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

As the light illuminates the extent of the Ringmaster's woeful state, Peridot feels an immense pang of regret. If only she still had that tenuous connection to Creation. She was never blessed by it like the Guardians were. All she ever did was ride Jasper's coattails as a familiar, and a pretty ineffective familiar at that. She had simply been lucky enough to gain a favor from that primal force in the aftermath.

And then she burned that favor on healing Ignatius. It was necessary to do, she and she knows this; they may not have escaped Polaris without it. But it's hard not to wish she still had that ability now. That she could just beg Creation to step in, and help their friend purge the Huntsman's influence from her mind. She knows that it won't answer. It's a futile, useless prayer to beg for assistance now, because that connection, that very tangible sense she had before that all she had to do was ask and receive, is gone now. But she tries anyway, internally wishing with all her strength for some kind of divine intervention.

With the fog getting thicker, Peridot's form seems to flicker at the edges, like a faulty hologram. She groans and shakes her head, following Steven's earlier advice by storing her sword away in the hopes that the Ringmaster won't view her as a threat. Then she holds her hands up in a placating gesture and takes a careful step forward. "I've learned so much from you," she contributes, voice cracking. "You taught me how to do magic, and I learned things that let me tap into powers that I never thought I'd be able to master for myself! Like turning into a cool dragon! Remember when you taught me that?"

Rita's hand clenches around the handle of her whip. She came prepared to fight, and here they are, just talking at her, like they can get through...

...Can they get through?

There's a long, tense moment, and then she releases her hold on the weapon, letting it sit dormant at her side. She clenches her hands into fists and takes a few more decisive steps forward.

"Are you really going to let things end like this!?" she cries angrily. "After everything you've done? Why even create that stupid carnival in the first place!? For the longest time, I couldn't understand that part... I thought the whole thing was ridiculous. But it meant something to you, didn't it!?"

As she goes on, her voice grows thick and even cracks slightly. "Maybe it meant something to me too, damn it...!"

"You showed us...how to move beyond our limits," Gongenzaka rasps- and it is likely that only his belt is really keeping him from keeling over on the spot. "...You helped us to question, what we knew...to believe in the 'impossible', in that we would succeed, no matter the odds..!" he coughs, unable to even give energy toward reaching out anymore.

It would be worse for him if he did, as it is.

"Is it not time for you, to do the same..?"

"You had a dream, didn't you?" Yuusei calls from far below, further back in the group than some of the other more prominent voices. "A dream of joy, of warmth and freedom in the multiverse! A desire to end this fighting, to escape it if you could!"

He's said so little up to this point, grappling with the Huntsman's will from when half of him had been infected by it. He'd managed to follow with the rest of the carnival up to this point, but now that they're here, he has nothing with which to aid them. He has no magic, no weapons, no special items. All he bears is a silly set of clothes he picked out to make the woman he loves smile, a crystalline heart that burns his veins when he runs, and the strength of his own voice which had outlived the darkness in his world. He can hardly muster the will to speak here nonetheless, the oppressive fog choking out more and more of his own breath.

Yet still, just as the rest have surmised, what good does it do if he doesn't try? "It's not just a dream! You brought joy to every one of us, and in return we all vowed to help you spread that joy to others! And that's what we did, isn't it? You've made so many people in so many places so happy!

"We are still under that vow! We want to help you! That desire for warmth, for happiness, for freedom, is still there! Please, search your heart for what you know to be true, you who lives beholden to no creature! PLEASE, LET US HELP YOU BE FREE WITH OUR BONDS PRESERVED IN TIME!"

As much as it would be most like him to yell, Lambert lets everyone else have their piece, shouting out encouragement and reaching out in their own ways. For his part, he concentrates on willing the light brighter, on leaning more of his willpower into the effort to drown the Huntsman out. He's about reaching the limit of what he can do, though, which means he's turning to glance at Ignatius, getting the words out with an effort.

"Think you can help light up this place some more, or what?"

He turns back to the Ringmaster, all the great skeletal bulk of her that isn't so different from his own tail stripped clean of flesh right now, and bares his teeth before he finally raises his own voice to join all the rest. What her heart wants most? Wanting to break free of control? Making people happy? He doesn't have any assuring words like that to offer her that don't taste like artifical platitudes on his tongue, so he's not even going to bother.

"Listen up, because I'm only going to say this once," he calls. "You can run as much as you want, but we're just gonna keep running right along with you!" His fingers tighten on his sword, and he lowers it, the brilliant light illuminating his face in sharp relief as he grins up at her savagely.

"Even Summer finally got off her ass for you! Are you really gonna miss giving her shit for that?" Whether he's referring to the Queen or the Maiden, well, that's for the Ringmaster's magic-addled mind to decide.

