SPOOKTOBER 2023: Occult Night at the Oasis

[Rebonack]

[The Maze - Cheasadh and Asami]

Thankfully there are no rude slurs being thrown around today. Maybe those just feel a bit more impersonal to Cheasadh?

Either way, GHOSTS!

Almost as soon as Cheasadh dismisses the illusions as illusions, she'll probably recognize that goosebumps feeling. That lurch in the pit of the stomach. That nebulous feeling of ill-ease. That something is dangerous and wrong. In short, things just got spooky!

There's no visible spirit, but that doesn't mean much.

Spirits USUALLY aren't visible.

Maybe there's a REAL ghost lurking around here somewhere?

After all, a real ghost got summoned by the venue to sing up on the stage. Maybe they summoned some real ghosts for the maze?

[[brackets lover]]

[The Maze - Cheasami]

Cheasadh's jibe earns a giggle from Asami. "You're really funny," she says cheerily, really starting to enjoy being with Cheasadh.

Asami tilts her head at Cheasadh's ghost-sensing technique, commenting, "I don't think that's a very reliable method. An outdated ventilation system would throw it off."

[Gold]

[The Maze - Micah and Brinika]

Blinking as his eyes refocus, Micah looks around at the stock lab setting he's in. For how clichéd it is, he admits it's fairly well put together.

Quickly realising what Brinika's doing and deciding it wouldn't hurt to play along, Micah asks "But whatever shall we do, Professor Brinika?" in a slightly exaggerated way.

[Morty]

[Large Men - Leaving]

"Even here, in the Nexus of all worlds, some people still find themselves at odds with average sensibilities," Askeladd observes. "Speaking of which... I believe you said you'd like to see some of my larger forms. They would also have been inappropriate inside, but not so now."

[Rebonack]

[The Maze - Brinika and Micah]

The monster burbles menacingly at our heroes, reaching toward them with a radioactive green arm!

They have to stop the monster, but how!?

Turns out there are several bottles of anti-monster spray on the counter! You can tell it's anti-monster spray since there's a picture of a monster on the bottle with a big red circle and slash over it. One's a bottle of green fluid, the same color as the monster. One's a nice purple shade, the OPPOSITE color from the monster. And the last is a simple watery clear. Which bottle of spray will they use against this terrible foe? They don't have much time to make a choice before they get slimed and the monster escapes!

[Keeper]

Large Men - Leaving

"Askeladd, you don't have to actually do that." Krayger sputters, his hands freezing in the middle of loosening the tie around his neck.
"Your powers are not some toy you need to show off just because someone you've met thrice mentioned it."
Krayger hasn't ever actually had the "oh you're a wizard? do some magic!" conversation yet but it's something he's dreaded and is one reason he doesn't really mention it to many people.

[Morty]

[Large Men - Leaving]

"I do not have to, but I want to. In truth, I have hidden my abilities for some time now, and it is good to... stretch out. Your company makes me feel more at ease than I have felt in some time, as well."

And stretch out he does. He raises his arms slightly and his body grows further. He becomes taller than Krayger and his face shifts to that of a moose. His chest bulks, his shoulders broaden. The silvery tattoos glow as he assumes a form that is unmistakably meant for war. His legs likewise become longer and their hooves grow larger.

[Murkus]

[The Maze - Jace Zebes Russell Laurana]

Laurana giggles uproariously. This is great fun. She bounces around on Jace's back and thinks for a minute... then pulls the scariest face she can! Which amounts to... well she crosses her eyes and pops them a bit and tugs at her bottom eyelids and sticks out her tongue at the SCARY DOOR.

Russell leans around from behind Laurana... And he just looks. It's not really about the look itself, it's about how he looks, the feel of it. He infuses a distinct, direct menace in the expression, somehow, while his features change by only a few degrees. He looks... uh... well, he's got the kind of look that makes adults start to get concerned.

[The Maze - Adir, Blue, Khannie]

Gasp! Real bats! Blue gives a whoop of fright at first, grasping both at Khannie and reaching out for her daddy's hand. Then gradually she works her way back to calm, her breathing lowering if not fully relaxing... And she'll even almost try to reach out and pat the bats, hoping to touch a fuzzy body! But alas, she can't seem to catch one. This isn't so bad! And she's getting pretty into it, she seems to take helping Khannie through this spooky place very seriously!

[Keeper]

The Maze

Unfortunately as promised, unicorn faces aren't that expressive and Jace is incapable of a look that isn't 'vaguely kind horse stare.' His best scary face is to glare, which is about the most menacing a unicorn can look. Though many would know that a glaring unicorn is scary enough.
Zebes, as a proper kobold, can flash his teeth menacingly just fine.

