Spooktober Spooktacular MMXIX

[Reinholdt]

[To the hostess]

The man in the hood with clouds notice his chance and slips through the people approching the hostess.

"Good evening Miss Schar'cha?" he says a bit unsure if he spelled it out right. He makes a slight bow as he greets her. "It all looks really nice around here, can't wait to see what you have arranged for some scares." As he bows up again he notices the belly. She might feel how he thinks about a polite way to know if she is pregnant. He did saw her, but his alias he is here doesn't. So he stares at her out of the one hole in his mask.

[Cloudy with a chance of Rain]

"Thank you," Ilpholin says, returning the bow in greeting and failing to elaborate upon the pregnancy that caught his eye. "Oh I doubt anything around here will scare anyone tonight. There's an... epidemic of desensitization. Not that I could blame anyone of course, living in as dangerous a place as the Nexus. May I ask what your costume is?" Huh, she forgot to ask his name.

[Devils' Tour]

As Sekhmet and Nadas are exploring the corners of the floor, they'll eventually pass in front of the chained door covered in police tape. When they do, it shudders suddenly, loudly and violently rattling as something or somethings on the other side beats upon the door in an effort to break through. It fails, but that certainly doesn't discourage whatever it is as it continues for several tense moments.

[Well-provisioned food table]

Finished cleaning up the mess from spilled food, a spiderbot approaches Nigel and Holly finally. If given the drugs in this moment, the robot will find some place near the punch for them and put the pills there. Unless Nigel has specific instructions on where they should go. Not near the cheese though. Somebody took all of that.

[Spooky Children]

Another arrival appears. This one is dressed in a rather weird crab costume with three eyes, a pair of branching antennae and bloated, warty body. Sasha finds the whole thing questionable to move in, though does have the advantage of not actually using feet to move. She stares in wonder at the many sights of robots and costumes, a bracelet getting attached to the costume directly rather than her 'arms'. She had never seen... well anything so colorful before. So much orange. And it was all at night so the sun didn't hurt. It was kind of amazing really.

As she soaks it all in with awe, she also waits for the dwarves that insisted she come to this.

[Zefir]

[Cloudy with a chance of Rain]

"Thank you," Ilpholin says, returning the bow in greeting and failing to elaborate upon the pregnancy that caught his eye. "Oh I doubt anything around here will scare anyone tonight. There's an... epidemic of desensitization. Not that I could blame anyone of course, living in as dangerous a place as the Nexus. May I ask what your costume is?" Huh, she forgot to ask his name.

[Cloudy with a chance of Rain]

"You are right." he says. " I guess some people around would be more frightend by a tax return paper then a shost." he giggles, but only for a bit.
"Oh I'm a man who got through many hard stuff like the death of his love and be manipulated by an evil person until he realizes his mistakes... And he is a Ninja, yeah it's more due to the ninja part I guess." he looks at her.
"And you are a tentacle mother?" A mental high five is given.

[billtodamax]

Spooky Children

Sasha will find that three dwarves will arrive, Olon and Endok accompanied by their mother. Rath has a very half-hearted zombie outfit, but her children are dressed in outfits similar to Sasha's. Olon is dressed as Uvirrakust, "The Putrid Tombs". What this means for her appearance is a sort of tunic piece made entirely of opal, a long tail made of the same, and a pair of spindly antenna. Endok is dressed as Stihpa Kodbowu Madum Mithrup, "Stihpa Stalkdepressed the Tears of Bewitching". He has a layer of what looks like worm exoskeleton over his torso with large slate grey wings (that have been slightly awkwardly shrunken to make easier for the smaller dwarf to carry around).

Hi Sasha! Olon calls out. She looks her up and down. I think the costume makes you less spooky. Endok nods along. Definitely less spooky.

Well-provisioned food table

Yeah I'm sure they'll - oh, hello there. Nigel says to the little spider that finally has noticed him. I don't really know where to put these, sorry. I also put a moussaka down with the other food. He says, motioning to the moussaka. It looks pretty nice! He turns back to Holly. So you don't know Magtok huh? Why'd you dress as him? Is he famous or something?

[Recaiden]

"Oh, sorry, was I boring you? Plenty of people don't really care about names, that's fine." Nadas blathers.

