"I don't know if you heard, but: circus came to town. And someone—a cloaked figure—either intentionally to hurt the circus or as some kind of a lark did something to the animals that made them insane. Insane animals, that doesn't sound too terrible, right? Well, they didn't just have lions, and tigers, and bears at this circus... They had a small tarrasque.

"The lions and tiger and bear we took care of easily enough. I levitated one of the lions out of the way. Two we struck down, the bear I put to sleep, and the tiger Tai-Lee managed to stabilize after shooting it. So we preserved three of the circus animals. Let that be a lesson: control is worth more than damage. If you can neutralize an enemy and keep it alive, you can gain a lot of information or favor or create bargaining chips. No one bargains for corpses.

"But, anyway, the tarrasque... I don't know. The moment I saw it, it just seemed so miserably sad and wrong to put a creature like that in a circus. The other animals, I guess that's not much better, but you all understand the respect you can feel for a worthy adversary of a monster, right? Some of you, at least?"

There are some nods.

"So, that tarrasque, it only seemed right to put it down. And that's what we did. I slung magic missiles at it while Lux kept it occupied and distracted. Tai-Lee fired off shots from the bleachers, able to smack weak points thanks to being unseen. It was a good combination tactic, and I hope to all hell that I never have to see a beast like that in captivity again."

With that, Iuri steps down from the fireside and returns to the bar.