Dotting?
The Circus of Wayward Wonders has arrived in Abberton! This circus is very new; less than a year ago, several performers in Mistress Dusklight’s Celestial Menagerie in Escadar tired of their heartless ringmaster’s cruel ways and quit to form their own circus. These performers knew they would need to leave Escadar quickly to avoid Mistress Dusklight’s wrath, and they committed themselves to the life of wayward wanderers. The new circus’s leaders, an elderly circus veteran known only as the Professor and a bombastic showman named Myron “Thunder” Stendhal, led the Circus of Wayward Wonders out of Escadar and across the Isle of Erran. After several months of practices and performances for homesteaders and farmers, the circus is ready to perform a large show in a sizable town. Abberton isn’t what many people would consider a destination for performers, but it’s where the Circus of Wayward Wonders must start.
Among the circus performers are a handful with greater prowess. These humble heroes are fated for much more than the circus, however. An evil hungers beneath the earth, eager to bring desolation to the region. With skill and luck, these heroes might just save the entire region from the...
Chapter 1: The Show Must Go On
27 Abadius, 4720 AR
The Circus of Wayward Wonders performs in an enormous tent capable of holding hundreds of people—and that’s a good thing, as it seems the entire population of Abberton has turned out for the show. Many of the town’s most prominent citizens, including the mayor, are among the throng jostling for seats, peering at the three rings that fill the center of the tent, and waiting excitedly for the show to begin.
As the lights go down and the audience settles onto their seats, the circus’s performers take their places backstage, awaiting their cues. Suddenly, several of the performers closest to the curtain that separates the three rings from the rest of the tent leave their assignments, gathering in a small crowd to exchange frightened whispers and hushed gasps. Amid the group, his body contorted as if caught forever in the throes of terrible pain, is the corpse of ringmaster Myron “Thunder” Stendhal. Everyone in the circus knew Myron for his amazing, powerful voice that could bring instant silence to the largest crowd, and he knew everything there is to know about putting on a successful performance. Now he’s dead, but the crowd is still out there, and they’re expecting a show.
As the other performers stare at the corpse, whisper to each other, and anxiously peer around the curtain, the Professor—a thin and frail veteran of the circus—covers Myron's body with a silk cape, then looks up. “Well, what are you all standing around for?” he asks, his weak voice barely audible in the hushed silence. “Have you seen that crowd? We haven’t ever had the tent packed this full. There’s a show to put on, and we have to find a way to do it. So finish your makeup, get into your costumes, and send in the clowns!”
Quick to follow the Professor’s advice, the circus’s clowns immediately bound through the curtain and into the three rings, to the applause of the crowd. Noticing that you seem to be the only ones who still have their wits about them, the Professor approaches you. "With Myron gone, we need somebody to take charge of the show. Are you up to the task?"
Alainn crouches down and ignores the professor and everyone else. Her small hands delicately peel back the silk cloak, edge Myron's clothes apart and she examines the body carefully.
Tasha looks down at Myron and removes her top hat for a moment and bows her head. A moment later she looks up at the gathered performers. "What are we waiting for? Dwarven Throwers! You're opening! Be ready for your cue!"
Her hand reaches down and pulls her rapier from under her longcoat. Hanging her top hat on the tip of the blade, she begins twirling the hat around. Passing through the tent into the main ring, she advances through the clowns, dodging here and there as they continue their pratfalls. All the while she continues to spin her hat on her upraised rapier.
Once she reaches her mark at the center of the middle ring, she gives the clowns a subtle signal behind her back and they cease their pranks and vanish back through the tent flap.
With her as the sole focus of the audience's attention the laughter fades away at her colorful appearance. The hat continues to twirl as she holds it up higher. With a flick of her wrist, it flies ten feet up into the air, only to be caught again on the end of her rapier which she's switched to the opposite hand and she continues to spin it around. With a second flick of her wrist it flies into the air again. The hat hangs in the air long enough for her to sheath her rapier under her coat. It drops back down to land perfectly centered on the top of her head.
"Wel-come one and all!" her voice rings out through the quiet tent. "Young and old! Tall and short! Fat and thin! Wel-come to the Cir-cus of Way-ward Won-ders!"
