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

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.

"Samyaza obviously wants to help you, that's why she sent us to guide you through the waterfall..." the tapir says, looking absolutely dumbfounded. "If you don't want to come, I guess... you don't have to?"

Though the "fire-based man" does look very dead at the moment.

Herbert looks off vaguely to one side, thinking about the entire situation. There honestly isn't much he can do right now: he and a giant tadpole are the only people physically available and he's currently a cat. Additionally, he guesses this isn't all that much different than walking into a party he was certain would be some kind of trap.

So, he hates it, but Strange is right. What other options do they have? He's done his best with Ignatius but it's not even close to enough. Hopefully, he too has an egg, if they're floating to their doom on the back of Tadpole Jackson.

"Alright," he says, turning to look back down at the animals. "We'll come with you-- even if you won't tell us where we're going." Picking up the plate again with his paws he tucks it just into the neckline of Ignatius' robe before jumping down off him and TJ both. He imagines Strange can look through alternate surfaces if he wants a better idea of what's happening. He's honestly sick of tasting the metal of that plate. "Follow me," he adds, looking back at the tadpole. He hopes the seven year old, by some miracle, was correct in her judgement.

And now Strange has an awkward view of Ignatius's bleeding body. Great! This feels great! This sure isn't helping that self-esteem whammy he got in the shadows!

"Can we hurry?" he grumbles. "We've got someone critically injured, in case you've all forgotten."

Ignatius is basically unmoving at this point, though there are still faint motions of breathing. It's real bad, and slowly getting worse. The stress he just experienced from going through the shadow has probably pushed him over the edge.

Thankfully, the three Honorables hear that and get right to it. They don't know much about what's going on, but they know that Samyaza told them to do this, so...

"ONWARD!" the tapir declares, and the three of them charge off down the tunnel without further commentary.

As soon as the Honorables charge off, Herbert starts running as well, with TJ speeding behind them all. His stamina is honestly fairly good, although not as good as it might be had he had the chance to continue injecting his reagent this entire mission. His own reserves will have to do. At least he seems to be more agile and efficient as a cat.

"I certainly hope someone is capable of handling metal wherever we're running off to--the shackles are poisonous to all of us but they seem to be..." Herbert pauses to catch his breath and contemplate his phrasing. "...actively caustic to our, patient, up there."

"There should be," Strange points out, all of his focus still on Ignatius. "Iron is only caustic to the fae and beings with fae influence."

Aka them. "The more fae someone is, the worse the iron treats them."

Edited 2018-08-12 14:24 (UTC)

One of the Honorables squeaks something unintelligible at their information, but otherwise, the pack just keeps moving. They run for about two minutes, at which point the tunnels start splitting down multiple paths - they take the route to the left, and then the furthest right.

"Over here," the tapir says, standing on an oddly flat and distinct surface of stone. Once Jackson catches up, the rock will lift from the group, hovering with some unseen energy, and shoot them off down the tunnel. The walls speed past, the occasional light blinking by, until finally, it begins to slow. Once it's stopped, the tapir draws a sigil onto the wall, which opens up and reveals a separate area inside.

It's another beautiful garden area, but there are tables and shelves with tools and equipment on them - a crafting area. A large hamster in the group points at Ignatius and then points at the table, saying something in a squeaky voice.

"He says to put the fire man over there," the tapir explains, helpfully.

Strange is lucky that Ignatius' chin is in the way to keep the plate in place, or when they get on the tunnel rock Metro it might have shot off somewhere, leaving Strange to poke around for a new reflective option. Herbert just lies down in the form of a cat bun as they travel, unwilling to test whatever is keeping them aboard by moving more than necessary.

It's a relief to get out of the darker areas. Herbert usually rather likes dark, enclosed areas but it was feeling like a bit much after that nonsense with the shadow barrier. Unfolding to his feet, he looks at the rubbery mass of Tadpole Jackson (who was presumably plomped down on the platform? who knows how he functions) and repeats the order for the third time, just in case.

"Put him down on that table." (He wishes he knew why he doesn't understand the hamster. It all seems very Disney to him.) When TJ does so, he follows over, jumping up to extract the plate again and keep it supported vertically with a paw. With any luck, this will preempt some of Strange's complaining.

While getting set down by TJ isn't much better than being picked up was, Ignatius doesn't have it in him to react. He just slides onto the table limply, his eyes shut tight and his expression strained, breaths coming in weakly. Meanwhile, the three Honorables are rummaging through shelves and boxes, collecting tools.

Not long after, the hamster Honorable leaps up onto the table with several large and threatening looking blades and a hacksaw in hand, brandishing them with an excited shriek. He bounces to a spot on the table next to Ignatius's shoulder, examining each blade in kind and more closely examining the collar. One by one he rejects each blade and saw, tossing them aside carelessly.

Finally, he pulls the tiniest knife off of his belt and holds it up appraisingly. Squeaking something so fast and high pitched it's impossible to make out, he flicks his finger against the blade, sending it vibrating, the edge of the blade growing red hot as the sound builds. Grinning, the hamster goes to work.

With dexterous hands, the hamster uses the tiny knife to slit through the metal binding Ignatius's throat - one cut on one side, and then a second cut on the other. It doesn't take long at all, compared to the suspense leading up to it. As soon as the cuts are done, the hamster breaks off the upper half of the collar, lifting it up triumphantly and squealing. The tapir looks ecstatic.

"He says that it's a good thing that it wasn't anything tougher than iron - iron like this is easy to cut!" the tapir explains. The hamster pulls away the bottom piece of the collar and then tosses it away, bounding over to start cutting up the shackles with similar ease. Soon, he's knocking the remains of the leg shackles onto the floor, the chain clattering as it goes.

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