Violet may be a bit of a lunatic, but she's also fairly smart.
"If we want to make camp, here probably wouldn't be the best place to do it," she says. "I don't really expect the bandits to come back... but we probably shouldn't be here, just in case they do."
After a good rest, you all finish your travel to Fernwood....
As Fernwood comes into view, it seems like a pleasant, well cared for little village. Seeing a small stables at the edge of town, Ashtar draws the carriage over to it and calls out. As he is doing that and you all pile out, you notice red, green, and blue flashing lights, bouncing off low-hanging clouds coming from what you can only assume is the town square. The smell of sweets and grilled foods, along with the faint notes of a pipe organ, dance on the air.
Realizing no one is manning the stables, you all work together to get the mules secured in a pair of empty stalls and park the carriage. Following the lights and smells, you all get to the center of town without running into a single soul. The town is pretty typical for it's size. Buildings are in decent shape, gardens and such are cared for. The scent of the sweets and grilled foods grow stronger as you enter the town center.
Once you arrive, the commonplace village scene is completely torn away as you gaze upon what has been constructed here. Across the square is the centerpiece of a 20-foot-tall by 60-foot-wide apparent building that doesn't seem to be very deep. It is painted with pink hippos, a swarm of snakes, a mechanical man carrying a strange tool or weapon, and hundreds of multi-colored dots the size of cantaloupes. All of this is painted around a 15-foot-tall by 15-foot-wide smiling face, its mouth open and painted black.
On the left of the funhouse are several carnival-style food stands, five of them in fact. The people behind manning them do not appear to be moving.
The lights that you saw when you arrived to town are emanating from three large animated barrels on the ground near the funhouse. They are rotating, shining bright, colorful lights into the sky, illuminating the low white clouds above.
And the last thing you see is an old woman, covered in what was at one point colorful rags, cranking an organ grinder while a zombie-looking monkey tumbles and dances near her feet. Behind the organ grinder is an odd-looking mine cart, carved and painted to resemble the head of a dragon, sits on a metal rail.
As you're all taking in the odd sight, Megan slips away calling back over her shoulder, "I'll be right back!" and heads into the tavern that is facing the square.
And a moment later, true to her word, Megan and a group of other adults come piling out of the tavern, all looking about as haggard as your new friend. They all start chatting at once after Megan points you out through the stealthy veil you're all under. "Oh, thank the gods, they sent adventurers!" "My child, please help her!""Yes, we all have children that have been trapped!" "It's been days, do you think they are ok?""We've been too scared to enter, we don't want to make Happy Jack mad!""Please, please go save them!""Yes! we will pay you a reward!!"
Pan practically falls out if the carriage as they stop at their destination, "what the hell happened last night? Did we get kicked out of another tavern? Where the **** are we?" Pan walks with his collapsible pole swinging far above his head as he uses the reachable portion of the base as a walking stick, He takes a good look at the brightly coloured building and shakes his head, choosing instead to go and view what greasy treats might be purchasable from the stalls. He doesn't take much notice of the unmoving stall attendants but does clamber up to the stallfronts to view the meats.
"No silly, what happened last night is that we just barely survived a run in with a bunch of bandits. Now these nice people are going to hire us to fight a demon clown!" she says. "I really hope that this time I don't end up stuck in fist-fight range... that might not end very well."
Ash smiles down at his companions, then turns to the crowd of desperate parents. "Do not worry! My companions and are here to help. I recommend that you all return to your homes, or somewhere safe until this is cleared up." He announces in his loud voice. Then he turns to his companions, "Have you all had a sufficient amount of rest?"
Nekane smiles and nods in agreement with Ashtar, it would be best for them to go home for now. The last thing they need is for a few of them to grow enough courage to try and accompany them into the playhouse. "I assure you we will take care of this. We will find your children and deal with this Happy Jack fellow." Again, he makes sure not to give false hope and say they will bring them all back safely, since there really is no telling if any of the kids are alive at this point.
Pan sidles up to the good smelling food carts, but as he gets close he sees that the people stationed behind each one is a mechanical humanoid. There is nothing on the cart other than a slot located on the stand that seems to fit a silver coin. There are five stands, if he wants to try one out... which one?
The parents look at the adventurer's wide-eyed, but try to settle down a bit, "Seriously, we'll pay you 400 gold if you get us our children back!! We took up a collection, it's all we have." "We can't go home to our empty houses with our children stuck in that accursed house!" "We'll be here in this tavern, come get us with ANY news." And they slowly and begrudgingly head back into the tavern.
As Pan deposits, er slams, a silver coin in the slot, the mechanical figure immediately comes to life, whizzing and whirring, his arms going every which way. Then he hands out a deep fried fruit pie to Pan, completely still again.
