⇨ WYLD HUNT

[ringleaders]

Who: Everyone!
When: Day 100
Where: Shabondamashii
What: The Wyld Hunt unexpectedly crashes the Shabon's dimension, leaving chaos in its wake. Those that have been with the carnival for a while might recognize it as the personal army of a fae called the Huntsman - also known as one of the Ringmaster's age old rivals, whom she dethroned thousands of years ago. The last we heard of him, he was pursuing the carnival, and it turns out he found them faster than anyone thought.
Warnings: Violence, theoretical cannibalism.

THE AUTUMN MOON↴ There isn't any warning. You might not even notice what's happening at first, with the approach of the threat happening as spontaneously as a zombie uprising. You're minding your own business, enjoying Shabon, when a random alien charges you on foot with sudden and aggressive intent. Whether or not you can throw them off or defeat them, you'll soon find they weren't alone. An entire army is descending upon the city now, and the carnival is the target. ► THEY ARE LEGION: The Wyld Hunt comes in all shapes and sizes, with beasts and men from all kinds of different universes having been caught up in its sway. Those that have been in the Hunt for a long while have more or less completely lost themselves - they now function only as part of a pack, hunting whatever the Huntsman wishes and consuming what their prey leaves behind upon death. Some members of the Hunt are newer and more unsure, but they are all a part of a psychic hive mind that compels them to move as a unit. Everyone in the Wyld Hunt instinctively know what the Huntsman wants them to do, even if they never speak to him. Their skills, powers, and physicalities are all over the board, but there are a notably large quantity of Wyld Fae among them, often being used as mounts by more powerful humanoids within the Hunt. When NPCing members of the Hunt for threading purposes there is a lot of flexibility to what you face, including entities and beasts from your own worlds - provided they are creatures capable of functioning independently. ► HUNT OR BE HUNTED: When set upon by the Hunt, it is easy to become overwhelmed. Unfortunately, in that situation, the only way to beat them is to join them. Beginning to hunt alongside the others will immediately pacify them against you. As soon as you start to follow, the thrum of the Huntsman's will will start to take over - the more you hunt, the harder it is to turn away from it. If you do stop, or successfully oppose the compulsion, they will be quick to set upon you again. Like the others, you will feel the craving to consume any individuals the Hunt has felled - you must resist this, because once you have eaten the prey of the Hunt, you'll be trapped within it indefinitely. ► WORN OUT WELCOME: The people of Shabon are used to crisis, but this is a bit beyond what even they are prepared to tolerate. The Hunt will be causing collateral, both of the human and the material sort. While the workers in Shabon have very well practiced escape procedures in the event of something like this, the other guests are not as fortunate. Plenty of them are capable of fighting back on their own, but they will not always be capable of avoiding the hordes. The longer this goes on, the worse it will get. Eventually, the Shabon workers will realize who the Hunt is after and start actively trying to turn carnival members over to them in order to make it stop. ► IN TWO PARTS: Tragically, this turn of events and the realization that she's managed to put everyone in danger once again will be what finally causes the Ringmaster to split in two. One side will immediately become disinterested in using violence to counter this problem, while the other will be desperate and reckless. This will also completely screw her ability to get anyone back to the carnival in time. There will be at least one Megathread dealing with her actions during this. PLEASE NOTE: This is a conflict the carnival is meant to survive, not win. The main point of this is to get the plot rolling in a new direction, so don't worry about figuring out how to defeat the Huntsman, because in this moment it basically won't be possible. Have fun threading out the crisis, and see where it leads. I wanted to be up front about that, as opposed to letting everyone grasp at straws to prevent a result that will be inevitable, even if the details will shift.

Comments

[npcarnival]

Peridot knocks the lizard off of him, which seems fortunate as Rita sets it ablaze not long after. Ignatius is quick to recover, slipping into a crouch and then springing away from it as it writhes, in pain but not really taking significant damage. Yikes.

He hates this, because he knows this fight probably wouldn't be a problem if he was himself - but he's not. The tinges of resentment from his Light side are back, but tempered with a sense of grim acknowledgment that this situation couldn't be avoided at this point.

The very least he can do, he decides, is use some fire - as stunted as it may be. He unleashes a few molten bolts to contrast Rita's dark ones. In the meantime, Strange seems to have taken an arrow.

Ignatius hisses, backing towards Strange's position as the pillars of stone shoot up all over the place. He grabs Strange around the side, using his strength to haul him with trivial effort as he moves towards the mirror everybody seems to be talking about.

"Go through the mirror, wizard," he snaps impatiently. "You're too frail for this."

[hippocarnival]

Yuya's relieved as Reira pulls herself through the mirror, but he doesn't get the chance to reassure her from over his shoulder as his gaze is drawn to Strange as he screams. Even if he can't tell everything going on, that was pain wasn't it?

