lostcarnival | ⇨ THE WYLDLANDS

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⇨ THE WYLDLANDS

Who: Everyone pursuing the Huntsman.
When: Day 134 - Day 140
Where: The Wyldlands
What: Working as scouts from the Summer armies, the carnival makes a dangerous trek into the Wyldlands to find the Huntsman, defeat him, and save the Ringmaster from the Hunt. The day descriptions below are an outline, and details may change based on actions earlier in the week. Overall, though, it will keep the same general locations. You can make up encounters with Wylderkin at any time.
Warnings: Probably violence and gross Huntsman stuff.

HUNTING THE HUNTER↴

Upon first arriving in the Wyldlands, the carnival will find themselves in a scene much like the picture above - strange mountain ranges rise up around them, while thick forest cling to the land between. Every so often, giant silhouettes of Wyld Fae will fly overhead. Thankfully, the Summer Fae have picked an area with plenty of cover to hide in to begin their infiltration, and as the carnival is arriving via teleporation, there will be squadrons of Summerland and Summer Court Fae spreading out and concealing themselves within the trees. They will be following the carnival's trail as they move deeper into the Wyldlands, looking for their guidance to avoid the maw of the Hunt.

The carnival Supervisors will be given several golden scrolls that unfurl into small light elementals. These will transmit information between the Summer armies and the carnival at speeds similar to sending a text message. They takes various forms, but most of them are abstract motes of light with wings and tails. When delivering messages, they take the form and voice of whoever gave the message, like a custom hologram that disappears immediately after finishing.

After the carnival has been debriefed one more time, they will be sent off ahead to begin their scouting duties. Through a mixture of augury and expertise, the Summer Fae have narrowed down an area the Huntsman should be, as well as designated a general route that will mostly have ground cover. Who knows if it will stay that way, though, with how quickly the Wyldlands change. Much like in the Summer Court, time here is subjective - all sense of time varies between individuals, and the only solid way of knowing when a day is over is to have the light from the sky disappear. All time pieces will perform erratically while here.

The carnival will still need to eat and rest, as well, which means that they will have to figure out the best times to set up camp. They have sufficient rations, at least.

► DAY 134: The carnival heads deeper into the forest on the first day of their scouting mission, told to head for a giant tree that they can see on the horizon. Apparently, this tree is a landmark that will remain consistent for the time being. Someone will have to check above the canopy every so often to keep everyone on target, which risks gaining the attention of flying Wyld Fae. There are plenty of Wylderkin around (lesser Wyld Fae that behave more like standard fantasy animals) but overall the journey through this section will not be hugely perilous, as long as they remain cautious and hidden. There will be a Megathread on this day, dealing with some optional and only mildly important Summer Court NPC interactions.

► DAY 135: Early during the next day of travelling, the forest will begin to fill with more and more magical fungi until giant shrooms have almost completely replaced the trees. At first they will seem innocuous, but as their presence becomes more inescapable, it will gradually become apparent than many of the mushrooms are poisonous to the touch - and eating them will be far worse! Those with empathetic connections to plants may be able to determine which are poisonous and which aren't, while some fungi may even have beneficial effects, if they get lucky enough to find and identify them. Generally speaking, though, there are few non-plant creatures around here, due to the fact that everything is toxic, including the swampy water that covers large sections of the ground. There will be no mod directed interactions during this period, besides handling general investigations.

► DAY 136: During the middle of this day, the carnival will finally reach the giant tree. On one hand, the plant-life has become relatively safe again. On the other, the giant tree is the lair of several neutral Wyld Fae who probably won't like the carnival's presence. On the other other hand, maybe those Wyld Fae might be willing to help or offer them directions? It's up to the group to decide if they want to attempt diplomacy, or to stealth past the tree and find their own way. There will be a Megathread on this day, based on however the team decides to handle it.

► DAY 137: Past the area surrounding the big tree, the lush foliage of the forest will begin degrading until nothing is left but dark naked trunks filled with glowing pods of various sizes. It's here that those with a connection to the Hunt will start to get a sense of the Huntsman's presence, and will be drawn in a vague direction. Unfortunately, this will also be their first major brush with the Hunt itself. Hunt patrols skirmish with neutral Wyld Fae in this forest, and the collateral damage of their warfare can be seen all over. The carnival will want to either map out a path through the trees that the fighting can be avoided for the sake of the Summer troops, or give them enough data to be able to handle the threat. How this portion goes will partly depend on the outcome of the previous day's Megathread.

