At first, Owl thought the alluring woman a trap. She is there to distract you from the real game. But after no other target presented itself, he realized she was the target. The poster said Madame Masque. Mask's concealed the face. Was this a game of find the real one? Logical route found, he focused on the Madame. It wasn't easy looking away from the sultry curves to find telling traits. He made not of her height, hair, eyes, especially the eyes, body structure, clothing designs, build.
When the time came for two more to appear, Owl had a pretty good idea of who it was. But he couldn't be subtle about it. Not after that wink he hoped he saw. After making his choice, he walks up to each fake in turn, scrutinizing them. Then he walks to the one he thinks is real and stares into her eyes. He takes a moment, appearing thoughtful, then smiles and winks. He raises his hand, palm up, asking for hers. "Madame Masque."
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"It's not exactly something we practiced Tish."
The stew would work well. He stoked the fire for a bit more heat. He had a plan.
"You take this out to her," he said while handing Laetitia a steaming bowl, "Gab her up a bit. It'll take a bit for the bowl to cool. She's in charge of seeing people into the grounds, right? Maybe she's seen some body more suspicious or conspicuous than us. Don't like the idea that Maggory might have gotten someone here before us."
"Meanwhile, you can get our cook back here Jix."
Laetitia huffs at Otho's response, which is her way of conceding his point, however grudgingly. "Well, we need to work our improvisational skills, then," she suggests, her tone painting a clear picture that she is not including herself in that statement. Taking the bowl from Otho, Laetitia goes to do as he's instructed, muttering quietly as she does, "Oh, now you have a plan? You don't have a plan." She hopes he has a plan, though.
Stepping back outside, Laetitia is a model of deferential charm once more. "Madame, I hope you've found our wine to your taste? Be careful, the stew is hot off the hearth." As the stew cools to a palatable temperature, Tish tries to get the woman to open up about any suspicious people she may have seen. "I do apologize again for my companions' behavior. The Varisian coast breeds an odd sort of people. Although, I'm sure you've seen your share of strange people with the arrival of this Carnival, no?"
@ Kalisuel
Concern shows on Thomias' face, and he tugs you back towards the concession area.
'Let's eat then. We can look for mom after we have some dinner."
When you return to your carriage, you find the Marge (the snooty middle-aged woman you left) conversing with Laetitia, while sipping on wine.
@ Owl
There's a flash of surprise across her eyes, and as she welcomes you to take your guess, you can see a bit of surprise as you point to the one minor detail that differs from the other Madam Masques, but is a match to the original.
A single scarf of a not so noticeable different color.
From the back, another Madam Masque appears and walks down the runway towards you. As she does so, the other copies (not including the one in front of you) fade away as the illusions they are. She hushes the crowd and shows that, indeed, your expert eyes saw through the subtle differences and similarities.
With a wry smile, the last illusioned Madam fades and the real Madam offers you the scarf, as it tumbles from her loose grasp. She then makes her way back to the hidden area, pausing only to look back at you with one final fliratious over-the-shoulder glance.
And then she's gone.
You begin to notice you are drawing a lot of attention to yourself, clutching the scarf. It seems many a young man is giving you the stink eye. The Game runner pats yo uon the back for a job well done, and presses a silver piece into your hand, half the pot that went to you.
@ Lia Neve
"I- Da- di- dah."
The lads stuttering goes off the deep end for a bit, and in the corner of your eyes you can see Kari rolling her eyes. He quickly leafs through the guest book, though it becomes evident that he only does so to let him catch his breath and thoughts as he eventually says,
"We're completely free actually. Not too many visitors this time of year. We have a-about six rooms total of differing sizes."
Kari starts feigning overheating, as she fans herself with one hand and readjusts her top piece.
The young lad gulps a bit too hard.
@ Laetitia, Jix, and Otho
"Yes....Varisian's always tend to bring trouble along eh? One minute you're tending your family, the next minute your family goat is missing from the yard. Well, so far we haven't had an incident yet, but I've got my eye on them..."
