Spooktober Spooktacular MMXIX

[Reinholdt]

[Spooky Children]

Spooky Children

I'm Uvirrakust. And I'm Stihpa. She had a bunch of other names too but that's the most important one. She's uh... what one was she again? Endok whispers to Olon. Um... she was Kor. Oh yeah. She's Kor. It shot out noxious gas and mum had to dodge around it all cool and stuff before shut cut off its head! Endok is very proud of his mother. She could beat up anyone else's mum no problem.

Rath is inwardly laughing at the kids' antics. Man they had some strange friends though.

Sasha waves around a tendril inside the costume to make it move. It's 'spooky'. Just like Kor.

The Candy Witch doesn't seem particularly perturbed though. "Well, they are very lovely costumes. I'd hate to see what happens to the ones you trick! Khehehehe! Happy Spooktober!" With a final witchy laugh, the door will start to close.

[No Trouble at All]

[Cloudy with a chance of Rain]

"I haven't visit those, that's true. Mostly due to a lack of darkvision." Not to add all the people that might either enslave or kill him.

"Oh yeah, I heared of that. Must be a hard time after all. I heared they appeared everywhere, guess they got a real beatup then." he replies. not really sure how much was spread arounds.
"Me? I#m currently living in I..." he starts befor the drunken man arrives. He keeps quiet and observes for now.

Maybe Not Trouble?

Beamer nods, grinning. "That'd be great, thanks! Didn' really have anythin' particular in mind really, jus' wanted ta tell ya I appreciate ya puttin' this whole thing on." He turns to the man cloud robes and his face changes to apologetic. "Ah ****, did I interrupt somethin'? Never been good with that, sorry."

"Don't worry about it. It's really no trouble," Ilpholin assures Beamer. "Why don't you two get acquainted and I'll go take care of those drinks for you? Excuse me," Ilpholin says, primarily to the ninja as she steps aside to demand the spiderbots bring out a larger variety of drinks at a faster pace to keep up with the demand.

[Zefir]

[No Trouble at All]

"Don't worry about it. It's really no trouble," Ilpholin assures Beamer. "Why don't you two get acquainted and I'll go take care of those drinks for you? Excuse me," Ilpholin says, primarily to the ninja as she steps aside to demand the spiderbots bring out a larger variety of drinks at a faster pace to keep up with the demand.

[No Trouble at All]

"We just talked any properbly can do that another time." he says befor the hostess turns away. The masked man looks behind her, maybe because his mind is spinning some ideas or maybe because her costum is very revealing. He turns to the cowboy pirat.
"Soooooooooooo what brings you here other then the drinks?"

[Fendrick]

[New Arrivals]

Lateef hands over the falafel, and in his shuffling walk follows the halfling trio to the elevator.

'Pleased to meet you too, my name is Lateef.' he says, to the cowboy-made-of-halflings who are ahead of him.

Lateef will press the button to call the elevator, if the halflings haven't beaten him to it (which is quite likely; although their walking is unsteady, Lateef really is quite slow on his feet).

As they wait for the elevator to arrive, Lateef will try to engage them in small talk. After all, that is what you're supposed to do at parties right?

'So. Uh, cool party huh? Neat spiderbots, never seen those before. I wonder what it's like upstairs'

Lateef is kind of mumbling at this point, really unsure of himself. It's almost as though he's not been to a party in a very long time, as a result of previously being dead for centuries...!

[billtodamax]

Spooky Children

Thanks! Olon calls out as she and her brother turn to try and find another door. Most people only give you candy. But that's ok because then you have candy! Endok confides in Sasha. Oh look it's like Tuskfang! Olon says, pointing to a wolfman door. Come on Sasha. They'll knock on the door and chant the appropriate phrase again.

[Earl of Purple]

New Arrivals to Floor Four

If offered a bracelet, the lowest halfling will take it and pass it up so it can go around the visible wrist.

A halfling stride is rather small, and the wobble means this cowboy's not going to be winning a walking-race any time soon. Lateef might just reach the elevator button first, particularly with his considerably longer arms.

Sandy turns to look back at the mummy. "We don't know! That's why it's exciting. Probably more spiders; the place belongs to one of those underground elves, and their god's a spider, or something. None of us have actually met one, so we don't know how accurate what we've heard is. Y'know?" She's certainly happy, and quite willing to ignore the more disturbing things she's heard.

