A Treehouse of Horrors at an Old Oak Tree... (RP Optional)

[Birdy]

As you stroll merrily along your route, loot bag in hand, you notice some signs luring--er, beckoning you in a certain direction.

"A Treehouse of Horrors!" the first sign reads. "Don't miss it!"

Hmm, so Birdy's going with a "haunted house" theme this year? Interesting. You might as well check it out, you decide, and so turn down the trail that the sign is on.

Further along, another sign. "The Scariest thing you'll see this year, or your money back!*"

You squint and read the tiny text at the bottom of the sign. "_{*Note: Admission is free.}"

You reach another sign. This one appears to be written in crayon; blinding, neon crayon.

"much spook. such fear! very scare."

...Wow. you think. Either Birdy got her characters-turned-into-little-kids-again to help with the signs, or she's running out of ideas. (Or assumes the terrible grammar is scary enough on its own.)

You eventually reach the oak tree that holds Birdy's house, and make your way to the top. Nothing so far looks very scary about the house - perhaps that's just to lull the visitor into a false sense of security, and the inside is the scary part? You shrug. Only one way to find out...


You open the door, and... everything seems normal. Perhaps a bit more furniture than last year, and certainly more plushies, but nothing really scary that you can see.

Then you see the signs.

Scattered around the room, in little "displays" of sorts, each indicating what is happening at that place.

One sign is hanging off the front of a podium, which is placed in front of a group of chairs, each chair having a plushie sitting in it. The sign reads, "Public Speaking".

Another sign is situated on a table with multiple phones. "Making a Phone Call", it reads. (Upon closer inspection, you see each phone is labelled with something like "Doctor's Appointment", or "Tech Support", or "Authority Figure", or other such similar things.)

On yet another is a table with a computer. That sign reads, "Sending an Important Email".

In the kitchen you see a table set as if for a dinner, more plushies set around it, save for one empty chair. "Holiday Dinner with Family (That You Haven't Seen in Years)" reads that sign.

Elsewhere (outside the kitchen) you see what appears to be a replica of some sort of public transport, more plushies crowding it (save for one empty place). It's sign? "Stranger Trying to Make Small Talk".

Another table seems innocent enough, containing only a few puzzles and other simple tasks (is this the Treat Table?), but then you notice the plushies situated around the table. Watching. You back away from it. Nope, definitely not the treat table. Simple tasks or not, you sure aren't going to be doing them while being watched.


As you continue to back away slowly, you bump into yet another table. You grit your teeth, wondering what horror this one will hold. You turn, expecting the worst, only to find a large bowl of candy.

"Take as much as you like." reads the sign. "Enjoy!"

...Well. At least one thing in this house isn't completely terrifying.

SPOILER: Click to show

Trick-or-Treat! Forget ghosts and zombies and vampires and all those "scary" things - let's get some real horror going on!



Feel free to interact with any of the displays, if you want to; will you face these horrors, or just grab some candy and run? The choice is yours!

[RielCZ]

Compelled by mysterious and grammatically-incorrect forces, Riel enter the treehouse and immediately shrieks in terror at the "making a phone call" exhibit.

At the candy bowl, Riel adjusts his pizza outfit and contemplates now many he wants -- it does read to take as much as he'd like, after all. "3," he decides. "Pi rounded down and in and of itself a magic number."

After taking the candy, something compels him back to the phones. Gingerly, he approaches one and lifts its receiver to his ear.

[downrightdude]

Snaw makes a fabulous entrance into the house.

Admiring the different exhibits, Snaw stops signing to swipe a few things from Kitty's house: a few coasters, a vase, the plushies from the Holiday dinner display, and a portrait of Kitty with a funny mustache. Snaw also replaces the fireplace portrait with one of Snaw looking glamorous.

"I wonder what else Kitty has around here," muses Snaw, twirling into the kitchen.

[June Scarlet]

Yibit sits down with at the Family Holiday and starts pouring make-believe tea to the plushies. "Hello, yes, would you like some tea? How about you? Lovely Halloween." She seems to have missed the point. Then again, she is a child, and these are adult fears.

