⇨ 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

[stompadour]

Jasper bursts out of the trees at the water's edge – not on the far side of it, she's not expecting to lure her quarry into running straight into it, she just wants to relocate the fight. She steps calf-deep into the pool with a massive splash, and meets the boar's eyes. "Come on!" she roars. "I'll grind you into sand!"

[whattaprick]

The shouting is certainly one way to get the boar's attention. He wheels around, breath coming in heavy snorts, and bellows as he rushes forward. With how quickly he's moving and the glow surrounding him, in the shade of the trees he's almost like a living burst of sunlight -- if sunlight was incredibly angry and ready to kill you.

[stompadour]

It really is an impressive sight, and Jasper can at least admit that... not that it makes her any less determined to do what she came here to do. As he thunders towards her she leaps into the air, superhumanly high, with a spray of water behind her. This is ordinarily where she'd spin herself into a wheel of fiery energy and launch herself at her enemy from the air, but she's led to understand that counts as 'powers' and so instead she has to content herself with making use of momentum and gravity like a regular person.

[whattaprick]

The boar's fast, but its bulk means he's still vulnerable to the weaknesses of inertia and momentum. As Jasper launches herself high, high above the air, he makes another squeal of anger and spends another precious few seconds slowing itself down so it can turn to face her. Bizarrely, instead of crashing into the pond, his hooves stop an inch from its surface, though he still ends up skidding through the spray that Jaspers own ascent has kicked up.

But that is, indubitably, a pig walking on water and rudely ignoring the laws of physics.

As soon as the boar gets his legs under him, though, he's also going to start trying to charge straight up, to meet Jasper as she starts to crash down. He's frothing at the mouth, working himself into a fury, and it's clear any sort of strategy is going out of the window in lieu of brute force

[stompadour]

As she descends, Jasper's eyes widen, her pupils furious catlike slits, as she realises that the boar has changed his direction to vertically upwards -- and not only that, but he's launching himself that way from literally standing on the water. She doesn't have time to think about how unfair this is, though, only to react. As the boar rises to meet her, she swings herself around to bring her elbow down hard at his soft pig nose.

[whattaprick]

Too late for the boar to avoid it, unfortunately. There's the painful, meaty sound of impact to flesh and the boar's scream of outrage is more of a gurgle, the hit halting his ascent and sending him reeling downward. Apparently, it takes concentration to maintain that ability to stride on air, and the hit has disoriented him enough that it will take him a moment to find his feet, catching himself before he can smack into the pond and shaking his great golden head.

[stompadour]

A moment later Jasper, who has no unnatural ability to keep herself aloft, lands on his back with a grunt. Despite being made out of light and magic or some shit, her physical form is surprisingly heavy, as if she were a human person made of meat who was eight feet tall and built like a brick shithouse.

She also doesn't need to breathe, though, so she isn't winded for long; she wastes no time seizing handfuls of the boar's bristly fur to try to keep him from shaking her off too quickly.

[whattaprick]

Jasper has the advantage there, for though the boar doesn't have to answer to the tug of gravity, it does have to answer to breath. As the gem's weight slams into him, it shoves him into the muck. He feels hands grasping at his hide and responds immediately by trying to shake Jasper off, his bulk shuddering violently beneath her as he bucks and twists around.