⇨ 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

[pipers_son]

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.

[atouts]

'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.

[amusicaladventure]

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.

[pipers_son]

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.

[atouts]

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."

[amusicaladventure]

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.