11

Faelan arrives at the tent a few moments after Zeg enters. The flap opens and a female half-orc steps out, sees Faelan approaching, and holds the flap open to allow the harengon to enter. Within the tent, Faelan can see Zeg standing just inside with six pairs of eyes staring at him from the people surrounding a small arena where a dwarf is locked in combat with two goblins.

More eyes turn toward Zeg and stare as he coughs loudly and acts strangely, except for the three wrestlers who are too engrossed in their contest to notice. However as the owlin moves further into the tent, he can hear movement from behind, as a figure that was lurking near the door attempts to slip out unnoticed.

Flynn waits by the pond, trying to see where Navi and Palasha have gone. However as he searches, he notices that among the nearby sideshows is a small puppet theatre. They have taken the opportunity at the cessation of the mermaid's performance to begin their own next show. In particular, Flynn catches the mention of some characters that are familiar to him: the puppet show seems to feature a legendary group of adventurers knows as Valor's Call. The performance begins with the five-member party being approached by the fabled mage Mordenkainen, who employs them to hunt down the notorious witch known as Iggwilv. Flynn is familiar with the characters, and knows several stories associated with them, but hasn't heard this particular tale before...

Navi follows after Palasha, who stop a short distance away at the edge of the pond, but out of sight of the crowd at the shore. The mermaid sobs for a few moments until Navi succeeds in comforting her, after which she opens up about her troubles, which go beyond the recent heckling. Apparently, there's a boy - a young human who works at the Carnival, who she has fallen in love with. He has a tragic tale, from what she can tell, having had something stolen from him, but which she seems to have the power to restore, at least temporarily. She believes he feels the same, and in fact is certain that he recently attempted to declare his affections for her publicly, but was unable to speak, and fled in humiliation. She can't bear the tragedy of him having now also lost his voice, and the emotion of that was just too much for her to maintain her composure throughout the heckling.

Palasha doesn't seem to be taking in much of what Navi is saying about hags and missing things, but at least the yammering distracts her from her woes, and she stops sobbing and listens. In response to the last question, the mermaid looks horrified: A unicorn horn? Oh, how dreadful! To think that anyone would remove the horn from a creature so pure and good! But I'm sorry, I know of no unicorns here. They are quite rare, even in Prismeer. Wh- Why are you asking?

Faelan extends his courtesies to the half-orc, who promptly replies: You're welcome. However, as the polite patrons limps away, it occurs to Faelan again that the voice sounded uncannily non-orcish, and in fact very much like his fellow Witchlight hand, Candlefoot.

Flynn finds himself irresistibly drawn to the puppet show, and finds that the pantomime is performed most expertly, and with no small measure of simple magic for special effects, including mini-pyrotechnics, comical substitutes for gore (it's a family show) and even some canned laughter. Some of the supplementary characters, like Mordenkainen and Iggwilv, probably exist, but the main players are almost certainly fictional. Flynn is particularly interested in how this original plot is woven into the classic backstory of these characters...

The world-hopping mage known as Mordenkainen acts as a kind of narrator, starting off in first-person, as he tracks down the mighty adventurers known as Valor's Call. He locates the group's leader, the noble paladin Strongheart, and his faithful but bumbling dwarf companion, Elkhorn, and commissions them to seek out and apprehend the evil witch Iggwilv. Strongheart gathers the other members of the team: the unflinching cleric Mercion, the good-natured thief Molliver, and of course the elderly and powerful mage Ringlerun. Together they set out on a dimension-hopping adventure until they finally track down their quarry in the depths of Hell.

But like almost all tales featuring Valor's Call, sure enough they come afoul of the foul League of Malevolence, who is their evil mirror. Led by the greedy and narcissistic spellcaster Kelek, who above all seeks to steal the magic staff from Ringlerun, these no-good villains have found Iggwilv first, and allied with her to defeat Valor's Call for their mutual gain. Kelek's gigantic bodyguard Warduke is there, along with Zargash the necromancer, Zarak the assassin, and Skylla the warlock. An initial battle ensues, in which the heroes are outclassed and forced to flee.

It takes some clever tricks from the heroes in order to balance the scales. Molliver manages to trick the evil warlock Skylla into turning against Zarak. With two opponents thus occupied, and with Ringlerun using his powerful magic to lure the villains into an ambush, the heroes manage to drive the League of Malevolence away and capture the wicked witch.

As the half-orc moves further away, Faelan thinks... and understands. There are too many things wrong about what he saw and heard: the voice was wrong, not only because it was decidedly un-orcish and uncannily Candlefoot-like, but the "You're welcome" seemed to come from the orc's chest area; also the large orc moved so close to Faelan as they passed in the tent door, that Faelan was sure he would have been jostled, and yet he felt little more than a soft brush, like the person was smaller than they appeared, and thinking about it now, the brush even felt like feathers! Yes, Faelan is certain that the limping half-orc is no half-orc, but in fact a kenku magically disguised as one, and possibly using its power of voice mimcry to duplicate Candlefoot's voice.

Zeg stands at the door of the tent. He sees Faelan watching the departing half-orc, with a look of comprehension dawning on his leporine face. He sees that all those still inside the tent have gone back to their enjoyment of the goblin wrestling, and none are paying any heed to the owlin. If the heckler entered here, then they have almost certainly left. The half-orc is now about sixty feet away, and will soon be obscured by the crowd...

Palasha has calmed down enough now to pay full attention to Navi, and all the other things that the fairy mentioned seem to fall into place and make sense to the mermaid. She nods in understanding, and then using her powerful tail to lift and hold herself three-quarters of the way out of the water, she reaches out and gently touches the fairy's soft face.

I see there is something special about you, dear child. You are correct, there is something very wrong at the Witchlight Carnival, and has been for some time. Perhaps the Carnival has brought you here to find the answers, for even the Carousel has spoken to you. We are an impossibility in an impossible universe. I believe you will find these answers and solve the mystery of which you speak. If a unicorn horn is the key to the Carnival's woes, then I believe you will find it in Prismeer. You must find a way there, for of any of us only Mr Witch and Mr Light know the way there, and I doubt they will take you willingly...

As Flynn basks in the glow that always comes at the conclusion of a great performance, he thinks about all that he has just seen and heard - the curious story, the realistic portrayal of the characters, the magical presentation of it all - and he imagines that he hears a voice in his mind, like the voice of a gnome sitting on a swing under a tree. And the voice says: Truth is often stranger than fiction.