4725/The Sweet Laughter of Children (1)

The Sweet Laughter of Children (1)
Date of Scene:	27 October 2016
Location:	The Secret World <TSW>
Synopsis:	Children go missing. They turn up in the Park. Nothing good happens. (TSW Halloween 2016)
Cast of Characters:	Wuyin Tsai, 518, Staren, 481, Kotone Yamakawa, 513, 1028, Inga, Riva Banari

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Wuyin Tsai has posed:
The Atlantic Island Park is and has been abandoned for some time. The Fog cleared it, certainly, but the accidents... it isn't hard to find out about the accidents. Deaths. A worker's safety harnesses failing. A truck of bumper cars coming loose and crushing another. Murders. A child's body found behind the cotton candy stall. A man in a bloodied mascot costume wielding a knife, leaving a trail of blood wherever he goes.

But the Fog... It's always worse in the Fog. And if something took children here...

The Park is huge, spread out in the hills of the Savage Coast. The parking lot is accessible off the main road, curving down into a depression with a lot scattered with abandoned cars. A tile-roofed building occupies the far side of the lot, a darkened office labeled 'Information Center' to the right. Above the building, the sign 'ATLANTIC ISLAND PARK' is displayed in huge letters. On its left, a cartoonish sun with a smiling face rests against the sign. A faded wooden rainbow stretches over it, chipped and worn.

In the middle, three abandoned ticket booths and rotating gates of horizontal bars block the path forward. One at the far right has a green light over it, and can be pushed through with a clicking sound. Someone left it unlocked. Beyond it, escalators under a slanted canopy ascend the hill, heading up towards a fork in the dirt path: to the left, it stretches onward, and to the right, it goes to an archway and a rusted metal gate with an illegible sign over it.

It's dark. The sky is shrouded in the endless grey of the Fog. The moment you step off the escalators, a feeling of cold emptiness washes over you. The color seems to be washed out of everything, and the world just feels... /wrong/.

This is not a place for the living. It's hard to say if it's accepting of the dead.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    It had been a long time since Yuuki had been outside of her patchwork world, with all the politics, nonsense, murdering, and Supernatural Banality keeping her very very busy. However, as a terrible bleeding heart

    Let's run that one back.

    Yuuki Kuran, Totally Normal Girl* (we swear, for realsies), had been having a Totally Normal High School Schedule of being... Homeschooled by a collection of extremely bishie boys and pretty ladies. Her life being a shojo anime was only compounded by the fact that her escape was accomplished by sneaking out of her giant mansion with servants in the dreary cold mountains to come for a day of fun and excitement to an AMUSEMENT PARK.

    A park for amusements.

    And so, with a flyer, bright eyed and bushy tailed even at this late night time, Yuuki (Normal Girl, Yup, Totally) just sort of Is at the gate.

    She looks down at her flyer. She looks at the gate. Back at the flyer. Back at the gate.

    "Huh. They must not be open this time of year..." She observes, with all the levity of The Densest Girl Alive, before pocketing her flyer and pushing open the gate, meandering inside. "I wonder if the Ferris Wheel is still going. I don't think I've ever been on a Ferris Wheel before..."

    Riding the escalator up, she glances at the two paths. "I think... It's this way?" She mumbles, stuffing her hands in her pockets as the Chill sets in.

    The long-haired girl, heedless of danger, starts down the path to the right, with the rusted gate. "This seems to be the fastest way."

Staren has posed:
    Missing children... from several worlds. And it leads back to Solomon Island...

    As if it wasn't bad enough that children were kidnapped, or bad enough that it was connected to Solomon Island, this means that any of those worlds could have Filth infection somewhere... or even some world they don't even know about!

    The more immediate problem is the missing children. Can only hope they're still alive and not too badly scarred for life, right? Staren has to go looking, because if he gave them up for dead and they were still alive...

    Staren arrives with the others, wearing his powered armor as usual. He's been wearing it more and more lately, but it seems like any mission he /doesn't/ wear it is a mistake -- the attack by the guildless in Ravnica could have gone very poorly for him indeed. He got lucky.

    Staren shivers and then looks around warily as he feels the cold wash over him. "Did anyone else feel that?" Before proceeding further into the park, Staren pulls an oversized revolver from his bag, opening the cylinder and checking that all six rounds are loaded. He mutters to himself, "I wonder if putting down monsters counts as a birthday present... Really should try to find something more... Wonder if he'd like a sectoid to study..."

    Staren looks to Yuuki. "The entire city is Closed On Account Of Zombies, miss."

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Kirika has never been to an amusement park either.

    She's been to festivals, but this is something else. She got the message regarding missing children a few hours back, and she's been with Inga. "It tends to be that way." She agrees with Staren, regarding Yuuki impassively with a crimson gaze.

    Her tail swishes side to side, and the Kitsune produces a gem from her pocket, the jewel glowing with a magical aura as it tries to identify any nearby phenomena, possibly even sense hostiles nearby.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
It had been a long time since Kotone had been this way, she had changed a lot but that pang of fear had never vanished form her mind on the Savage Coast. She was clad in stealth armour and carrying heavier weapons than she had before, yet she wasn't sure how needed such things would be. She'd taken a bit of a detour before she'd joined up with everyone else. Doing a supply drop for Andy and the rest of the surivors at the police sttion, bullets, food, a med kit or two it was the least she could do, she couldn't stay long but she hoped the supplies would make things easier for them all.

From there on she's taken her Kight and driven through what was left of the city towards the park it wasn't long before she got off her bike, pulled the jack out of her neck. Then went towards the old entrance but there's a feeling of fear here. Something was wrong here, /even/ for Kingsmouth which was some kind of hell's mouth as far as the cyborg was aware. For now she waits near the entrace.

There were children missing and she feared what could befall them, Flith, undeath, Droggar, blood magic, all the horrible thing's she'd run into here? Danced about in her mind with perfect recall.