[Fendrick]

New Arrivals to Floor Four

If offered a bracelet, the lowest halfling will take it and pass it up so it can go around the visible wrist.

A halfling stride is rather small, and the wobble means this cowboy's not going to be winning a walking-race any time soon. Lateef might just reach the elevator button first, particularly with his considerably longer arms.

Sandy turns to look back at the mummy. "We don't know! That's why it's exciting. Probably more spiders; the place belongs to one of those underground elves, and their god's a spider, or something. None of us have actually met one, so we don't know how accurate what we've heard is. Y'know?" She's certainly happy, and quite willing to ignore the more disturbing things she's heard.

Lateef goes ahead and presses the elevator call button, with his bandaged right hand (his fingers are wrapped together, so he's a little clumsy).

'A.. Spider God? Ah, okay. Sounds cool. I mean, my favourite god, uh not that I'm supposed to have favourites, uh, has the head of a falcon. We call him Horus.'

Lateef smiles at the halflings-cowboy and fidgets nervously while waiting for the elevator to arrive.

[Earl of Purple]

New Arrivals to Floor Four

"We worship- well, not worship really, but... We respect and honour her, at least, a goddess named Yondalla, Mother of the Harvest. She's our mother, in a sense. The first halflings were her children." Halflings see their gods as less like unapproachable ultimate authority figures and more like respected and honoured family members, with Yondalla being the matriarch of all halflings, everywhere.

When the elevator arrives, the cowboy-halflings will stagger in, and Sandy yelps as she bangs her head. "Oh, wow! Haha, that's awesome! Guys! I just banged my head on the doorframe! Man, that's awesome! How many halflings can say that, huh? Banged their head on a bigjob door!" Sandy's more excited about it than pained. Her lower friends mumble in jealousy, but Sandy's the loudest. That's why she was picked to be the head; they didn't trust her to stay quiet as a bellybutton.

[Recaiden]

Devil Tour

Sekhmet looks quizzically at the roped off section. "Are you sure we're supposed to be back here?" She isn't a huge fan of snooping about in other people's business, but she's also curious, and she wants to get as far from Ilpholin as possible.

"It's only part of the decorations. You know, haunted house stuff." Nadas says, ducking and heading down the roped-off stairs.

[Morty]

"Don't be silly, a periscope wouldn't fit with the costume. Besides, in order to use it I'd have to not be looking at where my feet are going and then I'd fall over. If we're stopped, I can peer through these tassels and stuff." Though in that case, she'd need to stay alert enough to start moving when Brinika does so she's not left behind like a weird fox-dragon egg.

"Swapping at some point might be a good idea, though. It's quite hot back here." The heat isn't escaping very easily, though it is escaping. She's too hot to be comfortable, but no more.

"Sounds like a plan! Let's keep moving and see if we run into someone. Maybe we can step out of the costume now and then, too. It still counts if we're carrying it, right?" Brinika asks.

[bc56]

Devil Tour

"Oh, uh, alright." Sekhmet glances back at the party to make sure no one's watching before crawling under the rope. She might knock it down with her wings; she's not used to having extra limbs poking out of her back.

[Earl of Purple]

"Yeah, I think so. So long as we're wearing it upon entrance it counts. And maybe during the judging if there's a costume competition we want to enter, too." She doesn't know if there's a costume competition, but there might be!

And that may be quite fun. Cheasadh's going to follow, up to the floor with the children's party. Should be fun, there.

[CosmicHobbit]

[No Trouble at All]

"We just talked any properbly can do that another time." he says befor the hostess turns away. The masked man looks behind her, maybe because his mind is spinning some ideas or maybe because her costum is very revealing. He turns to the cowboy pirat.
"Soooooooooooo what brings you here other then the drinks?"

No Trouble at All

Beamer looked in the same direction as the masked man, but considering his eyes were glazed over he could have just been staring off into space.

Stroking his chin, he says, "Well ya see, na too long ago I was fightin' some skeletons on me ship. Standard affair for where I was sailin'. Then, outta nowhere, me ship flashed with blue light and I ended up 'ere. I fought off the skeletons, but me ship broke apart, which, as ya would expec', made me mighty sad. So when I heard of a party with fun conversations, drinks, and all sorts of people, I had to come!"

