Festival: Labyrinth of Shadows

Throughout the year, the Labyrinth forest seems to not only change with the passing seasons, but also with each of the monthly Festivals. With the start of the Shadow Festival, the expanse of forest has taken a darker turn. The normally lush and green trees seem to have lost their leaves in many places, leaving skeletal branches stretching towards the skies.

The usual animals that dwell here seem to have retreated, with dark elemental monsters having emerged from somewhere deeper within the mysterious depths of the unexplored forest. A chill wind blows, fluttering clothing and carrying the howl of some forlorn creature from somewhere in the wilderness. Even the entrance of the dungeon seems to have changed, with carved pumpkins stacked up against the pillars, spider webs clinging to the stone archway.

The Hunter's Guild has brought the Adventurers here, requesting that they investigate the changes to the forest. Even at a glance, it is no wonder that the Guild is worried. There is definitely a dark vibe about the place, the wind whistling through the empty trees and the sounds of animals replaced with eerie, unearthly sounds.

The glowing portal that offers entrance to the dungeon awaits, though it seems to pulse with a dark, ominous aura.

"Let's do it!", exclaims Uta as she hits the ground by slamming down her staff. "Let's rid Castle Eas of these goblin vermin, so we can finally claim it it back! For the Adventurers!", she yells, and then, she blinks. "Wait a minute, now. That's not how I remember Castle Eas. Where's all the water?" One hand rests on her mouth for a few seconds. "Wow. Wake did a number on the place." A frown. "I liked it better the way it was before."

Looking about for familiar faces, Michio offers waves to Uta, a polite nod to Prophylaxis, and something of a bow to Shiruba. He pauses at Uta's outburst, then just shrugs it off and moves off to march somewhere near the middle of the party, and off to one side, keeping mostly to his own council for the time being.

The last time Prophylaxis was in this particular neck of the woods, he found the bits and pieces that went into crafting his favorite, lightning-conjuring staff! This time, things are... approximately as welcoming as they were that day, except somehow possibly /worse?/ It's definitely spookier. Something about the place's vibe is giving him the willies, and it's not just because someone forgot to dust around the decorative pumpkin arch.

"I'm betting pumpkin monster," Prophylaxis says as he takes his first steps (back into) terror... Before stopping to just stare helplessly at Uta's utaness.

Proteus remembers this place.

It was a place that held some... interesting things the last time she was there. But now with the new force investing the Forest, the Imp can't help but wonder what the source of it might be... Or the nature of the Forest itself. "This place has changed quite a bit, hasn't it." She muses aloud. Several people have returned here as well, so it's not like she has to address anyone in particular.

The Imp glances over to Uta as she makes her dramatic entrance. "... This is nowhere near Castle Eas. This is the Labyrinth Forest." She points out. "But it's nice that you're here anyway. Last time I was here, there were some rare slimes." She chuckles. "Come on, let's go. Hope you like teleporter mazes." She says, as she gestures. "Someone with armor, go in front." She suggests... "Or Prophylaxis can. That works to. Everyone knows healer facetank is the best meta." Proteus just shakes her head, chuckling to herself as she follows right along behind.

    Setsuna had been riding on a high all week of this festival, it had been a fun week and even got a puppy out of the deal. Lets ignore the fact that they jad burned at least three pieces of furniture already. As he walks up with the others to the entrance of the labryinth he nods. "It's the great pumpkin monster, Prophylaxis. " With a grin he looks over at Uta and shakes his head, " No no no this is where we are going to get materials for creepy slimes. It will be fun."

"It's definitely going to be the Great Pumpkin." Kaydon says in response to Prophylaxis, "We're missing the annoying kid with the blanket though. Maybe he's trapped inside."

He probably stagged along with Shiruba, because that tends to be what he does. She pays him well.

SpritesHero arrives on foot, brushing past the eerie symphony of trees and shrubbery just outside the portal. Perhaps he's brave. Perhaps he's just the sort of oblivious that seems a unique characteristic of men everywhere. Once he's taken up a position near the portal, he pays little obvious heed to the creepiness of the surroundings. This is not to say that he ignores them entirely; on the contrary, his gaze regularly lifts from his duties to perform a rapid scan, but other than that he's busily reviewing his gear to make sure everything is prepped and fastened down tight. Backpack, check. Weapons, check. Food, check. Water, check. Boots tied, check. String? Check. Random couple coppers he'd left in his pack pocket last week and never found a use for? Check. Leftover lint from who-knows-when? Flicked out into the clearing with a crinkling of his nose.

    Miyako shows up still in her festival costume, the turquoise and black Jedi robes. "I donno," she remarks to Kaydon, "I'd rather have the Great Peanut-Butter-Cup, myself. I miss those." She shrugs and walks on with the rest. She waves casually to the people she recognizes. "Lovely day, isn't it?"

"My hackles are on end already." Does Shiruba even have hackles? Cait Sith aren't -that- animal-like, but she might just be talking about the fluff around her neck and shoulders even if it isn't entirely the accurate term for it. Her tail is definitely more bristly than usual. "I wonder if this darker presence is because of those wind instruments being broken as well...." She grips her longbow a little tighter, finding some reassurance in the grip. "But there's only one way we'll find out."

.. And cue the dour mood being crashed by Uta being... Uta, even by Uta standards. "No, this isn't Castle Eas, Uta. It's an festival event. Seriously, you have a worse sense of direction than Ryouga sometimes..."

    Akatsuki is here.
    
    No. Seriously. She's just suddenly here now.
    One moment there was no sign of her.
    The next minute, a ninja in all black with a black scarf just appears, seated in formal seiza style, while muncing on a red bean bun, and holding a cup of roasted green tea in her other hand.
    RYU HAYABUSA is ready, once she finishes her snack.
    "I am ready." She simply announces, direct and to the point.

Phase 1: Gone Batty

The portal seems to shudder for a moment when the Adventurers path through, almost looking as if it had become unstable for some reason. The world shimmers around them, then seems to abruptly shift sideways, spilling the group out haphazardly.

They find themselves in a narrow section of woodland which would be unfamiliar even to those who have explored these forests before. There is a strange smell in the air, as if something were burning in the distance. It is not unpleasant, but certainly doesn't belong in this place.

The trees are barren, with not a single leaf still clinging to the surrounding branches. However, something else is clinging to those branches, dangling upside-down. All at once, a number of small, bat-like heads turn in their direction, eyes gleaming red.

These are no ordinary bats...

Red-skinned, with razor sharp fangs and claws, the Drainliars take to the air, screeching at top volume, enough to hurt more sensitive ears. They swoop and dive, trying to claw or bite at any exposed skin they can find.

Challenge:
- Evasion vs 10 (Dodge the bats and try to get to the next portal)
- Ranged vs 10 (Knock the bats from the air to clear a path)
- Song vs 8 (Disrupt their flight with a sonic attack)

Failure: You are bitten by a Drainliar. A colorful effect follows that looks as if it is leeching life force from you. You gain the status defect: 'Life Leech'. Your health slowly decreases over time. You feel light-headed and off-balance. This effect lasts until you leave the dungeon.

