lostcarnival | ⇨ 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Man, Shima does not appreciate having to scout into the caverns this far, but with one or two of the workers still unaccounted for, he's gone back in. Avoiding neonates has become slightly easier since most of them have been trying to swarm the entrance — there's an abundance of fresh food up there or a way out, so who wouldn't go that way?

That said, it's still kind of dangerous, even with Lambert's help to make his own blood poisonous. He moves from shadow to shadow, stalagmite to stalagmite, until he spots Foster wandering out in the open. Of course, he's out in the open, this couldn't be east...

At least, he's going to assume that's one of theirs. Cow ears stand out as a very carnival-like problem to have! ]

Psst! Hey! Hey, you! Guy!

[ Shima isn't stepping out into plain sight just yet, sticking to lurking behind another rocky outcropping rising up out of the cavern's floor near one side. ]

[They're about as Carnival problem as you can get, in fact--they're left over from when the Ring Master turned him into a cow for half a week.

Don't ask.

Foster goes tense, literally freezing at Shima's hiss; he doesn't turn to look for another second--and when he recognises what appears to be a regular human, he doesn't relax at all.]

....

[He's debating. How desperate is he?]

[ Why is he just... staying there? Staring? That's weird and Shima doesn't appreciate it, definitely not down here, in a place like this. Still, he'll wave a hand, gesturing to him to get over where he is. ]

Don't make me come out there, that's out in the open!

[ Still trying to be quiet, just a little, but he can only keep it down so low and still be heard by Foster. So. Not really all that quiet, actually. ]

Edited 2017-03-21 02:18 (UTC)

[...........

.........okay.

He'll bite.

Figuratively speaking.

Foster hesitates only another second or two after making the decision--listening, waiting, expecting ambush. Then, slowly, he crosses the cavern, his head down like his red eyes are cast towards the ground--but he's watching Shima with a sort of fixed intensity.

He still looks ready to jump out of his skin at any moment--either to attack or escape, it's not clear which. Whichever happens first, perhaps. But this close, he can smell it. Shima's blood. He can... hear his pulse? He's... not even a vampire...?]

--I'm not going to help you.

[ Yeah, definitely one of the creepier carnival weirdos, he can even tell it from the way Foster approaches. That doesn't mean he's about to ditch the guy, but it does mean he's going to be a tiny bit warier in return. What he says when he gets over to him, though— ]

Eh? [ Shima blinks (all three eyes, because, hello, forehead eye). ] What makes you think I need your help? Let me tell you, it's deifnitely the other way around.

[Cow ears aren't expressive in the way a lot of animal ears are, but his swivel back, and then forward, lifting slightly from their dropped position before twisting back again.]

I don't know what you want.

[His lip curls just slightly, a partial baring of teeth. The possibility that Shima really is able and intending to help him hasn't really dawned on him yet. He's way too strung out, and that horizon is too distant.

You're the one who called him over... what do you want with him?]

[ Apparently he has to spell it out. ]

Dude, we're here to rescue you. Well, not just you you, but everyone. You are from the carnival, right?

[Foster just.... stares at him. For a long moment.

Long enough that once he finally gets ahold of the idea that yes, the rescue apparently means him too, he actually has time to think of another point: even if he weren't from the carnival, wouldn't most people put in his current position say they were?]

What are you going to do if I say 'no?'

Then I would have to ask what kind of freak place you're from that gets you cow ears and other weird shit attached, because I would seriously be curious.

[ All said with a smile.

If Foster was expecting a "then I would ditch you, sorry, bye" answer, he isn't getting it. Technically, that is what Shima would do, but he's hedging his bets here. He's pretty sure he's right. ]

[That really is the answer he was fishing for, and not getting it is--disappointing? On some level.

Though there are definitely ways you could end up with cow's ears, just by a combination of magic and poor execution.

....the fact that this is now Foster's primary train of thought is probably a pretty good sign of how strung out he is. So is the way he expresses it.]

I mean... magic.

[But since Shima didn't jump on the first chance to abandon him, Foster resigns himself to the possibility that he might really be rescued. Maybe? He eyes the three-eyed boy warily.]

But no... you're right. I don't see how one person is going to rescue anyone, though.

[Also, maybe they shouldn't still be standing here.]

Tch, like I came here all alone. [ Shima jerks a thumb back the way he came. ] The rest of the crew is holding down the entrance, so come on, Mr. Cow. We gotta g—

[ Yeah, they really shouldn't be standing here still, because there's a sudden outburst of voices, shouting, a few other neonates fighting just down another tunnel near them. It's definitely spilling out into the cavern they're in. Shima gives a start at the sudden outbreak of fighting, moving a step around to try and crouch behind the rocky outcropping he'd been hiding by, trying to keep on doing just that. ]

...aw, shit.

⇨ HELL

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Aagh I'd checked his LC profile and didn't see the third eye there wHOOPS

SORRY it's new so i haven't updated that yet my bad

It's okay, now I know!!

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