⇨ EDEN PT. 3

[ringleaders]

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.

Comments

[kingsroads]

And nothing happens!

Sorry Zan, Strange is off having adventures in another thread and not at ALL noticing anybody trying to get his attention.

[spaghettimonster]

The radio thing, though, that definitely happens. Papyrus offers Lambert a quick salute and pulls a radio out of... a pocket? his ribcage? and turns it on.

"Uhhh... Hello to anyone who can hear this, this is Papyrus, and we have reached... The Target. Ringmaster, we're going to try moving it, and... somebody here has a request!"

He's not sure how cagey to be, whether there's a risk of others listening in, and he's distracted by watching Zan's every movement. Don't get sucked in there, okay?

[osteothropy]

"Nice," Sans says from his side of the radio. Of course, everything else going on in his half of the scene is a mystery. "Things are close to wrapping up down here. Probably. Bad news... no sign of the carnival captives so far."

[prazerbutterfly]

"That's a sign of a decent leader. Lying to oneself instead of preparing is often futile. Commendable," he responds, having gained all the information he actually wanted. He squats on the ground then next to the wolf, eyeing over it and then glances at his own hand. He's still reluctant to touch it but he questions if the trees are any real threat. His power is faulty at best and he can't guarantee that he'll be able to separate the trees from the mirrors properly without either touching the mirror itself or damaging the trees.

His ears perk at the sound of Sans' voice and he cranes his head back to listen. "Good job, buddy," he says without hesitation and then goes back to his inspection, whether or not he can actually hear him. "If my power works, I could possibly severe the trees from the mirror but... it is often fickle outside of my own world." That still leaves the mirror itself to deal with. He's also concerned the trees are also related to something dangerous. It's a risk but if it'll move things along...

[periphrasing]

"You could do that," Peridot chimes in, interrupting Tyki, "or you could let the gem with the natural metal powers deal with it."

This is half ego and half impatience talking. The longer they stand here, the more worried she's becoming over Steven and Amethyst being up at that sketchy party. They need to get a move on.

[moonfang]

Impatience meets impatience. Zangetsu is frustrated because Strange isn't answering his TEXTS.

"Well, then do it already. I mean, who the hell knows where we're gonna put it, but who cares about that, right?"

Zangetsu shakes the mirror in his hands again.

"WOULD YOU ANSWER ALREADY, JACKASS. What the hell is he doing?"

[npcarnival]

No answer yet from the Ringmaster. At least the trees don't seem to be connected to the floor, just the mirror itself.

"I hope that the trees will grow outside of this place... but do what you must, and we will save what fruits remain," Saraqael says.

[spaghettimonster]

Papyrus hummed acknowledgement to Sans' status update, and waited a couple minutes for the Ringmaster to chime in... But there's nothing. He holds the talk button again.

"Well, since you're answering... Sans? We've made some friends, here, kind of. They might be able to help. Hold on a minute!"

He leans around the mirror frame, looking towards Saraqael, and raises his voice a little.

"Excuse me, Mr. Architect Wolf, do you know where captives are held?"

[whattaprick]

“Try to lift it,” he tells Peridot, grimacing. “With the trees and the rest, we can deal with it once it’s somewhere else.”

Then he looks to Saraqael. “Your power’s creating illusions, isn’t it? Can you disguise the mirror as something else, or create a convincing imitation of it? If the other Architects come back here and spot a missing mirror, they’ll start looking for us pretty quick.”

No idea if the Mirror will resist glamour on itself, but worth a shot. Zangetsu’s antics get a frown, but moving the mirror handsfree is the current immediate concern.

[periphrasing]

Peridot looks a little surprised at Lambert's suggestion of lifting mirror and trees both, but she doesn't protest. She turns back to the object in question with a determined expression on her face, widening her stance with both feet planted firmly on the ground. Then she sticks both arms straight out in front of her and flexes her claws as if she's actually physically grabbing something, reaching for the mirror with her weird metallic influence and testing to see if she can even get a grip on it at all.

Barring any weird magical influence, it shouldn't be too hard for her to pull it loose; she was lifting cars before she even got to the carnival, and her powers have only grown since then.

[npcarnival]

As Peridot is working on the mirror, Saraqael is trying to answer Papyrus's questions. Though he seems confused.

"The holding cells should have been down near where the garden was... were they not there?" If they weren't there, it's not what Saraqael was expecting.

Meanwhile, Peridot will find herself lifting the Silver Mirror from the floor, complete with trees. It's quite heavy, but she's got it for now, and even better, it doesn't seem to be doing anything wacky in reaction to her touch.

[kingsroads]

As Peridot lifts the Silver Mirror up from the ground, Strange just appears right in it without giving her any warning or advanced notice that he's appearing in the Mirror like the world's shittiest jump scare. And hoo boy does he look super worried.

"Peridot!" Oh, and everybody else! He just goes right on talking, assuming that everything's okay because 1: Peridot's here and 2: the Mirror's being lifted so this must be a heist of some kind. "Does anybody have pen and paper? I need you to take down a list of names, the party's gone to hell and back."

Welcome to a plot catch-up, Team Heist!

[whattaprick]

Lambert puts a paw to his face. Did Strange miss the fact there’s an Architect right here and he’s incredibly not helping at the moment.

“Strange, make your report from the mirror Zangetsu’s holding. We need to move this mirror out, I’m going to ask Syrlya to hide it, and we can’t do it with you chatting from it.” Well, maybe they can, but really.

