lostcarnival | ⇨ WYLD HUNT

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⇨ 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.

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Gongenzaka's tracking and magic has limited range, but it is still a wide range. It could cover the Carnival at its best- which means it stretches over that distance now. For all of his size he moves as stealthily as he can from the bathhouse location Sans gave him. Using chakra magic to avoid leaving clear footprints, walking between buildings along the walls...avoiding the other members of the hunt is key, especially if he wants to keep quiet.

He seeks- For Yuuya first, of course, and he's still some distance away. If Gongenzaka were to open his eyes he would see nothing that Yuuya sees, or will see in the next moment or so.

But the man focuses, hunkered down where he's managed to avoid detection from other members of the hunt thus far. He knows where Yuuya is, but is anyone else near? Familiar, or otherwise? And if 'otherwise' is not nearby...

'.....'

He tries to reach out to the other- to Yuuya, to his soul. A gentle prod that brings a feeling of 'hope'. (He just hopes Yuuya can 'feel' it.)

A plume of purple smoke flits in front of Gon's face. While Gon might be good at hiding himself from other members of the Hunt, Strange manages to find him, running into him as they both track the same person (Gon with his soul tracking, Strange with a running use of scrying spells + seeing magic).

His plan had been to scout ahead as smoke and then report back to Sans + possibly anybody else who's in the group coming to fight...but the discovery of Gongenzaka puts a little wrinkle in that plan.

"Idiot," Strange briefly chides, keeping his voice as quiet as he can while he reforms from smoke back into human. He's got his arms crossed over his chest as he looks over at the other teenager. "Do you even have a plan for when you find him?"

Because of course Gongenzaka is going after Yuya. Strange talks to Yuya on a regular basis, he knows how worryingly ride or die for each other the two teens are.

It is perhaps a bit impressive that Gongenzaka manages to not flinch immediately at the sudden presence of Strange in his mind's eye. He immediately grimaces however, hissing- eyes still closed. "If you suspect, for whatever reason, my intent was to charge blindly then you may erase such doubts now," Gongenzaka growls. "Beyond tracking, my goal is to contact Yuuya."

He pauses, refocusing his efforts. "...I, the man Gongenzaka, am well aware of my failings," he hisses further. "...But this is not a case where power is most key, but instead planning, and stealth, would you not agree?"

And... "...I, the man Gongenzaka, would rather say I tried...than not at all, for that matter. ...My goal once locating Yuuya was to find the captor, and notify others of their movements."

He continues to frown. "...I have reached him. He is not answering, but..." More hope, he decides to send in the end. And along with that, an image of Strange.

Sans arrives not long after Strange does, his massive form just appearing in the blink of an eye. He doesn't look particularly happy. He hasn't sensed Yuya's death, yet, but as expected Gon is out here trying to start something.

For the moment, he hunkers down and says nothing, watching Strange and Gongenzaka dubiously.

Strange bites his tongue before he can point out the very obvious flaw in Gon's plan: a seven foot tall dog plant lion thing is naturally going to be a little bit less stealthy than other things, due to that whole seven foot tall dog plant lion business.

Nominally, he should defer to Sans as Sans is the supervisor. But Sans has been acting odd, Strange doesn't have much tact, and the sooner they get through this situation the better. So, like the overbearing asshole he is, Strange takes charge.

"I hate to say this, but if he's not answering, he might be dead." And Strange just keeps on talking because he knows he's terrible at processing grief. Ergo, the best way to deal with it is push it to the side until all of this is through. "If that's the case, we need his soul and as much of the body as we can obtain. Both of you have some sort of presence sensing magic," Strange says, as he gestures from Sans to Gongenzaka and back. "When we find him, can either of you tell if Yuya's soul remains in his body?"

Well he knows he's a 9 foot mass, that's why he parked himself a good distance away.

As for if he would be dead for not answering...That one gets Gon to crack an eye open for a Very dry look.

"Yuuya is no doubt far from perfect health but I, the man Gongenzaka assure you- he is alive. I would not be able to establish a connection at all." The eye closes again as he continues to frown.