Edited 2019-02-18 17:17 (UTC)

Sans has been standing in the doorway up to this point, too overwhelmed to know what to do. It's all too tempting to just sit back and wait, to let this resolve according to the effort of people stronger and more sincere than him. Him, her, Lambert, they're all suffering through the same thing right now. If she can't beat it, how is he supposed to? Is it even possible?

Yet, when he sees Lambert struggling to light up the room, sees him still speaking anyway, it finally pushes him over the edge. He summons up his angelic wings and teleports into the room, setting himself above Lambert and emanating his own radiance. It's not quite Creation magic, but it's all he's got.

"Hey," he manages, with less confidence than some of the others, but still enough to be heard. "I know I've already given you a hard time, but... you never left any of us behind. I don't wanna leave you behind, either. So..."

He trails off, flinching at the strain.

"C'mon RM. Let's go home."

The light of Creation is blinding. There's been so much noise for the last forever, that it's been hard to get in a thought edgewise. She was reborn into this abyss, with only a stubborn, flickering will holding her aloft - a desire to resist that she can barely remember the source of. At the start, the fight is all she remembers.

Yet, the voices around her... at first it felt like yet another attack, yet another assault on her mind. Now, though, something is starting to become clear. She feels a connection to something greater, a sense of kinship with the lights that surround her. Beings who felt trapped, broken, lost.

There's an urge within her, then, to release her power. To destroy everything around her - the same voice that has been urging her for a small eternity. As much as she's wanted things to end, recently, there is something here now that she doesn't want to go away. What else is there to do?

As her carnival speaks, she tries to listen, like maybe there will be an answer. In the end, the only answer is that this can't be the end. All she had wanted was to keep them safe.

With a thunderous crack, she smashes her own head into the ground before her, her jaw grit and straining. It feels like this same force has been pursuing her for more than a lifetime, and she wants so badly to get away.

For now all she can do is hold herself down, to let them get close - but even now, her body seizes violently, causing her snout to lash in a way that might threaten them. Toxic magic bleeds from her mouth, beyond her control.

It's hurting her, and it's hurting her, too. When will it stop?

Yuya stretches his other hand out, then, and the glow gets brighter, stretching along both his hands and up his arms.

He sidesteps the toxins as best he can, but his first concern is getting to the Ringmaster. This close, even the Creation in him can do little to combat the poison.

Between her thrashing, Yuya takes a broad step forward and tries to catch her face in his hands--and as once lets as much of his own energy flow into her, reaching for her emotions to calm her. Help her focus. Help get find enough peace she can see them. Ease the pain, as much as he can.

She's so bony, but to sinks forward to cling in case she tries to throw him off, tears dripping down his face.

As Yuya moves forward, Ignatius nods to Lambert and leaps forth, landing at the opposite side of her head from Yuya. He wraps his arms across the top of her skull, less as a show of aggression, and more to help her pin herself down. It's clear that the death fog hurts even him, when it's so concentrated - but he figures he has more time than the rest of them.

"Hey now," he says, as soothingly as he can manage. "If you have to fight someone, fight me." He clenches his teeth, the direct contact with her causing more pain than he was expecting. Still, he manages to help hold her still, so Yuya and the others can get close. "You could have killed me before, but you didn't. You were nobler than me, no matter what I tried to tell myself. I owe you for that, Ringmaster."

Carly never makes contact before the thrashing begins- but as Rin's flames bolster her healing power she presses forward even so. Below, others are doing their best to help as well- some at a closer distance than others. But her wings beat softly and weakly, until it takes all she can to avoid simply crashing down and getting smacked away by the skeletal form of her friend.

It takes so much of what little she has to keep afloat in the descent- but then again she already claimed she would give it all for her. And she did not lie about that. The flames around her are warm and bright- not nearly as bright as creation, but the intent behind them at least is similar.

And along what wisps of fire make contact, tears most certainly land there as well- before the rest of her joins in.

"...We're here, Ringmaster," she chokes out with a soft voice, the pain concentrated around her making it difficult to even speak.

"...All of us... ...we're here..."

Peridot closes the gap now as well. The fog is, of course, a concern, but if they don't make this work, they'll all wind up succumbing to it anyway. It's do or die.

She staggers forward to put her hands on the Ringmaster near where Yuya and Ignatius are, She's not really sure what she's even doing, aside from showing support for the others, trying to prove their words true.

"This is the part where you're supposed to understand all of our heartfelt emotional speeches and come back to your senses," she informs the Ringmaster helpfully, rasping the words out through the immense pain. The glitches are getting worse, her form now fizzing and flickering throughout instead of just at the edges.

