Nov 24, 2025
Witchlight Carnival Shenanigans
Nov 24, 2025
Witchlight Carnival Shenanigans
*Fey Carnival Noises*
*Fey Carnival Noises*
Yesterday I had my friends over for our next D&D sesh. We got off to a bit of a later start since half of the party got stuck behind the Santa Claus parade on the way over. Turns out that Santa's a big enough draw to clog public transit pretty bad! Once we all got situated, we spent a good bit of time chatting and having snacks we all brought/made. I made some pesto pinwheels which I thought came out pretty tasty (they did not last very long, haha). After we had our fill, we got back to the carnival.
We started off with the Big Top Extravaganza, which was last session's semi-cliffhanger. At the show, the party was treated to a fun circus show, with a bunch of fun performers and circus acts. During the commotion, Red (the ranger) decided to try to sneak into the Staff Area by sneaking past the guards and slipping through the brambles. Unfortunately for him, the brambles were a bit too thick, and he set off some alarm flowers. He did manage to escape before the guards caught him though! Back at the big top, Bramblewine (the bard) joined the show, putting on a spectacular lyre performance thanks to a timely nat 20 performance check. This got them an invite to the staff area from Mister Light (the big-top ring leader).
They were lead to the Staff Area by Burly, a philosophical bugbear wearing a jack-o-lantern as a mask. Once inside past the thorns, they had a meeting with Mister Witch and Mister Light, the leaders of the carnival as a thank-you for really getting the carnival's spirits up. They inquired about their various lost things, but were unable to get much out of the Misters for leads in that direction. They did get a lead on a kenku that was causing mischief and trouble throughout the carnival, and it was implied that they'd be rewarded if they could apprehend the ne'er-do-well. They also learned a bunch of history about the carnival too. After the meeting, some of them got balloon animals from a grumpy-looking but talented clown, and had a chat with Burly on the way out. It turned out that Burly felt that there was something amiss at the carnival lately, and that if the party could get some leverage over Mister Witch and Mister Light by "borrowing" Mister Witch's pocketwatch, they'd be able to learn more. So, the party set off to see if they could gather some allies to help out in a heist during the evening's final ceremony: The Crowning of the Witchlight Monarch.
They decided to head over to the lake to see if they could recruit the mermaid Palasha to their cause. When they got to the lake, she was doing one of her beautiful performances, but there was a heckler with a smooth voice somewhere in the crowd! Snuffy (the barbarian) was able to track down the heckler and confront them, but the heckler immediately made a break for it. Hemlock (the wizard) was able to chase them down successfully, and discovered it was the aforementioned kenku! After talking to the kenku, they convinced her that they were investigating the carnival for their own reasons, and were able to recruit her as a helper for the heist. It turned out that the kenku was a warlock who's fey patron had suddenly gone silent, and she was investigating the carnival for clues while having a great time being a general nuisance. She heard Mister Witch and Light having a private conversation that the carnival was in trouble, and she wanted to learn more if the party could help her. The kenku (named Kettlesteam) also agreed to return Candlefoot's (the mime) voice to him, in exchange for her freedom.
The party then dragged Kettlesteam back to the Hall of Illusions to apologize to Candlefoot for stealing his voice. After returning his voice, Candlefoot was very very happy, and so taught the party some basic improv skills as a reward, and said he'd do whatever he could to assist in their scheme to borrow Mister Witch's pocketwatch. (I had a great time giving Candlefoot a really suave voice). The party released Kettlesteam with an agreement that they'd meet back up in time for the Crowning of the Witchlight Monarch at the end of the night. With a few hours until then, the party decided to check out the remaining carnival attractions they hadn't visited yet.
The party went to see the calliope which was making all the great carnival music for the carnival and found it being operated by a monkey with a cape full of assorted buttons, and a goblin asking carnival-goers for more buttons for the cape. Hemlock and Bramblewine both donated some buttons to the cause. Red tried to find a spare button another carnival-goer wouldn't miss, but barely failed. Snuffy didn't want to give up any buttons. Next, they went to the Gondola Swans and on the way saw Candlefoot successfully propose to Palasha the mermaid! This raised the number of successful marriage proposals in the same night to 2! (Kind of a 2 nickles situation). The gondola swan they rode with around the carnival grounds was named Feathereen, and she was a mixture of philosophical and gossipy. From her, they learned that a few of the party had pretty good debate chops, and that Burly the bugbear's brother had recently gone missing. Next, they went to ride on some dragonflies around the carnival grounds and saved another rider who's dragonfly got spooked from falling off. They noticed in the crowd that it was probably Kettlesteam that spooked the dragonfly (what a troublemaker!).
Finally, they visited the carousel, which was being run by a centaur that had previously been a human until a deal gone bad with some hags that she was magically bound not to speak of.They convinced her to let them help, and she gave them some paint to help spruce up some of the carousel unicorn cars. After solving some word-puzzles on the unicorns, they learned the location of their lost items! It turned out that their lost items were now held by a trio of Hags in the feywild realm of Prismeer! Finally a lead! This was just about all the time the party had till the Crowning, so they next assembled outside the big top to go over their plan one last time. That's where we ran out of time in the night in real life too, so that's where we ended up calling it till next time.
I had a fun time running this session! I'm glad to see that the plot is starting to pick up a bit, and that there's going to be a bit of action in the next one. I always enjoy running heists, and I think the party's gonna have a fun time seeing what unfolds. We're moving into the holiday season a bit now, so hopefully we can find some time soonish for the next session, but I know that everyone's gonna get pretty busy, so fingers crossed!