lostcarnival | ⇨ WISMUTH ENDGAME

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⇨ WISMUTH ENDGAME

Who: Everyone!
When: Evening Day 27
Where: The Wismuth Super Dome, Round 2
What: On the verge of creating a world ending army of Harbingers, CY-Ren and her followers are challenged by the carnival and the Star Guardian team. It's time to stop.
Warnings: Singing

THE LAST REQUIEM↴

CY-Ren's planning of a charity concert has been well received - news of bomb threats and harassment from fans have painted her as a victim in the media spotlight, and her generous attempt to make amends is getting plenty of attention. She's been busy spinning things for as much focus as possible, and the threat of potential danger has the news focusing in on the proceedings. The date is set for Day 27 in carnival time. You won't want to miss it!

► BUILD UP: In the last couple days before the concert, CY-Ren will be reaching out to all of her Harbingers, regardless of where they might be at the time - yes, this means that even if you ran off, she'll come to find you! (Unless you're in the carnival like Taako, then you're fucked.) She'll tell you that her plans are coming to head, and that if you help her with one last task then the planet will be on its way to destruction. There are multiple ways you can aid her: you can help amp up her performance as evil backup singers/musicians, or you can set yourself up around the perimeter at specified locations, using your sparks as a beacon to her magic. She's certain that she's perfected her musical formula, this time - when the concert gets underway, all those present with the capacity to be a Harbinger will awaken, and the end of days will begin.

► THE CONCERT: By the time the concert arrives, the Star Guardians will have the idea that there's something unnatural about the way the new Harbingers were made - this isn't how it usually happens, and that sets them apart from someone like CY-Ren. Maybe that means that they can be pulled away with less drastic measures as well, given that the Void didn't have the full right to their souls in the first place. Anyone coming to help (and those who aren't Star Guardians will be encouraged to come as well, given that if they are making attempts at friendship, super powers aren't required) will gather in the area early, determined to stomp this one out before it can get too far.

► HARBINGERS: This is when they will be encountered by Harbingers guarding the perimeter, as well as a small army of void creatures defending CY-Ren's last performance. Star Guardians will become aware through the power of Creation that the Harbingers on the perimeter must be neutralized in order to disrupt the concert - CY-Ren is feeding on their negative energies, and it will make it too dangerous to attack her directly. Confrontations with any Harbingers can be worked out on an individual basis via plotting - just make up a location around the concert and have your Harbinger providing a beacon of their own design.

As the concert ramps up, however, the excess of Void energy will cause the newly made Harbingers to destabilize - mentally or magically, their powers will be harder to control, and their negative emotions will be running wild. However, with that instability, there is also room for a breakthrough - for someone to blast the darkness from their Sparks with friendship and light. Now is the time to reach out.

► STAR GUARDIANS: If a Harbinger is successfully turned away from the darkness, they will briefly regain control of their Sparks, and be able to manifest as a Star Guardian for the first time. This will allow the Guardians to outnumber CY-Ren's forces. Their look and powers will still be based around the same Spark, but purified by Creation and aimed towards positive things. Time to win.

► DANCE OFF: Given that the Spark of Music and the Spark of Dance are colliding, it is perhaps not a surprise that this all manifests as a big ass musical number. As CY-Ren and Noa have a music battle, everyone present (even if you aren't a Star Guardian) will find themselves magically inspired to join in. You can dance, sing, or anything in between - the more people who support Noa's side, the stronger she will be. There will be a megathread for this part of the conflict, and at this point any unturned Harbingers will awaken and be able to turn their Sparks towards the light. As CY-Ren begins to lose power, what the players do with her will be up to you.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Lambert, perhaps to no one's surprise, curses foully when the other two Guardians group up on him. He'd probably appreciate the sentiment more if they weren't in the middle of a fight here, and he forces himself off Pig with a slight stagger. The bike's shiny gold finish that was facing Baker's assault is slightly blackened with soot, but she's otherwise unharmed.

Instead of actually answering Yuya, he steps forward to the edge of the bubble barrier, eyes fixed on the goo-afflicted Harbinger.

"Are you an idiot!?" He bawls at Childermass, lungs clearly working well enough to be heard even over the splat and bang of Yuya's other bubble's popping. The beacon's still going, though even he can tell it's begun to partly falter.

