lostcarnival | ⇨ THE MASQUERADE

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⇨ THE MASQUERADE

Who: Everyone! Attendance is mandatory.
When: Late Day 65
Where: The Celebration
What: The Masquerade arrives, and so does the carnival's enemies. For more info, check out the Draculas 101.
Warnings: Further party hell. Also, vampire violence, mind control, etc.

THE HOST & THE HORDE↴

The time of the Masquerade arrives. You've been given free reign of the place up till now, but a few hours before the party commences the Host will inform you that your presence will be required, and will assist you (forcibly, if need be) to sort out any last minute costuming concerns you might have if you've left it until now. When masks and outfits are sorted, you'll be left to your own devices until you are summoned on the evening of Day 65.

The Masquerade will start off normally - relative to everything else in this place, at least. Everyone in the Celebration will be called in for this event, centered in a grand hall with side rooms offered to those that need them for whatever reasons might come up. The food and drink is especially ambrosia-esque this evening, and the music will stir your soul, even if you're not usually a music person. Enjoy it if you can - the peace won't last.

► MASKS: Though the masks seemed only mundane before, once within the Masquerade atmosphere, they will magically begin obscuring people's identities beyond what a normal mask should be able to do. When a person is wearing one, it would be supernaturally difficult to figure out who they are - maybe you forget what their voice should sound like, or maybe the other details escape you. Of course, it's possible to figure out if you look for it, based on general shapes and personality traits, but unless you know someone well it could be a challenge. Of course, you can just take your mask off and remove the enchantment entirely - though the Host will hassle you if they notice you going without. Stop ruining the party!

► TEMPTATION: Though it's felt easy to be whisked away by the draw of pleasure and luxury during the rest of the week, that feeling will seem to come to a head at the actual party. If you are aware of what needs to be resisted then it's possible to fight back and ignore it, but more than ever it feels all too easy to just dance your life away. Nobody seems to be dying from it, at least, or 'burning out' any faster as a result - it's mostly just extremely distracting from other concerns. Like vampires, for instance.

VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE↴
It's during the latter half of the party that things will start to go bad. Though it will go unseen by the carnival, the Masquerade has gained an additional set of guests - the vampire's of the demon lord that has been chasing them for the last several months. The Host doesn't discriminate, and anyone is welcome to attend the Celebration, provided they don't start a fight.

Right. About that.

► THE KINDRED: The vampires don't like to play fair, which means that they are going to be attacking with stealth and trickery - taking advantage of the way that the party has dulled the alertness of many of the carnival's workers. They'll be using that lack of inhibition to lure individuals into places they can be attacked or turned in private - their primary goals are to capture the Supervisors and to turn as many of the Ringmaster's workers as possible before escaping back to their dimension. Some of their targets will be gone before anyone has a chance to notice.

Remembering that they will be avoiding big public confrontations, so if anyone starts one of those it will probably by the carnival members striking back. This is going to wear on the Host's patience extremely quickly.

► COLD IRON: Oh, right, and they are definitely bringing iron weapons - as pure as they could get. They'll have things like iron collars or shackles to try to trap people with, as well as iron daggers and guns with iron bullets. They'll have to be on the down low with, but they are going to exploit that weakeness as much as possible. Those that have only been in the carnival a few months will mostly just feel discomfort at the touch of it - as if they are touching something that is slightly too hot or too cold. Veterans that have been around for years will find its touch to be burningly cold - the type of temperature that would threaten to destroy flesh after prolonged contact. Those that have been here for up to three years will take it the worst. See the Transformations page for more details!

► TURNING THE TABLES: Being turned is a mixture of pleasure and pain, and is often hard for mortals to mentally reconcile as it happens to them. Being drained by these vampires is simultaneously impossibly satisfying and extremely terrifying - once they've started in on your, the way it overwhelms your mind and body can make it nearly impossible to stop them without help. Once you are dead or dying, they will feed you their blood - at which point your body will go through a painful transformation as the demon spirit takes its place inside of you and your dead body is violently resurrected.

As soon as you wake up, freshly changed, the bloodlust will set it - it will be extremely hard to control, and at first all you will think about is wanting to sate that hunger. Combined with your sire having direct control if your mind through your blood connection, new vampires will be mostly incapable of doing anything but following the whims of the rest of the vampire pack and seeking nourishment. This blood lust will begin to fade after they've fed. Killing isn't necessary to feed, but it can be hard to stop yourself, as a neonate vampire.