"...More than that, he is moving. At the very least his soul is...Slowly." He still figures Yuuya isn't dead but hey, stick with souls for now he supposes! "...He also appears to be alone..." He growls. He hopes he doesn't have to explain why that's worrying. They've dealt with enough faeries to suspect when one is suddenly 'let go'. "...I cannot pick up anyone unfamiliar either...so I, the man Gongenzaka, suspect they can hide that..." Unsurprising if that's the case. He's one mortal using his soul sense, and that thing is a Faerie.

They work with what they have he supposes. "...I, the man Gongenzaka, wish to attempt to heal him, myself. ...I have been practicing with poisons specifically...but that is matter for after we have him back."

By the way, he has no ideas on how to approach just yet. Since. Well everything kind of screams Trap right now.

Sans growls, with obvious irritation, showing his hand a lot more than he would be otherwise. His temper feels short at the moment, and while he can acknowledge that, he's not sure if it can be stopped.

"Remember how long it took to cure people of the Prince's poison, Gongenzaka?" He just wishes people would stop trivializing this because it's convenient for them to do so. Something about it is making him feel frustrated and upset.

"We can't screw around, here..."

"Sans is right," Strange responds, with a little nod. "We shouldn't even think about how to cure the poison until he's somewhere safe."

While Sans is thinking back to the Prince's poison, Strange is thinking back to the Athenaeum, when he was enthralled. If Lambert had focused on just knocking him out instead of trying to break his enchantment while they were in the middle of the fight, would things have gone differently?

"I'll scan for fae magic when we approach. If he is alone, then we grab Yuya and teleport him somewhere safe. If that fae is there, you take Yuya and run. Don't try to cure the poison, don't try to stop and worry about us, just take him as far away from that faerie as you can. Both Sans and I have magic that lets us teleport or travel places quicker than you and we can hold off that faerie for a longer period of time."

Don't mind Strange as he assumes his third eye seeing magic nonsense is more powerful than Gon's chakra sensing souls nonsense. Now that he's detailed what passes for a plan, Strange looks over at Sans to see if he's got any ideas or changes.

He did say 'but that's a matter for later', Strange. But sure. Fine. He'll just take the snarling from Sans and try to focus.

"...Attempts were never something I, the man Gongenzaka, intended for the field," he replies nonetheless. Maybe a Bit of salt after all.

As it is he nods. "Naturally. I, the man Gongenzaka, can do that much at least." ...Though, actually.

"...Is it possible for you to create passage for two through a reflection, or do you need to be present?" That was how thee boys were separated to begin with. It was limit 1 for Yuuya, amd it was shattered before the boy could follow. If they could prepare an escape route however...

Well either way he assumes Strange is better at it. So there is no minding the other's assumption. He senses souls and their individual energy after all- that's Way different from what Strange is doing with that eye of his.

Even if the Fae isn't there, there's bound to be something.

Gon keeps his eyes shut, on that note. He's doing what he can to at least broadcast some reassurance to Yuuya while he can, even if he won't get an answer.

"Technically I can," Strange answers, though the frown on his face says that there's going to be some limitations coming up, "but for someone of your stature, I'd need a reflection closer towards your size."

And again, nine foot tall dog lion plant thing.

"I could make that reflection by flooding the place or freezing the floor, but cutting and running is probably safer and faster."

"Only if we're distracting her," Sans adds in a rumble. "She'd be too fast for you to outrun, otherwise...'

What they really need is to get RM into once piece again, since she's the only one he knows who could really do something about this poison with any haste.

"...Ah." Note to self, get Strange one of those reflective car blankets.

Biting back the urge to answer Sans with an 'of course', he nods. "Auuh. Though, this begs the question of how I will reali..."

Gongenzaka trails off, and blinks rapidly as an idea comes.

"...If I, the man Gongenzaka, could ask this- would either of you agree to being contacted with the same method I am using to 'speak' to Yuuya now? ...it would require no energy on your parts. Only reception; from there, a simple thought of 'now' would be signal enough for me to take Yuuya and run." Technically it would be the feeling of such impulse and excitement rather than a word. But that's hard to explain.

Quickly, anyway. "...it would be a signal that requires neither visibility, nor even pause, so..." It's about as instant as it gets right? And, it wouldn't break the distraction! ...probably, he thinks.

