(A ABBCCDDA quicky)

Many may call me a liar,
But I’m not one to boast,
I make the most excellent toast.
Always browned to perfection
Much better than a confection.
It’s just too bad that to make it,
And I absolutely can’t fake it,
I need to put my hand in the fire!

Marrin prestidigates her hand on fire on the last three words and widens her eyes to add to the show.

Performance:  29

((Okay, it changed from a 19 to an 18 for some reason, but still good enough?))

(Nice Marrin!!)

Avaria finds the way the woman pushes her around a bit amusing and Tia lead her where she does.  Watching her spill out her small bones and such she wonders what kind of magic this was?  It appeared different then the type of magic her friends had and wondered what that meant.  She is brought out of her reverie when the fortune teller basically tells them to get out.

"What?  Please miss, tell us.  We will leave you be once you have, it won't be in your life, it will be in ours."

"Ah, leave it Ava. Figured it was just parlor tricks, I can do just as good at faking fortunes if you want the entertainment later.... I see a person... a man... do you know a man? He has a beard... no, he's clean shaven.... yes..."

Jan puts her fingers to her temples as she's play acting a fortune teller. If the woman is purely an entertainer, but feels like she doesn't want to bother with the party, she doesn't mind mocking her, and if she has some true ability, which Jan suspects isn't out of the possibility given what they've seen at the Lintoll, she's hoping to goad her into some measure of professional responsibility or indignation.

Gnome Poetry

The audience claps and cheers enthusiastically for Marrin and her recitals.

The winged gnome looks at her quietly for a moment, his head tilted to one side.

He steps to the center of the stage, whispering to Marrin as he does.

"Slumming it are we? The theatres in Waterdeep closed for the season are they?" the gnome whispers.

He looks out at the expectant crowd, opens his mouth, pauses, closes his mouth, looks back at Marrin.

"A dragon so gentle and kind

Saw a unicorn badly entwined,

His silvery mane

Caught up in a chain,

So she helped him get out of his bind"

Polite applause for an adequate effort but no more. The gnomes face flushes slightly and he tries again.

"There once was a dragon named Brent.

He wrote poems wherever he went.

The poems were fine,

But on the very last line,

He added too many syllables."

A single clap, then some whispering, and finally "Declare her the winner already."

The gnome sighs and looks over at Marrin and then bows.

(Marrin - 1d8 please)

Calypso Akimbo Fortunes

Tia Dalma narrows her eyes, looking displeased with Jan.

"You can tell fortunes no more than this chair. Perhaps if your master was a djinni you would have some power. But the dao? They are too practical." Tia says. "And do not think I don't know what you're trying to do."

She looks at Avaria for a moment, then back to Ethel and Ula.

"There is a darkness coming and you are all going to be marked by it," Tia says. "If you pry too much, the eyes in the dark will find you long before you're ready."

"Apologies, Auntie.", Jan says with a bit of a smirk.

"Would this darkness be connected to an undead dragon, by any chance?", she asks, her joviality fading.

Earlier...

Ethel accepts the wand with a studying eye.  "And you say they are just giving these out as ring toss prizes?"  She gives an admiring whistle, though the scars at the sides of her lip make the sound a bit too much like a hiss.  "A wand empowered even with just a cantrip is something that would take great skill and effort to craft.  This Lintoll truly is a wondrous place."  She tucks the wand into her robes for later, more careful inspection.  "Thank you, Jan.  Our shopping trip to the booksellers was productive.  Also, we learned that Geffroi and Hammerdasher both are both still here... somewhere."

Later...

Ethel rolls her eyes at first when the fortune teller begins with her gravitas, but then reassesses her feelings once the woman pegs Jan properly as a warlock.  She is painfully aware the seer identifies the patron much faster than she herself had.  Still, she can't help but let her own thoughts be known.

"I looked into the divining arts, briefly, while charting the course of my studies.  I think far too much is made of them.  The most competent scholars and philosophers all speak of a future that is immutable.  Catching glimpses of it can only tease you with thoughts of a destiny you cannot impact... or else, the visions themselves are what set you on the course toward whatever doom or glory awaits you."

"What will be will be.  I say, make yourself as ready as you can be, and then face the future, whatever form it takes.  Trying to cheat by sneaking a peak; you are only fooling yourself."

Earlier...

"Well, it wasn't just any ring toss, there was a wooden almiraj statue that was teleporting randomly about, and you had to land two of three rings on its horn!", Jan says, a bit boastfully. She's glad her friend likes the gift, or at least finds it useful, which for Ethel might equate to much the same thing.

((Poetry is hard.))

D8: 5

Marrin bows back to the gnome and whispers/thinks at him graciously,

"Never made it to Waterdeep, but thank you for the compliment. Perhaps someday, if I can get across the damned Sea of Stars!"

