Charmay inhales sharply and snaps her fingers twice: Keep up, little man. You perform first because you must be seen by her. That buys you access to the castle, and keeps her attention away from you. The second performance, the one that matters, is mine. I will be on the stage when the curtain truly falls. You and your companions will be doing precisely what I have already told you: presenting the twins, preventing her escape, subduing her minions.
As for her precious prisoner... Endelyn does not dirty her own hands unless the world is ending. If she sensed the wards were failing, she would order her darklings to retrieve the girl long before she rushed to do it herself. She hoards her energy for theatrics, not chores.
Charmay folds her arms and eyes Greginald down the bridge of her nose. But by all means, you, who have been here for all of five minutes, may share with me the full brilliance of this ‘simpler plan’ you’ve suddenly conceived. Enlighten me with your wisdom.
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How does a red dragon blow out the candles on its birthday cake?
"release the prisoner, kill the darklings and wait for her to figure out the world is ending... If she comes running then the twins will already be assembled and we just take her down. It's a big if, but it is only one." Greg sneers
Rowan does his best to follow along with what Charmay is saying, but it is an awful lot and some of it is confusing and contradictory and a lot of seems to just be complaining about his picking up of glowing objects.
While Greg does the talking Rowan runs through what they need to do. "Get a goblin's sceptre, break an ornytopper, whatever that is, and then get Glister and his sister together."
He pauses then adds "does Endelyn have somewhere she keeps stolen things?"
All the while, as he talks, Rowan works on opening the lantern to free the brigganock.
"I'm not a thief. At least not usually. I really don't want the lantern. But I think we do want to let the person locked inside out."
If the latch doesn't open easily, Rowan will use some force to get the lantern open.
I guess what I am trying to get at here is…. Do actors act here because they lost something or do they lose something because they act here? My friends and I are trying to figure out what is happening here. Maybe… help if we can. Not help Endelyn, but help stop whatever she is up to.
Mulligan is a bit reluctant to share this with Break-A-Leg, even telepathically, but he gambles that the skeleton is indeed not a fan of the witch.
Do you know how the hopes and the shadows and such are stolen?
As Charmay casts her spell to get the goblins to seemingly forget, Mulligan looks over and checks in with Break-A to ensure that they are unaffected. Assuming so, he looks back to what is happening out there and once Charmay starts heading towards the storeroom he double-checks that he is hidden as can be and mentally reminds Break-A to stay quiet!
When Charmay tells Rowan to keep the Brigganock lantern Mulligan tenses, uneasy. When she continues on to say he could keep it, to consider it a gift Mulligan feels goosebumps break out on his arms.
Careful. We have been warned about accepting gifts and the obligations they can come with.
Mulligan says this over the Group Chat for all to hear. He would shout it if he could, stress how important he feels this may be, but alas his words come out flat and cold as always.
Is there a danger in performing? Does it make new comers susceptible to Charmay? Or Endelyn?
Mulligan asks this hurriedly of Break-A as soon as Charmay starts laying out her plan.
And do you know why the elf is so important? How is he a threat?
Even as Mulligan is asking Break-A-Leg this question, however, Charmay answers it herself. Assuming she is to be believed. So reuniting the twins solves their problem? Interesting…. But Mulligan wonders just how literal this eclipse thing is - Could be cut a picture of the moon and the sun from a book, or a background, and overlap them? With this thought he looks around to see if he can perhaps see such things in the room…
Stagefright. Do you know this goblin? Could you point them out if you saw them?
Mulligan asks of Break-A…
Thinking for a minute Mulligan starts to wonder if perhaps...
What if I snuck off and found this Stagefright character? Stole their scepter however I could and then tried to free the twin while you all performed? I could also try to break this ornithopter or whatever if I had any idea where to find it or what it looked like? My hiding and sneaking about unknown to any could be a big advantage.
He shares this over the Group Chat, of course. The others cannot openly respond if he is to stay unknown even to Charmay but he watches for little nods or subtle clues. Of course is he has to come out to Charmay then so be it... But he'd rather stay hidden to all, if possible.
Barria grins up at this tall drink of a woman, thank goodness they had the fortune to run into her! Yes, she was curt and a bit rude, but well... from what they had heard of this hag, she probably had to be and what fortune that her end goal is the same as theirs!
She is happy to see Rowan working diligently at the lamp and offers him a hairpin if he appears to struggle with the lock. And back to Charmay, "Goodness! I'm so glad you do have a plan, though as my gnome friend has pointed out, there are a lot of big If's in it, but we will do our best to keep them at bay and make sure we can get this accomplished. And yes, as my elf friend has stated, where does she keep things that have been stolen? And you'll have to let us know where Gleam is and the ornithopter.. I sure hope this castle is easy to navigate! I would hate for any of us to get lost!"
"And what are these darklings? Are they similar to the goblins or something bigger and more sinister? We need to know what we will be up against!" she scratches her chin, "As for our initial performance... hmm.. well I am a chef, so I could easily perform that, maybe accidentally poison the wrong people? I can't think of something more tragic than that!"
Charmay goes very still. Then slowly, deliberately, she tilts her head and studies Greginald as though he has just announced that the moon is made of cheese.
Release the prisoner. Kill the darklings. Wait for Endelyn to come running.
She repeats the words with the cadence of someone reciting a children’s rhyme.
Adorable. This is your first time, isn't it? I do hope you aren't the military strategist of this little outfit. And I see you don't hold the same defensive regard for darklings as you do for goblins.
She steps closer, leans forward, and studies Greginald's face as if she can discover the source of his malfunction.
Sweet gnome, if you somehow massacred every darkling in this tower, which, incidentally, would cause forty-odd luminous explosions in a confined space, Endelyn would not ‘come running.’ She would simply watch from her balcony, sip tea, send reinforcements until she ran out of minions, and then she would abscond as a last resort. Even if she did 'come running', would you have enough in you to defeat her after facing her entire army head-on? Assuming you aren't blinded...
