songerein | { halloween }

Entry tags:

{ halloween }

HALLOWEEN

Another Halloween has arrived in Reverein, and the Nightmare Troupe returns from their mysterious origins to help transform the carnival grounds to fit the season. They've added a new feature attraction: The Labyrinth, where everyone just runs around to fight spooky baddies for candy, prizes, and flex one's combat abilities in dreamotion. It's all in good fun, of course!

More details on everything can be found here. As a reminder, events double as our TDMs and information can be found here. Any outside characters participating in the log are canonly logged as appearing in Songerein in October and will remain in Songerein from the IC date of October 25th, just before the event ICly begins. TDM only characters can only thread within this log. Anyone who apps in and is accepted will have their character count October as their first time in the game without any disruption, so all content will carry over. Those who do not apply will disappear which should not seem too unusual, however players in game can choose to retcon and pretend a character was never there to begin with if it would be easier; or even think their presence was just a dream.

IMPORTANT! All outside characters MUST have "TDM" in their subject line, even if you might not app. This will help people differentiate those who are already in the game and those who are not.

TDM threads are required for samples. Refer to the Game Info for general information and feel free to toss any questions here. Reserves will open October 25th and Applications will open on November 1st. Our application cycles are bi-monthly so the next cycle after won't be until January.

TDM Toplevel Link Directory (click to view)

Bokurano - Jun Ushiro
Cookie Run Kingdom - Black Raisin Cookie
Dead by Daylight - Zarina Kassir
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - Edgin Darvis
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves - Xenk Yendar
Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core - Genesis Rhapsodos
Final Fantasy XIV - Emet-Selch
Final Fantasy XIV - Hermes
Final Fantasy XV - Somnus Lucis Caelum
Full Metal Alchemist - Alphonse Elric
Genshin Impact - Ei
Genshin Impact - Nahida
Great Ace Attorney, The - Iris Wilson
Hey Arnold! - Helga G. Pataki
Hi-Fi Rush - Chai
Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Zelda
Noragami - Yato
Original - Astralin Turnont
Touhou - Maribel Hearn

We will request any thread submissions for certain prompts during AC and TDM threads will count. For more information, refer to the Game Notes.

I. CARNIVAL

II. LABYRINTH

COMMENTS

I. CARNIVAL

While the carnival grounds still have the standard fare of attractions themed up for Halloween, there are a few new ones popping up thanks to the Nightmare Troupe. Some are similar to what appeared last year, but with a different look to them. Some, perhaps, more terrifying than before.

A. Personalized Costumes. All throughout Reverein boutiques and tailors are in full swing to create costumes for those who wish to wear, either by renting or buying. However, for those who are a bit adverse, the fairy godmothers are out and about ready to employ their fashion magic to grant anyone and everyone a special Halloween costume, just for them! There might be the slight side effect that the wearer may behave like the costume itself, but it's just a temporary phase.

B. Vampring Frights. The vamprings are still out and about, nibbling on nightmares. But now they are also appearing outside of dreams, deciding that a bit of fear could make as good of a snack or meal as any other. Only the ones that are truly hungry will appear, so a little purple blob will bounce and latch onto any part of their target's body they can reach (though they particularly like the top of the head). Those who are bitten in this manner won't try to bite others, fortunately. Instead, they will become something like a "Vampring minion" and try to invoke fear and scare others. (For more information and use the original version of the Vampring, read here.)

C. Monster Swaps. Small monsters will roam the carnival grounds and will swap bodies with random people to go around pulling pranks and tricks in the person's body. The person is now trapped in the monster's body, but has access to the monster's trickster, spooky abilities as well (ie, players can make this up). To return to normal, they must find their original body and bite it. Otherwise, they will have to wait for the monster to get bored and return to switch them back.

D. Carnival Fare. Here are a few of the general games and attractions available for carnival goers to enjoy.

🔫 Zombie Shooter. Ride through a rickety car through a building and shoot the "zombies" that pop up with bright green paintball guns. While most are cardboard, there are a few volunteers that dress for the occasion. Don't mind their pain as they get hit, they're fine.
👻 Spooky Stories. Instead of a fire, there is a boiling cauldron set up where people can gather around and try to conjure up their spookiest story. The steam over the cauldron will change and twist to try and illustrate the story as it goes, and should it proof particularly scary, a manifestation of the terror will crawl out of it to terrorize everyone for a little bit before disappearing.
🍏 Poisoned Apples. Special caramel covered green apples are handed out throughout the carnival. One bite will inflict one or more of the following effects: floating, dizzy, sugar rush, creepy, frightful. (Players are free to be creative and come up with additional effects!)
🧹 Broom Carousel. The horses have been replaced with different styles of witch brooms, letting everyone have a safe experience of flying on a broom. Until the brooms suddenly fly out of the carousel and into the carnival. Hang on or stop that broom!
🎃 Pumpkin Carving Challenge. Pumpkins can be found all over the grounds, and there is a challenge to carve them with dreamotion and light a special candle in them. Doing so will bring the pumpkin to life and behave like whatever expression or drawing carved on them. Whether they behave nicely is a different matter. Blowing out the candle will stop the pumpkin.

