Forums » General Roleplay » Trick or Treat: Vendors of the Trader's Hub

'Festival of Terrors', that is what the large banner read that welcomed people to the festival grounds. There were decorations of carved pumpkins with lights within them, faux cobwebs strewn from corners of stalls and posts, flagged streamers that connected some attractions, and smells of varying festival foods wafting along the walkways that snaked through the whole of the festival.

There are six stalls that are in relatively close proximity of one another that create a kind of cul-de-sac, and it seems like all of the owners know one another. There is friendly banter between the stall owners between free time when no one is occupying their time, and it seems like there are trades between them as the night progresses.

It looks like you have a myriad of choices to visit, or you can choose to visit them all if you so please.

At the far left of the cul-de-sac, there is a stall that is operated by a woman dressed in something more cute and fetching rather than something that instils any kind of fear or terror. Her hair is dyed -- mostly pink, but it looks like her bangs are blonde. Her costume is that of what seems like a forest nymph; a flower wreath sits upon her head, her ears are decorated with faux extensions to make them appear more elf-like, she wears flowery robes of earthy tones, and has some fairy wings affixed to her back. She mans the bobbing for apples stall. Some of the more eye catching prizes seem to be varying stuffed animals that are wearing a couple articles of clothing that are in the spirit of the festival.

Next is another woman, her hair golden and tied back into a bun, and her costume more elegant. She wears a masquerade mask decorated with feathers on the left side and sequins all along the article. Her dress seems like something you would find at an evening party more than a 'festival of terrors'. When the light catches it right, her midnight blue dress shimmers and seems to have hints of green and red where it the light reflects off of it. The stall that this woman oversees what looks like a kind of raffle booth -- there is an item on the stall counter that has a crank on it, when you turn it, it seems that a small ball of a certain colour will be deposited into a tray.

Not too far away from her, there is a black-haired man that is running the stall for the skee ball range. It does not really look like he is wearing a costume in the slightest. His clothes are a kind of muted steel grey and their appearance is sharp, as if he is going to be part of a business meeting or as if he is going to a formal event. There is also a medical eye patch that covers his right eye.

Fourth is a stall manned by who looks like an elf with dark skin and powder blue hair. He is leaning back in his chair, his feet on the counter of the stall -- but he looks like he is pretty happy and confident about the happenings that evening. His costume appearance seems kind of reminiscent of a less flamboyant pirate or swashbuckler, with his button up tunic, sash with scimitar at his side, beige breeches, and knee-high boots. There is also a bandanna tied around his head, his hair sticking up here and there where the fabric pushes his hair. The stall that this guy seems to be in charge of is the shooting range.

The fifth stall is the only stall that happens to be headed by two feminine individuals -- they look rather identical in appearance save for their hair, ear, and tail colours. Where one young woman's hair is white, her fox ears and tail are black with white tips. Then the other young woman has black hair with snowy white fox ears and tail with black tips. The similarities between them are their height, faces, and the golden eyes. Other than that, the costumes that they bear are both different; the white haired woman dons the outfit of a bloodied nurse, ragged bandages topping off the look they were going for. The black haired woman is dressed like a ninja, a belt of tools slung over their shoulder, and a belt of weapons hanging tightly around her waist.

Their stall is a little different -- there are varying floral and sweet scents from their booth -- perhaps a result from the varying phials of liquids that they have out on display. It seems that you can choose to drink from one of the ten types of potions that they have available.

The last stall has a man with red hair with the tips dyed black. Red fox-like ears are visible upon his head, and he seems to have more than one tail, unlike the sisters at one of the prior stalls. He is wearing a suit jacket with a ruffled collar that has some fake blood dripped onto it. There is also a cape at his shoulders and back, and the faux fangs that protrude from his mouth seem to indicate he is attempting some impersonation of the Human stories' Dracula. There is a wheel behind him that appears to have only ten options that it can stop on after being spun.

It was officially the end of his work week and Gunther was thankful that he had at last closed off a month-long case that had been the sole project in his dossier. He watched as his latest client rolled up her sleeves and stormed up a staircase into a shabby apartment building where, pretty soon, there were piles of clothes being flung out of its third-story window.

Ah, yes. A cheating husband finally caught in the act; a typical case for the legendary P.I. in the city. He felt pathetic and decided to let off some steam one way or another.

Fortunately, there seemed to be some sort of autumnal fair happening. At least, that was what it looked like to him. The decorations were definitely fitting for the occasion and Gunn couldn't help but feel the tug of the place. Throwing caution to the wind, he went with the feeling and following the throng of people who looked like they were off to a really good time. He needed one himself.

"Hey there," raising an arm to catch the attention of the pirate who seemed to be in charge of one of the stalls, Gunn approached the shooting range. He had been in the force some years back and while he hadn't been allowed to handle a gun anymore—his license was revoked after one particularly nasty incident—he felt that he could still hit his mark. It would also be a fantastic way to let off steam. "So, how do you get to play?"

