It took what seemed like forever. Bobby, Ralph and Shawn crawled in between the maze of eggs, the wet grass soaking into first their knees and hands, and then up to their elbows and through their shoes. They wove an unknown path through the yellow, purple and green eggs, not knowing where they were going but certain that the growling and screaming of the monstrous Easter Bunny and Tiffany's cries would fade into the background.

And they did.

The eggs, as they were abruptly stopped. As if some kind of wall prevented them from expanding further. Up against the wet terrain, pressed firmly and now more distinct, was an arid desert.

Somewhere in the distance, there was a tree.

Shawn, trying hard not to think about what had happened back there, looked around for the mountain. They needed to find their destination, or things would be really bad!

Shawn looked around. To the left and right, he straddled the line between the Egg Briar patch and the desert. Behind him, lay all those brilliantly colorful eggs and wet grass. There was no sign of the large, pink Rabbit that had attacked Tiffany. Nor was there any sign of Delilah or Penelope.

Ahead of him was the desert. The ground was cracked with a deep drought. Yet in the distance, there was a tree. With something or someone, swinging from a large rope. Shawn couldn't make out at this distance who or what it might be from that tree. It could be a tire swing, like the kind that Anthony had tried to build earlier in the summer without any success. Alternatively, it might be a dead body hanging from a branch like some kind of morbid Old West movie.

Yet, with all of these sights, the mountain was no where to be seen. It would appear, that Shawn had a choice to make. He could turn left and proceed to straddle the line between the Egg Briar patch and the desert. He could turn right and proceed to straddle the line between the Egg Briar patch and the desert. Then, there was always the option of turning back around and making his way back to Delilah and the 'case.' Of course, this would involve risk, for there was a chance that Delilah, Tiffany and Penelope might all be dead. Then there was the option of moving ahead into the desert and into the unknown.

Shawn took a few deep breaths, not so much trying to control his panic as to stop his face from showing the panic that was sweeping through him. He had to pretend to be strong, for Ralph and Bobby's sake. "I think...we should head for the tree. This place is really weird, but I think if we keep moving forward, we'll find what we're looking for."

"But what if we run out of water?" Bobby said logically, indicating that his brain wasn't completely useless.

"J..ju..jus..just do what Sh..sh..sh..sh..Shawn said." Ralph insisted. "Where..where..where..where..where we gonna go? B..b..b..b..b..b..back to the Briar Patch?"
He gave Bobby a little shove, pushing him forward and the kids advanced, crossing the threshold, the ground cracking underneath their feet, dry earth sinking further as they put one foot ahead of the other.

It was instantly hot in the desert and it wasn't long before the Egg Briar Patch with its occasional rain and long wet grass seemed like a distant memory.

As they moved towards the tree, it became clear that it wasn't a hanging body or a tire swing.


It was a cage.


The cage swung listlessly from one of the trees branches. Something was in the cage. Though whatever it was, it wasn't moving.

Shawn slowed his pace, encouraging Bobby and Ralph to match. "Be ready to run away, okay?" He tried to remember, was there a breeze? The cage was swinging, but whatever was inside wasn't moving. He started inching forward, trying to see what was inside the cage without getting too close.

Shawn looked at the swinging cage. It was hard to see what was inside. Hard to recognize initially the small hands and grubby feet and oversized head that he had seen before.

Crowley was inside of the swinging cage, Shawn now saw. One leg was dangling from in between the bars. As Shawn approached, he saw one eye open from Crowley's oversized head. Dried spittle had formed on one side of Crowley's parched mouth.

"Well..*cough*...well." Crowley said to Shawn without moving. Perhaps he was too weak to move. He looked it. Looked like he had been beaten too, judging by the large, oversized purple nodule on his head. That or he had fallen.

"Didn't think I'd see you again." He said to Shawn

Shawn quickly looked around, back and forth, making sure that whoever put Crowley in this cage wasn't somehow still around. "Crowley? What happened to you?" Crowley had always been...well, not really a friend, but someone from the Circus who he thought he mostly understood. Seeing him like this was worrying!

"Careful" Feddler's voice cautioned. "I have heard of this Demon. He isn't a baby at all. He's full of tricks."