She tips forward, one hand going to doff her hat as she sweeps it behind her in a dramatic bow.
Holding for just a moment for the applause to build just a bit, she then stands tall again and her hat returns to her head.
"For our very first a-ma-zing event, we bring you a team that has perfected one of the great weapons of warfare. You've always known that dwarves are masters of the crafting of wood, metal, and stone. But as I am standing here before you, you have never seen a dwarven weapon made out of something as strong as this." She takes a few steps towards stage left, making room in the center ring. "I give you the Dwarv-en Throw-ers!"
As the dwarves begin their coordinated acrobatics, Tasha makes her way back through the tent-flap backstage.
"Who's ready to go next?" she asks, looking around at everyone else.
Ruinë crouches beside Myron's body, also taking a peek at it. She whispers to Álainn "Terrible! This is terrible! What do you see?"
When Tasha throws the flap open, the half-elf closes her eyes and sucks in a deep breath, asking Sarenrae for strength.
Tall for a half-elf, a 6'4" woman with red streaks through her otherwise white hair moves away from the body and steps up to Tasha. "I don't know if I'm ready, I am full of nothing but nerves. But go I shall. Let me head up."
As Tasha heads back out to announce her, she overhears the tiefling going through her spiel as she begins to climb rungs to the top. As an aerialist, Ruinë is amazing with her technique, what she lacked was the charisma and energy to make it an amazing performance. Anyone could climb up here and hang from the trapeze, her job was to apply grace and style that turned the task into a show that the audience loved.
When Tasha announces loudly "... and I give to you, the flying fiery flames of the phoenix ..." she closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and tunes out the rest of the barker's announcement. She counts to three in her head, opens her eyes and makes a diving leap for the trapeze.
Tuning out everything, Ruinë is able to focus completely on the task at hand as she sails effortlessly through the air with practiced precision. Swinging from the trapeze, she tumbles through the air as she cast a spell and flames explode from her fingertips and form a twirling spiral of flames high above.
"The stars are dark tonight. This is a bad omen," Grelda intones, leaning on her staff as she peers at Myron's body. The half-orc woman is relatively tall, though Ruine and Tasha still dwarf her. She is thin with broad shoulders, freckles on her greenish cheeks, and dark hair done up in braids. She wears an exaggerated fortune teller's outfit, complete with turban and skimpy robes, while a small boa drapes itself across her shoulders.
She sighs and looks out at the crowd. "We make our own fortune tonight, friends. Ruine, let me aid you with your act."
Alainn is unable to learn much from Myron's body during her initial examination.
In the center ring, the Dwarven Throwers perform their act admirably. Leaping on top of each other, the half-dozen dwarves form shapes and hurl and launch each other through the air to the delight of the crowd. The tent is quickly filled with the sounds of laughter and applause.
As the act starts to wrap up, though, you notice a trio of mean-spirited gamblers are moving through the crowd, loudly offering bets on various calamities. They provoke the crowd, asking questions that inspire fear or panic: Will one of the Feather-Fall Five fall to their death? What are the odds on each family member to die? Will Mordaine the Magician drown in the water tank? Will Mister Tickles eat someone? These gamblers are plainly bothering other members of the audience with their noisy jeers.
Since she has time to examine the body before she goes out, she pulls the sheet back and tells Álainn to give her cover to make sure no one can see while she goes to check the dead man over.
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. Ruine has seen these particular bite marks before. She knows they belong to the deadly pit viper, and it was likely its powerful venom that caused Myron's death.
"Look at that!" Grelda says in surprise. "Such vicious and repeated attacks are not typical of normal vipers. The snakes that did this must have been controlled or coerced somehow."
The area around Myron's body bears numerous strange tracks as well.
Tom looks pissed and dismayed, betraying a normal jovial demeanor"Send me on, I'll deal with the hecklers"
When his act is up (Somber Tom and the Dance of the 3 Sisters) Tom slips through the tent flap and sneaks into the center of the ring where the hecklers are most prevalent.
