Forums » General Roleplay » Trick Or Treat: Axel's Haunted Laboratory

Stuck in the ground outside of the entrance, a sign displayed the big words, "Trick Or Treat, If You Dare", a big arrow pointing to the gate into the laboratory, dressed as a haunted house today.

Axel, meanwhile, knelt deep inside, near the very end of this haunted house, a large bowl of chocolate candies sitting next to him as he waited, and waited, and waited for Trick-or-treaters to wander in for treats, if they made it through the haunted house. Think of it as a reward, he supposed, with smaller bowls and other messages scattered throughout the premises, to urge them along.

---

Inner Sign 1: "So, you made the mistake of entering. But can you escape?"
Inner Bowl 1: Dum-Dums

Inner Sign 2: "Hah, you're spun into my spider web now! Good luck escaping it!"
Inner Bowl 2: Twizzlers

Inner Sign 3: "I'm shocked, you've made it this far. But will you make it any farther?"
Inner Bowl 3: Juice Pouches

Inner Sign 4: "I'm disappointed, I thought I would have caught you by now. How do you keep escaping?"
Inner Bowl 4: Snickers

Inner Sign 5: "You've made it through a lot, but you've no choice but to keep plunging through!"
Inner Bowl 5: Mars Bars

Inner Sign 6: "And so you've found me! Have your reward!"
Inner Bowl 6: Snickers, Mars Bars, KitKats, Twix, Milky Ways, 3 Musketeers, Hershey Bars, unlabeled black bags

A group of teen girls stood outside the gate at a safe distance. "Well here you are dear," Marie Evans informed Tabby. The redhaired girl was dressed as Red Ridinghood. The older girls had just worn their uniforms. "Your mission is to go in there, not get murdered and bring us some candy."

"Seriously," Tabby asked cocking an eyebrow. As a first-year member of the squad, she was constantly subjected to humiliation. Marie and the other girls were too cool to participate in Halloween, but they'd made the new girls dress up in costumes. and were sending them door to door to get candy for them. By some miracle of the gods, Marie had allowed the new members on the squad to choose their own costumes, but they were not allowed to wear their cheerleading uniforms.

"Yeah, seriously," Marie replied sarcastically. "Chop, chop."

Tabby turned away and headed towards the gate. Marie was making each girl go by themselves. Tabby paused to read the sign. "Well, whoever lives here certainly put in a lot of work." Tabby stepped forward. There was no one obvious at the door. "Uh, hello... trick-or-treat," Tabby called out uncertainly outside the door. Was she supposed to enter on her own? She paused to see if there was a response.

Right above Tabby's head was a massive banner, stating, "Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here", quite stereotypical indeed. But sitting on a dusty, steel cart, surrounded by dirty equipment, was a note, explaining the situation of how they were in a haunted house, along with a few pointers:

"-No running.
-Don't take all the candy.
-Don't break my stuff.
-Follow the blood.
-Have a spooky Halloween."

This paper was signed, Subject 66F

After a moment, there was no response. Tabby took a closer look. She looked up and noticed the giant banner. Outside the door was an old cart that had a note with further instructions. Tabby read it over. It was straight forward. Clearly, no one was going to greet her so she stepped inside.

It didn't take her long to find the first station. Tabby stood there a moment contemplating, wondering if someone would jump out to scare her if she approached the candy bowl. "So I made the mistake of entering...," Tabby read aloud to herself. It couldn't be any worse than dealing with the senior cheerleaders. The note outside had stated not to take all of the candy, but there were only about a dozen older girls and only a few other first-year girls being sent to other houses. No one would be sent back here. Tabby debated grabbing a handful of suckers and heading back out. She quickly dismissed the idea. It was a break from Marie's torment.

She dropped a handful into her picnic basket that served as her candy bucket. It had a gray plush wolf representing the Big Bad Wolf in it. Tabby stepped back after taking the candy to see if anything else would happen and looked around nervously.

Flynn smiled as he walked up, pulling his twin along. "Lucy come on!" He huffed some, dressed as Papyrus from Undertale.

Lucy was trying her hardest to not go in. "I dont wanna be scared by anything!" She said as she gave in, poking Flynn with her plastic spear. She liked her Undyne costume a lot.

"I'll protect you" he smiled, reading the rules before pulling his sister inside.

