new zealand ♔ when lies turn into truth i sacrificed for you | you say that i'm frozen

[lissatrinall]

♬ where i can never be - gary numan

WHO || Lis'sa, Kenzi, Bo, Klaus, Rebekah, Mars[Closed]
WHAT || The Knights investigate a mysterious carnival that may be linked to some magical winter weather
WHERE || New Zealand
WHEN || August 11th [forwarddated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread, don't worry about maintaining tagging order.

Strange winds have blown in, bringing on an unusually chill winter in New Zealand. The ground crunches underfoot with snow, the days growing shoter and stars holding court in the darkness reigning above. An unnatural cold permeates the town, and the river's jubilant voice is frozen under the ice. Birds abandon their nests for warmer climes, their songs silenced by winter's grim embrace. But the frozen riverbank now hosts a shimmering respite from the gloomy cold in the form of garish tents, joyful shouts, and sumptuous smells. Vaale's Carnival has come to town.

Gaiety and laughter cut through the cold wind, and even the sky-shy sun peeks its face from around the gathering winter clouds. Children squeal with delight and gasp in awe at the sights, sounds, and smells of Vaale's Carnival. The Titan's Wheel creaks and groans as a burly lumberjack tests his might wit a hefty spin, a family rushes giggling into the sprawling ice maze to the north, and dozens of happy skaters flit about the rinks atop the frozen river. Carnival dolls are handed to wide-eyed townspeople as prizes and a menagerie of freakish creatures and glowing lights beckons the curious. Garish skirts and scanty veils call others to a different breed of voyeurism altogether. Treats and wonders abound for young and old to enjoy, and for a time, the harsh winter is forgotten in joyful revelry. There's nothing to indicate any sinister going on whatsoever, as the group surveys the happy smiles of the crowd.

* Please make a list of all items your character is carrying in an entry in their journal before tagging into this post! They are free to have requisitioned any equipment or weapons they desire beforehand.

Comments

[morethanasidekick]

Suddenly the leeches aren't looking so bad... [Kenzi keeping up and by keeping up I mean she's tailing Bo and hiding under that damn coat and seriously regretting the food testing they did earlier because she's now pretty sure she ate people.

Again.]

[succubestie]

This is...seriously messed up.

[And she's seen some messed up shit, okay. This might top what she remembers.

She follows after Lis'sa, making sure that Kenzi is close at all times, wrinkling her nose up at any of this gross little buggers that try to get to close.]

[lissatrinall]

[ at the edge of the yard stands an obscenely large tent that covers a sizable portion of fairground with its drab grease-stained canvas flaps. strange sounds - chugging clunks, grinding crunches, and loud, highpitched buzzing - drift from within. every so often, a whistling boom interrupts the cacaphonous orchestra, punctuated by a geyser of thick, black soot that shoots through a hole in the top of the tent.

a towering mass of sinew with a skeletal visage stalks the perimeter of the machine tents, randomly plucking carnival attendees and violently thrusting them beneath the tent's greasy canvas folds, where their hellish screams are mostly drowned out by the deafening grinding of the machinery within. nothing walks from the tent's exit. instead, a dark fey brownie rakes piles of shredded flesh and ground bone into a shallow trench of bloody pulp that trickles down the hill and into the river. ] There.

[charismapotion]

Oh my god.....

[ This idiot ate the pie. Oh no wonder he got sick so fast. He looks a little horrified.]

Umm, so I don't know if it helps, but someone or something is doing some serious illusions if it isn't obvious. [ he spoke, while following them, trying not to turn green.]

[succubestie]

[Wow, that just got five million times more fucked up in a hot minute.

She would have needed a fucking nat 20 to keep herself from doing what she does next, and she sure...didn't get anything close to that. She draws a blade as she shouts.]

Hey asshole! Why don't you pick on someone your own size!

[Anything to keep him from shoving more people into that tent. Fuck no.]

[morethanasidekick]

Bo... Bobo?! BO! Not part of the plan... [Not that Kenzi is Team 'Let people die' but, she does at least realize that the sooner they end this, the sooner they save everyone and not just a handful. (Of course SHE gets the Nat 20 - Wis.)]

[lissatrinall]

[ the creature turns towards them, narrowing its eyes and flexing its claws. a large battleaxe is on its back, but it doesn't reach for it yet.

"You wish to be the next one in the tent, do you?" it rasps, and lis'sa says darkly: ] It's a grimstalker. We can't leave that thing alive.

[succubestie]

The next one in that tent is gonna be you.

