ic A-Haunting We Will Go

[Heritage]

GM

Pier 13 officially opened on October 24th at 6pm, just as the blood-red sun was slipping below the horizon; there were several food trucks parked close to the entrance, and a pair of spotlights stabbed up into the sky. Local news coverage was good, and a large crowd, many in costume, eagerly awaited the 'Three Worlds of Horror' to open up. Each had a specially-designed façade added to the outside of the shed; a decaying Art Deco front for The Haunted Warehouse, a crumbling castle wall strangled by thick vines for The Dark Forest, and the brooding neo-Gothic entrance to The Asylum of the Dead.

Grimalkin worked the crowd in her costume (along with any other heroes who chose to join her), signing autographs, posing for pictures and talking with the press, clearly very much in her element. The mood was festive and morbidly fun, and the whole event looked to be a smashing success.

Meanwhile, beyond the Faerie Veil...

In the middle of the Forest of Whispers stands a castle; it is not huge and ostentatious the way most seats of the Courts tend to be, but the structure is captivating nonetheless. Built of sturdy gray stone, it lies surrounded by miles of trees scantly covered with dead leaves, which rattle in the frequent gusts of wind; the cold light of a full moon bathes everything in a pale, ghostly light. The moat is deep but dry, and the darkened windows of its three towers stare balefully out over the realm of its monarch, the Lady of Ash and Darkness, the Autumn Queen.

A small shadow descended out of the wispy clouds, dropping straight down into the courtyard like a drop of ink, where it pooled and rose to its feet, appearing as a small stooped man with a hooked nose. On silent feet, the shadow crept into the main keep, and made its way first into the empty throne room, then the study, and then finally up a narrow flight of stairs to the top of the Old Tower. Here it found its mistress, dark of hair and pale of skin, as beautiful as a peaceful death in a black gown woven out of smoke and tears, seemingly content at her spinning.

The shadow cleared its throat out of courtesy, which brought a small smile to the lady's blood-red lips. "Speak, little shade; what news do you bring from the mortal world?"

"News of a grave insult to your realm, my queen." Its voice was like the soft rustle of silk between fingers. "Your sister's...thing has conjured forth a mockery, a palace of horror and delight where the mortals laugh and gape at the antics of mummers and marionettes." It leaned closer, forcing the vile words from its slit-like mouth. "The thing has the nerve to use glamour in its Art, the very stuff and birthright of our realm, for the amusement of swine."

The queen's eyes went ice-cold. "Show me."

Edited December 10, 2014 by Heritage

[Heritage]

Pier 13. Friday, October 24th, 2014. 6:10 pm

Grim had taken to calling the monitor room 'the Attic'; it was properly sinister but also descriptive, since it was suspended inside the shed, high up near the roof. It was located in the center section, high above the Dark Forest area, though catwalks led out from either side into the two adjacent sections, which in turn leader to ladders, stairs and two elevators that reached the ground floor. It was basically another construction trailer, with chairs, several video consoles and walky-talky system for staying in touch with everyone.

Grim planned to hang out there a lot, at least when she wasn't doing her part to scare the beejezus out of the guests. Currently she looked fairly zombie-like as she sipped a coffee, looking over the shoulder of Jack Crawford, a third year student at HIT who was in charge of the security system tonight.

"What's the good word, Jack?"

The blonde youth did a double-take at the changeling's ghoulish appearance. "Ha-wah! Wow, you're looking extra nasty tonight, Grim!"

"Hmm? Oh, sorry!" She resumed her normal appearance with a grin. "There we go! Well, we made it to the opening night with no major incidents; not too shabby, eh?"

Jack frowned as he looked at the time stamp in the corner of one of the monitors. "We've been open all of ten minutes, and you have to go ahead and jinx us?"

The diminutive brunette waved a dismissive hand, but then her eyes became a little troubled. "Wait, did I?"

Edited December 24, 2014 by Heritage

[horngeek]

Catherine Fields grinned as she wheeled her way towards the haunted house, wearing casual, but cold-weather clothing.  She probably could keep herself warm with her powers, but that always raised some awkward questions even if her identity was public now.  Not that she was really in a state to do much superheroing at the moment...

 

She hummed as she joined the queue.  She'd heard about this a while back, and thought it was a good idea- mum and dad had some other stuff to do while they were there, so she'd come by herself- figuring out some tricks with the wheelchair as she went.  No one said she couldn't have a bit of fun with the thing, after all.  

 

As she wheeled herself into the warehouse, she smiled, ready for a good time...

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie relaxed up on the catwalk enjoying a gyro he grabbed from a food truck out front. He had to admit, this had all been a bit more work than he had expected. Jane was upset with him for not having time for dinner all week and some of the late nights had started to interfere with his day job at the shop.