A flick of her wrist dismisses the notion as she stands erect once more. Speaking rapidly, she counts off the issues with Greginald's proposal.
Endelyn does not rush toward chaos. She conducts it. She will let her minions die by the dozens before she wastes her own breath. No, she must not be allowed to face us on her own terms. We do it on the stage, during a performance, because we know exactly where she will be... on her viewing balcony. That is also where her ornithopter rests, so if she attempts a speedy retreat, she will be disappointed. What's more, the drama of it... revealing the twins unexpectedly right here on her stage... that will put the fear in her. Not a prison escape.
We ensure the darklings cannot respond, in whatever way we can. Barricade her balcony, perhaps, so they can't aid her. But fighting them should be our most remote option. They are dangerous, there are too many... and besides, I don't think we'll curry any favor with the Queen if we murder scores of her subjects.
Charmay folds her arms, smile sharpening like a razor, as she says with syrupy sweetness:
But please, do continue thinking. It’s adorable when you try.
Charmay looks at Rowan with surprise when he lists off the main objectives as she directed them.
My, my! Don't tell me the elf is the brains of your operation! Good effort, but let's not forget to isolate the hag's minions. Once Endelyn is gone, we can see about your missing personal effects. I expect she keeps the most valuable treasures in her bedroom.
She sneers at him once more as he fiddles with the lantern, and shakes her head. Rowan can open the lantern easily enough, but he then discovers that the brigganock's tiny shivering hands are clutching a tiny brass chain, with which he is manacled to the interior of the lantern. Rowan thinks he could easily snap the chain...
Charmay also looks more approvingly on Barria, who seems on board with her proposed plans. She also nods at Barria's intelligent question about the darklings.
Similar to goblins in size, but they thrive on chaos. They make excellent assassins. Or thieves. They'll remain loyal to Endelyn while she suits their purposes, but likely won't fight on if she's defeated. And they abhor bright lights. In fact they absorb it to some degree, hence the danger in killing them... all their absorbed light is released at once.
=============================================
Oh, right! replies Break-a-leg. Er... I think most of the actors got tricked to come here in some way. I told you Endelyn has a machine that predicts tragedies. She finds those people, tells them what their future holds, and offers them an alternative. Usually the alternative is worse than the predicted fate, but... I dunno, desperate folk will agree to anything. So most of the actors are stuck here. Some kind of contract to stay for however long they agree for, which always ends up longer than they expected. I guess that's how she steals hope. The shadows she doesn't steal exactly. She snips them off with special scissors. Sometimes that's part of the agreement, I think.
Danger in performing? No, I don't think so. But performing tragedies all the time can make you miserable, I guess? And Charmay... she's just another actor. A really good one, mind! Especially since she hasn't been here that long. Things don't seem to get to her like they do to everyone else. Maybe she's not under contract. I dunno.
Stagefright? Of course I know him! He runs the whole theater! All the cast and crew answer to him! You can't miss him... he wears a funny costume... what do you call those folk who caper and tell jokes? And he has a stick that looks just like him. He's a bit moody, but he runs a tight operation. I got lots of respect for Stagefright.
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How does a red dragon blow out the candles on its birthday cake?
A jester? Ok, good to know. I don't suppose he leaves his stick laying around where we could borrow it? Sounds like we need it to release a prisoner. And this tragedy predicting machine, you know where it is? And the viewing balcony? Could you point me that way?
Mulligan asks Breaksy, already wondering just how much he himself could accomplish sneaking around. Seems like the tasks are piling up. Get Stagefright's staff, gree the prisoner, sabotage the Ornithopter, somehow trap Endelyn from escaping, find the stolen objects and... Well, he was sure there was more but he was losing track.
I think the Ornithopter is probably best done first. If broken quietly and subtly it shouldn't raise an alarm. I'll go try to find it while the rest of you sort out the play, unless there are any objections?
Rowan laughs at Charmay asking if he was the brains of the operation. “School and planning and figuring things out, no that was never anything I was good at. But if I repeat a short list often enough I can usually remember what needs to be done. So, I’ll add build a barricade to the list.”
He looks at the brigganock and sees the shaking hands. “Hey. I won’t hurt you. Do you want out of there? I think I can break that chain for you.”
Charmay!A high-pitched voice pierces the workshop din, and all the hammering stops, save for the faint jingling of bells. Move this blasted thing out of the way!
Oh! It's Stagefright, the stage manager, whispers Charmay. Wait here a moment! And get that sun-haired elf out of view, quickly.
The tall woman saunters out of the storeroom into the main area, calls out "Alfarian!" and the animated iron gate scrapes obediently away from blocking the stairwell. Meanwhile, Amidor ushers Glister back through the hole in the wall and into the tunnel beyond, out of view, as Charmay is heard conversing with another creature.
Stagefright! Darling! How nice to see you.
Curtain goes up in twenty-four minutes, Charmay. Finish up quick!
Oh, but I have something special for you, darling. Come and see!
The bell-jingling is heard again until Charmay appears in the doorway , along with a goblin. His grumpy face contrasts with his bright green-and-red jester costume, complete with three-pronged hat with bells on the end. The goblin is grasping a short scepter, on the end of which is a carved head identical to the goblin himself, with a matching bright jester hat, except that the face is smiling instead of scowling.
Three new performers, darling! A gnome, a dwarf, and an elf. As a surprise for her Ladyship. They are seasoned veterans of the stage, and can handle anything you have in mind, even at short notice.
