[NEXUS] MaGLoG II: Alcoholic Boogaloo

[The Bushranger]

[Halloween Night]
[Amist with Ivaz]

Amist grins back at Ivaz, winking and striking a bit of a pose. "Oh, I think we did, but I think I like yours better," she declared, by which she means it likely covers less. "And it's good to see you too, hot stuff. Who's the companion?"

[McBish]

Halloween Night

"In that case, Kayla, let's get started! Which caches your fancy the most?" Gertrude smiles. She doesn't really have a preference.

Kayla looks over the signs. "How about The Darkened Way, that one could be interesting."

[Zefir]

[Halloween Night]

The man in the pulsfire Ezreal Suit sights as he saws the people.

"Damn. Again I'm the only one alone here?"

He takes a close look around, hoping there is at least someone he could go with.

[Morty]

Simple Pleasures

Sophie wanders in through the door while Kate and Mintbalm are discussing it, and Mintbalm peers after the Hunter before shrugging, "I was thinking side by side. Let's go now anyway, before I chicken out." Mintbalm heads in, presumably followed by Kate.

On the other side, the door they entered is entirely gone, and all three of them appear to be in the middle of a leaf-blown street after dark, lined with similar houses that all have decorations out on their lawns. The wind blows coldly through their costumes which should alert them to a rather distressing change.

Namely, all three of them seem to have regressed in age to anywhere from eight to twelve, and their costumes have changed accordingly. Although Sophie is still a vampire, her false fangs are clumsily glued in place over a set of braces, and Mintbalm is dressed simply as a Spider, with the legs sticking out of a bulbous body that sits on her torso instead of dragging behind her. Kate's costume was changed to that of a china doll in a pale pink foofy dress.

In their hands rest three hollow plastic pumpkin baskets, and around their wrists are lit glowstick armbands. There's an entire street leading up hill for them and only them, and it's the end of the night, when everyone just wants to dump the rest of their candy and go to sleep.

Sophie looks down on herself first, puzzled, then at the two people who appear to have been transported into this vision with her.
"Hello," she says, then looks more closely at Kate. "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

[Halloween Night]

Dorota's attention is drawn to the games. She doesn't much feel like trying the snacks and the doors appear to lead to an adventure of sorts. She had enough of adventures last time.

[Reinholdt]

[Halloween Night]

There's tons of people still alone Ezreal. Just have to look for them.

"KR" is one of those, though doesn't look particularly perturbed by it as she examines the doors for a moment.

[Slii Arhem]

Sophie looks down on herself first, puzzled, then at the two people who appear to have been transported into this vision with her.
"Hello," she says, then looks more closely at Kate. "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

[Halloween Night]

Dorota's attention is drawn to the games. She doesn't much feel like trying the snacks and the doors appear to lead to an adventure of sorts. She had enough of adventures last time.

Halloween Night

Dorota can see the usual party games and a few casino games as well, and when the nearest monstrous card sharks see her eying them they grin toothily and try to wave her over while shuffling cards with their other fin.

Simple Pleasures

"Gah... what's going on? Where are we?" Kate looks around, blearily.

She reaches down, gets a feeling for her body. "Why am I so short? Why is everything so blurry?"

Simple Pleasures

As Kate complains about things being blurry, a pair of glasses slip over her eyes from where they were sitting in her hair previously. She must have been silly, forgetting she left them up there.

Mintbalm pokes at her spider costume before looking around at all the houses and realizing what's happening, "Oh my god, it's tricker treating! This is awesome! Which house should we go to first Katie?" She's completely unfazed by the change in and prepubescent sounding voice coming from her mouth. She's used to being much tinier than this after all, even if it's been quite a while since she was at pixie height.

When Sophie addresses them, Mintbalm turns to her with a grin, "Hiya! I'm Mintbalm, and this is Kate. Want to come with us?"

Carrie was staring at "person she totes 4realz knows" but follows Kyne as they head through the portal!

