lostcarnival | ⇨ HELL

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.

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.

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"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.

"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."

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.

Edited (liked this phrasing better) 2017-03-20 15:20 (UTC)

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.

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.

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!

"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.

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-!"

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."

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.

“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.

"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.

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.

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.

A wing to the face is just another jolt of pain that he'll deal with, although he does make a rather undignified noise when smacked with one. It doesn't stop him, however, and he puts all his strength into yanking poor Joker out of the cage and doing little to stop him from landing on the floor like that. Not the kindest escape, but let's take what we can get.

"There..." Childermass huffs out the word, probably impossible to hear under Ash's singing, and leans down to grab Joker again although this time by his shoulders or shirt or whatever he can get to haul to man back up. If he can't stand, well, they'll figure something out. To Ash, he'll shoot a glance back over to, speaking louder this time, "Think he'll lose it again if you stop singing?"

Which can hopefully be answered with nods or headshakes. Joker going after him again is a real concern here.

Ash shrugged and nodded as all part of the same motion. She wanted to believe that Joker could muster the willpower to overcome his compulsions, but at the same time she knew perfectly well that some things had primal might behind them that one couldn't just power through. Point was, she wasn't about to stop singing.

At least getting Joker up to his feet doesn't involve anymore injury, accidental or otherwise. There's a bit of a stumble, partially because he'd rather curl up back in the cage again and so his legs don't want to do any actual walking, but.... up he goes. His face is twisted, not in any particularly inhuman way, but simply that of a man trying to fight his own literal inner demon.

They're not leaving. They're sticking with this, even with Childermass' broken nose. Fuck.

Well, if that's how it's going to be- "Smash my head in," he forces out between grit fangs, grimacing from the effort of just talking. "Just- bleedin' d it. Dead weight either way." And he laughs, strained and a little unhinged.

It's- it's a joke. Because he technically is undead. Or whatever. Ha. Ha.

'Smash my head in' seems a bit harsh, even if the man did break his nose. Childermass has had worst, in all honesty, and he's already gritting his teeth and bearing through the pain. So, overall, he's ignoring his boss and simply working around him instead of with him on this. That was bound to happen eventually, anyway. At least this time the reasons are obvious.

"Maybe a lullaby to put him under?" Childermass suggests, really reaching here. He can really only guess at how Ash's magic works since music as spells are a really new and weird concept here, okay? But he's trying.

Ugh. She was worried that if helping his own will was just straining him, knocking him out would do much the same. Of course, she could always go El Kabong on his noggin and put all issue of control beneath the iron yoke of a concussion, but...

Maybe she needed to pull out the really big guns.

Ash modulated her guitar music down to a soft and somber tune as she turned to stalk towards Joker, accented by violins and soft whispers of bass and snare drums as she lowered her voice.

Try as you might,
scream and shout
We won't be denied.
We're getting you out.
In despair and the dark
When there's no hope to see
No matter what happens
We're getting you free.

Ash had not put her voice and her talent behind an original composition of her own since she joined the carnival, because they were always dicey propositions. They had more power behind them than her covers did by an order of magnitude, but with commiserate chaotic execution. Like a wish, she expressed it to the ether without any knowledge of how it would be granted. Her songs always delivered their results, though.

When they get back, Joker swears he’s going to teach all his workers how to firmly smash something into a man’s head and knock him out, or at least put him out of commission for a while with a nasty headache. It’s a promise.

But in the now… Now, he sways under the strength of Ash’s song, eyes fluttering and thoughts getting slower. The human and thralled part of him are relieved- no thoughts means he’s out, that he can’t be responsible for his own actions. The hunger still pushes at him, keens at him desperately, but…. Two against one. Soon, he hits his knees, and his grip around his antler eases up to his nodding head.

Oh, he knows how. He just didn't want to, hence the complication. With Joker calming down under whatever the spell Ash is singing is, though, he's fine with the decision. If this works as well as anything else, what's the problem? There's a brief moment where Joker drags Childermass off-balance by falling to his knees, but he recovers and drags the other man right back up.

Those wings are definitely going to get in the way a lot, but he should be able to manage to lug Joker around so long as there aren't any further attacks.

"...and that may be a cue to make for an exit."

Yeah, that's putting it mildly. Unwilling to add extra lyrics to the song for fear that they'd invoke a few more effects she really didn't want, Ash gently repeated the refrain again as she moved to help grab Joker's legs. Catpeople were stronger than they looked, and this would let them hurry faster.

Definitely hurry.

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⇨ HELL

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