Lost Carnival Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ringleaders) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
lostcarnival2018-09-16 07:16 pm
ringleaders) wrote in lostcarnival2018-09-16 07:16 pm
Entry tags:
⇨ WYLD HUNT
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.
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. |
ready two bite it
Still, he recognizes the voice from the radio, the one who said she'd find someone to help ... except it looks like she's turned out to need help herself. Lambert curses, pulling Pig up short, and dismounts.
"It's gone," he says, shortly. "Let me see that arm."
no subject
She's still keeping a healthy distance from the horse as she raises her arm up for Lambert to see, then winces as she does so. "One of those monsters hit it real funny."
Hanamaru's biting down on her lip to keep from crying as she shows Lambert her obviously broken arm.
no subject
“We need to stabilize this, and then we need to get you somewhere safer. Do you know how to ride?”
no subject
"Not super well, zura," Hanamaru admits. Her riding skills are minimal at best, but at least she's capable enough to stay upright on a horse...that is, assuming the horse is a normal sized horse and not the Clydesdale on steroids that's Pig.
"But I can keep myself upright an' won't fall over!" That she's pretty dang certain of, even if she's got a broken arm.
no subject
They’re taking too much time doing this, and Lambert’s painfully aware of it. Still, he keeps his hands stready — hopefully she won’t pay much mind to both him and Pig being streaked with blood that clearly isn’t their own.
“I haven’t met you before. I’m Lambert— what’s your name?”
no subject
"Hanamaru," she explains, with a little nod. "I used ta work at the carnival, but then had to go home to finish up some stuff. I came back and, well..." She trails off, with a frown. She came back right as everything was in the middle of going to shit.
"It's nice to meet ya, Lambert."
no subject
It doesn't change the fact that she's still, as far as he can tell, totally useless in a fight.
"There's a group of us gathered at one of the temples in Shabon, trying to fortify it," he explains, even as he raises his free hand and the sigil on the back of it glows briefly. Reaching out, he seems to open a door into space, top half disappearing into it briefly before he emerges holding something dark, long, and wiggly, holding it up for her inspection.
"Do you know what this is?" It's a black pool noodle.
no subject
"...it's a pool noodle, zura."
What the heck, buddy? Are they going swimming? "Do you know what that is?"
no subject
"Not just any 'pool noodle.'" Lambert wiggles it at her menacingly. "It's magic. Not enough to kill something, but enough to stun, if you swing it hard enough."
And more importantly, it's at least reasonably feasible for a tiny girl with one broken arm to hold onto. To demonstrate, he lets the noodle's tip wiggle towards her. Very, very lightly, unless she moves out of the way, he touches it to her forehead.
It'll feel a bit like someone just took a finger and flicked it very hard against her head.
no subject
"I guess anything can be magic if ya know the right spell." However, this is still very weird. Like, super weird, weirder than normal carnival weird. "I can use it ta hit someone if they come near you or the horse, zura."
no subject
“Now come on.” He stands by Pig, lacing his fingers together in preparation to boost her up onto the horse. Before they can do that, though? A large, winged shadow passes overhead.
Lambert’s eyes widen, but he doesn’t have time to do more than dive away from Pig and try to put himself between whatever suddenly lands between them and the Pokémon, a hulking winged shape that raises a cloud of dust that obscures its form.
no subject
"I-I can give you a boost of energy or stop your pain! You're the boss, ya just gotta tell me what to do!"
Though as that thing lands in between them, Hanamaru's hands are already trembling.
fight montage woo hoo
"Give me some of that energy," is what he snarls. "Then stay back." Pig is already rearing, preparing to strike at their attacker -- which is apparently some kind of massive, ugly sphinx that grins at them with a mouth full of sharp teeth before it lunges at them.
She's rather unpleasantly surprised to find herself meeting a mouthful of dragon as Lambert shifts and transforms, lunging towards her. He'd been avoiding it because he doesn't know what fighting condition his form is in, and as his wings snap out to block the sphinx from getting to Hanamaru, he feels the air pressure threaten to tear the membrane apart again.
It'll be a short, brutal battle that ends with flattening a few stalls as they wrestle around, and it ends with Lambert the dragon pinning the snarly Sphinx down and Pig delivering a one-two stomp that cracks open her skull. Lambert waits for the body's twitching to come to a stop before he drops the dragon form, panting. He's covered in blood, and he's torn open some of the stitches on his belly, which he clutches at with a grimace. Rolling off the body, he steps over back towards Hanamaru to pick up his sword where he dropped it.
Unfortunately, while he hasn't lost the fight, he's most certainly lost his clothes. Good news is, an overabundance of golden scales and being covered in blood means there isn't anything visible to actually sear Hanamaru's eyes. Bad news is? The fight's drawn attention. Lambert can hear howling in the distance, closing in fast... and circling around.
"Shit," he says, gritting his teeth. He should have kept that dragon form after all... "We're being surrounded."
no subject
That pool noodle is gripped super tight, though, and Hanamaru's ready to smack anything that comes her way. Fortunately, nothing does. She stops singing when the sphinx looks to be super dead. As Lambert makes his way over to her, she notices the popped stitches, opens her mouth to start her nullify pain singing, before also hearing the howling in the distance.