"Mr. Strange!" His voice pitches up with worry and as Reira's weight leaves him, and he turns to run back to them to offer a shield--thankfully, he doesn't get far before Igantius is guiding them back. Or forcibly hauling Strange as the case may be.

He's still for a second before he reels back and starts preparing the spell for the next person. "Hurry!"

[worldlyafflictions]

Shima is perfectly happy to get out of dodge and appreciates that Peridot takes the initiative after the possibility of getting wounded becomes much more present. It takes him a second to figure where even to hang on to--probably he just ends up bumping across her shoulders as she takes flight, clinging to her mane and trying to figure out where to put his feet.

He'll take a last glance as they hit the roofs to make sure the others aren't wasting their time by getting killed before he fumbles for his radio to see if he can get in contact with any of the other Egg-bearers.

[kingsroads]

Don't mind Strange, just doing a bit of internal bleeding here and in a lot more pain than he's actually showing. Strange is about to protest that no, he isn't too frail, but then remembers that he's got a whole bunch of fucking mirrors under his skin now so alright, he might be that frail. As such, it's easy as hell for Ignatius to move him over towards the mirror.

"Yes sir," he says through gritted teeth. There's some part of Strange's brain in all of this that recognizes he's in a battlefield, Ignatius is the commander, and so he'll obey his commander. He poofs into smoke (leaving behind one arrow and a few mirror shards that fall to the ground from where his body was), floats out of Ignatius's grasp, and reforms a few steps away from the mirror.

Thanks to the pain and the chaos, he doesn't realize that Yuya's casting a spell. He reaches his hand out, casts his own spell, and vanishes into the mirror. Unfortunately, the mixture of his magic and Yuya's magic means that Strange ends up in a completely different destination than where Reira is. At least he'll find Syrlya to eventually keep his fragile self alive.

[anti_nonsense]

With Ignatius dragging Strange to the mirror, Rita's forced to back up towards the others to ensure she doesn't end up surrounded. Unfortunately, her yukata turns out to be somewhat restrictive, and as one of the attackers breaks into a run, charging with a spear in hand, she stumbles backwards and trips, falling to the floor.

Twisting around, she manages to hold out a palm and conjure a blast of fire. It hits the attacker and bursts, knocking him away and leaving him on fire. The proximity leaves Rita's clothes singed, but she scrambles back to her feet and hurries to join Ignatius and Yuya at the mirror.

"...We'd better follow them," she says as soon as she catches her breath.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya's whole posture tenses when Rita trips, going through a similar cycle of panic until she's back to scrambling their way.

As soon as she's within a few feet, Yuya sucks in a sharp breath and projects his shield, domed around the three of them.

"Okay--" He starts, voice strained. "They're going to a mirror close to the carnival's portal. Rita, I'm going to open it for you now. And then Ignatius, and then I'll go."

It's a little hard to focus between the chaos and keeping his shield up, but Yuya presses his hand to the glass to open the doorway for Rita, aiming for the same mirror Reira passed through. "Okay, go!"

[anti_nonsense]

Rita hesitates for just a moment, looking up at Ignatius... but there's no time to waste, and with Yuya's urging, she steps through the mirror and vanishes. She can deal with her clothing once she's on the other side.

[hippocarnival]

Yuya watches her go, until something crashes against his shield (the raptor? Probably) and he flinches, pouring more focus into maintaining it agaisnt the pressure.

He stalls for a second, then puts his hand back on the mirror to open the doorway for Ignatius next. He glances up at him, a little strained by pushing the magic so far.

"Okay, your turn. I'll be right behind you."

[npcarnival]

Well, Strange and Rita are gone, so he may as well go, too. As wary as he is of walking through any mirror based portals after everything they saw in Eden... well, there aren't a lot of options.

He gives Yuya a little not of acknowledgment and steps through the portal without much more hesitation. As much as he hated the idea of reforming, he's feeling a lot more rational right now. Just goes to show, huh?

Ignatius disappears through the mirror, mostly thinking about how he needs a better weapon.

[hippocarnival]

That's all of them, mostly. Yuya's shoulders sink a little in relief as Igantius disappears next.

And then there's a harder force slammed against his shield, and it starts to crumble. Yuya's attention snaps over to catch the hunters attempting to force their way to him. He doesn't have time to spare, so with a sharp breath he throws himself to the mirror to dive into it.

Unfortunately, in his panicked rush, he focuses on the wrong reflection and ends up... well, not where anyone else is. Another part of Shabon, with no time to get his bearings and catch up before the hunt descends on him again.

They know where to go, so he's just going to have to believe that they'll make it.