Spooktober Spooktacular MMXIX

[billtodamax]

Well-provisioned food table

Right? Nigel agrees. Just hope she had some other people around to help her set it up, this is elaborate. 4 floors all set up for the party with decorations and food? Ridiculous. I'll probably stick around to see about tidying up after. Don't want her to- The door starts banging. JESUS! Nigel says, glancing over at the door. The hell's that?

Spooky Children

Endok and Olon very carefully stop Sasha's candy from interfering with their pile. There is an order to this Sasha. Yeah ok that sounds- Oh, she's trading some too I guess. You should probably ask for more of them to see if he'll give you more. Endok whispers to Sasha, sliding some of his blue ones across to the vampire. Wait how come he's your great-great whatever uncle when you're both kids? Are you trying to trick me? Olon asks suspiciously. She certainly isn't giving up her candy bar. An' what does confusing mean. You don't look that confusing. She tells Shan.

Oh aye, you'd prefer to have a hammer if you're going to be wading into it. But you don't always get the luxury when you're part of the crossbowdwarf squad. Rath says, very much in teacher mode now. That's why you want your crossbow weighty enough to deter any gobl- uh, anyone who's lucky enough to avoid your first volley. She says, demonstrating how she'd turn the crossbow to quickly hammer an attacker. Now if you can't handle the weight there's a simple fix for that and that's toughening up! Any military dwarf should be able to heft a steel or silver hammer without problem. Same for your crossbow.

[Deathkeeper]

[2nd floor- dragon and crocodile]

Nak shakes his head.
”Nope! But luckily I’m not just a crocodile, I’m a Pokémon crocodile which means I can eat sugar just fine.” he declares proudly.

[Earl of Purple]

Second Floor- Dragon and Crocodile

"Wait, pokémon? So you are like Pookie! Except not as fluffy. Or sticky." Cheasadh grabs a handful of jelly babies and a chocolate bar.

Fourth Floor

The halflings dressed as a cowboy totter over to the door. They're not too steady, since there's three of them stacked on each other's shoulders. They're wearing a long brown duster, with a gun belt strapped about the waist, bearing a large plastic revolver. On their head is a stetson, and on their feet, boots- with spurs that jangle as they walk. Their sleeves look empty above the elbow, and their hands are small. The top halfling shouts out as they approach. "Knock knock, we hear you! Who's there?"
"Sandy, I don't think it's a knock-knock joke. I think it's going to be a jumpscare, or something, and... That'll be problematic." The middle halfling's trying to be the voice of reason, but neither top nor bottom listens to her.

[Morty]

[Second Floor - Dragon and Crocodile]

"And you can talk." Brinika's ears point upwards in surprise and curiosity. "Pookie just says one word over and over."

[Recaiden]

Spooky Children

Sasha tilts her head a little, but doesn't actually disprove anyone saying she can't talk. Instead, a tendril of pours out her bucket of candy as well, doing a poor job of keeping it just in front of her. She doesn't really seem to mind if any of her pieces end up in another's pile though.

She does send a tendril to slide a blue one over to Torry in exchange for his peanut one though. Olon and Endok will have to tell her if that's a good trade or not.

Endok and Olon very carefully stop Sasha's candy from interfering with their pile. There is an order to this Sasha. Yeah ok that sounds- Oh, she's trading some too I guess. You should probably ask for more of them to see if he'll give you more. Endok whispers to Sasha, sliding some of his blue ones across to the vampire. Wait how come he's your great-great whatever uncle when you're both kids? Are you trying to trick me? Olon asks suspiciously. She certainly isn't giving up her candy bar. An' what does confusing mean. You don't look that confusing. She tells Shan.

Oh aye, you'd prefer to have a hammer if you're going to be wading into it. But you don't always get the luxury when you're part of the crossbowdwarf squad. Rath says, very much in teacher mode now. That's why you want your crossbow weighty enough to deter any gobl- uh, anyone who's lucky enough to avoid your first volley. She says, demonstrating how she'd turn the crossbow to quickly hammer an attacker. Now if you can't handle the weight there's a simple fix for that and that's toughening up! Any military dwarf should be able to heft a steel or silver hammer without problem. Same for your crossbow.