 

This was the payoff though, finally get to see the kids enjoy the fruit of all their efforts. They had finished final inspections and last minute decorations, everything was looking perfect. He had to hand it to her, Grim really knew how to set up a show. He tested his radio to check in with the control room, "Everything looks good over in the Warehouse."

 

As the doors opened and the guests started to pour in, Charlie pulled on his skull mask and from the catwalk followed the first cart through the Haunted Warehouse. A couple young kids with their father, probably didn't need to provide any extra scares for them, but he enjoyed watching the gleeful shrieks of feinged terror as ghosts and zombies jumped out and screamed at them.

 

A later cart had a pair of teenagers on a date and demanded more attention, he picked a spot, waited for them to pass, then lowered himself to the ground behind the cart with his whip. In the black-light, he was a glowing skeleton stalking after them, waiting for the boy to lean in for a kiss before he leaped up on to the edge of the cart with a scream.

 

He laughed as he ducked back out of sight and saw the girl tucked deeper in the boy's arms. He climbed back up to the catwalks to make another round.

[Supercape]

Ape-Rat lumbered into the main hall eating a banana. She slowly scratched her head. 

 

"Me not know what going on, but me lifted lots of things and me carried lots of things. Me think me useful" she said, slowly. 

 

Analysis: You are as useful as a water pistol in an underwater firefight. Your brain! Your brain! So small!

 

The Ape Rat punched the side of her head, making her eyes cross for a moment. 

 

"Me not listen to you. Me part of team doing...thingystuff..." she retorted, throwing away her bananaskin and marching up to Grim. 

 

"Me did lots, what me do now?"

[EternalPhoenix]

Terrifica yawned. She was tired. She’d been here almost the entire night before, putting this finishing touches on, well, everything. Then a few hours’ worth of sleep and a day full of classes at MIT. So much joy, there were no words for how much. She disdained caffeine. No substitute for sleep. So, in true control freak fashion, she was in the control room with Jack. Technically, she was tucked into a corner using her longcoat as a blanket and dozing lightly. She opened her eyes now and again to see what was happening on the monitors, but for the most part she was having a light nap. She felt comfortable doing this because Grim kept popping up like a jackrabbit, only more nervous. She was wearing her normal costume for the moment, but there was a suspicious looking watch on her wrist. It was a holo-emitter, technically, but it didn’t change Terrifica’s appearance in the least. However, it did change the color scheme and pattern of her costume and longcoat. As such, Ghost Terrifica (all white with glowing black eyes) Demon Terrifica (all black with glowing red eyes), and Serial Killer Terrifica (no orange, red streaks all over, crazy eyes simulation) were all set to make appearances. After her nap.

[Tiffany Korta]

Daphne was having a blast. She’d spent quite a while conducting interview and signing autographs, a superhero was still a superhero even one as new as Ms Red, before taking her place in the little horror fun house.

 

She took up position as a transparent specter apparently an special effect, until she actually moved through things towards the hopefully surprised and thrilled customers. It was all great fun.

[Heritage]

Grim looked up and smiled at the big lady; there could be no doubt she had worked her ass off all week, though her somewhat impaired mental faculties did make explaining things to her a challenge. Still, the changeling-in-chief had taken quite a shine to her.

 

"Hiya Rat! Well, at this point there are two things you can do." She held up a finger. "First, keep your eyes, ears and nose open for any signs of trouble, like a fire or if someone falls and hurts themselves." She shook her head. "And don't worry about the scary people, they're just pretending to be monsters." Then she held up two fingers. "Two, you can scare people! Just sneak up behind someone one and yell! It's lots of fun, too! But remember, you can't hurt anyone, okay?"

 

Part of Grim knew there was a real good chance Rat would make a mess of things; who could forget Wednesday's epic 'pancake incident'? But the parent in her couldn't bear to not let her have some fun. "So, which would you rather do, be helpful or scary? Either way is fine."

Edited February 13, 2016 by Heritage

[Heritage]

GM

Once she wheeled herself to the front of the line, Catherine was greeted by what appeared to be a zombie biker in a wheelchair, but it was really 'Butch' wearing makeup inspired by the cover to The Cramps' Bad Music For Bad People. The amount of hair gel to get his salt-and-pepper shoulder length hair up that high must have been considerable. He rolled up to Catherine to greet her.

 

"Hey hey, fellow traveler! Roll up for the Mystery Tour!" He gestured towards the next waiting car, which looked a lot like a classic fun house staple, but a young college student in mummy bandages was removing the back so the disabled guest could roll right in. "Just roll into the grooves, lock your wheels and hold onto the bar; you'll be fine." 

 

The sounds of excited shrieks, ghoulish sound effects and macabre music (somewhere an organist was playing 'Toccata and Fugue in D minor', natch) were clearly audible from within; once Catherine was ready to go, the car jerked forward, took a sharp turn to the left, and pushed open the double doors into pitch black...

