#cedbar climbed a ladder to chase thorne fell off and landed on the clown nose kids and that knocked them all out

[mrbingley]

Dnd Circus Campaign session six through nine(?) recap:

wow! it’s been a hot minute since an update on the circus campaign here! my bad!

this may be a long one!!! buckle in!

after trying to charm suggestion thorne into getting a clown nose put on him, tallulah the trophy wife regroups with theren the runaway and sinclair the anarchist. tallulah is followed by the children wearing clown noses who are hiding/surveilling in the forest. the oldest tails her. tallulah looks finds an opossum and puts the infant clown nose on it so the clown nose won’t die. she puts a juicy couture bracelet around the opossum’s neck and takes the opossum with her (the opossum has a stat sheet and is now her pet).

the clown nose kid keeps following tallulah. she says she knows he’s there so he comes out from sneaking and is just with her. theren and sinclair see tallulah coming up to them in starbucks with a opossum wearing a juicy couture necklace and a clown nose and a young teenage kid wearing a clown nose. they’re like “?????”.

the starbucks manager comes over to ask them to leave b/c opossums aren’t allowed in the starbucks. they get in a lil verbal scuffle. they leave.

the teenage kid pokes the opossum and the opossum bites him. he won’t go to the hospital b/c his command has been to watch/follow tallulah (a command he got from thorne through the clown nose he’s wearing). tallulah wants to go fight thorne but theren and sinclair are insistent on taking this kid to the hospital b/c he might have rabies now.

they all begrudgingly take this kid to a minute clinic.

on the way, theren and the teenage kid (now given the name chase b/c this minor npc has been dragged into their group) hit it off. they’re both teenagers and feed into each other’s teenage chaos and that results in chase trying to poke the opossum again. tallulah is flabbergasted and scolds him and tell theren to stop talking to chase b/c he’s being a bad influence. they keep talking. it’s cute.

at the clinic, they don’t know what name to write down as the guardian for the medical sheet so sinclair writes down tallulah’s name. tallulah rolls a good perception check and notices and grabs the sheet and crosses her name out and writes sinclair’s. sinclair notices and crosses that out and rewrites tallulah’s and gives it back to the receptionist before tallulah can snatch it in time.

they all sit in the waiting area.

the opossum tears out the stuffing of a chair and burrows inside of it.

they brainstorm what to name the opossum while waiting.

tallulah knows sinclair’s real first name (sinclair goes by her last name). tallulah suggests naming it tiffany to mess with sinclair (b/c that’s sinclair’s first name that she doesn’t like going by).

sinclair is furious and says no. tallulah says fine i’ll name her holly (a breakfast at tiffany’s reference that sinclair doesn’t get). sinclair says she’s calling her josslyn. so the opossum has two names depending on who is taking care of her.

tallulah has to go back with the teenage kid b/c her name is written down as the guardian. the doctor isn’t great. he’d have to kill the opossum to see if it has rabies. tallulah says no. so he can’t do much for the kid. he says he can give him a series of rabies shots to be safe but they’re expensive. tallulah is rich b/c she’s the mayor’s wife so she says fine put it on my card and they leave.

they decide to go find cedbar the fire giant to try to get him to fight on their side against thorne. cedbar is at the coal factory that is being built. tallulah rolls a nat 20 persuasion on cedbar. she explains that thorne tried to control the mayor--the man you support and have deals with--and that thorne is cedbar’s enemy and also you’ll get to see me throw more fire. cedbar agrees. he puts down the coal he was hauling says “i... will kill the thorne” and full on sprints making a beeline for the circus tent. the gang starts chasing after him. cedbar gets their first and starts yelling inside the main circus tent for thorne to come out so he can kill him. thorne comes out with his group of clown nose wearing circus performers behind him.

initiative begins!

cedbar gets a hit on thorne and gets him to 0hp in one (he is... very strong and i did not anticipate them asking him to help them and them rolling a nat 20 to persuade him!!!).

tallulah catapults up onto the tightrope platform with the help of cedbar. the teenage kid follows her (b/c they’ve helped him he gets to roll a wisdom saving throw each time it’s his turn to see if he can overcome the command he’s been given: he’ll either try to help them or keep chasing tallulah).

