoVE iN my DrEaMs, tO THe watER, the shaDOwS, The MoUnTaInS, tO the floWERs, The graSS...ThE fOUntaINs!" a huffy beat of a timbales drum punctuated the rhyme.

"ah, LeAVe ME not to PiNe ALonE ANd DesoLAte; No fAtE SEEmed fAIr AS MINE, BuT WHEN SaMMY SlippEd RUbiN aWAY, nO HaPpiNESS so GReaT. and THe STARs WErE sHinING, anD thE EaRTh WAS sCENTED. thE Gate of ThE gARdEn CrEAkEd AnD a FOotSteP GraZEd The Sand...FragRant, shE enTEreD anD fell INTO mY aRMS. a cuBe OF fAT WiTh aN aLaRM CloCK wITHiN! I have liVEd fOR art, i HAvE lIveD FoR LOOoOooOOooOoooVE..." the final syllable the trademark crystal shattering pitch of the music style. It was followed by a another rousing 5 minute development and concluded ultimately with a 3 minute recapitulation...but most had wandered off at that point.

While Nuruk was happy to see both the halflings safe and sound, he was not as sure as as when Karley began to play a 21 chair string orchestra with a fanciful exposition. The paladin stared at her, both amused and lost at the same time as he tried to piece it all together.

"I...I think they rescued him from Sow Pig, the ghoulish servant of the Coven. Well done, I think?" Nuruk asked, looking towards Sammy for confirmation.

Khalil smiles as the two halflings are reunited and the wrong caused by the laughing curse is put right.

His smile turns to a look of utter confusion as Karley relays recent events within the House of Illusions. Somewhere a master bard just had his tuning fork shatter. He thinks to himself while listening to Nuruk puzzle out the message behind the musical.

"Tried to pull Rubin into the mirror you say?" Khalil adds. He'd never seen these Sow Pig's before, but it sounded like something that would serve the hags and their nefarious deeds. "Then we likely know what happened to Star." He glances sadly at Vashrin. "Like others of those we know, my guess is he's being held by the coven. Yet another reason to convince Witch and Light to help our cause."

Looking about the carnival he ponders the next possible move before remembering something Karley had said earlier in a much less musical way. "Didn't Karley mention something about mermaids? Shall we make that our next destination?"

Vashrin quips, "Karley certainly does make for good distractions to one's mind off of things..."

After trying to mimic a pig noise himself with no success, Karley manages to find a solution to communicate, which leaves Sam with some relieve.

He has to think of a way to do similar things in the future.

Other than her initial flinch, Willow barely reacts to Karley. "Yeah, sounds like SowPig is behind it. Between the carnival and living around this-" Willow gestures at Karley - "You get a little desensitized to some of the weird. Anyway, I agree with you, Khalil - I bet the pig got Star. Good information to file away."

She looks to Candlefoot and nods at him, glad he's found a little happiness as well. "Can you think of anything we can look into? We're definitely going to check on Palasha. She seemed bummed out."

Candlefoot blushes, adding the slightest bit of color to his otherwise monochromatic look. "Ah...ha. Ha. That has to do with me, I'm afraid," he said, embarassed. He removed his hat and ran his fingers through his hair then replaced the cap. "Losing my voice had rather poor timing. Palasha and I have become rather close, you see. We were sort of...confessing our feelings for one another right as your avian friend absconded with my ability to do so. And so in a very similar way to Rubin and Ween there, everything went entirely wrong and things were interpreted incorrectly."

Kettlesteam dipped her head apologetically. "Rubin! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it!"

Willow chuckles at Candlefoot's bashfulness, covering her mouth to hide the way her lips twisted when she tried to smile. "What horrendous timing for you lovers. Do you think things are salvageable? We could back you up--it certainly wasn't your fault."

Vashrin nods in agreement with Willow.

"We'd certainly be willing to help, if you think it would be of any use. You and Dirlagraun were the ones who treated us well all those years ago. Only seems right to return the favor." he says, grateful to have anything to distract his mind from the events of a few moments ago.

