"Yes, yes," he says, laughing, then turns around and "—is that a village to the west there?"

She peeks around him and blinks at the sight.

"... Strange place for a village, if it is. Well, now I'm curious, clearly that's the first place we're going."

They approach, and the "village" turns out to be made of the remains of a boat and...

...circus tents?

"How... peculiar."

"No kidding," she agrees, staring. "Well. Let's go ask about our anti-explosion device, then. And... maybe check to make sure they are aware that waypoints exist."

Onwards! There are a few people, and... some of them are rather peculiarly dressed. Like circus members, actually. A couple are practising walking on tightrope, and there's someone doing a handstand and trying to hop to only one hand.

Vetareh stares. A... circus. A circus, on the Fire Islands. First the pirate rat things, and now this. Tyria has definitely gotten very weird in her absence.

Well. Is there a person in charge of the circus? A ringmaster, maybe?

After walking for a bit James walks up to someone dressed funnily and asks that, and the person points in a direction. He thanks them and walks in that direction, and eventually they can see a... rather peculiarly dressed human woman who must be their target.

"Ah, excuse me?" calls Vetareh. "We were hoping you could help us find an ancient dwarven device, we were told one was around this area."

The woman turns to look at her from where she was filling out what looks like a puzzle and blinks. "A dwarven...? Wait, I don't know you two—customers! Real customers! Oh, I'm not prepared—" She clears her throat. "Welcome to Ember Bay's one-and-only circus, where you'll witness the grandest marvels Tyria has to offer! Want to buy a ticket?"

Vetareh stares at the woman, blankly. It appears that she did not impress the full emergency of the situation. Time to correct that.

"This is Commander James Orland, of the Pact and Dragon's Watch. My name is Vetareh, I am an expert in ancient magical phenomenon. We are working to find and activate several ancient dwarven devices to prevent the islands from exploding. We would very much appreciate if you could point us to one if you've seen something, but if you can't, then we really have to be on our way."

    The ringmaster laughs nervously. "Welllll, I suppose I can waive your ticket today. I might know where such a device would be." She casts a portal spell behind herself. "Come on in, and find the wonders of Ember Bay's greatest mysteries!"

(James just looks at Vetareh in delight.)

"Thank you kindly," says Vetareh, a little bit dryly.

James does not have on his helmet this time! So she notices his delight. She flashes him a quick smile before it's back to business. To the portal!

... Is it obvious how to use this thing, she hopes it's obvious, it would be terribly embarrassing to tell someone that she is an expert in ancient magical phenomenon, and then completely fail to have any idea how to go through a portal.

Nah it's pretty easy in a very internally intuitive way.

Oh good! Then she doesn't immediately discredit herself!

Through the portal, then. And hopefully to the device?

Yep. It's at the top of a rock outcropping closer to a volcano, north of the circus. James promptly activates the device.

"Two gone, two more to go."

She smiles brightly at James and the activated device. Another step closer to not exploding! Hooray!

"I believe it was the caldera next, then?"

"Yeah! We will probably have some climbing to do to reach it. I sure hope Taimi's crew will have had the good sense of installing a waypoint there."

"Eugh, no kidding. Well, no reason to put it off, it's not like the volcano's getting shorter. Aren't I glad I'm in practical shoes."

He laughs. "The circus did seem to have a waypoint so presumably they are stuck here of their own volition. Or maybe the asura were the ones who brought the waypoints here and they're new. Anyway, we can use it to go to the waypoint near the skritt encampment and start our trek north."

She nods; this seems like a good way to get to where they're going.

"The asura bringing the waypoints makes the most sense, and the wrecked ship implies they got here by accident. Otherwise, why would they stay? This is an objectively horrible place for a circus to be. No customers. But all of the equipment probably takes some time to move, and it's not like they'd have a new place to go lined up immediately just because there's now a waypoint." She pauses and considers this statement and its implications. It sounds like it'd be kind of fun to go to the bizarre inexplicable circus, now that she thinks about it. She turns a little sly smile on James as they head back to the circus waypoint.

"... So clearly if we want to go to the singular circus on the Fire Islands, it'll have to be soon after we're done preventing the islands from exploding. We can even buy tickets."

He grins widely at her. "That sounds like a delightful idea."

Her sly smile turns into delighted beaming. "Great! But only if another emergency doesn't pop up, because, you know." She waves a hand. "Fate of the world, responsibility, blah blah."

"It does tend to interrupt us at the most inconvenient times, does it not? But well, I think we should be going, we have a volcano to climb."

She nods. "That we do. Lead on, dear."

He does! Back to the waypoint ("Come back whenever!" calls the ringmaster) and then: they have a trek north to get to the volcano.