World Tree MUSH

    The communication was pretty clear that this was a curious affair, telling anyone near this World how to get to the small town where the event had occurred. Money was offered for help in this, because the employer had stated she was 'not a people person' whatever that meant. Though, upon meeting said employer, the stoic and short-worded young girl made it a little clearer what was going on there.

    But not what was going on in the town. The posting had alluded to some, and whomever had showed up - either by checking proper channels, word of mouth, or pure chance - had been filled in. The town had a problem with young children disappearing. Old tales, which many didn't believe, said the nearby woods were haunted. THIS year though, a child had vanished on Halloween, and this caused an early end to trick or treating as half the town was in an uproar about it. A few had been probing the woods, but the child had just plain vanished after getting upset at being told his imaginary friend was, well, imaginary.

    So Raylene, the one hiring, had dropped everyone off at town. She is following around, but letting others do any talking. It's a cozy little town, but not rustic. Just out of the way, with modern houses and cars, flashlights, and so on. This isn't some backwards community, just... quiet. Secluded. Poor cell service though. The posting had been quick, and the trail is only a few hours old!

    "Everybody was kung fu fighting! Wha-ta!" Shin sings to himself as he strolls around the streets looking for clues. He's carrying a pillowcase full of candy with him, not that he went trick or treating. It's all dropped candy off the ground when kids were ushered off by worried parents. 

    "So we got us a Scooby-damn-doo mystery here. Disappearing kid, spooky woods, ghost story. We talk to Old Man Willis about his doubloons yet? I bet we run into a fucker in a ghoul mask and it turns out to be a grift for free real estate." Shin guesses as he munches on one of those grandma strawberry candies boredly and looks around. 

    Shin looks accusatorily at the nearest looking innocent old man, narrowing his eyes and then pointing a finger at the old man and then two fingers back at his heterochromatic eyes as if to indicate he's watching the old man.

    What Vania heard: on Halloween, people will give you free candy. You just knock on their door, or find someone standing next to spoopy decorations and handing candy out. This is, now and forever, her favorite festival, holiday, party, or whatever you want to call it, now and forever. Or at least until the next one she discovers. She has a lot of favorites.

    What is actually happening here: there are no people handing candy out. No wandering children going from door to door collecting the goods. The town is spoopy so that's... THEMATIC, at least?

    This makes the little vampire stand out all the more. With those pointed ears, the little bat wings sticking out of her hair, the fangs when she smiles, and those two adorable bats frantically beating their wings to stay afloat as they follow her, carrying empty, pumpkin-shaped buckets that unfortunately contain no candy.

    Vania was not hired, she's just here by chance. And she wanders over to Raylene and Shin, hands on her hips. "Hey! You're the only ones out here, so you better have some candy! I was told if I went around I could get tons of free candy but there isn't any here!" That's almost assuredly worse than whatever else is going on here.

    "What exactly is halloween?"
    This is a valid question from a girl who hails from a world with no such holiday. Rydia had been passing through when she heard what had happened. A mix of curiosity, and worry for the vanished child ended up outweighing the notion of self preservation, or that anything remotely similar could happen to her. That's how she sort of ended up on the payroll. Not that she had expected pay in the first place anyway.
    So there is a very green little girl among the newly formed motley band of investigators.
    "... Are you really eating that after it's been on the ground?" She asks Shin.

    Siiiigh. Well, it's.... a group. Raylene couldn't care less about the missing children, but this was an odd one and... if there WERE something supernatural going on, she wanted to know. Unfortunately this wasn't a crew with an A game going on. Or even a B game. "I hope it isn't an old man, that was just a few months ago."

    Derp.

    She turns to Rydia, "Halloween is a custom created by people who don't believe that the spirits of the dead come out on this day. The original idea was to wear costumes to scare away vengeful spirits. And other cultures had it as a more somber day. The two have sort of... blended into something of a festival for children."

