SPOOKTOBER 2022: TERROR AT PHOENIX LAKE

[Rebonack]

The Glog campsite is decked out for the coming festivities. Napkin ghosts hang from nearly every support beam and tree branch, swaying in the cool autumn breeze. Paper garlands of cats and pumpkins and witches have been strung across every doorway. Fake spiderwebs populated with fuzzy pipe-cleaner spiders haunt every dark corner. Foam gravestones and plastic bones litter the ground while jack-o-lanterns leer with glowing eyes. Spooktober classics like The Monster Mash play over speakers spread around the grounds.

It's all very spooky!

And mostly hand-crafted by the camps' young denizens, who are no doubt very proud of their work.

Snacks aplenty have been provided, from candy to confections to fresh veggies with ranch dip. Refreshments are available in a variety of spooky colors! Only those hoping to find adult beverages might find themselves disappointed unless they've smuggled in some beer in the trunk of their car. Spooktober at Glog is a very family friendly event, after all.

And of course the main campfire is burning high and bright, the perfect place to share some scary Spooktober Stories.

Fun and adventures await! Awards for costumes! Apple bobbing! Cornhole! Mummy wrapping! Dart tossing! Doughnut eating races! Children running around everywhere after devouring way too much sugar!

No doubt this will be a Spooktober to remember! Who knows, maybe even the campsite spirits will get in on the fun...

[Spectre]

A shiny black hearse pulls up to the GLoG campsite. Painted on its side is a grinning skeleton rising out of a coffin. The words, "Dirge & the Coffin Breaks," are written below in stylized lettering. After a few minutes, the driver door opens and a squat skeletal figure clambers out from inside. A noxious cigarette is pinched between his teeth.

The skeleton, Dirge, wears a charcoal-colored suit and tie beneath a black overcoat. He practically swims in his clothes—everything is far too large for him. He rubs his bony palms together as he hurriedly shambles into the campsite proper. When he arrives, the skeleton starts looking for whoever's in charge.

As he looks, he reads something written on a small napkin he produces from his coat. "Hey, err... looking for a, uhh... Sophie? No, no. Maybe a... Sakura? Lady in charge!" Dirge scratches his skull and coughs awkwardly. Dust and cobwebs spew out from his throat. He probably should have taken better notes!

--

► SHOW SPOILER

[bc56]

Spoooooooky Demons
"Mum, you should wear a costume! That doesn't count!" The young teen, red skinned, black haired, and horned, with dragonish eyes, wings, tail, and feet, all coated in jet-black scales, is dressed like a witch, in a black dress, black makeup, and an oversized pointy black hat. She has a basket with her full of black cloths, out of which the head of a little calico kitten peeks. She's just leaving Hawthorn Cabin, on the edge of the campsite near the forest.
The woman she's speaking to seems reluctant to exit the safety of her home. She's just an ordinary human, with pale skin and raven hair, dressed to protect herself from the growing chill in the air. No one would possibly recognize her as the demon queen Sekhmet... Except her daughter and husband, who watched her change, and also literally anyone who's met her before, since she didn't bother to alter her face, build, or figure. She looks like herself, just human. Apparently that's her idea of a costume?
Spooktober is hard for her. The last time she was at one of these parties she very nearly died. But GLoG is safe and she's putting on a brave face for Mary's sake.

Men (fine, man and fox) in Black
Two people, in matching black suits and black glasses, slip into the party. They have matching pistols concealed in their suit jackets (but don't worry about that, they're fake). In fact, the only difference in their well-tailored outfits is the bodies that they're tailored for. One is a human man, brown hair, middling build, maybe a bit skinny. Nimble fingers that are used to delicate work. The other is a nine-tailed fox, a redhead, and could easily play the part of a femme fatale if she was dressed differently. "You sure you want to go to a kids' party?" the man teases. "I don't see why I would have a problem with that," the fox shoots back, "I'm not here for the drinking. The best... No, the second best... part of Spooktober is the chocolate!" "I really don't think you should be eating that," "I've been fine all the other times." "Wait, how often do you eat chocolate?" "Don't worry about it, I said I'm fine!" "But chocolate is bad for dogs and foxes are like dogs and... Hey, wait up!"

[Thursday Violist]

A someone shows up at the party. It's Seraphina, and she's actually dressed up in a costume!
...
If you call her normal outfit a costume.
She's dressed up as a mysterious cloaked stranger, wearing a hooded cloak.
Seraphina pulls her cloak tighter around herself, 'cause she thinks it's a little chilly.

