nexus_crossings | Bringing in Spring with a worthy revel

Bringing in Spring with a worthy revel

[With the changing of seasons, many Nexus visitors are very happy to see the snow melt away and life returning to their beloved home. Spring is here!

It appears overnight: a large pantheon in the center of the Nexus forum, and once can only guess how such a great building was erected without anyone noticing. Atop the Patheon are two golden thrones, adorned with gemstones of great value. No one seems to be sitting there, but they seem to hold a great deal of importance to the cloaked humans who guard the Pantheon entrance.

The land in front of the Pantheon is paved with smooth, old stones in the shape of a large circle. Lush flowers and grass grown along the outskirts of the cropping, full of beautiful and exotic plants. Truly the host of this revel wants even nature to bend before their whim.

On the left and right sides of the sides of the circle are two long marble tables, where different food and drink await those who enter. Freshly cooked meat. Ripe fruits and unsullied wine. Whatever your heart desires, be it simple or sweet, you will be hard pressed to not find it on one of the tables. Near the tables is also a large group of tents, adorned with many plush chairs and sofas for those who like to relax while indulging.

The center of the circle has a large bonfire pit, carved of fine stone, lit with a brilliant (almost unearthly) red fire. Comforting to those seeking warmth or invigorating to the souls of the weary: it carries an important symbol for the revel: let your soul burn as hot as the flames inside. Which, to the satyr, it means that everyone present should be partying and indulging with one another. There seems to be plenty of space for dancing and socializing alike, whatever your preference may be.

The entrance into this festivity is monitored by a group of half-human, half-goat satyr. They don’t seem to be picky about who gets let in, assuming you’re not here to ruin the fun, but it would be wise to check it with them first. This is a masquerade-style party, so all of the guests need masks.

But there can’t be anything possible wrong with such a wonderful party, right? Perhaps things are not all as they seem….]

((Here's your OOC guide guide to this event. Post when you can as you like, no worries. Have fun!))

((The second half of the event is live link here Please read the OOC thread so you know the details!))

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Jake has never really been a well-read kinda guy, but anyone calling themselves an Elder God and being all random-acts-of-violence doesn't sound good. Nor does that explosion and the thing that appears in the bonfire.

That the crowd immediately turns to riot is a hell of a nasty surprise. Jake drops his plate, hand going to the bone dagger sheathed across his chest, swiftly falling back on both Marine and warrior training as he visually sweeps his surroundings for imminent threats. What the hell has gotten into people? It ain't the food. Or the beer.

He hopes, anyway.

"What the fuck?"

"You wouldn't happen to have a second or smaller knife on you, by any chance...?"

The voice comes from behind Jake and a bit to his left as a maskless woman with bright hair looks up at him with the same sort of scrutiny he's giving the crowd. She still has her wits about her and she seems to assume the same of him. Whatever species he is she'll worry about at a far away time from this.

"I don't know what's going on, but I don't know if they can be reasoned with."

Jake's own mask is swiftly discarded even as she speaks. Not so much because he's noticed it's a thing with the rioters, but because if there's gonna be a fight, he'd rather ditch the potential hazard to his vision.

Okay, human, near as he can tell. Not throwing things or screaming, so that's something. For one delightfully absurd moment, Jake considers giving her the knife anyway and relying on his greater strength to defend himself. But maybe she's just looking for a way under his defenses. He eyes her with the same kind of wariness for a moment, tail lashing, and decides that if she was hostile and able to take him down without a fight, she'd probably manage to cope without a knife. Nah. Trustworthy enough for him, right now.

"Nothin', sorry. Didn't think I was gonna need anything else." Shows him to assume that sorta shit. But hey, lesson learned for next time. If they get outta this that is.

As it is, he's stronger than your average human and has enough training in hand-to-hand that maybe loaning out the knife won't hobble him too much. Assuming this lady wants to use a blade the length of her arm, but swords are a thing, right? Jake draws the knife and holds it out towards her, handle-first. "I got fists."

