⇨ 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

[perverses]

"Yeah? Tell that to my old man and he'll spend five hours telling you your opinion is wrong," Shima replies. Yeah, it was definitely a family thing. "But sure. S'not hard to cut a stick for training down to size. I didn't get my own actual K'rik until they finally kicked me out to go to the academy, though."

K'rik no doubt referring to the staff itself. It isn't technically a personal name for it, like a special one only he uses, but more of a term for all their staves. He won't go on and explain it that deeply, though, because, seriously, who cares?

"So I figure that means you weren't around that age when you first got your hands on a sword, huh?"

[whattaprick]

"Sounds like someone I know," Lambert snorts. "Maybe they've got a club. 'People who train kids up to be killers.'"

There's no love lost there, obviously, whoever he's talking about. At Shima's question, though, he shrugs.

"Nah. Don't know the exact age, since my mom wasn't big on remembering dates and my dad usually couldn't even remember his own name, but I don't think Vesemir got me that early."

[perverses]

"That... sounds like a club I'd want to avoid, actually." Like it'd be full of dull people and also probably murderers, not that he considers his own father a murderer. Super serious demon-fighting asshole, sure, but— "Wait, got you? What, did the guy just randomly pick you up or somethin'?"

[whattaprick]

"More or less." Lambert slides down in the hot springs until he's submerged to his neck, yawning. "Kept my dad from getting killed by a nest of nekkers, asked for the first thing he saw when he got home in exchange. Would have been awkward as hell if it was my mom, but he got me instead."

[perverses]

Yeah, sorry, that takes a minute to digest. Shima squints, looks off to the side, still thinking, thinking, and then his gaze darts back to Lambert.

"Your old man just gave you to some random dude? Seriously?" It is really hard to tell when Lambert is being serious or not, okay, but he's going to opt for serious this time. "That's really fucked up."

[whattaprick]

"Obviously. So's being trained to fight demons as a six year old," Lambert points out, voice taking on a bitter, sardonic edge that otherwise doesn't match the relative peace and quiet of their surroundings.

"Don't think it was too hard on him. One less mouth to feed, more money to drink away."

[perverses]

"Yeah, but that's a family thing. The sect doesn't wander around taking away people's kids," Shima counters, although there isn't exactly a lot of enthusiasm behind it. Like, yeah, it's still better, but also he doesn't really want to defend it. "Guess I gotta give it to dad that he's at least not that bad."

[whattaprick]

"Honestly? If witchers could have babies in the first place, I think they're raise them the same way," Lambert shrugs. Magic infertility, kids, it's a trip. "Probably better this way. Can't feel too shitty about kids dying if they aren't yours."

[perverses]

"I... guess?" Shima sounds so damn unsure about that, but okay, that makes a little sense. Just. A little. He also is so not asking about the 'no babies' thing. He doesn't need a down low on witcher junk problems, he really doesn't. "So, what, does that make Myō Dha worse or just equal levels of crap?"

[whattaprick]

"Depends on how you look at it, I guess. How fucked up do you think you are?" He waves a hand lazily, dripping water.

"Are they doing it to save the world, or just for shits and giggles -- or because they had a messed up childhood and they're passing it on? Does it matter?"

[perverses]

"Or because it's what we've always done," Shima adds to the list. "Though the way you hear everyone else talk, we're all noble and heroic for it..."

He sinks back down into the water again, not quite going all the way under, but enough that he does have to hold his breath for a tic as he thinks. Yeah, just how fucked up is he? If he had to compare himself to a normal sixteen year old kid? The answer is pretty obvious and he isn't even going to include the part where he's a spy.

"I'm stuck seeing monsters everywhere I go and I've already nearly gotten killed... like... I'm not even sure how many times anymore." Yeah, that's how he'll answer when he comes back up and shakes his head, shedding drops of water everywhere. "And everyone acts like that's fine, right? So I'm going to have to go with pretty fucked up."

[whattaprick]

"Sounds about equally shitty," Lambert opines. "'Course, something like one in ten boys ever manages to become a witcher in the first place. Out of the group I grew up with, only two of us made it ... then I heard he died in a swamp a couple of years later."

