Witchlight Part 2: Big Top Extravaganza

Date: May 9, 2026

Characters present

• Farvex Dusk: human warlock
• Lionidas: leonin monk
• Philomena Gainsborough: satyr/centaur wizard
• Shadow Claw: tabaxi cleric
• Johan Andersson: elf druid

Character level: 1

It was time for a circus. Not just any circus—it was the Big Top Extravaganza. What was so special about that, you wonder? Well, so did the party, so they went over to the huge circus tent at the back of the carnival and waited in line. As they did, they were approached by the handsomest elf they’d ever laid eyes upon. He had long, flowing red hair. His face carried all the features of a professional model, and a good one at that. His clothes were simple farmer clothes, but they were clean and fit perfectly. On anyone else they might’ve looked cheap, but on him they came across as effortlessly fashionable. He also wore a cloak that billowed like an ocean wave, despite the lack of wind. Just for fun, the party all rolled wisdom saving throws to see if they were spellbound by him. Most of them failed, and stood staring at the beautiful elf. The spell was broken, however, as soon as he opened his mouth. He spoke with the most backwater country bumpkin accent they’d ever heard. The group let out a collective sigh. The charm was gone.

He introduced himself as Johan Andersson, a druid. He’d been delayed, but had eventually made his way to Madryck Roslof after receiving the invitation like the others. Now he’d finally found the carnival and caught up with the group. He’d brought a sack of potatoes. After their introductions, the line finally began to move and the party found their way into the tent. They took their seats on the front row.

As the bustle of the crowd died down and everyone was seated, a spotlight appeared as Mr. Light entered the ring. He was a pale shadar-kai elf dressed as a jester. After welcoming the crowd and getting them excited for the entertainment to come, he introduced the circus’ first act: a goblin juggler. The goblin came into the ring to a roar of applause, bowed, and began to juggle. First with three balls. Then another. Then another. And another. Once he was juggling about ten balls at the same time, he began encouraging the audience to throw more things at him to juggle. Johan threw a potato. Vex threw a Weird Al CD¹. The goblin juggled them with little difficulty, along with several other items from the crowd. After a while, he began throwing the items back. He threw the CD at Lionidas who, being blind, failed to catch it. It struck him right in the forehead.

The next circus act was a magician, also a goblin. Apparently, his brother was supposed to be there, but had fallen ill. This goblin was sweating profusely and greeted the crowd with a face that said what am I doing here oh man oh no. He needed a volunteer for his magic trick, and Philomena was the first to raise her hand. The goblin’s stage fright rose to new heights when he saw that she was sitting next to Vex, a fellow magician whom he recognized. Vex thought he could do it better, and the goblin knew it. When Philomena walked up to the goblin, he asked her if she could do magic, because he most certainly could not. Fortunately she was a wizard, and she did a fine job of sawing the goblin in half, somehow using only Prestidigitation. It was unclear if she used magic to make it look like she sawed him in half, or if she actually did saw him in half and used magic to make it look like he was fine. Either way, the crowd was amazed.

Next up was a bugbear named Burley. The group knew of him already—they’d heard from the swan at the lake that he had a brother, Hurley, who disappeared some time ago. Burley was as his name suggested, and he lifted massive weights with ease. He even invited the party down to the ring to sit on a bench, which he lifted and spun around in the air. After Burley, a group of acrobats performed daring stunts in the air. Near the end of their routine, one of them fell. The crowd gasped, but Vex quickly cast Feather Fall as Burley ran to catch the acrobat.

After that incident, Mr. Light invited the audience to participate in the circus. The whole party eagerly volunteered. Mr. Light asked the group what they called themselves, and when no one answered, Vex blurted out “The Beatles”². Johan threw berries into the ring, and made them grow into tall plants with his druid magic. Philomena did something. Shadow summoned a illusory clone of himself, and the pair performed a beautiful dance around the ring. Lionidas got strapped to a giant rotating target by a clown who tightened the restraints just a little too tight, smiling all the while. Vex threw razor-sharp cards at the target as it spun, and didn’t hit Lionidas a single time. It was especially impressive to the audience that Lionidas didn’t flinch a single time. Of course, they didn’t know he was blind. The audience was amazed by it all, and Mr. Light could’ve changed his name to Mr. Delight. As the Beatles returned to their seats, Vex whispered to Mr. Light that they needed to talk. He didn’t react.

The final act was a mime and a mermaid performing a musical act. It was every bit as great as the other acts, and after the circus, the mood at the carnival was as good as it could possibly get. When the party exited the tent, they met Burley who asked them to follow him. The party agreed, and were taken to a tall hedgerow behind the circus tent. As Burley approached, a path opened in the hedge, letting the group into the carnival’s staff area. The hedge surrounded a circle of circus wagons. Burley brought the group to the most decorated and fanciest of all the carts, inside of which Mr. Light and Mr. Witch sat waiting for them.

Mr. Light was still in his jester costume. Mr. Witch was a heavyset elf with a top hat and a large coat. His face was grim and he did not speak. Mr. Light welcomed them, thanked them for their performances and Vex’s saving of the acrobat, and asked what they wanted. This was the party’s chance to ask for their lost things back. Vex began a dramatic monologue about how as a young, aspiring magician, he wanted nothing more than to see the magic of the Witchlight Carnival, and how sorry he was for sneaking in, and what amazing things he’d be able to do if they gave him his ability to create new magic tricks back. The two elves looked at each other with concern. Then Mr. Light turned to the party with a look of pity.

