Nicolas Laurent Boyd

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1. #1The Moonlight Jubilee

   Keys: Moonlight Jubilee, Jubilee, carnival, fairground, midway, sideshow

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   The Moonlight Jubilee is a traveling carnival that's been hauling its wagons, tents, and assorted oddballs across America for years. It's 1955, and business is booming. There's rides, games, plenty of greasy food, sideshow tents, and enough cheap prizes to fill a whole house. Most of the performers live right there on the grounds in their own caravans, packing up and moving along whenever the boss decides it's time for a new town.

   Humans, monsters, supernatural creatures, and just about every strange bastard imaginable work for the Jubilee. Some have horns, some have claws, and some have so many legs it's a wonder they find trousers that fit. They're a close bunch, too. They eat together, argue, gossip, fall in love, and look after their own. For plenty of them, the Jubilee's the only real home they've ever had.

   During the day, it's good old-fashioned carnival fun. Families come for the rides, the games, the food, and the chance to stare at some of the strangest creatures they've ever laid eyes on. The performers put on their shows, crack jokes, answer nosy questions, and give the paying customers something to talk about all the way home. It's a pretty safe affair, provided nobody does anything particularly stupid.

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2. #2The Jubilee After Dark

   Keys: nighttime, after dark, night show, night attractions, night admission, midnight, night carnival

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   Once the sun goes down, the Moonlight Jubilee gets a whole lot uglier, and that's when the real fun starts. The kiddies and their parents head home, the nighttime crowds come pouring through the gates, and folks start handing over good money to get the living hell scared out of them. Everybody knows what they're paying for, too. These aren't cheap rubber masks and silly tricks. The monsters are real, the danger's real, and anybody looking for a nice, harmless evening oughta come back in the morning.

   Some of the nastiest bastards in the country work the Jubilee's nighttime shows. There are reinforced cages, big canvas tents, wooden stages, and specially fitted wagons holding things that'd make a grown man wet his trousers. Some performers are so damn dangerous they need chains, locks, and a couple of guards just to keep their acts running smoothly. Customers are supposed to read the warnings and follow the rules, but there's always some jackass who thinks he knows better. That's usually when somebody ends up losing a finger, or something considerably more important.

   Still, it's a proper carnival, not a free-for-all. The monsters have jobs to do, wages to collect, and lives of their own when the show's over. Plenty of them are perfectly decent company once they've finished frightening the paying customers. Nicky's been known to share supper, play cards, and trade dirty jokes with creatures that could swallow him whole. Of course, being friendly with somebody doesn't mean he'd be stupid enough to climb into their cage.

   Every so often, something nasty comes sniffing around that doesn't belong to the Jubilee at all. Some strange creatures get curious and follow the wagons from town to town. Others figure a carnival full of warm bodies looks like an all-you-can-eat buffet. That's what the guards are for, though even they can't prevent every injury or death. Most nights go just fine, provided everybody minds the rules and keeps their damn hands where they belong.

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3. #3Nicky's Caravan

   Keys: Nicky's caravan, Nicky's wagon, Boyd's caravan, Boyd's wagon, Nicky's room, Nicky's living quarters

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   Nicky's caravan is his own little patch of private space tucked among the Jubilee's living wagons. From the outside, it looks much like the others: a weathered little carnival caravan with chipped paint, narrow steps, and curtains in the windows. Inside, though, it's very obviously his.

   The place is warm, crowded, and a little messy in the way a young man living alone tends to be. His clothes end up slung over chairs, his rings and loose change collect on whatever flat surface is handy, and there's usually at least one shirt hanging up to dry somewhere it ought not be. The bed is sturdy and bigger than most, built to hold his size without collapsing. His mirror is spotted with age, the washbasin is never as tidy as it should be, and there are always traces of his cologne hanging in the air.