[prazerbutterfly]

Similiar to before, he ignores Peridot simply because of her tone. That's strike two in his book. He doesn't resist though when she goes about trying to move the mirror and in order to not go away he steps back and watches it ascend and move.

"You look like hell," he says to Strange, just because he can. Really, he didn't look that bad, just very stressed. "But go ahead, I don't need pen or paper." Years of having hunt and delete lists. He'll be fine with names.

[periphrasing]

Okay jump scaring the gem holding up the priceless magical artifact would be bad enough on it's own, but to then on top of that go ahead and proceed to then tell that same gem that the party two of her friends are at is apparently going to shit in a bad way? Way to go, buddy! Peridot fumbles the mirror with a gasp the first time, her tail poofing out in alarm. She grips her teeth and evens out her grip.

..And then Strange mentions the party.

"WHAT!?!" she squawks at an unholy volume, voice cracking with fear. "What about Amethyst-- And Steven, are they both okay!?"

[moonfang]

"a-HEM."

Zangetsu clears his throat in that ridiculously loud, obnoxious way; he holds up his little hand mirror so that Strange can see it from his position in the Silver Mirror and points at it.

"I was calling you for like ten minutes! Where the hell were you?! And I swear to GOD, Peridot, if you drop the mirror..."

[kingsroads]

"I was busy!" Strange grumbles, as he frowns vaguely in the direction of Zangetsu. He vanishes from the Mirror but a second or so later, reappears in Zangetsu's hand mirror. When he's there, Strange rattles off a list of names. Notably, it's everybody who said that they were going to the party, plus Yusei, Yugo, and Gongenzaka.

"Those are all the people currently trapped by Lilith. Bezaliel showed up at the party, with Ignatius, Yusei, Yugo, and Gongenzaka as hostages and as a show of power. Those attending freed Ignatius and almost defeated Bezaliel, when he summoned Lilith to the garden. She might not have the Mirror, but she has control over mirrors. She attacked those present and trapped them in these mirrored chambers."

It's at this point that Strange realizes Saraquel is in the room. He looks over to the wolf for clarifications. It's obvious he's got more to talk about, but he'll let other people ask questions or get in their own thoughts before he exposits some more.

[periphrasing]

Peridot jerks her head to the side to flash an excessive amount of fang at Zan, snarling at him over her shoulder: "STUFF IT, you CLOD!"

She's maybe kind of a little bit MASSIVELY STRESSED OUT RIGHT NOW?

Amazingly, the mirror stays perfectly steady in the midst of this little tantrum.

[chronosynthesis]

Syrlya focuses on covering the mirror with invisibility--hopefully no other Architect is good at seeing through illusions like he assumes Saraqael is. And that nothing prevents it from working.

It should be quick, and while he doesn't outwardly respond to Strange's appearance and update, he is listening to it. "Then we need to find the Ringmaster immediately and regroup before Lilith does anything worse to them. If she's here, we do not have much time."

Or any time. "Where is Ignatius now? You said he was freed."

[moonfang]

"Focus on your job, short-stuff, and I'll focus on mine!" He snaps back with a snarl of his own, his hare's ears folded flat against his head.

He looks back at Strange in the mirror.

"Fuck. And I'm assumin' Lilith is just as powerful as we feared. We need to get in touch with the Ringmaster, ASAP. Does she have a mirror? Or a radio? Or... hell, where IS she, even?!"

[prazerbutterfly]

"Zangetsu," Tyki says calmly, not chiding, not scolding, nor telling him to behave. His hand curls on his shoulder even if he gets bitten in the end. He's leaning over him, looking down at the mirror he's holding with Strange within it.

It's okay, he says without actually speaking it. He feels he's justified but now was not the time. Especially not in front of an Architect. It's why Tyki never verbally contradicted Peridot himself. It wasn't worth showing ones hand in such a way.

"Everyone breathe," says the conman, with his usual cheer.

[spaghettimonster]

A couple minutes earlier: after getting the reply of down near the garden, Papyrus told the radio, "there you have it!" and released the talk button, opening the airwaves for Sans and anyone else to comment on the captives' supposed location.

And so, happily for their reputations, they're not being broadcast to everyone with one of the radios as half the people in the room start arguing. Less happily, going from the continued lack-of-response from the Ringmaster, she's not there.

"Well, I wanted to just call her... So she could let us know what to do next. And this isn't really an emergency..." Papyrus hems and haws for a minute, then offers, "but I could break one of those beacon eggs?"

[anti_nonsense]

Rita retrieves a pen from her pocket, but doesn’t reach for a notebook. Instead, she focuses on magically imbuing the list of names into the pen itself. All the while, her expression is grim.

That’s a lot of people taken captive. And what’s more...

“They freed Ignatius before helping the others? ...Hmph.” Rita doesn’t sound impressed.

[periphrasing]

Peridot sure agrees with you on that, Rita!

"This is absolutely an emergency," growls the gem through gritted teeth, lashing her tail like an angry cat. So that's one vote for 'break it'.

[kingsroads]

Time to butt in to defend Ignatius. At Rita's words, Strange's expression shifts to a scowl. Before, he was a bit nervous and worried. Now, as they talk about Ignatius, he's pissed.

"Ignatius almost died. The Architects used iron on him and that damn bear bound him up in iron shackles. The only reason he's alive is that after we escaped, West performed some emergency surgery."

And thus everybody learns why it took Strange too long to answer the metaphorical phone.