lostcarnival | ⇨ FOURTH WALL EVENT! (OPEN TO ALL)

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⇨ FOURTH WALL EVENT! (OPEN TO ALL)

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Syrlya holds up his arm that's gradually turning purple and black, although he doesn't move to sit down. "Some sort of poison from the spiders, I presume."

To Foster's cold reply, Childermass can only shrug. It was worth a shot, but that said, he turns his attention to Taako.

"It's the poison from the spiders. It'll reach the rest of his body soon, which means we either need to cure it or—" And here he looks back over at Syrlya. "We may have to remove it to save your life, but I do not know if you would survive that, either."

If Foster is still looking around for mirrors, there are only two. One is a large mirror outside of the Prince's walk-in closet, and the other is a hand mirror sitting on the bedside table.

Upon inspecting the bedside hand mirror, the bicorn will come up behind him and look at it, furrowing her brow. After a few moments, she will say:

"That mirror... I believe he used it to command the house somehow. But it would only react to his face..."

Edited 2017-10-23 02:26 (UTC)

Taako glances over, and... oof. He screws up his face.

"... uh... I mean, we could just hack the thing off, I guess, but we don't really need a spell for that. I guess I could cauterize it afterwards?" He glances back at Syrlya, apologetic. "I mean, if that's cool with you, I guess? What, uh, are you, exactly?"

Syrlya cringes at that. "I'd like to keep my limbs attached if at all possible!"

But he knows he may not had that option, he may not have a choice. He inspects the wound critically as it starts going up his bicep. "I am--foliage. A plant."

That's more descriptive than his actual people. He presses his good hand against the wounded flesh, trying to feel it. "Sap does not bleed quickly. How well could you remove the afflicted flesh without taking the whole arm? Although it's preferable if you've better healing magic than I."

"Mmmm." Foster makes a pensive sound in response to the Bicorn.

He doesn't pick the mirror up, but instead comes up behind the elf suddenly while Taako is looking over Syr's arm.

"When you're done with this, I have something for you."

He's mostly addressing Taako, because he has an idea--but the 'you' is plural nonetheless.

Edited 2017-10-23 02:53 (UTC)

"-- okay, first off, I'm gonna need you to not sneak up on me like that, holy shit." Taako blurts when Foster speaks to him, suddenly right behind him. He whips around, leaning in close to frown directly in his face.

... and then he slips back into a more neutral expression and goes, instead, to Syrlya, looking over the arm more directly.

"... Uh. Maybe I can just kind of... burn off the gross stuff? If you're a plant and all that. Is that... okay with you, or like..."

Edited 2017-10-23 03:10 (UTC)

Syrlya's expression falls in a very 'no, not really okay when he thinks about it'.

But he relents with a sigh, and at least his shoulder still works so he can hold his arm up, turning his body so it's sticking out away from him.

"Do we have any option besides mutilating it?" It's a rhetorical question, because if Taako could his suggestion would probably be that and not to amputate or burn him. But better that than dead. "I have to trust whatever it is you can do."

"If we cannot cure it, then no, I don't believe there is," Childermass adds his own two cents after listening quietly for a bit. "The important part is that you survive to get the doctor to look at it back at the carnival."

"Yeah, uh, I mean... we can mutilate it differently, but that's pretty much the extent of your options here."

Taako shifts the glaive in his hand, glancing from it to Syrlya.

"It's either burn it up, freeze it, or turn it to stone, so, like... your call, I guess."

Syrlya lets out a heavy breath. Those options are just getting progressively worse, when he considers the relative 'ease' of healing from it.

He stares up at the ceiling. "Burning it is. Go ahead."

"Okay, if you're sure. Just, uh... think of nice things, I guess."

And Taako holds up his casting glaive, aiming the tip of the blade towards Syrlya's arm.

"Oh, and, uh, you probably want to stay super still for this."

With that, he casts Scorching Ray-- it's far easier to control than other fire-based spells, and he gets three goes at it. Each of the three beams is directed at Syrlya's arm, and away from his body as much as possible, angled so that he wouldn't hit anyone else or... well, anything especially flammable.

Luckily the arm is completely numb, so although he flinches a bit he can't... actually really feel the burning much. Just some of the unaffiliated skin further up his arm.

Once it's done the... purple at least doesn't seem to immediately be spreading past the charred skin. He grits his teeth in disgust, letting it drop to his side again.

"Thanks." He fishes in his pocket for the Swallow potion that Lambert passed onto him, fumbling it open with one hand and downing it quickly. It feels awful and he lets out a choked gasp after, just dropping the empty bottle and trying his healing spell once more.

He gestures towards Foster, for everyone else to just continue on while he collects himself.

Childermass keeps a hand on Syrlya's shoulder -- on the side that isn't being set on fire, thankfully -- and lingers a moment longer (although he had to look away when he actually was on fire, that's just disconcerting) once it's done, raising an eyebrow at the bottle Syrlya pulls out. It looks like one of Lambert's, though, so he won't question it.