Stagefright's face changes from a stern look to one of fear as he lifts his staff in front of himself, with the staff's head facing him. With a trembling voice he whimpers: Oh dear, boss, this isn't good at all! Unexpected, no audition, it's a disaster waiting to- Then just as suddenly, the grumpy face is back, and he yells at the staff: Shut your whining, Onk! We've got work to do! Switching back to the sad and fearful face and voice, he cries: But boss, she'll be so mad if things go bad! Then the grumpy face returns: I said quiet! And with that the goblin violently bashes the staff against the wall one - two - three times. With the same angry voice, he adds: No more complaining from you, Onk, or you'll really get it!
Charmay looks at this whole one-goblin exchange with amusement, and then sweetly prompts the stage manager.
I'll take care of the costuming and props. Do you have a script?
Stagefright glances around the storeroom, climbs over a few items of scattered debris (getting dangerously close to Mulligan, but apparently not seeing the hidden figure) and lifts a battered envelope from the floor. Blowing the dust off, he peers at the inscription, hands the envelope to Barria (who is the closest) and says: One of these will do. Take your pick and start rehearsing. You have twenty minutes! And with that he turns and scampers out of the storeroom.
The inscription on the envelope bears the titles of three different plays:
The Fall of the Moonlit Bride The Wedding of Tiamat The Marriage of Strahd von Zarovich
Barria opens the envelope, expecting to find three complete scripts on a common theme. Instead she discovers hundreds of torn fragments of parchment, each with a single line of dialogue. Most are worn with time and illegible, but many can still be made out.
Never mind the details, says Charmay dismissively when she sees the fragments of parchment. It's the theme that matters most. Then to Rowan she adds: And leave that brigganock behind for now, we have more pressing matters. Besides, if you let it loose now, Endelyn might get wind of it, and suspect that treachery is afoot.
G'Reg's blood boild as Charmay ridicules him, his face goes red and a wisp of ice begins forming between the fingers of a tightly closed fist, but before he can do anything rash Charmay is called away. Stomping and swearing he takes the moment that the group has away from Charmay to state, "I Don't trust that witch one bit, ne'er mind if she says that our goals are aligned!"
And with that telepathic warning to Break-A to stay quiet, Mulligan does his best to sneak out of the storeroom and head towards the staircase the gate had been blocking.
Good luck on the play! I'll do what I can about the Ornithopter thing and whatever else I can. Will update if/when I can. You do the same. We should be able to so long as I don't go too far away... ((It is good for 1 mile.))
Mulligan thinks such to those on the Group Chat.
And with that, Mulligan is off! Through a combination of staying in shadows, behind objects, just being patient enough to not move when anyone else is looking and other such tricks of the trade of stealthiness, he attempts to make his way out towards the greater castle hoping to find this viewing box and ornithopter as his first course of action.
--- Mulligan will use Psi-Bolstered Talent to add a d8 to his Stealth roll if needed... So that is +3 if needed. Stealth: Nat 1 +8 for a 9. I don't think Psi-Bolstered Talent helps against a Nat 1? But max it is a 12...
As Mulligan moves to sneak off, Rowan draws attention his way in an effort to help by tripping over some of the props on the opposite side of the storeroom, before catching himself, rolling and then holding the lantern aloft.
"Maybe I should leave this guy somewhere safe," Rowan agrees.
He heads to the entrance to the tunnel and passes the lantern in to keep Amidor and Glister company.
Rowan then looks at the fragments of script.
"Is this improv then?" he asks Barria. "I've always wanted to try that. I've heard it can go really well. Or terribly wrong."
As the scraps fall out of the envelope, Barria does her best to scoop them back up and shove them back in. "Well this isn't quite what I expected... I wonder how good of a tragedy Creeping Lynn expects? What if we're terrible and booted out of the castle all together?"
She looks over at the pile of costumes, "Think there are any dwarf sized ones?"
As for Mulligan, she responds, Good luck, please let us know if you get into trouble!
With Rowan's bumbling distraction, Mulligan manages to slip out of the storeroom, skirt around the edge of the workshop, and into the northern stairwell. The goblins either don't notice him, or don't care, but more importantly, he seems to avoid Charmay's observation.
The narrow stairway is well-worn and dimly lit, and winds upwards and to the left as a chill breeze blows back down the opposite direction. Mulligan soon finds himself in the open air, with a parapet on his right looking out across the dark stormy mountains. To his left, a short passage opens out onto the main stage of the theater of Motherhorn.
The amphitheater has six rows of bleachers that partially surround the main floor. A complex array of struts and beams rise high over the stage, upon which hang a plethora of pulley and lights, with metal ropes attached. Seeing the ropes puts Mulligan in mind of the korreds and their tale of having their hair taken against their will and used by Endelyn for her theater. Behind the stage are more parapets overlooking the open valley, as well as a platform on which two large cranes are seated, presumably for lifting backdrops.
There appears to be five exits from the stage area. 1) The stage right exit where Mulligan finds himself now, leading to the Understage 2) A stage left exit on the far side, which enters a tunnel leading into the mountain. 3) A stairway divides the right bleachers and ends at a thick black velvet curtain. 4) A similar stairway divides the left bleachers, and enters a tunnel. 5) A central stairway divides the bleachers in the middle, leading directly into the heart of the mountain. Mulligan recalls Greginald's account of his dream, and taking this passage into a library.
At the top of the central staircase, before it enters the mountain, two short stairways branch off and climb up and into two viewing boxes, one flanking each side. These boxes appear as small balconies within two slender towers that rise out of the mountain and up into the cloudy sky. A level above these viewing boxes are two more balconies, one on each tower.
On the left balcony on this top level, Mulligan can see a large contraption with wings, like a great metallic bird. Surely this is the ornithopter that Charmay mentioned. From Mulligan's position, there doesn't appear to be any way to climb to this high balcony from where he is.
Mulligan takes all of this in with a glance as he reaches the stage level. However something else catches his senses at the same time. Immediately to his left, just out of view in a dark corner beside the staircase, Mulligan can hear the voice of Stagefright, the stage manager. The goblin seems to be talking to someone...