► CLOSING TIME: Before the party is officially over, the Host will have had enough. Before you can pursue all of the vampires or take back the people they've stolen, the lot of them will have escaped back to their dimension, and the Host will have kicked the entire carnival out for participating in so much violence. If you want to make any final moves before you go, this is the time.

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Pre-Attacks

To The masks only had so much they could do to obscure the fact that Zecora was equine and rhymed constantly. All credit to them, they did their very best, but even with her domino on Zecora was almost impossible to mistake for anyone else.

Which was good, because this was a working dinner for her. The longer this went on, the worse everypony ended up, and in a sullen and sulky mood the doctor was attempting to hunt down members of the carnival to check up on them now that they were all obligated to be in one central place.

It was going horribly, because she couldn't figure out who anypony here WAS. Which had her behaving very much like a zebra indeed -- teeth bared, ears back, tail lashing as she glared at people who were getting in her way. This trip hadn't been fun at all.

Zebranapped!

"Ma'am, one of your carnival folk has taken ill," said a masked figure to Zecora. No need to play off lowered inhibitions when they could catch her by duty far more easily. With a frustrated sigh, Zecora followed the seeming-servant down a hall and into a side room--

She got out precisely one startled yelp before an iron collar snapped shut around her neck, and a spiked bang dug into her muzzle on the top and bottom to pin it shut. Two vampires sealed her lips with tape, while another wasted no time in slashing their knife through her flanks. Liquid silver and gold lost their cohesion and felt to the floor in striped puddles as smoke poured out of the wound where her tail had once attached.

"We can't turn her," one of the vampires commented, observing the pouring smoke.

"We knew that," said a sterner and more confident voice. "Besides, did YOU want to drink from a goddamn animal? Knock her out and toss her in the cage."

Concussions could kill, but what did they care? A sharp blow to the back of the head from a pipe was all it took to render the zebra limp and docile.

Frankly, Ginko is incredibly glad for Zecora's unmistakable appearance right now. He'd felt like he was going to go insane if he didn't find anyone he recognized soon.

"--Zecora! Hey, it's me-- uh, Ginko. You doing okay?"

Zecora whirled on him in a clatter of hooves, glaring at him from her mask before she shut her eyes and tried to get her temper under control. He'd identified himself and she still couldn't recognize him -- it was like a stranger wandering up and calling herself Apple Bloom at this rate, it was so impossible that it hurt her head just to imagine.

But no. Nopony would lie to her like that. If the person said he was Ginko, he was Ginko.

"I am quite irritated
That we are all separated.
This place has a wealth
Of troubles for health."

Ginko winces a little, keeping himself from following the momentary impulse to back off. He is absolutely sure this is Zecora, but it still feels like he doesn't recognize her. It's... not a great feeling.

"Yeah, I know how you feel. Can't say I'm a huge fan of it either... the sooner this is over, the happier I'll be."

"You have felt no urge to have fun
Like everypony -- I mean, everyone?"

(Go on, just think about how Zecora's mind worked to come up with a rhyme out of her own verbal mistake. That'll melt your noodle.)

Zecora agreed with him wholeheartedly, but with some evident surprise. She'd heard that a mental influence seemed to predominate here, after all.

"Well... sort of? I mean, I don't think I'm immune to whatever is happening here. But... I also kind of suspect this isn't put together to appeal to people with our idea of 'fun'."

He sighs and pushes his fingers through the hair at his temples, pulling a few locks loose from where they'd been trapped under the band of his mask. "I just want to go somewhere quiet. ...Or, failing that, drink until I stop feeling like this place is crushing me."

Which he, uh. Might be letting her know so that she can stop him from making any bad decisions in that regard.

"What about you?"

"One needn't fear a fall
When one's no fun at all."

Seriously, Zecora felt almost no temptation here -- she had no real desire to begin with to experiment with weird substances or dance about like a maniac in clubs. The only real temptation was food, and she was far too sensible to gorge herself in any case. Moreover, the worry for her friends and fellow employees had kept her quite self-aware this entire time.

"Kind of an unexpected advantage, huh?" He gives a quiet laugh, but it is, frankly, a little hollow. He's glad that he's not getting swept up in everything the way some others seem to be, but being stuck here in spite of it is exhausting.

"I'd offer to keep an eye out and let you know if anyone's getting into trouble, but I can't say who here we know and who we don't."

