⇨ 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

[whattaprick]

There's something wrong with this situation, but somehow, it's impossible to think of what it is right now. Mostly, it's impossible to think of anything but the hunt at all. The griffin has a point, in a way: they're both injured, in need of a mount, and they need better weapons ... but he can't think beyond the idea of the hunt and what's in front of them, forgetting about the dimension he just pulled the pool noodle out for Hanamaru already.

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."

[verbaltic]

Hanamaru remains upright as the air buffets them. As the griffin taunts her, she takes a few steps forward, wanting to go and wanting to fight...before she looks back at Lambert who's still kneeling down. Reaching over to him, Hanamaru offers Lambert a hand to help pull him up, despite the fact that he's built like a brick shithouse and she is a teeny tiny high schooler.

"We can do this," Hanamaru says, with a cockiness that she straight up didn't have in the past thirty minutes or so. "It's just hunting, zura. It's easy."

[whattaprick]

And Lambert just smirks back, ignoring the murmur of discontent at the back of his head, and pushes himself up without hanging on to her, with his own power.

“I’ve been hunting before you were born,” he retorts. Literally. But yeah, he’s going to get to his feet. There’s a discontent, whiny growl from somewhere behind him as large wolves pad into this bit of clearing as the griffin flies off, apparently scanning the ground for more prey ... and the Hunt goes on. Stumbling at first, then more urgently, wolves darting and threading around them, like they’re herding Hanamaru and Lambert along. The witcher forces himself to take steps one after another. The Hunt is a jangling, discordant note in his mind, driving him forward with no real purpose instead the joy of it, looking around for something to chase.

The Hunt may be after the Carnival, but that doesn’t mean it can’t let itself chase after a few small things here and there.