Lost Carnival Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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lostcarnival2017-03-09 03:14 pm
ringleaders) wrote in lostcarnival2017-03-09 03:14 pm
Entry tags:
⇨ HELL
Who: Vampire prisoners and rescue squad.
When: Evening Day 67 - Day 68
Where: Vampire Hell
What: The rescuers go to hell. Top levels are in approximate chronological order.
Warnings: Violence, torture, tryhard demons who aren't very creative.
When: Evening Day 67 - Day 68
Where: Vampire Hell
What: The rescuers go to hell. Top levels are in approximate chronological order.
Warnings: Violence, torture, tryhard demons who aren't very creative.
RESCUE MISSION: HELL↴ The air smolders as you travel through the star-shaped portal the Ringmaster has opened - the gateway to the hell dimension that has taken so many if you. Ahead, you can see the grand entrance to Morningstar's fortress, a single point of civilization in the center of a barren, lava drenched hellscape. Of course, you won't be entering from the front. That would be stupid. The Ringmaster's plan is simply in explanation but far more difficult in execution. Her instructions are that she will attack the fortress directly, and that the rescue team is to enter inconspicuously and rescue who they can while she engages Morningstar. She has provided you with silver weapons - daggers, swords, and some projectiles - which you may or may not choose to use. Shedding a trail of orange and green embers, the Ringmaster will sprout her dark, feathery wings and take to the air, leaving the rescuers to contemplate their instructions now that they've arrived. The fortress is large, and as such there are many potential side entrances to find. It will take some doing, but the group will be able to accomplish it. Meanwhile, many of the vampires within will be distracted by the Ringmaster's now very audible arrival, and don't seem to be expecting a secondary attack. The initiative is yours, and the captives are there to be found... but will you succeed? ► GATEKEEPING: For those who don't trust their mettle enough to travel all the way to hell, there is an important job to be done back at the carnival. The Ringmaster's obsidian daggers have opened a portal there, but while the rescuers enter that portal must be protected - both to keep it from collapsing and stranding everyone there, and to prevent anything demonic from escaping onto the carnival grounds and causing havoc. If you need to take it easy but still want to help, this is a good place to be. It's also a good place for nervous hand-wringing about whether any of your friends will make it back alive. ► PLAYPEN: The cavernous pits where the neonate vampires are dumped, in order to engage in a survival of the fittest style battle royale where only the strongest and most cunning will emerge. Those that were turned during the masquerade were dropped down here a couple days ago, and so someone needs to go collect them. Try not to get eaten by the hordes of other starving neonate vampires down there while you're at it. Maybe you could even try to save some of them, if any seem worth redemption. ► CAPTIVES: While the supervisors were initially all caged together in large cell surrounded with a moat of lava, it seems that most of them have now been moved elsewhere. Where they have ended up is a puzzle you'll have to solve quickly - there are plenty of vampire sentries about to try to get in your way, and some of the prisoners may already be significantly worse for wear. If anyone has any powers that help them find people, this would be the time to use them. ► MINIBOSSES: Unfortunately, the enemies here aren't only capable of damaging the body, but the mind, too. In these particular cases, that corruption of the mind has been used pointedly to Morningstar's advantage - two of the carnival's most dangerous members have now been turned against it. If you want to get out of here alive, you'll have to go through them. If you're really lucky, you'll get them out alive, too. ► BOSS FIGHT: Before the rescuers and the rescued can escape, Lord Morningstar will arrive to corner them, with an entourage of elders. Let's hope that she gloats long enough for something to turn the tables. |
no subject
It's entirely possible he came down here with somebody to begin with but, mazes being mazes and Strange being Strange (aka being the world's most foolhardy, arrogant, let's charge ahead and do things type of asshole), they've gotten separated. And while Strange doesn't have any sort of spells that would be good for blending in the shadows or making them not noticed, he can keep quiet and he can make do with what he has. He's keeping a cover of fog going, working the spell so that it shrouds him from sight, trails a bit further ahead so that he can hear if anybody's surprised by the fog, and vanishes behind him.
