Ready to deck someone on the lakefront, Horatio scans the crowd for the source of the obnoxious heckling. Perception: 6
...but Horatio can't seem to figure out who among the dozen or more people scattered along the waterfront was the culprit. What's odd is that the voice was a deep, booming, male-sounding voice, and the crowd seems to be made up mostly of children, halflings, and older human women.
Ben: "Of course!" replies the carousel operator. She punches his ticket, as a few children join Ben on the ride. There are four pairs of old, painted, wooden unicorns in a mixed state of repair. Ben hops on one with a tag that reads "Fortune". Its wooden mate's tag is worn and impossible to read. ("B _ _ _"). The music begins, the carousel turns, the kids squeal, and it's... fun!
Matilda and Alyeira: Mister Light nods to the smoking clown outside, who pulls out a pair of balloons and goes to work.
"For lost items," intones Mister Witch, "see Dirlagraun at the Lost Property Wagon. But for long-lost people and animals..." he shrugs, heavily, "I don't know what to tell you. Life can be cruel sometimes." He pauses for a moment, as he continues to usher you out of their wagon. "A small piece of advice when visiting our carnival:" he adds, addressing Matilda specifically and waving a finger in the air, "never try to sneak in without a ticket. Barter with Nikolas if you have to, but we cannot be responsible for ticketless patrons."
Thaco hands Matilda and Alyeira their finished gifts - two balloon animals in the shape of a panther and a kitten, each tied with a ribbon and floating magically in the air.
Bob and Edgardo: For the cost of a ticket punch, Bob and Edgardo are invited to enter the cake-eating contest in the Feasting Orchard with the other two contestants. (To join, start with a DC10 CON save.) The gnome bard continues to watch from her swing. "Beautiful night! Good cake! You two find what you're looking for?"
Colin: Colin continues to nose around the Dressing Room.
With Mister Witch continuing to try to reason with Matilda's turned back, they retreat from the wagon. But then Burly pulls the two aside for a hushed conversation. He removes his jack-o’-lantern helmet, revealing a worried expression. “Bad things have been happening at the carnival for a while. People and things have been going missing. My bosses know more than they’re telling, but their hands are tied somehow. You’re the first people I’ve met who might be able to set things right. Witch and Light are good guys, but you’ll need leverage to make them spill the beans.”
Cad is thoroughly pleased with himself. "Ha! Got it in one!" he crows, and holds the toy spider above his head like a trophy. He goes into the feasting grounds to show it off to his friends.
With Mister Witch continuing to try to reason with Matilda's turned back, they retreat from the wagon. But then Burly pulls the two aside for a hushed conversation. He removes his jack-o’-lantern helmet, revealing a worried expression. “Bad things have been happening at the carnival for a while. People and things have been going missing. My bosses know more than they’re telling, but their hands are tied somehow. You’re the first people I’ve met who might be able to set things right. Witch and Light are good guys, but you’ll need leverage to make them spill the beans.”
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Edgardo
He was intent on riding the carousel when he left the Hall of Illusions, but the smell of berry pie and the glistening glaze on the cupcakes completely captured his attention. Hot at Bob's heels, Edgardo follows the kenku into the feasting orchard. He holds his ticket out to be punched as he eyes a table with a large number of the deliciously sweet looking baked goods piled in the centre.
Taking his seat (presumably next to Bob) he waits for the starting whistle (?). "These look sooo good!" Are the only words he can manage as he begins to salivate.
Bob and Edgardo sit at the table heaped with cupcakes, together with the rotund halfling man and the gangly teenager. Tickets are punched. The rules are simple: eat as many of the small, glazed cupcakes as you can in sixty seconds. (Contestants can swallow a cupcake in about 3 seconds and safely eat as many cupcakes as 3 + your Constitution modifier; for each additional cake eaten, the contestant must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or take 1d8 custard damage.) The baby-faced referee rings a little bell to begin.
They are quite tasty, if a little sweet. The big halfling has immediate problems. (6, 11,4). Bob begins to flag a bit, too, on his fourth custard-filled cake. (Bob CON Save: 4). But Edgardo and the gangly teen continue to stuff their faces without hesitation.
...The big halfling is out. ("I can't do this," he mutters, clutching his stomach and stepping away from the table.) Bob takes7 custard damage. (Subtract custard damage from your hit points as normal. Any contestant reduced to 0 hit points by custard damage is unable to continue, loses the contest, and has custard splattered all over them. At the end of the contest, all contestants regain the hit points they lost from taking custard damage.)
