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Dark Carnival

Second Recap

Characters

At the carnival

Regulars
Non-regulars
The Tod Brothers
Delilah Tod
Zack
Something Else
alternate Magnus
Pirouette
carny folk
Doctor Mekt
  • performs "Terrifying Chronal Explorations" for the punters
  • gaunt
  • robed
  • carries "a metal staff covered with a complicated array of circuitry and wiring", with which he can manipulate chronal threads (creating time loops, altering events in the recent (and possibly the less recent) past, etc.)
  • the Doctors think they remember having known someone called Mekt, but disagree about who he was
  • out of the picture as of 11.46am
Simple Simon
  • "a baggy-pantsed clown ... done up as a hobo in patchwork, with a ragged old sack thrown over one shoulder. Tufts of patchy orange hair thrust out under his hat, while his face was painted corpse-white with a huge crimson smile that looked more like a scream or a slit throat. He laughed again, a mad, hackle-raising sound of pure bestial lunacy." Wears white gloves.
  • the big red nose isn't makeup, it's his real nose
  • says "Simon says..." a lot
  • can disappear from one place and reappear in another
  • has incredible reflexes and amazing strength
The Amazing Doctor Enigmo, Fortune-Telling Phrenologist
  • "a slim, goateed man with a monocle" and "a high, vaguely Austrian-sounding voice"
  • reads your future in the bumps on your head - after first making the bumps with "a huge steel hammer, square-headed and spiked, the whole thing clotted with dried blood"
  • deceased as of 9.42am
Fetch
  • a hunchbacked midget in a black cape and burglar's mask
  • deceased as of 11.19am
Tex
  • a stunted, long-armed man in a cowboy hat
  • deceased as of 11.19am
Blind Eli
  • runs a sweet stall selling dangerous sweets that include newt's-balls, honeyed nightshade, and greenstick rock
  • one of the slack-jawed, blank-faced ones
a small figure wearing jester's motley
  • "It seemed to be a small boy with features obscured behind a mocking mask."
  • has a squeaky voice
  • when we see it, is working for Ezekiel
Bent Jimmy
  • "the carnival's disgusting albino contortionist"
  • has a grating voice (and a lower-class mode of speech)
  • enjoys taunting Lineus (but does that count as a distingushing feature?)
Smeff, Lord of Lightning
  • summoned by Gideon at 11.46am [but that's all we know so far]
freaks
Kumba, Lord of the Freaks
  • "billed on stage as their leader, and generally acknowledged as such by virtue of being the only one to boast not only a real living-van (albeit heavily-barred and padlocked at nights), but also three years' school-learning, and ten toes to count on"
  • stupid, but strong-willed
  • his chest has a horny carapace
  • Fitz's reaction to an item of clothing on the line attached to Kumba's caravan (which might not be Kumba's clothing, of course): "He really wasn't sure he wanted to meet the owner of the spiked and padlocked dogskin long-johns - particularly as the spikes were on the inside and the lock was on the outside... and there was an attachment either for a third leg, or for a tail..."
  • the Something Else, playing on Kumba's weak point: "When they parade you round in that ring, chains dangling - can't you see they're laughing at you in your pasteboard crown and your stinking coat? You really think any of that pathetic collection of deformities and monsters love you - respect you? Remember how the boys mocked at you in school? Remember how you tried to pass as a man; remember how the Tod brothers bought you? Even the freaks would tear you apart if they saw you without your trappings, saw you for what you really are..."
Igenlode the Human Snail
  • the most recent addition to the carnival freaks
  • has the end cage
  • capable of leaving its shell, hermit-crab-like, and seeking a new one (the Tods don't know this)
  • the body within the shell is soft, pallid, bloodless, capable of squeezing through small gaps, human-like ("if anything human ever owned such a tentacled, questing face, or such a pointed little jaw as that which rasped now steadily against the bars")
  • can extrude eyes on stalks
Shanta, the Living Ghoul
  • "a doglike face, skeletal body, skin hanging over its frame, sharp teeth, wicked claws"
  • has a thing for hot blood
  • has a wagon between the Human Snail and the Frog-Boy, with a pile of cracked bones in the corner
  • deceased as of 10.35am
The Amazing Genuine Frog-Boy of Auvergne
  • part boy, part frog, and so far apparently harmless
Lineus' little friend
  • has at least one mottled, muscular leg
  • wears (when wearing anything) a top hat, scarlet waistcoat, and brightly checkered trousers
  • has a guttural voice (or is that just sleepiness?)
  • all other details not yet specified

