⇨ END OF EVENT LOG

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone participating in the Prince's challenge.
When: Day 178, Afternoon
Where: A Conjured Forest
What: The Carnival takes to the Hunt again, but this time, with the intention to win.
Warnings: Violence and death.

SACRIFICES↴ In a bid to definitively settle a victor and reclaim the captured carnival workers, the Ringmaster has challenged the Prince to another hunt. If the Prince wins this challenge, he can claim the Blue Rose the Carnival stole; if the Carnival wins, the Ringmaster will be allowed to claim one True Name in the Prince's possession. With the Manor reshaped as it is, there's no longer a courtyard to transform into a suitable hunting ground. Instead, the Prince's magic has turned one of the floating islands between the fortress and the Carnival into an overgrown forest. Being a fae contest, of course, each side's idea of victory is not as straightforward as it would appear, but for those participating in the hunt, there is only one objective that matters: to kill their prey in the time they're given. The captives who have been transformed into beasts will have little of their human sentience remaining, and will be set loose to wander the forest freely. Instinct will compel them to conceal themselves or attack hunters, depending on their individual disposition. Upon death, the beasts will remain in their bestial forms. IN HOT PURSUIT↴ To win this challenge, the hunters must bring all of the beasts down with weapons or innate strength within the time limit: an hour and one minute. No magic may be used to take any of the beasts down -- any use of supernatural or magical abilities to trap, track, or kill the creatures will result in a forfeit to the Prince, and this will be made explicitly clear to the hunters before the contest begins. Hunters are allowed to bring their own weapons and mounts, provided they are non-magical in nature (or their magical abilities are not being actively used). If they do not have their own, ordinary ones of any variety will be provided to them. To expedite the proceedings, rather than dragging the bodies back individually, each hunter will receive a token from the Prince: an enameled blue rose. To formally claim a kill, they must place the rose on the dead beast (ideally, in their mouth, though as long as it's touching it it will do) and activate the spell by reciting the following words: "I claim this life for thy Master's game." "A life surrendered to claim my prize." Using the rose in this way will cause its petals to instantly wilt and magically bring the dead beast, and any hunters touching it, back to the Prince. So, don't touch it if you want to stay in the forest for more hunting. A CAPTIVE AUDIENCE↴ The Prince and the Ringmaster will be waiting for the results of the hunt in a roughly-constructed marble amphitheatre on another floating bit of rock. Those whose stomachs are too weak to take up even just the appearance of hunting can stay at the Carnival or hang out in the amphitheater, with the caveat that any attempt to attack the Prince or use magic to aid the captured prey will instantly default the win to the Prince. Should they want something to do other than twiddle their thumbs, the non-fighting carnival workers can peer into the hand mirrors left on the seats, smaller versions of what the Prince is watching the hunt through. They will be unable to control what images are brought up in the mirror, and it essentially only shows whatever the Prince is looking at himself. There's no sound, but the images are in full color (all the better to see blood with). This is also the area that the hunters and prey will be brought to when the spell is activated (or when every creature has been hunted). So, expect for a pile of corpses to end up there. [ OOC: This log wraps up the end of the Heartstone Manor plot! It is up to hunters and prey to create their own toplevels and sort out who will be delivering the finishing blow (feel free to use the OOC post about this event to coordinate that), but OOCly, it's set that the Carnival will win the Prince's challenge. The hunt's conclusion will be posted as a separate comment for characters to respond to.]

Comments

[kingsroads]

Strange is trying his hardest to ignore the kirin and block out the awful sound that it's making, a sound which seems to strike him to his core. He has to keep going. He's not done yet.

The dragon's fangs dig into Strange's hand, which makes him bite down on his tongue even harder. Unfortunately for the beast, Strange has two hands. With his other hand, he attempts to grab the dragon by the neck, trying to yank it off his hand, not really caring if the teeth tear the wound further. If he succeeds, then his next action is swift and decisive: with his now free and now bleeding hand, Strange attempts to stab the faerie dragon in the chest, hopefully where the heart is.

