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Mr. Wizard prided himself to be a master of persuasion. It was one of the main reasons his little spiel was still staying successful, and his head was still staying on his shoulders. The times in which he had managed to smooth-talk himself out a situation were outweighed only by the times he had gotten into the situation by trying to make some easy coin with the wrong person.
With that in mind it really wasn't that surprising that he had managed to convince the circus director to let him in to see the performance for free.
Plus, the circus coming to town was a great opportunity to try and sell the circus visitors some of his trinkets!
The town he was currently in mainly consisted of humans and halflings, and while Mr. Wizard himself had travelled far and wide and knew of many-a-people that lived on and under the earth, for many locals, the artists performing were as miraculous as the tricks they were showing. Humans, Elves, Dwarfs, Halflings, some Orcs, a Goliath and a Dragonborn were supposedly parts of that circus, and well, that drew a crowd in.
The show was soon to start, and Mr. Wizard felt like it would be inconsiderate to the artists to talk while they performed, so he put on his silver tongue, selling several trinkets including a rabbit's foot, two different magic crystals, as well as a small flacon filled with pink magic powder, before the show could start and stopping his trading once he heard music coming from behind the curtain. Hastily, he found himself a place, a bit far from the arena, the person next to him scooting over a bit, eyeing his clothes, quite unusual for this area.
First came the jugglers. Pins, balls, colourful cloths, and even burning torches sailed through the air, tossed by skillful hands, caught before they could reach the ground. One of the performers, an orc, even juggled several leaden weights like they were nothing, the crowd impressed not only with his feat, but with the sight of an orc as well.
That was followed by the weightlifters, several weights, some barrels and a live horse being brought in, with the music switching from the cheerful tunes from before to a more march-sounding melody. They started out by lifting the weights, heavier than the ones that have been previously juggled by the juggler orc who was jokingly offered one of the heavier ones by one of the weightlifters, another orc.
The crowd oohed as the goliath came out onto the arena. Mr. Wizard had met goliaths before, back in the tall mountains of Wyndcrest. Not the most sociable of folks, he chuckled to himself, but mighty impressive.
The weightlifters exercised their strength, lifting the leaden weights, the barrels, and even the horse, with the highlight being the two of the weightlifters, two orcs, sitting down on different sides of a strong metal pole and the goliath lifting the pole like a barbell, her face barely betraying even a notion of exertion.
Next came the acrobats, the cheery music returning. They jumped and turned and spun so quickly and expertly, their bright, multicoloured suits leaving Mr. Wizard a bit dizzy.
At one point, several horses were lead into the arena for the acrobats to continue their performance. While the animals ran in circles, the dancers on their backs made tricks Mr. Wizard would have slipped doing on even, unmoving ground. They jumped rope and switched places, dove through hoops and landed back on the horses' backs.
Then, as the horses and their rides galloped behind the curtain a group of silly dressed clowns stumbled onto the arena, with ridiculously bright wigs and clothes, over-the-top make-up and big noses and shoes. They goofed off to the sounds of equally silly jingle, attempting to do the same feats as the performers before them and failing, much to the humour of the audience.
All while that was happening on the ground, various ropes were fastened on the ceiling, unnoticed by the public, until the lights, that were previously focused on the clowns switched over to the constructions in the air the music abruptly changing to a powerful melody, introducing the air gymnasts and letting the clowns carry away all the leftover equipment unseen.
The air gymnasts performed in a similar manner to the ground gymnasts, except their forms literally flew through the air, all while doing movements incomprehensible to the people dwelling below.
The light above refocused, moving to the ground again, showing some work has been done on the ground. A dark ring has been laid within the arena, a figure cloaked in a crimson hood standing in the centre. The music changed from the upbeat tune that had played before to a more sinister sounding motif.
The cloaked figure threw back its hood, revealing a scaled, snake-like head below.
Mr. Wizard inhaled together with the rest of the audience. A dragonborn he hadn't actually seen before.
The fakir pulled out several sticks, striking them on each other, a sudden fire appearing on their ends. He tossed and turned them, making the fire dance in impressive arcs, as the dark ring around him spewed fire upwards in beat with the music, his part concluding as he took one of the burning sticks and swallowed the fire and showing the now-extinguished stick to the audience.
The light went out completely, as the music kept up it's gravely tone, then multicolour light rays began to run across the audience, a bright spot forming in the arena.
A woman wearing a long dark dress, an elf, by looks of it, stood in the same place as the fakir did previously, as the music swelled on into a new melody.
She started dancing, the long skirt of the dress fanning out wide around her, its colour changing from its previous black into other, brighter colours with patterns moving and intertwining, the colourful lighting and a magical music making it even more surreal.
