Not scandalous, but a little spooky

Pike's investigation was pretty brief; after all, it wasn't an especially large cabin. You imagined she'd have been happier if the Pumpkin Herald uniform you'd given her was a little less conspicuous a color than bright, Halloween orange, but still, she did her job, peeking through each window for only a moment and using her superior feats for stealth. You felt a little let down when she approached your group again, then shrugged her bare shoulders and crossed her arms. "Whole place is empty, Icky. I don't see anybody in there. I guess somebody left the fire on the last time they used it," your thief suggested, looking a bit let-down herself.

Winnifred sighed deeply, even more disappointed. She'd expected something saucy.

The most aggravated, however, was Evilward, who held out both palms in an expression of "why?!" and flexed her fingers up and down. "Whyyyy?!" She verbalized the question as well. "To think these bastard RPers not only lit a fire in the middle of the summer, they also left their fire on the logs when they exited the cabin! If this place obeyed proper physics, they would have burned the wooden cabin down! I won't let this go unpunished!" your Justicier complained at length.

"Yeah, well, good luck punishing them. Whoever used this place last, they didn't exactly leave a bread-crumb trail. Nothing at all was left behind, from what I can see," Pike responded, rolling her eyes at the former Sheriff's hard-ass stance towards rules for role-play. "I'm gonna investigate some more. Winnifred, Crowmaster, come with me just in case." The two nodded and followed. You sensed that perhaps she didn't feel safe leaving the Crowmaster alone with you...

... But why did she think it was okay to leave Evilward with you?! You figured maybe she just didn't want to deal with Evilward and the Crowmaster's grumpy attitudes towards each other, but your Justicier had more of a grudge against you than anyone, by your tally. Stepping back-- figuratively, you couldn't actually take steps-- and looking at the situation, you might have taken advantage of her once or twice and in some fairly notable ways and made her look foolish on a few occasions.

To your surprise, she didn't seem especially eager to plunge a dagger into you. Instead, she stood watch, crossing her arms across her cloak and looking contemplative. You asked her what was on her mind.

"Hm?" She raised one eyebrow, as though she'd forgotten you were there. "Someone has to watch the horizon for attackers. Now that I understand your situation, I feel that you and Pike are taking the situation far too lightly. If the server knew where you were, you'd be dead more quickly than I could snap my fingers. I mean... You have me to protect you, and I'm the finest and most respected on this server, but still, you should get used to posting a watch. Same goes for when you occupy your cavern. Closing yourself up in that rocky tomb with no windows out and no lookouts... do you know what a few bombadier class adventurers could do to that place? Bathory would be cooked alive inside before she could defend you."

You gulped, but nodded. It occurred to you that even more so than Pike, Evilward was a very well-informed adventurer. You ought to take this time to pick her brain a little...

... But it was a little hard to focus on her dry, professor-like lecture when you noticed what you took to be a ghost, peeking over her shoulder. The ghost had a wispy, white outline like a man's shape, with an ethereal mist rising up from its shoulders and a moaning expression frozen on its face. Frankly, even in the dead of daylight, it made you jump on your stake a bit, spotting such an out of place element. Then again... if one of each Halloween monster had been spawned, you supposed it only made sense that the Halloween event's ghost would be there too. You didn't know a lot about these things, but you thought of them as fodder enemies not far above yourself. They were the type that were invulnerable to physical attacks but very weak to magic. If worst came to worst, you could easily blast it away with a Sphere of Fire.

Level 1- Halloween Specter
Monster, Ghost

Still, it didn't seem unfriendly, despite its creepy expression. It did, however, seem horny, despite being listed as non-explicit. Unbeknownst to your party member, the ghost began to play with her cloak, curiously raising it and staring at her large, tan, completely bare bottom from behind. Graciously, you considered that it might be simply curious. For now, you just enjoyed the show, staring at Evilward's exposed groin and belly while barely listening to her lecture.

"... And the so-called 'treasure room?' That needs to be about two or three rooms deeper into the cavern, as does the so-called 'inner sanctum.' Have some dignity. What kind of adventurer wants to open up a crypt and immediately see the throne and treasure? Adventurers want adventure! Even if it's just cheap hallways, you should-"

You interrupted Evilward by spinning on your stake and bopping her with your head. As she regarded you furiously, she suddenly noticed that her cloak had been pulled up far enough to expose the under-side of her breasts and everything beneath. "Son of a bitch!" she complained, crossing both hands over her pussy with a look of indignation burning on her face. Not noticing the ghost, she clearly blamed you for her plight. "You arrogant living veggie platter, I'll turn you into a pumpkin pie!!"

You shook your arms frantically, trying to point behind her; of course, without individually manipulatable fingers, it looked more like you were just randomly thrusting your arm. Rather than turning around, she just scowled harder, perhaps thinking you were trying to pull some kind of trick. The ghost took the opportunity to begin opening a way-portal behind itself. Desperately, you used your ghostly voice to make it clearer for her: "a ghost!"