She, of course, notices the apple-bobbing. But, as an apple-bobbing champion, she wisely chooses to avoid it so that other people can experience a fleeting memory of glory. Instead, she finds a tree of napkin ghosts, and admires them.

[Gold]

Micah has also shown up at the Spooktober party. The small high schooler's costume consists of a hooded green cloak, a menacing metal mask, full-body armour (where could he have found that?) and his belt with the fancy gold buckle.

In other words, he went as Doctor Doom!

Currently, he's standing around the refreshment table and wondering if he should risk trying to drink through the mask or just give up and take it off.

[Rebonack]

Khannie is here scooting around a spider toss game (fuzzy toy spiders thrown at a spider web made of strips of white velcro) making sure everything is ready for people to play with! Rumor is there would be lots of regular kids and their families visiting from the surrounding towns this year so that means there will be plenty of regular people here?

Imagine that.

NPC party goers.

Could such a thing even be?

Since she and her friends had decided on GIANT MONSTER costumes this year Khannie's pick was pretty obvious. She's wearing her usual human girl disguise, but THIS TIME she's just letting her big pretty dragony butterfly wings stick out. She's wearing a fuzzy white jumper and a white cap with big blue moth eyes and little fuzzy yellow antenna on it. The wings are real. The eyes and antenna clearly aren't.

She's going as MOTHRA this year!

Which she thinks is pretty funny, actually.

When she looks up from her largely nervous fussing she spots a MYSTERIOUS STRANGER wearing a cloak and hood!

"Oh! Seraphina hi!" Khannie calls out. Given that the girl isn't wearing a mask it should be pretty easy for Seraphina to recognize her. It's the same kid she met Outside, just a little older thanks to the linear nature of time.

[Earl of Purple]

Spooooky Demons

"I think it's a great costume." Prumathe smiles at his wife, and he's actually dressed up. He's wearing platform shoes and a glittering sequin-covered white suit trousters and a matching jacket, with no shirt underneath, just a gold-coloured chain across his otherwise bare chest. He's also wearing a pair of star-shaped sunglasses and a very large afro. Disco Stumathe smiles at Mary, since she wasn't best pleased with his costume, either.

The Swarm

Cheasadh arrives with the rest of the gang, the gnome girl wearing a mask and grey costume, with elongated limbs and large ear flaps and a tail. She's also got extensions for her arms, consisting of litter-pickers disguised with tubes and extra fingers to make her arms look longer, though for practicality reasons she's put them down for now. Maybe if there's a costume competition later, she'll pick them up.

[Morty]

A shiny black hearse pulls up to the GLoG campsite. Painted on its side is a grinning skeleton rising out of a coffin. The words, "Dirge & the Coffin Breaks," are written below in stylized lettering. After a few minutes, the driver door opens and a squat skeletal figure clambers out from inside. A noxious cigarette is pinched between his teeth.

The skeleton, Dirge, wears a charcoal-colored suit and tie beneath a black overcoat. He practically swims in his clothes—everything is far too large for him. He rubs his bony palms together as he hurriedly shambles into the campsite proper. When he arrives, the skeleton starts looking for whoever's in charge.

As he looks, he reads something written on a small napkin he produces from his coat. "Hey, err... looking for a, uhh... Sophie? No, no. Maybe a... Sakura? Lady in charge!" Dirge scratches his skull and coughs awkwardly. Dust and cobwebs spew out from his throat. He probably should have taken better notes!

--

► SHOW SPOILER

It seems Dirge is in luck, as Sophie comes out to greet him. She's dressed in some sort of futuristic coat. While she normally enjoys Spooktober well enough, today she's also here to keep an eye on things.

"It seems you're looking for me. How may I help?"

[The Swarm]

Brinika's costume is somewhat simpler. It appears to be a large, bipedal reptile, with holes cut in the costume's head for the goblin's long, pointed ears. Brinika loves Spooktober and this time it's doubly exciting because it's hosted by the place where her aunt lives and where she herself spends a lot of time.

[bc56]

Spooky Demons
"Thanks Honey, you look great too," Sekhmet smiles. Mary gives a mock glower. At least Prumathe is wearing a costume, even if she has no idea what it's supposed to be. She will hold to her belief that shapeshifting shouldn't count.
"We should do something as a family," Sekhmet declares. With Mary away at PREP except for weekends, they don't spend as much time together. "Is there a good game available?"

