⇨ New Location: CAMPING GROUNDS

[ringleaders]

PREPARATION↴ On Day 63, the carnival will arrive a new world, filled with vast forests, and the Ringmaster will promptly kick everyone out. You guys are going camping, while she tears the carnival realm apart and expels every single thing the Faerie Courts could be tracking them with - if they go after the Silver Mirror, they can't risk being followed. So, instead of spending the week in trailors, the Ringmaster will dump a wide array of camping equipment onto everyone, including appropriate food and recreational drink. She says this place should be totally safe, but knowing the irony of that statement, she is issuing a number of safety precautions as well. Characters are encouraged to camp all in the same area, but it's possible to slip away and be a loner. At least until the Security Team gets on your ass, anyway. Otherwise, you're advised to take some time to recover. This place could be considered pretty idyllic... even with the odd local inhabitants. SETTING↴ The Camping Grounds are set in a vast alien forest, complete with waterfalls, lakes, and unreasonably big trees in places. The local animals are mostly benign, but on the strange side. There are various plants and insects with fluorescent qualities, including some over-sized mushrooms. There are also edible fruits and berries - the Ringmaster has provided the kitchen staff and Nightrunners a list of which ones are poisonous. There is no high civilization here, so there won't be any performing necessary. Some of the creatures nearby come close, but fore the most part it's pure wilds. Also, notably, there are few local carnivores - the primary source of meat is fish, and most of the animals feed on insects or plants. As a result, the ecosystem is of the peaceful sort. Unfortunately, those fish also have fur. PATRONS↴ ► JACKALOPES: Essentially just rabbits with little antlers. They are particularly populous here. Herbivorous and only slightly smarter than a regular rabbit. ► MOTHMEN: Flying creatures with an almost impossibly black pelts and eyes like red traffic lights. Any details of their anatomy are very hard to make out from a distance, and they only appear at night. Most of them are approximately the size of a large owl. They mostly feed on insects and are as intelligent as parrots. ► LAKE MONSTERS: Close to the camping grounds, there is a large waterfall area that branches into a big lake. Living there is a pod of Loch Ness styled lake monsters, or essentially just plesiosaurses. They are a communal species and behave much like whales. They are quite intelligent, and primarily feed on the fur-bearing trout that inhabit the lake. ► NIGHTCRAWLERS: A pair of spindly white legs with a head, the nightcrawlers also appear mostly at night, through they stick out like a sore thumb due to their colouring. They exhibit little coherent social behaviour and mostly just wander around gawking at things. They are presumably herbivorous but you never really see them eat. How intelligent they actually are is a mystery. ► BIGFOOTS: The classic big ape people in the woods. Thankfully, they are not actually violent, nor will they they show any territoriality towards the campers. Instead, most of their interest will be out of curiousity, and as the week goes on more and more of them will come to start looking at the camp ground, watching the inhabitant peacefully. It seems like it will be fine, as long as no one pisses them off. They are omnivorous, feeding on mostly fruit and fish, and seemingly at least as intelligent as gorillas. DANGERS↴ ► INSECTS: There are bugs here, like most places. Some of them are bigger than average, but none of them are super threatening as anything but pests. Thankfully, they Ringmaster has some very good bug-repelling candles that will keep the campgrounds mostly clear of them. ► PETTY THEFT: As a curiousity, it's likely that the campground with attract some grabby fingers. Mothmen and bigfoots are the creatures that are most likely to nick things from the carnival out of sheer amusement/curiousity, so watch out for that. They will also root through your garbage like bears. REWARDS↴ Camping is its own reward. CHANGES↴ Nothing for this trip. Beyond that, this is a PLOTTING POST, which means you can use it to make plans! The game chat is also a great place to discuss plots, so we welcome you to pop on in if you haven't already! The calendar has been updated with event timing.

Comments

⇨ QUESTIONS

[ringleaders]

This is meant to be a pretty simple visit over all, and so most details can be made up, as long as they aren't stretching plausibility. Otherwise, ask your questions here.

[textsfromhotland]

Is it safe to assume there's no electricity? I need to know just how miserable Alphys is going to be on this trip.

Re: ⇨ QUESTIONS

[flashover]

How's the weather? Also, are they gonna have any cooking stuff available besides open fire? Grills, potbelly stoves, etc?

/puts all the food supplies in a BIG BAG hanging from a tree, suck it mothmen

[scientificist]

Are we gonna get more specific info on like... the types of tent and gear on the actual event post? Also will they get any sort of heads up so Herbert can pack first aid supplies?

[spaghettimonster]

Is everyone's favorite violent tree back at the Carnival while RM cleans up, or along for the camping trip?

FOOD STUFF!!

[flashover]

ALRIGHT It's YA BOI RIN THE LINE COOK here to LAY IT ALL ON THE LINE.

