To Slick and Billy the Unicorn seems most in earnest. Sigourney however is less easily fooled. She recognises the description off the disease and the plants in the story and realises that, while such plants as the Unicorn describes can work, they would not have succeeded in treating this mans condition.
Pine sits down with the gigantic termite Queen who smiles down at him. A story my dear Pinebrush, why of course I do. Some time ago I had a paramour, a dragonfly named the Gossamer Prince. Our courtship was a long-lived one, taking place over 50 nights, as we could only visit each other when our respective kingdoms were asleep. On the fifty-first night, I visited the usual meeting place only to find that the Prince was not there. Fearing the worst, I sent my servants in all directions to learn of the Prince’s fate. While they couldn’t enter the dragonfly kingdom, a spy returned with news that the Gossamer Prince had “found a new life to lead.” Realising that he had married another I swore I would never love again. Now, what do you think of that little one?
Slick approaches the taciturn Courtesan. He inclines his masked head to him and speaks in a low, sibilant voice. When we first awoke as harrowkin the three of us travelled together. This journey begins in the forests of Taldor, where we had to fend off Grogrisant. We then journeyed through Absalom where a friendly doppelganger helped us procure a journey south. After traveling to Osirion, a meeting with Ruby Pharoah Kemet III secured a caravan through the Barrier Peaks. Finally, after speaking with the arboreal Umdasi-Umalo at Ranage’s Circle, we were able to earn permission to place the Queen’s court within the Mwangi Jungle.
As the party continues the first additional guest arrives. The night darkens, shadows pool around the edge of the clearing and the moon shines brightly down into a pond at the centre, drawing all of your attention. From behind you comes a soft, gentle cough. Turning you find yourselves facing an elderly Bonuwat woman with shockingly white hair dressed in a simple robe of spider silk. She bows to the Queen, Greetings your Majesty. The Queen inclines her head back and raises her goblet. Welcome to my Court Nana Anadi she replies.
Slick listens in while the giant termite queen tells Pine about her affair with the Gossamer Prince and how the guy dumped her when someone better came along. He shakes his head. "His loss, your majesty."
Having finally caught the Courtesan's eye, Slick does his best to keep up with the road-trip story she tells them. Grogrisant? Doppelgangers? Ruby Pharoah? Barrier Peaks? Umdasi-Umalo? Ranage’s Circle? It was all a lot to take in. Still, he suspects that somewhere in that list of names lies a mote of deception, so he does his best to keep up and discover it.
When the newcomer appears, Slick's attention shifts. "Did I hear the Queen right? 'Nana Anadi'? is this woman an arachnid in disguise?" He eyeballs the simple robe of spider silk suspiciously. Not wanting to give the new arrival a reason to attack them, Slick gives the Bonuwat woman a respectful bow. "If you have joined this little party to share a story, we would be happy to hear it."
Billy pours himself more honey mead from his jug and offers a mug to anyone nearby. As the termite queen tells her story, the emotional bard chokes back tears. After giving Pinebrush a chance to respond, Billy agrees. "How very sad. You deserved better, oh Queen."
Listening to the Courtesan's story doesn't elicit near the emotion. Indeed, he stifles a yawn while trying to figure out the true meaning of the meandering saga.
Sigourney's ears prick at the sound of other stories being told. Clutching her notebook which she consults as she walks over, she attempts to fact check the Harrowkin.
To the Termite Queen, she says; "I do not think dragonflies live that long...50 nights seems like an exaggeration."
A fantastical tale of globe-trotting much like Sigourney's own adventures spills forth from the Courtesan. The Witch listens closely before declaring; "At least one creature in this story seems out of place...let us consult Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." She brings out a huge, dog-eared tome and searches through it.
She spends so much time consulting her tome that she fails to notice the new arrival.
Speaking to the Queen all of you realise that the Dragonfly Prince most likely simply died rather than abandoning her. As such, she has been lying to herself.
