Tales from the Promised Frontier

Episode 36: Vanished

Episode 35: Talking in Your Sleep

Episode 34: The Brave and The Bold

Episode 33: A Few Small Repairs

Episode 32: Dance of The Dead

The group and Meluquadis united, now decide to rest and give the party a chance to bandage their wounds and share a conversation about preservation of history, and the future of Kaldore before venturing deeper into the tower's undercroft levels. As they do, they find a Macabre laboratory full of experiments both undead and vampiric, as well as journals detaliing the Ooumra's first apprentice Steven; who helped him create a skeleton army to defend the labratory from any potential intruders. Decades later, Steven changes his name to Rol'Gam Mal'Tome and leaves with the skeleton army, kicking off a vampire and lich rivalry that apparently continuted until the tower was abandonded by Ooumra. Then, the group is attacked by a troll covered in a living acid and a shock zombie, before encountering Lucius, a vampire who apparently has been kept alive by a torturus machine to determine exactly how long a vampire could survive on a minimal, recycled blood supply. Lucius, mad from the years of solitutde barely remembers his name, or why he's here, he remembers Meluaquadis face, as someone who brought him   After telling a cutting, pertinent story to Lucius Meluquadis puts him out of his misery with a single shot from his silvered needle.   reading on in the journals of Ooumra, Apollo discovers the writings reveal another wing below a "creationarium" in which Ooumra will simply make his own help instead of relying on another wishy washy human like Steven.

Episode 30: In the Tower of The Bird Lord

The group clashes with a violent group of vile abberations called Mind Spider's a strange voice called them his creations; Dartanius proved to be stronger and braver than the group gave him credit for originally, with him helping to slay the last of the vile creatures after they demonstrated their mind biting ability and pysonic web attacks. After clearing the tower of the creatures, the group journied deeper into the keep whwere they discoverd this tower was built by a wizard called Ooumra, a being older than Kaldore or Andrim, and had some traces back to the start of elven history; this elder magus did a decent job of documenting his long and storied history, given a mission from the Elder Hand isles to go to the blooming continent of Kaldore and help the people there, and be a sort of elven ambassador to them as the continent grew; but as Old Kaldora aged and the years passed, even the slow aging elf began to grow weiry and desperate, he turned to the occult then became among the first of the ilk of Caine, a vampire.   as the group pressed further into the keep, they discover the Occultarium, a place of great magical value and researc of demonic and devilish entities. But they also find, Meluquadis the bird lord, who warns them of a grave peril, the reason he has called them here, a dire threat forming north and east of kaldore, a city not being built by men. The group agree to help Meluquadis escape the keep and journey deeper

Episode 29: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Orund

The group, with the help of the vultures of The Bird Lord, find the magical hot air balloon created by Marvin Moonspinner and they use it to travel from glimmbershade to his tower, where he has been trapped for an unknown amount of time; at which point they meet Dartanius, a goblin who has seemingly not gone much further than the tower for most of his life. He helps gets them inside before they realize much more time has passed than they first thought and as such, they will have to deal with traps and possibly creatures in the coming floors ahead; they are ambushed by Mind Spiders

Episode 28: Go with the Flow

The group deals with the aftermath of the battle against the black court; Lysander is back on the vamp blood and the scholar has been incapciatated

Episode 27: No Church in The Wild

The group goes to battle with the black court forces of the viceroy; Gale leads the charge as the group engages, unprepared but still able to hold their own. The Vamps however, pincer the back end of the caravan, trapping the employees of the carnival between their forces and the battle; the players are able to spread the vampires and protect most of the innocents, but not without the loss of Voren Maul; slain by Rozada   Apollo injured, and most of the group on their last leg, Gale invokes the right of negotiation and opens himself to the influence of the inferni, there he meets Mr. Ten; a ghastly figure in formal suit representing himself as a negioator of his own freedom. Gale agrees to a simple, but small deal; in exchange for the power for the rest of the carnival workers to live, Mr. Ten will pull Gale back for a conversation at a point of his choosing. Gale returns with Lysanders hellion pistol empowered with rounds that seem cursed even to undeath itself.   as the group is surrounded, Rozada grips gale and apollo, ready to rend their flesh he says "No one is coming to save you" to which the ringing sound of thunder, and the Institute Agent Lysander Volgun returning to action, empowered by White Court vamp blood. Gale manages to finish off Rozada with these magic bullets, causing Phillipe and his guards to escape along with a few spawn. Their human thralls and their own losses scattered about.

Episoe 26: The Dead of Night

The group performs a final show at the behest of the audience of the Blessed City, who eagerly line up to anticpate the evenings affair, after being beaten down by the vamps and Bugz being up all night partying with said vamps, The group has an above average, but by their own stanards not great performance; Apollo considers adding strenght into his routine at the Behest of Contraious The Gray, a new automated mentoring system that was automatically activated upon Billy's supposed death at the hands of Lemoyne Robertson.   After the show, Halle and the group meets Faedra and Kalyn who Bugz agrees to transport; Kalyn unwittingly informs the group that Mordecai Chartreuse may be a white court vamp.   The Reverend Judge forms a coalition of miltartus to forcibly vacate the market and declares martial law, he warns the carnival employees that the rules have now changed, that their three days of mercy and grace are over, and that he as leader of the church of thorne will take a new title, the Arbiter of Thorne.   He sends them back out into the frontier to warn the reclaimers that the age of degenercay is nigh over and that a holy crusade is coming to baptize the holy lands with fire, less they all repent   The group vacataes the holy city, alexi joins the group as their resident preist of thorne as well as a new sideshow attraction; That night, as the carnival caravan sleeps, Vampires led by Phillipe and Count Rozada crash down with black fury upon the carvan; a conflict in which they demand lysander or the entire companies death.

Episode 25: Deep in My Artieries.

The Group, returning from their excursion to the Vampire Masquerade ball the group meets two Kai'Maanan snorklers hunting lobsters in the shallow coral; Haku and Murray who inform them troubles in the city putting guards on alert at the gates, not having the favor or company of the White Court on the return, the group takes a bag of lobsters from Haku as a gift and uses them as a cover story to get back into the city, succesfully tricking the guards into letting them back inside the pass into the holy city; The Market of Patience is eerily dead as the group returns just before dawn, meanwhile Bugs leaves the party with Faedra and the white court, both parties return to the carnival some beaten but all exhausted.   Halle finds the "body" of Billy Midnight stabbed dozens of times by Lemoyne under Halle's orders to take the artifact, discovering Billy was in the process of taking it back per Bugz wishes. Imiraz revives Billy and chooses not to offer Halle the coin instead keeps Midnght alive and agrees to reward Halle should she bring pain or revenge upon the person who disturbed the Vessel, Halle leaves Billy unconcious but seemingly healing in her trailer and the next morning the group reunites and gives their accounts of the party and the events of the night, Halle is upfront about Wargs identiy at the very least but doesnt offer much beyond that. Bugz gives the group the news about Lysander's son, the Viceroy and the nature of the new pact between the courts. Deciding this threat is more pressing then any offered by the church currently, the group agree the Institute needs to be informed about the new rules.   Lysander, returned to his bed, is still under the symptoms of Ghoul Withdrawl under the watchful eye of Apollo   The group hears from the other carnies that Kezza, one of the dancers has gone missing after taking a client at the late show; the group seeks out Billy Midnight to track down the girl.   The grou consults Billy who tells them all about the nature of his powers to the best of his abilities; the group agrees that theyll do one last show and get out of the Holy City as soon as possible. Billy agrees to find Kezza.   The Blessed City and its sweltering summer heat continues to beat down on the Moonspinner Truope as they prepare for night 3 and their eventual evacuation.

