As they make their way across the auditorium, Niklos shoots a sidelong glance at his companions, and then at the man on the stage, whilst making a circling motion with his index finger at side of his head. When they have made their way to the stage, the rogue plops himself onto a front row seat with one leg over the armrest. He makes a point of taking a moment to appraise his surroundings, as if he had just noticed—to his surprise—that the hall was empty.
"Oi!" he calls up at the puppeteer. "Where's the show, mate? Don't tell me we're late..."
Basil will look around for more suspicious things, his fingers flipping a harrow card over and over.
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As Niklos speaks, the man spins around, flipping the marionette over his head, where it starts speaking.
"AHA! It looks like the answer has just walked int the room! What a convenient, conspicuous consumption! A radically remarkable rapscallionry! A sophisticated, spectacular skullduggery! You, yes, you! You shall have the lead role in our Most Lamentable tale!"
The pair jumps off the stage, heading towards Niklos... and passing him by to head towards Edda.
"You! Yes, you shall be perfect! The roguish, charming, dashing hero, braving hells and beyond for True Love and Fortune, even though he's cursed with having Only One Shoe! Oh, you shall be a fantastically flamboyant fanatical for our dazzingly deplorable depravation!"
The two whirl around Edda, taking her measure with dazzling speed.
"And you shall play together with our great Eliara! She's the greatest star of the whole Realm! But the dress, nonono, the dress won't go, we'll need something silky and delicate, all in pink with a dash of acid green and lemon yellow, for a magnificent, miraculous megalomany!"
In all of this, the marionette has been the only one to speak, the man has only moved it around. Is it ventriloquism?
Gisele stares suspiciously at the puppet while trying not to laugh at the thought of Edda in something pink and silky.
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Edda quickly shifts, growing claws and a bear's nose for smelling.
"I think NOT! I am no hero, and certainly no DAMSEL in a frilly DRESS!"
Niklos seems momentarily insulted at being passed for the role, but soon regains his insufferably smug mien after hearing what it entails. He briefly considers posing as Edda's manager, but decides against it after seeing her reaction.
"Hell, I'll wear the dress if you pay me enough," he quips over his shoulder.
"not I. Dresses bind the legs too much."
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"And such temper, it's perfect! Fabulously frivolous fierceness! Balio, my friend, we surely have found the best performer around! You, young man, if you really want to wear a dress, we can have you play the little flower orphan, but you'd have to really work for it, you have the physique du role but it's not all. You, braided woman, may be wonderful as the antagonist, an old, powerful wizard who steals shoes, dressed in a starry robe and a pointy hat! There is nothing that the audience loves more than a cliché! And you, my Rabbit Princey fellow, shall play... The Dark Forest of Pointy Pine Needles That Hurt Bare Feet! Oh, mirabolant role, that one! So expressive!"
"So, my fair ladies/kind sirs/whatever you are, you will play a part in our show, won't you? Think of the fame! The fortune! The money we'll get! I mean us two, not you, you'll stick with fame and fortune, but THE GLORY! The gallant, glamorous gluttony!"
Niklos shrugs, clearly content to play along for now. "Whoa whoa whoa, slow down mate. I don't do nothing without getting paid, y'hear me? You're gonna have to cough up some cash. Elsewise, our little troupe might just march out the door."
He shoots a canny look at his companions, this time adressing the marionette directly. "Though your token would do just as well..."
Using a claw to 'hook' the mannequin's attention by his nose, Edda growls deeply again.
"We can discuss terms...after you show us your Token."
She then scratches the dummy's cheek, not to leave a mark, but to make a god-awful sound.
"Oh...and mention a dress for me again, and I'll magically stitch your wooden lips together from 20 feet away! Maybe then your 'friend' here can finally speak for himself."
The pair twirls away from Edda, both puppet and puppeteer frowning. "The token? Oh, the token. So you are here for the story. The best story we know, the one we're more reluctant to tell. So be it! We will let you have our token after the show. AH! Here comes our diva, our star, our divinely lovely Eliara! Step up on the stage and we'll have our first rehearsal!"
On the stage has indeed walked a lovely Varisian woman, carrying a bouquet of red flowers. "Are these our new actors, my friends? The ones who shall accompany my masterful recitations?"
Staying shifted for now, Edda will bow to the Diva. She was Varisian enough to know that anything less then decorous diplomacy would sour the woman to the situation quickly.