She sips her wine, and seems satisfied.
"A bit dry for my taste, but not bad at all. Tell me, how much longer must I wait?"
Jix grumbles and heads over to Kali giving her a quick tug on the hand as she returns. "Oi, Othy's been lookin' fer you. 'e's wondering if you can cook somethin' up for the batty ol' 'ag whats been 'asslin'd us. I'd be careful if I was you though. She's clearly off 'er rocker, ain't makin' no sense 'tall. Tried to report me to the sheriff she did, all fer 'urtin' 'er precious feelings so it seems." She grumbled with a huff and crossed arms.
Kali tries not to chuckle at the look of concern on Thomias's face. She lets him lead as she reassures him.
"I'm fine, I promise," she tells him gently, "I'm just hungry is all."
"Lemme guess, Laetitia wa thinking of having us be a food cart and forgot to tell me," Kali said in tone that made her annoyance clear. "What happens if I say no?"
The fighter, not much taller than Thomias, plants her feet and resists Jix's tugging.
An illusionist? And a powerful one a that. Is Owl's first thought when the Madam in front of him disappears. His mind wanders to a less than appropriate place soon after though, as the real woman saunters towards him. The train of thought keeps going up until a man pats him on the back. "Oh. Thank you," he says after receiving the silver. It's then he notices the men in the room, none too happy at his gift. He takes his hat off and puts a hand in his waist. He conspicuously reveals the blade at while fanning himself with the hat. "Wooo. What a woman."
Before the Game Runner can leave he pulls him aside for a whispered question. "Might I get a chance to meet Miss Masque later? And not for the obvious reason," he says shifting uncomfortably in his pants. "Those were some impressive illusions. I'd could learn a thing or two from her."
Jix rolls her gold eyes with annoyance as Kali protests her tugging. And turns to face the tiefling with a grumble. "Well I suppose if ya choose to be stubborn the mad ol' Coot there will 'ave us all arrested on some end or another an' our 'ole quest will be over before it's even begun now then wont it."
She quickly hides her conniving smirk and turns her attention to Thomias. "Well I'm sorry there Mista Grabbers but looks like we won't be findin' yer mum. We gave it the best we could but Kali's gone an' decided to take 'er stand 'ere. Nothing that kin be done I'm afraid. It's all just too bad it is."
Laetitia hums in apparent agreement to Marge's sentiments, even though they aren't ones she herself shares. Chelaxians were known for their rather poor tolerance of other ethnicities, but that was one thing that couldn't be said about Tish. It may not have always been the case, but in her line of work, she couldn't afford to be intolerant of other races, and so she quickly learned to develop a healthy appreciation for people of all different lands. "Yes, well, if you see anything suspicious, we would be happy to help you to address it. That big one in the back is useful for more than just brewing," Tish suggests with an airy, affected laugh.
Her attention is drawn briefly to the scene between Jix and Kali, before refocusing on Marge at her rather snappy question. "Oh, of course," Laetitia says, setting the bowl of stew in front of the bitter woman with a practiced smile. "Enjoy. Do let me know if there's anything else you need."
"What did you do," Kali asks before cutting off any response Jix might have and muttering, "nevermind."
She turns to Thomias and tells him, "I'm sorry, Thomias. It looks like we'll have to enjoy the rest of the carnival some other time."
With a sigh, she takes off the paper crown and passes by where the woman and Laetitia are as the latter plies the former with some small talk. Once inside, she takes off the armor and the cloak and begins tying an apron around her waist as she looks to see what they have to fix. Seeing Otho busy at the stew pot, she goes to see what's going on before smelling it and fixing a bowl for herself. The fact that it's boiling doesn't seem to faze her much.
"Otho, do you mind helping me out? Whatever you did to the stew made it pretty tasty," she says as she finishes off the bowl and begins preparing a meal for the woman. Something with a bit of bitterness ought to do. As she works, she begins to hum, then softly sing to relieve some of the anger bubbling under the surface, but after a few off key bars, she just stops and works in silence.