Halloween Night

Let's see where this goes. Kyne tries to pull Carrie through the The Darkened Way portal.

The Darkened Way

Beyond the swirling black mists of the portal lies... nothing, actually. Nothing visible anyway. There's a spongy texture to whatever is beneath their feet, but neither it nor anything else reflects any light at the two, and no sounds but their own breathing and heartbeats can be heard.

Aww, she blushes! Not-Reinholdt's grin widens as he puts one hand on the small of her back and the other hand reaches to take hers. Then he starts dancing to the macabre music. Is this your party?

Halloween Night

Her dancing is delightfully clumsy, and Not-Reinholdt may be the victim of many stubbed toes, clipped heels, and bumped hips as she stumbles around the dance floor. Still, she seems to regain some of her confidence, beaming a bit at the question, "I suppose it might be, but I prefer to think of it as everyone's party. Just a chance to relax and be someone entirely different for the night, or maybe enjoy a few spooks and scares to put some excitement into an otherwise dull life. I tried for some of everything." She's angling for a dip, but unless Not-Reinholdt can salvage the maneuver quickly, it'll more likely turn out as a tumble.

Fortune Teller

"Is that dangerous?" Elaine asks. She's a person who is extremely risk-averse - quite the opposite of Billie.

Fortune Teller

"Just being here is dangerous, and going onwards could be moreso, or less. Do you fear more what waits for you beyond, or what you will be missing if you turn away from him when you have one last chance?"

Krystal

Krystal wanders over by the doors and reads them, trying to think of what they might hold. Curiosity takes her, and she walks into the one labeled "Strange Delights".

Strange Delights

The room beyond Krystal's portal is somewhat chilly, artificial air blowing through vents in the ceiling and ruffling the sheer silken draperies that hang from the walls. The floor is covered in throw pillows, on which men and women in harem garb lounge and chat casually with each other.

At least until Krystal walks in. As soon as the see her, those closest leap to their feet and pick their way among the pillows over to her, trying to fawn over her outfit and pull her closer to the center of the room.

"You've missed dinner" one of them says cheerfully, "but you're just in time for dessert. Won't you stay? It's a wonderful treat tonight."

From a plain wooden door in the back of the lounge, a slow, steady scraping can be heard. It's so faint that under all the talk and commotion that was stirred up by Krystal's arrival it's barely noticeable.

Alysha

Hey! It's that person!

Alysha will wave back with much excitement, and quickly walk over to say hi. And talk at length. Boy, can she talk.

If Amil happens to walk up as well, Alysha will happily introduce herself.

Alysha

It looks like whoever she thought she was going to meet will be a great listener for all that talking, because as she approaches the spell breaks and it turns out to be a dangling skeleton tied to a wooden X frame by hempen cords. Around its spine rests a tarnished silver amulet that radiates familiarity so strongly that even seeing through the trick, Alysha might still feel like she knew this person somehow despite all of its features having been stripped away.

[Lost_Deep]

Simple Pleasures

Kate touches her glasses... this was not a fun part of her life.

Easy. Don't panic.

"Um..." She turns around and looks at Sophie. "I'm Kate... and while you do look familiar, I can't place a name to the face right now. Remind me?"

[Morty]

[Simple Pleasures]

"I'm Sophie. I think we met at GLoG. You're Julie's friend, aren't you? It seems we were drawn into some sort of Halloween scenario. And made much younger." She touches her teeth. "I've always wondered what it's like to have braces."

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Halloween Night]

[Ivaz]

Ivaz steps back a little so Amist can get a better view of her current companion. This would be Talia. Met her a little while ago, and she is as fun as she currently looks.

With Talia wearing a costume comprising of actual thorns digging into her, Ivaz has a strange sense of fun.

[Krystal - Strange Delights]

Krystal seems momentarily stunned by the sight of the room. Not at all what she was expecting. Not at all.

She's taken aback by the sudden attention she's getting. Especially since she's used to large groups threatening her, not wanting her. As such, she lets herself get dragged along, voicing weak protests and occasionally getting distracted by the sight of some of the men.

