⇨ HOME AGAIN

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone!
When: Day 68 - Day 72
Where: Carnival grounds.
What: Everyone makes it back to the carnival after their adventure in hell. The Ringmaster makes a new lake to celebrate, apparently.
Warnings: A notable absence of torture.

TO HELL AND BACK↴ The rescuers and the liberated captives will emerge from the portal like bats out of hell. Much like their previous return, this arrival will be met with a flurry of medical activity as everyone gets their injuries seen to, particularly those that had been held prisoner within Morningstar's hell fortress. It will still be night when they arrive, and the rest of Day 68 will be clouded over completely, for the benefit of the new vampires as they get settled in. After the immediate panic is dealt with, the Ringmaster will disappear into the forest until the morning of Day 69. It will be raining off and on during her absence. ► RECOVERY: Unlike the last time, the Ringmaster will be supplying the carnival workers with some healing potions from her private hoard, given that most of the healers are already wounded or spent. Damage caused by iron poisoning will not be cured by healing magic or healing items though, unfortunately, and those who have spent a lot of time in contact with iron will take at least a week to fully recover. However, regular healing remedies like bandages and herbs may help speed things along if the patient is suited to them. ► A BRAND NEW LAKE: On the morning of Day 69, the Ringmaster will return the forest to announce that she's built a new lake into the carnival grounds, only a short trail's distance from the backyard. Unlike most of the forest, this area won't just lead you in circles when explored, meaning that it can actually be modified and developed as the workers see fit. The water is always clean and just the right temperature for swimming, though it gets a bit cooler the deeper you swim. At the far side of the lake, there is a warm, stone pathway leading up the side of the mountain, that will eventually take you to some bangin' hot springs. Brought to you mostly because the Ringmaster doesn't know how to say sorry with actual words. At least it gives you something to play with while you try to shake off the trauma. ► FRUITS OF VICTORY: On Day 70, all the workers who came to hell for the rescue mission will be given a gift from the Ringmaster. Each of them will receive a bright green, glowing seed, about the size of your thumbnail. She will tell you that, when planted, the seeds will swiftly grow into a small citrus tree, which will grow fruits with regenerative properties. More details about these plants will be written up in a separate post, but for now your characters can ogle them and decide if they are going to plant them or not. ► TAKE ME TO CHURCH: Staring on Day 71, the Ringmaster will be starting to work on removing the vampirism from those infected with it, which apparently involves a lot of... meditation? She will take the newbie vampires out into a shady area of the forest and encourage them to look inside themselves and attempt to separate themselves spiritually from their demonic beasts. How well you character masters her teachings over time will determine whether or not she is ultimately capable of stripping out your demon soul and returning you to life. Of course, not all demons are made equal, and some will be more difficult to separate than others...

Comments

[whattaprick]

"'Cause you're the only one who can heal worth a damn without drooling on things?" Lambert guesses. "'Cause they thought it'd be fun for whoever came to get you?"

It's a rhetorical question and he knows it, but he's never been terribly good at being appropriately respectful. Sorry, Zecora.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Zecora paused, then slowly sat down. This was going to take some effort, which meant less for keeping herself upright on all four legs.

"Pain itself is no dark fate.
I know how to meditate.
If they tortured me they'd find
I could escape into my mind.
But for somepony like me
It's simplicity
To cause me pain
For selfish gain.
I kept seeing
Others being
Hurt and injured
In ways cruel and absurd.
I was locked up, you see
So I could help nopony.
I could only worry
And my mind went there in a hurry.
That was how I was broken.
So now that I've spoken
Do you now see
How helping others helps me?"

[whattaprick]

It's probably one of the longest things she's ever said to him, and as such, Lambert actually considered it for a few moments. He couldn't say he related to the sentiment -- healing wasn't his calling (but then, nothing is really) and for him it was always been about the quiet satisfaction of an injury competently healed and being able to get back to real work after that.

But he could see how being helpless would drive anybody crazy.

"Yeah, but just seeing you try to talk hurts," he'll point out instead. "Not exactly good for morale." But there's no bite to the words.

"You don't have to do everything on your own. That's what I'm here for, right? We got another nurse while you were out, too. Just --" he waves a hand, vaguely. "Tell us what we need to do."

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Healing wasn't Zecora's real calling, either... or at least it hadn't been when she first started in this carnival. She'd fallen into it here, because of the efficacy of her potions and brews, and come to delight in it over time.

The truth was simply that these people were all her friends. In a way, a family.

"I need to see others are fine.
That will salve this pain of mine.
But it would be neat," she admitted,
"If you could help me treat."

[whattaprick]

The witcher wasn't nearly so sentimental -- or easy to get along with. It would be some time, if ever, that he would ever regard the Carnival more than a means to an end. A more wildly adventurous means than he was used to, of course, but even

Lambert was under no illusions he'd ever be more than a competent nurse, but it had been a long time since he had to really exert himself to learn something new. If he was going to be stuck here for most of a year more, at least -- damn, but had he really only been here a few weeks? -- he had to find something other than throwing himself into life and death situations to keep himself from being bored out of his skull ...

"Sure thing, doctor," he shrugged, grinning -- not exactly the most enthusiastic of volunteering, but his amusement's for a different reason... "Never actually learned the ropes in the first place. I don't know what half the stuff in your tent does." Anything more complicated than the basic chemistry equipment and herbs, in other words.

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Two years was, after, a pretty long time.

"I did not intend to shirk,
But we had little time to work.
I'll be sure to teach
When my strength's in reach."

The zebra let out a little shiver, suddenly, and her head twitched to one side. Rather than tug the cloak she wore off, though, she paused and glanced to Lambert.

"Would you help take off my cloak
Before I turn to smoke?"

[whattaprick]

Lambert frowned, but he stepped forward and does as she requested, fingers finding the clasp on the cloak and flicking it off her in a quick, easy motion.

"Leaving so soon?" he jokes, though there's still a touch of concern there. That twitch hadn't looked too good, after all. "I cant hold down the fort. Should I leave this in the medical tent?"

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"I get no fright
From the light.
It helps me stay together
So this pain I can weather."

That did feel better. Worse, yet better in the ways that mattered, and the zebra stretched out her neck to get the full effect.

[whattaprick]

"Too bad not everyone's that lucky," Lambert comments. Not that he's particularly concerned about the welfare of their fellow carnival workers, but it represents a fairly significant logistical problem.

"What good's a carnival where a third of the workers can't stand the daytime?"

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

"We will find a way
To fix this someday.
I will not rest
Until everypony's at their best."

Zecora, on the other hoof -- was indeed quite concerned.

[whattaprick]

"You got any idea where to start? Last time I checked, vampirism wasn't a curable condition." Neither was it a transmissible one, at least in Lambert's world, but that idea's already been blown well out of the water....

[zebrarhyme_everytime]

Zecora, who in most times could remain resolutely optimistic or at least confident, didn't have the strength at the moment to avoid looking sad.

"I do not know where to start
But I believe in my heart
There must be some hope.
I won't give up, won't mope."