► DAY 138: The forest will open up into the beginnings of a mountain range, with flowing water, luminescent plant life, and the occasional cluster of crystals sprouting from the earth. There are large parties of Hunt controlled Wyld Fae patrolling this area, and so making it through will require careful navigation. As the path becomes more and more mountainous, it will be possible to find routes that mostly avoid the patrols - this information will need to be communicated back to the Summer troops. There will be a Megathread here dealing with a Hunt patrol encounter.

► DAY 139: The mountains will continue to steepen, and the crystal formations will grow more huge and consistent. The air is always cloudy, and the air condition is bad, making it harder to breathe. Weather will become more and more unfavorable the higher into the mountains the carnival gets, with cold winds and lightning that frequently strikes the crystals and causes them to send out bursts of destructive energy. Paths will occasionally crumble. There is still a heavy Hunt presence, here, though they keep to safer trails - the best way to avoid them may indeed be taking the most dangerous routes. It's probably better than being mauled to death by beasts, though. Some distant mountain tops look like the might be volcanoes. There is almost no plant-life here, besides the most stubborn of brambles. By this point, the pull of the Huntsman has grown much stronger.

► DAY 140: The sky clears enough to show a deep red skyline. Barren cliffs are punctuated with rivers of lava, and paradoxically vibrant trees and foliage in erratic spurts. The those in the carnival with a connection to the Hunt will find themselves drawn to a valley in the center of the rocks, absolutely filled with Wyld Fae and other slaves gathered from around the multiverse. This will be the final encounter, and the carnival may have to trust in their Wyld Fae disguises to make it through. There will be multiple Megathreads here, detailing the encounter with the Huntsman and bringing this log to an end.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Carly is about to note that initial opinions do affect things- better to go in optimistic- but she turns to take in Strange's words for a moment.

"...It's true...physically, thanks to Creation's involvement, he's not the same as before but..." She steels herself, and continues. "Whatever the case, you should at least both see each other once, if you're that close!" Carly insists, focusing back on the fae. "Avoiding the other when it seems we're going to be working together on this won't help at all! It's better that you see him before we've properly headed out! And..."

She beams. "...You would have been sent here by the Queen right? If she's the one who asked you not to go to the talks, but asked you to come with us now, then she probably expects it to go well when you see him again~!"

Carly is, at the end of everything, a rainbow of positivity.

For a few moments, Rita can only stare in surprise as the fae confirms that she is, in fact, Ignatius's mother. This is a meeting that probably would have gone completely differently, had they met at any other time...

And now Strange is running his mouth about how much the general in question has changed... Rita gives an exasperated sigh, though she doesn't try to interject. Instead, she tries tapping into that connection she has with Ignatius, through her heart, giving him a light prod to try and get his attention. The longer they stand around gossiping about him, the worse it'll probably be for him, so she'll try to give him a chance to step in before things get too awkward.

"I think Igantius can decide for himself if he wants to see one of his Makers," Yuya interjects. He looks up at the new fae.

"But... he was worried, when he didn't see any of you at the Elysium. I think he'll be glad it's not because you didn't want to see him."

Ignatius does seem to be nearby, and Zangetsu will feel the weight of him nearby, while Rita prodding will get the empathic version of a "?" from his side, followed by interest and mild concern. Ultimately, it sounds like he's probably going to come an investigate on his own, even if this fae never gets around to hunting him down.

"Well, I can't speak for all of us," she says, waving a hand. "Some of them... they've got their own ways of dealing with things." She looks a little bit off put by that. "The Queen never told me to come here specifically, but I know the gist of what went on in the council. We're all gunna be part of the attack, but..."

She trails off. Fae drama is definitely a thing.

“Well, I’m certainly not going to turn down more firepower,” Lambert says, shrugging, just casually enough to make it pretty clear that shitty choice of wordplay was entirely deliberate. Ultimately, he’s less interested in what this fae means for Ignatius than what she means for them. That Ignatius’ other mothers may be less happy isn’t a concern for him given they aren’t right here at this moment — they’ll deal with that fiery bridge when it comes to it.

“Are you a general too, or...?” Its hard to analyze that sort of thing with the fae, who seem to have a hierarchy that’s entirely different. She looks and sounds military enough, but not in a way he’d typically associate with a leader.

Edited 2019-01-18 20:24 (UTC)

Every time the topic of Ignatius getting changed by Creation gets mentioned, or even just alluded to, Peridot's expression darkens a little, a sort of tension overtaking her whole demeanor. She still thinks she made the right call with that, but the manner in which some people talk about it makes her feel... Uncomfortable? In a way that's hard for her to quantify.