As for the Courtesan, all of you except Sigourney recognise a slight twang at the mention of Umdasi-Umalo. The arboreal making its home at Ranage's Circle is in fact Silang-Sefa.
The Bonuwat woman smiles broadly at Slick. Well, as it happens I do have a tale. Gather around children and listen to Nana Anadi. As she speaks the Queens servants stop their work and gather in a quiet circle surrounding the woman, seemingly rapt in their attention.
Now, this tale is about a time long ago, so long ago that almost everyone has forgotten it. It was in the very beginning of days, when my brother Achaekek was far too pleased with himself and his interactions with other gods. So, I decided I would play a trick on him, and I went to him and told him about how those other gods were careless. He, concerned about the accusation, asked me to prove my claims. I agreed, on the condition that I could ask him brother for a single favor if I succeeded.
When Achaekek agreed to my terms, I arranged a meeting between Abadar and Asmodeus under the pretense of a contract that needed to be reviewed. During the meeting, I slipped in from the shadows and stole a ring of keys that hung from Asmodeus’s belt, among them the key that opened the lock to Rovagug’s cage in the Dead Vault. This, of course, was when I was much younger and rather more agile.
I spun my webs to create copies of the keys before returning them to Asmodeus. When Achaekek saw my copies, he became enraged at the ease at which this occurred and stormed throughout the planes, scolding and belittling the gods. The gods scrambled for eons, seeking new guards and fail-safes to protect their domains. In the aftermath, he finally met with me and shared a dance, as he agreed.
Billy is truly enjoying the performers and their story-telling. He whispers to his friends, "I think I found some discrepancies. We'll compare notes later." He excitedly turns his attention to Nana Anadi. When she finishes, he nods appreciatively, "I so love hearing tales of the gods. And you told it so well!"
Enraptured with her story, Billy is fairly certain who she is ...
... he second-guesses himself (maybe too much honey mead?) but no, it's quite obvious to him in the end.
"Disappeared, but already married over night? Hm."
Pine also listens carefully to the stories of the Unicorn and the Courtesan.
He thought unicorns had magical healing powers, though he supposed that didn't mean they couldn't also be knowledgeable about medicine.
And the Courtesan's story... was dreadfully dull. All name-dropping. "That's very interesting."
He's not sure why stealing keys and putting them back is supposed to be that impressive, especially for a goddess. Is she really a goddess? He's never met one before. Let's see... there can't be that many goddesses who are spider grandmothers.
Having successfully picked out the deceptive details in the stories of the Queen and Courtesan, he turns his highly attuned ears to that of the Bonuwat woman. Clearly this woman spent time in high company if her name-dropping of Achaekek, Abadar, Asmodeus and Rovagug was anything to go by. He was particularly impressed by her claim to have stolen keys from Asmodeus's belt without his noticing. "This woman would have to be one of the gods for the tale to have any semblance of truth. Is she a god? Was this woman truly Grandmother Spider? Unlikely... but if she were, then maybe the story is a true one."
Sigourney barely pays attention. She's still nose deep in her books.
It does indeed appear that Nana Anadi is Grandmother Spider, at least that would be the inference. Not that Sigourney would realise that! As for her story, Slick detects no deception in her tale and Billy is quite sure it is plausible, it accords with a number of ancient legends.
The sky grows cloudy and thunder rumbles in the distance. A bolt of lightning strikes the centre of the clearing and as the smoke clears an ancient looking, wrinkled, garundi man appears. He leans on a staff and grins at the queen. Yer majesty he drawls, with a wry grin. Jatembe, she shrieks, I am so glad you made it. Look we have such interesting guests.
"Gah!" Sigourney is surprised by the bolt of lightning and drops her book.
Sigourney is about to scold the interloper for interrupting her, the great and powerful witch, before she sees a face she's only read about in books. THE Jatembe? The most powerful wizard known to all of Golarion? Sigourney hurries and tries to make a great impression, her book left forgotten on the ground. Her cool facade instantly falls apart as she fawns over her idol.