She does notice the noise at least once, though. Enough that she glances at the door before dismissing it.

[Alysha - Well Known Skeleton]

Alysha is surprised by these turn of events! Gasp!

Then she tilts her head a little as she observes the skeleton closer. She can't shake the feeling that she knows this skeleton. Maybe she met it in the graveyard once? She's hung out there a few times before. Things there tend to be friendly towards fellow undead.

She puts a hand on her chin and spends the next several minutes thinking on this. She hasn't even noticed the amulet, and probably won't until somebody points it out. She's not the most observant person ever.

[Rebonack]

[Halloween Party!]

Amil blinks.

Then rubs her eyes. It couldn't be. It's been over a year since she saw him last back at the office. "Fred...?" the jeanstealer calls out as she moves toward that person she's so certain that she knows.

Yep.

Now he's waving at her!

But this is impossible! Didn't... didn't Fred die during that crazy far-thing attack? She could have sworn that he got all his flesh peeled off by a-

Oh.

There's a skeleton hanging there now.

Amil's eyes go wide as she takes a few fearful steps back, her mind reeling as she tries to process what's going on. Aaaaand then she notices that some others are having a similar reaction.

It takes a few moments, but eventually she puts two and two together. It's got to be some kind of illusion in really poor taste. Normally that would be enough to thwart an illusion. Usually once one is aware that their senses are lying to them the magic can't endure. But this particularly pernicious spell just keeps nagging at her.

And so?

She decides to distract herself with the vampire lady.

"Hi there!" Amil-dressed-as-Cheshire-cat calls out, offering a hand to the vampire. "Looks like we've got a common friend here. But between you and me I don't think he's been eating very well lately."

Yes! Make terrible jokes! That'll distract you from being pissed at whoever set up this mean prank.

[Zefir]

[Halloween Night]

There's tons of people still alone Ezreal. Just have to look for them.

"KR" is one of those, though doesn't look particularly perturbed by it as she examines the doors for a moment.

[Halloween Night]

Ezreal's player isn't aware of the Minimap
After all this is someone. Not sure if he ever met the real KR.

"They all sound strnage." he sais, standing next to her and looking at the door's as well.

[Morty]

[Halloween Night]

Dorota turns around to look at Crissy.
"What do you think? Should we try our hands at those games? I've never played them before. So long as we make sure not to gamble away our entire paychecks."

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Halloween Night - Alysha]

Alysha-dressed-as-Dracula turns to smile and wave at Amil, her very real fangs clearly visible. She even giggles at the joke. It may have been bad, but she still thought it was funny. All horrible puns are!

Yeah. Never thought I'd find him hanging around here. She grins at her own joke, then extends a hand for Amil to shake. Nice to meet you. I'm...well...I think we're supposed to go by costume names, right? So, I'm Dracula.

[Earl of Purple]

Halloween Party --> The Darkened Way

"Then let's go. Unless there's something you want to pick up first; I'm ready." There's a reason she has a bag; just in case, her holy symbol and two pokéballs are in there, each with a different pokémon.

[Rebonack]

[Halloween Night - Terrible Puns]

Oh Emperor above that was so awful...

Amil does her best not to groan. "Oh, we are? I didn't hear anything about that... I guess I'm the Cheshire Cat then! Oh hee hoo haaaa heee! We're all mad around here!"

With that Amil's skin (and dress!) shimmer and fade until only her huge toothy grin and eyes are left hanging in mid-air.

...

It looks kind of disturbing...

Thankfully she only keeps it up for a few seconds.

"So who's Dracula? Going to guess some famous vampire I've never heard of?"

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Halloween Night - No More Puns. Maybe]

Alysha shrugs. I was just assuming that. I mean, what's the point of dressing in a costume if you don't get into it, right?

Then the disappearing act!

Alysha seems excited by it. That was awesome!

She nods at the question. Yeah, he's a major vampire. In a lot of stories, he's like the vampire.

