The carriage made it to the inn. Neither Tad nor Beothorn could see any of the wagons from the Carnival in the back when entering the courtyard. Tad asked the Carriage driver to wait for them to return then the four people went inside. Tad had been here before, the inn was just called the Inn on the sign out front at the main gate, and the Innkeeper was a half-field that referred to himself as Innkeeper. Tad thought it was odd, but he figured there was some religious or cultural reason for it.

Walking up to the counter, "Do you happen to know if any of Samphire's Carnival people are staying at the inn?" Neither Tad nor Beothorn recognized anyone at the tables near the bar.

The Innkeeper looked at them, then at Zanna. He squinted for a while, staring at Zanna, then he looked back at Tad. "We do not serve demonkin here. "he said.

Tad raised an eyebrow at the half-fiend. Was there some difference? They both had horns and a tail. Obviously, there was something going on here he wasn't aware of. Never assume things in the Bazaar are normal, Beothorn had told him over and over.

"Good thing I'm not demonkin then, sir, you remember Beothorn and me from before? We helped Catarine Lefe. I'd like to know if you are aware of where Samphire's Carnival might be set up.

Zanna was staring at the half-fiend called the Innkeeper. She clearly had taken a dislike to the fellow.

"They are outside in a compound they rented. You could ask the guards at the gate on your way out where they are, make sure you take that she-demon with you." said the Innkeeper turning towards his backroom, suddenly interested in something other than the four companions standing in front of him.

The four made their way back to the carriage, where they asked the driver if he could help them find the location of the rented compound outside the city walls. He nodded, and once the four were again in the carriage, he started towards the nearest gate. It took an hour, but two gates later, they found a guard that knew where the compound was, and the carriage took them out of the city almost a mile to the location. Driving up to the gate of the large compound, they noticed it had twenty-foot high stone walls and a large gate on the city side. They could not see inside because it was on a slight rise from where they had exited the city. Tad and Beothorn hoped to find their friends and family there. Carnies didn't really call one place home. Their homes were usually wagons. It's where their friends, family, and stuff were that they called home, and it was generally on wheels.

On the trip, Tad had asked Zanna what the difference between and half-fiend and half-demon was, and she didn't appear particularly interested in answering but finally replied after Tad spent several minutes looking at her, waiting.

"There are demons and devils in the planes of chaos or hell, as others called it. Demons are known for physical strength and generally conquer everyone around them or die trying. Devils are more casters of magic and tricksters by nature. They take over using means other than physical strength. Though devils can still be nasty opponents, you will find that most are mages or thieves, many times both. Where demons are warriors, generals and are always looking for their next conquest, there is a lot of rivalry between the two groups. Still, when threatened, they will band together to fight a common enemy or invade a newly opened planar portal or rift." she replied. Then she just gazed out the window, continuing in wonder at all the new sights the carriage passed.

"TAD," came a projection from Kettle, Tad's bonded automatron friend.

"Kettle, you are here? How is Marina? How is the Carnival?" asked Tad as their carriage came up to the main gate of the compound.

"They are well. You should talk to Marina about the Carnival, though." projected Kettle with some hesitancy in his voice.

Tad had forgot how much he missed his friends. He knew precisely how far Kettle was, which meant his wagon home would be near. Tad was the first out of the carriage as the gates opened to let them inside. The others hurried to catch up. There was a limit to how far he could communicate with soulmancy or with Kettle through their shared bond. It was usually farther for Kettle than soulmancy with others, unless the other user was powerful. Once in range, though, Tad and Kettle could find each other without much difficulty.

Tad noticed that the Carnival was much smaller than he expected. He should be looking at 30-40 wagons with many tents. Instead, there were just five of them around a large fire with only a few tents nearby. He wondered what had happened, had they been attacked? Where was Samphire? Now he was worried. The demon prince had said that the Archduke had been paid to lure Samphire from his place of power. Was the Carnival that? Why was everyone gone? He needed to find Marena. Where was Nico? Tad saw Jack's Wagon was one of the six near the fire. He also noted two larger ones behind the first couple in the compound.