The group passes through, and Proteus, despite being through this before, almost stumbles as they go through. "Gggh! The teleporters are unstable?!" She mutters, glaring... But the environment is different. She flicks an arm out, her cape flourishing slightly as she does so. "Careful. There's something there..." She says as her eyes search the trees... "There!" She points, just in time for the horde of bats to come flying out.

"Those are... rare enemies..." Proteus remarks, seeing the crimson bats and wincing at the screeches. "Time to put an end to this!" A little UI window snaps open before Proteus and she flicks her fingers, gesturing across it to trace several shapes: ) - O

A moment later, the Ability acrivates, and the Imp Archaeologist's hand flares with bright light as an explosion of Holy energy blasts into the middle of the pack of bats. "Go go go! Don't stick around, move!" She exhorts, trying to rush everyone to the next portal while the bats are blinded.

As the Drainliars begin their attack, Michio moves into action, preparing to avoid them. However, the creatures' screeching causes him to reel in pain, clutching at his ears. He collides with someone "Sorry!" before careening off a tree. All the while his HP bar is receiving ticks of loss from the foul leeching bites of the denizens of the dark labyrinth.

"...you had me at 'slimes'," Uta replies to Proteus. "And then you had me again at 'teleporter'. Wow, this place sounds like all sorts of fun. We get to do all that stuff /and/ they pay us?", she exclaims, ecstatic. "Where's the catch?"

At setsuna, she smiles with an enthusiastic, "Pumpkin slimes? Those would be adorable!"

The world goes all sideways, and once Uta manages to stand up again, bats attack, screeching, swooping, generally being their rapacious little selves!

But mostly screeching.

"Two can play at this game!", declares Uta. She stands still, waiting for the beasts to be within distance, and then-

A screech so loud to blast a rippling shockwave through the air; it impacts against anything around, and hammers at the bats' senses.

Shiruba oofs as the portal spits several of them out at a poor angle, almost like it's mocking them. She grumbles as she gets up, brushing herself off. "Yep, it's definitely changed..." Then her ears snap upright in alert. "We're not alone."

Sure enough creepy little bats show their heads with their creepy little red eyes, before opening their creepy wings to drop from their creepy perches and take flight. "Bats. Why did it have to be bats...."

Despite the grousing Shiruba draws back on the string of her bow, drawing air energy into Thundersnow Howl as using it's special power makes casting one of her first personal attacks easier to do so. "Typhoon Shot!" She fires a powerful blast of storm magic into the air to help send the bats scattering from their flight. "Drive them back and find the portal to the next section of the maze!"

Look, sometimes heal-tank /is/ the best plan. You never know what you might run into! Sometimes the first thing you end up running into is the sort of thing that inflicts a terrible bleeding debuff. You know, like these HORRIBLE BATS.

There's a noise of someone zipping around at nearly the speed of sound, but it doesn't seem to be enough. That same someone stumbles to the teleporter positively covered in bats and regret. "Ughhhh," Prophylaxis grumbles and slams a syringe into his arm. Probably the first of the night. "...Gonna need to work overtime to keep HP topped up, it seems. Damnable sky-rats..."

    Once through the portal into the woodland, Akatsuki takes to the middle of the group, one hand resting on her kodachi as the group moves as a team. Her nose twitches slightly at the scent in the air, and she looks up just in time to see the horrible, terrible, red-skinned bats.

    Briefly, Ryu Hayabusa has PTSD nightmare flashbacks about birds.

    But then? Just like that... The ninja Assassin vanishes from sight entirely. Where did she go?

    Into the labryinththey go, off to find the goblin king, or something like that at very least. As they walk he really wishes he had a camera, it would be nice to take pictures of the changes , unfortunately it isn't really possible. Just as he is about to get bored though, the labryinth provides. Bats, lots of bats and as they fly about Setsuna unleashes a bolt of lightning into the air and misses horribly. However it does seem to draw there attention and he has several bats bite and claw him pretty good. Looking over at Prophylaxis as he seems to give red sparks off every couple of moments, " I swear I don't try to attract bloodsuckers, they just like me."

Kaydon's first instinct is to swat at the bats with his sword as they swoop down upon him. He of course isn't going to be able to actually manage to hit all of them with a blade, and one or two of them wind up latching onto him, draining life force and leaving him with the debuff.

He ends up dropping to one knee as he tries to recover from it, shaking his head and trying to break the cobwebs from his brain. Feels like he just got punched in the head while someone sucked his blood out.

    Merek looks to the portal when all of them arrive at that place, then he walks along into it. When the bats come at the party, the man begins to try and sing along to keep the Drainliar away, though it looks like it begins leeching from him while he takes a moment to shift away, that health draining a little bit.

    Miyako stumbles as she enters, much like everyone else, and looks around. "Are we sure we're in the right place?" she asks. "Could the portal have been diverted?"

    She sighs a little and starts down the path with the rest, keeping a sharp eye out for monsters. "So, what do you think we're going to run into?" she asks. "I've got money on zombie ninja pirates." Apparently she's wrong, as it's /bats/. Wonderful. And she had a great song about zombie ninja pirates ready.

    With a quick scribble of runes, she casts a spell, amplifying her voice as she shouts at the creatures. "GO! AWAY!"

    Unfortunately they do not seem to be impressed, however, and she dodges frantically as several of them descend upon her. She manages to avoid or kill .... all but one, unfortunately.

Tch. Bats. Creepy leathery furry flying rodents. Robert holds back for a bit, not-so-valiantly trying to swat the critters out of the air with a stick. He's not particularly successful. The bats in front mostly stay out of reach, while the bats behind try to take advantage of the lapse in guard every time his back is turned. He's not hit, not yet, but it's really only a matter of time.

Proteus's flare and Uta's screech provide a window of opportunity, however. He crouches low, muscles tensing and coiling, and blasts forward in a surge of speed, sending bats flipping head-over-wings in his wake. And possibly just headbutting a few inadvertently. Eh, it's a swarm, and he's not exactly looking for a clear path here.

    Mizuki is here too! Labyrinth Forest? "I wonder if any of these events will have us find a magic-reflecting sword inside the maze..." Despite THAT reference, she's humming Beware The Forest's Mushrooms to herself. She sweatdrops at Uta's uta-ing... and nods approvingly at Akatsuki. "Nice costume! I went as Starfire this year." Her hair is still dyed red and tamed -- she equips the 'armor' set of her costume to show. ...Although, how many Yamatoans would recognize it? In this fantasy world, she sometimes forgets almost everyone was Japanese in real life...

    Anyway, once they're inside... bats! She roars at them, but they seem undeterred, biting her and leaving her dizzy. "Ugh... at least this wasn't a platforming section..."

Phase 2: Devil in the Details

The second portal is only slightly more kind than the last, leaving the Adventurers firmly on their feet, though with a bit if an uncomfortable feeling in their stomachs.