"I'm supposed to be the one who sets people on fire! Not you!"

Yuya's eyes snap between Childermass, Lambert, and Lambert's wound. Things have slightly calmed down after that initial burst of violence (of course, they just came up on Childermass out of nowhere), but Yuya's reluctant to drop the shield just yet. So he doesn't, waiting out whatever Lambert wants to say to Childermass.

With any hope (or a whole lot of luck), maybe he'll get through with this. Maybe they won't have to fight any further.

"That’s what you're concerned about!?" Rita snaps at Lambert in disbelief.

Well... at least he pacified the pooch. That’s one of Rita’s biggest worries out of the way.

"...Taking out those cards seems to be effective," she observes after a moment, her voice quiet. "If we get rid of them all, we might disrupt the beacon entirely." Rita still doesn't know whether to believe this can be resolved with words. If there's a way to use logic and magic to fix things, why not do that?

"Of all the things to complain about...!"

Yeah, Childermass thinks that stupid, too, Rita, but he honestly has more important things to do than get in an argument over who can and cannot set people on fire. He tries to clear his wing of the goo one last time but, failing that, he pulls a face and simply dismisses the damn things. If they're getting in the way, he won't keep them around.

From that point, he turns his attention back towards the beacon, drawing a new card to point towards it. Chances are the means to fix it, but the energy — down two cards to help it focus — has begun to go haywire. It's reaching for any form of corrupt Spark to latch onto and Childermass drawing a new card is like holding a lightning rod up high in the middle of a thunderstorm. Void energy arcs away from the beacon, grasping not only for the new card but up his arm as well.

Which hurts.

He lets go of the card with a shocked jerk, staggering back a step and struggling a bit to shake his arm free again. He manages, the energy turning its attention to the card he's left in its grip instead. He shakes the pins and needles of the contact out of his hand and then holds it out towards the now floating card instead, focusing, willing it and the energy back into the circle from afar.

"Now look at what you've gone and done," he mutters, "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to break a circle like that?"

What's equally if not more stupid is Lambert takes a step forward when Childermass jolts like that, pushing past Yuya's bubble with hand already half-outstretched -- and scowling. That's a useless gesture -- what is he going to even accomplish?

"Dangerous--?! As if you're one to talk! You're trying to end the world!" Really, it objectively doesn't get more dangerous than that!

Yeah, yeah, he's supposed to be winning Childermass back to their side with friendship, but perhaps unfortunately for Creation, Lambert's friendship has always come with a fair share of fighting. If nothing else, at least, maybe he can provide a distraction to keep Childermass from focusing on the beacon, or any other attempt Yuya might make to tie him down. He takes one step closer, and another, the energy from the void making his skin prickle with discomfort.

"Stop being such an ass! You don't want this!"

It is forceful, but it isn't like Yuya disagrees. Maybe Childermass does need to be yelled at, he doesn't know him that well.

Yuya watches Lambert push against his bubble, and that's when he drops it so as not to obstruct him further. His gaze quickly drifts around the beacon, considering its structure. Pulling it down by force is probably more dangerous than convincing Childermass to drop it, but he knows across the city that Noa is standing up against CY-Ren directly, soon if not now, and she could use all the help she can get.

He stares for a moment before shuffling closer to Rita, lowering his voice to a whisper. "There's something in the middle. What if we pull it out?"

Maybe the whole beacon will collapse with it. Or maybe they'll just blow themselves up with magical energy.

"I guess we'll have to find out," Rita replies to Childermass's warning, smug and satisfied with her own recklessness. Lambert's right; how dangerous could it be, compared to the end of the world? Besides, if this bothers him so much, maybe he'll let slip some details about how it works. It's win-win, as far as Rita's concerned.

Rita's book starts to glow, charging with Creation energy to prepare for a powerful spell. If Lambert can keep him occupied, maybe she can start taking out more of those cards.

But Yuya has another suggestion, and Rita listens as she prepares the spell. "I wouldn't risk it," she whispers back to him. "The energy's too volatile, and too concentrated at that point. You don't want to get in the middle of that."

"If you think I'm going to stop for one of your petty little arguments, you don't know me all that well after all," is the answer Lambert gets from Childermass. He shuffles through his cards for a second replacement, drawing a card once he settles on something suitable.