Lozak watches these people as they come out of the tavern and begin begging for help. Then, in horror, he watches as Ash basically volunteers them to get their ass kicked yet again. And then, before he can protest this, the people offer up money. And then, and get this friends and neighbors, they walk off with their money. They actually had the gall to say 'if'.
If.
Can you f&ckin' believe it?
"By all the primordial things that lurk betwixt the air itself, I swear there is nothing I dislike more than kids, aside from, perhaps, their parents." Lozak grumbles. He brings the Axe across his chest and slowly picks a few tunes as he mills about, looking at the town, and then the tent. "Well, there's no time like now, and this looks like a jaunty little venue for a performance. Shall we?"
"GUYTH! THITH ONE ITH PIAE!" Pan shouts helpfully through a mouth full of pie, that he tried to force down his gullet in one bite, he moves to the furthest stall from the playhouse and begins slamming a silver coin in each stall one after the other, not waiting to watch the mechanical figures do their dance before going to the next one and slamming his coin in. He runs back to the first stall to see what it produced and works his way down once more collecting his bounty of foods.
Nekane knows knowingly to the women, and waves at them as they leave. Then he turns to his Lozak, "Really? You don't like kids? Huh..." He puts on an expression of mock surprise and confusion for a moment before laughing, "Well how bout you focus on killing the clown then and I'll deal with the kids. Sound good?"
He turns to Pan, "...just... uh, let us know when you are done there and we can head in alright?"
Then he looks to Ashtar and Violet, "Well, do we have a plan? Or, shall we just stroll on in? It doesn't seem like we've gotten much info to work with, but I guess that's just how these things go."
"Oooh what can I say..." Lozak replies to Nekane, still gently picking his guitar. "It's part of my charm, I'm afraid. Right Vi?"
He winks at the multi-eyeballed horror he calls a friend.
Lozak continues gently plucking the strings of his Axe and proceeds onwards, toward the tent, before using the neck of the instrument to catch the tent flap and pull it open.
As Pan slams silver coins into the other slots, the figures behind the stands all dance into motion. Once they all settle down, the following appear in their hands.. cotton candy, candy corn, a corn dog and a candied apple.
As Lozak heads towards the entrance of the funhouse, before he can stick his head in the painted mouth opening, the old woman stops cranking the organ grinder and calls out, "Not that way deary. You must ride the cart to enter Happy Jack's Funhouse! Please, step on up into the cart, it'll be such a fun ride." she grins. Her eyes smile as well, so that is really the only indicator that it is a real smile as her mouth is such a jumble of crooked teeth and her lips seem a bit twisted as well, enough that the grin looks more like a grimace. The monkey looks up, wondering why the music stopped.
Ash nods to himself as his companions start to rise and make their way to the colorful tents. Seems everyone is ready to go. Noting Pan pigging down on...whatever that stuff is, he walks over. "Perhaps you should give your stomach a break? You know what happened the last time you stuffed yourself before a fight." He says smiling. He pats the halfling on the shoulder and then looks up at the crooked toothed woman. Pointing to the sky, he continues, "But I to would like to hear what you think of your employer. From what I have heard, he really loves children."The genasi's expression does not change as he says this, and he does not elaborate on what way the clown would like children. He does take a moment to eye the cart, before turning his attention back to the woman.
"Happy Jack adores children! It is his reason for living, hearing children laugh! Come, come, experience the funhouse for yourselves!" She goes back to playing, watching all of you as she does and the monkey picks up his dance where he left off.
Ash looks to his companions still smiling, "We should all enter together! So please let me know when you are ready. I do not want anyone to get separated."
Nekane eyes the woman warily, "He likes their laughter... okayyy. Not sure how to take that considering he's keeping them hostage, but okay." He shrugs, "Lets go then... if that sounds good to you Pan." Everyone else seems ready to go.
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Violet may be a bit of a lunatic, but she's also fairly smart.
"If we want to make camp, here probably wouldn't be the best place to do it," she says. "I don't really expect the bandits to come back... but we probably shouldn't be here, just in case they do."
After a good rest, you all finish your travel to Fernwood....
As Fernwood comes into view, it seems like a pleasant, well cared for little village. Seeing a small stables at the edge of town, Ashtar draws the carriage over to it and calls out. As he is doing that and you all pile out, you notice red, green, and blue flashing lights, bouncing off low-hanging clouds coming from what you can only assume is the town square. The smell of sweets and grilled foods, along with the faint notes of a pipe organ, dance on the air.
