songerein | Halloween Nightmare: Part I

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Halloween Nightmare: Part I

✵ HALLOWEEN NIGHTMARE: PART I ✵

It comes without warning. A few nights before Halloween, when the moon is supposed to be full and bright, it suddenly blinks out and turns pitch black. Even the stars seem to be covered, casting a strange darkness all over Songerein. While the fae sense something unusual, the newly arrived people—the dreamwalkers—all suddenly fall over asleep as if struck by a curse. Thick, black fog covers the town and one by one their bodies glow bright before converting into dream energy and disappearing into their crystals.

Alarmed, the tapirs investigate, some plunging deep into the realm of dreams to try and find wherever they went. What they discover is something they had never seen before—a massive dreamscape rippling through the dimensions, one full of life, color, and sound. It's as if its own little world, unaware that a giant group has dropped in uninvited. Before the dreamwalkers can be too confused, the tapirs send out a message via their crystals:

Careful, Dreamwalkers! We don't understand what's happening, but you have entered an unusual dreamscape, one where everyone here believes this to be their own world. It feels unstable, to the point where if too much disturbance happens it could turn this entire place into a nightmare! One that could affect Songerein!

Good news is it looks like they're throwing a huge party, so maybe if you just have fun and help out, it will pass quickly and you can return. There's a strange barrier that prevents anyone from coming out of the dream normally...but, we'll figure it out! Just try and have fun, okay?

That might be a tall order for some, but there's little choice. Already everyone has been outfitted in appropriate costumes that serve as "disguises"—some more realistic than others—allowing them to blend in. So long as they follow along and don't cause any disruptions, the locals won't bat an eye. However, the moment someone behaves oddly, such as speaking of other worlds or not behaving in a "frightfully ghoulish" manner when expected, the locals will start eying them with suspicion and small cracks will start to form in various places, most notably the sky where are a large grinning moon watches over everything. Fortunately it will take quite a lot before things get dangerous, but care is needed.

Now, what kind of "dream" have they been pulled into?

I . HALLOWEEN FESTIVAL

The town is bustling and looking quite alive despite its rather monstrous and undead citizens. The architecture style is a mix of ye olde Victorian England and steampunk—with bones and spiders and a lot of sharp things, of course. There is a giant cauldron in the center that acts as a fountain, and while touching it won't harm anyone, drinking it might cause a few green, gassy, flammable hiccups and fire breath that goes away after a while. There is even an odd story going around about a crazy witch called Baba Yaga and many wonder if something strange will happen again like all the other years. For now it's advised for everyone to carefully explore while perhaps getting into the various festivities. It's their time of the year after all!

A. Costume Party. Everyone's in a costume and there are plenty of contests and parades for everyone to show theirs off. All are encouraged to do their best and act like whatever they're dressed up as, and some may even be pulled into random impromptu "acts" for fun. Cute little black cats with witch's hats will hop on their heads and drop some special candy as a "reward." What could be so suspicious about this? (Yes, this is the cursed candy mentioned in the official details.)

» BONUS: MAGIC THREADS. Some locals need a little help with their costumes and request special thread that can be harvested by the ghoul worms—an underworld version of the silkworm. However, getting to them can be a bit...tricky. The worms need to be scared out of their wits for them to spit out the thread. The next difficult part is capturing the thread and not having it all over one's face. There are also some rainbow spiders who produce colorful threads, but they need to be sweetened up before they'll pass over their hard work.

B. Beware the Food. Of course the food is to die for. No, really, be careful of the food because there's a high chance it's been cursed and will cause one or more of the following: 1) suffer severe food poisoning; 2) become an undead zombie; 3) turn into a ghastly toad; 4) have a Wicked Witch experience and turn into a puddle of goop to then become a slime monster. Except for the first one, these changes are all painless and will just make the affected feel funny for half an hour. For the food poisoning, drinking from the Cauldron in the center of town will cure it, but for those who don't want flame breath, creating a certain witch's brew could be concocted.

» BONUS: WITCH'S BREW: Gather the following items to create the special witch's brew that will not only cure the food poisoning but other maladies as well. Just need a few tails of newt, a couple eyes of mud guppies, and the nails of opossums. Fortunately there are quite a few stores that carry these items so no one has to harvest them themselves, though they are certainly welcome to. If buying, the payment requires five chocolate coins. The catch? All the kids have the chocolate coins so need to somehow get them. Maybe the trick-or-treating can help.

C. Jack-o-Lanterns. There are pumpkins everywhere and an assortment of activities to do with them. From simple pumpkin carving for decoration, to loading them into catapults to see how far they go, to avoiding flaming pumpkin heads flying around causing mayhem. But the real buzz is carving pumpkins for the newly "arrived" skeletons that have unearthed to join the populace. As part of a celebration these special pumpkins will be worn by the new skeletons so the more decorated the better.