When they pass by the chained door, he does jump back in surprise.
But then he manages to laugh about it.
"That's pretty good."

[bc56]

Devil Tour

Sekhmet is somewhat lost in thought when the door rattles. "Aaaaaah!" She jumps back and nearly trips and falls. "Oh, uh, yes. It, uh, got me." She catches her breath for a moment.

[CosmicHobbit]

Ground Floor

Beamer Redcap walks in, either fashionably late or just late. He's not sure which.

With sea blue eyes, dark red hair, and tanned skin, he's dressed in a cowboy costume, though if he looks like a cowboy it's a strange one. He's kept his eyepatch and the large shark which has eaten his left arm and is now gnawing on his shoulder, as well as his pegleg. He gets his wristband snapped on and walks into the elevator, which he takes to the fourth floor.

Fourth Floor

Getting out of the elevator and taking in the floor, Beamer's eyes fall upon the snack table, which he makes a border-line beeline to. Once there, he immediately starts drinking some of the wines. Seems like he doesn't care if he becomes too inhibited to properly walk. He will continue drinking wines until a non-NPC character interacts with him

[5a Violista]

[Well-provisioned food table]

Holly watches Nigel's interactions with the spiderbot.
To be honest, they are a little cute.

"No, I've never met him," she claims, "but I saw him once."

Then she starts going off on a story that is, in fact, false but could maybe be true. "It was several years back, actually. Shortly after binging a bunch of his movies like Chromefinger and The Mag Who Loved Me, which is how I recognized him immediately even though he was trying to keep his face hidden. Avoiding paparazzi, probably." So, yes, it appears he was famous.

The half of her face not covered by metal goes flush, like she's blushing or something. "I tried to catch up with him to get his autograph, but he got away, and I haven't really seen him since." Of course, she finds this whole story hilarious and fun to play along with.

She then gasps, as if realizing something. "Wait, you said you know him, right? Co-workers, I think you said. If-if you see him here, do you think you could introduce us or send him my way or something?" She'd love to see his reaction.

[billtodamax]

Well-provisioned food table

No way, he has movies? Nigel asks, complete sucker that he is. God are those like... James Bond parodies or... god I have to find those. Yes definitely we have to find him and embarrass him. Nigel says, looking around to see if he can spot Mag's shiny bald dome. He's probably dressed as like... Dr. Evil or something. Mr. Clean maybe. Hang on I gotta text him.

hey mags its nigel

are you at this spooky party thing

[Lord Magtok]

MAGTXT

Magtok's response arrives almost a second after Nigel hits send. Almost as if he texts with his weird cyborg brain or something, instead of typing away on a phone's onscreen keyboard.

No, someone tried to shoot me at the spider lady's masquerade and then the security people got really overprotective and clingy. Don't wanna deal with that again.

Another moment later, probably before Nigel has had time to finish reading those two sentences, he gets sent:

Why, is something going down?

Of Idols and Princes

Of Idols and Princes

Another dynamic duo of guests arrives, eager to take sweets and kick back!

Although those intentions aren't terribly obvious, if the first of the pair is anything to go by. Stepping forward somewhat hesitantly in knee-high boots of red and gold, Fidelia looks a little apprehensive. It certainly can't be fears about how well she looks in her costume, can it? I mean, sure, the cobalt blue skirt she's wearing leaves a bit more leg visible than usual, but that physique of hers is a perfect fit when it comes to pulling off the princess of Themyscira! Although admittedly, Wonder Woman isn't known for having any facial scarring. Nor a painful-looking mess of them stretching out from under the back of her armored corset. Not that it ruins the look or steals the show nearly as much as the squire thinks they do, adding a bracelet over one of her bracers and entering the [Fourth Floor].

There aren't a whole lot of costume options when your skin is green. I mean, you could just buy a pair of hulk hands and leave it at that, or style your hair into a beehive and tape a pair of bolts to your neck, but the former just reeks of laziness, and the latter requires waaaaaay too much hairspray and prep time. Jenette didn't really want to go with either option, and honestly wasn't feeling too excited about this whole party idea, either. Hanging out with all the biggest and most famous and dangerous people in the Nexus is honestly kind of terrifying when you've spent most of your childhood hearing stories about these people and the monsters they've slain, unspeakable crimes they've committed, and worlds they've saved. There's a part of Jenette that still thinks she's just another Non-Powered Creature, and still hasn't completely come to grips with the idea that these towering giants now consider her one of their own. Maybe that's why she chose to dress up as Miss Martian, a character whose powers include shapeshifting and turning invisible.