"Excuse me, Master Jatembe. It's an honour to be in the presence of such a masterful magician. I am Sigourney Knowledge, and I've been reading about all of your magical exploits since I was a little girl - hang on a sec."
She pulls out a worn, dog-eared old paperback book. The dog-eared children's story is simply titled 'Wisdom of Jatembe Vol 1 - For the budding young Wizard.' She holds it out to Jatembe along with a pen.
"I would be SO honoured if you could sign my copy." She practically begs him to do so.
Slick leaps out of the way as a bolt of lightning crashes nearby revealing the next guest. "Jetambe!? I'd hate to see who shows up next. At this rate, Aroden himself may join us before the day is out."
While he waits for Sigourney to finish drooling over the famous wizard so they can hear his story, Slick waves over one of the servants. While he collects another drink, he tries to engage them in conversation. "Quite the crowd we're getting tonight, eh? Is it like this all the time? What's a regular day like around here?"
The magical termite servants can probably speak an actual language, but Pine rarely gets to show off his ability to communicate with insects (and maybe they'll think it's polite?), so he chirps an introduction. "Hey," he says conspiratorially, "Who's the lightning guy?"
Jatembe smiles at Sigourney. Of course I can. You are hardly an unknown yourself my dear. I have heard something of your exploits as well. In fact, they remind me of one of my own stories. I remember when I first wove my boat, Kamuda, and travelled to the Locked Mountain. As it was dark, I called to the heavens for light, and the moon provided a mote to guide me. I tricked Obsidian the monkey and plucked his tail to shape a key to enter the mountain. There, I convinced the Lady of Graves to allow me to pass, eventually meeting a sphinx with the face of my father. Much like a child proving they were a capable adult, I convinced “Baba” that now was the time for magic to return to mortals.
The servants buzz around the party, serving food and drinks but they happily stop to chat to anyone who shows interest in them. They do indeed appear to be able to speak and happily inform Pine that the most recent guest is indeed Old Mage Jatembe. To Slick they say, Well, no, things have been a little dull of late. We havent had a guest for a while. Frankly, the last guest was quite rude. She was a wasp assassin called Winged Spear who tried to murder the Queen. She drove her off and had us track her down.
We travelled across almost the entirety of the jungles of the Mwangi Expanse. She killed many of the Queen’s top warriors. We followed her trail, found clumps of her bristles, encountered her broken stinger, and even noticed the disturbed flowers along her path. We eventually found her resting in a clearing after having slain the inhabitants of a beehive. The Queen’s warriors closed in and put an end to the wasp.
Sigourney hangs on to every word Jatembe says and is delighted to see him sign her book. She blushes furiously with excitement.
"By Nethys, the most powerful wizard alive has heard of me? That is so amazing!" She thinks to herself excitedly.
As she listens to Jatembe's story, Sigourney waits for him to finish before respectfully offering her own take. "It is a nice story and I do remember the legends of you bringing magic back to the world after Earthfall. But does not all magic fall under the purview of Nethys, the All-seeing Eye? How would this 'Baba' have claim to what is rightfully the domain of the God of Magic?"
Much, much later, after Sigourney and Jatambe chat for as long as he'll have her, Sigourney overhears the servant's tale. She can't help but butt in and insert her own opinion as to where the termites are telling an untruth.
Somewhere down the line, Sigourney remembers that she's dropped a book and picks it up.
With new story-tellers entering the feast from all sides, the excitable bard is giddy with joy. "Best. Harrow. Trip. Ever." At Jatembe's entrance, Billy listens and is fascinated by his fantastic tale of adventure.
After the great Jatembe speaks, Billy respectfully takes his leave, in a quest to find more of those terrific hors d'oeuvres. When he sees Slick holding up the servers, he investigates. While listens to their story of the wasp, the little halfling helps himself to a delicious blackberry caprese skewer from their tray.
Slick is a little surprised when the servants prove quite voluble in response to his attempts to engage them in conversation. He finds the story of the wasp assassin fascinating and listens raptly to the description of the chase and final kill. "Glad to hear you managed to track down Winged Spear and exact revenge." Still, he couldn't help thinking that there was something more to the story. "Who pulled the clumps of her bristles? who broke her stinger?" So many questions.
