Spooktober Spooktacular MMXIX

[billtodamax]

Spooky Children

I think we could probably get used to your voice now we know what's coming. Olon says to reassure Sasha. And herself. Is your voice spooky cause of why you're a spooky shadow too? She starts sorting through her pile again - it got a bit messed up with all the commotion.

Oh, Shan, your wrappings came loose. Endok says, noticing the mummy's predicament and scooting over to try and help. Also coincidentally away from Sasha.

Sounded like a bloody demon. Rath says, setting the crossbow down on the ground, relaxing into a more casual stance once more. Though they're supposed to be fine here, right? Or, some are. She tells Omiko. Can you believe that Omiko? Demons! Ridiculous. Met a demon girl when I was fishing and she seemed alright.

Nigel and Holly are no longer at the food table but it's probably still good to differentiate where they are from everyone else

Nigel stands up from the zombie whose electronic brains he has thoroughly tenderised with his bonesaw, taking in the mess of circuitry left behind. Augmentations? Frail. Might be robots. No. Maybe. Not important. Nigel says, before darting forward and absolutely wailing on the zombie Holly knocked over with his baton. After it seems disabled he backs up, breathing heavily, further away from the mass of zombies (and possibly into Holly if she doesn't go with him). Might not be real. Certainly enhanced in some way. Halloween prank may- Gunfire! Nigel takes a stray shot into his shoulder and dives at Holly, trying to drag her down to the floor. Whether she goes down with him or not she'll hear him start swearing up a storm.

[Recaiden]

[Spooky Children]

Sasha's face kind of shrinks as if she were withdrawing into the darkness of her cloak and trying to hide there. The hood only covers so much and sure, it's really good at what it does, but it doesn't let her disappear entirely. Drat. So she nods to Olon's question and shakes her head to Ankh's. Her name is Sasha and she doesn't know why she sounds like that. At least, not in any way she could explain out loud in a short sentence. She could try to explain it, the same way a kid could try to explain electricity.

If they insist.

I think we could probably get used to your voice now we know what's coming. Olon says to reassure Sasha. And herself. Is your voice spooky cause of why you're a spooky shadow too? She starts sorting through her pile again - it got a bit messed up with all the commotion.

Oh, Shan, your wrappings came loose. Endok says, noticing the mummy's predicament and scooting over to try and help. Also coincidentally away from Sasha.

Sounded like a bloody demon. Rath says, setting the crossbow down on the ground, relaxing into a more casual stance once more. Though they're supposed to be fine here, right? Or, some are. She tells Omiko. Can you believe that Omiko? Demons! Ridiculous. Met a demon girl when I was fishing and she seemed alright.

"Okay...." Ankh admits, sitting back down. "So which of these is your favorite candy?!" She spreads out the different types so that they can be easily pointed to. No need to speak about it.
Torry looks at Olon, alarmed by that terrible, awful idea that she just suggested.
"Thanks." Shan says, trying to get the mummy wrappings back where they begin. Endok may notice that under the costume, Shan is not a cat kid, but a rubbery facsimile of a cat kid. That's probably not important, though. Nothing to worry about.

"Oh, I agree. She sounded just like a mist-blade demon there. So mournful."
Omiko chuckles.
"Most demons are alright, really. They just need a good example." It is ridiculous. If you had told the old Omiko how many demons would be in her life, she would have laughed you off the ship. But now she doesn't even flinch, she's heard so many. "We actually had to deal with them a lot back home. You know, it's their job to torture the wicked for eternity, but largely, they aren't really into it. They're nice guys in the end."

[UncleWolf]

Fourth Floor

Gara flinches.
”Well! It’s reassuring that you aren’t planning on eating me.” she huffs. She sounds a little offended, but she’s probably just terrified by the implications. Even though she knows wild Mizu’ aren’t smart like her.
She goes back to devouring sweets. Especially the brightly colored ones.
”So uh...how’s the cheese?”

