{ halloween }

[dreamposts]

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

Comments

[futurerockstar]

"What about a god of ice? That seems like they'd be pretty chill."

Get it? Get it?

[refantasma]

"No, there's only two. Boreas and Khione. And Khione's a bitch."

But the joke does get a little smile out of him.

[futurerockstar]

There he goes!

"Aw. Don't tell me she's given you the cold shoulder..."

[refantasma]

"Never had a chance to talk to her, and if I did, she's not my type," Nico said, scowling slightly.

Khione was the absolute opposite of his type, now that he thought about it.

"But she did freeze my friends and me in a boat once and send Leo off on an island with a Titaness. But that's not this story."

[futurerockstar]

Aw. A shame. Still, he nodded. "Sounds like she's not a very ice person - okay fine I'll stop." He knew most people could only handle so many puns.

"Didn't mean to drag you off track."

[refantasma]

Ah. See, the first pun went over Nico's head because he assumed Chai was asking if Nico was interested in her Romantically.

"Uh... where'd I leave off?"

[futurerockstar]

Honestly Chai was just happy to make the pun.

"Leaving a hotel?"

[refantasma]

"Oh yeah. They left, and found out they were on a very tight deadline, so they hitchhiked their way to LA, they got distracted by one of Perseus' brothers, Procrustes, who tried to kill them, and they had to kill him instead."

[futurerockstar]

"Why didn't they try to win over Procr... prost... Crust guy?" This Perseus seems like a charming guy, and hey - even Chai managed to win over one of the bosses against him.

"Like, it's not like I haven't -" Hm. Maybe he shouldn't admit that. "Like I haven't fought people, but..."

[refantasma]

"They called him Crusty. I met him in the underworld, and that sums him up perfectly. Anyway, he didn't give Percy and the others a choice. It was kill or be killed."

Nico shut his eyes. "For those of us who are half-divine, we aren't given a choice. It's kill or die."

[futurerockstar]

… Well, at least this guy had a sense of humor.

“… I mean. I kind of get that? When I was fighting Vandelay, the bosses kind of gave me the same choice.”

He shifted uncomfortably. He didn’t… really like that part. At all.

[refantasma]

Nico doesn't like it either, but at this point, he's made a tenuous peace with it.

"It's never easy. It, well, knowing where people generally end up kinda makes it better."

Did that sound weird? "Most of the people I fight are the enemies of the gods, so they always go to the Fields of Punishment or Asphodel. If they were tricked and showed real remorse, the judges could show leniency and let them get reincarnated."

[futurerockstar]

"No idea how it works in my world. I know people used to get weird about putting electronics on your body, but we're pretty much past that now."

Which was good, though his robot arm still flexes uncomfortably. "Nowadays a lot of robots act pretty human. And a human could probably upload a lot of their brain to a computer. So if you die but you're still around, I dunno if you're really gone." The idea of a 'soul' isn't one he cares to examine too closely. "I don't know anything about that stuff? Prefer not to think of it, really."

He was twenty five and reckless, after all. "More important to focus on the now, from what I know."

[refantasma]

"There was a robot here, 9S; I'm sure he had a soul," Nico said. "And it is possible to transfer your essence to an automaton. The gods hate it, but if someone's smart enough, they can get away with it for a couple of millennia."

Nico shrugged. "Death is what makes us human. It separates us from the gods. For the better, I think."

[futurerockstar]

"... Death is weird? And uncomfortable." He'd had plenty of people and robots and everything trying to go after him to kill him. No thank you. He still had plenty of living to do.

Anyway. "Don't think you can prove souls in my world anyway, so it's whatever." He waved his hand and shrugged. Not much of a point in trying to get into it if you couldn't prove it.

[refantasma]

"Only because you don't know what's going to happen. Death would be less scary if you knew what would happen afterward."

He knew people took comfort in funerals when they had real faith. "I think any one with a personality has a soul."

[futurerockstar]

"I mean I guess?" Why was this the line of conversation he'd gotten himself into? "But I don't. And I don't really want to see the people I beat up again." Ugh. Like seeing Kale again. That'd be awful.

Still... "I guess there's a lot of robots in your afterlife then?"

[refantasma]

"Well, no, but only because my world doesn't have robots yet," Nico said, shrugging.

How had they gotten onto this topic? A teenager with ADHD and was basically a priest of death.

[futurerockstar]

"... It doesn't?" Man, that's... weird. "They've been around for a while now where I'm from. Getting a replacement limb is common, too. If you need it, I mean. It can be expensive, but I got it for free." He twirls his robotic hand all the way around as an example.

"Vandelay's been around for like fifty or so years and they've really pushed that sort of stuff - robot caretakers, cybernetic limbs, that kind of thing. There's other companies that make that stuff too, but they're the big one. ... Kind of glad that I was able to get a new arm." Even with the complications. "Do you know how hard it is to try to do things if one of your arms just can't hold any weight? It sucks."

[refantasma]

"Give it a few years, and I'm sure Leo will make one."

He watched Chai's arm as he spun it around. "He's probably the person here you want to go to if you mess that up. He has a dragon automaton that he repaired."

[futurerockstar]

"Leo, huh? I'll keep that in mind." And a dragon automaton sounded pretty cool... "I've been in plenty of fights and it hasn't busted yet, but who knows what's out there in this place? Peppermint's not here, so it'd be hard to get maintenance if I needed it."

[refantasma]

"Leo's probably your best bet, then," Nico said with a nod. "He's kinda annoying but..."

He looked at Chai, eyes narrowed critically. "You'll probably get along."

[futurerockstar]

"Oh, really? Uh, thanks!"

If Nico was intending to insult Chai, he'd have to be more direct. "Not everyone can handle me, I get it."

[refantasma]

If Chai came from Nico's world, he'd probably be a demigod of some sort.

"You're welcome."

[futurerockstar]

Possibly Apollo, for the music. Whichever god had him would probably be disappointed in him, however.

“Heh. … Wait, what were we talking about?” He’d… totally forgotten.