"Or, if you can't remember friendship yet... Remember your promises," Papyrus tells the fae as he approaches - but instead of joining the group by her head, he circles around to her side.

There he squints through the caustic fog at her boney paws, grinning a grimace with the pain. Not with any intent of flanking her, but looking for signs of injuries, or bindings. There's storybooks about things like that, aren't there? Mice digging thorns out of lions' paws. Just in case.

"You need to help me save my home, you made a deal and everything. We're counting on you to be you."

Edited 2019-02-19 00:15 (UTC)

As the others step forward, Lambert reaches out to Childermass, blindly grabbing the magician’s hand and pulling him along beside him as he steps closer to the Ringmaster. The light of Creation may do Childermass few favors — and with Lambert concentrating on things like bright and warm, the sword isn’t holding its shape as a sword too well. It’s more like a thunderbolt or a club made of spikes at this point, held aloft by one hand. Like Papyrus, he flanks around to the side, reaching up to press joined hands to one jutting ridge of bone with leathery scraps of skin attached.

He’s shaking from exhaustion from everything it’s taken them to just get to this point, but as he flattens their interlinked fingers against bone, at least the trembling in one hand evens out somewhat.

“And what you are is stubborn as fuck,” he informs her. “Dying’s not hard, people do it all the time without even trying. Living’s not so easy. Doing both at once? Uh, I have no idea what that’s like, but you do. Part of you, anyway. So ... can you remember how?”

Being so abruptly pulled over to the Ringmaster — or what's left of her, anyway — startles Childermass out of his own little corner of thought, where he's mostly been trying to focus on not succumbing to the fog. It's as magical as anything else around them and, as ever, he's never had any luck at being resistant to most kinds of faerie magic. At least it earns a slightly more spirited glare out of him than the dull neutrality he's been wearing for most of everyone yelling at RM.

"And if you still cannot, I am leaving, prying your carnival back open, and taking all of your things," he grouches at her when it's finally his turn to speak. He isn't here to give a friendship speech. He actually isn't here to give a 'I'll steal your shit' speech, either, but it's just what comes to him first.

Admittedly, he will likely be dead before there's even a chance of that but it's a fairly good threat to level at a dragon, of all things.

Steven has been awash in his empathic connection to her, and everything that comes with it. It's not easy. The mixture of outpouring his own memories and receiving her pain is a lot to take, and with the fog gnawing at both halves of his body like this... he feels like something is about to short circuit within his complicated genetic makeup.

Still, he gets the idea of what's happening, though mostly from the Ringmaster's own chance in mental state. She's fighting back! And there everyone is, trying to help...

He lets himself float downward with a flap of his wings, wiping away some tears from his face and into his palm. He places it against her head as well, trying to heal her along with the others. Maybe if she can remember the Life side of things, too...

Both the empathic and the Miracle based connection resonates, jolting through him like something electric as they make contact. The decay of her aura hurts, but there's more to it than that...

Steven yelps out loud in pain and alarm, but he's too overwhelmed to voice it with words. The Huntsman is still here, too.

Gongenzaka stumbles- and the closer he gets to everyone else, the more it feels like perhaps he really should just fall over and accept the end. But he presses forward, closer, until he manages to get his hand not upon the Ringmaster- it's a bit too difficult for him to do that- but upon Yuuya. Sucking in a pained breath, he musters just enough of his energy to spur on the healing spell he spent so much time practicing with Yuuya to improve. Maybe, it'll help Yuuya with his own magic toward the Ringmaster.

At the very least, he's there to support them all with what he has left.

In the background to this, Herbert, who had been napping on Jasper's back again on the trip over, has been staring into the fog at the sound of people crying all over this rotten version of the Ringmaster with a decent amount of disdain. Why would that ever work? She's clearly unwell. No amount of pleading with people in comas makes them wake up.

Bothering Jasper gets him dumped off her back again and he opens the tent realm at the very edge of the room, faced as away from the smoke as he can manage. The Ringmaster is full of decay and, he presumes, mainly expressing one half of her person...or however it is that the Miracles work. They're definitely not his field. But one thing is, and that is the defeat of death, the creation of new life. He knows what he needs to do.

In the tent, he puts together a syringe, and carefully fills it with his regenerative reagent from the barrel of it he left in this space over a month ago. He's not fool enough to believe that it will serve to completely defeat whatever it is the Huntsman did to her, but he feels confident it will be enough to tip the scales in the Ringmaster's favour. He steps out and closes the tent door behind him, bracing himself before walking through the fog towards the dragon, syringe at the ready.

This is it. This is his time.

Was it working at all? It’s so hard to tell. By now, the proximity to the fog and Rin’s regeneration have made for nasty oozing ulcers on his skin, and frank blood from his nose and mouth. It won’t be long before they all look just like the poor Ringmaster.