As stated above, there will be campfire grills and small charcoal grills available! All the Hellbats will also be evacuating the Carnival ground and will be available to basically be rented out as living campfires and heaters; all they ask for is wood and food scraps to snack on. They're about the same size as a cat and come in ALL COLORS OF THE RAINBOW thanks to the colorful fire matches from the Christmas market. RIn has them pretty well tamed, but they may still give you a nasty bite if they're in the right mood.

Rin will also make sure plenty of supplies make it to the campsite, so don't worry about just eating berries and weird fish! There won't be any cold stuff unless someone wants to volunteer some ice magic, but plenty of canned goods and fruit and veggies that can be kept at room temp will be available! Though keeping their food stores away from curious mothmen and bigfeet could prove to be a challenge.

Re: FOOD STUFF!!

[starseedling]

Steven is going to be developing ice magic from his terrible Blue Rose experience, so maybe he can use it for the forces of good by freezing some food for peeps.

[sunflowerfields]

to add to this: Mom's got a whole bunch of MAGIC SPICES she hasn't used yet that might be making an appearance. It'll be fun stuff like drinks that turn your hair green or food that makes you jump a little higher than normal.

[atouts]

Baker can probably be convinced to sit by the food and bark at anyone who approaches it at night.

[spaghettimonster]

Coolbone is going to be. A menace. He's put out over being evicted from the trailers, even if he is bringing his petbed along. So he's gonna look around be like, look at all these cryptids - are they also pokemon? Do they feel like sparring? Hope so, because he's picking fights with jackalopes, and mothmen, aaaand aggressive insects.

[seniorvicejanitor]

Rhys is just going to bitch.

BITCH BITCH BITCH BITCH. About anything he can. He will bitch about his socks getting wet or some animal eating his shoes.

And probably need to be saved at some point when he gets himself into some shit.

[textsfromhotland]

ALPHYS IS GOING TO HATE EVERY MINUTE OF THIS. She's a nerd shut-in this is going to be TORTURE.

Hinawa, meanwhile, is going to love it. She'll be around for cooking duties of course but she'll also be happy to show everyone how to do fun things like washing your clothes in the river!!

[espigeon]

I couldn't really do anything in May, including keep up with the plot. But I'd kinda like to jump back in, if I can.

Well, both of mine can survive okay in the woods. Scout has training and can get reasonably Advanced Camping things done, down to shelters and fires and determining the edibility of this and that. She can also teach people these things.

Julien's much more of a dabbler and will be quietly horrified at the lack of like a shower facility, bathrooms, laundry, electric lighting... he's spoiled. Toughen up, Jules. As a big white bird he stands out, but, bonus, he can take someone up in the air if they're not too big and heavy.

[dressedtothe]

OK SO.

9S recently got the power of LIFE HACKING, which is basically some mind control and possession that he needs to test on people while they're on break camping. His reasoning is that the Carnival has a real problem with getting mind controlled and one way to solve that problem is maybe mind control them back. That, and it's a way for him to actually be able to defend himself against human characters (and yes, that includes Carnival members), who he normally cannot harm.

The other thing is that when he's using his powers, sometimes he sees glimpses of events that particularly affected a person, or something that's weighing heavily on their mind. So that's a thing, too.

So at first, he'll ask people if they mind helping him test the magic he's obtained from the Ringmaster, but later he may test the powers on without their IC permission (he won't make them do anything really drastic). I'll only do this with your OOC permission of course! Sooo like, if you want your character to be a guinea pig, hmu!

[spaghettimonster]

If Papyrus hears about this, he's going to sign up with a mix of big hope and big discomfort. Finding solutions to mind control is very much of interest to him! He hates mind control! ...And the best way is to volunteer to be controlled again. Yay?

I'd be down for Papyrus being one of 9S' no-warning test subjects too, this is a general interest notice.

[kingsroads]

once Strange ain't dead, he'll volunteer himself just with the caveat that 9S doesn't tell ANYONE EVER ABOUT THIS. because their friends are dumb and would get angry

he knows he's like, the world's easiest person to possess, might as well have 9S practice on training wheels over here

[mylastchance]

hell to the yes i volunteer lauren for this.

[dontpokethat]

So camping was basically Ginko's whole life up until recently, so you would think he wouldn't be too pleased about this, except that he. Absolutely is. He loves The Outdoors, you guys.

As such, he is SUPER available for camping help/advice and will probably definitely want to help out anyone, especially the kids, that need it, whether that means starting a fire or figuring out how to go about gutting a furry fish.

He'll also be pretty delighted with the local wildlife and spend a lot of time watching them and making notes on their behavior, or just hiking around and climbing trees and crap, because of course.