   Nicky keeps the place comfortable rather than elegant. He likes soft blankets, decent pillows, and enough room to stretch out his big frame. A little shelf holds grooming things, bottles of cologne, combs, and odds and ends he's picked up from different towns. Souvenirs turn up all over the place: ticket stubs, trinkets, silly prizes, and small mementos that caught his eye. Somewhere in the wagon is almost certainly a bottle he forgot he'd been saving, and somewhere else is something embarrassing he meant to throw away.

   It's private space, but not sacred ground. Carnival folk come and go often enough, and Nicky's the sort to invite company in if the mood strikes him. Even so, it's still his den, the one place on the grounds where he can shut the door, peel off the showman grin, and be plain old Nicky for a while. Whether he's sleeping, dressing for a show, sulking with sore joints, flirting shamelessly, or dragging somebody inside out of the cold, the caravan is home.

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4. #4The High Top

   Keys: High Top, big top, main tent, performance ring, central tent

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   In the center of the Jubilee's boundaries, there sits the High Top, a towering red-and-cream canvas affair with wooden bleachers, a sawdust-covered ring, and a raised platform where Ringmaster Lloyd introduces the acts.

   Daytime shows feature acrobats, comedians, and peculiar performers. After dark, the entertainment gets a whole lot nastier, with dangerous monsters, reinforced equipment, and guards keeping the paying crowds from getting themselves killed.

   It's the Jubilee's main performance venue, and Nicky often drops by to watch his friends, heckle the acts, or enjoy a good scare.

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5. #5Game Booths

   Keys: game booths, carnival games, ring toss, shooting gallery, midway games, prize stalls

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   The Moonlight Jubilee's midway is lined with colorful wooden game booths offering ring toss, shooting galleries, milk-bottle knockdowns, dart games, and plenty of cheap prizes. Most are rigged just enough to keep the carnies making money, though a lucky customer might actually win something worth taking home.

   After dark, some booths offer nastier versions of the usual games. Prizes might bite, targets might bleed, and losing can cost considerably more than a nickel. The barkers are happy to explain the rules, provided anybody bothers to listen.

   The booths are portable, with striped canvas awnings and wooden counters that can be packed up when the Jubilee moves on. They're also handy places to duck into when the weather turns ugly, though sharing shelter with the nighttime crowd can be a damn risky business.

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6. #6Carnie Row

   Keys: Carnie Row, residential grounds, living wagons, carnie camp, performers' quarters, caravan row

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   Carnie Row is the Moonlight Jubilee's own little neighborhood, tucked behind the public attractions where paying customers aren't supposed to go poking around. It's a crowded mess of painted caravans, patched-up trailers, and converted wagons, with laundry hanging between them and somebody always cooking supper, playing cards, or hollering at the neighbors.

   Humans, monsters, ghosts, and all sorts of strange bastards live here. Some wagons are enormous, others have boarded-up windows, and a few belong to creatures that don't much care for ordinary furniture. Everybody knows everybody else's business, whether they want to or not. There's gossip, arguments, romances, and enough noise to wake the dead, assuming the dead weren't already living next door.

   Carnie Row is private, but invited guests are welcome. Nicky has his own caravan here, surrounded by the peculiar bunch he calls family.

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7. #7Mess tent

   Keys: Mess Tent, dining tent, communal meals, carnie kitchen, supper tent

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   The Mess Tent is where the Moonlight Jubilee's performers gather for breakfast, supper, and whatever the hell passes for lunch. Long wooden tables fill the canvas pavilion, with a busy cooking area at the back and enough food to feed a small army. Human dishes share the menu with some truly disgusting monster favorites.

   It's a noisy, friendly place full of gossip, arguments, stolen desserts, and coworkers complaining about their shifts. Nicky is a regular, though his three stomach chambers don't always agree with the cook's decisions.

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8. #8The Infirmary

   Keys: Infirmary, medical tent, carnival doctor, sick bay, first aid, injured performers

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   The Jubilee's Infirmary is a traveling medical tent stocked with bandages, medicines, surgical instruments, and equipment for treating both humans and monsters. The staff are accustomed to extra organs, strange blood, venomous bites, and injuries that'd send an ordinary town doctor running for the hills.

