⇨ 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

[periphrasing]

Peridot grunts in surprise as the lead pipe is torn out of her hand, eyes widening in shock.

[drrdrrdrr]

She flicks her whip and the pipe clangs to the ground a little way behind her.

"C'mere, nerd," she says, her voice sounding like a recording of the real Amethyst saying the same thing in a completely different situation, and the whip speeds towards Peridot.

This is what she gets for rolling a 3

[periphrasing]

"Ggghhhk--!" Peridot tries to jump out of the way, but the reflection's whip is too quick for her; it wraps itself around her in an instant, pinning her arms to her side. The force of it is so strong that it knocks her off of her feet and flat onto her face.

[drrdrrdrr]

The duplicate yanks her forward and kicks her in the head. It's still grinning.

[periphrasing]

The kick has Peridot seeing stars. If she were in possession of any bones, or blood, that move probably would have broken her nose! Fortunately, she's made of sturdier stuff than that.

She's been avoiding pulling the dragon card because she's been trying to avoid bringing hordes of Lilith's loyals down on her by turning into an ostentatious acid green draconiform, but she hasn't got much choice at the moment. Soon enough the whip isn't enough to contain the change in mass that Peridot undergoes, as she glows and shifts until her wings are bursting through the bindings and spreading wide as she settles into her alternate form.

Then she promptly backhands the duplicate with a meaty forepaw.

[drrdrrdrr]

"Yeesh!" exclaims the duplicate tinnily as it hits the ground and the whip bursts into light. It pushes itself back up, turning its smiling face towards Peridot again. "That's pretty janked, Per," it says, the words clearly borrowed from a much less fraught conversation.

[periphrasing]

Has it already been mentioned that Peridot hates this? Just in case, let it be said again: Peridot really hates this. The duplicate's tone is so dissonant, so out of place here. It makes the hair on the back of her neck stand on end, evokes vivid memories of a dozen conversations between herself and the REAL Amethyst during which she might have said those words. It's just a rude reminder that Amethyst is likely somewhere nearby and in very real danger, and this fight is just further delaying her rescue.

Sparks flying from between her fangs are the only warning the duplicate has before Peridot blasts it with all of her fire power, gouts of flame pouring from her open jaws.

[drrdrrdrr]

Amethyst herself would have made it through that, but this duplicate only has a divided portion of her power; when the smoke clears, it's gone, and it doesn't leave anything behind.

[periphrasing]

Peridot drops back down onto all fours, staring uncomfortably at the spot where the duplicate was mere moments ago and looking vexed. She may have beaten the darn thing, but that really doesn't put her any closer to finding the real Amethyst.

Shifting back out of her dragon guise, Peridot skims her surroundings for any sign of the prism one more time, standing on her tip-toes and shouting: "Amethyst! AMETHYST!"

[drrdrrdrr]

It's around here somewhere, but even if Amethyst had emerged from her gem by now she wouldn't be able to hear Peridot's voice; the prisms are completely soundproof, allowing their inhabitants no clue as to what's going on outside.

If Peridot keeps yelling, though, she might attract some other Amethysts...

[periphrasing]

Unsurprisingly, Peridot does not stop yelling. Honestly, what do you take her for?

[drrdrrdrr]

A voice echoes from around the next corner. "Peridot? Is that you?"

[periphrasing]

Aaaannnd Peridot runs towards the voice without hesitation, because she's just that desperate for any kind of lead she can get. It doesn't even occur to her for a second that it might not be the real deal.

"Amethyst!?" she cries once more, skidding around the corner looking harried.

[drrdrrdrr]

She's immediately tackled to the ground by another duplicate, paw-hands heavy on her chest as it pins her. Its blank mirror eyes stare down at her.

"Peridot?" it says again, with the exact same inflection. "Is that you?"

[periphrasing]

She hits the ground with a grunt, wincing and cracking her eyes open only to find herself staring up at another one of those horrible duplicates. Peridot makes a horrible sound, a groan that starts off quiet and quickly grows into a squawk of anger, like she's Donald Duck or something.

She heats up her claws and tries to slash at the duplicate's underbelly next, hoping to knock it off of her.

[drrdrrdrr]

"Oop," says the Duplicate as it jumps back to avoid those claws. It's already reaching for its whip. "Watch it, Runner Bean."

[periphrasing]

"No YOU watch it!" is Peridot's incredibly clever comeback to that, as she springs back to her feet and charges forward while still swinging those claws around. She is so miffed and so ready to take some aggression out?

[drrdrrdrr]

Unfortunately, all that yelling has attracted more than just one duplicate.

Another tackles her from behind, sinking its own claws into Peridot's shoulders and purring, "Heyyyy, Per!"

[periphrasing]

Peridot promptly eats dirt, the force of the duplicate's tackle knocking her forward on to the ground. She struggles to right herself in an attempt to toss the creature off her back, but uh. Amethyst definitely outweighs her, even as a mirror duplicate, and upper body strength has never been her strong suit.

[drrdrrdrr]

The duplicate that tackled her smacks her round the back of the head with one of its big paw-hands, and laughs, the exact same laugh as before.

The other one pins her hands, leaning down to look at her with those blank mirror eyes. "Gotcha," it grins.

[periphrasing]

Normally, this is the part where Peridot would do some quick spell channeling and change back into a dragon, using her superior size to throw both of the duplicates off of her. Unfortunately, getting clocked in the back of the head makes doing something with that requires that much focus pretty difficult. Rattled, she keeps digging down inside herself to try to find the connection to the raw magic that she needs to pull the trick off, but she's already seeing stars as it is, to say nothing of the exhaustion she's experiencing from such an incredibly long and intense day.

Her efforts aren't exactly for naught, though. Rather than tapping into the transformation magic that she's expecting, she taps into something else entirely. The duplicates will suddenly find it quite difficult to maintain a grip on the gem, because all of a sudden there's electricity coursing through her entire form and exploding outwards as a painful shock.

[drrdrrdrr]

Both duplicates are jolted off of her with identical yells of alarm, one rolling back onto its feet and the other landing on its back with a deal less grace.

"Now I'm mad," says the one that landed on its feet, the sentence obviously borrowed from a context where Amethyst said this as a joke. "That's just rude," the other one agrees. They circle her, stances low, like panthers.

[periphrasing]

While they circle, Peridot is still trying to figure out just what the hell happened. The sensation of it... it felt sort of like when she summons up her natural heat for her fire breathing/clawing, at least at first. But then it had gotten faster, and more wild... Her fire is something she can usually aim or control, channeled through her mouth or her hands. This had been more like an outward explosion of energy, with her physical form at the center.

Getting back to her feet, she looks at both clones with momentary uncertainty... and then she clenches her fist and tries to replicate the effect, sending another burst of electricity out in a sphere around her.

[drrdrrdrr]

It's enough to obliterate one of the Amethysts -- the one that landed on its back -- but the other one persists. This kind of shock would make the real Amethyst's hair stand on end, but these mirror versions are even less real than a gem's physical form.

"Sheesh," says the remaining duplicate, and then sort of glitches and just says, again, "Sheesh. Sheesh--"

[periphrasing]

Peridot promptly hits it with another shock just for good measure, and shatters it. She continues to stare for a moment at the empty spot where it was just standing, a slight smile quirking the corners of her mouth. The more she does this, the more natural it's starting to feel, like she has better control over the reach and the strength of the shock emitted...

No time to stand around being pleased with herself though. She pricks her ears up and looks around to see if any more amethysts show up. Whatever direction they come from, that's probably where she needs to head to find the real Amethyst.