Episode 24: Damn These Vampires

Lemoyne Robertson, revealed to be Warg; is freed from his capture and torture, apparently at the hands of Darkstar itself; Sameer was able to communicate before Lemoyne got to him, but not with the church of Thorne, he chose to reach out to Darkstar in an attempt to burn Warg and Halle, with no witnesses alive and an entire darkstar chapter massacred, Lechance has taken matters into his own hands, hunting down Halle and the Artifact with his elite squad of Savatiers. Halle elects to free Warg and employees him to steal the artifact back from her and burn her trailer down in the process so she can pin it on someone else while away at the Vampire Ball. He ask her to leave the mask and things that mark him as a darkstar agent in a drop in a willow tree outside the gate of the city; Halle orders his compliance, his silence and to return to her after he has the artifact.   The group awakens from their first successful show in the market of Patience; feeling the pressures of the close quarters of the city, they find the tensions arise again at breakfast as the group presses Halle for more information; Halle informs them Lemoyne was Warg, vindicating Bugs long withstanding suspicion of his vibes. The group argues a bit about what to do with the artifact while undertaking a mission for the white court, energy vampires. Eventually settling on leaving it in Halle's trailer, not wanting to trust it to even the Management.   They collect S'vreena and take her to Madame Vakara's Estoerium; there she under takes a reading for the mysterious being, and she gifts S'vreena her own deck of cards, similar to her own; S'Vreena is struck to her core by the reading and ask to leave, opting out of her planned day in the city for a return to her chambers.   Mordecai Chartreuse designs a firepogo for Halle, a unique vehicle that will allow her to spice up her act, hoping to score some brownie points with the former ring master. Halle decides to leave the fire pogo in her trailer, so she can frame Chartruese for the fire that will later take place.   The group formalize themselves, donning their new gear from the Esoterium and return to the Pass where they meet the elegant ferry set to take them to the Island keep of Roland, the Red Court Magi and host of the party. The group elects a two pronged approach, having bugs infiltrate the party as a thrall and the others infiltrate the sublevel by using the castle's outdated drainage systems to gain access to the interior keep.   The group breifly encounters some mold as well as a deadly life sucking snail in the sewer levels, but elect speed as their chosen method of avoiding conflict and outpaced the creature, clambering up into the castle's dungeon level. There, the group finds an area guarded by several vampire servitors, underlings and thralls, the group is tested without the help of bugs, but are joined by Jericho Cain, a darkstar agent undercover with the Black Court; he helps the group dispose of the vamps and tells them how to get inside, at first they negotiate giving Cain the blood emerald; but decide its not worth pissing off the white court. Gale, again passing himself off as a legitamate volgunite to a member of its order, convince him to allow him to take it if it helps him get Lysander out alive. The group finds both the emerald and Lysander, though he is drained and experiencing symptoms of withdrawls after being turned into a Ghoul; a vampire thrall juiced up on their blood, like Trelawny was to the viceroy.   The group escapes the keep, stealing a ferry and returning to the carnivals grounds, Bruse is confronted by Silas and Xorn, he inform him Silas has had another vision; and that its crucial they ride from the city and into the east, to a place where there is Moonlight and Moss on The Trees.   The others, Lysander in tow finally return to the carnival gates.

Episode 23: Nails For Breakfast, Tacks for Snacks

The group awakens and while the carnival workers move into the market of Patience; Silas and Bruse reunite long after sunrise and its confirmed Smilesforth was a black court vampire; only the wafflemaker remained of him by breakfast. The group returns to the blessed City to run some errands and return to the Orchard; There they meet a few people they suspect to be Thralls of the vampires attending the Holy City Masquerade, including a half orc with an andrimian accent and blue drakeskin shoes and hear tale of a band playing the party they could potentially replace. Later, the group turns to the Hall of Kissers to visit their friend Alexie who agrees to attend the carnival; the group hopes to turn him into an act where he would like to continue to serve the church. There, a young girl gives a orgami bird to Apollo Crane inviting the group to Madam Vakara's Esotertica.   Madame Vakara's shop is eerily similar to the giant Confessor's void; there she ask them to bring before her a fortune teller to tell her fortune for she has taken in the ravaging miracle for over two decades, and agrees to tell the group more about the start of the church of throne, for she witnessed it first hand. She reveals a few other interesting things, namely that there is someone called The Archon beneath the Church of Eternal Light prisoner of the Reverend Judge, she seems to have intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the Church of Thorne and seems to be still a believer in the high father despite being an apparently accomplished magi and the church having a very anti magic view, generally.   The group agrees to bring S'Vreena before Madame Vakara after the first show is completed and she agrees to give them a discount on her wares and information about the archon. They head back to the carnival where Halle prepares for her last appearance as Ringmaster, for now. The group starts the show in the Blessed City with an apparent awe inspiring performance, many of the people of the holy city are completely sheltered, having never seen much sorcery or a gun most of the acts surprise the goers with ease, invoking both wonderment and on some level, fright. Halle closes the show with a high flying, death defying act with no safety net, prompting the thornites to begin praying for her safety or for their own hearts.   Billy Midnight, introduced by Harkin has an electrifying debut, and taps into some thornite imagery to finally an illicit an emotional response from the conservative crowd; The group meets with Faedra after the show and they make a plan to enter the the group on the white court ferry, there they will meet with Sire Kemoi and the others, offering to steal an artifact in exchange for safe passage into the dungeons below   Returning to their perspective tents and trailers, Halle Harkin opens a communication from Darkstar, revealing Wargs writing, traveling to the waterfront she comes across a rickety shack, inside she finds Warg bound, beaten and Tortured; she removes the Dog Faced Mask to reveal the face of Lemoyne Robertson.

Episode 22: In The House of Flies

Farnese Duvall stands back to back with Agent Warg of the Dark Star, confronted by the friends of Halle Harkin who now understand them to be one of the same; doing their best to put their questions aside temporarily, the group decides to join forces with Warg to chase down Agent Basilisk who has made off with Artifact X (The Spark) into the Market of Patience.   Halle and Bugz are able to track the theif to an alley wear he meets with a Warbring Priest of Thorne; the two engage in a duel in which Halle is nearly killed by the divine warriors mace in a single blow. Bugz escapes with Artifact X, and Apollo enters the alley and pulls her out; as the group esapes, Bruse takes Halley and Billy Midnight distracts the crowd with an illusion allowing Gale to finish the against the Warbring with his Tesla Claw, and the others to escape into the market. Gale slips away as well, not seeing Basilisk there among the crowd   Later, the group reunites at The Orchard; Billy helps them idenitfy the Spark once and for all, and its is revealed to be made from the hair and Godflesh ofArlissa/Orion and Tempest; Billy explains 3 of these items were crafted, and this one is designed to bind and control morally good dieties that serve the domain of Korlo. The Church, The Empire and The Vamps all want the item, and now with their suspcions confirmed the group decides none of them should have it; with Halle/Farnese sharing parts of her origins with the group as a show of good faith but informs them of the dangers of being associated with a Spy   Billy Midnight pulls gale aside to inform him about the coin he carries, he decides to tell him the truth of why he was looking for TC's carnival was to find this coin and its owner, and align himself with them for his own protection; this coin is a prison for an Infanari, Celestial beings deemed too powerful to keep after the war was over between darkness and light, creatures who due to their nature could potentaily kill or manipulate other gods; these coins were 13 in number; and each Celestial Archon inside is a powerful parasite seekng a host or servent who can help free them from their eternal damnation, Billy is hunted, as all coinbearers are by the Court of The White Flame, who seek to gather all the coins and set the creatures loose again to shake the foundations of the heavens.   The group decide to keep together and attend the service of the Revenred Judge, there they see they witness a mass of people singing and commisrating for thorne with strange blood rituals; culminating in a speech from the Reverend Judge in which he stirs the crowd and calls attention to the Church's short comings, pacifism and the weakness of Father Philldus Escriba, who attends on stage. He proclaims valliantly that The Hifgh Father has sinned so much that Thorne has cast his eye away from the city, and that he invites all to freely enjoy themselves and sin to their hearts content for the next 3 days. He sentaces the High Father to death, a sentace eagerly and instantly carried out by The Generaliis Montomore; Escriba is set aflame and as his screams echo the halls the group escapes into the night, but not before Bugz Witherall is reunited with Faedra, though he does not remember her she proclaims to him that she erased his memories of her but she was once his wife; Shocked by this news Bugs tries to question but in the chaos of the church coup he only has time to tell her about his assignment here in the city and that the ball is coming; Faedra agrees to help Bugz get inside.   In the confusion, Halle once again slips away, lamenting her oppurtunity to understand the artifact more deeply earlier by listening to its command for an innocent life, hoping to make up for lost time, Halle decides to take two lives instead of one; finidng a woman and small child escaping the madness and battle, she follows them, breaks into their home and slaughters them merccislly, cementing herself as Evil.   The group returns to the carnival, informing TC of their deal and the Judge's coup along with Silas. They decide to bury the artifact beneath Bruse's tent; Silas tells Bruse he knows who the vamp is, and takes him a couple miles outside of camp where Dr. Smilesforth lies chained to a rock; the brothers decide to watch the sunrise together

Episode 21: How Far is Heaven?