Why do you make me hurt you, Onk? Do you think I want to? Do you think I enjoy it? Why can't you just do as you are told? We could both be happy if you'd just do as you were told...
Rowan, Barria, Greginald
Charmay saunters out of the storeroom, explaining as she goes that only the junk is kept down there, and that the costume department is on the stage level. She leads the way to the south part of the workshop where a service platform elevator ascends, taking the group to the next floor up. The elevator platform arrives in a long tunnel (marked as area 1 on the map), to the east of which there is a bend that evidently goes outside (area 2).
Charmay however moves to the west, up a small flight of stairs and through a black velvet curtain into a large and much more organised storage room (area 3). All manner of props stand in small piles and groups, or are stacked on shelves. And a large array of costumes of all shapes and sizes hang in racks. A black curtain shrouds a doorway in the north wall.
Waving casually at the available options, Charmay continues along yet another passageway and draws aside another black curtain. A small circular room (area 4) is declared to be the dressing room, where the would-be actors can try on their costumes and apply makeup if desired. Resting against the walls of this chamber are three dressing tables, each one with a mirror atop it. The mirrors are bordered by tiny balls of bright golden light. An ornate, high-backed chair on clawed feet sits before each table.
Slumped in one of the chairs is a bugbear dressed as a green dragon from the neck down. On the floor nearby are the fake dragon head and tail that complete the costume. Another curtained doorway leads north from this chamber, beyond which there are several subdued voices talking (area 5).
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How does a red dragon blow out the candles on its birthday cake?
Shh, just shake yes or no... Do you know who this Onk is?
Mulligan telepathically questions Break-A-Leg.
Oh, right... the staff. He is talking to it like it's a person? Do you know what is up with that?
If there is a positive response then Mulligan will spend a bit more time questioning his skeletal pal in yes or no questions to try to find out what the deal with Onk being personified is. But Mulligan's plan is to sneak his way up to that Ornithopter thing and try to figure out a way to make it inoperable... He needs to steal Onk to free the prisoner but he can't imagine that won't either cause a ruckus or involve somehow violently quieting Stagefright. So it waits... for now.
Mulligan does his best to be stealthy in getting from his current location to that of the central stairway and up it to the viewing boxes and in the places where stealth may not be an option because they are too wide open or illuminated then he relies on patience to wait for a good moment and then speed to hurry quietly from one spot to another, grabbing what cover he can. While he can't see how to get to the contraption from where he starts off from, he does hope that maybe once he is to the viewing box that access to the ornithopter will be more readily apparent...
Mulligan easily slips past the distracted goblin, and glides along the edge of the bleachers. There is no-one in the amphitheater at the moment, presumably because the next show is still some time away. As Mulligan sneaks along, Break-a-leg continues to respond (still in his 'backstage voice').
Um... I heard the other goblins mention it just once, so I could be wrong, but... Stagefright is Onk... I mean, Onk is his real name, his original name, before he became... well before he was called Stagefright.
Mulligan climbs the central ramp, and once at the top slides into one of the circular stairs on the side that climb up into the viewing box. The stone balcony is fringed with thick drapes of musty velvet trimmed with black lace, and the black marble railings are decorated with leering alabaster masks. A large, 8-foot-square mirror set in the flat wall behind the balcony is flanked by wooden panels painted with thunderclouds and lightning bolts. An upholstered bench on the balcony faces a grand view of the stage and the stormy sky.
For some reason, the sight of seeing himself in the mirror, when he is trying to remain out of sight, is a bit unnerving...
Mulligan does a bit of a double take when he first notices the mirror and freezes in place for a moment. He considers it as a bit of a shiver runs down his spine, remembering back to the halfling groom he saw stolen away down a mirror path, the groups own arrival here in Yon via such a device... And he is no expert but despite the thunderclouds and lightning bolts painted upon it's frame Mulligan eventually decides the mirror is just a mirror.
Probably.
Velvet and black lace curtains... Alabaster masks... Fancy mirror with thunderbolts and lightning (very, very frightening!) and a bench? Mulligan had assumed the viewing box would be where the hag in charge of this all watched the play from. Surely she would have a throne? Or at least something more comfortable than a bench?
This is where Endelyn watches from?
Mulligan asks Break-A-Leg unsure he would even know since he's seemingly been backstage for a good long while...
Whatever the answer, Mulligan investigates the area, constantly looking back over his shoulder towards the mirror. It unnerved him a bit. Maybe it was just that he was skulking about and didn't love the extra viewing angle such a mirror could provide someone but... *shrug* Just nerves, probably. Here he is skulking about searching for he doesn't even know what in a make believe land of fairies and witches and talking dandelions!
Mulligan searches the bench and the masks and behind the curtains and the mirror and everything else he can think of in this box. He doesn't think this Endelyn would be content to sit on a bench to watch the plays. Sure she is separated from the riff raff but she seems the type to need every luxury and convenience. Even her walking through the crowd to get here strikes him as odd. Perhaps she has a secret entrance or something? Then again perhaps she enters via magic. Damn witches. Still, Mulligan searches best he can to try to figure out what he is missing. (Investigation 21... Won't add Psi-Bolstered Knack since he doesn't actually know if he is looking for something or not.)
Rowan follows along with the group, watching everything with open eyes and a great deal of interest. He looks over the costumes as they pass by them, trying to decide what to wear. When he sees a shiny crown and large velvety, robe, he grabs them and tries them on. He's not a fan of the faint smell of body odor clinging to the robe, but he hopes he'll get used to it.
The black curtain on the north side of the room (room 3) is too much for him to resist and he pulls it back a little and takes a look to see what's on the other side.
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Charmay inhales sharply and snaps her fingers twice:
Keep up, little man. You perform first because you must be seen by her. That buys you access to the castle, and keeps her attention away from you. The second performance, the one that matters, is mine. I will be on the stage when the curtain truly falls. You and your companions will be doing precisely what I have already told you: presenting the twins, preventing her escape, subduing her minions.