Realizing no one is manning the stables, you all work together to get the mules secured in a pair of empty stalls and park the carriage. Following the lights and smells, you all get to the center of town without running into a single soul. The town is pretty typical for it's size. Buildings are in decent shape, gardens and such are cared for. The scent of the sweets and grilled foods grow stronger as you enter the town center.
Once you arrive, the commonplace village scene is completely torn away as you gaze upon what has been constructed here. Across the square is the centerpiece of a 20-foot-tall by 60-foot-wide apparent building that doesn't seem to be very deep. It is painted with pink hippos, a swarm of snakes, a mechanical man carrying a strange tool or weapon, and hundreds of multi-colored dots the size of cantaloupes. All of this is painted around a 15-foot-tall by 15-foot-wide smiling face, its mouth open and painted black.
On the left of the funhouse are several carnival-style food stands, five of them in fact. The people behind manning them do not appear to be moving.
The lights that you saw when you arrived to town are emanating from three large animated barrels on the ground near the funhouse. They are rotating, shining bright, colorful lights into the sky, illuminating the low white clouds above.
And the last thing you see is an old woman, covered in what was at one point colorful rags, cranking an organ grinder while a zombie-looking monkey tumbles and dances near her feet. Behind the organ grinder is an odd-looking mine cart, carved and painted to resemble the head of a dragon, sits on a metal rail.
As you're all taking in the odd sight, Megan slips away calling back over her shoulder, "I'll be right back!" and heads into the tavern that is facing the square.
And a moment later, true to her word, Megan and a group of other adults come piling out of the tavern, all looking about as haggard as your new friend. They all start chatting at once after Megan points you out through the stealthy veil you're all under. "Oh, thank the gods, they sent adventurers!" "My child, please help her!" "Yes, we all have children that have been trapped!" "It's been days, do you think they are ok?" "We've been too scared to enter, we don't want to make Happy Jack mad!" "Please, please go save them!" "Yes! we will pay you a reward!!"
Pan practically falls out if the carriage as they stop at their destination, "what the hell happened last night? Did we get kicked out of another tavern? Where the **** are we?" Pan walks with his collapsible pole swinging far above his head as he uses the reachable portion of the base as a walking stick, He takes a good look at the brightly coloured building and shakes his head, choosing instead to go and view what greasy treats might be purchasable from the stalls. He doesn't take much notice of the unmoving stall attendants but does clamber up to the stallfronts to view the meats.
Travin Tiller, Junk Dweller Bard, AURYN.
The Ironmaiden, Questionable Artificer, Descent into Avernus.
DM, Peacekeepers of Northmorrah
Violet giggles at Pan's outburst.
"No silly, what happened last night is that we just barely survived a run in with a bunch of bandits. Now these nice people are going to hire us to fight a demon clown!" she says. "I really hope that this time I don't end up stuck in fist-fight range... that might not end very well."
Ash smiles down at his companions, then turns to the crowd of desperate parents. "Do not worry! My companions and are here to help. I recommend that you all return to your homes, or somewhere safe until this is cleared up." He announces in his loud voice. Then he turns to his companions, "Have you all had a sufficient amount of rest?"
Nekane smiles and nods in agreement with Ashtar, it would be best for them to go home for now. The last thing they need is for a few of them to grow enough courage to try and accompany them into the playhouse. "I assure you we will take care of this. We will find your children and deal with this Happy Jack fellow." Again, he makes sure not to give false hope and say they will bring them all back safely, since there really is no telling if any of the kids are alive at this point.
Pan sidles up to the good smelling food carts, but as he gets close he sees that the people stationed behind each one is a mechanical humanoid. There is nothing on the cart other than a slot located on the stand that seems to fit a silver coin. There are five stands, if he wants to try one out... which one?
The parents look at the adventurer's wide-eyed, but try to settle down a bit, "Seriously, we'll pay you 400 gold if you get us our children back!! We took up a collection, it's all we have." "We can't go home to our empty houses with our children stuck in that accursed house!" "We'll be here in this tavern, come get us with ANY news." And they slowly and begrudgingly head back into the tavern.
Pan picks the middle cart of the five and slams a silver in the slot. Rubbing his hands together and licking his lips "let's see what ya got then?"
Travin Tiller, Junk Dweller Bard, AURYN.
The Ironmaiden, Questionable Artificer, Descent into Avernus.
DM, Peacekeepers of Northmorrah
As Pan deposits, er slams, a silver coin in the slot, the mechanical figure immediately comes to life, whizzing and whirring, his arms going every which way. Then he hands out a deep fried fruit pie to Pan, completely still again.