"I'm here looking into children that have gone missing...Staren? I don't think we can escape Kingsmouth something always pulls us back."

She looke to Yuuki for a momwnt concrned.

"Place has been closed for a long time I'm afraid...miss."

Finna (513) has posed:
What with a few stories of what happened around LAST HALLOWEEN in this awful, cursed place reaching her ears, Finna's volunteered to help her allies once again.

    And this time, hopefully less recklessly...

    For all she might periodically chide people who've fell afoul of why the Haslanti frown on big cities and specialization, Finna's not about to lump children in with that fate!

    The Snow Fox - currently sporting a grey'ish summer coat to avoid overheating - bounds off the escalators and... SHIVERS.

    These surroundings are unfamiliar to Finna. She doesn't know what exactly they're supposed to be. But seeing such a dichotomy on the sun sign gives her an odd feeling. The fox trots past it and shakes her head, trying to dislodge a case of the willies.

    Not that it does much good.

    But the sound of Yuuki suddenly speaking up gets the fox to SQUEAKY-YELP. With a scrabbly VAULTING POUNCE Finna goes sailing up and lands atop the rotting wooden sound and crooooooooooooons warningly at the group.

    She doesn't like this.

    But the fox raises her nose to the wind and refines her senses, focusing intensely. Perhaps this sour wind will give her a starting point to investigate by...

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    In Mashu's quest to see as much of humanity's culture as possible, she couldn't pass when an odd ad for an amusement park reached her mailbox. Who put it there is beyond her, but she just assumed it was like all those other brochures clogging up her mailbox. Only this one didn't have coupons for free meals in it, it just showed off a cool-looking theme park.

    When the purple-haired girl arrives, her enthusiasm and cheer kind of evaporates at the sight of the quiet, almost offsetting, fog-covered location. Where's the music? The chatter of the crowd, the bright lights, the balloon salesmen? Everything she'd read was wrong! ... no, more importantly, this was obviously not normal. There was no one around, except the well-timed arrival of numerous others looking to enjoy this place and not getting to.

    Now people are talking about zombies?

    She doesn't heed the warnings, following after Yuuki instead, like a sad puppy looking for a way to salvage the night. "A-Ah, wait up! I want to look around too, m-maybe it's okay if we enjoy the r-rides anyway...?"

    Now that she's heard about zombies she can't stop thinking about them, though. Is it okay to wander around an amusement park while there might be people who need help? ... what if this place is deserted BECAUSE of zombies? That kind of justifies the wandering, doesn't it?

Inga has posed:
Inga arrives with Kirika, wishing she'd brought her horse and yet absolutely convinced that would have been a terrible idea. She's fond of her horse and doesn't want to give her nightmares.

That is what this place is. A nightmare. For Inga, it is a nightmare with an alien landscape, the amusement park rides holdin no familiarity to her. "I do not understand the purpose of this place," she comments, shaking her head as she sees the rollercoaster in the distance.

No matter how much she hates the place though, she'd always come when needed. Especially when this place starts messing with children. She's an angry witch. The supernatural nasties here better get in line.

Inga greets everyone with a nod, a bit surprised to see Yuuki. "Yuuki? Are you here to assist in finding the children...?" she asks the TOTALLY NORMAL girl.

Riva Banari has posed:
Keeping things contained in The Secret World was a fool's errand. Which is why they always make Riva do it. The Templars have taken to sending the artist on a lot of their gruntwork, internal security, and cleanup jobs, which might explain why she's been off the radar on the Multiverse lately.

But then, this happened. It's no question who is going to get sent to deal with it.

Which is why Riva strides through the cracked parking lot, looking grim a she gazes upon the sign... And then sweeps her eyes over the people present. "Oh, good." She says, her expression cracking into a wan smile at the sight of a number of friends and potential friends. "I was worried I was going to have to do all this by myself. Again."

Riva adjusts her Templar jacket, and looks over the area, shivering. "This place..." She mutters. "Bad things happen here." She says, shaking her head. "It feels like someone keeps putting ice down my back."

Regardless, she races after the group, waving a hand. "Hey guys! Wait up!" She calls, not immediately getting out her weapons... And looks up to see Yuuki already wandering in without a care in the world. "... You know, I don't know whether to respect the hell out of her for that or just facepalm like Zero does all the time." She grimaces for a moment, and gestures. "An amusement park is supposed to be a place where families go to be entertained by games and rides. Kind of like a fair, I guess. But this..." She shakes her head, and draws over to Inga, hugging her. "This isn't a place for kids." She turns, looking back over to the escalator, and gestures. "Come on everyone. Let's stick together. Unless you /want/ to split up in this obviously hellish place." She jokes lightly, trying to keep up a good front as she points in Yuuki's direction.

Staren has posed:
    "It's an amusement park." Staren explains to Inga. "It's sort of like a festival you can pay to visit anytime, with games, rides, and overpriced food. Err, by rides I mean... mechanical contrivances... like, you see that metal track there? There are open-topped carts that travel along it with people inside, strapped in securely of course. Some people consider it fun."

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
Smelling the air finds it wet and somehow stale despite being outdoors. The sweet scent of rot lingers all around, both animal and vegetable matter a feast for the damp. Blood-scent follows, a sort of tang to the air to the sensitive, a trail of the smell leading off in either direction. Kirika's gem finds this place positively charged with magic, and a huge amount of it. It brightens noticeably, shining -- and then blackens and gutters out, like it was suddenly quashed by something.

That's probably not a good sign either.

THE PATH TO THE WEST (and to the left, helpfully) leads towards what looks like a haunted house. A huge mural of spooky rooftops and weirdly angular windows adorns the side of the big building, with a massive wooden head like a crone's sticking out of the front. The mouth is open, her gnarled teeth lifted over the head. Going into the pitch dark involves wandering into her gaping maw. The path continues past that...

