Lost Carnival Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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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. |
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And then there's a cry, like battle, and it draws his attention up. He's close enough to the walls he can just make out--a scream of pain, the voices of those who went out there. A battle.
"Brambles--" He grabs up his sword and tightens his grip on the bloodstone in his shield hand, drawing its power. "Hold the wall!"
With that he teleports out to scout the chaos. They're overwhelmed. This fight is completely doomed.
They don't have a choice.
He rushes around along the other side, firing off magic at the Hydra with one of his clock-ticking wells aimed below it's feet to try and cause crippling damage. It's a long damn shot, but he doesn't need to kill it--just drive it off of them.
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The fusion leaps off the temple walls and right into the fray. It goes against everything her instincts tell her about engaging in direct combat with a fae (ie don't do it, ever,) but like everyone else who's throwing down, it doesn't seem like they have much of a choice here.
She also goes for the hydra, slamming down on it's back with all of her considerable weight and letting off a vicious electric pulse to go along with Rita's spell. The blast has a radius to hit nearby surrounding fae as well, the intensity of the shock boosted by Peridot and Amethyst's combined energies. She whips her tails, too, whirling and snapping and clawing at anything else nearby.
They aren't doing this for Ignatius. They're doing this for Steven, and everyone else still inside the temple.
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It's not the kind of thing that would have any chance of melting a True Fae, but it stings and is annoying enough that it cause the naga to turn its attention from Ignatius for a moment, tearing a chunk out of his shoulder and swallowing it while hurling the rest of him to the ground. It turns on Strange himself, his jaw stretching open in impossible snake ways, tearing an arrow from its scales while it slithers somewhat stiffly in his direction.
However, the problem endures. While they make some progress diverting the aggression of the two most immediately menacing Ignatius, there are more and more of them. The moment the naga and hydra are preoccupied, another set of Wyld Fae are there to engage.
A hulking owlbear lunges at Turquoise, wrapping its massive talons around her in a violent embrace and attempting to haul her off of the pained hydra, while some kind of hideous looking harpy creatures launches into the air to engage Rita, its wings spread wide and bearing a set of eyes that paralyze upon locking gaze.
Ignatius hits the ground and rolls, his leg missing and an arm badly mutilated. He coughs up a mouth full of blackened muck, but before he can really regain his composure, he's already being set upon by a serpentine questing beast, which catches his other leg in its tail and tramples him with its hooves.
"Why no fire?" it taunts, flicking its tongue in his face. "Could it be... that you would only destroy those under your 'banner' in the same fell swoop?" It makes a sickly snickering sound. "How tragic... your victory, but at what cost?"
The fact that it's the truth torments Ignatius. He so desperately wants to unleash his domain, now that it's back in his power. Yet, he can't control it well enough. He's never been able to. It's the domain of uncontrollable destruction by fire... it's part of what he is. Though the flames could likely save him from this, it would only prove to destroy everything and everyone he just swore to protect.
Is this really how he's going to let himself die? In the name of the rebels that captured him, stole his Heart from him? Escape could be in his grasp... but...
He catches sight of Rita in the air, and the harpy moving towards her, and flinches. With a flick of his good arm, he throws a fiery blade at the harpy to try to throw it off, and then summons another one and drives it into the side of the questing beast on top of him. It staggers, and then lashes out with its fangs, biting into his wrist.
As the beasts move to make killing blows against the carnival members that would fight them, the Ringmaster finally appears. Both of her.
The dark form of her dragon shape appears in the sky, with her humanoid other half riding her. They land in front of the temple, trying to block the way between the other Wyld Fae and her people with her body, while the humanoid part does, well... nothing.
"STOP!" the dragon half of the Ringmaster roars. "HUNTSMAN! I CHALLENGE YOU!"
The Huntsman, not all that far off even after leaving the Wyld Fae to it, pauses in the crowd.
"Leave Ignatius out of this," the dragon Ringmaster adds, quickly, seeing that he is not all that far from being outright murdered. The questing beast on him pauses, looking to the Huntsman while still holding Ignatius's wrist in its mouth.
