Mop-top continues to eat steadilly, then asks the bard - "Wha-choo doin' here?" He casts an eye over Dert, too.
Mijndert continues to sip his beer as he watches the bard exit. He turns to watch the strange couple that just entered and spoke, briefly, with the gentleman from earier.
Dareon smiles as the boy returns.
"Me? Coincidentally, I am here investigating another disappearance. One that can wait for now while I search for your sister, of course, but a disappearance nontheless."
"A disappearance?" The kid perks up a bit. "There was a lady asking my sister about that..."
Dareon is suddenly much more interested, and leans close to the boy. "Is that so? Had you met this lady before?"
His sister is gonna be harder to find every minute I spend in here...or maybe not. This could prove useful information for both my investigation and his.
Dareon comes upon an idea with a jolt. "Have you seen this lady recently? Say, today at the fair?"
"Yeah! she's a bit creepy ... I can take you there...." He has some food on his chin, but seems to be for eating.
Dert a young man comes out to hand you another ale. he apparently works here. there is a vauge familiarity in his face. like he remonds you of somebody. he has a slight Tien accent just like the person he reminds you of.
Dareon sits back in his chair and stokes his chin for a moment. He had once grown out a beard, but it got too itchy and he decided that it made him look too old, so now he keeps it close-shaven. Still, his habit of chin-stroking never shook.
"I think he begins that I would like that very much, boy. Perhaps we could find some clues about your missing sister, or my missing scholar. Feel free to go whenever you are ready, I will follow."
Mijndert raises his mug in thanks to Lou and pays for the drink. He tries to place the face while eavesdropping on the conversation between Dareon and the child.
Terra takes a seat orders a plateful of food.
but when it comes time to pay she points to Sydney.
and when he looks over she looks at him with a pleading look in her eyes.
With a short, quick glance back, Sydney meets Valterra's eyes. He stands still for a moment, however, deep in thought.
And then the moment has passed, and he breaks out into a big smile and walks up to the bar, putting down a few gold pieces. "Order whatever you want, Terra."
Stepping into a stool beside Terra, conflict wracks his mind. There are just too many issues to deal with...missing sister, missing scholar, missing girl...and all at the same time! I don't have three bodies, Master, and neither does Dareon! Not even between the two of us do we have three bodies, and don't you laugh and say it isn't possible. I've seen a few clones in my day.
"And it seems" says Dareon, addressing the large man whom he'd been speaking to before. "that fate has conspired to bring me back here. I don't think I ever asked your name, friend."
Dareon knows it'll be a minute before the boy finishes his food, and doesn't really want to unnerve him by simply waiting on him. He is, also, still curious about the huge man's presence in the bar.
The kid brings Dareon out, and into the carnival. Its a bit cliched, as far as carnivals go, and this being a small sandy Sandpoint, it isn't what anyone would call 'spectacular'. Mostly garrish tents and signs with fanciful claims to great things...'
The kid drags the bard to the outskirts of the fair, where there is a rather ramshackle tent erected with a fading sign that says 'All Seeing Hayek' and promises a fortune teller within.
"She went in there..." Obviously the kid is a little creeped out and doesn't want to go by himself, or he'd have gone in there before.
When the boy signals that he's done and ready to leave, Dareon nods, and gestures to the people he's with. "Got anything better to you? Y'all are welcome to come with. I'd appreciate the company. Say, he asks, directed toward the boy, what's your sister's name?"
Reaching the strange and creepy tent at the edge of the carnival, Dareon stops for a moment to stare at it. It's so... incongruous with the fun nature of the rest of the carnival, it doesn't seem to belong at all.
While Dareon has dealt with many a danger in his lifetime, it's been years since even the latest one, and that one was a big armored woman with a sword swinging at your face. Nothing mysterious or scary about that.
Here, however, Dareon wasn't sure whether to be unsettled or to feel ridiculous. Still, he was determined to find the woman. He walks firmly and smoothly towards the tent, opening the flap when he gets to it to peek inside.
Sydney, of course, follows Dareon when it's time to leave: his loyalty to the old can cannot be measured.
Mijndert. Call me Dert, though. Seems popular these days. He extends a hand in greeting.
When Dareon calls for him to follow he looks from the bard to the bar and back again. With a shrug he follows along. Yer right. Notting better t'do. 'Sides, I like da cut a yer jib.