"Stick close to me, okay? Some of these people might be a little wacky," the ghoul cautions, putting on a brave face and making a show of striding ahead of Wonder Woman to face whatever dark horrors and shadowy nightmares this harmless little party has to offer. Have to keep a tough face on and maintain a positive attitude. I mean, this party's being organized by that one drow guy's daughter, right? Drow are super weird and creepy. That means she might have real human brains or something equally macabre over by the snacks, which could make the next week and a half a whole lot easier for Skyside's cannibalistic crusader.

[5a Violista]

[Well-provisioned food table]

The Half-Elf^TM nods. "He's got a bunch of movies."

While he's texting, she leans forwards and whispers, "Actually, I think he used to have a whole franchise merchandise thing, if I remember correctly. Never really went shopping there, however, and I hear the only store left is run entirely by robots."

Actually, that's not so much of a scandal or secret, she didn't need to whisper that.

"If it was still everywhere, I probably would have bought my dress there, y'know, to make it more authentic and such." Instead, she had to get a sleek purple fancy dress, mermaid-cut. Probably got it from a bridesmaid shop or from some custom seamstress or something like that.

[Reinholdt]

[Cloudy with a chance of Rain]

Ilpholin raises an eyebrow. Was she supposed to guess who the costume was based on some horribly vague generic descriptions of a ninja's backstory? She doesn't consume nearly enough media to get involved in such games.

"Close. I'm a Mindflayer," Ilpholin says with a small smile, being up front about what her costume is. "They're a particularly nasty bunch in the Underdark that favors mental enslavement and slow consumption of your rationality and brains."

[Well-Provisioned Food Table]

Ah. The moussaka! Of course. The spider bot places the drugs next to that.
Good enough.
It skitters off to somewhere else.

[Spooky Children]

Kor Spraystarve the Cavernous Mites tilts her head. Less spooky? Was that... a good thing? Or bad thing? She thought things were supposed to be more spooky tonight.

Unless she's misunderstood Spooktober. And Spooktaculars. That's completely possible. She's never celebrated it before after all. Maybe the goal is to be the least spooky. Like a ward against all spookiness. That would make sense. After all, Olon and Endok look pretty silly as well. Definitely unique though. Like some of Master's experiments. Sasha will follow the dwarves' lead as the trio of barely pronounceable evils.

[Arkhosia]

Of Princes and Rovers

Secretly, Fidelia’s a little disappointed that Jenette shot down the classic Bride of Frankenstein routine. Helping with a complex costume like that sounded like a fun little project to busy herself with. Besides, she’s never gotten an excuse to try out hairspray before.

”I can handle wacky,” she assures, growing a little bolder simply from the example. ”I mean, Skyside’s real wacky, and we’ve made it this far.” The squire gives her charge a gentle little smile. Perhaps she’s simply trying to set Jenette at ease - after all, Fidelia certainly would want her to let her hair down and enjoy the one day her looks can seem
normal - but it is a curious illustration of how different their lives had once been. Whereas Jenette had grown up in the heart of the Nexus, a place where so many new and major developments unfolded in grand plots involving famous figures, Fidelia grew up more in the outer rim. Skyside was Skyside; it never really changed, static in all its anarchy. Perhaps a big name would emerge into their own little world for a time, like back when Magtok campaigned against the city’s legality of slavery, but these were usually minor events that came and went.

[billtodamax]

Well provisioned food table

omg i need to send you something

He said he wasn't coming, something about another spider party or something. Jesus he had like... a store? God I need to find some of that merch. Nigel says, fiddling with his phone camera and bringing it up in classic selfie pose. Do you mind? I gotta show him this. He asks Holly before, provided there are no objections, taking a photo and sending it off to Magtok. He's gonna love this.

i think she nailed it

Spoiler: image

Show

Spooky Children

I think it's ok. Olon eventually decides. You're supposed to dress up as something so even if you're less spooky when you're dressed up you still gotta. That's that sorted then.