Not at the carnival

In Mr G's shop
At This Time Round
(yesterday)
  • Mr Moggie
  • Tegan
  • a fellow dressed in a period World War I flying ace uniform
  • unspecified additional patrons
(today, 3pm)
  • Harry Sullivan
  • a stranger who was driving past (apparently an actual stranger who doesn't know who the Doctor is)
  • unspecified additional patrons
At Irem
Old Vernon
  • a "bent old figure" with "a trailing white beard, clotted with dust; wide blocky shoulders, hunched forward and sagging in on themselves under a torn rag of a mantle; a hook nose, kinked leftwards from some long-ago breaking; sunken, deep-set eyes that stared unblinking into the eddying dust."
  • seated cross-legged by the entrance to Irem
  • "hunched and motionless", eyes "fixed glassily on the hazy tracklessness before him", "only the intermittent rise and fall of his breaths under his dusty rags giving any indication that he was even alive"; does not react to external stimuli
  • "Old Vernon's pretty far gone now. He'll be out running with the Hounds soon enough."
Robert Ridgefield
  • "a man not too many years older than himself [Adric], a fair-haired, faintly supercilious type clad in a worn old summer-weight suit that had once been of some cheerful bluish shade but was fast approaching the same gray featurelessness as everything else in this place"
  • there is an "odd, tiny hesitation" before he gives his name
  • seems to remember things more than Janie, or at least hides it better
Janie Alvorado
  • "a smallish woman with the look of a frightened mouse about her. Her skirt and blouse had faded to the same gray non-color as everything else in this place and dust streaked her long, tangled hair."
  • can't remember her surname without prompting, but recognises it when she hears it
  • can't remember the word "yellow", but recognises it when she hears it
  • from Chicago
the Captain
  • mentioned, but not yet seen
Fat Johnny
  • mentioned, but not yet seen
beyond Irem
the hounds
a skeletal figure
  • "A death's head grin stretched the parchment yellow skin over bony cheeks. A light of devilish amusement kindled in the dark eye sockets. The pile of bones, draped in a loose tatter of colourless rags, raised an arm to point a finger at the gaggle of Doctors. The clawed nail began to glow with a putrid blue radiance."

Last seen

Mr G
in his shop, yesterday
Mr Moggie
This Time Round, yesterday
Tegan
This Time Round, yesterday
a fellow dressed in a period World War I flying ace uniform
This Time Round, yesterday
the Doctors
somewhere, somewhen that may or may not be anything like 10.08am
Blind Eli
talking to Delilah, c.10.15am
the Frog-Boy
cowering in his cage, c.10.25am
Nyssa
captured by Ezekiel Tod, c.10.30am
Igenlode the Human Snail
lurking around the freak caravans, c.10.35am
Ezra Tod
practicing for his trick-shooting act, c.10.40am
Anji
unconscious, but possibly recovering, in the spare bedroom in Kumba's caravan, c.10.00am
Fitz
mucking out the freaks, c.11.00am
Delilah Tod
being attacked by the possessed Kumba, c.11.00am
Kumba
attacking Delilah, c.11.00am
the thing that possesses people
possessing Kumba, attacking Delilah, c.11.00am
Pirouette
dancing for Gideon, c.11.30am
Simple Simon
pinned to the ground, c.11.55am
Varne
breaking out of her prison, c.12.30pm (expects to get free no sooner than 2.30pm)
Gideon Tod
talking to Ezekiel in the commissary, some time after Ezekial tortures Magnus, but before 3.00pm
Ezekiel Tod
talking to Gideon in the commissary, some time after Ezekial tortures Magnus, but before 3.00pm
Adric
somewhere, somewhen that may or may not be anything like 12.36pm
Robert Ridgefield
taking Adric to see "all the rest" at Irem
Janie Alvorado
hanging about somewhere at Irem
Ayna
being trailed by an as-yet-unnamed figure, c.12.44pm
Sandra
being trailed by an as-yet-unnamed figure, c,12.44pm
Number One
being trailed by an as-yet-unnamed figure, c.12.44pm
Zack
being trailed by an as-yet-unnamed figure, c.12.44pm
Lineus Tod
summoned to see an angry Gideon, c.1.40pm
Lineus' little friend
asleep in Lineus' bed, c.1.40pm
Bent Jimmy
hiding under Lineus' caravan after taunting Lineus, c.1.40pm
Magnus
swearing vengeance, This Time Round, c.3.00pm (?)
Harry
checking Magnus' injuries, This Time Round, c.3.00pm
car-driving stranger
relieved Magnus isn't seriously injured, This Time Round, c.3.00pm
deceased
Doctor Enigmo
killed by Number One with his own hammer, c.9.42am
Shanta, the Living Ghoul
killed by Delilah, c.10.35am
Tex
killed by Number One, c.11.16am
Fetch
killed by Number One, c.11.16am
Doctor Mekt
fed to a demon by Magnus, c.11.46am
alternate Magnus
killed by Varne, c.11.47am (?)
mentioned, but not yet seen

