lostcarnival | ⇨ EDEN PT. 3

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⇨ EDEN PT. 3

Who: Everyone!
When: End of Day 88, on to Day 89
Where: Eden
What: The carnival breaks into two groups, as one entertains the Architect Samyaza at her festival, and the other assaults the Cathedral through a secret passageway with the intent of claiming the Silver Mirror and liberating those imprisoned.
Warnings: Ritual sacrifices.

IN GOD'S HANDS↴

Only those left in Eden and remaining undetected will be able to come to Samyaza's festival, which is an increasingly small group. It's also a dangerous proposition - there's no way to know what Samyaza has in store for her visitors, only that she apparently wants to interact with them before allowing the other Architects to act. It could work as an excellent distraction, drawing the eyes of the Architects towards the festival instead of towards the Cathedral while the attempt to claim the Mirror is taking place.

For those that arrive in Samyaza's gardens, they are beautiful and well prepared, and music of otherworldly perfection flows through them. Tables are arranged with amazing works of art as their centerpieces, while the trees themselves are made into dazzling displays of color with an effect that seems to turn their leaves into pure light. Samyaza will be presiding, a hare that looks like she's made of something ephemeral, like wind of pure colour. She invites you in kindly, saying that before she speaks, she will honour you with a song...

► THE SET UP: For the first hour or so, the festival will be nothing but celebration. There are other Honorables there, but not as many as usual - the main event are you and the other new arrivals. After the hour mark, Samyaza will perform her song. Until then, threads can be made focusing on the pre-song mingling and planning. Will you listen when she sings?

► THE TWIST: There will be more happening at the festival than Samyaza plans. While she is comfortable waiting to act, other Architects are less patient.

ON HOLY GROUND↴

With carnival members (and Ignatius) in enemy hands, there's no more time for hestitation. Based on the information given to her by various carnies, the Ringmaster will meet with the Furies and declare her intent to attack the Cathedral's underground during Samyaza's festival on the evening of Day 88. The Furies will agree, saying that those they have on the inside will use their influence to ensure there are as few Architects and Scholars are blocking their way as possible, but they must all still expect a fight.

Furies from the base in the barrens will be coming along with this raid group, using what information they have to speed transit through the underground tunnels. They only ask two things - that after the Mirror is collected, it be used to save the lives of Hasma and the other captured Furies, before being used to repair the mind of the Serpent herself.

► THE SET UP: The Ringmaster will lead the way into the secret ruins that Childermass and the other found - the main difference is that she will smash right through the cracked wall defending the depths of the Cathedral, clearing the path entirely with her now serpentine body. Her plan is this - to draw the attention of the Architects to the surface by taking on the appearance if the Serpent, while carnival members and assisting Furies search the tunnels below to find the Mirror and the captives.

► THE TWIST: The people captured by the Twelve and imprisoned in the garden (AKA characters on the TDM) will be found, but the carnival members won't be. At least, not in the same place as the other captives. A megathread will go up for the group that goes to capture the Mirror, but you are free to NPC and thread confrontations will Scholars that are protecting the underground prison and the chambers where the Twelve held their meetings. Please report any Scholars that are killed or seriously harmed to the mods. Lambert will be leading the part of the group heading towards the Mirror, while Sans will head the group searching the tunnels for captives.

Now is the time to let loose and use all your powers. It's probably best to keep your disguise to catch people off guard, but it is no longer necessary. New characters will be directed to post here once accepted.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ignatius's breathing doesn't slow, almost like he barely notices that he's being spoken to. He abruptly moves his arms while Herbert is trying to work on the shackles, lifting them up to stare at his blackened flesh before letting them drop again. It doesn't do much to set him at ease.

"Can't get out," he mutters, disconnected from the rest of the situation. He's staring ahead of himself instead of acknowledging Herbert or Strange. It's probably nothing personal. His flinching and sounds of discomfort and far more pitiful than he'd let himself be in any other circumstances. He doesn't seem wholly connected to reality.

"The shackles are iron-based," Strange explains, raising his voice a little so that Ignatius can hear him. Which explains why Ignatius can't just smoke-poof himself out of this situation.

Strange pauses for a moment, fully aware that he can't really do anything to help Ignatius right now. "I'll try and scout ahead and see if there's anything of use in here."