[wild_magic]

The dragon is easily pulled away, momentarily distracted by the sound the kirin makes; even as Strange grabs him by the neck it takes a moment for him to do more than turn towards the sound, although he quickly turns to struggling again, his wings flapping. It isn't enough, though, the creature small and weak, made weaker by blood loss, and it isn't hard at all for the knife to sink into his chest, past the scales, the faerie dragon letting out another hiss as the knife pierces its heart. His wings flap one last time as he tries to get away, to get to the other dragon, but then the small creature goes limp.

[fortuneglass]

"Ghk...." It's over then. She waits for a few moments with the silence when the creatures sounds stop, the only other sound her breath, her choked sobs, and whatever noise Strange may be making.

...Strange. She stiffens, and hurriedly runs toward him, dropping her bow and floating over the Kirin's body to alight near him. "S-Strange..!" she shouts with panic, looking to his back. "...Strange, how bad did he get you..!?"

[kingsroads]

Once he sees that the dragon is dead, it's like someone's flipped a switch inside Strange. His hands start trembling, his breath becomes a bit more labored, and the pain that he's been trying to hold back is visible on his face. It's honestly a miracle that Strange is still standing upright at the moment (though he looks like he might fall over any moment). He lets out a hiss of pain as he looks to his bleeding hand.

He can't really answer Carly's question about how badly he was gored (Strange doesn't have any way to see his back, after all) but he doesn't move as Carly floats over to him. It doesn't look good. There's three gashes on Strange's back thanks to the kirin's horns, all bleeding profusely. Two are more shallow, but the middle one is large and looks like it definitely would need stitches or some sort of magical healing.

"My coat should have a handkerchief in it," he says, with a little nod towards the now smoldering coat, still hanging out on the ground. "If you get that, I can—"

But Strange cuts himself off, looking down at his hands with a frown. They're still trembling, shaking too much that there's no way Strange could tie that handkerchief around his hand in the first place. It's a nervous tic he picked up from the peninsula, something that he thought used to be a sign of him being scared or doing great magic. Strange has a feeling it might be a sign of him doing great violence as well.

[fortuneglass]

"H-Handkerchief..!?" Carly balks-Strange doesn't just look bad, he sounds bad after all. The woman finds herself hesitant to so much as place a hand on his shoulder, and as she looks over the back she can see the damage. She swallows-and finally moves to try and gently take his arm. "...You need to sit," she finally says. "You need... ...We need something more than a handkerchief, you're bleeding horribly..!" she squeaks, looking around. Where....Where?

There must be someone, anywhere....

....

"...I hadn't seen Zecora, after we left the ball," she murmurs, whispering quietly. "...But...Did you see Steven, at all? Did he come in for the hunt?"

[kingsroads]

Strange's breathing is getting heavier, partly because of the pain shooting across his back, partly because he needs to be calm, he needs to be the capable one here, he can't let them get distracted. "You have a token, correct? We need to worry about the—the bodies before we worry about anything else."

After all, the bodies needed to be returned to the Prince. And they're just the bodies, just think of them as that, not their fellow co-workers...though a morbid part of Strange's brain is currently wondering who he stabbed in the heart. It was a dragon, after all. It could have been Lambert.

His hands are still trembling, but at least they aren't trembling as violently as they were before. With slow movements, Strange wipes his knife off on his shirt (the shirt's ruined anyway) before putting it back in it's sheath.

[starseedling]

The sounds that draw Steven in their direction are far from pleasant ones. It sounds like someone is dying, and, well... given what they're all doing out here, someone probably is. It makes his stomach turn and squeeze in against itself in a way that makes bile rise to the back of his throat. Still, he puts his hand on Lion's head and tells him to head in that direction.

He can already feel the pain - both present and recently extinguished - as they move. Ahead, he sees Strange and Carly, and there's blood on them - and off ahead there's something worse. Lion skids to a start, and Steven is already jumping off of his back, extending his wings and gracefully floating down to Strange's side, seeing and feeling those wounds.

