Fletching and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities

 is a traveling carnival that made a stop in the town of Trostenwald, Wildemount. It is co-run by Gustav Fletching and Desmond Moondrop

The carnival became the site of a ravenous zombie attack when an old man spectating the show suddenly keeled over and hideously transformed. Following which, led to an investigation by the Crown's Guard and the eventual disbanding of the carnival.

Members

 * Gustav Fletching. A lanky, half-elven man and the carnival master. He led the procession towards the carnival tent. He was arrested, imprisoned, and took all blame upon himself following the panic of the zombie creature outbreak.
 * Toya. Dwarven girl, roughly 12 years of age. She had a beautiful mature voice and had been singing with the carnival for over two years. She had no family and was found singing in the streets for change. Gustav saw and seized an opportunity to utilize the girl's talents giving the girl a family she didn't have. Being the tool she uses to make money and survive, although she has a beautiful singing voice her speaking voice is crackly from damage caused by overuse.
 * Mona and Yuli. Two halfling women known together as the "Knot Sisters." Women in full bodysuits, sporting serpentine makeup consisting of scales affixed to their face and arms. Extremely flexible and nimble, they are contortionists able to almost form one form out of their two bodies. They were seen dancing from side to side handing flowers to children and flyers to the adults during the procession towards the carnival tent.
 * Desmond Moondrop. A bald man in his late 30s and a shifting fool of the carnival. He was first seen wearing a frilled frock coat of bright red and face adorned with vibrant orange makeup to look like the setting sun. He followed the two sisters in the procession towards the carnival tent playing a fiddle. During the performance, first wore an outfit and makeup matching the deep blue of the tent, he was later seen to don an outfit of deep-set black. He was seen to be able to control and play the fiddle without physically touching it as if floated near him. Out of makeup his face was seen to be severely scarred on his left side of his face as though it had been shredded at one point in his youth. He had a melancholy, sad presence about himself that permeated out of him.
 * Bosun, AKA Bo the Breaker. A tall and muscular half-orc man of greenish-grey skin. Well put together with a well-groomed handlebar mustache that curves out to the sides. He wears a billowing white silk shirt and black trousers. He followed behind the bald man in the procession leading to the carnival tent and was seen to play a large drum which he had slung over his shoulder. He was arrested and imprisoned in the stockade along with Gustav following the panic of the zombie creature outbreak.
 * Mollymauk Tealeaf. Following Bo the Breaker in the procession towards the carnival tent he was seen to walk in place and juggle two curved scimitars. He also used a deck of cards to read people's fortune for which he charged 2cp for a simple reading. Toya claims that Mollymauk had with the carnival for almost 2 years.
 * Ornna, "the Fire Fairy". A woman of short fiery red hair, and dark skin. She wore a simple dress of golds and reds. She is a fire dancer that wields a pair of metallic fans alight with flame. Following Mollymauk in the procession, she held a small candle up towards her lips and caused a gout of flame to burst out of her mouth, which brightened the vicinity and caused the townsfolk to collectively gasp. She was said to have had several disagreements with Gustav and would argue about how the carnival should be run.
 * Yasha. A burly looking pale woman, with arms crossed she followed behind the procession keeping an eye as a security guard and made sure that no business got out of hand. She was mentioned to have helped in putting up the carnival tent. During the performance, she confiscated and held the parties weapons, enforcing a rule where you can't have weapons on you if you want to see the show.

Beasts

 * Kylre, aka the "Devil-Toad". An enormous creature with green scaled slimy looking skin and a corpulent form. Described as looking like an obese lizard man, it was bipedal though was hunched when it walked using its forearms for support. It had toad like legs framing a rotund torso and muscular arms. It had a large roar and was soothed out of its aggression by Toya's song. He appeared to rescue Toya from the chaos of the old man transforming into a zombie creature. It joined the carnival before Toya joined up and later created an act with her.

