The crowd roars at the climax of Charlie's trick. They eat up the drama of the hunt! The crowd goes absolutely wild.
Left Ring: Haldan - Go
Right Ring: Dwarven Throwers
Center Ring: Feather Fall F---- Now what?!
The Dwarven Throwers take to the ring with tumbles and leaps to massive applause!
and they crush it!
Meanwhile, as Haldan sets up his own trick, the ring is being prepared for the Kanbali family, the group of acrobatic performers collectively known as the Feather-Fall Five. "Our nets have been sabotaged!" The entire family comes to you. "What do we do?!"
You can see that they weren't cut via sabotage, but rather they were chewed through. Strange, but not unheard of behavior for rats.
Current totals:
Completed Stage(s): Opener, Build Up, The Big Number, Finale 1 of 3
Anticipation: 10
Excitement: 7
Dangerous? Chark looks at the Five, incredulous. It is only dangerous if you fall. I've watched you since joining the Wayward Wanderers and you've not needed the nets ever. I mean ever. What makes you think you're going to need them now?
"Well, okay. We don't want to make a habit out of it though..." Chark's words turn into confidence for the family, though it takes them a moment to get pumped up."
After “disappearing backstage for one last visit to the bucket he’s been visiting.
”Hello everyone and let’s give a big round of applause to Dendillion, our most amazing host for this evening!”
He gestures to where Dendillion was with a flourish and pauses for applause.
”Fantastic job so far, and what a show it has been so far. And now to begin the finale. For this trick tonight, we will be attempting to summon the Rabbit Prince off of this card.”
Haldan pauses to show the card to the crowd. Then removes his hat.
“To you, the hat seems empty, correct?” Shows the inside of the hat to everyone and hands it to the closest kid in the crowd. ”Do you see anything, child?” While the attention is on the child he prepares mentally to cast prestidigitation. ”It seems cluttered to me though. Let’s see if there’s something that can be done about this. With a wave of my hand and say the magic word... YES! This should clear out some of the clutter getting in the way.” Haldan pulls a stuffed animal of the Rabbit Prince out of the hat and gives it to the child. ”No, this is not the real Rabbit Prince, but let’s see if we can convince him to come out of hiding.” Haldan then produces a carrot from his jacket and hands it to the next nearest child. ”Young one, please hold out the carrot, wave it around to the crowd and say the magic words: Suffering Succotash” And, as the attention is now on this new child, slips Hermann into the hat from his coat. ”You clearly have magic in you as here is the Rabbit Prince!!!”
Pause for effect/applause.
”Isn’t he majestic?” While the attention is on Hermann and Hermann hams it up for the crowd, Haldan casts all but the last verbal component of Pest Form. ”But, he seems lonely. And what would the Rabbit Princess?!”
Haldan finishes this with putting on the hat as saying the final verbal component making it appear that he vanishes into his own hat. When, in reality, he’s only just turned into a rabbit. He tosses the hat off himself and seductively gets the attention of Hermann. Hermann, visibly uncomfortable with the flirtation and new part of the trick begins to back up off stage. A now strutting rabbit Haldan follows him off stage.
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”That last bit demeans us both, you tosser. We need a rabbit resources department in this circus.”
Haldan also nails his trick!
Nervous, but excited after Chark's words, the Feather-Fall Five take to the high wire. Right after Haldan's applause finally die down The crowd goes silent albeit murmurs of the danger roil through the crowd.
The drum rolls...
and they nail it! The crowd goes ballistic!
The cheers continue after the finale. When all is said and done, the show could not have gone better.
Final Anticipation: 10
Final Excitement: 11
----------------------------------
When the show is over the Professor walks over to you, "There're a lot of questions that need answering, but you've done right by our late leader. Here. Take this, I insist. It's an outsized portion." He hands you each 5 gold coins. "You did such an amazing job, that I also insist you take these from my stores." He also hands you 2 minor healing potions.
As the applause dies down, Chark rushes over to the late Thunder, gingerly checking here and there to determine what happened. Poor Thunder, certainly looked like whatever happened hurt him. Maybe he had a heart attack?
Not waiting any longer Chark rushes back to the body. A close evaluation of the dead ringmaster reveals that his legs are so swollen that his pant legs can’t be rolled up; his trousers must be cut off or cut open. Doing so reveals many snake bites on both his calves. Chark is confident that the snake venom caused his death. Unfortunately Chark can't identify the kind of snake.
Yes it's possible the snakes in the stands did this, but an attack like this? Not natural, the vipers must have been controlled or coerced somehow.
The area immediately around Myron’s body bears strange tracks.
These are the tiny prints of countless rats. These numerous rat tracks hide any other footprints that might have been here, including Myron’s own. The rats seem to be long gone.
Dendillion does his best to wrap up the show. He's fairly mobbed for a bit, but extricates himself politely and follows Chark.
When Chark reveals the snake bites, the bard gasps. "How horrible! I wonder..."
"... is this from the snakes that were in the crowd?"
He places a hand to close Myron's eyes. It gives him a moment to study the body.
