World Tree MUSH

    Camino Al Atardecer is named well. Spanish for 'Sunset Road', the city's lone street is made from a reddish gold known as orichalcyon, which is often used for protection due to its incredibly durable properties. In this case, the protection it provides is a bit more esoteric; the entrance to the city has an inscription that says "Sanctuary To All Who Walk The Road". Visitors have been informed that there is a magical ban on violence. While that may seem at odds with the event of the evening, it is more a matter of intent than action.
    The city itself is anchored to the orichalcyon road, with a truly eclectic mix of architectural styles built up vertically. Equally eclectic are the denizens; not only do maho/mages live here, but many magical creatures and transformed humans also call the city home. 
    It is at the foot of the inscription that the ghostly form of a Kushite mage, many thousands of years old, holds a baseball sized sphere that glows with the intensity of the sun. She seems to be waiting for sunset to begin the game.

    Luke is here, with his ghost vampire panda on his shoulder, the boy kind of wants to ask what the rules are, andif he can use his pokemon on this event!. He only knows the faintest of the details, at least he knows the orb is too big for his ghost to try to steal it! Of course, he also simply enjoys the city scape, admiring the multiple kinds of people around, and slowly approaching the center of this festivity, admiring the ghostly figure and the 'ball'.

Well, Holly can be clever at times but she's not so good at the guile and trickery part. She's haunted by two ghosts who manage to unknowingly possess her at times for crying out loud. She got word of their being a contest for a powerful magical artifact here. Normally, she would just take it but the fact there's a ghost guarding it gives her pause. "Hi there! What's the glowing magical sphere do? Besides be really bright? I can imagine it would be hard to sleep with that around." It would certainly be a powerful nightlight.

Emily is sitting on the edge of a rooftop in the form of a lavender-skinned devil with six purple eyes in two vertical rows, four arms, a black spaded tail, and hair so black it looks like a rip in space, or a graphical glitch; she's dressed in a neon pink crop top that says "I'll Stop Wearing Pink When They Invent A Darker Color", red booty shorts, and white sneakers.

She doesn't immediately look as though she's going to participate; she's peering down at the crowd, tail flicking like a cat's, looking uncharacteristically pensive as she eats an ice cream cone with multiple flavors stacked.

    A magical ban on violence, huh? That's interesting. And... probably a good idea. Alucard isn't going to test it, not to worry. Accordingly, he's left most of his weapons at home for this (though there's probably a dagger or two hidden on his person somewhere).

    Alucard is dressed the way he usually is when he visits here -- that black suit, his white hair in a loose ponytail. He makes his way to the area that the ghost with the glowing artifact is at, and bows politely in greeting to all present. "Greetings," he offers.

    Orania's dark African features look at Holly quizzically, as though she is just now realizing where and when she is. A broad smile reveals teeth shockingly white compared to the dark skin. "My child, tt isn't a contest for the Eye, it is a contest to hold it the longest before the bells ring seven times. Whomever can do that is the Lord or Lady of the Festival." The sun begins setting on the sanctuary city, and the first bell rings a deep and low tone that can be heard across the entire city. A hush settles on the citizenry as they give the ghost their attention.
    The dead Atlantean High Mage holds up the Eye of Balor. There is no way somebody can stick that in their pocket and hide the light that pours off of the roughly fist-sized sphere. "Friends, we gather to celebrate the end of winter! The rules are as follows; whomever holds the eye the longest by the time the seventh bell of the night rings will be crowned lord or lady of the Spring Festival and lead the final procession from here to the high end of The Road. Remember the ban on violence is still in place; you must use trickery, guile, and your wits to obtain the Eye from whomever holds it. As the High Mage of the city, I bid you... begin!" She throws the radiant sphere up into the air over the crowd, letting the chips fall where they may.

"I'm not a child, I'm 22!" Though Holly was practically an infant in age compared to the elves she goes to school.

 "Considering she's an ancient guardian, I think we're all children to her." Servis explains to the witch.

 "Oh..." Seeing the eye being tossed into the air, Holly hops on her broom to try and catch it. She does have an advantage here being able to fly, but she's certainly not the only one.

    The kid notices Holly, and waves eagerly to his acquaintance, smiling, "You came here for the festival too?" he asks, rather curious, but of course, is interrrupted when Orania begins to explain some of the rules of the festival, "Lord of the festival!" he muses, turning his gaze towards the high mage. The rules are simple enough it seems, even if he wonders about using his pokemon, but... he realizes he is at a disadvantage, on the 'trickery' field fr the most part.

Emily hmms, regarding the goings-on below her. She breaks into a faint smile, tail twitching slightly, and she speeds up her ice cream nomming. If anyone were to watch her, it might look like a video being played at 3x speed.

Anne is transformed and looking like she walked out of some pirate anime or movie. The bright pink har the greatcoat, the bust, all of it she seemed in good spirit as the game was on. She was down with no magic violence, but still? Her magical talents could be used in other ways. She's spotted a few people she knows in the crowd. At least she thinks she does, and the pink-haired pirate woman is now stalking Holly, why? She has the eye and she's a pirate she's got to try and make a go for it. She'll use a jet of water to rocket up and try to dart by Holly calling out. 

 "I'll be taking that lass!" 

 She'll reach out making a grab for the eye as she passes.