Fourth Floor - Event

"Why scared?" Cinderglavvy asks, frowning and licking the molten cheese off of her lips. "Chasing not worth effort. Cheese is easier to get and eat right now." She explains. It just wasn't worth the energy to go chasing down such a small and foul-tasting prey when the cheese was already molten and took minimal effort to eat. Full of fat and protein, it was just the perfect treat. Aaaaand then the chamber goes dark and the scent of rotten flesh hits Cinderglavvy's nose. The scales on the back of her neck raise and she freezes, blinking at the zombies.

"...She said not to ruin the dress with fighting." She admits, looking down at herself. "And rotting flesh is bad..." With that reasoning in mind, she'll take a glance at the food table to see if there's any solid blocks of cheese to take. Whether or not there's any left, she'll look back at Gara, sizing her up. "...need carried?"

[Deathkeeper]

Second Floor- Dragon and Crocodile

Nak shrugs.
”You’d need to know a bear god. I don’t know any.” But he can introduce you to some very nice bird gods. And a dog god but he doesn’t always like to talk.

Fourth Floor- Event

Gara immediately flinches at the smell and takes a long, nervous step towards the nearest strong person, which happens to be Glavvy.
”C-carried? I couldn’t possibly ask you to do that with these um- well.
If you know a way out that might be nice.” she says. It’s too dark to see her blush.

[5a Violista]

[To zombies, Nigel and Holly are the food table]

Holly does, in fact, back up as soon as she notices Nigel is. Thus, she isn't knocked over by ---

Holly is knocked to the ground when he dives. Her hair keeps her head from hitting the metal floor too hard, but it still dazes her. Her fake-gun falls out of her hand and clatters across the floor. "What, is..."
Realizing that that was gunshots, and not just any gunshots but randomly-aimed gunshots, she says, "They should at least aim, what if they hit someone?"

As she finishes that sentence, she notices his bullet-wound. "Are you alright?"

[Artemis97]

[Fourth Floor - Event]

Raril tilts back his head and howls in pain and mourning. His daughter was dead. Her child, just a spark of potential life, gone with her. All because of these....things.

The werewolf-drow leaps onto the nearest zombie, ripping its head from it's shoulders in a shower of gore.

[billtodamax]

Holly and Nigel having a floor party

Nigel spends a little bit more time swearing as he starts crawling away from the madman firing guns wildly into the air. No. He eventually manages between the swearing. As soon as he thinks he's safe enough he starts rooting through his bag, pulling out a few patches and immediately dropping them to the ground, swearing again. Can you slap those on my arm please. He says through gritted teeth, lying on his back as the effort overtakes him.

[Lord Magtok]

Fourth Floor - Event

The good news is that the zombies are fake, as Fidelia noticed while Lazarus was busy going completely nuts on them. The bad news is that some ****ing psychopath is shooting indiscriminately, and robot zombies or not, this party isn't safe anymore. Someone else can take care of the shooter and do something for the grieving drow over there, it's time for this one zombie to gtfo as quickly as humanly possible.

"Never mind. Fi, we're leaving now. Run ahead and keep your head low, I'll cover you," she orders, grabbing one of the stupid undead robots by the neck and throat, lifting it up to use the awful thing as a sort of improvised ballistic shield. There are some people who would argue that she should stick around, that she should make sure the shooter is stopped and that really big werewolf over there doesn't go berserk on any innocents, but if she tries anything like that, Fidelia is going to insist on sticking around too, and Fidelia is very much not bulletproof. This is a party full of powerful people who dominate the Nexus's sociopolitical landscape, and Saint Lazarus is about as likely to be mistaken for one of those robots as not, so someone else can handle this one, thank you very much.

[Reinholdt]

[Spooky Children]

Sasha nods to Olon. At least... She thinks that's true. Admittedly, it'd be a bit like asking Endok if his voice is like it is cause he's a dwarf. No real good answer.

She tilts her head at Ankh and a tendril starts to move towards the candy and then stops and withdraws when Sasha realizes she doesn't really have a favorite. The little shadow girl stares at the wrappings a little closer, taking her time. Maybe one of them looks neater than the others.

