City
Festive
Modest prices
The Three-Colored Mask
the carnival-quarter beer hall where the city dances once a week
You push through a curtain of bunting into a long, low room swathed in paper lantern light. Laughter and brass seep from the far end, where a raised bandstand and a tumble of mismatched chairs crowd a sprung floor scored with footprints and wax. The air smells of malt, fried dough, citrus, and something floral—scented oils burned in tiny braziers along the rafters. Masked patrons lean on the bar between spins on the dance floor; half the crowd still wears their carnival masks, painted or feathered, and they trade gossip as easily as tankards. Every week the hall rearranges itself: stalls and paper pennants are rolled away to reveal a clearer ring for the masked dance. Behind the bar, drawers clack and a low chest sleeps under a shelf of stamped mugs; eyes glance at it when coins change hands. The noise is warm and clever rather than rowdy—people here come to be seen, to trade secrets under color and rhythm, and to forget the city that waits beyond the paper streamers.
A weathered, oaken ovoid sign painted in three vertical bands—crimson, saffron, and teal—showing a stitched mask with one eye winking; the paint flakes, but a faint smear of confetti still clings to the lower edge.
Bram Gullock
Human
Manner
Quirk
Stats
Masquerade's Kiss
5 spA flaming, layered cocktail of spiced red wine, citrus liqueur, and a dusting of sugared herbs; it loosens tongues and for one hour gives the drinker advantage on Performance checks made while masked as they fall into the night's persona.
Modest (5e lifestyle: about 1 gp a day)
Fenn Oars · barmaid
Fenn glides through crowds with trays of mugs and a grin, remembering everyone's favorite dance-step and ale.
Torik Brum · bouncer
Once a carnival strongman, Torik stands by the door in a painted vest and politely refuses anyone who brings steel onto the floor.
Nim the Fryer · cook
A lithe halfling who tosses sweet dough and spiced meats with the same flourish as he tosses a handful of confetti.
Merek Jolt
A wiry man in a half-mask who fences curios and collects rumors—he's always watching which pieces of the city turn up in new guises.
Captain Hessa Grove
A retired ringleader whose prosthetic brass fingers still twitch to cue the dancers; she is looking for the lost gear of a ruined carousel.
Silvi Kett
A city watch informant who sells tips over a tankard and listens for a particular name tied to a string of carnival thefts.
1
The Night Ledger lists who paid to have a small gilded carousel horse 'acquired' last month; Bram says it vanished from Hessa Grove's troupe after a midnight run.
2
A masked dancer called 'The Azure Fox' has been seen slipping beneath the hall during the weekly ball and emerging with a bronze cog stamped with the crest of the Old Fair; Captain Hessa believes it's a piece of her ruined carousel.
3
A traveling weightmaster from the Ferris Quarter named Dola Venn was threatened to hand over the brass axle of her ride; she was last seen arguing with a man who smells of sawdust and perfume near Merek Jolt's table.
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