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He had no idea what he was doing. Logically, realistically, it shouldn't have been that much different than brewing. At this moment of crisis he was forced to consider how often he just shoved food down his gullet without pondering how it was made or by whom.
"I did nothing," he remarked as his savior walked in, "I just made sure it was hot enough to keep that woman here and talking. Tish added the spices. I just hope that nobody more suspicious than us has shown up yet."
"I'm sorry about interrupting the fair for you and the kid," he added while he helped, "I owe you one and you know how serious I am about that."
"Uh, should I be worried about poisons," Kali asks nervously after learning it was Laetitia that had doctored the stew.
Kali sighs as Otho apologizes for cutting the fair short for the both Thomias and her.
"It's not your fault," she tells him, "I should have known things were going too well for me."
@ Kalisuel, Jix, Laetitia, and Otho
Laetitia is rewarded with an appreciative nod as Marge closes her eyes to savor the flavor of the wine. It seems the honeyed words had a good effect on winning her to your side.
Kali stirs the pot a bit, and tastes the stew again. Its subtle, but she can start to parse out a few of the ingredients Laetitia must have used. Nothing dangerous, and actually a decent blend of flavors. With Otho's help, she adds a chunks of potatoes left over from Bjorn's parting gift to give the meal a bit of sweetness and chew to it. And then just a dab of bitter root to really bring out the flavor.
After some work, you have a hearty pot of stew, bubbling on the heat, enough to have six servings.
@ Owl
You feel a tinge of disappointment as the Game runner shakes his head.
"The Madame is a busy woman. Sorry mate, someone else will have to keep you company."
Your little "subtle" knife flourish worked, and it seems the few men stupid or drunk enough to raise a fuss decided against it. It also seems that that was the last round of this game for the night, as they begin to clean up the stand.
"Well, that's not going to be enough," she mutters after she sees how much stew there is. She begins to pull out a bigger pot to make a bigger batch of stew.
"Thomias, I know it's not the fair, but would you like to learn how to cook," she asks as she starts trying to recreate the stew.
Jix sniffed at the air and licked her chops as the savory smell of the delicious stew wafted over to her. She placed a furry little hand on her grumbling stomach and began to follow the smell.
Steping into the kitchen Jix waved at Kali and offered Otho a playful wink. "Oi now, don't leave me outta the fun. What's a girl gotta do to be tase tester 'round 'ere anyways." Jix chuckled and reached out a paw towards the stew to steal a taste.
Kali grabs Jix by the ear as she sees the sneaky little paw inching ever closer to the stew pot.
"This isn't for you," she tells the ratfolk. "If you'll wait a moment, I fix all of us some supper, seeing as out leftovers are now part of the menu."
"Ow, ow, ow, ow! Alright, alright enough mum!" Jix winces as her ear is pulled and grumbles. "Fine I won't eat yer bloody stew but I'm damn well starved 'ere. An' I don't see why miss prisspants o'er there gets to eat before we do." She sighed after sucessfully wrestling her ear from Kali's grasp. "Can't ya see I'm dyin' 'ere I am!"
"Because apparently," Kali says, her voice overly controlled as she prepares another batch of stew, "she will throw us all in a cell if we don't fix her something. Besides, I've seen you sneaking seconds and thirds. I doubt you're going to starve in the next few minutes."
"Then who will keep her company?" Owl debates finding his own way to meet her anyway but decides against it. Unless there was some correlation between between the madame and their missing mother, mission first for now.
@ Kali, Jix, Otho, and Laetitia
Kali does her best to recreate the very savory meal, but accidently gets a measurement wrong and finds she is out of one particular spice. The end product pales in comparison to the initial dish, still better than camping food, but not a far leap.
Outside, Marge is growing impatient, though Laetitia does her best to smooth things over until the meal arrives.