[Fifth Floor]

Running along the path Mister Squiggles has chosen for them will lead them to an open elevator. Huh. It makes sense, somewhat. The elevators presumably go to all the floors, even if some of the choices were disabled at first. In the unlikely event they hesitate, and honestly even if they don't, they will hear Ilpholin just out of sight.

"What are you doing? Get after them! They're demons! DEMONS! I DON'T CARE! Let me go! LEMMO GO YOU TREACHEROUS SPIDER! ARRRRRRGH!" The howl of frustration and bloodlust lingers on their ears.

If they do get in the elevator it will close the doors automatically and take them directly to the first floor with no stops. Ding.

[Fourth Floor - Event]

By now most of the fake zombies are destroyed, with just a few lingering about. Those running for exits will find at least two different stairways back to the ground floor in addition to the elevator which is unsurprisingly occupied already. All exits are clearly labeled for anyone's convenience.

There's a single large wheel of Gouda left if Glaavy is quick enough to grab it.

The two zombies left that are feasting upon Ilpholin don't react at all when Raril eviscerates their companion. Cold and unfeeling monsters.

The lights flicker back on and return to normal. As they do, spider bots come out to start cleaning up the mess of zombiebot corpses, quickly and efficiently removing them from the room one at a time.

[Artemis97]

[Fourth Floor]

Raril will rip apart the remaining two zombies feasting on Ilpholin, with teeth and claw. With the lights up now, he blinks noticing something strange in the gore. Metal. Circuitry. Robots?

Huffing and puffing the werewolf stares at the 'zombie' in his claws. It wasn't a real one? Then Ilpholin? He tosses the robot zombie aside and kneels next to his daughter. She was cold... so cold... why would a fresh corpse be cold? This didn't make sense. None of it made sense.

"Heh...hehe... Hahaha!" The wolf begins to cackle, a little madly. Tears fell from his eyes, mixing with the fake blood in his fur. As the adrenaline wears off he returns to his usual drow form. And he's left there, laughing... just laughing.

[Recaiden]

[Fifth Floor]

Sekhmet is also shocked by the spider. She stumbles, trying to stop, uncertain which fate is worse before she realizes that it's waving her onwards. With a whispered, "Thank you," she rushes past it, hopefully towards the exit and not some more insidious trap.

[Fifth Floor]

Running along the path Mister Squiggles has chosen for them will lead them to an open elevator. Huh. It makes sense, somewhat. The elevators presumably go to all the floors, even if some of the choices were disabled at first. In the unlikely event they hesitate, and honestly even if they don't, they will hear Ilpholin just out of sight.

"What are you doing? Get after them! They're demons! DEMONS! I DON'T CARE! Let me go! LEMMO GO YOU TREACHEROUS SPIDER! ARRRRRRGH!" The howl of frustration and bloodlust lingers on their ears.

If they do get in the elevator it will close the doors automatically and take them directly to the first floor with no stops. Ding.

"Thanks, Mr. Squiggles!" He's a good guy. Even if this does complicate things.
Nadas races into the elevator, turns to press the buttons and-
One of his hands is on the sword's grip, and one of his hands is lying in the torture room and all of a sudden the pain catches up to him. He slumps against the elevator wall.
Luckily, half a second later Sekhmet enters the elevator and they zoom up to the first floor, where he will waste no time in leaving.

[Earl of Purple]

Fourth Floor Event Got it right this time.

The halflings cheer when the lights come on, even if they didn't actually manage to do much except lose Sandy's knife and get a couple of bruises. Stuard picks up a robotic zombie finger and tucks it into a pocket, as a souvenir. Fortunately, their size meant they weren't in the line of fire when somebody started shooting, but now they're hungry so they drift over to the food table, clambering up and looking for anything that may remain.

Lateef's falafel is tried once, and left behind.

