Dendillion steps once more into the center ring, beaming a smile that hides nerves. The show is not going well at all. He strums the opening chords, never letting his concerns show. Like last time the music starts soft and soothing, easing the audience into his tale. "There once was a man named the 'Red Raven'. He was known as a vigilante in Galt. But I'm here today, to make it clear on this stage, that he was no raven at all."
He increases the tempo as Castamir's 'secrets' begin to spill out. The details remain wrong, but are different and still relatively credible if a tad far-fetched.
Success
The tempo increases once more, leading into the strummed chords with an overlaid picking pattern that help punctuate the lies. He once more tells of the Red Raven and Queen Abrogail. "...and in that night, in Queen Abrogail's chambers, the Red Raven did more than ruffle his feathers!"
Success
The picking patterns grow increasingly complex, Dendillion's hands moving quickly as he adds percussive taps to the body of his lute. The song peaks add the crudest lie. "And then did the RED RAVEEEEEEN... SPLOOGE ON A GOD!"
Success
Dendillion pulls the show around, hitting on all notes and getting uproarous laughter from the crowd!
It's time for the big finale!
Right Ring:
Action 1: Go
Action 2: Go
Action 3: Go
Center Ring:
Action 1: Go
Action 2: Go
Action 3: Go
Leftt Ring:
Action 1: SUCCESS
Action 2: CRIT
Action 3: TBD
Current totals:
Completed Stage(s): The Opener, The Build-up, The Big Number
Anticipation: 21
Excitement: 22
A burst of white-hot flame explodes, startling the crowd as Chark, showing a fair bit more skin (and thus, many more tattoos) than usual, emerges unscathed when the flames subside. Citizens, folks, and the curious of all ages! ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?
Using her numerous tattoos, she retells the tale of one of Sarenrae's many skirmishes with Lamashtu.
During the climactic battle scene, she slashes her scimitar about for emphasis!
Chark nails her performance! It's a great trick as all eyes turn towards the center ring.
With the show comfortably in hand, Mordaine finishes off her trick.
Finale:
Right Ring: Dawnflower Parables
Action 1: Success! (+5 Excitement)
Action 2: Success! (+5 Excitement)
Action 3: Success! (+5 Excitement)
Center Ring: Four cards, Four coins
Action 1: Go
Action 2: Go
Action 3: Go
Leftt Ring: Mordaine the Magician
Action 1: FORT: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16 SUCCESS
Action 2: FORT: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (18) + 7 = 25 CRIT
Action 3: (+1 Excitement)
Current totals:
Completed Stage(s): The Opener, The Build-up, The Big Number
Anticipation: 21
Excitement: 39
Starting off with some card tricks, Haldan works the crowd both from afar and close up, depending on the trick. Suspenseful music is playing from off stage that he asked Den to put together right before going on stage. Letting his face paint and the music set the tone for the show.
He then moves into a series of disappearing and reappearing cards and coins from four corners of a table, set up to be viewable to the people in the crowd.
He finishes by collecting the cards, bowing to the crowd, fanning out the deck to his audience, and launches them into the air, using this distraction to vanish.
And with this, Hermann is sent back on stage, in his new Mistress Dusklight ringmaster outfit to clean up the mess of cards and instructed to fall at least once for comic result.
The show ends on a high note as Haldan delivers a knock out performance!
For the second time in as many weeks, the Circus of Wayward Wonders is a success! As the crowds file out, the tills are collected and counted:
The morning after the circus’s second performance, the workers cheerfully attend to their morning rituals. As the circus settles into its routine, you turn your attention to the somber reason you traveled to Escadar: to find information about the failing aeon orb atop the Erran Tower.
It seems that the entrance to this "Moonstone Hall" is through a mermaid statue in the city. Unfortunately, constables guard the “sewer entrance” near a crumbling mermaid fountain in the city’s dangerous Woodworkers District. You're not allowed to simply walk in....
Charlie leans on the wall. "Maybe some of us can put on a small show to offer a distraction for others to find the entrance and get us inside?"
"So, first of all, I love the idea of performing for this. What I could do is put on a particularly showy and distracting performance, cast invisibility s part of my big finish, and disappear behind the cards again. Then I sneak in behind all of you. You'll need to possibly get past any traps or locks without me though, you all think that'll be possible?"