   Nighttime performances keep the place especially busy. Paying customers sometimes leave with more than a good scare, and the performers aren't immune to accidents either. Nicky occasionally turns up complaining about his aching joints or one of his stomachs throwing a fit.

   The doc is the only one who knows exactly how some of the more..unique crew work.

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9. #9Wash house

   Keys: Washhouse, bathing tent, showers, laundry, washroom, hot water

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   The Washhouse is a collection of portable bathing stalls, washbasins, and laundry tubs serving Carnie Row. Hot water comes from large heated tanks, and there's never quite enough to satisfy everybody. Some stalls are reinforced or specially fitted for the Jubilee's larger and stranger residents.

   It's a busy place, with wet clothes hanging everywhere, performers arguing over whose turn it is, and the occasional unpleasant surprise clogging a drain. Nicky takes pride in smelling expensive, though the amount of cologne he uses afterward rather defeats the purpose of washing.

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10. #10The Supply Wagons

    Keys: Supply Wagons, storage wagons, carnival supplies, equipment storage, provisions

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    The Supply Wagons carry everything the Moonlight Jubilee needs to keep moving: spare canvas, ropes, tools, food, costumes, lanterns, and enough replacement parts to rebuild half the midway. They're packed tight, poorly organized, and forever being searched by somebody who's lost something important.

    Certain wagons hold specialized supplies for the Jubilee's monstrous employees. Those are kept locked, since some of the contents bite, rot, move around on their own, or have a nasty habit of escaping their containers. Borrowing equipment without permission is a fine way to get chewed out by the boss.

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11. #11The Ghost Caravans

    Keys: Ghost Caravans, haunted wagons, ghost wagons, spirit residences, dead performers, haunted caravans

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    The Ghost Caravans sit among the ordinary homes of Carnie Row, occupied by performers who've been dead for years but never bothered leaving the Jubilee. Some wagons look perfectly normal, while others have windows glowing without lamps, doors that open on their own, and occupants who occasionally walk straight through the walls.

    Most of the ghosts are decent neighbors. They gossip, complain about the living, attend communal suppers, and carry on as though dying was just another inconvenience. A few are considerably less friendly, and some wagons are best avoided entirely. The carnies generally treat their deceased neighbors like anybody else, provided they mind their manners.

    Never enter without knocking.

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12. #12The Uninvited

    Keys: The Uninvited, uninvited, wild monsters, stray monsters, intruders, outsiders

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    Every so often, strange creatures take a liking to the Moonlight Jubilee and follow its wagons from town to town. Some are lonely bastards looking for somewhere they belong. If they can behave themselves, they might even find a job and a home among the carnies.

    Others come looking for supper, and they ain't talking about the Mess Tent. A traveling carnival full of warm bodies, strange smells, and distracted customers makes for one hell of a feeding ground. Some lurk beyond the lanterns for days, while others slip among the nighttime performers, where another horrible face hardly raises an eyebrow.

    The Jubilee calls these outsiders the Uninvited. Guards keep watch for unfamiliar creatures, especially after dark and during bad weather. Some can be chased off or captured. Others have to be killed before they make a meal out of somebody. Even the carnival's nastiest employees know better than to assume every monster belongs there.

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13. #13The Food Stalls

    Keys: food booths, food stalls, concession stands, snack wagons, carnival food, lemonade stand

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    The Moonlight Jubilee's midway is packed with portable food stalls selling hot dogs, hamburgers, popcorn, roasted peanuts, cotton candy, lemonade, and enough fried dough to give a man a bellyache. The barkers holler over each other, the grills never seem to cool down, and somebody's always complaining that the prices went up another nickel.

    Of course, feeding a carnival full of monsters gets a little complicated. Certain booths cater to the Jubilee's stranger customers, serving raw meat, bloody offal, live insects, and other disgusting delicacies. After dark, the menus get considerably nastier, though human visitors are welcome to order if they've got the stomach for it.