The carnival

Gideon says that "my brothers and I do the best we can to provide that which you seek. That which everyone who comes to us seeks ... Such crude methods, to provide others with the promise of what they seek. No. My brothers and I have chosen to give our guests what even they do not expect." (In an apparently more frank mood, he tells Number One "Piece by piece, we break your mind and your will, destroying your reality a little bit at a time. In the end, what is left of you will be put to good use in the sideshow..." Whether this applies to the carnival's victims generally, and whether it's the limit of what the carnival is up to, is not yet resolved. And, of course, it could be an outright lie.)

"What else could have brought you here, if not the desire to experience that _special_ awe and _special_ fear that only we can provide?"

 

The flier says: "The Internationally Famous Tod Brothers Carnival. Thrills! Chills! Scantily Clad Women! Manly Men! Kumba, Lord of the Freaks! The Death-Defying Ahkanten Brothers! Fritz, The Fire-Eating Moron! Smeff, Lord of Lightning! The Terrifying Chronal Explorations of Doctor Mekt! Come One, Come All! Engaged For This Month Only!"

The carnival is set up in the dark woods outside This Time Round, in a clearing (which, being fictive, is as large as it needs to be). The clearing is dominated by a massive oak tree at the eastern end.

The cages and living vans are marshalled in a ring around the massive oak. Igenlode the Human Snail has the end cage; Shanta, the Living Ghoul, has the next cage, then the Frog-Boy.

The clearing is fenced off; the main entrance to the carnival is marked by a sign saying "THE INTERNATIONALLY FAMOUS TOD BROTHERS CARNIVAL!!", and opens at 9.30am.

The carnival is dominated by a Big Top ("the carnival's heart... or perhaps, more properly, its belly"), battered but brightly coloured, surrounded by smaller tents, carnival booths, and refreshment stands. Silent clowns stalk furtively through the sawdust. Vacant-eyed, slack-jawed barkers man the booths and refreshment stands. There's a calliope, shrouded in steam, that plays loud, cheerful, and nerve-wracking off-key music. There's a carousel, garishly painted in bright yellows, reds, and blues, with flashing lights, that plays a jaunty little tune (sometimes 'The Ride of the Valkyrie'); strange things happen to those who ride it. There's a Hall of Mirrors, where every mirror works a different spell. There's a Ghost Train, near the Hall of Mirrors. There's a Ferris wheel ("that creaked and groaned through its endless turns, dry bearings squalling an almost human cry of pain" "like damned souls on Hell's own griddle"). There's a hoop-la stall. There's a ring-toss stall (and the slack-jawed barker that runs it can do dangerous things with his rings). There's a pitching stall, where one can win prizes by knocking down piles of milk bottles with a baseball; prizes include a stuffed tentacle monster (that oozes a bit when squeezed), a doll-sized iron maiden, and a box of Crunchy Frogs. There's a Tunnel of Love. There's an Action-Packed Wild West Shooting Gallery, where punters can shoot at wooden targets (and, perhaps, the occasional non-wooden target) to the sound of a piano playing an off-time version of 'Buffalo Gals'. The rides are rickety.

The air carries drifting sugar-scents of cheap candy that tickle the nose with sickly sweetness. Food available at the refreshment stalls includes toffee apples, popcorn, and corn dogs.