[Spectre]

It seems Dirge is in luck, as Sophie comes out to greet him. She's dressed in some sort of futuristic coat. While she normally enjoys Spooktober well enough, today she's also here to keep an eye on things.

"It seems you're looking for me. How may I help?"

Dirge somehow exhales a puff of purple smoke as Sophie approaches. It carries the smell of funereal flowers, but the skeleton himself reeks of ash and cheap spirits. As she draws closer, the squat little skeleton takes off his wide-brimmed hat and bows his chin. "I take it you're the boss then?" Croaks the skeleton.

"Heard you got a get-together going on, but there ain't no live music!" Dirge shakes his head dismissively. "This is clearly unacceptable." This is stated with the utmost authority. "Just so happens that the boys and I are back in town!" He hooks a skeletal thumb back out to a distant lot. "You want some music, well, we're your guys!"

"How's about ya hire us? Have a heart, what do you say?" He shrugs. "Hard times for artists right now!"

"Especially dead ones—you'll see what I mean."

[Morty]

"I'm one of the caretakers of this place, but I'm not in charge," Sophie clarifies. "That said, the party would likely be..." She can't say "livened up", that would sound like a joke at his expense. "...more colorful with some music. I'm not sure how much of a budget we have for hiring musicians, however."

[Recaiden]

The mutated alien clone, Spike, suppresses her magical stealth and appears as if out of thin air. Parties like this are an okay time to look for new recruits and a great time to catch up on the dangerous people of the Nexus, so someone has to attend. For Spooktober, the monster has covered her tentacles in metal bands and put on a green jumpsuit and tinted glasses. It's still only six limbs rather than eight, but the supervillain costume is still pretty clear.

She thinks a Happy Spooktober to Sekhmet and Aethelred as she strolls around and looks at the decorations.

[Gullara]

[Three Delinquents]

Three teens arrive at the party. Who says you can be too old for Spooktober? It's an excuse to hang out with friends and have fun with costumes. What's not to like?

Eliseo numbers among this group. His costume is pretty straightforward. An indigo shirt, jeans, brown boots, a green and yellow pendant, and his hair spiked up like an anime character. That's because he is one; he's come as Gary Oak.

He tosses a pokeball up and down in his hand as he surveys the camp ground. "This is the place your siblings go for daycare, isn't it, Ana?" He turns to question his girlfriend.

[Spectre]

"I'm one of the caretakers of this place, but I'm not in charge," Sophie clarifies. "That said, the party would likely be..." She can't say "livened up", that would sound like a joke at his expense. "...more colorful with some music. I'm not sure how much of a budget we have for hiring musicians, however."

Dirge simply peers up at Sophie with his empty black sockets. Now that he's standing so close, it's apparent just how disproportionate this curiously shaped skeleton is. He's short and wide, but his arms are fairly long. Short, bowed legs support the skeleton's bulk, but only just. "Pleased to meetcha."

"Oh nah, don't worry yourself. We don't take coin like that, just your time!" The skeleton grins. What did he mean by that? "But if you insist, you can drop me fifteen." Dirge pulls a skeletal hand from his pocket and beckons with an open palm. "But you gotta feed the boys! You got food at this party, right?"

He rubs his skeletal hands together. "Boys sure can EAT."

[Morty]

"Our time?" Sophie homes in on this word. It strikes her as odd and she won't let ambiguity hang there. "Do you just want to be listened to or do you mean something else?"

[Arkhosia]

[Delinquents Three]

"Um- yeah, like, sometimes. I mean, I've never really been - usually they're back home by the time I get back from school," Ana replies, coming up alongside Eliseo. She's wearing a school uniform that consists of a blue and white dress that only comes down to about the mid-thigh, her hair done loose with a polka-dotted pink-and-blue ribbon tied up over the ear. Bandages wrap around a wrist and portions of her legs, and her skin is colored with a pale green powder that gives her the sickly look of a zombie.

"Y'know, um - I don't think I've ever been to one of these." The girl looks a little shy to admit it as she looks around, taking in the sights. She laces her hand into Eliseo's own, the pale green a contrast to the white, pink and blue of her nails. "Think we'll run into anyone?"

[Meowmai]

[Delinquentrio]

Similarly to Anastasia, Atsede's costume starts with a school uniform. A blue skirt and white-collared shirt, accompanied with a red bow at the neck. Over the top of it was a black and white sports jacket. A red streak that had really annoyed her parents and might cause future problems with school had been temporarily dyed into her hair. She was going as Ryuko Matoi. To top it all off, a pair of red scissors hung at her side.