Now he'll actually glance over to Foster and pay the man some attention, frowning some at how disconnected he appears from all of this happening, but then again, what could he expect?

"Alright. What is it?"

"There's a mirror," Foster says immediately, giving Syr barely the second required to finish his gesture. While he did wait for everyone to finish, he was not very patient about it. Syr's fate is not interesting to him in regards to what he's actually here for.

"She--" He gestures to the Bicorn girl, "Reports that it... can be used by the Prince to command the house." Organising his thoughts like this is hard, no matter how many times he repeated what he wanted to say in his head. It helps immensely that he can just repeat what she said, though.

"But it needs his, ah... it needs his face." He looks directly at Taako. Then, pointedly:

"We want to go up, right?"

Edited 2017-10-23 04:58 (UTC)

As soon as Lapis hears the word 'mirror' uttered, she's quick to move the hell away from wherever said mirror happens to be. And very pointedly, in a very tense and terse tone, she speaks.

"How about we leave the mirror alone instead." It's certainly not phrased like a question.

"It needs his face...?" Taako thinks on that for a beat; and then he smirks smugly, setting his glaive up on its end. "No problemo, give me a second."

And, in a flash of light, Taako vanishes...

... and in his place is the form of the Prince, perfectly mimicked. Until he speaks, anyway.

"Nailed it."

Syrlya just spends a moment in pain. At the least, the queasy feeling from the potion is helping shake the leeway of the fog from his mind, and he's able to remember the preceding days more clearly. He is listening to Foster even if he doesn't look up, but it takes a moment for him to put the pieces together.

When he looks up, Taako is already transformed. After assessing him for a moment, he straightens up with a more confident, if pained, grin.

"Wonderful, you can become the Prince!" Because of course the illusionist thinks impersonating people is a great solution. "Are you able to disguise your voice as well?"

"If you're so afraid of mirrors, you can go watch the door instead," Childermass says off-handedly to Lapis before shifting his attention back to Foster and Taako. He won't move from Syrlya's side, there to offer a stabilizing hand on the nightrunner's shoulder should he need it.

The transformation gets him a somewhat surprised look out of him, at least.

"That is quite good, but he does have a point about the voice."

"Uhhh... hmmm." Taako frowns with the Prince's face, thinking... and then he goes digging in his pockets, and eventually pulls out a pack of gum.

"Lemme give this a go."

He pops a piece into his-- the Prince's-- mouth, and then chews it for a beat, holding up a finger.

"... how's this?"

The Prince's voice comes out of him, and he breaks into a grin when he himself hears it.

"Oh hell yeah!"

Lapis' blunt rejection of the mirror seems to get to Foster; a slightly troubled look ghosts across his face before it's replaced by something quite smug. The real accomplishment here was arguably Taako's, but he knew that Taako was capable of magical transformation; this is why he'd been so impatient, and it's why he now looks so pleased with himself.

Still, he glances at Lapis uncertainly before turning his attention back to Taako, Childermass, and Syrlya.

"... we don't have time to waste."

Syrlya gestures to the mirror. Who knows how long Lambert's distraction would last. "We do not. See if you can ask the Manor to open the way to the Blue Rose specifically."

He has another question for the Manor, but... He wants to assure the rest of the team can acquire the rose, first.

Edited 2017-10-24 01:12 (UTC)

Taako clears his throat, coughing.

"Uhhh. Right, got it." And then he goes to the mirror, facing it with his freshly-disguised face, taking a deep, steeling breath. "Okay. Uh..."

Right. Speak like the Prince. He does his best to shut out his own mannerisms for a moment, focusing on his impersonation, and...

"Open the way to the Blue Rose."

He doesn't do half bad, he thinks.

The glass of the mirror will shimmer for a moment, and then a series of stone blocks will pull free of the roof and descend to the floor, creating a staircase leading up to the level above.

Upon climbing the staircase they will find that the entire center area of this floor is sectioned off into a large terrarium that is surrounded by a wall of crystal stone that is as transparent as glass, besides a slight rainbow sheen. Inside the terrarium is a mass of slightly transparent, blue-ish rose vines that look like they could have been crafted from a similar glass, all growing from a singular blue rose in the middle of the room.

You can see that the terrarium has a similar transparent roof, and a large glowing crystal orb transmits down light that seems to refract from the rose and travel back up, like an exchange of energy.

SUDDENLY, THUNDER BOOMS AND LIGHTNING FILLS THE ROOM ABOVE.

Papyrus's face is highlighted, pressed against the glass, eagerly looking down at you from the crystalline ceiling.

It isn't half bad at all. In fact, it's all good, seeing how the staircase descends. Childermass will first see if Syrlya needs any more help, but as it's his arm and not his legs, he'll only offer if it looks like the man may be struggling. From there, it's up the stairs as quickly as sense will allow.

And there's a lot to take in, particularly how the crystal and the rose seem to interact.

"I'm not quite sure what that part up there i—" Hang on. He squints, still looking up. "Ah. Is that... the janitor?"

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