lostcarnival | ⇨ EDEN PT. 4 (FINALE)

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⇨ EDEN PT. 4 (FINALE)

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!

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It's fine. Tyki's gotten use to the fact that everyone hides in carnival but all he has to do is listen. People give themselves away more than they like and the radio was a prime example of that. He knows what it is like to be stuck in a place without contact, food, or water and it was the only reason he was really asking. Well, other than concern for an actual friend instead of an acquaintance.

His eyes narrow a fraction as he scrutinizes the other but then he just lets it go, his own cheery smile etching onto his lips, "You know I'd go along with your far-fetched ideas any day, Mister Strange." He gives Strange a sidelong glance, "Not to mention the boss, Childermass, was rather adamant about not touching the mirror at all. Worse case scenario I got stuck in there with you but at least you'd have company."

If he can touch it, he can take it. His power was all about bending reality just like the Architects and the Honorables. It's just, the mirror was a very powerful fae artifact.

"I wouldn't mind the company," Strange remarks, with a little smile. "I'd teach you how to use the reflections in here. We'd chat amongst ourselves and then, when we get bored, try to view other members of the carnival."

It's said in a half-teasing tone of voice. Strange knows that Tyki wouldn't want to be stuck inside the Mirror because come on, who'd want to be stuck inside this thing to begin with. Still, it distracts him a little bit and keeps his mind off of things.

"I think Childermass was against touching the Mirror mostly because we knew so little about it. Granted, I still wouldn't recommend anybody touch the damn thing. But it's not like the Rose. The Rose tries to overtake things, the Mirror doesn't."

"I'd imagine they'd find a way to fetch us out if it happened eventually. It might just take a while," And Tyki would just rather not have to endure a lot of things, like the lack of true vices. The worst part of Eden had been just that. No cigarettes, no food, no raw meat, no sex, no killing or maiming, no gambling. Sure, there was drinking but he needed a clear head.

An amused sound leaves his throat, "And gain your reputation as a voyeur?" Even though he himself was a stalker.

"It does nothing to you?" Which is hard to believe given what they found in books about separating light from darkness. Not to mention, his true self wasn't what everyone in carnival saw. Earlier in the grand mirror, he had been reminded of that.

No comment on the voyeur thing because yeah, Strange knows that he's picked up that reputation and really, doesn't give a damn. So, he simply gives Tyki a smile and a shrug.

"I'm certain that when I'm pulled out of the Mirror, it'll have done something to me," Strange responds. If Steven became a little bit more crystalline while interacting with the Blue Rose for less than five minutes, Strange dreads to think how much he would have changed.

"But at the moment, I'm fine—though I'm afraid I've cheated a bit. I had a boon from Creation which I called upon as soon as I saw the damn thing." Only someone as arrogant as Strange would view calling upon a force of the universe as 'cheating.' "I'm certain I'd have been worse off if I didn't do so."

He can't knock it himself. It was a good way to gather information and Strange used it to his advantage. Plus, he didn't mind the random appearances or conversation. He had one mirror in his trailer and it was flipped over when he didn't want company.

He gives a faint sigh to that, as if it's such a burden, "Hopefully you don't become more fragile than you normally are." It's a tease, given he has so many mirror scars all over his body. They had discussed before how he would be put back together if anything broke.

"Oh that's dirty, Mister Strange. Calling upon that to assist you in these terrible times," he sneers, looking down at him again with a snort. "I suppose it did owe you something and if it is helping you now, then so be it." Not that he's grateful. He didn't want anything to do with Creation.

"And now that it's helped me once, I don't have to call on it ever again." Because Strange still doesn't like Creation. It's a stupid force of the universe that picked people to be Star Guardians for arbitrary methods, instead of picking people who can actually help and who actually knew what they were doing (he's not bitter about Wismuth, what made you think that).

"I am a little worried that when I get out of here, I'll have just turned entirely into a mirror. I'll need to come up with a way to heal myself should the situation call for it."