Having listened to the story of the servants, he turns his attention to the recently arrived magician. "First 'Grandmother Spider' and now 'Jatembe?' These were no ordinary guests and he suspected strongly that they were merely manifestations created by the harrowkin.
Jatembe's tale was another road trip recounting: Kamuda, Locked Mountain, Obsidian the monkey, the Lady of Graves, a sphinx, and finally Baba herself? So many specifics and details in which to hide a lie.
"Murder? Yes, that's very rude," Pine agrees sagely. Why drive her away only to chase her down again, though? This whole story sounds like a personification of something that ordinary insects might experience.
He also listens to the lightning guy's story. Is this supposed to be literal? It sounds like a lot of metaphor.
Jatembe simply smiles at Sigourney's questions. However, it seems to everyone except Pine that perhaps some of the details are not quite right. As for the servants, Slick and Sigourney recognise that the story was not a lie, instead they most likely followed bee signs and found Winged Spear by luck rather than skill. They were not lying but rather simply mistaken in their beliefs.
As the night wears on the party begins to slowly wind down. Various other, more minor figures, make an appearance, lesser spirits of the Mwangi expanse, local hero gods and the like arrive to mingle, chat and snack on delightful local delicacies.
Soon it seems the false dawn begins to peek out over the horizon and the party starts to wind down. Before it can however the ground shakes, the skyline erupts in flames and a glowing, fiery figure appears over the trees.
A diminutive, wizened figure, wrapped in bandages and wearing golden robes appears, surrounded in flames. It seems my invitation must have becomes lost so called Queen. I also see you have invited these filthy outsides into our Realm. Must we always play these tedious games. So be it.
He turns his burning gaze onto the four of you. Discover my truth outsiders of face the burning might of Walkena! I hail from a line of great deities known as the Sun Gods. This divine connection grants me the power to command the might of the sun and wield righteous flames against my enemies. This grants me the right to rule over Mzali and its people, as well as destroy any outsiders who dare trespass within the city’s walls. Do you deny my truth?
"Well, I do not see anything wrong with your story...but I won't let you destroy my friends." Sigourney resolutely states, gripping her staff in preparation.
"...'k."
Threatening them out of the blue with no provocation? He didn't sound very nice. He probably shouldn't be ruling over anybody even if it is true.
When the golden figure arrives, Billy is shocked how rudely he treats their hostess. However, when the newcomer refers to the group as filthy outsiders, the little halfling forces a smile and says, "While it's true we're outsiders, I certainly hope we're not filthy. Oh dear..." Billy quickly grabs his comb and mirror and examines himself. Finding nothing amiss, he continues, "Perhaps give us a chance. Won't you tell us your tale?"
As a devout follower of Desna, Billy has a great appreciation of all things religion. He has heard of the Sun Gods and tries to recall specific stories.
Slick is pretty certain that some of the details of Jetambe's story are off, though he can't quite put his finger on which ones they are. The servants apparently had help from bees in tracking the wasp, but otherwise it was a faithful retelling of events from their point of view.
With no more stories forthcoming after several hours, Slick begins to wonder if the Battle of Lies was still in progress. The fiery appearance of Walkena come morning gives him an answer. This Walkena character certainly had an attitude. Claimed to be a Sun God that can control the sun, and thus had the right to rule over Mzali. Slick is no expert on religion, so cannot tell if Walkena's claim to be a Sun God is true, nor how his second claim would follow therefrom, but his many years of being a bouncer had honed his ability to detect deception...
...though after a long night, he has trouble getting a good read on Walkena.
Most of the group can find no fault with Walkena's tale but Billy spots the incogruity. Well, the first thing he realises is that this does appear to be Walkena, the mummified child god of Mxali. His lienage is true but whether that gives him the rights or not is perhaps a different mater.
