Illuwen, standing there paralized, feels the hairs stand up on the back of his neck. No matter how hard he tries, he just cannot move. The pig masked girl slowly reaches out and... [I need a d20 and a d10 from Illuwen.]

D20: 2

D10: 9

Scratch athletics: 9

As the guard reaches Scratch, he wrestles him to the ground and ties his hands together with a strange type of rope. Once Scratch is tied up, he proceeds to gingerly tie up Chase as she lie there unconscious.

[cbusalex82 please check your PM's]

At the pig masked girl reaches out and touches Illuwen, as with the others, the fear creeps into your mind. You know what is happening but you are powerless to stop it. 

Scratch watches as the girl removes a mist from Illuwen and vanishes. Once she is gone, Illuwen remembers nothing about what just happened and suddenly has no desire to leave the carnival. He feels like this is where he belongs, and he doesn't ever want to leave. There's something else but for some reason he just can't quite put his finger on it.

Burly wakes Chase and helps both the twins to their feet. Tied up at the wrists they're kind of trapped. "Finally got you trespassers! Alright, time to head to the Lost and Found until we can figure out what to do with you."

He leads you north along the thoroughfare until he spots his brother. "Hurley, what've you got here? Some lost children?"

Hurley responds with, "Well, yes... but no... maybe. They said they would help me find the kids without tickets and then I would take them all to the Lost and Found to find their parents. But I think they're telling lies to me. It looks like you already got the kids we were after. I'm sorry brother. I really wanted to find those kids for you."

Burley smiles at his brother and says, "It's ok little brother. We're a team! Sometimes we have to help each other and pick up the slack!" He pats Hurley on the shoulder as a sigh of brotherly affection. Then he looks at the whole group and says, "Alright, time for some 'splainin! What's going on here?"

Belinda chimes in with, "These kids found me lost and said they would help me find my daddy!"

Illuwen feels his fear melt away listening to Hurly and Burly talk to each other. They seem like such nice people! And now that he has a chance to really look around at the carnival, it all looks like such fun. The snacks at Witchlight Delights all look delicious, much tastier than the old sad piece of fruit he packed as a snack this morning. The other children playing What Time Is It Mister Witch all look slow to him, and he thinks he could win that prize easily. And he really, really wants one of the Fold-Up Friends. Maybe more than he wants his current friends, who all wanted to leave this place. Are they crazy?

Illuwen tugs on Burly's shirt and motions for him to bend over, then whispers in his ear "If I tell you where the other kids without tickets are, can I stay here?"

When Chase is suddenly awakened from the peaceful dream she was in to find herself tied and at the mercy of one of the guards, she hisses and tosses and turns, trying to fight the rope tying her wrists and the guard's arm holding her still.

"Let us go! I don’t want to go anywhere with you! You’re mean people, and you took Chandler away from us! I hate you, and I hate your carnival. Wait until our dad hears about this. He’s a great arit ... arti.... aritfic..." she struggles with the word, glancing at Scratch for help. What was their dad's job again? "uhm.... magician! He’s GREAT with magic! I once saw him light a fire with a flick of a lockpick! Just you wait until he hears you’ve tied up his children!"

As she yells, Chase can't help but think that dad might, in truth, be mad at her and Scratch for being here, especially with the heirlooms they took from home. But the guard doesn’t need to know that, does he? So she keeps shouting, letting out all the stress from the last few hours.

"And your carnival is awful! We came here to search for our friend Juniper, and ever since we set foot here, we’ve met the most horrible people with the most horrible masks who took away my smile and made Scratch smaller! I'm sure they have done bad things to Lex, Isy and Illuwen too! This is the worst carnival ever!’”

Burley looks down to Illuwen and says, "Well, if you really want to stay here you would have to work for the carnival. That would be a conversation for Mister Witch and Mister Light. But I promise that I will go get them so that you can ask."

Hurley looks shockingly at the struggling Chase, "Oh no... we're too late. They've already taken from you poor kids. I'm so sorry. We really need to get you to the lost and found before they decide to return and take more. Come on. Maybe Mister Witch and Mister Light will know what to do."

Illuwen's heart jumps in his chest. Working for the carnival! That would be a dream come true. He knows his mom would miss him and he should be worried about that but somehow... he just isn't.

He takes Burly's hand. "Yes, yes, let's go see Mister Witch and Mister Light!"

Chase turns to Illuwen. "Illuwen, are you crazy? What about your parents? What about us? We are your friends! And.. and... you can't just stay here working, you are a kid!!" She’s heard what Hurley said, but she’s too angry and nowhere near ready to trust him, the other guard, or whoever Mister Witch and Mister Light might be.

Isy is shocked at what Illuwen says, and agrees with Chase, "Yeah, even my grandmother says that I'm too young to work, and she's always arguing with my parents about giving me more chores. And you're as young as me! Plus, this place is creepy with all the weird figures around."

Scratch feels completely defeated. As his twin fights, he walks with his head lowered and his tail dragging. What have they gotten themselves into? He's always seen himself as a rough and tough tabaxi — ready to take on the world and dazzle with his athleticism and cunning. But he was caught and tied up like any common barn animal. At least Chase had been put to sleep first. What was his excuse? He doesn't contribute to the others' conversation. He is too self-absorbed.