...he can only connect to One of them at once though, and he'll certainly break it once he's running. That would be the No Going Back point, if they can get to it.

Strange has a vague idea of how Gongenzaka's limited telepathy (emotions telepathy?) works. But if Gongenzaka thinks he can do something like that, then Strange will let him do something like that.

"If you think it would work, then I wouldn't mind, erm, thinking a signal." Mostly because Sans...seems a bit off at the moment. Might not want to put more on his plate than he has to.

"If ya do that, then I'll just keep watch, how about that?"

Smell and any magical sensing abilities have problem been enough to pick up Joker's arrival on the scene long before he removes his invisibility so that he can speak up. He's more than a little roughed up, and more than a little ragged... but better than he could be, which is, frankly, dead. Invisibility, running, and lots of work on his healing skills have come in handy for him today. Of course, that means he's utterly exhausted as a result.

It's why he's not volunteering to fling himself right into the fray, but he's here regardless. After all, they're all exhausted. That's no excuse. If Yuya is still alive... That's better than nothing. They'll figure things out, somehow. Hopefully.

He nods to Sans. "I'll stay as backup, just in case yer too occupied." You know, with being their strongest person around, plus Strange, plus, well, everything. He can't fight, but he can watch and, more importantly.. If anything goes too south, then he can keep other people in the loop. It's what the radio in his hands is for. Honestly, it's a good thing he'd found it... although, considering the situation, it might be bad that he found it at all.

It would be really nice, if people would stop doing that.

Though, Gongenzaka likely did sense the other coming- it felt a bit like Joker would want to out himself on that matter, and here they are. There isn't a lot to say to that. Looking to Strange, and then to the others, Gongenzaka nods and stands.

"...Saah," he decides, addressing Joker first. "If that is the case then, I, the man Gongenzaka, shall be trusting you to do so." And to Strange....he takes a deep breath and focuses at making contact- a brief sensation of questioning brushing by the other. Is he getting that? Hopefully it's a 'yes' because other than that...

...Well other than that, they need to move- though he looks to Strange and Sans to lead in that case.

"...He is in this direction," he indicates with a short nod, followed by a point. "...Not too far..."

Just far enough that, well. They can't see him, and he can't see them.

Yet.

Edited 2018-09-27 03:34 (UTC)

Good God, more people are showing up. This just cements it in Strange's mind: they've got to go save Yuya now, before even more members of the carnival show up to get themselves hurt. Because while he appreciates the effort, Strange isn't entirely sure how much use Joker could be as back-up, especially since they're fighting a fae. Despite the presence of two supervisors, Strange has decided that he's now the boss and they're going to put this half-hearted attempt at a plan into motion.

He doesn't entirely know how best to respond to Gongenzaka's weird soul powers, so Strange just intently thinks 'yes' for a solid few seconds as Gon points out the direction.

"If he's hidden, I'll find him," he simply says. As Strange activates his third eye, the burn scars on his forehead, arm, and hand light themselves on fire. Considering that his hair's already on fire and he's wearing his flame-colored slightly fire resistant cape, his #aesthetic is getting more and more on point. But, most importantly, it means he'll be able to see magic and maybe spot that fae if she's lying in the wings.

Gesturing for Sans to follow him, Strange starts walking down the street towards where Yuya is. He's got no idea what they're facing and has no idea what's going on, but they're a firebug magician who probably radiates Summer Court like nobody's business and a large bestial dog thing who probably radiates the Prince's magic like nobody's business: the element of surprise is also right out for them.

"Yuya?" Strange calls out, closer to speaking level than screaming level. "Yuya, where are you?"

As they follow Gon's lead, it goes in a pretty straight forward path. Yuya's not hard to catch up to, swaying as he walks the same direction they're going in the middle of the broken street, at a pace much slower. All the while, he continues to call out.

"Help... help..." but it doesn't sound right. It isn't loud, or vibrant, or even... alarmed. It's nothing, no emotion reverberating in his throat as he continues to shuffle along.

Nothing about Gongenzaka's, or Sans' perceptions change as he comes into view. There's no other souls, no other traces of magic to indicate there's anyone around but Yuya. Given the effect is very internal, it's hard to say how evident the poison is in Yuya's system to Strange's third eye.