Pointing that out to him he gives a cry of delight and slowly descends to the ground. As he does so his form shifts and he appears as the strangely masked Courtesan. Looking around you see several of the other guests have also vanished.
The Queen raises he glass and calls out, Marvellous, marvellous, you have all done so very well. We have not had contestants as capable as yourselves in such a long time. Now, as our court fades away we shall reward you handsomely!
As the sun crests the horizon the Court dissolves into mist along with all of the guests leaving behind a range of items. Each of the three cards is there along with the Queen Mother’s crown (a coronet of the stars), a reward for your clever and insightful efforts. The other guests each leave a gift behind as well. The Courtesan’s golden mask turns into a greater hat of disguise and greater mirror goggles. The Unicorn’s horn transforms into a wand of mental purification (8th level). The Queen Mother leaves an additional gift in the form of a runestone etched with a rune of speed. The runestone is carved to resemble the compound eye of a dragonfly.
The servants also leave behind the small bits of jewelry they wore to maintain the appearance of a “high-class court.” The jewelry, worth 1,450 gp in total, is scattered about and takes 10 minutes to gather by hand.
Slick collects all the loot and looks it over. He purses his lips and makes a Pfft! sound. "A good haul, but I've already got a Quickstrike rune on my sword, so there's nothing here for me." He holds up the three cards. "Any of these look like anything the rest of you might be able to use?"
Once they get back to Harrowheart, Slick takes care of epitomizing the new cards. The Queen Mother reappears in one of the basement chambers to answer questions about the natural world. The courtesan remanifests in one of the towers and opens for... business. The Unicorn also returns to roam in one of the local forests and seems willing to part with gifts if asked particularly nicely.
Billy shows mock sympathy to Slick. "It's a terrible shame we've gotten so well-equipped that nothing new interests us." He brightens, "Take heart, my friend, we still have one more location ... to find more things you won't need." He claps his friend on the back and grins.
Back at Harrowheart, Billy is excited to visit the unicorn in the forest. However, he's not particularly interested in any of gifts that the great magical beast is known to provide, so he tells the others, "One of you can visit first if there's a particular gift you have in mind. I can wait."
In the meantime, Billy collects his share of the loot from Slick and considers any purchases.
Once you return to Harrowheart the Trader once again appears and unfurls his map. The last cards have manifested here, at least, nearly all of the last ones yes?
He points to an area on the map in Tian Xia, the city of Goka. You will of course have already spotted that this marker is flickering. That suggests they are moving about within the city. As he mentions that your view zooms into a cityscape and you can tell the marker is moving between different theatrical venues.
I should warn you, the markers also radiate a sense of discord, perhaps you might be able to do something to mediate whatever conflict is brewing here.
Billy frowns when he hears about a sense of discord. "Theatrical venues? I'm Billy Bardy! I was born for this. Surely this is something that we can mediate!"
Billy recognises that the marker is moving between a variety of empty or closed venues. As such, you could find them by setting up in any empty venue in the city.
Once back in the Harrow Court, Slick wastes no time and heads out once more to pit his will against The Eclipse's perpetual twilight. His first attempt had better prepared him to tackle the feelings of overwhelm and doubt about his accomplishments in life, and ...
... sure enough, this time he conquers those doubts and returns to Harrowheart in triumph. "Hah! And they said I wouldn't amount to anything. Who's the loser now?! Not me."
To celebrate, Slick visits The Courtesan in her tower for an 8-hour conversation with an attractive romantic partner, after which she rewards him with a magical charm for his amazing conversational skills.
Since he'd made the trek all the way up to the towers, Slick takes advantage of the situation to ask the Crows to acquire a consumable magic item for him. He doesn't ask them where they find these items, and the crows choose not to provide him with this information before flying off.
Slick plans on visiting The Unicorn next. He first prepares himself by purchasing a Messenger's Ring to help him woo the creature and wears it in place of his usual Ventriloquist's Ring for the day. He then heads into the woodlands, and after 8 hours of pleasant discourse with the unicorn, in which he expounds at length on his good intentions and worthiness, ...