We're now 12 seconds into the contest. Bob should make his next CON Save for his fifth cake. (Edgardo's first roll is recorded but not needed yet. At the moment, he's a bottomless cupcake-eating machine, as is the teenage kid.)
Burly quietly and hesitatingly shares his plan with Matilda and Alyeira in private, near the wall of thorns surrounding the wagons. "Witch and Light know more than they’re telling. So what if we were to purloin Mister Witch’s Witchlight watch? Without it, the carnival can’t stay on schedule. Then, we - or, you - use it as leverage to compel Witch and Light to provide the answers we all seek. He keeps it in his waistcoat pocket. Know any good pickpockets?" He pantomimes pulling a watch out of a pocket.
The bugbear continues, "The best time to swipe the watch is probably during the Crowning of the Witchlight Monarch in the Big Top, since it’ll be the only time when Witch and Light are separated. Listen: I don't condone theft, but it’s not really stealing if you give back the watch, right? I'll assist where I can, but I can't have Witch and Light know that I plotted against them, because it would cost me my job and my home. And I'll see no harm come to my bosses; they might be flawed, but without them, the carnival will fall apart."
Alyeira is torn. She knows how much Matilda's brother means to her, and she wants to help the young girl. However, much like Burly, the carnival is not just her job, but her home. If she were to lose it she would have nowhere to go, nothing to do with the centuries she had yet to live. Though.. performing was growing tiresome. Perhaps it was time to leave the festivities - and if she was going to go, she would go out with a bang.
"What do you think Matilda? This is a very risky plan."
Still rather easily amused, Ben has fun on the unicorns and is sad when the time comes to leave. He can’t help but be curious, though, as to the name of the unicorn starting with “B”. He goes up to the centaur operator and asks, “What is the name of the unicorn companion of Fortune? It’s name starts with a “B”, but that is all I can make out.”
If she is able to tell him, Ben will return to the unicorn and carefully etch its name using his smallest stone carving tools—“It may not be perfect, but we all deserve names, do we not?” He thinks.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
Bob sways uneasily as he stuffs the cakes into his mouth; the fourth had almost finished him. Putting on a brave face, he smiles at the other contestants, "Oh boy! Delicious! I'm jus' gettin' started."
His feathered arm shakes as he reaches out for the fifth cake. 'Come on Bob, you've got this!', he thinks, attempting to gee himself on.
Alyeira is torn. She knows how much Matilda's brother means to her, and she wants to help the young girl. However, much like Burly, the carnival is not just her job, but her home. If she were to lose it she would have nowhere to go, nothing to do with the centuries she had yet to live. Though.. performing was growing tiresome. Perhaps it was time to leave the festivities - and if she was going to go, she would go out with a bang.
"What do you think Matilda? This is a very risky plan."
" Yeah......it sounds kinda...nah."
" I don't think those two know much of anything....though you probably know them better than I do."
" But way too many things go missing here for it to all be coincidence....is there anyone here at the Carnival that you all avoid interacting with? Someone no one trusts?"
The three remaining contestants each swallow their fifth custard-filled cake. Bob is struggling badly. Indeed, he takes another 1 custard damage, and is out. Four-and-a-half cakes are evidently all his delicate kenku gizzard can hold. He quietly retreats.
Edgardo soldiers on, as does the gangly teen. Cake 6: Edgardo (CON Save 18) demolishes it unhesitatingly; the teen (Con Save:9)...
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Edgardo
With custard all through his whiskers and dripping from his chin, Edgardo dares a sideways glance athis only real competition - a pimply teenager. Watching as the custard drips from his mouth and consumes the teenagers hand in an ooze of yellow goodness, he can't help but feel that this is a game he might win. He's urged on by the thought and grabs at another cake.
Ben (Carousel) "I don't know," responds the carousel operator. "They need some repair. Many of the names are just worn off. When I first started working here, they told me they could speak, speak right into your mind. They knew secrets about the feywild, secrets connected to this place. But now they are nameless and silent. If we could ever figure out their names, maybe we could coax them to talk again." Seeing Ben pull out his tools, she stops him. "No - I have special paint for that. Don't scratch them."
Ben glances at a second pair of wooden horses. One is named "FALL" on its golden tag, and its mate's tag reads "PR - - -". The last three letters are indecipherable.