When they arrive at the tent, he looks once again to the bard. So, uh... What're we doin' 'ere?
Dareon takes the man's hand in as firm a handshake as he can manage, which is really only trying not to grimace as the man's strong grip overwhelms his.
"We're searching for a missing woman, Dert. This boy here says he saw his sister go into the tent, and now she's missing. Don't you think there's a connection there?"
Dert's handshake is actually pretty forgiving. The large man has spent a lifetime dealing with people smaller and weaker than he. He's used to not breaking fingers. Unless he's being paid to, then he breaks them readily enough.
Sure. Makes sense to me. Want me to head in first? he stretches his shoulders and rolls his neck, anticipating cramped space shortly.
"I'm sure that won't be necessary. I'm not expecting violence, nor would I expect you to get in the way for me if I were. I'm more than capable of handling myself."
The kid mentions that his sister is named Halaea. And, inside the tent is an old ... woman. She is sitting at her rickety table, absently playing with a deck of cards. There is no one else in the tent, though she does look moderately surprised about the appearance of more people, quickly masking it with an obviously put-on cackle, "Ah hello, visitors...what can All-seeing Hayek do for you?"
Dareon steps carefully into the tent, giving a short bow to the woman before stepping aside to make room for Mijndert.
"Yes, hello. My name is Dareon Whittlesay, and I was wondering...have you seen a woman named Halaea today? And if you have, do you know where she is?"
Terra not wanting to be left behind will follow Sydney, she seems to have latched onto him so to speak, as a trustworthy person.
Besides looking for someone else may prove exciting. better than wandering around always looking over your shoulder.
Hayek frowns about this, "Why do you seek the young woman? Is that the reading you want, your lost love?"
Dareon crosses his arms at the woman and frowns right back.
I know that kid wasn't lying. He DID last see her here. Is she just being evasive on purpose?
Dareon gushes out, suddenly, in an outburst of emotion. Rushing forward, his restrains have broken. He kneels in front of her table and places one of his hands, palm upwards, on the table. It holds a collection of coins, copper, silver, gold. The other hand he keeps underneath the table as it makes the necessary gestures.
"Yes, that's right! I lost her some time ago and I can't live without her. Please, tell me where she is! I'll do anything!"
On the walk over with Terra, Sydney will smile at the girl's decision to come with. "I'm glad you decided to come. Helping folks with a good deed never hurt anyone, and neither did keeping yourself occupied."
Sydney frowns at Mister Whittlesay's prostration. It was very odd of him to act this way, but he was clever. Mister Whittlesay probably had some angle or other. It was only a shame he hadn't entreated The Master for the proper blessings to figure out this mystery.
Terra leans to Sydney and whispers That gypsy woman knows something and is trying to hide it I can feel it
Sydney whispers back, "You think so? I may call upon one abadar's truthtelling today, but I don't think Mister Whittlesay will want to overtly question this woman. That is an interesting hunch, though."
Hayek seems to relax a little bit at Dareon's outburst. "Ah, well, my dear. These are the readings that I specialize in." She relaxes a bit, and shuffles the cards in her deck a bit, and lets her eyes travel to the others that have come with him.
"And what can I do for the rest of you?"
Dert followed Dareon into the tent shortly after. He certainly wasn't going to let the professor We jus' wanna see our frien' fin' his girl.
Hayek slowly begins to lay out the cards. "Very well..." She seems wary still, nodding.
Its funny, the cards go out onto the table...
The Marraige, The Teamster, The Winged Serpent, The Lost, The Rakshasa, The Theatre, The Bear, The Mute Hag, The Idiot.
The air around them starts to change subtly, an odd breeze ruffling at the hair seemingly out of nowhere
Keeping up his desperate airs, Dareon rises back to his feet anyway.
Anxiously, he asks "But what does it MEAN, Hayek? Where is Halaea? Where is my lost love? Surely you know!"
She is thinking,
"I only know what the cards show me. Let me read them for you..." She's quiet a moment, hands over the cards.
Dareon begins to pace around the tent, feigning impatience as he waits for the Varisian woman's Harrow reading.
Master? What could that be? Out of all of the times I've heard that term, it's never NOT meant a crazy-evil-mastermind guy or evil diety. I'm pretty sure I didn't see any evil-diety paraphernalia in here, though, and this woman doesn't really fit the description of an evil devil-worshipper...most of those are in heavy plate...
