Spooktober Spooktacular MMXIX

[Reinholdt]

This year's Spooktacular is being held at the Xar'cha residence in Southside. Formerly an AMEN embassy, the building is already well known for being steeped in blood and treachery. Now the home to a Phyrexian nymph, her giant dire mecha spider, and his personal not-homicidal-as-of-yet AI, the doors are opened wide for any all guests to join them. The residence and thus the party, is comprised of many floors, each buried deeper than the last.

[Ground Floor]

More a gateway than an actual section of the party, guests enter here ducking under fake cobweb and do not usually linger for very long. A recurring sight first throughout the party first encountered here is that of the spiderbots. Robot spiders of various dog like sizes perform useful functions such as directing the guests towards the elevator, or stairs in case of emergency. For instance, just inside the entrance is a spiderbot snapping bracelets on guests' wrists. These bracelets are reminiscent of the kind you'd get entering a park, if quite a bit more high tech looking and no apparent function. Anyone can refuse to wear a bracelet, of course, but the spiderbot's front led display will make a very sad looking face.

The elevator itself is labeled with the various options. Only the first four floors seem to function, in terms of the available buttons. With the possible exception of a big red button at the bottom of the panel with a hand-scrawled note taped to the side saying 'DO NOT TOUCH'. But no one would ever touch such a thing, so who knows what it does?

[Second Floor]

The area primarily for children, this floor is less dimly lit than the others, with bright electric Jack-o-lanterns lining the walls. To the right is a stack of empty plastic orange buckets that can be taken and used to explore the hallway of something called Trick or Treat Alley. There are various doors down that direction decorated with colorful caricatures of skeletons, witches and wolf men, to name a few.

Out in the center are the non-sugary snacks and juice, with a large witch cauldron, bubbling and full of bobbing apples. In the far corner is a figure covered in a sheet surrounded by a semi-circle of bean bag chairs where (admittedly tame) ghost stories are being shared.

To the left is an area labeled Insane Asylum for those kids who think things are too tame, but one of the spiderbots lingers by the entrance to ensure that anyone not at least a teenager has an adult following them at a reasonable distance, in case things get too intense.

[Third Floor]

This floor is primarily composed of bedrooms. Themed, perhaps, with candles for lighting and sheets of orange and black. Theoretically for any purpose, they're mostly there for anyone who gets too drunk to safely get back home.

[Fourth Floor]

The adult party, most people will end up here. A large gathering room dominates this section. Within are banquet tables covered with the usual spooky foods and wines, some of which have a more copper-like taste than others. A few spiderbots even mill around in the background to offer drinks and appetizers to those engrossed in conversation. Decorations adorn the place, carefully placed in places with the least lighting. Just enough to make one reasonably certain they know what's in that corner, but verifying would require getting uncomfortably close. Low, ambient music maintains the gentle chills, punctuated by the occasional howl or cackle. The hostess can be found here, Ilpholin having chosen to dress up in a mindflayer costume, one of the Underdark creatures she was understandably more terrified of as a child. Her belly swells slightly, showing off perhaps the scariest thing of all, her pregnancy.

Off to one side, in the unwelcoming hallways can be found an open doorway leading to some stairs downwards lit only by emergency lighting. These stairs are roped off with a 'Danger! Forbidden!' sign scrawled in blood hanging low. But it wouldn't be terribly hard to just duck under or step over the fraying rope. After all, if it were actually meant to be blocked off, then someone would have put a locked door there instead, surely. Somewhat like the door that can be found at the back of the main room. The one covered in police tape and chains and a padlock.

[5a Violista]

[Ground Floor]

A certain half-human enters the party. Yes! You guessed it, it's Holly the Half-Elf^TM. (Unless you didn't guess it. Then, too bad.)

She has make-up carefully applied on her face to make her look like a pretty convincing Magtok (if Magtok were a long-haired dark-skinned half-elf woman...) In fact, the make-up is so convincing that it looks like actual metal and the scars look like actual scars. Metallic on the left side, up to about her hairline. Glowing eye. Appropriate scars. Scratches on the metal to show wear and tear. She's got a long purple dress on, with a v-neck style.

...
However, there are, of course, some flowers woven into her hair.
That doesn't seem very Magtok-like, but then again who's to say if Magtok's hair were this long, he wouldn't have flowers in it?

