Session 70: The Poc Fair

General Summary

The party continued to fight at the ferry. Two of the werewolves lit a cart on fire and pushed it down toward the pools of oil, however, with their ambush countered, it had little effect. The group of attackers consisted of werewolves, as well as regular wolves and a dire wolf. However, the party seemed to notice that a couple of the werewolves seemed to hold leadership positions over the pack, acting as alpha and betas. Once the alphas and betas were defeated, the rest of the pack split up and ran.   In investigating their attackers, the party discovered that some of them had goat masks either on or with them, which seemed a bit unusual.    The party then crossed with the ferry and continued on their travels the next day. They crossed into the Kingdom of Louth, nearing Caer Craftenor, where Aisling hails from. They found a couple of children playing, one of which was wearing a goat mask. Aisling approached and asked them where they got the mask from, and they said that they got it from the Poc Fair.   Aisling knew the Poc Fair, as it was an annual occurance that celebrated a victory over the Oleander forces three decades before. The story is that a herd of goats was moving toward the mountains, but one of them left the herd and approached the city. Hearing it's bleeting, a druid cast speak with animals to find out what was the matter. The goat complained that their grazing ground had been trampled by men and they were forced to move. This alerted Caer Craftenor to the movement of Oleander forces and they were able to prepare and make a surprise counter attack against the Oleander soldiers, defeating them. The goat who had warned the city was celebrated and, jokingly, made honorary king. Since that time, the tradition has become that every year, the monarch of the Kingdom of Louth, 'abdicates' their throne for three days, appointing a goat as king during that time. During the three days, a celebration and fair is held, called the Poc Fair, with Poc being the Daoine word for a male goat.   Knowing that the lycanthropes had these masks meant that they had at least traveled through the fair the day before, and the party decided to investigate the fair.   Arriving at the fair, the party saw that it was in many ways a traditional carnival with games of skill and chance, rides, and a ten-in-one attraction. Tertius immediately wanted to ride the carousel with Levi and afterward wanted Levi to win him a plush horse at the feat of strength attraction. Discovering that it was rigged, Levi paid a gold to the carny running the game for the prize, which he gave.    Obadiah and Snirk went to get meat on a stick and Illevaere was drawn to the ten-in-one tent, waiting for the next showing to begin as a crowd gathered to head in.   Myohn and Aisling, however, went to the stone stage and signed up for a performance later in the day, but waited around for an opening when someone did not return. During that time, Myohn noticed what seemed like a potentially shady dealing occuring with someone at the fair and a carny, the former passing coin to the latter discretely then disappearing. When an opening occured, the duo quickly took the opportunity to take to the stage. Their combined performance was incredible with Myohn's music unmatched, and Aisling's acrobatics and cheers dazzling the crowd. She even magically beckoned the shady carnival goer to join them on stage to dance with them. The crowd was amazed at their performance, which is usually just locals of mediocre talent.