Large Men - Leaving

It's a shame that they left because Krayger suddenly feels like he maybe should have taken a drink to go. He is blessed to have too thick a coat to blush like a human.
"...you look very dashing as one of my own, as I predicted. And you could put our Chief to shame. It is good you did not visit my home; you would have to fight off many suitors. As I said, stature is seen as quite desirable. And ah, it seems it was probably good that we waited."
Krayger glances up and down, noting that Askeladd's powers conveniently vanished his costume for the change. Leaving him in something, probably.

[Rebonack]

[The Maze - Jace, Zebes, Russell, Laurana]

Hmm. Laurana's face is DEFINITELY scary. So is Zebes'. Russell's is mostly just disconcerting and Jace's is...

Well.

We won't talk about Jace's face. It's long and that's about it.

"VERY WELL!" thunders the SCARY FACE DOOR. It fixes its gaze on Laurana. "Your face was EXCEPTIONALLY SCARY, CHILD! So scary it makes up for how UNSCARY the BLUE HORSE'S FACE was! YOU MAY PASS!"

Then the door closes its eyes again and opens for our heroes!

Beyond the door is pitch darkness, fluttering strangely, but then-!

"BOO!"

A SCARY FACE! Projected onto the blackest black cloth ever! Suddenly jumpscaring our heroes! Then the curtain is pulled aside, revealing the next hallway for REAL this time. The wallway is full of black shrouds and fake cobwebs. Every time our heroes near one of the curtains a different image gets projected onto it. Skulls, witches, yowling black cats, laughing pumpkins. All sorts of spooky things!

[The Maze - Khannie, Adir, and Blue]

Soon our heroes will be able to see the door at the end of the hallway. "Look there, Blue! We've almost made it!" Khannie announces. Just a little bit further and then they'll be able to move on to the next section of the haunted hallways.

BUT SUDDENLY!

AN ORC IN A BAT COSTUME LEAPS OUT FROM AN ALCOVE!

Now, we're talking here a costume that actually looks like a bat.

As opposed to a cowl with some fake cat ears or whatever on it.

"I AM THE BAT ORC!" the orc bellows. "To pass beyond you me you must answer A TRIVIA QUESTION ABOUT BATS!"

Oh no!

Not animal trivia!

"True... or FALSE!? ALL bats drink BLOOD!" the bat orc thunders.

Khannie looks back to Blue. "Pstt. Hey Blue. Do you know the answer?" the unicorn asks.

[Gullara]

[In the Wake of the Bab Swarm]

"I believe it's a parents job to worry." And so was her actual job. "But yes, they're probably safe here. But I doubt any of the older ones are planning to stay around so it's them I'm really worried about." The ghosts had confronted them inside the Frescots own home after all. Now, they hadn't exactly been dangerous the way the children had described them but you never knew.

"But if I didn't believe they'd be fine I wouldn't have let them go." She relents as to not be a worry-wart. She stops to look around. "It seems to be even more kids than usual this year. A lot of older ones too."

[In the Wake of the Bab Swarm]

Sakura looks around, giving the space a fresh look. "I think you might be right. That's nice. I think this is such a great activity. I know our kids are always so excited about it."

The dryad glances back at the two conspiring children accompanying them right now. "Are you two going to go have fun with the others? Or are you up to something?" She raises her eyebrows.

"Nuh uh." Jillian replies, and both girl's giggle. Sounds like they're up to something, but they're closed lip!

[Earl of Purple]

The Maze- Cheasasmi

"True, but I'm more often around ghosts than obsolete air conditioners." Cheasadh frowns, though; she's now getting goosebumps, which suggests either there's a spirit now near or somebody's turned on said old-fashioned air circulators. "Do you hear an air conditioner or something? Because now I have goosebumps. I can't hear one, but maybe your ears are better than mine." Either way, she's heading towards the next part, and is not scared, honest.

...Maybe a little scared.

[Ironsmith]

Take a Pony, Leave a Pony

"You had it without knowing what it was. We sensed the presence inside it with our telepathy. So yeah, it was given to you without telling you what it was. Presumably by someone with an exceptionally sick sense of humor." Zebes answers just so that they remember he's there.
"...it sounds like you did not tell your family you had it. I'm sorry for revealing anything your past self thought was better left buried."
Jace, personally, thinks he would be absolutely livid if his father had died and his brother had simply hidden the only means of speaking to him.

[Take A Pony, Leave A Pony]

Arthfael lets out a little sigh of relief that his past self wasn't, actually, a patricidal maniac.