Torry pushes his peanut candies out to Sasha and Endok in exchange for those blue ones (Which are, of course, the best). "Oh thanks Spooky Friend. Can you tell us your name some other way, since you can't talk?"
"What? It's not a trick!" Ankhenesmeryre insists. "He was just born a lot later. You know, like you can have cousins who already have kids, and stuff." Then she steals one of Torry's chocolates while he's busy with the trade.
"Well, I'm supposed to look spooky right now, not confusing." Shan explains. "I've got a bunch of parents, kinda."

Omiko watches the demonstration, smiling.
"Well, you ought to forget all that hammer stuff, and just get a set of claws." she jokes, flourishing a hand. You know, I don't think even cats are supposed to have such big claws as that. How do those possibly fit on her fingers.

[Fifth Floor]

The chain wraps around Sekhmet's ankle, and she tumbles to the ground in a tangle. The impact stuns her, causing her to lose control over the sphere of darkness. Rather than fizzle out, it grows, drawing on more power and expanding rapidly, filling the whole room with blinding shadows and biting cold. Sekhmet pushes herself to her feet, luckily immune to her own power.

Ilpholin predicted a higher attack from the construct. With her ducking and attacking low, it only makes sense to her to get above and counter. Ilpholin's own hard light energy juts out like a spike to shield her arm from attack, readily blocking the constructs moves. Nadas is a different story. She didn't expect him to be anywhere near competent with that sword. He's never shown any martial capabilities before, always with a nose in a book. It simply seemed like a component to the spell he was using. So there's a definite sound of sword cutting flesh, a dark liquid not quite like blood oozing from the wound.

If it can even be seen before everything goes dark and cold. Ilpholin snorts amusement. "Feels like home brother." Perhaps Nadas neglected to tell his apprentice where and how she grew up. How extensively she's trained to fight in the dark. The nymph's even shown more capability fighting blind than with sight and quite recently downed a warbear in such a manner. The mental note to find some way to replicate this effect to her advantage is filed away for later as her assault continues. Even if it's getting too cold for her liking. She'll have to accelerate Nadas' death for her and her child's safety.

Rising back up and attempting to minimize movement on her currently damaged leg, Ilpholin turns so that the chain bluntly attacks the construct in a wide, distracting sweep simply meant to keep it at bay. Her axe swings out towards Nadas as a feint designed to catch his sword between the blade and hilt of the axe, getting it stuck. The real danger is her hair, growing long and lashing out to wrap around Nadas' throat like a snake. A very fatal position to be caught in if it succeeds.

Somehow, Nadas finds the time for a sarcastic comment. "Yes, put the dark elves in the dark. Interesting choice." This is just typical, really. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.
But anyway, although he's obsessively studied practical things such as swordsmanship for quite a while now, his skill at fighting without his eyes is...basically nonexistent. He doesn't panic, but he is a bit at a loss. Focus on protecting himself, he supposes. Listen for movement, feel the air, all that sort of stuff. He doesn't even try to block the feint, because he doesn't notice it. He holds his blade at guard, holds his other hand up warding his face, and backs up as far as he can without risking hitting the wall. Ilpholin's hair brushes that hand and probably has him by the arm now. But at least that's more expendable than the neck?
The construct of light has an even worse time of it, with Sekhmet's spell draining away its very substance. It's all it can do to get out of the way of the distracting chain.

[bc56]

Fifth Floor
Sekhmet looks around her.
She sees nothing.
Apparently "Devils are immune to their own power" doesn't mean that they can see properly when they've magically extinguished all light in the room. This should give her a chance to get away, though. She rushes to the exit. *CRASH!* She could've sworn it was over there. *THUMP!* Why is there so much torture equipment in this room for her to trip over? She fumbles her way around the room in the dark, aware of the fact that her magical energy is draining away to maintain the spell.

[Deathkeeper]

[Second Floor- Dragon and Crocodile]

"Oh, I'm a special pokemon that can think and stuff, but I can't talk yet. That's why I have this staff. It lets people talk to crocodiles." he says. The girls might have noticed that he's had it touching their costume since the conversation started.

[Arkhosia]

Green Man Origins: Lazarus

"It was, erm, after the greenening. She saved me from some, uh, not-nice people." Fidelia shrinks a little as she answers, and her shoulders narrow, almost as if trying to hide the scars upon her back. "I've been at her side since, helping her out as much as I can with work and rent and things."

[Earl of Purple]

Second Floor: Dragon & Crocodile

"Maybe I should get one of those for Pookie, except a bear one." Or maybe not, since then I'd have to remember Pookie more often than I already do. And that'd be a struggle.

