⇨ HELL

[ringleaders]

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.

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.

Comments

[atouts]

"All the more reason to be careful," Childermass pointed out in return, still speaking softly to avoid detection. "But I do know those are his. I doubt they have anything else down here with glowing magpie feathers."

[amusicaladventure]

"Unless they know we're here and are trying to lure us into a trap." After all, wasn't finding Joker's feathers just a little TOO convenient? Did the vampires really think the carnival would just let them take everyone without a rescue attempt?

[atouts]

To that, Childermass gave a shrug. It could easily be a trap, he knew that, but to not follow the lead could mean passing Joker up entirely. Not exactly the goal they had coming down here in the first place, now was it? Besides—

"And if it is, I believe that would be where you come in," he added, finally stopping before the door and shoving it open without further ado. He still hoped it wouldn't come down to a fight, still remembering how easily he got thrown around the last time. Not an experience he cared to repeat, thanks.

Opening the door did, as expected, break the spell. An interaction that direct would always do that, he knew, and it left them as visible to the room as the room was to them, though they were lucky. The room itself was empty save for the large cage in the corner, the one they had been searching for in the first place.

[amusicaladventure]

Oh man, oh man, this had "trap" written all over it. Ash's tail lashed all the harder with frustration and worry, smacking against the door frame as she followed him barely an inch away.

"What do you want me to do?" About a million different ideas had occurred to her, but all of them were bad if Childermass didn't expect them and they ended up operating at cross-purposes.

[atouts]

"Keeping anything that comes after us at bay seems like the best plan for now," Childermass could only offer a vague answer. He was quick enough on his feet that, short of Ash doing anything do him directly, he should be able to deal. It was his own magic that was the most predictable here, the rest? Up in the air.

And regardless of whether or not it could be a trap, he approached the cage, still moving quietly even with his spell having broken.

"Joker? Joker, can you hear me?"

[amusicaladventure]

Ash nodded, and pressed her back to the wall right next to the door, covering both it and the room at large with her gaze. No music yet -- she wanted to have the right song for the right situation, and she didn't know what the situation was yet. She had almost closed the door, but decided against it... who knew if they could get it easily open again?

[pipers_son]

A voice suddenly breaking through the utter silence of the room has his ears twitch and his shoulders twitch- but he only seems to get all the more tense as he realizes that's a voice he recognizes. Oh no. He knows he should be gladder, but- hell.

"Childermass, cor- ya shouldn't be here." Finally raising his head, he sweeps his hand along his hair. "Ya gotta get outta here, and take the others with ya."

[atouts]

Joker only gets a brief look-over from Childermass before he completely disregards being told to leave (because of course, he would). Instead, his attention goes to the lock on the cage. A brief tug is enough to confirm, yes, that is locked.

"You do realize you count among 'the others', don't you?" He replies, but only after getting a good look at that lock. He turns back to look at Ash. "I don't suppose you have anything to quietly melt this?" Don't think he isn't aware of the whole music thing. "I can open it the slow way, but something a little more expedient would be better."

He can pick a lock just fine, no magic needed, but who knows how long they have until someone else walks in?

[amusicaladventure]

"Not quiet." Music magic had no volume control in the slightest -- in fact, one of its curious quirks was its remarkable consistency of perception across listeners. "Go for the slow way unless you want to announce us... Then smack him for me for acting like we shouldn't be rescuing him."

[pipers_son]

Joker is not even remotely subtle with his groan, fingers tangling into messy red hair. A couple days ago, maybe he'd feel different, but things are- complicated right now. And he really doesn't need his workers being stubborn.

"Listen- I can't leave, alright? Ain't any use, and it'd be a bad idea anyway, so just- go on!"

[atouts]

Lockpicking it is, then, just another remnant of his early life as a thief, but useful enough. He nods at Ash, acknowledging that, and digs a fairly makeshift set out of his greatcoat's pocket (it has got to be hot wearing that down here, but being as stoic as he typically is, he sure isn't showing it). Anyway, they're more a handful of what useful bits and pieces of pins and such he could lift from Wardrobe. Between those and his own pocket knife, he can manage, although it is, as he'd warned, slow going.

