At the TURTLEDOME!
Ata's back!
[sblock=Emral and Hadarai only]
The eladrin blatantly ignores the woman spouting at him.
Curious...
You hear people inside the tent booing and hissing inside the pavilion. Someone shouts,
"Yeah, just ignore her like you did Emral last night!"
Another person shouts an epitath comparing Hadarai to the portion of the body responsible for expelling fluid waste.
He looks around and sighs. Turning at Emral, he says: Nice performance. When you're done with that, we might as well head back to the old wizard's mansion and see if we can get some decent equipment. With this mess, acquiring useful information seems impossible to me, anyway.
"We wouldn't give it to you anyways!" shouts someone in the tent. You hear a crowd people laugh in response.
Emral struts through the hole in the wall, giving the crowd some more love. I didn't get an invite, so I decided to Crash! He laughs.
Inside, you see several risers of bleachers placed against the back of the huge tent. Lower-class individuals and families sit in them. Some wave banners. Others carry signs. Some toss confetti in the air. Others blow on horns or beat drums. Kobolds carry various foodstuffs in boxes, tossing the items to people who call out and offer a copper piece or three.
In the middle of the tent, you see forty or fifty large tables. People of means--merchants and soldiers--sit in this section with their families and friends. Monsters push small carts laden with food, beverages, and souvenirs.
On the far wall is a large bar. Beside the bar is a large chalkboard, covered with a strange mathematical table.
The crowd roars and cheers. Several continue to do that peculiar action in which they wave at you, but look towards the front of the pavilion.
People, waiting at the newly constructed side-door to the tent, rush Emral.
He points to various groupies around the room, blowing kisses at the ones with shards of the pavillion. that a girl, hey there. Why hello to you, too! Heeeey. :*
A lovely, young girl rushes up and asks for Emral's autograph. She bares the upper portion of her chest...
[sblock=diplomacy]
1d20+9=13 not too bad, I don't think.
But not too good, either.
[/sblock]
So what's this party all about? Is it for me?
As you address the crowd, you catch a glimpse of the front of the pavilion.
Smooth, white curtains--easily three or four stories tall--hang above a raised stage. You see images moving on the surfaces of the curtains. Above each curtain, you see an image of each party member. All have a smiling, eager expression, save Hadarai, who scowls.
Beside the large curtains hang smaller ones. Images move on these as well.
One of the smaller curtains shows Drivan and Marco reading books in the Daunton library. Another smaller curtain shows Vaunea and Finnian talking to Uncle Mikey in a dingy alchemist's laboratory. A third shows you, just as you are this very moment: standing in the midst of an adoring crowd. Other small curtains show the Legion of Bone in previous battles or training. A handful of curtains depict scenes from your battle with Cousin Eustace and the Origami Rats.
The large curtains...
Oh, dear!
When you look at the large curtain with your face above it, a sickening vertiginous feeling grips you, for you see an infinitely recursive image of the curtain inside the curtain inside the curtain inside the curtain...
You realize the curtain is showing what you see through your own eyes!
Drivan's shows his hands manipulating books, as he reads. Vaunea's shows the sky, as she looks outside the window in Uncle Mikey's lab. Finnian's has a close-up of Uncle Mikey, for the ranger listens intently. Hadarai's shows the Emral's backside, as the wizard stands in the hole to the pavilion, crowd thronging.
The sound is overwhelming. Not only can you hear the crowd, you can hear the crowd relayed through the curtains. The voices of those closest to you amplified. You hear the turning of pages, Uncle Mikey's confused speech... Not only do you hear the girl call for your autograph, at the same time, you hear her voice boom through the curtain!
In the center of the pavilion, floating near the ceiling, hangs a large, spiraled pole seemingly made from glowing crystal. The bottom of the pole has five red segments, the middle five yellow segments, and the top has five green segments. A dark red ball caps the base, while a transparent sphere caps the top. The segments of the pole glow brightly, almost all the way to the first green segment. However, periodic, angry red sparks occassionally dance around the pole and sometimes cause the level of light to dance downwards, only to surge back to its previous level.[/sblock]