"A lot of nerve on you, pumpkin!" Evilward swiped one fist, knocking a book out of your head and sending your pumpkin spinning around its base. "I know about those dastardly phantom hands, don't think you can poke me on the shoulder and lift my cape! I'm not going to sit by and be molested like Winnifred! I've got half a mind to-!"

Once again, she had no chance to finish. The ghost grabbed Evilward's cape and pulled her through the way-portal. You saw her eyes widen with surprise as her body disappeared into the shimmering blue surface and vanished. Panicking, you shouted for everyone to return! Unfortunately, you felt your own body levitating next, though slowly and with some effort on the part of the caster... the ghost's levitation spell wasn't as powerful as Bathory's. Maybe you really did need to try and lose weight? It isn't fat, you just have big vines!

Pike, Winnifred, and Colt continued to haplessly search the abandoned house as you and Evilward were spirited away by an unexpected specter.

The area on the other side of the portal seemed completely different, although, judging by the low, orange sun in the sky, you assumed you were still in the Halloween event server. You blinked your triangular eyes and slowly got a sense of your surroundings. There was no ceiling, although there were walls and floors, made of dusty, cobweb covered stone. As you noticed the decrepit lantern holders, the old wooden furniture, and various other decorations hailing to a long-past luxurious life that had been held inside this place, you began to put two and two together...

This must be the haunted castle. It did have "haunted" right there in the name. It only made sense that a ghost would take you here.

The question: why did they want you and Evilward?

Your eye-holes widened as you noticed three additional distracting features. The first: a giant portrait of the countess, Bathory. The painting was faded and worn, surrounded by an iron frame and set against the back wall of what you now understood to be the castle's dining room. Despite the wear and tear of the art, she still looked magnificent, a powerful Halloween monster to inspire other Halloween monsters.

The second: Evilward had collapsed with her legs spread and her cloak spread about her. It was pretty hard not to stare at the unobstructed view of her overdone female specifications, but you tore your gaze away to stare at the third point, which was slowly emerging from around a broken column further into the hall.

The third: the Countess herself, looking as she did when you first appeared to you. She smiled elegantly, showing just a hint of her fangs; at some point, she must have redressed herself, because instead of that maid uniform you'd provided her, she wore every piece of her dress again. "Pumpkin Lord." Bathory gave a small curtsy, lifting the corners of her skirt and bowing her head slightly. Her behavior seemed a little off, but there were two more things that seemed even more out of place. The most obvious: her level.

Level 40- "Countess" Bathory, the Halloween Vampire
Monster, Vampire, Explicit

Bathory seemed to have gained back the levels you drained from her. In combination with the unrequested teleportation of just you and one cohort, that was a little frightening... it wasn't the kind of thing a loyal minion does, anyway. At any rate, if that was disturbing, the second point was even more so: despite the sunlight, she was going without a parasol or any kind of head covering. Despite that, she seemed completely unharmed. Had that Bathory earlier just been toying with you earlier?! Was this the real Bathory?!

The ghost that had brought you to the haunted castle wisped its way over towards the vampire, then began to circle her idly. For her part, the vampire lady took a seat at the long, neglected dining room table, then used her levitation to move you closer, into the vacant spot next to her. You thought you saw beads of sweat glistening at her forehead and you noticed her teleportation was awfully slow. Was she having a hard time moving you...? "I would chat with you, my fellow fiend. It is Halloween, after all~"

You felt like you were experiencing deja vu. With a jerky motion, you shook your pumpkin-head back and forth, spilling a few seeds here and there. It was not Halloween, or anywhere close.

"It... It isn't?" Bathory questioned, still smiling as her eyes narrowed.

What the crap was happening? Had the gods made two Bathories for some reason? You didn't mind the idea of tricking this one into a round two of your vine-play show, but you had to admit, it would lose some impact the second time around... Determined to get to the bottom of it all, you asked your hostess: had she forgotten everything from earlier in the day, or perhaps you two had never met before?

She cocked one eyebrow and frowned. "Are you saying you... already met Bathory?"

You nodded.

The vampire gave a sigh of relief. "Well, great, because this form is actually pretty hard to keep up." With a poof of ethereal, magical green dust, the vampire's form suddenly vanished, replaced with the much smaller form of a younger girl. You judged her about Pike's age, similarly sized, but with rounder, softer features. She might have been an elf too when she was living, but now, her form was just as transparent and wispy as the ghost you'd seen earlier, if a little less vague. She wore a peasant's tunic and skirt, which was the same same shimmering green color as the skin of her face and arms. Only her eyes were any different, two unsettling white holes in space. The ghost's hair swirled around her like a slow-moving, wispy vortex. While the other ghost seemed determined to keep a creepy face on, hers was really quite pleasant. As a final thought, shape-wise, she was probably a middle-ground between Pike and Winnifred, with little at all in common with the buxom ranger who was your companion on this trip.