Behind the candy basket, watching Tabby, was one of the haunters who worked along Axel. Or, rather, was several million levels about him. A scientist who had mostly set this up at the subject's idea, he hid along with several others, gored up and costumed to look quite spooky. Once Tabby grabbed her candy though, he jolted out, a wild grin on his face, eyes gleaming, a medical saw gripped in his hands. "Hello, child." He hissed, laughing, false foam dripping from his lips.

---

Another haunter, however, was much closer to the entrance, stilts letting them appear as if they were wandering on all fours, his costume making his arms and legs appear to stretch above his head before cascading down again to meet the floor. He darted from his hiding place past Flynn and Lucy, a grin on his face, hidden by his beaked mask. Rather speedy despite his costume, he didn't intend to give them a clear view.

Lucy squealed, hiding behind Flynn. "What was that????" She was praying that it wasn't something bad.

"I dont know but that was cool, I wonder what it was" Flynn smiled. Flynn loved horror and anything similar. "I wonder if I was like an animatronic......"

"No, no freddy fazbear is gonna get me today. From now on you will walk ahead" Lucy said, following close behind Flynn.

The haunter stepped up behind them, head almost level with Lucy's shoulder. "Hello." He moaned, stumbling just past her, inadvertently directing them into the next hall, swaying precariously. How he did not fall, nobody knew, but he would be leaving them at the first candy basket, which was very close.

Tabby paused a moment after taking the candy. Just as she was about to head to the next station, a face popped out from seemingly out of nowhere. "Hello, child." He hissed, laughing, false foam dripping from his lips.

Tabby let out an involuntary screech and bit her lip. She started in terror at the face that had popped up and wondered only for a moment if she should talk to it before remembering where she was. It's just an actor she reminded herself. He did his bit and scared her and she needed to get to the next station. Without a word, Tabby turned and hurried towards the next station. She started to run but forced herself to slow to a hurried walk. The rules had said no running and she didn't want to upset whoever had made the haunted house. She noticed liquid on the floor... blood. She was supposed to follow the trail of blood, so she did.

She could see the next station ahead and a basket of Twizzlers. "Hah, you're spun into my spider web now! Good luck escaping it!" Tabby paused to read the sign. She cringed. She was terribly afraid of bugs and that included arachnids, which in Tabby's mind were the same thing. Tabby snatched a small handful of Twizzlers and turned to hurry away. She didn't want to see a spider, real or pretend.

Running across a catwalk above Tabby's head, the Insect Queen swung down, clad in a costume that made her appear as something covered in spiderwebs, long claws on each finger, mandibles on her chin. "My prey!" She screeched, other spiders, both fake and actors emerged, clicking their tongues hungrily. Again, they went after Tabby with intents to horrify.

This time, Tabby let out a full-fledged, blood-curdling scream. At the sight of the insect queen Tabby completely lost it and forgot the no running rule. She ran from the station, her chest pounding. It's all imaginary, it's all imaginary... she kept trying to remind herself. The last thing she saw was more spiders emerging before she rounded the corner.

Suddenly, Tabby reminded herself not to run. It was all people in costumes. She paused to catch her breath for a moment, afraid to look back. Surely the actors wouldn't follow her. They had to stay there for the next victim... didn't they?

Tabby continued on after a moment's pause and headed towards station #3. The blood splatters lead to another sign reading "I'm shocked, you've made it this far. But will you make it any farther?"

"I'm not going back," Tabby said aloud as if answering the sign as she read it. "That's for sure." She saw the juice pouches and wondered what this room's theme was. Electrodes maybe? The drinks were probably more expensive, so she'd only take one. As long as she had candy for at least each of the senior girls, she should be fine. Taking a deep breath, she reached out...

Lucy screamed, flapping her hands some. "Flynnnnnn!" She

"I can't control what it does, dont blame me" Flynn chuckled, following after the haunter. "I wanna see who's acting it or controlling it though"

The insect queen followed her for a bit, but let off as she entered the next section, hissing unhappily and retreating back to her hiding space to wait for the next victim.

The next series of haunters, however, were fully ready. The theme for this section was vampires, and boy did Axel enjoy planning it out. After all, a good bit of the subjects were well-suited to being vampires, and while they couldn't free roam, he was able to get them chained inside their cells, attacking the bars hungrily as unsuspecting guests came through.