To be honest, she doesn't really like the hostess of this party. Probably some trivial reason. However, she figures coming here would be a good opportunity to find out what she's up to, and then maybe laugh at her for it.

She heads to the elevator, ignores the large red button, and heads to the adults' floor.

[Fourth Floor]

Oh, shoot, she's early!

Holly awkwardly stands around the largely-empty room.

[Reinholdt]

[Fourth Floor]

Someone always has to show up first. To be fair, a few NPCs beat Holly to that, but they're boring. So Holly is the one who gets the sole attention of the hostess.

Not that Ilpholin finds Holly's costume all that much more interesting. Someone dresses up like Magtok every year and it's quite probably the least spooky thing she can imagine. At least Holly has a neat twist on the get up, sprucing it up with some rather tasteful flowers. And there's something to be said about the quality of the get up itself. There was clearly effort put into the costume and it shows, proving itself an impressive display.

Ilpholin practically glides across the room, her mindflayer hair tentacles subtly undulating. "Good evening. Welcome to the Xar'cha Spooktacular. I'm Ilpholin Xar'cha. Glad you could make it." She smiles and gives a gracious bow to Holly.

[Halae]

[Ground Floor]

A certain giant crocodile woman has just show up. In a rather classic halloween costume choice, she's in a massive black robe that masks much of her body and even includes a veil to hide her face, though her hands, feet, and tail are still in evidence as they poke out of the robe. In her left hand is an enormous plastic scythe, to help sell the reaper look she's got going on. As she comes across the spider-bots, Emily will transfer the scythe to her right hand long enough to get a bracelet from them, applied to her left wrist. Chances are there's supersized bracelets for someone like her, right? Yeah, probably.

She'll take the stairs so as not to overload the elevator to go up to the

[Fourth Floor]

Emily will head over to the food tables, and engage in idle chatter with people in the meantime, until such a time as a PC comes up to talk to her.

[UncleWolf]

Ground Floor

A particularly horrific(or humorous depending upon one's inclinations) sight pulls up to the house. And by pull up, it flails and it walks and screams from its gaping maw. A giant man-eating pumpkin lurches forward on its vine-legs until it stops at the drop-off, controlled by a pair of antlered Skaven seated upon the top. The two rat-men, dressed in oddly impeccably clean and tailored suits, nearly fall off when the "pumpkin carriage" pulls to a stop and one holds onto his own antlers out of frustration. "Should have taken Doom-Wheel, yes-yes." He mutters. The man-eating pumpkin's maw opens up, the tongue lolling out, and a small figure within steps out, somehow none the worse for wear given the bumpy and horrific ride that must have been. An absolutely beautiful silken ruby-red and blue-black ballgown is worn by the similarly blue-black woman. She stands hardly 5ft in height, and although rather svelte in body, her muscles are toned and quite obvious. Black, deep blue, and red scaling goes up her arms, cover her exposed collarbone/upper chest, and neck in patches, and go up along her jaw and cheeks. Two larger scales protrude into upward spikes near her mouth, as if they were fangs, and she sports two pairs of horns. One is a set of stag horns at the top of her head, and a second that protrude from her brow in a pair of scaled ridges.

The woman is clearly uncomfortable, but she walks forward carefully, casting a watchful gaze around her with one red and one burning green eye as the carriage walks off behind her. Initially her bladed tail drags on the ground behind her and her dress, but remembering a warning, she lifts it up slightly to keep the edge from digging into the sidewalk and flooring of the place. She was obviously lost, confused, and a bit uncomfortable, but she takes a sniff of the air and starts to follow the smells up towards the Fourth Floor.

[Deathkeeper]

Ground Floor

The second guest appears in a similarly magic but less horrific way.
With a puff of pink sparks another girl arrives. She’s in her late teens with deep purple hair, pale skin, and a pair of slim horns of her own, along with a large tail with pink scales and purple fur. She’s wearing a deep pink and red kimono that goes all the way down to her ankles and sandled feet, and she carries a jingling staff with a set of rings on its shiny brass head.

”Do-do you feel as lost as me?” she asks the other lady, noting her expression.