As Tad approached the wagons, he could see Marena and Kettle standing near a low table with two benches next to it. Marena's inkwell and a book were on the table. Tad raced ahead of Beothorn, got on one knee, and gave the dwarven women he called his mother a huge hug. It was good to be home. He let Marena go as Beothorn came closer, and she went off to welcome her lost husband while Tad turned to Kettle.

"Kettle, it's so good to be home! I've missed everyone so much" Tad grabbed Kettles three-fingered hand and gave the little automatron a good shake. Not much point hugging someone made of metal thought Tad.

Kettle was a small bronze-colored creature generally referred to as an automatron by people that know of them. They are from the plane of Bismuth and are the magical opposites of devils. They strictly followed their laws of order and are generally only seen outside their plane when armies of them come marching in giant columns to claim a lost artifact they located. Tad had found Kettle in a human village as a child and only recently discovered that giving Kettle a mana siphon so he could charge up correctly would fix him. During the whole adventure, Tad had formed a magical companion bond with Kettle. Samphire had helped him with, in the end, Kettle became kind of a sudo-familiar or bonded animal. He wasn't either of those things, but the magic worked, and it had countered Bismuth's claim on the little metal being so he could stay with his friend Tad and the Carnival.

Tad motioned for Zanna and Lamruil to come over to meet his friend Kettle while Beothorn and Marena went off to talk for a bit. Tad figured she had much to share and would prefer their privacy.

"Zanna, Lamruil, this is Kettle. He is my friend. Kettle, this is Zanna and Lamruil." pointing at each in turn.

Kettle stood there and stared awhile at Zanna, "Tad, what is this?" projected Kettle.

"That is my friend Zanna. She is a half-succubus and a friend," said Tad.

"Oh," Kettle projected, "She should not exist. Demons can't birth children."

"Yea, I know, it's a long story. Shake their hands or something. This is getting awkward." projected Tad to his friend.

"Greetings. "said Kettle out loud. Nobody really knew how Kettle could speak since the little creature didn't breathe, but the noise always came from the area between his small black eyes.

"Oh, an automatron?" asked Zanna looking intently at Kettle. "Something is different about this one. He didn't immediately try to attack me." Zanna approached closer, looking at the bronze creature's kettle-shaped head, his spindly legs, and arms on the cylinder-shaped body.

"Hello, little one," said Lamruil giving Kettle a nod.

Suddenly a white light appeared from behind the wagons and started circling Tad.

"Welcome, Thaddius," projected Bubbles giving off the feeling of comfort as it zipped around him.

"And this is Bubbles. She is a free spirit that I've known for as long as I can remember. Bubbles say hello to our guests." said Tad.

Bubbles zipped around Lamruil a few times, then went to circle Zanna and stopped. She flashed very brightly then pulsed.

"What is this, Thaddius" projected Bubbles to Tad.

"She is a friend, I think. Let me know if you don't agree. "said Tad. Tad knew that Bubbles was an Ancient Free spirit that his friend Jack was in awe of when he talked about her. He also knew she helped him as a child deal with things that he only knew about later might have caused him to turn out much differently. She generally treated him like a house cat the lived with her, but he liked her anyway, and she made a great night light when reading.

"She feels … odd." projected Bubbles back, then she started circling Zanna, going back to her soft glow that was her normal appearance.

I wonder what she would have done if she didn't like Zanna, thought Tad. He hadn't actually introduced her to many people. She had spent the last few years circling a flower that was in the wagon, which was a gift from his first trip to the Grand Bazaar. Tad knew she could affect people's moods that were close to her for a while.

Marena and Beothorn were making their way back towards the group. Tad had a lot of questions. Most importantly, where is Samphire?

