Witchlight Introduction

The traveling extravaganza known as the Witchlight Carnival visits your world once every eight years. You have a dim memory of sneaking into the carnival as a child without paying for a ticket. That memory has grown foggy over time, though it still conjures a weird admixture of emotions—wonder and awe mixed with loss and regret. During this childhood visit, your character lost something. You tried to find it, but the carnival owners—a pair of elves named Mister Witch and Mister Light—were decidedly unhelpful.

“Silly little screeching cricket,” said Witch. “You forgot to buy a ticket.”

“The carnival goes round and round,” said Light. “The multiverse is our playground. Nothing’s free and nothing’s lost. Every visit has its cost.”

As time passed, your heart became less heavy, and you gave less and less thought to those childhood events. Now, for reasons you can’t explain, the longing to retrieve that which you have lost has resurfaced, as though an old spell has faded away, allowing you to feel the loss as sharply as if it happened yesterday.

The Witchlight Carnival has returned, and you find yourself standing near a ticket booth by the entrance at twilight, just as the carnival is about to open. There you meet others who look as troubled as you. Without knowing how or why, you sense that each of them has lost something as well. Perhaps fate has brought you together.