... the creature is seriously unimpressed and turns away in disgust. "I guess I'll try a different approach next time."
The last time Slick went rabbit hunting, he had no luck. But his stealth skills had improved since then and he decides to give it another go. After many hours of stealthily scouting the woods, he...
... catches a glimpse of the elusive Rabbit Prince, but the creature slips away before he can get to it.
He next plans on matching wits with the gremlin queen that the Peacock had brought into existence in the nearby swamps. Slick prepares himself by purchasing some Greater Charlatan's Gloves and replacing his handwraps with them for the day. Heading into the swamps, he carefully tries to navigate the morass of nooses, tripwires, spiked logs, and disguised quicksand patches with which the queen had infested her domain...
... After disabling what seems like hundreds of traps without a problem, Slick surprises her on her throne and claims his prize.
As Slick begins running off to the epitomized areas, Billy tries to stop him, "Since many locations require a week to try again ... would it be prudent to see who's best at these activities and let them go fir..." But the excitable Slick is off.
Billy sighs. He'll wait to visit the magical unicorn next week. In the meantime, he'll visit the murder of crows in the highest tower of Harrowheart. With his musical inspiration playing and jug in hand, he chats with the crows about getting access to a fine consumable.
The next morning, Billy does his usual prep before going to new places.
He then visits The Carnival to learn about whom we might meet the next day. He shares what he knows of The Carnival, and stands ready to depart.
Sigourney looks thoughtfully at the cards in her collection. The Fiend and the Silent Hag. Two thoroughly unpleasant cards that she'd be all too happy to give up. She uninvests The Silent Hag and changes it out for The Unicorn, happy to no longer feel the ugly, slimy looking Harrow card at the back of her mind.
She pauses as she starts to uninvest The Fiend. The horrific print of the fiendish creature changes shape, changing into...her. Remilia. The Scarlet Devil, as young as the day they last met. She's wearing a mobcap, clad in a pink fine noblewoman's dress, holding a bloody red spear as long as she is tall, sporting long vampiric canines and with large imposing bat wings sprouting out from her back. The image of her once-best friend looks back at her mockingly, as if to imply that Sigourney needs her. As if Sigourney will always be defined by the great calamity of losing Remilia and the pervasive dangers she's faced as a Witch.
Once, Sigourney held onto those traumatic memories, using them as fuel to keep moving and to justify her continued existence as a brutally powerful mage. Now?
Sigourney scoffs at the facsimile of her friend. "I miss you, Remilia. But I am not defined by the calamities we have suffered. Goodbye for now." She lets go of The Fiend and picks up The Queen Mother. With a great sigh, she lets out a breath she didn't know she was holding onto.
Later in the day, she pays a visit to the Queen Mother. "It was quite a fun party." She remarks to the Queen. "But I'd like to seek a favour, Your Majesty. I want the knowledge of how to Reincarnate a dead soul into a new body. Would you teach me that power?"
As the sun sets, she heads into the tower where the Courtesan dwells. "Jatembe...was not really there, was he? He was you all along. What a shame - but I know you have some magic charms you can hand out. Could you make me a Contingency charm containing Mantle of the Melting Heart, please?" She beseeches the masked figure.
She travels by night on her Floating Disc until she finds the Crows. "Avian beings...bring me the treasure I seek. I want a Scroll of Foresight. I foresee this quest is not yet complete because we are not level 20 yet."
As the day starts, Sigourney communes with the Queen Mother to teach her about the City of Goka. As Billy teleports them to Goka, she uses her Goka Lore to find the most likely place the Harrowkin will show up at.
Billy asks for a Scroll of Energy Aegis .
When the scroll arrives, Billy casts the spell while prepping in the morning.
As the group prepares to leave, Billy reminds Sigourney that we didn't use a Teleport spell last time. "The various harrow cards can take us where we want to go."
"Really? That is very convenient. Maybe we should find a way to monetise it - what if we had a carriage that ran through Harrowheart and teleported people all over? We could charge for that!"
