The Carnival Overview, Noteworthy Features & Settlements and Sites
Wandering Domain of Wonders
Darklord. @Nepenthe
Genres. Body Horror and Dark Fantasy
Hallmarks. Entertainment, fey bargains, misfits, wandering exiles
Mist Talismans. Carnival flier, colorful ticket, strange prize from a Carnival game
Resplendent with bright banners, calliope music, and the smells of rich food, @The Carnival promises visitors a surreal wonderland where any dream is possible.
Garish fliers appear before @The Carnival's arrival, promising marvels, terrors, and a brief escape from the gloom of daily life. But nothing in the Land of @The Mists is beyond suspicion, and the wise know strangers are intrinsically dangerous.
@The Carnival doesn't exist to entertain its visitors. Rather, it's a traveling domain, capable of visiting other domains and lands beyond @The Mists. Visibly marked as outsiders by birth, circumstance, intention, or talent, the Carnival's troupers trade their unique performances for coin and whatever else they need to survive. Although these entertainers are well intentioned, sinister forces travel in their wake. The longer the Carnival tarries in one place, the greater the threat to the performers and visitors. So the Carnival travels constantly, lest the troupers endanger the lands they visit.
Noteworthy Features
Those familiar with @The Carnival know the following facts:
Fliers advertising @The Carnival's impending arrival appear mysteriously in communities before it appears. The Carnival doesn't contribute to their production or distribution.
Two silver pieces buy a ticket to @The Carnival, while the @Big Top's shows, the @Hall of Horrors, and @Sideshows have their own entry fees.
@The Carnival wanders endlessly, never staying anywhere for more than a few weeks. Most settlements welcome this traveling diversion, but tragedies follow its path.
Merchants unaffiliated with @The Carnival follow its travels and set up shop alongside it. Known as the @Litwick Market, this collection of tents and booths is filled with strange vendors and stranger goods.
Those seeking an escape from a place or their current lives can join @The Carnival. As long as travelers are willing to work and contribute to the community, they're welcome to stay as long as they like.
Carnival Characters
When creating characters from @The Carnival, consider the following questions.
What sets them apart from their birth family? Do they have a unique talent or inborn ability? Do they display a physical difference? Do they carry a curse or blessing? How do they feel about their differences?
Do they perform? Have they devised a way to profit from their circumstances? Are they proud of their performances? Do they have a show mentor or partner? Or do they earn their way in @The Carnival as a laborer, as a vendor, or in another role?
How did they join @The Carnival? Did they run away to join? Were they an outcast who found a home with the Carnival? Did @Isolde or a trouper save them from danger?
Settlements and Sites
This small domain encompasses only a few hundred square yards. A handful of horses and exotic pack animals transport @The Carnival's two dozen wagons from site to site.
One of @The Carnival's oldest performers, @Hermos the Half-Giant, handles the Carnival's day-to-day operations. Hermos is a mountain of muscle half again as tall as most @Human adults. His deliberate manner and coolheaded demeanor earn him the respect of the Carnival's troupers. Other senior or charismatic figures hold influence over cliquish groups of performers, but few dare openly contradict Hermos since he's favored by the Carnival's leader, @Isolde.
@The Carnival's arrangement varies depending on where it sets up, but always includes a thoroughfare of games, food, and sideshow stalls leading from the ticketing gate to the Big Top.
@Big Top
Standing at @The Carnival's center is the @Big Top, its largest tent. The Big Top houses spectacular shows, from acrobats and displays of magic to beloved plays. Three coppers buy a visitor admittance for as long as they like, with performances of varying quality running from sunrise until midnight.
@Sideshows
Lurid banners with exaggerated art and the calls of barkers advertise @The Carnival's unusual performers. For 2 copper pieces, visitors enter a tent and watch a performer's show. The Carnival's best-known attractions include the following troupers (along with the stat blocks they use in combat):
@Tindal the Barker. Tindal, @The Carnival's cynical, fast-talking lead barker (@Tindal the Barker), tours the grounds with visitors. At their last stop, he reveals his own uniqueness as the Amazing Soul-less Man: he casts no reflection and claims to lack a soul.
@Alti the Werehare. A quick-tongued rapper and dancer, Alti (@Alti the Werehare) is a bombastic performer who turns into a rabbit on nights of the full moon.
@Amelia the Vampire. Amelia (@Amelia the Vampire) is a cheery acrobat aided in her performances by a pair of leathery wings that allows her to fly. Before stepping on stage, she powders her face, affects a somber accent, and pretends to be undead.
@Charlotte the Fire Eater. This juggling daredevil (@Charlotte the Fire Eater) performs with a dizzying array of flaming knives and other deadly objects. She claims that her blood is flammable and that she's burned the hair off eighteen hecklers.
@The Organ Grinder. This somber clown grinds an ornate barrel organ (@The Organ Grinder). An attendant group of mischievous, half-trained, not-quite-identifiable animals caper to this music. The clown never speaks but allows visitors to guess at the animals' nature for a copper piece.
@Silessa the Snake. A dancer and animal tamer, Silessa (@Silessa the Snake) performs with a collection of rare serpents. She claims she was born a snake and magically transformed into an elf.
@Hall of Horrors
A severe, bespectacled academic, @Professor Pacali runs @The Carnival's @Hall of Horrors. This sizable, sinister tent contains a maze of taxidermic creatures, cabinets of curiosity, peculiar specimens in jars, and the occasional true wonder. Pacali hides a personal unsettling secret. During his time as a researcher at the Brautslava Institute in Darkon, Pacali was cursed: his worst impulses now grow from his body as terrible creatures. He bottles these murderous homunculi and touts them as "Professor Pacali's Pickled Punks," but every now and then one "escapes." Pacali persistently criticizes @Hermos the Half-Giant and @Isolde, but rarely acts against them directly.
@Litwick Market
@The Carnival doesn't travel alone. Wherever it goes, @Fey creatures chase after it, appearing on the Carnival's outskirts as mysterious merchants selling dangerous enigmas and Mist talismans. They peddle lost memories or love potions for peculiar prices, such as the buyer's dreams or ability to speak vowels. Gradually, more dangerous fey arrive—creatures who delight in sabotaging performances or nearby settlements. These tricks and accidents grow increasingly dangerous, potentially culminating in disasters for which the Carnival's troupers ultimately take the blame. All these fey hold a grudge against the Carnival. They light their stalls with eerie colored lanterns and call themselves the Litwick Mark