--
Alyeira and Matilda (Staff Area):
Burly thinks for a moment at Matilda's question. "I don't care for that clown much," he says, his eyes darting around, watching for spies. "Dirlagraun, Candlefoot, and Palasha might help you—they’re good eggs. But stay away from Thaco—he’s untrustworthy. This sneaky kenku is driving everyone mad right now, but she's a relatively new arrival. She has some kind of grudge against Witch and Light, I hear, and is being a royal pest." "Hmmm," he thinks some more, hoisting up his voluminous dungarees. "There are some creepy things that come and go from the Hall of Illusions sometimes. A little toad-like thing, a pig-faced girl, and a tall shadow thing. Witch told me once to just ignore them. Most folks steer clear of that place. Witch and Light are good guys, but I think somebody or something is holding something over them. But they'll never tell us, not unless we also hold something over them."
Cake 7: This is when the custard cramps hit Edgardo. He takes 2 custard damage.
His opponent takes her next bite. Con Save: 16
...and polishes it off without trouble. She has at least temporarily overcome her earlier distress.
Bob is still recovering, half bent-over. Cad, just joining the party, is watching. The gnome on the swing, above, watches with delight; she is clearly entertained.
Horatio (Silversong Lake): Angry, Horatio continues to scan the lakefront for the obnoxious heckler, but he can't seem to figure out where in the crowd the voice came from.
Colin (Dressing Room): Colin continues to explore the now-emptied dressing room. He finds a wire headband fitted with a sparkling paper unicorn horn.
Ben (Carousel) "I don't know," responds the carousel operator. "They need some repair. Many of the names are just worn off. When I first started working here, they told me they could speak, speak right into your mind. They knew secrets about the feywild, secrets connected to this place. But now they are nameless and silent. If we could ever figure out their names, maybe we could coax them to talk again." Seeing Ben pull out his tools, she stops him. "No - I have special paint for that. Don't scratch them."
Ben glances at a second pair of wooden horses. One is named "FALL" on its golden tag, and its mate's tag reads "PR - - -". The last three letters are indecipherable.
Ben:
Excitedly, Ben says “Bring your special paint, then, I think I know the names!” Going over to B_ _ _ , Ben says, “Look at Fortune’s mate here; it is said that ‘Fortune Favors the Bold’! That’s his name!”
And over at Fall, he says, “Look here—‘Pride Goes Before a Fall’—that’s this one’s name!”
“Everyone deserves to be called by their name—and even more so if it allows these majestic creatures to communicate with us!” says Ben enthusiastically.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
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Horatio:
Ready to deck someone on the lakefront, Horatio scans the crowd for the source of the obnoxious heckling. Perception: 6
...but Horatio can't seem to figure out who among the dozen or more people scattered along the waterfront was the culprit. What's odd is that the voice was a deep, booming, male-sounding voice, and the crowd seems to be made up mostly of children, halflings, and older human women.
Ben:
"Of course!" replies the carousel operator. She punches his ticket, as a few children join Ben on the ride. There are four pairs of old, painted, wooden unicorns in a mixed state of repair. Ben hops on one with a tag that reads "Fortune". Its wooden mate's tag is worn and impossible to read. ("B _ _ _"). The music begins, the carousel turns, the kids squeal, and it's... fun!
Matilda and Alyeira:
Mister Light nods to the smoking clown outside, who pulls out a pair of balloons and goes to work.
"For lost items," intones Mister Witch, "see Dirlagraun at the Lost Property Wagon. But for long-lost people and animals..." he shrugs, heavily, "I don't know what to tell you. Life can be cruel sometimes." He pauses for a moment, as he continues to usher you out of their wagon. "A small piece of advice when visiting our carnival:" he adds, addressing Matilda specifically and waving a finger in the air, "never try to sneak in without a ticket. Barter with Nikolas if you have to, but we cannot be responsible for ticketless patrons."
Thaco hands Matilda and Alyeira their finished gifts - two balloon animals in the shape of a panther and a kitten, each tied with a ribbon and floating magically in the air.
Bob and Edgardo:
For the cost of a ticket punch, Bob and Edgardo are invited to enter the cake-eating contest in the Feasting Orchard with the other two contestants. (To join, start with a DC10 CON save.) The gnome bard continues to watch from her swing. "Beautiful night! Good cake! You two find what you're looking for?"
Colin:
Colin continues to nose around the Dressing Room.
" Yes, because kidnapping and disappearing someone is the sane reaction to someone not paying a few coppers for a piece of paper."
" And concern for your employees dependants is certainly too much to ask."
" Thanks for nothing I guess.", Matilda said coldly as she left, fairly disgusted with the owners and their lack of care about both patrons and staff.
