⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 4

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone, anywhere in Portland.
When: October 22nd - 31st, 2017
Where: In Portland, for the last time.
What: The seasons change as the Winter Court seizes a surprise victory, claiming both the Tree of Life's pendant and the blood catalyst needed to take control of the Severing Ritual. Meanwhile, interdimensional problems are about to get more weird. Check out the conflict results for the attack on the Circle as well as the Beast's attack on the Summer Court here.
Warnings: Individually marked!

DAYS OF WINTER↴ As the end of October nears, so does the grasp of winter. On the night of the 22nd, it will freeze overnight, and the temperature will drop for the following days. As the night grow long, world-wide magic slowly reaches it apex, set to reach it on the night of Halloween. With so many factors at play, knowing what to do with that moment of power may be a challenge. ► FULL CIRCLE: The Angels succeed in their planned attack on the Circle, managing to get to the living quarters of the Council members with the help of Ashleigh Mischief. The plan goes without much resistance from the mages or from the demons attempting to claim the ritual object for their own. Of course, when the fae make a surprise attack on the Angels after they flee the scene, it has the surprise result of the Winter Court ended up with the pendant in their talons. Threads for this attack can be done in this log. If you need mod direction at all, let us know, but otherwise feel free to NPC demons, angels, or random Circle members as you require. ► THE QUEEN'S GARDEN: Realizing that the Rose Queen is distracted with attempting to claim the pendant, the Beast will summon her co-conspirators to raid the Queen's gardens. The ultimate plan seems to be to get the Beast far enough into the gardens to kill the Queen, while also rescuing as many changelings as possible along the way. As it turns out, this doesn't go well. While they do manage to penetrate the gardens with Childermass's help, the Rose Queen, Ignatius, and Nightshade happen to all be there. Seriously outnumbered, even by the Beast's terms, it will take everything the group has to just make it out alive, sustaining heavy injuries as they go. In the end they will manage to rescue Greg universe and four additional changelings that were imprisoned there, but any damage done to the Summer Court itself will be negligible. Threads for this can also be played out here! ► REFLECTIONS: As the ritual draws closer, the line between this reality and the one you came from will also be becoming less clear. Regaining memories is not required, but it will naturally become easier to occur, especially if you're already started receiving them. It's a good time to start making connections, while you still have the chance. ► THE SEVERING: One way or another, the Severing is going to make an impact on both this world and the lives of those trapped inside of it. The Angels are going to be making an attempt to interrupt the Winter Court's ritual, as will the Summer Court and Anath's forces. Whoever comes up on top will be the ones to decide what to be done with it. Yet, with news that the Severing continuing could cause irreversible damage to the planet's spirit, it could feel like there are no perfect options. There will be an event header put up for this by the mods closer to the end of July. (NOTE: canon powers will returning while the ritual is in progress, so keep that in mind for planning - both sets of powers will be active.)

Comments

[spaghettimonster]

"I knew you were double-familiar!" That's a word now, and he flashes a bright and triumphant grin. "It was run by a fae! You're right about that. But what shit do you mean, the weird stuff the Circle people were asking about?"

Realizing that Lambert might not know what the Circle was asking about, he cups his chin and taps on it, thinking aloud. "Demons acting up... The untold number of people originally from another world... With weird properties to their souls...?"

[whattaprick]

At this point, Lambert's had to fill in enough people that the explanation rolls off his tongue easily enough.

"All of that is because they were trying to take control of the Severing -- the spell that's cutting off all the supernatural beings in this world from where they came from." Lambert pauses to adjust his glasses then stops, irritated, when he remembers they'd gotten broken and aren't there anymore. Some reflexes are hard to overcome. Like he didn't experience that brief narrative hurdle, he continues:

"Right now, the Winter Court have all the parts they need for a spell which they're probably going to try and cast on Halloween. Which would be a bad thing, by the way, since in case you didn't know who they are, they're even shittier than the regular fae." A beat. "Also, everyone with a weird soul might or might not be from a different world or something." The idea looks like it makes him deeply uncomfortable. He doesn't like thinking about that part at all.