It stopped as suddenly as it started, the lights and the music cutting out, the hypnotist using the darkness to slip off stage, then the lights went back on normally.
The music returned to the upbeat tune it had had at the very start, and from behind one side of the curtain, all the artists that have performed walked out, walking along the outer edge of the arena, leaving on the other side of the curtain.
The jugglers, the weightlifters, the acrobats, the clowns, the air gymnasts, the fakir and the hypnotist all walked in a circular line, waving and smiling at the audience. Behind them, the curtain opened anew, this time to reveal the orchestra that had played the entire time, continuing to play as they marched.
Just before the exit, one of the last drummers broke the formation for a moment to do a backflip, landing it awkwardly, but not loosing his footing and not stopping his playing. The crowd cheered and the last musicians disappeared behind the curtain.
Mr. Wizard shook his head. How fast time went past!
With the crowd slowly emptied out from the circus, Mr. Wizard managed to successfully sell several more crystals to the circus-goers. As the last people left the establishment, he decided to do the same, walking out and greedily breathing in some fresh air, which felt great after the stuffy air of the circus.
He decided to round the circus to maybe run into some potential customers hanging behind. Walking around, his left hand trailing on the outer canvas of the circus, he unexpectedly encountered one of the circus drummers, sitting on a rock on the ground.
"Oh! Well hello there chap, what are ya doing?"
The drummer looked Mr. Wizard up and down, measuring up his appearance, before answering "Just wanted to get some fresh air. It's kinda stuffy in there" he pointed with his thumb to the build behind his back "What are you doing here?"
"I'm just doing the same, ho-ho" Mr. Wizard chuckled, walking up to the rock the drummer was sitting on "Mind if I sit down with you?“
"Go ahead" the guy waved his hand in an offering motion and scooted over a bit.
Mr. Wizard took a closer look at the drummer's face. He looked quite young at first glance, but at closer inspection it seemed that his face just had that eternal-baby-face look to it. He also had dark grey geometrical patterns on his skin, obvious on his otherwise pale face, framed by long, golden curls. Mr. Wizard has seemingly looked at him for too long, because the drummer scrunched up his pretty face, looking back at Mr. Wizard.
"So, Mr. Drummer" Mr. Wizard decided to take the opportunity "Are you interested in some magic crystals? Could make you stronger, could make you luckier, could make you all sorts of things!"
"Nah" the drummer's response was quick and light-hearted "Don't need 'em. And also I'm not a drummer"
"Are you sure? Really don't need some good luck? Also, you play the drums, don't you?"
"Nah, I'm fine as it is, don't need crystals for that. And yeah, I play the drums. And the horn, and the pan flute. But my favourite's the bagpipes" the bagpiper said "You wanna hear some?"
"Oh, I'd be glad" Mr. Wizard nodded "But maybe not right now, I'm afraid after all that ruckus in the circus I'd get a headache"
The bagpiper nodded, his face darkening slightly "Yeah, probably for the best. My mum said I shouldn't be too loud after the performance"
"Oh, well" Mr. Wizard stood up, having rested enough for his liking "I hope you have a good day, Mr. Bagpiper, good luck on your performances!"
"You too, wizard guy" the circus guy drawled out, before perking up "Do you want to see a backflip?"
Mr. Wizard chuckled to himself "Oh, sure, sure! You‘re that guy who backflipped while playing the drums, aren‘t you?"
"That’s me!“ The young man jumped up from the rock, turning around and backflipping, not quite landing the ground contact, his knees buckling under him.
Mr. Wizard applauded politely, before waving goodbye and departing on his merry, mysterious wizard way.
Mr. Wizard had seen many-a-people in his travels, but the guy sitting at the bar in the tavern was, just like he told the dwarf next to him, one of a kind. Those luscious locks have stayed ever-presently in Mr. Wizard's memory, just like those backflipping skills.
Max didn't seem to remember him, much to Mr. Wizard's disappointment but, as luck would have it, fate seemed to be intent on the two of them joining each other (and the dwarf and the thiefling) for a quest, and who is Mr. Wizard to decline such enticing offers from fate?
Uttering magic words, almost forgotten by him, Mr. Wizard picked the best object he could think of to be his their light.
"You aren't serious" Max sighed, as Ruby rolled her eyes somewhere in the darkness.
Mr. Wizard smiled, as their little group sneaked through the creepy cellar, now illuminated by Max's radiant form, towards either glory or doom, but Mr. Wizard was certain it was glory.
After all, he was always lucky.
Maybe even lucky enough to convince Max the squad to stick together, even after this adventure is over.