⇨ THE FANTASIA FESTIVAL

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone who decides to come!
When: Day 12
Where: Wismuth's Fantasia Festival
What: CY-Ren's performance in Wismuth's biggest music festival finally arrives, and those willing to help Noa the Star Guardian show up to intervene.
Warnings: It doesn't go super well.

SONG OF THE CY-REN↴ CY-Ren's arena is the biggest stage in the festival by far, but it isn't the only one. Several big acts have assembled in the surrounding area, all with a lovely view of the ocean and with Wismuth's skyline in the background. Though she isn't explicitly the main attraction at the festival, everyone knows she's the real reason so many people have showed up. The amount of star power she has is overwhelming, and there are plenty of fans that would get violent on her behalf. ► GROUP UP: Noa will ask everyone to meet her in a park area near the festival stage, so that you can discuss plans briefly before putting them into action. The key is to try to stop the concert before CY-Ren's plans can come to fruition - whatever they may specifically be. How you go about this is up to you, but with how many people are present, it's bound to be a challenge. ► INFILTRATE: After speaking with Noa and determining what everyone will be doing, it will be time for everyone to break into the performance arena. No one has tickets for this, unless they've forged them, as they sold out a while ago. Any means of getting inside is fine, whether that be teleporting, passing through walls, or jumping in by wing. Once you've gotten into the crowd, it's up to you to get close enough to the stage to disrupt the proceedings. ► UNDER HER SPELL: It only takes her first song for things to start going wrong. The impact of the music will strike each individual differently - for most it will only feel strange, but for some it will be completely transfixing, like something that reaches deep into their soul. Those people, the ones slated to become Harbingers, will react to the the song strongly - upon hearing it, they will gradually completely lose their sense of agency, sluggishly moving towards the stage by whatever means available to them. If someone tries to stop them, they will go as far as physically, or even violently, resisting. "Blindsided by the beat Clapping your hands, stomping your feet You didn't know that you fell Now you've fallen under my spell" Obviously, if you want to participate in the Harbinger plot, you'll have to arrange it so that they manage to follow through with their hypnotized objectives. They will feel somehow empty during this time, as like they need to follow the music in order to achieve any chance at fulfillment. If you are not becoming a Harbinger, you can still have your character be affected by this to a lesser degree and then stopped by another carnival member, or as a feat of self control. ► BATTLE: By the time she switches to the next song, things will have started to get real. Any blatant, long distance attacks made early on will be mysteriously blocked by some kind of magical force field surrounding the stage, which will take some time to penetrate - at least until Noa gets involved. Body guards will storm anyone who tries to get onto the stage, and ostensibly said guards are not at all human. Instead, they appear to be horrible looking shadow amalgamation in suits, and while their attacks are mostly just physical, they can move with unnatural quickness, can't be pinned, and strike very hard. They can be NPC'd by anyone, and only have vaguely humanoid thought processes. "Me and you, you and me Why don't we see who is better? We don't have to be one and the same thing Oh, what's so wrong with a little competition? Are you afraid of failing the audition?" By the end of the second song, the hypnotized carnival members will have been snatched up by CY-Ren's void agents and disappeared. This can manifest as them being grabbed and escorted off, or possibly disappearing into shadows alongside one of the bodyguards. The guards will be trying to work stealthily, ideally sneaking away anyone being affected by the song without anyone around them noticing, but they won't let secrecy get in the way of their objectives, either. The audience will be able to realistically notice if things start exploding in their faces, but the song will distract them from anything less obvious.

Comments

[stompadour]

If looks could kill, Jasper's furious squint wouldn't be allowed on an aeroplane.

She jabs an angry finger at Connie.

"You fused -- with -- Rose, or Steven or whatever she's calling herself -- you -- unbelievable."

[sworntothesword]

Jasper is right, it was really mean of her to lie about that.

"I didn't want you to get upset! You're just doing better since the last time we saw you, and..."

[stompadour]

Jasper's eyes kind of... bulge, in anger. It's a really unfortunate visual.

"You think it's any of your business how I'm doing??"

[sworntothesword]

Connie takes another step back, which she realizes is probably a mistake after she does it. It's best to hold your ground when dealing with angry large beasts.

"It's- it's not... but-"

[stompadour]

"I see exactly what this is," Jasper growls, taking a step towards her, looming dangerously. "You think you're going to be able to win me over by lying to me, trying to exploit my weaknesses... well, it's not going to work!"

[sworntothesword]

"No! That's not what I was trying to do!" Not phrased exactly that way, anyway.

Wait- "What weaknesses?"

[stompadour]

"I don't have any," says Jasper indignantly. The most ridiculous part is that she honestly does not believe that she is lying.

[sworntothesword]

"Then how could I capitalize on them?" She retorts, irritated as much at the bad verbage as she is at the implication.

"What are you afraid of?"

[stompadour]

"What? Nothing! I just meant that's what you try to do. But it won't work on me, because there's nothing for you to exploit like there always was with Rose Quartz's weak-minded little followers!" She's bristling, her hair sort of puffing up like she is in an anime.