“Have you all lost some part of yourselves here?” he asked. The Beatles nodded. “I’m afraid we can’t help you. We’re not the ones responsible, there are others—”

“You mean the Hourglass Coven?” guessed Vex. Mr. Light’s expression turned to fear.

“Sorry, you have to leave now. We can’t help you,” he said. Vex used his magic to respond telepathically:

“Perhaps you can’t talk about it, but can you think about it?

“Burley!” exclaimed Mr. Light. The bugbear, who had been waiting just outside, opened the door and escorted the group out of the wagon. He brought them back toward the hedge. But just as they approached it, he turned and brought them behind another circus wagon.

“I overheard your conversation,” he said. “There’s something going on with the carnival, and Mr. Witch and Mr. Light won’t talk about it.”

“Yes, we heard that your brother, Hurley, had gone missing,” said Vex. “And Darla, the displacer beast, had lost her kitten as well.”

“Indeed,” said Burley. “Many bad and strange things have been happening lately. I think you can help. I think Mr. Witch and Mr. Light know a great deal more about it than they let on, but they’re afraid. You’ll need to give them a very strong reason to talk. If you were to take Mr. Witch’s pocket watch—a magical device that he uses to keep the carnival running on time—he’d have no choice but to talk.”

“Alright,” said Vex. “We’ll help. But how are we going to get our hands on this pocket watch?”

“The best time to take it would be during the Big Top Extravaganza, but since that’s over, you could try during the crowning of the Witchlight Monarch in a few hours. Then he’ll be distracted. I’ll help if I can, but you can’t tell them I’m involved.”

The group discussed the plot among themselves, and got a few more details out of Burley. Mr. Witch wore the pocket watch in his pocket (no surprise there) on a chain that they’d have to cut somehow. The Witchlight Monarch was a title awarded to the visitor who had done the most to raise the spirit of the carnival. The group determined that Philomena had a good chance of winning, having not only sawed that goblin in half, but also having done whatever it was that she did while the others were dancing, throwing cards, and growing plants. They also learned that the mime and the mermaid—named Candlefoot and Palasha respectively—would be happy to assist them in their scheme. But Thaco, the clown that had tightened Lionidas’ restraints a bit too much and a bit too eagerly on the spinning target, could not be trusted.

With that, they thanked Burley and went back through the hedge to the carnival. They wanted to speak to Candlefoot and Palasha and make sure they were ready to help if needed. On the way to the lake where Palasha the mermaid could be found, they ran into the talking tree again. It gave the group some dandelions and told them to make a wish. We got to write down our characters’ wishes on a piece of paper and hand them to the DM. I thought that wishing for what our characters had lost eight years ago was a bit obvious, so I went with what Vex wanted most at that very moment, and wrote down four muffins (blueberry). The wishes weren’t immediately fulfilled, and we didn’t get to know their significance, or even if they had any. Then the Beatles entered a poetry contest, and did pretty well. Vex won a unicorn horn filled with candy.

At the lake, Palasha the mermaid was singing an enchantingly beautiful song, much like she’d done during the circus. But this time, someone was booing. It was Kettlesteam, the kenku who had previously been trying to disrupt the circus by pissing off dragonflies. Others joined in on the booing, and the excitement that hung in the air all around was noticeably dampened. Palasha began to cry and swam away. The group dashed toward Kettlesteam, who fled. Johan waved his hands, and ensnaring vines erupted from the ground, grabbing Kettlesteam’s feet. Vex told Kettlesteam to quit her shenanigans, and the group told her what they’d learned and let her in on the plan to steal Mr. Witch’s pocket watch. Kettlesteam was dismayed to learn that what she had been trying to accomplish for quite some time, the Beatles had done in a few hours. Still, she agreed to help if she could.

The group guessed that Palasha had swum down a river connecting the lake to the area just behind a place called the Hall of Illusions, where Candlefoot usually was, according to Burley. It was a maze of mirrors, and outside stood a display case with a puppet of the famous witch Tasha. Just before the door were two halflings, one down on one knee with a ring in hand. The other halfling fell onto the ground and began laughing uncontrollably. The halfling with the ring was devastated, and ran into the Hall of Illusions with tears streaming down his face. The party approached the other halfling, who was rolling on the ground with laughter, and found themselves involuntarily doing the same thing as soon as they went close enough to the puppet. Eventually they all calmed down and stood back up. Clearly the timing of the puppet’s laughing charm had been very poor, and now the halflings’ relationship was in jeopardy because of a simple, magical misunderstanding. The Beatles offered to go inside and fetch the other halfling, whose name was Rubin.

Inside was a bunch of mirrors, to no one’s surprise. As they explored the maze, they found mirrors showing themselves at different ages. Philomena looked long into a mirror showing her as a centaur in her youth. Eventually, they found Rubin. He was looking into a mirror, and he saw in it a child wearing a pig mask. It disappeared when the party arrived, and Rubin said nothing about it. The party and explained that Ween, his girlfriend, didn’t actually find his proposal hilarious and that it was just a spell. He was relieved to hear this, and they brought him out. As it turned out, Ween actually did want to marry Rubin.

And that’s all we had time for!