Edgardo 

As serious as Cad sounds, Edgardo can't help but find the lady's hysteria quite hilarious and he can't figure why.

WIS save 22

Horatio is dazzled by the array of strange mirrors in the dim light. Worse, he is dismayed by his lack of reflection in every one of them. Distracted, he doesn't know where the distraught young man went.

The woman outside finally stops laughing. Still wiping tears from her eyes, she apologizes to Cad and Edgardo. "I'm so sorry!" she says, still fighting back more laughter. She looks around and notices her partner missing. "Where did Rubin go?"

Matilda and Alyeria (presumably joined by Colin and Bob?) make their way to the Big Top, where they see that Ben has saved them seats and bought them snacks.

Horatio:

Horatio pauses as he is surrounded at one point on all sides by the mirrors. The tiny steel mirror he had carried for years, and the occasional glance into a pool of still water were already too much for him to confront most days. This... this was overwhelming. In a vain effort to get away from the mirrors, Horatio tries to go behind them, or to find paths with the fewest. He tries to look in places where mirrors aren't, like dark corners or spaces in between. Who knows, perhaps the man will be there somewhere... or perhaps he will see any of the other myriad of people and things missing. He calls out, as he does.

"Hello? Hey, I saw you run in here and wanted to make sure you're okay. I went ahead and paid your ticket punch, so you don't have to worry about it... Are you okay? Can you hear me? This place isn't that big, can you call out so I can try to find you?"

(Horatio: Make a new Perception check)

Horatio:

(( Perception Check = 4 ))

Matilda snatched up some snacks from Bens arms and sat next to him patting the seat on the other side of her for Alyeira to sit as well.  It was strange to be hanging around with adults without hating and being frustrated with them.......for a moment she felt bad for her parents then she remembered that they never, ever listened or believed her.  For not the first time she was annoyed that they hadn't gone missing instead of her brother.

Horatio continues to be dazzled, distracted, and dismayed by the rows of reflectionless mirrors. He hears low voices, but sees nobody, and can't determine their direction.

--

The young woman outside, thoroughly embarrassed, continues to recover with Cad and Edgardo. She is growing alarmed by her boyfriend's disappearance. "Did you see a guy with a butterfly on his face?" she asks, squinting into the crowd.

--

Meanwhile, the rest of the group finds seats near Ben and Matilda in the Big Top. Colorful orbs of light dance in the lofts of the tent while magic spotlights highlight a halfling contortionist who fits herself inside a hatbox. Spectators watch the acts from rows of tiered wooden seats encircling the ring. This seems to be a warm-up act.

Cadwallader:

"If you're referring to the young man you were strolling with, after you spurned his proposal he dashed into the tent in humiliation. My colleague has followed him in." Just now putting the bits together in his head, he makes his tone less arch and judgemental. "Wait, you don't remember what happened? Why, the young man got down on one knee and appeared to ask for your hand, but you began laughing hideously, rolling on the ground, and he fled. Oh my, I'm afraid you might have been the victim of a particularly cruel prank. This display..." He thinks he has an idea of what the ticket taker's pantomime was meant to convey. "Oh dear! I hope Horatio can find the young man -- Rubin? -- and I will help explain the situation."

Horatio:

Feeling a bit lost and frustrated, Horatio decides to change tactics. He checks to see how the mirrors are fastened, to see if he can lay them down on their faces.

(( He has his carpentry tools in his backpack ))

Ben:

Not having any idea what his other companions are up to, Ben gets settled and shares his gastronomical haul, munching and sipping a bit himself as he marvels at the contortionist.  Just about everything seems to be amusing him tonight, for some reason.

Horatio begins trying to disconnect the mirrors. They are extremely heavy and well-attached to the canvas walls, so it's a slow process. He manages to carefully disconnect and lower two of them without incident. No other patrons are inside the tent, and Rubin is still missing, but Horatio continues to hear snippets of hushed conversation from somewhere inside the tent.

Outside, the ticket-taker silently shrugs at Cad, looking nervously at the tent opening. The young woman, alarmed at Cad's announcement, becomes visibly upset and begins to walk briskly into the tent, looking back at Cad and Edgardo. "Will you help me look for him?"

---

In the Big Top, the show appears about to begin. The lights dim and a hush falls over the crowd. A second later, a spotlight illuminates a lithe, elven figure sitting in a silver hoop, suspended above the center ring by silk ropes. The elf wears a dazzling suit of diamond-pane mirrors and a pair of butterfly wings. His scepter is topped with a spinning vane.

“Welcome, one and all, to this evening’s extravaganza! I am Mister Light. Prepare to be delighted!”

The first act is a bugbear wearing dungarees and fake fairy wings, performing feats of strength. He lifts a huge platform over his head. Atop it balances a satyr fiddler whose music causes dancing plants to burst from the ground.