"Greetings milady Eliara."
Niklos hops up from his seat, nimbly climbing up on the stage. He bows obsequiously at the diva, trying his best to meld into the set. Having learned from their previous encounters that nothing in the Harrowed Realm was quite as it seemed, he is fully expecting their hosts to be playing some sort of a trick on them. As much as he appreciated the Realm's twisted sense of humour, he did not like being taken for a fool...
"Oh, greetings, darling, be a good girl and don't steal my spotlight, alright? Well, then, rehearsal, scene 1, let's go."
Balimar and Balio have you climb on the stage, as Eliara starts a monologue. Or at least, something that may be called a monologue. She seems to be spouting words as they come, alternating passionate declarations of love with sorrowful elegies, mourning the loss of her lover's shoe and laughing at the perspect of a life together with him. It certainly can't be said that she's not putting passion into it.
You try to keep trace of her logorrhoea, but the phrases just keep twisting around nonsensically. After what seems like an eternity, you are woken up from your daze by an anguished shriek, followed by her pointing dramatically at Edda.
"But oh! My beloved, all of this will rest on you! Your arm, your skill, your iron will! Are you ready to face the adversities of the journey with me?"
A grimace on her furry face, Edda sighs heavily.
"Sure...my beloved. Let us go forth...and hence?"
Edda's voice finally snaps Gisele out of the almost sleep like trance from the 'actresses' long, long ....long soliloquy.
She quickly looks around to see if anyone noticed.
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At Edda's line, Eliara hisses, her face twisting in rage. "Stop! Stop the rehearsal! That was a rhetorical question! Followed by a dramatic pause! I am not even halfway through my brilliant monologue and already you try to steal the spotlight? How DARE YOU! I am THE greatest actress in ALL of the REALM!"
Balimar and Balio step towards her, the marionette trying to soothe the actress' temper. "Eliara, my dear, my sunshiny starlight serendipity, they did not mean it, I am sure they were only trying to ad lib it, they do not have your brilliance and experience..."
the diva bellows. "You always, always, ALWAYS bring those wannabes who try to steal my scene, believing that I'm a has-been, no longer fit for the scene! Are you trying to tell me something? Well, joke's on you! Have you forgotten that no one who ever stole my spotlight has ever survived the general rehearsal?"
"...no one who stole my spotlight has ever survived the general rehearsal?"
Hearing an open threat awakens two conflicting impulses in Niklos: to hide and let his companions take the brunt of the upcoming attack, or take the chance to get the jump on the enemy. He sneaks out a harrow card, nodding to himself before tucking it back into one of his myriad of hidden pockets. In a flash, his rapier is out of its scabbard as the rogue rushes across the stage, lunging at the diva's throat with murderous intent.
As Niklos attacks Eliara, drawing blood, she recoils and grasps at the wound. "Hyökätä niitä, lapseni!" she screams, before turning to face the rogue. "Twój umysł jest moje! I am not your enemy, dear, lay down your weapon."
You can notice Balimar and Balio sitting on the edge of their armchair, visibly enraptured by the display of violence.
"Enchantress! Rawwrrggghhh!!"
Her bear-like growl masks her casting as she draws three Harrow cards and flicks her clawed hand at the woman!
The thread created by lipstitch can be burst with a DC 20 Strength check as a standard action or can be sliced open with a piercing or slashing weapon (wielded by the target or an ally) as a full-round action. Cutting the thread provokes attacks of opportunity, while making a Strength check does not. Either option causes 1d6 points of damage and 1 point of bleed damage. The target has a 20% chance of failing to cast spells with verbal components until the bleeding is stopped. The effects of multiple castings of this spell do not stack. Optionally, the thread can be removed more carefully over the course of a minute with a DC 20 Heal check. If the check fails, the target takes damage and bleeds as described above. If the check succeeds, the stitches are removed with no harm. Creatures with no mouths are unaffected by lipstitch. Creatures with multiple mouths lose the use of only one mouth per casting—the particular mouth is chosen by the caster.
Niklos tuts at Eliara, waving his blood-stained rapier from side to side like a parent wagging his finger at a misbehaving child. "Mój umysł jest mój własny. I'm nobody's fool, luv."
The rogue suddenly leaps to the side and bounds in for another stab, trying to keep the diva off balance.
Kill then my children? Gisele looks around, seeing only Balimar and Balio sitting contentedly in the armchair.