It's a miserable, shitty topic, contemplating his life and what is from a certain perspective the incredible luck that's brought him where he is. But in some twisted way? It's reassuring to realize there are other, equally messed up ways he could've been brought up. At least Vesemir never expected him to summon demons.

"Never thought about running away from home? Getting away from all that shit?"

[perverses]

"In a swamp ain't a very nice way to go." Although Shima would say there is no nice way to go unless it's surrounded by a hundred hot naked ladies, then maybe, just maybe. "And c'mon, you think I'd have gotten very far? Like I can just take something like Yamantaka and stroll out of Kyoto without anyone coming after?"

It would be like letting a nuke wander off to find out the true meaning of life, though what he isn't admitting is he wouldn't even know where to start, nor had he really wanted to abandon his friends. Besides, if his family didn't come after him, they would have...

"So how come only two of you survived? Out of... how many? If it's somethin' like one in ten, you can't possibly mean, like, eighteen other guys died."

Right? Right?

[whattaprick]

Lambert would tend to agree with that sentiment, if Shima had voiced it. It's not like he hadn't considered running away, or once he was on the Path, quitting being a witcher altogether. But even then, the idea of a normal life, doing something other than what he'd been put through hell for? It's a nice fantasy, sometimes, but it's impossible for him to wrap his head around actually living that. He might bitch about how he got here, but he doesn't know what he'd do without it.

Shima's question, though, makes him snort. The number probably wasn't as much as eighteen, if only because the heyday of Kaer Morhen was long past by the time Lambert was being raised as a witcher, but he's heard stories and they weren't pleasant. Still, since he's asked, Shima's probably going to get more answers than he bargained for.

"They train you physically, first. Need to turn all those skinny war orphans into warriors, right? 'Cept the area around Kaer Morhen's not short on monsters. They lose a few to those, the rest toughen up. Then they get to run a little obstacle course that puts 'em up against a cyclops and some rock trolls. If they survive that..." He trails off.

"Remember the potion I gave you?" The one that had probably made Shima double over with pain for like five minutes and wrought who knows what havoc on his body afterwards (he'd survived, which was the important thing). "Now imagine getting ten times the dose put directly into your body, and you need to be strapped down to a table for seven days to hold you still while your body tries to tear itself apart. That's why they don't survive." And doesn't he sound bitter about it.

[perverses]

Way, way, way more than he bargained for. Now, he isn't exactly going to be increasingly horrified by the explanation, but that doesn't mean he won't look at least perturbed by it. It doesn't help that just before getting stuck in the carnival, he was stuck preparing for a few trials of his own (exams, technically, but knowing Mephisto...).

"...sheesh, that sounds more like they were trying to kill you all off than anything else," he says after a moment of just outright staring. "The worst test I ever had to deal with was when they locked us all in a building with a bunch of ghouls and that definitely did not end with drinking poison."

[whattaprick]

That had been more than he'd meant to say, but hey, maybe it's something about being able to relax into the hot water that makes it easier to get out there. Besides -- it's just the facts of his life. Everything he just said happened years ago, probably more than three times over this kid's age...

"They had to survive the same thing, so you couldn't say they were setting us up to fail," he shrugs, then peers at Shima with interest. Exorcist trials sound less hardcore than witcher crap, but it's probably more interesting anyway. "What were you supposed to do? Kill them?"

[perverses]

Less hardcore for the exwire exam, anyway.

"Yeah, we had to take 'em out, only no one actually told us anything. We thought we were stuck there for a different reason..." And then ghouls. "I guess it wouldn't seem like a huge deal to someone like you, but that was pretty much the first time most of the other kids there had ever had to deal with anything actually, y'know, dangerous."

[whattaprick]

"Nah, still a dick move. At least we always knew dying was a possibility." Lambert snorts, shifting to tip his head towards the water to idly begin splashing water over a horn. Even walking around the castle wasn't safe, depending on the season.

"Obviously, you passed." Or else Shima probably wouldn't be standing here right now, right? "You think they really planned on letting you die, or was it all just a big setup?"