There have been a few close calls: a couple of neonates decided to actually venture into the creepy fog and investigate, at which point Strange realized that he's not as subtle as he thought he was being. But keeping quiet, keeping still, and flooding the area with as much fog as he could in as many directions as he could disoriented them enough so that Strange could slip past.
So hey Koel! Guess what! There's a trail of fog slowly floating into the area in a way that is entirely too unnatural. Fog doesn't really creep like that.
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The head of said beehive - an iron mask, of course - slowly began to move, its glassy eyes staring at the fog. The fact there's fog at all in Stereotypical Fiery Hell is a Flag. The vampires' doing? Or...
Who...what...?
Her words are barely audible. The only sign there's life at this point, with everything pinned on her, is the mask itself. Whatever's in it is still alive, if not kicking.
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"Ms. Babic, I presume? I am Jonathan Strange, magician and nightrunner. I'll have you down in a moment's notice." And if this isn't Koel...well, whatever poor soul trapped up there is obviously suffering. The least he could do is find a way to get her down.
It's still a bit harder than expected, as they're working inside, but Hell is so much easier to work with than the Celebration. Even inside the fortress he could feel the lava and earth, he could easily coax them to help out. Bending down, he set the basin and the dagger down on the ground. Placing one hand on the ground, Strange started to mutter something. It takes a moment or so, but a small pillar of earth slowly starts to crack through the floor. It rises up in the air, with a slow grinding sound, towards Koel. The pillar stops when it touches her, supporting some of Koel's weight.
He places his other hand on the ground, still muttering all the while. This time, a thin tendril of lava, two or so inches in width, snakes out of the ground near the pillar. It also trails up towards Koel, though it keeps going past her. The tendril of lava touches each of the chains binding her to the ceiling, trying to melt though as many of them as fast as possible, going from one to another.
It's obvious this is taking a bit of effort. Strange has stopped talking, turning everything to the task at hand, both hands still on the ground as he continues muttering, only casting an occasional glimpse at the ceiling to see how fast the chains are melting.
no subject
Oh. The pillar took a good part of the weight from her bottom, and there was a definite difference in her pain level. There was an alleviation of it, in fact. There might have been a sigh of relief from the prisoner's mouth as this happened. Even if the pain was still absolutely unbearable, at least she wasn't bearing all of the weight of the chains on herself anymore.
She was able to watch the lava as it snaked up, though bringing her head up was much more difficult and really close to impossible. So, she waited. Hopefully, it was safe for him to do this without any guards interfering.
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"Undoubtedly, one of the guards will be in here to check on you soon," he says, as he attempts to just pry the iron mask off Koel's face with his fingers. Yeah, that isn't working. Aside from the fact that he's got no upper arm strength, the iron feels weird to the touch, in a way that Strange doesn't want to touch it for far too long. It's obvious from the look on Strange's face that he has no clue what to do...until he looks back at the bigass hole the pillar and the lava has made. Worth a shot, at least.
"I shall attempt to melt the hinges off one of the corners of your mask." There's a pause, while Strange gestures at the hole: a tendril of lava snakes it's way towards the two of them. Lambert can heal burns, right? Maybe? He should at least have a salve or something if everything does horribly bad. "After that, we'll leave this room and attempt to get back to the entrance we came in from without attracting the attention of any of the vampires and while I attempt to remove rest of your bonds somehow."
This is...well, it's an awful plan, but look, it's the only plan he's got right now. And as for how to remove the rest of the bonds...well he has some of the pouch of water he brought along left, maybe he could attempt to rust them? How quickly did iron rust anyway? There's a sharp looking rock over there in the hole of the pillar, maybe he could bash the hinges off? He didn't really want to leave a trail of lava behind as they walked, perhaps there was some way he could take the lava with him? Could air be any use in this situation?
