Travel Encounter: The Circus is Here!

Strange Animals, Thefts, Killings

A Circus sets up just outside of town. There are many ways to include it in an adventure.

Setup: A PC spots the tents of the circus being set up or perhaps the PCs hear a town crier announcing the circus.

Potential Plot Points:

• The PCs need an ingredient from an animal that happens to be at the circus. Some wouldn’t damage the animal such as snake venom, others such as elephant ivory would.
• While attending the circus, animals break out!
• One of the people at the circus is a doppelganger who uses the circus’s transience to avoid being in one town for long.
• The circus may wish to hire the PCs as guards for the circus while in town or as they travel to their next stop.

Vary the Challenge: The doppelganger could be a were-creature or more powerful shapeshifter.

Possible Twist: The ringleader could be a ringleader both literally and figuratively: the circus is the home of a thieves guild which burgles just one or two (to avoid suspicion) wealthy homes in each town.

Follow-up Adventure Ideas:

• The PCs may uncover some of the plots (ringleader or shapeshifter) if they are in the same city as the circus again and similar events occur.
• The ringleader asks the PCs to capture a new exhibit for him.

Switch Genres: Circuses can span many genres of the past into the present. In the future they may have synthetic creatures or have a more alien menagerie.