But, ahah... So this is one of those six moms that the Ringmaster mentioned. That tidbit certainly grabs her attention. Her ears prick up and she leans forward a with interest, rather than just sitting in the background and snickering irreverently as she has been up to this point.

"Kinda," she says, shrugging. "I'm one of the Summer Court's top warriors. Not so much about the big time strategizing, but if you need me to attack a point, I've got it handled. And I can tell the people with me what to do."

Apparently the definition of 'general' is a bit looser in Court terms. She falls silent for a moment, and then frowns.

"...So, how messed up is he, actually?" She glances off into the distance, like she's waiting for him to turn up any second now. "Any pointers?"

Carly gives it some thought, and eventually waves a hand a little, a sort of...'so-so' motion. "Well...at the very least, I would have said he's been fairly depressed..." She looks to the others, uncertain.

"...I haven't spoken to him very recently though- I have no idea if he's cheered up a bit at all." The depression was sort of hard to ignore though.

"His domain is different. It doesn't have to be messed up." Living your whole life thinking what you're made of is just wrong seems so awful. If the miracles exist and are revered, can't they find that kind of positivity in Ignatius?

"He's kind of like the miracles now, with fire and ice in him. But he's still himself, even if that's hard for him to see right now. He's having a hard time with being changed, so... I think just knowing that his family won't stop accepting him over it, or any of this, will help."

"Creation apparently ain't picky with the specifics... Peridot asked it to save him, and it did."

And in Zangetsu's opinion, between being fundamentally changed and dying slowly and horribly, he'd always pick the former.

"But the fact remains... he could really use yer support right now. And ta, ya know... not look at him like he grew a new head or somethin'."

Don't bully Iggy.

He gestures in the general direction of where he felt Ignatius' presence. "He's over there."

"I was assuming that it would just heal him, or boost his internal fire power so that he could burn out all of the ice nanites that the Mother of Invention infected him with!" Peridot erupts suddenly, throwing her hands up in exasperation even though no one is actually calling her out. The vague possibility of this Mystery Mom getting judgey on her is, evidently, too much pressure for her to handle. "Forget that I basically created a fourth Miracle and saved his life in the process, no, all anyone ever focuses on is how weird it apparently is for a fae to change domains!"

"He's still got all his limbs," is Lambert's helpful contribution. "... though he does have an extra one, actually."

Sure, Ignatius may not have grown a head, but he sure did grow a tail! Anyway, he's going to wave a hand vaguely in front of him.

"I say just treat him however you normally would. Whatever that is."

Zangetsu pokes Peridot gently with a claw and speaks mostly for her to hear.

"Yo, no one was sayin' you did anything wrong. Ya did great, ya saved his life. No matter what happened after, he's alive cause'a your quick thinkin', so don't beat yerself up too much."

Patpat.

Any gratitude Peridot has for Zan's kind words gets immediately subsumed by her irritation at being patted on the head for the second time in about as many days. She flinches with each pat and makes an awful goblin noise through gritted teeth. Demeaning!

Also, soon as Zan withdraws his hand and she's in the clear, she also glances over at strange to make sure he's not laughing at her. He didn't actually start this trend, but she's choosing to blame him.

The fae seems a bit caught off guard by Peridot going off at that, like it's more of a reaction than she was anticipating.

"Uh... that's not really..." she starts, but it turns out that she doesn't get a chance to continue, because Ignatius is already showing up. At first he just looks concerned, but as he comes into view and sees what's actually going on... well, that looking like he wants to melt into the floor expression comes back post haste. He stops where he's standing, and a moment passes. The unnamed fae raises her eyebrows, hesitating, but it's short-lived.

"Oi!" she shouts at him. "Don't give me that! Get over here!"

Ignatius looks up, surprised, his fists clenching at his sides. He arrives at the party of changelings, and executes a rigid bow.

"Iron Forged..." he acknowledges. It seems like there's more he wants to add to it, but he gets caught up on his words. "I... apologize..."

"Forget that!" she says, and then comes right up and grabs him be the face, cupping his jaw between his paws. "Let me have a look at you." Ignatius reacts with a resilient amount of poise but he's still incredibly embarrassed. "Hell - you've got a little bit of everything in you now, don't you?"

She lets go of his face, and immediately moves to lock him into a massive bear hug. She's at least a foot taller than him.

"Took you long enough, getting back here," she says, with just a bit of strain in her voice.

"Oh~!" It takes Carly everything not to immediately coo. As it is she seems to be grinning uncontrollably, her hands held up to somewhat try and hide the smile at the sight.

Awwww..! Family~!