    So finished with that, she eyes Vania. Either a very good costume, or an actual vampire. Or possibly some other supernatural dressed as a vampire. Raylene... doesn't care. "There's been an incident, and a missing boy. I'm sure if he's found the town will give plenty of candy to anyone who finds him. Adults are grateful like that sometimes."

    "Dude yeah I am. Candy restores valuable hit points, can provide stat bonuses, is an event loot drop, and most of this is still wrapped so it's not even dirty." Shin says to Rydia. Sure, the PACKAGING had some dirt on it. Or the occasional loosie had some dirt. But as a whole, the haul was fine-ish... mostly. 

    "Also you can't have any of this candy. Get your own." He remarks to Vania before looking back towards the group as Raylene speaks. 

    "Let's see. The two gradeschoolers should probably stick together," He waves towards Vania and Rydia, "Dangerous for them to be alone." He decides, "And then if my horror movie manga taught me correctly, the kid's probably in the Spooky-Ass Woods. Be cautioned, he may already be possessed by a vengeful spirit. We should make funeral arrangements for the parents." He hangs his head, "RIP parents, your sacrifice is not in vain."

    "That's what I heard!" Vania says after Raylene explains, slowly creeping up behind Rydia. "It's also a day..." Is she getting closer? "When evil bloodsuckers..." To Rydia's neck? "Come out and..." Opening her mouth... "BITE, AND THEN YOU'RE A CREATURE OF THE NIGHT TOO!" She doesn't bite. Just blows hot air on Rydia's neck, figuratively and literally. Will it work? Will it not? Vania has already backed away giggling like it doesn't matter to her.

    "How awful! Boys should be out and enjoying this festival, not be missing! Oh, I know, let's go find him, then we can share the candy!" It's her idea now, you understand. It's her royal decree. "Where was he last seen? Where are we headed? Come on, come on!"

    No, wait, something more urgent came up.

    Vania glares at Shin, puffing her cheeks up. "Hey! I'm the princess, you have to share the candy if I say so! But not the candy that fell on the ground, you can keep that one." Standards are important, and vampires only believe in the five seconds rule as it pertains to people, not candy.

    Rydia gives Shin a stare. It is a long, bewildered, stare that says the man may as well be speaking another language entirely to the green-haired girl as he details hit points and stats and events and other such utterly nonsensical drivel. The suffering look she turns toward Raylene should be wordless communication enough. 'Can we have another adult? I think this one is broken.'
    To her credit, as she listens to the explanation of the holiday, she does not scream. The sound she makes when Vania gets the spook-drop on her is more along the lines of a surprised and startled grunt, as she turns to shoot the other girl an irritable look, but it bleeds away. "I'm not in this for the candy."
    But She won't say no to it either.
    Much As Shin's dialect baffles her she does nod, "The woods sound like the best place to start."

    Raylene can't do anything but shrug. Rydia has a point! But options were limited. She gestures though... because at least the idea of checking out the woods was a good one. "The woods are a good idea," she agrees. Not the ONLY idea but one that works.

    Seeing out of towners like this has made the townsfolk a little confused and suspicious... but maybe they're just doing candy hunting from the next town over. That's the likely guess of those who are watching the little group. And it's not like getting to the woods is HARD.

    They are kind of creepy though. No wonder there's a reputation. And it's an oppressive feeling. Raylene doesn't say anything about it, but anyone with even a modicum of magical or supernatural senses can feel that there is SOMETHING in these woods. Well, something aside from the distant call of search parties and the flashlights flickering in the distance, hunting for any sign of the missing boy. The lights flicker as if the darkness itself is swallowing up any signs of civilization, and the oppressiveness just gets worse further in, where the search parties seem to be avoiding even.

    "I don't recall electing you princess." Shin says to Vania smugly as he munches on a mini-Snickers and rustles around in his pillow case, "Yeah. Woods. Great idea. We probably won't die since you're all too young to get targetted by most Horror Movie Slashers. Unless you're the estranged secret sister of a kid who stabbed his family." He looks pointedly at Raylene for this one. 

