⇨ THE MASQUERADE

[ringleaders]

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.

Comments

[atouts]

[ That's... an oddly familiar complaint.

Chances are, Childermass is bound to figure out who he's speaking to sooner than Strange is, but for now, he lets it slide by uncommented upon. With how many people are here, it could be anyone. The fact that the man is lucid at all does point to "probably from the carnival", though. That or someone newly trapped within the Celebration. If the latter, poor soul, but there's not much to be done for that. ]

No idea whatsoever? Have you not had a chance to ask? Th—

[ Excuse him, he's suddenly distracted by the fact that he is holding another drink despite having gotten rid of his other one. When did that happen? Why hadn't he noticed? He scowls at the offending glass and looks up, around them again, as if trying to decide where it had even come from. This damn place... ]

[kingsroads]

[ Likewise, Strange is holding a drink as well, despite the fact that he hadn't had one before. He tentatively gives it a little sip before deciding it's alright and then takes a much larger sip. It's passed the test of 'not being fruity' and 'not being some sort of awful flavored vodka concoction' so he'll gladly drink it. ]

I know what excuses they'll give. [ Norrell his pride, Childermass his timeline. ] But they're just that: excuses. Now that I know the information, I also know that there was no reason to keep it from me.

[ he says, just casually ignoring the whole 'dude, you showed up to the Carnival mad, that's a perfectly valid reason' part. ]

[atouts]

[ He can't decide if someone handed the drinks to them or if they picked them up of their own volition, simply not realizing it. How annoying. ]

Hm... [ Fine, whatever. He'll leave the mystery of the drinks alone and turn his attention back to Strange, pointed mark and all. ] Then it must not have been terribly important if knowing it makes no difference at all.

[kingsroads]

I don't know whether it makes a different to either of them, but it certainly makes a difference to me. [ There's a pause while Strange takes another small sip of his drink, debating how exactly to say this without giving away the entire details of said information. But he's tipsy, he's bitter, and he's pretty certain this man isn't Childermass so his response is preeeetty darn close to giving away the game. ]

The information withheld wasn't about me. But it was about someone very dear to me.

[ There's a little hint of sadness in his voice as he talks. Because there's Arabella, trapped in faerie, while he's here stuck in a useless contract, wasting his time away at a party. What sort of horrible husband was he? ]

[atouts]

Ah.

[ That is terribly close to giving his identity away. As it is, he can't help but feel a twist of guilt in the pit of his stomach even if this isn't Strange. That actually prompts him to take a drink from his own glass, as much as he'd been avoiding it before. ]

It... sounds like a very unfortunate situation. Are you certain it was not simply a misunderstanding?

[ In his own case, it sure wasn't. He'd meant what he said, though he had hoped for better timing and a less volatile delivery of the matter, but then, is there any chance to phrase "surprise, your wife isn't dead, she's just kidnapped" without it being that way? ]

[kingsroads]

I'm positive.

[ And that sadness just turns to a hint of bitterness. Because it shouldn't have taken him that long. There were so many times for Childermass to tell him what had happened. To go a whole month, thinking that his wife was dead, planning on ways to bring her back when surprise, it turns out she's not dead in the slightest? It's wonderful and terrible at the same time. ]

The man I speak of had plenty of time to tell me that information and yet, until earlier this day, he refused. [ Strange laughed, a bit of a bitter laugh as that anger creeps further into his voice as he accidentally, grumpily, straight up gives it away. ] Like servant like master, I suppose.

[atouts]

[ So. It is Strange after all. He would rather it not be at all, but the problem is far too specific for it not to be the other magician. He won't make the same mistake, though. Knowing who it is, revealing his own identity would no doubt lead to another outburst.

God, maybe it's a good thing he has a drink after all. ]

Did he have plenty of time? [ It's not like telling him on arrival would have been all that wise, though he can't make his own arguments, for his own sake. Too obvious. ] How long had it been?

[kingsroads]

[ Strange, bless his heart, still thinks he's being more secretive than he actually is. He hasn't said names, after all. He's only been talking around the problem, not specifically at or about it. In his eyes, he's doing pretty well!

It's becoming more and more apparent that one of the reasons Strange doesn't like secrets is because he can't keep a damn thing secret himself. ]

It was a little longer than a month. I can understand why he did not tell me under certain circumstances, but those circumstances didn't last the whole damn month.

[ Strange would forgive Childermass if he just kept the information secret for the duration of the Matrix. After all, the poor man was possessed or taken over or something during that time. But there was still plenty of time to tell him afterwards. ]