[bc56]

Ground Floor

Sekhmet arrives at the entrance to the party. The former Tiefling is still uncomfortable in her new form, but she's done her best to dress for the occasion, covering her wings in white feathers and threading a tinsel halo around her horns. Her dress is long, white, and backless, flowing loosely around her legs and stinger tail. She holds out a clawed hand to a spiderbot, allowing it to snap a bracelet around her chitinously armored wrist. From there, she heads to the fourth floor.

Fourth Floor

The devil dressed as an angel steps out of the elevator and heads towards the food. Her gait is awkward; she's not used to having wings.

[UncleWolf]

Ground Floor

The dark woman turns as soon as she's addressed, fire in her eyes and a deep glow in her chest, but when she realizes she's not being attacked she settles down. "Lost? No. Misplaced, yes." She says in a thick upper-class British accent. Nervously, she brings her tail around and grinds the edge in her fangs before allowing it to drop back down. "She sent me here as...joke? Trial? Hunt? Not clear. Told me to learn and appease Her." She admits before leading the way up to try and get to the food she'd been smelling. Hopefully there was quite a bit of cheese to satiate her appetite. As much as she was uncomfortable in this small and vulnerable body, it felt so much lighter than she normally did.

[5a Violista]

[Fourth Floor]

It took a while to find flowers that look good. Not all flowers look good woven—or can even be woven, for that matter—into hair, and even fewer look good contrasting with shiny metal, a rich purple, and a glowing-red eye.

"Thank you, I-"
Holly closes her mouth and decides against saying whatever she was going to say: probably because she noticed the swelling belly.

So, instead, she says, "Congratulations."

And then, a little concerned—after all, should a pregnant woman really be hosting a large party by herself?—she asks, "Will...will you need any help tidying up after the party? Because...you know how it is."

Jeez.
Why did Ilpholin have to go and get pregnant? The shapeshifter-in-disguise was going to go make fun of her and then maybe slightly mess up the party and then maybe spread rumors or something awful like that and then leave a threatening note afterwards for her to find.
But she can't do that to a pregnant woman!
Why did she have to go and humanize herself like that? The only thing she can hope for is Ilpholin saying she's doesn't care about the health of the fetus or something awful like that, so that her hate can continue to be justified.

[Deathkeeper]

Ground->Fourth Floor

”Oh, you too? Well, I got sent here because She thought- well I’m just supposed to have a good time. If She-your She- just wants you to learn about parties I can try to help. I don’t go to that many but I’ve been to a couple.” Oh, chewing your tail? That’s a nasty habit. But she’s not the type to judge. It’s her mission to spread Hope and Pink after all. And that means being nice to slightly scary looking people who look like they’re as lost as you are. Truth be told, Gara doesn’t really know much of anything about parties. She adjusts her glasses as she tries (poorly) to hide how nervous she is. She feels better walking with a super tough looking lady. Even if she’s a little scary.

[UncleWolf]

Fourth Floor

The woman takes the stairs instead of the elevator, not trusting it, and she clambers up by hands as well as feet as she goes up them. Surprisingly, she doesn't stumble on her dress at all. "I was at party last winter." She admits. Despite her accent, she doesn't speak all that well it seems. "Different then. Did not talk. Big. Strong." She adds, stopping to reach up and touch the soft scarred flesh of her cheek under her eye. "Not used to soft flesh."

[Deathkeeper]

Fourth Floor

”Well, you’re talking fine for some who just recently learned how. So your Lady made you look like this? I guess I shouldn’t interfere with matters like that. But I get it. Sometimes it’s hard going out without your scales.” Gara’s tail flicks as she says that, and she smoothes one of her long, clearly inhuman ears with a hand.
She offers the other to the shorter girl so she doesn’t need to climb with her hands.
”If it means anything you look plenty strong right now.”

[UncleWolf]

Fourth Floor

It is less that she had to climb up the stairs like that and more of that she felt like it was more natural to be at an incline like that. She looks at the hand and after a moment accepts so she can stand up and walk the rest of the way normally. "Strong? No, not strong. Cannot take down The Usurper like this." She says with a frown. "But She tells me that I must make due like this, stand as befitting her Herald." The thought of being this small and dainty was clearly aggravating, but the woman was keen to prove herself.