The group arrives in the Holy City with Alexi in tow; They quickly realizes Halle Harkin is missing from the party or perhaps snuck off; they then head towards the Hall of The Kisser of Wounds, there they find dozens of people who are afflicted with the Ravaged Miracle like Alexi. There they meet Marcus, the priest of Thorne. He agrees to see to Alexi and try to help them any way he can, but confesses to Bruse and the others that they do not fully understand the Ravaging Miracle or the mutations it produces.   They walk through the Market of Patience, seeing the denizens of the church of thorne's clergy handing out food, Kai'Manans selling fresh fish, and the site of a hundred other stalls and booths of a grand bazzar in this strange and sacred place.   They journey to The Orchard, the only inn in the city that isnt owned or managed by the church by some reports, there they meet the bar keeper Ahrel Keen; the Inn has one other occupant at the time who sits in the corner hurriedly writing with both his own pen and a magical one scrawling in another book on the table.   The group turn towards the cathedral of the eternal light, the large hall of worship in the cities central district, the trunk. There they are expected by the Revrend Judge, they are escorted into the central hall by Generalis Bishop; a scary, leather clad man in a clay mask that covers all but his lidless eyes.   The revrend Judge receives them, and after reading Brother Brandon's missive and hearing their request he agrees to allow them not only inside the gates of the city, but to clear the entire market of patience for the sake of the carnival's performance if they agree to attend his service and gift him one of the Appels the group stole from Fargus, with instruction to specifically make sure Halle is there. The group agrees to these terms, and as they had back into the street, the man who was writing back at the Orchard introduces himself as Billy Midnight.   Billy is curious about the group, having his own personal history with TC Moonspinner's carnival, and even remembers Gale from his childhood; Billy suggest the group perhaps go on a bit of jaunt through the city but the others inform him they have to hurriedly find their clown friend; Billy, an investigative mind and a thaumaturge, is eager at the chance to flex his magical abilities for the others; Impressively, Midnight is able to locate Halle to a few hundred feet quickly   The group, seeing signs of some familiarties between this building and the station house in Starfall decide to investigate the back alley of an incense shop before discovering a doorway there already smashed in; inside they find a fight unfolding between a myseterious masked force and the confessori, originally trying to take the side of the church in the battle, confusion resulting from an errant darkness spell causes more of a free for all between the three parties, the resulting fight ends with only the players as the last men standing, until they see blood running out from beneath a nearby doorway, ploughing the door open Bruse sees a woman and a rather scary fellow in a hound mask standing in a room full of dead bodies, however Gale recognizes the woman from all the way back in Coal Town; and there's no doubt in his mind that he's looking upon the unmasked face of Halle Harkin, or whoever she was.

Episode 20: Moonlight and Moss on The Trees

Moonspinner's Carnival journies from Quinn towards the Blessed City of No Name; Along the road they find several completing the Pilgrimage through the Frontier, as well as some Orthodox Thornite reclaimer settlements fresh in their ways. On the road, Apollo gives the letter from the courier to Samuel Strongly who tells them all Billy Midnight will be visiting them in the Blessed City, and that he's now a free agent who would be a valuable asset to the carnival   Bruse arranges with the Ladies of The Dance to seek Silas in the evening hours the next night, telling his brother theyre coming to be checked in the two's hunt for a vampire within the ranks of the carnival after witnessing bugs strange behavior.   Halle is tempted by the artifact X to release it, but she cant even look upon it because she's still clinging to some part of her "morality", the box ask for the death of an innocent, and Halle seems ready to oblige it. The Coin similarly in Gale's possession attempts its own release by melting the wax around its edge but Gale thwarts the attempt and reseals the coin.   Bruse is visited in his dreams by Lady Oryon, who promises him that his time in the wasteland and his efforts will be met by leisure and love in the moonlit glade.   Halle receives communication from DarkStar Command in The Holy City with Artifact X to hand it over to them and receive her next orders.   As the group gets closer to the holy city, they see a man using maggot paste to get vultures to feed upon him as pennance, the group not curious at all about what he was paying pennance for, decided to move on post haste   They made camp in the valley below the mountain of the Archon Range that holds the chasm in which the blessed city is built into, Samuel sends the group ahead of the rest to secure the churches permission to perform outside the gates, as they took the ridgeline road up unto the causeway, they heard the sounds of an infant crying, and found discarded pilgrimage items leading to a large man who had begun being morphed into a larger infant babyman hybrid, named Alexi, the group discovered Alexi was a normal human man at the start of the day but as he climbed the archon and got closer to the city he began to morph and literally transform into an infant, as well as growing larger with each step; the group agreed to help get Alexi to the city to finish his pilgramage as he was now too big to make the journey himself without dashing himself upon the rocks below.   The group was quickly to the gates, racing down the mountainside and while Alexi was at first continuing to deteriorate in his condition, after a breeze of dandelion flowers washed over the cart, both Alexi stopped crying and crowing as well; as the cart skirts to a stop in front of the massive golden gate of the blessed city, it opens revealing the most crowded, bustling and sprawling city the group has seen since their days in Kaldore, and certainly the largest city of the campaign thus far.

Episode 19: Protect Me From What I Want

Celebrating a return to the carnival life, the group is reunited with old friends and new as they launch Night Two in Quinn. Mordecai, fearing being forgotten as ring master now that Halle is back, has purchased a pogo stick from Maya at the QQS in an effort to add some pizazz to his act; Bruse and the others are left largely unimpressed. Farris Remington debuts The Rat Tavern act to fanfaire as Gale returns with some new tricks and weaponry to his death defying stage show to mixed applause after an errant comment regarding the High Father. Dances in Shadows ask Gale for his help acquiring Ten Vampire Fangs for his discovery right; if he can gather ten and return home with them, he will be able to end his Exile; Gale returns to the Institute Safehouse and finds Kru'Hack, the two share a large ale breakfast and Kru'hack warns gale of the dangers that await a further pursuit of the courts, and gives him an SOS beacon for the Institute in case gale gets into any trouble. the two say their goodbyes as outside Apollo receives a letter from a courier addressed to Samuel.   Gale speaks to the Scholar who warns him to avoid learning the truth about the manager, and to watch out for birds   After one of a night of particularly stellar performances, Alan and Apollo joust and apollo easily wins, but the crowd is entertained.   The Group reunites for the late show, briefly but finds themselves in a sparse crowd, a house cock is lost to a local rooster in a fight gone wrong and Gale and Apollo lose some gold in the process; Gale enters the managers trailer and discovers the coin; the manager stating its safer with Gale than him; and warns him not to touch it without its wax seal; after some poking around Gale discovers a painting, wet to the touch, that serves as a gateway to a slice of The Void managed by the manager, a lighthouse retreat on the black coast.   Bugs receives a mysterious letter from someone confessing their status as a vampire to him, and asking for him to bring him something to eat before he grow's ravenous once again and kills a girl like he did back in Coaltown.   As Gale steps towards the door of the lighthouse it opens before him, revealing a beautiful home and a staircase to the lighthouse's tower, a study where an artist awaits, a beholder named Count Gozarak who bears the mark of the Outcast is the manager, who uses its cover to hide and go place to place, his interest is in keeping the carnival profitable and on the move to the Institute cant find him, Gozarak's outcast powers allow him to see and know much of the world despite being trapped in a small trailer. Gale agrees to replace Sampson when/if the time should come as the Carnivals Operations Manager and takes a skull from him that will allow him to speak to him when needed. +   The last show in Quinn is even better than night two, with the Thornites showering the Carnival in a fall of roses, a sign of great admiration in thornite religion. The group begins to make plans for the trip North while Bugz sneaks off and finds an old town drunk named Jediah, he hoist Jediah and starts heading to the Ferris Wheel before tear down, Bruse interrupts him and offers to help; Bugz tries to leave Jediah in the Ferris Wheel while it rotates, Bruse stops him but not before a bat flies overhead towards the cart carrying Jediah; Jediah is bitten and Bruse discovers his wounds prompting him to carry him back to Bugz trailer. Bugz is able to eventually convince Bruse to just dump the old man outside the grounds and go back to bed. That night, Bugz is awakened by a psychic jolt, a vision of Smilesworth the clown grinning bloddily and saying Thank you friend while suspended unnaturally from the ceiling

