29. Carnival

* Wilfred encounters the mage hunters who have been looking for him.
	+ He first speaks to Margear Wildwander inside the shop-boat. Margear told Wilfred he and his companions would be on Bisquay, waiting either for him to change his mind and agree to return to Rumidia with them, or for the moment Wilfred left the island, at which point they'd bring the hunt to him.
	+ Wilfred also learns that his old mentor and guardian, Lyra au Leones, is also missing, and her registration materials were apparently tampered with at the same time as Wilfred's own. The hunters suspect Wilfred knows all about these happenings and they ask him where 'the Lioness' is hiding, but he says he doesn't know.
	+ Margear's form disappears, an illusion. Outside the shop, Wilfred and the party see the hunter gnome's true body, alongside his companions: Arren au Pazzi, a human, and Eli au Leones, a half-elf. Additionally, the trio have a hulking figure in their shadows who receives no introduction, completely shrouded in cloak and hood.
	+ Margear tells Wilfred they'll be staying at a little place called the Eggs and Flint, should he wish to act with Rumidian decorum again.
* The party go to the carnival's Menagerie boat!
	+ They see a petting zoo with tonnes of goats and rabbits and three domesticated hippogriffs.
	+ They also see the mammoth again, and other such rare or interesting creatures.
	+ In a separate room, they encounter 5 grungs (2 green, 2 red, 1 orange) being kept in a cage exhibit. Someone standing outside offers passers-by the chance to try out the various interesting poisons the creatures make. Cormorant figures that the grungs are actually part of the carnival gang and very much in on the act.
		- Cormorant tries green grung poison, which makes him jump and climb.
		- Aerendyl tries red grung poison, making him eat ravenously.
		- Pyt and Clwyd try orange grung poison, which makes them terrified of their allies.
	+ Also in this area, they see flying snakes, 4 feathered lizards (deinonychus), and a 'creature of the night', which is revealed to be a carnie dressed up to pass, fairly convincingly, as a vampire in a cage.
* They go next to the carnival's Sugar Kingdom!
	+ There's a lot of junk food to eat. Pyt enjoys it.
	+ The group also has fun in the kid's maze and the hall of mirrors.
* Then they go to the carnival's Oasis!
	+ They get a private booth.
	+ Wilfred tells the group about the mage hunters and about Lyra - saying she was formerly the archmage of conjuration, was the person who raised him after his parents disappeared, and that he thinks the hunters might be hoping he'll lead them to her (Wilfred being the easier of the two to find and follow).
	+ A harpist comes on the group's request and tells them stories. They first hear the Tale of the Fisherman and the Efreet, and then hear the long song of 'The Death of a Knight of Summer' by Saoirse the Lamb of the Great Twelve.
* They decide to explore the rest of the carnival!
	+ The Den of Death Defiers is still closed, so they decide to do some sneaking.
	+ Aerendyl casts a spell that will greatly aid their infiltration attempts and then shifts his form to that of a spider, riding in Wilfred's pocket. Wilfred in turn casts a high level invisibility spell, turning himself, Cormorant, and Clwyd invisible.
	+ These four sneak aboard the nearest of the two ships that house the carnival crew. They break into the upper deck room, finding a lot of infernal sigaldry there. Spending some time looking around, they discover that it's Lilith's room, that she has a small glyph mark on the floor with a connection to the Sixth Hell, and they find and steal her diary (written in Infernal). Clwyd magically mends the lock after they leave and they all sneak away, returning to the Devil's Arse.
	+ Meanwhile, Pyt turns into a flying snake and goes exploring on both the ships. He passes all the way through the right-side ship, finding it full of sleeping quarters of varying luxury. In the very bowels of the ship, he finds a locked room and can progress no further. This prompts him to fly back up and then over to the left-side ship. This one he finds housing some more quarters, but far more of the space is used for storage.
* Flying snake Pyt descends to the bottom of the left-side ship, which is pitch black.
	+ He finds the room's ground covered in soil.
	+ He explores, and locates 8 long boxes in the centre of the area, arranged in a 3X3 grid with the central piece missing.
	+ Sitting on one of the boxes, having watched him the entire time, is a halfling with a childish, female voice. She can apparently see right through to his true form, since she calls him 'an elf-boy dressed up like a pretty snake.'
	+ She casts a spell on him but snake Pyt resists and flees the room, back up the hatch he had entered through.
	+ He pauses by the hatch, listening below for any sounds that would betray her following him.
	+ None come.
	+ He makes to leave, but the halfling has somehow cut him off - she's now sitting on one of the barrels that flank the passageway back through the ship.
	+ She smiles and giggles at Snake Pyt, telling him not to run. Then her eyes flash with a sinister glint.