...down to the water, apparently. The path curves to the right along the pond, a squarish dock with wooden rails leading up to a pair of two-seat swan boats between metal rails that disappear into a cave mouth in the water. It looks like it's some kind of tunnel of terror. It's probably perfectly safe. Near the path down to the water, a statue of the Chad the Chipmunk mascot stands, a plaque at its base welcoming guests to the park and listing times for ice sculpture shows and his own appearances.

THE GATED PATH instead leads to Sideshow Alley. The gate itself is rusted metal, but it can be pulled open through some application of elbow grease, especially the kind backed by Totally Normal Strength. The sound of carnival music, a touch off-key and with the tempo all wrong, filters through from somewhere beyond it.

The Alley is a cluster of booths and games, most of them closed and abandoned. Immediately ahead of the wanderers, a booth is open, with a rotted figure standing by. There's a newspaper page next to him on the edge of the stand, pinned by a roof tile that looks like it slid off. The zombie is making a gripping motion, then slowly drawing back and swinging his arm overhand and down in a pitching gesture, over and over again. Inside the booth, a target game is setup, with baseballs scattered around the interior floor.

The haze of grey that suffuses everything here seems to get worse the deeper you go. The spiritually sensitive can sense something moving on the far side of the veil. It's disconcerting, unseen, and like cold fingers trying to reach out and... what, exactly?

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Joined by an Equally #animelife girl, Mashu, Yuuki gives her partner in Awful Ideas and Bumblefuckery a bright smile, though her (large) red-brown eyes hide a deep and abiding well of aimless sadness, like someone who's one monologue about how life is so short and everyone leaves you, in the end, away from a wistful sigh and a shake of the head.

    Or, you know, it's this damnable fog. Either or. "Did you want to ride the Ferris Wheel too? I've never been..." She mentions, as the pair walk into sideshow alley, before noticing...

    A ZOMBIE!

    She moves to pick up the paper, before immediately catching on. "Oh! It's a baseball cage! If you throw the ball..." She indicates any Nearby Baseballs or other Throwable Implements and then down the other end at the booth. "And hit something, you can win a prize? We can also move on, if you don't want to. I've been at festivals like this before, the prizes can be pretty lame... But it's fun all the same!"

    Yuuki patently ignores that there is a zombie manning this booth, treating it like a Totally Normal Person who is about to gyp them with a rigged festival game and probably glued together target bottles, the scum!!!

    She tries to read the dirty paper with all of its DELIGHTFUL SECRETS, as a butterfly (both wildly unseasonal and also atonal) flutters on top of her head.

    There's a bunch of those unseasonal and atonal butterflies around, actually! Where'd they come from?

    "I should buy a stuffed bear on my way back home. Probably save a bunch, too, than trying to win one."

Finna (513) has posed:
Finna snuffles and sneezes, clearing her nostrils but... ewwwwwgh. There's so much rot here, it's hard to not feel all yucky from it. But she hops down clear off the sign and decides to head down the west/left path.

    The fox first approaches the haunted hose, but stops within ten feet of the freaky witchmouth opening. That deep darkness unsettles her. She's not sure it's worth finding out what might've gone in there. But she sniffs the ground and the air, leaps high up to sail past some windows and peer in - with her natural nightvision, maybe the vixen'll have some luck!

    But if nothing in there catches her attention... it's on to the waterfront and trotting over to the Chipmunk mascot. The fox tilts her head a few times at this one... then springs up onto her hind legs to examine the plaque. Because clearly a plaque attached to a statue like that must have some CRAZY story to tell...

Inga has posed:
Inga turns and smiles to Riva, returning her embrace. She's missed her friend, it seems like it had been so long since they'd just spent time together. Alas, but they will have to bond over horror and blood--per usual.

Looking between Riva and Staren, Inga blinks. Their explanation of the amusement park is still puzzling. "Rides," she says. "Interesting. I cannot see why I would strap myself into a thing such as that! Cars are excitement enough," she grumbles. No need to add being at dizzying heights into the equation.

"Well... lets get this over with," she sighs, staying nearby Riva and Kirika as they move into the amusment park. It is a terrible place, almost overwhelming to the senses. Everything there says GET OUT! and yet they must wander in none the less. Inga frowns, feeling a surge of energy that is quickly squashed. She looks to Riva, raising a brow. "Did you feel that?" she asks. Not encouraging at all.

If that wasn't bad enough, every hair on Inga's body suddenly stands on end. She cannot repress the shiver that tickles up her spine. "Oh, gods..." she says, swaying where she stands, feeling that presence slither through the spiritual world, brushing against the material, caressing her through the veil. "There's...something...very nasty here, just on the other side," she says, grabbing onto Kirika for a bit of added support.

There's mention of splitting up. "I believe either path will lead to the same destination eventually," she responds. Could be a Seer hunch.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Kirika frowns as she watches Yuuki and Mashu deep around. "Is it truly wise to seek games to play at a time like this? There are people missing, after all." She muses aloud, noting that her gem's just gone quiet. That energy was considerable before it just fizzled away, and Kirika nods as Inga notices the same thing.

    "I felt it was well. I have a bad feeling about this place." Wrong alt and wrong franchise, kiddo, but the sentiment stands.

    She will gladly hold onto Inga, her arm wrapped protectively around the wise woman, before she begins to head further eastwards gently, guiding Inga along.

Staren has posed:
    Staren nods to Inga. "I did say 'some' like it." At Inga's indecision, he looks around uncertainly. He's inclined to follow Inga... and it seems they already have enough people going right. "Keep in touch..." he says, as he turns left and heads that way. "See anything?" he calls to Finna as he sees her trying to look in windows.

    He also scans the Chad the Chipmunk statue to check if it looks like it has animatronic components or not. Adventurers don't trust statues.

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    "Y-Yeah! I've never been in an amusement park before, s-so I thought m-maybe I could..." Well, what Mashu THOUGHT she'd get to do is unfortunately very different from what she's GETTING to do now, but that seems to be a recurring theme with her. First that weird restaurant-themed dungeon, now this. The world hates fun places, she would like to conclude.