As long as they linger on their side of the rooftop, he's just going to carry on repairing the beacon.

"No," Lambert says, gritting his teeth. "You never stop for anyone else, do you?"

But he keeps striding towards Childermass, unarmed, hands balled into fists at his sides. Violence is the only solution he's ever really known, and he wants to reach for it now, except...

Except that really wouldn't solve anything, would it?

"But you're wrong. I do know you," Lambert snarls, stepping forward quicker now, moving to stand between Childermass in the beacon. " You say you're pissed because nobody's ever going to thank you?! Bullshit! You never asked for anyone's thanks in the first place! You're a selfless idiot who never thinks about protecting himself! You think you need to do everything on your own and never rely on anyone else, but you're a soft-hearted bastard who couldn't even leave a servant alone, who spoils his dog rotten when nobody is looking!"

Behind him, Pig starts to glow again, and her engine roars as she starts to drive in a circle around the roof -- where her wheels run, it leaves a wall of golden light, rising from the ground to banish the shadows -- and once she completes her circuit, she'll aim to come to a stop beside where Baker's flopped down.

Yuya nods. That's a fair assessment--Rita's the magic expert here, so he's going with her judgement. He looks at Lambert's back, pausing for a moment.

"Then you go for one side and I got for the other? Lambert will reach him--" Yuya sounds completely certain about that. "But I don't like what the beacon's doing, so we should stop it."

Rita pauses, turning to watch Lambert lay into Childermass. Selfless, soft-hearted... He's not wrong, but Rita never expected to hear Lambert say it like that.

Yuya's next suggestion earns a nod from her. If they keep waiting, Childermass will fix the whole thing and they'll be right back where they started. "I'll take the ones to our left," she whispers, then returns her attention to her book. It seems like it's gathered enough power to try this technique with.

"Come forth! Indignant Judgment!" Electricity shoots from the book once more, this time in multiple branching strands that converge above one of the minor arcana cards. The energy then crashes down hard like a bolt of lightning, with some sparks shooting off towards nearby cards. If she's lucky, she might take out multiple cards in a single shot.

As forceful as the spell is, it doesn't come close enough to harm anyone on the roof, though it may make a few people's hair stand on end.

Well, Lambert did have Childermass's attention right up until Rita started shooting bolts of electricity all over the place. He had paused in placing the last card, keeping an eye on the witcher from the corner of an eye, so... listening. Then the crackle of lightning rips his gaze back to Rita, then to the beacon's cards.

"No!" He shouts, furious, and draws a different card. One of the major arcana, supposedly, since he vanishes immediately and in the same breath of time, Baker reacts as well to his master's displeasure. Axii can only work for so long and the arcanine goes from curiously sniffing Pig the Motorcycle to lurching back to his paws and taking a snap at her.

As for Childermass, well, he reappears right behind Rita, even as her book's spell rips through three more of the minor arcana in the circle. He makes a violent grab for her hair, to yank her backward and away from her book.

Pig doesn’t hesitate: as soon as Baker snaps for her, she immediately slams a wheel right into his face. It’s probably half-nostalgic, considering the last time they had a real fight was back in Alola before they evolved, but Pig’s kicks never came with what it does now, another flashbang that fills the whole roof with light — and without warning, this time.

Lambert, at least, is spared the worst of it by his goggles still covering his eyes. He’s already pivoting, turning so quickly it’s painful — but he’s not quick enough to protect Rita this time. Unlike other people, he doesn’t have teleportation going for him, so he can only lurch forward, too slow, as he yells.

“John, stop!”

At Rita's confirmation, Yuya darts around to the right of the circle. His approach is less obvious, forming a larger bubble from his wand that he pushes forward in an attempt to trap the minor arcana within it--he hopes his will makes it strong enough that his Spark power cuts off Childermass'.

While he's doing that, Rita's blasting the other side. He's focused on trapping the card, but his gaze does drift just a bit sideways to her while he's doing so.

"Rita!" That's when Childermass comes up behind her, and their distraction and subtly are thrown out the window. Pig lights up the area before Yuya can make a choice, and he flinches and pulls his own goggles down before thrusting his reach forward to bubble the card with what time he has.