[Deathkeeper]

Fourth Floor

”Well either way, you’re stronger than me. And real You is probably stronger than real me too. If it’s for tonight, you can do it. Then you can go back to being you.” Some kind of dragon, maybe? Or maybe a big wyvern? Some kind of big scaly thing, that’s for sure.
”So, you’re fighting an Usurper? Sounds tough.” she asks, trying not to sound excited. A fated rival? How dramatic.

[UncleWolf]

Fourth Floor

"Yes. Usurper is like a large wolf. Big. far bigger than us now. Blue and yellow and calls down shocking from the skies and bugs." The woman explains, finally opening the door to the fourth floor and stepping through without holding the door open for Gara. "Almost Hunted me, but I won and got Her approval. He is still out there though. Hunting, angry." She holds up her arms to show the bite and blister scars from her old fight with it. And at the smell and sight of food, Cinderglavvy's stomach growls quite loudly.

[Deathkeeper]

Fourth Floor

Gara stares at the scars. Ouch. Really ouch.
”So, super tough, then. But that only means you’re tougher.” It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that that rumbling stomach means.
”Well come on, let’s get something then!” Gara says with a laugh, leading Glavvy to the table.

[Reinholdt]

[Ground Floor]

Finding a bracelet big enough for Emily is a challenge for the spiderbot. They made extra large ones, but not quite that extra large. After failing a few times and collaborating with another spiderbot, they just string three of the biggest bracelets together awkwardly in order to make do. Phew. That's a large wrist. The spiderbot face display thanks Emily for her patience.

[Fourth Floor]

It took a while to find flowers that look good. Not all flowers look good woven—or can even be woven, for that matter—into hair, and even fewer look good contrasting with shiny metal, a rich purple, and a glowing-red eye.

"Thank you, I-"
Holly closes her mouth and decides against saying whatever she was going to say: probably because she noticed the swelling belly.

So, instead, she says, "Congratulations."

And then, a little concerned—after all, should a pregnant woman really be hosting a large party by herself?—she asks, "Will...will you need any help tidying up after the party? Because...you know how it is."

Jeez.
Why did Ilpholin have to go and get pregnant? The shapeshifter-in-disguise was going to go make fun of her and then maybe slightly mess up the party and then maybe spread rumors or something awful like that and then leave a threatening note afterwards for her to find.
But she can't do that to a pregnant woman!
Why did she have to go and humanize herself like that? The only thing she can hope for is Ilpholin saying she's doesn't care about the health of the fetus or something awful like that, so that her hate can continue to be justified.

[Holly and Hostess]

Ilpholin inclines her head. "Thank you," She replies with a gentle smile, clearly caring about the health of the fetus, and dashing Holly's last hope.

"And while your offer is appreciated miss...." Ilpholin tapers off to try and get a name. "I could not possibly ask that of my guests. The robots you see here and there were originally built to clean and maintain this place. We will manage. Tonight, we serve you. So please don't hesitate to enjoy yourself." It makes sense. The building is much too large for one person to manage alone even without a party or a pregnancy being involved. Unless they were solely dedicated to the job like a Butler. Since Ilpholin has a social life and metaphorical and literal demons to kill, spiderbots pick up the slack.

"Just make sure you get some food before I get around to it," Ilpholin attempts to joke.

[Zefir]

[Ground Floor]

Different from the other guests who arrived recently, this man has a rather mundane appereance. He just seems to walk through the tower coming from one of the allys. Maybe he just took a shortcut.
The man sights unter the orange masks whicht got a whirle going to one of his eyes. He sure would have taken another costume, but the location of this years event can't afford it. Mostly due to the host. So he took the first one he found with a mask. A rather simple one. Wearing his hair a bit spiky he doesn't need a wig and the long black robe with red clouds on it does the rest. He heads straight for the forth floor taking the elevator. Aas he stands inside his hand hovers over the Don't touch button, but befor he decided to press it he arrived. Maybe that was for his own good.

He takes a look around and is not sure if he should reach for the food. A giant death and an angle devil make the food dangerouse to aproche.

[5a Violista]

[Holly and Hostess]

Oh! Right. Ha. Ilpholin doesn't know this face and name, and the metal/make-up/whatever-it-actually-is is successfully disguising her scars as scratches.

