The Show Must Go On - Chapter Four

> "*Mr. Conductor, if you please!*"
> ― Fraya Love
>
>

**Field Hockey: The Frock Opera** is the sixteenth episode of Queens of Adventure. It consists of Booty and the Hofish staging their morale boosting show for the Golden Palace.

## Synopsis

*(Note: underlined concepts will refer to the items the queens were asked to include in their show)*

The crowd murmurs as the curtain parts. A single spotlight on Arson Nicki. Once the audience quiets, she strides to the pipe organ and the wheel of chance, and begins playing a devotional song, Ave Maria. With her bare foot she spins the wheel. The wheel lands on an icon of flames, and the keys begin to grow hotter. She blows on the keys, knowing this wont do much, but hopes she can survive the song.

Backstage, Fraya Love sees Arson in trouble from the wings. She finds the water she used to make simple syrup and begins making tiny ice cubes. With a field hockey stick she slides them to Arson who picks them up with her toes to place them under her fingers. They melt, but she is able to finish her song. The audience applauds.

In the audience, Carmella La Mer and Sister Baccarat are thrilled the wheel was used.

Arson returns to center stage and talks to the audience. Karin woos in the back. She gives a short educational lesson on how to act at a drag show. Patrick takes notes in the audience. Her lesson encourages tipping, and to not touch the performers without consent. Finishing, she announces the next queen, Butylene O'Kipple.

A spotlight follows Butylene onto the stage. From her costume she draws a concert triangle and dessert spoon and begins to play In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, accompanying herself with *thaumaturgy*. At the bridge, she signals Fraya who returns on stage to play water glasses with *shape water* to create some pure moods music. Patrick and Karin are leaned up together, enjoying their preferred musics intermingled, but the Sister is shifting focus from Butylene to the wheel. The tiefling spins the wheel, summoning backup dancer skeletons until the song ends.

Host Arson returns introducing Harlotte O'Scara, who is wearing an old granny outfit. She has changed her number since rehearsal, and spins the wheel. The rogue has thrown out the sea-shanty she was going to incorporate for a sea-saw. Augustus is playing a jazz song on the banjo, but a string breaks. Harlotte tries to recover with an acrobatic routine on the sea-saw using *mage hand* to call the banjo to her. It smacks her in the face and she goes flying into the air. The wheel lands on a drop of water and a kiddy pool of water appears on stage. She lands in it, splashing the audience. Her next attempt to save the number is to use her cloak to disguise herself, but fails. Lastly, she does a gymnastic spin, drawing the audience back in. They shake their heads in disbelief as they applaud. Jim-Jim wishes there had been more leather.

With quite the introduction, the curtains open for Fraya's number. From the top of the theater, she drops all the way down to the bottom, landing in the splits and catching the field hockey stick (Here Fraya describes who Tandi Imon Dupree is. Seriously, go youtube Best drag queen entrance ever), which is on fire. The audience bursts into applause as a goth rock version of Mama Mia starts and Fraya dances around the stage, twirling the burning hockey stick. With *gust of wind* she spins the wheel, landing on skull again, summoning more skeletons. She finishes with a spinning pose. Her hair lights on fire, burning away one wig, revealing another wig underneath. Carmella is awash with memories over the field hockey stick as the audience goes wild.

The curtain opens back up for the final number with the queens in a kick line. Harlotte has changed back into her regular leather armor, spinning the wheel with *mage hand.* Arson uses *mirror image* and three more Arsons appear. Butylene *thaumaturgies* an air horn, and throws a grenade that explodes into sparks. The wheel summons slippery banana peels everywhere. Butylene slips on them, landing in the splits. As she heads off the stage, she throws two more sparkle grenades.

The audience is in hysterics. Everyone got a little of what they wanted.

The theater plunges into darkness. A spotlight shows the materializing form of a spectral clown. Augustus gasps, "it's Tootsie the Clown!" The theater doors slam shut, the audience isn't sure if this is part of the show. Tootsie is furious they had a successful show while he and his troop were killed and turned into monsters. In the audience, Lamont downs the rest of his drink.