Karley's mouth went wide, then curled into a smile as her cheeks flushed...she couldn't believe that dusty old Candletoots hooked up with a stunner like Palasha. Patting him on the back "...seriously?"

Candlefoot sort of wince-smiled at Karley with a shrug. "Turns out when she sings, I become...colorful. That sounds very odd to say aloud, but somewhere down my ancestral line someone wasn't human. I'm not sure what or who they were but my whole family is rather monochromatic, and anything we wear changes to match. Anyway, I happened to wander by while Palasha was singing, and when I got near her I was suddenly awash with color. I think she was as delighted by the oddity as I was and we hit it off, as they say."

He beckoned for you to follow him out of the tent, steering widely around the mannequin that casts laughter upon folks. Glancing up at the sky and stars he nodded. "Less than an hour until the Big Top Extravaganza. She'll be readying herself for her act. We can find her there. I'd welcome the backup, honestly. Saying 'Oh, I lost my voice' has the ring of a lie to it, despite it being literally true in this case."

"I will need a lute. Anyone have a lute?" The large paladin says, finally having his moment to provide the romantic interlude to would-be lovers. To say that the dragonborn was delighted would be an understatement.

Willow follows Candlefoot, happy to help. "Oh, that's really sweet! Well, we'll do what we can, Candlefoot. I think if you have a horde of us backing you up, you'll have some credibility."

"Well then it's settled." Vashrin says, seemingly regained a bit of his feigned confidence. "Shall we be off to the big top then?"

"A lute? Of course I have one. What kind of bard would I be without one?" the half-elf sarcastically asks his dragonborn friend, handing over the instrument. "Just don't break it, okay?" he adds with a wink.

Khalil didn't have the same connection or relationship with Candlefoot as the others. Still, he'd set foot upon this strange path as soon as he'd approached this group his voice babbling of stars and stories and memories. Truth be told he'd likely been walking the path since he was a boy and first stepped foot within the confines of the carnival. Only now he was actually making a difference in peoples lives. It was a good feeling. A grin is locked on his face as he walks along following the others. For the moment he pushes aside the darkness behind the carnival and enjoys the happiness emanating from the two halfings while listening to Nuruk and Vashrin banter, as the latter hands over his instrument.

"A poor one at that, both in style and in coinage." Nuruk teased, taking the lute in hand. It was humorous to watch the large man handle such a dainty instrument. There was a scoffing laugh at the mention of breaking it, his head lifting in a haughty manner. "Let it be known that Nuruk Faerjhan, son of a butcher and now a true knight of the Order of Brambles, would've been an amazing minstrel."

Skilled fingers began to play a care-free and jovial tune as they walked. A content smile began to spread across the paladin's face. It wasn't like singing, it wasn't the deep rumbles of his ancestry and it didn't bring back the memories of singing with his father as they prepared the day's cuts of meat. Even still though, it was enough to play music as they made their way.

Karley enjoyed the music as they marched off, wondering if (when she was just a few years older, like Willow) she would ever fall for a crusty pile of dry leaves like Candlefoot. "Na..." she told herself. She would be much more wise in her selection of dates. Still, she was curious to see what Palasha had seen in the Witchlight Hand.

...and what the hell was Palasha, anyways?? A mermaid in a carnival? Somehow it didn't make any sense. Still, after Kube, it wasn't the strangest sight she'd ever seen. There was that time taste became visible. Another galactic Karley with as many appendages as stars in the spiral. Shoes that had that thing that made it so comfortable.

She thought back to that time in Waterworld, yes starring Kevin Costnorfs, when the Carnival had to grow lemons to recycle all the fluids they were expending in order to find Dryland.

She remembered the land of Melville where Captain Ahab went down with his nemesis in the end, his crew spent in the wrack.

And oh yea wasn't that about that time the actual film Hard Rain was coming down, starring Dorgan Freednorf, in a true battle against the elements.