Slamming the door behind her she turned to Alyeira.
" So....like most adults those two were utterly useless. Any other ideas? I still think I was missing something back at the Hall of Illusions."
Matilda and Alyeira:
With Mister Witch continuing to try to reason with Matilda's turned back, they retreat from the wagon. But then Burly pulls the two aside for a hushed conversation. He removes his jack-o’-lantern helmet, revealing a worried expression. “Bad things have been happening at the carnival for a while. People and things have been going missing. My bosses know more than they’re telling, but their hands are tied somehow. You’re the first people I’ve met who might be able to set things right. Witch and Light are good guys, but you’ll need leverage to make them spill the beans.”
"I've got a plan, but it's kind of risky..."
Cadwallader:
Cad is thoroughly pleased with himself. "Ha! Got it in one!" he crows, and holds the toy spider above his head like a trophy. He goes into the feasting grounds to show it off to his friends.
Matilda frowned, " Go on."
Edgardo
He was intent on riding the carousel when he left the Hall of Illusions, but the smell of berry pie and the glistening glaze on the cupcakes completely captured his attention. Hot at Bob's heels, Edgardo follows the kenku into the feasting orchard. He holds his ticket out to be punched as he eyes a table with a large number of the deliciously sweet looking baked goods piled in the centre.
Taking his seat (presumably next to Bob) he waits for the starting whistle (?). "These look sooo good!" Are the only words he can manage as he begins to salivate.
CON Save 11
Bob and Edgardo (Feasting Orchard)
Bob and Edgardo sit at the table heaped with cupcakes, together with the rotund halfling man and the gangly teenager. Tickets are punched. The rules are simple: eat as many of the small, glazed cupcakes as you can in sixty seconds. (Contestants can swallow a cupcake in about 3 seconds and safely eat as many cupcakes as 3 + your Constitution modifier; for each additional cake eaten, the contestant must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or take 1d8 custard damage.) The baby-faced referee rings a little bell to begin.
They are quite tasty, if a little sweet. The big halfling has immediate problems. (6, 11,4). Bob begins to flag a bit, too, on his fourth custard-filled cake. (Bob CON Save: 4). But Edgardo and the gangly teen continue to stuff their faces without hesitation.
...The big halfling is out. ("I can't do this," he mutters, clutching his stomach and stepping away from the table.) Bob takes 7 custard damage. (Subtract custard damage from your hit points as normal. Any contestant reduced to 0 hit points by custard damage is unable to continue, loses the contest, and has custard splattered all over them. At the end of the contest, all contestants regain the hit points they lost from taking custard damage.)
We're now 12 seconds into the contest. Bob should make his next CON Save for his fifth cake. (Edgardo's first roll is recorded but not needed yet. At the moment, he's a bottomless cupcake-eating machine, as is the teenage kid.)
Matilda and Alyeira (Staff Area)
Burly quietly and hesitatingly shares his plan with Matilda and Alyeira in private, near the wall of thorns surrounding the wagons. "Witch and Light know more than they’re telling. So what if we were to purloin Mister Witch’s Witchlight watch? Without it, the carnival can’t stay on schedule. Then, we - or, you - use it as leverage to compel Witch and Light to provide the answers we all seek. He keeps it in his waistcoat pocket. Know any good pickpockets?" He pantomimes pulling a watch out of a pocket.
The bugbear continues, "The best time to swipe the watch is probably during the Crowning of the Witchlight Monarch in the Big Top, since it’ll be the only time when Witch and Light are separated. Listen: I don't condone theft, but it’s not really stealing if you give back the watch, right? I'll assist where I can, but I can't have Witch and Light know that I plotted against them, because it would cost me my job and my home. And I'll see no harm come to my bosses; they might be flawed, but without them, the carnival will fall apart."
Alyeira is torn. She knows how much Matilda's brother means to her, and she wants to help the young girl. However, much like Burly, the carnival is not just her job, but her home. If she were to lose it she would have nowhere to go, nothing to do with the centuries she had yet to live. Though.. performing was growing tiresome. Perhaps it was time to leave the festivities - and if she was going to go, she would go out with a bang.
"What do you think Matilda? This is a very risky plan."
Ben:
Still rather easily amused, Ben has fun on the unicorns and is sad when the time comes to leave. He can’t help but be curious, though, as to the name of the unicorn starting with “B”. He goes up to the centaur operator and asks, “What is the name of the unicorn companion of Fortune? It’s name starts with a “B”, but that is all I can make out.”
