7.1 : The illusionist

Night 7. Pies... 0. Destiny thinks she’s dying. Hoskgak looks like he’s dying. Serenity is definitely dying. Watch... is fine.

“Of course you’re fine, you ate ALL our pies!” Destiny grunted at Watch. It’s night time, which means she managed to survive her first day without eating any pies... well, survived is an over-statement. All she felt the whole day was her life and powers being slowly drained away with every passing hour without eating those children... er, no, pies. Keep going like this and she will surely be dead by the morning, two mornings at most!

“Stay strong little cat. Just cold chicken. Sweat and you’ll be fine.” Hoskgak said from across the table. He looks even worst than Destiny and for most of the day could barely walk unaided. The resourceful warrior that he is, he is now using his great sword as a walking stick.

“Or...” Watch suggested with a sly smile, “eat a pie and you’ll be fine. The windmill is only half a day away, I can fly th...”

Destiny snapped her fingers and the Imp vanished.

“That’ll teach him for being annoying.” Destiny said in triumph, more to herself than to Hoskgak

“Serenity, how are you feeling? Are you still not able to sleep?"

“Well, I was falling asleep. Now I'm not. You've dragged me from the sanctuary of the church to talk to your carnival man. He had better be worth dying for,” Serenity replied. It is a fact that if Serenity does not find a solution to her sudden inability to sleep, she will simply die from exhaustion. By her own estimation, she will last two days at most. That has to be an exaggeration, surely you can’t die from having nightmares - Destiny assumes, wrongly.

They are sitting at a table in the Blue Water Inn waiting for the “Carnival man”. A few days back Destiny asked Danika, the innkeeper, whether the phrase “carnival man” means anything to her, to their surprise it did and has offered to make the introduction. So now they’re waiting for this person.

"This first card will tell of history. Knowledge of the ancient will help you better understand your enemy... he comes here in a carnival wagon. Therein lies what you seek.”

Those were Madam Eva’s words. It seems too easy that just by asking for “the carnival man” has lead them to find this person. Perhaps it’s just meant to be!

The door opens and a flamboyant half elf enters. He takes a glance around the room and heads straight towards Destiny.

“Greetings travellers. I hear you have been looking for me. Rictavio, at your service. I’m a travelling entertainer bringing a little bit of joy to these dreary lands... Lord knows they need it!” Rictavio says with a wide smile.

“May I?” He gestures to an empty seat.

“Yes of course!” Destiny says excitedly. “So we’ve been looking for you. You see, we are not much of a friend of the, err, Devil, is that what you call that around here?” She points in the general direction of the distant castle.

“That is how he must be referred to in Vallaki, yes.”

“Ah good, well, I know no one here is friends with him, but let’s say we’re sent there to...” Destiny could see that Serenity is giving her a warning look, perhaps she’s saying too much again.

“Anyway, doesn’t matter. Do you know Madam Eva? She is one of these Vistani Rauni. She asked us to seek out someone traveling on a carnival wagon and that this person could help us with knowledge about our enemies... like the the Devil... and... err everything else evil in this world. We’re no more an enemy of the Devil then, you know, everyone else here. We are not looking for him or anything.”

Oh god, what if he’s not the right person, am I saying too much? This is not going well!

“Well, I do sometimes travel with the carnival. And through my travels I have learnt a rather lot about beasts and other strange beings, mostly from reading books when I got bored of practicing juggling. So what can I help you with?”

He is the right person!

Destiny is about to jump in and tell Rictavio about their mission to kill the Count and just about every secret that they probably shouldn’t share with a person they’ve just met, let alone a circus entertainer whose job is probably to gather and sell gossips from travellers... but Serenity speaks first.

“I have a problem, I am tormented by night terrors. Ever since we passed the windmill on the road from the village of Barovia, my sleep is full of nightmares. Every morning I wake weaker and unrested, as if I had not slept at all. I fear in a few days I will be dead. I cannot help but feel this is connected with those three old women at the windmill, there was something about the way she looked at me when I would not eat those confounded pies..."

“Oh. Three old women you say?" Rictavio follows up with a couple of questions about the sleep disturbances, and then it turns out that he does know a lot about monsters.

"From what you described," he begins, "it seems you ran into a coven of hags. These are powerful creatures, especially if they are together as three. And if you are getting nightmares, then at least one of them is a night hag. They have the powers to travel in a different plane to what our eyes can see. For all we know they are listening to us right now. As a temporary measure, you can try spending the night at the Church. This should stop the nightmares. But if you want a permanent cure, you will need powerful healing magic.”

“Where could we find someone capable of such magic? Would Father Lucian possess the knowledge?” Serenity asks with hope for the first time in a long time.

“Perhaps. But even someone as generous and kind as Father Lucian will need money to pay for the work and ingredients for magic like that. And if he’s not able to, then you could always try the abbot in Krezk."

“I am uncertain I will live long enough to ask, but tonight I will seek sanctuary at St Andral's”

Destiny goes on to ask about their pie addiction but her mind is distracted as Rictavio answers. Instead she's thinking of something else that Madam Eva said.

“The Illusionist. A man is not what he seems...”

Time for another question, thinks Destiny.

“Rictavio, where is this carnival group you’re traveling with? You know, just in case we need to find you for more questions in the future."

“Oh, there’s no need for you to come find me, just ask Danika next time you want to meet and she’ll pass me the message. I’ll come to you instead. So, what else can I help you with?”

“Actually Rictavio, I'm rather tired. I shall leave you here with my companions and head up to my room. Have a wonderful evening!”

Once inside her room, she closes the door and clicks her fingers.

Watch appears “... what just happened? Did you just dismiss me without even telling me first? You know that’s rude, right?”

“Hey Watch, look, sorry, but look I need you to do something. There’s a half-elf downstairs talking to Hoskgak and Serenity, become invisible and follow him out of the inn to his home. I want to know where he is staying.”

***

Rictavio patiently waits until his new acquaintances have left the inn for a few minutes before making his way to the door himself.

Watch follows, invisible.

Rictavio heads out the door, and towards the main path, and pauses there. He looks around, then circle around the building to a back door into the Blue Water Inn. Stops, looks around again, then opens the door back into the inn.

Destiny sees all these things through Watch's eyes. An illusionist indeed.

Watch flies back through the window as Destiny readies herself to bed.

“So mistress, you are really sure that you don’t want me to go get these pies? If you don’t want them, would you at least allow me to get some?” Destiny narrows her eyes at Watch and put her fingers together.

“Oh no no, mistress, don’t do that, I’ll keep quiet, I won’t talk about pies, I...” and Watch disappears.

Destiny reflects on what the illusionist said about curing the pie addiction. She should have paid a bit more attention just now. It was something about a kind of lesser healing magic. What her and Hoskgak are suffering from doesn't seem nearly as severe as Serenity's night hag problem.

Wait, doesn’t she know healing magic now? Yes, something called... Lesser Restoration.

She casts the magic on herself and... while she is not completely better, she no longer has a craving for pies and there's definitely an improvement. She no longer feels her strength fading.

Yay, maybe she has found a way to beat this addiction after all!