The year draws to a close (in the game, I mean), and here we are!
The circus wends its way south from Brandybuck Junction, and through the Frogmire Marshes, where Ratatosk Longberry is delighted to harvest some marsh mallow. The characters meet a frog fisherman named Woodborn Brightriver (they meet him when Oof steps in his fishing pool, but they get it all sorted), who warns them that floods are coming. The circus diverts west and they wind up close to the Highpeak Mountains, and have the pleasure of seeing the Falls of Fire (a waterfall that lights up red when the sun hits it at the autumnal equinox).
Through all of that, the Traveling Knights persevere. They're each looking forward to getting home; Snootabur Shadowbough wants to get back to her worm farm and check in with Festa Lovegood (who is keeping the farm going). Ratatosk wants to show Ripark the worms that he found and rearrange all his stashes and caches. Russelet Leatherwind wants to talk with Juffin Longbottom and catch up on gossip. Rumdiggle Sunsong wants to nap, but she's also looking forward to catching up with Sarafina Bushytail.
The circus gets to the Swiftwater River and the Knights realize they're just about home. They see beavers and otters in the river waving them on, and as they get closer Keeble Brownberry and Juffin Longbottom come out to meet them. They tell the characters that they've just made it - tomorrow is Marma's Day!
A brief aside: Marma's Day is the last day of the harvest. The children of Cairn dress up in scary costumes and chase "Marma" out of town. Getting to play Marma is an honor, and whoever does it typically takes off the costume and then comes back into town and tells a story about seeing Marma run away from Cairn. Traditionally, the person weaves in whatever problems Cairn has had for the past year to the story about Marma running out of town. All of the characters love Marma's Day - they love the cider, the roasted grubs (well, Snoot does), the caramel-covered...well, everything.
Keeble asks if any of the Knights would like to be Marma this year, and Rummy enthusiastically volunteers. Russ, Snoot, and Ratatosk all chip in their talents to help with the costume, but it's late and that's tomorrow. The characters get some sleep, and the next day, Rummy sleeps in while the others get to work.
Russ uses bowstring to fashion fur and whiskers. Snoot makes a dragon mask out of paper. Ratatosk, as usual, goes all-out and makes some big wings that fold out when strings are pulled. When Rummy wakes up they help her get dressed and test everything out, and then everyone relaxes and enjoys the day. Sumna Stormriver has given the circus-folk the next couple of days off, but her brother Dirk has set up the games booths anyway. The kids of Cairn scamper around having a grand old time, and the autumn day dwindles quickly.
Come evening, everyone gathers at the town hall (there's a big banner saying "WELCOME HOME TRAVELING KNIGHTS" on it). Keeble gives the traditional "look out! The Marma!" speech, and then unleashes Rummy! She runs around scaring the kids and then being chased, while Snootabur helps wrangle the young'uns and keep everyone more or less together. They chase Rummy out of town on the north end of Cairn, near the Cider Mill Inn, and she ditches the costume and comes back into town and performs her new song, "Marma."
The party ramps up, everyone drinks cider, and the Knights do a bar crawl starting at the Cider Mill, working down to the Brookflower, to the Root, and then back up to the Brookflower. The three bars have very different vibes; the Cider Mill is where the kids are hanging out and playing games, the Brookflower is a more rowdy and adult crowd ("PLAY JA-JA DING DONG"), and the Root is rougher and seedier.
Rummy is very drunk, and is singing with Sarafina Bushytail. Russelet does some three-card monte style shuffling, while Ratatosk corners someone and talks to them about fish-buttons. Keeble Brownberry, the Lord Mayor, finds Snootabur and congratulates her and the Knights on their clever idea to an extra Marma pop up to scare the kids.
Trouble is, Snoot has no idea what he's talking about. Keeble is a little too drunk for her to press the issue, so she finds Russelet. He puts on his bat-ears and listens to some gossip, and he does hear people talk about these extra Marmas. Adults seem to think it was a clever thing the Knights did, while the kids are talking about it in spooky "one of them was the real Marma" kinds of terms. Nothing sinister, though. Russelet flits up into the trees and talks with his sentries, but none of them have seen anything. He does a little tracking, but there's been so much foot traffic because of the Marma's Day festivities that he can't tell if anything's amiss.
The next day, the Knights continue getting acclimated to their town. Snootabur talks with Eliza Grayhair, the mouse that unofficially runs the marketplace. She says she saw one of the extra Marmas - far too small to have been Rummy, and quite agile. She saw it run away and leap off of a market stand. Snoot and Russ investigate, but all they find is a shattered clay cider bottle (non-alcoholic). Eliza mentions, too, that Sarafina Bushytail came to her early in the morning looking for blueberries. Blueberries are comfort food for her; she needed it because something chased her all the way home last night!
The Knights figure this might be a prank, but they decide they need to go talk to Sarafina this evening, just to make sure...
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