"Are you guys okay?" he calls, his voice cracking with worry and fear already. "Did you-" It's only then that he dares look at what's on the ground, and it pauses him to freeze in the air, his tail curling with dismay.

"Oh," he gulps, covering his mouth with his hands. "Oh no."

He knew this was coming, but it still catches him off guard. There are already tears in his eyes.

[insidescoop]

Carly shakes her head, trembling when Strange makes the suggestion. She can't-she CAN'T-but her voice is caught in her throat, accompanied by the padding sound of paws, and-

"Steven-!" She turns, and there he is. Ah...she half wishes this was like in the dreams. They'd talk, things would go silly, and then maybe they could even laugh it off and wake up.

This isn't a dream though, and it's far from something that could become 'amusing'. Carly if anything is straining not to finally break into tears as she calls him over, gesturing hurriedly to Strange. "Steven..! Please, he needs help..! I can't think of anyone else left who can heal, I couldn't find Zecora when we left before, and..." And...well.

Strange's injuries speak for themselves.

[kingsroads]

The first thought that runs through Strange's mind as Steven approaches doesn't really have anything to do with Steven. Instead, there's a brief moment where he looks at Lion and though the pain and hurt, Strange has one singularly confused thought of 'what the fuck.' That's a lion? But it's pink? And it's huge? Is this another Pokemon thing, this is probably a Pokemon thing.

He winces as Steven places his hand near the wounds on his back, clenching his eyes shut with a grimace. When Strange opens them again, that feeling of still needing to be the adult comes back in full force. Because he sees where Steven's looking. He's looking at the bodies.

"Leave the dragon and deer alone. The Prince agreed to the terms of the contract so he'll keep to his word as long as we keep it ourselves." After all, he is a fae. And all of the fae that Strange had worked with seemed to value the idea of following contracts. And Strange honestly doesn't know how healing the animals would fall under those terms and conditions.

[starseedling]

Steven's eyes dart from Strange, to Carly, to the bodies, and back to Strange again. Even now, this is still so hard to take in. He swallows, trying to hold back his tears, to keep himself from being a big baby again, when people need him to be stronger. He visibly flinches, a few tears escaping down his cheeks, before he floats the rest of the way down.

He balls it up inside of him, and tries to focus on Strange's wound, even as his head is swimming. It isn't hard. He... He knows what he has to do.

"I... I know."

He brushes away a few of his tears onto his fingers, looking at them remorsefully. Then, he presses those fingers to the exposed skin of Strange's back. His gems and the smaller jeweled freckles all light up at once, as the bloodied wounds glow and begin to mend. It's not a perfect fix, like it'd be at home, but... it's what he can do.

[fortuneglass]

She can do nothing but nod, as Steven mutters that acknowledgment. It's a horrible place to be in, right now-but it's the most they can do. While Steven heals, Carly moves to scoop up the body of the smaller dragon, while readying her charm. "...I'll get them together," she starts, swallowing.

"...Strange... ....We should go back as well, I think." She looks to Steven as she says this.

...But somehow she knows the other will want to stay, for his own reasons.

[kingsroads]

Strange lets out a hiss of pain as Steven's fingers touch his bloody back. Almost instantly, the two smaller gashes start to heal up. The larger gash starts to heal as well. But from the center of the gash, a mirrored covering starts to grow outward, covering over some of the wound.

Strange's shirt is torn to ribbons as is. Through the various holes and tears, Steven might be able to see the patch of matching mirrored covering near the front of Strange's right shoulder (and he can certainly see the matching mirrored covering on Strange's wrists). Strange himself is unaware that this is happening as he can't really see his back. But he's healing. The pain's starting to lessen so he knows that Steven's magic is working. And at Carly's statement, he nods.

"None of the other creatures I've seen were as small as the dragon. I only know how to use a dagger, I won't chance it on something bigger." A pause, before, "And thank you, Steven. I feel much better now."