⇨ The Tourist Trap: WEEK 4 PT2

[ringleaders]

Who: Anyone and everyone!
When: October 31st, 2017 HALLOWEEN!
Where: The Count of Crow's Underground Realm
What: The displaced carnival members break into the Count of Crow's underground fortress, in the hope of taking control of the ritual and maybe saving Childermass's life.
Warnings: Violence, ritual blood letting, other stuff.

DAYS OF WINTER PT2↴ The night of hallow's eve has come, and there's no more time for waiting. As Portland begins enjoying the festivities of the night, you are tasked with something darker - you must find the Count's realm within Portland's underground tunnels, and fight off those that would stop you. The ritual will be starting soon, and once it's finished the very nature of this reality will be in the Winter Court's hands... the only choice is to intervene.

Comments

[whattaprick]

Lambert's in pain, but he isn't stunned, and the moment he hears Strange begin to mutter? Yeah, he knows that's not good. As he feels the air beside him chill, he realizes what Strange is about to try, and he wrenches himself away from the wall. The crampons on his shoes nearly slip before they catch on the ice he wasn't able to melt earlier.

He doesn't know what the hell has gotten into Strange, and frankly, he doesn't care to know what's up with Strange -- he only knows he needs to take him down, and take him down quickly. So he takes a few quick, shaky steps in Strange's direction and throws up a hand.

Of course, his fingers come nowhere near to coming in contact with the magician. The wave of force that radiates out from the hand he's flung out, though? Unless Strange has some sort of defense, that absolutely will.

[kingsroads]

Strange almost has the barrier spell up but Lambert's faster. The wave of force hits him hard, knocking him off his feet and onto the floor of the room.

As he gets back up to his feet, it's Strange's turn to fire a bolt of force in Lambert's direction, with a quick hand gesture. This is Portland magic, nothing he could do at the carnival, but it should still serve it's purpose.

He can't stop now. Lambert barely knows anything about his magic. This should be easy, this should be a quick victory, he just needs to kill the man before any angels show up.

[whattaprick]

He can't die here. That's the clearest, sharpest thought Lambert has as Strange casts his next spell, and it's what gives him the strength and desperation to twist out of the way, even as it makes his ankle scream in protest.

Whatever magic's come back to him hasn't yet had a chance to restore itself. Instinctively, he understands that. He also can't wait for Strange to do anything else, though, so he does the only thing that occurs to him--

Namely, dive towards him to tackle him, yelling all the while. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

[kingsroads]

Well damn.

Strange realizes that Lambert's tackling him moments before the actual tackle happens. He's knocked to the ground with a hard thump. Okay, that really hurt. He's already trying to squirm out from underneath Lambert's bulk and get back to his feet. However, the impact's thrown him for a bit of a loop--there's plenty of time for Lambert to pin him down try a different tactic.

And yeah, that question isn't getting answered. Nothing's wrong with him, thank you very much, he knows precisely what he's doing.

[whattaprick]

This whole situation provokes a cutting sense of betrayal that makes no damn sense. As Lambert had been more than happy to tell Rita and Yuya before, Strange's disappearance could have been easily caused as much by deliberate betrayal or the Summer Court catching wind of his plans to aid someone else, but right now it really doesn't matter which it is, does it?

"Bastard!" Yeah, that sure is a fist getting slammed into Strange's gut there. "You told me you'd help him!"

[kingsroads]

And that sure is Strange doubling over in pain because there's a fist slammed in his gut. He winces, letting out a hiss of pain as the pain from Lambert's fist shoots through his body. Ohhh that hurt. Strange tries to stagger to his feet, deliberately placing himself between Lambert and a particularly frozen patch of wall.

"I said I'd help you then. But why would I do that now?" Strange asks, honestly confused. He does remember Portland Strange making the agreement, asking Lambert for help. But that was before he spent time with Nightshade. That was when he kept making wrong decisions. And now, through the haze of the brainwashing, helping Lambert doesn't make any sense. There's no reason for him to do that. If Childermass died, all the better, that means there'd be one less thing for him and Nightshade to worry about.

[whattaprick]

"Because--" Because I thought you were my friend. No, that's not right either. Strange was never his friend, and he's shown it so clearly here, attacking him when it's the last thing he needs. Lambert can't come up with a reason, so he snarls as his face twists in helpless, frustrated fury. The good news for Strange is that gives him enough time to place himself between Lambert and all that ice.

"You selfish, arrogant, self-serving fuck--!" Lambert draws his hand back, ready to lash out again, feeling the magic gather at his fingertips as he makes a sign without even thinking about it, calling forth a sudden burst of flame.

Nothing seems quite as attractive right now as setting Strange on fire.

[kingsroads]

As he spots Lambert casting the sign, Strange quickly puts up a barrier spell. He can feel the flames lick the outside of the barrier, he can feel the heat so close to his face. A few of them even pass through, brushing up against his coat or some exposed flesh and causing Strange to wince in pain. But the barrier spell holds, only vanishing when Lambert's fire does.

This is dangerous. Lambert's getting better at his witcher magic. There's still plenty of ice and now plenty of puddles for Strange to make an escape if needed, but there's some part of him that desperately wants to keep going and desperately just wants to kill Lambert here and now. Because wouldn't Nightshade just be so proud of him if he managed to take out the Nightrider?

Though, there's something in Lambert's words that makes Strange frown. "Selfish?" It's another thing that honestly confuses Strange. How is this selfish? Everything he's doing, he's doing for her. He's attacking someone who used to be one of his dearest friends because it would make things easier for Nightshade, how is that selfish?

"If I was truly selfish, I wouldn't be doing this in the first place," Strange simply explains, as he casts a force bolt in Lambert's direction.