Arne, however, does not seem quite so assured. "...We will be having words about this later, Arthfael." He rumbles, his voice so heavy with disapproval that the boy sinks into his feet a little.

"I... I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking. I mean I really don't know what I was thinking..."

Where's the Bloodplunders? In the Maze

"Yes, I would. Costume parties make it tricky to keep track of people, so I can't imagine they were popular with your family's bodyguards. Or do you mean a maze? Because I'd believe that, too. Do you think the wardrobe's hiding a door, or someone who's going to try jumping out at us? Or both?" The mostly-orc warlord-in-training doesn't seem to notice the pause, though he probably did and is ignoring it to reassure Aikobaz. He's also gesturing at the wardrobe with the walking-stick part of his costume, in case it's not clear about which he's referring.

[Where's The Bloodplunders]

"Well, if it's someone about to jump out at us, I really would not want to be them. Some people get a little aggressive when they're startled. Your sister abstained from entering the maze at all because of that." Aiko smirks for a moment, letting the implications hang there.

"...And yes, I mean a maze. We had one made of hedges in the palace garden, and while I was never forbidden from entering, I never actually went inside. I can't imagine it would have been difficult to navigate; it was clearly there for recreation, not defense. But something about being surrounded on all sides by high walls, with no ways to go but backward and forward... I don't know. It seemed quite frightening to me in a way I can't really explain."

[Keeper]

[Take A Pony, Leave A Pony]

Arthfael lets out a little sigh of relief that his past self wasn't, actually, a patricidal maniac.

Arne, however, does not seem quite so assured. "...We will be having words about this later, Arthfael." He rumbles, his voice so heavy with disapproval that the boy sinks into his feet a little.

"I... I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking. I mean I really don't know what I was thinking..."

[Take a Pony, Leave a Pony]

Oof. Jace feels a little bad for causing drama. But it kind of feels like necessary drama.
"If you want my advice, kid: see a proper psychic. Maybe someone with experience digging around in people's heads can figure out if there's pieces of your memory floating around." Zebes chirps.
"Zebes, that's a bit extreme isn't it?" "I dunno it sounds like a problem that ain't gonna solve itself."

[Rebonack]

[Maze - Cheasadh and Asami]

Sometimes being a little scared can be fun.

Or sometimes not. It really depends, right?

Moving toward the exit, it seems to loom away from them! It's a really mind-bending effect and might make the girls feel briefly disoriented since it LOOKS like they're moving but they definitely aren't. It might not help that the feeling of OH NO SPOOK! is growing steadily more intense. Like the weight of a storm getting ready to burst.

Until...

Suddenly!

"BOO!" woofs a ghostly black dog about the size of a black lab, though with an long and rather not very dog looking tail. That woof carries with it a relatively mild dose of supernatural terror, just enough to get someone screaming really good before they realize the dog is wagging his tail at them.

And without a head! Though there's a strange impression that he has a phantasmal skull wreathed in ghostly fire. There's nothing there. But there's an overwhelming impression that it's there. Really weird. Yeth hounds are definitely unusual spirits.

[[brackets lover]]

[The Maze - Cheasami]

"Normally my senses are sharp as a tack, but i've been feeling a little haz-" she says before getting cut off by the ghost dog. "KYA!" she shouts, immediatlely throwing her arms over Cheasadhs's shoulders for security. Even past the initial scare, the dog's appearence still continued to frighten Asami a reasonable amount.

[Arkhosia]

[Pallid Gals and Galloping Pals]

Dulcinea doesn't seem to mind at all, considering she shakes Salt's hoof readily. "I understand. I've never known another version of the holiday myself, but I remember it feeling scary and new when I was figuring out some personal changes. Though if anything..." Her voice drops a little conspiratorially and she leans in. "it is the perfect place to get used to a new name and face." The remark is capped off with a wink and a discrete attempt to wipe her hand clean while Salt is presumably distracted.

"Reilana's right though," Dulcinea continues casually. "it's kind of remarkable when you think about it really - hundreds of different cultures have probably informed some element or other of the holiday around us. And I'm sure plenty of others have felt that uncanniness and helped shape it further in response, y'know?"

[Rebonack]

[In the Wake of the Bab Swarm]

There are many sounds here at the party. The sounds of music, the sounds of laughter, the sounds of conversion.

But in the midst of all those sounds Lucy might pick up on the sound of dragging chains nearby. Not a heavy clunking sounds. Nor a jagged scraping sound. But a delicate tinkling sound, a sound of fine chains woven like ropes. The sort of chains that would be used for decoration rather than restraining something scary.