E. House of Mirrors. The House of Mirrors will have new mirrors installed that have new special effects…many making everyone inside feel not quite themselves.

🎭 Jekyll and Hyde. A black framed mirror where the opposite version of the viewer appears to taunt them.
💅 Narcissism. A gold framed mirror where one will see the best version of themselves and will stand stuck in front of it admiring themselves. They will need to be forcibly dragged away…else they may get stuck on the mirror.
🛌 Dream or Nightmare? A silver framed mirror that will reflect either a good dream or a nightmare that's on the viewer's mind. It will be a strong image, so strong that the viewer may be tempted to dreamwalk into the mirror, either to be a part of it or to destroy it. Some help may be required to help them either accomplish their goal or pull them out.
🪞 Mirror Version. Sometimes, a "mirror version" of the viewer may reach out to switch places, trapping the original inside the mirror while the mirror version goes out to cause some chaos. The trapped person can only traverse through mirrors, and can only be freed if the mirrored version is shoved back into any mirror. One way to tell a mirror version apart is that they will randomly reflect things off their body.

F. Haunted Ryokan. A haunted Japanese styled inn is the theme for this year's "haunted house." On the outside, it looks invitingly eerie, with life-sized traditional Japanese dolls as their hosts and guides. They hope their new patrons will enjoy their stay…forever.

🏮 Peony Lantern. At first a beautiful woman will appear holding a lantern and take a person's hand to lead them through the narrow halls lit by floating lanterns. But whenever they pass under a lantern, the woman's form changes into a skeleton. Once they are noticed, they will screech and chase them through the hallways and rooms to the next location, but if left alone it will quietly lead them without issue.
🛁 Bathhouse. Somehow they get to the bathing area where the steam rises thick around them. Without warning a ghostly figure of a long-haired drowned woman will crawl out and chase with a bloody knife. Fish spirits will also fly out to impede them, but they could be used to smack the woman instead. Should someone slip in the water, they'll feel hands grab at them, trying to pull them under…
🪦 Graveyard. Past the courtyard is a graveyard where all manner of Japanese inspired ghosts and demons roam. A special paper talisman is available, and once powered with positive dreamotion it will create a shikigami that will help ward off and defend against the ghosts. But it must have constant dreamotion poured into it, so should it ever go out, the ghosts and demons will suddenly rush into chase.
🐕 Shiba Statues. Should anyone be having a truly terrible time, special little shiba inu statues will trot in to dispel the "evils" and give the visitor some much needed comfort and respite. They will even guide them to the exit if needed. Those who manage to pass through on their own will also meet the shiba inu statues and have a chance to play with them as if in congratulations.

II. LABYRINTH

A big structure now occupies the area just beyond the Fairgrounds. Towering stone walls hide complex pathways inside, and it turns out its express purpose is not to get people lost, but for a little bit of exploration. There is no entrance/exit, just a special circular teleportation pad that will take them inside and there is no end goal. It's not difficult to get out once inside, but the winding paths encourage visitors to check behind corners for treats because there's a lot of treats AND tricks!

A. Halloween Creatures. The labyrinth is populated with silly creatures held together by ~~craft glue and duct tape~~ both dreamotion and nightmare. These creatures will attack on sight, but subdue them and reap the rewards: candy and silly toys! It's all for fun, after all.

🦴 Skeletons. Their bones are made of rubber and most physical attacks will bounce off them. Have to get in close to blast with dreamotion!
🕷 Glow-In-The-Dark Plastic Spiders. Will shoot sticky licorice webbing that will trip up and trap any caught in it. Have to eat through it to get out, and the flavor could either be red or black.
🔺 Candy Corn Golems. Chuck giant pieces of candy corn that are delicious, but hurt! Golems will melt under intense heat.

