The first inclination that anything was wrong was in Serenwilde, as the
forestals worked to strengthen the enchantment upon the weakening
Nintoba Naos, Chuchip uttered a dark and cryptic prophesy. Glomdoring,
New Celest and Magnagora soon heard their own variants of the dark words
- the ancestral spirit, Chuchip, was joined by Mother Night, the
Necromentate and the elusive Star Deva in prophetic doomsaying.

It was Kalas Iytha who was the first to conceive what the coming chaos
would entail, for the children of the Basin of Life began to fall ill.
Dwarves, elfen, faeling, merian, viscanti, tae'dae - all began to
succumb to what Yojimbo of Estelbar could only describe was 'the rainbow
crud'. The tae'dae cubs of Mrs. Trundle's Daycare were the first to
disappear, as New Celest and Serenwilde found out upon investigating the
upset heard from Estelbar village.

Only a few moments would pass before Bobo, the scruffy tae'dae cub was
found in the fields, laughing and yelling inane jokes to anyone who
would listne. Eventually, he too disappeared, and children throughout
the Basin of Life began to join him in this disappearing act - in
Magnagora, Esano, Reginaldus, Ixion and others managed to track down a
sick boy, and brought them to Tunika d'Murani, who had recently been
accosted in his laboratory by an upset nobleman.

Eventually sick children began appearing everywhere - Serenwilde,
Glomdoring, New Celest, Magnagora. Sick little boys and girls, dragging
their toys limply at their sides. Despite much goading, the children
refused to leave - and, in a matter of days, the horrified onlookers
watched as the rainbow gunk that they had been coughing up flooded out
of their mouths and turned them into what so many people seemed to fear
- clowns!

It was high atop Avechna's Peak, days later, that people began to
suspect Jeremiah Gryphta was more than a simple hawker - swarms of
child-clowns began to chase him and his cart of goods up and down
Avechna's Peak, before he finally quit running and turned to fight.
Cream pie in one hand and a bottle of seltzer in the other, brave
Jeremiah Gryphta managed to fend off the clown children long enough to
admit to knowing more than most about the strange afflictions.

Urging everyone to flee the Basin of Life, Jeremiah Gryphta apparently
took his own advice, for within a day he was gone.

As the children continued their search for props and show animals - most
notable among them 'the Bear' - the citizens of the Basin of Life had
their attention drawn to the Vesteran World Stage, where, indeed, Bobo
the Bear and a group of clowns were to put on a show.

As terrible in form and performance as the pink skirt he was wearing,
Bobo the Bear apparently did not perform to the desired standards, for
the clown children beset him, apparently with the intention to, as many
feared, eat him. Unable to allow them to eat the tae'dae cub, as
apparently the onlookers were going to, Jeremiah Gryphta - creme pies
and a seltzer bottle in hand - came to the rescue.

Finally surrendering to the demands of the people of the Basin of Life -
of course, after three or four last attempts to get them to flee -
Jeremiah Gryphta set to work with their help creating a massive crystal
ball, by which he declared he would call for help.

With the crystal ball complete, Jeremiah Gryphta made contact with a
woman who would come to be known as Madam Vadoma Drabardi, who arrived
with her companion, Master Garridan Lowara. Together they worked with
the Basin of Life, most especially the Serenwilde, in healing the youths
- using the captured spirits of the walking dead and the herbs used for
a phlegmatic potion, Drabardi concocted a flask of lavender fluid, by
which the youths could be healed.

Upon the completion of their task, the Basin of Life was treated to what
many in the First World call the greatest of the wandering wonders - the
Czigany Wayfaire themselves, a group of colourful, wandering people who
run a traveling faire. Jal Czigany himself met the first of visitors,
namely Arix, Syridean and Kiradawea, welcoming them to their faire.
Unfortunately, he announced, all of the performances had already been
booked - but that did not stop many people from, and others who continue
to, seek means of acquiring a free pass to a show.

After many days of laboursome work, Solanis Carthan of the Moondancers
was the first to witness every show of the Czigany Wayfaire, including
the famed and illustrious Rings of the Iron Lady performance.

The question lingers on many people's lips, as they discover the wonders
and prizes to be found within the Czigany Wayfaire - how long will the
strange, wandering people remain in the Basin of Life, before they do
what wanderers do best - pack up and leave?

Penned by My hand on the 22nd of Vestian, in the year 247 CE.