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BumBum clambers up the building easily enough. As he approaches the chimney, he smells something tastey--a stew, probably lamb--and hears some laughter from below over the crinkle of the fire.
"Boy, this town was fun enough before, but with that Sheriff gone--"
A cracking sound--a slap, possibly.
"Shut up, idiot." A woman's voice, stern and brooking no possibility of argument.
"Yes, Pruana." says the first voice, sounding chastened and on the edge of tears.
"Talk about that in here again and I'll feed you to Violet, see if I don't. Get out of here, go down to Chanson, see if my washing is done. Bring it back if it is."
BumBum (and the others out front) notice another tough exit the building and begin moving down the road.
As he walks off, the toughs on the porch seem to take notice of the group.
"Hey, look, it's them carnies. Hey, Abberton's got scum enough with the likes of us!" one says with howling laugh.
"Ain't nothin' herabouts concerns the likes o' you! Shove off!" another says, grabbing a bottle by the neck and brandishing it menacingly.
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The group look at each other.
"Y'all killed that boar?" one says, some grudging respect in his voice.
"Might be mayhaps such a thing could happen, like." another says, clearly the intellectual of the group. "Saying we let you bring that boar up here and have Lenky and Beina cook it up nice. Why'd you want to do sum'n like 'at?" he peers down at you suspiciously.
”We did! It was very exciting! Why wouldn’t we do it? Mr. Abber asked us to help, so we helped!” he says with a shrug.
He cheerfully brings the boar inside and asks where to find the kitchen and Lenky and Beina. He looks around at the patrons, sizing them up.
Al will follow behind the errand boy and wait for him to get out of earshot of the others, preferably in a secluded area.
When the moment is right she will pounce.
"Yoo hoo!" she calls after him flirtingly as she cast a pair of spells in rapid succession.
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There aren't very many secluded areas on the way to Chanson's, but there aren't a lot of people around when Al makes her move.
The man turns--he's barely into his 20's, at a guess, a skinny Kellid in dirty clothes, a club and dagger hanging from his belt. A simple, sweet smile crosses his face.
"Well, hi!"
"Well, where are you off to in such a hurry, handsome?"
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Moving into the inn with Didy, Kvothe takes a look around. Looking for a stage or anything similar for entertainment.
where would you like this meat? Kvothe asks the owner. Will set it down where directed and then ask do you ever get a big crowd in here? Are you ever looking for entertainment? For the right price we could put on a little show for y'all in here before we leave with the circus....
"Pruana? Who's that?" her voice hinting at a little jealousy.
"Boss lady? Oh! Are you one of those Muggers I've heard so much about? Is it true that you boys took out the sheriff, all on your own? No wonder you caught my eye! Maybe I should pay you a visit later tonight. Where does a big, strong man like you rest his head at night?"
"Oh." she looks disappointed.
"I thought you were the hero who took out that jerk of a sheriff. He was always cruel to me and my mother. I was so ready to be so grateful."
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The men at the Mad Mug look puzzled, but make no move to stop Kvothe and Didymus as they enter the establishment.
Inside they find a pretty typical pub--although maybe a bit on the rougher side. A bored looking publican stands behind the bar. There are a few people here, scattered about at various tables.
At the bar itself an imposing looking dwarven woman drinks a comically oversized mug of ale, while occasionally tossing unshelled peanuts at a massive, irritable-looking goat.
The woman glances up at Didy and Kvothe.
"Who the f#%! are you?"
Didy adjusts the boar carcass slung over his shoulder and says, "Sorry! The guy outside said we should bring this in for Lenky and Beina. Where...?" he trails off, letting Kvothe do most of the talking and looking for a door to the kitchen.
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Looking around the room to make sure the dwarf is speaking to us are you speaking to us? I think so, cause we're the only ones here. We're from the circus and heard the town needed some help. We're more than happy to help those in need, so we checked out the orchard and took care of the Pork Problem y'all were having. Figured you could put the meat to good use feeding the village tonight.
Would you be the owner of this fine establishment?
Al's whole demeanor changes as she shifts gears with a sigh.
"Look, kid, I like you. You seem like a good person. You don't want to throw your life away hanging out with a bunch of thugs. This Pruana's got you literally handling her dirty laundry. You're young! You've got your whole life ahead of you. See the world. Heck, you could always join our circus. The big top life can take you places you've never dreamed of, where people you've never met, shower you with applause like you've never heard. And we take care of each other because we are one big, happy family. You'll never go hungry not even if you want to with Pontypool's generous portions" she trails off at the end.
"In the meantime, we need to teach a bully a lesson so she doesn't taken advantage of nice guys like you. Any chance you want to tell me how we can get to her without putting any nice guys like you in danger?"
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She sniffs and turns.
"Run along, carnies. Take your spoiled pork with you."
"Aw, no." he says, kicking at the dirt. "I'm a big man around here, being in the Muggers. People respect me. I can't leave all that. And you don't wanna mess with Pru. She's got a mean right hand, and she don't fight fair. But those guys outside, they're loyal as can be. If there's trouble, you can bet they'll get involved."
