You’ll need to set this adventure up ahead of time; fliers, legends of a dark carnival, and when it leaves, people disappear. But the people who disappear are people no one really cares about: the old, the lame, the sick, and the nervous. The circus can show up anywhere. Good places for it are across the lakes at Prata Phoenix, outside of a village on the road (such as Occasus), or a few miles from the temple of Preaching at the Gates of Hell.
Midway prizes are handed down as heirlooms; oddly creepy yet evoking nostalgia. Colorful sunglasses with large lenses, forever flowers perpetually bright, super-bouncing moldable clay, a hemispherical jar of eye-agates in liquid, painted wooden birds that fly when thrown.
Finding the circus: Handbills
If they’re going to encounter the circus, you’ll want to leave faded handbills around on the road, especially the dry and dusty towns around the Glendale train. The circus’s handbills are in Latin. They advertise old granny the fortune teller, the illustrated family, the fire-eater, the boy with the lightning bolt hands, the most beautiful woman in the world. See! The girl with kaleidoscape eyes! Cultosaurus Erectus! The strongest little girl in the world. The lady of the labyrinth. The family of glass.
Hot air witches
Sixteen balloons all searching for bumps in the smooth mass of souls. The witches have rainbow discs for eyes. Knowledge passes from color to color as it shifts from balloon to balloon. They’re looking for a hero, so that they can corrupt them, suck them dry, and make them a part of the circus. Each witch has two heads, and carries a brass telescope for each head.
The witches will return to earth if there’s a storm or high winds.
The street parade
The circus will run a parade through the nearest large town (getting permission according to local rules) with all of their most colorful acts: an army of knights, giant lizards on leashes, the roaring tiger jumping through fire on a float, scantily-dressed women on horseback, the boy with lightning bolts sparking from his hands, fire eaters, and all manner of exotic creatures.