"Tad, who are your new friends? "asked Marena, looking at Lamruil then Zanna. She seemed to be spending a lot of time looking at Zanna.

"This is Lamruil, and this is Zanna," said Tad pointing at his two companions. Bubbles was still circling Zanna. That was odd.

"Well, have a seat. I'd like to hear the story of your travels. "said Marena pointing at the low benches near the long table. "I'll get us something to drink." She said as she went into the wagon and came back out, one hand holding five mugs by the handles and the other carrying a large pitcher.

She poured ale into the mugs one at a time as Tad started telling of his adventures after going through the portal. He left out the personal information about Lamruil and Zanna. He would tell her later if he had a chance.

When Zanna was handed a mug to drink, she spent several minutes sniffing in and swirling it around. Tad had forgotten she hadn't eaten since she had become a captive of the genie bottle. He wondered if dwarven ale was a good first meal. He decided he would take her and Lamruil into the city after to get a meal she might like. Tad didn't see the meal wagon here.

It took about an hour to cover the story. Tad finished up by telling Marena how he wished Zanna out of the bottle, and they came to find the Carnival.

"So what happened to the Carnival? Where is everyone?" asked Tad.

"The Grabblers happened, you know those little goblins that Samphire had that always did the payroll and kept track of the gold we earned? After a month of Samphire not being here, one morning, we woke up to find the Payroll Wagon and all the Grabblers gone. I tried to take over the finances, but not many people would come to see carnival shows when the Grand Bazaar was only a mile away. It's not profitable to bring a Carnival here, which is one of the reasons we never came here when you were younger. The Carnies pooled our gold to cover the rent of the compound for the first month. It is several thousand gold. By the third month, many of the people here were finding jobs in the Bazaar and had moved there. On the fourth month, we put most of the remaining wagons up for collateral, hoping that Samphire would be back by then. We should have had enough gold to cover several years of rent with the payroll wagon here. Now we have a few days left before we have to leave here or sell the remaining wagons. "said Marena.

Beothorn was pouring the last of the ale from the pitcher into his second mug of ale, "I do not understand why those goblins thought they could make off with the pay wagon unless they know something we don't. I think they might know something more about Samphire than the rest of us. They might also know more about why someone was able to trap and portal me out of the Carnival. The major totems Samphire has always blocked this in the past. I didn't think anyone could do that. Perhaps we should find these goblins and get some answers."

"We have tried to find them Beothorn, I've sent letters to several kingdoms using Samphires seal on the requests. One of them even tried divination with their priests. The grabblers are either very far away or well shielded from such spells. I don't know where to start looking. There were no tracks. The compound gate wasn't opened. Somehow they were able to leave with the payroll wagon."

Zanna had taken a few drinks of the ale, wrinkling her nose, "What are grabblers and a payroll wagon?" she asked.

"Grabblers are species of goblin created by some mad sorcerer to gather treasure that was dropped in his dungeon. He ran a dungeon under a city for adventurers. Adventurers would go in to try and defeat monsters, if they died, the grabblers would bring anything they found back to the sorcerer. They have an especial talent for finding gold, silver, and copper. They spend their days and nights dreaming about gold and how to acquire it. Samphire had them running the payroll wagon, and I always saw them at night wandering around the Carnival digging in the trash for lost coins. Up till now, most people just ignored them. "responded Tad.

"Why would he trust goblins? The creatures are notoriously untrustworthy. "asked Zanna.

"Samphire does what he wants, it is his Carnival," said Tad.

"Marina do you know where Nico and his family went? "asked Tad.

"They play at the Green Rose in the Bazaar, Tad. Nico drops by every few days to see if you have made it back or any news has arrived. He will be glad to see you. "said Marina.

Tad was happy to hear his friend was still near, he had a lot of stories to share. "Could you look at the items we brought back? I felt magic from some of them. They are in the backpack. " Tad points at the pack Beothorn had put on the table. "I'm going to get changed and take these two into town to get some food and see Nico. "

Marena looked at Lamruil and Zanna, "If you two want to freshen up or change, there are water barrels over by the quartermaster wagon there and some curtained sections for washing and changing. " She pointed over the large wagon.