    "Oh man. Look at this darkness," Shin says around a mouthful of peanuts and nougat, "It's a good thing you didn't call the police over this way. They might shoot without investigating." He pauses, "That's a political joke about your American justice system." He points out to Raylene in case it went over her head. 

    ""No but seriously. I haven't felt this stifled and pressed in on since Comiket."

    Rydia is less reactive than predicted. Luckily Vania has already moved on to caring more about Shin's impertinence!!! to mind all that much whether or not the green-haired one reacted to her spoop attempt.

    "Princesses aren't elected! I was born into the position! I'm Vania, princess of vampires!" Or a kid in a costume. It's certainly the night for it. The bats continue fluttering alarmingly up and down as they struggle to keep those buckets afloat. Come on bats, you can do it!

    The woods are rather spooky indeed, although for Vania it's a case of being right at home. She strolls along, keeping her eyes on Shin like he's some kind of stake with legs. She's distracted, ever momentarily, by those distant calls and flashlights. "Do you think those people shouting have candy on them? Can we make a detour and go frighten them a little bit, spread the festivities around?" That's probably a terrible idea for ten different reasons, and only a handful are further political jokes.

    "Who kidnaps little children, anyway? If I were a monster I'd want bigger prey with more meat! If I wanted slaves I'd want bigger ones with more muscle! Me I'd want someone with lots of blood if I was really hungry."

    To the woods then. Though on the approach, Rydia can feel it. The ominous dreadful feeling lingering over every tree and leaf. That the woods are not empty- there is more there than just the searchers.
    "Princess isn't an elected position." She notes absently. Her focus is elsewhere, staring into that clawing darkness, she lets out the breath she didn't even realize she had been holding, as a thin mist licks around her ankles.
    "Whyt," She murmurs, the mist itself responding, coalescing in upon itself and floating up to her shoulder, where it re-shapes into the form of a miniature dragon, that coos and nudges snout against her cheek.
    Running her fingers along misty, white, scales is calming.
    "There's something in that darkness." It may seem like she's stating the obvious, but, her hand migrates to her belt. "I think they're more concerned with finding the boy than with keeping candy on them, too."
    Sorry Vania. Rydia held her mother as she died in her arms and watched everything she knew and love go up in flames. A little jump scare is tame in comparison.

    Raylene has a reply for Shin, "I am guessing this is one of your movie references or something. Sadly I cannot get it, as for the majority of my life I was kept in the cellar chained to the wall fed scraps to be a living sacrifice for my elder sisters." Delivered deadpan. She's... actually trying to make a joke.

    Vania's suggestion and thoughts get a cool stare, then a serious consideration, "There are several reasons some go after children, but I suspect something else is at work here. There is definitely magic here..." She glances at Rydia's summon. "Aside from what those here seem to have." A curious note in her tone, but now isn't the time.

    Moving further into the darkness is... it's oppressive, as stated, but there's a definite unnatural quality to it. Roots seem to sprout out of nowhere, not actually moving but seemingly there when the path was clear before, and the path... is hard to follow. But worse, there is a glimmer. Somehow the darkness hasn't eaten it, but there's the sight of a young boy with mussed blonde hair, staring from some distance... before turning and dashing further in.

    "Rough beats. But you survived, so hey, I mean." Shin gives her a respectful thumbs up. He even holds out the fist, "Dap that." He holds it to her, "Child abuse is no joke, yo. Glad you got out." Seems he CAN be serious, sometimes. 

    "But no, it wasn't a movie reference. It was a political joke," Shin notes absently as he walks around the forest. 

    "And I am aware princesses are not elected, but she's not MY princess!" Shin continues objecting, before adding, "And people sometimes take kids to raise them. For instance, I was found by a wise mountain man and taught the ways of kung fu. I also read a lot of Manga. He said it was time for a spiritual journey after raising me to be the perfect martial artist. And that's how I became Shin Tokuyama, Wandering Sage of the Martial Arts." 