As for her precious prisoner... Endelyn does not dirty her own hands unless the world is ending. If she sensed the wards were failing, she would order her darklings to retrieve the girl long before she rushed to do it herself. She hoards her energy for theatrics, not chores.
Charmay folds her arms and eyes Greginald down the bridge of her nose.
But by all means, you, who have been here for all of five minutes, may share with me the full brilliance of this ‘simpler plan’ you’ve suddenly conceived. Enlighten me with your wisdom.
How does a red dragon blow out the candles on its birthday cake?
"release the prisoner, kill the darklings and wait for her to figure out the world is ending... If she comes running then the twins will already be assembled and we just take her down. It's a big if, but it is only one." Greg sneers
Rowan does his best to follow along with what Charmay is saying, but it is an awful lot and some of it is confusing and contradictory and a lot of seems to just be complaining about his picking up of glowing objects.
While Greg does the talking Rowan runs through what they need to do. "Get a goblin's sceptre, break an ornytopper, whatever that is, and then get Glister and his sister together."
He pauses then adds "does Endelyn have somewhere she keeps stolen things?"
All the while, as he talks, Rowan works on opening the lantern to free the brigganock.
"I'm not a thief. At least not usually. I really don't want the lantern. But I think we do want to let the person locked inside out."
If the latch doesn't open easily, Rowan will use some force to get the lantern open.
I guess what I am trying to get at here is…. Do actors act here because they lost something or do they lose something because they act here? My friends and I are trying to figure out what is happening here. Maybe… help if we can. Not help Endelyn, but help stop whatever she is up to.
Mulligan is a bit reluctant to share this with Break-A-Leg, even telepathically, but he gambles that the skeleton is indeed not a fan of the witch.
Do you know how the hopes and the shadows and such are stolen?
As Charmay casts her spell to get the goblins to seemingly forget, Mulligan looks over and checks in with Break-A to ensure that they are unaffected. Assuming so, he looks back to what is happening out there and once Charmay starts heading towards the storeroom he double-checks that he is hidden as can be and mentally reminds Break-A to stay quiet!
When Charmay tells Rowan to keep the Brigganock lantern Mulligan tenses, uneasy. When she continues on to say he could keep it, to consider it a gift Mulligan feels goosebumps break out on his arms.
Careful. We have been warned about accepting gifts and the obligations they can come with.
Mulligan says this over the Group Chat for all to hear. He would shout it if he could, stress how important he feels this may be, but alas his words come out flat and cold as always.
Is there a danger in performing? Does it make new comers susceptible to Charmay? Or Endelyn?
Mulligan asks this hurriedly of Break-A as soon as Charmay starts laying out her plan.
And do you know why the elf is so important? How is he a threat?
Even as Mulligan is asking Break-A-Leg this question, however, Charmay answers it herself. Assuming she is to be believed. So reuniting the twins solves their problem? Interesting…. But Mulligan wonders just how literal this eclipse thing is - Could be cut a picture of the moon and the sun from a book, or a background, and overlap them? With this thought he looks around to see if he can perhaps see such things in the room…
Stagefright. Do you know this goblin? Could you point them out if you saw them?
Mulligan asks of Break-A…
Thinking for a minute Mulligan starts to wonder if perhaps...
What if I snuck off and found this Stagefright character? Stole their scepter however I could and then tried to free the twin while you all performed? I could also try to break this ornithopter or whatever if I had any idea where to find it or what it looked like? My hiding and sneaking about unknown to any could be a big advantage.
He shares this over the Group Chat, of course. The others cannot openly respond if he is to stay unknown even to Charmay but he watches for little nods or subtle clues. Of course is he has to come out to Charmay then so be it... But he'd rather stay hidden to all, if possible.
Barria grins up at this tall drink of a woman, thank goodness they had the fortune to run into her! Yes, she was curt and a bit rude, but well... from what they had heard of this hag, she probably had to be and what fortune that her end goal is the same as theirs!
She is happy to see Rowan working diligently at the lamp and offers him a hairpin if he appears to struggle with the lock. And back to Charmay, "Goodness! I'm so glad you do have a plan, though as my gnome friend has pointed out, there are a lot of big If's in it, but we will do our best to keep them at bay and make sure we can get this accomplished. And yes, as my elf friend has stated, where does she keep things that have been stolen? And you'll have to let us know where Gleam is and the ornithopter.. I sure hope this castle is easy to navigate! I would hate for any of us to get lost!"
"And what are these darklings? Are they similar to the goblins or something bigger and more sinister? We need to know what we will be up against!" she scratches her chin, "As for our initial performance... hmm.. well I am a chef, so I could easily perform that, maybe accidentally poison the wrong people? I can't think of something more tragic than that!"
Charmay goes very still. Then slowly, deliberately, she tilts her head and studies Greginald as though he has just announced that the moon is made of cheese.
Release the prisoner. Kill the darklings. Wait for Endelyn to come running.
She repeats the words with the cadence of someone reciting a children’s rhyme.
Adorable. This is your first time, isn't it? I do hope you aren't the military strategist of this little outfit. And I see you don't hold the same defensive regard for darklings as you do for goblins.
She steps closer, leans forward, and studies Greginald's face as if she can discover the source of his malfunction.
Sweet gnome, if you somehow massacred every darkling in this tower, which, incidentally, would cause forty-odd luminous explosions in a confined space, Endelyn would not ‘come running.’ She would simply watch from her balcony, sip tea, send reinforcements until she ran out of minions, and then she would abscond as a last resort. Even if she did 'come running', would you have enough in you to defeat her after facing her entire army head-on? Assuming you aren't blinded...