(...She mustn't interrupt though!)

Yuya blinks rapidly at Ignatius, then looks between the two fae before taking a few steps back to give them extra space. There's very little apprehension in him as she approaches, having more faith that she's worth the love Ignatius regards her with. And she's not proving him wrong--but his chest still gets tight when she levies her worry and forceful affection. It's familiar, and fills Yuya is longing for his own mother that he left to go fight, wondering what was happening to him and where he couldn't find her support.

He moves to quickly wipe his eyes, holding his breath tight, and then he smiles.

Iron Forged? That’s an odd name for a fae. Heartwarming as the moment may be, Lambert doesn’t have anything to contribute here, so he just slouches over to Childermass’s side to give the fae some room for their reunion.

Especially if she, like, might start twirling Ignatius around or something.

The hug lasts for a while, only really ends when the Forged seems to have irritated Ignatius enough for him to start trying to wrestle her off, at which point he can't help but scoff in barely suppressed amusement. In the fray, she managed to grab his tail.

"And one of these, too?" she says, teasing. "You're gunna make me jealous-" She chokes as he elbows her in the gut, jerking her away from it.

"Stop," he says, but doesn't sound all that upset. She shoves him away, guffawing.

"Right. I should tell the others I tracked you down before we have to head out." She looks away. Ignatius looks surprised.

"...What, all of them?" he says, looking tentatively hopeful but also apprehensive.

"Well... some of them," she says, rubbing her chin. "Three out of five isn't bad..." She sounds a little apprehensive.

Fortunately for Peridot, Strange did not laugh when she got patted on the head. However, he very visibly bit down on his lip to keep from laughing so that kind of counts.

Strange also doesn't have much to contribute to the reunion. But any skepticism or worriedness he had about this whole thing melts away as soon as he sees that Ignatius is okay with this whole thing. It's always nice when worries are proven wrong. He's not entirely sure what Iron Forged means by the others but hey, if they're talking about family...

"The Gilded Mark is here also," he explains. "I assume you knew that already, but if you didn't..." he trails off with a little shrug. If she didn't know that, then she does now.

Edited 2019-01-20 04:44 (UTC)

Rita watches, seemingly relaxing as it becomes apparent that this isn't going to be a complete disaster. In fact, the exchange that follows is... weirdly heartwarming? It's not something Rita ever really thought she'd see in a pair of Court fae.

So in an attempt to hide how she actually feels about it, she just turns her head away and mutters, "Hmph. Seems like there was nothing to worry about after all."

For all of Ignatius's apprehension and moping, she never would have imagined he'd have a parent like this. Or... three of them? Hell if she can understand how fae family dynamics work. She does raise an eyebrow when Gild is brought up, glancing back to the Iron Forged to see how she reacts to that.

Iron Forged glances over at Strange, her face falling a bit more. Obviously Gild isn't that simple of a topic.

"Mn.. Yeah. I know..." She doesn't sound spiteful about it, just kind of uncomfortable. That situation is somehow a lot harder to contend with than Ignatius's. "Guess she took even longer to come back... and I doubt she's staying."

"I've... spoken to her," Ignatius tries to explain. "She only thought she was doing what was best..."

"I bet she did. But, y'know...." But before Forged can finish, she swivels around, Rita fully catching her eye for the first time. "Wait - this is the faeblood?" She looks at Ignatius, stunned. "Your faeblood?"

"Her name is Rita," Ignatius corrects. "But... yes. Though not in the traditional sense."

Rita tenses at the sudden attention, her fingers digging into her crossed arms.

"I was artificially made into a faeblood," she explains despite the hesitant look on her face. Though her magitek heart remains concealed under her light armor, she can't help but be overly conscious of it, as if expecting the other fae to perceive it anyway. She probably can, after all, in some weird fae way. "The Mother of Invention did it, by taking a part of him and implanting it in me. So it's not like we're really..."

She looks up at Ignatius, then hastily turns her head away. Using the word family here seems almost so stupid, she doesn't dare say it.

"But... I guess, of all the fae I could've been stuck with some weird connection to... It could've been worse." This is a very roundabout, Rita-like way of saying she's actually sort of okay with Ignatius now.

Yuya scoots over and leans forward, his hand by his mouth in mock-whisper as he looks at Ignatius. "That's how she says she likes you."

He is walking a dangerous line of getting his ass kicked and he's not sorry.

What might have been a tiny tinge of red in Rita's face is now a deep tomato-like shade.

"Excuse me!? I don't -- look, no one asked you!!" she snaps at Yuya.

⇨ THE WYLDLANDS

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