Tom's act is a juggling dance performed while telling the story of the 3 tiefling triplets of the succubus queen and how he courted them all in secret. The story is filled with "dagger" and "Sheath" style puns and innuendos, but is told in a sad mournful tone, with frequent appeals to the audience to "PLEASE, stop laughing! Can't you hear my pain?"
During the climax of the story, the sisters learn of Tom's treachery and each try to kill him in turn, in each turn Tom "slays" her with his "dagger" punctuated with a perfectly aimed throw of his dagger at a bullseye 30 feet away.
Finally, Tom turns slowly towards the audience and, off script, says "I'm looking for a special volunteer! YOU SIR!" Tom points his dagger right at the most prominent heckler. "You look like you need a demonstration!"
The crowd hangs on Somber Tom's thrilling performance, eating up every second. When he aims his dagger at the heckler, the man yelps and stumbles away. "N-no thanks! I'm outta here!" He quickly scurries out of the tent, leaving only two gamblers still bothering the crowd.
Finishing part three of her act which she calls 'The Force Out', she thrusts herself forward into what appears to the audience down below as a simple kick. This movement is filled more finesse and timing than simple kick however, 'The Hollow' is a power-building step that will allow her to execute the next portion of her act with the momentum that she needs.
Ruinë is not strong and can't brute-strength this section like some performers, she needs to finesse it to minimize the muscular involvement. By leaning her body forward from the shoulders, she will wind up before kicking backward. The tricky part of executing The Hollow is the timing, kick too early and she'll be out of position for next bit, kick too late and she hits her tailbone on the platform.
She moves into her second sweep of the act with the only difference is that she is traveling backwards this time. Since her Hollow was timed perfectly, she has exactly the right amount of power harnessed from the swing such that she travels more backwards than upwards. Engaging her lower back and glutes, she maintains control and power throughout the movement.
As she arcs backward from her sweep, she prepares for the final movement of her act known as 'The Seven'. She kicks forward with her whole body, not just her legs and feet as she engages her butt and lower abominal muscles so as to pull her whole body towards the bar without bending her arms. While all of this is happening, she continues to fly upwards, leaning back ever so slightly so that she can look up and over the bar to keep her chest pressed forward. All of these motions bring her hips closer to the bar which shortens the pendulum causing the swing to accelerate and Ruinë to gain height. At this moment she will find out how she timed her Hollow depending if she started her Seven too early.
As she crests perfectly, she knows she's exactly where she needs to be. For a finishing act, she creates a circular ring of fire which she flips off the swing and flies through before landing on the platform and taking a bow, breathing heavily.
- - -
Now that her performance is complete, she returns to the body and tries to look around for additional clues or tracks.
Backstage, Grelda peeks out from behind the curtain and chants softly, using her occult powers to manipulate the flames Ruine conjures and make them flare higher and crackle ominously. The crowd eats it up, and many among them are on their feet by the end of the build-up.
Backstage, the half-elf notes the tiny prints of countless rats around Myron's body. These numerous rat tracks hide any other footprints that might have been here, including Myron’s own.
Tom approaches the next closest heckler directly this time.
"Kind sir, it's time to move along. As you can see, the people are laughing. Everyone loves the circus, but nobody misses a spoilsport. If this isn't to your liking, I'll refund your ticket and send you on your way."
The man scowls at Tom but nods. ”Alright, give me my coppers back and I'll go.”
One heckler remains...
Tasha takes a moment before announcing the next two acts to approach the single remaining man that making a disturbance.
"Sir? I'm going to have to ask you to be silent and take your seat. Otherwise, I'll have to accept that you're volunteering to be the assistant in our magician's sawing-an-ass-in-half trick. And she's still perfecting it."
The gambler blows a raspberry as he glares at Tasha. "I paid for my ticket, fair and square. You got my money, now leave me alone. I ain't bothering nobody!" The annoyed looks of the audience around him, though, indicates otherwise.
The woman bares her black teeth at the rude man, but realizes that her normal tactics of persuasion will be fruitless with this man and gives a head nod to one of her family to deal with him instead.
Ruinë is not an aggressive woman and would not normally take the same approach that Tasha employs, but as she studies the tracks around the body she hears the situation worsening outside. With a heavy sigh she takes her feet and pushes out and stalks up to the man who's causing a problem.