The characters currently being followed by the story aren't the only ones at the carnival; there is "a sparse crowd".

There is a smallish tent of washed-out blue canvas, where Number One first meets Zack. Gideon says that "within in this tent lies only truth" - though he could be lying. (Either way, it's worth noting what Gideon doesn't say while he's within the confines of the tent - he never actually says "Zack is your son" or anything along those lines; he just presents the kid and lets Number One draw the inference.)

There's a manager's tent (or caravan), in which Gideon has a high-backed, well-upholstered chair. (Maybe there's a tent and a caravan, and they both have chairs.) The caravan also contains a big grandfather clock, with a face numbered up to thirteen o'clock and a "curiously tooth-marked pendulum"; the clock's "monotonous tock-tock-tocking always reminded Lineus of the beating of a diseased heart".

There's a commissary. Gideon has to stoop to fit through the door.

The exact locations of things move around from time to time, particularly when someone is trying to find the exit.

Death doesn't seem to work the same way at the carnival as it does elsewhere. No grinning skeletal figure shows up to usher one into the next world. Adric finds himself in a strange new world, but what happens to the souls of the other deceased has not been described (if they had souls; all the other deaths so far have been carnival people). In related news, people in the carnival grounds cannot communicate psychically with people outside the carnival grounds; and the carnival and its owners are immune from psychic attacks.

the Carnival creature

Events

Yesterday

?.???m:
Adric meets Mr G, who gives him a flier for the carnival. (The clock in Mr G's shop strikes 4pm - which is a neat trick in itself, when you think of it - but it's obviously wrong, see below.) Adric rushes off to start his shift at TTR, for which he is late.
?.???m:
At some point in his shift, Adric sticks the carnival flier up on the TTR bulletin board.
4.06pm:
Just coming off shift, Adric eats explosive death. (This is "much later" than the point at which Mr G's clock struck 4pm.)
4.21pm:
Tegan is in TTR, chatting up a fellow dressed in a period World War I flying ace uniform. Nyssa arrives, kills Adric fifteen minutes ago with a tachyon weapon, and sees the carnival flier on her way out.

