⇨ 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

REFLECTION STEVENS | OTA

[starseedling]

There are some Stevens on the hunt, but they aren't the one you're familiar with. Sure, they look the same in all the ways that matter, at the time of his capture - even including the bear claw gashes across his gut and chest - but their eyes are mirrored, and their disposition is... off.

Also, there is more than one of them, which is a dead give away.

They're the clones from Lilith's spell, the one that drains Steven's life force as he remains trapped in his mirror prism, stashed somewhere in Eden. These Stevens, however, are wandering. They're actively looking for threats to put down, even if they are most visibly mimicking Steven's looks of earnest fear and nervousness as they go. They don't have to feel any of the actual emotions, after all.

On the bright side, Steven had managed to dress himself by growing a weave of moss, leaves, and vines around his body for protection, all before this started. This means, at least he isn't naked. On the downside, did you know Steven has a ton of ridiculous superpowers he very rarely uses? As it turns out, his reflections have no such hesitation.

His hands and fingers have grown long and jagged - crystalline like they were when he was mutated by the Rose. The crystals in him glow faintly blue. It's a bit ominous.

[Open to threads engaging these guys in multiple locations, since they can be in multiple places at once. Steven getting freed is probably spoken for, but I'm up for team efforts as well.]

[mirrortide]

Lapis isn't exactly the best to deal with this situation. In fact, the mirror itself just being around is putting her on edge and with all the fighting... Well, Lapis is doing her best to not completely bolt out of the situation. And that means turning flight into fight.

Thankfully, lashing out seems to be what Lapis does best, and considering it's Steven who happens to be trapped, Lapis is more amenable to helping to save him. Lapis has zero problems with Polar Bear slapping any Honourable or Mirror Steven in her way as she barrels towards Steven, leading a charge with a group of waterclone Steven's.

[starseedling]

Steven isn't the type to fight much, and when he does, it's usually to the point, and using a relatively limited portion of his abilities. Steven only ever seems to use what little is necessary. These reflections have no such reservations.

She'll find herself right on the border of the city when she encounters them, where the trees grow thick and ruins have left stone walls blocking line of sight. It's hard not to notice the crystalline vines that have overtaken the area, joining with the trees and overtaking the walls of ruins. They bloom with blue roses.

The waterclone Steven's get the initial brunt of it. Thorned vines surge through the group, tangling around the waterclones and squeezing some of them until the pop. Finally, a mirror copy of Steven appears from a thicket of thorns, his expression haunting accurate to Steven, while clearly missing context. The clone's nervousness is replaced with hope at the sight of her.

"Lapis!" it says, in his voice. "You came back!"

Yet, at the same time, the vines lunge for her as well, hoping for an easy catch. If the prism Steven's trapped in is around, it isn't immediately obvious where.

[mirrortide]

Well. That's unnerving? But also, Lapis is someone with a lot of pent up anger. And Fear.

Look. everyone has issues.

The waterclones pop easily enough, it is just water, after all. What happens after that, however, might be similar to something that Steven himself has experienced before: the multiple puddles quickly reform into yet more Steven's, and they lead the charge with a war cry, and are pretty quick to pile onto the mirror Steven's.

"Steven! Can you hear me? Where are you?" She shouts, standing on very bear like hind legs and trying to get a good scope of the situation while she has the chance while not being bothered.

[starseedling]

Steven wishes he could hear her, right now. Instead, there's complete silence in his prison, outside of his own stressed breathing and the sounds of his growing exhaustion. He doesn't entirely understand what's happening, but it's cutting deep. He's been trying to break out with all of the strength he an muster - even the parts that seem left over from the Blue Rose.

None of it is working, but maybe that's because he already feels so weak.

The mirror clone theoretically has some idea of what Lapis can do, as it recognizes her, but it's also not the most analytical thinker. Mostly, it is noticing that while these foreign clones may be less durable than it, they are extremely persistent. It's worth calling back up for.

So while Lapis calls for their host, and the first mirror Steven summons a shield and starts blasting through water Stevens with punches and slashes charged with weird blue energy, a second mirror Steven shows up and goes after Lapis herself.

"I didn't know if I'd get to see you again!" the second Steven says, still filled with misplaced relief as it straight up jumps onto bear-Lapis's back and starts trying to claw the shit out of her with fingers made of sharp, crystal points. More thorny vines are coming, trying to tangle up Lapis from beneath as the Steven clone attacks from up top.

Off behind the area where the first Steven is dueling with a handful of water clones, she'll notice similar crystal vines growing around a chunk of ruins, like they are trying to take the form of a large tree, Fern Gully style. If they're setting up their weird fort there, then maybe the real Steven is there, too.

apparently polarbear fat can be as much as 11.5 cm thick,

[mirrortide]

It hurts being clawed into, but polar bears thankfully have some pretty dense fur and some pretty thick skin. It'd probably be worse if she was a Gem right now, considering the potential piercing power capable of the mirror clone's claws.