"I'll go talk to Jack after I change. Is he still getting his normal food? "said Tad, not wanting to discuss Jack's condition with anyone without his consent.

"Yes, every time I go there to drop off a bucket for him, there is one or two gold on that table he has to buy more." said Marina, "The Monkeys are still here also Tad. You might want to stop by, oh, and the nightmare ponies are in the back of the compound, where there are stalls for them. The quartermaster will be back in the morning to help out feeding them and the other horses.

"Sure. "says Tad. He goes to the family wagon to find some clean clothes. A few minutes later, he comes back out after putting on some nice cotton pants and an open-at-the-neck shirt. They seemed to be a bit loose, and he had to sinch his belt another notch.

Looking around and not seeing Zanna or Lamruil, he went over to tell jack he was back. The sun was not setting yet. They still had a few hours to get to town and find Nico. Tad had grabbed the remainder of his gold from his closet shelf. It didn't seem like very much anymore. The three of them would rent at the Inn if things went too late in the city that was the Grand Bazaar.

Tad wanted to see Nico and get his cittern. He had asked Nico to hang onto it for him when Tad had left in search of Beothorn. Tad had taken his finger picks and put them in the pouch at his belt.

He saw Marina looking at the jewelry they had recovered. She was casting spells, trying to discover what the items did. Tad had Galadinidú with him hooked over his shoulder with a carry strap that allowed him to sling it like a shoulder pack.

Tad went over to Jack's wagon. He paused for a moment. "Good afternoon Jack!" he said as he just opened the door and walked in.

"Oh Kid, your back," projected a tired-sounding Jack. He looked much the same as Tad remembered, just standing in the back of the wagon. There were two buckets on the floor, both empty.

"Yes, how have you been? Do you know what's going on? Where did Samphire go? Where did the pay wagon go? "projected Tad back.

"That's a lot of questions for someone that's just finished two buckets of ale today. "said Jack.

"What? Who is giving you two buckets? "asked Tad.

Jack sends him a mental shrug. Tad knew that Jack wasn't supposed to have more than one bucket a day, half dregs, half ale. He was just not functional with anymore in him.

"Well could you try to answer any of them? "asked Tad, now worried for his friend.

"Samphire left when someone was able to go through the wards that he hadn't given the word of power to. As for the pay wagon, grabblers are grabblers. And I've been fine even though I can't remember much of the last couple of months. "he sent that last part with a mental chuckle.

"I bet I have some friends you might want to meet, but I'm going to wait till tomorrow. I'll be by bright and early," said Tad.

"Oh Kid, Samphire left you a note. It's in his trailer, right drawer. He asked me to tell you that, bring it by tomorrow. Nice to see your back, Thaddius. "said Jack, closing his eyes.

Tad knew Jack was asleep now. Unicorns slept standing. He knew a lot about Jack and Unicorns now. He knew Jack drank because of some previous trauma or bad times, as Beothorn liked to say it. Jack paid his way at the Carnival by standing around in a tent while young ladies would pay silver to see him and try to get his attention. Jack just ignored them and ate his half bucket of dregs he got every day. It was weird, but Tad was always amazed at the constant flow of people that came to see Jack's show. Tad considered Jack one of his best friends, and he was glad to see the old Unicorn was himself.

Tad went out of the wagon to find Lamruil and Zanna again seated at the table. Zanna was watching Marina cast identify spells on each of the items.

"Tad, some of these rings are magical, so is this bracelet and dagger. "said Marina. "I'll do some more work to see if I can find the extent of their enchantments. I'll know by the time you all get back from the Bazaar. Also, the chest contains some large gems."