This part of the forest seems to be a circular clearing in the trees, the grasses having yellowed by whatever dark force the Festival seems to have spawned into this area. There are empty patches with torn up clods of earth and a few bits of broken wood that resemble spear shafts.

The most disturbing thing about the clearing is that there are splatters of dark liquid that stain the trunks of the nearby trees, extending downward onto the grass. Something was killed here, and it made quite a mess.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a single, pudgy looking devil-kin appears, bouncing slightly while holding a trident. The Deviruchi just seems to stand still for a long time, looking like it couldn't be much of a threat. That is, until more of them begin to arrive.

They grin with devilish white teeth, then start to move forward, jabing with their tridents and teleporting around with quick movements, all while giving a distorted, laughing sound effect.

Challenge:

- Divination vs 8 (Predict their movements to strike back)
- Light vs 9 (Burn them with Light magic)
- Shield vs 10 (Block their attacks to protect the party)

Failure: You are stabbed by one of the tiny pitchforks. The wound quickly turns black with spiderwebbing veins shooting up from it. You gain the status defect: 'Nightmare'. Immediately, you remember a painful, embarrassing, or horrific event of your past, which plays out before your eyes. Eventually, it passes, but the same nightmare will haunt you every night until the wound is tended to by a healer during a separate RP scene.

    Setsuna was, well he was use to this sort of thing, anytime any bloodsucking creature was around they did seem to finding there way to biting him. So he is quick to run through one of the teleporters to the next room. Trough the forest and into the clearing he marches along until they come to a cute little devil think with a pitch fork. "Aaawww it's so cute. " Then the little devil sting starts jabbing and moving quickly, "Ok it's quickly losing it's cuteness." Raising shields of bone and dark energy he does his best to protect people until someone can handle the damn thing.

"Pumpkin slimes... would be kind of... cute..." Proteus says carefully, almost as if loath to admit that it might be true. Still, she manages to get moving through without being caught thanks to the blast of Light. As Mizuki comments to one side, she glances over and deadpans, "Maybe you would have an easier time if you kept yourself at full life so you could use the sword-beam technique."

Still, they launch through another portal into another room. The immediate sight causes Proteus to squint and look around. "Huh. This place looks like there's been a big battle. And what's that on the trees?" She asks, stepping forward to begin approaching them to investigate when the Deviruchi appear. "Ggh! Of course...!" The creatures begin teleporting around, and she grimaces. "Fine. If you want to play it that way..." Proteus withdraws a brass cube studded with ornate designs from her cloak, spinning it in her hands before her thumbs suddenly press into the side with a CLACK. "First alignment." She states, before the box begins unfolding, revealing a complex series of tightly-packed mechanisms inside that Proteus quickly unfolds into a compound bow of brass and white topaz. Wire reels stretch down to tension the bowstring, a spherical contraption resting aside the nock. But Proteus doesn't even notch an arrow. Another window appears, curving around the sphere: ) X

And Proteus lashes out, spinning forward artfully with a dazzling slash with the upper section of the bow, lashing out with an Enlightened Strike using a blase of elemental Light that explodes upwards and out from the strike area. "Out of our way!" Proteus proclaims. "You are not going to stop us from solving this!"

Well at least this time the portal didn't dump them all on the ground. But there's no time to marvel at the fact, because there's a chibi devil! Only one, though.

No, there is never 'only one' when it comes to monsters like this. Seeing only one is typically a diversion, and it's got Shiruba on edge from the start. To the point that she's already prepared to put her training to use and form a protective layer of ice around herself.

Unfortunately the pitchforks are small sharp things with several points, and one still manages to get through her defense attempt. "Ow!" Shiruba quickly kicks the little bugger away, but by that point it's too late as the dark strains make their way up her arm. "No no no no..."

Which turns into a more paniced "NONONONO!" as she's forced to relive one of the many times her overbearingly misguided father scolded and belittled her in public over her school efforts not being 'good enough' even when she was one of the best students in her class.

This time Michio is ready. As the Deviruchi begin to scramble for the party, the Ki Master takes an archer's stance, with his left foot and arm leading. He brings his right hand up to the left and begins chanting as he pulls back towards his right ear. Crackling light energy erupts to form the shape of a bow and arrow as he draws, and as he releases his right hand, pure ki energy blazes forth to strike on of the chibi demons. After this, he looks around the group, "Gather on me for heals before going through the portal!" and begins channeling an Ola Repth to help top off the health bar of anyone injured so far.

    "It's just a series of portals? They couldn't even bother to program proper transitions?" Mizuki complains, before heading into the second portal. When she sees the Deviruchi, her eyes widen. "Wow, haven't seen one of these in a long time... good job translating the look to 3D!" She holds up a hand. "Chill frost, protect me from my foe's strikes as you protect my heart. Condensation Disc!"

    The spell is more like a shield-shaped forcefield with mist VFX than an physical disc of ice, but it does the job, Mizuki whirling barely in time to block the *teleports behind u* and retaliate with a stab from her dagger! although then she wobbles on her feet a bit from dizziness -- fortunately, it seems the deviruci has moved on to trying to attack someone else while she recovers, holding her hand to her head woozily. "Light magic should work well, I think? Although maybe that's a given with the devil motif..."

    Merek looks to a lot of the creatures, while he nods a bit, beginning to put up a light barrier that will keep the creatures away from the party. The man takes a look while he nods to the party, "That should protect people!"

Despite the dizziness from the debuff, Kaydon is still able to bring his blade in between himself and the small devil, "I don't know what your problem is little dude, but you need to back off!" He deflects several strikes from it, until he hears Shriuba yelling behind him. He quickly wheels around and rushes towards her, fending off several of the devils away from her, "Shiruba, snap out of it! Come on!" He tries to grab her and pull her along to the next area, if she'll come with him. At least to get her inside of Merek's light barrier until she does snap out of it.

"They would," Uta replies to Proteus. "I hope we'll meet one at tonight's event." A short pause. "Duty. Whatever it's called."

"Just don't hit on them, Setsuna. I know you.", Uta teases her incumbent employee of the month. "So, uh, time to start thinking what to write in the report we'll have to write for the Hunters' guild. How about... 'It's like the rat cellar, minus the cellar, and the rats can fly?'"

After leaving the bat-infested area, in come the little imp-like creatures. "D'aaaaaaaw. They are adorab-hey, wait. No. Too many of them. Too aggressiv- NO!"

As they approach, Uta starts to kick, punch, and karate-chop them, while spin-kicking around. Left, right, zigzaging and leaping backwards allow her to dispatch a number of them. Those, however, are just a distraction -- like fictional lemmings, a whole line of them climb up a tree, and after walking in a line along a branch, they nosedive towards her, at a short distance from each other.

Alerted by a suspicious rustle, Uta looks up. "Oh no, you don't!", she exclaims, and vocalizing an operatic aria, she hurls her staff upwards, tip first, as a vertical javelin!