He doesn’t have any more words to say. So instead, he finds one of those bony paws, and just throws his arms around it, hugging as tight as he can. Reddish tears fall from his eyes.

Please... save us one more time, Ringmaster.

Back near the entrance way, a distance from this scene, those that have held back will hear a quiet voice. To some, it may be familiar, but from what may feel like a long time ago.

"Peh," the voice says. "This is taking too long."

It's a quiet remark, made to one's self, but without the care to fully conceal himself from those present. It won't make a difference, he thinks, because in the next moment he's already zipping away from his hiding place in the bones and appearing in the arena, looking down on such a touching display with a look of amused contempt.

"Hope as you may," says Frost, footman of the Winter Queen, "my Queen's thirst for revenge will not be quenched so easily!"

His attack is already prepared. Several shards of ice, black with death, float before him - and as he speaks they will be launched towards everyone who has gotten close to console the Ringmaster. They are already weakened, he thinks.

Should be easy prey.

[OOC: Each black ice shard has a potent death spell on it, and will kill whoever they strike within a minute or two even if the wound itself is not fatal. If it hits a vital area, the death may be instant. You are free to dodge or avoid this (blocking will not work, as it will cut through most spells) but you can also get hit if that appeals to you - plot stuff will enable your character to be saved during this scene.

You may have a wild guess how.]

Of all the things to be right about, an ambush definitely wasn't the best. Zangetsu has been doing his level best to chip away at the ice (with varying levels of success, despite his and Nosh's efforts) when Frost appears and zooms on by.

Zangetsu tears off after him, sliding to a stop at the edge of the arena.

"OI!! FROST IS HERE!"

He only barely manages to get the words out before Frost announces himself anyway.

Cheeky little fucker.

It all happens in mere moments, yet it feels like an eternity. While Carly lays dying, a spec of healing glow upon the Ringmaster, Gongenzaka turns his head to the sound of a chillingly familiar voice.

And then there are the shards of ice.

"NO-"

Gongenzaka's voice is a hoarse whisper- a show of weakness, his legs already buckled to bring him to the ground, and his hand only barely able to cling stubbornly to his friend. A hand is no shield- all he can do is shout-

"YUUYA-!"

Shout and hope, that the stronger of them, can protect them.

Yuya gives Ignatius a grateful look when he helps wrestle the Ringmaster down, because Yuya's certainly too small to not be thrown off if he wasn't. Especially the way that his spell drains him, leaves him weary as he shares his energy with the Ringmaster--for what little good it does. Everyone's calling out to her, but he's already losing his focus on their words. Maybe... he should have practiced more...

A less familiar voice breaks among them, and Yuya tilts his head, glancing around and then--up. At frost. At the ice, pointed, and he knows exactly what's about to happen.

Yuya takes a sharp breath and pulls himself up, twisting to angle himself between the Ringmaster's face and Frost as he covers her. Yuya squeezes his eyes shut, pushing out his shield and thinks only about maintaining the magic, whatever power he's found in himself in all these months needs to come now--

Something shatters. There's a blinding pain in Yuya's back, angled through his waist, and at once he feels hot and freezing, biting cold. He chokes, his throat clogging until her cough and spills blood out of his mouth.

There's no shield, and the light in his fingers starts to fade as well.

While he's not clinging to the Ringmaster, Herbert is close enough to get hit, even if he's still moving and the ice hits him in the shoulder. It hurts, but nothing is more important to him in the moment than his irritation.

"You are interrupting my work--not to mention scientific procedure!" he snaps hoarsely, glaring up at Frost. He tucks the syringe into his pocket so he can toe off one of his dumb cat paw shoes and pick it up with his good arm to huck it at Frost.

He's not very good at throwing, especially when depleted by two kinds of death magic, so it doesn't even reach Frost but he thinks it communicates his point anyway.

Syrlya was mostly letting people who knew the Ringmaster better appeal to her while he braced himself against the death magic--so he's not close enough to the scene that's having ice rained on it.

But he's just as quick to act, dashing around to get Frost in view as he waves his hand, weaving a fireball into the air over it. And then he throws it with speed and precision, watching for the results of his attempt to roast the damn pixie.

Childermass is already whirling around at the sound of Frost's voice, raising a wind in front of himself and Lambert both the second he catches the glint of ice sent flying through the air. It's a pointless effort, an attempt to knock the ice off target.

"Everyone, get down—!" is as much as he gets out before he takes a shard of ice in the shoulder, cutting through his magic as if it were nothing. He staggers back against the Ringmaster and Lambert both.

Edited 2019-02-19 04:03 (UTC)

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