---

"Dead! They're all Dead!" Crowley cried out in a harsh, dry gasp. "Well, not all of them" He corrected. "The Fortune Teller is still alive. And she's trying to summon what's left of the Circus. But it's not going to work out. She lost the Crystal Ball! She's blind. The Tattooed Lady is in hiding. Mr. Cherrywinks is also. Hogwash is dead. The Bearded Woman is dead. Squat and Squee and the Wheel of Misfortune. Dead! Griffix has gone mad with hunger. It's over! It's all over!"

"I told you once to watch out for the Tattooed Lady because she was the only one in the Circus besides the Fortune Teller who could write in the Old Tongue. Don't you remember? In the sewers? The Old Tongue from the time before the Circus was a Circus. When it was just a traveling horde of demons, barely able to change itself and hide what it really was. Remember I told you it was just a pack of soul thieves?"

"Well, someone else has been learning the old ways. And not just the Old Tongue. The old secrets from long ago. Someone has stolen the Fortune Teller's Crystal Ball. And they're using all of these things to unravel everything! They're stealing all of the souls and destroying all of the Demons. Everything is going to become unbalanced. The Proprietor is going to be very, very mad!" Crowley shouted, springing up and grabbing the bars at this last thought, pressing his face against the cage in what looked like fear.

Shawn didn't know how to feel about this - the Circus being destroyed was probably a good thing, right? But he was cynical enough by now to know it couldn't be that simple. "Who's doing it? And who locked you in that cage?"

"No one really knows. Some say the Fortune Teller is making it all up to tighten her control. Some say that its beasts from beyond the Krinner. Others say its one of the Circus survivors, Griffix maybe. Or the Tattooed Lady."

"The Demons go to rest and their dreams and movements are hijacked. Someone is using the Old Tongue and the old ways to manipulate us. I woke up here. I've been here for months!" Crowley scowled.

"It doesn't make any sense. Why would any one of them do this?"

Shawn looked confused. "But you're all beat up and you're in a cage. How couldn't you see who did this? And how'd you survive this long? There's a giant bunny here, and a crazy town..."

"You don't get it!" Crowley said, pointing an accusing finger at Shawn, long fingernail yellow and curved as he stuck it in between the bars.

"I don't remember anything. One moment, I went into my tent to organize the wares and pack out. I saw that many in the Circus had gone missing and I knew that if I didn't get out, that I might be next. Then, when I was inside, I heard a funny little voice that said Yucka--Yucka"

"Then it felt like all of the hate in the world pressed upon my head. I felt the pain of someone else's betrayal. Someone's dreams and hopes being shattered."

"And then I woke up here."

"But I've been around long enough to know that it isn't a coincidence."

Crowley's face brightened.

"Let me out!" He said to Shawn and then looked for sympathy from Bobby and Ralph. "You can help me. We can set things right together."

"It said 'Yucka--Yucka?' Are you sure?" Shawn couldn't confirm it, but this sounded really familiar...almost like a certain dummy. He had to be really careful here, lest he play into either the Circus' or Mr. Clayton's. "Even if I let you out, do you know where we are? 'Cause I don't know how we're going to get out of here..."

"Yes! Yes, that's what it said!" Crowley yelled. Then his face took on a placating look, all sweet and kind.

"Come on. Let me out of here. I'll make you a deal. We need each other. I've been all over the Underworld. I know where to go and how to get there. I know the places that are safe and where to hide."

"Like what? How would you get out of here? We've gotta get back to our bodies!" Shawn was planning on letting Crowley free. But he needed honesty and assistance from the strange baby-man, and right now he had an advantage because Crowley needed him to get out. And that advantage would go away when Shawn freed him.

"You've all certainly got to get back to your own bodies. Or you'll die." Crowley agreed. "But my own body has been changed long ago. If you let me out, I'll show you how to change. Change your bodies, so that way you won't have to worry about the long journey ahead. We're in the middle of no where and to get out, we need to find a dream, or a charm of some kind that someone has trapped souls into."

"But I know where all of this can be found." Crowley said eagerly.

OOC: Shawn rolls Wits + Empathy

OOC: 07:45, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 2 successes using 3d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 3,6,10(+8). Wits + Empathy.

It wasn't that simple though. Something about the way Crowley talked. He was too eager. To interested in getting out of the cage. It reminded Shawn of the time that Crowley had ripped him off, selling him the herb that made Bobby forget, even though it could be readily found at the Circus.

Crowley's face grimaced as he pressed it against the bars of the cage. "Come on, let me out!" He pleaded.

Crowley said to Shawn "I can help you. We can get out of this together."