lostcarnival | ⇨ HOME AGAIN

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...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Part of Foster's lag is based in the fact that both fae and vampires are beings native to Foster's home world. And until... um, very, very recently, he didn't really consider that these fae and vampires might be different--cosmetically, functionally, magically.

This mistake is part of how Foster found himself a vampire himself; by his own rules, he was (or should have been) immune to a majority of their magical powers. Like hypnotic mind control.

Or being turned.

This mistake cost him dearly. So now he's reassessing--or rather, deeply questioning--his entire reality yet again, and it's... not a fun question to ask.

Again.

Strange, however, snaps him right out of it.

"I beg to differ!" It comes out much more... formal... than his usual word choice--but his tone is every bit as disgusted as Strange's gross assumption deserves. He may have a bad habit of echoing speech patterns, but nothing can quash his eagerness to take pointless risks.

"It's not very hard at all. I don't understand why you'd care what I want. You should feel free to do whatever you want to me!"

Whereas Strange, who's only ever dealt with fae and not vampires, is making the leap a bit easier than Foster. The vampires of his world were legends, after all, why not have something be different?

But wait, what? Foster wouldn't mind being a guinea pig? That's...well, it's a bit worrying. Strange gives Foster a little frown--most people wouldn't be so eager to offer up themselves as a magical lab rat.

All in all though, Strange can't help but leap at the chance to test some ideas he has with regards to vampirism. Spoiler alert: he will not even remotely get close to the ballpark of finding a cure, stop thinking that you're so much better at magic than you actually are, Jonathan Strange.

"Well, let's meet up back on the shorelines and put some of these theories I have to the test!"

That frown puts Strange on thin ice--very thin ice, as a matter of fact. Foster lacks empathy and inhibition, not eyeballs. He can see the intimation that Strange finds his motives--or his sincerity--questionable.

As Strange's ambitions overtake any hesitations he has, the misgivings he's raised in Foster do not--they're at least put aside, though, allowing for a wide, genuinely enthusiastic smile.

After all, what does he have to lose?

He ducks back under the water and makes a beeline for shore with broad even strokes--exactly like a frog. He doesn't even surface for air, just pops back up in time for his feet to touch the dark mud at the bottom, running his hands back through his hair more times than really necessary to press out the water after clambering ashore. He is briefly distracted pulling at his hair, grabbing thick handfuls of it and--oh, Strange. Hello!

"You don't have to, of course, but I'd like to hear what these theories are!"

He might even--perish the thought--have something to contribute. Not that it's likely, ha, so Strange is perfectly entitled to tell him t shut the fuck up and hold still.

~~Not like he raised HIMSELF from the dead on his own or anything....~~

Strange walks back to the shore at a leisurely pace on his earth bridge, dissolving it behind him as he does so. Is this fucking up the topography of the lake? Yep. Are the fish probably mad put out that there's suddenly new lumps of Earth to swim around? Obviously. Does Strange realize the environmental consequences of his actions? Not a goddamn bit.

So, Foster makes it to the shore before he does—with a final wave of his hand, the rest of the earth bridge collapses in the water, right where it stands. Aaaand then Foster mentions the theories.

"Well, if it turns out that vampirism is rooted in the brain, I doubt I will be much use. Magic cannot cure madness, after all. But if it's more of a wide-spread infection, throughout the body...maybe if I adjust a spell of disillusionment, I could make it so that it would dispel all magic, not just illusion sorts."

Strange trails off slightly as he looks at Foster. This frown though is 100% inquisitive, 100% Strange trying to figure out just what exactly he's going to do next.

"The brain?"

Foster starts... laughing. Yes, laughing. He's laughing for almost a minute, honestly, before he manages to get ahold of it.

"The brain?? No--no, no, no. Not the body, either. If it were so easy! If it were only--if only they'd be that easy to kill!"

Hang on, Strange, he's... uh, working on this thought. It's a more difficult task for him than it should be, to be honest--often, Foster has an idea but has to reverse-engineer it into coherency, taking pieces of what his brain is hiding from him until he cobbles those into something resembling what he means--if he's lucky, that is. Other times... well, other times he mostly sounds deranged.

"Undying body, undead heart... the mechanism of undeath can only be a curse of the undying soul!"

"The soul?" It's said with a healthy amount of skepticism. Strange wasn't not religious but he certainly wasn't all that religious either. Most of the time when he went to church, it was because he was trying to impress his wife. The idea of the state of the soul having something to do with vampirism to begin with...it's interesting.

But it does make sense. When he wrenched those poor soldiers up from hell, after all, he brought their souls back (at least, that's how he's interpreting raising the dead.) And vampirism is something close to a death-like state. But it wasn't entirely death-like, after all, what with the walking and talking and generally remaining the same person but with the added bloodlust.

"If it were matters of the soul, wouldn't one call for a priest? That's how the stories say vampires were dealt with back on my world." But, obviously, this world is different. He sighs, a slightly overdramatic sigh.

"If only I had more books," he can't help but complain as he looks over Foster, treating the man like a case study more than an actual person. "Surely the magicians of old knew more about matters of the soul!"

Edited 2017-04-23 02:55 (UTC)

⇨ HOME AGAIN

FINALLY, I CAN TAG.

AND LIFE FINALLY LETS UP

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Oh my god Foster sHUT

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