Didy shrugs ”Mkay.” then turns to address anyone else in the room ”If anyone else is hungry. We’ve got enough for a feast for the whole town! If anyone’s interested we’ll serve it at the Big Top. Pontypool is a helluva cook!”
Then he’ll leave.
"Oh, you poor dear. People may fear a bully, but no one respects a bully. Ruling by fear is a high wire act: it only takes one misstep and it all comes crashing down. And don't you worry about us. We can handle ourselves just fine. Now you run along and take your time. If you change your mind, The Circus of Wayward Wonders would happily welcome a new member to our family."
Al turned and walked away, hopeful that her words might resonate when the boy finds his gang disbanded.
When she catches up with BumBum and the others, she shares what she learned from the kid, including the warning about her mean right hand.
As a few started to gather, Didy smiles and nudges Kvothe. ”Hey, I think this is working. Let’s play town crier and really get the word out: party at our place!”
The carnies lead the agreeable townsfolk back to the circus’s camp.
”Professor! Professor! Look! Look! We did a thing! Come see! Come see!” he calls out as he marches over to the cooks’ tent. He thumps the giant hunk of meet on the table, with a giant grin and a wagging tail.
"Of course!" Didy replies to BumBum as if waking from a trance as he waited desperately for a 'good boy' from the likely baffled carnies.
He drops off all of the meat, waves a cheerful goodbye to the cooks and hustles to catch up with the other adventurers as they hurry back to The Mad Mug.
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"Uh, what?" The professor whispers back, looking confused.
The small crowd mills about, waiting for the food to be prepared. The professor is communicating with the increasingly irate looking Pontypool and his assistants as you leave.
You return to the Mad Mug. The four louts on the porch continue to idle away there, drinking from glass bottles and eating stew from wooden bowls.
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"Ok's, I goes around back, climb up, and give the signal for the fun to begin!"
BumBum will Sneak around back, climb up Hero Point Don't know if that's going to be good enough. If not he will keep trying, but if it is he will make eye contact with the party and give them the high sign. Then he will block up the chimney. Afterwards he will sneak to the front edge of the roof and throw down the wasps amongst the thugs out front. Not sure what that roll is so i'm going to throw a straight d20 and let you modify it. Hero Point
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As the pathfinders arrive, the toughs on the porch begin hurling insults again, along with a couple of empty wine bottles.
Shortly thereafter, a sack lands neatly between the two louts, asizable chunk of a wasp nest splitting open inside.
These wasps have been carried around in a sack for the past hour, jostled, bumped, and beaten. Wasps have exceptionally good senses of smell, but they have quickly learned that they don't care for the smell of both Goblin and burlap. They are, to put it plainly, pissed off to a nuclear degree.
The wasps begin boiling out of the smashed hive, each attempting to murder the first thing it sees--this, as it turns out, are a pair of Abberton ne'er-do-wells named Cromwell and Lachley.
Lachley and Cromwell immediately begin slapping at their skin.
"Ow. Ow! Wasps!" Cromwell says with the keen awareness of a man suddenly covered in wasps.
Al will summon a Flash Beetle, to flash the muggers and then take a bite of one of them.
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Strumming his lute as the approach the Mug, Kvothe surveys the building and it's surroundings. After BumBum does his thing with the wasps he breaks out into song
buzz, buzz, buzz goes the bumble bee
Tweele, deedle, dee goes the bird
Once the performance lingers, he will pull from his primal well and cast Acid splash at yellow.
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Al
Flash Beetle (-0, Covered in Wasps, Sickened 2, Fascinated)
Kvothe
Blue (-0, Dazzled, Covered in Bees, Sickened 1)
Green (-0, Dazzled, A bit waspy, Sickened 1)
Red (-0, a bit waspy, Sickened 2, Fascinated)
BumBum
Didymus
shouts out in pain as the flash beetle's mandibles close in on his ankle, and drops to the porch after being hit by Kvothe's acid attack.
Blue curses and tries to stomp on the beetle a few times...
...but his foot slams off the boards of the porch, narrowly missing the bug each time.
and run howling out of the swarm of bees.
seems to have regained some degree of self-control, but is still nearly hysterical, swatting at his flesh and leaping in the air. He must think that's helping, somehow?
The horde of wasps buzzes angrily as it swarms over the nearest targets--the flash beetle, , and the very unfortunate yellow, whos unconscious(?) state doesn't seem to prevent the wasps from stinging the hell out of him.
Blue (barely) managed to hang on to his senses, but the Flash Beetle is just concerned with getting away from these horrible wasps. Yellow doesn't seem concerned with much at all.
Still, many of the wasps are peeling off, presumably looking for a new home.
The shoony struggles with his aim as he’s overcome with giggles at BumBum’s prank come to life, so he gives a signal to command ambrosius, who rushes forward and chomps down on a mugger.
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Al
Flash Beetle (-0, Covered in Wasps, Sickened 2, Fascinated)
Kvothe
Red (-0, a bit waspy, Sickened 2, Fascinated)
BumBum
Didymus
BumBum successfully intimidates Green and moves to cover the rear exit.
Kvothe hits blue with an acid spray. Didy drops Green, and Ambrosius finishes off blue.
Al's ball of flame drops red, leaving none of the louts standing!