Mrs Plenty's Carnival
"What can you find at Mrs. Plenty's Most Distracting Carnival? Smoke and mirrors! Light and shade! Bright paint and squealing children and the roar of lions! And the music, as a great man once said, is like electric sugar."
Mrs. Plenty's Most Distracting Carnival, run by a wealthy lady by the name of Miriam Plenty, is a year-round fair held west of Spite. It features several notable attractions.
The Big Top and the Sideshows
Here, one may become acquainted with various factions of the city - even, if one is fortunate, the Masters.
The Refreshment Tent
"What are Mrs. Plenty's Rubbery Lumps? The question is not indelicate. The Lumps are a famous - perhaps notorious - delicacy sold in the Refreshment Pavilion at Mrs Plenty's Most Distracting Carnival. Deep-fried sea-monster, they say. They are to jellied eels what a war is to a fist-fight."
A place to try hot wine, spore-toffee, and rubbery lumps, and hopefully recover from wounds and nightmares.
The Games Tent
Cards, chess, dice, lizard-throwing: try your luck! Maybe you'll win bats... or sapphires.
Madame Shoshana
"Who is Madame Shoshana? The Neath's most mystical fortune-teller. You can tell this by the number of silk scarves she wears, and the size of her crystal ball. She can be found in a stuffy little tent tucked away behind the Hall of Mirrors at Mrs Plenty’s. The secrets of the future can be yours! For a price."
"Do you seek to know the future? Ask Madame Shoshana. The cards she uses are a little disturbing, but there's no doubting they get results. Just hope you don’t turn over the Blacksmith. Or the Boat. Or the Gibbet."
"What's in the stars? Ask Madame Shoshana to cast your horoscope. We all know those aren’t stars in the roof of the Neath, but that’s no barrier to good honest superstition. Those born under the signs of the Bat and the Lantern are particularly lucky people. Be glad, too, that you weren’t born during the month of the Hunter. That wouldn’t be a good thing. No."
Madame Shoshana specializes in tea leaves, palm-reading, tarot cards, and of course, scrying into her crystal ball. She may also give a player advice in romance, investigation, or art.
Most Educational Anatomy Exhibition
A place for the rabble to learn about male, female, rubbery, and tomb-colonist anatomy. But it may just be a sham...
Beneath the Neath
"At MRS PLENTY'S CARNIVAL, ENJOY a DIVERTING EDUCATIONAL AND THRILLING RIDE into the CHASMIC ABYSMS of SUB-SUBTERRANEAN TROGLODYTRY! SEE the FOSSILS OF the ELDER PAST! ENJOY our PAINSTAKING RECREATION of the HELLS OF ANTIQUITY! (REFUNDS NOT AVAILABLE in case of UNWISE DEATH.)"
Beneath the Neath is a ride that takes passengers, of course, into the deepest depths of the Neath. The lucky riders are able to overhear useful gossip, or even grab amber. The unlucky riders come out with bumps and bruises. The very unlucky ones die.
The House of Mirrors
"Who manages the House of Mirrors? Is it Mr Mirrors itself? Surely not. No Master would lower itself to become a carnival showman. But it is a sinister place. And it surely can't turn a profit."
The House of Mirrors is indeed quite a sinister place. The wounded gaze into Heart's Mirror and immediately die. The nightmare-plagued gaze into Dream's Mirror and go insane; the Neath's most Watchful gaze into the mahogany-framed mirror with the same result.
But the House has a kinder side. Hedonists looking for their Heart's Desire can peer into the gold-framed mirror to amend their ways just a little. The ruthless individuals seeking their Nemeses can look into the iron-framed mirror to repent for their cruelty. Subtler types aspiring to become Light-Fingered can become bolder by looking into the bronze-framed mirror. And the melancholy hunters trying to Bag a Legend can become a little happier after looking into the lapis-framed mirror.