    As she follows Yuuki, half-hesitant now, Mashu stops dead in her tracks at the sight of the zombie, before Yuuki being so casual about it makes her look harder. Is that zombie... trying to explain how to play the game at the booth? Is that a real thing zombies do?

    Maybe what has Mashu so uncomfortable now isn't the sight of the rotting cadaver trying to play instructor but rather the odd, gripping feeling in the air she can't place or locate. It's new, for her, having the magical senses of a Servant. Sensory overload is a thing. It just confuses her for the most part, though.

    "U-Um, w-well, it would be... r-rude not to try to play his game, I g-guess? I-I mean someone clearly went through the t-trouble of... putting him there. Or h-he did that to himself." She's heard it's very, very important to respect the dead.

    And so she will, while Yuuki reads a paper, get closer to the booth to give that baseball pitching game a shot or three. If the zombie will let her! As for whether or not she's good at it, well...

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa does not like the idea of splitting up, she hates the idea of splititng up here. She has some idea of what might be creeping around here. She does not like it but it's too late to stop it now, she pauses for a moment and she sees that the park has some things working here somehow. There's the new arrival Mashu and Yuuki who may not even have an idea of how much danger they are actally in. Kotone has no idea of what abilities they have if any after all.

Yet there goes the people she's worked with most. With the bulk of the team sticking together someone should watch over Yuuki and Mashu right? Kotone sighs as she watches her friends head off nd she makes her choice. She moves to heads to follow after Yuuki and Mushu.

"Hey wait up!"

Kotone has no idea either of them would be more than a match for Kotone on their own let alone as a pair. Still there may be clues here and she follows after Yuuki and Mushu. She will catch up at the stall and it's clear she's eyeing the zombie about ready to start shooting it, but she doesn't pull her gun.

She is looking around though like she expects the three of them to be attacked by something. The Japanese woman really does seem tense.

"I never ... seen a Zombie here not try to rip someone's throat out the first chance it ... got? What /is/ going on here?"

She does watch to see what happens when Mushu makes her pitches and she's also trying to get an idea about Yuuki who clearly just seems to be a totlaly normal girl.

"These sorts of games tend to be rigged and are more for the fun of just playing I have found Miss."

Riva Banari has posed:
Riva already looks kind of sick. Not just the queasiness one might expect, but something a little deeper, like the miasmatic environment is affecting her on some deeper level...

Or maybe it's the chili dogs.

Either way, Riva seems to remain unarmed at the moment, likely choosing to stick to the adaptable option instead of committing to a weapon which might prove useless against an unknown opponent. "This place feels like one of those 'Eat At Joe's' signs. You know, the ones that are always sparking because of a short?" Riva says... And then adds, "Now make the sign out of evil bloody clowns."

Riva sighs, looking around. "So yeah, we need to find the kids... And they could be anywhere." She looks to the others, and then grimaces, looking to the Haunted House. "If I was an asshole going to hide kids in an amusement park, where would be a primary spot..." She says, her tone saying she already knows THAT answer."

With a resigned sigh, she breaks away from Team B, going towards the open maw.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=788264153

Meanwhile, Finna looks over the statue. It looks almost pleasant in the way it looks up into the sky, a chipmunk mascot-looking thing with a rainbow patch on its belly, arms flung wide as if to invite one and all to this place of fun and fortune.

Well, it WOULD be pleasant if it wasn't splattered with blood. Staren does not detect any animatronics or or people inside the statue. That would be silly, Staren. Why would anyone do such a thing? The plaque at the bottom looks like a schedule for mascot appearances... Though someone has vandalized it with a little rhyme in thin, precisely marked black lettering.

Inside the House of Horrors, the group sees a grotesque waiting room full of trash, splattered with blood on the walls and floors. There is an empty kiosk at the front, with a door to the side leading further in. Lurid images visible under the blood depict ghosts and skeletons dancing about. "Well... This isn't.. as bad as I thought?" She says, looking back to the others who hae followed her in.

A moment later, there is a low, booming voice, dripping with crawling spiders and the kindness of broken glass: "TICKETS, PLEASE."

Those who look quickly enough catch just a glimpse, a shadow within a shadow, an afterimage of tophat and a rotten-piano smile that even in the sudden silence echoes with mocking laughter.

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
The zombie doesn't seem to notice either of them. He's just going through the motions, over and over again. Step right up, he seems to say; win a prize. The newspaper has nothing to do with it, a page that looks like it's been there a while, and makes little sense to the reader. Still, maybe there's some kind of wisdom to it? And there are a couple of balls scattered nearby...

Mashu scoops one up and flings it, striking the target with a 'clonk!' and spinning it around! It spins, and spins, and then... stops. There's a 'click-clack-clack-creeeeak' -- and clown figurines spill from the ceiling of the booth, pouring out in a wave of hard plastic that feels like it's filled with cement. Their eyes light up, mouths moving, creepy grins and echoing, weirdly metallic laughter spilling into the alley.

The gate swings closed behind them with a groan of metal. Lights start to light up all through the hut-filled space, illuminating signs for popcorn, cotton candy, hamburgers and hot dog stands, along with a myriad of rigged games that are closed for public consumption. Several swing open, stacked prizes following them with beady eyes that track their movement, a teddy bear pyramid and a wall of clown statues flanking the twisting path onward.

The scent of blood is suddenly fresh nearby. It's coming from behind the cotton candy booth. There's a stain on the ground, dark and recent, a drag mark...

A bee buzzes past Yuuki's ear. It doesn't seem to mind the butterflies.

Staren has posed:
    "Well, /someone/ doesn't like Chad." Staren comments at the plaque, then walks in. Staren turns at the voice, raising his arm to fire... but whoever it was is gone. Or has at least moved out of sight. "Who's there?!" He looks around. "What do you want?!"