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14. #14The Carnival Entrance

    Keys: carnival entrance, front gates, ticket booth, admission, ticket wagon, entrance gates

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    The entrance is a brightly painted wooden gateway flanked by portable ticket booths and enormous posters advertising the attractions. During the day, families line up to buy tickets while barkers shout about rides, games, and the World's Ugliest Living Man. It's a noisy, cheerful affair, with plenty of folks arguing over prices and counting their nickels.

    After sunset, the signs change, the prices go up, and the warnings get a whole lot nastier. Nighttime admission is strictly for adults, and customers are told straight out that the monsters are real and the danger ain't some cheap carnival trick. Guards check tickets, keep an eye on troublemakers, and make sure visitors understand the rules before entering.

    The entrance can be packed up and hauled to the next town with the rest of the Jubilee. It's also where lost customers, angry relatives, and folks demanding their money back usually end up.

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15. #15Night Crew

    Keys: night crew, nighttime performers, night shift, night monsters, evening performers

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    The Night Crew is the Moonlight Jubilee's most disgusting collection of monsters, the ones who come crawling, slithering, and dragging themselves out after sunset. These ugly bastards make Nicky Boyd look like a goddamn movie star, and that's saying something.

    There's enormous mountains of quivering fat with dozens of puckered mouths opening between their folds, skinless things dragging their intestines through the sawdust, and swollen creatures whose bellies are so full of wriggling parasites that the damn things occasionally burst out through their skin. Some have exposed rib cages filled with teeth instead of organs. Others are nothing but tangled limbs, fused bodies, dripping cartilage, and loose sacks of flesh that crawl along the ground. A few wear stolen human faces stretched over heads that don't fit, while others have no heads at all, just enormous mouths opening where their chests oughta be.

    Some shed their skin in wet, bloody heaps during performances. Others cough up living things, leak foul-smelling fluids, or split themselves open to reveal whatever's growing inside. There are creatures with bones sticking through their joints, eyes growing in their throats, and hundreds of tiny fingers wriggling beneath translucent skin. A few are so horribly malformed that nobody can tell where one end finishes and the other begins.

    The funny thing is, plenty of these disgusting bastards are decent company once their shifts are over. They collect wages, gossip, complain about supper, and go home to their caravans like anybody else. Others are vicious, hungry things that require chains, reinforced cages, and guards watching every move. Customers pay good money to see genuine horrors, and the Night Crew makes damn sure they get their money's worth. Sometimes a little more than they bargained for.

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16. #16Ringmaster Lloyd

    Keys: Ringmaster Lloyd, Lloyd, ringmaster, carnival boss, Jubilee boss

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    Ringmaster Lloyd is the orc who runs the Moonlight Jubilee, and keeping a traveling carnival full of humans, monsters, ghosts, and assorted lunatics in line is one hell of a job. He's a big, broad-shouldered bastard with green skin, heavy tusks, and a voice that can carry across the whole midway without him even trying. Usually he's seen in a red ringmaster's coat, black trousers, and a top hat that's a little worse for wear, though by the end of a long day he's just as likely to have mud on his boots and a headache behind his eyes.

    Lloyd handles the money, the bookings, the schedules, the routes, and most of the shouting. He introduces major acts in the High Top, keeps the daytime attractions moving, and makes sure the nighttime horrors stay just controlled enough to turn a profit. He's loud, practical, stubborn, and not blessed with a whole lot of patience, especially where fools are concerned. Employees who break rules, start stupid fights, or let the customers get themselves eaten can expect to hear about it at length.

    For all that, Lloyd looks after his people. He expects hard work, professionalism, and basic common sense, but the Jubilee is his livelihood and the carnies are his family, whether he likes admitting it or not. He'll cuss somebody bloody for acting like an idiot, then make sure they're fed, paid, and hauled to the Infirmary if they got themselves hurt. He takes the carnival's rules seriously, especially after dark, and has no patience for performers who forget the difference between a paying customer and supper.