A flick of her wrist dismisses the notion as she stands erect once more. Speaking rapidly, she counts off the issues with Greginald's proposal.
Endelyn does not rush toward chaos. She conducts it. She will let her minions die by the dozens before she wastes her own breath. No, she must not be allowed to face us on her own terms. We do it on the stage, during a performance, because we know exactly where she will be... on her viewing balcony. That is also where her ornithopter rests, so if she attempts a speedy retreat, she will be disappointed. What's more, the drama of it... revealing the twins unexpectedly right here on her stage... that will put the fear in her. Not a prison escape.
We ensure the darklings cannot respond, in whatever way we can. Barricade her balcony, perhaps, so they can't aid her. But fighting them should be our most remote option. They are dangerous, there are too many... and besides, I don't think we'll curry any favor with the Queen if we murder scores of her subjects.
Charmay folds her arms, smile sharpening like a razor, as she says with syrupy sweetness:
But please, do continue thinking. It’s adorable when you try.
Charmay looks at Rowan with surprise when he lists off the main objectives as she directed them.
My, my! Don't tell me the elf is the brains of your operation! Good effort, but let's not forget to isolate the hag's minions. Once Endelyn is gone, we can see about your missing personal effects. I expect she keeps the most valuable treasures in her bedroom.
She sneers at him once more as he fiddles with the lantern, and shakes her head. Rowan can open the lantern easily enough, but he then discovers that the brigganock's tiny shivering hands are clutching a tiny brass chain, with which he is manacled to the interior of the lantern. Rowan thinks he could easily snap the chain...
Charmay also looks more approvingly on Barria, who seems on board with her proposed plans. She also nods at Barria's intelligent question about the darklings.
Similar to goblins in size, but they thrive on chaos. They make excellent assassins. Or thieves. They'll remain loyal to Endelyn while she suits their purposes, but likely won't fight on if she's defeated. And they abhor bright lights. In fact they absorb it to some degree, hence the danger in killing them... all their absorbed light is released at once.
=============================================
Oh, right! replies Break-a-leg. Er... I think most of the actors got tricked to come here in some way. I told you Endelyn has a machine that predicts tragedies. She finds those people, tells them what their future holds, and offers them an alternative. Usually the alternative is worse than the predicted fate, but... I dunno, desperate folk will agree to anything. So most of the actors are stuck here. Some kind of contract to stay for however long they agree for, which always ends up longer than they expected. I guess that's how she steals hope. The shadows she doesn't steal exactly. She snips them off with special scissors. Sometimes that's part of the agreement, I think.
Danger in performing?
No, I don't think so. But performing tragedies all the time can make you miserable, I guess? And Charmay... she's just another actor. A really good one, mind! Especially since she hasn't been here that long. Things don't seem to get to her like they do to everyone else. Maybe she's not under contract. I dunno.
Stagefright?
Of course I know him! He runs the whole theater! All the cast and crew answer to him! You can't miss him... he wears a funny costume... what do you call those folk who caper and tell jokes? And he has a stick that looks just like him. He's a bit moody, but he runs a tight operation. I got lots of respect for Stagefright.
How does a red dragon blow out the candles on its birthday cake?
A jester? Ok, good to know. I don't suppose he leaves his stick laying around where we could borrow it? Sounds like we need it to release a prisoner. And this tragedy predicting machine, you know where it is? And the viewing balcony? Could you point me that way?
Mulligan asks Breaksy, already wondering just how much he himself could accomplish sneaking around. Seems like the tasks are piling up. Get Stagefright's staff, gree the prisoner, sabotage the Ornithopter, somehow trap Endelyn from escaping, find the stolen objects and... Well, he was sure there was more but he was losing track.
I think the Ornithopter is probably best done first. If broken quietly and subtly it shouldn't raise an alarm. I'll go try to find it while the rest of you sort out the play, unless there are any objections?
Mulligan suggests to the Group Chat.
Rowan laughs at Charmay asking if he was the brains of the operation. “School and planning and figuring things out, no that was never anything I was good at. But if I repeat a short list often enough I can usually remember what needs to be done. So, I’ll add build a barricade to the list.”
He looks at the brigganock and sees the shaking hands. “Hey. I won’t hurt you. Do you want out of there? I think I can break that chain for you.”
Charmay! A high-pitched voice pierces the workshop din, and all the hammering stops, save for the faint jingling of bells. Move this blasted thing out of the way!
Oh! It's Stagefright, the stage manager, whispers Charmay. Wait here a moment! And get that sun-haired elf out of view, quickly.
The tall woman saunters out of the storeroom into the main area, calls out "Alfarian!" and the animated iron gate scrapes obediently away from blocking the stairwell. Meanwhile, Amidor ushers Glister back through the hole in the wall and into the tunnel beyond, out of view, as Charmay is heard conversing with another creature.
Stagefright! Darling! How nice to see you.
Curtain goes up in twenty-four minutes, Charmay. Finish up quick!
Oh, but I have something special for you, darling. Come and see!
The bell-jingling is heard again until Charmay appears in the doorway , along with a goblin. His grumpy face contrasts with his bright green-and-red jester costume, complete with three-pronged hat with bells on the end. The goblin is grasping a short scepter, on the end of which is a carved head identical to the goblin himself, with a matching bright jester hat, except that the face is smiling instead of scowling.
Three new performers, darling! A gnome, a dwarf, and an elf. As a surprise for her Ladyship. They are seasoned veterans of the stage, and can handle anything you have in mind, even at short notice.
Stagefright's face changes from a stern look to one of fear as he lifts his staff in front of himself, with the staff's head facing him. With a trembling voice he whimpers: Oh dear, boss, this isn't good at all! Unexpected, no audition, it's a disaster waiting to- Then just as suddenly, the grumpy face is back, and he yells at the staff: Shut your whining, Onk! We've got work to do! Switching back to the sad and fearful face and voice, he cries: But boss, she'll be so mad if things go bad! Then the grumpy face returns: I said quiet! And with that the goblin violently bashes the staff against the wall one - two - three times. With the same angry voice, he adds: No more complaining from you, Onk, or you'll really get it!