[The Bushranger]

[Halloween Night]

Dorota turns around to look at Crissy.
"What do you think? Should we try our hands at those games? I've never played them before. So long as we make sure not to gamble away our entire paychecks."

"Well, like, I've never been playing them either, but they look kinda interesting I guess," Crissy says, looking a little hesitant.


<waiting to post for Amist until C'nor posts>

[happyturtle]

Fortune Teller

"Just being here is dangerous, and going onwards could be moreso, or less. Do you fear more what waits for you beyond, or what you will be missing if you turn away from him when you have one last chance?"

"I..." Elaine looks around the room, trying to spot Vinny. "I should wait for my friend. He wouldn't want me to go alone."

[Lady Serpentine]

[Amist, Ivaz, Talia]

Talia, whose costume is, as mentioned, composed entirely of apparently-living thorn-vines sunk into her flesh, in such a way as to just barely cover anything that might cause legal objections to her walking down the street, but not really much else, smiles at Amist, extending a hand to her, presumably for purposes of shaking, which, as might be expected, causes the thorns to bite more deeply into the pyrokinetic, fresh trickles of blood seeping from the wounds as she does.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. Though I don't think that Ivaz mentioned your name when she was introducing us?"

[Rebonack]

[Halloween Party]

The woman's enthusiasm gets a laugh out of Amil. "It isn't that big of a deal, honest. I'm pretty sure all Cheshire Cats can do it."

A beat.

"Or is there only one Cheshire Cat? I'm actually not sure..."

Oh well. Probably doesn't matter much.

"Vampires weren't exactly a thing back home. The closest thing were Wights and Revenants. And they really creep me out," Cheshire gives a small shudder. ...even though she's technically a Revenant herself. But that's neither here nor there! "So I've generally tried to steer clear of undead things in the Nexus and nothing ever ate me alive! Except that one time... But I'm not sure if that counts."

[ThirdEmperor]

Halloween Night

Another late arrival, this one garbed in a style both more extravagant and more ephemeral than most of the other party-goer's have selected. Ragged, tattered robes, bleached by age to an insubstantial gray hang from head to foot, flowing weightlessly through the air, with no shoes or feet to be seen. From the bloodstained cuffs emerge skeletal hands held together by the barest scraps of flesh, lean and stringy muscles binding the joints, the face entirely obscured by the shadowy hood. A certain resemblance to a Dementor is all but unmistakable to anyone familiar with the Harry Potter universe, but in truth, it is merely an illusionary costume of a common wraiths, dreamed up by one in dire need of imagination.

Underneath the guise of his illusion, the wraith glances 'round at the 'festive' decorations with ill ease, once again finding his surroundings alien, even more bizarre than the rest of this world he'd seen. It was the juxtaposition that made the least sense. Vats of blood and thick veils of cobweb, then people dressed in bright, garish costumes. Clearly the similarity in name to the holiday of his own world extended no further.

The card tables are most familiar to him, and so the wraith drifts towards them, both figuratively and literally. Taking a seat he sets down three gold coins on the table, or whatever the minimum bet if specified, gesturing wordlessly for the attendant to deal him a hand.

[Slii Arhem]

Halloween Night

Another late arrival, this one garbed in a style both more extravagant and more ephemeral than most of the other party-goer's have selected. Ragged, tattered robes, bleached by age to an insubstantial gray hang from head to foot, flowing weightlessly through the air, with no shoes or feet to be seen. From the bloodstained cuffs emerge skeletal hands held together by the barest scraps of flesh, lean and stringy muscles binding the joints, the face entirely obscured by the shadowy hood. A certain resemblance to a Dementor is all but unmistakable to anyone familiar with the Harry Potter universe, but in truth, it is merely an illusionary costume of a common wraiths, dreamed up by one in dire need of imagination.

Underneath the guise of his illusion, the wraith glances 'round at the 'festive' decorations with ill ease, once again finding his surroundings alien, even more bizarre than the rest of this world he'd seen. It was the juxtaposition that made the least sense. Vats of blood and thick veils of cobweb, then people dressed in bright, garish costumes. Clearly the similarity in name to the holiday of his own world extended no further.

