Karnival in Kansas (Now Closed)

A strange, strange sight popped up one day in rural Kansas; in the middle of a small farming town stood a large, lone circus tent, brightly colored and alternating yellow and purple stripes. A circus tent though, was not that strange compared to the town itself, as it was completely deserted, all the townsfolk completely disappeared.

Delivery trucks laden with produce remain parked at  the markets. Sacks of flour and corn were scattered upon deliver. Cars and bikes were left with their engine running and doors ajar in the streets. Television sets were left on, their programs continuing. Half-eaten food attracted ants in the diners. Homes, shops, establishments, schools- all empty.

Eerie silence permeated the town, save for carnival music coming from the circus tent...

There was almost something forbidding over this abandoned town, In some ways it was somewhat similar to that of an undisturbed egyptian pharao-tomb. However, this eerie tranquility would abruptly cease as suddenly a door burst open in a dramatic fashion, and a purplish smoke spilled out into the street. The tune of ridicuolously dated Disco-music blared from the nerly opened doorway. The rays of seemingly invisible strobe-lights flashed in the streets as a mysterious figure moonwalked out of the door. His silver jumpsuit shining as brightly as the polished gold of his many rings and necklaces. The purple tiger-print faux-fur "pimpcoat" truly brought some colours to the drab, gray surroundings. But the most notable feature of the tall, dancing man was his massive afro haircut.

Spin, kick, step back raise hand, aaaand. . .Hip-thrust. Oh yeah! Doctor disco was busting up the floor with his radical moves. . . Well, the pavement anyways. Any minute now, the party would get started. The people would look upon him and their hearts would leap and they would join him in the celebration of revival of Disco! Truly, there is but one cure for the Disco-fever, and the Doctor himself would prescribe it for one and all. And that was a prescription for grooving to the far-out rythm of the greatest. Music. On. Earth.

Moonwalk, side-step, head-bob, bend knees aaaaand Somerasaoult! Oh yeah! Any minute now they would show up! Any minute now! The only fellow dancers that had showed up as of yet where three stray dogs, a few cats and a myriad of ants. Honestly, watching an ant attempt to dance was rather pitiful. . . That was when Disco noticed the Bigtop tent in the middle of town! No doubt that was where all the people were hiding! Slowly our hero started to moonwalk in the direction of the tent, the magical disco-music blaring in the background The various cats, dogs and rats were still following him, doing their best to join in the dance.

It was a high time for Coronel flying through the air and not hitting any bugs. It was very often he would fly and encounter a massive cluster of bugs but this time he remember to shield himself. He spread his arms wide like a plane and took off doing barrel rolls, and back flips before continuing course through the air. He looked around the ground as he flew near a city, but he no need of stopping. His cravings were full and it was a bother to not keep going.

He could smell the food and hear the music getting closer and stronger. He was about to hit town limits in a matter of seconds. He gracefully flew with no cares until his stomach went into deep pain making it hard to control flight.

He landed on a roof top and luckily no one saw, but wait no one was around either. He jumped down landing on the ground in front of a cafe then walked in seeing a mound of food, trays placed perfectly on the ground as if they all just suddenly stopped what they were doing and went somewhere. He looked around and it was the same with other objects... Running cars, skate boards, and doors. It was all ominous.

He looked around noticing a dancing man who was moon walking towards a giant tent. "A circus, why one in this area? Surely they would get no business." he thought to himself trying to come up with clues. But nothing was hitting the bell. Suddenly a very ominous feeling could be sensed coming off the tent. Now it was true he needed to go to the tent to find a better answer and kill what ever he did not like there.

"Ha!  That'll learn ya to leave before serving customers."  Jardin had entered one of the ghost town's diners.  Finding it deserted, he had help himself to some things from the fridge.  He had used the stove to prepare himself an omelet.  It was delicious.  And he had left without paying.  Ha ha!

The young man's cocky smirk fell away quickly.  Comically stupid "villainy" aside, the quietness of the quaint Kansas town was unsettling.  Flies buzzing about unfinished meals, while not hurting Jardin's appetite, did reinforce the emptiness of it all...

Dressed in his trademark* gray hoodie, black pants and shoes, the young traceur set out.  He was headed for the only place in town that made less sence than the stillness.