"I can't see anything that gives us a clue here. This is terrible!"
Strange. A whole lot of rat prints here. They've obscured anything else.
Maybe, Chark says, but that's not how they naturally operate. Looks like coercion.
Chark stands. This appears to have been a murder made to seem like an accident!
"A M..mm..mm..murder?" Charlie gasps as he holds Goliath back away from the body. "But why rats and snakes?" Charlie looks around for the tracks to see if he can follow them.
The professor shakes his head, "The Circus of Wayward Wonders includes many performers, along with numerous roustabouts, hangers-on, and family members. We're not going anywhere for a few days. Feel free to explore the Circus Grounds."
The circus also includes several animals, from Elizia’s snakes to assorted camels, bears, and even elephants. Some of these animals are kept in or near their owners’ wagons, but others follow along with the wagons and must be corralled when the big top is up. The circus camp consists of two dozen mismatched wagons parked on a grassy field broken by a meandering stream. A large, communal fire burns near a deep pond formed by the stream. Even though the circus performance was successful, the mood in the camp is subdued. The performers huddle together by the fire, nervously watching the camp and jumping at shadows.
"Given that I saw the snakes, I think I'm going to talk to an expert. Perhaps Elizia can shed some light on this. I'd hope they weren't hers, but maybe they were set free," Dendillion heads off to see the woman, not necessarily waiting to see if others join but hopeful that he's not going near Mr. Tickles alone.
Tiny furrows his brow "Those snakes in the crowd can't have been a coincidence, and will all those other problems maybe somebody has it out for us..."
Tiny's thoughts move to his own mind after that as he nods half absentmindedly to Dendilion's suggestion and joins him.
Chark nods, willing to join Dendillion as he bravely tries to face his ophidiophobia.
Elizia seems a prudent starting point. Come along, Haldan. You too, Tiny and Charlie, she says, never referring to the latter with his appellation, as she finds it unnecessarily cruel.
She falls into step behind the field-promoted ringleader.
The group heads to Elizia's wagon. You can hear before you can see her. There's clear and obvious crying coming from the trailer. Elizia lets you in. "I... I heard it was snakes, but I use constrictors, and they're all accounted for. Oh Myron... I can't believe he's gone!"
You see the rat tracks throughout the camp. You think you might be able to deduce where they either came from, or where they were heading...
Tiny keeps looking to the ground as they walk, suddenly snapping out of his own thoughts "Hey Charlie, what was that you said about rats? I keep seeing their footprints, like right over here."
Tiny points down at a batch of somewhat distinctive rats.
”I’m coming, but I want to make one thing clear. I do not believe for a second that this was Eliza. She is pure of heart.” Haldan says catching up to the group.
”Geez. I’d say get a room but, to my knowledge, she hasn’t given you the time o’ day.” Hermann says this directly to Haldan but, like everything else he’s said so far, doesn’t seem to phase Haldan in the slightest.
"Oh, I know dear. I know," Dendillion says, then gives Elizia a surprise hug, allowing her a shoulder to cry on. He then separates and asks, "Do you know what type of snake it is? If I describe it to you? I'm trying to figure out if it's native to here or not."
The bard then describes what he saw, hopefully affording the others time to examine the rat tracks Tiny sees.
"Those sound like vipers to me. They're native to the isle, but that's not how they normally act."
Charlie watches as Goliath sniffs around the tracks all over the camp. "There were rat tracks all around the area where T...t...thunder was found. They look to lead off into the ww...w..wwoods." Charlie points into the treeline. "We can ch..ch..check it out before the trail gets cold."
Tiny looks up at Charlie's idea "That's brilliant... I guess it is up to us to follow up."
”It’s possible they could have been summoned creatures. Which would mean a mage. Or, alternatively, this could have been sabotage from a rival circus. Yes, yes, that’s definitely a possibility. Or, and stay with me on this, The 52 could be challenging me by trying to add some distractions to my act. That’s exactly their style. I think I passed their test though. So many possibilities...”
Haldan is talking out loud to himself pacing back and forth nearby, hands behind his back and obviously stressed. Hermann is pacing behind him, mimicking him exactly and shoots a wink and anyone who looks his way.
The party heads over to the trees, but the tracks quickly become too hard to follow. Just as you're about to give up this lead, you spot movement among the base of the nearest trunk. It's a snake! At roughly two feet long it looks like the snake from the show!
(Scout)
(Seek)
(Avoid Notice)
(Detect Magic)
(Seek)
As the party moves to act Dendillion spots another snake! This one is no mere viper, it's nearly the size of a man!
Round 1:
Dendillion: Go
Chark: go
Haldon: Go
Sneks: TBD
Tiny: TBD
Charlie: TBD
You're telling me that's the one that showed up in the tent? Not a coincidence, I'm certain of it.
Chark moves forward; as she does, a ball of yellow-white flame forms in her palm, which she proceeds to throw at the smaller snake.
Chark's flame strikes the viper. Instantly most of its flesh burns as the snake twitches violently. Any normal snake would slither off, but this one seems intent on fighting on!