Even touching it lightly Hazel is aware that such a thing would be too heavy for her to use with any real skill. She pulls her hand away and shakes her head quickly. She'd rather not disarm him, either.

"I'm more apt to be a danger to myself and you if I try to wield that. Can you cover me while I look for a steak knife or the like at one of the banquet tables?" It doesn't have to be perfect so long as it's sharp enough to defend herself with. Having someone watch her back makes this a far less suicidal search.

Her choice. Probably a good one, if he's honest. Jake grips the knife and rises up into a defensive position, flanking her while he uses his much greater height to watch for danger. A goblet tumbles through the air, thrown from somewhere else in the crowd, and the Na'vi swats it away before it can painfully collide with his new ally.

"Better make it fast," he warns her, pointed ears laid back.

"What's your goal here?" Hazel doesn't look up or over her shoulder as she searches. Plates clatter and glasses spill as she rummages for anything sharp. She ends up grabbing a couple of knives off the table before she turns and hurries back to the larger man's side.

"Can we stop this? If not, I think the best plan is to get out of here as quickly as possible and warn others before it spreads."

Gooood question. Jake's first thought is to try to wade in and subdue as many people as possible, but shock and awe probably ain't gonna work here and there's a lot of people flipping their shit right now. Too much for the two of them to deal with? Probably.

"We'd need reinforcements," he agrees. There's got to be others that aren't affected, right? "You and me, we ain't the numbers we need to stop it ourselves." Large yellow eyes scan the crowd, watching the movements, picking out potential paths through the chaos. "I'll take point."

"I've got nothing special I can do to help with this, so you know. I just didn't want to be unarmed with all the craziness going on."

Hazel may not be trained but she's definitely had to defend herself many times before. She's got no qualm with hurting someone else if it's for self defense. She's really glad to hear the big blue man isn't about to jump in and get himself torn apart because she absolutely wouldn't be going with if he did.

When Jake gestures for her to get behind him Hazel will take that position and keep to it.

"Do you have anyone else here with you we can get help from? I'm here alone."

Good to know, honestly. He's not sure what she means by 'special' but he can take a guess. Superpowers, elite training, blah blah. Jake nods briefly, keeping his head on a swivel, watching for dangers. "Nah. Usually here solo."

Speaking of dangers, there's a masked human who's standing nearby, watching a group of humans battle against each other. Even with a mask on, he's gleefully holding a staff in the air with a banner on it. Something seems magical about this weapon, because when he holds it upward, the violence around him seems to escalate.

"Beautiful. The masked circle will be revived once again in no time. Lord Nyarlathotep will be pleased by our work."

It looks like stopping him might quell the nearby violence, but trying to run away is also another option...

"Oh for fuck's sake!"

Hazel dodges a meat skewer being hurled through the air and thins her lips enough for them to turn a sickly white at the man waving around some kind of insanity sigil like he's a knight at the round table of crackpots.

The mention of the elder god makes her damn near bare her teeth like an animal. Hazel has no time nor patience for gods. Especially not ones of madness. She gives Jake a look and jerks her head toward the masked man. Tightens her grip on her knives.

Get her an opening big guy.

Edited 2018-06-01 00:28 (UTC)

Jake's ears twitch as the words register, and he may not have any idea what the hell this cultist dude is babbling about but that's the same tongue-tripping name that got thrown down before this place went to hell, and he sounds happy as a pig in shit about it.

Oh yeah. He doesn't have to make a far leap to figure out what that look was, and he totally agrees. This dude is going down, one way or another.

The Na'vi's ears lay flat against his head and he hisses loudly, catlike, a challenge like a gauntlet being thrown. Bare moments later, he starts forward, roughly shoving through the crowd that separates them from the cultist, carving a path with as much obvious noise as he can manage, trying to draw as many eyes as possible. Look at the big angry blue guy and pay no attention to the little stabby human!

At least, that's the plan, such as it is.