Finna (513) has posed:
BLOOD stands out instantly to Finna. Her nose catches it on the odd chance her eyes miss it. But the poem has her eyes stuck period. With both ears flicked low she gives Staren a sorrowful and worried look in agreement... then goes bounding back up the path. There's nothing to see down here....

    But she has to wonder. Who wrote that. When did they write it? People being silly, or someone with an honest grudge? She can't really tell...

    Into the House with Riva! So much blood. The fox bares her teeth for the first time since coming here. There's NO good reason for there to be so much blood here.

    But just as she's about to speak up and answer Riva, snout aimed at the spatters...

    A BOOMING VOICE gets her JUMPING yet again. She jumps so high off her feet that she lands on the ceiling... rather literally, she hits the ceiling and STICKS THERE, shivering and looking all around.

    A burning desire starts boiling in her gut. She's going to FIND whoever's behind this and scare them RIGHT out of their skin. "Will show /you/ trick or treat." The fox murmurs, shaking her head quickly. Who... or what... did she just see?

Inga has posed:
Looking toward Riva, Inga knows she isn't the only one feeling this particular nastiness. Inga leans on Kirika until she can clear her head, touching the hammer amulet at her neck and whispering a prayer seems to help. She straightens, resolve strengthening. She flashes a smile of appreciates to Kirika for her help, leaning on her staff to move with the others into the grotesque building.

A glance toward Riva, brow arched and a wry smile upon her lips. "That says much for what we've seen, if this isn't as bad as you thought," she comments.

Naturally, that's when the booming voice and creepy broken smile slithers out, all shadow and laughing malice. The wisewoman holds her ground, frowning. Something is trying to scare them away, so they must be close to discovering something.

Inga begins searching the room, looking for any blood that's more fresh than the rest, any clues that might lead to the missing children.

If that yields nothing promising, Inga will take out her runes and pull a few from the bag for guidance.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Mashu wins! THE PRIZE IS AWFUL
    "Oh! You won!" Yuuki looks up from quite possibly the thickest brick of metaphor, allusion, and straight word free association with concepts she's ever read in her life, before handing the newspaper scrap to Kotone. "Oh, hello! Here, have some reading material."

    The mountain of trap prizes and concrete clowns gets a 'huh' of surprise before a shake of the head. "T-top prize?" She (un)helpfully tries to cheer Mashu up over, before everything else turns back on. "I have a feeling that the cotton candy isn't going to be good." She laments lightly, before glancing sadly at the Ferris Wheel in the distance.

    "But there's something dragged behind there. Want to check it out?" She asks Kotone and Mashu, before...

    You know, going anyway. Why is the #animelife girl going behind the creepy shack with the blood-scent so thick a Normal Girl could smell it and drag marks?

    It's her instincts as Stereotypical Slasher Victim Designee Girl, most likely.

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    For a moment, Mashu's mood can be summed up by the fact she turns to look at Yuuki and manages a stutterless: "Look! I think I won! I wonder what kind of prizes they have?" Confidence? Just a bit, in the face of great success for a change. As long as an animatronic cat doesn't burst out of that booth and scream at her, she'll be fine!

    Then she's burried in clowns.

    Creepy, glowing-eyes clowns. That laugh.

    Mashu flails, stumbling back before she's completely drowned in figurines. On-cue do countless booths and signs light up, and Mashu is completely overwhelmed by how fast that went wrong. Lucky her, she can't recognize the smell of blood, and she's too busy trying to get back up to notice the stains. That's alright, though, because Yuuki clearly loves that smell, right?

    Right on cue does Yuuki help Mashu up and then offer her to go check something out. Check what out? She tries looking in the same direction the Totally Normal Girl did, seeing nothing yet. "I-Is that why it smells weird now?" Aww, she really wanted cotton candy too. After the clown thing though... maybe not.

    No arguments against checking behind the shack, though.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Kirika is a steady post for Inga to lean against, helping the wise woman along as she watches Riva enter the OPEN GAPING MAW. "Oh dear." She murmurs, as a BOOMING VOICE echoes out. It's clear the kitsune regrets doing this, but she feels the need to follow Riva, Finna, and Staren along to the open mouth of the cave, so to speak. "Come, Inga. We shouldn't let Riva face this alone." She says.

    She has her gem in one hand, and keeps her sword close with the other, the blade just pushed up out of the scabbard by an inch or so with her thumb. Kirika stays on alert, waiting for whatever is lurking about to jump out as she helps Inga search the interior.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa sees that the Zombie does not attack trio of them and thankfully she doesn't move to shoot it or set it off. She watches as Mashu takes her pitches and she stares at the wave of toys raining down on them and the laughter. A chill goes down Kotone's spine and then worse lights come on, she looks at the pyramid of teddies bears and wall of clowns. Kotone also pauses, as she does smell a bitter tang of iron? Wait is that blood?

She pauses takes the newspaper clipping and takes a look at it, the text does seem to be important. She puts it in a pouch to keep it safe.

"Thank you that's ... actually useful."

Hopefully Riva can make more sense of it. She'll move to help Mushu get out from under all the clowns. She'll quickly move to follow after Yuuki with Mushu and she notes.

"I really don't like this and oh! I'm Kotone."

She's on edge as she goes to check out the likely source of the smell of blood and she has a sick feeling it might be from the corpse of one of the missing kids. If God or any Gods who are not of ill intent are watching she prays she's wrong. This evening really is turing creepy even if it had nothing to do with Kings Mouth or the flith that infests the region.

Riva Banari has posed:
It's certainly a puzzle, Finna. Sadly, there isn't any real indication or way to tell /when/ it was vandalized... Or if this place sprang from the Hell that spawned it, already damaged.

Good thing it's just a mascot statue, at least.

Within the House, Finna seeks out the voice that spoke, but whatever presence did seems to have melted right back into the horrible ambiance. It's not that there's a /lack/ of activity here. The problem seems to be that there's /so much/. Picking anything out amidst the intense emotional and spiritual badfeels here is like trying to isolate a specific patch of radiation at Chernobyl. Or maybe...