Nodding at the man, he says, "'Ow 'bout you? Wha' brought ya here?" He teasingly adds, "Assumin', o' course, tha' it wasn' just the pretty hostess."

[Reinholdt]

[Spooky Children]

Sasha looks in her bucket as Endok explains. This was candy? She saw some other kids on their way here eating something like this. Was this edible? Was it as good as cake and ice cream?

Sasha is distracted by the great questions of life as she floats over to the Wolfman's door. The door opens to reveal a Wolfman, mostly human, but with quite a bit of fur, especially around the face and hands. "Why if it isn't Uvirrakust, Stihpa, and Kor! Are you three having a good Spooktober?" The Wolfman asks as he deposits four pieces of candy in each bucket. His voice is remarkably similar to the Witch, but with a different filter applied. The children probably won't notice. Perhaps.

Sasha nods at the wolfman's question. "You three watch out for vampires you hear. I've heard they don't give out treats!" The Wolfman stares down the hallway at the bat door four doors down.

[Devils' Tour -> Fifth Floor]

The sign is jostled by the wings, but it's tied on pretty tight. It's just left swaying dismally in the doorway. Down the stairs they go to the forbidden floor. Nothing in the stairs poses a problem. The next floor down is pretty dark, even compared to the lighting on the other floors. It's not that there's no light, it's just that it's dimmed largely because of the amount of fog down here. What's all this fog doing here? At least there's room to maneuver and as long as they keep close to each other they won't get lost. Sekhmet and Nadas could go left or right from here. Going back is not listed as an option cause just after they step in, a wall slides across with a loud hiss and a little clang, likely sealing them down here.

[Lord Magtok]

It's Not Easy Being Green

Spoiler

Show

[Cakes, Crocs, and Zombies]

The half-human woman switches from eating cake to eating some of the meat she grabbed.

"Oh! Speaking of!" she says, reminded because the blood is pointed out. "I know a really good blood sausage recipe. The kind of blood used does kind-of change the texture, but..."

She pauses, before deciding she needs to clarify. "Well, I guess it's technically not pure blood sausage, because it has some meat and fat mixed in, but it's still pretty good."

Dining Croc Comics

All things considered, Fidelia does a remarkable job of not staring. She wasn't terribly used to figures as bulky or towering as Emily, and the glimpses of those meaty claws certainly provoke curiosity. Thankfully, discretion, empathy and her own insecurities made it easy for her to mind her focus. What was harder not to stare at was the sheer glut of food being wolfed down. Holy cow, she wasn't even sure she could eat that much in a single day! Not that she wouldn't have tried; she probably would have literally killed to get the chance back before her new lease on life.

"Oh! Er, thanks, I wouldn't have known," Fidelia admits. "I don't think I've even heard about half of these things." She uses a serving spoon to lift up a single pig in a blanket, peering at the object suspiciously.

[Giant Noms with a Half-Elf and Zombie]

"Hmm. I'll see if I can't help you get something for that later, then," Emily offers to Saint Laz, "I might know a way to get you some food without killing anybody."

Emily will reach for more cake herself, "Cooking's something of a hobby of mine, so if you can provide that recipe, I wouldn't mind having it around." Well that makes sense. She's kind of massive, so no doubt she has to eat a lot during the day.

"Y'know, you'd be the third person so far to offer? Also, it's just a tiny hot dog, Fi. Try one, they're great." Laz Miss Martian isn't going to get her hopes up about anyone providing a solution to her dietary limitations. Even when people have the best of intentions, this stuff always has some kind of strings attached. You don't get to be powerful and important without making some sacrifices. There's always some price to be paid to the piper, whether it be your morals, humanity, carefree lifestyle, reputation as a chaste and noble warrior, or the ability to enjoy a plate of spaghetti without gagging.

[Zefir]

No Trouble at All

Beamer looked in the same direction as the masked man, but considering his eyes were glazed over he could have just been staring off into space.

Stroking his chin, he says, "Well ya see, na too long ago I was fightin' some skeletons on me ship. Standard affair for where I was sailin'. Then, outta nowhere, me ship flashed with blue light and I ended up 'ere. I fought off the skeletons, but me ship broke apart, which, as ya would expec', made me mighty sad. So when I heard of a party with fun conversations, drinks, and all sorts of people, I had to come!"

