The Grey Comedy is a weird circus troupe that roams the country, picking up freaks and foundlings and performing strange, compelling shows wherever they stop over. It’s said that every lost soul finds the Grey Comedy, but perhaps it is fairer to say that the Comedy finds them.
The ringmaster is a young woman of Gore named Bella. She was snatched by the Comedy off the streets of Shuttered against her will, and still resents Rosetta, the fork-tongued (15.13) beastmaster who truly controls the Comedy. She was bequeathed the duty by her father, the Collector (02.22), who had promised to take on the mantle in exchange for a carnival mask of the tarrasque that used an actual tarrasque skull.
Also in the troupe are seven dancers of the Shadow Ballet (briefly mentioned in 50.11). Rosetta claims that they were firebirds (04.05) turned to stone by the Basilisk (25.31) that she spoke life into. Bella is not convinced, but when the girls do speak their voices are high and fluting.
There are also three bugbear (17.14) stage magicians, whose main act consists of pulling off their heads and replacing them with all manner of strange objects. The bugbears hate the Comedy, but will not leave until they can find their original pumpkin heads. The heads were unwisely launched by catapult out of the tent and into the alleys of the Shuttered City in what was their first and was supposed to be their last performance.
The bugbears, embittered by their long service, will try to manufacture pranks that humiliate or maim in every settlement that the Comedy comes to. By some magic, people do not recognise the bugbears if they use different heads for their sabotage and their performances.
The Comedy also performs marriage ceremonies for those who fear official or parental retribution. The ceremony itself is a noisy and rambunctious party where members of the circus attempt to seduce the married couple, and delight in loudly retelling every sexual misdeed and peccadillo of the couple to the audience.
Hooks:
- Does the Sack Man know that some of his bugbears are missing?
- Who now has their pumpkin heads?
- Who has been married by the Comedy?
- What terrible ‘accidents’ have the bugbears arranged?
- Are the dancers really firebirds restored from stone?
- Why does the Grey Comedy need a ringmaster?
- What does Bella think of her father?
- Who did the Collector have a child with?