"How fast can that horse run, zura? D'you think we can outrun them?" Based on the worried tone of her voice, Maru's worried that they can't.
no subject
Actually, maybe that’s what he should have asked her to do while he was fighting the sphinx, but he’s too late now. He steps over to the remnants of his clothes to rummage through and retrieve his sword, and his texting ring — his radio was smashed flat in the helter skelter chase he’d been through earlier. His mind is still racing, trying to figure out their next move, when he’s interrupted but a sudden blast of wind that knocks them both flat and Pig letting out a short, sharp scream.
Pig never screams.
“No!” Lambert pushes himself up from the ground, panicked, just in time to see the griffin that’s pinned his horse to the ground. She’s kicking and trying to buck it off as best as he can, but to no avail. The griffin raises its head to look at them, and Lambert feels a chill run down his spine. There’s too much intelligence in those eyes.
“Well, well,” the griffin drawls. “What have we got here?”
no subject
...but she's not one to give up just because the situation seems useless. Lambert's protected her, maybe she can protect him? Tightening her grip on the pool noodle, Hanamaru takes a quick breath before running over towards the griffin and attempting to bop it on the nose as hard as she can.
She's putting a lot of faith in this stupid pool noodle.
no subject
The attack is clumsy and uncoordinated, and the griffin could easily dodge if he wanted to -- but that would mean taking a little girl wielding a wiggling stick bumrushing him seriously, and why would he? All this means is he's bending down to tear a chunk of flesh off Pig's flank when Hanamaru whaps him with the noodle.
Astonishingly, it hurts, or at least it startles the griffin enough to rear back, wings flaring wide with a draft strong enough to knock Hanamaru down. Lambert has just enough presence of mind to snatch Pig's pokeball out of his clothing's remains and hold it up to call her back. She disappears from under the griffin in a flash of light and he snorts contemptuously, ruffling his feathers.
"You think your silly tricks will stop the Hunt? You're just walking meat."
no subject
"W-We can at least try, zura!" There's something about this...hitting that griffin felt good. It's an odd feeling that Hanamaru hasn't felt before, but there's a little thought in the back of her brain pushing her to keep doing this. To fight him, fight others, keep on fighting and hunting because what else is there?
It makes her hesitate for a moment, before she lunges forward and tries to whack the griffin again.
no subject
Which tells Lambert just about all he needs to know about the danger they're in, really.
Despite all common sense, though, Hanamaru's rushing forward again. This time, the griffin won't be caught -- it launches itself off the ground and something changes about the air around them. Lambert's eyes widen and he hurls himself forward at Hanamaru, throwing up a shield just in time for blades of wind to descend. It doesn't take long for the shield to shatter under the force, but it's enough time for Lambert to grab the girl around her good shoulder and spin them around so he's shielding her with his body, too, though he unfortunately can't do it without jostling her broken arm.
The rest of the the wind that wasn't dispersed by the shield slams into Lambert's back and he snarls as it flays the flesh of his back, but he won't let go of Hanamaru as he snaps into his ear.
"We need to hunt with them." There's no time to explain the how and why, but if getting out of here alive is the goal ... it's the only option they have the time for. "That's the only way they'll stop attacking."
no subject
She doesn't know what he's talking about: join the hunt? What's this hunt anyway? She can't even hunt to begin with! But this guy looks like he knows what he's doing and, most importantly, he's protected her so much so far. She'll trust Lambert.
"Okay," Hanamaru says, with a nod. "But how're we gonna do that, zura?"
Guess who missed the fun Wyld Hunt 101 talk everybody got before Eden.
no subject
More importantly, he's seen what happens to some of the Hunt's 'prey.' Moss had been a cook, but obviously, some hunters prefer their meat raw.
"Just follow my lead," he grunts, then pulls away and raises his voice. "Stop! We-- we want the same thing!"
The griffin, who'd been prowling forward for a final blow, pauses and cocks his head mockingly. "Do you? And what is that?"
no subject
no subject
He cuts off with a sharp inhale as the compulsion hits, a savage tug on his consciousness calling, calling, calling for blood. Hunt the Carnival. Claim them for your master. It’s not what he was expecting, the weight of countless minds pressed against his own, and for a moment he forgets where he is and why he’s here.
For a long moment, the griffin stares at them, its eyes an electric green against the matte feathers of its face, then it rears up and laughs.
“Well you won’t catch anything like that,” it taunts.
For some reason, that irks Lambert enough to scowl, forcing the pain back. He can catch more than this asshole can, injury or not! “You want to bet on that?” he snaps.
no subject
When the griffin starts laughing, that's what brings Hanamaru back to attention. What, so this bird thinks they won't catch anything? That's dumb! Of course they'll catch something, that's what they do, that's the Hunt.
"We're gonna prove you wrong, zura." As she says that, she takes a few steps towards the griffin. She's still holding the pool noodle, but it's not in a way that's threatening towards the griffin. If anything, her stance is defensive. "Let's go find some prey."
no subject
The griffin doesn't smirk -- beaks, even fae ones, just aren't made for that -- but it's audible in his voice, as he spreads his wings. Another blast of air buffets them as the griffin launches skywards, though this one thankfully doesn't carry razor-sharp winds with it. It's still enough to keel Lambert over enough to force him to drop off on one knee, gritting his teeth as his newly-acquired gashes strain under the sudden pressure.
"Then you'd better keep up," the griffin taunts, hovering over them on currents of magic, "Or we might just decide to eat you, after all."
(no subject)
(no subject)