Edited 2018-03-18 18:06 (UTC)

Rita yelps in surprise and pain when she's suddenly yanked back by the hair, her hat coming loose and falling from her head as she struggles, then tries to wedge a hand between her head and the Harbinger's grip, trying to lessen the pain. There's no defense against that flash of light beyond squeezing her eyes shut, but she does it a moment too late, and it leaves her vision fuzzy.

"Keep going, Yuya!" she shouts through gritted teeth. "Lambert's right; he's soft." Her notion of exactly how soft has been challenged repeatedly in these last few encounters with him... but even if it's sort of a bluff, she'll run with it. "I don't buy this bad guy act. Not from the guy who helped me learn to fly... who tried to cheer me up when I was pissed off about changing... who never wanted to fight me in the first place!"

Yuya's bubble encases the second to last minor arcana, forcing the final floating card to take the brunt of controlling the energy arcing from the Fool, off towards the concert hall. It's a problem but mostly for Childermass, whose power it ultimately is being channeled in the first place. He cringes against the light from Pig again, taking a step back towards the edge of the building and dragging Rita along with him, grip on her hair only tightening.

Baker takes the worst of it, though, a whack to the face and that bright light? He yelps and staggers back, toppling over, dazed and down for now. Childermass, though...

"Shut up," He snaps at Rita, opening his eyes again to squint at what's left of his beacon's setup. It shouldn't be difficult to feel him shaking from the strain through his grip. His focus has been split for too long and he's having trouble at this point. Still, he'll carry on playing the villain, trying to buy just enough time. "Touch that last card and I'll throw her from the roof."

Lambert stops in his tracks, but his eyes aren’t on Childermass, but on Rita.

Rita, who has wings but who’s afraid of heights, who cursed and railed against the Prince’s poison leaching into their souls and refused to be broken even half-petrified. He’d shielded her from flame, but in this? There’s only one choice.

“I am the flash that cuts through darkness, the light that breaks the night!” Lambert raises his hand and the gilded sword he’d summoned before snaps into his hand again, blazing a trail of light — and he immediately turns to slice it through that last minor arcana. He’ll let his momentum keep him going as he lunges forward immediately after to try to rip the knife and the card it’s stabbed through off the roof.

Edited (TOO MANY IMMEDIATELYS) 2018-03-18 19:28 (UTC)

The success and Rita's encouragement drives Yuya forward, and he dashes for the least minor arcana, shaking another bubble from his wand. He skids to a halt right next to it, pushing it forward.

But then he stops, his attention snapping to Childermass at his threat. However soft they think Childermass is, Yuya is softer. Even the chance of putting Rita in danger is enough to prevent him from following through on bubbling the card at first.

But Rita can fly. If she falls, she'll be fine--she can catch herself. Yuya steels himself with that realization a bit late, and by that point Lambert is already lunging forward through it.

Yuya jumps back, surprised, and releases the bubble. Since Lambert has the beacon apparently handled, Yuya twists on his feet and makes a dash after Rita and Childermass.

As she's pulled back toward the edge of the roof, Rita makes the mistake of glancing over the ledge, flinching as she catches a glimpse of the streets and rooftops far below before forcing her gaze back ahead.

She meets Lambert's eyes and frowns. The choice he makes is the right one... but she doesn't have to like it. Also, way to sound uncool, old man.

With Childermass's demands defied, Rita tenses and mentally prepares herself for whatever comes next. If he really does throw her off... all she has to do is not freeze.

"Don't!"

The last card goes, the knife keeping the Fool stuck to the center along with a second swing, and Rita will be glad to discover Childermass's thread had been a bluff from the get-go. As the pieces of the last card hit the rooftop, the stability of the beacon goes to hell. Before, the output had been controlled, but now?

A blaze of void energy roars to life, lashing out around all of them without aim, without control, just wildly. It blows out lights, parts of the A/C units, anything else in its path, and for Childermass...

Well, Childermass's own cards and costume give an almost glitch-like shudder as he pushes Rita aside rather than throwing her anywhere, staggering forward towards the out of control energy. If Yuya crosses his path, he'll try and shove him aside as well, though he won't get much further after that, stumbling and falling to his knees as his powers glitch out a second time.

"I said... don't..."