Today

8.00am:
Fitz and Anji notice the flier, and decide to attend the carnival on the assumption that the Doctor will be going and all hell will break loose.
8.30am:
Ayna and Sandra notice the flier, and decide to attend the carnival (without telling anyone where they're going, in case they're told not to).
8.45am:
The Doctors notice the flier, especially the bit about 'The Terrifying Chronal Explorations of Doctor Mekt', and decide to attend the carnival.
8.??am:
Magnus notices the flyer and decides to attend the carnival with Varne, because he has unfinished business with the Tod Brothers.
8.50am:
Igenlode the Human Snail is roused by the dawn light, moves its shell out of the sun, and returns to quiescence.
?.??am:
Number One (f) notices the flyer and, despite being immediately suspicious, feels obliged to attend the carnival. ("From the moment she'd first set eyes on the advertising poster, a sense of inevitability had settled on her like clinging fog.")
9.06am:
Number One (f) arrives at the carnival, early and by a back trail, and is not surprised to find someone (Gideon Tod, in fact) waiting for her. Gideon introduces her to Zack, a young boy who recognises her as his Mommy.
9.12am:
Number One recovers from the shock, and immediately assumes trickery. Gideon denies this, and leaves them to get acquainted. Number One tries to leave the tent, but can't. Number One turns herself male to prove to Zack that she's not his Mommy.
9.20am:
The following people make their way through the woods to the carnival:
9.22am:
Gideon sends Delilah to give Number One and Zack breakfast.
9.25am:
Ayna and Sandra arrive at the carnival.
9.27am:
Number One (m) gets Zack to tell him about himself. [In how much detail? We only catch the last of it.]
9.30am:
The carnival opens for the day.
9.31am:
Number One faces down Delilah with a bit of help from Zack, and they escape the tent, leaving Delilah unconscious.
9.35am:
Magnus and Varne enter the carnival and accost Lineus Tod, who leads them into a Klein bottle trap. Magnus bets Varne he can get them out within forty minutes. Gideon, when Lineus informs him, predicts that Magnus will escape easily, and sends Lineus to fetch Dr Mekt.
9.37am:
Number One is attacked by Simple Simon, and Zack is abducted by Fetch and Tex. Number One is turned back into a woman during the fight.
9.42am:
Number One (f) defeats Dr Enigmo. Simon defeats Number One, and on instructions he's received from Ezra takes her to the Action-Packed Wild West Shooting Gallery.
9.50am:
Adric, lurking in the safety of the woods, is drawn into the carnival. He meets Ezekiel Tod, who claims to know "what you really want", and furthermore that this is not (as generally assumed) domestic bliss with Nyssa, nor indeed domestic bliss with his Number One female fan, but a True and Final Death. He then cuts Adric's throat.
9.5?am:
Sandra, being a phantasm, detects the nearby death (or near-death), and is also able to tell that it has not been accompanied by a visitation from Death. She also discovers that her usual avenue of psychic communication with Allie has been blocked off. Sandra and Ayna are accosted by Gideon Tod, who takes them into the Hall of Mirrors; there, he destroys Ayna personal chamaeleon circuit, then uses the magic of one of the mirrors to transform her into the normal girl that the circuit made her appear to be. (Incidentally robbing her of her siren powers.) He also traps Sandra in a mirror.
??.??am:
The second, third, fourth, sixth, seventh, and eighth Doctors have a ride on the carousel, while the first and fifth look on. When something odd starts happening, the two onlooking Doctors move to stop it, but the first is attacked by the ride operator, and the fifth is bitten by the off lever (which turns into a venomous snake when he tries to move it). The ride comes to a halt by itself, and the six Doctors who were on it have become evil versions of themselves. They announce that, with all their combined experience with evil, they're going to be the worst villains in the universe (and are certainly not going to go along with any plan the Tods might have for them). They kill the ride operator, and decide to take the two un-evil Doctors with them for reasons of self-preservation, but to keep a close eye on them. Their clothes start reshaping themselves to match the new evil personalities; the sixth Doctor's new outfit resembles the Valeyard's.
??.??am:
The Doctors wander around the carnival being randomly evil just for the novelty. At some point, the first Doctor is rendered unconscious (and the fifth is already unconscious because of the snake-bite).
10.00am:
Lineus Tod is late feeding and mucking out the freaks, because of Magnus and Varne and the consequent set of distractions; the freaks become restless. Igenlode slips into Shanta's cage and weakens the bars, allowing Shanta to escape (the culmination of many earlier bar-weakening visits).
10.00am:
(or thereabouts) Delilah regains consciousness, and sets about repairing the damage to her complexion.
10.06am:
Magnus and Varne escape from the Klein bottle, 31 minutes after their imprisonment. (Magnus, however, accepts Varne's claim that it's been 41 minutes, so either time's different inside the Klein bottle, Magnus doesn't mind losing this bet, or the author stuffed up. Evidence exists to support all three options.) They are immediately imprisoned in a time loop by Doctor Mekt.
10.06am:
There are screams. [something to do with the evil Doctors?]
10.08am:
The evil Doctors encounter Doctor Mekt, on his way back to report to Gideon. Mekt outmaneuvers them by sending a warning back in time to himself, and traps them in a bubble of temporal stasis. He shrinks the bubble to a manageable size and puts it in a pocket, intending to find out who the Doctors are when he has a spare moment.
??:???m:
The Doctors find themselves somewhere else, with chill air and blanketing grey mist. In the distance, coming closer, they hear the sound of savagely excited hounds. Standing before them is a skeletal figure that takes a lethal word of power cast by the sixth Doctor (intended for Mekt) without any apparent effect. "The pile of bones, draped in a loose tatter of colourless rags, raised an arm to point a finger at the gaggle of Doctors. The clawed nail began to glow with a putrid blue radiance." The fifth Doctor, and then the sixth, begin to show signs of imminent regeneration. No such occurs, but the fifth Doctor apparently recovers (at least enough to sit up and look around) from the snakebite, and the sixth Doctor reverts to his normal non-evil self. The other evil Doctors respond to this turn of events by loosing a cast of devastating energy at the sixth.
10.10am:
Shanta stalks and attacks Fitz and Anji. Fitz and Anji run away, and shake her temporarily by crawling dangerously under the carousel.
10.15am:
Delilah heads after Number One and Zack, but finds that Simple Simon has already dealt with them. Simon gives her a message from Gideon, telling her that she has to go and do Lineus' chores with the freaks because Lineus is busy.
10.??am:
Fitz sees Delilah walk past, and decides to follow her. Anji follows Fitz.
10.25am:
Delilah goes into Kumba's caravan with a great big whip. Fitz 'rescues' Igenlode from the Frog-Boy (in actuality, probably rescuing the Frog-Boy from Igenlode), and Igenlode latches on to him instead. Shanta catches up with them, and starts feeding on Anji.
10.??am:
Nyssa buys cotton candy from Ezekiel, then is lured by a phantom Adric to the Tunnel of Love. There she finds Adric's Badge of Mathematical Excellence, its edges stained a rusty brown, wrapped in a package with her name on and left on the seat of one of the boats (by Ezekiel?) and then is attacked by hoardes of monstrosities (starting with doll-like walking corpses in tattered blue and yellow uniforms, and working up to leering clown-things, bat-things, etc.) and forced to retreat into the Tunnel.
10.30am:
Nyssa, grievously injured (including a stomach wound from being stabbed by a leering clown-thing), encounters Ezra Tod, who throws her against a wall and shoots her in the right shoulder when she tries to attack him. Near death, she is retrieved by Ezekiel Tod, who tells Ezra he was "a trifle too enthusiastic", but notes: "Our little poppet may yet serve our purposes."
10.30am:
Ayna and Sandra escape from the tent where they've been imprisoned since Ayna's transformation.
10.30am:
Magnus and Varne escape from the time loop, and find themselves next to the tent in which Adric met his apparent end.
10.30am:
A burst of chronal feedback explodes from Doctor Mekt's staff, setting him on fire. This is witnessed by Gideon and Lineus; Lineus puts the fire out and helps Doctor Mekt back to his tent, after which Gideon sends him to fetch Ezra.
10.32am:
Magnus and Varne discover that Adric is only mostly dead, and speculate that the Tods have some reason for wanting Adric in an almost-dead state. To annoy the Tods, therefore, Magnus heals Adric. Adric's essence, however, stays in whatever dark place it has been sent to, and his newly-healed body is taken over by Something Else.
10.35am:
Delilah, hearing the sounds of Fitz and Anji being attacked, leaves the restrained Kumba and goes to see what the commotion is. She kills Shanta (incidentally frightening off Igenlode), heals Anji's wound, and invites Fitz and Anji (well, Fitz carrying the still-unconscious Anji) to follow her into Kumba's caravan.
10.40am:
The Something Else attacks Magnus, depriving him of a kidney - and more importantly ruining a pretty good suit of armour - and prompting him to decide that rendering Adric completely dead would probably annoy the Tods just as much as healing him. Furthermore, he decides to write off the debt that prompted their visit to the carnival, and informs Varne that all the carnival staff, including the Tods, are now fair game. The Something Else, deprived of the use of Adric's body, goes in search of "a suitable body, something with limited intelligence and great physical strength", and settles on Kumba.
10.40am:
Gideon demonstrates to Ezra his newest performer, Pirouette. Ezra compliments him on "Excellent work as always".
10.45am:
Magnus and Varne investigate the Hall of Mirrors. They find Ayna and Sandra's trail, and start following it.
10.45am:
Delilah shows Fitz and Anji into a spare room in Kumba's caravan, and after an ambiguous event that might have been an attempted seduction or something else entirely, but which Fitz in any case instinctively backs away from, she seems to lose interest in him. She feeds the still-unconscious Anji a mysterious liquid ("This is how we heal the freaks, Fitz. After each... performance."), and, telling Fitz that Anji just needs some rest, she gives him a bucket and shovel and sends him to muck out the freaks while he's waiting.
11.00am:
Having sent Fitz off, Delilah returns to Kumba. Kumba, in the meantime, has come to a compromise with the Something Else that is trying to possess him: they have managed to free Kumba from his restraints, and attack Delilah as she enters Kumba's room.
11.16am:
Number One regains consciousness to find himself (male again, and dressed in a cowboy outfit) a target in the Wild West shooting gallery. Gideon taunts him about Adric and Nyssa's fates (apparently unaware of what Magnus has done to Adric - or perhaps Magnus hasn't actually made any difference...), and then heads off to put the refining touches on Pirouette. Ezra shoots Number One in the trigger finger, then leaves him to the gun-toting punters.
11.??am:
Zack helps Number One break out. Ayna shows up rescues Zack from Fetch. Number One and Zack and Ayna and Sandra join forces.
11.20am:
Magnus and Varne show up, and reveal that Ayna's transformation is only an illusion, which Magnus breaks. Number One and Zack and Ayna and Sandra and Magnus and Varne join forces, at least for the time being.
11.22am:
Magnus studies the magic that has Sandra trapped in the mirror, and admits that he doesn't know enough about that magic to break it; although he has the relevant information in his pack, he never bothered to index his library, so it will take time to find, time they may not have. On the other hand, he knows where all the weapons in his pack are, and he gives some to Number One.
11.??am:
Sandra breaks free of the mirror by herself; it is theorised that the spell binding her was linked to the spell on Ayna.
11.30am:
Lineus reports to Gideon (who is watching Pirouette dance) that Number One and Zack have escaped and hooked up with Ayna and Sandra (Gideon is pleased - things are running to plan) and Magnus and Varne (Gideon is not so pleased, and sends Lineus to tell Doctor Mekt to deal with Magnus and Varne in a manner which Gideon and Mekt have previously discussed). Lineus asks why Gideon is so interested in Number One, and Gideon tells him that he has chosen Number One (f) to be the mother of his heir - "once I have her properly broken".
11.34am:
Number One and Zack and Magnus and Varne and Ayna and Sandra (now free of the mirror) stop to rest in an empty drink stall. Ayna asks Magnus to heal Number One, and Magnus explains why he can't. Number One takes his shirt off to make bandages for his worst injuries, and Zack notices he doesn't have a shiny red stone like Zack's Mommy does. Zack tells Number One about the shiny red stone.
11.40am:
Ezra Tod practices for his trick shooting act.
11.41am:
Magnus is abducted by another version of himself, summoned by Doctor Mekt from an alternate timeline where Magnus kept all his amazing wossnames instead of packing it in to become more-or-less human. He is quickly defeated and left, silenced and almost completely paralysed by magic he is no longer able to defeat, in the space between one moment and the next, while the alternate Magnus takes his place in the timestream.
11.42am:
The alternate Magnus suggests that they split up, he and Varne going one way and the others going another, convincing the others that he and Varne will be able to operate more effectively without having to worry about friends getting caught in the crossfire.
??.???m:
Magnus recalls a summoning that he can still perform while silenced and almost completely paralysed, which he is able to use to free himself. He then calls on a being called Barouch, which he instructs to bring Doctor Mekt to him.
11.46am:
Lineus reports to Gideon that Doctor Mekt's tent has just disappeared, with Mekt inside. Gideon sends him to fetch Smeff.
??.???m:
Magnus questions Doctor Mekt about the alternate Magnus, then hands him over to Barouch. ("Barouch will not kill you, though I think you may be sorry about that.")
11.47am:
Once they're a safe distance from the others, Varne confronts the alternate Magnus, telling him that she can tell he's an imposter from his energy signature. She gets the drop on him, and kills him with a weapon developed by one of Magnus' enemies specifically to kill Magnus despite all his defences (which Magnus, of course, stole before it could be used). Then she helps Magnus back into the timestream. Magnus agrees with alternate Magnus' assessment that they will be more effective without the others, so they continue on their way.
11.49am:
Ayna finds water and attempts to clean Number One's wounds; the water turns Number One female again. Sandra recognises her as Adric's girlfriend Ember.
11.51am:
Magnus and Varne meet a small figure wearing jester's motley, bearing a flag of truce and a message from Ezekiel. The message - "The Evening Gate is closed to you" - renders Magnus and Varne unconscious. Magnus regains consciousness lying on a stone table somewhere with a dusty stone ceiling, bound and with his vocal cords and spine severed by Ezekiel. Ezekiel explains about the false memories and the implanted failsafe (and that he is using the latter behind Gideon's back - Gideon would have waited until the last possible moment to use it), then tortures Magnus a bit.
11.55am:
Simple Simon finds Number One, Zack, Ayna and Sandra. He sets onto them a variety of life-size killer clockwork animals. Working together, they defeat this menace, and leave the now-unconscious Simon underneath a heavy bale (with one hand pinned to the ground with a clockwork tiger fang for good measure - Number One's idea).
12.21pm:
Number One finds the traces of Magnus' fight with the possessed Adric. She tells the others that she's found a scrap from Adric's clothing, but carefully doesn't mention to bloodstains. Zack sends up a prayer for his Daddy's safety. (Number One and co. are being stalked by clowns, who don't seem to be doing anything except watch them and perform hateful mimes.)
??.???m:
After an indefinite moment of Nothingness, Adric finds himself standing on a flat expanse of gray dust surrounded by impenetrable grayish mist. [The time may or may not be anything like 12.21pm.] Somewhere off in the distance comes the baying of terrible hounds. He runs away from the sounds, and eventually comes to a makeshift sign (letters and arrows crudely scratched into a broken lump of stone) pointing to "IrEM" and "THE DroP" and bearing the message "BEwArE THE HouNDs!". He heads in the direction of "IrEM".
12.30pm:
Varne is revived by Ezekiel, and finds herself imprisoned in a synthetic glass cylinder. Ezekiel tells her that Magnus got away after he triggered a survival reflex, and that he's hoping Magnus will kill Gideon and Ezra for him. He explains about the emotion feeder. After he leaves, Varne estimates that it will take her two or three hours to break out of her prison; to pass the time, she starts running mental exercises to check for false memories and any other surprises left by Gideon.
??.??pm:
Gideon and Ezekiel exchange small talk in the carnival commissary. Ezekial neglects to mention anything about Magnus and Varne. [some time after Ezekial tortures Magnus, but before 3.00pm]
12.32pm:
Number One and co. continue on, still being trailed by the miming clowns. The effects of fatigue start catching up with Number One.
??:???m:
As Adric progresses, the ground becomes firmer; there are occasional small lumps of stone in amid the dust, and then actual patches of dark slate. [The time may or may not be anything like 12.32pm.] The hounds still pursue, gaining; he can occasionally glimpse them through the midst. He runs into a tall wall of solid gray stone; the mist seems a bit thinner near the wall, and the hounds keep their distance - although he can hear them keeping pace as he follows the wall looking for an opening.
12.36pm:
Number One and co. come across the pitching stall, where Number One spots her clothes and other stuff (which she lost when she was added to the Shooting Gallery) among the prizes. When it becomes clear that the barker won't just hand the stuff over, Ayna sets out to win it, with the help of Sandra's telekinesis.
??.???m:
Adric finds another makeshift sign, pointing to the "cITy GATE" and confirming that "THE HouNDs wILL NoT coME NIGH THE wALL" - but bearing, on the reverse side, the desperate inscription "NO LIFE! NO ENd! CaNT GET OUT! ThE hOUNdS OR ThE dROp!". Adric, not seeing any real alternative, nevertheless heads for the city gate.[The time may or may not be anything like 12.36pm.]
12.44pm:
Ayna and Sandra finish winning Number One's stuff back. The gang set off again, not noticing "the scrawny figure scurrying behind them at a distance, yellow eyes a-glimmer and a tattered sketchpad in its hands".
1.40pm:
Lineus is called away from a dalliance by a message from Gideon, who wants to see him immediately (and is "mad", according to the messanger [one assumes "angry" is meant; the other goes without saying]). He leaves the one with whom he is dallying asleep in his bed.
??.???m:
Adric reaches the entrance to Irem, where he encounters Old Vernon, Robert Ridgefield, and Janie Alvorado. Robert invites him into the city to meet "the rest of the Lost Souls ... the Captain and Fat Johnny and all the rest"; Janie tells Adric confidentially that she knows a secret about the Hounds.
3.00pm:
Magnus stumbles onto the road near This Time Road, and is hit by a car (but not seriously injured). He insists on being taken to This Time Round to find the Doctor. Harry Sullivan (who initially doesn't recognise him because of his condition and because he's wearing rags instead of his usual outfit) gives him a once over, and finds that he's not seriously injured, but is malnourished and has apparently been chained up for quite a while somewhere that doesn't have a barber (but no spinal damage, vocal cord damage, or signs of torture - hmm). Magnus regains consciousness, and says "The carnival has Varne." and "I'll kill them all. By all the Gods, I'll kill them all."

Unanswered questions

Paul Andinach

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Site last updated 26 May, 2010.