His reflection magic has been getting better...maybe he could physically manipulate the damn things himself and fix himself/his scars that way.

"I would congratulate you for ridding yourself of it then," he remarks, the banter light and yet filled with mild disgust. He'd have to be pretty desperate to ever use a boon like that, even for someone else, but if this helped Strange then so be it.

He continues to look Strange over, nothing seeming out of place right now, as he would know if something was wrong he hopes. "I'd imagine you would be able to do so. As usual, your power is daunting at the best of times."

Tyki's not worried that he'll pull Strange out of the mirror as a reflection but it's worse than being stuck in there. He doesn't know if Strange will starve in there, given he looked human.

"You flatter me too much." And he gives Tyki a wry yet slightly tired smile as he says it. His power is daunting, hmm? Well, his magic's proven next to useless here. He is a powerful magician, probably one of the most powerful in the carnival. But what's that compared to the power of a fae artifact?

"I don't think I'll be out of here until the Ringmaster or Lilith pull me out themselves."

And he looks back up to the two fighting. They looked evenly matched at the moment. But Strange knows that they can only remain evenly matched for so long.

"Do I? Or do I flatter you just enough~" because he has his reasons for doing so despite having an appreciation for those that harness their power. Tyki can relate. Every time his power could be needed it always fails him to some degree but then that just keeps things challenging and heated.

"I can't see Lilith being all that merciful," he states if the evidence around them stood for anything. "Best keep your bets on Gorgeous up there." To which he means the Ringmaster.

That's what he's worried about, his hand tilting the mirror up so Strange can watch, "I've never seen her fight before, not like this. Does she have the stamina to outlast Lilith? Not that I doubt her."

"Thank you," Strange responds, as Tyki tilts the mirror up towards the fight. He's caught glimpses of it through other reflections and felt the equal pull of their magic when he was inside the Mirror, but Strange hasn't gotten a good look at the fight itself.

And when he sees it, he can't help but frown a little. Surely the Ringmaster has a reason for not going full dragon and just outright eating Lilith...but Strange is a bit confused as to why she's not going full dragon and outright eating Lilith. Devour her essence or something, she deserves it!

"I wonder..." he starts to muse. "I could feel both of their magics when I was in the Mirror. If I were to return to the Mirror itself, perhaps I could help sway the battle in the Ringmaster's direction."

Which is risky as hell, but there you go.

"Right, right," he responds to his praise, his head nodding along as his eyes lift back towards the fight in the air. He's thought of interfering once or twice but he'd likely be in the way.

He wondered why she hadn't gone full dragon either and he suspects it was a change of mind after Ignatius. Tyki had seen his rebirth into what he was now, the look on the Ringmaster's face when she asked them all to assist in trying to make things better. It was without a doubt that she had a lot of conflict brewing in her mind.

"That sounds dangerous," he replies, his tone not judging nor dissuading, but then most of Strange's ideas were and he had always gone along with them in the past, "Messing with a source like that, two powerful sources, could be painful." He knows what it is like to get in between two strong forces. Usually whatever was caught in the middle was simply erased.

"I know," Strange simply responds, as he looks up at the Ringmaster. He knows just how dangerous it is, and just how badly things could go if he's caught in between two exceedingly powerful magical beings. "But I've got to make certain she wins. I've thought of worst last hurrahs for my dumb decisions."

If he gets out of here in one piece, he'll most likely have Ignatius's contract revoked. With the Starlight's protection blocking Nightshade's contract and Strange confident that he'll find a way to break his own curse, he's almost home-free and can return to Arabella without the threat of the fae hanging over his head. But he can't return to Arabella if he's dead or still stuck inside a stupid Mirror.

(Granted, everybody knows that the likelihood that Strange will do something dangerous again is pretty high. But let Jonathan 'still doesn't really know himself' Strange at least entertain the option that he's going to settle down and not do dumb shit when all the curses are off him.)