Look, she was on a budget okay, and she couldn't be bothered making a prop.

Atsede looked around the camp, taking in the sites. Interesting. So this was what this Spooktober thing was all about. Anastasia and Eliseo had probably been shocked when they first brought this up to the changeling to discover she had never heard of such a thing before. But now here she was!

"Hopefully if we do, it's not any of your family's kids," she joked to Anastasia. She had no idea what the rest of the foxes family was doing tonight. "So whatcha even supposed to do around here?"

[Morty]

[Delinquentrinity]

The trio may or may not see Anastasia's family. They will certainly see a number of goblins swarming around, however. They all seem to be dressed as giant monsters from movies. There's also one goblin, bigger and it would seem older than the three - but it's hard to tell, since she is nonetheless smaller. Unlike the smaller goblins, she's dressed in what appears to be a giant robot costume.

"Watch where you're going, there are gremlins afoot," she remarks, then pauses. "By which I mean my siblings and cousins."

[Gullara]

[Delinquentrinity] I'm not that clever about titles sorry.

Eliseo takes in all the kids around. "Dunno, but I'm not getting dragged into any kiddy activities." As he says that it looks like one of those kids is coming right up to him, but no that's not right. He can recognize her age despite her short stature.

"I think you had it right the first time. Isn't that right, Ana?" He gives Ana a sly smile. Surely she'd know with all the kids she's swarmed by regularly. "Hey wait a second, have we met before?" Eliseo asks as a thought occurs. She's vaguely familiar, but it's hard to tell with the costume,

[Arkhosia]

[Blade: Delinquentrinity]

"Oh! Well, um - I think I see an apple bobbing thing over there, and -" Anastasia scans the area for activities rather quickly, suddenly feeling a pressure to take charge and make sure Atsede has the best first Spooktober possible before a new challenger approaches! She whirls back over and straightens up, flashing the robot a broad smile and a quick wave.

"Oh, hey! Um, yeah, definitely." Ana nods, looking between the robot and Eliseo. "I don't think mine are around this time, Kitty and Obriane took them Trick-or-Treating - though, like, I bet Annie would've loved to bump into you," she teases with a glance back to Atsede and a cheeky grin.

[Meowmai]

[Delin...quads?]

"I dunno Eli, with your knack for things? You could ace all those kids games," Atsede joked. "What is apple bobbing?" She squints over to where Anastasia was looking, so she was the last to notice the new arrivals approach.

"Gremlins sounds about right," There certainly were more kids running around her than she would have liked. She looked down at the goblin before her. She had no idea how to gauge the age of anyone naturally this small, and the robot costume was only making that job harder. "Uh, yeah hi, sorry, who are you though?" Huh. Sounded like Eliseo might know this stranger? Weird.

Weirder still was Anastasia's comment regarding Annie. "That little monster? Why? I know I'm super cool and all, but we met like, once." And had only exchanged a few sentences at most.

[Morty]

[Blade: Delinquentrinity]

The goblin peers at Eliseo through her "giant robot" visor. Her eyes are pale red and cat-like, dilated in the evening gloom.

"You know, I think we have. In the MERC office in Riverside. There was that weird girl who bit Faye." She looks up at Anastasia and Atsede. "I'm Iknika, a knight in training. I'm sort of helping keep an eye on things here tonight. My cousins' aunt is one of the people in charge."

[Gullara]

[Delinquentrinity]

"Oh yeah, that's right. Funny running into you again." Eliseo recalls that was a somewhat strange situation, and not entirely amicable. Oh well.

"Are you watching these kids? Damn, you'd give Ana a run for her money." He glances at his girlfriend again. "What's a babysitting competition look like? We need to line one up." He laughs.

[Arkhosia]

[Delinquentrinity]

Weird girl who bites? Ana tilts her head. Usually when people brought that up in relation to Eliseo they were talking about her. "Well, uh, it's nice to meet you Iknika! I'm Eliseo's girlfriend Anastasia." The girl smiles, unable to help but lean subtly into her boyfriend as she says it. "You're training to be a knight? That's pretty cool! I've been learning to like, swordfight."

When Atsede speaks up, the fox pauses. Right, she promised Annie not to say anything about that. "I-I mean, like, she seemed to think you were pretty cool. Plus it means she's bugging someone else, and you owe me for last time you were over," she adds with a cheeky grin.