With her hands folded on her chest, she thrusts them down both towards the ground as she reaches the man, unleashing a blast of divine energy from her fingertips that slams into the ground at her feet. She raises her right hand and points at the man causing the problem. "Leave. NOW.", her unnaturally red eyes staring down the heckler.
The man's derision towards Tasha turns to terror as Ruine blasts the ground near him. He scampers off, to the laughter of the crowd.
That laughter quickly turns to cries of surprise and fear as several people leap out of their seats and start pointing towards the stands. You can see a trio of tiny vipers with brown and black bands of scales have slithered up from beneath the bleachers! They hiss with agitation!
"Vipers!" Ruinë declares as she points at them. "If they are the ones back stage Myron was involved with, we need to clear this up quickly." she remarks, subtly inferring the murder without directly stating murder.
"Shoo!" she says, flapping her hands in a manner that doesn't seem to help.
Tom, being nearby raises his stage voice; "Kindly move aside so we can handle this!" He then signals the clowns to keep the audience distracted.
Tom then produces one of the sisters and throws it at a viper
The clowns help guide the audience members away from the snakes, making silly faces and pretending to cower in terror to make it seem like the whole thing is a part of the act. Given a clear path, two of the snakes slither out of the tent, while Tom's dagger grazes the third one.
Grelda gestures, causing a nearby bucket to levitate and fly towards the snake, though it misses.
With long steps, Tasha reaches the third snake. With the creature twisting around as it is, it's hard to tell if her narrow blade struck it or not.
The skittish viper slithers away when Tasha draws near.
Alainn appears, almost from nowhere and releases something from up her sleeve. The mongoose runs swiftly down her eyes and begins to menace the snake, driving it back towards the tent edge.
The half-elf pulls out her dagger and takes a slice at the stubborn snake!
Ruine slices the head of the viper clean off! Its boy thrashes a bit before falling still. The crowd applauds the impressive display. It seems your swift response to the snake incident has only fueled their excitement.
It’s time to send out the show’s main event...
Alainn chitters quietly and the mongoose runs back up her sleeve. The gnome then promptly disappears backstage where she continues her work on examining the body and the crime scene.
Frustrated with herself at how she's been fumbling the responsibilities as the ring-master, Tasha strides back through the tent to the back stage area.
"Mordaine!" she calls out. "You're on in two as the main act." She looks around at the other performers. "Axel, Elizia you'll be the closers tonight. Be ready to go on after Mordaine."
She then takes a calming breath and prepares to step back out to the main ring to announce the magician.
Mordaine is infamous for her incredible ego, but when Tasha chooses her for the big number, the blonde woman grins smugly. "Well, it's good to know you recognize how truly magnificent my act is! Hod! Bring out the water tank! It's time to give my adoring public what they want!"
The magician preens and poses around the center ring for a while before her assistant shackles her and lowers her into the tank. She holds her breath for quite some time before finally getting to work, slipping free of the bonds and emerging from the tank. She coughs and sputters slightly, but the crowd still goes wild!
Backstage, though, Axel stares in terror out at the crowd in the stands, frozen with stage fright. Axel has been following the Circus of Wayward Wonders for about a week, begging Myron to give him a chance to audition. Myron always turned him down in public but, among the other circus performers, he acknowledged that he was testing Axel’s commitment to circus life. Myron never got the opportunity to give Axel his chance. It seems he's about to bungle his debut.
Meanwhile, Elizia the snake charmer comes to you with a problem. "Something is wrong with Mister Tickles! He's become lethargic and he won't eat or drink!"
Alainn takes a look at the snake, since the various circus animals are in her charge. Although she can't cure the illness immediately, parking the snake up enough to perform is simple enough.
Alainn recognizes that Mister Tickles is suffering from a malady known as goblin pox, which causes an irritating allergenic rash in most creatures. It isn't lethal, and the anaconda should recover in a few days.
"Oh, thank goodness! I appreciate your help." Elizia leans down and kisses the gnome on the forehead before draping Mister Tickles over her shoulders and preparing to step out into the ring.