@ Owl
You decide to head back to the carriage to regroup. Preliminary investigation done now, perhaps it'd be better to take Thomias along so he can help correctly identify his mother, or vice-versa.
@ Lia Neve
Perhaps Laetitia did it better, but your attempts to charm the check-in youth entirely goes unnoticed as it seems that he is staring at Kari, and the the way her clothes lay on top of her ample curves.
She glances to you and grins at her victory before repeating your request on your behalf.
"Really? Wow, um sure!" The youth turns the book around for you to sign it, stating that its 5 sp a night. He also mentions that he was told by his boss to charge extra since the carnival's in town, but he's willing to lower the price to normal for you two.
Kali, looking unsure of herself thinks for a moment and decides to see if she can doctor the stew up a little.
And decides to give up when she finds that she's missing a spice she needed and made it a little too spicy. With a sigh, she prepares a bowl for Marge and a bowl of the first batch for Thomias before heading outside to deliver the stew and bread that had been warming near the fire to the lady that was apparently going to decide if they wound up in jail tonight or not.
"A thousand pardons," Kali says in her most subservient voice, "I'm afraid that I had to cook up something from scratch rather quickly. I do hope that it is to your liking Ma'am."
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"Hey," he grabs Kali's arm just before she leaves the carriage with the stew, "After you serve the meal out there, get back to having some fun with the kid. You've done more than your fair share. Take Owl with you too. Guy gives me a weird vibe sometimes. Don't want all that 'self assurance' to rub Marge wrong."
He hated it, he absolutely hated it, but he did say he owed Kali. Grabbing some more of the rum and wine he'd made earlier, the stuff he'd stashed back for himself, Otho followed their cook out and slapped on the biggest smile he could.
"A bit more of the good stuff as well. Got to apologize for my poor attitude earlier. You know how hectic these events can be. Stress, you know..."
He pours Marge a few more glasses. If they couldn't make her happy, then he'd make sure she was nice and drunk. A little hard to remember faces when you're getting sloshed.
"Me and Jix will be happy to serve 'til you've gotten good and warmed up by our generosity, won't we Jix?"
He pulls the ratfolk close in something not unlike a vice grip, still all smiles.
"Hey," he grabs Kali's arm just before she leaves the carriage with the stew, "After you serve the meal out there, get back to having some fun with the kid. You've done more than your fair share. Take Owl with you too. Guy gives me a weird vibe sometimes. Don't want all that 'self assurance' to rub Marge wrong."
Owl's impeccable timing remains unbroken. He heard his name and attempts to be stealthy in his approach. When the hinge of the carriage thwarts that plan, he clears his throat and plays it off as being intentionally noisy. "So. A food cart eh?" He pauses for a moment, mulling over the idea. In another situation, it might have been a good cover. Didn't seem like it this time but it didn't really matter to him. "Wonderful ad-lib. I shant stay long. Don't want self assurance to spread too much. Who needs confidence? Right?" he says nudging Kali.
He looks down at Thomias and smiles warmly. The lad looked bored. "I've searched the area for suspicious persons, likely locations to find our target, mapped an efficient route and gathered intel on some of the prominent people." He then gets down to the boys level and whispers loud enough for most to hear, "That is to say, I found all the best games and best gathering spots. Want to see if we can find your mum?" he asks, holding a hand out.
Though she heard him enter, she wasn't expecting the gentle nudge in her side and lets out an "eep!" She manages not to make a mess, but given her luck with the second batch, she feels that isn't much to brag about.
"Yeah, and apparently Laetitia is a better cook than I am," Kali mumbles glumly before pouring up a bowl of stew for Marge. "Do you two mind waiting a moment while I get this to her," she asks Owl and Thomias as she grabs the warm bread and quickly fixes a bowl of the good stew for Thomias. She looks at Owl with her wide, violet eyes and adds a small, earnest, "please?"