"Besides, when has something being dangerous ever stopped me?" It's said with a small laugh, something that's Strange deliberately trying to convey to Tyki that see! Everything's fine!

"Just don't forget why you're doing it when you get in there," as if he's sure Strange's mind is already made up. He's going to do it even if Tyki tells him not to, just like Joker would do what he wanted if told not to. This is how the carnival was, hardly anyone thought anything through. Strange was just a little different. Sure, he got rather passionate about things but in dire situations when his heart was on the line, Strange would always do what he felt was right, even if it wasn't.

He breathes out softly, his cigarette rolling low against his lips, taking a moment to pluck and tap it to the side. "Got to get you home to that sweet woman somehow." Also, Tyki would rather the Ringmaster win and given he had little to no morals, he would miss Strange if something happened but at least the outcome would be in their favor.

"It's true. If anyone can do it, it's likely you, Mister Knowledge." It puts him at ease knowing Strange has such confidence or at least has a good enough poker face to seem like he does.

And we're back to the flattering! Strange appreciates it, but a part of him has to wonder why when he says 'hey, I'm going to do something particularly reckless' Tyki responds with 'don't worry, you can do this.'

"Thank you," he simply responds, with a little nod. He stops looking at Lilith and the Ringmaster for a moment to look back at the complete chaos that is the carnival vs. honorables. "Though I am curious as to what you will do."

Tyki didn't seem like much of a fighter. But then again, it's not like there were many other options here.

Flattering is second nature. It's why he tries to tone it down around people like Sans. With Strange, it just fed his ego. He's too honest to ever say otherwise and if it keeps Strange wondering a little at what really goes on in Tyki's mind, then so be it.

"Me? Oh, I'll manage just fine. Unless this does in fact come crashing down on all of us. Right now I'm going to stay here and make sure no one bothers the Ringmaster." While she's fighting. "Until this area starts to clear a little more, that is." Then he'll likely hunt down Eruka.

"An admirable goal," Strange says, with a little smile, "but considering how much magic is being flown about up there, anybody who goes to bother the Ringmaster might as well be signing their death warrant."

Even from the Mirror, Strange could tell that it's a shit-ton of magic. If one of Lilith's Honorables were to get themselves fried thanks to all the magic being thrown about...well, it's one less thing to worry about.

"Do keep an eye out for a tapir, a hamster, and a goat. They're working with Samyaza and they're our allies." A pause. "Come to think of it, keep an eye out for Samyaza herself. I've no idea where she is."

"Yet that doesn't stop someone from trying, Mister Strange. Nor does it stop them from utilizing iron. Almost every Honorable seems to be loaded with it right now." And he's learned that despite having power, it means nothing against such a heavy weakness. He could decimate this entire street with a raise of his hand if he wanted but one touch of iron and it would mean nothing to him. No power could contain such a simple tool. "You and I both saw the effects of it on Ignatius at the branding."

He looks back down at Strange, out of the corner of his eye. Allies, he says, and yet Tyki has no attachment to them. "If I see them, I'll lend a hand should they need it." Otherwise, he won't lift a finger. All he wanted to do was to get out of this faux of an Eden. He didn't care about the citizens here, or what was going to happen should they take the Mirror and destroy Lilith. That was their choice. "I might also seek out Eruka."

Strange frowns, looking away from Tyki for a moment. He remembers the effects of the iron on Ignatius at the branding. That's the thing that started off this chain of events which led him to be stuck in the damn thing.

"They had him bound in iron when that bear brought him to Samyaza's party." Which Tyki already knows a little bit of, thanks to Strange's quick summary in the Mirror chamber. "The hamster helped take the iron off of Ignatius but...it was bad." Really bad.

"Seeking out Eruka would be good. I believe her tadpole misses her." At least, based on the amount of whining that thing did, Strange is assuming he misses her. "If you wish, I can take a look to see if she's been freed already."