She still isn't really a fan of having the mirror Steven on her, and she drops and rolls to try and crush it underneath herself, which makes dodging the vines a little hard and they do tangle her up, only to be cut through with more water and vicious swipes of her claws, and she'll round on the second Steven if it's still around and take a swipe at it too.

As for the large tree, it's something Lapis has noticed, but hasn't clued into yet. She's still a little busy, but as soon as that's done with, she'll be bearelling right towards that.

[starseedling]

Despite getting absolutely rolled on by two tons of bear, the mirror Steven manages to not expire, because Steven is apparently pretty difficult to kill these days. It's a lot less happy with its life, though, and due to the fact that its claws were just not long enough to make it through all that polar bear fat with a slashing motion, and it realizes it needs to change its tactics.

So as Lapis turns on the original clone, who is still fighting off a cascade of water clones with increasing levels of fervor, it sharpens the ends of its fingers and causes its arm to explosively grow, causing its claws to shoot at Lapis's back like a spear. If it can't cut, it'll stab.

Sufficiently distracted, the mirror clone fighting the water clones gets smacked across the face with all of Lapis's bear power, knocking the clone to the ground and shattering it. Real Steven would have just passed out at this point, but it seems the clones have no use for being unconscious.

Yet, as Lapis goes for the tree, its the perfect opportunity for the other Steven to strike.

[mirrortide]

The water Steven's are pretty great at fighting all on their own, and they definitely don't need any help from Lapis to take care of things if they're given enough time to get smashed and reappear en mass.

Which means when one threat has been dealt with, they can turn to the other, which is shooting its claws out to pierce Lapis' back. Unfortunately for the mirror Steven, the water ones can shoot their watery hands out too, and they're aiming to shatter the mirror Steven as Lapis shattered the original.

Which includes them giving absolutely adorable little war cries, but that's neither here nor there.

Hopefully safe, Lapis continues running towards the trees, turning slightly to slam her shoulder into it as hard as she can once she gets there in an attempt to break through.

[starseedling]

There are, indeed, a lot of adorable war cries going on behind her. They go back as Lapis runs towards the trees, until they abruptly stop, replaced with the soft sound of cracking.

The crystal tree is up ahead, though. Lapis will make it there just in time to see another mirror Steven slipping out between its limbs, freshly formed and sort of worried looking. Lapis rams into the 'trunk' of the tree, and the new mirror Steven is quick to attack.

"Please don't do it," it says in an impressive imitation of Steven's 'just about to cry' voice, sniffling and all. Unfortunately, at the same time it's putting out its hands and doing its best to sear her with a powerful burst of hot-cold fire. It's like being set on fire and frozen at the same time!

[mirrortide]

Unfortunately for the mirror Steven, while it's painful sensation wise, Lapis is on a mission, and that mission is to rescue the Correct Steven. She rears up and swats at him, ready to take the brunt of his attack in exchange.

This is where the mirror Steven came out, which means the real Steven can't be far away. Or, that's what she's hoping for anyway.

[starseedling]

She manages to cut through the blast enough to smack this Steven down off of the tree. The reflection actually looks mad for a moment now as it picks itself up.

"Lapis!" it demands. "Listen to me!"

The crystal of the tree shifts, looking like another Steven is about to emerge. Of course, this also means that Lapis has the chance to force herself inside.

She can see the glimmer of the prism within.

[mirrortide]

She's definitely going to be feeling it later once the adrenaline wears off, but with the mirror Steven gone from her immediate path, it's also out of her immediate thoughts, even as it demands for her to listen to it.

But also, in it's defense, Lapis doesn't exactly listen to anyone to begin with for the most part? The poor mirror Steven never stood a chance, and it's clear as she charges forward to try and squeeze through towards the prism she's spotted within.

[starseedling]

It's too risky to use any of their blasting powers so close to the prism, for fear that the might break it, so instead of doing that the two mirror Stevens jump Lapis a the same time. Their arms grow like vines, wrapping around her as they mostly try to use their strength to force her back out of the tree trunk.

The prism Steven is trapped in floats right in front of her, even as the two reflections put their all into trying to shove her back.

Inside, Steven can't hear any of this. He's been left alone and afraid ever since Lilith imprisoned them, and the only changes he's felt is every time energy is trained from him, and split out into another reflection. He doesn't understand what it is, but he can feel himself dying.

As the fourth Steven emerges, his feels himself lose his grip. He falls limp, everything fading out.