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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"I'm sorry to disturb you guys..."

It looked like they were sleeping. And gosh, this commotion would not be helping them, but all the more reason to ask. "We're trying to get rid of the goblins to quiet everything down again. Do you know where they're coming from?"

Jeez, first its the party and now it's the goblins! The snakes groggily explain that the ground's been active for many of the church's bells, and the earth smelled wrong. Now the smell is everywhere, smells like dead things and anger.

The goblins shriek and flee, bearing new bruises and a number of bloodied noses. The wolf hunched, snarling between needle teeth soaked in froth and drool. His features had become more haggard, eyes a little sharper.

"What are they sayin'...?" That was less of a human's voice and more of a growl.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I guess everyone celebrating Halloween forgot you guys would wanna sleep right now." Which was very rude of them all, herself included. Had she known sooner about the snakes, she might've asked about the festivities being a little gentler.

Looking over at Kanji - well, now a big bad wolf - she frowned. "They're saying that first the party and the church's bell have been making the ground active, and the earth smells all wrong, but now it's gotten worse. It smells like dead things and anger."

She tilted her head. "That last part would mean the ghosts and skeletons are getting woken up in their graves again, but they don't know about the goblins."

He canted his head. The thought he had was enough to pull him slowly back from his weird, angry brink. "That sounds like nothin' was alive. Goblin... zombies? Goblies?"

He scratched his head.

"So we check the dirt? I got good claws for diggin'!"

"Hehe, goblies..." She liked that name for them; and maybe they were. Tilting her head, she soon nodded.

"Maybe they're coming from a grave? Maybe you could smell out where they're coming from."

...Smell them out!! Kanji snapped his fingers.

"Right! I'm on it! I just need... somethin'..." He looked around him, and reached for a scrap torn from a fallen goblin. He'd seen police dogs do stuff like this. They get a scent and follow it, but he wasn't sure why they needed something specific...

Until now. The air was thick with so much, it'd be an overload on the schnoz. But as he gave the admittedly foul-smelling cloth a test, he cringed and worked his way through it.

"Okay. Think I got it. Don't laugh at me, though. I'm goin' by what I've seen in the news and movies." So he... well, got on all fours and moved around the area. Gradually, he started making his way to a corner of the graveyard...

Even she doesn't know if it would work, but he did smell out the snakes - maybe called them 'lizardy', but point stands, he found them! And they helped out even if they didn't know what was all going on. Standing back, she'll leave Kanji to sniff the scrap and then the air, not sure what he might find out from that. It was pretty chaotic and all.

"Huh? Uh, okay... but I've never seen a movie." And because of the last world, she doesn't have a comment about him moving on all fours. She can only think of how fast he'd be able to move like that.

"Whadda you mean you've never seen a movie...? Or are ya from some medieval whatever time?" Couldn't pinpoint anything from what she looked like.

He paused before an open grave, stuck his head in and sniffed.

"...Bingo. Smells like goblin in here. There's somethin' down there, too."

"Nothing like that. The orphanage didn't really have movies, and then my dad and brother didn't really watch TV. So, I didn't either." Not to mention, but the cabin's generator only had the power for her dad's equipment.

When he paused at the grave, she peeked into it herself, trying to see if there was anything. And yeah, there was something.

"It looks like someone tried to bury it really fast."

"Yeah..." He paused, snorted, then hopped into the grave. This was just etchings in the ground and some kind of powder, but it shaped into these weird circles and symbols.

Looks like dark magic shit. Propped on his front paws, he used his backs to kick and scatter the rest of it, throwing the dust and dirt everywhere.

Then the screams occurred all around them. Angry. Here came...a whole lot of goblins. Did they notice something?

That was pretty strange. Why would anyone set that up in a grave? And why would they want to summon goblins to a wedding? Tilting her head, she remembers during the vows they did say 'if anyone object, let them speak now', but she doesn't think the first goblin came in during that...