Knowing how delicate the demonspawn's sensibilities were, Laetitia manages not to whisper-hiss her irritation to Kali for the delay, but just barely. Not that the imperious look she fixes the woman with as she scurries forward with the stew is much better. As she passes by the mesmerist, Tish notes that what Kali brings out is most certainly not the dish she had helped to create. The smell that wafts over to her does not inspire much confidence in the tiefling's culinary expertise. If not for the deferential demeanor she shows to Marge, Laetitia might think Kali was trying to sabotage her little operation before it could begin. So, instead of throwing the fighter under the proverbial carriage, Tish decides to give her the benefit of the doubt this time.
She watches quietly as Marge goes to have her first taste of the soup, having grown tired of trying to soothe the woman's growing irritation with honeyed words. She is glad for the timely arrival of Otho, who seems to have taken her words under consideration. At least someone's willing to play along. Although she would like to slip back into the carriage or experience the wonders of the carnival and leave Jix and Otho to wait on Marge, Laetitia selflessly decides to spare them that pain and sticks around to ensure that her impromptu scheme falls into place smoothly.
The looks she feels on her back as she hurries out does little to instill any confidence in her. Suddenly, she's back at the Stranger's Best, and Alexandria is once again looking down at her as she struggles to please the unpleasable courtesan. She'd tried to do her best, she really did, but she doubted that would sway Laetitia in her opinion of her.
It was probably the comment about her cooking. I wasn't upset that she was better than me. Just that I couldn't get close to what she had, she thinks before putting on a smile and delivering Marge her meal.
@ Lia Neve
On the way back, Kari continues to poke fun at you.
"I mean, its not my fault I'm developing a bit faster. I'm sure you'll grow more too." she says, cheekily. She had opted to fish out the payment herself, rather than let the youth get ahead of himself.
She throws her arms around you, and gives you a tight squeeze.
"Oh, you know I love you." she says. "You and your modestly-sized chest."
@ Everyone
Lia and Owl have made their way back to the carriage to find the "eatery" that the others are running.
Marge seems a bit annoyed, but between the alcohol, soothing words of Laetitia, and quick apology from Kalisuel leave her in a content state. She tastes the dish and, finding it to her tastes, finishes it quickly.
"As fulfilling as promised." she announces, rising from her seat. [b]"I'll be sure to send the more sensible members of the community your way.
She departs, waiving the fee and promising to spread the word of your culinary skill.
Jix struggled and cursed under her breath as Otho pulls her into a vice grip and offers her services to Marge. Shooting a spiteful glare at the brawler and mouthing the word, "Wanker." at him the ratfolk turns around and flashes Marge a nice toothy fake smile and speaks through gritted teeth, "O' course! More than 'appy to oblige someone as fair and good as yerself, that I am!"
It is with great relief that Jix's muscles loosen as Marge leaves the group to their own devices finally.
"Bloody tart." She murmers under her breath before she wriggles her lithe figure and slips out of Otho's tight grasp and taking a few steps away from him fixing him with another deadly glare. The rat girl then crosses her arms, points her snout to the sky, and huff derisively.
Her foul mood continues to threaten the peace of the group until Lia has spoken her piece and a wry smile splits Jix's stern expression. "Well I'll be an orc's uncle Snowflake. 'o'd a known you 'ad such power in the fine art o' procurement. Good on ya! Per'aps you're not just a pampered brat after all." She sneered. "I mean probably not but tis certainly a possibility."
Owl schools his expression into a sincere smile while holding back a laugh. "Of course." Was she that desperate to get away? He then taps Thomias on the shoulder and points around at the others. "Might be here a minute so pay attention. A little teamwork and some good acting can go a long way. We weren't registered nor prepared to be another shop in the main part of the festival but thanks to some quick thinking we are closer to the crowds. And shops are great places to pick up information without even interacting with people. Just need to listen." Owl continues the learning exercise as they wait to for Kali.