It might be a fool's errand. After all, who knows how many cave tunnels there are in Eden and if any of them have large and stable enough reflections to begin with? But he's got to do something. And so, Strange vanishes from the reflection of the plate, back into the Mirror's void and starts looking.

Edited 2018-08-10 19:59 (UTC)

The tadpole, having emotional depth not much deeper than the plate Strange is stuck in, is just hovering at Herbert's side, bumping inquisitively against the fae. Its own hide is sporting a few ugly marks from just contact with the iron, and he'd much rather not pick up Ignatius with them if he can, and he keeps worriedly looking back at where they've come from.

It turns out there are some reflections nearby - an indeterminate distance down that same tunnel, there is some stagnant water sitting. It's still enough that it casts an easy reflection. He can only really see the roof, but there is light down here, wherever it is.

Fantastic, now he doesn't have to deal with Strange hyping Ignatius up further. Not that Herbert knows particularly well how to deal with someone enormous having a breakdown. He doesn't exactly have an immense shock blanket to drape him in, or the capacity to do so. Patiently waiting for Ignatius to lay down his wrists again, Herbert industriously completes his task of threading fabric around them, wrapping upwards and tying them off above the shackles on his forearms.

"We will escape," he says conversationally, voice soft as always but with the addition of his best attempt at a calming tone. "We're already out of the worst of it -- once I've dealt with these as best I can, well, under these circumstances, we'll get up onto that tadpole again and keep going. Someone must know how to remove those chains of yours." He's moved onto the collar at this point, chopping off more fabric to feed around the reachable segments of Ignatius' neck. Stopping to contemplate for a moment, he tries firmly saying, "lift your head," voice slightly raised.

Strange materializes in the reflection further down the tunnel! And hot damn, is that a ceiling. He tries to look around but again, ceiling. He has no frame of reference for this location, has no idea if the tunnel is a straight line to this location, and is fairly certain any attempt at stealth has been burned thanks to their unconscious and bleeding out seven foot fae and Tadpole Jackson's mere existence.

Expecting to hear absolutely nothing but trying anyway, Strange calls out "Hello?"

He's not outright yelling it, but he is raising his voice a little in the hopes that Herbert and the rest can hear. And hey, if some rando honorable hears him, maybe they'll think he's a spooky cave ghost or something like that.

Whether or not Ignatius takes in any of what Herbert is saying is a mystery, but when it comes to asking him to lift his head, he super doesn't. It's not an act of disobedience, it's an act of not really understanding what you said in the first place.

The cloth around his wrist has helped with some of the immediate chafing, but it's hard for it to matter at this point. Everything feels completely out of control, and whatever world Ignatius is living in at the moment is pretty separate from the rest of what's going on.

Meanwhile, Strange calls out. There is about a ten second delay before another voice shuts back, sounding caught off guard.

"What?! Who's there?"

Herbert waits a moment, and then hurries down to also wrap Ignatius' ankles before he runs back to take a look at Ignatius' face again. Absolutely shock. He grumbles quietly to himself as he tucks the ends of the damp fabric under the collar a little firmer where he can reach to in order to secure it before he puts his forceps back into his pocket and buttons it.

Then, stepping very carefully and facing the plate so he can give Strange a very fierce look once he comes back and inevitably says something, he climbs onto the fae's chest, lies down, curls his paws under himself and forces himself to begin purring.

There have been studies, after all, whether or not the results are repeatable. It's the best option he has at the moment, anyway--he hasn't a chance of lifting Ignatius' giant head. Hopefully Strange returns soon with something useful.

Strange remains quiet for a moment...then silently slips back into the reflection, returns to the Mirror Void then makes his way back to the plate. Nope! Not gonna start a conversation now. Maybe later if he's going to scout ahead again.

And...well then. Strange doesn't even bother to hide the look of utter confusion on his face. He knew that Herbert was creepy. Everybody knew that Herbert was creepy. He didn't know that Herbert was 'nap on top of a practically unconscious patient' level of creepy. No matter what, Strange knew that he had to make certain everybody survived this encounter so he can gossip about this to Lambert once they're all safe.