Episode 18: Devotion and Desire

The group has a sort of Andrimian Standoff with the remaining survivors of the Syndicate, and after establishing theyre not working with the vamps, and misleading the rogues into thinking they werent working with Lemoyne and the tension eases they negotiate the survivors. The group puts up no resistance against the Syndicate, who arent interested in chasing down the spark; to take Merisaad Venahm the Dark Moon Priest away from the criminals, opting for a clean escape after a tough fight, seeing the werewolves on the otherside as a much bigger threat than the vampire spawn. Trading The priest for Trelawny; Gale moves to secure him while the group loots the battlefield, finding several weapons and some clues about where the vampires are going next. Gale finds some significant firearms and bombs on lemoynes crew.   As Gale confronts Trelawny, he learns the vamps are meeting in the Blessed City to discuss how they can bring about the next powerful vampire of their kind, planning to use the artifact to do so, and Lysander, being a legendary slayer in the Institute's history is being leveraged as a prime candidate to take on such a power and crumble the institute once and for all. Gale makes his final cutting remarks to Trelawny before executing him painfully with Gales assistance; In the ashes of his body, Bugs finds a gold pocket watch. The group discovers the steel carriage belonging to the viceroy is steel mostly in tact and can likely be repurposed or simply repaired and added to the carnival caravan.   The group then returns to Quinn, and the carnival camp, there Gale runs into the ghost of Eckler P Duckey; who confirms to Gale his body was the thing stinking up Halle's trailer and that anyone who dies in the carnival during the 3 nights of shows is permanently tied to it as a spirit. Meanwhile, Halle herself is confronted in her trailer by Lemoyne with the artifact known as Artifact X or The Spark in hand, who ask Halle if she's one of "Them" Halle confesses that she is. Lemyone, now worried Dark Star will kill him to tie up loose ends, pleads with Halle to take the Spark to them instead so he can try to escape to Arghast with his crew, who await him in Fargus. Halle agrees, and in return Lemoyne leaves her with a kiss, and his horse, Midnight, and the Midnight Rider rode away into the night.   The group meets over breakfast and discuss the fallout and their various meetings with friends in between, then they return to Quinn to recruit Jahn Jay Martinette to the Carnival as a painter. Silas tells Bruse of the Black Pages, where a spark is mentioned as one of the tools that was used to bind Thorne in the Abyssal realm of the lord of death Orcus for 900 years. If the Spark is the same item or of the same set, it may have the power to leash a god to the wielders will.

Episode 17: Come Around Sundown

Halle scrambles to clean up Worg's gift, discovering his belongings and case journal were left along with his spellbook. She eventually travels to the Quinn quick shop, she inadvertently discovers the shop keep there Marco is a creature using glamour dust to disguise his appearance, she purchases the supplies and begins dissolving the body of Eckler. Gale stops by her tent and smells death, but does not intrude, chalking it up to poor hygiene; Samuel implores the group to stop leaving the carnival so they can make some money, and when he discovers they will be gone again tonight, he demands 100 gold from gale. After, he gives Gale a key to the managers trailer and says the manager wants to see him; entering the strange trailer, Gale discovers what appears to be a photo of a man with the same surname as him and TC Moonspinner; as well as a strange creature in a jar that seems to at least be semi conscious, but in terms of management he finds only a note suggesting he bring the coin back to the trailer when he retrieves it.   Archavias, the Chronicler of the Esoteric Order of The Wizard arrives to deliver Apollo's apprentice kit and explains he will need to journey to Korvosk to acquire his wizard's license. The group has a heated argument about involving Kru'Hack in the events taking place at the meeting; they ultimately go against gale and decide against it, Gale defies them and goes to Kru'Hack; Kru'Hack agrees to put the institutes issues with lemoyne to the side to deal with the vamps in an effort to secure Lysander.   They meet Lemoyne around Sundown at the Oasis, they are assigned to ambush the group with Scarlett on overwatch; Vander and Doc ride with the group, taking them to a ridge to overlook the meeting; Halle uses glamour dust acquired from Kru'Hack to infiltrate the syndicates' side as they arrive to the meeting; Trelawny and Lemoyne's gang arrive with vampires in tow but to the groups surprise the prisoner being traded is not Lysander but a serpentian priest the deal seems to be going well until Halle triggers the ambush, chaos breaks loose as syndicate and vampire tear into each other and scarlett and the others begin firing into the ambush; in the confusion, halle is able to grab the artifact, she manages to gleam it for a moment, but the mere sight of the strange crystal prism is enough to make her sick to nearly the point of passing out; she is rescued by Maeora, confusing her for a member of their syndicate forces; Halle breaks away from Maeora then subsequently saves Lemoyne from the blade of Crosby Stills, the leader of the Syndicate. Together they down the man and Lemoyne calls his horse, as he departs, halle warns him of the danger in Hoxley, and bids him farewell he races off into the night, firing a bright flare as he does.   The others scramble to recover Lysander in the process they verify he is present, but come face to face with a vampire count, the wolf from the night before. a separate chase and battle ensue, with gale being shot by a dominated Lysander; Bruse sticks to the carriage, as guns fire and bombs explode, getting further from the fight Bruse makes a drastic choice and crashes the cart with his earth melding powers, killing the horses and a member of lemoyne's crew as a result, when investigating the wreckage, he finds neither lysander nor the vampire, only a misting cloud that vanishes into the night.   Back on the battlefield the group faces down the shifter Trelawny, who seems to have the upper hand even outnumbered by the syndicate and the carnival group; he even knocks out Apollo, but he's subsequently revived by Gale, then gets up and smacks Trelawny with a blow so vicious it craters the powerful Lycan and forces him back into his human form, as he attempts to rise up again, a werewolf, this time Crosby Stills steps on the chest of Trelawny, cementing a victory for the Syndicate as the rest of the vampire spawn turn into the bat forms and fly away into the night.