Nodding at the man, he says, "'Ow 'bout you? Wha' brought ya here?" He teasingly adds, "Assumin', o' course, tha' it wasn' just the pretty hostess."

No Double Trouble for sure

The man holds his hand against his forehead in a theatrical way.

"Ohhhhh. You got me there." he says while playing the secretly caught one. Then he straigthens up.
"Once in a while it is good to get out of your comfort zone. I got to deal with a lot of crazy people and I sometimes need a break and maybe be the crazy one for one night."

[billtodamax]

Spooky Children

Uh-huh! We've just started. We got our friend a costume so she could come cause she's already really spooky. Olon says happily to the automaton. Wait they don't give us candy? Endok protests. You say the magic words you get candy that's how this works. Does that mean we have to uh... trick them? That seems hard. This is a lot better when you walk to each door and get free candy.

[Fendrick]

New Arrivals to Floor Four

"We worship- well, not worship really, but... We respect and honour her, at least, a goddess named Yondalla, Mother of the Harvest. She's our mother, in a sense. The first halflings were her children." Halflings see their gods as less like unapproachable ultimate authority figures and more like respected and honoured family members, with Yondalla being the matriarch of all halflings, everywhere.

When the elevator arrives, the cowboy-halflings will stagger in, and Sandy yelps as she bangs her head. "Oh, wow! Haha, that's awesome! Guys! I just banged my head on the doorframe! Man, that's awesome! How many halflings can say that, huh? Banged their head on a bigjob door!" Sandy's more excited about it than pained. Her lower friends mumble in jealousy, but Sandy's the loudest. That's why she was picked to be the head; they didn't trust her to stay quiet as a bellybutton.

Lateef stays quiet, listening to Sandy explain about the Mother of the Harvest with interest. He follows the halflings into the elevator.

The door of the elevator shuts behind them. Lateef frowns, which floor was it they wanted again? Ah yes, fourth floor. He presses the button, and...

They arrive on the fourth floor!

[Earl of Purple]

Floor Four

The halflings look around, peeking through the duster's flaps where necessary. "Ooh, look! There's food over there. I see... Lots of orange. Hope it's not just pumpkins, and that there's some cake and chocolate and stuff. Ooh, maybe even fancy dairy products, Theresea!" Sandy grins at that, and they start to lurch over towards the table.
"Sometimes, Sandy, I hate you." There's no real malice to it, though, more like a close friend fed up with her constant jokes about her surname.

[Reinholdt]

[Spooky Children]

Sasha proves she's spooky by wiggling slightly. It's barely noticeable. She must be really getting into this.

"Ah-ah-awoooo! That's right. I hear he's greedily keeping the Ultimate Candy Bar to himself, hoping to eat it all tomorrow. But if you trick him, he'll have no choice but to give it to you." The Wolfman explains. They could always avoid his door though. There's plenty of other doors to choose from that'll just give out the candy.

[billtodamax]

Spooky Children

Olon and Endok turn away from the door and form a huddle with Sasha. We need to get that candy bar. It is definitely magical. Endok nods along. There's no question. We need a way to trick him. He looks to Sasha. She's an important part of this planning party even if she can't talk.

Rath tried the juice and quickly found some spiders to bully into bringing her alcohol. Juice! They got halfway through brewing it then got bored. Ridiculous.

[Recaiden]

Fifth Floor]

"Oh, uh, alright." Sekhmet glances back at the party to make sure no one's watching before crawling under the rope. She might knock it down with her wings; she's not used to having extra limbs poking out of her back.

The sign is jostled by the wings, but it's tied on pretty tight. It's just left swaying dismally in the doorway. Down the stairs they go to the forbidden floor. Nothing in the stairs poses a problem. The next floor down is pretty dark, even compared to the lighting on the other floors. It's not that there's no light, it's just that it's dimmed largely because of the amount of fog down here. What's all this fog doing here? At least there's room to maneuver and as long as they keep close to each other they won't get lost. Sekhmet and Nadas could go left or right from here. Going back is not listed as an option cause just after they step in, a wall slides across with a loud hiss and a little clang, likely sealing them down here.