"We may be in for company, eyes open." She will move to take a stand on a chair in the front to giving her vantage to see anything coming from forward or behind, or up.
Pushing a bit of electrical energy into her cards, she draws one and throws.
Basil will wait and hold his action, watching how the scene plays out and looking for the divas 'children'
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Niklos' attack goes wide when his instincts have him dodge two wild cards thrown by Gisele. The projectiles speed a few centimeters from his ear, going to crash harmlessly into the scenery.
Two hideous creatures looking like reptilian chicken suddenly become visible, striking with their beaks at Edda and Niklos, while Balimar and Balio cry out in glee. Both the monsters hit their targets, and although their strikes are feeble, you feel an unpleasant supernatural quality to them.
Meanwhile, Eliara's lips are sewn together by Edda's spell. With a muffled shriek, the actress stumbles backwards, while the flowers she was holding transmute into a wicked, jagged scimitar. She cuts the threads, howling in pain and humiliation. "How DARE you! How dare you offend my Art this way!" As she's yelling, her form twists and shifts, her legs turning into a serpentine tail.
Gisele sends 2 firey red lines at each of the chickens, while another arcane imbued card heads towards the actress.
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"Cockatrices!" he exclaims in surprise. "And she's a Lamia!"
He will draw his starknife and dash in to be flanking the cockatrice with Niklos.
"ART? I've never called 'BAD OVER-ACTING' art before!!"
Niklos shakes off the bothersome pest snapping at his heels, haphazardly shaking a card out from his sleeve as he spins around to skewer the cockatrice with his rapier. Eliara's transformation gives him pause, but only for as long as it takes to find the right card from one of his many hidden pockets.
"Dontcha go anywhere," he calls over his shoulder at the lamia. "I'll get back to you right quick!"
Eliara: -51
C_1 -31 (X)
C_2 -9
All of your attacks strike their mark, and the actress screeches as boiling acid burns her beautiful face. Basil's strike gets the cockatrice's attention long enough for Niklos to turn the hideous bird into the world's ugliest spit roast.
The Peacock's energy resonates with a crystalline ringing against the surviving cockatrice, prompting a gasp from the directors.
With a raging, wordless, screeching howl, Eliara charges at Edda whirling her scimitar, but her weapon catches on a drape of moth-eaten velvet, throwing her wildly off balance. Her attack, however, distracts the witch long enough for the surviving cockatrice to stab at her with her beak . Luckily, she easily fights off the poisonous magic.
Backing up against the nearby curtain to get out of immediate melee with both opponents, Edda draws three more Harrow cards and lashes out with more fire at both of her enemies!
= The Forge! (Str) +1 Dam/HD
= The Brass Dwarf! (Con) Heals 1d6!
= The Eclipse! (Wis) +1 Caster Level!
+1 Temp Hit Point!
Gisele sends a pair of cards flying. One at each of the targets.
Chicken
Eliara
Basil moves up to Eliara, noting her weaknesses and drawing upon his grim profession. His starknife slices cleanly.
+
Niklos shakes the excess blood off his rapier, dancing across the stage towards the reptilian performer.
"A lie swivels like a snake," he remarks, tossing a harrow card in the air. "Where were we?"
After the Harrow Card's magic lashes against Eliara with a subtle tingling , the diva is overwhelmed by fire, acid, steel and mithral, while Gisele's gards tear another hole in the scenery, drawing a scream of outrage from the directors. "Hey! Painters are expensive!"
After the onslaught, the cockatrice, set on fire, tries to run out, only to collapse two feet from the stave, singing the velvet of the armchairs.
As for the actress, she falls to the ground, taking human form again, her scimitar turning back into flowers. For the first time, her acting is measured and apparently heartfelt.
"So it happens, in the end. Death comes to grip me, not with icy claws, but in fire and steel. Oh, forever will I remember this. Now do what you came here to do, and let me fade into stories."
With a grimace of annoyance, Edda steps forward with her claws and tears out the Lamia's throat!
Edda then smirks and slowly changes back to human-looking.
"Heh. She looks better in Red anyway."
Basil's nose twitches at the smell of burning paints. "Well... This performance was... Dramatic, wouldn't you say?"
He will turn to look around, and go to put out the fires on the backdrop if he can.