"Thank you. I do not know if we will make it back before curfew. If not, we will get back early tomorrow. Jack said Samphire had left me a note. I'll read it tomorrow when I get back. Could you hang onto this bag? It has the items from Quiggly I told you about. I don't feel comfortable carrying it around." said Tad. He had left his other items in his closet in the wagon, the extra mushroom that had restored his ear and finger. He had put on his coin belt, and the pouch at his waist only had his finger picks in it. You have to go with what you know, he thought.

He looked at Zanna, who was now dressed in a deep red leather outfit that matched her hair tone and matching half-boots with low heals. The leather wasn't shiny, and Tad wondered what kind of beast the elves made the outfit from, it was tight-fitting, but the shirt under the jacket looked like silk. Nice, Catarine must have spent a bit of gold on that for her.

Lamruil was still wearing the leather armor they had arrived in. Neither of them had their bags any longer. Tad figured Marina must have found a spot for them.

"All right, let us go get some food," said Tad.

It was only a mile to the Grand Bazaar and less than that to the Inn Nico worked at, the Green Rose, a large building with no courtyard or stables. It was larger than many of the other shops on that side of the road. Inside, Tad saw Nico and his mother playing music as people ate and drank at the tables. Tad waves to Nico. After they finished their song, Nico and his mother came over to greet Tad.

"Tad, you made it back! "said Nico shaking Tad's hand and giving him a one-armed hug and pat on the back.

"Yea, it's been an adventure. "said Tad noticed Nico's mother, Ioannea, looking at Zanna and Lamruil.

Tad turned to Zanna, "Zanna, this is Nico and Ioannea," turning to the elf, "and this is Lamruil."

"We have some catching up to do. Would you two like to get dinner? "asked Tad of Nico and his mother.

Ioannea spoke first, "We are scheduled to play for a while longer, but how about I finish up, and Nico goes with you three? I have to meet Stephono tonight anyway. "

"Thanks, Mom, "said Nico to his mother. "Common, Tad, there is this musical group you have to hear in the Bazaar we can eat there."

The group followed Nico, who had slung his cittern in its leather case over his shoulder, across the main street into the tents of the Grand Bazaar. Tad took Zanna by the arm to keep her moving as they were making their way through the crowd and the merchants all trying to buy or sell things. Creatures, both large and small, walked here, and merchants were hawking every manner of weapon, animal, or textile you could think of. This was also Tad's first time this deep into the Bazaar. He was glad Nico was leading the way because finding his way around to an actual destination here would take some effort. Luckily he could still see the high walls of the city in the distance and the large central tower with its energia powering the dome, but the maze of paths around him was confusing to navigate.

Nico led the way, and a short while later, they arrived in front of a large tent which they entered. It was much more prominent on the inside, like most of the tents in the Bazaar. This tent had rows of tables and benches running its length, and the seating was half full. Women holding ten mugs at a time quickly wove their way through the tables delivering drinks to those that raised their hand, showing one finger. The women would sweep buy deposit a drink, and the customer would put what appeared to be several coppers in the lady's apron as they continued onto the next person.

A musical group was on stage at the end of the long tables with a couple of citterns players, a harp, and two tall Elvin women preparing to sing.

"Let's sit close to the stage. You have to hear this. "said Nico. He didn't slow down as he moved forward along the tables, looking for open seating on the benches.

Well, he thought they were human-looking enough. They found some seating between a couple of groups of humans. A human woman came to take their order after a few minutes while the performers were tuning up their instruments.

"What will it be folks," asked the lady, eyeing Zanna.

"Could we get a round of ale, whatever the house stew for everyone, and would you add two house wine and one mug of juice, please. "said Tad trying to speak over the noise of the crowd in the tent.

"Juice is for children. We serve ale. "said the serving woman.

"Yes, I know, but my friend here has never been to the Bazaar, and I thought it would be nice if she could try several things to see what she likes. "said Tad handing her a silver coin.

She looked at the coin, nodded, and left to fetch their order.

"Tad, wait till you hear this performance. It is amazing. We need to find a singer. "said Nico.

