Lost Mine of Phandelver

"Dont worry," Vanzaren says to it. "I'm not going to start casting spells at you willy-nilly."

The hideous-looking cat hisses and spits at the wizard and then finally fed up with his presence darts out from under the bench and races out the front door and around the corner, out of sight.

Meanwhile, Marcon and Garet stopped for their brief conversation (Marcon's apology detailed above). As they are talking, a small fey creature moves at lightning speed up to them and interrupts their conversation, speaking almost as fast as he moved:

"Greetings Phandalians! What a beautiful little settlement you have! I'm Zax Atly of the Feywild and I noticed that neither of you appear to be carrying any small blades on you...that's quite concerning way out here in the wilderness! A good knife or trusty handaxe can be the difference between life and death out here on the open frontier! My blades are the sharpest in the multi-verse!"

The fey then whipped out several daggers from...somewhere. He moved so fast that they could not quite see where he produced them from, but in an instant he held six daggers - blade first - in between each of his fingers. With a wink and a nod, the fey then flung them in rapid succession - all in less than a quarter of a second - at a round wooden target a few yards away. Each one struck the center bullseye with their hilts protruding out in a perfectly symmetrical sunburst...and the blades buried near half-deep in the solid wood.

"Impressive, no? Don't waste this opportunity to buy superior steel! I have anything and everything you could possibly be looking for right here! And I'll beat any price offered by your local merchants! Have a look won't you?"

Vanzaren curses in elvish and runs out of the building, stopping and staring on in horror. "Oh Bloody..." he stops himself and stalks over to the nearest tent.

(@Fightingcrow: It seems my intent was either misread or not clear, as it was meant to be said while they kept moving. But regardless, rolling with it. z.z)

It was never Marcon's intent to stop for the talk. But, in hindsight, with so much on his mind and delirium frankly still kicking his butt, he looked wide-eyed for just a brief moment as the realization comes to mind. Before he can properly process that however, the fey creature's antics leaves him even more wide-eyed and flabbergasted.... for a while, at least. His expression soon sours a little when finally given a chance to speak, if only perhaps to answer the fey's question. "No offense, Mr, uh... Zax Atly of the Feywild. But, I ain't interested." He glances up to Garet and tries to pat his arm. "C'mon, Big Guy. Let's go." Marcon immediately after started walking again, still determined to reach Lioncoaster.

Only this time, or so he silently promised, there would be no more distractions or delays! And if able to arrive without legitimately being further "accosted" or side tracked, Marcon warms up seeing Linene behind the counter. Though apart from a brief wave in greeting, if there were weapons on display about the shop, then it behooved him to save the pleasantries for after having a quick look around at the various displays, before coming forward with his orders(see below).

Afterwards though, he asked, "So, uh.... ya know anything about the, uh... show in town? From what I understand they just kinda showed up and set up without any I've seen in town even realizing it. Seems as well that Carp up and, uh... well, I don't wanna say was kidnapped by one of'em magician's, but... well, ya didn't happen to see him around too, did'ja?"

Marcon's Shopping:
Warhammer
Hunting Knife
Light Hammer.

Ronks follows Vanzaren. "We, uh... We should probably stay together... And also get Marcon and Garet before we go into weird tents?"

Rigel rises and addresses the three men in the bar. " You three stay here and look after her." With a harded look at Gundren he says, "Be nice." To Tolbien he says "If Marcon and Garet come back before us tell them to wait here. If we're not back by morning then come looking." With that he turns around sharply and hurries after Van and Ronk grabbing his gear on the way.

As soon as he catches up to Van he puts a hand on the mages shoulder and says, "Hey hold on a moment. I get the feeling there is something you're not sharing. You seem to have a bigger issue here than just suspicion. Mind letting the rest of us in on it?" 

Garet fallows Marcon silently but nods friendly to all his words. "D..do..on't worry. We all get lost as we..search f..for our own p..path"

Garet will look in the "blacksmith shop" for better mace than his

Asked about the circus he will agree that it is all strange to him. When leaving blacksmith he will mention that the puppets in one of the stores looked like them

Rigel, Vanzaren and Ronk catch up to Marcon and Garet just as Marcon is sternly rebuffing the quickling's sales pitch. As the team moves on towards the Lionshield Coster, Vanzaren can't help but notice the old crone who is selling seashell necklaces that she claims will allow one to forget any bad memory they have. Though Marcon is rushing the team along and trying to avoid any further distractions from the circus, Vanzaren can't help but wonder if the seashell necklace would be the answer to his current predicament...if it indeed does what it says...

Inside the Coster, Marcon does his business quickly locates a warhammer, hunting knife and light hammer that is to his liking and Garet spots a few other maces with different-shaped striking heads than the one he currently owns, however none of them seem to be better than his current weapon.