The spacious hall had been decorated to seem like a dilapidated house, full of bats, well-suited for a coven. Other, more sane staff were dressed as well, free roaming or controlling a series of very realistic bat animatronics from hidden areas, along with the Queen for this section, a massive, mostly animatronic costume with a chiseled, pale face and flowing dark hair. Huge wings spread from her back, and bats swarmed on her clothing, reflecting light from her acidic green, glowing eyes. Near her feet swarmed many rats, who walked along with her as she wailed for the victim to stop, join her for a meal.

---

The haunter laughed harshly, still weaving around them, blowing rancid breath in their faces as they stalked them, other haunters joining them, but none quite as horrifying as the weirdly twisted creation. All sorts of unfortunate subjects, many a horrible patchwork of humans and decomposing creators, clawed at them, snorting and snarling cruelly.

Lucy wanted to leave, trying to deter her determinated brother was impossible though "Flynn I dont like this, its freaky!" She whined.

"Then go wait outside, I wanna continue on though. This is really cool" he smiled, looking back at her.

"Your weird" she said before turning around. "Have fun dying or something" she started to walk back outside.

The haunters, unfortunately, were still surrounding them tightly, making it impossible to go any way but onwards. Unfortunately, Axel had forgotten one thing...this haunt was created so that nobody could leave. There was no way out except the exit, as even the entrance was designed so you could only enter, not leave, mostly to keep subjects inside during typical operating hours.

Tabby entered the next section. It looked like an abandoned house. Bats buzzed about. "This is a little too real for my liking," Tabby mumbled. How had she let Marie send her in here alone? Why couldn't she have just gone up to one of the "normal" houses?

There were people in cells along the wall here, clawing at the bars. Tabby looked down and tried to hurry past, praying that they didn't actually come out of them. Ahead was a bat-like woman with glowing eyes. Rats scuttled about her feet. Were they real? The woman was telling Tabby to stop and join her. "Oh god, a vampiress," Tabby said under her breath. She tried to keep moving and tried to avoid eye contact. She watched the blood splats on the floor and tried to focus on those to keep her going the right way, hoping she'd get to the next candy station. Tabby wondered how many more rooms there were before the exit.

The Vampire Queen hissed and called for her, staying mostly stationary but still trying to claw at Tabby with long, nimble fingers. her voice sounded nearly mournful, but if you listened just right, you could hear the poison beneath it. Right behind her skirted figure was a gauzy curtain like with most of the sectors, the candy bowl for the next section just past it.

Tabby moved passed the Vampire Queen ignoring her and swung as wide an arc as possible to avoid her. She wasn't running but kept a brisk pace. She saw the candy bowl just ahead. It had Snickers bars in it. Tabby dropped a few in her basket, pausing briefly to look at the sign which read, "I'm disappointed, I thought I would have caught you by now. How do you keep escaping?"

Tabby had half a mind to let the actors catch her just so the other cheerleaders would have to run this gauntlet to find her. She knew, however, that wasn't an option and pressed on keeping her eyes on the floor for the blood splatters but glancing up and around nervously every few seconds as to not get caught off guard by anything. Please tell me I'm getting close to the end of this thing, she pleaded silently.

"Flynn they won't let me leave!" Lucy pouted.

"Its fine Lucy, they are actors with incredible costumes" Flynn smiled, spying the first bowl. "And look they showed us where the first candies are"

Lucy smiled a little. "Yummy" she disliked the haunters no matter what cause they were freaky.

The queen whined at her, but she was not at the end quite yet. This time, the message wasn't the sign at all. It was time for Tabby to enter the circus section, full of faux fire and clowns and those injured during performances. The blood, though still there, was also splattered with what mimicked candies and popcorn and circus peanuts, along with all sorts of puddles of stage makeups. This time, the actors were more stationary, not quite chasing but still haunting, sharp, jagged teeth glittering in the light as they reached out for her.

---

For a few moments, they gave the two victims a break to safely grab their candy, but the next batch of haunters already awaited them rather cheerfully, the spider queen crouched on her catwalk, webs swinging. Oh, a little kid. This was going to be all sorts of fun! They enjoyed scaring kids, it was a lot easier than scaring adults. And after all, The Beaked One already had the little one quite spooked out. She'd have to compliment him later.