[Morty]

[Second Floor- Dragon and Crocodile]

"I wonder what he'd tell us. He'd probably talk a lot about honey. He finds it everywhere, somehow," Brinika says. "A while after Cheasadh moved in with us he managed to find it underground. I think that was the first time any of our neighbors even saw honey."

[CosmicHobbit]

Nope, No Trouble At All

"I'm sorry, but i don't know anyone here. At least I assume it." he says. "The costums make it rather hard to tell who is who expect for the host who, well introduced herself as the host. But you seem to have a little power yourself, at least I think I feel you got some magic there."

Nope, No Trouble At All

Beamer smacks his forehead. "Right, the lady o' the sea gave me some." He looks left, then right, then says, "Pick a place where we could scare some people, and ah can make meself all ghostly and whatnot. Ghost pirates tend to get lots o' screams."

[5a Violista]

[Well-provisioned food table And banging doors.]

Holly is about to respond but, just like Nigel, is suddenly startled by the banging door as well.

"I-I don't know," the half-human says, looking over at the door. She tries to figure out what's up with it. Probably some kind of spooky event? Or maybe some robots.

Or, quite possibly, "Maybe somebody at the party got lost. Like, you know that 'do not push' elevator button? They must've pushed it and didn't know how to get back." Actually, though, this seems likely, all things considered. If somebody were panicking, and then heard the sound of parties on the other side, they'd start banging as loud as they could. "I think they want to be let out."



[Eating Greens]

I don't think it's my turn to post?

[billtodamax]

Well-provisioned food table -> Spooky Door

Y-... you think? Nigel asks, looking over at the door. It's making a hell of a racket. Nigel saunters up to the door, trying to wait for a gap between the bangs to knock on it. Jesus this is an imposing door. Did they need the police tape AND the chain and lock? Hey buddy, are you ok in there? He looks back to Holly, shrugging. It's all chained up. He says to her.

[Reinholdt]

[Spooky Children]

They keep lingering on her name. They must really want to know. Maybe it would be best just to tell them. With some reluctance, Sasha opens her mouth to speak.

While it is questionable whether any of the kids has heard the genre what with the lack of PC bands, imagine if they were attending a heavy metal concert. The speakers blare music at incomprehensible levels matched only by the fanatical war screams of the hundreds of fans packed into the overcrowded space. Now imagine if each of those fans surrounding them were not fans at all, but in fact heavy metal concerts of their own right all playing simultaneously in an undesired level of surround sound. Except they aren't playing music. They're playing nails on a chalkboard. They're playing metal screeching and whining through a gigantic factory grinder. They're playing that moment of dread when your mother uses your full name.

This is the alarm clock the deep ones use when they wish to awaken. This is the sound that rends through the air in a shy, muted whisper for all around to hear, barely audible as a concussive clash of conflicting volumes.

"Sasha," she murmured, then fell silent.

... She doesn't understand why she should ask for more candy from Torry though. What do these candies even do?

[Fifth Floor]

Ilpholin's hair tightens, constricts, and suddenly becomes as sharp as barbed wire. Maybe sharper as it does an excellent job of likely just slicing Nadas' hand off entirely at the wrist. Depending on how demonic he is and vulnerable to silver, the silver laced poison Ilpholin secretes in all of her attacks will likely prevent the hand from regenerating while also burning well enough to cauterize the wound. How true any of that is for Nadas is certainly up for debate.

There is a pang of sorrow almost immediately. This is her brother, acting calm and rational in a hopeless situation. Not like their youth, where she could tease him with a word and a touch. Or when they snuck out together to the library to perform a forbidden ritual to learn about their mom, Nadas handling the chalk and Ilpholin keeping watch at the edge of the bookcase. How she would end up in fights with any drowess who thought to use him in their games when all he wanted was to be left alone to study. He was always a little goodie two-shoes, but he was her quirky, dorky brother too. He was so grown up now.

"Pain off," Ilpholin thinks.
...
Nothing happens. Tauron must not have been thorough enough with the function. She would need to see him about getting an update.

She focuses her spare energy on keeping through Sekhmet's spell, unable to spare any to repair her leg, though with the pain off, it won't slow her down either. She pushes forward, moving away from the light construct in order to try and cut Nadas' less guarded midsection with her axe. Fortunately for him, with all the backing up he's done, he's actually extremely close to the door he was trying to get to and could likely make it if he has the presence of mind to make a mad scramble for it. Or is lucky enough to stumble out beyond the threshold.

