You go to the stranger oddity first, namely the toy car left in the alley. Or maybe it's a car for rats? You can imagine fairy rats driving cars. But why would they have cars and not the jesters? These would have to be pretty messy rats though, as they seem to have packed the car full with rumpled up multi-colored clothing.
"I don't know if medieval folk rats were quite that smart." Emogen says, tapping the car warily with the end of her axe. "I'd be more worried about getting a disease to be honest."
You decide to leave the possible plague (station)wagon be and go to the large colorful box with the crank. You give it a small turn, causing the box to emit a few tinny notes from a song. Giving it a few more cautious turns, you come to find that, perhaps unsurprisingly, it's "Pop Goes The Weasel."
"So it's a Jack-in-the-Box, right?" Emogen says, looking to the box curiously. "Never seen one quite this big before."
You nod, and say they should be careful. This clearly has something to do with clowns.
"What do you mean?" she asks. When you say that a jack-in-the-box goes off it let's out a clown on a spring she responds, "I thought a jester pops out of a jack in the box. Isn't that what a jack is?"
You open your mouth, but stop. Was it a clown or a jester that comes from a
jack-in-the-box.It's usually a clown, right?
You both stare at the crank for a moment before asking Emogen if they should turn the box to it's crescendo and she replies, "Yeah, now I want to know what's inside."
You pump the crank quickly until the top of the box flies open on it's hinge with a bang, revealing a clown head on a spring.
"Oh, I guess it does do clown." Emogen says, nodding firmly.
However you aren't given a chance to respond as you feel a sharp blow to the back of your head. As your consciousness fades, you hear a voice with a comical french accent say, "Well down mon friend, now let's get zé anoma-lee bak to la 'ideoot quik-lee! Mon mastair weehl 'ave use fair 'im."
---
Tamako kicks her legs happily while looking out the window of the car at the sparse forest passing them by. First time on a train, and now her first time in a car! Kamiko hands over a bag of macarons they were passing back and forth while reading her notes.
"So what are these ruins like?" Tamako says, chomping down on a pastry.
"It appears there isn't much of it left." She says, looking over a scroll from the Jester King. "It seems the only thing that survived the fighting is the main street of the city. It's a tourist attraction now, but guests can view it from a distance."