The projectile pierces through the monsters, and as the pitch and intensity of the song rises, the magical item glows more and more luminous, burning and shattering the little imps and making polygons rain in a fireworks-like conical shower of glittering colors, vaguely reminiscent of Christmas tree.

"...Too early?", she wonders aloud.

SpritesHero pops out of the portal with a faint...well, 'pop'. Though he lands on his feet, his surroundings have him quickly dropping to his knees with a frown, fingers digging through the soil to yank out a length of what appears to be former spear. He tests the wood quality, and is just straightening with an even deeper frown when he finds himself face-to-face with an....evil plushie? He hesitates, torn between punting the thing across the clearing and simply leaving it to the rest of the party to deal with. That quandary is rapidly solved for him, though, with the sudden appearance of a bunch of the critters. And in this case, a 'bunch' means 'way too many to handle reasonably.'

He slowly backs up towards the rest of the group, making sure that his blind-spot is covered, only to find that back-to-back doesn't work so well when creatures can teleport. He's clipped in the thigh, the wound glowing red before darkening and spiderwebbing. His staff-strike is suddenly aborted as his eyes widen, and he stumbles backwards, staring at one of the mini-devil-creatures with way too much awe than the thing deserves. His arm lifts, vigorously rubs at his eyes, and he blinks once. Twice. Nobody saw that, right? Right.

"Setsuna," Prophylaxis begins, staring forlornly at the necromancer's quip about bloodsuckers. "...Nevermind. You do you. Just, promise you won't try to adopt anything that isn't adorable today." Apparently, the hole in the doctor's criteria for adoption is still as wide and exploitable as ever.

Fortunately, 'cuteness' is entirely subjective and what they find next doesn't have the doctor eating his words.

His feet on solid ground, the doctor peers at the little devil teetering out of the dark. 'Cute,' Setsuna calls it. Prophylaxis rolls his eyes because it's only kind of cute, but also DEFINITELY some kind of demon. When more of them appear, his suspicions are only confirmed. These little creatures are an absolute menace! They blink this way and that, seeming to strike from every possible angle.

But a firewall doesn't give a damn which way you try to pass through. It still stings like the dickens.

One such bubble of scorching flame blazes around the Doctor as he conjures it into being. A tiny devil, moments from sticking him with its terrible nightmare poker, abruptly turns to ash as the wall sweeps up to consume it. "We're not taking any of these," he decides, "We have demons at home."

DEMONS AT HOME: https://gamepedia.cursecdn.com/hades_gamepedia_en/4/45/Cerberus.png

    "Starfire?"
    Akatsuki re-appears standing atop a tree branch once the group has passed the bats, arms folded across her chest, scarf billowing in a passing wind.
    She doesn't seem familiar with western comics, and can only purse her lips when Mizuki swaps into her costume armor set to even show her.
    "Very nice." The praise is sincere at least.
    On through the next portal.
    Shaking off the brief queasy feeling, the ninja narrows her eyes when she spies the dark splatters. But then? Then the little devils come. Darting and dodging away from the pitchforks, she reaches into her equipment pouch and pulls out a scroll. Flipping it open reveals a single kanji sign.
    'Hikari'
    ...
    'Light'.
    The scroll gives off a sudden flaring flash of bright light to burn the devils, before she darts to Shiruba's side, a look of worry in her eyes.
    But alas, like a Morgul blade, it is beyond her ability to heal.

    "Lemonade," Miyako comments as the group walks on, somewhat unsteadily. "I want lemonade. Sometime soon I hope. Has anyone found lemons yet?"

    One devilkin is not much of a problem for a party like this. A dozen is.

    "Earth that holds our fathers' bones, guard us from this darkness! STONESKIN!"

    Miyako produces her naginata as her skin turns slate-grey, and she starts on through the clearing to slash her way through the advancing devilkin.

        ./~ Second to none, a marine and their gun
        ./~ Raising hell as they're fighting like dogs of war
        ./~ Heart of the Corps, and a part of their lore
        ./~ The deadliest weapon on Earth.....

Phase 3: Pulling Puppet Strings

Stepping through the third portal, feels... fine. Perhaps the group is simply getting used to the strange effect of these dark portals. Either that, or some force of fate decided to be kind to them, for once.

The branching path that they find themselves on next seems eerily quiet. The only sound is a strange, almost lullaby sort of whistle that seems to carry in the air, as if it were being carried by wind chimes. Everything seems darker, too, as if there were more shadows here than the previous chambers.

More shadows... because something seems to be hanging from the trees. Dangling from the branches are a series of what appears to be dolls, their limbs dangling at odd angles and their faces misshapen and warped by age and weather. Their hair hangs in raggid strands, dresses tattered, each seeming to carry a very real piece of some child's clothing.

Then, from the depths of the trees, a candelabra lights. First one, then another as the Marionettes start to come to life. They float down from the trees, dangling on their silver threads, looking more like corpses up close than dolls.

They approach, wielding those candelabras as melee weapons, using fire to attack the Adventurers.

Challenge:

- Water vs 10 (To put out the fires)
- Melee vs 10 (Cut the puppet strings)
- Scripture vs 8 (Use an incantation to banish the spirits)

Failure: You get a message: "Child's Doll has been added to your inventory." The item is a creepy, home-made doll with buttons for eyes. If you attempt to dispose of it, it returns to your inventory with a message: "You cannot dispose of a plot item." At night, it whispers... (Work together post-event to research this...)

Attempting to banish one of the dolls, Michio takes a stance, hands folded into an arcane figure. A soft glow begins to surround him, but just before he throws the banishment, the leeching debuff ticks, disrupting his attack and dropping his health to below 25. The Ki Master groans and focuses his energy, his health bar slowly raising back up, but he's unable to offer any further assistance against the maurading marionettes.

That was... unpleasant. It'll be even more unpleasant when it keeps coming back. But that is for Future Shiruba to worry about.

Right now she had to move on, barely getting enough wits back to stumble through the next portal with everyone else. "Ugh. I'm starting to dislike this holiday... outside of the candy," she mutters.

... And now it's creepy living puppets. "... Oh hell no." After the last experience, Shiruba is having none of this Goosebumps reject story. She switchs to the other elemental charge of her bow, and starts shooting Jet Sprays of frothy rainwater to put out the fires and blast the puppets away from her with it's pressurized knockback.

    "Lemonade? I could really go for some gingerale right now, actually... ooh, or even better, raspberry gingerale..." Mizuki replies to Miyako.

    "A whistle?" Mizuki looks around expectantly, as if perhaps a mysterious, bescarved stranger is going to teleport in and fight them. but no, it's... "Dolls? Oh, geeze, they are just going to town with the RO monsters for this dungeon, huh? I guess they didn't have a lot of halloween stuff to draw on from all those licenses besides Niflheim, huh..."