[bc56]

Fifth Floor

Sekhmet breathes deeply once she's safe in the elevator. She's in a bit of shock, and meanders back home in a state of fear. She wonders what she can do to prevent this situation from ever happening again.

[5a Violista]

[Holly and Nigel having a floor party]

Holly nods and grabs the patches.

"What are these patches, magic or painkillers? I've got some of those if you need them." she asks, fishing for if he has any negative reactions to painkillers or if it will have weird combinatory effects with whatever she's planning on slipping him.

If she had been the one shot, she could have stitched it back together herself but...it was kind-of sweet, how he dived to keep her out of harm's way. At least, she owes him a bit. Of course, she could probably just force the cells there to regrow, but he might find that sketchy.

So she puts the patches on, and if she figures there will be no awful side-effects, she drips a really low dose of a diluted numbing poison from off her left hand's fingernails to the wound. Where she dripped it will probably go numb and stop hurting in forty seconds and will stay that way until the body manages to scrub it all away.
"Unless more shots happen...I guess it's over?" She's referencing the lights coming back on and all the zombies being cleaned up.

[CosmicHobbit]

Fourth Floor - Event

So I just assume he got a bracelet, too.
Another Zombie comes near. C4 ducks down under it's attemp to grab him and then goes up to throw the monster over his back. When the poor undead is down he slams his ellbow right in the head of the beast. Right then he realizes the machines instead of the skull he would have crushed. He smiles as this just prooves him right. Now is the only question what is the dead Illophin? At best it's just an illusion, but as he looks he sees another person interact with the 'dead' body. Maybe it's just a fake one? While he thinks his friend releases his guns. He notice the bad aim of him, maybe he is really drunken. Since the Zombies aren't real they won't be a threat, but random bullets will be.

"Stop it!" he shouts at the pirat. "You just hurt other people." Assuming the pirat won't react to him he darts up from the smashed zombie trying to grab the pirats arm which he will then twist to the side so he should releas the gun.

Fourth Floor Event

Beamer tends to be drunk most of the time, regardless of how he acts.

Beamer does indeed release his gun, and blinks rapidly when the lights come back on. He seems about to yell at C4, but then sees the machinery in the zombies heads. "What the hell just happened?"

[billtodamax]

Holly and Nigel

Neither, I'll take whatever you've got. Nigel says, gritting his teeth. Hey, at least he's stopped swearing! Thanks. He says after she applies the patch. What was that stuff anyway? He asks, digging through his bag and producing a little scanner that he goes to wave over his wound.

Spooky Children

Sasha have you tried candy before? Olon asks her. Cause you hadn't tried ice cream before either and Khannie seemed to think that was weird. Olon says. Khannie's this older girl we know. She can do magic! Olon tells the cat people, waving her hands about to demonstrate magic.

Endok however is distracted. Oh, do you have like another costume on underneath the mummy? He asks Shan. That didn't look like a real lynxperson. Doesn't that get hot?

[5a Violista]

[Holly and Nigel]

"It's just a numbing spray," she says dismissively. "You'll still want to apply pressure and get it checked and whatever later, because it doesn't make it heal any faster. It's easy to overdose but luckily you're bigger than me so I just stuck with my own dosage."

Fact: that's not actually what happened; she instead figured out the correct dose and then diluted it just in case.

"Well." She wipes off the liquid from her fingernails onto that glove, and then balls up that glove to hide the fact that there's no spray hidden in it. "Looks like this outfit's ruined, then." She had to take a glove off and the dress is torn up her leg.

She stands up and looks down at the long tear. "Makes it easier to move in, I suppose, and maybe with a bit of sewing and another layer I could make it look intentional..."

Well, since the party's over they should probably leave, right? Holly helps Nigel up, if he needs it, gathers her shoes, and starts to walk towards the stairs.

[billtodamax]

Holly and Nigel

Nigel will run his scanner over his wound, checking to see what exactly was in the "numbing spray". Yeah, yeah we should. Drugs are wearing off. He says, accepting the help up and following her. The patch will help it heal it just stings like anything. Nigel says, heading out with her. Ilpholin will be left with the moussaka. You gonna be ok getting home? He asks Holly. Ever the gentleman.