"I'm here now, anyway," the humanoid half ways, doing a flip as he jumps to the ground, and performing a flourish of her hands. It's not said in the way one does while desperately trying to spare someone's life, so much as in the way one does when suggesting you are the only person of importance in a crowd.
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Goodness.
Carly promptly collapses at the edge of the window, dropping her bow at her side as her arrow fades. Could she manage more than two? Who knows. She squints however when she actually notices how the Ringmaster has arrived, unable to stop herself from crying-
"...YOU'RE STILL IN PIECES, RINGMASTER..!?"
Who knows who even Heard her from wherever she is, but stillno subject
The harpy closes the distance between them, sinking its long talons into her shoulders and yanking her forward. Luckily for Rita, one of those talons doesn't dig very deep, as her shoulder armor provides some resistance. Even luckier, the flaming blade thrown by Ignatius slams into the beast before it can maim her further, knocking it back and forcing it to let go. In the same moment, their eye contact is broken, and Rita finds herself able to move once again.
Blood begins to trickle from where she was pierced, but she ignores the pain and sweeps an arm, conjuring a quick blast of fire to shove at the harpy before she flaps her wings and tries to get some distance between them. As she moves, she shoots a wide-eyed glance at Ignatius. He just saved her, even as he's being torn apart... Why would he...?
The Ringmaster's voice brings Rita's movement to a slow drift, her arms firmly in a casting stance as she prepares to fend off the harpy again, should it be inclined to ignore the dragon's demand.
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Of course, barely skidding is still a lot of power for a fae. Strange's skin is torn where the naga's fangs sliced, revealing (but thankfully not piercing) the mirror coating underneath. It still hurts like the devil and Strange poofs back into smoke, intent on at least trying to blind the naga...before the Ringmaster shows back up.
He floats in place, smoke swirling in a spiral, also waiting to see what happens next.
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He's watching them warily, hand and sword still raised to cast as he looks between her and the Huntsman, waiting. He's also not terribly thrilled to see her separated and thus probably not entirely in her right mind of thinking.
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He makes an attempt to quickly rise again, only for his back leg to give out under him and send him to the ground again. It felt like he was hit in the back of the knee; he should be able to recover shortly, but the combined injuries have him floored for the moment.
"Papyrus!" Yuusei calls, hoping he can break through similarly to how he did with himself and with Yuugo. "Hang in there...! Come with me...!"
He falls quiet when the Ringmaster finally shows up, though he still stares at Papyrus with pleading eyes.
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The Huntsman returns to the front of the crowd slowly, and as he moves, all within the Hunt are inclined to hold, waiting on his word. His arms remain slackened at his sides, lethargic and unconcerned with the Ringmaster's arrival. The only thing he shows is disgust.
"To think... that is you that has caused me so much trouble in recent times..."
"On that note," the humanoid Ringmaster intercedes, "could we put an end to this? This... rivarly, we have going here? I'm honestly not interested anymore, and I haven't been for a long time. Couldn't you just... carry on? Without making a big scene about it?"
The dragon Ringmaster growls at her other half, her wings spreading wider and flame in her throat. This is so infuriating, and she can already sense that the Huntsman will not react well to that.
"Even now," the Huntsman says, "You come to me in pieces. Such disrespect."
"Well, to be fair," the humanoid Ringmaster goes on, "You never really commanded any respect of me, did you?"
"Shut up!" the dragon Ringmaster snarls, swatting a paw at her other half, who dodges it neatly. "Are you crazy? This is serious! I brought you here so we could fix this!"
"What is there to fix? He wants to kill us! And, honestly, he should just get it over with at this point. If you want to strike me, then strike me! None of this other nonsense is necessary in the slightest..."
"And what do you think is the fate of souls destroyed while incomplete?" the Huntsman says, the black snake clinging to his body curling itself around his arm. "You have enjoyed an... enduring spirit, for the rest of your existance. The gift of your maker, the ability to be reborn with ease. Yet... an incomplete soul, even such as yours, is only fit to melt into the ether..."