    "It's alright, I got this!" She starts doing martial arts moves, 'waterbending' to summon little globes of water and fling them at the candelabras! And then she falls over, barely catching herself on all fours. "Urrrgh..."

    The demonkin thing fries under the light and Setsuna lets his shield vanish as he continues on down the path to the next part of the labryinth and so they come upon a nightmare of Setsuna's. Looking at the dolls as he approaches them carefully and then they come to life. " I was afraid they were going to do that," the necormancer says as he lashes out with dagger trying to cut away the strings and he thinks he hit one till comes back and hits him with the candelbras, so Setsuna begins to retreat. It will be a time till he checks his inventory.

SpritesHero emerges from the third portal, nursing his thigh (and possibly a bit of his pride). Leaning on his staff he allows his eyes to wander over the area, taking in the musical whistle, the living shadows, the....fire wielding dolls?

Sprites does not care about the dolls, which look like they'd fall apart if he so much as nudged them. He does care about the fire, which could be an issue no matter what it is wielded by. He lifts his free hand from his thigh, murmurs something under his breath, and sends a torrent of ice towards the nearest doll. Which nimbly skips out of the way, jumps at him, and...abruptly disappears? Sprites just stands there in puzzled confusion as he tries to process what's happened. He glances left. He glances right. He scratches at his head. He stares at a spot two feet in front of him, brings up his inventory panel, and repeatedly makes a flicking motion. No, nothing flashes into existance. "Huh."

"Okay yeah." Kaydon isn't 100% sure why he came on this particular mission. He's never been a huge fan of the horror genre. He was always more of an action movie kind of guy.

The song Miyako sings gets his attention, "That's not one I've heard before, but I like the topic." Hey what can he say, he's proud of his service. Though the sudden appearance of the candelabra wielding marionettes makes him frown, "Okay. Nope. Super hard pass on creepy doll children."

And then he rushes forward, his Damasus longsword flashing in the light from the candelabras as he cuts the strings of multiple marionettes one after another.

The group pushes forward through the portal, and this time finally this one actually allows her to not almost fall over when she steps through. "It's almost like the portals want us to be here..." She muses, looking around this time. She tilts her head as she listens to the lullaby-like whistle, and she frowns, immediately gesturing into another window with her free hand. ( * #

An Arcane Eye pops into being over her shoulder, and she peers into the dark. "The trees again. That's... Oh my." She grimaces as she sees the children's clothing on the misshapen dolls. "Cursed puppets, too!? What kind of place has this become!?"

The puppets move, and Proteus is already sketching a series of runes into the ground in a circle. "We need a ward!" She calls, before intoning a series of phrases. The dolls come near, but can't seem to pass the line. Unfortunately, it's not a large circle...

The moment she can move, she launches past the dolls towards the next area. "Don't let them get ahold of you!"

     "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep; but I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep."

    Miyako hums softly to herself as she recites the classic poem, watching through the dark woods, until she spots the puppets oncoming.

    "... how are they still handling the strings throuhg all the trees?" she asks of no one in particular. She lifts her naginata in a slate-grey hand and gives it a twirl. "Master of Puppets is pullin' your strings... dum dum da dum da da hear your screams..." she sings to herself as she starts slicing through the puppet strings, leaving collapsed marinettes behind her.

Uta makes a good impression of a protagonist of a 1950s horror B-movie as depicted on the associated poster. Wide eyes, mouth open in a screaming motion, pulling away as horrific threats close in.

After the first moment of terror, however, she snaps out of it and composes herself again. "Sorry, I already am in a creepy stalking relationship with the Girl from the Menu. We're exclusive," Uta says, and shifts her stance to one of attack. She intones some low, gurgling song, beating her staff obsessively on the ground in some sort of tribal chant rhythm, and-

Circles begin to appear on the ground. They grow into small discs of light on the ground, and soon, it turns out the discs are summoning circles. Up from each of them, a slime appear, smiling cutely as they are wont to.

"SEWER CALL!", declares Uta, and points her staff at the dolls. "Go, little ones, and destroy!"

As the order is given, the slimes bounce at the dolls, pelting them with their little blobby bodies, sucking off the already disfigured skin, and generally adding to the cute/horrific dissonance.

But at least being effective.

    Shiruba seems alright enough to continue on, and just like that Akatsuki vanishes from sight once again. So onwards into the next portal to be...
    Surrounded by creepy marionettes.
    Briefly the assassin's blood runs cold, but she vanishes--
    There are several flashes of light as it reflects off the blade of her kodachi, and multiple strings can be heard cuttiing with an audible series of twangs as she lands in a crouch.

On to the third of the teleporter chambers! At this point, Prophylaxis just kind of expects to be ambushed by some kind of horror. He's on guard for what happens next, is the point. But what he's... Not exactly ready for evil puppets from on high.

Is /anyone/ ever ready for evil puppets from on high?

"What... If they're on strings, then what's /manipulating/ them?" Prophylaxis squawks, jabbing another healing potion into his arm to keep his health from freefalling. Even backstepping, it's just what the dolls need to close in...

One manages to whack him across the chest. Prophylaxis winces as reality shifts and his robes burn--

But then... the temperature plummets. Breaths begin to frost the moment they leave gasping lips. A shiver thrills down the spine as a deep frost seems to take root in the very depths of the heart. There, in the doctor's shadow, for just a split second, an elegant figure with too-pale skin and a snow-white kimono emerges. She stares dismissively at the prancing dolls and disappears amidst a blast of wintery air that all but extinguishes those flickering flames.

The doctor quickly patches his wound and whacks the flash-frozen doll in front of him with the butt of his staff. "Nice work on the ice spell," he says to nobody in particular.

    Merek looks at the candelabra, and begins to cast Frost Shock to place water onto it, the man nodding a bit, while he takes a look along to that party, "Alright, I don't like the place," he will note.

Phase 4: King of the Pumpkin Patch

The next portal jars them with a feeling of being in motion and then being brought to an abrupt stop. The ground around them is littered with vines which can easily catch an unwary foot.

They find themselves dropped in what appears to be a section of the forest that has been all but taken over by a pumpkin patch. Spider webs cling between the pumpkins, and above, in the branches, a single crow caws.

It is quiet. By now, they will have realized that in this place, quiet is a very bad thing. Then, there is a light thumping sound followed by the shuffling of feet. A shadowy figure steps from the trees, its form thin and tall, limbs stretched out in an almost skeletal fashion. One hand clutches around a cane which thuds loudly with each step.

However, where there should be a face on the figure, there is a pumpkin head, carved with a wicked, toothy grin, lit by some kind of interior glow. A dashing top-hat sits atop the gourd, slightly tilted off to the side. The rest of his clothing matches, looking like a tattered suit that could be considered dapper, if it didn't look as if it had come up from a grave.

Gnashing his teeth, Jakk approaches them, sweeping that staff as a weapon, the pumpkin vines start to try to wrap around them, seeking to hold them in place while the monster begins his slow creep forward.