But his weird behavior is probably alarming enough.

Well this has 'huge fucking trap' written all over it. With a hand signal for Sans and the hopefully hidden Gongenzaka & Joker to stay back, Strange carefully walks over towards Yuya. He's already calling forth a fireball to one hand because again, huge fucking trap.

"And what precisely do we need to help you with?"

Knowing full well that this is a terrible decision, using the hand that isn't on fire, Strange grabs Yuya's wrist and attempts to forcibly yank him back towards the rest of the team.

Edited (thanks html) 2018-09-27 16:30 (UTC)

As Strange gets closer, Yuya's walking slows to a stop. It's when he speaks that Yuya turns around languidly, his head lulling over his shoulder as he looks back at Strange with dull, lifeless eyes.

And then suddenly his posture goes rigid and his back straightens up, although his expression doesn't change. Just before Strange can grab ahold of him, Yuya twists on his heels and runs with sudden precision and speed that wasn't present in his limping just earlier.

It's like there's purpose to where he's going, now, and he's leaving them behind if they don't keep up.

Sans keeps to the back as they pursue, but when he sees Yuya he just fucking growls as an instinctive reaction. That's not right. That has brain poison written all over it. Then Strange goes and tries to grab Yuya by the wrist and Sans almost loses it.

He charges over, skidding to a stop as he sees Yuya go running. He turns to the magician angrily.

"Strange," he thunders, uncontrollably agitated by Strange so immediately going for skin on skin contact. "You're gunna get yourself infected - it's contagious for all we know."

Even now, after he's decided to stop doing stupid things like 'signing up with one of the fae in order to spare the people he's with,' Strange still has the self-preservation instinct of a lemming and a tendency to not think things through. He gives Sans a look that plainly implies oh, NOW you're going to boss me around and act like a supervisor?

"If it's contagious, then we'll all be infected anyway when we save him—or hell, when we run into whatever trap he's leading us to." Because now Strange is certain this is a lure of some kind and Yuya's bait. But what else can they do? He makes a hand gesture towards where Gon and Joker are and, because he still doesn't really know how Gongenzaka's magic works, thinks 'follow me' very intently.

"Let's go." Fireball still at the ready, he starts running after Yuya, trying to keep him in sight as much as he can.

While words don't come across, there's enough frustration- not to mention the rapidly moving Yuuya blip in his tracking- to tell him what's going on.

"Joker," he starts quietly, nodding toward where the others went ahead. "We must follow." He'll give Joker the option of hitching a ride or not- but otherwise, he heads out and sends the feeling of agreement- a vaguely 'good' feeling, though perhaps not in this situation- with the image of a nod.

And also, a question mark. Because uh...what just happened?

It's called "some suspicicious bullshit" that just happened, and Joker doesn't like any of it. Then again, none of this has been good from the start, ever since the attacks first burst through, so at least his expectations are being met. He pats Gongenzaka on the side, taking a deep breath.

"I'll be right besides ya." And with that, he goes invisible again. It's the best thing he can do to keep himself safe and, by keeping himself safe, he can be of more use to this whole plan. If he's too far away, he might not be able to help if something happens, and if he's too close, he might get caught up in anything that goes after Gongenzaka. Not perfect... but oh well.

And ahead of them, Yuya just keeps running. There aren't a lot of obstacles for any of them to have to maneuver, but Yuya's quick and doesn't seem to be held back by exhaustion or lack of breath. That could just be because he's in good shape, though.

It's a minute before he turns down the alley, stopping in the middle of it. It's misty, a concentration of magic, but... nobody else visibly there.

Strange takes a moment to just look at his life and look at his choices before deciding fuck it. Fuck it! This is going to be terrible, they're already here, but at least if he gets confirmation that Yuya's poisoned or dying or what have you then...well, then he can at least say he's tried.

He's standing outside of the misty area of the alley. Placing his hand in front of him, Strange quickly mutters a spell. He summons a gust of wind which blows into the misty, magical part of the alleyway. The wind is blowing the mist away from everybody, back towards the end of the alley

Oh Boy

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