She gives him a half smile and says,

"And I enjoy the energy of the Lintoll far more than I would any opera!"

((There is some internal conflict on that last statement. She is more comfortable with the Lintoll's scene but burns for the fame (and money) an opera role in Waterdeep would bring her. So deception for a half lie?: 14 to herself as much as the gnome.))

((She fools herself with that in any case!))

Gnome Poetry

The gnome looks up at Marrin for a few moments, trying to decide if she's pulling his leg or not but eventually decides she's telling the truth. This brings a smile to his face.

"The patrons of the grand theaters of Waterdeep forget what they've seen by the time they get home," the gnome says. "But those in the small towns and that come to the Lintoll remember the experience for the rest of their lives."

He dips down and opens a chest, closes his eyes, reaches in and pulls out Marrin's price. The lid is quickly closed again and Marrin is handed what looks like a unicorn's horn. When she takes it she realizes that it's only a replica, but it is filled with the most delicious looking candy she's seen for who knows how long.

Calypso Akimbo Fortunes

Tia Dalma looks at Ethel after she's shared her thoughts on divination and fortune telling and nods.

"This one knows the truth of it. What may come is always malleable," Tia says. "But that does not change that something is coming -"

Tia pauses for a moment, frowns then continues "No something is returning and you are all tied to it."

The seer stops and thinks about Jan's question then waves her hand away.

"There is a hint of serpents intertwined with this but . . ." she trails off, looking through Jan as if she's looking at another world. "Best to steer clear of dragons."

She starts to pack up the odds and ends she had cast and waves towards the doorway.

"Go, go. Let me get back to telling farmers if their crops will come in or merchants if their spouses will cheat on them."

"I know I will always remember the kids and their parents going back to their farms singing my song or acting out a bit of our play."

Marrin takes the horn with a smile and gives the gnome another bow,

"Master gnome, it was a pleasure dueling with words! Too bad your rhymes were all turds."

She sticks out her tongue, winks at him and heads out looking for the rest of the party. Or something fun. Whichever she sees first.

She'll pop a candy while she looks.

Avaria's face darkens at all of this.  What did the woman mean?  And the fact she didn't want to continue... this was all so strange.  Honestly, she thought it would be kinda funny, but nope.

As they start heading out of the tent, "Shall we find Marrin?  And isn't there some event in big top tonight?"

As Marrin wanders the lanes of the Lintoll, popping tangy lemon, creamy chocolate, and surprisingly tart jellies, she spots Avaria coming out of a tent.

From where Marrin and Avaria meet, they are about equidistant from the main entrance and the big top. As the sky continues to darken, and lights twinkle all over the Lintoll, a steady stream of fair-goers make their way inside the main tent.

Whimsical music from the calliope merges with the shouts and laughter of the patrons.

Avaria spots Geffroi and Hammerdasher heading into the big top and Marrin spots a couple of Spandeliyon guards watching her and Avaria. There's no sign of the guard captain, Mard, at this point.

Ula steps out of the tent and joins Marrin and Avaria.

"It feels like the whole town is here," Ula says.

--------------------------------------

Ethel and Jan are still inside Calypso Akimbo Fortunes.

Jan had kind of lost focus, clearly the fortune teller saw something, but just as clearly, she didn't want to say more than she had. Eventually she turns to go, taking Ethel's elbow.

Marrin nods to the guards and will swing over and offer them both a candy,

"Least I can do since you don't get to really enjoy it here."

She explains before heading back to Ava and Ula. She responds to Ula,

"You think it will be a problem so many are enjoying the Lintoll?"

Avaria feels the hairs prickle on the back of her neck as Ula states the entire town seems to be at the Lintoll.  "That doesn't sound good, I think we should be on watch, I don't know for what or what to keep an eye out for other than our ship... but this doesn't sit well with me."

"Ah well. I'm sure the mayor has it under control. Come Ava, let's see if these black tickets get us VIP seating! Maybe for the guards too?"

She'll wave the guards over and say,

"We'll see if we can get you some good seats with us. Stay close."

She'll then start heading towards the show.

"I imagine that anyone with a mind for mischief could get up to some in town if everyone is here. I can sent K'oshash to do a fly over and report back if anything seems out of the ordinary, if that'd put you more at ease Ava?"

Avaria stands there for a moment, torn between spending an evening having fun with her adored friends, or making sure everything and everyone was safe...  Marrin's words then start pulling her towards the Lintell, but as Jan offers to send K'oshash...

Ava breaks into a grin, "Yes Jan, that would help immensely.  C'mon!  Let's go find some good seats!"  and she ends up racing them towards the big top.

Jan conveys to K'oshash that she'd like them to do a lap over Spandelyion, particularly making sure to visit the ship and the inn, though not so close as to draw attention to themself before returning to report to her.