Challenge:
- Earth vs 10 (Break the hold of the vines)
- Herbology vs 8 (Cause the vines to wither)
- Handle Monster vs 8 (You can damage Jakk by attacking the pumpkins)

Failure: One of the pumpkins near you swells up and seems to explode, splattering you in pumpkin guts. Where it touches your skin, you begin to break out in orange dots which are itchy and uncomfortable. You gain the status effect: 'Pumpkin Pox'. The illness causes orange splotches, itchiness, and a craving for sweets. It can be removed by RPing with someone who has the Cooking skill and having them make you a pumpkin treat.

After stumbling through the portal Shiruba's ears perk up. "It's quiet." Dramatic pause. "-Too- quiet..."

Which turns out to be 100 percent accurate when a GRAVELY dressed dapper man with a pumpkin for a head appears before them. By this point she's already on edge, so as soon as Jakk moves in a manner that suggests an incoming attack Shiruba is already reaching for her quiver.

Vines leap from the gourds and lunge forward like snakes.... only for several to be snapped away from her as the crystal tipped air pieces their length and pins them back against one of the pumpkins. "Those aren't tentacles but it's almost as bad as!" she yelps.

The salamander Ki Master is just not at his finest today. As Michio tries to use Thorn Bind Hostage on Jakk, the animated Pumpkin merely laughs and gestures with a wave. The vines turn back on Michio and instead wrap around him. "Kusooooo!" he yells just before a pumpkin ripples and explodes, showering the martial artist in gooey gourd guts.

SpritesHero does look a bit nauseous as he stumbles out of the portal, but at least has the good grace to not empty his stomach. That would be impolite. And stinky. And possibly contagious, and then where would everyone be? In a big stinkbowl, that's where.

As his stomach settles, Sprites takes a moment to glance around himself, furtively, at which point Jakk begins its clattering approach. As for Sprites? Sprites has had quite enough of this, thank you very much. He's just about to launch himself at the foe when he notices, nearly too late, that the vines around him seem to have been granted motility and are now coming straight at him. With an irritated "tch" Sprites is forced to redirect his spell, and instead of slapping the ever-loving daylights out of a pumpkin-man with thorned vines, he's forced into the defensive on a vine-on-vine duel. He's not making any headway, but he's not getting overwhelmed either. It's just a lot of thorned vines slapping against pumpkin vines. Oh. And yes. Given their surroundings, he makes darned sure he's not looking at any females. If there will be vine shenanigans, he will not be the one taking the blame later.

    Setsuna was fine, he was fine , no more evil puppets hunting him or anything , no now here he was in a pumpkin patch and facing down pumpkin patch Jakk. "I shouldn't have left my knight at home," Setsuna adds as he begins to channel dark energy into the ground around him. From beneath a few pumpkins erupts a pair of skeleton minion and sends them to keep Jakk busy. Meanwhile Setsuna is sending magic bolt attacks at the pumpkins to work on bleeding the HP of the monster.

Prophylaxis isn't going to say that he absolutely called PUMPKIN MONSTER, but he absolutely called PUMPKIN MONSTER. He probably would not have figured that it was going to be some kind of ultra-dapper pumpkin monster, but them's the brakes. There's a limit to how prescient the doctor's genre savviness can be, after all! "Alright, you. Time to make some grilled gourd...!" Prophylaxis murmurs, readying his staff to hurl a bolt of lightning right out of the sky, when suddenly...!

He feels all kinds of woozy and un-right!? The bleed effect has finally caught up with him, and it seems that the doctor forgot to reapply his healing potion. Suddenly struck with a dizzy spell, Prophylaxis stumbles right into a bursting pumpkin...!

...And ends up covered in awful, itchy orange splotches for his trouble. "Of course there's some kind of disease," he mutters, scratching at the fresh rashes. But... Why doesn't he seem to react to the /other/ part of the status effect!?

(It's because Prophylaxis has a permanent sweet tooth already. Can't exactly make him crave for /more/ candy.)

    Merek lifts up the potion with him then he throws a potion into that vine while he nods a little bit along to the party. The man makes a way along while he will watch the people and make sure they will make it along the way.

Kaydon isn't going to stand around and let the vines just wrap him up. That's not his style. He slams his blade downwards into the ground which ripples outwards from the impact, shattering the vines that are wrapping him up and freeing him.

He quickly jumps back and takes up a defensive stance, "Come on you pumpkin headed freak! Man what I would give for a proton pack right about now!" Sadly no one has invented those yet.

    Eventually, Mizuki stands up, keeping her dinner down. "Uta, you can summon slimes now? That's so cool..." She heads through the next portal. "Are we going to have to fight the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown?" She asks no one in particular.

    When Jack appears, she comments, "Oh, right, RO monsters is today's theme."

    And then vines get grabby! Like  t e n t a c l e s. Eugh. "Woah, woah! Not cool!" She summons up her strength to pull against the vines long enough to 'earthbend' rock cradle, which forces them off her and protects from the splash of pumpkin goo!

    When the rocks recede, she's already in casting stance. "Scatter your chilly sharp blades! FROST BOLTO!" A series of conjured icicles appear over her head and fling themselves at Jack, the last one presumably hitting with a satisfying THWACK sound. Mizuki usually takes advantage of the spell's VFX timing quirk, but this time when she charges forward to ninja the monster she stumbles and falls to her hands and knees from dizziness. "Urrgh..."

    In through the next portal and Akatsuki pauses. The vines are a surefire tripping hazard, but the silence... The silence is thick enough to be cut with a blade.
    And then. Then comes Jakk.
    Caught by surprise, Akatsuki is tangled in vines. And worse! A pumkpin nearby explodes, showering the ninja in black in nasty orange squash gore.
    "..."
    To her credit she takes it like a champion, even as orange blotches begin to appear on her skin under her costume and...
    She has to start scratching- oh god the itch it's terrible.
    To Akatsuki's EXTREME credit she takes all this torture in absolute silence as she rolls on the ground scratching herself.
    Please send help.

Proteus somehow manages to evade horrible doll-curses. This is a situation she is perfectly happy with. She has enough problems without being followed around by a Creepy Doll. But there is still the matter of that not being the final area. Proteus makes her way into the what is probably the final area, judging how these things go. Four /is/ an ill number, after all, given the environment...

The sight of the pumpkin patch brings with it a grimace from the Imp. "Well... I'm not seeing any pumpkin slimes..." She says... "But that... That's a pumpkin. But not a slime!" She says, belaboring the obvious just as well as anyone else might at the moment. The vines come sweeping around her, but her hand is already in motion: V S M

A pillar of earth erupts beneath Proteus, launching her upwards into the air. She flips there, spinning above the reach of the foliage, as she brings the mechanical bow pointing downwards... "Not so fast!" She calls, trying to rain down arrows, trying to keep the Pumpking from destroying them all! "Back off!"

    "Mmm, ginger ale," Miyako muses. "That does sound good. Hell, I'd go for a damn coke at this point." She shrugs and carries on with the rest, kicking her feet as the vines twine around her.