Jardin had never been to the circus...

*Note: The Grey makes no claim of ownership of the color gray, nor does he believe himself owner of the Gray hoodie/black pants combo.  Anyone attempting patent or tradmark such things on The Grey's behalf or otherwise will find their Lamberginis vandalized.  You have been warned.

((And that's 3. Let's begin))

Approaching the tent the musicgot louder and louder, more vibrant and cheerful, compelling the participants ever onward. But there was an impatience to it as well. Once past the tent flap of the entrance, the trickery of the tent would take effect. Like some kind of falling, there

When the world came into view once more, there was only a winding path suspended in a dim void. The tent had vanished and behind the trio, only an endless winding path that extended infinitely into space. Before them was a winding path headed towards a large domed palace... and standing on the path  was a large shirtless.... djinn. Wearing a tuban, shiny purple pants and funny shoes with toes that tapered up.

"Ha-haha! new little additions!" A burly, arabian accent came from behind the mustache, spinning his large falchion in hand. "Welcome. Welcome! I am the Host. The Master welcomes you to his domain. I know you have many questions... but questions are boring.Tell me newcomers! Are you ready to play a game? Answer correctly and I shall entertain questions. Answer wrong... pay the consequences."

When in Disco-mode poor Baxter might not have full use of his faculties, all those strange urges to dance and partying in a true seventies fashion would easily overwhealm his mind, but even so, he still managed to realize that there was something rather amiss here. He could almost smell the magic in the air. Something fey was going on. Unfortunately this knowledge did not Quench the self-appointed Dreaded Doctor of Disco, the Sexy Sultan of Song, Dashing Devotee of Dance from moving ever forward, ready to face the eventual dangers and dance them into submission

No, his little entourage continued forward, eager to introduce the groove to the squares no doubt hiding in the temple. Around him his own magic distorted the odd, somewhat eerie tune into a remixed "Discofied" version of itself. Far more appropriate to a disco-dancing dervish like himself. That was when Baxter set eyes on a fellow traveller along the way also heading towards the tent. Arather dull-looking kid in a gray hoodie and gray pants, apparantly ignorant of the ways of the disco!

He edged closer to the newcommer, dancing forward, his entourage of various stray animals dancing along behind him in a surprisingly choreographed manner, the disco-remix of the eerie carnival-song blaring out from unseen speakers.

"Hey Baby, D'ya feel the rythm?" He said, his voice deeper than a black hole, but still sweet like honey. Magical charm oozed from the afro-clad dancing man. "Ooh, Yeaaah. Groovy. I've got the party started, but nobody's here to get down with me. Where all the people at? These Toms an' Jerries ain't got no feelin' for the rythm, baby. Totally square, man." he continued, his smooth, deep voice echoing over the disco-music. He thumbed back towards his entourage of various cats and dogs that feebly did their best to dance along with him as he spoke.

However, the sudden appearance of the Djinn made him forget all about the gray, rather dull-looking fellow he had been talking to. Now this cat had some serious style! Disco spun around and pointed at the man with a dramatic pointy-finger as the disco-music blared on. His pearly-white teeth glinted, almost as much as his silver jumpsuit. Hey, baby! I dig those far-out threads of yours. Groovy! The disco-man said whilst boogying down, his smile growing ever wider.

His seductive, rythically swaying hips moved to the beat of the music, and he felt oh-so-very good.
"Ain't got no time for questions, baby, nor do I play games. How 'bout you loosen up and join me on the floor. Strut your stuff an' show me your moves. It'll do wonders for ya mood baby!"

As he walked down the side walk with the need to look around some more; he decided to take quick glances of the scene. But it was about time that he should catch up to the guy that was dancing and the other in the grey hoodie..... Wait he was new. Coronel did not see him until he just arrived. He floated up until he could see the entire stretch of the area.

Spanning around he could not see anyone else besides the two and and the tent. With a pop in the air he raced down to the side of the two. He might even scare them on accident. Landing ferociously on the ground behind them he ran and caught up. They probably only heard the footsteps. Hello... My name is Coronel. Dumb question what happened here? He would question hoping to get an answer or seeing if they were in the same boat.