But these weren't memories...

Sam smiles, enjoying the tune as they all walk on their way to see Palasha.

The lot of you travel along the path towards the Big Top, Nuruk drawing attention from passers-by with his song. A crowd has already begun to gather, hoping to secure the best seats. Candlefoot leads you around back to the performers' entrance. "You know, the end of the show calls for audience member volunteers to show off their talents," he comments regarding the lute-playing. "You're quite good!"

He enters through a sizable opening in one of the side nodes of the tent. You thought the roadways outside were busy -- near chaos erupts within as folks prepare for the biggest show of the night. Clowns are applying makeup, dancers are stretching, jugglers warming up. An animal trainer is feeding his exotic collection of furry, feathered, and scaled friends.

Willow and Karley are used to it, and easily weave around folks behind Candlefoot, who clearly knows where he is heading. The rest of you are varying levels of uncomfortable, seeming like you're in the way no matter where you walk, feeling the press of people all around you. To a person un-used to large crowds it's a bit claustrophobic.

You begin to hear a hauntingly beautiful sound -- someone humming, yet it pierces the din and seems to wrap tendrils around your mind, soothing you. It's coming from behind some heavy curtains, and Candlefoot pauses outside them, steeling himself a moment. As his hands reach for them, you see a sudden flare of color erupt along his hand and travel up his arm. His pallid flesh becomes pink, his clothing bright blue, almost painfully saturated with the hue. He steps through, beckoning for you to follow, sparkles of arcane magic leading the chromatic transformation as his face flushes, his hair becoming golden brown, his eyes green.

On the other side of the curtain is a low wagon with a gilded tank upon it, filled with water that smells of salt. In the center of the tank is a rock topped with a giant clam shell. Resting on the clam shell, her tail mostly submerged, is a woman of exotic beauty. A headdress of purple fins, rather than hair, wreathes her head, and her blue skin is the color of the sky on a perfect, sunny day. She's humming to herself idly, elbow on her lap, chin in hand, looking glum.

She sees Candlefoot and perks up, eyes widening, a small smile coming to her face involuntarily. Then she frowns as she recalls their last conversation, sighs, and slips into the water, swimming around the far side of the rock as she gives him the cold shoulder.

Her pic is in the file o' pics now.

Karley prestidigitated a little fish lure into existence, one that looked like a red and yellow striped minnow with a bit of fluff on the tail and a highly reflective blade. She jangled it over the bowl actually believing with 100% certainty it would work to get her out of hiding...

Persuasion: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (13) + 3 = 16
Persuasion, Tides of Chaos!: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21

Nuruk moves as softly as he could through the busy performer's section, using all the grace he could. That meant a few bumped tables, an angry glower from a group of clowns, and a woman's makeup smeared into his cloak after she rain straight into him. His apologies are eventually drowned out as he comes to the curtain where Candlefoot's interest swam, her soft humming soothing his mind and anxieties.

As Karley tries to get the woman's attention, Nuruk thinks on the humming tune that he had heard. He begins to quietly play an accompanying tune, a quiet thing to compliment whatever song she had been thinking. As he plays, his hip nudges the soft-spoken clown to get closer to her.

Khalil moves around the tank watching the mermaid as she makes a point of avoiding Candlefoot. Her initial, if brief, smile had him hoping all was not lost. Keeping an eye on the flush of her cheeks, the flip of her tail, or any other indication of what it was she might be actually looking for from the storyteller. Apology, explanation, a grand gesture to put it all behind them. Khalil does his best to decipher the truth within the mermaids heart in order that he might help as best he could.

Insight: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Along the way to their destination, Willow quietly enjoys Nuruk's playing and soaks in the camaraderie. The noise of the carnival barely registers--partly due to her being used to it and partly because she is starting to feel more at ease than she had been in the past 8 years.

When Karley pulls the fishing lure bit, Willow kicks at Karley's feet, shaking her head at the halfling's antics. "I don't think treating her like a fish is going to help the situation. It's rude." She say quietly to the halfling.

