Well, Song, it's a nice idea but I don't think you want to hear my story… it's not really a crowd-pleaser…
TELL THEM WHY YOU RAN AWAY… TELL THEM OR I WILL……… HEHEHE!
Ephie grips his greataxe. "Be quiet or your name will be kindling!
Now. Let me think… He cogitates. I can construct props for a variety of costumes and effects. A little rope to rig a simple swing harness for flight above the crowd; some handstand canes or parallettes from wood scraps, et cetera.
Rulean raises his eye ridges at Mr. Splinters remark. He does not press Ephraim for any details though.
He checks that the audience is far enough away that they are unlikely to hear the conversation.
"Since this is a show, no reason we need to be concentrating on the facts."
"I suppose we could claim my egg was from Tien Xia or some other far-away place. I would rather not make any claims about being related to a dragon."
He scratches at the scales under his chin. "Best to skip from there directly into my finding a fusion of working the circus and spreading the teachings of Kurgess. Demonstrations of strength and making sure all competitions at our circus are fair."
"Perhaps I could do something to show off my strength and physical fitness."
"That could make this something to entice people to come back for our next show."
Giving the marks a tale to remember, even if it's far from the truth? I can do that!
"Would you like to be a deposed princess or an escaped djinn?" Song grins.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'd be happy to make a jumping board! Or, a high bar in the tree. You could chorepgraph a thrilling fight scene with it!
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
After thinking it over, Clover finally hits on something that might work for her share of the performance.
"We say I'm descended from a long line of animal wrestlers! The blood of megafauna wrestlers runs in my veins - my bajillion-great grandparents wrestled linnorms up north," she posits, with a laugh. "And I carry on their noble work...even if there aren't any linnorms around these parts. But maybe I'll get there, if I wrestle a critter a day! I just need something to 'wrestle' that isn't Snowy - sorry, Snowy. Someone wanna dress up like a bear for me?"
She glances over at Rulean. "And maybe you could swing me up into the tree again at the end of your performance and start of mine. Like...your act ends, you swing me up, Song tells my story while I strike some cool poses and then I pounce down on our 'bear' and do my thing?"
______________
Nodding, Rulean says “That works for me. Jump up there...” as he points to a branch that hangs out nicely “...and then swing you up.”
And I am the princess from long lost royalty you have to save from the beasts?
If only they knew it's not that far from the reality... But the best and more believable lies are based on half truths.
Nabi starts giving Song of Air tips and bits to create a strong and moving story about her princess days.
The nights, of course, are better left untold.
Leaf-On-Wind has a momentary panic and attempts to fade to the background of the group -- he remembers the veiled and not-so-veiled threats the former boss made into regards being fed to the big cat.
"Just tell me what you need help with, and I'll try to help athletically, including jumping or whatnot -- if that'd help?" He's still a bit unnerved by the whole situation, and offers that quietly before any performance begins.
You hastily confer and assemble what props you can fashion on short notice with the things lying nearby. The now sizable crowd circling the two troupes looks on with eager anticipation. The three performers from Madame Dusklight's Celestial Menagerie smirk--or look bored in Viktor's case--at you from across the street.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Song comes forward, opening her cape, and begins to tell the tale of Princess Nabi.
♫ Let me invite you to Qadira, the land of the djinn
In a palace of splendour where our story begins
The sultan kept 10,000 horses -- they were his hobby
But the most priceless of treasures was his daughter Nabi ♫
The tale unfolds, getting more and more ridiculous, of the girl Nabi, imprisoned in a palace of solid gold, with only horses for company. As Song performs, she talks of Nabi learning to tumble and spin with winged Djinn, and a dance number follows, where Nabi and Leaf tumble together.
Eventually Nabi leaps over the 'wall' of the palace, a curtain of flowing tent fabric suspended by Rulean and Ephraim, and she is out in the crazy streets of Qadira, chased by thieves -- other circus performers and aerialists wearing masks. She flees the city, cartwheeling away from her attackers when she faces off with a fearsome dragon -- Rulean again -- who tosses her into the air.
Song keeps singing about Nabi being chased by fearsome beasts when a rough-and-tumble halfing girl named Clover from a famous family of animal charmers rescues the princess. The two girls flee the fearsome beasts -- more circus folk in masks, and leap through hoops that Ephraim has suspended for them, eventually finding safety and fellowship in the circus.
♫ So that is the story of Princess Nabi's dashing escape
And how our circus formed from two friends and their scrapes
Now... let's applaud the royals with all the cheer we possess
As we wind this song down and head to the EGRESS! ♫
Ephriam claps excitedly!
Surely, we trounced those fools!
The crowd erupts with applause and cheers as Song-of-Air completes her song. The townsfolk in the back crowd forward to get a better look at the performers once the show is down that they shove the ones in front into the street, and soon it is a chaotic mill of awestruck spectators asking questions, trying to touch the more exotic-skinned performers, and asking for autographs. By the time you catch your breath and your wits, you cannot find your opposing performers. They must have slinked away in shame during the confusion.
