Oziryan and Thaina look befuddled.  For them, their question to Alayna was a fairly straightforward one.  Half Elves have always had a difficult place in the Elven kingdoms.  Once, they were rejected, but things have changed.  Ozyran and Thaina are from the Savoy Elves in the Alps, and to them, a Half Elf is an Elf if raised with Elves and taught their culture, and a Human if not.  And since Alayna speaks Elven, close enough for them.

Erbold is likewise puzzled.  Their perry is alcoholic, as cider and perry generally are unless it hasn’t had time to ferment, but it’s not strong, and Erbold has never seen it effect someone quite like that.

“At best a little giddy, I’d have thought,” he says quietly.

Dielda is not puzzled.  “Might not have been the perry or anything said,” she replies to her husband.  “Just a small accidental reminder of something… she’s obviously young and far from home if she’s with this band of performers.  Can’t be easy.”

They decide the kitchen has served enough this evening, and announce the cooking is almost over, to be resumed tomorrow morning.  Patrons can remain for a while, of course, they just can’t ask for anything after this "last call".


Meanwhile…

Those still in the Traveling Show camp see Phileas return, and Hylensia intercept him.

“Everything’s alright?”  Hylensia asks.

“Oh yes.  For us, at least.  Things are… things are complicated here.  I would have thought so, with Orcs trying to fit in a Human world.  But… they are embarking on a very interesting quest here, trying to mold a new kind of Orc.  And… they have created enemies in the process.  Let’s talk in the wagon.”

***********************************************************


It is the Ogres who have perfected the “Strong man competition”.  Not surprising, considering they have nothing else to go on.   They use versions of this in many ways, and it works in to almost every game they have.

For example…
Ogres have a variant of the game “Rock, Paper Scissors”.  Under Ogre Rules, Rock always wins.  Always.  Rock crushes paper, Rock crushes scissors.  Because of this, Ogres will usually play Rock.  Not always, because Ogres are not the brightest of creatures, but usually.  This invariably leads to "my rock crush your rock" and then, to the tests of strength.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:22, Thu 27 Sept 2018.

"Die ati siwaju sii Iyanilenu^*" muttered Nwofia to herself and then turned her attention back to the chatter.


^*"Curiouser and curiouser."

Now left with just Esher, Og changes the subject. "So, fellow wizard! I am quite sure I can learn much from you. Thanks again for translating this for me, I didn't even learn how to read common until I was a full grown man. Draconic has been even harder. It's much easier sometimes to just go slam some plates around than to try and think through a problem."

Og finished scraping his first plate and began work on the second. Pointing at it he mumbles through a full mouth, "Wanf sum?" And then half-through chewing, "I love your comedy, your illusions, fantastic!" Og didn't need to mention how inferior he felt to the little wizard next to him.

Ssasha had been alarmed to have several feeder mice escape from their enclosure. Had they been traveling this would be no problem. She had several animals that were naturally talented at hunting such rodents, but in town her snakes needed to be ready to perform, meaning only one of them might be allowed to be lethargically digesting a large meal. The worst part was not knowing if they had fully escaped the wagon and were now roaming the wild, making them no longer a problem, or still in the wagon where they could become an unplanned snack disrupting her snakes training regiment, while gnawing holes in things, and making a mess of the grain store she kept for the breeder mice. When she'd finally finished the fiasco, Gnibile she'd allowed to feast and she was reasonably certain she had no mice in her wagon except in their colony enclosure where they belonged. She could teach people about snake digestion with Gnibile. Education was always an option just salacious content tended to fill more seats.
Exhausted, Ssasha went to see if there was any food left. She had nearly forgotten what she was planning to see if anyone in town had when a painted wagon reminded her. "Pitcher plants!"

In reply to Og Worman (msg # 62):

Esher recognized the inferiority that Of felt and understood it completely...but unlike most other wizards Esher recognized that it was an illusion. every person had their strengths.

no I ate back at the wagons. But you are most generous to offer.

I think a lot of individuals underestimate, or at the very least don't understand the sheer power an illusion can hold.

for example the illusion of a 10 ft block of ink.

yeah, all logic tells you it is not real you can even successfully disbelieve it. but it still blocks your vision.

of course here a difficult question for you. the spell illusionary pit...it is an illusion. but when you weave shadow magic into it it becomes real...can you fall into a real hole that does not even exist
This message was last edited by the player at 14:08, Sat 29 Sept 2018.

