Friday, December 7, 2018

Synopsis 12 - Circus World

Active Characters - Voxen, Alvar (Chisai), Brianna, Asher
Active Cohorts - None
Inactive Characters Present- None
Inactive Cohorts Present- None
Inactive Characters Not Present - Ulrich, Rorrick, Brock, Schoon-chee
Inactive Cohorts Not Present - Elayne
NPCs Attached to Group-  Vi

Notable NPCs - Ellenzenara, Gena, Baldar Guz, Balbag, Magellas Fume. 

Brock’s airship landed east of Asbravn, in an open area surrounded by woods. Brock had to stay on board, and the rest of the group travelled west to the city. Along the way, the party consisting of Brianna, Asher, King Alvar Hochiko, Vulcan, and Voxen on horseback passed hundreds of excited families on the roads heading toward Asbravn.

At the city limits two Riders in Red Cloaks approached and sounded to Brianna and Asher, who had saved Asbravn from a rampaging Hydra. Yeager Ford was the name of the Sergeant. They met with Voxen and Alvar, who noted his kingship. Of course.

The town was besieged on all sides by invading excited children and their families. Circus World paraphernalia was being marketed within the City Limits by all sorts of merchants. The Inn and Tavern had no vacancies. Some party members tried to gather information at the Tavern but just received general information.

The party decided to head to the location of Circus World, 30 miles due west of Asbravn. Upon arrival at Circus World, the adventurers beheld an enormous colored tent rising high into the sky. Scores of wagons and tents lined up about the attraction, and hundreds of people formed lines at the ticket booth.

Asher got in line for the party, and after a hefty wait he finally arrived at the booth. A human inside the booth offered tickets for 1 Gold Piece, and various items such as a Circus World Flask, Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Cotton Candy. They also sold tickets for 10 gold that included a stay in the Circus World Inn. He ordered the tickets and handed them to the party. The tickets were highly ornate. As they were handing out the tickets, Brianna was sure she saw something as it was being passed to her. She looked at the ticket, and there was a moving image on it, showing different attractions at the park. But she had thought she saw something, but did not want to believe it. The party took their tickets to the Clowns in near the entrance, the ticket sliding through a slot and coming out a stub with a flourish of magical glitter. The party then began to make its way through the entrance.
Upon passing through the entrance to circus world, the parties gear (minus some special items like Alvar’s sword) completely changed into fashionable wear. Weapons and items that were not ornate were no longer visibly present. Voxen was afraid he was exposed and turned outside, having to buy another ticket before entering. Thankfully, his disguise was not altered inside of Circus World.
2 Stone Golems guarded the main entrance, holding steady as the party went by. Alvar and Vulcan checked in at the Inn, and made their way back to see the Strongman show. Inside the circus ring there stood a strongman carrying two elephants as if they were feathers and performing other feats of incredible strength. After that the ringmaster announced to behold the Cart being pulled out into the ring. The small cart was pulled by a small pony. It stopped near the center of the ring and twenty clowns took turns jumping out of it.  Then they all got back in, and the cart was pulled off to the preparation room. The Ringmaster stood out into the middle of the ring, and unlike the vile creature Brianna, Vulcan and _______ saw inside of Voxen’s mind when they were being controlled by Balbag, this was a much kinder looking man. He announced a break until the next show.


The party went to the Zoo and saw many different types of creatures, including Bears, Manticores, an Ice Devil, Dire Wolves, Dire Tigers, a Dire Bear (wearing a specific collar), a Behir, a Remorhaz, a Leng Spider, Trolls, Yetis, a Gorgon, Elder Fire Elementals, Gorillas, Elephants, an Empty Cage and a Couatl that was about to convey a message to Brianna before a Master came along and interrupted.
The party then went back and saw the Aquarium, which was a new exhibit, that had a Megalodon and a Giant Squid inside of an immense rotating tank.

The party made its way to the Freak Show Exhibit where they immediately saw a Great Cyclops caged in a barren cage attached to a stone column by a chain.

Then Brianna noticed something that cleared up what she saw on the ticket earlier. It was Aunty Gertrude, a Night Hag witch. She immediately became frightened, even more than Voxen who had been nervous up to this time. She went back into the hallway and waited in the relative safety of not being near Aunty Gertrude.

The party came into the Freakshow and saw the Cyclops up close, Asher staring down the huge giant. The Cyclops began to stare at Asher. There was staring. The Cyclops, frustrated at the staring, looked away and Asher declared himself the winner.

The party went and retrieved Brianna, and Brianna went to Gertrude’s cage where Gertrude appeared to be knitting a sweater. Without looking up, Gertrude said “Hello Brianna, I was wondering if this was your size.” After a brief discussion, Brianna asked how Gertrude was, and the Night Hag could only grunt through clenched teeth that she was ‘Fine, and being well taken care of.’

There were two skeletons, one very tall and one very short, and they seemed to get along together in one of the cages. There was also a Dire Rat King, a freakish monster in one cage.

Ellenzenara, the Bearded Elven Lady in the Freak show, was in a cage at the far end of the room from where the party entered. The party made contact with her and learned of the Puppet Master, who once part of the Freakshow but had escaped and was helping to free the others in the circus. The party was also able to determine that the Freak show cast was under some sort of spell that made sure they did not reveal their captivity.

In one cage was a large Flesh Golem whose nameplate said, “Frank & Stein’s Monster,” who appeared to be scared of the circus clowns. He said they were NOT friends. But then Voxen stated he was a friend, and flashed his other form to Frank. Immediately Frank’s face lighted up and he said “GENA!” And went on to talk about how Gena was a friend but there were many who were not friends.

The party headed to the Circus show again when a small puppet appeared in the hallway. It led the party nearer to the Inn where the Puppetmaster appeared. The Puppetmaster appeared to be a humanoid with all black leather clothing. He informs the group that Baldar Guz does not have control over the Stone Golems, that they are ‘pre-programmed’ to keep everyone safe. The clowns are not safe from this effect.

They adjourn to the inn where the Puppetmaster reappeared and they continued to talk about the Forest beyond Circus World, which connects to 3 other Circuses. A portal there used to allow Kami in to entertain the masses as clowns, but the actions of Baldar Guz caused them to become Oni, and now these evil creatures enter the Forest beyond though the Puppetmaster admits it does not know about the purpose of the Oni.  

Remembering the incident with the Coatl, Alvar reaches out and connects with the Coatl in a mind blowing (called 20 on a D20) chance that the Coatl was reaching out at the same moment. It points out where Magellas Fume is buried.

The party heads towards the Aquarium and climbs atop the feeding area and finds caves behind the aquarium. They search through the caves and locate Magellas Fume’s crypt, in which they decide to take on a quest to locate Oni substance to prove to Magellas’ ghost that Oni have taken over the Kami.

The mission doesn’t last long when the party decides to attack some Oni near the Aquarium and they easily provide proof to Magellas. Magellas turns the Stone Golems against the Oni, and the party heads back to the Freak show.

In the Freak Show, the party lets out the caged persons except Brittany the fat lady because she was a horrible person. Frank is released, then Frank charges Gertrude’s cage and frees Gertrude who immediately disappears.

Balbag appears and takes over one of the monsters in the Freak show and attempts to attack the party when Gena appears and stabs Balbag through the heart.

The Cyclops departs towards the zoo to retrieve his Dire Bear and the party heads towards the preparation room to enter the Forest. Frank comes with the party, and Gena is helping people escape.

The party encounters a large force of Oni and a battle ensues. 

XP - Combat 3000
Session XP - 2500

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