⇨ FOURTH WALL EVENT! (OPEN TO ALL)

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone and the 4th Wall Visitors!
When: Day 175
Where: Heartstone Manor
What: THE 4TH WALL BALL BEGINS! This is where unapped visitors can post and roleplay. Please read the rules and setting info below. For more information and visuals refs, read this. Questions can be asked over here.
Warnings: Individually marked! Could be a lot of things.

THE GRAND BALL↴ Heartstone Manor is a giant, spooky castle floating in the middle of a twilight filled void. It is the home of a Wyld Fae calling himself The Prince - and despite his name, he is a bestial creature crammed into a gentleman's clothing, completely obsessed with replicating the ideals of old timey human society, much like the 1800's. The Prince and his many servants all dress in a manner appropriate to to the 1500's - 1800's, and decorum and beauty are held sacred above all else. All the workers of the carnival are currently staying there, in the hope of enabling a successful diplomatic venture between the Ringmaster and the Prince. The Grand Ball is being thrown by the Prince to honour these guests, but his manner of doing this is going to come as a bit of a surprise. THE RULES↴ Powers are all partially nerfed for 4th Wallers. They can be used in small to moderate ways for the sake of RP and narrative flavour, but 4th Wallers shouldn’t generally be using any powers in a super disruptive manner. No using powers for fighting with NPCs (yet), causing general chaos, or otherwise making your character a burden to the Prince. If they try, they’ll find themselves unable to do so. Your character isn’t sure how they got here but they think they’re okay with it. Your character won’t remember how they were captured by the Prince at the start of the ball. They’re just kind of here and in formal wear, and something tells them it’s probably fine to just enjoy the ball. They are wrong. In-game characters won’t initially remember how they all ended up at the ball either thanks to a temporary amnesia effect, but they will be able to be concerned about the fact that other people (possibly people they know) have shown up, and the fact that those other people are probably the Prince’s captives. Weren’t they doing something else at the castle before this, though? It’s hard to remember. This is all very confusing. 4th Wall character who aren’t apping in were possibly never the real deal in the first place. There are a mixture of genuine captives and spooky replications created with magic – this is to provide some flexibility regarding 4th wall character’s states in game, as well to allow more than one of each character to be played. If there are multiple people playing the same character, then whichever one has an app accepted will have been the real one. No doubles of in game characters. (Taken list here.) No AUs, no CRAUs, and nothing else besides characters that have full source canons or are original characters/fandom OCs with no bearing on the canon plot. If you tag in with a character who breaks these rules we reserve the right to remove them. THE SETUP: 4TH WALLERS↴ With incredibly foggy memories of their recent past, your character will find themselves at a grand ballroom dance, filled with a mixture of normal humans and odd looking humanoids that have strange features like wings, horns, tails, fur, and the like. They have vague memories of being dressed for the occasion, but are not sure by who or why. Most disturbingly, they will find that, at first at least, they don’t really care about the details. It seems like a pleasant event, doesn’t it? Why not enjoy it. This effect is definitely some kind of mind control, so you can feel free to have your characters be a bit confused and conflicted about it. Ultimately, they have been charmed to participate in the dance, so they will feel like riding the wave is the best thing to do even if that wouldn’t normally be their cup of tea. If your character has resistances to some forms of mind control, they are still overruled in this circumstance. They may discover people they recognize (castmates) or even duplicates of themselves (somehow?), and these can all be treated as canonly occurring and played out as such. This event is canon for Lost Carnival, so it should be played seriously and respectfully – not that silly shenanigans aren’t also bound to happen. All characters are required to dress in formal attire appropriate to a period area – specifically anywhere from the 1500s to 1800s. The Prince prefers if people are heteronormative in their clothing choices, but if you want you can probably get away with your ladies wearing suits or men wearing dresses as long as they look presentable otherwise. THE SETUP: MANOR GUESTS↴ You find yourself at the Grand Ball without really remembering how you got here. The last few days are a foggy blur, and though you can remember some of the important stuff you were dealing with, it will feel less important right at the start. Of course, as the night goes on, memories of how the carnival reached this event will become more and more clear – as well as the inevitable worry and stress that comes with it. For most people, there will have absolutely no memory of anything that happened after the morning of Day 175. Did the boating trip ever happen? Possibly not. Even as the night progresses, they will still have no recollection of how most of Day 175 went, which is probably disturbing. The Mod has contacted those that are exceptions to this privately to tell them what they will remember. The people lost to the Manor’s security earlier in the week will be here too, but not as guests. In fact, all of them will be dressed in the black attire of a Heartstone Manor servant and will seem pretty okay with that fact. There are parts of them that look changed – and their dispositions are definitely one of them. How else could they possibly be working for the Prince now? Updates to the event situation will be posted down in this section below. People can react to these posts as the circumstances change, and may new top levels based on them. It is possible to try to sneak away from the ball, but Manor Security will be trying to hunt you down. There is no mandatory outcome planed to this event, so character decisions can and will have a major effect in where the plot goes from here. THE ACCOMODATIONS↴ MUSIC AND DANCING: There will be music playing the whole night, and most of it is so good you feel practically compelled to dance to it. It's possible to resist, but why would you want to do that, you party pooper? FOOD AND DRINK: There are circle tables set up with fine silverware, and upon sitting down you will soon have a waiter come back to ask for an order. You can request basically any European cusine and it will be made for you. You will also be given drinks, most of which are alcohol, no matter your age. Fae don't care about children. BALCONY STARGAZING: There are balconies that are connected to the ballroom in multiple locations that you can step out onto to get some fresh air. You'll see the courtyard of the Manor down below you, but everything beyond that is black, as if the castle is floating within a twilight void. (Because it is.) One small change is that there are stars out tonight, probably added to the sky for the occasion. ALL NIGHT LONG: The ball will go on far into the early morning. Or, at least, until everyone fucks it up.