[Spectre]

"Our time?" Sophie homes in on this word. It strikes her as odd and she won't let ambiguity hang there. "Do you just want to be listened to or do you mean something else?"

The squat little skeleton chuckles a little. It's a dark, dry sound, but there's a kind of musicality to it, as well. "Ah, nah nah! You got me all wrong." He gesticulates wildly with his bony hands before pulling them close to his chest. "We don't eat people like that, not no more, at least!" Dirge giggles a little. It's even worse than his chuckle.

This was, of course, a bad joke. Dirge had never eaten anyone before, and he had no intentions of starting, but the strange little skeleton enjoyed disarming the living. "All wrong again, don't mean nothing by it! Little holiday humor is all, aheh." He points back to his distant vehicle again. "Boys and I're just hunting for ears to play for, that's all!"

He grins. Many of his teeth are missing, but some are capped in silver.

[Morty]

Sophie nods slightly. It does seem like this strange skeleton-man means no harm.

"Very well. Forgive me if I seem suspicious. But this is an event attended by children, so we need to make sure it's appropriate. What kind of music do you play?"

[Thursday Violist]

[...]

When she looks up from her largely nervous fussing she spots a MYSTERIOUS STRANGER wearing a cloak and hood!

"Oh! Seraphina hi!" Khannie calls out. Given that the girl isn't wearing a mask it should be pretty easy for Seraphina to recognize her. It's the same kid she met Outside, just a little older thanks to the linear nature of time.

Mysterious-Stranger-Questgiver-in-the-Corner Seraphina (who is actually wearing basically the same thing as she did back then, except washed better), upon hearing her name, looks around as she tries to figure out who both knows her and would be here....

"Oh! Hey, kid!" Seraphina says, recognizing Khannie's face but not remembering her name (she only heard it once right when they first met and then her player completely forgot that she had heard it for the rest of the time that they were together and took extra careful care to not say it in dialogue because she apparently 'didn't hear' it). "Oh, right, you did say you lived here!"

She walks towards Khannie so they don't have to shout over everyone to talk. "As I was leaving Inside, I heard this was going to happen, so." So. She's here. She shrugs. "I assume the train hasn't had any weirdness since?" she says.

[Rebonack]

The big difference here is that Khannie remembered her name.

Khannie is cool like that.

Usually she assumes other people are cool, too. She frowns at that greeting, though. "I'm not a kid. I'm fourteen.."

Fourteen is totally a kid.

Anyway! She approaches, too. They meet in the middle next to the accused snack table that has all the fruits and vegetables for weirdos who don't want to gorge on confections and pastries. Khannie grabs a chocolate covered strawberry that has an equally chocolate covered pocky stabbed into it (vampire hearts!) and begins gnawing the thing. She figures that's a pretty solid middle ground between junk food and not.

"I don't live here. I just used to come here all the time after school," Khannie explains. "But not since I started going to PREP since it's a boarding high-school thingy."

Thingy is the technical term.

"But yeah, no! The train was only ever weird that one time. Or the two times I guess? That castle thing was really weird, I'm glad everyone made it out okay."

[Meowmai]

[Delinquents Three: Spooktober Drift]

Atsede peers at Iknika, brain running on a similar wavelength to Anastasia's. She'd seen the bruises under his collar before. What was it with Eliseo running into bitey girls? "A knight huh. Well, I'm Atsede! Don't listen to her by the way, her name's Strawberry."" She looked between the goblin and the fox. "You could duel! That'd be a hell of a Spooktober activity." She joked with a grin. "Besides, you're like, already in armor," she added with a nod to the goblins costume. A shiny robot costume was basically a knights costume if you squinted really hard, right?

The changeling brought her hands up in a gesture of religious warding. "Oh Gods no. Keep me the fuck away from any babysitting contest. That goes for Annie too." Atsede sighed. She did still owe Ana pretty badly since she bailed her out that one night.

[Morty]

[Three Delinquents and a Knight]

Iknika snaps her fingers and points her hand at Anastasia.

"Right. I think I've heard of you. Koshal mentioned a girl with a fox tail was accepted by his mentor as a student. I study with someone else and with an axe, not a sword." She looks over to Atsede. "I like the way you think, but this costume is not meant to withstand anything more serious than a goblin kid at high speed. Plus my cousins' aunt Reelshka wouldn't like it. And you don't want to cross her."