The card tables are most familiar to him, and so the wraith drifts towards them, both figuratively and literally. Taking a seat he sets down three gold coins on the table, or whatever the minimum bet if specified, gesturing wordlessly for the attendant to deal him a hand.

Card Tables

The card shark bares teeth as the "wraith" sits at his table, tossing and flipping a card at him before pushing his coins back to him. The shark opens its mouth, coughs and gags a bit, and then speaks in a surprisingly feminine voice, "We don't accept coins here. You can barter in candy or, if you're out of candy we'll take credit on the last years of your life, payable only if you can't deliver on the candy you owe before your earthly years are up. And don't even bother putting candy corn on the table. Our minimum bet is so much higher than that, you'd have to have a garbage bag worth of that garbage just for one game. So are you in?"

"I..." Elaine looks around the room, trying to spot Vinny. "I should wait for my friend. He wouldn't want me to go alone."

Fortune Teller

"Some journies are best made alone." With those ominous words, the fortune teller leaves her be.

[Simple Pleasures]

"I'm Sophie. I think we met at GLoG. You're Julie's friend, aren't you? It seems we were drawn into some sort of Halloween scenario. And made much younger." She touches her teeth. "I've always wondered what it's like to have braces."

Simple Pleasures

Kate touches her glasses... this was not a fun part of her life.

Easy. Don't panic.

"Um..." She turns around and looks at Sophie. "I'm Kate... and while you do look familiar, I can't place a name to the face right now. Remind me?"

Simple Pleasures

Mintbalm is too excited to notice Kate's distress, "Come oooooooooooooooon, there's candy to collect! Look at it this way, the sooner we do this, the sooner we get back to the party and back to normal, right? Unless you want to try to brute your way out of this, and I don't think that'll work. Whatever happened, I can't feel my pixie magic here, so I can't try to faerie circle us away from here." She doesn't seem too distressed about that. In fact, she doesn't seem to be thinking anything but "YAY CANDY!"

Strange Delights

The men seem rather casual and aloof, but approachable, while the women all fawn over her, giggling at her costume and complimenting her on her most pleasing features. A bell rings from the back door, and one of the men nearest it gets up and opens the door, letting a food cart bearing tiny covered silver bowls come through. The harem fellows and lasses all pull the pillows aside, making a path for it to the center of the room. One of the ones attending Krystal gets up and grabs two bowls and two spoons, offering one to her.

[Lost_Deep]

Simple Pleasures

"Oh, hi Sophie! It's been a while. Um, this is Mintbalm, she's a pixie, and she's probably right about having to finish down the street before we go back." Kate will start walking, willing to take the lead of their merry band of misaged trick-or-treaters.

[ThirdEmperor]

Card Tables

Candy? There is a momentary pause as an eyebrow is raised, invisible behind the spell of disguise but still very clearly implied. What kind of candy? The voice is deep and perfectly monotone, sounding as if it had echoed up from some fathomless abyss... All part of the enchantment. The gold coins vanish back into the unseen pocket they came from, but the wraith doesn't touch the card dealt to him just yet.

[McBish]

Halloween Party --> The Darkened Way

"Then let's go. Unless there's something you want to pick up first; I'm ready." There's a reason she has a bag; just in case, her holy symbol and two pokéballs are in there, each with a different pokémon.

Kayla shakes her head ready to go. She obviously isn't carrying anything, hiding it in the dress would be all but impossible. From her physique, well muscled, she doesn't look like she would be to helpless in a fight though.

"Let's go then."

[Deathkeeper]

Halloween Night- Outside

A very late arrival, Jacen, (currently a young man in deep blue armor decorated with flying wyrms) walks towards to the lighted building, drawn to the sounds of the gathering inside. A matching helmet is tied to his belt, a satchel at the left side of his back, and a spear is clutched in his right hand. A small green dragon wearing a tiny saddle perches on his shoulder, which promptly swats him on the back of his head with its tail. In his mind, he hears the normally welcome chime of his familiar's telepathic voice.