Linene Greywind is perched behind the counter with an odd, distant-looking expression on her face. She does not respond to Marcon's query, instead slowly shaking her head from side to side as she stares off to the side at nothing in particular, like a patient in an insane asylum. Her movements are strange...unnatural. Almost as if she is some life-sized marionette being controlled by giant invisible strings. When Marcon renders coin for his purchase, instead of tallying up the prices and opening up the cash register, Linene rakes the coins off the counter towards her with her forearm (her hand and fingers stiff), causing most of them to clatter to the floor loudly on her side of the counter.

Looking behind the counter, Vanzaren notices a small doll with a clownish face lying on the floor. It appears to be holding a giant hat pin with both hands, the way a normal-sized person might wield a spear. A heavy bag of sand has been placed over the doll's legs and lower torso as if someone was trying to immobilize it. A few feet away, a small unicycle, seemingly sized for the doll lies on its side.

As tired as he was, even Marcon cannot help but look at Linene funnily after she dropped most of the coin on the floor. But unless Vanzaren points out anything about the doll situation, the ex-farmhand in concern waved a hand in front of LInene's face, hopping to get her attention. "Ms. Greywind are... ya aight?... Hello?" He snaps his fingers in her face. If the response is yet unchanging or strange yet, he'll reach over to try and grab her shoulder her and shake her a few good times to try and snap her out of her apparent stupor.

The shopkeep is unresponsive to Marcon's motioning in front of her face, but when he reaches out to place a hand n her shoulder, Linene flails suddenly - almost in a panic-like state. She then flees down the hall of her shop and a moment later the group hears the back door slam against the side of the structure as it was thrust open.

(OOC: If anyone intends to pursue Linene, make 5 Strength (Athletics) checks...if at least 3 of your rolls beat hers in the spoiler below, then you catch her.)

Rigel watches Linene leave with extreme concern. So much he takes a step to follow but stops to slam his palm down on the counter.

"This is getting out of hand! First Carp, the cat, and now Linene. We need to find the ringmaster and get to the bottom of this. Unless you have  something to share Van. You still haven't answered my question." 

For at least a moment, Marcon reflexively started to give chase, and might very well have been hot on her heel any other day. But much like Rigel, he hardly makes it a few steps more than the woodsman before losing too much steam. So with a soft sigh and scratching at his head, he turned to Rigel and the rest. "Uh... while I ain't of a mind to disagree 'bout finding this ring master, wha... what's this about Van? Somethin' happen I missed?"

Garet looks around slowly at all the circus marvels..he remembers how his mum taught him to see auras around creatures - 'DETECT MAGIC' 

Rigel answers Marcon with, "I don't know, Van seems a little distracted. Probably just over worked liked the rest of us. Anyway lets go find the ringmaster. At very least he should be able to get us to the magician and that should get us Carp. Good idea with the "detect magic" Garet. Keep us aprised of what you see. Time to get a little unruly." The usually stoic ranger grins a bit as he turns and leaves the coster. Looking about he locates the largest tent he can see and heads for it. He keeps a close eye on the rest trying to ensure thet don't get seperated.

When Garet opens his eyes, his vision is slightly awash with a blue hue as he attunes to the presence of magic near him. Looking around Linene's shop, most of the items he sees emit no aura, however one mace hanging on the wall near the others glows brightly with evocation magic. Looking through the open doorway leading back outside, Garet can see a couple of the tents they passed on the way to the Lionshield Coster, one of them being the feywildian weapons merchant's. Though his vision is slight obscured by the tent, Garet sees no auras surrounding the table where the blades were on display, however he can see several auras of enchantment moving about quickly from place to place, as if they were being carried by someone with the ability to move at exceptional speed. The tent on the northside of the weapons merchant - where the old crone was selling seashell necklaces - emits numerous auras of enchantment that Garet can sense.

Despite Rigel's quickness to want to move on, Marcon hanged back, if only to look searchingly at Van. If the bladesinger however still seemed relunctant to answer, or had promptly followed after Rigel to avoid further scrutiny, Marcon would narrows his eyes... but eventually followed the others out. But tired as he is, no personal effort is made to try and locate anyone in particular. That much he would absentmindedly trust to others, leaving himself free to focus on just trying to stay awake and keep up.

Ronk quickly follows Rigel, frowning a bit. "Do you mean 'Flip a Table' unruly, or 'Get the Torches' unruly. Because I have bad experiences with the torches kind of unruly..."

Rigel snorts with surprise at Ronk's comment letting it take his mind off his other concerns. He chuckles "No, I was thinking more the 'Do you know who I am? I'd like to speak to the manager.' kind of unruly"

Not sensing any "bad" magic Garet will join and fallow the group. He will mention to Ronk and Rigel the puppets that looked like them

Vanzaren picks the doll up and the unicycle. "If you'll excuse me," he says to the group. "I need to go talk to someone." Without waiting for the party to respond, Vanzaren heads into the myriad of tents, looking around to see if he can find the ringmaster.