((I haven't once tried to use the dice system here. How do you roll 10 dice individually? Should I post ten times with only one 100-sided die each and add them up after the 10th post? RP each and every shot?))

"Hey there, friend~" Daedalus spoke up, putting both his feet and all four feet of the chair he was leaning back in on the ground. For the most part, he clearly was not acting the part that he dressed in... and it did not look like he was going to start any time soon. He got up in order to tend to his stall more appropriately as he took one of the BB rifles from the side back wall and got it prepped for shooting.

"Well, first play's free -- same goes for any of our stalls here in the Dead End Games nook -- after that, two bucks per play. At least at my stall, might be different for the others around here," Daedalus went ahead to explain as he got the rifle loaded and put down onto the counter for the newcomer to wield.

"Just make sure to start shooting when I'm outta the way," the pirate said in jest as he stepped to the side to allow Gunther the space to shoot at the circular targets in the back of the stall.

((When you make a post, you just keep clicking the '+ Add another die roll to this post' after the initial '+Add dice roll to this post' to add how many die you want to add to a post! And you should be able to add a number of dice your post. In this case, it would be five d100 for the shooting range! ^ o ^

Doing it all at once unfortunately adds all the dice totals, which would make it hard to tell what's what.
; v ;!))

"Free?" Gunther was about to reach into his pocket for some change but apparently there was no need to pay up. Well! This was certainly better than what he had hoped for. The pricing itself must've been one of the reasons people flocked to this place. He was liking the fair a whole lot already. "All right then, never gonna say no to that. Thanks, bud."

This would be the first time that Gunn was able to try out a BB gun and he was quite surprised by how real it looked and felt. Same case with the weight. If he didn't know any better, it'd be mighty difficult to tell it apart from the real thing. It might actually work out in his favor though as his hands completely felt right back at home gripping the rifle.

All right, then. Here goes nothing.

Watching as the target had its marks splayed upon it, Daedalus went to take it from the back before putting up a new one. Bringing the shot up target to Gunther while looking over the shots to add the totals, Daedalus handed it off and said to him, "looks like a grand total of thirty-three points here. That means...."

Daedalus trailed off for a moment as he leaned down to take up one of the prizes that had been put into a box for a certain target range. He pulled up a gift bag that had been done up in purple in black for Gunther as he went on to say, "you get an assortment of candies and toys. Though, with enough of the toys distributed from any one of us, you can trade them in for something better that has your attention."

The bag itself had several different chocolates, a pack of gum, a couple fruit gummy candy packs, and three small toys that were festive in theme.

Okay, now that had been embarrassing.

Gunther may have once been proud of his marksmanship, but longer periods of time without practice and he could barely make his target. Luckily enough, he hit all of his marks, albeit not hitting the bull's eye as he had preferred. There had been a couple of close ones though, and for that he was thankful.

"I really should practice more. I used to be able to get full scores on the shooting range," Gunn tried to blunt his near-misses with a bit of explanations. Taking his prize, he thanked the man and handed over the rifle. He wondered where he would go or do from here. Maybe he could try the other stalls.

((Can we play in the other stalls too? Or just one stall per person?))

"Heh, happens to the best of us. There's always a next time," Daedalus said with a bit of a shrug as he gave a small chuckle. He was at least attempting to be encouraging at the very least. He took up the rifle and set it back with the others as it looked as if Gunther was heading off to see the rest of the Dead End Games cul-de-sac.

((You're totally free to go to the other stalls and play with the characters there, too. ! They could all use the interaction, haha. ; v ; ♥))

With the hefty bag of prize in his hand and the aim to do better on his mind, Gunther decided to give another stall a go. The bit of fluke he got from the shooting range was still bothering him, to say the least, so he decided to visit something where he could practice more off his accuracy. There was a sort of targeting game stall which seemed to include throwing a ball of sorts. A skee ball range?

Bingo.

"Hello," Gunn gave the black-haired man a heads up. He hoped he remembered what the other guy said correctly about the place offered one round for free the first time. "So I just sort of roll a ball like bowling? How many do I get?"

"Evening," Jaysen greeted, giving a nod of acknowledgement as Gunther approached his stall. A small smile made its way upon Jaysen's lips, though his visible eye seemed to show more interest than complement the smile on his face.

He then went ahead to get a basket that held muted red balls within, placing it before Gunther. Jaysen then answered the question; "at my stall, you get ten rolls."

"Ten?" That certainly would give him enough tries to actually prove himself. Gunther just hoped he would be able to amount to something this time. Maybe win a much heftier prize or so. Although, thinking about it, he didn't really know what to do with the candies and toys if ever he did get his hands on them. Maybe drop by some shelter or children's hospital to do a good day of the week?