Look! Endok says, grabbing his sister's arm and pointing to Trick or Treat Alley. We gotta do that. It's like... the law. He says seriously. They might even see Khannie there again! OH or get wizard stuff! Let's go Sasha. He says, taking the lead and striding off.

[Lord Magtok]

MAGTXT

There's a bit of a delay this time, as Magtok presumably needs a moment or two to gather his thoughts and stomp about the MagCave in indignant fury. How dare an elf go as him to a Halloween party? How dare they soil his likeness with their ugly pointy ears and atrocious elfy elfness?!

Oh hey, you've met my cousin, Blagtok.

Tell her I said to die in a fire. She'll probably know what that means.

The Long Halloween

"Hm," Jenette answers, reluctantly deciding against trying to scare Fi into avoiding everyone here. That kinda defeats the whole point of going to this party, doesn't it? Anyway, I'm sure she's right and everything will be fine.

[5a Violista]

[Well-provisioned food table]

Of course, Holly does not object to a picture.

"Oh, yeah? That's too bad." Wait, was it that party where there was a lot of commotion about an assassination attempt or something? One of the other MERC-guards had mentioned something like that. "These Spooktaculars are always pretty good. It's unfortunate that he's missing it."

.......

"So what did he say?" she finally asks, trying to get a peek on his phone. "Did he send a picture back? Did he like it? I hope so."

[billtodamax]

Well-provisioned food table

Uh he's calling you Blagtok for some reason and uh... being very rude. Jesus Mags not cool. Nigel says with a frown. He's not hiding his phone screen very well so Holly will be able to see it. Photo's pretty good though. Nigel says, flicking back to it and showing it to her.

[5a Violista]

[Well-provisioned food table]

"Blagtok?" Is she supposed to know what that is? "Like, a blogger Magtok or something? That's weird. I don't even have a blog." Not exactly the reaction she was expecting, but...still kinda funny, y'know?

Anyway, she looks at the picture.

"Ooh, it looks good," she says. "The lighting could be a little better, I mean the way the shadows rest and the color of the lights and stuff makes it look a little washed out, but that's what you get at a Spooktober party. But maybe...maybe he didn't like it because I didn't pose or something? Maybe he thinks my lack of a pose is hurting his image or something."

Yeah, that makes sense.

[Halae]

[Half-Elf and a Gator]

"Ah." Holly nods. "I see."

Looking down at her own Magtok-esque costume, the half-elf tries to remember what made her decide it. To be honest, it was mostly on impulse and was convenient because his metal side matches which side of her face the scars are on. "I had a really nice purple dress I wanted to try on," she says, "but couldn't think of any good occasion to wear it until now. The hard part was finding flowers that looked good with it, however."

She's referencing the flowers woven into her hair.

[Half-Elf and a Gator]

Emily nods, "Yeah, that makes sense. Either way, you still look pretty good," She'll reach over to take a bit more from the food - evidently it takes a lot to keep a body like hers running.

[5a Violista]

[Half-Elf and a Gator]

"Thanks. You look pretty terrifying, yourself." 'Terrifying' is synonymous with 'good'.

Ah, right.
That reminds her.
She still needs to grab food.

Holly starts to grab some of the food, herself. She notably avoids anything that looks like it's made of vegetables - a girl's gotta maintain her image, after all - and instead goes for the various meats and such. After all, who ever heard of an elf who ate vegetables? Elves are carnivores, she thinks.

She finally tries the recommended cake she picked up earlier. "Mmm, yes, you were right, this is good."

[Reinholdt]

[Spooky Children]

Oh. Gotta dress up, no matter the result. And some of the results were quite questionable.

And another law was... something. There was a sign there, but Sasha couldn't read. A tendril of shadow grabs one of the orange buckets though like the dwarves do and Sasha with her floating bucket follows the duo into the area.

Inside the alley are a number of doors, each themed differently to a different Spooktober monster, but all had fancy novelty door knockers attached. No devils or demons though. They could definitely find a wizard door if they look hard enough. The witch door is much easier to find.

[billtodamax]

Well provisioned food table

I think it's just a weird ego thing. I wouldn't worry about it if I were you. Nigel advises Holly. Magtok was a weird jerk sometimes. Nigel suspected there was some psychiatric thing going on but that wasn't his speciality. How'd you get your face like that anyway? Is it some sorta prosthetic? It looks really good. Her Magtok mask is way better than the crappy plastic one he'd have expected.

