The Big Show
The audience is thrilled; they listen attentively and react enthusiastically as Cane moves through the crowd, doing small feats of magic as a warm up. The Orrins watch, seemingly quite self-satisfied.
Cane addresses Toulouse, asking if he’s “ready to be transported?” He conjures a door from thin air, only visible from one direction, that leads to a mysterious marble room lit with delicate blue fairy lights. This is apparently a fairly basic teleportation spell, linking to somewhere on the same dimension/plane, likely within a couple miles.
Reiko tries to stop him, but Prince Caliban is convinced to pass through the door. The party guests follow, including the Orrins and Mayor Wulfra, and despite misgivings, our our party eventually does, as well. Ikki, wearing the Aquinas Amulet, goes first, which allows to Brin to sense that she’s somewhere beyond the cliff wall.
Once everyone is through, the door disappears. Cane assures them they can read the phrase from the Cicadas calling card to return. The room we emerge into is a sort of lobby or waiting area; there are blue mosaics with sea themes on the wall, and a myriad of attendants dressed in blue are circulating through the crowd, serving drinks and ushering everyone down a staircase. Cane takes special notice of Ikki.
At the bottom of the stairs, a stone cavern roof arches high above the CICADA CIRCUS. There are many tents and booths lining a curving midway, and Cane assures the party that the main event is imminent before disappearing.
One of the nearest exhibits they encounter is TELLA’S TELLS, a divination booth operated by a still-drunk Tella. After some minimal haggling, Dango asks Tella to do a reading. She wants to know where someone named ERLAR is, and Tella reveals that “He’s looking for you. He’s four days away.”
As Dango absorbs that information, Brin tries to question Tella about her position with the Cicadas. She says she’s only been part of the group for a couple months, and her eyes briefly flash magenta. She seems unwilling to answer further, so Brin leaves. Once he’s gone, Nim pays Tella to tell her everything she can about Brin. Tella warns her to be careful, there is “something very old and starving following that boy around.”
Next, the group passes the booth of UTHLAN THE DOPPLEGÄNGER, a pointy-eared creature that can look like anyone for a price. He is transforming into passers-by to entice them. He turns briefly into Toulouse, who stops, intrigued. He pays one gold to see his mother for five minutes, to test whether Uthlan can change into someone he’s never seen, which he can. After a few moments of seeing his mother, Toulouse offers to pay more if Uthlan will stop.
The group continues down the midway until they reach a large bleached dragon skull by a tent marked ODDITIES. Brin, Toulouse, and Nim pay to go inside. The exhibit is like a combination reptile house and freak show. The dragon skull is actually part of a larger skeleton that makes up the structure of the tent. Inside the dimly-lit tent, there a series of disturbing displays, including skeletal dioramas, a gelatinous purple creature pressing against its glass enclosure, and a baby dragon. There are also kobalds and stirges, which seem out of place in the creepy tent.
Toulouse examines a water tank in the rear of the tent, and sees a mermaid. Brin attempts to telepathically communicate, but there is no reaction; the glass is spell-blocked. He breathes on the glass, and writes “Asana” on the glass, which gets an immediate reaction from the mermaid. She retrieves a rock from inside the tank, and scratches “THE SHOW” into it.
The group reunites and follows some lights to the main arena. There are scattered tables and bleacher seating set up around a central stage and water tank. The show is apparently a sort of immersive theatre experience, but strangely, there is also a betting area. The party spreads out, embedding themselves in the crowd as the main show begins.
Cane is lowered from the dark overhead on a brass ring. There is mysterious, rhythmic music playing, and it becomes clear that the show will involve a reenactment of the Battle of Red River. Large black birds begin to fly over the lake, and a killer whale can be seen swimming below the surface. Brin senses an invisible barrier keeping the birds from escaping the air above the lake. The “battle” is quite gruesome, with the whale catching the birds and pulling them under the water.
An armed figure appears on a platform over the lake, his clothing painted black and gold, with Valon imagery; Ikki recognizes him as Keerk, her missing brother. She rushes forward, but the guards have clearly been waiting for this, and they drag her down a passage out of the cavern. Brin, Kor, and Toulouse immediately follow. Nim warns Reiko to get the prince out of there, and they leave.
It becomes clear that the barrier around the “battle” is shrinking, pushing the birds and Keerk closer to the surface of the lake and a grisly death. He gets injured, but manages to avoid being pulled under and killed by the whale. Nim attempts to taunt the whale, but she is also captured by guards.
Dango attempts to create a distraction and evacuate the crowd by starting a fire on the midway. As soon as the crowd realizes the fire is not part of the show, they begin to panic and rush out of the arena, back towards the magic door to the Orrin estate. Asana appears in the water tank, and points emphatically at the wall. She pulls Keerk into the lake, and disappears, so Dano and Grig follow the rest of the party down the passage.
The backstage area is actually the backside of the main arena wall, and the lake extends here as well. Cane is waiting when Ikki arrives, and reveals himself as definitely a bad dude. Kor and Toulouse manage to be stealthy, but Brin barges loudly into the room, and the guards drag Nim in, which spurs on a fight with Cane.
ENCOUNTER: The party fights Cane and three guards. As the whole group arrives, Cane also summons a shadow demon, and the killer whale swims under the wall. Asana manages to get Keerk out of the water and steer clear of the whale. Toulouse gets splashed by the whale, but the group beats the demon, guards, and whale. Cane, seeing that he is currently outgunned, turns invisible and escapes.
Because the other exit is currently on fire, the party carries Keerk and Asana through a back exit through the cliff wall. They move quietly through a long stone passage, and managed to avoid a confrontation with a pack of piercers. During the trip, it becomes obvious that there may be more to the relationship between Keerk and Asana.
The end of the passage opens into a wide ledge behind the massive waterfall over Prytania. Below them in the water, a pod of merfolk are waiting to welcome Asana back to their group. The whole party jumps off the ledge, joining the merfolk; the mermaid who spoke telepathically to Brin returns his necklace.
~ end of session ~
random notes
- Despite being thwarted earlier in the round, Erin finally succeeds in using her sneak attack. Against the whale.