"Oh," is all Laetitia can manage to stay as Marge departs without incident. She had been expecting far more fuss to come from the woman, especially once she tasted the stew. Maybe I give her too little credit, she considers, briefly eyeing the petite tiefling. Before Tish allows that particular train of thought settle in, she shrugs off the sentiment and looks around at the group. "That was well-played everyone. We may have gotten off to a shaky start, but I daresay with a little planning, we might actually be able to make a decent bit of coin while we're here." Taking stock of the looks on her companions' faces, Tish arches a manicured brow at the lot, curious to see if any disagree with her plan. "Unless someone has any other ideas?"
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Maybe the term self assurance wasn't right. Maybe it was just the way Owl seemed to be laughing at them all sometimes. Maybe he wasn't sorry that he'd said it.
That was just Otho's impression however. They probably just needed to get some time to themselves. Communal living wasn't for everyone. Thankfully, Marge left, but not before he gifted Jix with a "Musa" for her "Wanker."
"Guess I'll stick around. Get the carriage settled in. Take care of the animals. Don't want anyone wandering off with it and them like last time. Kari can take my room. I'll sleep here."
With his part spoken, Otho had almost forgotten, "Tish, did Marge say anything about anyone strange? Anything important?"
"Maybe it wouldn't have been so shaky if you'd bothered to let us in on it," Kali mutters under her breath before letting out a sigh and turning more fully to face Laetitia.
"I have none," Kali says plainly before turning to Lia and mustering a smile. [smaler]"Thank you Lia, and you too Kari. Where did you get the rooms at?"[/smaller]
After getting that detail squared away, She turns to Thomias and Owl and asks them, "shall we go? I think we still have some time to have a little fun and see if we have any luck finding your mother."
Then, remembering the paper crown, she picks it up and, with a mischievous wink to Thomias, places it on Owl's head.
"Hmm, I'm a little jealous. It looks better on you than on me," she says, fighting to keep the grin from widening any further and to keep the laughter in her eyes from busting out.
"Cheeky." Jix smiled widely as she flipped Otho the bird impishly and sauntered off towards Owl swaying her hips back and forth in her stride.
She prodded the half-elf in the chest with a single claw and smirked. "A smart plan mister Bird-Brain but me thinks yer all work 'n' no play 'n' that's jus' not 'ow I roll see." The rogue spins round and begins tugging at Owl's arm pulling him with surprising strength in the direction of the carnival. "C'mon then yer royal 'ighness. Let ol' Jix remind ya of 'ow to cut loose, ya old geezer!"
"Hmm, I'm a little jealous. It looks better on you than on me," she says, fighting to keep the grin from widening any further and to keep the laughter in her eyes from busting out.
"Obviously," he says straightening the little crown on his own hat. He then takes a comical, regal pose for Thomias benefit. As he does so he feels pressure on his chest and then a tug on his arm.
She prodded the half-elf in the chest with a single claw and smirked. "A smart plan mister Bird-Brain but me thinks yer all work 'n' no play 'n' that's jus' not 'ow I roll see." The rogue spins round and begins tugging at Owl's arm pulling him with surprising strength in the direction of the carnival. "C'mon then yer royal 'ighness. Let ol' Jix remind ya of 'ow to cut loose, ya old geezer!"
With a deft spin and flick, Owl retrieves his arm and realigns his hat. "Ye thinks wrong my little furry friend. I'm an old hand at mixing business and pleasure. Besides, its not my fault you got caught up in Laetishia's coin scheme. I got out while I could and had my fun. Now its back to business." He then steers Thomias and Kali towards the festival. "You can join though."
Kali has to cover her mouth with a hand to stifle the snort of laughter as he poses, though she sobers quite a bit when Jix comes over. She still smiles, but she does her best to avoid the ratfolk. The mention Laetitia's scheme.
"In my defense, I was told we'd wind up in another cell if I didn't," Kali says as she nods Jix's direction, "and no one bothered to see if we had the supplies for this. Whatever coin she makes is going to have to right back into supplies for our travels."
Kali grins again as she adds, "but that's for another time. There's a carnival, and I never had a chance to go to one. I'm not missing it now!"