Og stopped eating and his mouth fell open. Thankfully no food spilled out. He thought about it and decided that if anyone could climb into a real hole that does not exist, he could.

"If you can make one, I'll do it!" He boasts and returns to finishing up his meal. It always took him awhile to eat, eating twice as much as a normal man but putting only half as much into his mouth at a time.

"Other than making fire, the only real magic I've studied is hypnotism. Makes for a great comedy routine. I heard of a wizard who once hypnotised the entire audience...that led to some pretty nasty results of course. Illusions are what I want to learn next, definitely!"

Celeste Argentos, eldest daughter of Phileas and Hylensia, begins to make the "evening rounds"- she's in some ways the puritan of the group, always more worried about things than either of her parents.  She has a very calm demeanor, never really giving orders, merely suggesting (in a way that carries a sense of "I am absolutely right about this) that this is the evening before the first show of the season, and it's probably a good thing for everyone to make sure they are ready, and get plenty of rest.

There is a company opening, and then a series of acts, some of which tell the story about the Gnomes and the cheese, and the finally.

Celeste lets Ssasha know that she has the first act.

"There's something about snakes that make people shut up, stop talking, stop eating, and pay attention," she says.  "Snakes make people focus. So you'll be first, to get everyone fixed on the stage.  After that, we just have to hold them for a while.  Both shows will be like that."

It wasn't Celeste's idea, of course.  She recounts her brief protest.

"I didn't think they'd be right for the first show, right off, like that," she says.  "Early shows get a lot of young children and I thought... snakes?  But my parents say little children love them.  They're usually right about these things."

Ssasha can tell:  Celeste is not so comfortable with the snakes.

"Right, opening, I can ask about pitcher plants in the morning. It'll be a little early for erotic dance, what with the kids, where did they want to go with it? snake charmer? Belly dance? Escape artistry? Hades, I could wear some mouse ears and a tail, and do a clowning snake charming bit trying to steal cheese guarded by Kule. Kids aren't scared if you make them laugh." Ssasha didn't seemed bother by being put first in the line up, she might commit to her roles, but she was flexible about what those roles were.

Nwofia smiled, she hoped it was a reassuring smile but she could never be sure.  "Of course children love spiders, snakes and scorpions, provided somebody is controlling them.  They know how dangerous leopards and lions are but snakes.  Well look at them.  They're like cute little dragons.  Sometimes children don't understand how dangerous animals can be."

Her blue-black skin is marked by artistic patterns of white and silver ink, drawing spirals on her flesh and it would take an expert or someone who knew her very well to notice the well healed claw marks.

Tahra and Alayna rejoin the table. Tahra asks What might be had to eat and drink?

Alayna looked like she had cried, and her hair was a bit desheveled, but she managed a smile.  She sat down, looked at her Perry, then sighed and took a sip.  "Everything here is good," she volunteered.

It is last call for the kitchen, but the food is still available.  Except the sausage.  It's gone.  Og has finished it off.

The Menu is now:

Boiled Artichoke with ham and cheese
Pickled Pork and Watercress salad
Quail Egg Salad on dark bread with Burgundian Mustard
Goose Sausage with mashed turnip, vinegar reduction
Hazelnut-Berry Bread or Rye Biscuits



Back among the wagons...

Celeste screws her face... thinking of what is best way for a snake handler to entertain children seems to take some effort for her.

"I suppose... if you had the snakes... do...or if you did with them...  interesting things?  With music?  Snake dance?  I do know Nwofia is right.  Children very much like the scary but not really scary.  Faux-Scary.  Pseudo-Scary.  That's probably why they like things like snakes. Children's performances have to be different, of course.  You'll be more free in the evening.  Lead after intermission."

Organizing the order of things is her forte.  Actual artistic suggestions, not so much.

Hazelnut bread and herbal tea, please.