[Fourth Floor - Event]

Nigel knocking at the door and the halfling making bad jokes at it only make the violent thrashing worse. From here they can hear not just one moan back there, but several. The worst groan of all is that of the door as starts to bulge under the pressure. If they have any sense of self preservation, they'll get a very bad feeling from all of this.

That's when the clock chimes midnight and the lights suddenly go out.

Like a breaker tripped. There's gasps and someone drops a glass which shatters. Worse than that, the sound of a chain snapping and a door crashing to the ground. Something which will almost certainly knock Nigel and the halflings aside if they haven't yet had the forethought to back up. A number of things come rushing out of the door and tackle into someone unseen, who lets out a bloodcurdling scream heard throughout the hall. The dangerously close Nigel and halflings can easily hear the sound of gnashing teeth and flesh being ripped apart.

Red emergency lights come on.

There on the floor is the hostess, stomach and throat bloodily torn apart by the trio of rotting undead now feasting on her flesh. An small swarm of zombies pushes past them spreading out into the packed room to find other victims, hunting with the single minded desire to feed on the living. Or undead. Or other. Honestly, they just go after anyone that has a bracelet on for some reason, hunting them mercilessly while ignoring anyone who didn't get one.

[5a Violista]

[Fourth Floor - Event]

This is super-sketch.

First, there's the way that they don't respond to Nigel.
Then, there's the lights.
Then, there's how the chains start breaking. Just chains breaking like that is really dangerous: they could snap and fly around. She's seen metal breaking like that severely injure people before.

"Hey, back up!" Holly shouts out to Nigel.

Then she sees those undead pouring out. What should Holly do in this situation? She's not supposed to be a combat-person. But since she's dressed as Magtok, maybe it's okay?

[Zefir]

[Nope, No Trouble At All -> Zombieattacks]

C4 was about to say something when the lights go out and a scream appears.

"Guess we are to late for that now." he says. "The hostess already got something planned." He points at the direction the zombies came from when the light turns red. Seeing the hostess torn on the ground doesn't shock him very much. He's confused at best. This can't be real, must be some kind of show or such, he thinks. It's just a matter of how she did it.

I'm not sure if C4 has any armband that depends on how eager the robots at the entrance are to hand them out. Either way the first Zombie that comes near him or passes him will get a kick at their feet to trip them. It's more a reflex then an intended attack, but maybe , if it is an illusion, he will notice it immediatly.

[billtodamax]

Fourth Floor - Event

Nigel doesn't need telling twice, he's already backing away from the door as Holly calls to him. He gets just enough away that he's not knocked over by the door! Lucky him, he gets to run away when the zombies burst out of the door. He backs up to where he remembers Holly was and desperately pulls out a short, telescoping baton from his bag which he quickly flicks out to its full length. Along with the baton comes a syringe which he quickly uncaps and jams into his side, a full body shiver passing through his body. Stay behind me. Stay behind me I got this. Don't worry. He says, talking very quickly all of a sudden, his head twitching from side to side as he takes in the zombies. Time for triage later. Neutralise the threat then treat the wounded.

Any zombies that approach either him or Holly will find his baton arm snapping out to meet them with speed and power unexpected from a middle-aged man. A port in the palm of his left hand opens up and a jagged sawblade extrudes from it, his fingers folding back to give it room to do the delicate work of cutting through bone that it's designed for. Nigel isn't using it for that. If he has the time and knocks down a zombie he'll smash it into them repeatedly, trying to disable them when he has the chance.

That said, in the end Nigel is still a middle aged man, combat drugs or no, and if more than 1 or 2 zombies approach him at once he'll definitely need some help. Holly.

Spooky Children

Olon and Endok did not expect that! What a terrible, terrible noise. Endok starts, jolting away from Sasha, getting his legs caught in the chair, and falling over. Olon just scuttles her chair backward, eyes wide, but manages not to fall.

Owwwwww... Endok says from the ground. He untangles himself from his stool and sits up. I thought you couldn't talk! He says. That was really spooky though. Olon says, trying to sound more confident than she actually is. Really spooky. She's still breathing heavily. So your name's Sasha? She asks, trying to distract herself.

Ha! Well, alright for some. I like a-Rath tells Omiko before she's interrupted by Sasha. Sweet Armok what was that.She says, crossbow instinctively raising. She manages to stop herself from aiming at the children. She exhales slowly, lowering the crossbow back down.