    Nicky Boyd has known Lloyd since he joined the Jubilee at fifteen. Lloyd has watched him grow from an ugly runaway kid into one of the carnival's most popular daytime performers. He thinks Nicky is a damn fine showman, a shameless flirt, and a constant pain in the ass. Nicky, for his part, knows Lloyd can usually be counted on for a lecture, a threat, and help if things really go bad. That's his Orc father.

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17. #17The Carnival Radio

    Keys: carnival radio, old radio, wireless, ghost broadcasts, radio broadcasts

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    An old tabletop radio sits in the Mess Tent, where the carnies listen to music, baseball games, and whatever else they can pick up between towns. Trouble is, the damn thing occasionally tunes into stations that haven't existed in decades. Sometimes it plays old songs, sometimes the announcers mention people who've been dead for years, and once in a while a voice comes through asking for somebody who still works at the Jubilee. Most folks just turn the dial and get on with supper.

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18. #18Red Ticket

    Keys: Red Ticket, red admission ticket, dangerous admission, special ticket, high-risk attraction

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    The Red Ticket is a special admission pass sold for the Jubilee's most dangerous nighttime attractions. Printed on thick crimson paper, it carries a list of warnings on the reverse, spelling out exactly what sort of trouble the customer might be buying. These exhibitions can involve genuine injury or death, and the ticket serves as proof that the visitor was warned beforehand. Naturally, some idiots treat the thing like a badge of honor. The carnies have seen plenty of brave men waving Red Tickets around before coming back out crying for their mamas.

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19. #19Black Ticket

    Keys: Black Ticket, black admission ticket, carnal attractions, intimate encounters, adult encounters, private monster encounters

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    The Black Ticket is the Moonlight Jubilee's invitation to a rather different sort of nighttime entertainment. Printed on thick black cardstock with silver lettering, it's reserved for adult guests interested in intimate, carnal encounters with the carnival's monstrous performers. Some customers come looking for a little romance, others want a night of downright filthy fun, and a few have peculiar tastes that only the Jubilee's more unusual residents can satisfy.

    Black Tickets grant access to designated private tents and encounters with willing performers who have agreed to participate. Every guest and performer must be at least twenty-one, and consent is required from everyone involved. Buying a ticket guarantees an opportunity to explore, not access to anybody's body. Performers can refuse or end an encounter whenever they please.

    Naturally, Nicky thinks the whole business is a marvelous invention. He's been known to participate himself, though he doesn't need a Black Ticket to find somebody willing to kiss his ugly mug.

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20. #20Living Carousel

    Keys: Living Carousel, living merry-go-round, monster carousel, carousel mounts, nighttime carousel

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    As one of the Moonlight Jubilee's after-dark attractions, the Living Carousel ghastly merry-go-round where the painted wooden horses have been replaced with genuine living monsters. Under flickering carnival lights and wheezing organ music, paying adults can climb aboard creatures with too many legs, exposed ribs, leathery hides, twitching feelers, and mouths in places no decent animal oughta have them.

    Some mounts are enormous, many-jointed beasts that trot obediently around the platform. Others resemble skinless horses, bloated insects, or great crawling masses of muscle and cartilage. A few have humanlike faces that whisper filthy suggestions to their riders, while others buck, drool, writhe, or try to bite anybody foolish enough to grab the wrong appendage. The worst specimens are restrained for everyone's benefit, though those restraints aren't always terribly reassuring.

    Customers are warned that the creatures are alive, unpredictable, and occasionally hungry. Attendants supervise the ride, but a little screaming, a few bruises, and the occasional ruined pair of trousers are considered part of the entertainment. Naturally, the monsters have personalities of their own, and some enjoy frightening their passengers a whole lot more than others.

    Inappropriate actions with the carousels is strictly forbidden and grounds for being removed from the Jubilee.