That makes her feel a little smug, but she tries to not show it. "Oh! Of course. Sorry. It's Holly," she says.

Anyway, yeah. 'Robots do it' makes sense. "Thanks."

The half-human does, in fact, find the attempt funny! She laughs a bit. "I'm not really one to hang around the food bar," she says, "but I'll try to check it out before the party's over."

"Anyway, I'll stop taking your time. Thanks for hosting this." It's not nice to monopolize the hostess.

[Earl of Purple]

Ground Floor

Another person turns up. He's a dark-skinned man with green eyes and long black hair, currently tied into a ponytail. He's wearing a black cassock, with a white surplice that reaches his knees over the top. Around his neck is a black tippet, which hangs around his shoulders. A black wool four-peaked cap rests atop his head, and he's got a white crook carved from bone.

Benedict is dressed in full priestly garb, and will head to the elevator. He's not afraid of the technology, and is willing to travel up to the fourth floor in that manner. He's curious about the big red button, but... Now's not the time to press it.

[bc56]

Fourth Floor: A Devil's Thanks

Seeing the metal-faced woman separate from the hostess, Sekhmet shuffles towards the mindflayer, carrying a plate of spooky sweets with her in her claws to eat later. "Uh, excuse me," she says, "Thank you for, uh, for hosting this party."

[Reinholdt]

[Holly and Hostess]

"Harley?" Ilpholin says. "Oh Holly. My mistake," Ilpholin says, as if she had simply misheard at first. The smile upon her face gives away nothing as to whether this is true or not.

"Of course. Have a chilling Spooktacular," Ilpholin steps away as well, to attend to the other guests.

Fourth Floor: A Devil's Thanks

Seeing the metal-faced woman separate from the hostess, Sekhmet shuffles towards the mindflayer, carrying a plate of spooky sweets with her in her claws to eat later. "Uh, excuse me," she says, "Thank you for, uh, for hosting this party."

Such as Sekhmet. Ilpholin stares at Sekhmet for perhaps a few moments too long in silence, her eyes slowly hardening into barely restrained fury, an aura of pure distaste surrounding her. When she speaks, her voice is saccharine and her smile is forced. "You're welcome. Please, enjoy it to the fullest." You never know when it might be the last.

[billtodamax]

Well Provisioned Arrival

Someone new rocks up! Much less a fancy arrival than the pumpkin carriage, Nigel has just taken a cab. He's dressed as a Frankenstein's Monster, with a big fake scar on one of his cheeks and some plastic bolts sticking out of his neck (they're attached to a strip of clear plastic to hold them in place). His clothes are an old band T-Shirt that he's taken some scissors too to make ragged, along with a pair of sweat pants the ends of which he's similarly cut up. He's holding a plastic bag in one hand and cradling a tupperware container under his other arm which upon closer inspection is filled with a competently made moussaka. He has to juggle his cargo around a bit to get the wrist band from the spiders (Well aren't you just adorable.) but he does eventually manage to make his way up to the fourth floor, setting down the moussaka on a banquet table and pulling a little notecard from his pocket and setting it down in front.

Moussaka
contains cheese, meat, eggs

That done he shuffles over to the drinks section and pulls out a few pill bottles from his bag, very very carefully inspects them and then applies a label to each bottle.

TTC:
Allergen free, light hallucinations and euphoria. not chemically addictive. Small blue pill.

LG2C:
Can set off Aspirin allergies, strong hallucinations and feelings of peace. not chemically addictive. Oval white pill.

HX-2:
Allergen free, increased alertness and energy. not chemically addictive. Small yellow pill.

He considers setting them down with the drinks but a sense of propriety drives him to first at least find someone vaguely in charge to hand them off to so he doesn't mess up their nice displays. Maybe one of those spiders is still around...

[5a Violista]

[Holly and Hostess]

"Yeah, like the plant people put in their hair..." she says, also apparently mishearing as she gestures at her hair, before realizing she doesn't actually have any holly in her hair.

...
Anyway.
Time to go look around the party, now that other people are showing up fashionably early.


[Well-Provisioned drinks table]

Holly, who is a half-elf who is disguised as Magtok(?), complete with a pretty convincing half-metal face, flowers in her black hair, a purple dress, pointy ears, and fancy opera gloves and everything, spies Nigel who is looking like he's looking for someone.