Charmay looks at this whole one-goblin exchange with amusement, and then sweetly prompts the stage manager.
I'll take care of the costuming and props. Do you have a script?
Stagefright glances around the storeroom, climbs over a few items of scattered debris (getting dangerously close to Mulligan, but apparently not seeing the hidden figure) and lifts a battered envelope from the floor. Blowing the dust off, he peers at the inscription, hands the envelope to Barria (who is the closest) and says: One of these will do. Take your pick and start rehearsing. You have twenty minutes! And with that he turns and scampers out of the storeroom.
The inscription on the envelope bears the titles of three different plays:
The Fall of the Moonlit Bride
The Wedding of Tiamat
The Marriage of Strahd von Zarovich
Barria opens the envelope, expecting to find three complete scripts on a common theme. Instead she discovers hundreds of torn fragments of parchment, each with a single line of dialogue. Most are worn with time and illegible, but many can still be made out.
Never mind the details, says Charmay dismissively when she sees the fragments of parchment. It's the theme that matters most. Then to Rowan she adds: And leave that brigganock behind for now, we have more pressing matters. Besides, if you let it loose now, Endelyn might get wind of it, and suspect that treachery is afoot.
Come! Costume department!
How does a red dragon blow out the candles on its birthday cake?
G'Reg's blood boild as Charmay ridicules him, his face goes red and a wisp of ice begins forming between the fingers of a tightly closed fist, but before he can do anything rash Charmay is called away.
Stomping and swearing he takes the moment that the group has away from Charmay to state, "I Don't trust that witch one bit, ne'er mind if she says that our goals are aligned!"
Time for us to exit.
And with that telepathic warning to Break-A to stay quiet, Mulligan does his best to sneak out of the storeroom and head towards the staircase the gate had been blocking.
Good luck on the play! I'll do what I can about the Ornithopter thing and whatever else I can. Will update if/when I can. You do the same. We should be able to so long as I don't go too far away... ((It is good for 1 mile.))
Mulligan thinks such to those on the Group Chat.
And with that, Mulligan is off! Through a combination of staying in shadows, behind objects, just being patient enough to not move when anyone else is looking and other such tricks of the trade of stealthiness, he attempts to make his way out towards the greater castle hoping to find this viewing box and ornithopter as his first course of action.
---
Mulligan will use Psi-Bolstered Talent to add a d8 to his Stealth roll if needed... So that is +3 if needed.
Stealth: Nat 1 +8 for a 9. I don't think Psi-Bolstered Talent helps against a Nat 1? But max it is a 12...
As Mulligan moves to sneak off, Rowan draws attention his way in an effort to help by tripping over some of the props on the opposite side of the storeroom, before catching himself, rolling and then holding the lantern aloft.
"Maybe I should leave this guy somewhere safe," Rowan agrees.
He heads to the entrance to the tunnel and passes the lantern in to keep Amidor and Glister company.
Rowan then looks at the fragments of script.
"Is this improv then?" he asks Barria. "I've always wanted to try that. I've heard it can go really well. Or terribly wrong."
((With Adv: 6+8 for 14... Or 17 max.))
As the scraps fall out of the envelope, Barria does her best to scoop them back up and shove them back in. "Well this isn't quite what I expected... I wonder how good of a tragedy Creeping Lynn expects? What if we're terrible and booted out of the castle all together?"
She looks over at the pile of costumes, "Think there are any dwarf sized ones?"
As for Mulligan, she responds, Good luck, please let us know if you get into trouble!
Mulligan
With Rowan's bumbling distraction, Mulligan manages to slip out of the storeroom, skirt around the edge of the workshop, and into the northern stairwell. The goblins either don't notice him, or don't care, but more importantly, he seems to avoid Charmay's observation.
The narrow stairway is well-worn and dimly lit, and winds upwards and to the left as a chill breeze blows back down the opposite direction. Mulligan soon finds himself in the open air, with a parapet on his right looking out across the dark stormy mountains. To his left, a short passage opens out onto the main stage of the theater of Motherhorn.
The amphitheater has six rows of bleachers that partially surround the main floor. A complex array of struts and beams rise high over the stage, upon which hang a plethora of pulley and lights, with metal ropes attached. Seeing the ropes puts Mulligan in mind of the korreds and their tale of having their hair taken against their will and used by Endelyn for her theater. Behind the stage are more parapets overlooking the open valley, as well as a platform on which two large cranes are seated, presumably for lifting backdrops.
There appears to be five exits from the stage area.
1) The stage right exit where Mulligan finds himself now, leading to the Understage
2) A stage left exit on the far side, which enters a tunnel leading into the mountain.
3) A stairway divides the right bleachers and ends at a thick black velvet curtain.
4) A similar stairway divides the left bleachers, and enters a tunnel.
5) A central stairway divides the bleachers in the middle, leading directly into the heart of the mountain. Mulligan recalls Greginald's account of his dream, and taking this passage into a library.
At the top of the central staircase, before it enters the mountain, two short stairways branch off and climb up and into two viewing boxes, one flanking each side. These boxes appear as small balconies within two slender towers that rise out of the mountain and up into the cloudy sky. A level above these viewing boxes are two more balconies, one on each tower.
On the left balcony on this top level, Mulligan can see a large contraption with wings, like a great metallic bird. Surely this is the ornithopter that Charmay mentioned. From Mulligan's position, there doesn't appear to be any way to climb to this high balcony from where he is.
Mulligan takes all of this in with a glance as he reaches the stage level. However something else catches his senses at the same time. Immediately to his left, just out of view in a dark corner beside the staircase, Mulligan can hear the voice of Stagefright, the stage manager. The goblin seems to be talking to someone...