If we've missed the whole thing, I blame you

Jacen smiles as he responds, quietly but out loud:

ME? We wouldn't be late if you hadn't spent two hours trying to figure out a "unique" costume idea. I don't see how a Dragoon is that original, anyway. Ah, well. I suppose it's fine. In all honesty, this wasn't a bad idea, Zebes; we haven't been to a party in...ages. And if we've missed too much, well, I'll owe you a fish head.

So, not hesitating, the pair goes toward the front door, with Jacen using his spear as a walking stick and Zebes gently swishing his tail behind him to some unheard rhythm.

[KerfuffleMach2]

Halloween Night

Ivaz

This is Amist, who is also as fun as she looks. Ivaz grins, already planning...activities...to do with the lovely pair before her.

Well, ladies, should we see what those rooms are all about? I'm partial to the "Den of Doom" myself.

Krystal

The mutant dressed as another mutant seems to be warming up to the people here. At least enough that her initial hesitation is gone. Her pale cheeks are starting to blush slightly from all the compliments she's receiving. Part of her wishes more of the men would be giving the compliments, though.

When the tray arrives, and the bowl is offered, she hesitates one more time. As long as the bowl and whatever is in it doesn't seem too suspicious, she will take them with a word of thanks.

Alysha

Alysha waves her hand slightly. Well, you don't have to worry about me. Yes, I do have to drink blood, but I get mine in bottles from Trog's. That way, I don't have to bite anybody. Which is good, cause I really wouldn't like doing that.

And you surprisingly seem okay with the fact that I'm a vampire. A lot of the people here aren't. Some are, though. I have friends at GLoG that are okay with it.

[Reinholdt]

[Halloween Night]

Ezreal's player isn't aware of the Minimap
After all this is someone. Not sure if he ever met the real KR.

"They all sound strange." he says, standing next to her and looking at the door's as well.

[Halloween Night]

KR tilts her head. "I wouldn't know sir. I haven't listened to doors before sir. They do have some strange names though sir. I mean... why doesn't someone cut the hanging thread or sew it back into place sir?" It makes no sense! If there's a problem, you should probably clean it up somehow.

[Morty]

[Simple Pleasures]

"You're probably right. Let's go. I'll let you take the lead, since I've never done this 'trick or treat' thing. It's not a custom where I come from." Or at least, her player thinks they didn't do it in France around the time she was born.

[Halloween Night]

"It won't hurt. Let's find something nice and easy for a start."
Dorota will lead Crissy over to where the party games are held and look for something that doesn't look too intimidating.

[UncleWolf]

Entrance

Trisha's companion makes a somewhat dramatic entrance as she almost trips over the flounce of the long violet dress she's now wearing. The dark-skinned elf grinds her teeth together in an expression of annoyance as she pulls up the skirt of the dress to avoid tripping over it again.

If not for the fact she nearly fell over, the heftily build woman is clearly not someone you usually find dressed in such a way. Her white pupil-less eyes making a quick surveillance of the room with a stern expression, as if challenging anyone daring to laugh at her perceived clumsiness. Quickly collecting herself however, her expression softens out as she looks at Trisha. Turning her from a roughened warrior to a nervous schoolgirl in the blink of an eye. "So here we are." She mumbles quietly, probably not even realizing what she's saying is rather hard to hear or the fact she's still standing right at the entrance, inviting anyone entering to walk right into her.

Entrance

When Michicora trips, Trisha's hand is already out to help support her, and when she mumbles, the Champion can't help but smile warmly at her. "Yes, we are." She tells her before trying to loop her arm around the Huntress'.

Near the Fortune Teller

Elaine might see a Viking suddenly appear a bit behind and to the left of her, but she'll probably recognize Vinny's tilted smile. "Hello Ma'am. Everything doing okay?"