    Welp, game seems to be on, and someone already took off with the precious orb!. Since Luke is not the best at running, he does the next best thing! he calls Bewear, to pick him up, and run after Holly instead, chasing her from the ground, ready to jump for a chance at the orb!. He doesn't even spot Anne joining in the fun amidst the crowd. The water display is a rather clever trick, should keep that in mind for the future!. He is kind of rooting for Anne to take the orb, might be easier to take it from her!. He wastes little time as the pink and white bear carries him towards the current ball bearer, hoping to catch her by surprise!

Holly manages to catch the eye from Orania's throw by flying above the crowd. "Hi Luke!" She waves to him with her free hand. Of course she's not the best flier and it takes some effort for her to stay in the air. She's not expecting the sudden jet of water to shoot up from the floor and soak her. Thankfully, she's not that kind of witch but she does ended up getting a bit drenched and loses her grip on the eye fumbling it to Anne.

    The crowd is trying to get the Eye, since it really is a big game of keep-away. There are a lot of distractions too! There are apparently fake Eyes as well, but they're easily found out as they stop glowing when held. That doesn't stop the crowd from throwing them around like beach balls though. A team of four grendel, one with a fake arm, tries to get the Eye away from Luke by being very distracting while one of them attempts to grab the Eye.

Anne Read was fast but she was not expecting the stunt Luke was about to pull. 

 "ha the booty is mine." 

 Polly pipes up. "Pay attention Cap'tan." 

 Anne pauses "What now you little b...." 

 Wham, she gets Luke's bare get the orb out of her hand,s as it's still wet and slippery from her stunt. 

 "Oh so it's on now!" 

 She'll land in a crouch and take off after the orb on foot. She will summon her staff an use it to vaults after Luke's pokemon and make a grab for the eye again. 

 "I give you credit but it's going to be MINE!"

Luke Gray is happy to greet Holly, even as he runs away with the glowing orb, clutching the wet thing against his shirt, trying to dry it out, maybe block the light?, Bewear acting a bit like a bodyguard, now that he doesn't need to 'run' as fast, or at least, trying to block people from physically reaching for Luke, and even blocking some of the fake orbs from hitting the boy!. Of course, Bewear can only do so much, covering one side, while Luke struggles not to lose the shiny orb, almost dropping it as a group swarms around him, being noisy, distracting and reaching for the prize while he tries to get away, saved at the last second by his pokemon interposing and letting him move out of reach!. Poor Anne might have a hard time making a move, with the crowd swarming Luke, and his pokemon doing what he can to fend them off!

    Somewhere, the bell rings for the second time. Clearly time waits for no one.

Holly notices the crowd gathering around Luke and she decides to try to take back the eye from the air. After all given her strength she might hurt someone if she pushes through the crowd. She casts a spell and icing begins to shoot out of her staff, that's going to make it things a bit slick.

    The Eye is tugged via magic, trying to slip it out of Luke's hands by a familiar face flying above, angelic wings spread wide and hand stretched toward the Pokemon Trainer. Alan is participating, it seems! With a rare smile on his face! "Luke, you're going to win at this rate!" He calls out with a laugh.
    The bell tolls a third time.

Luke Gray is quite frantic, clinging to hte orb, while the Bewear is finally changing tactics and just picks up the boy on it's shoulders, the crowd is getting too big to fend off, so it's better to keep moving!. The pair slips on the ice, but thankfully, it seems more on their benefit, since the crowd near him fall over, while the bear manages to just stumble around!. The boy even is able to hold onto the orb with the help of those rather fluffy bear arms holding onto him. "I'm winning!" calls the boy.

Anne Read has missed her last attempt against Luke and sees that Luke has been able to hang on it, Polly whose yapping is annoying Anne gets grabbe and shoved into her jacket. Before she's taking off again aget Luke wioth the orb. 

 "You have been doing well Luke, but let's see if you can hang on to it longer I won't make this easy on you Lad!" 

 She attempty to come between the trainer and his frien and make anotehr snatch steal for the orb.

Now, that the eye is out of Luke's hands it might be a bit easier to get. That huge bear made it difficult to get near him. Holly turns her attention turns towards Anne once again. She tries to think what would be effective against a pirate and than something comes to mind. She points her candy staff shaped staff at her and summons a bouncing pumpkin at her, something high in Vitamin C should be effective right?

     Of course, Luke's attention and luck only lasts that long, what with most of the festival goers deciding they wanted the orb, and were aware who had it! The pirate finally manages to sneak and tear that out of his hands, while the duo were busy pushing away some of hte grabbier contestants, "Hey!" he protests as he ses Anne move aside with the item!. He tries to catch after the pirate gal, "That's mine!" He adn the bear jumping out of the way t the bouncing pumpkin!.

    The bell tolls a fourth time.
    Although he couldn't get the eye from Luke, Alan is still in the game, flying fast and hard for Holly. He plans to use his superior aerial agility to grab the eye before the Halloween Witch can react. He may be humming Ride of the Valkyries.

Anne Read finds that Holly has come back for revenge and has snatch the ball from her she'll find that bouncing pumpkin that's a bit more bouncy thatn she is /somehow/. This causes her to lose hold of the eye as Holly snatches it from her. This one is far more simple she'll bounc eleap try to land infront off Holly as she makes one last grab for the eye but this pretty much is it and she knows it. "You ain't to bad!"