lostcarnival | ⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 178 - B1: Day 6
Where: The Carnival and sometimes on top of the Heart of Stone.
What: Now that the Prince is dead and gone, there's a lot left to sort out. As the remaining servants are liberated and those captured by the Prince are tended to, it's time for recovery and goodbyes.
Warnings: Nothing in particular.

HOME GROUND↴

At long last, it is over. The Prince is dead, and all of his stolen Names have been restored - all that's left to do is treat the wounds and move on. For the first day or two, the Ringmaster will be arranging passage for the servants that are left, all of which have remembered their names for the first time in years. The earth elemental that had been trapped and forced to serve as the Prince's manor, the Heart of Stone, is happy to help for the moment. It appreciates the Ringmaster's mercy, and is free after untold eons of imprisonment.

Yet, there are plenty of aspects that are far from simple. There are still servants left mad and transformed into beasts, with no easy way to change them back. The Prince's spells outlive him, and those bearing his poison and his curses will have a difficult road ahead of them. Though most of the bestial servants have been rounded up, and a large number that had been reduced to unmoving statues returned, even the Ringmaster can't return them to normal so simply.

The next week is for rest and for settling remaining affairs. If you want to bid farewell to any particular NPCs, or assure care is given where it's needed, now is the time to do it.

► A CURE: The Ringmaster will tell everyone simply - there is no simple way to undo another fae's magic. The Prince's powers were essentially on par with hers, which means that those who have been transformed to stone and those that were cursed into beasts and driven insane are not something she can trivially fix. It will take the work of the carnival and a couple weeks of treatment to shed the curse of stone, and the maddened servants are an entirely separate matter. She will do what she can, but for the most part she is arranging for the Prince's servants to be cared for elsewhere. At least for now, the Ringmaster will be animating the stone portions of people's bodies with magic, though those portions will still be a bit clumsy and numb feeling.

► THE NEW HEARTSTONE: In the absence of the prince, the Heart of Stone will be taking over the remains of the Prince's realm and preventing it from collapsing into void. As it turns out, the manor had been an earth elemental all along - a form of Wyld Fae almost on par to the Prince and Ringmaster themselves. How the Heart of Stone was enslaved is a long story presumably, but the Ringmaster considers it to be a sign of the Prince's own depravity. The Heart will be allowing visitors for the first couple days of this period through the portal, but keep in mind you are essentially just walking around on its body. At least the realm has a floor, now, instead an endless abyss surrounding it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Rita remembers the first time she stood under the sky. It was only a few years ago, but... well, she can kind of understand what it's like.

Maybe she should tell him why she's so interested in this... it might sound bad, but if it does, then so be it.

"Truth is, I specialize in that sort of thing. Magic barriers that repel monsters... I've done a lot of work with them before." She's not saying this to antagonize him, though. "Not monsters like you, exactly... but the theory behind it could be similar."

Even if she were, it's very hard to antagonize Papyrus; he deliberately misunderstands things to keep from feeling antagonized.

"Oh? I see! Barriers like that must be very popular among humans..."

No wonder she was so surprised to see him. Lambert was too, and he professionally fights (and kills) the violently unsociable monsters from his own world. It would be like if Papyrus... uh... Well, there's no parallel for Papyrus. But it would be like if Undyne had come out here, and met a human without warning. Fear, alarm, and very aggressively defending themselves and others.

"We always used puzzles and traps, instead...? Maybe it takes human magic to power them. Or we really did want them to visit, and the puzzles were just a convoluted welcome mat."

"Until now, I thought it was just my world." After all, she's visited several human-populated worlds now, and met people from several more, and none of them rely on barriers like the people of Terca Lumireis do.

"Puzzles and traps... against humans?" Rita's raising an eyebrow. That's a weird tactic. "And... wait, why would humans bother going through the barrier in the first place?"

"Well... That is..." Papyrus frowns, absently tapping fingers on his hip. Clack, clack, clack. Why would humans go in the barrier? If it was on purpose, it'd be a little like... risking getting caught in a Hotland trap for the rest of their life? Nobody would do that.

"I don't know! I think it must have been on accident. But, a few of them did. Over a few centuries."

"By accident? I guess that would make more sense than any alternative..." Surely no one would intentionally throw themselves in a potentially-inescapable cave full of monsters. Then again... idiots might, and there's no shortage of those in any world...

"Anyway," she begins with a wave of her hand, trying to sound aloof, "I brought up my experience because... I mean, if you wanted to try dispelling the barrier, I might be able to help." Rita, of course, knows nothing of Papyrus's contract.

It makes a lot more sense than somebody going in on purpose... and then immediately pushing their way to the exit. The human he knew, for example, had been in such a rush to move forward that they'd hardly stayed in the guest room / capture zone at all.

"Oh! That's very thoughtful!" Papyrus praises, sweeping past any aloofness with gratitude and a hint of apology. "Dispelling it is already in the cards. It's my contract to! But if you're interested in studying it, you could talk to my brother. Or Doctor Alphys. Or, even the Ringmaster."

"I see." Rita returns some of her attention to the potatoes, finishing off the one container. "Good. Barriers are supposed to protect people. If you're not dangerous, then there's no point." Also, it's cruel, but Rita sticks to the pragmatic side of the argument.

Maybe it would be interesting to ask for more details, though... She'll keep those people in mind for later.

"Mmmhmmm," Papyrus agrees, and digs around in the box for more food offerings. It's good to have the snack option available, especially when recovering from injuries. "Oh! I wonder if that's why we do puzzles. Because, even if they're not being barriers... they can be fun to solve?"

Depending on the quality of the puzzle, of course.

"Fun?" Rita echoes, her gaze wandering around the room, as if disinterested. She doesn't do a lot of things for fun. And when she does, she tries not to admit it.

Although... the blastia formulas she loves so much aren't so different from puzzles, in some ways.

"I don't know... maybe if they're challenging enough."

"Are tedious, lengthy key-gathering puzzles challenging?" Because if not, the underground probably doesn't have anything on a level for Rita's enjoyment.

Even Papyrus' constructions were always more about the... basic experience, than any significant challenge.

"Not really..." Rita gives him a dubious look. "That just sounds like a pain in the ass."

Interpreting ancient texts, magical formulas, mathematical equations... those are puzzles Rita can enjoy. What he's describing just sounds exasperating.

"Well! Yes." Papyrus agrees, without an ounce of hesitation. "But it's... it builds character. It's mannerly. Or something like that. Putting up with it, in good humor, is the challenge!"

Monster culture is heavily human-derivative, in the end, but there's some holdout quirks from their centuries of isolation... ones that no one else in the Carnival seems to have.

⇨ THE PRINCE IS DEAD

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