Jason recaps the events from Three Ring Adventure S2|12: Fruit Scroll-Ups.

I’m going to start this week’s column with something of a personal note. Both because Steve mentioned it being Episode 52 and because it came up in a side conversation elsewhere. Confession time: I miss playing with this group. Because the fact that it’s been a year of Three-Ring Adventure means it’s ALSO been a year since Plaguestone signed off.

Don’t get me wrong. I still think it was the right call at the time. I was a little burned out at the end of Dead Suns and couldn’t see myself doing two shows at the time. Now, had I known COVID was going to do what it did and lock us indoors for a year, that might’ve changed my answer, but… that’s 20/20 hindsight, I suppose.

And I also freely admit I’m not as into the roleplaying as the rest of this group is. So in that sense, for the RP-forward show this is trying to be… I think the show is better without me than it would’ve been with me. Alhara and Ateran would be trying to advance their relationship with a tender moment, and I’d be the doofus dropping quotes from “The Office” into the scene like an asshat because that’s what I do. “This above all to thine own self be true…”

All that said, I DO miss playing with these folks and I’m pretty sure I would’ve enjoyed playing with Rob P. for the first time as well. It’s a different dynamic from the Edgewatch group, but equally fun. Yeah, we’ve had Vanessa make a few appearances on the Black Lodge show, and we still have other opportunities to interact with each other (most recently, bumming around Valheim). But… yeah. Sometimes I’m reminded it would’ve been fun tagging along for this ride in particular.

OK… gotta say it. If nothing else, at least I would’ve played a non-human. My one continuing criticism of the show is that it’s a flippin’ circus… where weird is the coin of the realm… and half-elf is the most exotic party option they could muster? THINK OF THE T-SHIRT POSSIBILITIES.

So basically what I’m saying is that I may or may not be quietly shadow-leveling a Leshy (playtest) Gunslinger with a trick-shot act just in case an opportunity for a cameo arises. “They call me… The Salad Shooter (cue Morricone-inspired musical cue)”.

All right, now that I let that moment of sincerity run on too long and ruined it with jokes, back to the action.

First, we have the OFFICIAL revelation of our Level 6 heroes. Since I’m mostly action-driven, I’m staying with Alhara’s Attack Of Opportunity as the big news of the day. I miss Attacks of Opportunity so much. Though to be fair, I found Vanessa’s enthusiasm about taking circus lore genuinely infectious. I can appreciate that she sees the opportunity to dig in on the circus/RP side of Alhara, even if I’m just rooting for Reaction-Based Stick-Hittery at the end of the day.

The lore thing in general is interesting. It’s pretty powerful IN the right campaign. Think about it: it’s a skill where you get to automatically/retroactively level it up to Expert when you take it; that’s a potentially powerful thing. Look at Ateran IMMEDIATELY putting their newfound Aroden Lore to work within the same episode. The problem is, there aren’t a lot of campaigns/character concepts where you know a specific area of lore that’s going to continue to be game-relevant all the way through, while other stuff with more rubber-meets-the-road benefit is also hanging around out there.

Speaking of practical benefit… Basil is TOTALLY stealing the idea of an 8-hour Longstrider spell now that he has a Level 2 spell. I didn’t TOTALLY follow what Loren was trying to do, but it sounded like she was trying to filter Longstrider through her elemental powers to gain almost-unlimited Fly access? Do I have that right? Which… I’m not surprised there was a loophole she was missing. Based on other character builds they’ve been playing around with, they don’t seem to like to give out “free” flight until at least the teens.

After level-up, the next order of business is checking on the Kinder, Gentler Jellico Bounce-Bounce. (Though still neither kind nor gentle enough for Alhara’s liking.) So I guess he’s not as creepy as he used to be, but he might need to take a break and get back in touch with his old act because the malevolent spirit was doing the heavy lifting on his previous act. Personally, I have 10 bucks that says his new act is going to SUUUUUUUUCK. And possibly involve puppets. That’s my prediction, anyway.

We also have a brief interlude where we upgrade the circus itself with a larger tent. More seats, more anticipation, more money… it does seem like the next logical upgrade. I suppose the danger is that it could turn around and bite them in the ass if they don’t hit the new anticipation goal. More seats + missed anticipation = more EMPTY seats, or something like that. I did think it was odd that the Prestige would max out after one performance… maybe I don’t understand the system as well as I should, but wouldn’t that argue in favor of skipping Escadar and heading for a bigger town? Did the writers expect our troupe to fail more and arrive here with less Prestige in the first place? Or will there be ways to raise the Prestige cap while they’re here? Not going to lie: there are times when I still find some of this stuff a little confusing beyond “big numbers are better”.

The interlude with the locket was… interesting. Am I the only one who got similar vibes to Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather from Sleeping Beauty, or is that just me adding my own layers? Mentally, I’m putting them in matching red, blue, and green robes just to further the effect. The big payoff here was finding the location of the entrance to the Moonstone Hall, but we may get additional payoff down the road – both on the locket and on Hap’s origin story. Mermaid fountain in the wood-workers’ district. Which is always kept under guard. Innnnnnnteresting.

Aside: Kat… YOU. NEED. TO. CHILL. Much as I approve of things getting a little silly, I’m a little leery about this date tonight.

One general question: did we ever get any interaction with Aives? At some point we need to get more information about why he switched, what his act might be going forward, and such. I remember them talking about meeting him, but if it happened, I must’ve missed it or it didn’t make much of an impression either way.

As we end the episode, the team does a little bit of quick recon on the entrance to the hall, and then we reach an emotional cliffhanger (if such a thing exists) as it’s time to meet Darius and Alhara’s father. And that will be where we’ll pick it up next time. As always, feel free to drop by our Discord channel or other social media and let us know what you think of the show. Thanks for listening and we’ll see you next week.