Ruinë flings the snake blood from her knife and puts it away as she hurries back to try and resume her investigation into Myron. Once more she is sidetracked however, noticing Axel's terrible fright. Typically a bundle of nerves herself before a performance, she strides over to him to try and help calm him down.
"Look, I know exactly how you feel. I feel the same every time before I go out. Someone once showed me some relaxation techniques by taking deep breaths and clearing my head and they really seem to help me. Here, do this with me. Do as I do." she says softly, walking him through some quick relaxation techniques to clear his head.
Axel follows along with Ruine's breathing techniques, and he starts to calm down. "Th-thanks," he says, giving the half-elf a sheepish smile. "I think I'm ready now. This one's for you, Myron." He adjusts his top hat and steps out from behind the curtain.
Tom, fresh from the excitement of the snake incident approaches the Flamboni Sisters with a grin.
"Ladies, are you ready to show the audience what sisters can do when they work together?" He puts on his most charming smile and winks. Looking his most devilish he leans in and says "maybe we can combine our acts later to celebrate our best show yet?"
"Grelda! You're up too!"
"Tash, I've prepped the sisters to round out the act!"
Finally, Tom settles in next to Ruine and Alainn to inspect the body. "Don't let me get in the way, but I brought the dead snake over. Let me know if I can help at all."
The red-headed half-elf sisters give Tom a sideways glance. "In your dreams, Tommy-boy." They wink at him, though, as they head out into the third ring.
As the finale gets underway, Elizia shows off many of her smaller snakes, to the gasps and wonder of the crowd. When she tries to cajole Mister Tickles into performing, though, the lethargic snake doesn't move at all. It seems the anaconda has fallen asleep!
Luckily, Tasha orders the clowns to rush in and liven things up, salvaging the act.
Axel performs admirably for his first time, sending his birds out to deliver candies to the children in the stands and fly about in different patterns. The birds start to get uncooperative later on, though, some flying up to roost among the top of the tent, and he bows and takes his leave early rather than try to exacerbate the situation.
The Flamboni Sisters prove to be the stars of the final act, juggling their fiery batons alone and with each other in various death-defying routines. Their style and aplomb wows the audience, augmented by Grelda's backstage magic, and by the end of the act, the crowd is on their feet in a standing ovation.
Despite being marred by tragedy, the inaugural performance of the Circus of Wayward Wonders was a success! "Well done," the Professor says, applauding. The smile quickly leaves his face, though. "But now we must turn to more somber matters..."
As the audience clears from the tent, Tom nods at the Professor and calls all hands. "Myron would have been proud of our work tonight. Desna has lead him to travel elsewhere, but the show will go on! The family has been attacked, and now's the time to show the monster who did this the danger of striking a family. If anyone saw something out of the ordinary, now's the time to speak up!"
The other circus performers nod in agreement with Tom. Several witnesses saw Myron prior to the performance both in the circus tent and in the camp behind the tent. It wasn’t unusual for Myron to move about so much before a performance to make sure everything was ready, and he often spent time out of sight to get his costume in order or to speak to a performer in private. Unfortunately, this means nearly anyone would have had the opportunity to attack him.
Elizia examines the dead viper. "All of my babies are accounted for," the snake charmer says. "This isn't one of mine."
No one in the circus had the means to control snakes, and no one could control rats. The killer therefore seems to be someone who isn’t with the Circus of Wayward Wonders. A few of the performers wonder aloud if Mistress Dusklight may have sent someone from the Celestial Menagerie to take revenge on the ringmaster for leaving her circus.
Once the crowd leaves the tent to head back to Abberton, you head out into the circus camp. The Circus of Wayward Wonders includes many performers, along with numerous roustabouts, hangers-on, and family members. The entire group travels in wagons of various sizes; some are small and drawn by a single horse or mule; others are much larger and are pulled by teams of horses or oxen instead. 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.
Having taken on the case of Myron's death, Alainn's keen senses allow her to discover multiple rat tracks throughout the camp. Most of these tracks are near the ringmaster’s wagon, Bardolph the bear's wagon, and the edge of the woods outside camp. They also lead to and from the performers’ entrance to the big top.