the tightrope platform has the same symbol as tallulah’s magic camera and the magic wand looking thing she found. she takes her camera out and takes a picture of the tightrope platform. the platform rumbles, shoots down to the floor, then into the floor, then deep deep down into what looks like an old abandoned coal mining tunnel. she sees a vision of mindel the old ringmaster in a mansion with big dark figures around her and some coal dust on her. mindel tells her she’s been captured but she’s okay and she she’s that tallulah has found both of her artifacts and that that is good. tallulah asks her what seesaw’s fortune means (the tapping the nose three times and the right cheek once). mindel rolls well and tells her it is likely directions. go straight three times then turn right. big black figures come into view and take mindel away. the platform tallulah is on rockets back up into the tent where it previously was.

theren and his rainbow dalmation blink dog flank the left (he sends spotty under the bleachers to get to the other side with full protection (a good strategic move that i was v impressed with, this player plays video games and knows how to be smart in combat so that was v cool). theren has no difficult terrain b/c he’s an acrobat so i let him climb ladders and walk tightropes with his normal movement. he gets up a ladder onto a catwalk over the bleachers. gives tallulah bardic inspiration. theren tries to see if any of the performers recognize him, specifically pogo, the tightrope walker who taught him how to tightrope walk and was his mentor. pogo doesn’t seem to have any recognition of him.

sinclair is responsible for josslyn (aka holly). she send josslyn under the right bleachers b/c her full health is 1hp and she’s not good in combat. sinclair makes a beeline for thorne and hides behind cedbar b/c she’s a halfing and he’s a giant.

thorne calls in the clown nose kids in the forest and the mother clown nose (she’s big and has give tentacles her reach is 40ft but the second story stuff (cat walk, tightrope stuff, trapeze swings) is 50 ft and out of range).

a lot of stuff happens some of it very cool some of it very silly some of it tragic but i’m gonna skip over it b/c this would be so terribly long if i didn’t.

the clown nose mother telepathically messages theren b/c she recognizes him and says “help me” (in the borrowed voices of all the ppl she’s controlling; like clipped together cuts of any/every time a person has said those words).

therens pulls the most CLUTCH and beautiful move. he casts silence on the clown nose. the clown nose can’t hear anything in this area and can’t make any noise. this cuts thorne off from being able to communicate with and therefore command the clown nose mother. so he has no control over anyone now.

pogo looks like he has fallen out of a long fog and sees theren up on the catwalk and casts jump on himself to use his entire turn to launch himself right in front of theren. pogo picks him up in a big hug and asks him why he still chooses to have a silly mullet after all this time, it wasn’t in style ten years ago and it still isn’t now. pogo asks if he’s okay and theren says yes are you and pogo says he is now thanks to theren and thanks him for saving him. the player gets emotional and says he’s actually getting a lil misty eyed. it’s all very touching!!! theren gives pogo bardic inspiration.

thorne is knocked to 0hp again (he gets healed and knocked down a couple times throughout this).

tallulah takes the gem necklace from thorne (the gem that allows him to control the mother clown nose). theren sends spotty to take the necklace from her b/c he has a plan but he doesn’t tell her what it is so tallulah doesn’t trust him and she hellish rebukes spotty the dog to stop spotty from leaving. this creates genuine character tension and player tension (i personally loved it but both the actualy players were frustrated with each other over this).

theren reveals his plan is to destroy the gem in hopes it’ll free the clown nose mother of being controlled.

the clown nose leaves the area of silence and messages sinclair “into the tunnels” and sinclair and cedbar leave to go to try to free the copper dragon (who belongs to mindel the original ringmaster) locked in a train carriage. theren follows after.

tallulah tells pogo she’s going to try to destroy the gem (theyre the only ppl left in the tent near the entrance so she just wants to tell someone). pogo nods (he’s mostly mute; only talks to the other circus performers and even then he doesn’t speak much; he talks the most with theren).

tallulah rolls a decent animal handling check and realizes if she breaks the control gem it’ll likely psychically hurt the clown nose mother or her infants or the people wearing clown noses. it doesn’t seem like it’ll be a harmless solution.

now you’re all caught up!!! they’re somewhat out of initiative and combat and want to help save the clown nose mother and get her back to her world that sinclair relays thinks is in the old train tunnel.