With Edda's ferocious last attack, ink sprouts from Eliara's throat. With a twitch, her form dissolves into wax and paint, to be immediately absorbed by the floor. Only the flower bouquet that turned into a scimitar remains on the ground, together with her elegant, impractical scene costume.
Meanwhile, Balio has sprung to his feet and Balimar is clapping his tiny wooden hands. "Oh-ho! Bravo! Magnificent performance! A phantasmasgorical, phenomenal, phenotypical display of emotion, of passion, of raw acting! You are hired for all the next season, and the one after, and so on, at least until Eliara returns! And we will write the most exceptional screnplay, based on tomorrow's magnificent display, and Mister Softshoes will play his violin score! We will be glorious once more!"
Edda's show of brutality elicits a wider than normal grin from Niklos, to whom most of the surrounding carnage seems to be midly amusing at best. "I like your style, cousin!"
With the puppeteers proclamation, the rogue spins on his heels and motions at him—or is it them?—with his bloody rapier. "Yeah yeah, sure. But first, you promised us your token. Hand it over, will ya? Apace, like. Without any more funny business..."
Edda looks at Niklos with an eyebrow raised.
"Cousin?"
Not sure if she should take the Scarni's words as honesty or manipulation, Edda decides it is irrelevant at the moment and waves her hand as if to clear it all from her head.
"Whatever. Mister wooden pants? Token time. Oh, and Mister Softshoes can shove that violin up where the sun never shines for all I care!"
Noting the flowers and dress still laying on the stage, Edda will pick them up carefully, avoiding any ink left behind as much as possible.
The directors look at you like you all sprouted another head. "But of course, of course, just as soon as we've had our grand opening, and then there will be the full season, with matineés, and we'll have to buy new fabric from Bernaditi, but how about the colors? And the painter isn't back, so who could make me a new scenery, oh, so many things to do, so much time..."
They are ignoring you with remarkable intensity.
Edda casts detect magic and checks the scimitar for any 'REAL' magic.
Niklos takes a quick step forward, placing the point of his rapier against the puppeteer's neck. His gaze stays on the marionette, however, still unsure as to the nature of their connection. The rogue keeps smiling, but there is a distinctly predatory glint in his eyes, which makes it look more like a wolf bearing its teeth than any show of human joviality.
"Let me rephrase that for you," he says slowly. "Give me the token, or I will take it from you. I don't know how long it takes for you freaks to come back or whatever, but I can keep you kicking for a good long while before you turn into goop. It will hurt. Clear enough for you, blockhead?"
Edda snorts in mild amusement and remembers her first impression of the duo. Still looking at the scimitar, she comments to the Sczarni.
"I expect the puppet's in charge in this weird place. The man is the blockhead. Your threatening the wrong neck...'Cousin.'."
Balio (the puppeteer) gives the rapier only a plain look, while Balimar (the puppet) looks decidedly offended if somewhat shaken, and the pair takes a couple of steps back.
"Alright, alright, no need to be rude or mean. If you want the token, then you will have the token. You know, when we ate Sonnorae, each of us got something of her. We acquired her beauty, while we yearned for her creativity. But there is a story that we can tell better than her. Can you guess which one?"
With a roar of thunder, the theater vanishes into a cold night, rain pouring from the sky over a stone floor. Your clothing has been apparently replaced by rich Varisian silks, and you seem to be surrounded by indistinct, shadowy figures. In a flash of thunder, you recognize Bernaditi and Brambleson, while the forms of the others remain indistinct and blurred by the downpour.
You feel that this is a memory, a narration made real by the nature of the Harrowed Realm, and that somewhere among those creatures are Balimar and Balio waiting to strike at you. The puppet's voice sounds clear over the rainfall, coming from novwhere.
"It's the story of how we murdered her."
Cursing under her breath, Edda regrows her claws, but switches to her Bear-like nose this time.
The pouring rain makes it hard to pick one direction from another, but the shadowy figures seem to be circling you, chuckling eerily. Balimar's voice sounds clear over the storm.
"As it is for the best stories, it was a dark and stormy night, like there hardly ever are in the Realm. Worried about the cause, Sonorae hurried to the Ticktock Man, leaving the shelter of her home. Być silna jak byk!"
It sounds like the last words are a spell being cast.
Whispering harshly to the others, Edda tunes into the scent of the dummy and his human-looking attachment and tries to follow carefully.
"He was here...nearby...but he moved away!"