    "Hey! No tentacles allowed!"

    She tries to force her way out of the trap, but doesn't manage it until she manages a quick spell to rip open the earth beneath her. "Bloody feck!"

    She twirls her naginata and squares off to hold the big guy off, using the polearm's reach to keep out of its own.

    "Well, someone got their wish, it's the Great Pumpkin alright!"

"What's this? What's this? There's pumpkins everywhere!

What's this? These vines shoot through the air!

What's this? I can't believe my eyes, you must be kidding that monster Jakk, he's can't be there!

What's this!

What's this! What's this!

There's somthing very wrong!

What's this! Why am I singing songs?

What's this!

This forest teems with monsters, packing punches and attacking all Adventurers who dare come into-"

SPLORTCH.

Yes, she's covered in orange goo now.

"...that...wasn't a pumpkin slime...", she mutters. Her complexion veers orange, covered in splotches.

"...I need a treat...", she whimpers, scratching her face, shoulders, and thighs.

Phase 5: A Wraith Against Time

When Jakk is defeated, once more, silence spreads over the pumpkin patch. There are splattered remains of pumpkins strewn across the ground all around them, vines broken and withered.

Yet, there is no portal that would lead them onward, deeper into the forest. Could this be a dead end?

An ominous moan sounds, seeming to come from the very ground beneath their feet. Shooting out of the earth, a skeletal hand claws forward, pulling an absolutely massive looking monster up from below. Dirt topples off of a ragged sort of cloak that covers an absolutely ghastly figure.

At first, it appears to be a humanoid skeleton, with empty eye sockets and a gnashing mouth that seems to hang slack against a hollow chest. Then, something seems to claw its way out from the monster's stomach, pulsing red flesh revealing white teeth which spread across the Wraith's stomach like a huge, monstrous maw.

It roars, the sound causing the very trees to tremble. Huge, clawed fingers slash at the Adventurers, trying to grab at them and pull them into that fiendish mouth.

Challenge:
Physical vs 10
Magical vs 10

Faster. Faster. The moment the target even begins to appear, Sprites zips towards it, every footfall yielding an echoing tremor in the earth beneath. It's an aggressive plan; pack the earth down around the target before it can emerge fully, keeping it contained. Wedged, in point of fact. It's a pity that the plan is not executed with as much competence as aggression, and by the time Sprites reaches the boss it is a fraction of a second too late. He's clipped by the boss's arm and sent flying while trailing red sparks behind him, fetching up against a nearby tree. The worst part? The boss probably wasn't even aware of him. Yes, Sprites got nailed by a spawn animation.

No portal? That's no good. Either is a dead end, or Jakk was just a warm u--

"HOLY BAHAMUIT BALLS WHAT IS THAT?!" Shiruba bellows in a combination of awe and disgust as the creature appears, only for a massive maw to open across it's midsection like a giant orafice tumor. Quickly she's trying to backpedal out of its reach, while charging a magic shot and firing it at the same time. She's freaked out though, and it's having an obvious effect on her skills as she calls out "LORD OF VERMILLION!" but the blasts of red hued lightning that erupt from her bow are even more erratic than usual, knocking the cait sith on her fluffy butt.

As soon as he reaches this side of the portal, Michio nearly feints with exhaustion... and an overwhelming craving for pumpkin treats. "Bats... devils... dolls... pumpkin headed weirdos..."

"And now this abyssal abomination..."

"We've had our tricks, and now I've got a treat for you, you bastard... NIGHTMARE SPHERE!!!!"

Michio takes a staggering halfstep back, hands forming a ball at his side. Spinning a full 360, green streaked violet energy coursing along his arms as he does so, the Ki Master throws his hands forward and lobs his attack right into the gaping maw of the wraith.

Then he's down on one knee, panting, shoulders heaving with the exertion and prolonged light headedness from the sustained debuffs.

Lots of spells going off in every direction, and lo and behold in the middle of it is Kaydon, closing in to swing his sword like the veritable barbarian that he is.

The were-fang Juggernaut lives up to his name, as he slams shoulder first into the creature, whatever the hell it is, and then unleashes a massive upwards swing with his sword, looking to very well cleave the creature in half with the power of his swing.

     Setsuna looks at new monster rising and his own minions desummoning, " I would of prefered had they stuck around. " Raising his hand to cover his eyes as he activates a buff, removing his hand to show his eyes now glowing with magical energy. As he watches the wraith and contuining to unleash small bolts of magical energy. This time focused onto one specific spot which does a bit more damage then one would think from Setsuna's normal rate of attack.

    Mizuki claps for Uta's song rendition, smiling unsteadily on her knees. She just manages to get to her feet, and... "No more portals?"

    And then the boss(?) appears, its roar making her fur bristle slightly, and then she roars back, and tries to follow up with a plume of flame, but... doesn't feel so well, only able to spit enough fire to look cool for show rather than be an effective weapon/ She tries to rally as claws rake red lines across her, rezzing a plain shield and charging, trying to jam the shield in its lower maw and then just slash it up as much as she can with her daggers and footclaws while it's dealing with that! "Game logic says slashing still works on bone, creep!"

    And then she hears someone call LORD OF VERMILLION and leaps the hell away to avoid getting caught in it, stumbling as she lands unsteadily.

    For a good long moment Akatsuki is... Pretty incapacitated.
    The relentless itching is just too extreme, and the miniscule ninja can do little more than quietly roll around and scratch herswlf wildly.
    She can't even appreciate Uta's musical ditty.
    Then the wraith comes.
    Akatsuki is still scratching.
    The wraith roars.
    She's still on the ground rolling around miserably.
    It slashes...!
    --And Akatsuki is gone.
    Appearing in the air over the spectre from behind her kodachi flashes in her hand--

    "Assassinate!"

    With this dread declaration of lethal intent she brings her blade into the thing's back, maximizing her DPS in an extreme burst before she lands, sheathing her blade.
    ... And resumes rolling on the ground wanting to freaking die.

"I can," Uta confirms to Mizuki, still looking rather unhealthy. "I've been taking Monster Handling lessons from Rylen. It..." She blinks. "Say, don't you happen to have any treats? I have this sudden need for- anything sweet? Pumpkin flavored preferably?"

She staggers ahead some, scratching, scratching, scratching. "Argh, I should probably remove my gloves, can't really sink my nails well enough, and I need /pointier/ scratching prow-"

Eyes bulge at the massive teeth of the monsters.

"Pooooooointy...", she drools. "YOU'LL DO!", she exclaims, and rushes head-first into battle, going straight for shouldering, and knee'ing the monster in the maw -- blows which double as scratching against that jagged surface. "Ah, feels better already!", Uta sighs in relief.

    Miyako smiles and relaxes as Pumpkin-Dude goes down. She puts her naginata away, back in Inventory. It's over, right? It's all dealt with?

    "What the actual - "

    Apparently not.

    She leaps back, away from the monster, sliding back a bit in the disturbed soil as she lands.