[Recaiden]

[Fifth Floor]

Sekhmet looks around her.
She sees nothing.
Apparently "Devils are immune to their own power" doesn't mean that they can see properly when they've magically extinguished all light in the room. This should give her a chance to get away, though. She rushes to the exit. *CRASH!* She could've sworn it was over there. *THUMP!* Why is there so much torture equipment in this room for her to trip over? She fumbles her way around the room in the dark, aware of the fact that her magical energy is draining away to maintain the spell.

Ilpholin's hair tightens, constricts, and suddenly becomes as sharp as barbed wire. Maybe sharper as it does an excellent job of likely just slicing Nadas' hand off entirely at the wrist. Depending on how demonic he is and vulnerable to silver, the silver laced poison Ilpholin secretes in all of her attacks will likely prevent the hand from regenerating while also burning well enough to cauterize the wound. How true any of that is for Nadas is certainly up for debate.

There is a pang of sorrow almost immediately. This is her brother, acting calm and rational in a hopeless situation. Not like their youth, where she could tease him with a word and a touch. Or when they snuck out together to the library to perform a forbidden ritual to learn about their mom, Nadas handling the chalk and Ilpholin keeping watch at the edge of the bookcase. How she would end up in fights with any drowess who thought to use him in their games when all he wanted was to be left alone to study. He was always a little goodie two-shoes, but he was her quirky, dorky brother too. He was so grown up now.

"Pain off," Ilpholin thinks.
...
Nothing happens. Tauron must not have been thorough enough with the function. She would need to see him about getting an update.

She focuses her spare energy on keeping through Sekhmet's spell, unable to spare any to repair her leg, though with the pain off, it won't slow her down either. She pushes forward, moving away from the light construct in order to try and cut Nadas' less guarded midsection with her axe. Fortunately for him, with all the backing up he's done, he's actually extremely close to the door he was trying to get to and could likely make it if he has the presence of mind to make a mad scramble for it. Or is lucky enough to stumble out beyond the threshold.

"Sekhmet, forget the dark, just run and- augh, [censored]!" Nadas breaks off after that pained exclamation, gasping. He can't even find the breath for a witty saying. Okay, okay, this isn't the first time you've lost a hand, and lord willing, it won't be the last. Wait. No, hopefully it will, but just because you stop getting chopped apart, and not because you die here.
Ignore it. Don't get mad. You can't afford to lose control right now.
Get it together, she's going to attack again as soon as- there! Something slightly different in the sound, in the air. Or maybe just blind luck. He turns and dashes through the door, the axe close enough to cut through the back of his shirt.
Through the door.
Out of the torture chamber, out into the light!

Once there he lifts his sword high again, dissolving the warrior of light and reforming it right between him and any Ilpholins that might be in hot pursuit. The figure is still drained from Sekhmet's spell, but should at least be able to buy him a few moments.

Spooky Children

They keep lingering on her name. They must really want to know. Maybe it would be best just to tell them. With some reluctance, Sasha opens her mouth to speak.

While it is questionable whether any of the kids has heard the genre what with the lack of PC bands, imagine if they were attending a heavy metal concert. The speakers blare music at incomprehensible levels matched only by the fanatical war screams of the hundreds of fans packed into the overcrowded space. Now imagine if each of those fans surrounding them were not fans at all, but in fact heavy metal concerts of their own right all playing simultaneously in an undesired level of surround sound. Except they aren't playing music. They're playing nails on a chalkboard. They're playing metal screeching and whining through a gigantic factory grinder. They're playing that moment of dread when your mother uses your full name.

This is the alarm clock the deep ones use when they wish to awaken. This is the sound that rends through the air in a shy, muted whisper for all around to hear, barely audible as a concussive clash of conflicting volumes.

"Sasha," she murmured, then fell silent.

... She doesn't understand why she should ask for more candy from Torry though. What do these candies even do?

Olon and Endok did not expect that! What a terrible, terrible noise. Endok starts, jolting away from Sasha, getting his legs caught in the chair, and falling over. Olon just scuttles her chair backward, eyes wide, but manages not to fall.

Owwwwww... Endok says from the ground. He untangles himself from his stool and sits up. I thought you couldn't talk! He says. That was really spooky though. Olon says, trying to sound more confident than she actually is. Really spooky. She's still breathing heavily. So your name's Sasha? She asks, trying to distract herself.