"I knew it," the dragon Ringmaster hisses, glaring at her other half. "If we die like this, the part we lose won't come back - none of us will!" She sounds panicked and desperate, her inner needs clearly visible on the service. "Stop this... Join with me so we can take get rid of him!"
For the first time, the humanoid half of her looks a little bit shaken. Yet, there is an element of defiance - a determination to see the end of this, no matter the cost.
"...So what?" she says. "And if it isn't him, it will be someone else. We have too much debt, too many enemies. What left is there for us, but to run?"
"Everyone is counting on us!" the dragon snaps. "You stupid bitch!"
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"Then what was it for, claiming those miracles?! Was it not to be able to stop running?" He hollers with a tightness in his voice. "Giving yourself up now is completely pointless! Not even the Huntsman wants you in your state!"
Syrlya takes a step forward, but he stops when his gaze drifts down briefly to Ignatius. The the Wyld Fae, then the Ringmaster again.
"We did not help you acquire that power for you to abandon us! Put yourself together and do something, or pass it on to those that will!"
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"Isn't this why you asked us to seek what we have been looking for this time, these last few hazardous stops, the undeniable consequences mounting? To find and take not for weaponizing ourselves but for another chance so we can stop?!"
He sneers down at her Light half, always supporting regardless of his own ideals, "I've been with you from the start not because I'm forced to because I want to. If that is not enough then what is? What do you want to fight for. What will keep you from just giving up?"
He's glad someone else is also voicing their opinion. The Ringmaster doesn't need scolding but affirmation.
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He kneels down next to Ignatius not at all caring that he's getting gross fae blood all over his legs. "What can I do?" Strange quietly asks, fully aware that the answer is probably 'nothing.'
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"Quit being half-assed and stop pretending it's about other people! It's the same thing it's always been -- your choice!"
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Ignatius is in no place to do much of anything at the moment, short of trying to use his domain to destroy everything in sight. There are, he assumes, multiple kinds of venom swirling through his body at the moment - he can feel it eroding his mind and body, making it harder to recover from his terrible wounds. When he sees Strange, it's through a halo of visual static.
"Wizard," he says, mouth filled with bloody black muck as the wounded parts of his body slowly dissolve into useless, unshaped magical energy. "I told you to leave..."
And then he snorts because, despite being so attached to his identity as a soldier, Strange is incredibly bad at following orders. Yet, his presence at least forces Ignatius to keep focused on what is happening, hearing the two Ringmasters argue it out with an increasing feeling of distaste.
"Ringmaster," he coughs out, raising his voice. "I swear... if I end up being the one to most stalwartly protect your kin in these last moment..." He manages a bit of a mocking grin, even through the pain. "Your memory really will be nothing but a joke."
Unfortunately, the questing beast apparently doesn't like allowing Ignatius to talk in this state, and takes that an invitation to bite down and finish tearing off the lower half of the limb clenches between its jaws. Ignatius screams again, but more muffled this time, actively holding back.
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Like everyone else, she'd paused mid-fight when the Ringmaster finally showed up, and seeing their boss split into two pieces is... Well, it's jeopardizing the stability of the fusion, for one thing, because Peridot is pissed. The edges of her form shimmer erratically for a second, eyes narrowing as Peridot's distinct voice echoes out of Turquoise's mouth. "Ringmaster you better get it together right now or so help me--" The fusion shakes her head rapidly, and then speaks in her own voice once again-- "You already kicked this dunce's butt once, we're all counting on you to do it again!"
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"We're so close to changing things," the dragon pleads. "They... They all came so far. They didn't have to do this for us, but they did, anyway." And then, with great strain: "Please."
"We thought we were changing thing before," the humanoid Ringmaster says, more quietly. "We were wrong."