Regardless of Joker pleading for them to go, he'll get to work.

"If you cannot leave, we'll just have to make you."

Like it's that simple.

[amusicaladventure]

"Joker, imagine what you'd do if our positions were reversed, and then choke on your hypocrisy," Ash grumbled, more than loud enough for him to hear it clearly. She wasn't about to tolerate this kind of nonsense, no matter what his reasons for saying it were. Whatever problems were in their way, she'd smash through if she had to.

[pipers_son]

"Yeah, well, I'm a git," Joker answers bluntly, probably the most honest answer he'll give to anyone he knows at the carnival. He'll blame it on the torture and starvation. "But- listen, I've got a couple changes, and-" A grimace spasms across his face.

"They ain't from the carnival."

[atouts]

That does earn a brief pause from Childermass, a second glance to look Joker over again, but that's all. Considering where they are and what they're up against, it isn't a long shot to guess at what those changes are. Yet, that isn't about to stop him from getting back to work on the lock.

"If it's that you're a vampire now, I don't see how that changes anything," he says, sounding just about as uncaring as he ever does. That doesn't necessarily mean that he doesn't, it's just his default, as usual. "So quit being so dramatic."

A few more seconds and then—

"Ah, there we go."

There's a distinct click of the lock coming open.

[amusicaladventure]

The catgirl rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I've got ears and a tail and claws, remember, and those are part of the premade Ash package."

That being said? Ash turned her attention from the door to Joker. Way too much pop culture had told her that this very moment might be the trap she'd been expecting all this time.

[pipers_son]

On any other day, Joker would remind Childermass of his job, and what aspect of the carnival he oversees, and how "overly dramatic" is basically part of the package so good luck prying it out of him. However, today is an exception, and Joker groans into his palm because goddammit Childermass.

For a second, Joker just squeezes back further into the cage, chin jerked down to show his antlers and his wings pressed tight to his back. There's a part of his brain that's been ramping up with the closeness of the pair, and the only reason it hasn't been stronger is because it's been burned out on disappointment. The vampires, needless to say, have been dicks since his predicament, offering temptation but never letting him have anything. It works to Joker's favor for a few seconds, enough to make the stage manager almost feel optimistic that he can keep himself together....

And then the cage door is actually open, and everything snaps- his temper, frayed from stress and a barrage of new instincts, hunger-

Childermass doesn't really get much of a warning before Joker is lunging forward to try and grab his hair while one knee tries to smash into his face. The whole time, he's trying to not move out of the cage. Not completely, anyway.

[atouts]

And that... Well, Childermass can't look back after this and say he didn't expect to be hurt somehow, but he certainly did not expect that to come from Joker, of all people. He hadn't considered, in that brief moment of concluding the man had been turned and opening the cage, that he might actually attack.

He's been more or less himself, if gloomier, since they got there, and then this—

Childermass makes a startled noise more than a pained one, tools he'd been using to pry the lock open falling to the floor with a clatter as he's grabbed, vampire speed, even a starved vampire, quicker than the magician can hope to be. The knee to his face earns a cringing crunch of a nose breaking, which means blood, there's definitely going to be blood. Hands free, though, he does reach up, his first instinct to grapple with the grip Joker has on his hair and try to pry himself free!

[amusicaladventure]

"Well, that's the end of subtlety," Ash muttered, as she drew her guitar practically like a weapon.

Some songs were the nuclear weapons of music magic, or at least Ash's music magic. In most cases she preferred a more... surgical approach, or at least more surgical than a blast of magical power that made flames erupt along the walls of the room with the first swift notes. (Also the song had a rep since Guitar Hero, not that she was counting that... well, not much.) But when the guitars and synths and drums all crashed in together, the magic burned into both Joker and Childermass's spirits, offering strength and fortitude in their quest. Childermass needed it after that injury; Joker needed it to fight his vampiric hunger and instinct.