Zecora had very uncharitable beliefs as to why such an effect had been laid over them -- though they primarily centered on getting people to interact with others in unexpected ways, for the observing parties to get a cheap laugh.

"Just get through the night
Safe and all right."

She couldn't ask anything more of anypony.

"I'll do my best. Same to you."

He sighs and looks around, pulling uncomfortably at the sleeve of his kimono. "...I'm gonna step aside for a bit, I think. Seems like more people are wandering over here."

He's so tired of people.

The zebra nodded, offering a comforting smile from beneath her own mask.

"If you find a chance to get free,
You should take it, certainly." Advice Zecora wished she herself could take, but she had a responsibility to the rest of the carnival.

Wherever they were, here.

"Yeah." He frowns slightly behind his mask. "And you, too. I know you've got to look out for people, but you should probably take a break at some point, before you lose your mind."

She appreciated the good intentions, but there was just too much left to do here.

"It would be a mistake
To take a break
When my friends are drawn in
To such dangerous sin."

Ginko makes a soft noise between a snort and a laugh. "Man, you're gonna make the rest of us look bad here. ...But, alright."

He steps back, raising a hand in a small wave. "Guess I'll see you after the party, then. Good luck keeping people out of trouble."

Zecora lifted one hoof in acknowledgment of his admonition and farewell, before she turned to start her course through the night's gathering once more. Little did she know how much she'd regret not going back to her room by the time the entertainment was done...

Once he's been alerted of the monsters in their midst, Lambert's more vigilant -- he hadn't had time for the effect of the celebration to wear off entirely, but adrenaline gives a hell of a kick. Still, it's more coincidence than anything that brings him around the corner right about when the vampires knock out their prey. There's been a distinct lack of quadrupeds around the masquerade, so when he sees what they're pulling along?

Yeah, that's his cue to rush forward, teeth and the short epee he'd liberated from a previous vampire opponent bared.

"The hell do you think you're doing?!"

The two vampires looked up at the charging Witcher, then at each other. No words were needed; they knew their rank and hierarchy. The older one grabbed Zecora by the neck and slung her over his back quite indelicately -- while the younger one turned to face Lambert, claws sprouting from his fingers as he opened his mouth to sneer. All he had to do was delay Lambert... but he wouldn't say no to doing much worse.

There's no question which of them Lambert would rather deal with, given only one of them is currently making off with the Carnival's only qualified healer. Lambert reacts about as one would expect anyone would at the sight of being forced to deal with someone who they haven't the least bit of interest in.

"Get out of my way!" He already knows it isn't terribly effective at dealing with them, but he's sending a blast of flame towards the younger vampire anyway, hoping being on fire will be enough of a distraction to let him hurry past him.

Fire! Why the hell did it have to be fire! The vampire retreated with a snarling hiss as he flung his arms up to protect his face -- then sprang forward, hurling himself at Lambert's kneecaps to try to take the Witcher down without any more damn fire springing towards him.

They tumbled to an ungraceful heap on the ground, Lambert unable to anticipate that particular move, and the vampire too fast for him to effectively roll away from it. Close as they are, the only effective immediate retaliation that occurred to him was trying to slam the hilt of his blade against the vampire's head -- though how effective is a concussion against a vampire, even? Maybe he'll be in luck and the rattle will be enough to loosen a few of those teeth.

The vampire let out another hiss, though this blow dealt him far less damage than the fire had. It saved him from a bite, though, even if it was a mere bite aimed at his thigh. The vampire threw a blind punch at Lambert, trusting in his augmented strength to make up for the general lack of aim.

Luckily, Lambert was more durable than the average human, or that punch catching him in the side could've broken a few bones -- as it was, he was still going to be tender later. It didn't take away from the fact that this was all a distraction from the main event, though. He didn't have time for this shit, and grappling with a vampire wasn't going to end this faster.

So rather than hitting back with an arm, he tried to kick him off, or at least shove him far enough with his foot to give him the distance to drive the blade through his heart.

The vampire slid back far enough that he lost his grip on Lambert, owing to his foolish refusal to just grapple the Witcher. Self-preservation was at the top of his mind, though -- he'd gone from wanting to delay Lambert to wanting to keep him away long enough for the vampire to set up a proper attack on him. Lashing out with one hand, the vampire seized a nearby chair and threw it in Lambert's direction, an awkward toss that had little leverage behind it.

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⇨ THE MASQUERADE

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pre-attacks

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Zebranapped -- failed rescue attempt, let me know if this works for you?

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