Willow looks around at the rest of them, then at Candlefoot, and rolls her eyes at what she perceives as pussy-footing around. She approaches the tank and taps lightly, calling out: "Palasha? We have some apologies and explanations to lay at your feet. Some of our business seems to have interfered heavily with yours."

A moment passes after Willow's call, then Palasha swims back around to the nearer edge of the tank. Her arms are crossed beneath her chest and she pointedly looks at Willow, not at Candlefoot.

"Vhat business?" she asks, her voice strangely accented with 'business' sounding like 'bees-nees'. Her words are buttery smooth, and you can already tell it's little wonder she's renowned for her singing voice, beautiful as her speaking one is.

In this universe, Karley's gambit with the lure was wholly ignored...but in a parallel universe, the results were much different. As she jangled the lure, the tides of chaos rolled back...and for a moment, Karley could bear witness to this sideways strand. There, Karley's bald head sported a bi-cloven tattoo, warning others as to her infamous status: sky pirate. In fact, in that universe, there was no Defenders of the Dawning Bastion...only the Raiders of the Settling Speakeasy.

In the eyes of the Imperials, they were a most-wanted nuisance with orders to kill on sight, a reputation easily earned after seasons of stealing precious cargo right from under their noses. But as far as the resistance movement known as the Maquis were concerned, they were heroes...

"Arg, wouldn't a worm be better bait?" squawked Buddy Macaw, the talking parrot Boatswain Sammy used for de-facto communication.

"Nar." nay-sayed Quartermaster Quietcrow. "Bigger baits for the bigger trophies...ye salt." separating the prongs of his hook in explanation.

"Ahoy, she's half human after all, why not fry up a nice omelet instead?" First Mate Nuruk suggested, holding up 2 brown cackle fruits he had hornswoggled away in a secret stash.

"Shiver me timbers!" exclaimed Gunner Vash "It would just get soggy down there in the briny deep. What she really needs is a clap of thunder!" he suggested, removing his hollow peg leg and pulling out a flask of rum.

"Scallywags!" Navigator Willow impatiently outburst, drawing a rusty falchion. "Cleave the bowl to the brisket!" she ordered, as the Raiders cut the bowl in two, the mermaid pulled out of her hiding by the tide of the spilling water.

Karley did a doubletake at the Raiders, then back to the Defenders, in utter confusion. Was she the only one seeing that? ::I'll have to ask 'me hearties', er I mean 'my friends' about it later...:: she thought, waiting to see how it played out in this reality.

Vash stands by quietly, letting those who knew the mermaid better, well Willow anyway, take the first shot at explaining the comedy of errors that had befallen poor Candlefoot.

"Well, we've been trying to figure out some things about some disappearances around the carnival, and one of our friends here made quite the mistake in the process..." She jerks her head in the direction of Kettlesteam, then continues. "She 'borrowed' Candlefoot's voice at a very inopportune moment." Willow looks pointedly between Candlefoot and Palasha, raising an eyebrow meaningfully. "We messed some things up a bit, and we wanted to apologize to you." She pauses, considering the entire situation, and then looks at Candlefoot. "And to you, too. You both were victims of some of our interference, and we sincerely apologize." Willow bows deeply to both of them as she apologizes.

Sammy bows as well when Willow does, putting the saddest face he can, though inside her thinks it's not that important.

Khalil nudges Candlefoot with an elbow.

"Now might be a good time to profess your undying devotion and love for her." He whispers to the storyteller while offering his own bow of apology to the lovely mermaid.

Sorry, busy day yesterday and now I'm getting sick, apologies in advance for spotty posting potentially.

Candlefoot looked at Khalil and nodded. He stepped forward and reached up to place his hands upon the tank, just below hers. "Palasha...I am a man of many words. And I will not lie -- when you told me how you felt, I found myself speechless, before even realizing my voice had been truly taken. Because what words could possibly be sufficient, to describe my elation? My sheer childlike glee and giddiness, knowing you felt as I did? I hesitated, searching for the right words...and it was then I found I could speak none. So let me speak them now, plain and simply. I love you. With everything I have."

