Open Chronicles The Hallows-Eve Masquerade Ball

[TTamark]

Duke Bumpkin Cunderpatch, and Lady Caroline stepped off their ship ready for the Eternum's masquerade ball. The invitations for which had been send world wide even to their small duchy on the Gulf of Liad. Bumpkin and Caroline sparred no time seizing the opportunity to make a name for themselves and their ships by offering their free use to other nobles to use for the journey to the home of the Eternum: Sanctuary, The Eternal City. Though the invitation has said that the guests were more than able to have special quarters arranged for them if they wished, Bumpkin did not enjoy the idea of spending more time than needed on that island.

On the docks waiting for the members of high society were litters. The litters interiors were massive, almost the size of a room, and were filled with soft pillows, but rather than being carried by men they instead had large spider legs attached to them. Lady Caroline looked to Bumpkin unsure. After Bumpkin took a deep breath he pushed himself onward into the litter, he was in the land of the dead he couldn't be scared off by some spider legs. So the litter rose up and began carrying the couple, with more following just behind. The litters climbed up roughly two kilometers of stairs with surprising grace. Looking out one of the windows they were able to see some snow gently fall on city below them as they climbed upward. Every now and again they saw a train of litters heading back down after having dropped off their guests.

Eventually however the litters came to a stop and lowered themselves to the ground once more. The doors were all then opened in a line, and each guest was greeted by a strange golem of sorts. The golems resembled scarecrows, but were were animated and wore very fancy suits with bowties. They looked like proper butlers from their shined shoes to their tight gloves. The butlers directed the guest to a large staircase which would lead them to the masquerade ball. The stairs led to a large balcony lit by candles that floated through the sky. Small groups of people in dazzling costumes talked and drank while lively music played in the background. Caroline let go of Bumpkin's arm and relaxed her shoulders.

"Let's go freshen up. There must be a bathroom around here."

She stepped ahead of him and pulled open a random doorway with a red knob. Turning to bumpkin with a look of horror on her face, she pointed into the room with a shaky hand. He hesitated, then looked in the darkness of the room. Two giant red eyes stared back at him. he froze. Millions of random thoughts invaded his mind all at once. bumpkin stepped back, almost bumping into a guest. In a flash, he grabbed a candle and extended his arm into the dark room.
he emitted a nervous giggle.

"Um... Caroline? It's just a chicken... shaped, potato... sculpture?!? Right. Nothing to worry about, but who on Arethil decided on giving it rubies for eyes? Oh, that's right, I had heard one of the lords we were visiting was that weird guy who's crazy about farm stuff, and does all sorts of nuts things with potatoes."

Before they could go further and find the bathroom, the music faded and a hush fell over the room. they spun around. The mysterious host stood in the middle of the place. Caroline gasped despite of herself. What now? Why are we so jumpy? The man went around, slowly taking in all in attendance. When he faced us, Caroline glanced at the man behind the chicken mask. His bright grey eyes reflected inner strength and kindness, so much kindness it gave off a warm shiver foiled by the coldness of the setting and people all over. The candlelight shimmered in his eyes, illuminating his being as his mouth opened suddenly in a large toothy grin. It only lasted a moment, but it was encouraging, dissipating some fears.

"Thank you all for coming! I see a new batch has just arrived so allow me to give you the run down: Food'n drink is on the north most side, there is some seating to your east as well as inside. Please use the green knobs inside to prevent getting lost, as the red are for... servant's use. Bathrooms are to the left when you step inside, and feel free to ask if you have any questions. Oh, and as I recommend to all new comers: you absolutely must try the potato stew, it is to DIE for, HAHAHAHA!"

 

[Sathirena]

Steve needs to work on that laugh of his, thought Sathirena, who was draped in cloth too lazy to even cut holes in it for eyes.
A ghost beneath a ghost costume. Perhaps the least original attire in the whole of the ball.
Sathirena loathed everything that reminded her of humans.
their decorum, their wear their everything.

 

[Velera]

Velera walked into the ballroom. She wore her usual dress, a V-neck dress with the bottom of the V almost reaching her navel, and diamond cuts at her hips went from just under her ribs down to her upper thigh, seductive, and questionable, but not so revealingly as to be inappropriate. Her face was covered in a narrow mask with black feathers protruding from each side, and about her neck was her Lord’s way of marking his concubines, in other words a silvery steel collar with no seams, a permanent decoration.

She looked around and listened amusedly to the loud man. Such a strange place. But she had received an invitation, and she came. Now she was in attendance. She didn't even need to wear anything to pretend she was a monster. Now she could blend in far more easily.