He looked around and seen dropped bags and cars parked that were still running. It was a little exciting to see and to know what had happened. As they hit the tent entrance the aura from the place was ever so gloomy but you could hear the music and he believed he could hear the voice of the crowd.

Not even a few seconds he also thought he heard footsteps and someone talking at the entrance. Well bring it on he was always ready. Even if it did not seem to be.

Jardin found himself glancing at the oddly dressed black man.  He struggled to avoid blurting the rather obvious statement that "disco is dead."  That could make things...uncomfortable.  He also began to feel a dull ache behind his eyes.  Now admitedly, this could be attributed to his proximity to the tent and its music but part of him knew it was this dancing man; or rather, it was his own brain fighting, adapting, rejecting the manipulative influence of the Disco man's powers...

Before he could respond to the Dancer at all, a pop alerted Jardin to another man.  He turned in time to see a flying man land and approach...interesting.

"Seems we're all in the same boat then.  Townsfolk are all M-I-A and there's a peculiar bigtop in the center of town."  Jardin turned between steps, surveying his two companions...A rather odd trio they would be.  "By the by, I'm Lou Gree."  Loup gris was his go to alias.  "So, now that we are all cought up to being completely in the dark-"  He turned again, lazily indicating the colorful tent.  "Onward," he said with none of the flamboyance the archaic sounding comment suggested.

---

Within the bigtop, everything was black.  Not dark as in lack of light.  Jet black like inky space.  Jardin's Sci-fi and Fantasy returned to him quickly.  Was the bigtop an entrance to a pocket dimension?  Also a random joke about "hammerspace."

And an oddly dressed man appeared in the dark, looking like he had entered the world from 1,001 Arabian Nights.  Djinn quickly jumped to mind. And the mention of a "Master" made him almost certain...

Wondering at the Dancer's odd behavior, Jardin focused on the Djinn's sword (an odd choice, considering). Stepping forward, he addressed the Djinn, saying, "Ask your questions, Gatekeeper. I'm not afraid."

The Djinn twirled his moustache and moved to Dr. Disco's music, albeit with that sword twirling around dangerously, and with arabian belly dancing moves, which, given it was a burly moustachioed djinn made it disturbing. Given the size of the djinn and his weapon he could easily lop a limb or a head with a swipe.

He quickly tired of Disco though, and returned to his arms crossed serious stance.  "I can appreciate music, but is there a sharp mind that can navigate the madness of the domain? Hmm. I did not suppose those who came here as groups would actually know each other."

The djinn saw at least one fellow spoke plain in response to him. So he addressed Jardin, though the question was for them all.

"Five sultans are parting ways after finding a treasure of 100 pieces of gold. The sultans decide to split it based on a vote. Each sultan, from oldest to youngest, gets to propose a plan on how to split the gold.

If at least 50 percent of the other remaining Sultan agree on the plan, that is how they will split the gold. If less than 50 percent of the sultans agree, the sultan who came up with the plan will be beheaded. Each sultan is smart, greedy, and wants to behead as many others as possible without reducing the amount of gold they get.

What plan can the first (oldest) sultan propose to live and get as much gold as possible? Answer well, for your time is not finite." The Djinn held out his hand and an hourglass materialized. The sand within began to pour down.

Disco delighted as the humongous, rather burly genie joined him in the dance, the music blared louder and more intense as the big man started to belly-dance, swinging around. The big guy might want to brush up his moves a bit, but there was no question he was surprisingly agile for a man of his shape. Disco grinned brightly, a neon-greenish aura of pure discofunk power surrounded him as he kept dancing, the various stray animals and the djinni made this quite a rocking dancefloor! multicoloured strobe-lights flashed from invisible points in the roof, and it was clear the place was swinging

"You got moves, baby. Groovylicious!" Disco said flamboyantly, his deep voice oozing of honey-like charm as he spoke. Just after finishing the sentence the genie mistakenly (he supposed) swung his sword in such a fashion that he would have been decapitated if not for a quick duck and backwards roll on the floor, Disco managed to save the situation by stylishly leaping up, one finger pointing to the roof whilst his hips swayed sensually in a rythmic fashion "Hoooo yeaaaah!" he crooned, his bright smile once again appeared as he dramatically moved his pointing hand towards Coronel and Lou "You two don't need to be square, all you need is to dare, Bust a move, find your groove and get Fa-Bu-Lous!" He said as he continued the dance!. . .