Nwofia thought for a while and then smiled... "How about this Ssasha?  I met a Pannonian guy once, chap called Erwin, now he did this with cats and scorpions because he was a... wait, children are about.  Anyway, he had an entertainer's outfit, full of pockets and hiding places and he would play with the children, going from pocket to pocket trying to get children to guess which ones actually contained kittens and which contained scorpions.  He argued that until somebody actually checked, there was a baby chimaera there that was half cat and half scorpion and it was only with the introduction of a hand that made the chimaera choose one or another form."

She paused for a moment and then went on.  "Anyway you don't have any cats but you could play the game so the children think each of your pockets contain something that's half snake and half not-snake all waiting to escape.  In a way the potential not-snakes could be as scary as the snakes... especially if with sleight of hand you could'find' a snake somewhere there was a not-snake before... showing them that if they don't keep watching, snakes could be anywhere."

She grinned, "And then you can work in some standard sleight of hand tricks, to turn terror to wonder.  They'll love it."

In the Dog and Bunny...

Tahra gets her dinner.

By now, the other patrons here have it figured out.

"Oh, they're with the Show."
"Oh... Ooooohhhh, of course!"

Strangeness, and strange behavior, is often expected of performers.

With Alayna back, the Elf woman apologizes for anything they might have said that disturbed her.

"It can be hard on half-Elves," Thaina says.  "It is one reason why we advise Elves and Humans not to start families together.  It is always a path to hardship, for someone.  It is hardest of all on the Elf parent.  It brings unbearable grief, to know that you will most certainly live to see your children, and your children's children, pass from this world.  But what should have been said, what should have happened, does not matter to those here, now.  You are here now, and may you seek and find the joy in your life.  That is all anyone can do."

Alayna reached over to pat the Elf's hand.  "'Tis nothing, I thank you.  I... I just have some unhappy memories and let them catch me.  Since I know neither my mother or father, it just means I have others to know.  Thank you.  I... I truly thought that you might not think much of me, but I am grateful."

Tahra rises and curtsies toward the patrons. She sings out (mezzo-soprano):

Yes, part of the great Argentos' show
Perceptive you are, and now you know.
If you seek wonder and delight,
Please be an audience this very night.

She sits down and looks at the elves. Seeing the ones you love pass from this world is a grief, but how much more sadness is there to avoid happy love because what must be must be...and knowing that lives that might bear fruit never come into being because one denied one's true emotion?

Unawares that they were now performing to the people in the pub, Og claps wholeheartedly for Tahra, using only a bit of intimidation to ensure everyone else applauds as well. Then he rises his full height, waits for all eyes to be on him...and burps the first four letters of the alphabet before he forgets what comes after d in this language and finishes with "Urrrrp. Excuse me. Kitchen's closed but not the tap!"

His first mug hadn't even made a dent, one more would hopefully put his brain toward happier things-but he was happy to head back to the tents once the other three were. He would be even happier in four more minutes.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:30, Mon 01 Oct 2018.

Alayna giggled, both at Tahra's performance and Og's... um... vocalization.

"For we live to perform, and perform to live,
And cannot have a show,
without all of you!" She added in an fairly respectable soprano.  Then she hiccuped and giggled again, finishing her glass.

"Another for me, my friend?" she called out to Og, her past unhappiness forgotten.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:26, Tue 02 Oct 2018.

Tahra looks back and forth between her two companions. Maybe you two have had enough; we've work to do son. The herbal tea is tasty.

Og's eyes light up. "Had enough!!? I thought I was the comedic relief. Hahahaaaaa...." The laughter dies down into seriousness, he doesn't want to get into trouble with the Argentos. The drinking before shows policy, if such a thing existed, was never discussed. "Aaah, really though, if you say its time to head back I'll agree with ye. C'mon."

Og gets up and offers to help or even carry Alayna if she's really feeling drunk. He waves goodnight to anyone who's still paying attention and heads back to camp.

Tahra pays her tab and goes with Og, assuming Alayna is going also.

Alayna laughed at Og's consideration of her.  "T'would take more of this wonderful beverage, I think, to make me unable to walk!"  She stood, demonstrating, only swaying a mite.

She thanked the two Elves again, wishing them a grand night, then paid her tab to join the others.

"T'was a good night after all!" she giggled, following them out into the square.

Tahra maneuvers so Alayna is walking between Og and her.

Roll for initiative. JK.