Episode 16: An Infernal Spell

The group watches in awe as the Keshal Knights vanish into the night sky, then return to Hoxley; seeing a wolf on the road they surmise is likely a vampire. They stop, but as Gale tries to call out to the creature, his hand print scar on his back ignites with burning pain and pulls him back toward the town. Halle meets a fellow named Vulpes Callisto; who promises her 5,000 gold in exchange for luring Lemoyne and his gang back to Hoxley after their job is completed. Halle leaves the conversation only committing to considering the proposition. Silas, who stayed away from the Hox and chose to sleep in the stables joins the group with Bruse as they ride towards Quinn; Racing against the frontier the entire way, they barely manage to get close to the town before dark and are swarmed by vampiric swarms of bats and some kind of arcanic fog. They manage to escape with a few scrapes, and successfully get inside the limits of Quinn. There they stay in the Oasis and learn of the Three Towns; three villages that include Quinn, Feragut and Still Water.   The group learns the town has recently become employeed by the Cornwall Railway company and the Free Coast Conglomerate to keep constructing a railway to the blessed city and as a result have bought a water generator, a magic item from Shale.   As they arrive in quinn they are hearlded by Brother Brandon, a member of the church of Thorne who calls for Gale by name, he takes her to the site of Mabel, a girl who is possessed by the Demon Tennebrus, who calls for Gale to return the favor of resurrections, employing gale to find a coin held by Lysander. The demon frees the girl in exchange for her parents, Mabel is taken in by brandon while the group returns to the inn.   Apollo uses his earnings from saving Dewdrop to purchase a Esoteric Order Apprentice Kit, the group shops a bit at the quinn quick shop; purchasing supplies for their job. They meet Scarlett Rose in the Oasis, who will accompany them on the job.   The group unites for a drink in their Inn rooms, finishing a bottle of whiskey with Vander Satchal. The next day they meet with Lemoyne and get more details regarding the job, Vampires in the carriage that took Lysander, coming to meet Ceaseless Syndacite members to do a prisoner exchange for the artifact that the empire reffers to as Artifact X.   The group agrees to split their forces and unite at sunset to ride to the meeting site; as the carnival arrives in Quinn; the group returns to their tents after about a week away, Halle finds the corpse of Eckler P Duckley, and a note from agent worg "Now its your turn to clean up my mess"

Episode 15: Sound and Fury

The group, now traveling with Kru'Hack, who still is under the assumption that Gale is a Requiatis Agent; decides to break for one of the nearby towns to stay the night before traveling on to Quinn. They ultimately decide on Hoxley over Glimmershade due to its independence from the church of Thorne and head there; Kru'Hack is familiar with The Hox and the surrounding area and is comfortable resting there for a day or two while he heals his injuries. The Hox's owner is Sweet Lou, a man from Andrim who is seemingly the Mayor of the town after they excommunicated the thornites. The group is enjoying the unique environment the Hox provides when Bruse is approached by an Elven half blood named Fury; he says he's a mage who needs help rescuing his apprentice, Dewdrop, the group does a little investigation through the town and finds a trail that leads to a goblin raiding camp outside of the town. When they approach however, they discover it is a trap laid by one of the followers of Rol'Gam Mal'Tome. The goblins, now zombiefied attack the group, with Halle and Gale splitting from the pack to rescue Dewrop, a grippli warrior from the Breeze Islands who once freed immdiately joins the skirmish, both Dewdrop and Fury are revaled to be Keshal Vidari members. The group stands with the Keshal warriors, slaying all the undead, before the warriors are picked up by a mysterious flying vessel called "The Eldest House".

Episode 14: A Chuping Most Dire

Halle and Fletcher are ambushed by a strange creature in the night, resulting in a fight in the camp, the predatory creature is a Chupacabra; a cryptoid myth in some parts of Kaldore but all too real upon the promised frontier; Apollo barely survives when the creature mutates wings and begins to fly away with him in clutch. Thanks to a great shot from Gale, the creature is detached mid air from Apollo and flees with its life. Apollo crashes through Bugz trailer and comes away with a nasty head gash that turns into a badass scar. The Carnies, grateful to be saved from another attack; repay the group by fixing bugz's trailer back up and giving it a fresh coat of paint. The group rides out to the Sundered Valley to look for Kru'Hack when they receive a message from Bruse; they double time it to Oslowe and find the town abandoned, though later its revealed to be massacred by the tooth fairy creatures of the church of Thorne. They escape Oslowe as the Fairies wake for the night again. They hide out in an old confraternity of salt and stone training location, and then return in the morning to the Sundered, finding Kru'Hack there, nearly dead but alive. Gale lies to Kru'Hack, telling him he is an agent of the house of slaughter. Kru'Hack agrees to travel to the group to Quinn where a Institute Outpost station is located for rearmament and requisition, he agrees to help them find Lysander in return.

Episode 13: It's Always Starry in Fargudelphia

The group, feeling defeated from their encounter with the Reverend Judge decide to investigate Stargazer Classica station; there they find a strange unmarked building in Brasstown; and no Ruby the disc jockey either, only a sweaty fellow named Graham. He at first is cordial enough with the group but as they press to him to come inside he grows agitated; as the conversation bubbles over; Grady Ironheart from the Darkstar forge arrives, Graham's neighbor and says they are late for their lunch; Apollo tries to convince the group to leave, but Gale loses his temper again; just as he did with Tavir; and yells at Graham who fearfully slams the door shut but not before gale can put his foot inside, in a split second gale attempts to push the door open, graham screams and Grady hammers Gale's foot with his forge hammer, breaking some of the bones in Gales foot and forcing him to withdraw, the group cautiously retreats while noticing the antenna on top of the station percolating feverishly.   The group seeks out Farris Remington, a gentlemen said to have a gift for making rats perform, something Samuel is interested in. Remi seems to have a gift for talking to rats when they arrive to his thrashed hotel room, in bed with the owners daughter. an eccentric fellow, he seems to only be able to communicate on a human level with a single white rat named Wilbur, who Farris points out as the leader, and referring to himself as second rat leader. Gale seemingly recruits Remi by promising him a similar pay rate to himself.   The show goes incredibly, with more than half the more than half the city of Fargus attending and over 600 folks in the big top at the end of the night. After the show, Vander gifts Bugz with a Gorran Pipe for his pipeweed; Vander explains that to the Gor, community, and harmonies between clan's is the most paramount key to a brighter future, and says this is a token, like the Ox of his and to an extent Lemoyne's gratitude for our help.   In the morning, Silas and Bruse depart for Oslowe without a word; while the rest of the group journies towards Ezra; Halle and Fletcher, on their second nights watch are ambushed by an unknown force

Episode 12: Year of The Vulture.

Halle Harken leaves the DarkStar Forge under the advice of Hannibal Lechance to stay out of trouble, and heads back towards the camp. Meanwhile, Gale, Silas and Bruse enjoy a meal in Fargus before attempting to scrounge up some wood for Gale's new stage production; he has the idea to talk to the outriders or Angelo Bronte for the supplies, siding with Bronte, the group go to his estate, meeting with Roscoe, the Bronte's security captain who agrees to escort the visitors to the farm, traversing the acreage of the property, the group sees a nearly Edenic scene of beautiful bountiful growing greenery. Fruits, vegetables livestock and livery; a near impossible site upon the plains of the promised frontier. Bronte is impressed by Gale's ideas for a stage play, and sees their potential as promoters and offer to help them with both high quality timber and gold if theyll endorse him for mayor and allow him to speak at the carnival during Gale's gunshow.   The timber is delivered, and the carnival starts a normal night of business, a battered and burned Eckler P. Duckley corners apollo while disguised as an old lady, he fears for his life after finding evidence connecting Halle Harkin to the murder in Coaltown, as he begins to act on this information his Arkanus Booster 2 Custom is blown up by an unknown assailant and the evidence turns out to be missing. He ask Apollo to just observe Halle and try to find out more about her upbringing and education, while he returns to Merrynthallis to secure more funding to continue perusing his Saboteur.   The Carnival has a good showing, with Gale and Angelo's performance going exceptionally well and the town embracing Angelo; Angelo seems to have more to him that the surface would appear, and trusting gale a bit more he confesses his Wife Samara found an ancient magical ring in the breeze that has helped him with his fortune in the frontier.   The group attends the late show, with Gale and Apollo participating in the chicken fights and losing a bet against Neeva the outrider, who again teases Apollo. As the night ends, Apollo is met at his trailer by Neeva who gives him three eggs from the chicken that won her their gold, and offers to take him on a raptor ride in a valley, Apollo and Neeva sneak into Bronte's private garden and hook up before he turns in for the night.   As Bruse dreams, he has a vision of his brother dancing with Orion themselves, or at least one of her avatars, the moon mistress; he then attempts to deliver a message to Bruse as they are beset upon a horrifying, bird like creature the dream version of silas refers to only as The Vulture. Bruse is troubled by the omens of this dream, but shares his dream with no one, including silas.   In the morning, Apollo is met by a Wizard who offers him an introductory package into the Esoteric Order of The Wizard before flying away on a broom. The group heads into towns on Samuels orders to try and find the Rat Man as well as supplies to last them until the Blessed city. While in town the group drums up interest by making a public spectacle featuring Hammerhead; Apollo shows his strength again performing his signature dinner for two trick when he is interrupted by the Reverend Judge Marcus Debar; a very high ranking member of the church of Thorne and a muscular oxen of a man who challenges Apollo to a contest of strength, he uses Thornite magic to win and breaks Crane's wrist before healing it at Gale's behest. The Judge invites the group to the mother of mothers church to his mass, should they find themselves in the blessed city, departing the spectacle, he heads into the church of thorne in Fargus, a group of people feverishly praying and repenting as they move behind him, inspired by his feat.

