Fatou crosses her arms. "I am trying to have fun, but you are too ruled by your parents to find the ghost boy. I thought older kids would be more independant." She sticks out her tongue. "Just a few minutes, Maggie, and we will head straight home." She traces a cross over her chest, centered on the little bird skull on her necklace. "Cross my heart, hope to die."
So, what’ll it be Maggie? Go home alone or stick around?
"Alright, it's not that late yet. Let's see if we find the Mist-snatched."
The four of you decide to stay. Are you all going back to the hall of mirrors?
holly presses forward, still hefting the rock. Maggie said she saw him at the parade, and Steve got scared by him in the mirrors... what if he's wit the circus? Holly says. she points over to the "Staff" area of the Circus And our best chance of finding him would be in there.
That’s one vote to sneak backstage. Anyone else?
Fatou follows Holly backstage.
Steve follows: too afraid to be left alone, and too embarrassed to speak.
"Alrighty then, I'm curious. Gonna have to ask for a flashlight for Christmas, I guess."
And Maggie hops after Holly.
Are you just walking in or trying to sneak? If you’re trying to sneak in, give me a difficulty 9 roll of whatever stat you can justify.
Fatou waits for an opportunity and bolts across the shadows...
As she ducks through, she turns to beckon the next kid forward.
Anyone else want to take the leap?
Holly watches a moment, and ducks around to the other side, away from the people, under the seating. She lifts up the bottom of the tent a few times, until she finds a place she can slip through unseen, and then she quietly tries to slip over to where Fatou is.
Hurrying after Fatou, Maggie manages to skulk in the shadows, hiding in the shadows and suppressing a chuckle.
Yeah, I'll buy that.
Three of you have now slipped into the backstage area. Steve?
Steve suppresses his anxiety and follows last of all.
All four of you are safely and quietly backstage. There's a mass of performers doing quick changes and getting ready for their cues and none notice you as you dart between the tents. It seems to be a fairly mundane backstage area (though you notice the light in the fire eater's trailer is dark). From around a corner, you hear a man and a woman heatedly arguing
I can't believe they'd do something like this! To freaks like us, sure, but to kids? It's inhuman Says the woman.
I know, I know replies the man, But we just have to wait to the right moment. They can't hold us forever.
What do you do?
Steve shudders. He tries to make eye contact with the others to see if they too were alarmed to hear what they said.
Taking care to be as quietly as possible, Steve whispers, "Children? Like the crying boy? Or like us?"
"I think we should see what's wrong with the fire-breather." Fatou is already moving toward the trailer. She's trying to see what kind of lock it has, or if there's an open window or skylight.
The windows are small, closed and inconveniently closed. The lock is a simple handle lock on a fairly flimsy door. It’d be a 8 brawn to smash it open or 12 grit or flight to pick it.
Does anyone want to join her? Investigate elsewhere? Hide and act as lookout?
Steve continues to listen to the conversation between the freaks, only watching Fatou from a distance.
After a few moments you see a burly bald man in a purple and black striped shirt round the corner toward your evesdropping targets. When he turns the corner their conversation comes to a halt, they make hasty excuses and dispurse.
As soon as the two depart, Maggie flattens against the wall, hoping not to be seen. They are doing what to kids?
When the conversation ends, Steve goes to check the trailer. He pushes Fatou out of the way and tries to break the lock open.
"You probably couldn't do this anyway," Steve excuses himself.
After a few tries, he finds the lock is harder than he had expected, and is forced to stop his attempts at breaking it for fear of being heard.
C'mon steve, You've gotta leverage the door, like this. Holly says, lifting the door slightly, and pushing with her shoulder.
See. She smirks
When they look back at her, Fatou is replacing her earring. "Quickly, inside, before someone sees."
Maggie rushes after her friends, now getting quite spooked.
You scurry into the trailer. It’s very dark in there, but appears to be unoccupied. It reeks of stale cigarettes, evaporated kerosene and drakar noir.
It’s a bit too dark to search easily. What do you do?
Fatou takes a moment to pull her flashlight out of her backpack. She turns the switch, and sweeps the room, keeping the beam low and away from the windows.
You sweep the beam of the flashlight around the room. It looks recently occupied but the fire-eater has been out for some hours.
If you want to search any more deeply without drawing attention, it'll be a Diff 12 roll.
Thinking back to what she's read in books like In Cold Blood and Helter Skelter, Fatou starts with a look in the trash, at any vents or panels near the bed (to see if they come loose) the night stand, under the mattress, then moves on to places like the mini fridge and drawers around the bed. She's looking for secrets, and for anything she can use to piece together a story.
In the vent that's just placed, not screwed in, you find a map of the city, with your block circled in red pen.
Just then, you hear footsteps climbing the stairs to the trailer. You only have a few seconds, what do you do?
Maggie scrambles to a hiding spot, trying to keep herself from whimpering.
Fatou stuffs the map back into the vent, clicks off her flashlight, and turns to dive for the nearest hiding spot.
Holly had hid from bullies in the library before, she knew the trick. stay still, slow, deep breaths. don't react. sound or movement will inform them of your location
Holly goes still against the side of the coach, letting her jacket and the darkness camouflage her
Steve runs away to the other side of the trailer, trying to kneel beneath the level of the windows so as not to be seen.
If you're planning on drawing attention anyway, you can intercept whomever is coming in before he enters. Otherwise he's going to catch Steve too...
It's too late. Mags found a place, but Steve is trying to hide under a table or something, and there was no way she herself would get a cabinet closed in time, not after wasting time getting the map back in its hiding place.
Where was Holly?
In a panic, Fatou runs to the door and grabs the handle, playing push-me-pull-you to give the others another half a second to settle down. The door opens, and Fatou makes a surprised squeak.
Fatou’s sacrifice will let you roll again.
Seeing half the group scurrying away and Fatou at the door, Maggie swallows her fear, standing next to the dark-skinned girl. "If we get out of this, you'll owe me."
Steve tries to crawl beneath the car, but his stubby legs still stick out too obviously.
The door finally opens, and you find yourself standing in front of a man with a clean shaven head and a dark goatee. He’s clearly surprised to see you.
What are you doing here!? he shouts in a thick Russian accent. Security!
What do you do?
"P-please, Sir, we'd found a kitten, a little black and white thing, and he was hurt in the leg, but he ran away and- and we thought he ran here, and we were afraid that he was going to get hurt! We didn't mean to cause any trouble!"
He looks at you, then past you into his trailer.
Is cat here? he asks, bruskly.
"I-I don't know, sir, we couldn't find it, perhaps he fled away, it's dark in here... you won't hurt it, will you?"