Ha! Well, alright for some. I like a-Rath tells Omiko before she's interrupted by Sasha. Sweet Armok what was that.She says, crossbow instinctively raising. She manages to stop herself from aiming at the children. She exhales slowly, lowering the crossbow back down.

The cat kids did not expect that either, even though they asked!
Torry also manages to fall out of his seat as he scrambles to cover his ears. "Aaaah!" yells Ankhenesmeryre, standing bolt upright and slamming her hands on the table as if trying to drown out that sound with more sound. Shan sort of curls up in a ball, getting their mummy wrappings all askew and their eyes disappearing from their face; that was the second worst thing they've ever heard!
"So, uh, Sasha. That's a cool name." Torry says once he gets back on his feet.
"Why do you sound like that?!"

"You know, just kids getting excited about nothing." drawls Omiko, whose fur is all standing on end, but sounds calm enough and didn't startle otherwise. Good, good, the dwarf is already putting the crossbow down.

[bc56]

"Fifth Floor

The shout provokes Sekhmet into shrieking in fear, thinking that Nadas was just killed. She drops the darkness spell, feeling some relief as the creeping sensation of expending her arcane power vanishes. Without bothering to look around, she races for the nearest door, either the same door as Nadas or another one. Escape is the first and only thing on her mind.

[Earl of Purple]

Fourth Floor

The halflings are too close to the door, and don't respond well to the surprise, falling over instead. Thus revealed, in the red emergency lighting, are the halflings. Sandy, the top halfling, wears a nurse outfit that is a little bit impractical; a 'costume' rather than the real thing. It also leaves her arms and legs bare, which is less than ideal. She's got auburn hair done up in a bun under her fedora and yellow-gold eyes. The only weapon she has is a knife, but she'll rush in to try and help the others anyway.

Theresea, the middle halfling, is truly caught up in the coat... But she's also the only one wearing a bracelet, which means she's being attacked by ravenous zombies. She does have a gun! But it's plastic, and she can't find it anyway. So she's screaming for help and struggling, but a zombie's biting her wrist through the thick leather of the duster; it hasn't punctured the tough material yet, but it is preventing her from escaping.

Stuard, the bottom halfling, is the only one still upright after the others fall off, though he's wearing chunky cowboy boots made for somebody about twice his height, which is one of the reasons they've been so unsteady. He's wearing a child's superhero costume, though he's a little too wide for it to fit properly. His hair is short and black and his eyes are blue, and he's going to kick off his oversized shoes and rush in to help Theresea. He's not even got a knife, he's going to try using his weight and low centre of gravity to push and pull zombies out of the way until Theresea's safe.

[Lord Magtok]

Fourth Floor - Event

Green Man Origins: Lazarus

"It was, erm, after the greenening. She saved me from some, uh, not-nice people." Fidelia shrinks a little as she answers, and her shoulders narrow, almost as if trying to hide the scars upon her back. "I've been at her side since, helping her out as much as I can with work and rent and things."

"Don't sell yourself short, Fi. You've been-" Whatever Jenette meant to say gets caught in her throat. She turns towards that bloodcurdling scream and those awful things, and

Sword. Sword. She's not carrying her zweihander around, so she reaches for a knife instead. A knife that isn't there, if the way her hand ineffectually pats her hip is anything to go by. God ****ing dammit. Of course. The one time she leaves home without a weapon, the one ****ing time she thinks she can let her guard down and not worry about anyone hurting her or Fidelia, zombies attack. They never should've come to this stupid party; she shouldn't have let Fi talk her into this.

"Fi, stay back. Scream if anyone gets too close," she cautions the squire, balling her hands into fists as her blood-red eyes take stock of the situation. That one, there. Closest zombie not already being dealt with by another combatant. Miss Martian lunges forward, her blue superheroine cape fluttering behind her as she goes for the kill. Grab the zombie's forearm, twist, wait for a sound not unlike the crackle of dry autumn twigs. Follow up with three concussive blows to the head, using the Earth Dragon techniques taught by Calm Reed to turn the monster's diseased brain into mashed potatoes. Pause for just a moment to confirm the kill, and then grab the nearest chair, plate, or similar blunt object to take down the next zombie.

[Artemis97]

Well, if there is anything the Mayor Of Eastside can do to help, just let me know.

It’s always good to make sure there isn’t any conflict.

[Fel and Drow]

"We'll probably need some farming equipment. I've been studying local agricultural techniques and they're far more advanced than what we do at home." Erelae says. "We'll need them, to be able to use fewer people on more land for greater yields. We don't have the manpower we do back in Menzoberranzan."