Episode 11: I've Seen Fire

Silas, Bruse's younger brother is saved from his fate at the hands of the living fire by Bruse and the rest of the group; Silas tells them the confraternity of Salt and Stone were summoned to the new church at Oslowe on account of a new Prophecy of the Miracle; on the path from Merrynthallis, they were ambushed by a walking, living humanoid embodiement of fire. The entire Confraternity, around 30 people in total were massacred in the blaze; Silas agrees to return to the caravan with Bruse until he is well enough to travel to Oslowe. The carvan continues on its path to Fargus, Neeva; an Outrider greets them and warns them not to try and setup without seeing the mirror, flirting with apollo a bit before jaunting off on her raptor. The group goes into town, seeking some regeants and supplies, stopping to purchase some riding horses for each member, Silas purchases a fine sword and a horse for himself with Bruse's gold. Silas is impressed with the carnival's culture as the night falls on the first night of performances. Lemoyne Robertson stops by to see the group once again perform and tells them he will meet them at the Dragon's Beard in the morning; after a night of stellar performances from all but apollo, still suffering from zombie rot; Halle Harkin finds an envelope containing the bell from the factor back in Coal Town.   The next day, the group reunites with Lemoyne and the rest of his gang, and agree to meet in the town of Quinn in 15 days for muscle in a hand off in which he suspects a serpentian shaman and the shifter who shot him will trade lysander for some artifact; Lemoyne suspects the party theyre meeting or the people inside the carriage are vampires, for no one else would put such a high value on an agent of the institute.   Apollo tears an ad for the Esoteric Order Of The Wizard   After meeting Lemoyne, Halle returns to the Darkstar Forge, this time in disguise; reporting to her handler Hannibal Lechance; she reveals herself to be agent Gorgon of Operation Dark Star. She is instructed to lay low and not draw any attention to herself; as well as assist Lemoyne Robertson in his efforts to acquire Artifact X and to place that priority above the safety of the carnival or her cover within it.

Episode 10: Signs become Omens

Finishing their buisness with Tavir, the group buys some new equipment, items and supplies before heading back to the the camp to pack up. Bruse and S'Vreena discuss his fortune from the day before; Gale employees Mordecai to acquire some of his blasting powder; JW and Bugz continue to work on his new instrument, deciding a material for string must be as quality as the other components, then it will be complete. The Caravan rolls out towards Fargus, a 3 day trek; and during that time Samuel bids Gale to find a man named Remy in Fargus who some call the Rat Man. On the day before the caravan arrives in Fargus, they are intercepted by Vander Satchal; who invites Bruse out for a Bison hunt, Bruse and Vander bond a bit, hunt oxen and Bruse learns a bit about the tracking methods of The Gora; Vander tells Bruse he is from the Anah Rahk; a tribe of half gorrans who are caught inbetween The Empire and the Nation of Gor; he also warns Bruse Lemoyne is getting the group in with some bad people and he might want to ride out soon.   On the road to Fargus, around 4 hours outside of town the group spots a smoke stack which Bruse investigates with Voren Maul; Halle jumps on Wraith with Bruse and they ride to the source finding a Carriage on fire, much like the one from Bruse's dream; there they are ambushed by Ashwalkers; zombies killed by fire magic that is consuming the carriage; Halle saves a survivor from the carriage, and fearing severe burning they elect to leave him covered with a wet blanket until after the ashwalkers are dealt with. Once the conflict is settled, Bruse feels the will of Orion coming through him; bidding him to help; his tattoos glow with the light of the moon and as he touches this burned man, he heals him; as he pulls away at the covering he sees the face of his younger brother, Silas.

Episode 9: Seeing Things Differently

Having brought Bugz back to camp and seen to his condition with Apollo, Halle decides to go through Bugz things after informing J.W. of his injuries. She finds nothing of interest, save for a few of his personal affects. Halle tells Samuel her side of the story as the morning comes.   Bugz awakens, discovering the loss of his left eye and bruised and beaten to a pulp. JW. takes good care of his bandmate and even offers to help push him around in a wheelchair until he's better. At breakfast, Samuel explains no one is to go into town, citing the carnivals history in situations like this as a time to huddle together and watch each others closely. Confined to the camp for the day, Halle decides to hold a session of Clown Court to decide Bugz guilt in the matter; Dr. Smilesforth represents Bugz against Halle, Halle is also the judge, as they do not have a third clown...   In the end, it is decided in Clown Court that Bugz was guilty enough to warrant his initial accost by Kord, but that Kord certainly took things too far and was likely going to kill Bugz had halle not been there. Voren and Vaash intially want to inact carnival justice upon Kord, citing Emerald Run as an example just as samuel did. Gale acts as the voice of reason in this regard   That night, almost no one from town comes to the show, selling around 16 tickets total. Tensions between the town and the carnival seem high until samuel returns after the show and annouces to everyone that he spoke to Kord and the mayor and that all is well. He spends some time talking to Halle and the others about Bugz future before going to see him finally, for the first time Samuel hears bugz story and decides he was in the wrong; samuel reveals he was also a survivor of the endless night, revealing his past as a blood pen slave. Bugz agrees to meet with Kord, and not say anything while he is in the room; Kord enters and tells Bugz his reasoning, appearing sickly and pale, he leaves a gift with bugz after they share a drink in the form of two full bottles of his blood, a thornite gesture.   The group proceeds into the third day in town with heavy hearts and minds, after smoking some secret halfling herb known as Lytchbane Bugz swellings is dramatically healed and he is nearly ready to walk on his own. The group heads into town and finally offloads their gold to Arcus and the Finders guild. Then they had straight to Tavir's.' Tavir and Gale intially have a pleasent interaction but gale sees something that reminded him of Lysander's disappearance and he gets violent, resulting in a ban.   Halle is able to talk the group back into the shop after explaining the situation, and the group begins their shopping with Tavir as we close.