Lozak watches these people as they come out of the tavern and begin begging for help. Then, in horror, he watches as Ash basically volunteers them to get their ass kicked yet again. And then, before he can protest this, the people offer up money. And then, and get this friends and neighbors, they walk off with their money. They actually had the gall to say 'if'.
If.
Can you f&ckin' believe it?
"By all the primordial things that lurk betwixt the air itself, I swear there is nothing I dislike more than kids, aside from, perhaps, their parents." Lozak grumbles. He brings the Axe across his chest and slowly picks a few tunes as he mills about, looking at the town, and then the tent. "Well, there's no time like now, and this looks like a jaunty little venue for a performance. Shall we?"
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
DM of Legacy of NIMH
"GUYTH! THITH ONE ITH PIAE!" Pan shouts helpfully through a mouth full of pie, that he tried to force down his gullet in one bite, he moves to the furthest stall from the playhouse and begins slamming a silver coin in each stall one after the other, not waiting to watch the mechanical figures do their dance before going to the next one and slamming his coin in. He runs back to the first stall to see what it produced and works his way down once more collecting his bounty of foods.
Travin Tiller, Junk Dweller Bard, AURYN.
The Ironmaiden, Questionable Artificer, Descent into Avernus.
DM, Peacekeepers of Northmorrah
Nekane knows knowingly to the women, and waves at them as they leave. Then he turns to his Lozak, "Really? You don't like kids? Huh..." He puts on an expression of mock surprise and confusion for a moment before laughing, "Well how bout you focus on killing the clown then and I'll deal with the kids. Sound good?"
He turns to Pan, "...just... uh, let us know when you are done there and we can head in alright?"
Then he looks to Ashtar and Violet, "Well, do we have a plan? Or, shall we just stroll on in? It doesn't seem like we've gotten much info to work with, but I guess that's just how these things go."
"Oooh what can I say..." Lozak replies to Nekane, still gently picking his guitar. "It's part of my charm, I'm afraid. Right Vi?"
He winks at the multi-eyeballed horror he calls a friend.
Lozak continues gently plucking the strings of his Axe and proceeds onwards, toward the tent, before using the neck of the instrument to catch the tent flap and pull it open.
"My adoring audience awaits." He says cheekily.
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
DM of Legacy of NIMH
As Pan slams silver coins into the other slots, the figures behind the stands all dance into motion. Once they all settle down, the following appear in their hands.. cotton candy, candy corn, a corn dog and a candied apple.
As Lozak heads towards the entrance of the funhouse, before he can stick his head in the painted mouth opening, the old woman stops cranking the organ grinder and calls out, "Not that way deary. You must ride the cart to enter Happy Jack's Funhouse! Please, step on up into the cart, it'll be such a fun ride." she grins. Her eyes smile as well, so that is really the only indicator that it is a real smile as her mouth is such a jumble of crooked teeth and her lips seem a bit twisted as well, enough that the grin looks more like a grimace. The monkey looks up, wondering why the music stopped.
Pan wolfs down several of the treats, but looks a little concerned at the candy corn, "what in the hells are these things?".
Seeing the woman call out he walks on over, "so you work for happy jack? What's he like eh?"
Travin Tiller, Junk Dweller Bard, AURYN.
The Ironmaiden, Questionable Artificer, Descent into Avernus.
DM, Peacekeepers of Northmorrah
Ash nods to himself as his companions start to rise and make their way to the colorful tents. Seems everyone is ready to go. Noting Pan pigging down on...whatever that stuff is, he walks over. "Perhaps you should give your stomach a break? You know what happened the last time you stuffed yourself before a fight." He says smiling. He pats the halfling on the shoulder and then looks up at the crooked toothed woman. Pointing to the sky, he continues, "But I to would like to hear what you think of your employer. From what I have heard, he really loves children." The genasi's expression does not change as he says this, and he does not elaborate on what way the clown would like children. He does take a moment to eye the cart, before turning his attention back to the woman.
When Lozak hears that he's entering the wrong building....he shrugs and keeps going.
"Well, who said I didn't want to know what is in here?" He says, undeterred...
DM of AURYN: The Measure of Devotion - Escape from New York
DM of Legacy of NIMH
"Happy Jack adores children! It is his reason for living, hearing children laugh! Come, come, experience the funhouse for yourselves!" She goes back to playing, watching all of you as she does and the monkey picks up his dance where he left off.
Ash looks to his companions still smiling, "We should all enter together! So please let me know when you are ready. I do not want anyone to get separated."
Nekane eyes the woman warily, "He likes their laughter... okayyy. Not sure how to take that considering he's keeping them hostage, but okay." He shrugs, "Lets go then... if that sounds good to you Pan." Everyone else seems ready to go.