[pipers_son]

The smell of blood sweeps through his nose- not an unfamiliar smell in the torture chambers, but never this fresh, never this crisp. A desert makes up his throat, aching for something hot and wet to fill it, and he moves in regardless of Childermass' movements-

If the scent is enough to throw every bit of him off balance, Ash's surge of music is like a baseball bat to the face. He actually jolts backwards, fingers loosening their grip in Childermass' hair, and Joker curls into himself grimacing. His hand wraps around one antler, as if that alone can hold him back. "Shit-!"

[atouts]

Free to reel back, Childermass does just that, away from the cage and safely out of reach. His hand goes automatically to his nose, unable to keep himself from sputtering blood and cringing as he touches the damage done there. Only broken, he must assume, which is something he can deal with but—

"Well," he says after a moment to sort out breathing. His voice does waver for a second, but that's all, then he's back to his careful neutrality and pulling a handkerchief out of his pocket to press gingerly to his nose. "A little more violent... than I had anticipated."

He squints back at Joker where he's huddled again.

"And still in the cage, it would seem."

[amusicaladventure]

Ash couldn't really explain that Childermass should grab Joker and get him out of the cage, not when her hands were busy on the guitar and her voice busy with the lyrics.

On a cold winter morning
In the time before the light
In flames of death's eternal reign
We ride towards the fight

But maybe the lyrics were a hint, and her frustrated motions with the guitar neck to move, move, move.

[pipers_son]

“What the bloody hell did I just say?” he hisses, kneading at his antler. It’s amazing how much stronger the influence of his sire is than his own hunger, the product of having been starve for ages now. Even half undone, hunger burning in him, he doesn’t dare go fully outside the cage. And, with Ash’s song still thrumming through him, he doesn’t dare even put a finger out if he can help it.

The carnival will always be full of danger. He refuses to let himself add to it.

[atouts]

"Not sure," Childermass replies, grimacing at how irritatingly stuffy his voice sounds now that easily breathing through his nose isn't quite an option. "Couldn't hear you ever the knee in my face."

It isn't about to deter him, however. He'll get to it, Ash, hang on! Tucking the handkerchief away again — kind of useless when he needs both hands, anyway — he steps back up to the cage, this time leaning directly in and reaching in to grab whatever part of Joker is still closest to the door. An ankle, probably, or whatever. He's not picky.

If Joker can't come out on his own, then Childermass will just have to drag him out, which is exactly what he tries to do.

[amusicaladventure]

When the darkness has fallen down
And the times are tough alright
The sound of evil laughter falls
Around the world tonight

Look, Joker, she wasn't over here playing guitar fast and hard for any particular love of music.

She stalked across the room towards the cage, bringing the music with her and its pulsing effect of raw determination. If she had to stop actually playing the guitar to haul him out, she'd damn well do it so long as she could before the excessively-long solo would otherwise interrupt it.

Fighting hard, fighting on for the steel
Through the wastelands evermore
The scattered souls will feel the hell
Bodies wasted on the shores
On the blackest plains in Hell's domain
We watch them as they go
Through the fire and pain and once again we know

She had also picked this song for a certain amount of lyrical relevance.

[pipers_son]

Things that make this easier for both rescuers: the fact that Joker only has one hand, and it is currently preoccupied.

It means that there's no way he can latch onto a part of the cage to keep from being pulled out of it, although there's that vampiric part of him that is panicking about it all. Instead, with three different factors waging war inside his head, all he can do is curl up and give a weak kick at Childermass' pulling. Obedience and hunger and humanity- it's an ugly clash that has his wings flapping out frantically once there's enough room to do so.

Childermass doesn't deserve a potential wing to the face, but it's possible that's what he'll get. From beneath the flapping and the hit of Joker's body against the floor, there's a quiet desperate keening. A man can only take so much before his mind starts to strain.