Round 1:
Dendillion: Go
Chark: Arthur Brown
Haldon: Go
Sneks: TBD
Tiny: TBD
Charlie: TBD
Tiny viper: 6
Action 1: Interact (Drawing his Lute)
Action 2: Inspire Courage w/Lingering Composition
Action 3: Perform
With his lute slung behind him, Dendillion adjusts to bring the instrument into his hands. He first strums a quick series of power chords to inspire the group, ending it off with a flourish!
He briefly flubs the the final chord though. Not anything noticeable, but something his trained ear spots.
He continues to let the music flow, hoping to fascinate the furthest snake.
Dendillion inspires the party, but despite his best efforts to use the ancient Vudrani chords, can't charm the snake.
Round 1:
Dendillion: Bard-fu
Chark: Arthur Brown
Haldon: Go
Sneks: TBD
Tiny: TBD
Charlie: TBD
Tiny viper: 7
Haldan uses all 3 of his actions on Magic Missile on the far snake.
Haldan weaves his most potent effect, driving a trio of missiles into the viper larger than he is. The larger snake is clearly wounded, but Haldan can see that it's going to take a lot more than that to kill it.
The smaller, burned viper, slithers to Tiny and and snaps its fangs at the dwarf: , just barely falling short. It tries again: , but Tiny is even more prepared for the remise.
The larger viper slithers towards Chark and with fangs the size of daggers, tries to bite her: for . With fangs deep in Chark's leg, it injects a lot of venom.
Round 1:
Dendillion: Bard-fu
Chark: Arthur Brown
Haldan: MM
Sneks: ATK
Tiny: Go
Charlie: Go
Tiny viper: 7
Medium viper: 10
Chark feels the poison in her veins.
Round 1:
Dendillion: Bard-fu
Chark: Arthur Brown
Haldan: MM
Sneks: ATK
Tiny: Go
Charlie: Go
Tiny viper: 7
Medium viper: 10
Tiny sucks away from the viper with surprisingly agility from a dwarf.
Tiny ponders his circus training for a moment as he pushes forward his bracers to protect himself from further snake bites as he detangles himself swipes at the snake with both hands.
Charlie unfurls his whip, setting his sights on the southern viper. "Goliath, g...get it." The bear thunders past, snapping at the snake.
... ◆⃟ Draw Whip
... ◆⃟ Hunt Prey (South Viper)
... ◆⃟ Command Goliath
... ◆⃟ Goliath Move
... ◆⃟ Goliath Attack
HP 19/19
AC 18 (20 w/ shield)
Wooden Shield [AC Bonus +2] [Hardness 3] [HP/BT 12(6)]
Hero Points 3/3
Goliath
HP 16/16
AC 15
As Tiny moves, the snake immediately slithers out of reach!
Charlie sends Goliath into the fray. The bear's jaw chomp down on the viper. The snake thrashes violently, but it's still got some fight left in it.
Round 2:
Dendillion: Go
Chark: Go
Haldan: Go
Sneks: TBD
Tiny: TBD
Charlie: TBD
Tiny viper: 7
Medium viper: 22
Action 1: Inspire Courage w/Lingering Composition
Action 2-3: Telekinetic Projectile
Dendillion strums a few more power chords. The G, C, and D ring out, filling the group with musically inspired prowess. He adds a flourish at the end, hoping the sound carries in the wind.
He mutters to himself, then slightly tweaks a tuning peg on his lute.
He spots a loose branch near the viper by Goliath. "Maybe this will..." he says before performing a brief riff using notes from the Dorian mode. The music takes hold within the branch, launching it at the serpent!
Dendillion brings the branch down on the viper. The sharp edge of the branch piercing it at the base of the skull, killing it!
Round 2:
Dendillion: Kill
Chark: Go
Haldan: Go
Sneks: TBD
Tiny: TBD
Charlie: TBD
Tiny viper: 7
Adding more flair than is needed to his somatic components, Haldan produces a flaming card from virtually nowhere and launches it at the remaining snake.
Chark steps over and flings another palm-sized ball of yellow-white fire at Black.
Haldan's flame is off target, but Chark's is right on target. The smaller viper shrivels to naught more than a charred corpse.
The poison of the larger viper continues to to course through Chark's body
Out of combat, but Chark is in rough shape.
Seeing Chark suffer, Dendillion wastes no time strumming a few notes off a pentatonic scale. When he lands on the root note, a wave of soothing magic washes over the half-elven woman.
Goliath begins to shake the snake in his maw, chewing on it like some sort of toy as Charlie checks out Chark's injury. "Those the same snakes that k..k..k..killed Thunder? You have to get the venom out!" He looks scared. "Should we t..t.t..take her to Eliza? She knows s.ss..snakes."
Tiny responds to some of Charlie's fear "Were they left here to kill us too?"
Tiny shakes his head regaining his composure "We can't blame them though, they are just animals, maybe the rat prints continue?"
Tiny looks around for further rat prints.
”We can blame them a little bit...”