[Sorry, Kenzi, because she's pretty much already moving before Lis'sa even speaks, racing right up to the thing and making two stabbing attacks with her blade. (atk 22, dmg 8 & atk 24, dmg 12)]

[herebemonsters]

[ the creature is clearly not expecting the charge, taking both blades right across the chest. it staggers backwards, and with a growl hisses: ] You fools! [ he yanks the axe off his back, bringing it down at bo's head with a ... nat 20. (42 dmg) while she staves off the effects of the poison coating the blade with a 22 fort save, she barely manages to stay conscious from the force of the blow, and probably subsequent bloodloss (fort 16 vs massive damage) ] You would dare to threaten Jhoruk the Banaan! [ he spits the words with an ugly, rasping laugh, looking past her as if he's assuming she's just gonna bleed out and die now. who's next. ]

[charismapotion]

[ Mars doesnt think more than reacts when he sees the axe come down towards Bo. He lifts his hands and casts Shocking Grasp(atk; 10, dmg; 21) hoping the axe would be enough metal to help it along.

The squishy Sorceror is being dumb. Help plz, Klaus.]

[lissatrinall]

[ even with the assistance from the metal blade it carries, mars is too slow to get a hand on the thing, unable to deliver the spell.

lis'sa curses and draws her excalibur, but her shot of 10 isn't doing anyone any favors. ]

[morethanasidekick]

Bo! [Well if that didn't hit a ten on Kenzi's Oh-Fuck-O-Meter... nothing will and after the clusterfuck that was her attempt to use a crossbow?

This time she pulls out her Excalibur and... This is so canon I might cry; Atk: Crit Fail, the bullet going nowhere near the grimstalker and clipping Mars for 3 dmg instead. (Sorry Mars).]

[charismapotion]

[ Well he certainly let out a girly yep and moved back. That's gonna leave a mark. ]

What the hell, Kenzi! [ At least he's out of the way.]

[succubestie]

[Oh ouch that fucking hurts what the hell. But she's not down or out yet, so she attempts to stab at the monster again because fuck this asshole, seriously (atk 22, dmg 12).]

[herebemonsters]

[ the attack seems to cause him some serious pain, so he does a full retreat back towards the tree line... ]

[asuma]

[I guess Klaus was just standing back, enjoying the clusterfuck that is this hot mess to account for his crit fail whoops. :')

He's mildly amused by the epic fail that results when he doesn't participate (read: carry his team), but when the Grimstalker (as Lis'sa had referred to it) begins to make a retreat, Klaus decides that it's probably time he steps in and starts to give chase. She made it clear that they weren't to keep the creature alive, after all. See Klaus tear across the park after this thing while y'all lick your wounds?]

[charismapotion]

[ Who has no sense of survival? This guy.

Seeing Klaus run after it he seems to have an inner debate a moment before clutching the wound and moving after Klaus. ]

[lissatrinall]

[ lis'sa takes another pair of shots after it (atk 28, atk 16: dmg 6), but again, the one that hits doesn't seem particularly effective. ]

[morethanasidekick]

[Kenzi is at least more concerned with Bo's well-being for now, stopping to check on her after the grimstalker laid a smackdown on her Succu-ass but she's not as stupid as she looks, or pretends to be. (Wis 18).]

Why did it run like a bitch when Bo stabbed it but didn't do shit when you shot at it?

[I may not be doing this right?! I guess technically seeing as its a free action for her to talk, she's holding her turn until Bo and or Lissa run into the fray and if they do, she will run with them.]

[succubestie]

We ran into this fire thing that did something similar. Sometimes we'd hit it, sometimes we wouldn't. It was a bitch.

[As she starts after the creature as well. Call it an epic fail all you want Klaus, but they got it running away without your help. Maybe Bo will give Wynn a review about how you were so afraid of it that you were stunned into inaction. :)]

[herebemonsters]

[ seeing that he's being pursued, the grimstalker grinds to a halt, whirling on klaus with his battleaxe as he follows after him (atk 17), which i'm pretty sure doesn't hit him??? ]

[asuma]

[Yeah, that sho doesn't hit him--do I still need to roll the fort save? I don't think I do but if I'm wrong, smack me and I can either edit this comment or drop a dice roll in the private plurk for this mission.

In the meantime, Klaus 'bout to retaliate by slamming a fist into this fool's sternum like he's trying to rip a bitch's heart out but senor grimstalker probably isn't as squishy as he anticipated, so it likely only ends in blunt damage yolo (attack 30, damage 10).]

[charismapotion]

[ Finally Mars casts magic missile at the creature. (atk 6 Damage 4) ]

[lissatrinall]

[ klaus and mars' attacks are enough to finish off the thing, which vanishes in a cloud of black ash and a horrible screaming noise. lis'sa catches up to them, stepping behind bo. ] Are you alright?

[succubestie]

I have to be. We don't exactly have time for what it would take to heal me.

[#succubusproblems]