Exactly the sort of sound that Annie the yeth-hound makes when she's skulking around invisibly. The yeth-children have been brought over to the Frescot's a few times to visit. They strange, definitely. And a little bit scary. But they're a fun sort of scary instead of a dangerous sort of scary. Annie is nice. She likes to run and chase even if she doesn't like the sun very much. And she LOVES flowers.

She's been dragging her chains around for a little bit to let Lucy know she's there while hiding from the grownups because hiding from the grownups is a fun game. When Sakura glances back to look at the girls the tinkling sound falls silent as Annie, still quite invisible, falls still.

Once Annie is sure the grownups aren't watching again she's speak up in a hushed whisper, a voice from the other side of the veil. "Psst. Lucy... Is this your friend?"

She's careful not to ask for the other girl's name because she doesn't want to take it.

[Morty]

[The Maze - Brinika and Micah]

"I'll try... wait. You grab one of them, I'll get two!" It occurs to Brinika that she has two hands and can spray the monster with two of the bottles at once. So she takes the green and purple bottles and turns them on the monster. If Micah uses the clear liquid, surely one of them is going to work.

[Large Men - Leaving]

A quiet laugh escapes Askeladd's now massive chest. His voice has shifted, becoming deeper and booming. The kind that sends small things scattering as a mighty beast walks through the forest. He does indeed still have the convenient pair of trousers that shapeshifters seem to always retain.

"It is not a form one assumes in polite society, for a variety of reasons. I try to avoid fighting, so I don't usually have a reason to assume it. Fighting off suitors... that would be a new experience in this form, that's for sure."

[Keeper]

Large Men - Leaving

"Oh come now. You have a few dozen centimeters on me, and I get along in polite society just fine. Besides what I just said about shirts."
Krayger is in the process of slipping out of his jacket. There wasn't as much under it as it looked. When you're furry and planning on attending a party with lots of people you learn how to avoid having multiple layers. Why should just one of them get to be comfortable?
"Well, now that we're out in the air...do you want to retire somewhere else? I'm afraid we just left the nicest place in town for drinks, but there's still quite a lot of city to go around."

[Murkus]

[The Maze - Jace, Zebes, Russell, Laurana]

Laurana throws her hands in the air, giggling. "Yay!"

Russell returns to his passive expression, but gives the most blasé fist-pump of all time.

Then they start to head through with Jace and Zebes... and get jumpscared! Oh no! Poor Laurana just about jumps out of her skin, but ends up devolving into girlish laughter again. Even Russell does a little jump, his eyebrows momentarily rising!

Then the next hall. They'll totter along on Jace's back, looking around, while Laurana is finally distracted by their escorts. "So... are you two friends, Mr. Jace and Mr. Zebes?" A little dinosaur and a unicorn! The coolest friends!

[The Maze - Khannie, Adir, and Blue]

Adir gives a little 'pfft' when the orc appears. Thankfully this sort of thing isn't too scary for little Blue - she's pretty cognizant of the person inside the suit at the ripe old age of seven. But she still buys into the 'immersion' enough to smile and then give the question some serious thought. She looks back and forth from Khannie up to her daddy and then back to the bat-orc. "Um." Back to daddy again. Adir raises his eyebrows. C'mon, kid, you know this one...

Um. Um! Right! They've talked about how cute some bats are at the Frescot household before. At least, some of the kids did. And this exact thing came up. And they talked about bats that eat nothing but fruit. They even looked up videos!

"That's not true! That's silly!" Blue declares.

[Earl of Purple]

Where's the Bloodplunders?

Earl is assuming that Aikobaz said 'cousin' and not 'sister', as Hope's mother is Aigothurz' grandfather's half-sister.

"Well, let's find out." Aigothurz strides over to the wardrobe and pulls the doors wide- revealing a black-painted interior and a cardboard skeleton. Aigothurz doesn't react much, and tilts his head to one side before pressing at the back of the cabinet. "No person, and not a door, either. This is a dead end." He pushes the wardrobe doors shut- no reason to spoil the surprise for the next person!- and turns to go back. "You were in a city. You were always surrounded by high walls, they were just far enough away you didn't have to look at them all the time. But I get it, I think. One way forward, one way back... That's a bit emblematic of fate, isn't it? And I doubt a hedge maze knows better than you what the future held."

Maze- Cheasami

Cheasadh also screams when the yeth doggo appears. She also clutches quite tight at Asami, before realising what she's doing and releasing her grip. "That was quite spooky. Well done." Her heart's pounding so fast she thinks Asami can hear it, as well as everyone in the maze. She's not quite freaked, but it did scare her and she can't quite look at the invisible head of the ghost puppy.