B. Mysterious Doors. Sometimes, you may find a door at one of the dead ends. Knock, and most of the time a kindly old lady (where did she come from? Don't worry about it–) will present you with special trick-or-treat bags. The other times, a swarm of genuinely sinister nightmare creatures will come pouring out. Oops! Try again next time! Here are some of the items the old lady will give and their effects (they can be taken home after the event):

🧙 Witch's Hat. The hat will automatically fly on top of the person's head and will allow them to cast silly hexes of misfortune on their targets.
🧹 Witch's Broom. Can fly at fast speeds for a few minutes at a time. Only goes up to three feet in the air.
🤓 Plastic Fangs. These fangs will fit themselves in the person's mouth and will allow them to bite any candy corn golem or sticky spider licorice webbing with ease. And normal foods, too.
🕸 Spray Can of Licorice Webbing. Releases a spray of licorice webbing similar to the ones used by the plastic spiders.
🧻 Roll of Toilet Paper. Exactly as it says.
🍫 Nougat Center. A delicious treat that will temporarily boost one's ~~stats~~ dreamotion abilities.

C. Beware of Steve. If you're very unlucky, you may hear an ominous clatter in the distance... The low rumble of a revving chainsaw... Those who spend lots of time in the labyrinth will know soon enough–those are noises that mean you need to run. Because STEVE, THE 20-FOOT-TALL CHAINSAW-WIELDING SKELETON, takes no hostages, and he's out for blood!!! He will continue chasing people until fought, and anything goes with this foe. While dreamotion attacks will work, using the items given by the old lady in the doors will inflict greater damage. Anyone who is "killed" by Steve will be knocked out of the Labyrinth unharmed.

D. Grand High Viscount of Candy Corn. On the other end of giant "horrors" is a giant golem made of candy corn with a large top hat that may appear out of one of the doors. Its main attack, besides trying to punch and pummel, is spewing sticky candy goop that will trap anyone caught in it. It'll wear off, but until then, any caught in it will at first feel very energetic and attack more quickly before becoming sluggish and unable to do much, as if they suffered an extreme sugar crash.

I. CARNIVAL

II. LABYRINTH

COMMENTS

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The world is tilting this way and that for him and it makes him dig his fingers into the ground to keep himself from swaying with it. He doesn't know wether it is better to keep his eyes open as the world turns and sways or to close them and only contend with the feeling of spinning and swaying without any visual effects.

"Must have..." how else would this have started, he hadn't eaten anything but that apple. "Oh, Valar make it stop... no more spinning..."

Oh if only there is a way to cure all that dizzying and spinning. And where is Julieta and her arepas when you need them right now? Isabela tries to find help and possibly a place where Maedhros can settle down and recuperate from the apple’s effects on him.

Although some people are too busy going around the carnival at the moment to take notice a lady in a purple and red witch outfit waving at them and begging them to lend a hand and help a very dizzy elf. Looks like she has to do most of the work to assist Maedhros.

“Hang in. Let me try to help you in getting up from the ground and find somewhere for you to sit down or relax on.”

It probably wouldn't have been such a bad time for him if he hadn't lived through what he had in Angband. Somewhere deep inside of him he knows this, but the panic is almost an instinctual reaction by this point and it only ever serves to make the dizziness and vertigo he feels that much worse.

Another wave of dizziness makes nausea rise up in him. He hates this, he hates it so much he'd scream if he wasn't afraid he'd pass out if he stopped trying to keep some control over himself.

"Yes... somewhere quiet," the noise just serves to make everything worse.

“Okay, that’s great. I found a nice quiet area far from most of the attractions. It should be a good place to recover from all the weirdness and loud happenings in this carnival. And plenty of benches to sit on. Come on, let’s get you up on your feet and walk towards a bench.”

Isabela offers him a hand, ready to assist him in getting up on the ground.

"Thank you..."

Maedhros takes the offered hand and lets her help him to his feet. He feels as shaky and unsteady as newborn foal as he let's her lead him away towards the benches. It still feels like the ground beneath him is spinning and tilting this way and that. He wouldn't be surprised if someone mistook him for a drunkard with the way he swayed as he walked.

With a lot of effort on the pulling, Isabela is able to get Maedhros up on his feet again and slowly assists him in walking towards the quiet area she had mentioned a while ago. She hopes that nobody is going to be scared by his current state at this time as she takes him to the area. Hopefully they have better luck in eating the apples. The young lady hates to imagine what would have happened to her if she ate one so soon.

It didn’t take long for them to get the quiet place and its many benches. Thank goodness that it is not crowded tonight so they are all spoiled for choices right now. She then spies a modest long bench: terrific choice fo anyone struggling with apple induced dizziness.

“There is a bench right over there. Let’s get over to that one right now.”

Maedhros does his best not to lean too heavily on Isabela, he wasn't as heavy as he might seem to be but he was still not exactly light either. He does manage to reign in his panic somewhat by focusing on putting on foot in front of the other to keep moving forward. It's still there, bubbling under the surface, but the promise of a silent place to sit down and ride it out is keeping him from completely letting himself fall to pieces.