"There's a brighter area with some water further down," Strange explains. "However, there is someone else within earshot of that spot. I've no idea if they're friend or foe, but I don't know if it matters. After all, it's not like any member of this party is remotely stealthy."

Said as he looks over to Tadpole Jackson. He's thankful for that thing's existence but that doesn't change the fact that it's real fucking weird.

He's not quite napping, but Herbert's eyes have gone slightly shuttered, mainly because Ignatius began to absent-mindedly pet him and he's actually kind of warm and this has been a fairly stressful day. He's actually swapped over from a forced purr to a real one by the time Strange shows up, and he almost forgets to glare at him.

But he does remember: he's comfortable, not a completely different person.

"Cats are, a well-known anxiety treatment," he gets out first, voice strained and purr stopped entirely. He doesn't quite move yet, though, he doesn't want to re-upset Ignatius after he's put in this undignified effort to bring him out of his shock. "What should we do--was the person coming in our direction? Should I...scout ahead? We're trapped against this wall anyway: I'm not sure either myself or Ignatius would make it back through a second time. Perhaps we should just trust that whoever is ahead is better than, whatever is happening inside the barrier?"

Yeah, Strange is calling bullshit on cats being anxiety treatments. But he is going to wait on precisely the right moment in the right public setting to call bullshit.

"I like that idea," Strange responds, with a frown. "I'd rather chance what's ahead of us than what's behind us." He doesn't know how terribly the fight with Bezaliel's going, just that none of them could be much use in the fight to begin with. And Strange agrees: they are not sending Ignatius through that shadow wall.

"What about this: we put Ignatius back on that...thing," said with a vague hand gesture towards Tadpole Jackson, "I scout back ahead and try to draw that person's attention while you, Ignatius, and the worm make your way through the caves. Whoever's there can't harm me and I can easily return to the plate to inform you if something goes sour."

It's frankly obvious he is telling the truth, look how chill Ignatius totally is now!

Definitely!

"Yeees," Herbert says slowly, "that. Should. Work, as long as the creature is amenable to carrying Ignatius again." Squeezing carefully out from the vague and intermittent hand, Herbert walks back off Ignatius and stretches extravagantly forward and backward before going to take a look at Tadpole Jackson.

"Pick him up again," he demands, and then eyes the burns on the rubbery skin of what is apparently a tadpole. He's honestly not sure it can understand him but... "Keep him on his back if you can, that should keep the connecting chains away from you."

While TJ percolates over that, Herbert makes a face (time for a return to impaired communication!), and runs back over to grab the plate in his mouth once more and steps back onto Ignatius. Now that the sacrificial robe is back as down as it will go--what with all the strips Herbert cut off it--it's available for Herbert to clutch at. Hopefully he can get on the tadpole this way, instead of once again jumping on and digging his claws in.

Edited 2018-08-11 05:07 (UTC)

Tadpole Jackson would ordinarily object to being called a worm, but seeing as his owner isn't here to defend him, he can only worriedly glance back in her direction, then reluctantly do as he's told.

The long, prehensile tail wrap gingerly around Ignatius's middle-- lacking anywhere else convenient to grab him -- and hoist the fae up onto himself again, on his back with his limbs and the chains just draped off the side. He'll keep his tail wrapped around Ignatius as he floats in the air, ready to follow where he's led.

Ignatius's had been vaguely petting Herbert's back with a couple of his fingers, otherwise having completely worn himself out on whatever panic attack he was having. Now he's just back to being semi-conscious and in pain.

Which only gets worse when TJ picks him up by his middle, considering that's where the stab wound is. He makes a strangled sound, but that's all he can really do about it. Otherwise, he's just screaming between his teeth a little and being confused about where he is.

Holy shit, the worm understands Herbert. Strange looks a little baffled for a moment before he turns his attention to Tadpole Jackson.

"Thank you," he awkwardly replies, with a slight nod to the tadpole that somehow knows English. "But be careful moving Ignatius!" And then, Strange vanishes into the reflection before his vision is impaired via cat mouth.

Strange reappears in that water reflection he found further down in the cave. He isn't even bothering to keep his voice quiet as he yells, "Hello again, whoever you are. I'm back."

Strange arrives to find a big ass tapir nose hanging in his vision, with fancy looking rings decorating its entire length. It smells deeply and then pulls back in surprise when Strange speaks.

