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Entry tags:
- ! ic/ooc,
- augustin chevalier-desjardins,
- crysta waldinger,
- doc yowell,
- dorin lee,
- enoch waldinger,
- eureka castillo,
- harris stone,
- linus lowe,
- lou sweetapple,
- maximilian hart,
- mc flores,
- murphy nowles,
- parson starling,
- poet knightstep,
- raine riley,
- salvador roca,
- thomasin hendricks,
- vidalia laroux,
- whit woolwine iii,
- zeke zelizer
Halloween Masquerade
HALLOWEEN MASQUERADE
After more than a week of tight-lipped workers going in and out of the Rec Centre, Hall A finally opens its doors for the Halloween Masquerade. Everyone is permitted to attend as long as they're wearing a mask and following the dress code, and attendees all step into a lush shadowy space seemingly lit only by candlelight.
Black velvet-flocked damask wallpaper covers the walls, with heavy crimson silk draperies and candlelit wall sconces interspersed every few feet to bring a gothic warmth to the proceedings. (The Waldingers promise to restore everything back to normal later.) Gold-edged antique mirrors are hung at random, reflecting the unrecognizable faces and fantastical costumes. Candelabras and vases full of dark red roses adorn every table. As promised, there's food, an open bar, music and dancing. Enjoy yourselves.
Black velvet-flocked damask wallpaper covers the walls, with heavy crimson silk draperies and candlelit wall sconces interspersed every few feet to bring a gothic warmth to the proceedings. (The Waldingers promise to restore everything back to normal later.) Gold-edged antique mirrors are hung at random, reflecting the unrecognizable faces and fantastical costumes. Candelabras and vases full of dark red roses adorn every table. As promised, there's food, an open bar, music and dancing. Enjoy yourselves.
PLAYLIST
MENU
SPECIALTY DRINKS
BLACK WIDOW MARTINI - Dark rum, dry vermouth and lime, rimmed with sugar and garnished with blackberries. An elegant choice.
EYEBALL SANGRIA - Red wine, brandy and pomegranate juice, with eyeballs made of lychee and frozen blueberries. Fun!
THE BLOOD BANK - A half-dozen plastic syringes filled with Bloody Mary, served on ice. Are you injecting these shots yourself, or will you share with a friend?
THE MINTY PAYNE - Sparkling rosé wine, blackcurrant liqueur and rose syrup, garnished with roses. Every time you order this, you must loudly wish Minty a happy birthday first.
EYEBALL SANGRIA - Red wine, brandy and pomegranate juice, with eyeballs made of lychee and frozen blueberries. Fun!
THE BLOOD BANK - A half-dozen plastic syringes filled with Bloody Mary, served on ice. Are you injecting these shots yourself, or will you share with a friend?
THE MINTY PAYNE - Sparkling rosé wine, blackcurrant liqueur and rose syrup, garnished with roses. Every time you order this, you must loudly wish Minty a happy birthday first.
FOOD
Silver trays of hors d'oeuvres are arranged on the buffet table, featuring a variety of tea sandwiches, canapés, crudités and desserts. Seasonally appropriate offerings include: pumpkin & brie crostini with candied nuts, ghostly apple blackberry hand pies, monstrous fried chicken sliders, and spider-webbed deviled eggs.
VOLUNTEERS
[Volunteer A] gets turned away at the door and is forced to rethink their entire costume, and also maybe their life. They're allowed back in the second time, even if they did nothing to change their outfit. Are the bouncers just rejecting people for fun?
[Volunteer B] thinks they see Director Riddle in a particularly scandalous getup, but it’s really [Volunteer C]. Too bad [Volunteer B] already told all their friends that their employer was definitely dressed as a [insert costume here].
Every time Linus Lowe looks into one of the party's many mirrors, they see a glowing entity lingering in the background—but no one's ever there.
The illusion emitter in [Volunteer E]'s mask starts malfunctioning, and they sidle up to [Volunteer F] without realizing that their identity is no longer obscured. Oops! Someone eventually comes by to give them a replacement mask, and an apology voucher for a free drink at the bar. (Wait, isn't it an open bar anyway?)
[Volunteer G] chugs their Eyeball Sangria too fast, and chokes on a lychee eyeball. Help! Luckily, [Volunteer H] steps in and performs the Heimlich maneuver to save them. Do they reveal their identity, or slip back into the party as an anonymous Good Samaritan?
