⇨ EDEN PT. 4 (FINALE)

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 89
Where: Eden
What: The Mirror is taken by the carnival, and several people from the carnival have been taken by Lilith. As Eden's Architects take sides, the battle for Eden's future is set to reach its conclusion.
Warnings: Violence.

INFINITE↴ When the Silver Mirror is taken, the war truly begins. Lilith had seen fit to take her time, gloating over the enemies she perceived as being no challenge to her power - only to sense the moment that the Ringmaster claimed the Silver Mirror and took the skies in challenge. The Ringmaster has taken on her half beast form, black scaled, winged, and horned, and wielding the Silver Mirror as some kind of shield. Only moments ago, she used it to blast a whole clear through the cathedral. Lilith, realizing her mistake, has swept up the darkness created by Bezaliel and begun using it as a weapon against the Ringmaster. She has six silver wings that reflect light like mirrors, as well as strange, geometric horns. Ostensibly, part of the Silver Mirror's magic has been taken into herself, which means that even though the Ringmaster has the Mirror, Lilith still has control over it. She scatters the prisms containing her prisoners across Eden while she counters her foe, drawing on their strength to aid her. Two godlike beings clash in the sky above you. On the ground, a war begins. What do you do? ► FAE VS NEPHALEM: While all of this is going on, the Ringmaster and Lilith are essentially fighting over the Silver Mirror in the sky. It is all very cyclical and unending, and just as outrageous looking as it sounds. They both currently have some degree of hold over the Mirror right now, which means the advantage is wildly vacillating between the two of them. You probably don't want to directly interfere with this, but who knows? Maybe you'd got something really cunning up your sleeve. ► EDEN'S ARCHITECTS: In the aftermath of the Silver Mirror being taken, the Architects of Eden are being forced to choose sides. At first glance, it would appear that Saraqael (wolf), Samyaza (hare), Araqiel (stag), Penemue (raven), and Armaros (spider) have chosen to fight with the Furies of Eden in an attempt to cast Lilith out for good. Bezaliel (bear), Shamshel (tiger), Azazel (crocodile), Chazaqiel (eagle), and Baraqel (stingray) have, alternatively, chosen to defend Lilith, and are attempting to convince as many Honorables to follow in their path as possible. Gadreel (dolphin) and Kakabel (axolotl) seem to be uncomfortably remaining neutral for the moment and seeing how things play out. Not all Honorables or Scholars have followed the choice of their Architect. Many have been pulled one way or the other regardless of their kind, and are generally being accepted into the fight on their claimed side. You can NPC conflicts with random Honorables, but not the Architects. To interact with those guys, you need to do an investigation. ► PRISM BREAK: All of the carnival members that attended Samyaza's garden party (except Herbert) have been captured by Lilith after falling prey to a trap set by Bezaliel. Each of them has been trapped inside mirrored prisms that are now scattered around hard to access areas of Eden, defended by both Honorables supporting their maker and by mirror eyed dopplegangers. The infinite reflections of the characters inside the prisms are being fed on by Lilith, and she is tearing out as many of those reflections as necessary to do her bidding in the meantime. Each reflection is functionally a magical clone with no true will of its own, but will be able to fully mimic the emotions and powers of the characters they're taken from. They serve Lilith above all. Each reflection spawned from a prism take a fraction of their host's spiritual energy with them, meaning the more clones that are spawned, the weaker the real version will become. The more powerful a character is, the more energy each reflection takes to make - so if you have a character with lots of powers, they will probably have something like 1-4 dopplegangers spawned, while characters with few or no powers will be going completely quantity over quality and spawn potentially dozens of mirror clones. Clones shatter and vanish when destroyed, though the prisms will keep spawning new ones until the captive is set free. Captives, it's your job to NPC these clones. Captives will have no idea what's going on outside of their prism besides the abstract idea that these reflections are being harvested from them, and that's bad. The mirror clones will be attempting to protect the source prisms from disruption, as well as generally trying to destroy all enemies. NOTE: all captives will have returned to their natural forms by now (IE are no longer animals) and their clones will reflect this. Those missing "darkness shards" from their chest will also have had those returned. ► EDEN'S FURY: The Furies of Eden are striking back against Lilith at last, and it turns out a lot more of them have lingering rebellious ideas than previously though. Those that take up the cause of the Furies will be fighting on the carnival's side, so you are free to NPC some allied Honorables as well. You can also use the Investigations section to interact with named rebels, if you want, or to get an idea of what they are generally doing. Another potential avenue of investigation is trying to get the Serpent out here, as she'd be undoubtedly a powerful ally if cured of her curse. You might need it. Now that they know of the fae, the Honorables and Lilith-supporting Architects have no qualms using iron again you! They will be utilizing iron in all possible weaponry. ► NEW, CONFUSED, OR BOTH: Did you just get here? Did you fall behind and now you're terribly lost? Don't sweat it - let your character be as confused as you are. Take the opportunity to make top levels asking other characters what's going on in-game, or check out the original setting info post to catch up. The short version is this: the carnival wanted to steal a powerful artifact called the Silver Mirror from Lilith, which was stashed in her realm called Eden. They did just that, and now Lilith is back and she's pissed!

Comments

[npcarnival]

Most of the Honorables and Architects are gravitating towards the the Healing Temple to either assist or look for help. Araqiel is apparently a good healer, with his control over growth and agriculture, and will the the one seeing to the worst of the injuries. Armaros will also be using her webs to weave wounds closed in a more temporary capacity, and Gadreel is offering some glamour that quell pain now that the fighting is over.

