Session 25

Caution and Rumours

Before leaving the Fistfull of Roses, the party leaves behind Myrcella's shield, the Cerleain Bracelet of Protetion and the staff they found at Perlorian Fields.

The party hires a taxi boat to take them from Gavenfort to there circus, where there has been set up a temporary dock for this purpose. During the fare, they bribe the boatsman to tell them if there's any rumours going around in Gavenfort. They are told of a gentleman by the name of Herninas who is said to be cheating at games of chance, but no one has been able to catch him in the act.

A Festive Prelude With a couple of hours left until the show starts, they decide to play the part of festival. Aina ties a small pouch filled with a few gold coins around Myrcella's waist as bait, as Yrma had told them about The Vagabond Masquerade's thievery nature, at least in the past.

First, they pay a few copper to have a go at a high striker game. Yrma, not wanting to draw unwanted attention, holds back her own strength and manages a passing result. However, upon Aina matching her score immediate after, Yrma can't contain her pride and goes in for another go. However, this time she puts so much force behind the strike that she misses the target and instead causes damage to the platform it's situated on.

Next, Sani, Myrcella and Molva has a go at the archery range. While Myrcella and Molva skillfully struck down four of the five targets, they both just ever so slightly missed the mark on the fifth and furthest target. Therefore, it was left to Sani to save their honour. With some help from Myrcella to boost her dexterity, Sani indeed swiftly and accurately hit all five targets, earning her the fine price of a sling.

At this time, a crowd was gathering for a pie eating contest that Sani, Yrma and Alaric signed up for, as well as a portly man and a surprisingly slender woman. The pies did not agree with Sani, who had to bow out after only a couple of them. The next ones to fall was the portly man, followed by Yrma. This left Alaric and the woman, who the announcer now reveals to be the reigning champion of the contest. As the next pie is to be served, Aina cheekily casts Silent Image to create the appearance of mould in the woman's just-emptied pie dish. She gulps and tries to power through, but her stomach finally gives in and she hurls -- leaving Alaric as the triumphant victor! Appropriately, his winning is yet another pie, this one of the finest quality.

Fortunes Told

In a corner of the fair grounds the party notices a small tent for divination services, labelled with a name that Yrma recognises: Madame Evangeline. Together with Orus, she was one of the founding members of The Vagabond Masquerade. However, she was not one who Yrma had interacted with the most.

One by one, the group gets in line to have their fortunes read. Sani asks about her past, her present and her future. Evangeline pulls The Hermit, the Page of Wands and The World. She tells Sani that she comes from a lonely past, but a big family. She goes on to Sani she's currently lost, but she sees great things in her future -- whatever that may mean to her.

Next, Aina asks if she will find the thing she's searching for. Evangeline pulls The Lovers and tells her she's looking for someone close to her. Next, she pulls the Hanged Man reversed and the Nine of Swords, and she's told that her search will lead to anguish and sorrow.

For Myrcella, Evangeline draws the Two of Cups, the Three of Cups and the Four of Cups, all of them reversed. Myrcella is told that she's become isolated from her previous family and is in search of a new one, but that she's caught up in her own head and isn't ready for what is to come. When she moves to pay, she notices that the bait money pouch is missing. No one, including Molva, saw it get stolen.

Yrma asks if she will ever find happiness. Evangeline draws the Two of Swords reversed, the King of Cups reversed and the Ten of Wands reversed. She's told she first needs to decide what happiness means to her in order to approach obtaining it. Next she's told she's seeking revenge or some sort of retribution for a past injustice, but that it's complicated to her. It may be that her happiness lies in letting go.

Finally, Rowan, like Aina, asks if he will find what he's searching for. Evangeline pulls The Justice, Seven of Swords reversed and Page of Swords reversed. While he's in there, he spots a small bowl containing bones appearing to be used for divination magic, not unlike the bone they found in a room at the inn in Hemlia. Evangeline tells him that what he looks for is forgiveness for breaching someone's trust in him for secrets kept, and that to obtain forgiveness he may need to be more open and not stay within his own mind.

A Show To Remember

Around this time, the crowd is ushered towards the circus to watch the show. The party places Aina, Yrma, Rowan and Molva close to the back of the tent, near a closed off flap in the tent where they could easily slip out. Alaric, Myrcella and Sani situated themselves opposite to get a good viewing angle into the back stage area. They decide to look for an opportune moment when the audience is captivated for Aina to turn Molva and either Yrma or Rowan invisible.

When the audience finally settles down, Orus Caspara comes out, arms stretched out, introducing himself and The Vagabond Masquerade.

He introduces the first act, and the twins, Phineal and Seraphine, come swinging in from elevated platforms on either side of the arena. They perform impressive aerial feats, swinging each other from and to trapezes, landing on tight ropes, performing summersaults -- overall putting on a display of daring dexterity. At the end of their performance, they drop down to the floor and give the audience a bow.

Next, Orus comes out to introduce the next act. Gaius comes riding out on a magnificent horse, hands spread out to welcome the audience's applause. After dismounting he brings out a monkey from under his coat, which starts juggling colourful balls. After bringing out a few more exotic animals performing simple tricks, Gaius brings out a majestic lion. Towards the end of the act, he feigns tripping into the wide-open jaws of the lion, which goes in to bite down on his head. After some agonising moments, the lion lets go, and Gaius gets up to reveal it was all part of the show!