[spaghettimonster]

Papyrus' eyebrows raise at the reference to the Severing. He's heard of it, recognizes the reference, but in that distantly informative way. As though it was something that happened to other people, far away, where it'll never impact him nor he impact it.

"So they weren't lying. And Sans said similar things as well... Wow." He shakes his head, looking around them at the neighborhood of seemingly perfectly normal humans, without any crazy magical things going on. "Back in the sunlight, it's hard to believe any of this is real. Let alone, figure out what to do with it? Halloween is so close. What can we do about the Winter Court?"

[whattaprick]

"You know Sans?" Lambert asks, quizzically. He hasn't connected Papyrus to the cat the angel brought into the cafe, but that seems an unimportant detail in the larger scheme of things... but at the question, he frowns harder.

"Whatever we can. We can't let them complete the ritual." He'll just leave out that his real motivation is because he's pretty sure Winter's version of the ritual involves Childermass dying. However, it's at this point that he'll narrow his eyes at Papyrus, growing defensive.

"... Just who are you, anyway? You were interested in the Animal Fair before." God. What he'd give to go back to a few weeks ago, when that was his biggest problem...

[spaghettimonster]

"I'm Papyrus!" he chirps, like that's the most essential part of answering both those questions. "Believe me, by now I have regrets about that whole Animal Fair thing. And Sans is..."

He hesitates for a moment, considering what to say. Sure, they ultimately recognized each other, and generally agreed about what the deal was between them. Sans' first reaction back then was to get him out of the way so nobody would know about it... that should stay a secret, for now.

"It's complicated," he finally settles on. "I would say we're friends! Sort of!"

[whattaprick]

Lambert shoots him an incredibly dubious look at that, but if 'Sans said similar things' and clearly didn't feel strange about talking to this guy about it (although he strikes Lambert as someone unreliable, something feels right about speaking this frankly?) and slowly nods.

"Right," he says, finally. "Well... that's about the shape of it. Main thing's finding a way to get into the Winter Court and handle whatever we find there."

[spaghettimonster]

"Finding and infiltrating the Winter Court... and stopping their ritual," Papyrus repeats, fixing it in his memory with a slow nod. "O-kay. And the whole angel vs demon spat, that's not... a big, immediate problem, right?"

If he needs to be dodging angels as well as Circle mages, that's going to make this week -- and the rest of his life -- a little tough. But maybe he could convince Gratiel to drop a hint about things before going their separate ways.

[whattaprick]

"I have no idea," is Lambert's blunt answer to that. Because nope, he really doesn't.

"Last I heard, the demons were planning a ritual of their own -- no idea what that involves. But as far as I can tell, they're not on friendly terms."

And he fixes Papyrus with a look. "Why do you ask?"

[spaghettimonster]

"That's complicated too!" he bursts out, quick and defensive. Eye contact continues not happening as he scratches at his neck, and figures out what to admit.

"Uhh... Angels can tell, if you've made any sort of... bargain... for power. Just by looking at you? It's hard enough, figuring out how to quit, without upsetting my patron..."

Wryly, he adds, "I would give my two weeks notice, but I promised I wouldn't do anything else."

[whattaprick]

Excuse Lambert while he just sort of involuntarily takes two steps back here.

"You made a deal with a demon?" That instantly puts his back up, shoulders stiffening while he tries to will calm into his expression instead of wariness. "But now you want to quit. Can you do that?"

[spaghettimonster]

"Um. Yes?" Papyrus really isn't used to being somebody that others are afraid of, and it's almost as unnerving as the question of whether he can quit.

"It wasn't... I didn't swear lifetime service. And my heart's not in it anymore. He'd be better off firing me!"

Not literally, he hopes.