At least he's trying to seem like he knows what he's doing while he inwardly has no fucking clue.
no subject
"Dammit Strange, I told you--" Is what he'll start with, before he stops, frowning at the sight that meets him. That voice at least, Koel might recognize, last hearing it pissed as fuck in the celebration. There's more iron in his hand -- the silver sword he's holding has it at its core -- but whether Koel or Strange can sense it at this point is probably debatable.
He'll drop the matter of yelling quickly, though, to move over to Strange's side and examine what he's working on. Looks complicated, time-consuming, and dangerous.
"Don't they have any keys for this shit?"
no subject
Koel's lips are moving, but heck if anyone can hear what she is saying, with the degradation caused by the iron. She does manage to shake her head, albeit weakly, to the question. There were certainly locks, but they were multiple, owing to just how much was wrapped around her.
Speaking of wrapping things. She closes her eyes as she waits for the lava to...maybe melt something. Hopefully, it won't melt the iron to her face.
no subject
"This is Koel Babic--she's the head cook of the carnival. The damn thing on her face is stuck, so I'm going to try and weaken the hinges of her mask." Weaken it with lava, but details, details. "See if you can pry it off once I've reached a certain point."
And without waiting for Lambert to say anything, Strange gestured at the tendril of lava, which snuck it's way towards the mask. It briefly touched one of the locks around Koel's neck, which melted and fell to the ground with a thud before Strange, not really taking his eyes off Koel, magically thins out the tendril of lava which trails up to start to weaken the iron. Koel can definitely feel the heat, but Strange is trying to melt what's furthest away from her face first. Look, he's considerate!
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"You can't summon the cold here, can you?" he mutters, keeping a sharp ear out for any noise coming down the corridor. "Iron's more brittle then. It'd be easier to break it then."
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The others...Joker, Peridot. Sans. Psiionic. They were here, before.
Goodness knows what's going on right now with anyone or anything, now. The pain makes it difficult to focus.
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"I can certainly summon the cold, it would just take more effort, take longer than expected and I'd be vulnerable to whatever vampire tried to come our way." Still, Lambert was here. If he could guard the door and Koel didn't mind everything getting way cold for a minute or two, it's worth a shot.
"Here! It's opening up, give me a hand." Strange has no upper arm strength. He's trying to pry the mask open as best he could but it's obvious somebody with actual muscle would help get the job done faster.
no subject
"Keep an eye out," he'll tell Strange, pushing his hands away and applying himself to the matter at hand with a will. With a witcher's strength and none of the aversion to iron being far in the transformation holds, the metal bends and creaks apart, and Lambert tosses it away from them.
"Healing potion now, or wait until she's out?" he asks, glancing over. Koel seems horrifyingly weak. Further rescue attempts could potentially harm her more, so it's a question of whether they want to heal her up and risk and doing some of that, or trusting simply that she'll be able to hold up to whatever they try.
cw: blood, spikes, monster injuries, etc.
Koel lets out a pained gasp as the mask is wrenched loose from her face, and the spikes that had been stabbing in her from within the walls of the mask were freed. This, of course, allowed the blood that had been stopped by the spikes' penetration to come through, and it all began to drip and pour from multiple gashes on her face, a few quite near her eyes, as well. A few in her forehead, a few more in her neck. Her face was soon covered in blood, as were the chains closest to her neck.
They'd practically turned her chains and her mask into an iron maiden.
She let out shaking breaths and hisses as she felt air - hot air, but still air - circulate onto her still-avian face. It felt good. It would feel better when she tore the vampires who did this to her and her fellows apart.
(Its fantasy, and in the back of her mind she knows this. Keeping the idea alive, though, is part of what is keeping her conscious at this point.)
no subject
"Give her the potion now," Strange says, without a moment's notice, as he turns his attention back to the door. "When I summon the cold, we don't want Ms. Babic to pass out from shock or something like that." Can one pass out from shock at a temperature drop? Hell if Strange knows. But honestly, Koel looks so terrible that just about anything could be possible in his mind.