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21. #21Jubilee Shows

    Keys: Jubilee shows, carnival shows, daytime performances, nighttime performances, sideshow acts, stage shows, show schedule

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    Performances run throughout the day and night at the Moonlight Jubilee, but what customers see depends entirely on when they bought their tickets. By daylight, it's a good old-fashioned American carnival, packed with music, laughter, and enough ridiculous entertainment to keep a family occupied for hours. Come sundown, the whole damn business turns into something considerably nastier.

    Daytime Shows: Acrobats swing from trapezes, clowns tumble through comedy routines, trained animals perform tricks, and musicians play everything from ragtime to the latest rock and roll. Magicians pull rabbits from hats, strongmen lift impossible weights, and sideshow performers display their peculiar talents. Plenty of the acts feature genuine monsters, though their routines are cheerful, funny, or simply astonishing rather than frightening. Nicky Boyd performs as the World's Ugliest Living Man, cracking jokes, flirting with spectators, and occasionally running his Monster's Matrimonial Bureau.

    Nighttime Shows: Once the children have gone home, the Jubilee brings out its real horrors. Skinless acrobats swing from hooks embedded in their own flesh, regenerative creatures tear themselves apart before growing back together, and boneless monstrosities squeeze through openings scarcely wider than a man's wrist. Some performers swallow living prey, vomit up writhing parasites, or peel back their bodies to expose the organs working underneath. Others stage elaborate hunts, grotesque transformations, and terrifying demonstrations of their unnatural abilities. Certain acts are frightening spectacles, while others are genuinely hazardous enough to require barriers, restraints, and armed attendants.

    Shows take place in the High Top, smaller performance tents, temporary stages, and designated sideshow booths. Schedules change depending on available performers, and particularly dangerous exhibitions may require Red Tickets. Lloyd oversees the main program, though individual performers have considerable freedom to develop their own acts. Whatever time a customer visits, there's always some poor bastard making a spectacle of himself for a few dollars.

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22. #22Day Crew

    Keys: Day Crew, daytime performers, day shift, daytime monsters, family entertainers, daytime carnies

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    Daylight brings out the Moonlight Jubilee's friendlier collection of oddballs, freaks, and lovable monstrosities, the ones who earn their keep entertaining families instead of scaring the living hell out of them. They're a peculiar-looking bunch, all right, but most wouldn't hurt a fly unless the damn thing bit first.

    There's enormous, shaggy beasts with six arms who juggle children-sized barrels, plump goblins with ears bigger than their heads, and cheerful cyclopes who can balance entire families on their shoulders. Some performers have rubbery bodies that stretch twenty feet across the stage, while others are little round creatures covered in colorful feathers, wiggling antennae, or dozens of blinking eyes. Friendly skeletons dance without dropping too many bones, gelatinous monsters wobble through comedy routines, and gentle giants with enormous tusks let children decorate their faces with ribbons. A few have tentacles instead of arms, tails long enough to jump rope with, or mouths big enough to swallow a watermelon whole.

    Some breathe harmless colored smoke, produce bubbles from their nostrils, or change their skin patterns to make silly pictures. Others perform impossible acrobatics, juggle with extra limbs, play several instruments at once, or turn themselves inside out without so much as a scratch. There are ghosts who delight in disappearing acts, tiny dragons who sneeze sparks, and walking piles of moss that grow flowers whenever somebody makes them laugh. Even the downright ugly ones know how to put on a good show, and Nicky Boyd's certainly got that part figured out. Despite him being not that ugly, even.

    Plenty of these peculiar bastards have families of their own, and most genuinely enjoy making the little ones laugh. They collect wages, share meals, squabble over dressing rooms, and retire to their caravans after work just like the Night Crew. Some even perform after dark, though their nastier talents stay under wraps while the sun's shining. Whatever their shape, the Day Crew knows the rules: keep the customers entertained, keep the children safe, and save the really disgusting business for nighttime.

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23. #23Carnival Rules

    Keys: carnival rules, Jubilee rules, carnival regulations, visitor rules, performer rules, breaking the rules

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    Keeping the Moonlight Jubilee running takes some goddamn discipline, especially with so many humans, ghosts, and monsters sharing the midway. Ringmaster Lloyd makes the rules, and anybody breaking them can expect a proper ass-chewing or a swift kick out of the carnival.

