An Arctic Advent - IC

LoganAura wrote:Blood stares at the pony and glances down at the medal on the kitsune's neck, a small smile. "Oh, but the third place winner of the race, here, would greatly appreciate meeting the ponies inside. And I- er we- are accompanying her."

Spoiler:

The guard sees the medallion with a look of admiration, but then frowns a bit and shifts his weight a little uncomfortably as he considers the situation. "Look I'm sorry, but it's against the rules, nopony's allowed in unless they are part of the act, and I'm not about to break the rules, you can talk with the show ponies later. Besides, they're all getting ready for their acts, you'll just distract them."

"Well, most of them are, yes, well except for lor- I mean Char," he says, failing to cover his slip-of the tongue. "He's a unicorn alright, and there are four others, but they don't use too much magic, he says it 'spoils the real magic of a show'." The earth pony pauses a bit and taps his quarterstaff as he begins to muse aloud. "They amplify their voices I think, but the fireworks are real, the smoke is definitely real. Really, they just use their magic before the show. I think it's great that they perform with such an honest approach to their craft. I kinda wish I had a better view of the whole spectacle, but a job's a job I guess." He lets out a sigh. "Well, at the very least you folk get to enjoy the spectacle."

"lor?" Blood tilts his head, glancing to the side. "Er, Char? Is he the pony who was on stage?"

"Why yes, yes he was. He always does the introductions, he's the manager of this whole gig, he's also the mastermind behind the spectacular fireworks. That stallion has talent," he says with a hint of admiration.

"Char... Talent..." Blood stares. "A pony with a knack for fire in an icy area?"

Carn listened for now...Things -seemed- on the level, maybe he just didn't feel like stealing the show just yet? Maybe they were just overthinking it. Still, he was ready in case things got ugly. On the other paw, the guard had almost let something slip...Hmm...How odd...

LoganAura wrote:"Char... Talent..." Blood stares. "A pony with a knack for fire in an icy area?"

"We're all Equestrians, from Equestria. Char was... um... he decided to bring the show to the north as a show of good relations between our two nations. He's one of the best pyro-magicians in all of Equestria, your Northerners are lucky to see such a spectacle."

As if to emphasize this point, you hear a large portion of the crowd gasp in unison.

- - - - - -

(To the PCs not currently near the guard)

You see an entertaining fire act, involving fiery rings and torches. It starts off as a pegasus making a quick dive through a ring of flames. Then she dives through three rings and between a row of juggled torches. Finally, she makes a quick dive and spins as she goes through a series of five suspended flaming rings, this creates a small cyclone of fire that joins the rings together. As she lands from the stunt, the rings above her flare up as an expression of her triumph. A dangerous stunt for any pegasus.

The crowd gasps at the spectacle, then erupts in cheers.

"Hay! I was the second place winner! This one-" and Camellia hops on top of Ursa's back and jumps up and down on it a couple times for emphasis, "was third place."

"Lor... what? What were you going to say?" Camellia asks and narrows her eyes, clearly suspicious or at least making an effort to show suspicion.

"Also.... where's Equestria?" she adds.

---

I imagine Camellia as being not much bigger than a normal fox and I'm assuming Ursa is bear sized. Making her weight pretty minor for the bear.

((I don't think ursa followed))

Blood glances at the Kitsune. "Oh, I'm sorry. Your true place must've slipped my mind." He chuckles at the joke, not fully understanding why he made it.

Ramsus wrote:"Hay! I was the second place winner! This one-" and Camellia hops on top of Ursa's back and jumps up and down on it a couple times for emphasis, "was third place."

"Lor... what? What were you going to say?" Camellia asks and narrows her eyes, clearly suspicious or at least making an effort to show suspicion.

"Also.... where's Equestria?" she adds.

---

I imagine Camellia as being not much bigger than a normal fox and I'm assuming Ursa is bear sized. Making her weight pretty minor for the bear.

He ignored your first response, thinking more of it as inter-party bickering.

He glanced nervously in your direction at your second response, and you get the impression that he did not want to bring that subject back up.

"Really, you don't know?" he replies to your last question in surprise. "Well, it's two weeks by hoof, almost directly to the south. Your northern lands and our nation are trade partners, we provide you southern foods and supplies in exchange for your precious metals and crystals."

As he says this, you get the feeling that this pony is trying to figure out what you are exactly, but he seems too polite to ask.

"Hmmm, you really didn't want to answer about the Lor thing did you?" Camellia says, grinning, giving the impression she'd intentionally laid a trap and he'd walked right into it.

"Odd I thougt that foxes especially transforming ones were supposed to the most clever things around... I can only think of one word that fits infront of a name begining with Lor and that would be Lord so the actor is a royal? "

"It could be a name." Blood uses a tendril to count off some ideas. "Loreman, Lord, Lorry."

