eswareinmal | Action: Come one, come all!

Characters: ALL THE PEOPLE
Open? Yes.
Where: The Palace
When: The night of the 3RD
What: A masquerade ball and a very deep sleep.
Warnings: Part of a comm-wide plot!

The Prince Sif has felled an unknown beast, and presented its stuffed head to the King. This would be reason enough for a ball, but there are victories to celebrate. More heroes arrive every day. The kingdom was aptly defended when the forest wall fell. No one has tried to assassinate the king in several days.

All told, a good night for a party. The theme of the ball is a masquerade, and shops in town have been surprisingly (almost suspiciously) able to provide gowns and masks in ready supply.

The palace has been opened to heroes and townspeople alike, provided they can present themselves appropriately. The heroes have been strongly encouraged to attend, and those who do not come voluntarily may well be greeted with royal retainers at their doorstep, outfit and dance card in hand. Expect a very full dance card, heroes.

The banquet table is stacked full of food – roasts and cheeses, summer fruits and vegetables, rivers of wine and more ornate desserts than should be permitted in a time or war. This evening is about success – best to enjoy it.

In the center of the ball sits the beast’s head. A scaly, purple thing. Its eyes have been taken out and replaced with rubies, its mouth twisted in the same sort of anguished look on its face as when Sif killed it. There has never been a beast like this in Schwanheim before – if you like, come closer and take a look. The king is very generous with his gifts.

[ooc: The party is a LIE. Well. No, it isn’t! Enjoy the party. Your characters will be expected to wear full masquerade gear, or they will be shunted aside and dressed properly.

After the attendees go home, they will be plagued with dreams more tangible than they have ever felt. More information here]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Far worse. As it was, it was a good test of the ole bottomless pit of the 2nd stomach for sweets.

"Wishes are always tricky things," Bakura smiled with a small nod. "And really, something like that, I wouldn't be surprised if the curse were designed to make them all gone wrong."

"I think they were, honestly. Barring, um, a very few exceptions. It's the way of stories, for one, a-and I think the witch was looking to, to cause us a bit of difficulty, in any case. People like us in particular."

The heroes of Schwanheim. It's amazing how quickly patience wears thin when one too many people have carelessly trampled on your lawn on the hunt for great beasts.

Bakura blinked once. "On the side of the Thorns? Or just not a fan?" he asked, a touch curious.

"Um, inside the forest. The, the Two Faced Forest, not the furthest forests. After, um, after the night with the monsters, a-and everyone traipsing about the day after trying to figure out just what had happened...well, um, I suppose she just, um, decided to attempt to nip us all in the bud."

Giles would have felt some sympathy for her, if she hadn't stuck him in a bottle all day, let out only to grant foolish wishes and stay around long enough to mop up the aftermath.

Bakura rubbed the back of his neck a little. "Aaaaa, I guess I can see why something like that would annoy someone! Especially if they're used to living alone! To suddenly have all these people..."

Idly, he wondered if that had been what had happened to him when he lost his recent memories...

"You just had the bad luck to be there when she really got mad?"

"I did. That, um, seems to be precisely what happened. I, I went back to the forest, after the night where the thorns hadn't turned up. W-Wanted to see if I could learn anything else, came across a candy house, and...well, if I knew how to leave well enough alone, I, um, probably wouldn't be a ghost right now. Never thought I'd actually see a candy house."

Curiosity killed the cat, in a bit of a literal sense, Bakura reflected. He had the good sense not to say it aloud however.

"More reasons to keep clear of the forest when it's like that, I guess," he smiled slightly. "Though I have to admit I'm pretty curious myself," he rubbed the back of his neck again. Speaking of people who didn't leave well enough alone...

Satisfaction brought it back. But, well, Giles tends not to get a lot of that.

"We won't make any progress against the thorns if, if we don't understand our environs, o-or just what lurks in them wanting to eat us. The, um, the Two Faced Forest seems to be our most easily accessible example of the sentient thorns that, th-that appear to be the cause of our difficulties in the first place."

Bakura is much the same. More mysteries than answers, and more bad luck than anything positive.

"Are they the same ones? The same type, I mean. With the ones here... they don't grow at all, they just seem to be raised and lowered, like a drawbridge in a way," he reasoned.

Why yes he had been doing his share of poking at the hornets nest....

"So, um, they do still grow. They just don't...advance. In fact, their function seems to be a benevolent one, in a way, because if, if that night was so unusual, it might be said that they're keeping the bests of the forest inside, away from the town. All right, they're keeping us out as well...but, um, from what I understand, heroes are a recent arrival, here."

He has his theories, but investigating them had gotten him stuck in a bottle. So, well, Giles is doing the next best thing, which is show up at a masquerade ball to get a look at a dead monster head.

"Aaa-- true, true," Bakura nodded. "And we really do seem to be. I think it's only been about a month since we started arriving, right?" He was pretty sure he had been one of the first, but without those memories...

"Well, um, you would know better than I would. It's, um, it's only been a few days, for some of us. Just...well, a busy few days. Cursed objects, monster attacks, getting cursed and, um, now a party. These people don't seem to slow down very much, do they?"

"They really don't! Makes it seem like it's far longer of a time than it really has been!"

"I wonder how much of a time it will really be." Giles glances pensively back at the beast's head. "I, um...I wonder how long we're going to be kept here. Do you think they even know how to, um, send us home?"

"I think it's a bit more complicated than that... When I talked with the other white mage about it, he said that something's getting in the way."

And then the kid had thrown a tantrum. It was... a little disconcerting, to be honest.

Giles sighs tiredly. "Of course there is.

So. This, um, this other white mage. Don't suppose you've, um, seen him in attendance, have you? I, um, I-I had a few questions for him, as well."

"Aaa-- just the once, at the monastery... He's... aaah.... " Bakura faltered a moment. "Young." Was the most tactful way he could put it.

Whatever Bakura is trying to tactfully imply, Giles is much too lost in his thoughts to realize it.

"Monastery? Um, I'm not sure I've been by there or, i-if I have, I didn't know what it was at the time. Where is it? I, um, I do have a bit of experience, with children. Especially..." Here he makes a bit of a face. "...odd ones."

"It's not too far outside of the town, down the main road," Bakura nodded in the general direction. "It's pretty easy to spot."

"No, not far at all. Um, certainly not for me." Giles glances at the doors, as though speculating leaving right now. He doesn't, though. Giles guesses, perhaps correctly, that his esteem would probably fall even further if he left in the middle of the main event.

"...I'll, um, I'll see if I can stop by tomorrow. Unless some other sort of disaster comes about."

"Hopefully none will!" Bakura smiled. "It'd be nice to have a few days off!"

Action: Come one, come all!

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