Jane, meanwhile, looks from display to display in increasing horror, her tail getting increasingly bushy. "Yibit, let's get out of here."

"Aw, Jane, but I'm having fun! I haven't seen so many plushies since we visited that gallery with them!"

As she passes by RielCZ with the phones, her fear turns to curiosity. "Hm, what are these?" She picks one up, and mimicking Riel, she holds it to her ear.

[RielCZ]

Riel turns and smiles at the nearby individual. "Hello," he says to her through the mouthpiece, wondering if she can hear him through the other phone. "I'm Riel. Quite the exhibit, eh? Sometimes the realest problems are the scariest of all."

[Gelquie]

A ghostly figure apparates in and blinks. They move slowly in a circle, standing in place, staring at all the horrors before them. After a long, tense silence, they mutter: _"Nope."

They stare a little longer at Sending an Important Email and Making a Phone Call, knowing those were on the horizon. Nevertheless... they were not yet ready. They grab a handful of candy and go to hide behind whatever would cover them, staring at that the sources of their more common fears.

[Moni]

Moni saunters into the tree house... path... thing. She has duct-taped a flashlight to a stick, giving her an always-eerie, cheap home-supply-store glow. Her hair is littered with glitter and her eyes have been applied with poorly-aligned, shoddy eyeliner. She's wearing a blue bathrobe over a white t-shirt; you can barely see the blue teddy bear she is holding.

"HELLO," a nametag helpfully informs you. "MY NAME IS AMANI."

The teddy bear also has a nametag: "HELLO. MY NAME IS SURATI. FEAR ME."

Moni nods solemnly at sending emails and making appointments. Unpleasant, but some things must be done, though she is confused at the inclusion of "public speaking" and "making small talk with a stranger." She can keep talking for hours. She is the one who tortures you with speech!

Realizing that she is a horrible monster, Moni takes two treats from the bowl.

[Liou]

EdgyLiou stomps around in metal boots and a clicking of chainmail bikini, slashing at the very ominous plushies with the definitely not a toy horrifically spiky weapon, declaring them demon-free one by one.

"All of these problems can be solved by murder," they tell the others in the house, reassuringly.

They squint at the Sending an Email setup. "... How do you attach murder?"

[Moni]

Liou

Moni is in the middle of eating a treat when she hears EdgyLiou's comment and question.

"Hmm," she says. "Well, you could always attach a virus to an email, and then have the computer automatically send its coordinates to a hitman, I suppose. It's long-range murder." She shrugs. "And this is why you never open an attachment!"

[Pixie]

Pixie walks into the house in the guise of a very small dragon with a large plushie hoard. The horror of this place makes her tremble, but scurries over to the bowl of candy and adds a handful to the fluffy alapaca trick or treat bag in her hand.

"No way out but through," she says, ignoring both the physical exit from the situation and the ability to leave at any time. She approaches the puzzle table and works through a few basic tasks, as the plushie horde glares at her and her plushie hoard. She works through the more simple challenges, but gets stuck on a puzzle that would be simple if not done while intently watched. In this state of overthinking she nearly forgets her worries. Then, they crash back down. The plushies are judging her. The plushies are judging her.

She pulls away from the table with a forced air of dignity, "I must see how the others are doing. Farewell."

[Lizica]

At a late hour of the evening, Lizica pokes in curiously to see these horrors at the old oak tree... and yeeeek. She protectively gathers up her clock costume about herself and edges around such terrifying things such as "public speaking" and "sending an important email," casting desperate glances around for some candy. Some candy will surely make all of this worth it!!

Finding the candy bowl at last, Lizica gratefully takes a handful of anxiety-repellent sweets with relief.

As she does so, she overhears some other trick-or-treaters having a discussion about the email display--about how to attach murder to email, and how to do long-range murder with it.

"Oh!" she exclaims. "I think I know this one! Long-range would work, but I also watched a tutorial once about how to do it more quickly. You could attach that how-to video to the recipient as well!"