. . . But it was not meant to last, as the Genie simply stopped dancing, however Disco would not succumb so easily to dullness. However, there was no reason he could not simply dance whilst answering the riddle. After all, why wouldn't he be so kind, considering the fact that the Geenie did boogie down with him. He suspected that the answer that immediately came to him would not be the correct one, and the Baxter-part of his consciousness desperately tried to get him to power down and think seriously, but being serious were for squares from squaresville!

"Yeah baby, It's easy. The guy gets two of them to share the money with him and leaves two of them out in the cold. That way he got majority and gold!" Disco said smoothly as he spun around, stopping dancing temporarily to strike a pose.

It was a gloomy tent and as the entered it was pitch black from there on out. But in a flash the disco dancer had this strange ability and had magical light coming from the ceiling. What was it and how the hell. It was not the usual ability he would see but he would also not question it since there was probably no logic to it either.

He turned to a man that looked repulsing to him, but then he stopped and thought that was a lot of people.

Looking back the man spoke and asked a question... "Hmm a riddle, this should be easy enough". He decided to play along instead of stripping the place down so he could see. As the man explained the question he thought to himself more than sure he could figure it out on his own. As long as he had been alive a simple riddle should be no trouble.

The disco mam answered and he decided to put his response in as well. Okay... If we go by the question the oldest has to make the first decision. If he said they should split it equally and leave then they would vote against him and kill him. So he would have to give away his portion of all the money and leave before they decided to vote. That's the only way for him to leave alive and with the most money.

He answered straight out more than sure his answer was right. Because any other reasoning will get the oldest killed and they will just take his money anyways. Now what was the other guy going to guess and what would the correct answer be?

Jardin paused.  Riddles, really?  He didn't like riddles all that much.  He was pretty good at them, but they often were played to belittle the players...

Thinking about Coronel's, Jardin remembered: the sultans are greedy.  He would look for a way to get at least some of the money.  But of course the others would kill him.  First the Gray-beard.  Next, Salt+Pepper would fall into the trap, cut down by Black-beard (no relation to pirates).  Black-beard falls to Goatie and then...

And then Goatie takes everything, being a whole 50% of two.

Black-beard knows this and would offer 1 gold to the Youngest.  Nothing for goatie.

Salt and pepper would offer 1 gold to goatie, skipping Black and Youngest.  Goatie, knowing what Blackbeard would do would have to agree.

And the Eldest?

"The Eldest keeps ninety-eight pieces.  He then gives one gold to the third Sultan, who knows the second sultan will give him nothing.  The youngest also recieves one gold and knowing he will recieve no more from the others, the youngest will agree."  98:0:1:0:1

The young man felt positively smug though he tried to hide it.  He had made a Sicilian proud.

After a moment of thought, Jardin decided he'd ask the obvious question: "Who is your Master?"

"Ha! Correct. The great ... ugh... Whimbazow..." The djinn seemed rather reluctant to say the name, but magical compulsion egged him on. "...and his trio of fellow master performers, appreciate an agile mind." He leans in to whisper to the three. "Perhaps you will survive to see the Whimbazow's grand event. I bid you fare well."

The Djinn promptly vanished in a puff of smoke. Ahead in the sprawling carnival grounds, carnival music played, bright rainbow lights washed all over the grounds, and a giant flaming roller coaster wounded through the place at impossible angles and speeds. One would immediately make out the townsfolk, milling about the grounds, holding cotton candy and popcorn. Upon closer inspection though, one could see that their eyes were blank- and they all were unresponsive to any stimuli. They moved about alive, but like zombies. Men, women and children, all alike, seemed to have been robbed of all... energy.

There were many minor attractions about, such as food stalls and games, manned by gruesome clowns and colorful animal mascots, though there was a wrongness in the air. Some food stalls reeked of pestilence, as a trio of clowns-as-butchers served the mindless townsfolk rotten carnival food buzzing with flies. A zombie-person, a young lady in a Wal-Mart uniform, who ate a disgusting corndog ridden with maggots approached the trio but promptly puked at their feet and collapsed. She was alive... but she wasn't "home".