Palasha leaned down from her tank and kissed him, and you all felt it might be time to step out from the curtain and give them a little privacy. You hear a familiar voice yell in the distance somewhere.

"Make haste, one and all, the clock is ready to chime! Prepare to dazzle and entrall, it's very nearly showtime!"

Mr. Light. He's here somewhere. Perhaps this was a chance for an audience sooner than you planned?

Nuruk smiles at the show of love in front of them, his light playing of music ending with a whisper before he nods to the others to go. Their task was complete and they aided a friend who had aided them. Moving out from Palasha's domain, he held the curtain up for his comrades to slip under before he heard the words of Mr. Light yelling in the distance.

"Friends, he is close!" Nuruk says, excitement in his voice. They had been working hard at the task ahead of them but the chance for a private audience with Mr. Light himself was too tempting to ignore. The paladin would begin to move through the crowds, his rumbling voice speaking loudly as he did.

"Excuse me! Pardon me! Make way! Sorry!" Usually quiet and willing to let others move around him and him around others, the paladin did well as a way to move through the crowd quickly, albeit politely.

Vashrin smiles, genuinely happy to see a little true joy, as he backs away out from behind the curtain. "Well, that worked out. Well done, Willow and Khalil."

Vash's moment of bliss is quickly disrupted as Nuruk takes off after the voice of Mr. Light.

"I suppose that's our cue." the bard comments, hurrying off after his dragonborn friend.

Karley left the prestidigitated lure behind as an after-smooch snack, before wincing at Mr. Light's announcement "...cringing obsequiously..." she spoke through her teeth. Bare teeth that is, in a forced smile as she stood up straight and tried to look as professional as a pretend pink rabbit could.

Pressing through the crowd of people, who are now in even more of a busy flurry as the show is about to begin, you soon spot Mr. Light overhead, climbing a ladder into the rafters. Karley and Willow would know he often begins the show from an acrobat's ring, dangling high in the air in the middle of the main performance tent, which is where he looks to be headed presently.

He is still within earshot, but will not be for long, unless you plan to climb after him.

Winding his way into the big top, it takes a moment for Khalil to acclimate to being in a single, confined space with so many people. The Feywild was not known for its crowds. He does his best to not lose the others in the churning sea of humanity. While barely avoiding another unfortunate encounter with a young mother and her trio of tots, he just happens to spot Mr. Light making his way up the tall, ever-so-tall, ladder.

He can't imagine confronting Light on the narrow confines of the ladder, or Summer Queen forbid, upon the tiny platform barely visible at the peak of that long climb. And shouting in a crowded tent about covens, curses, and disappearing children certainly didn't seem wise in his mind. That is a much more Karley thing to do. He thinks based on all of his recent experiences around the bunny shrouded halfling. So Khalil looks instead to see if Mr. Witch might be in a more ground bound location within the tent.

Perception: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

"Mr. Light!" Willow calls after him, having followed the group. "We need to speak to you. Urgently. Problem with an Hourglass," she says, emphasizing the last word just a tad. She cringed a little bit, knowing that she was not being as subtle as she had hoped.

Sam quickly jumps and grabs one loose thread, putting all his effort in climbing to keep himself near Mr Light.

Athletics: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (13) + 1 = 14 +4 more if using Acrobatics.

Karley squinted and crinkled her nose in the general direction of the ladder a few steps above Mr. Light...

Minor illusion to make the wrungs appear to sprout bananas. The idea being Mr. Light would not want to put his hands nor feet on bananas because they are super-slippery, thus slowing his ascent and giving Sam a chance to catch up perhaps. 5 ft difficult terrain.

"It is a matter of some importance to both parties." Vashrin adds to the young cleric's plea.

Noticing Willow's wince, the bard leans over and whispers to her "No worries, subtlety is often overrated."