"Is he somewhere safe then? Is he stable?" he asks, less out of concern, and more to just know. Though it might sound like genuine concern depending on how Strange takes it. If Ignatius was going to die then watching over that egg that contained his Heart would be a useless task should it ever be his turn to hold it. Peridot apparently never handed it over to anyone else.

"Which is why I'd rather stay here for the time being until someone else steps in to help her," because if not he honestly might. There was one ability that he had yet to use but given how his power to choose failed him, he didn't want to risk that one going wrong. A pure created vacuum would crush anything within it, the pressure so intense it would eradicate a normal body in seconds. But if it failed, if he couldn't control it, it would ruin a good thing.

"I would appreciate it if you could. It would save me time otherwise and I don't have anyone in Acquisitions tracked."

"He is." Having absolutely zero knowledge that Tyki's involved with the Heart business in the first place, Strange is just taking this as nosiness and curiosity. As for Eruka...

"Stay near a reflection. I should be back in five minutes or so." And without even waiting for Tyki to say 'okay, I understand', Strange vanishes from the reflection. Assuming that Tyki doesn't move or drop his hand mirror, Strange reappears in less than five minutes.

"Bad news, she's still imprisoned. Good news, there aren't any honorables or architects near her. I don't know the exact location, but I got a fairly good view of the area around her prism."

This was just how war was. He felt no ill will towards Ignatius, even for what he did to Strange, and it came with the territory that prisoners, kidnapees, and losses to death happened daily. It's just how things were and nothing was going to stop that.

"Alright," he says, confirming he understood to keep the mirror out. In the meantime, his eyes will return upwards, his ears occasionally sliding around to listen for attackers. In truth, he just wanted to keep this area clear.

He sneers gently, "My only real issue will be not knowing her skillset. I hadn't had time to introduce myself properly nor get to know her." Powers and all. Rita he had some knowledge at least. "But describe the area for me. I had a lot of time to explore Eden."

Thankfully, Strange was watching a bit of the fight between everybody and Bezaliel, so he's got a solid idea of what Eruka's powers are.

"She can conjure explosives, turn into an actual frog, and turn into this slime-like substance." And then, Strange describes the area where Eruka is at fairly well.

"I've no idea where specifically in Eden that is: the reflections aren't good for narrowing down the exact location. But I hope that helps." He really hope that helps: what else can he do otherwise? "I should head back up to the Mirror and see if anything's changed."

Has he ever told Strange that he loves him for his constant information? If not, he really needs to.

"That's interesting. I saw her conjure this tadpole but it was only emitting light," he responds, his tail flicking gently to the side in remembrance. He commits it to memory just as he does her location. He thinks he knows where that is but he can always get his Tease to scout it out for him.

"Thank you for the information," he says again, just as he did before in the Mirror room, "Do try not to get yourself killed or at least let me know before you do." So someone can snatch that soul back. Then again, Ringmaster was going to be there.

Nosiness and a disregard for people's personal boundaries, baby.

As Tyki mentions try not to die, Strange laughs a little, before shaking his head. "Coming back to life was...odd. I don't want to do it again."

So yep, he's going to try his hardest not to die. His tone is very light-hearted and joking, like coming back to life is perfectly normal and the circumstances behind his death weren't something that were slightly traumatizing. No issues here, no sir!

"And good luck freeing Eruka."

He'd wave but he feels it would be lost on Strange given how he was in a mirror and a very small one on top of that. Instead he lowers the mirror to his hip where he uses his power to clip it through the hook there that usually held his delete lists at home. He can always store it in his pack later. He just wanted to keep a better ear out for Strange if necessary.

"No shame in wasting a perfectly good egg either. Who knows when you'll actually need it. Nor do I wish to experience it either." The egg he means, not death itself. That's right. He's seen it with Ignatius after all. He knows exactly where those eggs come from. As for Eruka, "Mm, thanks. Safe travels."

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⇨ EDEN PT. 4 (FINALE)

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