Also, that hypothetical summoning of cold has been interpreted by Strange as something that definitely will happen. He hates to admit it, but it's a much better plan than anything he's come up with so far.
let me know if this works or if you need more!
There's a risk with using Swallow-- there always is. He has no idea how it will interact with her physically, but she's more magical creature than whatever she was before now that she should survive the power of the components in her system. He really should have located one of Zecora's instead, but that was an even dicier proposition, since he hardly knew what was in them. This, at least, he knew worked.
"I'm going to give you a potion called Swallow," he says out loud instead, unhooking a bottle filled with orange fluid from his belt. "It'll take care of the worst of it, but it might hurt, and it's not fast." He tips the bottle to her lips -- what remains of them -- and begins to administer the dose. It's healing based on alchemy, not on fae magic, and it works from the inside out, sharp stabs or warmth as it tries to knit torn internal injuries and stave off bleeding. As Lambert said, it works slow, and it won't remake flesh (Lambert's scars are proof enough of that) but perhaps most importantly, it restores vitality and clear-headedness, perhaps giving the opportunity for any of Koel's own natural abilities to kick in and stabilize her condition despite the iron weakening her.
no subject
No pain, no gain. Or recovery, for that matter, it seems.
Even with the first swallow, it's all she could do to not sputter it. Oh yeah. She can feel the potion working on her throat, just from the first gulp. She would need to take it slowly, lest she accidentally start spitting it out on the poor man. She would definitely have to repay him for this, in some way.
After a few more sips, she manages to speak again. Its actually slightly audible, at least. Still terrible, still wounded, but there was no question as to whether Lambert or Strange was just deaf and not hearing her, at least.
Thank you.
no subject
And he's acted just in time. There's the sound of footsteps and a noise of surprise from the neonate in the hallway who just discovered his dead bud. With another gesture, Strange's magic turns the earth he's summoned into large points, sharp enough to impale someone. Another gesture shoves the pointy earth creation forwards, towards the vampire. It's not visible from the interior of the room but the disgusting squish sound makes it pretty obvious what happened to the vampire.
Later on, Strange will be pretty friggen worried about the ease with which he killed the vampire. Right now, he's just focused on holding the door and making certain nobody gets in. And wait, what was that whispering noise in the first place?
"Is the potion working?"
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"It's working. Give it a minute or two," he says, simply. "I've got the door, so do what you need to do."
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She probably didn't need to point out that some of those who they would face might be very strong. Really, the whole "trapped in chains made to be like an iron maiden" probably signaled that these beasts weren't exactly friendly or incapable of cruelty.
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He gives the woman what he hopes is a reassuring smile before he closes his eyes, mutters something under his breath, and touches one of the iron chains. Strange had been in the carnival long enough for the touch of iron to be slightly painful but he just powers through it as the cold spreads out from his finger to Koel's shackles. The shackles feel cold against Koel's skin but not worryingly cold. Some of the shackles and chains start to crack and buckle as the cold makes its way up the chains, towards the shackles on Koel's arms, body, and neck. Of course, some of the stronger chains and shackles are staying in one piece but they're definitely weakened and made brittle by the cold.
For all of Strange's 'oh, this'll take longer than expected' blah blah blah, it actually doesn't take that long at all. The entire process takes about a minute or so. It's just that when you're used to magic happening almost instantly, things taking a minute seems like forever. Once he's finished, he moves his hand away from the iron, swearing slightly under his breath (because wow, that stung more than he was expecting). Still, he's looking on the frozen and broken chains with a look of tired triumph.
"There! I think that should be good enough."
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"We should get moving." He prowls back to Koel's side, looking over the chains that are still attached. Unfortunately, a steel sword isn't much use for undoing the shackles and chains closer to the woman's limbs, but he can at least strike at the thickest of the chains. The shackles will have to remain, but Koel's limbs should be free, and he holds out a hand to her.
"Do you think you can stand?" He looks at Koel over Strange's head, frowning. If she can't walk, one of them will have to support her, and it probably won't be the one who has any hesitation about cutting vampires in half.