Standing straight and grasping her hands at the scream, all of her hair was on alert. Her fear had a few of the nearest goblins being petrified, but doing her best to concentrate, she managed a small enough barrier around herself and the grave where Kanji still was.

His ears flicked upright, matching the tip of his head. He heard feet pounding against the earth and the glint of the barrier confirmed that something was coming.

"Oh, shit...! How'd they find us out here!?" It was right after he'd made a mess here. It was like kicking an anthill and getting swarmed...

He scrambled out and assessed the situation. O h.

"That's a hell of a lot of 'em! ...Or maybe it's just the right number." No use getting scared now. They were both big bad monsters right now. Time to be beasties.

"And wouldja look at that? Ya made weapons for me. Thanks!" He'll just take up a petrified goblin and sling it against a shoulder. He offered the advancing horde a roar from the belly, squared his stance, and swung the frozen goblie like a damn mace.

"The more ya freeze, the more I can use! That's teamwork!"

"They might've sense that symbol being messed with...!"

Which really isn't strange. If that's why they're here, then of course they'd want to protect it. At least she could keep them from getting the symbol until it was dealt with. If only she could transform, but that might take more work.

"Oh, uh, you're welcome...?" Not that she'd ever had someone pick up some of her statues and use them to beat down their enemies. But, if it was helping...

"Teamwork. Right! My snakes can stop a few more!"

"I'm counting on ya!"

Another statue was hefted up, then hurled. It slammed into another group, who found their petrified buddy too heavy to deal with. This opened the way forward.

"I see another symbol in this grave, too... they're probably in all these!" If just one remained, then this would never end. He picked up another statue and swung it instead, sending goblins flying. In the distance was a battle cry... looked like other dreamwalkers were coming to the same conclusion.

He kicked a gravestone into the next pit. Its rounded end scattered the symbol within, breaking the symbols and circles.

"We gotta let the others know! We should try to get to 'em and break the line!"

"Right!"

He's counting on her; what pressure, but she could do it...!

Watching the petrified goblin slam into a good number of its own friends, she followed after Kanji when the path opened up. Only one of her snakes peered into the grave while Rosalia and the rest focused on providing temporarily barriers and petrifying a few more goblins. "More symbols? So that has to be the reason, right?"

Looking over in the direction of the yelling, she's relieved - reinforcements!

"Okay! ... How do we do that?"

Good question! He just needed a little more help, maybe some more ways to distract... y'know, something like reinforcements.

"...Lemme try somethin'." He sucked in as much air as he could, and as he raised his head high, a piercing howl filled the air. The goblins skidded to a stop, confused and more than a little frightened, but it was temporary. Sound was scary, but that meant nothing. Protect the seals...!

Kanji howled again. But in his next call, he was answered. From over the hill were about a half-dozen wolves, scattering graveyard soil as they came to help.

"A'right...! I'm gonna open a path. Be ready to run!"

"Uh, okay."

Making sure to keep her defense up, she blinked when he howled. At first, she doesn't get what he's trying - maybe he was trying to get the others' attention? There were others that were 'dressed' as werewolves. Maybe they could understand him?

But then he howled again and her snakes perked up. Over the hill, they hissed about their appearance and Rosalia blinked. "Oh!"

That made sense.

"Right! I'm ready!"

Weird. How'd he know he could do that...? Nevermind. He appreciated the help and he didn't seem to need to communicate it: The wolves hurtled in and tore into goblins one by one, hackles high and teeth bared.

He dove in too, beginning to funnel the goblins in just such a way that he could... could...!

"A'right, go! Go!"

If only there could be more snakes here, but Rosalia was happy with what help her few had provided. Watching the wolves set brutally to work, it made her shrink a little, but...! Had to be ready to run still!

And though she flinched briefly at his yell, Rosalia took off at 'go!', hurrying down the now open path.

Thank goodness... off she goes. With a growl he would keep that path wide, wide open for her and started counting goblins he took down.

They may crawl over him and put a few scratches on, but the cavalry would come and put an end to this strange operation...!

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Halloween Nightmare: Part I

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