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.

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Steven had kind of sworn off talking to Jasper after a particularly exhausting conversation they'd had after the Athenaeum. There was so much other stuff going on that he just couldn't even think about trying to convince her of anything, and it was much easier to occasionally spot her off doing her thing, hoping that someday there would be something they could bond over. He'd thought that what happened to them in the Athenaeum could be that, but when even that had failed it was hard to comprehend what would ever be enough.

After Polaris, though, it's been harder and harder not to shove his face into things. Even if he's help his distance, it's hard not to notice the changes in her gem, and the weird pinkish lines. He think about his own gem, and how it'd been taken, and wonders if it had anything to do with it. Either way, something like this happening to Jasper must have been incredibly difficult for her to bear.

Speaking of bears...

"I think these guys are just like... animals," he answers, carefully. "I don't know if they care about all of this stuff."

Jasper grunts in uncertain acknowledgement, eyeing the undergrowth the beast disappeared into. Her ears have ticked back, though, to listen to him, and a moment later she looks down.

"You think so?" She looks kind of uneasy about interacting with Steven, like she feels like she probably shouldn't lest he say something sacrilegious. Honestly, though, she can't really find the energy to get massively worked up about the possibility any more. By now, she kind of feels like she has bigger problems. The thought is a bit of a disquieting one, that there are bigger problems than the closest thing that still exists to Rose Quartz, but, well, here they are...

Edited 2019-01-23 06:23 (UTC)

The feeling is apparently mutual, then - the uneasiness. Also, the feeling of having bigger problems. Steven's emotions are also marked by sympathy, though, and the dreaded thought that some part of himself might have been used to hurt her.

"Yeah... If you can keep scaring them off, we're probably safe." There's no doubt in his mind that she can. He hesitates. There's more he wants to say, but it's intimidating. "Um... I... What Polaris did to your gem... does it hurt you?" he asks, carefully.

She blinks, clearly surprised by the question.

"What? I... No," she says, unconsciously lifting a hand to her chest, where a segment of her gem is. "It doesn't hurt..."

That's good, at least. His shoulders slacken a little. It's still unbelievably messed up, though, and he has something he wants to say about it.

"I don't know if it would work, but..." He rubs his shoulder. "If you get poofed again, or anything like that... I wanted to say that I could try fixing it? Or... putting it back together."

He adds a quick disclaimer:

"I don't know if I could change what they did, but I wanted you to know that I'm willing to try. If you want me to."

Jasper's eyes widen. She looks down at her chest, her hand.

"... No. That wouldn't work. They did something to it, it's... covered with something."

"Oh," he says. He isn't sure he can argue with her. He has no idea what they did to make it work like this, and the idea of tampering with it having her be shattered is pretty horrifying. His tail flicks back and forth as he looks at the pink trails, his hand falling over his gem, left exposed by his armor.

"They took my gem away for a few days. I don't really know what they did, either."

"...Peridot told me about that," says Jasper, somewhat awkwardly. It had horrified her at the time, and the idea still does. Her eyes linger on Steven's exposed gem, and her brow furrows. "But they just-- put it back afterwards."

"No... Yuya and Lambert helped me steal it back," he says, glancing away. The whole thing had been very stupid of him and he was very embarrassed at the time, but maybe it needed to be done. "I don't know if they would have given it back without that. Maybe."

He looks down at his gem.

"But it was still connected to me... like how some of the others had their tails separated from their butts. The stuff they could do with gems was... really weird."

Okay, that's news to her; Jasper's eyebrows go right up, and she stares at him.

"What?? And you just walked around without it?"

"Apparently!" he says, uneasily. "There was just a big indent where it was before... I couldn't really see it through the suit, but when I took that off it was even weirder."

"I never thought I'd see that."

Jasper's face twists into a grimace that shows a WHOLE bunch of her identical rectangular teeth. "That's sick," she spits.

"Yeah," Steven agrees, exhaling. "It is. I'm sorry that you're having to go through this stuff, too."

He knows it probably doesn't mean anything to her, but some new context to her situation has him feeling even more sympathetic than he did before.

"Hnh," says Jasper, eyeing him sort of suspiciously. She doesn't argue, though, so that's... something? She looks away. "Like I said. It doesn't hurt."

"...This probably seems really unimportant right now, but..." he starts, uncertainly. "You talked to Blue Diamond, right? Before she left. Did she tell you about what her contract was for?"

Jasper looks back at him sharply.

"What? Yes. Why?"

He really doesn't know how to say this. His anxiety is palpable. He looks away.

"It... um..." He rubs his hair. "It might not be necessary anymore."

She straightens up, ears pricked, surprised -- and then narrows her eyes, leaning down a little to peer at him with intense suspicion.

"What does that mean?"

"Amethyst... Amethyst went home for a while, and she saw things from our future," he says. Damnit, everything Jasper does makes him more nervous about talking. Part of him feels like he shouldn't be saying this at all.

"And... Rose Quartz... turned out to not be who everyone thought she was," he says. It's tempting to stop there, but that would just be cruel. He pushes himself on. "Rose Quartz... was Pink Diamond. The whole time. She shapeshifted, and pretended to be someone else... because she wanted to protect the Earth."

Jasper just stares at him, uncomfortably intense, for an uncomfortably long time. Honestly, it's just because what he's saying is so nonsensical that she has to take that time to get it lined up in her head so she can even understand it.

"...That's ridiculous," she says at last. "Why would... That doesn't make any sense."

He tries not to look at her because it's honestly way too nervewracking.

"I know," he says. "That's what I thought, too."

He runs his hand over his belly, wondering.

"But... when my gem got taken out... I saw it from the outside. It was... shaped differently than all the other Rose Quartz. And even Lilith told me that it was a diamond... I thought it was some kind of fae magic that did it, but with what Amethyst says... I know she wouldn't lie about something like this."

"That..." Jasper shakes her head. Her ears are pinned back, now. "But it has to be a lie. That's impossible. Rose Quartz opposed Pink Diamond. If they were the same person why would Pink Diamond have tried to destroy the rebels??"

"I don't know," Steven sounds, sounding just as lost. "I guess... so she could keep up the act, and make the other Diamonds think she was doing her role the way they wanted. She faked her own shattering so she wouldn't have to anymore."

He looks at his feet.

"You don't have to believe me. I know it sounds crazy. I just thought... you deserved to know. She was lying to you, too."

Jasper paws the ground with her hind hooves, seemingly unaware she's doing it. He seems sincere, she can admit that, but what he's saying is incomprehensible.

"Your amethyst must have gotten something wrong," she insists. "This doesn't make sense."

"I don't think so," Steven says, shaking his head a little. "But... I understand why you'd feel like that."

He's genuinely not out to get anything from this. Even if this seems anticlimactic, he doesn't want to push her.

"Maybe sometime soon we'll get to go home, and we can talk about it then."

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stompadour - 2019-01-31 05:51 (UTC) - Expand

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