"Oh! Oh no. I wasn't expecting this," they say.

Currently standing on Ignatius' chest on top of Tadpole Jackson's back, Herbert feels...honestly very tall. At least he's out of the immediate range of a lot of animals this way. Less good is that the tadpole almost perfectly sought out the absolute worst place to grab Ignatius. He supposes this might prevent further hemorrhaging? Or possibly just somehow magically affix TJ's tail to Ignatius' stomach with rock. This is very aggravating and Herbert wants a proper OR to deal with this in.

Instead, he has sewing supplies and a tadpole. Such is life.

"Continue...forward," he says around the plate, and gestures one paw in a sort of pointing wave over one of the tadpole's bulging eyes. "Through the tunnel." And then he settles down and does his very best to force out a purr again while clinging to Ignatius' robe. There's evidence of a purr's influence on pain control as well and it's really all he has.

Since the tapir is like RIGHT there, Strange should be quiet. In practice, he's using his voice to tell the TJ Express just how close they are to him. So unfortunately for this poor tapir, Strange is still being a bit loud.

"Nobody expects this," Strange shrugs, "and yet here I am. Mind telling me what you're doing in this tunnel?"

Edited 2018-08-11 05:42 (UTC)

"I was waiting to guide someone through here... as per Architect Samyaza's orders," they say a little uncertainly. They scrutinize the puddle.

"...Was that you? She didn't say they'd be in the water."

Strange is willing to take a gamble here. Out of all the Architects, Samyaza was one of the ones who they thought might be sympathetic to the cause. Besides, this tapir isn't immediately freaking out and alerting the authorities about this human in the puddle. That's a good sign.

He shakes his head before he answers her question. "The people who you'll want to guide are one large fire-based man, one large worm, and a small housecat. The fire-based man is badly hurt, so if you can call on any medical assistance, do it now. I've no idea how further down the tunnel they are, but they should be on their way."

"Fire-based man?" the tapir says, sounding preemptively confused and exhausted with the situation. "What's the injury? What's... What's happening up there, exactly?"

And then: "Are you really... Peoples?"

"Some of us are Peoples," Strange explains, matching the tapir's exhaustion. "As for what happened, that Architect who's a bear showed up."

There's an awkward pause before, "I'll gladly tell the whole story later, but I can't really see anything that isn't the ceiling. Would you mind checking to see if the worm's nearby?"

Someday, Tadpole Jackson will get the dignity he deserves. It's not right now.

"Bezaliel?!" the tapir says, clearly alarmed. "Well... I'll call the others, and we'll head up to meet them!" The tapir flees from Strange's sight.

Not too long after, Tadpole Jackson and the others will find themselves running into a small squad of three Honorables, led by a tapir with fancy rings decorating the length of its snout. They stop in time, waving for Jackson to slow down.

"On Architect Samyaza's orders, we're here to escort you to safety!" they say in unison.

Edited 2018-08-11 23:58 (UTC)

"Stop!" Herbert gurns out, plate still in his teeth, which is probably briefly slightly confusing for Samyaza's team before it becomes apparent he's shouting at Tadpole Jackson. He walks carefully along Ignatius to lean forward and look down at the three animals. After a moment of contemplation, he lets the plate down to rest on the rubbery skin of the tadpole's forehead. Hopefully TJ doesn't move around a substantial amount.

"What does that mean in this, context, what 'safety'?" He taps the plate, hoping that somehow, that will get back Strange's attention. "Why would Samyaza want to help us?"

When Herbert and Tadpole Jackson finally approach, Strange moves from the reflection in the puddle on the floor back to the plate. At Herbert's question, Strange shrugs a little.

"The Architects know that the Mirror's fae. I know at least one of them doesn't like the idea of their perfect society depending so much on an imperfect artifact—Samyaza could be the same. And on a personal note, she was one of the ones who seemed the most willing to actually talk with me once I entered the Mirror, instead of going straight to attempted torture."

That doesn't change the fact that he has no idea what the 'safety' these animals are talking about is in the first place. It also doesn't change the fact that Strange's guess is all conjecture, and shaky conjecture at that.

"But think of it this way: what choice do we have?" And he looks over to Ignatius as he says this. No matter what, they need to find someone who can heal him.

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