Comments

⇨ TAKING ACTION

[ringleaders]

If your character is taking action in a way relevant to the overall plot, this is where you can come and express your intent and receive mod feedback. This is basically like the investigation section on other logs but is more centered around player action than finding information.

[pipers_son]

Yeah, no doubt about it, Joker is looking for the Ringmaster. If she is there, they are probably and slightly less fucked.

[ringleaders]

She is present, but seemingly aloof tonight. Joke will catch sight of her descending to the ballroom area, only to storm off onto the larger of the balconies - a few moments later, a number of people who were out there previously will nervously come back inside, because the aura she is giving off is unwelcoming as hell.

[hippocarnival]

A few hours later into the ball Yuya is going to look for the Ringmaster, for something very serious he wants to talk to her about.

If he gets the chance, he'll tell her Reira's in trouble and he needs to help her. Given they're here for the Ringmaster's bargain, he wants to either help her with her bargain or talk to the Prince directly.

[ringleaders]

He'll be able to find her, though she's a bit impatient with him. She'll cut him off because he can explain too much.

She'll say that she already knows, and that she's prepared to do the only thing she can to help them. So if he wants to do something more than that, he'll have to speak to the other carnival members and work it out, particularly the supervisors.

[betheman]

Gongenzaka, following his chat with Sans, immediately finds a balcony so that he can privately feel for the energy of all the others-Sans in particular, though he'll focus on the signatures of those he recognizes.

Regardless of what he senses, he'll be chatting with another character about things (that'll come later though); for now however, is there anything notably 'off' about the energy?

[ringleaders]

Yes! Their energies feel very off, like the way their energies flow have been completely rerouted by something. It's hard to know the specifics beyond "that's definitely not normal" but he can be certain that something is wrong.

Sans, while having that trait, is distinct from the others in the sense that there seems to be a lot of foreign energy bogging him down, like a toxin. All of them feel like there is something toxic within their spirits, but his in particular is polluting his spirit very badly.

[wild_magic]

Alright so Susan is going to try questioning the servants. Specifically he's going to spy around and see if he can find anyone particularly young or motherly looking, for his first go - he figures they'd be easier to get information out of.

For now, the information he's trying to get at is what caused the amnesia. If he at least knows that, then he (and Strange, and possibly Lauren) can try to figure out a way to fix that. Of course if anything else comes up in his talking that seems important or new then he'll probably try to see if he can dig anything else up.

As for how he'll try to get that info... That part's a little harder. Actually outright asking about it seems hard, so he'll try to kind of dance around it by mentioning people feeling under the weather, do they have any ideas how to fix it, that kind of thing. If they seem to start reacting hostilely he'll try to fix it first through talking, but resort to a Charm Person spell if needed (using it on up to 4 additional servants if any others are around and see), to try and get out of the situation safely.

