Alexa, play "
Strange".
Last time, the characters got noshed by ghouls, met a Five-Headed Thing, and decided to explore a bit.
Edward, Roxanne, and Arnauld head to the House on the Hill. They enter the wrought-iron gate and ring the doorbell (which screams, of course), and find it answered by a small, shriveled person whose mouth has been sewn shut. They inquire about meeting Hazel Jenkins and the rooms for rent, and the creature shows them in. Hazel herself enters the room, and greets them graciously. She tells them rent is one candy per night, and the characters each pay up, if nervously. She has the creature escort them upstairs.
The characters are leery about entering a room by themselves, but they check out their accommodations and then split up: Arnauld stays upstairs and Edward and Roxanne head downstairs to talk with Hazel about witchcraft and whatnot. Hazel is very pleasant and chatty, but Roxanne is a spinner and adept at conversation. She realizes that Hazel is fishing, trying to learn more about them, and Roxanne is very careful to avoid revealing that they're not from Halloween. At this point, Hazel becomes less interested; Edward figures she doesn't find them interesting enough to lie to.
Upstairs, though, things get gruesome. Arnauld cuts the stitches on the servant's mouth, and he begs for help, claiming to be from Earth. Arnauld promises to help him, and tries to get more information out of him, but the poor guy has a hard time talking. And then his eyes widen and he yells says something that Arnauld doesn't quite understand...
Downstairs, a little black cat with human hands and feet instead of paws jumps up on Hazel's lap. She introduces it as Black Posie, her familiar, but then cocks her head and says that something has come to her attention. Roxanne, thinking quickly, uses her Enthrall power and keeps Hazel listening, while Arnauld, throwing caution to the wind, changes into his werewolf form, scoops up the unfortunate servant, and leaps out a damn window.
Edward and Roxanne slowly back toward the door. The Enthrall falls, and Hazel throws a spell at them to enslave them, but they both manage to shake it off and run for the gate. All three recursors clear the fence, but Hazel reminds them that she's not bound by this territory and she's perfectly free to come get them. Roxanne proposes a deal, and Hazel agrees to a challenge: If they can escape the grounds, she'll let them and her slave go. Edward proposes that she also let
all enslaved recursors go, and Hazel smiles and says "Done."
She says they have until the clock in her house strikes thirteen, but they can start whenever they want. They decide to come back later, and head for Reaper's house to rest a bit.
Meanwhile, Carmen and Alex are trick-or-treating. They decide to head to some of the minor neighborhoods and see what those are like. They find a signpost pointing to the Pumpkin Patch and the Corn Maze, and spot a lonely bridge in the distance. Neither of them is sanguine about the maze, so they head to the Pumpkin Patch.
It's as advertised: A big pumpkin patch tended by goblins. At the far end is a pumpkin the size of a house, and when they approach, it turns, revealing a jack-o-lantern face. "I DON'T LIKE GOLEMS," it booms, glaring at Alex.
Carmen tries to talk to it a little, but seems pretty stuck on not liking golems, so they trick or treat and get some candy from the goblins, and then leave. They decide to head to the bridge, and find that it's a long, lonely thing that leads across a gorge filled with fog. They start on the bridge and presently hear hoofbeats behind them, and find they've been joined by a skeletal rider.
Carmen says "trick or treat," but the Rider notes that her candle is out - it's too windy on the bridge for a candle to stay lit. Carmen, knowing when not to push her luck, pays the bridge toll that the Rider asks, and then they keep walking. The Rider, once the toll is paid, is a pleasant enough fellow, and tells them that the Bridge doesn't get much traffic. It leads to the Forest Hills, but you can get there through the Hollows, too, and this way is expensive. Carmen asks about the mysterious James, and the Rider says that he's seen James multiple times - he always pays the toll, and seemed interested in exploring all of Halloween. In fact, the last time he saw James was crossing the Bridge into Forest Hills, but he never saw him return.
Back in town, Roxanne, Edward, and Arnauld rest at the cobbler's. Roxanne tries to understand what's happened to the servant they've "rescued," and realizes that his soul is missing, probably still kept in the House. He's already getting sick, and without it he'll die. They talk about strategy - they figure they could get into the house and then translate home, but they aren't sure they can take the stranded recursors with them. Roxanne figures they might be unable to translate home by themselves precisely because their souls are being kept hidden.
In the end, they decide they'll just have to play her game. They've already paid for a room, so Arnauld takes the servant and heads back to the House, heads up to his room, and, communicating in writing, has the servant write down everything he knows about the house and the grounds that might be of use.