D. Trick-or-Treat. Of course there is candy being handed out and thrown out to be passed to the younguns. Some adults may find a giant skull head full of various candies shoved into their hands so they can give them to any excited gremlins. Just beware, those little monsters are more than happy to pull a trick instead, so tricks are also fair game as long as they are eventually given candy. In fact, tricks and pranks are highly encouraged, to the point that some are throwing competitions. Should anyone try to withhold the goods, however...well, curses from children are the worst.

E. Candy Corn Golems. Some candy corn will randomly come together and transform into candy corn golems. They range from knee-high that can do little more than just do feeble punches and throw goop on people's legs to a towering ten foot monstrosity that is ready to launch candy corn missiles that explode into harder gunk that can completely imprison anyone. While some locals might find their presence a suitable chaotic ingredient, many don't as they have no idea how these creatures came to be as the usual hexes and underworld magic seem to have little effect. Yet they are susceptible to the dreamwalking abilities… Most will cheer when a golem is defeated, but some may become suspicious.

» BONUS: FIND THE SOURCE. Even though the golems can be taken care of, the more that only the dreamwalkers can destroy, the more unnecessary attention and suspicion is aroused. Best to figure out where to find what's creating them and put an end to it. Whispers of a "mad witch" and "crazy hag" can be heard and curiously, some of the smaller golems trundle down away from the main chaos through some small alleys. Following them will lead them to a strange house, the magic spilling out unnatural. There are drag marks and broom bits that are tinted blood red and inky black. Stray, tattered pages and black smears can also be found around the house. Attempts to enter the house result in being blown back into the town center cauldron, however as long as attention is drawn to the house then suspicion will reduce from the dreamwalkers.

II. GRAVE WEDDING

Just outside of town is a vast graveyard that stretches for a considerable distance, the madly grinning moon seeming to loom and be its brightest here. Although mostly consisting of graves, there are also large mausoleums and a dilapidated looking chapel. Many live within the graveyard and those not participating in the town's festivities are having their own little parties. There's even a wedding being held at the chapel. However, not everything is going well and a helping hand—connected or not—will be appreciated.

A. Haunted Wedding. What a spooktastic night for a wedding between a bootiful bride and her ghastly groom. The chapel may be old, riddled with holes, and look ready to fall apart at the slightest breeze, but it's the ideal venue for all wicked weddings. With the pews filled with other residents of the town, it looks to be a perfect celebration—until red-eyed goblins suddenly burst through the already broken windows and holes. Some of the guests are quick to fight back (with some thinking it part of the event), but these goblins seem stronger than usual. Anyone who is nearby will be asked to help and get rid of them before they really do wreck the wedding!

» BONUS: GOBLIN SEALS. No matter how many are defeated, more just keep appearing to take its place. A gravekeeper shouts out that they witnessed the goblins appearing near a dark corner of the cemetery, a place known to be heavily cursed and filled with hexes due to all the witches buried there. Those who investigate will find all the graves dug out and each one with a summoning seal inside. Fortunately they are easy to destroy by either casting magic or even chucking rocks to break up the symbol. Destroy them all to stop the goblins, but be careful as some will pop up in the process.

B. Grave Situation. The graveyard is considered as one of the largest neighborhoods with many finding their underground or stone mausoleum homes quite comfortable and even luxurious in some cases. As part of the Halloween prank, tombstones, grave markers, and even coffins have been moved around and the residents are not happy. They'll need help replacing everything, but be warned—some pranksters have gone beyond and boobytrapped some. Triggering the traps will produce sticky webbing, glitter paint, and "bloody" marshmallow slime (it's just dyed red).

» BONUS: HOSTILE NEIGHBORS. There are some undead and skeletons lying in their earthly beds and cramped coffins that will not take too kindly to being disturbed. They are quite aggressive and will outright attack anyone who comes near their homes, even if they aren't in the right place. They need to be restrained and it would be bad news if anyone is severely harmed or worse—destroyed. Careful examination will reveal a strange slip of paper with what looks like a hex symbol on their heads, and if removed they will pass out but return to normal.

C. Nightmare Graves. Some tombstones will have writing that will mysteriously change to words that will provoke those who read it and send them immediately to a nightmare. It could be something completely random or it could be personal with the severity also random. Some dreams will be reflected on the tombstone similar to the crystals while others can be entered via dreamwalking. In either case, the dreamer's body will be lying in repose in front of the tombstone, which will have a line of "Do not disturb" along with cryptic words related to the nightmare.