[ringleaders]

The servants are in full brush-off mode right now. Unless Susan has anything more specific to offer in terms of information to get them started, they are going to brush off questions with relative nonsense, like "ah you must be feeling tired, maybe have a sit and enjoy a drink!" or anything that ushers them towards enjoying the party. None of them will get hostile, but they will just be very disinterested in giving any kind of useful information, besides anything you might say to someone reporting that they feel sick at a regular party.

[kingsroads]

Quick aesthetics question, but are there any medium to large mirrors or water features (small fountain, stupid moats) in the ballroom area?

[ringleaders]

Probably some mirrors, yes. I will give you that one.

[whattaprick]

At some point halfway through the evening, Lambert feigns a genteel burp, after which one of the dining tables at the edge of the room is now on fire. That's it. Just the whole table, on fire. The witcher squints at the table like it's done him a personal offense by being inherently flammable, then shrugs and looks away, addressing nobody in particular.

"It was a shitty tablecloth, anyway." And he raises his empty glass, still in hand. "Hey, can I get another drink?"

[osteothropy]

And then, just like that, Sans has appeared behind him, like he's been waiting this whole time for the second that someone would give him an excuse. He clamps a skeletal hand on Lambert's shoulder, digging in his claws and trying to tug him around to look at him.

"Uh. Sir," he says, the title more than a little bit sarcastic. "You better come with me."

[stillwinningthehardway]

Scout manages to summon her dæmon and get a clearer head. She was there to question the bunny and bicorn, she knows the Manor is alive, and she's able to sense presences. This leads to ROOF PLAN:

Scout, Joker, Rita, Papyrus, Carly, and Peridot are all going to have Scout's stealth thing cast on them so only others in the group and the Manor itself can detect them (It's a fae glamour so how well that works idk, but that's her intent) before they split up and, after Lambert sets a table on fire, get to the roof via different balconies/ with their different powers. It's been raining for a while by then too, which should help make them harder to notice.

Are there any of those unseen presences on the roof? Failing that, any windows that don't have tangible living people near them? Scout wants to try to make an appeal to the Manor. She's trying to be cautious.

WE GOT THIS...

[soft_focus]

UPDATE (Since Joys is at work); Peridot has left the Roof Team to do other things, but a revised plan has been made as follows; keeping in line with the original comment, Scout has cleared her head by summoning her Daemon, and is using information gathered from the questioning of Bunny and Bicorn in tandem with her ability to sense presences.

Scout will seek assistance in getting to the roof, in order to make an appeal to the manor itself. She will be casting her stealth glamor upon herself, as well as Rita and Joker, all three of whom will be sent to the roof using Papyrus help. The glamor SHOULD hide them from everyone other than themselves, Carly and Papyrus, and the Manor. They will be moving up there once Lambert sets the table on fire and begins fighting Sans.

Details of what all three will do on the roof specifically depend on what happens on the roof once they're there, outside this goal.

While these three are on the roof, Carly and Papyrus will keep watch from the balcony. Carly will alternate between human state, and hummingbird state; while a hummingbird, she will hover just above the balcony cover, keeping watch for the three on the roof, and listening for any information they bring back. She also listens for Papyrus;

Papyrus, taking advantage of his nature, will loudly talk to Carly when anyone-anyone at all-comes near the balcony entrance. The moment she's addressed, Carly will fly back down to the area of the balcony out of sight from the door, turning back into her humanoid state; she will use her fire magic to heat her body until the water of her clothes evaporates, fanning herself and 'continuing' conversation with Papyrus, giving the impression that the two have simply been chatting there for the moment.

In order to keep the illusion strong, she will leave a fire-ball beside Papyrus, out of sight from the door; it should give off enough light to make it seem as though she is already there, and due to its nature, does not smell.

[atouts]

Team We Remember Everything plus Syrlya will be making their move when Lambert begins picking his fight with Sans. They will preferably be doing so while LeFlamme, the butler, is missing from the ballroom for future reasons, but the timing might not match up, so oh well.

Between Syrlya's and Taako's invisibility and illusion magic, they'll try to hide everyone from sight, along with the section of manor wall they'll be working with.

Childermass will be bringing both the bunny girl and bicorn servants up out of his shadow at this point, entrusting their safety to the rest of the group and telling them to carry on with the plan without him should he be gone longer than five minutes. This is because he's about to make an attempt to shadow-step his way out of the ballroom and back to Taako's room. He is going to retrieve Taako's glaive if he can make it.