    "Okay who jinxed us?" she shouts as she starts to scribe her runes. The characters glow with an icy blue light, and when she finishes they form into a circle around her hand as she aims directly at the giant skeleton.

    "FROST SHOCK!"

    The ray of icy cyan light lashes out from her hand to smash into the skeleton-monster, ice forming over the bones, gleaming and crackling.

"Ugggggh," Prophylaxis grumbles, stumbling dizzily through the next teleporter. He scratches at orange rashes and staggers this way and that as the blood loss continues to plague his awareness. The monster skeleton roars, and Prophylaxis... walks forward to be seized, as if only barely aware of what's going on around him!?

No, wait.

In the monster's gut... He's somewhere that his dizziness and scratchiness can't throw off his aim. With a swift incantation, the doctor abruptly BURSTS INTO FLAMES and begins cooking the horrifying monster from the inside out, shoring up his HP loss with rapid syringes, but...

He's still probably going to end up pretty beat up by the time the rest of the party manages to carve him out...

...A worthy sacrifice...?

    Merek will lift up what looks to be the alchemist fire potion which will explode, which he will begin throwing into the creature while he will watch the thing not really do anything.

The pumpkin king has been defeated. The World is at peace.

No, wait. Of course it's not that easy. Proteus hits the ground and looks around at the situation, and notices.... "...There's no more portals." Immediately, she backs off as she hears the moan, and... The huge, ghastly thing appears. "Gggh! That thing must be the source of what's affecting the forest. That power..."

She shakes her head. There's no time for doubt. There's only time... "I've chosen the proper solution for something like you." She states, flicking a hand and revealing a gleaming crystal charged with Light energy. She slots it into the bow, where it gleams, the orb to one side snapping open to reveal... A focusing lens array. "Cast open the gate of light!" She proclaims, the Ability runes activating along the side of the orb...

                                   + ) ! .                                  

A beam of light forms, Proteus drawing it back in the bow as she lines up... "NOW... BANISH!" She cries, loosing the beam. It passes through the focusing lens, blasting forward and shattering into a hail of multicolored beams that streak down into the horrifying maw of the Wraith!

The Wraith seems to be some kind of powerful spirit, driven by pain and suffering. It had tried to consume them, perhaps in the same way it had been consumed by darkness.

However, the Adventurers are able to overcome, draining the monster's health and eventually causing it fall, glowing cracks forming before it vanishes into pinpoints of light.

A handful of small, filthy coins fall to the ground in the aftermath, easily plucked from the remains of the pumpkin patch. The coins show the form of a skull on one face, and seem to be the only reward left from slaying the monster.

Where the Wraith had stood, a new portal appears. This is not the dark, tainted portals they had seen earlier, but the white, swirling type that were typical of the Labyrinth Forest. They have earned their way out, it seems.

Shiruba gets up and shakes herself off. "This place is even worse than usual for this festival," she notes. Thank the Goddesses the portal that appears now is the normal 'You won, get out' one rather than the dark tainted ones. She grabs one of the dropped coins, and beats fluffy feet out of here.

Taking a handkerchief from his pocket, Michio gingerly reaches down to pick up the token. Frowning severely at it for a moment, the wanderer nods once, wraps the trinket in the cloth, and tucks it into his inventory before heading through the portal.

    "So," Miyako says, picking up one of the coins. "That's the end, right?" (Unlike Michio, she takes no precautions, treating it like any other monster drop.)

    "That -is- all of it, right?" She looks around, peering through the darkness, then spots the portal. "Okay, onwards!"

    Setsuna picks up one of the coins as he looks at the group, " So I am just wondering, who wants to come back here during the holiday season and be beat around by a pine tree? I am not saying for sure it will be a pine tree, but definately a evil fur tree." Opening his inventory he is going to put the coin in it and then sees the doll. "Nope nope nope get out of there." He tries to retrieve the doll and is not successful. "Oh this is bad." His eyes shift a little as he just puts the coin in his inventory and tries to casually walk out of the dungeon through the portal. No need to raise any alarms or anything.

    "Prophy, no!" Mizuki cries in alarm when the doc is FREAKING EATEN. Hopefully he's regurgitated when the monster is defeated! She rushes over to him, pulling a healing potion from her inventory, "C'mon, doc, we can't lose our healer... what the hell happened to you, to make you so out of it like that?"

    Once it's clear that Prophy isn't on the edge of death or anything, she rezzes one of her halloween candy bags to give Uta a piece or two. "Don't have anything pumpkin flavored, but... did you eat all your halloween candy already...?"

SpritesHero grunts. It's not particularly intimidating. In fact, it's distinctly on the sore side. With a grimace he pushes his way to his feet, slapping dust off his clothing, and bee-lines for the exit portal. Sometimes, especially when you've put in this caliber of performance, it's best to not stick around. That's right. Pretend nothing happened, and scoot, scoot, scoot.

"Not funny Setsuna!" Shiruba barks over her shoulder at the necromancer.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!", screams Uta, hand extended, as the wraith shatters into polygons.

She falls to her knees, on the verge of tears, and trembling, she stares at the last dots of light that still persist in the wind. "...My backscratcher!"

Tears come /this/ close to running down her cheeks.

To calm herself, she flicks her inventory open, materializes a red squishy ball and...

Squeeze.

Squeeze.

Squeeze.

After some breathing and stress ball exercise, she seems to have recovered, and with a sniff, she stands up.

Her stomach growls, so loud and clear that everyone else around can hear it. She opens her chimlinks, and goes, "...Gwen. We have a treat emergency. I need something sweet. Preferably pumpkin. Stat."

She notices Mizuki, and blinks at her. "...Thanks, that'll tide me over," she replies. Pops the candies as if hey were aspirin, followed by a gulp of water from a recently materialized canteen.

"...Oh. Uh. I gave almost all of it away to children that came asking for it, actually..."

    Setsuna stops as he is about to exit and looks over at Shiruba, " I am sorry . I am just saying I don't expect this place to be a winter wonderland happy fun time in another month or so. " Obviously that is the part that isn't funny, not the other part nope nope. Oh hey look a portal to step through.

"That was entirely to plan," Prophylaxis says, chugging the offered healing potion like his life depended on it. (It might, depending.) "I was just feeling dizzy and decided I could fight it more effectively from the inside than from the outside. It's fine. It all turned out fine."

There's a beat. He picks the little coin off the ground and pockets it, before turning to leave. "Come, I need to figure out how to remove weird orange rashes."

Kaydon scoops up one of the coins, and then quickly follows Shiruba out of the portal. No way is he going to stick around here any longer than he has to.

    Mizuki blinks at Uta. "Umm. You're supposed to *taste* the candies, that's kind of the point of them... if you treat them like pills, you'll just get fatter for nothing... or are you hypoglycemic?" She looks to the doctor. "Umm... should we check if Uta is okay?" Also possibly Akatsuki if she's still rolling around in itchy suffering.