 

[Derugonia]

"What an odd place."

The merchant whose arm she was currently adorning pulled her along, gawking down his nose at every oddity of the strange place they found themselves. He had had little positive to say. Snickering comments had come rolling off his lips at every turn.

She had been partaking of the merchant's dreams for only a short time before he received an invitation to the distant masquerade. Derugonia had heard of the Eternum through a few channels of gossip, but knew very little about the city they had built for themselves in the north. Something about a lot of dead people who had wandered for a time before landing here. And (as she had learned on the very long boat ride here) a peculiar mage had also made his home here. If she was not mistaken, the very same mage who had welcomed them a short while ago.

"I think it's charming," she told the merchant. To be sure, the merchant wasn't wrong about the oddity of it. But there was something enchanting to the spooky elements -- the litters, the candles, the host.

Or, perhaps, that was just the monster in her enjoying seeing the more "civilized" guests squirm at the oddness of it. Her merchant had been as jumpy as the others, afraid of spider-legged coaches and scarecrow valets, while a much closer threat held his arm.

"Charming?" The merchant scoffed. "I've seen barns more charming than this."

Derugonia sighed in exasperation and looked around. The amusement was gone from her features, but she forced a sweet smile to her eyes -- all that could be seen of her face above her mask. "Are you going to spend all night critiquing this place or are you going to talk business as you intended?" She hadn't squeezed herself into his life and this gown for nothing.

"Ah, yes. Business. Come along." He meant to bring her toward some associate across the room, but Derugonia quietly excused herself.

She took a stroll around, taking in the hall and the guests. The crowd was brightly colored, decked in masks and finery from all corners of the known world. With her plan in mind, she had worn her only possession of any value: her hat. Wide-brimmed, black, and pointed, it didn't quite belong in normal dress. Here? Paired with a black gown with a fur mantle and a black mask shaped like a porcelain doll's smiling face, she fit right in.

She had never tried being a socialite, but she saw now why some might find it appealing. Food, drink, entertainment... However, it was bright and noisy, her sharp senses quite overwhelmed by all of it. Alps weren't usually afforded the safety of coming near this part of society. She could hear every whisper, every clink of glass and porcelain, every heel with every step.

She should have been paying better attention than she was, but that was a realization she only came to after she had bumped into someone. Her hat was knocked off of her amaranth hair and Derugonia clutched her mask to the bottom half of her face. Good planning was the only thing hiding her toothy maw from the figure she'd so carelessly run into.

Perhaps she would be ditching the party sooner than she expected.

"Forgive me," she said hurriedly, reaching for her hat.

// TTamark //​

 

[TTamark]

As Derugonia's bump knocked her hat off it also caused Steve to drop potatoes. From under his cloak potatoes began to rain down. As they fell they knocked more potatoes down causing a slow but steady torrent of potatoes from under him, like someone spilled a box of marbles down a set of stairs. His face hidden under the chicken mask he wore he just stood there while they fell for roughly ten seconds slowly looking between the potatoes that pooled at his feet and Derugonia.

Finally he just burst out laughing, and bent down and used his arms from within his cloak to push it out around the potato pile at his feet like a parachute. He then stood up very obviously making a slurping sound as he did so with all the potatoes once more out of sight. Well all but the one that appeared when he took off his boot and shook it out onto his hand, before it to disappeared within.

"It is all good my dude."

He offered his hand,

"My name's Steve, nice to meet you."

Derugonia | Sathirena | Velera

 

[Derugonia]

It was either very good luck or very bad luck that it was the host himself. An acute horror was written in her eyes for a moment as she grabbed for her displaced hat. As she grabbed the brim, however, a steady torrent of… yes, those were potatoes tumbling out of Steve's robes.

Derugonia picked up her hat and stood slowly. She wasn't the only person watching in confused silence as the potatoes kept coming. Whatever she had expected to happen didn't. He gathered the vegetables under his robe and laughed it off. Like there hadn't been heaps of potatoes.

Too stunned to laugh along, Derugonia replaced her hat and offered her hand in return.

"Derugonia," she replied quietly. Her eyes above the mask squinted from a smile as she recovered her composure. "It is an honor to make your acquaintance. I hope I've not… bruised your potatoes, sir."

The words coming out of her mouth were wild. Was this really happening? This surely was not real and happening.

// TTamark //​

 

[TTamark]

"Nah, doncha worry 'bout it, as I said before tis all good, 'cause short answer: Magic!"