"See, why would there be a fog machine if not for-" The door seals itself shut. "-for Spooktober."
Nadas finishes, suddenly doubting.
He looks around for a moment and then starts heading left, keeping a hand against the wall.

[bc56]

Devil Tour

"We're trapped down here!" Sekhmet cries, staring dumbfounded back at where the exit was. "Wait! Don't leave me behind!" She rushes, stumbling, after Nadas.

[Fendrick]

Floor Four

The halflings look around, peeking through the duster's flaps where necessary. "Ooh, look! There's food over there. I see... Lots of orange. Hope it's not just pumpkins, and that there's some cake and chocolate and stuff. Ooh, maybe even fancy dairy products, Theresea!" Sandy grins at that, and they start to lurch over towards the table.
"Sometimes, Sandy, I hate you." There's no real malice to it, though, more like a close friend fed up with her constant jokes about her surname.

Lateef isn't interested in food. After all, it's been millenia since he was alive and eating. He is however, interested to see who else is at the party. He looks around the room in awe at the different costumes.

[5a Violista]

Well-provisioned food table.

Ahhh, you're blowing smoke up my arse now. Nigel says, with a wave of his hand. I know it's half-arsed but I figured it was good enough. Didn't want to reuse my costume from last year's so soon. Were you at last years? No, right you didn't meet Magtok and it was at his. It was ok. Nigel is a master of small talk.

[Well-provisioned food table]

Oh, right. Yeah. If she hasn't met Magtok yet then she obviously wasn't at last year's party. That's a good thing to remember. Good thing she remembered it. "It's true, I'm almost as good at blowing smoke as a dragon."

So. Anyway. Small-talk. Yeah. "Just 'okay'? You make it sound like it was boring," she says. Then again, if you ask Holly about this party, she'd probably call it 'okay' as well, with the exception of finding out the hostess is pregnant which ruined her plans to do something at this party. The only people who have excitement, it seems, are those who seek it out.

"Speaking of just being okay, what do you think's going on in the other rooms for this party? I noticed some poorly-closed doors and other buttons on the elevator."


[Eating Greens and other things]

Holly, who hasn't brought any recipes with her and mostly cooks based on what feels right and hasn't really tried to make this in over a decade anyway, tries to explain the recipe to the best of her knowledge. "To be honest, it's really nothing special, but after you get the blood - you need to be stirring it to prevent it from clotting - you chill it for a couple of days. You know, as usual. Er, the younger the animal the blood came from, the better the texture is but it's not necessary. Then, if you want, you can throw in some milk and diced-and-cooked onions but the milk's completely unnecessary. Then, put in about twice as much meat - chilled - and and half as much fat - frozen - into a grinder and then mix it and then mix in whatever appropriate seasonings you have, then mix with the blood but slowly add it in. Rice is good to mix in, too, I think, before you put it in the casing things. Then, dip it in simmering water for fifteen minutes and then put it in really cold water. After that, you can cook them. Smoked is good."

She realizes that over the food table at a party probably isn't the best place to go into a monologue about how to cook blood. Or, is it? The Half-Elf wonders that. Did they mind? Or were they just being polite and listening?

"W-well, anyway." She turns to the undead. "If you were a vampire, there's a bunch of places in Riverside you could go but...probably wouldn't work, since you're not. Sorry."

[CosmicHobbit]

No Double Trouble For Sure

Nodding, Beamer grins. "Aye, ya gotta get crazy sometimes, unless yer always crazy." He seems to be suddenly struck by a thought, as his eyes go wide.. "'Ey, wha' if we both teamed up to make more craziness?"

[billtodamax]

[Well-provisioned food table]

Oh, right. Yeah. If she hasn't met Magtok yet then she obviously wasn't at last year's party. That's a good thing to remember. Good thing she remembered it. "It's true, I'm almost as good at blowing smoke as a dragon."

So. Anyway. Small-talk. Yeah. "Just 'okay'? You make it sound like it was boring," she says. Then again, if you ask Holly about this party, she'd probably call it 'okay' as well, with the exception of finding out the hostess is pregnant which ruined her plans to do something at this party. The only people who have excitement, it seems, are those who seek it out.