Either way, Finna's nose can definately smell something twisted and dark further in. Hard to tell if it's more radiation, evil spirits, or something... stranger. But perhaps the nose knows!

Staren doesn't get a direct answer. There is, however, something that flickers just at the edge of his vision. Did something just move in the shadows of the door into the Haunted House proper? No, wait, it's gone... What the hell is even going on here?

Riva, of course, is utterly frozen from the sudden scary moment, her eyes wide and hair even frizzed out in all directions. However, she quickly recovers, trying to smooth out her demeanor once again.

Psyber she's not.

"Y... yeah, no problem." She stammers for a moment, and then gestures to Inga. "D... Do you see anything interesting?" She asks.

Inga, for her part, totally knows just how Riva feels. Maybe even moreso, with her intensely deep connection to the natural pulse of the world... But there's nothing natural here. Just twisted laughter and darkness, the kind of evil that her people would never suffer to exist. Beyond the trickery of Loki, past the dark necessities of Hel. This stinks more of Nidhogg, the poisonous devourer, so rank and vile the energies of the area feel.

But the blood is old, much of it by years. Some of it isn't even human. Perhaps animal blood used as decoration, before everything went bad?

But the trails do lead further in. There are no children in the waiting room seeking to be saved.

Eventually, the group proceeds into the Haunted House itself. The dark areas immediately seem to diverge into a multidirectional maze of twisted bookshelves, webs, darkness and mirrors, many of them cunningly positioned to confuse the senses.

The group can either methodically search through the maze, or split up in order to cover ground faster... But splitting up carries its own dangers in this obviously evil place.

Wuyin Tsai has posed:
Well, on the bright side, the clowns don't chase Mashu down and try to eat her flesh this time! The tide of them stops soon after she gets clear, and they all seem to roll and bobble to their flat clowny feet to look up at her in a semicircle of evil clown-face. They laugh again, not quite in sync. "H-HA-HA-A-HA-H-HA-HA-A-AH-HAAA"

The drag mark is... red. There's blood on the ground, a stain in the dirt, dragged back behind the stand. A glowing arrow-sign of pinkish lightbulbs reads 'CHAD THE CHIPMUNK' and points back that way, lights flickering unsteadily. The other direction seems to lead past the Alley and deeper into the Park, towards the ultimate goal of a ferris wheel. The Perfectly Normal Girl can smell pig's blood all over -- the stain, maybe, and behind the shed? -- and... human. A lot less of it, but human.

Turning the corner finds... a figure at the end of the obvious blood-trail. A small one; child-sized, dressed in something soaked and black with an orange plastic pumpkin head for a mask. There's a boom handle with a (fake) horse head on the end of it dropped nearby. When the group steps over, the figure sits up, gasping and planting his bare hands on the ground.

The dirt lights up. A pattern in bright yellow spreads out from where his hands are, a shape like circuits and burning with magical power. It spreads up the wall behind the child, branching over and over again, making smaller and more intricate markings that surround him. The child screams in fright --

-- and disappears. The faint blood-scent remains.

The clowns laugh again. "H-HA-HA-A-HA-H-HA-HA-A-AH-HAAA"

Inga has posed:
Splitting up further in this place would be particularly foolhardy. Inga would absolutely advise against it. What they need is something to help them track their way through this place. What they need is a clue, even a small one, that Inga could use in a tracking spell.

The atmosphere is thick with terror, it is very difficult to search out just one strand, one flavor, in the myriad. But Inga is trained to sort through the wyrd, the tangled web of fate itself. So she continues in, seneses keen, contemplating doing something...inadvisable. Peering into the underworld. Thing thinks he can hide from them whenever it pleases? Pfft.

But does she /want/ to see it? Probably not. There's a lot of horrors tucked away in the mind as it is.

"Come...we should stay together. Whatever presence in here will likely try to seperate us and get us lost."

Staren has posed:
    Staren whirls on the entrance of the haunted house proper, beam cannons ready, but noone's there. "Damn..." On they go. He tries to climb a bookshelf and start mapping the maze from the top of it, using his suit's lights and cameras.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Kirika nods in agreement. "We should stay together if we can, even if whatever presence is here tries to get us to separate." She says, holding Inga close. She feels utter terror knot up in her gut, gnawing on the kitsune's very essence.

    She will head further down the maze of bookshelves, her eyes helping her see in the dark as she smells faded blog. A LOT of people must've died here, over the span of many years no less. That's enough to make Kirika's stomach churn again, even if she couldn't sense their spirits with her gem.

Yuuki Kuran (518) has posed:
    Following the drag lines and the (pig) blood along dutifully, Yuuki sees QUITE THE FRIGHT!!!

    Sort... of?

    It's October, and that means Spoopy Things are happening. Haunted amusement park, zombie pitcher man, falling clowns... Plus, most of the blood is fake! Fake? We'll go with fake.

    "This park really is going with a theme, isn't it?" She muses quietly to herself, even as the kid uses SUPER MAGIC RUNES to DO A THING which appears to be teleportation, and then... screams? That's weird, wasn't the kid...

    Blood magic? She heard of it before, but it was a little foreign of an idea for the Normal Girl to think about. It wasn't at all like how 'magic' worked, right? At least, that she understood.

    "I wonder what that was all about? He was certainly not murdered. What was that about murders?" She asides to Kotone and Mashu, before shrugging. "Anyway, I think the way back is closed... and I really don't like those clown dolls, maybe leave your prize there?"

    She looks at the blood one more time, sticking a pinky in the blood and then sucking the taste (probably with dirt, ewww) off her digit, thoughtfully analyzing it. "Definitely pig blood. Spooky! Should we continue?"

    She prompts Kotone and Mashu with an almost eager look now, before--

    LOL TOO LATE, Yuuki just starts tromping off towards the Ferris Wheel.