Ignatius is still at the Temple, though he seems agitated ever since he saw the Ringmaster shatter the Mirror.

[whattaprick]

Lambert will probably have particularly availed of Armaros' attentions -- the lacerations up and down his arms from Lilith's last attack, transposed from his shredded wings, are really too numerous to lend themselves to being individually sewn by hand. Would have been real awkward to catch a glimpse of Shamshel, but the tiger's the last thing on his mind right now...

Once he spots Ignatius, he'll hobble stiffly over, looking him up and down briefly. Rather than comment on his obviously haggard appearance, though, he'll lead without preamble.

"You made a bargain with the Ringmaster," he begins, voice hoarse and raspy. "To release Strange from your service."

[npcarnival]

"Yes. And how does that involve you?" he'll say, also without preamble. He doesn't even look at Lambert as he speaks.

[whattaprick]

"It involves me because he's my friend," Lambert says tiredly, "And I'd like to know if after all the hell he's been through, he'll at least be walking away with one less fae contract binding him."

[npcarnival]

"Why are you behaving as if that was ever in question?" Ignatius asks, obviously disinterested in Lambert's second guessing.

[whattaprick]

"Because I don't know the terms you agreed on," Lambert shrugs, then immediately winces as it tugs at healing skin. "I don't know if our end of the bargain was fulfilled, or if we fucked it up because we didn't get you back. I don't know you. I don't trust you."

Obviously something must have happened, or Ignatius wouldn't be standing here looking like shit, but Lambert hasn't gotten that side of the story yet. It's his turn to look away, frowning as his tail twitches restlessly behind him.

"... Harm came to you. And if that was part of the conditions you agreed on, if we broke the Ringmaster's bargain because we didn't get you out of there fast enough and didn't do our jobs, I wanted to ask you to ... to please let him go, anyway."

[npcarnival]

Ignatus crosses his arms, giving Lambert some kind of look, with arched brows.

"You know if I did that, it would't be for free," he says.

[whattaprick]

"I know," Lambert says, simply. Shows how much Yuya's attempts to persuade Ignatius has any effect, he figures. In the end, fae are still creatures that live of bargains and deals ... but there's a comfort in that, too.

"Nothing that's worth it ever is."

[npcarnival]

"Luckily for you," Ignatius says, eyebrows raised even higher, "your pleading is unnecessary. He'll be freed from influence the moment we return to the carnival. Not that I've done anything with that influence in the interim."

[whattaprick]

Lambert's shoulders sag a little, some of the tension unwinding from his muscles -- and he winces as it tugs at injuries again. Maybe that wasn't the best idea. He's too relieved to even particularly notice if that's supposed to be a jab at him or not.

"Not that you'd know it, the way he talks you," he snorts, instead. "Just because you didn't put him through what Nightshade did, suddenly your shit might as well be gold. 'Ignatius isn't like the other fae!'" His position shifts, affecting Strange's haughty indignation. "'He's decent! He respects me!'"

[npcarnival]

"He's an odd man," Ignatius agrees, a little bit stiffly. "Though by fae standards, I suppose I am 'decent'."

[whattaprick]

"He literally chose to go mad because he thought it would help him get his wife back, so 'odd' isn't even half of it," Lambert says matter-of-factly. "And you'd still throw us all over for your Court if you thought you had to, right? Decency doesn't mean much to me."

Though, arguably, Ignatius knew that already.

[npcarnival]

"'Had to' is subjective," he says, keeping his eyes looking forward. "When comes the moment that someone 'has' to do anything?"

[whattaprick]

"In your case?" Lambert cocks his head to eye Ignatius then. "A direct order from your Queen wouldn't exactly be subjective, would it?"

[npcarnival]

"It would be, yes. That loyalty is something I've chosen to maintain. Bred for the purpose or not, the Summer Queen has never compelled me with violence or magic." He glances at Lambert. "So, at what point do those actions become mandatory, when I would be capable of refusing and facing the consequences instead?"

[whattaprick]

Did Lambert somehow stumble into a philosophical debate without meaning to? He squints at Ignatius. If there's a point being made here, he's pretty sure he's missing it by a mile.

"Look," he says, after a moment. "It'll be a lot faster if you just tell me what you think the answer is."

[npcarnival]

"I don't know," he says. "That is my answer. If that is too obscure for you, then feel free to stop talking to me at any time."

[whattaprick]

"Huh. Funny, I thought you'd be surer than that," is all Lambert has to say. The answer surprises him, that much isn't hard to tell, but why it surprises him, he doesn't choose to elaborate on.

Taking it as dismissal, he does, in fact, turn to go -- though he pauses, remembering something he'd meant to confirm.

"By the way, I meant to ask ... how often do fae get dreams?"

[npcarnival]

"That's your mistake," he says, coolly. And then, to his question: "Couldn't you ask the Ringmaster that?"

[whattaprick]

"I could," Lambert agrees, "But I'm interested in your answer."

[npcarnival]

"The answer would be the same, as dreams aren't unique to individual fae," Ignatius says, obviously a little annoyed.

[whattaprick]

"Hm." Lambert scrutinizes Ignatius a little more, then waves a hand dismissively.

"Forget it. Doesn't matter," he says, lazily. "Good talk, Iggy."

And with that, he makes his wobbly way away, probably to go brood over his boyfriend being unconscious again and worry about what state Strange is coming back in.