Fraya throws her spear, but it misses the ghost, who makes a dramatic quote towards the clown. With her devil's tongue, Butylene casts *vicious mockery* against outdated unwoke clowning. Using *detect magic,* Fraya realizes the ghost is real, and maybe just trying to put on a good show. She draws her trident to mock battle. The ghost looks happy as Fraya charges. He falls against the doors of the theater, whispering to Fraya to make it a good performance. She faux-stabs him. He 'dies'. As the audience applauds, he springs up and starts to fade away but not without a final warning:

> "*The creatures who pulled me beneath the waves are legion. I remember little of my final moments, merely a stone shaped like a horned beast, heat and steam churning beneath the waves, flowing magma, the dead rising from watery graves and shipwrecks on the ocean floor. My last vision before I drowned was of a sinister man in a shimmering alter, his face like a bowl of spaghetti.*"
>
>
>

The queens gather on the stage for bows. House lights come up as the audience exists excitedly. Liir pours Lamont a new drink. Ramshackle approaches them and congratulates them. He tells them to get some rest as they have a trip ahead of them, but they can expect gifts in the morning... and instructions.

### Characters

#### Party

* Arson Nicki - drow warlock
* Butylene O'Kipple - tiefling alchemist
* Fraya Love - water genasi cleric
* Harlotte O'Scara - human rogue

#### NPCs

* Carmella La Mer
* Sister Baccarat
* Karin and Patrick

* Mr Souza the monkey
* Augustus Crimweath
* Jim-Jim
* Tootsie the Clown (debut)
* Lamont Du Pont IV
* Liir
* Ramshackle

## Episode Notes

### Lore

* The ghost of Tootsy the Clown describes elements of the lair of the person creating the seaspawn.

### Inspiration Earned

* Fraya - Hockey pucking tiny ice cubes to help Arson

### Memorable Quotes

* "From kindergartners all the way up through adults, the way you get people to shut the fuck up on stage is to just stand there and not do anything." - Arson Nicki
* "You give me an imagination challenge and I will defeat you! Keep coming at me." - Fraya Love
* "There's got to be some sort of woo every night (They tip pretty well too)." - Arson Nicki
* "My melanoma is following me..." - Butylene O'Kipple
* "Unbenkownst to my castmates I've completely changed my number. The DJ knows about this and has my proper track." - Harlotte O'Scara
* "This is why the Harlotte O'Scara clause exists at Kremwork." - Harlotte O'Scara
* "This next performer that we are about to bring to the stage is prettier than all of the last three performers that you have seen combined. That is a read and an objective fact." - Arson Nicki
* "Mr. Conductor, if you please." - Fraya Love
* "Not only do you catch that field hockey stick, that field hockey stick Is. On. Fire!" - DM Matt
* "Where is the ball change? You have to put a ball change in there!" - Arson Nicki
* "Honestly, if you lit your hair on fire, it might be kind of fierce." - Arson Nicki
* "I told you this is why you need a ghost light!" - Fraya Love
* "Putting the dick in Dickens right now." - Arson Nicki
* "In the morning you can expect some gifts. " - "Gifts? I love gifts" - "And some instructions!" - "I don't like instructions." - Ramshackle and Fraya Love

### References

* Enya
* Jessica Rabbit
* Countess Luann
* Rapture - Seattle drag show
* Stomp
* Dia De Los Muertos
* Martha Graham
* Bebe Zahara Benet's Jungle Kitty vocal stylings
* Ashley Simpson
* Daryl Hannah in Splash
* Dita von Teese
* Mad Madame Mim
* Gonzo the Great
* Tandi Imon Dupree
* The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia Speech from Designing Women
* Shady Rattlesnake Noise
* Sailor Moon transformation poses
* Showgirls "There's always someone younger and hungrier..."
* A Christmas Carol
* Shakespearean Quotes
* Robert England
* Miss Vanjie

### Name That Tune

* "Ave Maria"
* "24 Karat Magic" - Bruno Mars
* "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" - Iron Butterfly
* "Sail Away" - Enya
* "Jazz Baby" - Carol Channing
* "Mama Mia" - Abba
* "One" - Chorus Line
* "Peanut Butter Jelly Time"
* Theme from "Bananas in Pajamas"
* "Don't You Forget About Me"

## Behind the Queens

* DM Matt reminds listeners about the fan art contest. When it ends, the winner would be DiceRefgemlin, whose piece was of the creation of the Frock Opera poster Fraya made in the last episode.

**Greetings From Fire Island**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - **The Show Must Go On**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - **Ch4**
**Operation Watersport**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6 - Ch7 - **Trials**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4
**Ghosts of the Coast**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - **The Devil's Due**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4
**Special**: The Story So Far
**The Beautiful Place**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6 - **A Dance in the Dark**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4
**Drama in the Deep**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6 - **Whispers From the Heart**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6
**Danger Rangers!**: Ch1 - Ch2 - Ch3 - Ch4 - Ch5 - Ch6
**Mist Connections**: Ch1 - Ch2
**Unreleased**
Lost: Camp Crystal Light - Pax West 2018 --  vs the Lizard People
Live Shows: Seattle Style -- Minneapolis Style