Not knowing that he's looking for a spider, she instead walks up to him. "Hi," she says. "Are you looking for a particular drink, or...?" she asks, trailing off at the end to leave the question open.


[Half-Elf and a Gator]

Holly, the previously mentioned half-human and at a different time, spots someone who looks pretty interesting. Large, and interesting. She's already seen the benefits of being big with Fel at a previous party, so maybe it would be good to analyze someone else's perspective on it.

She walks up to Emily near the food tables to try to get her in a conversation. "Hi," she says. "Is there anything here in particular you would recommend?" She looks at the tables as if trying to decide on what to grab.

See, she's trying to smoothly break the ice and transition into a conversation by talking about food. Pretty clever, right?

[billtodamax]

Well-provisioned drinks table

Hm? Oh, no I was looking around for uh... sorry, is that a Magtok outfit? Nigel asks, taken a back a bit. You should show him he'll be chuffed. He adds, looking Harley Holly up and down. I'm Nigel, I was his co-worker for a while. He says, offering his hand for a handshake.

[bc56]

A Devil's Thanks

Sekhmet is rather perturbed by Ilpholin's reaction. What did she say wrong? She isn't sure, but she doesn't want to stay in sight of those furious eyes for long. "Thanks. Uh, sorry for taking your time." Hurriedly, Sekhmet rushes away. She makes it all of 10 feet before tripping over herself, crashing to the ground and spilling her plate of food. She pushes herself up to hands and knees and starts picking up the mess she made.

[Recaiden]

Another guest! Someone who appears to be Nadas Xar'Cha saunters in. He's dressed as a wolfman (wolf-elf?) with a rubber mask, fake paws over the back of his hands, bits of fur poking through the unbuttoned top of his shirt, and walking a bit hunched over at first glance. As always, he's got his silver sword at his side.
He thinks there's a pretty good chance he'll end up fighting for his life through this place someday, so may as well check it out during the relative safety of a holiday. Surely Ilpholin won't start anything here, with all these people.
Plus, maybe it could even be relaxing. He's been doing nothing but training and hiding for...quite a while now.

He takes a bracelet from the spider and heads down to the [Fourth Floor]

[5a Violista]

[Well-provisioned drinks table]

Holly holds her hand out to shake his. And then they shake. Kind-of a solid shake. "Nice to meet you," she says. "I'm Holly."

She then looks around. "I actually haven't seen him around yet," the pointy-eared person responds. She stands on her toes, but unfortunately she's too short to see over the average guy. "If he's here, maybe you could introduce me. Do you know if he's coming? I kind-of want to see his reaction."

...
Anyway.
Enough talking about another man.
"So, what are you looking for, then?"

[Halae]

[Half-Elf and a Gator]

Holly, the previously mentioned half-human and at a different time, spots someone who looks pretty interesting. Large, and interesting. She's already seen the benefits of being big with Fel at a previous party, so maybe it would be good to analyze someone else's perspective on it.

She walks up to Emily near the food tables to try to get her in a conversation. "Hi," she says. "Is there anything here in particular you would recommend?" She looks at the tables as if trying to decide on what to grab.

See, she's trying to smoothly break the ice and transition into a conversation by talking about food. Pretty clever, right?

[Half-Elf and a Gator]

The massive shrouded woman looks down at Holly, and though she can't properly smile due to lacking lips, one can hear the smile in her deep, resonant voice, "I'd recommend the cake. The hostess really put a lot of effort into making it good, and you can really taste the care that got put into it." Of course, the spider-bots are likely the ones that handled that, but they seem like a loving sort when it comes to food.

[5a Violista]

[Half-Elf and a Gator]

"Okay, thanks," she says. She reaches over to grab a slice of cake and put it on one of those dessert mini-plates.

Having gotten the cake, she looks back at the large woman and looks over her costume. "Wow, your height really works for that costume," she comments. "But I imagine it must've been hard to get into the elevator. I hope it wasn't too crowded."

Remember, her goal here is to determine whether other tall people like being so big. Holly keeps this in mind as she keeps on talking. "Have you always been that tall, or was it more of a growth spurt or something like that?" To be honest, though, it could be an elaborate costume, for all Holly knows. It is Spooktober, after all.