Anyway, he had to get the prize first. S rolling up his sleeves, he gave the hefty balls a juggle and threw one up for measure. It was definitely heavy, he might need to insert a bit of strength and not just focus on being precise. Not that that had been a problem before.

"Alley-oop!"

((Uhh, I can only attach a maximum of 9 dice in a post. I'll just do one more post with 1 die later.))

That infernal hole with that taunting 100 points seemed to be leering at him, but Gunther only had one more try left. Closing his eyes and letting the rough skin of the ball slide across his fingers, he took a deep breath and swung it in a final arc.

Please.

((Huh... I would have thought ten would be the max, but I've never rolled that many at once before, admittedly! o:; Well, at least I know now to better prepare for next year. TT o TT!))

With each ball that sunk down into the goals, a chime would play as the electrical board in the back lit up with the score. Once all ten had been spent, the backboard read '290' points. Looking behind him, Jaysen motioned to the array of masks that hung from the square wire shelf mesh.

"Looks like you get your pick of any one of these masks, so lovingly handcrafted and provided to us by that madame back there," Jaysen informed Gunther, giving a slight nod to the masked blonde -- Viola -- as he referenced her in his statement.

"Gah!" The man raised a meaty hand to scratch his head. Goddammit.

Ah well, at least he got something good out of it. Trudging over to the prize table, Gunther looked up to a wall of spooky faces staring back at him with empty-sockets. He took one that seemed to be the least menacing; if he was to give these to kids, it wouldn't do to get something that would just make them cry. "I guess I'd better say thanks then."

It was that much far of a walk and pretty soon, Gunn was able to see the stall the woman was in charge of. There wasn't much he could see in the way of her face as she was wearing a mask, a creation of her own he supposed. But from what he could see though, she was quite a looker.

"I got lucky and landed myself one of these. You made 'em? Ma'am?" The curious man added as an afterthought.

Once Gunther started making his way to her stall, Viola had instantly perked up. She offered a kind of curtsy as a greeting, seemingly a little more into her part than the previous two vendors that Gunther had acquainted with. Looking to the mask that Gunther had, Viola's smile brightened as she clapped her hands together.

"Ah, yes! That would be correct!" Viola said. "I have a lot of excess materials that would be a shame if they go to waste, so I typically collect what still appears usable and make festive accessories with them at times."

"If I may not be too bold as to be direct then, and if you're not quite preoccupied and busy with your work here, then maybe I could ask if you could, ahh, maybe turn this mask a little less spooky?"

Gunther tipped the object in question up to eye-level and complimented his request with a hunch of one shoulder. He was aware that handling the stall in the middle of an ongoing fair might be taking the woman's time as it is. But it never hurt to ask. Besides, he was quite sure that if he did it himself, the result would be quite detrimental to what he hoped to achieve.

Bringing a finger to her chin in thought about the question, Viola considered the changes. They were just some masks that had a chance of being given off to a winner of a certain points range. However, since it seemed like the night was still going strong and there were stalls to take care of before the night was up, Viola offered a sheepish smile.

"Mm, perhaps not at this very moment, but... I can give you directions to my shop when we're not here on the weekends for the heights of the festival," Viola offered as an alternative. "I can see what I can do then, and we can discuss how tame to make the mask. After all, all my supplies are back at the shop rather than here with me."

Ah, but it was something that Gunther should have realized himself if only he hadn't been distracted; there was something about the woman that seemed to rob him of his concentration. It was probably of the fair itself or her clothes or the way she held herself.

"That would be great, ma'am," the man gave in to the thought of giving her a slight bow, albeit only with a slight tilt of his head and a rare smile. If Gunn had been slightly intoxicated, he would've probably even went as far as going to kiss her hand. But damn, her effect on him was worse than he thought. "Until then, Happy Halloween."

Shaking his head as if to erase a thought, the pleasantly satisfied and well-amused visitor to the fair said his goodbyes to the lady. He lifted his haul with one hand over his shoulders and made his way back to the entrance. He entertained an idea that it might be good to bring his friends here sometime.

Yes, that would be fun.

((Thank you for the games! They were really creative. I wish I could post the goodies on my personal page or something, heh.))

"I look forward to then, monsieur," Viola replied with a continued smile. "Happy Halloween to you as well. Enjoy the rest of your night!"

Watching Gunther take his leave from the Dead End Games cul-de-sac, Viola passed a glance to her other stall neighbours. It certainly felt like a decent start to their side of the festival!

((No problem! Thanks for partaking in them! :'3 I'll actually end up doodling a lot of the winnings as little pics so that people can display them if they want. :'D I'll distribute them on the day of Halloween, though! Just so I have time to get a good series of doodles done by then.))