» BONUS: NOCTAERE. The longer someone stays in a nightmare, the greater the risk in either attracting noctaere into the dream and out into the dreamscape and for the dreamer to become a noctaere themselves. It could be a partial or full transformation, depending on how strong the nightmare and how sensitive the dreamer is. Dreamwalkers must help try to stop the change before it's too late by attempting to change the dream or calm the dreamer. But if the dreamer turns into a noctaere and starts causing havoc within the dreamscape, then they must be subdued physically with dreamotion abilities.

[Mod Note: This is Part I of our event! To look over the official details as well as ask any questions, drop them in the official Event Details post. While we prefer for threads to remain in the event log, players are welcome to take their threads into their own individual logs for personal organization. We only request players to comment to the event log with a link to it so that others can find them more easily!]

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[Ferran manages to force a response through his grit teeth after a moment, clearly struggling between the fear that's made everything in him tense and his aggravation with the teasing.]

Did I never t-tell you about the f-fire thing...?!

[He feels like that would have come up!]

[ Fire thing? Vanitas is pretty sure that it hasn't come up. Vanitas clicks his tongue against this teeth.

And drives his Keyblade through a goblin. ]

No, I don't think it did... I tended to favor Lightning-based magic and healing.

Edited 2021-10-18 18:08 (UTC)

[This dream has become even more of a nightmare than it already was... how does he even get into these things??]

Then stick with those!

[Forcing himself out of the frozen state brought on by the phobia, he channels those feelings into a spell—and when he snaps his fingers at one of the creatures making a ruckus, it shrieks and starts to hop uncontrollably between each foot as if the floor has burned it.]

[ Oh... Oh! Is it like a curse? It seems like Ferran has! ]

If that's how you want it, princess.

[ Though he doesn't do that either. Instead he rushes the goblin with his keyblade. He'll attack it viciously with a series of quick, hard strikes that end with a chunk of ice jutting up from the ground. ]

[Hit with a double-whammy of temperature, that thing is (frozen?) toast. Ferran directs his attention to the next, but even as he sends a goblin sinking through its own shadow, he knows he won't be able to keep up with the influx of attackers if this lasts much longer.]

It's your highness if you're going to be like that.

[ Vanitas is also recognizing a part of the problem. These things definitely have a source. They are just going to keep coming unless that is taken care of. So he's thinking that it is about time to, well. Scoot. ]

That would be showing a little too much respect don't you think?

[ Now mix it with a bit of Dark Thunder and - ]

We need to go.

[Ferran probably has a few more outs than Vanitas, given how easy it would be for him to fly out a window, so he doesn't immediately move to exit. Instead, he tries to clear a path by sending a few more curses at the monsters closest to the door.]

I'll be behind you.

Good. We're going to head right to the source and cut it off.

[ Because while he is all about releasing his pent up irritation and ( augh ) anxiety, even Vanitas finds some things annoying. Like the goblins and their numbers. So might as well be productive about it.

With Ferran behind him, Vanitas heads to the cemetery where he had seen some goblins meander from. ]

Here. I saw them here.

[Although he can't see anything obviously the source of the goblins right now, the desecrated graves are easy enough to spot, and if he knows anything about the darker sorts of stories, it's that messing with a cemetery is always bad news.]

I'll check the left side.

[In the open air like this, it'll be much harder for anything to catch them by surprise or corner them. Splitting up shouldn't be a problem.]

[ Oh Ferran might be all right with splitting up, but Vanitas? Not so much. He is confident in his own abilities, but Ferran? Not really. He hasn't seen what the guy is capable of outside of being a Fae. Thus the boy rolls his eyes. He wills an Archraven or two to follow after the other while he goes and explores.

Vanitas doesn't know anything about messing with cemeteries being a bad sort of thing, but he does know that this isn't how things should look. Thus he meanders around and goes to check out one of those graves. ]

[Vanitas should know well enough that Ferran is adept at escape in this form, if nothing else. Either way, he lets the Unversed accompany him without even an implied complaint, simply looking to get things done.

He doesn't waste any time, flying over to discover the strange marks inside each hole.]

What the hell is this?

[It's mumbled to himself, but as he reaches forward to see if he can dismantle one just by ruining the chalk... or whatever they were made with, he calls out so he can be heard.]

There's some kind of magical circle in these ones.

[ Vanitas doesn't really do anything to stop Ferran from his exploration. Rather, his eyes are trained on the goblins wandering about in the cemetery itself. He sends out some of his Unversed to deal with them so that the boys can deal with this. Without interruption. ]

It's probably the source of the goblins. Someone thought it would be a great idea to conjure them. Do you think by removing it completely it will halt the production of these things?

[Someone. The who and why interest him to some extent, but it's ultimately irrelevant for the immediate moment, and he simply nods in response to the question rather than wonder about hypotheticals.]

It's worth a shot.

[Ferran reaches down to erase the sigil, planning to take the time to make sure none of the lines meet when he's done. He doesn't know enough about magic circles to be sure that a small error will fix the problem, and the marks aren't so easy to simply brush off. He has to use his nails to dig parts of it out of the dirt.]