When Sigourney shares her new lucrative money-making scheme, Billy waits to see if she's joking.
Unsure, he points out, "While it's one thing to take advantage of the spoils of battle while collecting the cards, I'm fairly certain we're not meant to use the magic of the Harrow to provide random services for personal gain."
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"I think that'd make less money, anyway."
Pinebrush finds the Courtesan's boudoir. He half expects to find Rufus, the footman with the deep grey eyes waiting for him. Instead he finds another sprite with beautiful wings like a dragonfly.
He's not a melixie like Pine himself, but a luminous sprite (and he's quite luminous indeed) who more closely resembles a human (or halfling), perhaps reflecting the amount of time Pine has been spending around humans (and halflings).
The Courtesan waits, perched on a table. Pine alights next to him and touches his hand. "You wanted to, um, talk?
"The things we've been doing lately are so dangerous. There are times where I've turned invisible, but bad guys found me anyway and I've got hurt. Where my human (and halfling) friends couldn't find me. I've been working on my own contingencies for that, but... maybe you could help me with some illusions to protect me, so I don't get hurt in the first place?"
Once that task is completed, Pine flies out of the window to visit The Crows nearby. "Do you really steal things? You shouldn't do that! But, um, while you're at it. If you do find a snarling badger, it might help me. I mean, us."
Pine isn't ready to take on The Eclipse again.
He does pay a quick visit to Absalom to purchase that eternal eruption of Sakalayo he's been eying.
All that's left is his usual, daily water-breathing spell. It'll probably be useful at some point maybe.
When Pinebrush comes back from the Courtesan and talks about what a fun time he had, and also tells about his clever choice of charm, Billy thinks he'll give it a go. While the group is discussing last minute shopping, he runs off, calling back, "Don't leave without me..."
In the boudoir, he's pleasantly surprised to see a very attractive raven-haired halfling girl. She's almost as attractive as Billy himself! They spend much of the time talking about hair-care and self-help beauty tips.
With their various charms and other preparations complete the group gathers together to transport themselves to Goka. Billy's visit to the Carnival is, sadly, inconclusive.
Using the power of the Juggler you are easily able to travel to Goka. Sigourney, being highly familiar with the city due to the Queen Mother is easily able to identify the Golden Bough, a deserted nightclub, as a good location to stake out.
You are easily able to break into the closed up, underground club and make your way to the man stage area. The place is rather sad and dilapidated, its golden veneer long since peeling and faded. Mildew mars much of the furniture and the constant dripping noise suggests water seeming in somewhere. The stage rather sags and it doesnt look like the place has been used for performances for some time. As you head inside there is the sound of shuffling feet as various desperate locals who use the place as a doss house disappear into the maze like corridors of the backstage area.
With little choice but to wait you find the least mildewed furniture and take a seat. Hours pass. It is very dull. Your attention starts to wander, maybe some of you doze or get distracted counting the mould patches on the walls.
Just when it starts to feel like you should give up there is a clattering noise and four strange figure emerge onto the stage. They appear to be in the middle of an argument and have not, initially, noticed you. The dispute seems to be about the state of the place and whose fault it was they have been booked to perform in this dump.
One of the figures appears as an elven woman clad in flowing clothing decorated with loose ribbons and accented by a set of silver bangles. The second is a humanoid whose most striking feature is the enormous paper-and-cloth head that they wear. The third is a twelve-foot-tall hill giant carrying a crude puppet that looks like him. The last appear as identical twin brothers who are never more than a foot apart.
These are clearly the Dancer, the Fool, the Joke and the Twin.
Slick wakes with a jolt at the arrival of their quarry. Though old, the mildewed seats in the club were still quite comfortable, and he'd dozed off during the long wait.
He listens to the harrowkin's argument for a moment before loudly clearing his throat and standing up. "A-hem! Hello there! Sorry to intrude on your little argument, but we were hoping to have a word with you."