Sszinyon snorts a chuckle, but doesn't mention that the manpower they used at home was mostly slave labor.

[Fourth Floor - Event]

Man that door is getting noisy... what's going on with it? Raril wonders and then the lights go out. His eyes quickly adjust, glinting red in the blackness, but when the security lights come up he blinks. Good for the other guests to be able to see, but the sudden changes disoriented the drow. And then... zombies, three of them... and they've eviscerated his daughter.

"Ilpholin!" He cries. "Oh gods!"

His first instinct is the draw the rapier he brought with his costume. Make no mistake, though the pirate costume was pretend, the blade was real sharpened steel. But these were undead zombies, such a thin blade would be next to useless. But he had to get to his daughter.

Cold furious determination bubbled up within the drow, and white fur began to sprout from his visible blue-black skin. Hands became twisted into deadly claws, his face extended into a muzzle full of gnashing, pointed teeth.

Raril hadn't picked up a bracelet, and so was ignored as he pushed his way bodily through the crowd of zombies, and even party-goers who got in his way. He was determined to reach his daughter, and quickly. Maybe it wasn't too late. Maybe a healing spell could save her, if he just hurried. Gods help him.

[Reinholdt]

[Spooky Children]

Sasha's face kind of shrinks as if she were withdrawing into the darkness of her cloak and trying to hide there. The hood only covers so much and sure, it's really good at what it does, but it doesn't let her disappear entirely. Drat. So she nods to Olon's question and shakes her head to Ankh's. Her name is Sasha and she doesn't know why she sounds like that. At least, not in any way she could explain out loud in a short sentence. She could try to explain it, the same way a kid could try to explain electricity.

If they insist.

[Fifth Floor]

Out the door, run run run! Ilpholin blinks once to auto-adjust her eyes and takes off after them, only to get caught up by the light warrior, which she confidently engages. It certainly buys them enough time to get a good head start though. Perhaps because she believes she doesn't need to chase them so closely. "Where do you think you're running to? This is my domain! You're as good as dead, you hear me?! DEAD!" She shouts after them.

And for a moment they might believe it as they round the first corner only to encounter a giant dire mecha spider in the way. Until he... steps aside? And chitters for them to hurry. Not only clearly letting them pass, but encouraging them to do so.

[Fourth Floor - Event]

Well if no one wants to panic and run, some of the NPCs will do it, leaving the zombies and the party entirely to the PCs and the spiderbots. Those spiderbots are kind of useless though.

Those who are caught by zombies, particularly Theresea, may discover through their panic that the zombies are all gums and no teeth, incapable of biting anyone. Well except for the three on Ilpholin who clearly are using their teeth to chew and gnash. Raril bashes them out of the way, but he's too late for the healing spell. The body is already cold.

Others who bash in the zombie's brains find substantially less brains, and quite a bit more robotic parts carefully hidden under movie sfx level flesh and blood. They're also designed to be destroyed, so their skulls still crumble pretty easily when attacked. This takes the robot zombies offline with a twitch, and a small spray of 'gore'.

[5a Violista]

That said, in the end Nigel is still a middle aged man, combat drugs or no, and if more than 1 or 2 zombies approach him at once he'll definitely need some help. Holly.

[4th Floor Event]

Holly doesn't have any combat drugs to use, so she obviously can't reach the same level of power as Nigel.
So, all she can do is back him up.

She pulls a totally-fake-but-still-weighty sci-fi gun out of her dress, somehow.
Closer analysis reveals that her purple dress was torn by one of these zombies, ultimately revealing one of those fancy thigh-holsters. That must be where she got it from. And it probably makes sense for the costume; Magtok wears thigh-holsters, right?

"There's one to your right" she warns Nigel, before realizing that he's probably too busy with other zombies. So she runs forward and clubs it with her fake laser-gun, hitting the zombie in the chest and knocking it back. Because it seems their weakness is their head, a chest-strike doesn't take it out. Once it's on the ground, she slips off her heels and kicks the zombie, for good measure.

...Sure, 'everybody' knows that zombies are weak to head-shots, but Holly actually hasn't fought any undead where that's true. "You think we can get any of the other people behind us?"

[CosmicHobbit]

Fourth Floor Event

Beamer, after a bit too long of standing still, realizes that zombies are dangerously close to chewing on him, as he is wearing a bracelet. So, as any good pirate would too, he pulls out his two guns and starts shooting randomly around the room, possibly hitting some guests along with the zombies.