Spooky Children

Oh look! A wizard door! Olon says, pointing to the witch door. You have to try this one. You might get a cool wizard thing. They are not well up to date on the finer points of magical user taxonomy. We got a cool cube that makes noise and a thing that gives you good dreams last year. That was from a different wizard though so this might be different. Endok says to Sasha. The pair of children will walk up to the witch door but wait, wanting Sasha to go ahead of them.

[5a Violista]

[Well-provisioned food table]

"Oh. I get it. He thinks I look better than him." Makes sense why he'd be mad.

Unfortunately, he isn't here to defend himself so there's no way for him to disprove that.

"Yeah!" Holly brings up one of her gloved hands to her face to tap the metal part. "It's actually a really thin metal mask I had made," or rather, she made herself, " and it had it fitted pretty well, but I had it made out of a different metal to make it stronger so that it could stay thin. If it were thicker, I'd have to use a lot of silicone or makeup or whatever to smooth out the edges." It actually looks like it seamlessly fits into her face. "And I carefully had scratches put in so that it looked more used and not brand-new and stuff. It was actually pretty fun to come up with."

That doesn't explain the glowing eye part, but it's probably a similar thing like a lens or whatever. And the scar over her right eye, but some people are pretty good at making scar-makeup.

"...so, yeah, it's just a mask but a really well-fitted one." And it literally is actually part of her face but she doesn't mention that.

[MossyMeow]

[Ground Floor]

An outdated convertible in an obnoxiously bright shade of yellow rolls up to the curb, driven by an old man in a simple black bodysuit with the outline of a skeleton clumsily stitched onto it. With a loud thump, a massive half-dragon emerges from the car. Her scales are crimson red, and her face is covered with small scars. On her head is a platinum blonde wig, and her bright blue eyes are lined heavily with makeup. She wears a baby blue dress that is much too small for her- there is a long tear on the right leg, and the fabric is completely shredded at the base of her huge wings.

Rather than duck to avoid the cobwebs lining the door, she opens her toothy mouth and breathes out fire to incinerate them. "Hello!" she bellows, throwing her arms out wide. "I have arrived, and now your pitiful little party will never be the same!" She turns to the spiderbot and smashes her hand down onto its head, as if to pet it. "Mechanical arachnid! I have arrived! Are you not excited?"

[Recaiden]

Devil Tour

Sekhmet is somewhat lost in thought when the door rattles. "Aaaaaah!" She jumps back and nearly trips and falls. "Oh, uh, yes. It, uh, got me." She catches her breath for a moment.

"I was curious about what was behind that door, but I think we can go without knowing."
Nadas says with a laugh.
Once the surprise has subsided, he heads towards the unwelcoming hallways and their roped-off stairs.

[Ground Floor]

Some new guests arrive. It looks like it's Omiko and a small herd of young catfolk.

Omiko is dressed in a black full-body outfut with a headband and a plastic sword, so that tonight she's a crystal demon cyborg catgirl pirate ninja. She seems to have left her robot arms at home for the holiday visit (most likely the costume didn't fit around them). Like the hostess, she's visibly pregnant, and even further along.
One of the kids is completely wrapped up in mummy bandages and moves unnaturally, in a poor impression of a mummy's stiffened gait. A girl, a little taller, is covered in spikes - a hedgehog, perhaps? The last kid, a boy, uses a collared cape, dyed fur, and plastic teeth to make a vampire costume.
Dot is wearing a witch's hat and has a broom, but as Dot is invisible and mostly imaginary, it seems unlikely that anyone will care.

They all get their wristbands, head into the elevator, and the hedgehog immediately presses the 'DO NOT TOUCH' button before the vampire or the ninja can do anything to stop her.

[bc56]

Devil Tour

"Yeah, uh, maybe we're better off not knowing." Sekhmet follows along, heart still pounding. She scares rather easily, unfortunately.

[Magic_Hat]

Into the ground floor strides a person with the grace of a gazelle and the stench of a hippo. This person - with the exception of his hat - is wearing tattered, uncouth clothing. The hat of this person however glows with an intense aura. It may very well be the most magnificent hat you have ever seen.