Momentarily forgetting his task, Bob soaks up the atmosphere of the Big Top.  He had always loved the spectacle; the bright lights, the array of colours, the unique acts.  Even though he had seen Mister Light on several occasions, the gentleman was still somewhat of an enigma to Bob and he rapturously applauded as the ringmaster introduced himself.

He leans over to the other members of the group and, in an overly excited whisper, hisses, "Ooh!  Wouldcha look at that - a bugbear with wings!  Fantastic!"  He stares in awe as the plants spring forth from the ground.  When they start dancing Bob almost collapses from sheer joy.  "Prithee, where else wouldst one behold such a sight?"

Horatio:
The young woman barges into the tent abruptly, as Horatio begins to disconnect the third mirror.  "You see a guy come in here just now, about this tall, butterfly on his face?"

Cad and Edgardo:
...are outside the Hall of Illusions, standing between a shrugging, pale mime and an encased mannequin. The crowd has thinned somewhat.

Everyone else:
...is in the Big Top. Mister Light continues his colorful banter as the acts change. Now, faerie dragons with bright streamers tied to their tails perform dazzling acts of synchronized flying as a troupe of acrobats, clowns, and fire-breathers parade about. It's quite a show.

Horatio:

Careful not to drop the mirror from the suddenness of the woman's appearance, Horatio finishes lowering the mirror and carefully setting it down before replying. "You're that girl? No, I hear someone in here with me but cannot find anyone. I've called out several times but he doesn't respond. This place isn't that big, and since everything at this Carnival is some kind of sinister twisted magic, I'm removing the mirrors so that I can properly see everything. Please, if you think you can help find him, don't get lost too. My name is Horatio, let's look together to be safe."

(( Horatio will accompany the woman as she searches for the man. ))

Edgardo 

Glancing between Cad, the Big Top and back again to the Hall of Illusions Edgardo decides that helping the young lady is the best course of action. "Sure thing. Can't have anything else go missing at this place. You coming mister?" Without waiting for an answer from Cad he takes off after the woman.

Survival 9 to follow her.

Ben:

Watching the show with glee, Ben nevertheless keeps his eyes open for that Kenku or her preferred human girl disguise., as this show would be the perfect distraction for some unscrupulous pickpocketing.

Perception:  21

Cadwallader:

Looking longingly toward the Big Top, from which music and the Oohs of an excited audience emanate, Cad sighs and heads into the Hall of Illusions in pursuit of the young woman in pursuit of her suitor. He enters just in tome to see Horatio removing a mirror. "Horatio?! What are you doing?! You can't disassemble the exhibits! We'll be kicked out! Or worse..." the last said quietly as he looked nervously about. He approaches Horatio and hisses in his ear, "These folks' ways are... different from our own. No shopkeeper in town would look kindly upon a customer taking down their goods, especially something fragile as a glass mirror! But we can't know how these people will react." At a normal volume, and in a forced-cheerful tone, he asks, "So, did the young man leave then? I didn't notice him come out the front of the tent; is there another exit?"

The interior of the Hall of Illusions seems finite and straightforward - just a big, rectangular canvas tent with no apparent secondary exits, and containing a couple of irregular rows of variously-sized mirrors. But it contains a multitude of little spaces behind and around the mirrors, and the effects of the mirrors together create a surreal, dazzling experience, not least compounded by your reactions to your own reflections, ranging from unsettling but nostalgic childhood likenesses to grim future doppelgangers. 

The woman, who doesn't pause to introduce herself to Horation, looks for her boyfriend. (Perception, with Horatio's help: 3) 

Edgardo and Cad enter at the same time. Edgardo carefully follows the woman as she searches.

She finds him. The young man is gazing worriedly into one of the smaller mirrors. The ring he intended for his sweetheart drops to the floor, as he reaches one hand through the glass, about to step through. A little girl in a pig mask can be seen in the pane, whispering to him, but as soon as she sees the young woman and Horatio, the girl turns and disappears. Rubin's hand is cast back violently. "Rubin!" calls his girlfriend. "What are you doing??" He looks dazed and confused.

---- 

Ben sees no kenku nor pickpockets, but he does see a large, dour, overweight elven man watching the acts from the shadows with an air of a boss about him. He checks his large pocketwatch regularly.

Mister Light asks the crowd with an air of magical grandiosity if any guests would like to perform their own acts for the crowd. Alyiera, Bob, and Colin know the drill - this is a standard part of the show. (Off-duty hands are sometimes encouraged to volunteer and pretend to be locals, just to spice things up.)

(Any character who accepts the offer can try to woo spectators with an act - and a Charisma (Performance) check. If multiple players choose to perform together, we'll make it a group check instead.)

Ben:

”Unless the audience would find stone carving to be entertaining, I am out,” says Ben with a wry smile, asking, “Does anyone else have a hidden performance skill they would like to showcase?”