Steve moved his arms through the air in a wide arc leaving a rainbow in their wake, before fixing his eyes on Derugonia again.

"Long answer: I will just use them to make more potato stew, and they will just become more body. You had any yet? It is to DIE for, HAHAHAHA.

//Derugonia//​

 

[Derugonia]

The wild conversation only continued. Brows high in amusement and disbelief, she tracked the path of his hand and the arc of color that formed in its wake. What did potatoes have to do with magic?

"Ah, no," she admitted with a light laugh. The undead joke was not missed on her. Derugonia gently touched her mask. "You'll forgive me. I have not yet had the opportunity. My companion and I were mingling with the other partygoers."

She took that moment to have a look for her merchant and, not seeing him, wondered at her good fortune. He would have swooped in like a hawk if he had witnessed it.

"It is a lovely party, by the way," she added, her attention returning to the host. "I've never seen anything quite like it. I know a great many people traveled a considerable distance to attend. You must feel proud."

// TTamark //​

 

[TTamark]

"It is a lovely party, by the way," she added, her attention returning to the host. "I've never seen anything quite like it. I know a great many people traveled a considerable distance to attend. You must feel proud."

​

Steve's eyes look past her briefly as she spoke looking at some minor nobles who stood whispering to the side. The top of his cheeks, barely visible through the eye holes of his mask, lowered ever so slightly as well as briefly before popping up as his eyes returned to Dergonia.

"Ah, Thank you! The nice thing about most of my fellow council member caring little for internal affairs beyond grabbing for power is the freedom to let my creativity run wild. So I had near free rein in planning this party. Like the butlers, I took inspiration after I had seen a powerful mage who had earned himself the title of noble have suits of armour as his aids.

As for the good boys who carried you here, I raised a number of the litter litters myself! And I would have loved to have let some of the guests feed them sugar cubes, they go nuts for the stuff, but if one of them misstepped and ended up entangled in one of their webs... Well, having an international incident is the last thing we need right now. Besides feeding the litters actual litter might make them sick. Who knows what some of those people have consumed. HAHA."

Steve got more exited as he went on about all the cool stuff he had set up. The only thing that finally brought him down again was the sad fact he couldn't risk the litters being fed, playing off his disappointment with comedy.

"I really love to grab onto any excuse to have have fun I can. I guess I wish more shared my point of view. Things such as: I like to think magic is supposed to be used to bring happiness, or even more outlandish; Parties should be used to have fun. HEHEHE."

Suddenly he realized he had begun monologuing again, and got a bit flustered.

"...Ah, Sorry... I got a bit overly excited, please forgive me and tell me a bit about yourself. I wish to know more about you other than what is your name, and that you look good in black."

 

[Derugonia]

Derugonia listened without interrupting him, eyes perpetually fixed and brows high. She laughed occasionally, but never offered anything that might alter the path of his response from its natural course. The more he spoke, the more she resolved that he was a very odd man, but not at all the dark, looming figure of mystery she had heard tell of on the boat ride here. She didn't know if that was a benefit to his public image or not, but it made the empire of undead far less intimidating.

He apologized, having gone on for a while. Though she raised a hand to dismiss it, his turn of compliment brought her up short. Derugonia laughed, her gaze dropping momentarily.

"No, please. Don't apologize. I'm glad you've enjoyed the process. You seem to take pleasure in your work, which I suppose is important." She laid a pale hand over the fur collar of her gown. A contemplative thumb brushed over the soft pelt.

"I'm afraid I'm disappointingly boring by comparison." A bald-faced lie ahead of several other white lies and half-truths. It was a familiar routine and she told them seamlessly. "I'm from everywhere and nowhere; my father was a furrier and my mother an artist, so we traveled all through my childhood. I'm here with Lord Reyes. I'm a silk painter for one of his mills, but I presently accompany him as a translator and friend."

Mentioning the man, she waved her hand towards the crowd and only made a cursory attempt at looking for him. Steve was far more interesting company, even if their conversation was fated to be brief; she didn't want too many eyes on her before she made her quiet exit.

"I hope I'm not keeping you from your other guests. You've invited far more interesting people than a painter and polyglot. Although, if I may be so bold, I do not think you are quite what they expected you to be. There was a lot of speculation all the way here." She leaned and lowered her voice as if they were in confidence. "More skeletons, the walking dead, a dark sorcerer with questionable intentions -- less potatoes and chickens."

Derugonia straightened once more with a small chuckle to herself. That, at least, was no lie.

// TTamark //​