Vidalia LaRoux accidentally knocks a candelabra off a table, right onto Maximilian Hart. Their clothing catches on fire, but only for about a minute. Turns out all those flames were illusions, and their clothes are totally unsinged. Whew!
[Volunteer K] swears that someone dressed up as a creepy Victorian child ghost keeps following them around the party. They point the semi-translucent ghost out to [Volunteer L], who says they don't see anyone. Wait, what? The ghost flees any attempt to approach them.
Okay, these illusions are excessive. Knowing that Enoch Waldinger's illusions disappear if you refuse to believe in them, Rufus Kearney concentrates hard on being a huge killjoy. For an instant, they see all of the illusions flicker out of existence, but the illusory costumes quickly reassert themselves once they're no longer concentrating.
[Volunteer N] and [Volunteer O] run into each other a record five times in the half hour they’re stuck in the hedge maze, like they’re old classmates at a grocery store. They decide to just embrace it, team up, and actually find their way out!
[Volunteer B] thinks they see Director Riddle in a particularly scandalous getup, but it’s really [Volunteer C]. Too bad [Volunteer B] already told all their friends that their employer was definitely dressed as a [insert costume here].
Every time Linus Lowe looks into one of the party's many mirrors, they see a glowing entity lingering in the background—but no one's ever there.
The illusion emitter in [Volunteer E]'s mask starts malfunctioning, and they sidle up to [Volunteer F] without realizing that their identity is no longer obscured. Oops! Someone eventually comes by to give them a replacement mask, and an apology voucher for a free drink at the bar. (Wait, isn't it an open bar anyway?)
[Volunteer G] chugs their Eyeball Sangria too fast, and chokes on a lychee eyeball. Help! Luckily, [Volunteer H] steps in and performs the Heimlich maneuver to save them. Do they reveal their identity, or slip back into the party as an anonymous Good Samaritan?
Vidalia LaRoux accidentally knocks a candelabra off a table, right onto Maximilian Hart. Their clothing catches on fire, but only for about a minute. Turns out all those flames were illusions, and their clothes are totally unsinged. Whew!
[Volunteer K] swears that someone dressed up as a creepy Victorian child ghost keeps following them around the party. They point the semi-translucent ghost out to [Volunteer L], who says they don't see anyone. Wait, what? The ghost flees any attempt to approach them.
Okay, these illusions are excessive. Knowing that Enoch Waldinger's illusions disappear if you refuse to believe in them, Rufus Kearney concentrates hard on being a huge killjoy. For an instant, they see all of the illusions flicker out of existence, but the illusory costumes quickly reassert themselves once they're no longer concentrating.
[Volunteer N] and [Volunteer O] run into each other a record five times in the half hour they’re stuck in the hedge maze, like they’re old classmates at a grocery store. They decide to just embrace it, team up, and actually find their way out!
CLAIM A SPOT
CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE
Post the form below to get your maze results:
*The scares will all be very silly, I promise.
CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE: Raine
Goal: Going fast.
Competitiveness: 7. He doesn't really care about winning prizes or bragging rights but he is trying to impress Enoch a little unfortunately.
Courage: Like 3. Not easy to genuinely frighten him although it is easy to startle him. He's jumpy!
Strategy: Well it's a hedge maze and he's not a child so he's pretty sure he can like. Figure it out.
Anything else?: Enoch is tagging along to Observe but not actually helping him at all 😌
CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE: Raine
He collected 39 pieces of candy.
1h00m12s (RNG RESULT) − 12m (RNG BONUS)
30 candy (RNG RESULT) + 9 candy (RNG BONUS)
It quickly becomes apparent that Enoch filled his maze with absurdly underhanded illusory jumpscares. Visually, they're kind of silly (a vampire, a mummy, a werewolf, a sheet ghost, etc.) but the images leap out of nowhere with little warning, accompanied with a shockingly loud and discordant noise like a cheap horror film. (Enoch goes hmm and writes something in his notes every time this happens.)
About twenty minutes in, Raine realizes he's been going in circles because some of the hedge walls are illusions that randomly disappear and reappear, and can't be easily distinguished just by sight or touch. Somehow, he figures out a way to the exit (even with Enoch offering to stop and make out at one point, just to add even more minutes to Raine's time). Congratulations! 👻👻👻
Re: CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE: Raine
Re: CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE: Raine
CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE: Auggie
Goal: Collecting all that candy. It's his rich person instinct to hoard.