"Speaking of just being okay, what do you think's going on in the other rooms for this party? I noticed some poorly-closed doors and other buttons on the elevator."

I dunno it was fine. My old boss was a weird jerk though which kinda ruined the night a bit. Kram was pretty much always a weird jerk. Nigel has no idea why Magtok invited him. Oh the weird button? I figured it was just like... "hey this is my bedroom please don't go in there" but all spooked up because it's uh... halloween, or whatever it's called here. Nigel says, finally deciding to investigate the alcohol spread at this party. Just... wine? Sure, fine. He'll pick up two of them, offering one to Holly. You drink?

[5a Violista]

"Oh, right, it probably is her bedroom," Holly says, agreeing. "That's a good point. I'll bet somebody's going to press it, though. I wonder whether she just has that button turned off, or what." Can you even turn buttons off? It'd make sense to Holly but sometimes technology-things don't always make sense. There's got to be, like, a switch or something that can turn off buttons.

Anyway.
Drinks.

Holly has to think through this again. Overthink it, actually. On the one hand, she probably shouldn't drink considering what happens when you mix a shapeshifter and mind-impairing liquids? Not good things, usually. Maybe she could make herself immune to it so the alcohol doesn't get absorbed, but...won't it look suspicious if it doesn't seem to affect her at all? Besides, half-elves can get drunk and this persona ought to have no reason against drinking, so.........

"Y-yes, I do," she decides. "Not very much, though, because I have a low tolerance and I drove here."

[billtodamax]

Well-provisioned food table

Whaaaaat? You drove to a party? Nigel is of the opinion that that is very lame and he's right. Rookie error. He says, scooping up one of the tiny yellow pills he himself brought and swallowing it with a bit of wine, before making a face. Coppery. Gets that way from uh... too much of a type of yeast, if I remember right. It's been a while. He says. Nigel is a BIG NERD for alcohol.

[Halae]

[Eating Greens and other things]

Holly, who hasn't brought any recipes with her and mostly cooks based on what feels right and hasn't really tried to make this in over a decade anyway, tries to explain the recipe to the best of her knowledge. "To be honest, it's really nothing special, but after you get the blood - you need to be stirring it to prevent it from clotting - you chill it for a couple of days. You know, as usual. Er, the younger the animal the blood came from, the better the texture is but it's not necessary. Then, if you want, you can throw in some milk and diced-and-cooked onions but the milk's completely unnecessary. Then, put in about twice as much meat - chilled - and and half as much fat - frozen - into a grinder and then mix it and then mix in whatever appropriate seasonings you have, then mix with the blood but slowly add it in. Rice is good to mix in, too, I think, before you put it in the casing things. Then, dip it in simmering water for fifteen minutes and then put it in really cold water. After that, you can cook them. Smoked is good."

She realizes that over the food table at a party probably isn't the best place to go into a monologue about how to cook blood. Or, is it? The Half-Elf wonders that. Did they mind? Or were they just being polite and listening?

"W-well, anyway." She turns to the undead. "If you were a vampire, there's a bunch of places in Riverside you could go but...probably wouldn't work, since you're not. Sorry."

[Green Girls]

Emily, apparently having had her fill,, will reach inside her robe to pull out a notebook and a pen, both somewhat oversized for human hands but apparently fitting quite well into Emily's hands. After writing a bit, she'll tear the page off and hold it out to Saint Laz. Written on it is a phone number, "Here. Give me a call when the party's over and we can see if my idea works. For now, though, I think I should probably stop crowding the food tables; I take up a lot of space."

The notebook and pen go back into her robes, and, unless stopped, she'll move away from the tables so that the scene can progress without her player slowing it down.

[5a Violista]

[Well-provisioned food table]

"Oh. I guess you're right," the Half-Elf says. Pretty lame. But it's also a good excuse to not drink, so...there's that.

"Does wine even have yeast?" Holly asks, not sure. Unlike Nigel, she's the opposite of a big nerd for alcohol. A jock? No, wait, metaphor doesn't make sense. At the last spider-themed party, she accidentally grabbed some alcohol because she doesn't know enough about them. Plus, it had a weird name.
And it took her forever for her to decide what to grab. Getting drinks for yourself and someone else is a very stressful experience, especially when they don't tell you what they want beforehand.