Tasha smirks at the half-elf. "I saw you get shot down by Emilia and Isabella," she offers. Her face shifts to mock dismay. "Oh, that's right, you said 'something out of the ordinary'."
She leans in a little closer. "I keep telling you to talk to Isabella separately. You'll never get anywhere with both at once," she whispers.
Standing tall again. "Myron was fine earlier," she says in a more somber voice. "Professor? Was there anything new going on that he hadn't told us about."
The Professor shakes his head. "If there was something going on, he didn't tell me about it, either."
Tom's face reddens when he realizes someone else saw his failed courting"Don't harp on my ambition, have you seen their act? I wouldn't be the first to try and juggle the two of them..." Then heads over to the ringmaster's wagon to look around.
(if the door to the wagon is locked)
Myron’s personal wagon is parked very near the pond, right in front of the meeting fire. A colorful banner on each side of the wagon advertises the Circus of Wayward Wonders in large capital letters, surrounded by images that depict some of the most famous acts in the show. Three steps affixed to the wagon’s rear lead up to a red door with a golden knob. The door is locked, but Somber Tom deftly deals with that.
He slowly opens the door while searching, and his caution pays off as he spots a hidden danger. Inside the wagon are four 2-foot-tall plants with large stalks that droop heavy with pollen pods. The air inside the wagon is thick with sparkling golden pollen.
After Ruinë fills everyone in about what she found out while looking over Myron, she joins the questioning of the Professor. "You don't know if Mistress Dusklight reached out at all at any point expressing her dissatisfaction, do you? I wouldn't put this past her at all. Everyone needs to be on the lookout for something suspicious."
"Let's check out Myron's wagon for any clues." she says, heading towards the wagon with Tom.
"Hold on, I'll take care of these." she says, moving to secure the pods and ensure they don't burst.
"She did swear to have her revenge when we decided to defect," the Professor says. "At the time I thought she was just being catty--"
"--but I wouldn't put anything past her. I'll make sure everybody keeps their eyes open."
Ruine's skills allow her to safely remove the pollen pods before they can explode. She recognizes the substance within as dream pollen, which would have confused and weakened the will of anybody who breathed it in.
Myron’s wagon is filled with many personal belongings gathered from his travels. There’s no indication that Myron was expecting any kind of violence. Among Myron’s mementos are a lesser bravo’s brew in a crystal vial, an everburning torch engraved with the phrase “See what you want to see,” a bearskin hat marked with a golden leaf worth 7 gp, and a cape once worn by a skilled animal trainer named the Great Fortunato worth 5 gp.
The Great Fortunato was Bardolph the bear's previous owner and caretaker, but he was robbed and killed in an alleyway in Escadar. Myron couldn't stand leaving the bear behind in Mistress Dusklight’s clutches, and so he took the bear and the Great Fortunato’s wagon. Bardolph continues to live in Fortunato’s old wagon and still knows all the tricks that make up his act, so he can perform with minimal direction from the circus folk. They consider Bardolph part of the family and akin to a giant pet. Bardolph has been resting for a week after suffering a foot injury in another town.
Even with Myron being deceased, Tasha seems uncomfortable entering the man's wagon without his permission. She looks in from the outside as the others look over all that remains of his life.
"Ruinë? Didn't you say that you saw rat tracks by Bardolph's wagon as well? I'm going to make sure that he's ok," the tiefling says before walking over to the bear's wagon. She contemplates how tiring it must be to carry the weight of the grudge that Mistress Dusklight bears.
"Hey, Big Boy," she calls out when she reaches the wagon. "How's your foot?"
Bardolph's wagon is large and decorated with faded paintings that depict Bardolph dancing, balancing on a ball, and menacing the Great Fortunato, who is armed with a whip. There is a large door in the rear of the wagon; it has no lock, and each side of the door boasts a thick and well-chewed length of rope (Bardolph clasps this rope with his mouth to pull the door open and shut).
Tasha can hear the bear growling in agitation from within the wagon. When she calls out, the door is yanked open and the hulking Bardolph emerges, roaring with fury! He rises up on his hind legs and moves to maul the tiefling!