He's been keeping his eyes on the ground for most of their walk, it's easier to pretend the world isn't swaying this way and that if all you see is the road.

"Yes, that... that sounds like a good idea."

The weight alone doesn’t bother her too much as long as she can keep up in taking Maedhros to a more quiet place in the carnival. At least in here the dizziness wouldn’t get worse and he can recover from it in peace. Eventually they finally reached it and arrives at the bench she was talking about.

“Okay, we’re here now. This should be nice and relaxing away from the loud ongoings of the carnival,” Isabela nods as she brings him towards the bench in question and lets him sit down on it first before she drags another bench for her to sit on.

He almost colapses on to the bench when they finaly reach it, pressing his hand down flat against it just to convince himself there is something solid beneath him. "Thank you... it does feel a bit better without so much noise around."

“You’re welcome. I thought that having a place to relax without so much stimulants, especially noises, would be a good idea to recover from all the weird apples effects,” Isabela happily responds in relief as she sits down on the other bench.

"That sounds like a good idea..." he says, because talking helps a bit as well. It helps to keep him in the here and now, grounding him in the present instead of letting his thoughts float away into the past. "I hope most people don't have as extreme a reaction as I've had."

“I hope so as well. The apples shouldn’t be giving everyone a weird time by unleashing random effects onto us. I have no idea as to why they thought it was a good idea to include whatever strange and unknown ingredient into the apples or the caramel.”

She is hoping that the apples she has gotten from the booth earlier wouldn’t try to give her a hard time either.

"A little bit of a warning would probably have been prudent of them to give," he grumbles. Now that he's starting to feel better he is a bit annoyed that the ones handing out the apples hadn't seen fit to warn him about what kind of effects they might have on him. "Well... now at least I know not to eat anymore of them."

“Of course. It is probably for the best, and for everyone’s safety. The people distributing those apples should have been more honest on what kind of ingredients they use to make them if I’m being honest about it. Oh well, at least we do know how to avoid them a little better.”

"It would be better should they do so, but at least it seems it was simple carelessness on their part rather than malicious intent." At least he hopes so. "But you are right, at least now we know what they can do."

“Correct, it does seem be very careless of them not to say anything about what ingredients are causing the weird apple effects so I am pretty certain that they don’t really mean any harm to begin with. Maybe a sign of a list of effects would be of great help too.”

"It would be good to know the ingedients, just in case somebody have a low tolerance for any of them. I know it is not completely unheard of in humans to be unable to eat certain things without getting sick."

“Oh absolutely. It will make things a lot easier for people to be careful with what they eat especially if an ingredient might make them very ill. Some people do have nasty allergies towards specific foods, I think that Mamá had once told me and my sisters about it years ago. Papá has a really scary history of having allergies towards bees and bee stings that he needs her healing arepas to get him back to normal.”

"It seems the most logical way to go about these sorts of things, just to be on the safe side." Elves didn't really have allergies, but he'd spent enough time with humans to know this was not so with other peoples. "Yes. I've been told that can be a very dangerous thing for humans, should they be intolerant to the bee's venom. I'm glad to hear your mother can help him with it."

“Yes. That is quite scary that some folks can be deathly allergic to specific animal bites and attacks and venom from certain animals could put someone’s life in danger. Gladly, she never fails to help him to get back to normal in no time whenever he had encounters with bees. Nobody wants to get covered in bee stings all the time.”

"It was quite distressing to learn, for we do not really have such afflictions, that some of our new friends and allies could be hurt in such a way. Is he getting stung often? That must be very hard for him to have to deal with so often, in that case. I wonder what's got the bees so riled up, if that is so?"

“Often by accident from the looks of things and unfortunately on a semi frequent basis. You see, poor Papá is quite accident prone and he often wounds up getting hurt a lot. He would try to do simple tasks like cutting wood only to accidentally hit a nearby beehive, causing the bees to get very angry at him. Imagine having to witness or hear about your parent getting attacked by bees on a nearly daily basis.”

"Yes... that would explain the bees agression," what a terrible thing to happen so frequently. "That does sound like it would be rather distressing for a child to see, especially if it happens so very often."

“Yeah. Not a great thing to bear witness so much and so often. Poor Papá doesn’t deserve to get attacked this often as he is just a humble ordinary man who just loves his own family so much and is just doing normal chores and tasks like everyone else.”

"He sounds like a good man, and certainly one that deserves better than to be harassed by angry bees." They were usualy such gentle creatures, but they did not really understand the difference between an accident and an attack. "I'm sorry you had to be a witness to such things."

{ halloween }

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