As the group discusses Illuwen's most recent decision, Hurley and Burley lead you all to the Lost and Found. Along the way Hurley asks, "Are there any other trespassers that we need to round up?"

As you all approach you see a small playground area fenced in with wooden pickets. Inside the fenced area is a very large catlike creature with an odd-looking tail. This creature is wearing a very large set of fairy wings and from its neck hangs a small keg labeled "Apple Juice". There are a few children within this area and some of them are playing with the catlike creature.

Hurley addresses this creature, "Hey Derla! We found a few more for you to watch. We need to go track down the bosses, but we'll be back." Burley opens the gate for you and gestures for you to walk into the fenced area. The catlike creature says, "Hello children! Welcome! Come on in and help yourselves to some juice. Now tell me, why have Hurley and Burley brought you to me? Have you lost your parents? Or have you been making trouble?" She smirks and narrows her eyes at the twins not wearing any wings.

Belinda immediately sees her father standing outside the fence, "DADDY!!! I knew I would find you! Thanks everyone for helping me!" She waves at all of you and leaves to enjoy the rest of the carnival with her father.

Scratch looks up at the strange catlike creature. At her question, he shakes his purple-furred head and frowns. "N-no. We weren't making trouble." His mind immediately recalls how Chase had scattered a few caltrops on the thoroughfare, but he doesn't tattle. "We were just trying to save our friend Juniper. She jumped through the bushes into the carnival before we could stop her, and then she wouldn't come back with us, and then these ghosts or something kept appearing and taking stuff from us and ... " He shakes his head again. "Where is Chandler?" asks, very frustrated.

Isy looks around the whole area. She doesn't really like the cat creature, sometimes cats get weird around fishlike people. Well, other than the twins. And their parents. She looks to see if there are any plants around. Those are always so weird, the way they grow.

Chase's fury dissipates for the most part, replaced by sheer amazement, when they reach the Lost and Found and meet Derla. What an amazing creature! She has beautiful butterfly wings, and they seem real, not the makeshift ones worn by the carnival guests. And her tail is full of butterflies too! Chase stands before Derla mouth agape until Scratch speaks, which pulls the orange-furred Tabaxi back to reality, and nods energetically at her brother's words, "Yes! There are very bad people hiding around this carnival. They approach you when you’re not aware and steal stuff from you. But not stuff from your pockets, no. Stuff... from inside." She places her paws on her chest as she says this, continuing, "Worst of all, I don’t even remember it happening to me. But Scratch saw it! And I saw it happen to him, and to Illuwen and Isy. Makes me think it happened to Lex too. Are we going to get our stuff back, Derla?!"

Lex has been quiet as they were pulled through the carnival.  The strangeness of everything, how it felt like the scary guards were less scary, Illuwens sudden interest in staying here, all were leaving his thoughts scrambled in his head.  He was constantly looking around, eyeing escape, but knowing they couldn’t leave their friends.  Shouldn’t they go back to their fami…then he sees the cat.  He’s fascinated by it, and quickly pulls out his book and starts flipping through it, muttering “Butterfly-cat. Butterfly-cat. Isn’t here a story here about…”. He looks up in surprise when he hears it addressing them. He eyes the juice keg, his mouth feeling very dry, but says, “I don’t think we’re supposed to take drinks offered by strangers.”

Dirla looks at Lex and says, "Well that's a good point. My name is Dirlagraun, but you can just call me Dirla. This is my kitten, Star." She gestures to a miniature version of herself skipping around and playing with a mirrored ball, her favorite toy. "It's my job to watch over children who have gotten lost. Now we're not strangers anymore, right? But you don't have to have any juice if you do not want to."

She looks out over the rest of the group, listening as they tell her about their experiences in the carnival thus far. One by one the other children that she has been charged with caring for are claimed by their parents until you children are the only ones left. "That's terrible! I'm sorry that happened to you children. One's first experience of the carnival should never be a bad one. It's unfortunate that those without tickets are targeted like this. Now, I was brought a child named Chandler earlier today. At some point I assumed he had been claimed by his parents. But if he was with the lot of you... maybe he was taken. I'm so sorry children. I don't know how to get back what you've lost, but I'll tell you what..."

She pulls out 5 brightly colored iridescent dandelions and hands each of you one of them. "These identify you as special guests of the carnival. I'm going to go talk with Candlefoot and explain the situation to him. You children can use these dandelions in place of tickets and enjoy the activates in this area while I'm gone. Does that sound ok?"

Scratch looks at his dandelion, then back up at Dirla. This seems fishy. They didn't buy tickets. Why would they suddenly become "special guests"? He holds out his dandelion toward the large cat "person". "We don't want to enjoy the carvinal," he says, looking stern. "We just want to get Chandler and go. Can you ask the guards to look for him? Or maybe Candlefoot?"

Chase takes the dandelion she's been handed and stores it in a pocket,  but she looks as confused as her twin, and utterly dissapointed when Dirla states that she doesn't know how they can recover what they've been taken. "Perhaps Mister Witch and Mister Light know how. Hurley and Burley said they would go fetch them. So why don't we wait here for them?". She doesn't seem fully convinced that these dandelions will be enough to keep the shadow people at bay.