As you all stand about discussing, the sudden onset of screams catches your ears. Those who hurry to the source of the screaming find townsfolk fleeing what looks to be a very large lizard that some of you have seen the carnival workers advertise as a baby dragon. He hisses at anyone nearby and snaps his jaws with considerable force.
As you approach the wild beast, a humanoid approaches you, his most notable feature being his giant ears the resemble a floppy rabbit and can cover the majority of his body.
"Please don't kill him!" he plead. "He's just frightened and confused!"
Initiative Order: Lia, Jix, Baby Dragon, Owl, Otho, Kali, Laetitia.
Before the ratfolk rogue was even able to make a snide comment about Owl's reluctance to partake in sine fun at the carnival the chaos began to break out. As people ran screaming from the scene Jix slowly crept towards it, sticking to the shadows as she drew her trusty heavy crossbow with cold stoicism on her face and in her gleaming golden eyes. The screaming crowd didn't phase the rat girl, as a caravan guard she had seen it all before, the way peasants reacted to a threat. While they fled for their lives Jix thought only of what kind of reward she would reap when all this was said and done. Slaying a dragon was pricey work after all. Even if it was only a little one.
Jix slipped herself behind some barrels of fruits and other assorted carnival related goods and gently rested her crossbow upon the lip of the object. Her ears twitched as she heard the rabbit eared man cry out and she spat derisively upon hearing his request. "O' aye. Sure please stop me rampagin' dragon but please o' please don' kill 'im! 'e's just poor lost an' confused 'e is, 'onest. Load a 'orse s$~# that. But per'aps the reward 'll be bigger if we don' kill the scaly brute. . ." Jix pondered this a moment and shook her head. "Well no one e'er said I couldn' jus' soften 'im up a bit first. I'll let the others take care o' the rest."
She took a deep breath as she lined up her shot.
And cursed as she shanked the shot a little too far to the left. Having the bolt bounce uselessly off the ground.
There's something about this "dragon" that doesn't sit right with Jix. She can't place it, but there's definitely something here that doesn't add up.
As a shadow on a moonless night, Jix dissapears from sight with a deft movement. Not even the panicked senses of fleeing bystanders notice the small female ratfolk slinking around. Though, after she lets loose an attack which certainly catches the "dragon's" attention, she tries to merge into the shadows again.
And steps right into a box of eating tins which tumbles over and clatters against each other as they fall to the ground.
Uh oh....
As for Lia, she looks around for something that might come in useful to capture the creature. Some of the things she spots includes: random assortments of wooden crates, a pile of rope tied to a carriage roughly twenty feet away, Floppy rabbit humanoid standing by and hoping things end with the "dragon" being alright, Large wooden mallet leaning against the strongman game, and random assortments of dropped concessions tasty to humanoids.
The "dragon, sensing the attack coming from Jix races over and tries to clomp onto her arm.
The "dragon closes in and is now within striking distance should Jix try and do anything something that provokes any attacks of opportunity.[/ooc]
Kali points to a place that Thomias could be out of the action, but still be nearby and tells him, "wait there, and be careful, okay?"
Once Thomias scampers off, Kali sighs and steels her nerves as she rushed at the "dragon" and prepared to do something very, very dumb.
She launches herself at the lizard and tries to wrestle it into submission.
"Cor! Cor! Cor! COR!!! Jix screamed and held up her arms defensively as the creature rushed towards her covering her eyes momentarily with her arms as she expected death.
When a moment later Kali came running in and tackled the beast head on. Jix slowly lowered her arms and blinked at Kali's rapid response, breathing a slight sigh of relief before regaining composure. "I-I 'ad it right where I wanted it, I did. But good on ya!" She joked before springing back into action.
She was useless here and she knew it, she needed to think of something to put herself back in the game. She took a moment to take in her surroundings.
Then she grabbed a tin she had just tripped on and tossed it past the creature where it landed with a loud clatter.
And slunk off into the shadows behind the nearby strongman machine.
Owl considers his options.