Jake is, without doubt, someone who can't be ignored. The cultist is cackling loudly, unaware of what's happening until the crowd starts to scatter. Some people are knocked down, but most are scrambling away while Jake rushes forward.

"What? Stop your assault, demon!" The cultist doesn't even notice Hazel, raising his staff to try and stop Jake's attack. Thankfully, no one else seems to be getting involved in this battle beyond the masked man.

The towering nine foot tall Na'Vi has a reach that can't be taken lightly. Even his smaller knives were nearly the length of Hazel's entire arm from shoulder socket down to fingertip. It means when he gets his rage on he's a force to be reckoned with. But it also makes him a bigger target, so Hazel is moving quickly.

Darting around overturned tables and skirting around until she's gotten behind the cultist. It's not like she's a master of stealth or anything (though having the air itself on your side definitely doesn't hurt usually), but Jake is making one hell of a distraction.

Hazel doesn't waste time on speaking or announcing herself. Her first strike is at the cultist's outstretched arm to try and make him drop the staff. Her second lunge is toward the back of his neck.

Once, Jake would have cut a bloody path through the riot with hardly a second thought, focused on terminating the perceived cause of the chaos at all costs. Not these days. Maybe these people are brainwashed, maybe they're not under their own control, but whatever the case, he's got other options. Maybe a little less lethal, until they can find out what the fuck is happening.

He grabs one person by their shirt collar and tosses them bodily into several others, and the path opens up for him as more flee from a fight they likely wouldn't win, giving him the freedom he needs to move towards the cultist, drawn up to his full nine-foot height. "Cut this shit out!" he counters, baring sharp fangs, bone knife held at the ready. Buying his stabby little buddy enough time to maneuver and make her strike.

It's good that Jake is tossing aside those who have little control over their actions, since some of these people really are innocent victims. The cultist raises his staff upon seeing Jake's knife, chanting something under his breath, a strange cold air has started to surround his body.

Ice is forming at his feet, but suddenly, Hazel's knife disarms him and the spell stops being cast. Her second attack hits him in the neck, cutting into flesh and causing him to scream out in pain. Blood starts to drip from both wounds and the man crumbles to the ground.

Hazel's quick to kick out with her foot and sent the staff skittering into the fire before anyone else can pick the damned thing up and wreak even more havoc with it. She felt the magic that came off of it and doesn't trust even herself to lay her hands upon it even to carry it to the fire properly.

It's only when she sees the staff alight that Hazel turns back and looks up at Jake. Is he okay? A glance spared for the people around them, her posture still stiff and defensive.

"They're using magic, but not any kind I've ever encountered before. It is not Natural in any way." Hazel gives Jake a frustrated shake of her head. She doesn't know what kind of power their enemy is wielding, only that it is not of Nature's design.

She's got the staff covered, so Jake lunges forward to close the remaining distance and make absolutely sure that this dude is on his way out. He's been in too many conflicts to just assume a threat is gone without solid confirmation.

A part of him regrets not trying to keep the cultist alive, but honestly, he didn't really seem the type to rat out his demon god or whatever the fuck this Imhotep thing is, even if they had the time for an interrogation.

Na'vi are pretty tough, and if Jake's got any injuries, he hasn't noticed either. He looks up from the cultist at the sound of her voice, and even though he's pretty damn clueless about magic in general, she sounds like she knows what she's talking about. "There's gotta be some way to stop it," he says, frowning deeply. "He said something about a masked circle. That mean anything to you?"

"It's a cult. I heard one of them talking about escaping their former homeworld to come here." One of the festival attendees stands up after being briefly knocked over by Jake, holding one of the masks in his hand. It seems like the attack was enough to loosen the mask and free him from the chaotic control. There's blood underneath his fingernails, showing he was part of the mind control.

"Maybe...maybe if you can help the others get their masks off, they'll spot acting so crazy? It seems to work for me."

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Bringing in Spring with a worthy revel

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