InsaneJournal

i hear the chauffeur comin' to my door
Who: EVERYONE.
What: The Pax Halloween Party, part two.
Where: Pax Letale apartment complex, rec room.
When: 10 p.m., Oct. 31.
Notes: Welcome to the main event, boils and ghouls! Check out the below text for information on what's happening to your character, and all the tasty treats that you can write against within this thread. Some general notes: creatures in this thread are NPC-able, which means you can feel free to take one and run with it. Even though your characters are gods, these are creatures from their or a respective pantheon, so this should be a fairly equivalent fight; if you wanna rough your character up, how much damage they sustain is totally up to you. When creatures are defeated, they don't die—they just vanish in a puff of smoke. Everyone's endgame is to get out of the room; once they do, vessels will regain control of their bodies. Vessels can see what's happening, but deities will be in control until they are out of the room. Please remember to mark where you are, at what time, and ask permission before entering a thread that already contains two or more people. If you have any questions about anything happening in this thread, please contact the mods.

For three blessedly normal hours, nothing seems to happen. Tension in the room withers, allowing Pax tenants an evening of regular Halloween shenanigans; after all, on all days of the year, if something were to happen, it would be on this night—right?

And you'd be correct. At precisely the stroke of 10 p.m., a stranger enters the rec room, making their way through the small crowd gathered within. He is oddly large; almost seven feet tall, and broad, too. He wears a long, Dracula-ish cape that hides the majority of his form; a wolf mask covers his face, but the main item that draws the attention of onlookers is a large sack slung over one shoulder. If anything, he looks a bit like Krampus arrived a month too early, sans a birch switch.

All noise in the room quiets, and the man is left to reach the pool table without interruption. He turns, setting the sack down on one corner, and eyes the room.

"I do hope you've enjoyed your time here," he starts, his voice deep, a little melodic, but overall dangerous. He looks out over all of the party attendees, the smile on his face growing wider as he notices each mask that the guests are wearing. "I have so enjoyed having you—well, some more than others. For instance, Cristobal Rodriguez, you certainly could have been more help. Among everyone I've had working for me..." The man shakes his head, tsking with his tongue. "But it doesn't matter now. You've all been here so long in my apartment complex, I think a good number of you have some idea of what's going on.

"But before you get ahead of yourselves," he starts, holding up a hand toward any who might interrupt him, "I would like to lay down a forewarning. I do not tolerate trespassers lightly, and those who would try to strike out against me...well."

Giant, hairy hands reach out and upend the sack, dumping a beaten and unconscious Brittany Bernard face up onto the table. For those worried, she is still breathing, but bruises and what looks like bloodstains on her workout clothes speak to a long, violent story.

The man grins at the reactions in the room. "You're all here for a purpose, and you'll leave when I say you can. And, with that... I think it's time we all got to know each other a little better." He reaches into his cape and withdraws what looks like a small button. His grin shows teeth—sharp teeth, inhuman, wolfish teeth. With one sharp movement of his thumb, he holds the button down and everyone in the room wearing a mask, feels an electric shock of pain.

All party attendees buckle to the floor—when they rise, they are not themselves. Their inner deities have re-sculpted their exterior flesh, with the exception of their Halloween costumes. What's more, the room around them has changed.

The snack table is now half-sunk in a pool of quicksand, an out-of-place palm tree dipping just over the edge as it sticks out of the wall; the sand reaches as far as the doorway to the pool, which is now an arch supported by marble columns. Little spirits known as Tipua start to embody what's left of the food and drink, hurling them around and at anyone nearby. The now-marble pool area continues on the ground outside, becoming steps leading into an inky darkness. Those who venture close realize that the pool now seems to house arms and faces, though they are not recognizable; the hands reach out, seeking to grab any who venture too close. What's more is that a huge gashadokuro is bent down, peering through the doorway into the party itself as a large, bony hand wraps around one marble column.

The other side of the rec room is awash in snow wrapped up in giant, gnarled tree-roots; the snow has overtaken the doorway, sealing all inside (except for any intrepid souls who can dig their way out). Also standing in the way of escape are five ahuizotl, burrowing out of the ground to snarl at any who approach. Frost edges their fur, their muscles rippling as they begin to surround Pax guests. Sparks shower down over near the pool table, molten gold turning to flame that burns and melts the edge of the snowy landscape nearby. From this corner emerges a giant horned serpent, who hisses and makes its way toward the man who started this all.

He throws a hand in front of his face, snarling back at the huge reptile, before he is forced out into the pool area and past the gashadokuro. The rest of you are left to fend for yourselves, and find some manner of escape...