Horses

 * Shelby, a male white mustang, named by Fjord. The horse pulled cart containing the burnt zombie corpses of the two Crown's Guards that were posted and turned by Kylre at the carnival. The party dumped these burnt and carved up corpses on the edge of the Ustaloch on its muddy banks and then sent the horse off with a sharp whack to its backside.
 * Winter's Crest, a draft horse the party acquired from the carnival during its disbanding, and which they rode in on their way north along the Amber Road from Trostenwald to Alfield. Although the ride was no faster than walking it did provide the party some rest for their feet. Mollymauk stated that the horse had that name because if it lived that long that was when the carnival planned to kill it and have meat to eat as a celebration during the festivities. The remainder of the horse would have been made into jerky and sold to raise funds to purchase the next horse. Abbreviated to WC by Nott, which Caleb pointed out to that WC means Water Closet/ Toilet in Zemnian, which the horse afterward would be called.

Show Tent


The main tent was circular, made of heavy dark blue cloth and had lengthy streamers of white and silver attached to the top of it. The interior of the tent had a flattened floor of dirt and grass. The inside edge of the tent, where the cloth met the ground, was encased in a heavy tarp-like material. There were two entrances to the tent, a patron's entrance and a larger performer's entrance across it on the other side of the tent. The tent was held up by a column of wood made of a tree rounded off on all sides and had a small platform set into its the apex. There were four lanterns filled with magical flame that lit the interior of the tent. The carnival tent had a semicircle of seats made up of three sections; right, center and left.

Performer's Common Area
To the back of the show tent there are a number of horse-drawn carts, and tents that all face towards a central common area with chairs facing a large campfire. On the northern side of the clearing, there was a medium-sized tent where Desmond resided, as well as a large tent where the Knot Sisters and Ornna slept. Their tent was the largest of the tents in this area. On the south side, there was a large tent where Toya and Kylre slept, and a very small tent in which Bo would generally sleep. Gustav would usually reside in the main wagon. This common area was about 25-30 feet in diameter, and was further from the Ustaloch some 400-500 feet to the south of it.

Carnival Rules

 * No old or sick people were allowed inside the main tent.
 * You can't have weapons on you if you want to see the show.

Known Attendees

 * A clueless and gullible farmer who came to have his fortune read from Mollymauk. He was suffering from a sickness in the form of a cough he'd had for three to four months. Mollymauk suggests breathing a tincture and that perhaps getting the cough looked at by a physician. He was not allowed within the tent.
 * An old man named Enon. He sat in the front row of the audience on the left. During Toya's song, he stood up face wet tears and outstretched his arm towards Toya, causing his dirty cloak to fall away revealing face wet with tears, skin wracked with age, and shaky legs. Giving out a shout of gurgled pain, he grasped his chest and began to shake. Yelling again the skin in his arms began to tear away, and his bones started splitting and bursting out from beneath his flesh, writhing and cracking. Dust and blood shook from his wounds as his form swelled. It appeared to have separate control of its eyes, which burned like red coals.
 * A young woman killed and transformed by the curse effect from the zombie creature. She took 8 points of bludgeoning damage from a slam to the chest from the zombie creature. The zombie creature then proceeded to gnaw into and rip off a piece of her flesh before making its way towards its next target. After a round, she rose from the dead as a similar zombie creature. Caleb would later carve off a piece of her corpse and store it in a rag in one of his pockets.
 * A scrawny young man around 14 or 15 with a puffy red afro and pale skin, who lived three houses up from Reynaldo's house, had snuck in under the tent after it started and stood at the back and didn't see much of the details of the zombie creature.

Having their first show on the day of Grissen (see Calendar of Tal'Dorei), the carnival had set up in Trostenwald east of the Loch Ward, some 150-200 feet from the southern bank of the Usterloch, where they spent a week performing the year before. This carnival was where Mollymauk Tealeaf and Yasha worked, with Molly as an entertainer and Yasha as a security guard. The fee to enter the tent and see the show was 5 copper pieces.

During the performance, an elderly spectator of the show became transfixed as Toya sang. As he stretched his arm to reach out to her, he transformed hideously into some sort of undead creature. The party was able to kill the zombie with minimal casualties. However, all of the performers, except Yasha (who led a Crownsguard into a nearby tent before fleeing), were taken into custody for suspicion of wrongdoing.