Competitiveness: 2. He's really just enjoying the scenery.
Courage: 8. He's mostly afraid of getting a tad chilly without a sweater.
Strategy: Auggie will simply remember where he has and hasn't been, it's not like it's hard.
Anything else?: he tried to ride his scooter on the grass because he's the smartest man in the world
CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE: Auggie
Auggie clears the haunted hedge maze in 56 minutes and 23 seconds!
He collected 106 pieces of candy.
58m23s (RNG RESULT) − 2m (RNG BONUS)
94 candy (RNG RESULT) + 12 candy (RNG BONUS)
The illusory hedges are no match for Auggie's memory, and it's easy for him sketch out a mental map of where he's been and not get turned around too badly. The terrain is another matter: thick roots poke out from the ground, deliberately set to trip people in the darkness, and prove extremely unfriendly to Auggie's scooter.
At one point, he notices he's been zipping along for several minutes without getting jumpscared by a Dracula. His scooter gets stuck again—another jutting root? But oh no, the grass underneath his wheels turned into quicksand, and he's sinking fast. Oh no! Oh noooo! (Another illusion.) Whether Auggie pushes through or just lets himself be buried under the sand, he comes out the other end totally unhurt and back on grass. Look, the exit's not too far away. Congratulations! 🧛🧛🧛
CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE: Shannon
Goal: Candy!
Competitiveness: 10. $1000 would purchase many ferret toys.
Courage: 5. Not a scaredy cat by any means but a little squeamish sometimes. Also, patholoically afraid of clowns.
Strategy: If she acquires too much candy to carry herself, she can store some in her pockets to maintain maximum mobility.
Anything else?: only making her do this bc rng unfavorite raine beefed it so hard. sad cowboy emoji
CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE: Shannon
Shannon clears the haunted hedge maze in 32 minutes and 32 seconds!
She collected 141 pieces of candy.
36m32s (RNG RESULT) − 4m (RNG BONUS)
122 candy (RNG RESULT) + 19 candy (RNG BONUS)
Candy is collected from pumpkin-shaped gumball vending machines that deposit a random amount of wrapped candies every time someone new turns the dial. Shannon gets a lucky break and comes across a machine with a malfunctioning identity checker, letting her turn the dial as many times as she wants. She quickly fills her bucket and puts the rest into her pockets.
Less lucky: she runs into the evil clown jumpscare a total of four (4) times, and keeps hearing its evil clown laugh through the hedges as she runs from candy station to candy station. Near the exit, the clown's laughter chases her down a path that squishes uncomfortably under her feet. Are those eyeballs? The eyes littering the ground rotate to watch Shannon as she passes through, and she has no choice but to step on them to get to the other side. Congratulations! 👁️👁️👁️
CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE: Salreka
Goal: Collecting candy
Competitiveness: 10
Courage: 10
Strategy:
- Move quickly through the maze collecting candy and mugging people
- Eureka is occasionally cheating by using their
vinesalien tentacles lift themself high enough to peer over hedges and peep the surrounding paths- Sal is knocking dudes over and Eureka is swooping in to steal their candy buckets
Anything else?: Beware the Space Pirates
CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE: Salreka
Eureka & Sal clear the haunted hedge maze in 45 minutes and 51 seconds!
They collect 155 pieces of candy.
49m51s (RNG RESULT) − 4m (RNG BONUS)
143 candy (RNG RESULT) + 12 candy (RNG BONUS)
With Eureka peeking over the hedge walls to find the way to the next candy machine, the maze isn't much of a challenge to the pair. After getting startled one too many times by the stupid jumpscares, Sal tries to rip a hedge apart with his bare hands, finding a small hidden device that looks like a rounded metal disk. This is an illusion emitter device, and throwing it at people will create an instant distraction. Jumpscare!
Mugging people for their candy proves to be an effective strategy, as Eureka and Sal sweep five (5) other people in the enormous maze (two pairs and a solo challenger), most of whom are too startled to put up much of a fight. One of the pairs, TV's favorite gay middle-aged pirates, unsheathes their swords and chases them to get their candy back. Eureka and Sal ultimately escape both the pirates and the maze, although a few lucky hits leave small rips in their costumes. (Wait, those weren't prop swords??) Congratulations! 🍬🍬🍬
CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE: Vidalia & Rory
Goal: GOTTA GO FAST
Competitiveness: Vidalia is a full 10 and dragging Rory through this maze, whether they know it's him or not.