Haldan pauses to giggle, then moves on.
"Secondly, we should reinvest all of this money and continue to grow our circus. We need a bigger stage, and a bigger audience."
The eastern neighborhoods of Escadar are filled with drug houses, gambling dens, and overcrowded tenements. In a courtyard at the end of a deserted side street, sequestered from the cacophony of touts and peddlers, a gaping sinkhole yawns next to a dry and crumbling fountain depicting a frolicking mermaid. A metal fence surrounds the sinkhole and the fountain. Four people dressed in constable uniforms stand near the fountain, at ease but alert for trouble.
Dendillion strides forward, strumming his lute. The notes ring out, melodious and enchanting as the sounds beguile the four guards.
"Or sing our way in..."
Haldan mumbles from the behind Dendillion. This being Den's stage, and no distraction needed from Haldan, he decides to take this time at the back of the group practicing card juggling, keeping his skills sharp. Charlier cut and thumb fan combo is today's light exercise, throwing in a card spring every once in a while.
Seeing Dendillion's approach, Haldan doesn't even slow stride and trusts his companions abilities while trying to walk right by the guards. He's looking for signs of keys on the guards. If he sees some and sees if the guards are fascinated, he will look to use this distraction to swipe the keys.
Tiny heads in, helping provide distraction if needed, but otherwise not drawing extra attention to himself.
To enter:
Chark: Go
Charlie: Go
Dendillion: Go
Goliath: Go
Þóðᛞrekkr: Go
Tiny: Go
Haldan: Go
Charlie and Goliath try to quietly sneak past as Charlie looks back, thinking he should have left the bear back at the circus.
Sneaky sneak.
Waiting for everyone to go first, Dendillion does his best to sneak past.
Despite Dendillion's skill, everyone who tries to sneak past is immediately stopped, "Oi! That place is off limits! You can't go in by order of Chief Constable Andera."
"C..cc.can we speak to the Constable to get permission?" Charlie asks with a shocked look on his face.
"Freakin' be my guest."
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Very well, let us visit the Constable and try to explain our plight.
Dendillion sighs, but agrees that the constable will just have to do.
Some people simply have no appreciation for great art.
It takes about hours to get a spot, but eventually you make your way onto her agenda for the day.
Andera Paldreen, the chief constable of Escadar, is a beacon of law in an otherwise corrupt metropolis infected with a thriving criminal network. Though most of her constables affectionately call her “chief,” Andera has another nickname—the kestrel—inspired by her steely gray eyes and withering glare. She displays a portrait of her namesake in her office in Conclave Square, a gift from her fellow constables to commemorate her promotion to chief constable.
When you finally get in, she congratulates you on "clearing your plot of land and establishing the circus in town. I appreciate the uplift to our civic mood!"
She immediately turns to business, "What can I do for you?"
Chark smiles as she begins. We have a favor to ask, actually. One for which you need only give a word, nothing more.
We have reason to believe that there's a potential issue bubbling up from the sewers in the Woodworker's District. A xulgath issue, if you get my meaning. Chark pauses for effect, then continues. We do have other reasons for looking into this, but xulgaths certainly brought it forefront. The avenue to addressing it is behind the mermaid statue which your people currently have quite effectively under watch. We need your permission to go past that guard and deal with what's below.
"Exactly as our wondrous devotee of Sarenrae says," Dendillion chimes in, hoping to add his own honeyed words. "You should see her perform, constable! It's something to behold."
"But yes, it seems you're in luck with us having a keen interest in actually helping even more than before. And though I'd normally suggest a fee for our services, we've got a bit of a bone to pick with xulgaths so this one is on us."
She puts down her pen. "You're telling me that we have a xulgath problem? It’s an abandoned and buried temple to Aroden that the city wants to keep clear of smugglers or other criminals, hence the guards. We could perhaps have a mutually beneficial arrangement here. You clear it out, and I mean ALL of it, since we haven't explored it all, and you can keep whatever you find. the only exception is anything specifically criminal - you know - guild or smuggler stuff. I want that."
she quickly picks the pen back up and scribbles a quick writ. "Here. This will get you in."
"Wonderful," Dendillion says with low bow. "We remain happy to serve in this, constable."