    "Hey look!" Shin blurts, pointing forward, "That little shit is running deeper into the woods."

    "I should have known this Halloween gig was too good to be true," Vania says, defeated, as Rydia explains those people shouting are unlikely to be carrying candy. A frown, even! Then a glance back up, as Raylene unveils a tragic backstory. "That sounds mean. Vampire law says that a vampire who harms a fellow vampire will be executed on the spot, I think that's how they stopped that kind of thing from happening. It's kind of a dumb law for a lot of reasons though. More importantly, siblings should get along!" Just do as she says and not as she does, on that one. "Family is super important! So is bloodkin. So what happened to your sisters, since you obviously didn't get sacrificed?" Or did she? Vania may not have the sharpest senses but Raylene doesn't seem like a ghost or zombie to her.

    Back to Shin, her tone shifts. "A sage, is that so?!" Sage is an important title. "Is that why I can't understand half of what you're saying? I heard sages only speak in weird metaphors and analogies you're not supposed to get right away."

    He then points out the boy running away.
    Vania takes the empty bucket from one of her bats and motions for it to follow ahead. The bat makes some kind of chipper screech sound and flutters on ahead. Go bat, go! It'll try getting a better aerial view so Vania can guide the party along.

    The dull magical glow of the misty dragon's body isn't much, but it's better than Rydia bringing nothing along as a light source. She's pointedly silent, for a long moment, at the exchange of jokes that really don't sound like jokes at all, before she murmurs, "Bleak..."
    It's dark stuff. Though the forest darkness and difficult path is what has her attention, when she sees the flash of motion, and catches a glimpse of the boy, Rydia nearly jerks forward. "-Wait! It's dangerous that way!" She calls, reining herself in to not run ahead and give the group TWO lost children to worry about, "Whyt go after him."
    Instead she sends the little dragon floating ahead first in the darkness along with Vania's bat.

    Raylene fistbumps reluctantly, but she has to admit it. "That was not a true story. I was not kept in the cellar, I was treated quite nicely by my sisters." She doesn't go into detail for Shin. Vania gets a little more though. "Oh, they were eaten by a beast they summoned," she says, about to explain more before the call from Shin and the others announces the kid is found! Raylene... squints, but didn't get a good look due to the distraction.

    She's moving carefully forward and nods, "Ah... that's a good idea." Sigh. Sadly her invisible friend can't help that way, but she keeps him nearby while the others scout.

    Except that the child has vanished. Possibly into the large pit in the middle of the forest, surrounded by brambles, which the scouts fortunately find before the group can blunder in.

    "Precisely," Shin says to Vania, "I speak in the cryptic wisdom of my culture, from a far-off land. But rest assured I am a learned and wise individual who can give advice for paltry sums that would hardly even dent your pocket book. I'm a Fistlosopher." He strokes his chin. 

    While the scouts check ahead, Shin frowns, "I wonder why he's run this deep into the woods. If we can feel this darkness, he must too. You'd think once he found us, he'd have run right to us."

    "Oh. Well, that's too bad. They probably deserved it though," Vania surmises, regarding Raylene's sisters. "Siblings wanting to sacrifice siblings, that's just sad! There's nothing more sacred than bloodkin."

    Vania looks back towards Shin, now actually inspecting him closely. "You dress strange for a sage! You also don't seem to be able to recognize royalty when you see it, but I guess you can't be a sage about EVERYTHING, huh?" Surprisingly that's not ribbing, that's excusing his faults. "Maybe it's a trap. Maybe the kid is the monster! Ooooooh, scary!" Suddenly things are looking up again. Vania's bat returns, finally, screeching at the party. Vania headpats it and puts it on bucket duty again. "There's a pit up ahead, really hard to see." She looks towards Rydia, curious about the little creature she let loose. "What's Whyt? It's really cute! If I had candy I'd feel compelled to give it some!" Vania likes tiny adorable dragons, which is why she has her own. Except that one eventually got really fat from eating fruit non-stop and now it's not tiny at all. The point stands!