 

- - -

 

Up in the catwalks, Charlie had a wonderful view of the Warehouse; it was like looking down on one of those middle school science projects with a mouse in a maze, but with a lot more strobe lights, air horns and cutting edge animatronics. You could follow a car's progress through patches of light and darkness, watch Dad and the kids or a young couple react to each gag in turn, and finally roll back on outside into the crisp fall air. People seemed to be getting a kick out of his Frankenstein's Monster gag, which looked totally awesome.

 

- - -

 

Daphne's abilities really allowed her to shine in this environment; she could offer a truly thrilling scare without hurting anybody, and the guests seemed to be eating it up. They couldn't believe it when their car rolled right through a ghost!

 

- - -

 

But some of the shadows seemed to be behaving oddly; they moved about on their own, independent of any light source, sliding along floors or creeping up walls. Must be one of the other superheroes, right? Right?

Edited February 13, 2016 by Heritage

[EternalPhoenix]

Terrifica was on her feet in a flash. She’d seen something that had jolted adrenaline into her veins on the monitors. Shadows didn’t move like that. It could have been Grim or that Red girl, but the former was already in the Attic. And there was the latter now, nowhere near where she’d seen the wrongness that was a shadow that moved without a light source. Her eyes narrowed. Sure, it could be some kids playing a prank, but there were multiple superheroes in the building. Perhaps in Boston or some other city it would be just kids, but Freedom? She spoke quietly. “Grimalkin. Someone or something has apparently taken offense that this event exists.†And that flicker out of the corner of her eye? Another one, leaving the Attic? Ah, how wonderful. Simply wonderful. Tonight was supposed to be fun. “Something is very wrong.†She very carefully did not say what she had noticed. The walls could have ears now.

Edited December 14, 2014 by EternalPhoenix

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Charlie enjoyed watching the guests, anticipating the shrieks of the younger ones and jumping down to startle the older ones. It was great being here to provide a memorable Halloween experience for everyone.

 

But was he himself just getting too submerged in the creepy spirit, or was he really seeing shadows move by themselves. There were a lot of irregular light sources around. His mind could just be playing tricks on him... But no, there was definitely something there, and it was definitely something wrong. Charlie had seen enough in his short career to believe that someone could be manipulating shadows, and he knew you gotta follow your hunches in this business.

 

He followed along the catwalk, trying to pinpoint a shadow that was certainly behaving badly, and prepared to jump down on it to catch it by surprise.

[Heritage]

Grim stopped and walked over to the monitors and looked from one to the next, and her eyes went wide. "Holy crap, you're right." She took a step closer and peered at one of the views of the Warehouse. "Damn it, they're all over the place! S###!" The changeling closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay, we have no idea what the hell those things are, or even if they're actually hostile, but we don't want to start a panic, either. We need to gather more intel." She started to gnaw on her thumbnail, then came to a firm decision.

 

"Jack, get on the radio with just the super-folks for right now, just the Tier Ones; let them know what we're seeing and find out if they're seeing the same thing." Then she turned back to Terrifica and the Rat. "We need to get down there now; if either of you have any additional suggestions, I'd love to hear them."

 

The young enginner slipped on his headphones and switched the radio to channel 1. "Attention Tier One volunteers; we may have a situation involving...animated shadows? Are you seeing this as well?" 

Edited February 13, 2016 by Heritage

[Supercape]

Suggestion: Enlarge your brain to more than its current peanut size! ordered SLAVE to the Ape-Rat...

 

"Mmmmm....Peanuts! Can I have peanuts?" asked the Ape-Rat to nobody in particular, scratching her hairy armpits. 

 

No! No! NO! You imbecile! My circuits cannot withstand such a MORON! screamed the letters in front of the Ape-Rats cybernetic eyes. Ignored completely. 

 

"Yes. I have bright idea! Shadows go when you make light! We start fire and make shadows go away!" smiled the Ape - Rat, hopping from foot to foot infront of Grimalkin and Terrifica. 

 

Bright Idea...Flashed Slave infront of her vision. It somehow conveyed and agonised sigh. 

 

"Me do what you say. You more smarter than me!" conceded the Ape-Rat to Grimalkin and Terrifica. Faint praise indeed. 

[ca_lazerdwarf]

"Yeah, definitely something not right about these shadows. Some of them right below me." Charlie whispered over the radio, hoping the noises of the ride and the guests would keep anyone below from hearing him. "Thought my eyes were just playing tricks on me, guess I'm not alone. Do you have any idea what we're looking at? Something dangerous?"

 

He fidgeted with the whip-handle, hadn't dealt with something like this before. He didn't even know if it was something he could touch. But with this many innocent bystanders around, he'd have to think of something he could do if the situation turned ugly.