If she is able to tell him, Ben will return to the unicorn and carefully etch its name using his smallest stone carving tools—“It may not be perfect, but we all deserve names, do we not?” He thinks.
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
Bob sways uneasily as he stuffs the cakes into his mouth; the fourth had almost finished him. Putting on a brave face, he smiles at the other contestants, "Oh boy! Delicious! I'm jus' gettin' started."
His feathered arm shakes as he reaches out for the fifth cake. 'Come on Bob, you've got this!', he thinks, attempting to gee himself on.
Constitution Save: 6
DM - The Call of Strahd (CoS); Feyrealm Campaign, Chapter 0 - Bleak Prospect (BP), Chapter 1 - Destination Unknown (DU)
" Yeah......it sounds kinda...nah."
" I don't think those two know much of anything....though you probably know them better than I do."
" But way too many things go missing here for it to all be coincidence....is there anyone here at the Carnival that you all avoid interacting with? Someone no one trusts?"
Bob and Edgardo (Feasting Orchard)
The three remaining contestants each swallow their fifth custard-filled cake. Bob is struggling badly. Indeed, he takes another 1 custard damage, and is out. Four-and-a-half cakes are evidently all his delicate kenku gizzard can hold. He quietly retreats.
Edgardo soldiers on, as does the gangly teen. Cake 6: Edgardo (CON Save 18) demolishes it unhesitatingly; the teen (Con Save: 9)...
...begins to falter (taking 3 custard damage).
Cake 7: Edgardo should roll his next CON save.
Edgardo
With custard all through his whiskers and dripping from his chin, Edgardo dares a sideways glance athis only real competition - a pimply teenager. Watching as the custard drips from his mouth and consumes the teenagers hand in an ooze of yellow goodness, he can't help but feel that this is a game he might win. He's urged on by the thought and grabs at another cake.
CON save 7
Ben (Carousel)
"I don't know," responds the carousel operator. "They need some repair. Many of the names are just worn off. When I first started working here, they told me they could speak, speak right into your mind. They knew secrets about the feywild, secrets connected to this place. But now they are nameless and silent. If we could ever figure out their names, maybe we could coax them to talk again." Seeing Ben pull out his tools, she stops him. "No - I have special paint for that. Don't scratch them."
Ben glances at a second pair of wooden horses. One is named "FALL" on its golden tag, and its mate's tag reads "PR - - -". The last three letters are indecipherable.
--
Alyeira and Matilda (Staff Area):
Burly thinks for a moment at Matilda's question. "I don't care for that clown much," he says, his eyes darting around, watching for spies. "Dirlagraun, Candlefoot, and Palasha might help you—they’re good eggs. But stay away from Thaco—he’s untrustworthy. This sneaky kenku is driving everyone mad right now, but she's a relatively new arrival. She has some kind of grudge against Witch and Light, I hear, and is being a royal pest." "Hmmm," he thinks some more, hoisting up his voluminous dungarees. "There are some creepy things that come and go from the Hall of Illusions sometimes. A little toad-like thing, a pig-faced girl, and a tall shadow thing. Witch told me once to just ignore them. Most folks steer clear of that place. Witch and Light are good guys, but I think somebody or something is holding something over them. But they'll never tell us, not unless we also hold something over them."
" Hall of Illusions again....I know I missed something there."
Bob, Cad, and Edgardo (Feasting Orchard):
Cake 7:
This is when the custard cramps hit Edgardo. He takes 2 custard damage.
His opponent takes her next bite. Con Save: 16
...and polishes it off without trouble. She has at least temporarily overcome her earlier distress.
Bob is still recovering, half bent-over. Cad, just joining the party, is watching. The gnome on the swing, above, watches with delight; she is clearly entertained.
Cake 8: Edgardo should roll his next CON save...
Horatio (Silversong Lake):
Angry, Horatio continues to scan the lakefront for the obnoxious heckler, but he can't seem to figure out where in the crowd the voice came from.
Colin (Dressing Room):
Colin continues to explore the now-emptied dressing room. He finds a wire headband fitted with a sparkling paper unicorn horn.
Ben:
Excitedly, Ben says “Bring your special paint, then, I think I know the names!” Going over to B_ _ _ , Ben says, “Look at Fortune’s mate here; it is said that ‘Fortune Favors the Bold’! That’s his name!”
And over at Fall, he says, “Look here—‘Pride Goes Before a Fall’—that’s this one’s name!”
“Everyone deserves to be called by their name—and even more so if it allows these majestic creatures to communicate with us!” says Ben enthusiastically.
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"