Billy is saddened at the poor condition of the venue, but looks at the bright side, "Plenty of room for improvement!" He looks around and nods, "With a little manpower, we can have this place presentable in a matter of months."
When the performers enter, Billy jumps up excitedly. "So you're the local talent? Greetings! I'm Billy Bardy, a renowned musician from far away Absalom. It's a pleasure to meet fellow artists!" He looks around and shrugs, "While this venue leaves a lot to be desired, we can make it work. The show must go on, am I right?"
The four harrowkin start as Billy and Slick speak up. Look everyone, cries the Dancer, Its the Harrow Heroes! they all shout in unison. They begin to babble incoherently as a group, all talking at once. It is difficult to follow what they are saying but the gist of it appears to be that they cannot decide just what performance each of them should do.
Each of us have our own ideas about what sort of performance we should do and our part in it. Unfortunately we all have very different ideas. Perhaps if we performed for you lot, you could provide us with some notes and help us bring everything together? If you can help then we would be happy to go with you. What do you say?
Slick starts to see the path that this particular encounter was threatening to take them. Apparently they would have to help these harrowkin resolve their artistic differences and put together a show they'll all be happy with.
He sighs to himself. "Why do I get a feeling that it'd be easier to herd cats than to get these guys to work together." Knowing that the only other option for retrieving the cards would likely require him to cut these creatures up into little pieces, he puts on a brave face. "Sure! Why not. My friend Billy here is an expert in this sort of thing and I have no doubt he'll actually enjoy helping you out."
When Slick mentions Billy's name, the bard clarifies, "While I'm a world-class performer, I must divulge that I don't spend as much time directing." He smiles, "With that in mind, I'd love to help. Let's see what you've got!"
Billy retrieves a writing pad, pours himself some honey mead, and casts Musical Accompaniment for some appropriate ambient music.
The Harrowkin all seem very excited that they have Billy here to provide them with notes. The Dancer steps forward first.
I am planning on a solo dance from “The Lament of Ulmadra.” I am sure you all know it yes. It's a ballet that tells the story of Ulmadra and her depression after being cast out from Nirvana due to a misunderstanding. I'm not certain about some of my choices in my performance, I dont feel that my movements put across Ulmadra’s feelings as well as I would hope.
With that she starts her dance, it is fluid, ethereal and flowing, her bangles and ribbons clashing and twiring around her.
Sigourney who has been standing to the side and observing silently has to stop herself from rolling her eyes. "Performers...so dramatic and full of themselves. Imagine if this whole party was full of these kinds of people? I would go mad." She thinks to herself.
Given that she lacks any interest or acting chops, she watches impassively and waits for a chance to use her any of her other skills.
"There's no reason why it needs to be a single performance, although dancing can be part of storytelling."
But while that is what the Harrowkin were talking about, it's not really what the Dancer asked.
[b]"Oh, um... and turn your left foot out just a bit more after your spin there."
Billy adjusts his Musical Accompaniment to match the beat of her dance. He suggests, "You have flowing hair like mine." He continues, "If you throw your head back mid-spin, your beautiful ribbons will orbit around your head like a golden halo."
Slick is in no position to provide assistance nor even an opinion on The Dancer's performance. It seems Pinebrush and Billy have things well in hand on that front. He just sits off to one side and keeps an eye on the harrowkin so that he's ready if things get out of hand.
Pine and billy are able to provide the Dancer with some excellent advice and she hops down from the stage with a broad smile on her face. Next the Fool steps up, with their massive cartoonish headgear.
They claim to have an “exciting act that really excites me,” their voice slightly muffled and echoing inside of the big mask. However, they also seems to be nervous to share their act. While trying to explain their performance, they begin to stumble over their words and quickly spiral into a mass of apologies and anxious worries that they’re not good enough to perform alongside the other harrowkin.
Slick will let Billy do the bulk of bolstering The Fool's self-esteem, but does his bit to help his friend out. "Oh come now. Nothing to apologize about. I'm no expert like my friend Billy here, but this act of yours sounds like it's got real promise."