"I DON'T... CARE!" the dragon Ringmaster roars, and lunges forward, snapping at her other half with massive jaws. The other Ringmaster only looks on in total shock as her dragon half corners her against the temple, fire on her breath. "You left these Wyld Fae to the Huntsman when you fled! Now you're going to leave the carnival, too? You... We. We did this. And we can't fix it by dying now."
Despite her stubbornness, there is something increasingly melancholy rising up in the human half of the Ringmaster. Some truths transcend the pair of them, even if she has all the arrogance and all the self-delusion to try to convince herself otherwise. She looks away.
"I don't want to fix it," she says, but there is a certain surrender to it. "I already know we can't."
The dragon Ringmaster looms over her, the markings all over her body shifting green, then orange.
"Then, if you won't give me the power to try..." she growls. "I'll take it back myself."
It happens very quickly. One moment there is two of them, and the next, the dragon Ringmaster is snapping her jaws, swallowing up her other half. The humanoid Ringmaster goes quietly.
Finally, the dragon's body swells with strength, her size increasingly and her body flaring with orange and blue energies as she rises onto her hind legs and roaring with a ferocity that shakes the earth.
"Good," the Huntsman says, chillingly unmoved as his greatest foe takes form. The black snake curls into his hand, its body strangely shadowy and molten in its malleability.
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But any attempt at being cocky and reassuring goes nowhere as Ignatius loses another limb shortly after. As the questing beast yanks Ignatius's limb off, Strange quickly summons a fireball. He gives the beast a look that's pure loathing and implied 'just try that again, motherfucker' but doesn't actually lob the fireball at the beast or attempt to hurt it in any way. He's occasionally smart, he's not going to be the one to make everything go to hell.
He can spot out of the corner of his vision that the Ringmaster's reformed. Strange has no idea if this means the Hunt's going to start up again or if everyone's going to wait while they duke it out. But one thing's for certain: he's ready to set someone on fire should he need to.
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For Carly's biggest mistake was assuming it was a complete stalemate. Not even seconds after she wails over the Ringmaster's split, a sudden shout comes at her violet fire wall- and Carly turns, as a small number of humanoid hunters charge without care for the energy leeching flame. In a sense Carly has the advantage. Between her wall and the doorway itself, she isn't caught entirely off guard and can get enough strength back to fight.
Unfortunately it's still far from being entirely rejuvenated. An arrow or two is used to pin a few feet to the ground, but even with fire over her body Carly is quickly overwhelmed. With little choice to make, she hurriedly focuses enough of her might into a last ditch grab of energy from her enemies...
Before making a tactical retreat from the frying pan to the fire, shrinking to the state of a hummingbird as she takes off through the window. Even with that, she can feel something sharp tearing through her leg mid transformation, tail as well suffering for it.
On the one hand she's out of that mess though. On the other, she's flying for the general area everyone else is fighting in, aiming specifically to take her chances with reaching that wall of thorns.
And given how many fliers and fae in general there are, things don't look great for those chances.
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Yet, the Huntsman remains unmmoved. He faces her down, even as her body crackles with power, simply raising the black serpent coiled around his hand. Slowly, it slithers, stretching its body and taking the shape of something resembling a staff.
"By the blood of Winter, by the dread of Shadow,
I summon your demise..."
Even as he speaks, the Ringmaster is rising up, preparing to strike her own blow. She knows no small effort will take down a creature such of him, but if she does not manage her power carefully, she risks damaging the more fragile victims around her. Even her body is a dangerous weapon, and could easily crush those that stood too close to her.
The serpent becomes shadow, a miasma of darkness around it, shifting and shifting until it becomes as a jagged spear. The Huntsman holds it high, still channeling his spell.
"To the heart of my Foe,
I strike."
As the Ringmasted dives forward to claim him in her jaws, he leaps back, throwing his hideous spear. It pierces cleanly though her chest, causing her whole body to shudder. She chocked, falling back, looking at the weapon that has skewed her with a single strike - something she hardly believed possible.
