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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Shush.

But...fine.

He'll just look at Zidane before he tries to mimic what he did earlier: stare out into the crowd and idly wonder if he could transform.

.

..

...

After several minutes, nothing changes.]

[Standing there, just waiting for something to happen.]

[... Any moment now.]

[...]

[......]

[... Huh, oh well.]

... Maybe you just wanna really be a dog. What's it like anyway?

[DON'T GIVE UP ON HIM SO EASILY—]

...Aside from the change in height, I don't really feel too different. Walking on four legs took some adjusting, but it's not too dissimilar from using your arms.

[Not giving up... but consider the possibilities...!]

Mhm... and you're cuter like this. Bet all the pretty girls would love to give you a pet.

[Though, thinking about everything that happened with Tifa.]

... Yeah, you'd have no problem snuggling up to someone.

[...Excuse him what—]

That sounds something you would be more interested in trying...

[What the hell is this boy thinking.]

Hell yeah!

[He's not even ashamed!]

I'd cuddle up to her all day!

[Sigh.]

Girlfriend, huh?

[Better than a playboy if so, so he'll be a little less judgmental. A little.]

Haha... she's my wife.

[Is that the truth? Eustace doesn't have to know... and Zidane kind of doesn't want to explain because it's fun saying that. And might be true officially soon anyway.]

[.......Again, excuse him what—

Just a blank stare before deadpan:]

You're joking.

Ahaha! You'd think that, but the ceremony was overseen by dwarves. Still, it was on the Outer Continent, but we'll have something more official in Alexandria one day.

[He nods with a smile, tail wagging.]

[Yeah none of those words make sense to him and he just continues to eye Zidane warily.]

...So you eloped?

[HE STILL FINDS THIS SO HARD TO BELIEVE. For many reasons.]

Nope. We did it to save the world. Dwarf tradition forbids just anyone going to the Sanctuary; you have to be married.

[Believe what you want, it's the weird truth.]

...

[He's. Honestly debating if he should continue this strange discussion or just dropping it now.]

...As long as you like each other.

[Gives up.]

Yeah, we do. She gave a home to come back to.

[And that's the more important thing.]

[Also, somehow, Eustace still hasn't transformed to try getting away from him faster... too bad.]

[Ugh, maybe he should fly away—

But no, hearing such words from a young man like Zidane seems...a little strange. Not particularly bad, though—he can easily see him as the drifter type. So although it's strange and he still has some suspicions, if he truly has someone like that for him, well. That's actually good for him. He could use someone to ground him.

Still, he has yet to return to his original form, and just as he's idly wondering if he'll ever change back, lo and behold—]

—!?

[There's a puff of black and red smoke and he's back to standing normally.]

...Before you ask, no I still don't know how it happened.

[Ugh.]

[Zidane grins all the same after Eustace turns back.]

Okay, we can chalk it up to romance stories turns Eustace back into himself.

[Nod nod, makes the most sense to him. But whether because they make him super contemplative or just that uninterested... that needs to be tested...]

[... later.]

Well, guess it's my turn to try!

[...Disinterest would probably be it.

But he just nods and leans against the wall as he waits for Zidane's attempt.]

I'm curious to see what you'll turn into.

[~~Saying that now, but...~~]

[Zidane grins, his tail waving behind him.]

Alright, catch!

[Because Zidane's just gonna spring at him and disappear into a puff of red smoke. What will come out!?]

—!?

[Why is he flinging himself towards him!!? You monkey brat—!!

Eustace actually takes a half step back as if to completely avoid Zidane, but seeing the puff of smoke, he stops himself and holds out his arms in time to catch him...

...

Even before the smoke clears he can already feel Zidane's new form and he just stares down, fingers trembling.

He's...He's...

Zidane is going to now have the bizarre experience of being cuddled. CUTE WOLF PUPPY]

[Honestly, Zidane was expecting himself to become anything but what he did.]

[But there he was, looking some odd mix of a wolf and coyote with his same tail (like really, that doesn't change still??), and now Eustace is hugging him.]

Hey, I know we're friends now, but you're hugging a little tight there.

[Also, being hugged at all??? He squirms a bit, kicking with his small paws.]

Can't be helped... Too... Cute...

[Zidane, don't ruin the moment with your annoying voice or reminding him who this really is.]

Eustace... Eustace...!

[Oh no, he's going to remember that this is Zidane and not just some coywolf pup. And besides that, he decides now is the time to turn back to his normal form... in this Dreamscape.]

So, what the hell's up with the hugging?

[...

................................

TSK.

Yes that is indeed a very loud click of his tongue and abrupt dropping of Zidane when he changes back. How dare he stop being the cute puppy—

But yeah okay, it's still kind of weird since it was Zidane of all people.]

...Side effect of being a vampire I'm guessing. I've been drawn to anything canine and will have uncontrollable urges to pet them regardless of what they may look like.

[He's laughing... even after he hits the ground. Okay, totally worth it.]

A side effect, huh?

...

So... if I - I dunno - maybe... changed back...

[It's another puff of red smoke and the puppy returns, looking at Eustace with a wagging tail.]

[ZIDANE.

HE SEES WHAT YOU'RE DOING.

Even as he's immediately picking back up and cuddling with him.]

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