"A singer?" Tad said he had never thought about that, Nico could play several instruments, and Tad had his cittern. Oh, yea.

"Hey Nico do you have my cittern? "asked Tad.

Nico nodded, taking an amulet from around his neck, and handed it to Tad, "I haven't played it much. I didn't want to scratch it. "He gave the amulet to Tad. There were mountains above a flowering field on one side and a large white spot on the other. Tad put it around his neck.

Lamruil looked at Tad as he put the necklace on, "Where did you get that?" he asked, inclining his head towards the amulet.

"It was a gift from Catarine. "said Tad.

Lamruil looked at Tad deep in thought. The drinks arrived then. Four ale and two wine, Tad asked the serving woman to put the juice and wine in front of Zanna. She left to get the stew they had ordered.

"What is this? "asked Zanna, indicating the mugs in front of her.

"Those are ale, wine, and fruit juice. I saw you didn't like the ale earlier, and I thought you might want to try those perhaps to see which you like. We can also get water if you don't like those. The second wine is for Lamruil if he wants it. "said Tad. Lamruil nodded and took one of the wines.

"There should be some stew soon for food. You can pick out what you like from that. "said Tad looking back to the stage as the musicians started playing.

Tad stopped paying attention to his friends as he watched and listened to the performers. They started with some Jigs to get the crowd singing with them. Tad didn't recognize the songs, but by the third song, the people on the benches were leaning left and right in unison to the singing while taking big swigs of their ale which they kept in their hand as they sang. It was quite festive.

Then the elves started singing with the players. The crowd stopped and listened as the Erie sound rose and sunk, accompanied by the strings. There were no words to the song, but Tad could feel it tug at his emotions as images flowed by of the clouds and then fields of grass, then a dark forest. This went on for several minutes. Then the performers stopped, you could hear a pin drop, the serving women had stopped moving, the crowd was silent, then they surged into a big cheer followed by a hoo.hoo.hoo, then the performing strings started with another round of drinking songs, getting the crowd swaying and singing along. The two elven women waited for the songs to come back around to their performance.

The stew had arrived at some point, and Nico had almost finished his. Zanna was poking at her's with a wooden spoon as if trying to contemplate what it was made from, and Lamruil looked as if he had just woken up from the song also, and he started in on his food.

"Zanna, the white parts are potatoes and turnips. It smells like lamb meat, and carrots and I think peas are in it also. It's probably not what you are used to, but it's good to eat. "said Tad loudly so she could hear him. Tad took his bowl and spoon while turning back to the stage to watch the performance.

"For some reason, I envisioned my first meal after not eating for hundreds of years differently, "said Zanna poking the stew.

"We can go somewhere else after this or order you something different if you don't want to try it. "said Tad, busy finishing his bowl.

Zanna looked at him for a moment, then ate a spoon full of stew. Her eyes went wide. Then she started spooning more, finally just picking up the bowl and drinking the rest in a few big gulps. She paused, looked at the now-empty bowl, then back at the table.

"That was delicious. I want more," said Zanna.

"Yea, I liked it too. We will order more then, try the fruit drink. "said Tad, curious how she would like that. He didn't expect there was any fruit drink where she had been all these years.

Then the singing started again, and Tad turned his attention back to the stage. The two Elvin women repeated the previous performance, this time taking the images the crowd felt as well as saw two ice peaks and forests full of snow. They stopped, then hoo.hoo.hoo, and the strings started on another jig that got the crowd swaying and drinking some more.

Nico looks at Tad, "We need to get going if you are to make it back before curfew. "

Tad nods, waves the serving woman over and pays for the three bowls of stew Zanna finished off and the remaining drinks. Then they all leave back to the compound outside the Bazaar.

"So Tad, tell me about your adventure. "said Nico as they walked towards the gate.

Tad spent the rest of the walk back to the compound, telling the tale much like he had told Marena earlier.