Use this adventure hook if you want the characters to have a strong personal investment in the story. Choose a settlement in the characters’ world near which the Witchlight Carnival will appear.
The adventure begins shortly after the Witchlight Carnival enters to the characters’ world for the first time in eight years. One or more characters might be Witchlight hands or troubadours who have spent years traveling with the carnival; the remaining party members are assumed to be visitors who remember the carnival from childhood. It’s possible for certain characters to know each other, either because they work together at the carnival or because they’re from the same settlement.
Retrieving their lost things will require the characters to explore the Feywild regions of Hither, Thither, and Yon (described in chapters 2, 3 and 4) and contend with the hags of the Hourglass Coven. The characters might be tempted to visit the Palace of Heart’s Desire as well (see chapter 5), but they can avoid this location and still accomplish their goals.
The adventure also assumes that the characters (even ones with the Witchlight hand background) have no prior knowledge of Zybilna, the Feywild domain of Prismeer, or the Hourglass Coven. None of these names should be familiar to them at the outset.