Finna (513) has posed:
Between those here... Finna decides, oddly enough, to stick with Staren. She bounds after the boy, sticking near walls to minimize the places things can jump out at her from. because it constantly feels like SOMETHING will be doing that in this awful, wicked place...

    "Place is teeming with... malice. Feels like Underworld but WORSE..." She's inclined to follow her nose here...

    "Gadget boy, come this way!" ONWARDS, THE NOSE KNOWS!

Shielder (1028) has posed:
    THIS close it's harder for Mashu to not see and smell the blood. Peg that one down as a smell she'd have hoped never to find out what it's like, in such quantity, just splashed everywhere. The sight of the child causes something within her to spark, and just like that her clothes are replaced. Blue and purple wisps of magic gather up, forming black and purple armor over her whole body, replacing her clothes. Her glasses are gone, a bland sword hangs from a sash, and a massive cross-shaped shield has appeared, held upright, taller than the girl is. Her posture has changed dramatically-- she seems less... vulnerable? More confident? But her movements are also a bit stiffer.

    A bubble forms around her, as a magical shield of anime-esque hexagons keeps at bay a minuscule portion of the Fog. It's not much-- the Fog is powerful-- but it means Kotone and Yuuki, if they stand close, can see a bit better, maybe breathe a bit better, than they could moments ago.

    Sadly, all that ends up for nothing-- as before Mashu, now Shielder, can react to grab the child, he vanishes, taken away by whatever that was. The clowns laugh, too, but that's not new. Probably related, though.

    "Hey, wait up!"
    Yuuki is running off. Shielder keeps up, running after her, the metallic clanking of her greaves on the ground now much more obvious than her shoes were. The Totally Normal Girl is right, they need to continue and find out who's running this. Where that kid went.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
There was a horror movie, older than her dad about a killer clown, she'd foolishly watched It once on Halloween and felt quite wigged out about clowns ever since. Well this wasn't helping any feelings about that. She does not look back at the clowns, no she's too busy following the sent of blood. Chad the Chipmunk? The park's mascot wasn't it? Kotone wonders about that for a moment about that but what she sees behind the stall she follow the blood trail and sees kid she calls out. "It's okay we hav...."

The child screams and then is gone, what is going on but she's pretty sure that was a rune of some sort she's almost positive on that.

"Magic?!?!"

She gets the comm working again and will try to examine the spot that glowed /without/ touching it, she knows Inga might be able to make sense of it later right? She looks to Yuuki and then to Mashu.

"I came here to look into several missing children and I think that was one of them..."

She takes a deep breath and then looks about unless something happens with the Rune? She's going to back off from it. I'd not be shocked if there had been murders here...Given this island's history."

She doesn't get a chance to say more as Yuuki checks out the blood saying it's Pig's Blood and then asks them about if they should go on. Then she's just going leaving her and Mashu behind.

She turns to Mashu who is in the process of transforming and Kotone just /stares/ for a second she wasn't expecting that and she does try to keep close as Shielder does seem to be keeping the fog somewhat at bay and she's thankfully able to keep pace with Shielder as she moves along headinf for the Ferris Wheel.

Riva Banari has posed:
The group in the Haunted House chooses to stick together. This might be wise. Staren lunges up atop a bookshelf, trying to scope out the maze. This is clever! He gets a good look at the area from above as he pushes webs out of the way to get eyes on the layout.

The problem is that these webs aren't just cotton... Something within them /moves/, and a piece of webbing falls away, slapping Staren in the face with a meaty THWAP. Finna sees it first: A withered, dessicated hand, showing signs of being ripped from an arm. The teethmarks on it indicate whatever it was... It was big.

Finna's fur suddenly stands on end as something she understands well suddenly communicates through a shift in the webbing. The movement of a predator, suddenly awakened to prey moving through its territory... And with a cacaphonic SHRIEK, the webs part, a horrible grayish thing of flesh, web, and claw barrels forward, hurtling itself bodily at Staren in order to try to tackle it to the ground. From the way the forearms hook down, it's obvious that this is the usual tactic the thing uses to try to surprise its opposition, slay it, and feed... The creature itself has blood-splattered carnie clothes stuck to it, likely an indication of its last meal...

Unfortunately, it looks like Staren's attempt to be clever took him and Finna a short distance from Riva, Kirika, and Inga. As they look around, Inga's gaze sweeps over an ornate mirror, and passes by it. Just them, really...

And then there is a sudden /presence/ that pulls their gazes towards that mirror. There, standing within it, is a rotten, evil /thing/. Gangly and emaciated, the crooked being is dressed in a ragged black coat that trails behind, white gloves on long, clawed fingers, black pants on too-thin legs that bend in unnatural directions. A jaunty, battered tophat sits crookendly on top of a fetid mask of twisted evil.



Vision blurs, malevolence flooding the senses as it leans forward, grinning that terrible grin... And he splays his hands, and says... "Boo."

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=788263074

A moment later, he vanishes, the apparition gone...

And a moment later, the mirror shatters, a shrieking, bloodstained corpse lunging through the place where it stood, slamming down a fireaxe.

Riva is already there, intercepting the strike.

With her chest. She struggles to pull her Anima pistols around so she can pump the undead horror full of purifying light, but her hands are shaking wildly, the thing already pulling the fire axe from her chest with a nasty, sucking noise so it can strike again.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    That shriek makes Kirika's ears hurt badly, grunting as she clutches her head. "Nnngh. That noise..." She is not having a good time as there's something very nasty greeting them all of a suddenly.

    Kirika first gently moves Inga to lean against something, before she proceeds to draw her sword. "HALT, CREATURE!" is her response to him going "boo" as though this were a prank of some sort.

    If it is, she is not laughing. She's definitely not amused when a monster tries to put an axe in them, and does just that to Riva. "NO!!

    Her sword swings at the bloody zombie carnie, intending to take his head right off with a blazing hot slash to the neck before he can free his axe. Riva WILL be avenged, dammit!