Courage: 9!!! They're not SCARED but they are extremely high energy and jittery and excited and likely to scream stupidly loud at a silly jump scare.
Strategy: Willing to cheat and climb over maze walls. Otherwise just running and slamming into things and wasting exactly no time trying to think it through. Will throw a foot at a spoopy vampire.
Anything else?: pulled rp power of attorney on kas hi kas
CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE: Vidalia & Rory
Vidalia & Rory clear the haunted hedge maze in 26 minutes and 22 seconds!
They collect 67 pieces of candy.
34m22s (RNG RESULT) − 6m (RNG BONUS)
62 candy (RNG RESULT) + 5 candy (RNG BONUS)
Weirdly, for a long run of the maze, the worst obstacles that this pair face are a series of adorable cardboard children's drawings that pop out from the hedge with loud creaks and shrill musical stings. It allows them to go remarkably fast, only slowing down once so Vidalia can throw a foot at an illusory goo monster, which spits the foot back out before slorping into the ground. Putting the foot back on leaves Vidalia with the lingering sensation of slime between their toes, even though the foot looks goo-free.
Near the exit, the two suddenly stumble and fall into... nothingness. Rory and Vidalia find themselves floating in a dark featureless void where all sound is extinguished, and no amount of flailing or trying to yell will free them. A sunless eternity passes (really, a couple of minutes) before they fall out of the illusion, tumbling hard on the grass. Congratulations! 🎃🎃🎃
CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE: Crysta (+Guide boy Zeke)
Goal: SPEED.
Competitiveness: 10. This is about pride and this is about dignity. Does not care about the prize money
Courage: 8. She is scared of things, but nothing in this maze. One point knocked off for being mildly trepidatious of blindfolded jumpscares, one point knocked off for Zeke who is more scared of things than she is
Strategy: She saw the building of this maze and whatever plans Enoch allowed her to/ whatever she was able to sneaky look at which she tried to do if he didn't allow her to, and so she has a level of familiarity I think that she wouldn't have tried this otherwise.
If it gets really bad and she's really lost, her guide is also there to help her not bump into hedges and has x-ray vision to determine what's an illusion and what has tree bones. She will acquiesce to his judgment. This time. She's trying not to cheat, but in a worst case scenario, she does have cellular vision and can see through illusions. She will only utilize this if she's REALLY sure Enoch's not around to see her cheat, but honestly? Not above it. He's cheated with his powers SO many times.
Anything else?: Yeah she's blindfolded because she told Enoch she could do this maze blindfolded this deserves a docked point or few i realize. It's also at her tipsiest point of the evening.
CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE: Crysta (+Guide boy Zeke)
Crysta clears the haunted hedge maze in 29 minutes and 45 seconds!
She collects 3 pieces of candy.
42m45s (RNG RESULT) − 13m (RNG BONUS)
2 candy (RNG RESULT) + 1 candy (RNG BONUS)
Crysta saw her brother sketching out the plan for his hedge maze, so she knows roughly what the layout is and where the exit is located. Between her knowledge and Zeke's ability to see tree bones, she makes good progress through the maze, only getting turned around or distracted a few times. Their Liminal vision doesn't save them from getting surprised by auditory illusions, like the screams from the jumpscare illusions or ominous thuds and crashes that sound like they're happening just behind them. (There are also multiple inviting benches placed in hidden corners of the maze, perfect for makeouts. C'mon, just for a few minutes.)
The biggest obstacle comes towards the end, when it looks like someone got frustrated and lit the hedge walls on fire in an effort to escape. The light from the flames is so bright that Crysta sees it even through her blindfold, and the heat against their skin is unbearably hot. But this is just another illusion, and if they choose to ignore the burning heat and push through, they'll come out the other side totally unburned. Otherwise, they can find a way around, and only lose a couple minutes. Congratulations! 💀💀💀
CHALLENGE THE HEDGE MAZE WINNERS
Vidalia & Rory win the $1000 prize for speed!
Eureka & Sal win the $1000 prize for candy collecting!