Did you enjoy the show, Mr. Splinters? Wasn't it grand?
He leans over and the doll whispers in his ear. He looks alarmed and whispers back: No, we don't NEED to rain vengeance upon the other troupe’s heads. We won. What you said… no one deserves that!
Rulean smiles and takes a bow as the act finishes.
As the crowd surges around him, he does his best to keep them interested in the circus.
"Thank you, you're much too kind."
"Would you prefer an autograph, or a claw print?"
"Yes, we plan to do another show. Unfortunately I don't think we will be able to do one tonight, we have some things that need to be done before our next show. We will send out barkers when we know what day our next full show is."
Partway through this, he gets a worried look on his face. He quickly tries to hide it, but starts suggesting that they have some tasks that need doing.
Where did Danika and the others go? Madam Dusklight is not above cheating, so I doubt that she will just abandon a plan because of this competition.
He makes his way over to Song-of-Air and suggests to her "We should get back to our task."
"Nothing like a little competition in the name of fun," Clover smiles as she obliges a few of the folks asking for autographs and the like. But her smile belies her true feelings on the matter.
What a joke. Their only idea of fun is making other people miserable. At least we won...this time.
When Rulean begins to hint that they need to get back to the business at hand, she nods in agreement.
"Yep! So much to do, so little time! But don't worry folks, there's more where that came from - stay tuned for our next show!"
You make your break from the excited crowd of townsfolk while advertising your circus, your livelihood, and also worrying about what to expect next from Madame Dusklight.
The walk to the mill takes you across the wooden bridge near the center of town. You spy the church's room to the east as you cross. Continuing onward, you reach the branch of the stream that passes through the north side of Abberton.
The mill, as expected, stands next to the stream. The large water wheel turns in a slow, constant rotation as the stream flows from the west to the east. The millstone appears to be in the lower portion of the building. There is a side door on the southern wall and a larger double door in the eastern wall that leads into a vegetable garden. The garden is surrounded by a wooden fence and no gate. Within the garden grow appetizingly ripe tomatoes, sizable pumpkins, several different herbs in box planters, and what looks like potatoes to some of you. Rulean and Clover both spy several spider webs along the fence that seem fairly recent.
The building spreads onto the embankment to the west. You can see windows on each of the walls visible to you.
There is no sign of the wasps that Tahala had warned you about.
"Tahala said she scouted the mill this morning, and that the was "infested with wasps, but their behavior was unusual." She also mentioned an outside influence, and that there was no sign of the miller or her family. Suspicious…"
Ephie looks around for the wasps. "Shall we circle the mill, look for signs of nesting?"
"I think that'd be a good idea," Clover agrees. "Though maybe something else beat us to the wasps. Look there, those spider webs look pretty recent," she points towards the fence. "Some types of spiders will eat wasps."
Given the other strange happenings around the town she actually has her doubts that it'd be that easy, but who knows?
"Maybe we'll be lucky," she shrugs.
Circling the mill from a distance reveals no clues as to the wasps' whereabouts or any other concerns.
“Let’s spread out a little and check one window at a time, starting with the one by the front door. That way if wasps swarm us, not everyone is in the swarm. We could go clockwise from there.”
That's a good plan. If no one sees bees, or wasps, inside, I'll try to open the door
Through the grimy window, Rulean sees a spacious chamber that is two stories high and has a well-fitted stone floor. In the center of the space, a millstone stands still. Its wooden shaft projects through the north wall. A second level of the house overlooks this room from the west, and a table and four chairs are visible near the top of a sturdy ladder. A double door leads east. There are stacks of barrels in the northeast corner. An empty pan lies on the floor beneath the millstone.
A massive wasps’ nest hangs from the ceiling in the center of the room. Occasionally, dark shapes zip past the iruxi's view: wasps, one would easily assume.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Song glances through one of the grimy windows, and then prestidigitates it clean in order to better see through it. "Why do there have to be so many bugs? Why can't we meet happy puppies or kittens, or perhaps a friendly talking parrot?'
"I can see the nest and a few of the bugs. Something seems off, but I can't figure out what."
Rulean then steps to the side so someone else can look though the window he was using.
At Rulean's invitation Clover steps up and peers through the window.
"Yeah, I think those are wasps. Maybe? But that's about all I can tell," the halfling declares after a few moments. "Doesn't look like there's any other way in except through the door or one of these windows, either."
She frowns.
"Too bad fire isn't really an option here."
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
"The nice ones already have good families, the bad ones just need good families, right? You don't remember the 'talking parrot' that Madame Dusklight used to keep caged up, do you? Poor bird. Bad bird. Bit me, even." Leaf-On-Wind's tone is more mournful than bitter, though.
Don't ever change, sis. The world will be a darker place if you do.