[catsatan]

Inb4 tigerman pounces on whatever charming forest creature Ginko is observing >>

[catsatan]

You know that thing cats do where they get excited about nothing at like three in the morning and run across as much of the available living space as possible, making as much noise as possible? That's gonna be Tigerstar.

But yeah, aside from some late night zoomies he's probably going to be trying to hunt stuff and present it to his new associates. Kicking around the possibility of an encounter involving some angry jackrabbits or maybe some bugs. Probably the former though, because when presented with a chance to give Tigerstar a fear of rabbits - who wouldn't?

Nudge me here if you would like a gift of fresh-kill from your resident feral cat! This is gonna be an opt-in thing for tag-ins so I don't go and gross out folks who don't want to see/read that kinda thing.

[scientificist]

Yes. Please.

[kingsroads]

because Zangetsu stabbed Strange real good in the rescue log, he's now dead and currently an egg. Strange won't be hatching until at least halfway through the forest stay so surprise, the camping trip now involves a person-sized egg.

otherwise, Strange is going to be fairly useless at roughing it. the last time he did anything remotely like camping was in the peninsula which also means that he will not shut up about the goddamn peninsula this entire stop. he also won't shut up about the peninsula b/c he's still in a bit of a soldier mindset thanks to the mindwhammy Ignatius put on him. who wants to help Strange loosen up a bit and have fun in the wilderness?

[exaomori]

"help Strange loosen up a bit and have fun" means drinking right??

[scientificist]

OK FINALLY MADE A DECISION.

Herbert's going to have a sort of...semi-med tent setup in the form of a Crua Loj. Only one half of the black sleeping segment is gonna be his tent, the other half is set up with cots, and the rest of the tent has enough supplies for the week and some fold out tables/chairs/etc. It's gonna be public to walk into, basically, with the front porch bit always rolled up and the windows and doors always open to the mesh segment...and maybe slightly open at the bottom during the day for certain cats who can't unzip their way into the med tent.

Soooo come and bug Herbert! Make him do things. He's going to be starting to moult into new wing feathers out of stress so he's going to be itchy and irritable and more willing to get drunk and stuff out of not really having anything else to do.

Herbert only has a very vague idea of how camping be because he has intermittently been a Boy Scout. He will never admit that.

[dontpokethat]

this seems like a great chance to thread more because guess who has So Much camping advice, it's THIS GUY, look herbert theres so much to do out here it's Great

[atouts]

Childermass's camping trip will literally just be And Now He's Babysitting This Asshole and Also An Egg. Baker will also be there. Baker being there is probably the best part since Baker is a big fluffy Arcanine and will be barking at all things and occasionally set to guard the food. Large dogs aside, Childermass himself won't be hiding the fact that he's sharing a tent with Lambert this time around, so characters can take away from that what they want.

Anyway, basically keeping an eye on their idiot Nightrider and also Strange's egg, although he's sure he'll have more than enough eyes to help watch Strange that he won't worry too much about that part.

He'll also be seeing how far he can get by wing before needing to turn back to camp, only as his giant monster crow form rather than just the tiny normal crow form. If anyone wants an unexpected encounter of the horrible giant bird kind, I would be more than happy to provide.

Acquistions folks, there is literally nothing to steal here, so just kick back and relax (unless you have other duties, in which case Childermass cannot save u).

[worldlyafflictions]

I am totally down to encounter Crowmonster, and also maybe Shima will be seeking some magic advice (he wants to improve the thing he picked up from Wismuth). Possibly not at the same time if Childermass will not be revealing his identity as a birdmonster??

[worldlyafflictions]

casually spends the entire time hugging a bug-repelling candle.

[whattaprick]

Lambert's still in recovery, so he'll be spending his time mostly napping in the tent he's sharing with Childermass, which they're being 0% subtle about this round (though any athletic couples' activities are firmly on hold, so don't worry about being scandalized, neighbors). Feel free to bug him. Pig and Butcher, his horse Pokemon, will be around and frolicking, but he needs people to exercise them because he sure can't ride right now.

When he feels a little bit better, he'll probably venture out for fishing trips, and by fishing what I actually mean is get on a boat and chuck bombs into the water, which is surely going to end well in this location ... please, someone save this man from RM actually having to revive him.

Otherwise, he'll be infected with the mushi as a dreamwalker. I haven't decided what I want him to be dreaming of yet, so he'll mostly be sliding into people's dreams, but if someone missed out on Athenaeum witcher action and wants some G-rated nice version of it (I guess Lambert's happy dreams could about killing monsters and Childermass in dresses to welcome him home???) I can probably provide.

[periphrasing]

I would love to do some dream share stuff, I do not yet know what kind of dreams Peridot will be having tho? I still gotta read the event details lmao

NOT SUPER HELPFUL I KNOW SORRY this is mainly just to express interest, weep