[Fendrick]

[Fourth Floor - Event]


Lateef the mummy stares at the door the moment it starts to make noise. He had anticipated a party, not a zombie outbreak. So he runs, scared as he is, as far away from the zombies/the door as possible. Is there an exit nearby he can run to?

He has his arms stretched out in front of him (think: cartoon mummy style, like you'd see in scooby doo or something) and bandages are trailing behind him.

If someone or something grabs his bandages, he may unravel just a bit, with a putrid old smell emanating from where the bandages come off. He is terrified, rightly so: after spending a millenia in the dark, he is so not okay with the lights going out suddenly.

He also wails as he runs, a kind of groany 'Whaaaaaaaa!'

[Arkhosia]

Fourth Floor - Event

As Jenette reaches for something, anything to bring to bear against the zombie attackers, she'll feel a hand wrap around her wrist, her squire grabbing her hand to push the wooden hilt of her trusted Bowie knife into the ghoul's grasp. It seems that Fidelia didn't make the same mistake of leaving the house armed... which is to be expected, really; girl's lived in Skyside way longer, and forming a habit like that is hard to break.

"Don't worry about me, I'll stay close." Fi promises this as she retrieves a smaller switchblade and flicks it open, slashing at a particularly foolish zom-bot lunging for Jenette's side before reaching out to grab it's throat and drive to point into the "creature"'s electronic eye. "Besides, um, I don't think we needa worry about bites."

[Recaiden]

[Fifth Floor]

The shout provokes Sekhmet into shrieking in fear, thinking that Nadas was just killed. She drops the darkness spell, feeling some relief as the creeping sensation of expending her arcane power vanishes. Without bothering to look around, she races for the nearest door, either the same door as Nadas or another one. Escape is the first and only thing on her mind.

Out the door, run run run! Ilpholin blinks once to auto-adjust her eyes and takes off after them, only to get caught up by the light warrior, which she confidently engages. It certainly buys them enough time to get a good head start though. Perhaps because she believes she doesn't need to chase them so closely. "Where do you think you're running to? This is my domain! You're as good as dead, you hear me?! DEAD!" She shouts after them.

And for a moment they might believe it as they round the first corner only to encounter a giant dire mecha spider in the way. Until he... steps aside? And chitters for them to hurry. Not only clearly letting them pass, but encouraging them to do so.

The warrior of light throws itself straight at Ilpholin, heedless of its own defense, slicing, stabbing, even kicking as fast as it can.
But Ilpholin shouldn't have much trouble dealing with it at this point.

Now Nadas finds a voice. "Ilpholin, if you keep saying things like that, I might have to start really trying. You don't want that, and frankly, neither do I. B-" He breaks off suddenly as he rounds the corner. Oh damn it's the spider again, how can something that big have snuck up around them like that?
Wait. He's...not trying to eat them?

Nadas hurries past as the spider intends, only a small part of his thoughts trying to figure this out.

What game are you playing, Mr. Squiggles? If this were luring them into a trap, he had a perfect opportunity in this hallway corner. Does the spider still think this is a Spooktober prank? Or is there some understanding deep in his cyber-arachnical heart? Do spiders have hearts? Nadas finds that he can't recall.

[bc56]

Fifth Floor

Sekhmet is also shocked by the spider. She stumbles, trying to stop, uncertain which fate is worse before she realizes that it's waving her onwards. With a whispered, "Thank you," she rushes past it, hopefully towards the exit and not some more insidious trap.

[Zefir]

Fourth Floor - Event

So I just assume he got a bracelet, too.
Another Zombie comes near. C4 ducks down under it's attemp to grab him and then goes up to throw the monster over his back. When the poor undead is down he slams his ellbow right in the head of the beast. Right then he realizes the machines instead of the skull he would have crushed. He smiles as this just prooves him right. Now is the only question what is the dead Illophin? At best it's just an illusion, but as he looks he sees another person interact with the 'dead' body. Maybe it's just a fake one? While he thinks his friend releases his guns. He notice the bad aim of him, maybe he is really drunken. Since the Zombies aren't real they won't be a threat, but random bullets will be.

"Stop it!" he shouts at the pirat. "You just hurt other people." Assuming the pirat won't react to him he darts up from the smashed zombie trying to grab the pirats arm which he will then twist to the side so he should releas the gun.