Nope, nothing ominous in here, besides being a rickety old tent and sort of creepy just by virtue of being run down and occupied by a creepy old lady with her obviously ancient and well-used Harrow cards.
Terra leans over to Sydney, What cards are on the table? I used to play with those things when I was little-er[/b]
"Do you not recognize them?" he whispers back. "They're Harrow cards! Varisian fortunetellers all over use them to divine the future."
I know what the cards are, I just can't see what she drew.
"Oh, give me a moment to look." Sydney cranes his neck to look over his professor's shoulder and peeks at the cards, storing their images in the shelves of his mind.
"The cards are The Marriage, The Teamster, The Winged Serpent, The Lost, The Rakshasa, The Theatre, The Bear, The Mute Hag, and The Idiot. I'm not sure what they mean, though, I've spent a lot more time studying factual things than superstition."
And SHLORP. Without a whole lot more warning, the group of them are abruptly ... sucked into the cards. There isn't a vortex, there isn't a sudden pulling motion, nothing that could be reacted to. Hayek's head is down, she mutters over her cards and then, yoink, they all feel themselves dragged into the cards. INTO the cards. Its hard to say how that happens, physically, but there is no doubt in any of their minds that that is precisely what just happened. The pictures on the cards grow huge and lifelike and rush past them, and the world spins into a cartoony/reality swirly-cone, with sprinkles of blue sparkling magic.
They are unceremoniously dumped in Area A of the map (See Game Info), the Midnight Circus. Once a place of delights and happy surprises, the circus has been corrupted by eons of decay, and is now a tragic collection of dismal, sagging tents and disillusioned children's stories.
Its sort of a blocky, cartoon-art mirror to the sagging carnival in their reality. The PCs all have normal looking bodies, but the world around them is drawn, as if illustrated, in styalized and unrealistic style. Sort of like Roger Rabbit, only reversed - PCs are live action, the world is cartoon.
Looming tents seem to reach greedily for the overcast sky before their tips curl back down in defeat. Faded paint peels from disused cages and wagons scattered about, while slow organ music drifts through the empty pathways. Nearby, a yawning entry leads into the dark interior of a twisted and massive central tent.
They can hear some feebles noises like a fight from a row of tents over, and nasty raspy cawing from birds that apparently smoke three packs a day.
Picking himself off of the ground in a daze, Dareon looks around for a moment blankly before snapping back to his senses.
"Well, um. I don't think that's something that I've seen happen before. Um. We're...I wasn't...The rest of you saw us go into the cards, right?"
Dareon then checks to make sure he's got all his belongings, and helps Terra to her feet.
Always a consummate explorer, even in such an alarming situation, he sets his cane to the ground and looks around their immediate area. "So, my new magical cellmates. Who's up for a little exploration?"
He checks his wayfinder as well.
The Wayfinder spins around a bit confusedly while he watches.
Dareon sits on the ground, pulls out his diary, a quill, and a jar of ink from his bag of holding.
Dear Diary,
Today has been a most exciting day! During my trip to find the missing scholar, I was confronted by a small boy who had lost his sister. Following him to where he saw her last, we found a Varisian seer, but somehow used her Harrow deck to pull us into a strange magical world! Everything is soft-edged and strange here, except for myself and the people that were pulled in with me. Speaking of that, Sydney is here with me! I'm glad to have him along, he's a good lad, but there are also a pair of strangers in with us. A large Ulfen man, and a strange, small, suspicious young woman with family issues. I'm sorry to say I used divination magic to discover her secrets, but I'm glad I know. Knowledge is, after all, power....
Dareon will continue to write until his compatriots have caught their breath and are prepared to move, at which time he will stow his things.
If anyone asks what he's doing, he'll smile apologetically and say "Habits are hard to kick. They told us at The Lodge, document everything. I guess I just learned to write everything down."
Just a reminder, Dareon, there's the sound of a scuffle nearby. Plus someone whimpering.
Dareon jots down a much abbreviated version of the message, Dear Diary, today, got sucked into magic Harrow deck. Gonna explore. More later. and then he picks up his things, motions to his compatriots for at least a modicum of quiet, and creeps off towards the disturbance.
Same place.
Terra graciously accepts the hand. It would seem Terra knows the proper etiquitte of a lady though she far from looks it.
as she gathers her senses her ears perk up.
something going on that direction she points toward the sounds.
whoever is there may be able to help us figure out what happened.