Inga has posed:
With her grip tight on her staff, Inga keeps moving, holding her head high and keeping her eyes keen, glaring at the place like it's existence offends her. Can't let it think you're scared.

The mirror--of course it would be the mirror. Turns out she doesn't need to look into the spirit world to catch a glimpse. The white haired woman narrows her eyes--then is moved aside by Kirika. "H-hey!" she protests, but is effectively moved, wincing as Riva takes an axe to the chest.

Inga growls the words of a spell as she quickly draws her knife and cuts into herself, flinging the healing spell toward Riva. All her offensive spells would light up Kirika too most likely, better to go with the healing.

Though it seems Finna and Staren have problems as well!

Staren has posed:
    A piece of webbing hits Staren in the face. Staren swats at it... and then, JUMPSCARE SPIDER! He startles and is tackled to the ground, but the stunned surprise lasts only half a second. This is hardly the first time he's ever had a monster up close. There's still armor between him and it. And after a half-second more, he's blasting it with the beam-cannons point-blank and stabbing it with two beam swords.

    If that has no effect... or it starts cracking his armor or something, /then/ he'll be worried...

Finna (513) has posed:
Indeed, Finna's instincts scream JUST in time. "M--" NO TIME TO EVEN SPEAK! The creature makes its move with speed even the Lunar considers IMPRESSIVE.

    Of course her eyes dart about to get a read of the situation. Any way to turn the environment against this thing would be appreciated... though as they're hunting it in its lair, she doubts that'll turn out so simple to accomplish...

    "Who are YOU hunting, /THING!?/" The fox spits, before it promptly transforms - metaphorically - into a killing machine of its own right. using the fact that it's going after Staren to her advantage, Finna darts in with ludicrous speed and... tries to find some kind of vitals to TEAR through with suddenly-glow-gleaming silvery fangs!

Riva Banari has posed:
The horrid bug-beast is a terrifying thing. Were one an unarmed, normal woman seeking out their lost child, it would be an unstoppable terror.

Still, it is ultimately mortal, and you know what they say about things that bleed...

The lasers sear into the creature, cracking the horrible chitin and web-wrapped shell. The heat sents the web on fire, sending it screeching for several moments before Finna delivers a brutal coup de grace. Finna tears into the revealed internals, pulling out black blooded horror that tastes of reeking, filthy entrails. This beast is horribly corrupt, not even able to be consumed by a greater predator. Even tasting its blood makes Finna's stomach churn... Were Finna not an Exalt, it would undoubtedly be far, far worse than that.

Still, the cockroachlike horror is hurled down, twitching as eyes mutely fixate on Finna... The results should be answer enough to her question.

In the meantime, Riva falls to one side as Kirika efficiently avenges the Templar. With a quivk splatter of blood, undead flesh parts under the enchanted blade, and the zombie is sheared apart, the shriek fading away as burning tatters collapse to the ground.

Inga, meanwhile, saves Riva a nasty trip to the Shadow World. What is the realm of the Dead like in this horrible place? For now, Riva won't have to answer that question, as the Templar's wound quickly unmakes itself, her flesh stitching together thanks to Inga's sacrificial blood magic. She groans, sitting up and smiling in thanks to Inga and Kirika. "Wow. That... That sucked..." She mumbles, clearly disturbed by the situation.

Still, in the aftermath of the death and pain, the distant sound of a cry is heard... And the scent of fresh blood crosses the noses of Inga and Finna.

Blood. Fresh blood. Prey blood. Pain blood crying blood child blood human blood blood blood blood

It takes little time. With Staren's capability to provide a map as well as the supernatural senses of Inga and Finna, navigating the remainder of the maze is not difficult at all. There are no more attacks, just loud recorded noises and plywood cutouts that leap from the darkness, to be destroyeed or ignored as the group is wont.

But what they find is a door. The door opens into a small study. Comfortable. Classy. There is a leather chair sitting next to a fireplace, the walls full of books. Within, there is a crying child, the boy looking up as his hands drip with blood.

With a sob, he stands, reaching out to the group as he staggers forward...

The dripping blood then draws their gaze to the complicated, circuit-like pattern inlaid into the floor. As the blood strikes it, it flares, a terribly actinic purple that spreads throughout the room, tracing the entire pattern as the child cries out, vanishing amidst a low, mocking cackle.

Riva stares at the proceedings. "... Dammit." She mutters.

Staren has posed:
    "Thanks!" Staren calls to Finna, and quickly stands once the cockroach/spider horror is off of him.

    They map the maze, and come upon...

    Staren is wary, unsure if the child is a vision, or a monster, or actually a child. "Was that child real?" Whatever the answer, the next question is: "...This is clearly some sort of ritual diagram. Can anyone tell what it does?" He looks around. "And if that was a real kid, who cut his hands...?"

Kirika (481) has posed:
    KIrika helps Riva to her feet, nodding to Inga as the wise woman provides a spell to the both of them. "Thank you." SHe feels her injuries knit together, before she helps both girls along further to the end of the maze.

    Good thing Staren was here, or this would actually be a problem. THey enter the study, just in time to see a horror show of a scene in front of them. Kirika's not sure if they're seeing something real, but she definitely can't help but approach the crying child.

    Sadly she's stopped by the horrific purplish glow, leaving her to recoil as the boy disappears.

    Her heart just sinks for a moment, and the kitsune closes her eyes, sighing resignedly. "ANother lost to this evil...will it ever end?"

Finna (513) has posed:
Finna spends the next fifteen seconds spitting and retching, unwilling to tolerate even a shred of that thing's flesh in her maw longer than necessary. "Worse than yeddim shit!" She curses, gagging.

    Whatever that thing was.. it wasn't a normal beast. Not even a mutant. "Filthy creature... hard to smell it over the miasma..."

    So she ends up following along with the rest of the group, reaching the chamber just in time to see...

    What kind of sick blood magic (the bad kind, not the Inga kind!) was she looking at?!

    "... Boy might not be dead, but I can't see where I need to look. Maybe Inga can!"