[ringleaders]

Childermass will be able to collect the glaive without much difficulty!

The rabbit girl will knock on the wall, and the rocks will shift, revealing an entrance to the servant passages. The tunnel immediately ahead is free of other people.

When asked to show the way to LeFlamme, the butler, the bicorn woman will look really uncertain about accomplishing that, but since bunny has only been out of circulation for a couple days, she actually has a pretty good idea of how all of this works.

The bunny girl will start leading them down the servant tunnels of a pretty good idea where she's going. The tunnels haven't shifted around too much which means she basically knows where LeFlamme might be. They travel for a few minutes through a set of twisted pathways before a regular looking man in formal servants dress turns a corner and starts coming towards the group. He's holding a tray.

It's a fairly cramped passage way, so there isn't much room to get around him. What tactic do they take?

[moonfang]

Alright, Ichigo has been taken over by the Prince's brainwashing again and is no longer standing in his way. Zangetsu seeks out the Ringmaster, following her unique spiritual aura. His black skull-like mask covers his face and hides his expression, making him more menacing despite his ridiculous powder blue outfit.

[ringleaders]

He can find her, but she isn't paying much attention. It seems like if he wants anything besides the cold shoulder, he better have something good or interesting to say.

[wild_magic]

Alright so! The dumb brother duo is going to be doing something dumb as usual - this time trying to investigate Reira basically. Susan's chaotic-good tendencies just can't let him ignore her obviously needing help.

So their current plan is to transform into animals - Susan using Polymorph to transform into a sparrow like Reira's own a mouse, and Lauren turning into a rat using his Wild Shape druid ability. The plan is to then have Susan stick with Reira like her bird has been, to try and go with her outside of the ballroom. The plan doesn't really go further than that. Lauren will be following at a safe distance in case something goes wrong. OKAY NEW PLAN both boys will follow at a distance, trying to slip into the servants' area with her. From there they will try to follow from a distance, unless they see her obviously catching onto them.

And if they see her catching on... Then Lauren is going to untransform to try and talk to her. Or try to stop her from doing anything else like getting help.

Susan will still be a mouse at first though.

[ringleaders]

I think I need a bit more info about what Reira is doing in response to Lauren's attempt to waylay her before I can resolve this attempt! I can't completely control her character, so you may need to speak with Usagi to work out how the conflict between her and Lauren would progress, knowing that Reira could easily summon help if necessary.

[hurtcomfort]

here's another for the boneheaded decisions train. Cole's going to hang around near the Prince in order to see if he can mentally pick up on any worries/hurts/painful memories/etc.

Cole probably won't pick up on anything with his creepy spirit telepathy because fae nonsense beats spirit nonsense but he is rather sneaky and has his 'don't look at me' sort of stealth abilities so he might be able to overhear something. Assuming that he doesn't get incapacitated, any information will be relayed to Rita later because she's the one who talked him into this terrible decision.

Alternatively, how quickly is he gonna get yelled at/shoved into fae jail because leave the Prince alone, you creep.

[ringleaders]

He'll be able to sense SOME things from the Prince, but nothing nearly as deep as he could from a regular person. He will get feelings of impatience and anticipation, as if he's waiting for something in specific to occur, as well as feelings of petty satisfaction and amusement at the things happening during the ball.

On the bright side, he won't seem to pay much attention to Cole.

[amusicaladventure]

Ash is hunting Tyki down and performing magic to try to break him out of mind control.

She will be singing an original song, meaning that it is a reasonably powerful effect, is incredibly blatant, and could occur in completely unpredictable ways, win or lose.

[periphrasing]

About a half an hour after the balcony collapse, an exhausted and bedraggled Peridot makes it back to the ballroom and heads to seek out the Ringmaster. She looks like garbage; she hasn't bothered to dry herself off from the rain, and she's not even making the effort to keep her heavy tail lifted off the floor when she trudges in, so she's just trailing a long streak of muddy water behind her like some kind of miserable slug.

She's also clutching a bundle under one arm, which looks to be made up of two long objects wrapped up in a spare tablecloth. The pommels of two swords are just visible poking out of one end.

If/When she finds the Ringmaster, she'll trudge up to her and inform her that the Prince has captured her Nightrider, which is information that Peridot assumes she already has but she's not sure what else to do at this juncture