The most prominent attractions were three smaller red tents and one main tent in the center, all having significant crowds waiting outside them.

As the rainbow light washed over the victim, she was seized by some mad fit, twitching and forcing herself up, as her expressionless face began to contort into a grin, and she let out a terrifying, soulless laughter. "WHimbozo... is so funnnny! Hahahahaha! HA HA HAHAH!" she began to crawl towards the three, her face becoming clownish, her nails... becoming wicked black talons.

Disco kept dancing as the other answered the question. He had no time for all this brainial thingamabob. Words are wind, but the dancefloor keeps calling with promises of euphoria, belonging and carnal pleasures, listening with half an ear to what was going on, the Baxter part of him struggling to pay attention whilst the Disco-part of him simply enjoyed dwelling in the metaphorical flufffy, rainbow-coloured silver cloud of disco-nostalgia floating in orbit around the earth. In a less verbose of conveying said message, he tried to not go totally cloudcuckoo-lander on his sudden companions

."Whimbazow, eh? That's like, a totally groovalicious name, baby." He said to the djinn as he once again started moonwalking on the spot. The Djinn spoke on about deadly tests, and even the Far-out King of dancing realized that this would way worse than any test he took whilst getting his PHD. There would be troubled times ahead, of this there was little doubt

As the rather horrid goings-on of the tent was revealed Disco stepped back in shock, even losing track of the rythm. and thus the disco-music temporarily stopped as the the squalid, surreal area opened up before them. It would not take a genius to realize that this was some seriously bad mojo, and Baxter, being aquainted with magic as he was, had little doubt that the source of this terribly warped place of dream-logic and unholy angles where some flavour of arcane in origin.

Disco started snapping his fingers along with an unhearable beat funky beat that soon started blaring from somehwere in the vicinity. The music comforted him and made him feel safe. It enveloped him in a comfortable familiar sensation, and as his confidence grew, so did the music grow louder and richer.
Three tents, probably symbolic of something. He expected that there was one for each of them, and within they would each face some manner of challenge. He adjusted his sunglasses and pimpcoat as he noticed the shrill laughter of the woman approaching them

Disco spun and pointed at her, and with a mighty cry of "DISCO-BEAM!" a rainbow ray shooting from his finger as he tried to defeat the approaching menace. He did not put too much power into the shot however, for fear of harming the poor woman seriously. Just enough to knock the air out of her and send her back a few feet. Disco was rather convinced she was under the power of an unseen, malevolent entity, apparantly called "Whimbazow" And had little to no say over her actions

He looked around the place that they appeared to be in. Though it would look frightening it seemed calming to Coronel that he was inside. The blood the horror made him itch with excitement. He was at his last line of holding back to go have fun. The only thing that kept him at bay and stay with these guys is the challenge to see this Challenger through.

He looked around and began to wonder... Making his way over he greeted some random monstrosity at the stall seeing if he could get a corn dog or play a game. But seeing the disgust of the creature made him want to lash out more. And it would not have mattered everything was in piss poor shape. The only thing more exciting would be to watch these people walk around until they bump into each other.

The three made way to 3 nicely sized up tents and a much bigger one right in the middle. He would not boast about what the tents symbolized, but usually the guy who wanted to be known would be in the largest tent. He walked towards the tent when the guy started dancing a little faster to a unknowing beat in his head. "Hmm what is he doing" he thought, but soon heard a laughter. He just caught glimpse of the guy dancing but put it off through the entire walk.

The guy turned and shot out a beam of multi colored light at a laughing woman who seemed to be changing. It snapped to him is she the enemy? Because if so then would that not mean everyone in the crowd could be like her?

A grin went onto his face but quickly faded. The guys attack had no kick to it, and he would not let a chance to kill something with no regards go out the window. He clenched his fist tight then let go swinging towards the woman. The compact power to wipe a building off the face of the earth was more than enough to kill her. Hell they might also be in trouble in the tent if the quick thought of it being a sub dimension. If it is a subbed out plane the force of the blast would not be strong enough to blow down the walls, but he did not want it to end so quickly.

As soon as it hits he will disperse the blast until the momentum depletes itself.