[5a Violista]

[Holly and Nigel]

It's just a weak selective neurotoxin that blocks sensory neurons, mixed with saline. Probably has stuff like some large molecular compound mixed with something similar to capsaicin in it, which together block sensory neurons' activations without triggering the burning sensation that capsaicin alone causes. Sensory neurons in those kinds of locations mostly include touch, pain, pressure, stretch, and heat. Pretty standard stuff, probably not that unusual. Unless his scanner has a database of poisons or is advanced enough to pick apart and reverse engineer what it is, it won't look too much different from a nonstandard 'natural' medicine from somewhere.

...
Which is probably fitting for a half-elf. They like natural things, right?

"I drove, remember?" she says. He told her it was lame because then she can't drink. Arriving at the stairs, she starts to descend. "More importantly, are you going to be okay? I'm not the one who was shot."

[Recaiden]

[Spooky Children]

Sasha nods to Olon. At least... She thinks that's true. Admittedly, it'd be a bit like asking Endok if his voice is like it is cause he's a dwarf. No real good answer.

She tilts her head at Ankh and a tendril starts to move towards the candy and then stops and withdraws when Sasha realizes she doesn't really have a favorite. The little shadow girl stares at the wrappings a little closer, taking her time. Maybe one of them looks neater than the others.

Sasha have you tried candy before? Olon asks her. Cause you hadn't tried ice cream before either and Khannie seemed to think that was weird. Olon says. Khannie's this older girl we know. She can do magic! Olon tells the cat people, waving her hands about to demonstrate magic.

Endok however is distracted. Oh, do you have like another costume on underneath the mummy? He asks Shan. That didn't look like a real lynxperson. Doesn't that get hot?

"I think these are are the best, th-" Ankh starts, pointing out a red-wrapped caramel. "Wait, you've never had candy!? That's terrible. Here, eat this!" she shoves a caramel towards the spooky shadow girl. Torry watches the waving hands. "Oh, what kind of magic? My mom can do magic too!" He can't do any himself though, so sad.

"I guess it's like a costume. So I look like the other two." Shan fails to explain. "I never get too hot. Because of the Old Fire, mom says."

[Zefir]

Fourth Floor Event

Beamer tends to be drunk most of the time, regardless of how he acts.

Beamer does indeed release his gun, and blinks rapidly when the lights come back on. He seems about to yell at C4, but then sees the machinery in the zombies heads. "What the hell just happened?"

Fourth Floor Event

C4 let's the man go as he seems to be at least aware of things now. Then he points where Nigil lays.
"For once your random shot hit at least one non Zombie." Then he nods at the Zombie he brought down which the robot spiders are about to clean up.
"Those things were fake. Couldn't hurt anyone. I assume this is all an act to get some scares. Which did work well I guess." he looks around seeing only the PC that remained.
"That guy near the fake corpse might have gone mad by now. At least by the way he acts."

[Reinholdt]

[Spooky Children]

Sasha shakes her head. Oh so you're supposed to eat it like the ice cream? The cake didn't taste too good, but that was a spoon, so it's understandable.

Likewise, a tendril will tentatively take the caramel treat and slide it under the darkness of the costume, where Sasha presumably begins to eat it.

Wrapper and all.

Well at least the very pointy teeth they got a glimpse of has no time getting through the wrapper, even if it is distasteful trash. It does have trouble chewing the caramel though. So delicious. She'd probably steal another one if she didn't keep needing to chew this one. And chew and chew and chew.

Caramel is sticky.

[CosmicHobbit]

Fourth Floor Event

C4 let's the man go as he seems to be at least aware of things now. Then he points where Nigil lays.
"For once your random shot hit at least one non Zombie." Then he nods at the Zombie he brought down which the robot spiders are about to clean up.
"Those things were fake. Couldn't hurt anyone. I assume this is all an act to get some scares. Which did work well I guess." he looks around seeing only the PC that remained.
"That guy near the fake corpse might have gone mad by now. At least by the way he acts."