Episode 8: Point of Impact

After a fairly routine morning the group explores the town of Starfall on their first day there, with the group splitting up into groups of Gale and Apollo, Bruse and Halle and finally Bugz to his own devices, which leads him to spend the day mostly day drinking and fucking around, having his fortune read by S'Vreena, in which she gives him an ominous reading with a spark of hope   they find the crater in the center of town is thousands if not tens of thousands of years old, and that no one in the town is too sure of its origins outside of maybe those isolated within the society of brilliance, a research center at the craters center point. They also discover the prospectors and finder's guild is headquartered here from its guildmaster Arcturus Cloudee. Cloudee and Bugz agree to a sale of some dynamite and other materials for pickup the next day.   Meanwhile, Halle, still cursed by the black blood of Rol Gan Mal Tomb and the High table of Gol Mok seeks solace from the only divine source shes aware of, the church of Thorne. Taking Bruse along for the trip she journies to the hall of many hours, where she comes across a strange confessorium and the confessor known as father Adele Berito, a giant who lives in a pocket demision within the confessorium. Halle navigates the confrontation uneasily, and when asked for her name, she gives one not yet heard; Farnese. Farnese is asked for 10oz of flesh. she carefully and painfully removes them, pushing herself almost to her limit, but manages to appease the high father. The flesh coalleses and becomes a small flesh sprite of a creature, flying to unknown heights as halle exits the hall and rejoins bruse, nearly bleeding out. Bruse rushes her back to apollo who is able to stitch her arm up and stop the bleeding.   The evenings performances go off without a hitch in one of the best stops of the carnivals tour so far, with Halle closing the show in marvelous fashion despite her injuries. After the show, the group has a drink with Samuel who is visited by an old friend, Tavir. Tavir owns a magic shop in town and was formally a member of moonspinners carnival for many years before joining with the Terrimontes.   Craving a bit more action before nights end, and with a thirst desperate to be quenched the group returned to starfall and the void for a beverage, there they met with Sara, a kindly barkeeper who kept herself open longer to sip moon brew and play games with the group, Halle taught her how to throw a knife, to which she was very grateful. Sara tells the group a bit more about the town and some of its history to her knowledge before she slips upstairs to bed, locking the bar as the group leaves.   The group, feeling rather imbied with the liquor decide to go on a midnight walk through the crater trail splitting off from Bruse, Gale and Apollo rather quickly Halle and Bugz end up back in town to keep drinking, finding the saloon and bar are both closed, Bugz suggest halle pick the lock and they just walk in and pay for a drink. Halle obliges him and the two enter Shooters, seeing no one inside, and not a sound they begin drinking, until halle smashes her bottle on the ground in an attempt to antagonize bugs, this rouses the owner from his slumber upstairs and he comes chasing.   Halle is much too fast for the bigger man, who half asleep still lumbered down after Bugz, Bugz escaped into the streets, but decided to try and negotiate his way out of the situation with one of his usual smart remarks; after such the larger man cracked his head with a club, asking him to surrender the bottle and leave, Bugz again attempted to talk his way around the issue which only annoyed the keeper, who cracked Bugz again. Now Bugz bleeding and severely injured continues to stammer and try to stay on his feet, causing the bar keep to him him again, knock him to the ground and ask one last time for the bottle, Bugz responds by hoisting the bottle high and pouring it into his mouth in one final act of defiance. The Barkeep is disgusted by this and stomps down on the bottle as Bugz drinks, smashing into his head and all but killing him. Halle pays the man and ask him to leave Bugz who spits on him, departing back into his bar.   Halle, unsure of herself for her inaction, carries bugs back to camp for help and he is seen by Apollo, Apollo, by some miracle is able to save Bugz life but at the cost of his eye. As a result of the scuffle, Carnival employees are banned from Shooters as well as any other business owned by Laythan such as the feed supply for animals or the husbander who sells livestock

Journals

• The Journal Entry’s title Halle

Episode 7: Lonesome Road

The group travels from Coaltown to Starfall over the course of 4 long days of riding. Along the way they find the corpse of a dead cultist of Rol'Gan Mal'Tome along with a journal detailing the groups works in the area. Pressing further into the Promised Frontier, they meet a Cleric of Orion named Ash, a gnoll who travels to the Garashan wilds to find the lost temple of Orion there, he warns the group of a band of highway men on the road ahead. The group utilizes Mordecai to pose as Ring Master and distract the robbers, he does so throughly and eventually the group springs an ambush on the apparently racist criminals, dispatching thme with relative ease. The Caravan secure, the group continues into Starfall, a town built around a crater, the site of an ancient meteor crash. The group sets up camp outside town but grabs dinner at the local inn, Hawker's Hall. There they breifly meet Eckler P Duckley, a bounty hunter and detective hired to find a female empire asset embedded in the free coast.

Episode 6: Heavy is The Heart Without Penance

The group collects themselves after a violent attack from Sand Crawlers, thier bodies broken, their cart smashed into pieces. Halle, Bugz and Bruse suffer injuries, and the group must walk back, which will make them late for the show by a little bit. They find a shortcut thanks to Bruse and walk back towards town and the camp, seeing two scribes document the scene of a robbery on the road, they discover its likely the iron caravan that lemoyne hit; they find 17 well armed men riddled with bullet holes and crossbow bolts. Bugz, much to the surmise of the rest of his compatriots implacates lemoyne, immediately causing some suspicion from the scribes; after arriving back at the carnival Samuel is mad, but agrees to help the others come up with a solution for the issue of replacing Halle in the main show, eventually deciding that a strongman contest and a tug of war between hammerhead and the 3 strongmen; Before the show starts, Vorcus Cornwall adresses the crowd of Coaltown and begs for their help bringing the murderers of Thaxton Grembley to justice, promising a 1000 gold reward for such information. Voren and Gale figure out a way to goose the tug of war, and after Manticore and Allan have an epic wrestling match; Bruse, Sigil and Apollo perform the feats of strenght and manage to "defeat" the great hammerhead in a tug of war for the ages.   After, Bugz is psionically assaulted by Brother Allawyn of the Church of Thorne, who steals his memories to get to the bottom of what happened at the refinery. He leaves with this information, leaving Bugz with a crisis of faith and crying molten gold tears and having a bit of a crisis of faith. They chase down the priest, ready to attack him for his silence; but when they confront the bald, eyelid-less priest of Thorne he confesses he has no lost love for Cornwall and Cuthbert, and seeks to destroy them; he will cover up the murder on the players behalf because it benefits him as well. On the walk back to camp, the group finds the body of a young girl who appears to have been assaulted by a black court vampire. She also appears to have atteneded the carnival; Bugz suggest the priest is likely their vampire suspect; the group decides to just get the hell out of coaltown and worry about that another day; returning to camp the group unites in Gale's trailer after a drink with Samuel, installing the volgunite coil pack into the old receiver and immeidately picking up some music and a noir show called Shale Tales. The group awakens the next morning and pack the caravan pointing it north towards a town called Starfall.

Journals

• So long coal town Halle

Episode 5: At the end of Labor, there is Leisure

The group escapes Coaltown with gold in tow and dispose the evidence in the riverbed near Lemoyne's camp, there they see a shadowy red eye figured riding a horse on the cliffs above them. the rider trotts away before being identified by the team. Bugz and JW back in Coaltown witness the immediate fallout of the murder of Thaxton Grembly, the guard Halle killed. JW and Bugz head back to the carnival and meet up with the others, there a message is delviered via arrow from Vander, a half orc tracker who works for Lemoyne.   That night, Gale sees the ghost of Hatty Mccreary, a woman who fell from the Farris Wheel 10 years ago and died in front of him, who's ghost now seems to haunt this place; Bruse prays to Orion for a sign after the hard events of the night, in his dreams he once again see's the stag, this time trotting north towards the blessed city; then, seeing a flaming carriage, it takes charge towards it as he awakens from a fast slumber; at breakfast, most of the carnival workers are displeased with bugs for allowing the cornwall men free drinks; Dante and Driscus were both beaten by the men when alchohol ran out. Bugz attempts to make things right by healing Dante, but is offered a can of Salted Offal as punishment for his misdeeds.   The group decides to head to Coaltown to pay Levar what they owe him now that the job is done, upon exiting a courier for the Cornwall company arrives and alertrs Samuel that Vorcus Cornwall will attend the Carnival's final night in Coaltown, the group are warned by Samuel that their time away from the camp has resulted in some poor performances in other areas, warning them they should be back from town at 4PM at the latest. They head towards town and see the state of things, with the refinery closed for inspection by the Church's local Conffesori. At the Furnace, they pay lamar, whos wife has died the previous night; Hurk gives lemoyne's letter to Gale.   They head into the hives, for their meeting with Lemoyne. Lemoyne is very happy with how both hiest went, saying he left no survivors at his and was happy the group only had to kill one guard, showing their potential in this life for some apparent ammatures. Lemoyne sells the group 2 Coil Packs, then offers them more information on the man who shot gale, a shifter named Trelawny, who was hiring Lemoyne and his gang for muscle for a hand off outside the blessed city in one month's time. Lemoyne tells the group he's meeting with Trelawny's contact in Fargus where he will have more info, as well as a hideout where he plans on fencing the gold he took, but seems especially concerned with paperwork from the FCC Councilman Marcellus Ignast describing a plot against cuthbert, by cornwall and the FCCC. Halle makes a copy of the papers before giving them to Lemoyne, who bids the group farewell and rides north towards fargus, the group returns to camp, but halfway through the hives are ambushed by Shell Crawlers, turtle/dinosaur like creatures with the ability to roll at high speed down cliff faces to build a devastating charge attack, the group is nearly killed by the vicious, hungry beast but manage to save themselves and slay the creatures, despite losing their cart, they were able to save Wraith, Bruse's horse. All 5 members of the group suffer signifgant damage in the fight, and Bugz and Halle are nearly lost completely. As the fight ends, Gale remembers theyre due to be back in two hours to start preparing for tonight's show.