The next act, once again introduced by Orus, is the strongman Gnorx. He comes out with various implements and starts demonstrating his strength by bending solid iron bars and lifting heavy-looking barbells. At this time, the burglary crew decide to start making a move. However, as Aina is about to cast Invisibility on Yrma and Molva, Gnorx addresses the audience, looking for a strong audience member to challenge him in a bout of wrestling. His gaze lands on Yrma, whose strength is difficult to hide. As Yrma volunteers to fight him on stage, Aina instead turns Rowan and Molva invisible while everyone's attention is on the stage, allowing them to slip out unnoticed.

Inside the tent, Yrma gets ready to wrestle Gnorx. Calling upon her runic magics, she grows to twice her size, and thus, doubles her strength. While Gnorx gets an early push in, what might have been an even show of strength turned into a one-sided tour de force, as Yrma forces the goliath off the arena with relative ease. Gnorx, a showman through and through, congratulates Yrma with her victory, to the roar of the crowd!

Outside, Rowan and Molva first make their way towards four colourful wagons that they find to belong to the twins, Gnorx, Gaius and Valaria. Molva swiftly gets into the twins' wagon, but finds nothing of interest inside. When opening Valaria's wagon, a black cat jumps out and starts roaming the area. They're successful in recapturing it, but upon returning it to the wagon, they discover that there are several other critters inside, so they decide to leave the wagon alone so as to not cause a ruckus. In Gaius's wagon, however, they discover a notebook with annotated pressed flowers from the troupe's journey. In addition to confirming The Vagabond Masquerade's presence in Emerell and The Steppes, between them they are able to determine that they must have been in an arid area prior to that, and in a mountainous area before that. Finally, in Gnorx's wagon, they discover a pack of curious equipment: Climber's Kit, a pickaxe, crowbar, hammer, torches, tinderbox, waterskin, 50 feet of hempen rope.

Meanwhile, inside, Orus comes out to announce what they expect to be the next act, featuring Evangeline. However, instead he himself starts conjuring an illusion of a large dragon, causing it to road and spew illusory flames over the heads of the audience, to their screaming glee. Next, he takes requests from the audience, conjuring up scenes from imagination of the children.

Backstage, Molva and Rowan turn their attention to a slightly larger wagon with an adjoined tent. Inside, they find Evangeline, apparently relaxing before her act. More importantly, in the cosily furnished tent, they also spot an approximately seven feet long bundle of white canvas material, tied shut with ropes, as well as two urns akin to the one they found in Hemlia. The connection between The Vagabond Masquerade and the events in Hemlia now seem all but certain.

Meanwhile, Orus's show inside is coming to an end. Knowing Molva and Rowan are still skulking backstage, Aina calls for an encore! Orus is persuaded to do one more illusion, and Aina requests a telling of an old legend. Just so, Orus announces his telling about the world serpent, as he conjures a massive black and red snake slithering around the perimeter of the arena. He tells a tale about hubris and greed, symbolised by the snake eating its own tail. Myrcella instantly recognises this as the same legend as the one they saw depicted in the tapestry in Lord Elion Cerleain's tomb.

Taking advantage of the extra minutes, Molva and Rowan sneak around the back of the wagon and Molva deftly unlocks a window to get inside. The wagon appears to be shared by Orus and Evangeline. On Orus's side, Molva discovers a checklist for preparations for something, including spell components and typical adventuring or dungoneering gear. In a hidden and trapped compartment, she finds a small notebook. Molva brings up the Duggers Tome and presses it to the notebook.

At this time, Orus wraps up the show for good. He thanks the audience, and announces that regrettably this was the final show in Satim this time around. Any further efforts to delay are unsuccessful, and shortly after Molva can hear Orus talk to Evangeline right outside the wagon. Molva completes the Duggers Tome copy and swiftly places the book back, but is unable to make it out of the wagon before Orus steps through the door and sits down at his desk.

Rowan decides to risk dropping his invisibility to try and cause a scene outside. Pretending to be an overeager fan, he approaches Evangeline in her tent and asks for a follow-up on his tarot reading. After first politely asking him to leave, she gets more firm, prompting Orus to stick his head out the door to see what's going on. Molva takes the opportunity to escape.

X Marks the Spot

The party groups up outside the circus and hurries back into the city by boat.

On the way back, they read Orus's notes from the Duggers Tome. The notes chronicle Lord Elion Cerleain's rise and fall. As a young man, he founded Emerell. In the coming decades grew in magical prowess, eventually butting heads with the progenitors to The One Sanctuary. It details how he grew an army to fight for hegemony over the use of magic, openly and overtly organised around the powers of a particular patron, symbolised as a massive serpent. It is unclear if that's its physical form or if its simply a representation. Eventually, he fell at the Battle of Perlorian Fields.

The notebook further chronicles how his family continued ruling Emerell, but gradually lost power generation by generation, until they suddenly vanished from historical records. Orus makes particular note of one of Lord Elion Cerleain's sons, Aelarion, who betrayed his father's cause. Aina is pretty certain that she's not heard of this person, and she suspects this is because there is generally little documented about him.

Finally, they find a simple map sketch with a spot marked. They recognise it as part of the Cathedral of Glass, and cross-reference the sketch with their map of the city to confirm.

They rush to try and get to the Cathedral of Glass before The Vagabond Masquerade get there. Aina, Molva and Rowan head to the Fistfull of Roses to grab their stuff left there. Molva also cuts Rowan's hair and disguises him with her Disguise Kit. Myrcella and Yrma sprint back to the blacksmith, hoping her customised Glaive of Warning is ready -- which it is!

The group meets up outside the Cathedral of Glass and manage to break in without much issue. Inside, there is no one. Myrcella investigates the spot marked in the notebook, but find nothing. They decide to hide on the upper level to see if The Vagabond Masquerade will arrive.