[Rebonack]

[The Maze - Blue, Adir, and Khannie]

"YOU ARE CORRECT!" the bat orc bellows again before deftly swooping away out of sight-
-and now the door behind him is open!

"Good job, Blue. You were brave AND smart," Khannie praises the little dryadeer before pressing onward into the next part of the maze! And this one is really maze-y! Our heroes find themselves in a hall of mirrors! Some are distorted and make the person looking in them appear very silly. And others... if you take a wrong turn, suddenly flash with a SCARY FACE!

Our heroes had best be careful not to take too many wrong turns or they'll get 2spooked!

As Khannie navigates the maze she decides to try connecting with Blue a little. She never got all the details, but kids talk and she had a rough idea of what happened to Blue a couple years ago. The reason why she's so introverted compared to her sister. "You know Blue, when I was really little a bad monster stole me away from my daddy and hid me. But my daddy came and rescued me, because daddies are brave and love their little girls and little boys more than anything. That taught me to be brave, just like you're being brave even though the maze is a little scary."

[The Maze - Cheasadh and Asami]

Well it makes sense that the yeth hound's appearance does Asami a frighten!

He looks scary!

Probably less scary when he laughs at Cheasadh's reply. "Thanks! I really worked that one up good! Spooktober is the BEST it means I can go around and scare whoever I want whenever I want! Haha! Are you having fun? This maze is great, right? There's aren't any grownups in this part to tell me I'm not supposed to be here."

Apparently this yeth hound isn't actually part of the maze?

Just a spirit out causing mischief during Spooktober.

[[brackets lover]]

[The Maze - Cheasami]

Asami begins to process what was happening, blushing as she's grabbed by Cheasadh and looking disappointed at being released. Asami giggles, smiles at Cheasadh and says, "You're so cute when you're scared."

Upon witnessing the yeth hound converse, Asami bows to it. "Nice to meet you. My name's Asami. By the way, people don't want you to know this, but if someone tells you not to do something you can actually just go ahead and do it anyway. Its a pretty neat life hack."

[Earl of Purple]

The Maze- Cheasami

"You too, I guess." Cheasadh's not sure the comment on cuteness is a compliment or not, so deflects it back to Asami to find out.

"That's not a life hack, that's being disobedient. You can disobey if you know why the person telling you to do something is telling you to do it, and disagree with the motive and the action. Otherwise it's just being naughty." Cheasadh disagrees with teaching children to be disobedient, but at the same time she's aware of some reasons why it's the best idea sometime.

[Rebonack]

[The Maze - Asami and Cheasadh]

"Cute? No, you're both gross because you're girls," the yeth hound assesses honestly and factually. Don't they know gross girls have cooties and aren't cute at all?

"Yeah that's just disobeying," the yeth hound agrees with Cheasadh. "If you do that too much you just get into trouble. It's better just not to get caught instead."

He's got it all figured out.

[Gold]

[The Maze - Brinika and Micah]

"Uh... alright then," Micah says before grabbing the bottle of clear liquid, attempting to stylishly spin it around his finger, and fumbling and nearly dropping it. Defeatedly, he holds it with both hands as he sprays the monster with it.

The reason for Micah's brief hesitation is that he would have chosen a different solution; namely the purple one, reasoning that it would neutralise a green radiation monster - purely hypothetically, of course - like a base neutralises an acid.

[[brackets lover]]

[The Maze - Cheasami]

Upon receiving the compliment, Asami's face brightens red to the highest degree. "RLDIHSUETFGQUEILGFUDHBFLIOSHFDIOHF daww..." squeals Asami as she rests the side of her face on one hand, shyly smiling towards Cheasadh.

And now the yeth hound is talking, leaving Asami to reply after its done, "Sure, girls are gross. But, I'm not exactly one to begin with. Besides, you're just weak if you can't handle a little grossness." She grins teasingly.

[Keeper]

The Maze

”We’re not just friends. I’m his familiar. Which is an extra special friend a sorcerer calls to himself. And is generally a cute critter. I’m a tiny dragon most of the time.”
And as a tiny dragon (most of the time) Zebes is naturally pretty adorable.

[Rebonack]

[The Maze - Brinika and Micah]

Our heroes grab the spray bottles and get to squirting!

The green bottle makes the blob grow bigger!

Oh no!

The purple bottle makes the blob grow smaller!

Hooray!

And the clear bottle makes the blob begin vigorously vibrating while expanding and contracting and jiggling and-!

POP!

They may have the instinct to shield themselves from the flying slime, but it turns out the blob was a silent image conjured up to just LOOK scary! But it looks like our heroes are victorious!