Chapter 1: Witchlight Carnival

[ManWithDoor]

Carousel

A procession of wooden unicorns stands motionless on a circular wooden platform. Fairgoers clamber onto the unicorns' backs, and a female centaur sets the ride in motion. The unicorns shake their manes and creak to life, cantering around the carousel to the delight of their riders.

Despite already working at the circus, Jack notices for the first time that Diana Cloppington doesn't look quite like a normal centaur. He isn't sure what is making him think that, just that it is tickling his mind that something is off about her appearance. Looking back, he realizes that she's always looked weird for a centaur, but he just never noticed before.

[RorytheRomulan]

"You guys go ahead and say hello to Ms. Diana first, if you want," Quill says. "I'll get a head start on the carousel ride." Quill takes her place among the folks queuing up for rides and waits her turn, hoping to get on a wooden unicorn and listen closely for as long as she can.

Action

Perception in advance to listen to my ride... and I got 5.

[Muskrat]

Shiloh, eager to learn whatever secrets the carnival might be hiding, joins Quill on the carousel. She climbs onto one of the wooden unicorns and leans forward, whispering to it, "I hear you sometimes share secrets. Can you tell me how to regain the memories of my home that were taken from me here? If you do, I'll write a song about you."

Action

Persuasion 5: https://orokos.com/roll/975737: 1d20+5: 18 [1d20=13].

[Bohemond]

"Diana!" Jack says with his customary flourishing bow. "How has the carnival treated you on this far night? These are my friends. One of them is under strict rules regarding her name, so I daren't speak it without approval." The Harengon asks, a little more quietly, "Have you noticed anyone trying to remain out of view?"

[ManWithDoor]

Unicorns

The carousel's eight unicorns ride in pairs. Shiloh and Quill see that each unicorn wears a name tag on its bridle. Some of the names are legible, while other name tags are worn and indecipherable. As they ride, they don't hear any whispering or other noises coming from the wooden mounts.

Shiloh's first unicorn has a complete name tag written as Fortune, while it's pair only has the first letter as legible and the rest unclear, so all they can see is B _ _ _.

Quill's first unicorn has a name of Fall, while it's pair is PR _ _ _.

They have not yet examined the other two pairs of unicorns, but they assume that a similar pairing is going on with the rest too.


Diana

The centaur is happy to see Jack, greeting him with enthusiasm. "Great to see you're making new friends! I've seen that happen to other people as well, resulting in them dancing, or singing, or gifting flowers. Almost always harmless fun, but I'm sure they could get tired of it quick." She gives him a wide smile.

In response to his question, she looks puzzled. "I haven't seen anyone skulking in corners, theatrically swirling a black cloak or something."

[RorytheRomulan]

"Hmm. Hello, Fall. You've got a name. But what about you? I can't read your tag." Quill says to her new unalive animal friends (how very sad). "Let me guess... Prune? Prawn? Prose. Uh, Prick? Prince--no, too many letters. Press?" She looks for something to press on, pushing the horse's nameplate, nose, eye, in the ear... then tries pushing firmly, wondering if something might give way to pressure.

action

Perception to notice the indentations of the script that the names were written in, or carved? If allowed, Intelligence check for the horse's name. I'm also poking it for some kind of response. If nothing works, I'm thinking of asking Diana.

[Muskrat]

Shiloh peers at the unicorn's name plate. "And who are you? Fortune Bold?" She turns to Quill and says, "Do you think their names go together in some way? So they complement each other in meaning?"

[RorytheRomulan]

Quill turns away from poking the ride. "Hey, that could work, I hope. So, if Fortune favors 'Bold', then Fall... Pride comes before the Fall? Or, maybe not in this case." She turns and whispers her new guess to her unicorn pair: Fall and Pride.

[ManWithDoor]

Quill and Shiloh have swiftly seen the commonly used proverbs that went into the naming convention of the two unicorn pairs they examined. As Shiloh says 'Bold' and Quill declares 'Pride', the faded and scarred nameplates clean up right before their eyes, and the revealed names shown. The wooden mounts slightly animate on their own, whinnying softly and shifting in place. But no big revelations are given.

Two additional pairs remain.
- Stone is matched with M _ _ S.
- Stitch is matched with _ _ N _.

[Bohemond]

"Moss and nine! Moss and nine!" Jack proclaims, bouncing around excitedly. In his excitement, he takes Diana's hands in his own and begins dancing in a waltz, having to hop in time to at least briefly stay at equal height with his taller impromptu dance partner.