"Do you want me to climb on the roof and see if there's any holes in it?" he offers after a few moments of perusal of the mill.
Rulean looks at the walls, trying to judge how difficult a climb it would be.
"If we are climbing up, I should probably go with you."
Looking over to Song, he asks "Can you figure out what is going on with that nest and the bugs?"
Ephie looks up at the roof. "Do call if you need anything!"
If there were big holes in the roof, the wasps would come and go from these, wouldn't they? I must confess I'm not Golarion most renowed expert on wasps, but it make sense to me..
Based on your survey at a distance, you know that there is a chimney on the west end of the roof, but you did not notice any obvious holes in the roof itself. It is possible that you missed something hidden or more subtle.
"We can try it...maybe Leaf can hop up there and someone watch through the window to make sure the wasps don't get restless?" Clover suggests. "Probably can't hurt. If there's something up there worth investigating further then I can probably climb up too if Leaf needs any help."
"Or we can go have a look in the garden. It looks like it's doing pretty well to have not been weeded or harvested in...how long has the family been missing? A week?"
"Garden leads into the same room, but might give a clue. Doesn't seem like there would be much on the roof."
Looking towards her, Rulean asks "Do you see anything different from that window?"
"Tahala did not see the family this morning. I believe that is all we know of their whereabouts.”
He squints up at the chimney. ”Unlucky chimney sweeps in Ustalav suffocate inside flues… the duct often bends at sharp angles, and one gets stuck, you see… rather gruesome… Mr. Splinters giggles. "…and messy. At any rate, that may not be the most expeditious route in.“
”That said, I think that insects do not like smoke either. It may be a useful tool in our war on wasps.“
”Have we considered simply knocking on the front door? It probably won’t bother the wasps, and if there is no answer, we could just go let ourselves in and perform our task.”
While the others consider how to enter the mill without running afoul of a swarm of angry wasps--probably devil wasps, at that--Song-of-Air makes her way up the embankment and to the western window on the south side of the house. She invokes her magic to begin cleaning the window. Spending a moment concentrating, she is able to clear a palm-sized space on the window of grime and smudges.
Peering through, Song-of-Air sees a fair-sized bedroom. A double bed stands against the east end of the room, sheets tucked in neatly. Dried flowers in vases sit upon sturdy shelves on the walls. Peculiarly, there is an armoire face down on the floor at a cockeyed angle to the west wall.
"Hmmph. No obvious bugs in here, but there is a face-down armoire, which usually means that someone was struggling or fighting in there."
"Well okay, I can go knock on the door before anyone does any roof climbing," Clover shrugs. And barring any objections or better suggestions, she moves to do just that very thing.
"Hmmph. No obvious bugs in here, but there is a face-down armoire, which usually means that someone was struggling or fighting in there."
"Or perhaps someone hiding in it, in need of rescue!"
Ephie nods at Clover and gets ready. Sometimes the simple plan is best.
A lover hiding from the wrath of an husband, maybe?
"Okay, let's not get stuck in a chimney, even if it looks perfectly safe." Leaf-On-Wind offers with a shudder. It wouldn't be the suffocation, it'd be the closed in space...
He moves to a spot a little bit further away to try and get a feel for the mill and how it fits -- or doesn't -- with nature. That the spot is also good enough to allow for potential fire support is a plus.
Clover steps over to knock on the mill's front door. She can hear a droning buzz even through the door after she knocks, and anyone with a view of the window can see that there are more and more insects darting about the mill room.
Song-of-Air can see that the bedroom door is closed, and there do not appear to be any wasps within that room. Nor does the armoire move in response to Clover's knocking. This might not be surprising given its obvious weight (and that it is an inanimate object).
Hearing all the buzzing, Rulean says “Seems you riled them up. Let’s find a different way in and let the bugs settle back down.”
He then makes his way up the embankment to where Song is.
Looking around, he says “No obvious doors. Do we break the window to climb in, or deal with the bugs first?”
Ephie whispers: "So — a little knocking bothers bees, eh? I'm a city person myself; never would have guessed it. I admit that I have misgivings about poking the nest."
Even through the door Clover can hear the droning of the wasps intensify with her knocking - and so she decides to knock it off with the knocking and carefully back away from the door.
"There's no wasps in the other part of the mill? Then yeah, let's see if we can get a window open and get in there. If there was a good way for the wasps to get in there then they probably would've already found it," she agrees.
Clover then shoots a questioning glance over at Nabi. "You know a thing or two about opening things, right?"
Yes Clover. I do, however, have some troubles, time and again, to keep my mouth shut. I've heard that wasps don't like smoke, is that true? If so, we could burn the house...
There is a mischevious smirk on the rogue's lips, so she must be joking. Probably. Hopefully.
Rulean blinks, then looks at Nabi trying to figure out if she is joking or not,
After a moment, he says “No burning down the mill. The town needs a working mill.”