You blinked uncertainly, then gave the ghostly figure another scan.

Level 1- Halloween Ghostly Trickster
Monster, Ghost, Explicit

You felt like you could sympathize with this monster a bit. The tricksters throughout the Haunted Castle were gag monsters, a bit like yourself, who appeared only for Halloween. These beings would disguise themselves as scenery and creatures- not unlike mimics, in some ways- and hide all throughout the mansion. Players who destroyed them would receive special gifts, during Halloween season. Unfortunately, unlike you, they didn't have the benefit of stamina; one hit was all it took to make them poof. You wondered about that... if your gift had been boosted, hers might have too. There could be a pretty nice prize waiting if you just cast Sphere of Fire right now...

But you didn't! After all, you Halloween monsters needed to stick together and if anyone could empathize with her plight, it was you. You informed the ghost that actually, she had great timing, because you were planning to come up here and claim the Haunted Castle yourself. Whisking you here with magic had just made it that much easier. You'd talked to Bathory earlier and gotten her blessing to do so, creating a sort of monster coalition.

"Huh... I'd sort of been hoping to claim this place myself, but it's hopeless. When I heard about a Pumpkin out there with his own dungeon, I decided I'd send my friend out to find you while I stayed here and imitated Bathory, just to keep myself safe. I don't know how to level up, so I'm stuck at 1 in real levels," the ghost explained, now sitting in a less refined way with her back slouched and her leg kicking under the table restlessly. "Plus, as far as claiming the dungeon, there's this other problem I was hoping you'd know how to solve..."

Evilward finally got her senses back and came to join you, pulling up another chair to sit beside you. She straddled it backwards with her legs parted... the gesture had probably looked cool when she was a man, but now, it just parted her cloak, allowing the unnamed trickster to see her private areas. The ghost seemed to blush a darker shade of green and tried to avert her eyes. Relentlessly unware, Evilward addressed her. "You there, Trickster! What sort of problem are you referring to? You had better not say another monster already claimed it in the few hours Bathory was gone..."

"Well, no... The problem is actually the adventurers. Parties of adventurers have set up all throughout the castle, messing with the arrangement of things and holding their little role-play sessions... It's a huge bother," the trickster groaned.

"Hmph. Nothing wrong with using a place like this for roleplay. It has a sort of eerie elegance. I've come here a few times myself during the off seasons, to punish PKers who fled to the farthest regions." Evilward smirked, looking proud of that. As if to punish her arrogance, you told her that her slit was showing. The Justicier corrected her sitting position, then bopped you on the head again, spilling another spellbook. You watched as the second ghost picked it up and began turning it over dumbly in its hands; you didn't think it could read. "A-Anyway, what I'm saying is, I can't begrudge role-players for wanting to come here."

"Sure, but as long as they're here, you're not gonna be able to claim the castle." The green-tinted ghost leaned back her chair, kicking her booted feet onto the table and threatening to tilt herself over. She seemed less ephemeral than the other one, which you supposed made sense... she could be vanquished with just one attack of any kind, whereas the other guy was at least protected against physical attacks. "When I tried to earlier, besides the lack of a crystal, a name, and all that stuff, one of the problems was humans on the property. It's not gonna be easy to clear them all out of here."

Evilward nodded, then pressed her thumb to her chin contemplatively. "Hm... Luckily, you have me on your side. If they're role-players from the town, they'll heed and respect me."

You and the trickster both squinted your eyes with dubious expressions, wondering how anyone was supposed to respect her when she dressed like an erotic exhibitionist.

This just made Evilward bristle and shoot to her feet, raising her gloved fist in anger. "That's it! I'm tired of being the butt of all of your jokes, Ickibod! I'm going to prove to you know how high my charisma, attractiveness, and manipulation are when I get these role-players to vacate the premises! You just stay here with Casper while I do all of the work!" Huffing, she bowed both arms at her side and stomped out of the room. "And I'm going to charm the pants off of them! Literally! I will get one of them to give me some pants!" Her lewd, cloaked form disappeared in the frame of the doorway, then clopped down the stairs.

"Uum... Do you really trust her to do that?" the unnamed trickster questioned, tilting her head slightly.

You shook your head. You had zero faith that it was going to work. But still, you thought it would be prudent to watch over her. You questioned if she and her friend could support you in chasing after her, using their telekinesis. She frowned, but nodded; you thought she was having to hold her tongue to avoid pointing out how heavy you were, especially for a level 1 ghost to carry. It was going to be tough, even for a pair of them.

You could ask the two ghosts about joining your Cult of the Pumpkin Lord later, but for now, you had to make sure that Evilward wasn't biting off more than she can chew...