As close as he is to the epicenter of the impact, unsurprisingly, Lambert's right in its path. There's a split-second impulse to throw himself over the energy as it starts spreading outwards, no matter how bad an idea he knows that's going to be in a way nothing else has been until just now. But then magic that's neither the Void's or Creation yanks at him, holding him still as Strange's damnable contract chooses now, of all moments, to kick in.

I, Lambert, will take a second or two to pause and consider my choices before embarking on an action with a seemingly inevitable chance of getting enthralled, injured in a major fashion, kidnapped, possessed, or incapacitated in any way that would severely debilitate myself or the carnival.

A second's pause is a second too long. As he wavers, the Void energy blows Lambert right off his feet, hard enough to shock him into dropping both his sword and the iron knife with its card that he's just yanked out of the roof. They clatter to the concrete, while Lambert slams side-on into an A/C unit's corner with a sickening, meaty impact. Lambert's pretty sure he can feel a rib or two crack, but that's also overwritten with the sharper, lancing pain as broken-off edges of metal -- not iron or steel, which is about the only mercy there is -- rake through cloth and skin.

And then he crumples to the roof, flat on his face. Whether he's out for the count or not remains to be seen, but Pig, at least, is still a bike, so he's still channeling Creation somehow.

"Lambert!" Pig roars forward, trying to get to her master, but the Void sparks and affects her too, and without him consciously channeling his Spark through her, what she can do on her own is less effective.

Yuya's shoved by Childermass, but it doesn't throw him off his feet. Instead, knowing Rita is all right (and they were both right, it was only a bluff), it only makes him turn back around in time to see the Void energy getting increasingly out of control.

"Stop!" When Childermass falls to his knees, Yuya reaches to put a form grip on his shoulder. His shoulders tense as he projects the shield, and provided they don't move out of range he can get it big enough to cover himself, Childermass, and Rita. Lambert he's forced to watch get hurt with the worst of the blast, and his stomach drops, but--he can't let it distract him from protecting them.

But it isn't the magic of a Spark, and Yuya can't hold it against all this energy--he can only hope to mitigate as much of it as possible before they get blasted like Lambert.

Rita stumbles when Childermass shoves her, but she doesn't dare move much farther, not with the beacon's energy going out of control. The dark energy lashes in her direction, prompting her to jump back... which fortunately lands her well within Yuya's shield as it goes up. Francis, too, dashes to her side, her book following close behind.

It's from the safety of the shield that Rita sees Lambert get absolutely wrecked, once again taking all the damage while the rest of them are protected. She clenches her fists. There's nothing she can do to help, and Yuya's got his hands full protecting the rest of them. Rita can't make shields, she can't redirect the energy... The only person who can is...

"Make it stop!" Rita demands, facing Childermass. If he wasn't willing to throw her off the roof, then maybe he won't want Lambert to get killed, either.

There's no immediate response from Childermass to either Yuya or Rita, attention torn away from the out of control beacon to watch -- horror written plain on his face -- as Lambert is blasted away from it. This wasn't supposed to happen. Not like this. No one else should have been up here and yet--

"It's lost its anchor," he finally gets out through gritted teeth, grimacing as he turns away from the witcher. He can't do anything for him right now. So, instead, he reaches up for Yuya's arm. "Help me up. I need to get to it."

Because Rita's right. He can make it stop. He's the only one here who can but he can't get there on his own power now, not when it's all leaking out wildly into the air from the Fool.

Disoriented from the fall, the only thing Lambert can hear right now is the pounding of blood in his own ears and Vesemir’s voice in his head.

Get up. It’s annoying, how effective that memory still is — so long ago he might as well have made it up for all he knows, or something that’s happened so many times they’ve started to run together — at making him bristle, ten years old and muscles still aching from holding a sword too heavy for him. You think monsters will wait for you while you catch your breath? You stop moving when you’re dead. Get up.

“I know how to do my job, old man,” he mutters into the concrete, hopefully obscured by the crackle of magic. “You trained me yourself.”

A twitch of his fingers brings the sword scraping across the roof towards him, but rather than using it as a weapon, he uses it to force himself up to a knee, panting as it makes his side light up with agony. He’s had worse, physically, but it’s the out of control magic in the air that’s so opposed to his own that’s making it feel particularly sickening. Blood’s running down freely from his temple and his side, but if anything’s damaged internally, it’s yet to be realized, and that’s all he can do for now.

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