Episode 4: Patience, Patience

The group begins day two of the Carnival in Coaltown to rave reviews for night one; Spending the better part of their day scouting out the location of their planned robbery back in town, and reconveining with Doctor Vickers, they decide they will approach as the late show starts. Using Halle's near perfect forgary of an official company letterhead memo, she hands off instructions to have a light shift tonight so the men of the factory can go to the carnival and stay for the late show. The group returns to the carnival, Samuel has a hard conversation with Bugz about his comps; saying that he will be docked his pay for this weekend for the amount of comps. The group also consult Hurk, bartender at the Furance   Bugs convinces JW to bring the trunkation station to coaltown for a late night street performance of their new act, Patience, Patience. JW agrees and laborously makes the trip, meanwhile Gale secures a cart from Manticore, a small tagalong; Bruse drives the cart into town with Gale waiting in the wings as a trigger man. Halle infiltrates the inner workings and sneaks past all of the on duty workers up the stairs to the head office of Vorcus Cornwall, there she finds a sleeping guard, attemping to steal his knife, halle reaches into his belt, awakening him, she quickly dispatches the guard before he can cry out to the others, Gale comes into the office via the window, opening the safe for Halle who finds 15 Gold bars and a stack of paperwork inside, packing quickly the duo jump from the window down into the cart and bruse speeds off into the night, seemingly the group escapes Coaltown without alerting a single guard to their presence, outside of their lone victim.

Episode 3: A Most Unsavory Alliance

The group explores Coal Town in preperation to entertain their denizens; they quickly discover the major players in this town are two buisness partners Cuthbert Iron Works and Cornwall Company Coal Refinery; Bruse and Gale immediately seek to get answers or information about the cart, and through asking various folks around town they discover a man named Lemoyne Robertson was seen speaking with the carriage driver outside of the Emberlight Inn, Gale had previously invited Pete and a man named Lemoyne to the carnival on comp. Bugz visit's Dr. Vicker's clinic and gets his lice cured, he also collects the lice to dry them out for an opiate of sorts. The group questions denizens of the town regarding the carriage, and though people in the town are silent, almost afraid, they meet a man named Levar, for 300 silver he agrees to tell them what he knows about Lemoyne and the Carriage. The group pays him a modest 5 silver, promising him the rest at the carnival. Whilst this is happening Halle Harkin sneaks onto the site of construction for the train station in Coal Town and finds a signant ring for the Cornwall Coal Refinery Company, during the scouting of the site she climbed the outside tower of the Coal Plant, seeing a man in a red vest watching her.   Later that night as showtime approaches outside Coal Town, Fletcher Hawkins is moved to the ticket booth to work with Mordecai Chartreus on ticket sales; agreeing to help Dances in Shadow with his act instead. Gale has his first solo act, with Mr. Tenpenny assisting, he succesfully completes the bullet catch despite the pain of the past still fresh on his mind. Later he sees Pete with a group of gruff looking indiuvals though well dressed; Halle, as she walks back to her trailer after the show, is met by the man in the red vest who introduces himself as Lemoyne Robertson, and invites Halle to bring a crew if she wants to make some money with him. They agree, meeting him back at the Emberlight Inn, long after the town of Coal has laid its head to rest.   There, Lemoyne informs the group he intends to Rob Thadius Cuthbert and Vorcus Cornwall for both money and materials in the next two days, and they want Halle and the groups help to do so, Halle and the Carnies will break into Cornwall Coal and take a sizeable amount of gold, along with some documents pertaining to the construction of the railway and some paperwork from The Free Coast. The group, releuntantly agrees, some needing to be talked into working with the group of outlaws, Lemoyne offers the group half the gold and the information he knows about who was in that carriage.

Journals

• The Spotlight Halle

Episode 2: Facing Death and Other Minor Inconviences

The group discover's Gale, bleeding out and unconcious; The Scholar leads Apollo first to the body and they move him to the camp in an attempt to save him with what limited supplies they have avalible, a surgery of sorts is performed but it is not sufficient to save Gale's life. Gale is transported to the river between realms, where his soul is nearly lost to death itself; but at the last second, he's torn by a ghastly bony hand up from the water and back into the land of the living; after being in a comatose state for two weeks, he awakens in his trailer with S'vreena along with Farewell and Goodnight taking care of him. He presses Samuel to chase after the woulde be assassins but Managment is firm on stopping in Coal Town and not missing a single stop. Gale is also gifted a mask and a poster from Samuel that denote him as a solo act star as Gale the Death Defying Gunslinger. Gale reluctantly agrees before perusing Lysanders belongings, including his armored coat, insitute issue equalizer a reciever and an old pipe.   The group uses the scholar's powers to navigate gales memories and they discover more information about the carriage and the man driving it that shot Gale, the carriage is empire make, very high dollar and the driver is a shifter.   The group crosses paths with a strange traveling merchant, Archibald A. Abeforth who sells various items to the group including a drow music box, a cold iron sun elf kukri, a dueling cape, some cofee, and a waffle maker.   The group then discovered an infestation of Grimples they lured out and subsquently murdered though some did acquire Gremlin lice, in addition to Bruse acquring an emrald that nearly smashed Halle Harkin's skull in.   Finally, the carnival arrived in Coal Town, an industrial factory town on the brink of becoming a hub for the railway power system in Kaldore, and they arrive just in time to witness the maiden voyage of the first train.

Episode 1: The Age of Wonder

Moonspinner's Carnival travels away from Merrynthallis, heading towards Korvosk before receiving word competetion may be there around the same time; taking word from management, Samuel annouces the group will be taking a long trek through the promised frontier towards the Blessed City of No Name. The group gorans in protest but prepares for night 3 of their shows in Blackberry Creek.   A simple group of perfromers, (Bruise, Halle, Gale, Apollo and Bugz) seemingly chosen for one random task by Lysander the gunslinger, unite to drum up interest in the small mining town, Halle Harken, a clown who recently joined but is quickly proving to be a star, long time carnival residents Strongman Apollo and Gutterhound Gale join in along with Bugz, a musican with the carnival's band and a newer hand named Bruse. This group of five head into Blackberry Creek, put on an impromptu performance and also manage to save the life of a donkey named Chester. The group eat together at the local in The Crow and Quill before heading back to the site of the Carnival.   There, Bruse is approached by Vaash, one of the ring fighters to fill in for him at the show tonight; Bruse reluctnatly agrees, not wanting to be a part of the show. Halle invites the downtrodden Dr.Smilesforth to particpate in her act, much to his shagrin. Gale and Lysander put on an excellent faux gun battle and diplay of marksmanship, ending with a goose version of the infamous bullet catch. In the night, when the main event begins, Halle Harken once again proves why shes garnered so much clout in a short time with moonspinners, dazlling the crowd with her acrobatic display, even managing to include Smilesforth succesfully. Suddenly, in the midst of the show there is a scream, running outside, Bruse and the security see Kobdolds rushing into the carnival from one of the mining sites; The group who went to Blackberry creek unite once again to take down the draconic scurge and manage to subdue them after a brutal back and forth fight.   The Kobolds vanquished, the group finds an escaped prisoner named Fletcher in the pile of bodies hiding, they agree to free him from his binds and he joins the carnival.   Making a quick escape, the Carnival tears down in record time and hits the road, finally stopping for rest some time around midnight; after a breif watch, Gale awakes in the middle of the night with Lysander missing, investigating he finds him being taken in by an extremely nice chariot with a bright green light emerging from inside, as he is pulled inside by an unseen force, a hand grabs Gale from behind and rockets him to the ground; a large, rough, hairy man stands over him, shooting him directly in the head with Lysander's old Institute Pistol, killing him instantly.