This person enters the ground floor rooms and says "My name is Magic_Hat, and I heard there was a party here. What's with these spider things? Can I squish them?"

[Reinholdt]

[Spooky Children]

A wizard. Sasha's heard the term a few times in the past. Referring to some rather strange people. She was told to avoid them for kidnapping purposes. More trouble than they're worth or something like that. But they aren't kidnapping the wizard so it should be fine. They're standing there. Waiting.

But Endok and Olon are looking at Sasha, not the door. Oh. They were waiting on her. To umm... something. Sasha moves closer to the door. So far so good. She looks back at them. They want more. Clearly. Probably even motions or says something. But the only thing to do is that broom handle shaped knocker. Another tendril lifts and uses it to knock on the door.

Which creeks open! A green witch with a black hat and a warty nose is on the other side, moving somewhat robotically. Rath can probably tell how synthetic it is under that costume. Robots for days around here it seems. Robot witches that peer down at young children with a wide smile and a witchy laugh as it waits for the children to shout the magic words.

[Elevator]

The elevator comes to a sudden shuddering stop. Which is a little less impressive given it wasn't moving yet. Still the lights go out and there's a sudden gust of 'wind'. The emergency lights try to flicker on with intermittent success and something grasps at their ankles. The elevator shudders again and with a snapping sound starts to plummet as if they were being dragged to hell. It goes past the four party floors rapidly and deeper still. Contrary to possible fears otherwise, the elevator doesn't crash, instead slowing around the ninth floor gently. Coming to a stop, the lights come back on and a cackle can be heard. Nothing grasps at their ankles anymore and the elevator ascends much more normally to their desired floor or their starting point since they hadn't picked on. It arrives with one last shudder and another cackle as the doors open.

Unless Omiko trashes the thing during one of the intermediate steps. Then it really will come to an emergency stop.

[Devils' Tour]

The scares in the unwelcome hallways are largely self-inflicted with dark corners and spooky shapes. Still, they may be effective on someone already on edge. The roped off doorway seems the real deal however, with nothing but dimly lit stairs on the other side and a foreboding aura. There's no security around if they want to slip past the rope and see where it goes.

[Ground Floor]

The spiderbot clanks noisily against the floor as the half-dragon 'pets' it. It's... fine. It can probably buff that dent out. The spiderbot's display switches to a series of ????? as it tries to figure out if it is supposed to be excited. Can it... can it feel emotions like that? What does that say about its programming? The spiderbot is clearly starting to overheat as it processes this question.

Until Magic_Hat suggests squishing them. Now Magic_Hat's probably not big enough to simply squish them, though he could stomp them. The half-dragon is definitely big enough to squish though as the spiderbot already figured out. All logic is immediately solved when it realizes it can feel fear and the display switches to !!!!! instead. It would much rather not be squished please? It offers up a bracelet awkwardly as a peace attempt.

[MossyMeow]

[Ground Floor]

The half-dragon beams wickedly as she says, "I don't know, but they sure look squishable." She pokes at the spiderbot. "Wanna try?"

[Magic_Hat]

[Ground Floor]

The half-dragon beams wickedly as she says, "I don't know, but they sure look squishable." She pokes at the spiderbot. "Wanna try?"

"YEAH! Let's smash them!" says a very enthusiastic Magic_Hat. "I'm Magic_Hat by the way, and you had better remember the underscore!"

[Artemis97]

[Ground Floor]

"Oi! You two!" Calls a voice from outside. "Don't damage my daughter's property. Lay off the spiders."

Should they turn, they'll see a drow dressed in black from head to foot, a black bandana mask wrapped around his upper face and head. Was he a ninja? No, the rapier at his side proved he was more the Dread Pirate Roberts sort. Silver hair flowed out from under the bandana, blue black-skin showed on his face, red eyes, glinting like rubies, glared out from under the mask. Raril Xar'Cha was not happy.

Behind the drow stood some sort of creature in dark, tattered robes of black and red, armored in bone. A long nosed skull made for a mask of the stoop-backed monster. A twisted blade rested in his clawed hand. Some would recognize the costume as The Hunter, a particularly evil and dangerous Skeksis. Who was under the mask? And that did not look like a rubber weapon.

The robot-spider rocks slightly as it's poked, it's servos whirring. It was still offering that bracelet.