Fourth Floor Event

Beamer stares at the zombie for a while before saying, "Oh." He jerks his head up and looks at C4. "Do ya think I should apologize ta the poor guy?

[billtodamax]

Holly and Nigel

His scanner is pretty advanced! Lucky for Holly he's too distracted to focus, being that he was just shot. I should be fine. The bullet didn't actually lodge in, bones look ok, just messed up the muscle some. Couple weeks of resting the arm and I'll be fine. He reassures her, slipping into his doctor routine. I know some exercises I can do to help. He adds, pulling out his phone and ordering himself a Dryve home as they reach the base of the stairs.

Spooky Children

Sasha you're supposed to take the wrapper off. Olon tells her, unwrapping another candy (a chocolate liquorice bullet) and passing it to her. No big loss as far as Olon's concerned. She make pictures and stuff. She says she can't teach it though so we went and found a magic book but it made a cake instead. That's when we met Sasha.

Fire makes you hotter. Endok says with authority. If you're not a lynx person then are you something else? My mum met a human once who had a dwarf kid cause their parents died. Oh but you had a bunch of parents right? This is a real puzzler.

((ahhhh I forgot Rath in my last post))

Ha! You must be dealing with some strange demons. Rath tells her. I suppose that's just what they're like here though huh? Most of the ones I've had to deal with want to take my head off. She pulls down the collar of her shirt so Omiko can see her collarbone. There's a small scar there. I got this- she lifts up her shirt again to show a larger scar across her side and this the first time we found em. Got some better armour after that! She says with a laugh.

[5a Violista]

[Holly and Nigel]

Since Nigel was distracted, Holly's secret numbing-venom recipe is safe.
That's a relief.

"That's good. Broken bones are always a pain," the half-human woman says. She walks with him and tells him she'll wait until his Dryve shows up.

"Don't you know anybody with healing magic?" she asks. "That ought to work, too."

[billtodamax]

Holly and Nigel

Ahhhh, noone I'd feel good about leaning on. It's fine, it's not a huge deal. He says, waving it off. Eventually his Dryve will rock up (a Fiat 500 driven by a minotaur) and he'll clamber into the backseat. Fun party. Right up until that last bit, but otherwise pretty good. He says, collapsing back into his seat. If Holly doesn't have anything left to say he'll pull the door closed and be driven home.

[5a Violista]

Holly and Nigel

Unfortunately, Holly is far too undecided and takes too long thinking up something to say.

...
So, it's too late to do anything except wave.

After the car drives off, she walks to her own car to drive back to Eastside.
Maybe they'll run into each other in HALO, the next time they're both there at the same time?

[Reinholdt]

[Fourth Floor]

Ilpholin returns here after having taken a moment to freshen up and chastise Mister Squiggles. She looks around with a frown. The hostess was supposed to be here before and after the zombie thing to make things run smoother, but she was wholly distracted with things that needed to be done elsewhere. The place had emptied out pretty well.

There was one thing that demanded her immediate attention though. She hurries to Raril's side and kneels down beside him. "Dad? It's ok. I'm here," she says, voice tinged with worry. Ilpholin would have warned him if she had been around, but those thrice cursed demons went out of their way to delay her. They just ruin everything. Already the nymph blames them for this. For now, she just tries to get Raril to look at her, to see that she is fine.

[Artemis97]

[Fourth Floor]

Raril looks at her and grins a bit dopily. "Haha! That was a good one, Daughter of mine. You had me genuinely scared out of my wits." He reaches and arm around her and leans in to whisper. "Please don't ever do anything like that to me again."

[Reinholdt]

[Fourth Floor]

"Well, uh, Happy Spooktober," Ilpholin says with a small smile. Before more seriously promising in a lower voice. "I won't."

She likewise places an arm around him and tries to stand up with him. "Come on. Let's get up and get you a drink. Sound good?"