    The boy disappears. Maybe into the pit. Whyt flies back and re-takes perch on Rydia's shoulder, where the dragon warbles at her. "There's a pit up-." She starts to warn on approach, but Vania's bat saw it as well as her Eidolon did..
    "I don't know." She replies to Shin, though. "I can tell you I wouldn't be here without a good reason." She says, peering down the hole in the ground.
    And then she must contend with Vania's curiosity. Which isn't too bad as she peers down the hole with a squint.
    "Whyt is my Eidolon. A mist dragon." She answers, while the Eidolon in question coos at the vampire princess, in spite of her lack of candy to feed it.

    "It is very strange," Raylene admits. "And... I believe these trees are... hmm. I think the forest is a dormant malignant entity itself." She shakes her head, then glances at Vania. She doesn't comment on her family.

    Then the pit is revealed, and she slows even further. Taking out a flashlight - believe it or not, she doesn't have a light spell - she helps to shine it around and slowly hunt through. "Well. We can either see what's on the other side of these brambles, or we can call for the townsfolk. I can't imagine he'll be leaving without us seeing it."

    "Stand back! This is my time to shine!" 

    Shin takes a firm stand on the ground and coils back his fist, "Ha! Geiha Genkou-Ryu! Ryuken!" 

    Shin coils back his fist and then throws it straight up in the air. From the front of his fist erupts a glowing red burst of energy that shoots straight skyward before popping in mid-air and hanging for a few moments. 

    Sure, it's an ancient move handed down from master to pupil for a dozen or more generations. But Shin is using it as a search party signal flare!

    "An evil forest? Wow! We don't have those back home!" Do they? She wouldn't actually know. But she hasn't heard of that, so she's assuming not. "Do you think we could chat with it? Maybe say hi, ask why it's going after children, then say mean things to it until it's sad and stops?" That would be a great solution.

    Since Shin handles making a signal flare, Vania... puts her full attention on Whyt and Rydia, reaching over to cuddle the tiny dragonling. "It's adorable! We should find a nice place where dragons can play and I can bring Malinda next time! She's always eating lots of fruit so she really needs to burn that excess fat off! I was going to bring her to trick or treat with me but I thought it might be better if I do it alone and bring the candy back, that way I don't risk losing all of it to her."

    Though Rydia looks a little awkward with all of Vania's attention, Whyt allows the contact- and even purrs softly, long neck slithering along fingers.
    Shin casts Fist-Flare to call the townsfolk, but Rydia purses her lips.
    "Why not both?" she asks of Raylene, gently nudging Whyt off her shoulder to send the little dragon to peek down the pit.

    The light of the flare - and flashlights - helps peek down the pit. It is... grisly. Even Raylene grimaces at the sight that awaits through the briars, the pit showing a half-dozen bodies in various stages of decomposition. Most of them are old, just bones, but often wearing pieces of clothing. All are obviously children.

    "OVER HERE! HEY, THEY FOUND- Oh god..." One of the rescuers stumbles at the edge, staring into the pit with a struggle to keep his lunch down. He's followed by several more who... some turn away, the police hurriedly shielding the other searchers from the grisly sight of... basically all the lost children.

    It is thus impossible for the search party to see the 'boy' standing at the edge nearest Shin and the others, the child dressed up as a zombie and with his hands in his pockets. He smiles, and shimmers as he fades, splitting into a half-dozen different images. Like he was a composite of several children who all fade away into the dark of the night.

    --- THE NEXT DAY

    Anyone who tries to follow up the next day will hear plenty of discussion about how the bodies of the missing children were found. Curiously, there is no mention at all of a missing boy, or of one being found.