But I'm delighted, none-the-less.

I take a moment to check my nails, while waiting patiently for the rest to do their lucky dip.

Quote from MartyYoung >>

Investigation check: 3

 You find an old, half used bar of soap. It smells faintly of stale lavender and has what looks like a fingernail clipping embedded in one end. 

"That isn't one of my nails, I'd never use lavender soap," I say.

"Shall we be off then?"

Magnus doesn't find anything of note in the Lost Property wagon: a screwed up lolly wrapper, a lone Haviana thong and a pair of sunglasses with only one arm. You leave it all there and join the others outside. 

As you leave, if you look back, you see Dirla waving a tentacle at you in farewell, as he continues to play with the children.

The group heads off towards the Calliope. Please roll a perception check on your way. 

18 for me

Dear lord, third natural 20...

This is going to cost me later, you see if it doesn't.

Phaarlisse Perception Check: 14

Magnus takes a shortcut through the bushes and disappears behind a wagon. You call out to him a few times but he doesn't reply. You shrug your shoulders and continue on, figuring he knows where you're going, so he'll probably catch up with you later. 

As you walk, you see eight giant, singing flowers burst from the ground and serenade you as you pass by.

Zephram: 

You reach the crossroads of the pathway. A merry tune spills forth from an instrument on the back of a brightly painted wagon. A monkey wearing a cloak covered with buttons turns a handle at the wagon’s rear, sending music into the air from rows of golden whistles. As you watch, a goblin dressed as a ladybug toddles up to you, rattling a tin cup.

The monkey sings out, in an unexpectedly human voice: 

Spare a button if you please,
I’ll sew it next to all of these.
I offer nothing in its place,
Besides a smile upon my face.

The goblin rattles the tin cup in time with the rhyme. You see a couple of brightly coloured buttons in the bottom of the cup. 

 I stop and listen, bemused to begin with, as I try to place what I am hearing. The copper piece drops, and my eyes light up.

"I knew it," I murmur excitedly, before realising no one else has stopped and hustle to catch up.

The monkey makes me laugh giddily, but when I reach for a button I realise I have none - my robes have no need of them and my pack and pouches are all buckle- or drawstring-fastened. "I'm sorry," I say to the monkey. "Perhaps if I should happen across a button, I will come past again."

I look around on the ground nearby to see if there are any buttons.

Perception check: 11

Quote from Pete_Kempshall >>

The monkey makes me laugh giddily, but when I reach for a button I realise I have none - my robes have no need of them and my pack and pouches are all buckle- or drawstring-fastened. "I'm sorry," I say to the monkey. "Perhaps if I should happen across a button, I will come past again."

The monkey shrugs in reply and keeps playing. The goblin pokes its tongue out at you and moves on.

Quote from punkrocker1991 >>

I look around on the ground nearby to see if there are any buttons.

Perception check: 5

There are no buttons on the ground. 

I place a copper piece in the tin, "Maybe you can trade this for a button."

 I poke my tongue out at the goblin.

This is the funniest thing ever.

Quote from punkrocker1991 >>

I place a copper piece in the tin, "Maybe you can trade this for a button."

 The goblin shrugs and capers about a little before heading back to the calliope. 

You turn left onto the main thoroughfare and walk down to a T-junction.

In front of you, you see the Bubble Pop Teapot. A twenty-foot-tall teapot rests on a wooden platform, its painted surface whirling with moving imagery of flying dragons breathing streams of bubbles. A door at the base of the teapot allows entry to its interior; those who enter emerge from the spout enclosed in a bubble that detaches to float off across the carnival. Seven goblins sit around the platform, sipping tea from mismatched porcelain cups. One waves at you as they see you looking. 

You can turn right, over to where you know the Hall of Illusions sits, or visit the Teapot ride on the way.

This is a difficult choice for me, because everything just seems like so much fun! But the Hall of Illusions has something even more fun than floating bubbles...a mystery. And mysteries have always been irresistible to me.

That said, as I walk past the teapot, I pause and see what the others are doing - are they following me, or stopping at the new pretty thing?

The others follow you. 

You approach the Hall of Illusions tent.

This large tent is painted with a mural of shifting images that show grinning faeries diving into pools of colour. The helical stripes of the tent’s pointed canopies rotate in spirals, and the whole display seems designed to befuddle onlookers. A clown dressed in muted garb stands at the tent’s entrance, blinking at you.

Near the entrance is a glass cabinet. 

A wooden mannequin of a grinning, raven-haired young woman in witch’s attire and a green flowing cape hovers inside a glass cabinet. At the top of the cabinet, a sign reads “Tasha the Wizard—Known for Her Hideous Laughter.”

A halfling couple holds hands as they approach the glass cabinet. One of the halflings is wearing butterfly face paint. As he drops to one knee and pulls a small box from his pocket, his sweetheart bursts into laughter and begins rolling on the ground. The halfling in face paint begins sobbing and darts into the nearby tent without getting his ticket punched.

Please make a history roll before you act. 

OK, History roll is:

18