Why do you make me hurt you, Onk? Do you think I want to? Do you think I enjoy it? Why can't you just do as you are told? We could both be happy if you'd just do as you were told...
Rowan, Barria, Greginald
Charmay saunters out of the storeroom, explaining as she goes that only the junk is kept down there, and that the costume department is on the stage level. She leads the way to the south part of the workshop where a service platform elevator ascends, taking the group to the next floor up. The elevator platform arrives in a long tunnel (marked as area 1 on the map), to the east of which there is a bend that evidently goes outside (area 2).
Charmay however moves to the west, up a small flight of stairs and through a black velvet curtain into a large and much more organised storage room (area 3). All manner of props stand in small piles and groups, or are stacked on shelves. And a large array of costumes of all shapes and sizes hang in racks. A black curtain shrouds a doorway in the north wall.
Waving casually at the available options, Charmay continues along yet another passageway and draws aside another black curtain. A small circular room (area 4) is declared to be the dressing room, where the would-be actors can try on their costumes and apply makeup if desired. Resting against the walls of this chamber are three dressing tables, each one with a mirror atop it. The mirrors are bordered by tiny balls of bright golden light. An ornate, high-backed chair on clawed feet sits before each table.
Slumped in one of the chairs is a bugbear dressed as a green dragon from the neck down. On the floor nearby are the fake dragon head and tail that complete the costume. Another curtained doorway leads north from this chamber, beyond which there are several subdued voices talking (area 5).
How does a red dragon blow out the candles on its birthday cake?
Shh, just shake yes or no... Do you know who this Onk is?
Mulligan telepathically questions Break-A-Leg.
Oh, right... the staff. He is talking to it like it's a person? Do you know what is up with that?
If there is a positive response then Mulligan will spend a bit more time questioning his skeletal pal in yes or no questions to try to find out what the deal with Onk being personified is. But Mulligan's plan is to sneak his way up to that Ornithopter thing and try to figure out a way to make it inoperable... He needs to steal Onk to free the prisoner but he can't imagine that won't either cause a ruckus or involve somehow violently quieting Stagefright. So it waits... for now.
Mulligan does his best to be stealthy in getting from his current location to that of the central stairway and up it to the viewing boxes and in the places where stealth may not be an option because they are too wide open or illuminated then he relies on patience to wait for a good moment and then speed to hurry quietly from one spot to another, grabbing what cover he can. While he can't see how to get to the contraption from where he starts off from, he does hope that maybe once he is to the viewing box that access to the ornithopter will be more readily apparent...
(lemme know if you want a new stealth roll)
Mulligan
Mulligan easily slips past the distracted goblin, and glides along the edge of the bleachers. There is no-one in the amphitheater at the moment, presumably because the next show is still some time away. As Mulligan sneaks along, Break-a-leg continues to respond (still in his 'backstage voice').
Um... I heard the other goblins mention it just once, so I could be wrong, but... Stagefright is Onk... I mean, Onk is his real name, his original name, before he became... well before he was called Stagefright.
Mulligan climbs the central ramp, and once at the top slides into one of the circular stairs on the side that climb up into the viewing box. The stone balcony is fringed with thick drapes of musty velvet trimmed with black lace, and the black marble railings are decorated with leering alabaster masks. A large, 8-foot-square mirror set in the flat wall behind the balcony is flanked by wooden panels painted with thunderclouds and lightning bolts. An upholstered bench on the balcony faces a grand view of the stage and the stormy sky.
For some reason, the sight of seeing himself in the mirror, when he is trying to remain out of sight, is a bit unnerving...
How does a red dragon blow out the candles on its birthday cake?
Mulligan does a bit of a double take when he first notices the mirror and freezes in place for a moment. He considers it as a bit of a shiver runs down his spine, remembering back to the halfling groom he saw stolen away down a mirror path, the groups own arrival here in Yon via such a device... And he is no expert but despite the thunderclouds and lightning bolts painted upon it's frame Mulligan eventually decides the mirror is just a mirror.
Probably.
Velvet and black lace curtains... Alabaster masks... Fancy mirror with thunderbolts and lightning (very, very frightening!) and a bench? Mulligan had assumed the viewing box would be where the hag in charge of this all watched the play from. Surely she would have a throne? Or at least something more comfortable than a bench?
This is where Endelyn watches from?
Mulligan asks Break-A-Leg unsure he would even know since he's seemingly been backstage for a good long while...
Whatever the answer, Mulligan investigates the area, constantly looking back over his shoulder towards the mirror. It unnerved him a bit. Maybe it was just that he was skulking about and didn't love the extra viewing angle such a mirror could provide someone but... *shrug* Just nerves, probably. Here he is skulking about searching for he doesn't even know what in a make believe land of fairies and witches and talking dandelions!
Mulligan searches the bench and the masks and behind the curtains and the mirror and everything else he can think of in this box. He doesn't think this Endelyn would be content to sit on a bench to watch the plays. Sure she is separated from the riff raff but she seems the type to need every luxury and convenience. Even her walking through the crowd to get here strikes him as odd. Perhaps she has a secret entrance or something? Then again perhaps she enters via magic. Damn witches. Still, Mulligan searches best he can to try to figure out what he is missing. (Investigation 21... Won't add Psi-Bolstered Knack since he doesn't actually know if he is looking for something or not.)
Rowan, Barria, Greginald
Rowan follows along with the group, watching everything with open eyes and a great deal of interest. He looks over the costumes as they pass by them, trying to decide what to wear. When he sees a shiny crown and large velvety, robe, he grabs them and tries them on. He's not a fan of the faint smell of body odor clinging to the robe, but he hopes he'll get used to it.
The black curtain on the north side of the room (room 3) is too much for him to resist and he pulls it back a little and takes a look to see what's on the other side.