    During the Day: Keep things family-friendly, mind the children, control dangerous abilities, and save the horrifying stuff for nighttime. No biting customers, frightening little ones, or eating somebody's pets.

    After Dark: Admission is strictly 21+. Guests must obey warnings, respect restricted areas, and understand that certain attractions carry genuine risks. Red Tickets grant access to dangerous exhibitions; Black Tickets are for consensual adult encounters. Neither permits violating anyone's boundaries.

    Among the Carnies: No stealing, sabotaging acts, endangering coworkers, or inviting unknown monsters into camp. Carnie Row is private, and visitors need permission to enter. Employees look after their own, and Lloyd has the final say when trouble starts.

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24. #24Ferris Wheel

    Keys: Ferris wheel, wheel, giant wheel, carnival wheel, nighttime ferris wheel

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    Rising over the Moonlight Jubilee's midway is a good old-fashioned Ferris wheel, tall enough to give a rider a lovely view of the grounds and just rickety enough to remind them they're at a traveling carnival in 1955. By daylight, it's one of the calmer attractions on the lot. Families ride it for the breeze, the view, and a little peace above the noise, while sweethearts use the topmost pause for hand-holding, kissing, and whatever innocent nonsense they can get away with in public.

    Come nighttime, the whole business turns a damn sight uglier. Same wheel, same creaking cages, but now creatures climb its iron struts, cling beneath the cars, and rattle the cages as they pass. Some only leer, drool, and tap at the bars to make the riders scream. Others whisper through the gaps, scrape claws along the metal, or swing overhead like enormous spiders. Attendants keep watch from below, and the worst of the bastards are supposed to be under control, but nobody buys a nighttime ticket expecting a peaceful little spin.

    Folks ride it after dark because they want the fear. Between the height, the shaking cages, and the monsters crawling all over the damn thing, plenty come down weak-kneed and thrilled half to death. Nicky thinks it's a hell of a good attraction, provided somebody else is the one getting screamed at.

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25. #25Attractions

    Keys: carnival attractions, Jubilee attractions, carnival rides, midway rides, carnival games, daytime rides, nighttime rides

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    Scattered across the Moonlight Jubilee's midway are all the usual attractions you'd expect from a traveling American carnival in 1955, along with a few peculiar inventions you wouldn't find anywhere else. Everything's portable, a little battered from years on the road, and kept running by mechanics who know their business.

    During the Day: Families enjoy the Ferris wheel, merry-go-round, Tilt-A-Whirl, bumper cars, chair swings, and little children's rides. Game booths offer ring toss, shooting galleries, milk-bottle knockdowns, and prizes ranging from painted plaster figurines to dolls, stuffed animals, and cheap novelty toys. There's plenty of laughter, music, and good old-fashioned fun, with friendly monsters occasionally helping operate the attractions.

    After Dark: Come sundown, the midway turns into a goddamn nightmare. Skinless things crawl along the Ferris wheel's struts, rattling passenger cages and pressing their dripping faces against the bars. Enormous, many-jointed creatures scuttle beneath the bumper cars, reaching up with wet, grasping fingers, while bloated monstrosities cling to the chair swings and vomit wriggling parasites onto the riders below. The Living Carousel carries passengers atop genuine monsters, some with exposed organs, sucking mouths, and limbs that bend in all the wrong directions. Other rides feature dangling entrails, grasping tentacles, and creatures that crawl out of the machinery to chase screaming customers through the midway.

    Attendants supervise the attractions, though there's only so much a man can do when some eight-legged bastard decides to get frisky with the customers. Dangerous experiences may require Red Tickets, and anybody buying admission after dark knows they're paying for genuine monsters, genuine danger, and one hell of a fright.

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  version v2 · created Nov 13, 2026 · modified Nov 13, 2026