Edited (hit the button, ryoko.) 2021-11-02 23:40 (UTC)

[ Things like the "who" and "why" of course also interest Vanitas. To a degree. Again, he's not overly invested in helping people or doing things that slide towards the "light" or are considered "good." It's just that he's had some fun and now it's time for it to stop. When it starts to become problematic for him, then he might as well put a stop to it. Purely for self-interests and not at all for any other reason -

It's completely true. Completely. ]

Just smash it. Don't take your time trying to clean it up all nice and neat. We're going to have company.

[ Because the goblins have taken notice. Now they are heading this way. Some Unversed roll off of Vanitas' shoulders and he readies Void Gear. Better for one of them to fight and the other to focus on destruction of that seal. ]

[Don't worry, Vanitas. Your inner softie secret is safe with Ferran... maybe.

His head lifts at the sound of the approaching attackers. While he doesn't have the greatest amount of strength in his current form, his sharp nails help him get past any protections the marks were given.]

Trying to make sure it works—

[But he doesn't spend any further time arguing, or allowing himself to get distracted. One of the seals is thoroughly destroyed, and Ferran takes the opportunity to leap into the air and dive towards the next, which he immediately gets to work on.]

Which we won't no until you just do it.

[ But as Ferran actually does destroy it? Vanitas can see some of the goblins disappear. So that actually does work. The seals are responsible.

He grins. ]

Seems like you got the answer though.

[ So when Ferran darts off to the next, Vanitas follows. He makes sure that none of the goblins can get to him. Van slices them down or just uses magic to keep them at bay. ]

[Working as a team almost feels natural, which is strange in itself for how long Ferran fought on his own. But perhaps his desire to join his friends in their fight—despite being outweighed by the things keeping them on opposite sides—and the hazy memories of that other world and his dark-haired friend are the answer.

Though he finds himself missing the powers that let him defend himself directly, he doesn't let any envy of Vanitas's abilities distract him, and he trusts him to keep the goblins out of Ferran's way until the task is done. It's more chaotic at the start given the larger numbers, and he has to duck a couple of times to avoid long-ranged attacks, but it's only a matter of time before the seals and the numbers dwindle to nothing.

Before, he might have just considered it a part of the dream with no real cause—nothing else made sense, so why would this? But seeing the deliberate nature of each of these graves, dug out and used for the purpose of conjuring violent monsters... He gets to his feet, brushing his dirty hands together and catching his breath.]

Where the hell did these come from?

Edited (there's a letter that needs to go there.) 2021-11-08 22:18 (UTC)

[ Vantias himself decides that he is much better off taking back in his Unversed. Thus he does, feeling the slight power boost from the negative energies that they have been collecting. It might mean less "bodies" to defend with, but that hardly matters. How could it when it means that Vanitas can better chain his own magical abilities together? Down comes Void Gear on one goblin while he fires off a Dark Firaga that targets and follows after its targets?

He's always been ruthless when it comes to battle. In this moment it is no different. Cut down an enemy here. Fry another one there. Freeze the one in a block of ice before it can strike Ferran then Vanitas follows up by shattering it into several pieces.

It distracts him until the goblins start to cease coming their way. Must mean that Ferran destroyed the seal effectively. Cool cool? ]

I don't really make it a habit to hang around graveyards and wastelands any longer, you know. How can I know how these things appeared? Someone must have their own agenda.

[Ferran just barely keeps himself from rolling his eyes, but he does regard Vanitas with an unimpressed stare.]

It was a rhetorical question. [Does he need to teach you about that kind of thing, too, Vanitas, or are you just being a gremlin again? Either way, he folds his arms and flutters out of the grave, landing lightly on the dirt.]

I didn't notice anything that might point towards who made them. Maybe we should leave.

[A little frustrating, but... well, with any luck they won't be staying in this nightmare town for long anyway.]

[ No, he knows what a rhetorical question is... He's definitely choosing to ignore the fact that it is one. ]

You think so? What if, upon leaving, it invites whoever did this to come back and just start over?

[ Or does Ferran get a little scared being in cemeteries? ]

[It's just depressing, mostly, and he would rather not let his thoughts head too far in that direction.]

You think? [He scratches his chin, considering with a slow sigh. It's a possibility.] ... I guess we could keep watch. Seems like you'd get bored, though.

[Vanitas doesn't seem like a wait around for things to happen sort of person.]

Oh I would get bored. That's not even in question.

[ Vanitas can get bored, it's true. Though in the last year he's found ways to occupy his time that has nothing to do with causing chaos or destruction. ]

Hmm. You're right. Let's just go.

[ Other people can deal with it. ]

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Halloween Nightmare: Part I

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