Edward and Roxanne decide to look for cyphers. Edward feels something Strange in the pub, and in the lost and found they discover a syringe of red liquid that, Edward figures, would de-age anyone it was injected into. Roxanne notices Gomez Snake in the back of the room, and talks with him about Hazel and James. Snake says that if Roxanne can provide concrete proof that Hazel is responsible for the pumpkin golems, he'll tell her all about James.
Back in the woods, Carmen and Alex exit the bridge and enter the Forest Hills. They are almost immediately set upon by a coven of witches with blue circles smeared on their heads, the Blue Circle Coven. This coven, they're told, is made up of the remains of a prior coven and some castoffs from still others, and they get the sense that coven membership changes pretty regularly. Covens fall, form, argue and fight, and someone is always the Power of the Night for the Forest Hills, but it's never constant for too long. They talk about James and learn that he romanced several witches in various covens, and seemed to make things worse and more fractious while he was here.
They continue on their way and meet up with a member of the Rusted Knife Coven (the one that's presently the Power). Carmen asks about James again, and learns that he's interested in magic, particularly flesh- or skin-magic, which might be why he was focused on the Tattooed Woman. They head back into the Hollows, and meet up with Roxanne and Edward.
They talk a little about the challenge they've made, but still figure that having Alex anywhere near Hazel is unwise. Instead, Edward and Roxanne will continue this challenge and Carmen and Alex will go to the Midnight Circus and see if they can talk with the Tattooed Woman.
Edward and Roxanne head back to the House, and Hazel welcomes them (and brings Arnauld downstairs). She shows them a contract, which states that she can choose where in the house they start, they win if they escape the grounds before the clock strikes thirteen, and if they win they get to take enslaved recursors with them. She also states that neither she nor her familiar will interfere with their attempts to escape. Roxanne has her clarify that taking the recursors means their souls, too, and Hazel rewords it slightly.
The characters sign it: Arnauld as "Dusk," Edward as "Inkheart," and Roxanne as "Rowan." Hazel cackles, and they all disappear, waking up in pitch darkness.
Meanwhile, Carmen and Alex visit the Circus, and are admitted to see Her Inked Majesty. Carmen starts off trick-or-treating, and the Woman gives her candy, but then Carmen asks about James, and the Woman calls her out: If you're investigating, you're not trick-or-treating and you're in violation of the Vow of Begging. The Woman tells them that James is dangerous, and that he wanted something from her, some tattoo, but is reluctant to say which one. She also lays a curse on them: They're banished from the Circus until they solve the Corn Maze.
They're escorted out, and Carmen reflects that it could have been much worse. They decide to give the Corn Maze a go, though both of them are concerned.
Back in the oubliette (see, we got there), Roxanne puts on a pair of cypher glasses that allow her to see in the dark. This room has no obvious exits, and they all kind of kick themselves - if they're stuck here, they can't escape. Roxanne finds a trap door in the ceiling, and after multiple attempts, Arnauld in werewolf form manages to punch through it. They crawl out and find that they're in a basement, with stairs that lead up into a pantry. Arnauld starts gulping everything in the pantry, but Roxanne and Edward each manage to find a cypher before everything is broken (a jar of green paste and a funny pair of glasses, respectively). They leave the pantry and find themselves in the kitchen.
Back at the Corn Maze, Alex and Carmen see a sign saying WARNING: LOST IS LOST. They enter the maze, and realize that no matter where they are, they can see a scarecrow on a hill ("that's the Power here," muses Carmen). They have to spend several hours at it, but they manage to solve the maze, and when they're back at the beginning they find the Scarecrow waiting. He doesn't speak, but he has a little crow who speaks for him, and tells them that James also solved the maze ("How?" asks Carmen. "Quickly" says the crow). They also mention he wore a silver star inside his coat, a star in a circle. It didn't look right...just didn't "fit" with Halloween.
In the kitchen, the characters find an immense stew pot that smells yummy, but they've all heard what (and who) Hazel puts into that stew. Arnauld upends it, spilling it everything, and Hazel appears and throws fire at him. She misses, but the message is clear: She won't interfere
if they're trying to escape, but they need to respect her house. She tells them to clean it up, and they do, though it takes some time.
When they're done, they leave through a door that Roxanne is sure was there all the time that seems to lead outside. But then they're through it, and the grass withers, and the door disappears behind them. A voice behind them chuckles, and when they mention that they're trying to get out and that Hazel can't interfere, he says that that doesn't apply to him: He pays for his room here.
"And who are you?" asks Edward. "Why," it replies, "I'm the Boogeyman."