Barring any questions from the others, Dendillion makes to leave.
Tiny nods and heads out with his allies.
With writ in hand, getting past the guards is a simple matter. They wish you luck, but the keened-eared among you hears the skepticism in their voices.
With gate opened, it's a walk into the darkness below the city....
Far beneath the restless city lies a monument to the past. Sturdy doors of reinforced ebony guard the entrance to an impressive building constructed of gleaming white stone. One of the doors is slightly ajar. White stone pillars support the cavern’s ceiling above. Broken stained-glass windows along the temple’s walls peer like sightless eyes.
Haldan is excited at this adventure and even does a cartwheel at the bottom of the stairs entering the great hall.
"You know, if I wanted to make sure this place wasn't looted, I would have closed the door. I don't think we're the only folks down here. Someone might want to look for fresh tracks."
Moves forward.
As Haldan approaches a pair of creatures emerge from behind the pillars. They are squat, reptilian monsters with eight legs, bony spurs jutting from their backs, and eyes that glow with pale green fire!
It appears that both beasts are chained to the wall, but they have a fair amount more chain to let out before hitting their limit.
Round 1:
Chark: Go
Monsters: TBD
Dendillion: TBD
Charlie: TBD
Tiny: TBD
Haldan: TBD
(Scout)
(Search)
(Detect Magic)
(Seek, Keen Eyes)
(Search)
>.>
Trolls! Chark says. Kill them with fire so they don't regenerate! She sends a blazing band of orange-white fire arcing through the air at Black!
Chark might be talking out of her arse, but her aim is good. The creature is slightly burned.
The creatures approach, and very little chain remains in both cases. Still, it's enough for their freakish eyes to do their work.
Round 1:
Chark: Hit
Monsters: Approach
Dendillion: Go
Charlie: Go
Tiny: Go
Haldan: Go
Black: 14
Arcana +11.
Move back out of range. Recall Knowledge.
Haldan isn't sure what these things are either. As he backs up he finds his limbs are stiff and hard to move...
Round 1:
Chark: Hit
Monsters: Approach
Dendillion: Go
Charlie: Go
Tiny: Go
Haldan: Move (Slowed 1)
Black: 14
Tiny puts away his shield and draws a heavy crossbow.
Charlie whistles as Goliath bounds in towards the strange creatures hiding in the darkness. Seeing some shadows Charlie lets off a single arrow into the darkness.
HP 68/68
AC 22 (24 w/ shield)
Wooden Shield 12/12; [AC Bonus +2: [Hardness 3] [HP/BT 12(6)]
Snarecraft Snares Used: Biting Snare x3
Focus 1/1
Hero Points 1/3
Goliath
HP 48/48
AC 20
Action 1: Inspire Courage
Action 2-3: Haste
With his lute slung, Dendillion begins to sing. The melodious sounds form into a tale of sailor on his first voyage. The others have heard him sing it before, recalling how excited the sailor was. It inspires them.
He quickly reaches the chorus, adding magic to the music and channeling that into Tiny. He feels his pace quicken!
For ease, this room is illuminated, but it's safe to bet that it's the last one for a while.
Tiny, slowed and stiff, switches his armament.
Goliath connects by virtue of the song of Dendillion, and Charlie also connects. The pair gives serious, but not grievous wounds.
Round 2:
Chark: Go
Monsters: TBD
Dendillion: TBD
Charlie: TBD
Tiny: TBD (Slowed 1)
Haldan: TBD (Slowed 1)
Black: 27
Botting for Chark.
Chark gathers her focus and puts forth a righteous flame onto the beast already under attack.
Cast Fire Ray.
Cast shield.
3 actions.
Chark's fire strikes true, and SOOOO close to center mass. Still, it's a wicked wound.
Both the creature lurch forward. The wounded one lurches with jaws at Goliath:
But it's all for naught.
The other just barely makes it to Chark, ignoring the others. It's chain is maxed out, but it's close enough to bite.
for
Round 2:
Chark: Hit
Monsters: ATK
Dendillion: Go
Charlie: Go
Tiny: Go (Slowed 1)
Haldan: Go (Slowed 1)
Black: 56
Action 1: Recall Knowledge
Action 2-3: TBD
Dendillion thinks back on some of the tales of monsters he's heard told...