"What that fuck?" she gasps, trying to grab it with her claws and pull it out. Yet, as she does, she can already feel something giving way. The magic of her body fluctuates, losing form - her scales begin to soften and fall to ash, in a way that some may have seen happen to her before. Inside, her fire flares. She realizes what it means, too.
"No!" she cries, but before anything can be done, her body has already immolated. Flames erupt uncontrollably, and all those who stand by her will have no choice but to run or die as she is consumed by her own fire. Everything, her body, the spear - it collapses into a still burning pile, slowly cooling as nothing more but a pile of charcoal and ash.
The Huntsman comes forward now, as the black snake emerges from the debris. It climbs his body and re-takes its place coiled around him, as he leans forward to pluck an egg with a shell of many, shimmering colors from the ash, cradling it in his arms.
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"We're so fucked," Beau realizes, staring out from the top of the crystal-covered building. "Does anybody have... any ideas, here? Is there anywhere we can run?"
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He's already trying to regrow them, but he has no idea what happened. There'd been a long time with nothing, and then, all at once, burning.
"Something happened," he gasps, not really noticing how the sound was probably loud enough for everyone to hear on their own. The strain this is putting on the child's body is clear, but he doesn't open his eyes, focusing on his task with all the strength he can.
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The sight before them is too devastating, too earth-shattering to make maintaining the inner harmony needed to keep a fusion together possible. A catastrophe of this severity has never happened before. Every time the carnival has gotten into a tight spot, whenever it seemed that things couldn't get any worse, the Ringmaster would always show up to save their hides at the last minute. This time? She went down before landing even a single blow. And now they're all fucked.
Peridot gapes. Her whole body just feels numb, all sound seems to fade out, barely registering to her ears anymore.
The ashes settle. The Huntsman picks up the egg. Peridot starts moving without thinking. She dashes through the crowd of beasts, using her small size to try and duck and weave through the crowd with the intention of launching herself directly at the Huntsman.
"Let go of her you lousy stinkin' HALF-FORMED, pebble-brained, void-blasted MEGA-CLOD--"
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...in an instant, that hope is snuffed out.
As flames burst forth from the Ringmaster's crumbling form, Rita holds out a hand to channel as much fire away from herself as she can, though much of it sweeps around her and incinerates a portion of the wall of vines instead. As she lowers her hand and the smoke clears, all she can do is stare in horror at what little remains of the Ringmaster.
"We... we have to run," she gasps, though it's unclear who she's saying it to. Ignatius? He's not in any condition to lead a retreat. She doesn't want to leave any allies behind, either... She can only stare numbly while Peridot charges the Huntsman, while a part of her begins to wonder... are they all going to die here?
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Carly doesn't stop, doesn't pause in her flight, but even then it is only that. 'So close'. The Ringmaster's flames build, and heat begins to bear up from the rear. The vines surrounding the temple are right in her view but likewise the shine created by growing flames meets her eyes, before the fire encompasses everything. She can't help but think, as she feels the smoke burn in-
It's really gone up in 'flames', hasn't it.
There's no time to berate herself for jokes in the wrong moments. She's simply gone, ashes with the rest on the wind.
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He doesn't have a plan to survive, but in a second he's back in the center of the temple. He doesn't acknowledge anyone, while one half of a portal sets beneath his feet as he stares tensely ahead.
And the next second he teleports out again, only a couple feet from Strange and Ignatius. He holds his blade up as the other side of the portal lights both ends up to give members of the carnival a chance to retreat.
"Get back to the temple!" This few can't hold the line out here against the hunt. They need to gather and retreat--somehow they have to get out of this realm entirely. "Take the portal and go!"
He can't exactly go claim everyone personally, so much ad hope they hear him and pay attention. Ignatius, though, is disabled. Syrlya doesn't have strong feelings about him, but he still formed a real alliance with the carnival and Strange is right there with the beast looming, so it's only right to protect him too.
With a flashbang of magic, two more fragile clones of Syrlya charge the questing beast to draw its attention. Syrlya himself moves to flank the side, already drawing up magic for an attack.
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