"Then why is his name Char? Could he be hiding his true identity that would make him more than just royalty but somepony very important!"

The roan pony, grimaces a bit. "Well, he keeps asking us not to call him Lord... he wants all of us to feel like we're traveling as equals, but the title slips out sometimes, it's just habit." He now looks rather embarrassed at his mistake.

"I can understand if he's wanting to be judged on his merits, but that means there's another question: Why's a lord travelling with a bunch of performers? Doesn't seem like you'd travel in the same circles..." Carn looked at the kitsune for a moment when she leaped on his back, but the size difference meant he wasn't particularly bothered by it...Long as she didn't try to dig claws in or something, he probably wouldn't for now, at any rate...Though he figured it probably looked silly enough...

"It's a circus, not a circle." Camellia corrects (possibly intentionally incorrectly) Ursa, still on his back and she just ignores Waverider's comment.

'Fuel flares based on heightened momentum. Fascinating. I wonder how that works?' Glenrir "ooohs" on cue with the rest of the crowd, having settled a very safe distance back, trying, like a child or self-styled intellectual watching a sleight of hand show, to dissect the performance as it happened. Figuring out just exactly what they were really doing was always more interesting than the overt action. Every movement was choreographed, every prop meticulously planned in these types of things, but no performance ever went perfect, especially the first and last ones in a new locale... and this was both.

He amused himself trying to first figure out the real choreography, then figure out if the performers ever strayed from it. Having no background knowledge in that may be a disadvantage, but failing then getting impressed with the real thing was part of the fun. Some sort of crowd seemed to form at the base of the stage 'round back, hard not to see what with the size of some of the group... The timber wolf wondered if something was going on, but quickly reverts his attention to the action above as a pegasus performs a particularly interesting trick.

Ramsus wrote:Camellia looked over at Nihil and says, "The fireworks and the show are interesting but, I have the feeling Bloody Stupid Mage is about to put on an even more interesting show for us." and then hops off after the other two.

Nihil shrugs and says, "Suit yourself. I'm more in the mood for this kind of a show than another comedy." Then he flies a few feet above the crowd to get a better look at the performance and lands on top a nearby building.

Caden2112 wrote:"I can understand if he's wanting to be judged on his merits, but that means there's another question: Why's a lord travelling with a bunch of performers? Doesn't seem like you'd travel in the same circles..." Carn looked at the kitsune for a moment when she leaped on his back, but the size difference meant he wasn't particularly bothered by it...Long as she didn't try to dig claws in or something, he probably wouldn't for now, at any rate...Though he figured it probably looked silly enough...

"Well, to me it's just another job, a good one, but it's still a job, and I was never told the details." The pony seems a little more keen to talk than he first had. "But I have overheard some conversations within the caravan about it being a mission granted by the queen herself. Though I doubt that has any weight to it. Besides, why would the queen designate a caravan to travel north, to do such a thing could even come across as insulting, as it's a matter that's a fair bit beneath somepony of her status. I'm certain it was just those ponies trying to make a tale a little taller than it actually is.

Regardless of the circumstance though, I am quite glad to have seen Frost Falls. It's quite a sight, even if it's the coldest I've ever been. And that race you were all in, that was spectacular!"

Blood tilts his head. "Maybe the 'caravan' has some ponies to defend Char?"

The performance continues on for a good twenty minutes or so with more feats of acrobatics and finesse. The crowd's cheers signal the finishing of an act and the crowd's getting excited, they know the finale must be coming soon, for the it's nearly time to raise the moon.

(OOC: Feel free to post what you were doing in those twenty minutes, or if you had some awesome plan or whatnot)

The stage curtains ruffle and an orange unicorn comes forth, wearing a luxurious coat or red, yellow and orange.

"Good folk of Frostfalls, your enthusiasm simply floors me!" he booms out with a magically enhanced voice, smiling brightly. "So, without further ado, I shall bring for the final spectacle of the show."

He then tilts his head downward in concentration and his horn shines a bright fiery-red colour. Before him a few feet above the stage, he releases a magic spell in an intricate weave. The whole crowd gasps in anticipation, wondering what wondrous spell the unicorn had just cast and the watch as it begins to take shape.

The conversation seemed to have hit a dead-end. The guard seemed less-than-willing to spend much more, and quite flatly, one unicorn's desire to be a little less noticable was not worth trying to start a fight over, unless he turned out to be some mass-murderer...Carn had contented himself and passed the time by returning and watching the show...They were certainly talented, though he was wondering what the grand finale was going to be...He was ready for anything, he figured...!

Blood watches the stage show, complimenting them every few minutes to the nearest pony, and huddles himself under the red cloak.