nightlogs | TOIL AND TROUBLE ❄ PART 1

TOIL AND TROUBLE ❄ PART 1

The streets of Burgess under attack. They fly through the air on broom sticks, spreading in all directions, under the direction of the three who offered them something special: immortal life.

And at the expense of children, no less!

The Grand High Witch has made her orders clear. All witches are to cause chaos and draw the attention of those who might stop the Sanderson sisters from recovering the book and brewing their potion. The dark being that explained things to them made it very clear: after this All Hallow's Eve, when dawn comes, all of them might disappear or be drawn back into their worlds.

The Sandersons may be doomed but even for the other witches, being drawn away from such a precious possible source of immortality, one that will allow them to drain the life from children, is unthinkable.

They need to draw the attention of these Guardians they're expecting to see. They need last longer than the dawn.

And so the witches descend, casting broomsticks aside as they land, their cackling scaring the children. In areas where they land, the children go running in fear into their homes - but tugging on their parents' arms and trying to draw attention to the problem outside is to no avail.

For one, the adults cannot see the witches outside - they're myths in this world, after all. And two, a powerful spell has been cast on the area causing them to mindlessly continue their normal activities. Parents are staring at the TV like zombies, or washing dishes over and over, humming to themselves and not answering. Leaving their children only one recourse: hiding in their homes or trying to run away and hide somewhere else.

The Witches are fortunately able to be pegged as witches on sight, taking off their massive hats and wigs to reveal bald heads, wearing their frumpy outfits and sensible shoes. They have wide mouths and jagged, rotten teeth, nails like claws, and smile wickedly as they snap heir fingers to magically open the locks on doors.

They are delighted to have such extra power right now, and so many extra allies, and such free reign tonight to find all the ways they can possibly eradicate disgusting little children.

PROMPTS

a) Work, Witch

The children run and are chased through woods and parks in their little Halloween costumes. Or after finding that their parents are locked up and frozen, mindless like zombies, they lock themselves in their rooms and hide under beds and closets, sometimes grabbing siblings, cousins, or the nieces and nephews of much older siblings, and making them hide with them. Some silently cry themselves as they hold baby family members in their arms, trying to hush them and keep them quiet so they won't be found.

The old ladies wander through houses that don't belong to them, ignoring the vapid and nonreactive parents, sniffing and following the scents of the children to try to find them.

"Ooh, dearie. No need to hide. I'm just a dear sweet old auntie you've never met yet. Why don't you come out and introduce yourselves? I have chocolate."

The Guardians are going to have to take this fight house to house, stopping the witches at the doors or fighting them inside. Despite the guise of older ladies, the witches are young and spry, able to do damage with their claws as well as their magic.

b) Sanctuary

A local rec center has nothing going on today. They did their Trunk R' Treat event the Friday before and close earlier on alternating week days. Since it's a community rec center and not a specifically child-oriented place like a school, it's the perfect place to funnel some of the rescued children and teens.

They need to be brought here where they're safe. When there, they need to be soothed and entertained, given food and drinks, and need to be told why they have to wear sound-canceling headphones in case Sarah starts to sing her song.

Those who aren't used to children will be a little challenged here in having to do the most important part of a Guardian's job, in convincing the children they're taking them to safety, and that they're safe while there. They need to be prevented from panicking and running.

Those who truly struggle at it still can find something useful to do. Salt and some of the Pole's supply of dream dream sand needs to be poured in massive protective circles around the edges of the basketball court. The court fortunately doesn't have windows, it's in more of a large warehouse-like room, but it does have doors that need to be reinforced.

Fortunately, it only has to be a staging area, Bunny is able to tunnel the children to temporary refuge in the Warren. But doing them one by one by one would be quite the effort. It's easier to collect them together in the rec center, temporarily keep them safe, then tunnel them there in groups.

c) Grocery Run

The rec center refuge needs a lot of supplies. The Warren has food Bunny has grown and water, but they still need that staging ground for the kids to be gathered first. Right now the basketball court is surrounded by a ring of protective dream sand and salt - but the salt ring could afford to be thicker. They could also use more ear plugs and noise blocking ear phones. Toys, too, to calm the younger children.

Fortunately, human adults just can't comprehend their wares just walking out the door on their own and entirely glaze over what might be causing it to happen. Unfortunately, witches seeing myths carrying armfuls of salt canisters and toys are kind of noticeable.

For those who need a breather, they may be able to catch a quick chat with an ally without interruption. For others, it will be the grocery store run from hell. At least stores have lots of produce to throw, or shelves to knock down on enemies.

c) WILD CARD

Got something else in mind? Go for it!

OOC DETAILS
❅ Plot Parts: This part of plot is open to all characters, and players can have their characters be in more than one prom[t. Part 2 of plot will have several plot parts with sign ups, such as talking Halloweentown into helping, the plan to sing and blast speakers to drown out Sarah's song, etc. Player sign ups for the 2nd part of plot will be limited to 1 character per player, with each player only allowed to pick 1 prompt. Part 3 of plot will go back to letting all characters in on it, in taking the Sandersons down.

❅ NPCing: The mods won't be npcing in this particular part, but players are free to npc any witches. Handwave the levels of magic you want them to have, ranging from magical fireballs to transformation to stealing a lock of hair and improvising doll proxy they can injure to induce injuries. Spells can require chanting as needed (such as if you want to have a spell interrupted.)

❅ Enemy damage: Players can have their characters successfully kill the villain npcs. There just will be more of them, they'll just keep coming.

❅ Status effects: Witches have magic and that means curses and other injuries the myth healing might not instantly fix. (Magical burns, etc.) You can play with this as you want. Spells and effects can either wear off in a short amount of time, wear off when the plot is over when day breaks, or need magical healing intervention at the Pole. Player choice.

❅ Long-term effects: Players who go with some kind of status effect for a character can optionally have long-term consequences from it if they like.

❅ Environment: Feel free to manipulate the environment. You have a whole town to work with. You absolutely can hotwire a car to run over a witch.

❅ Experimentation: We'd like to encourage people to experiment! Obviously ask other players if they're down first, but it could be fun to do something other than 2 person threads, like maybe 2 PCs banding together to rescue an overwhelmed 3rd.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Work, Witch

⇀ option i

[Running about on foot after a bunch of bloody witches is the opposite of Crowley's idea of fun, and he quickly realizes that now they're in the real world, he has plenty of options. One of the parents in town has a nice enough Mercedes, and a snap of his fingers unlocks the car and starts the engine as Crowley slips into the driver's seat.

It isn't the Bentley, but it'll do for now.

Anyone in the process of rescuing the kids or running from witches might find a black car bearing down on them, only to stop at the last second as the back door flies open.]

Come with me if you want to live.

[Yeah he... he did the Terminator voice.

It isn't very cool.]

⇀ option ii (just one response for this, please!)

[Things almost went off without a hitch. There'd been a chase through a park, following after a witch who was following after a young boy who apparently got separated from his friends. Crowley had thought he'd managed to get the better of the witch, but she'd apparently found herself a broom at the last second and had swooped in, grabbing the kid and taking to the sky.

Crowley swears, loudly, but his wings emerge in one smooth burst of black feathers and he's in the air seconds later to chase after the witch.

It's a quick skirmish; he aims high and then dives down with his wings tucked in, snatching the kid right off the broom and holding on tight as he spreads his wings to slow his momentum.

Unfortunately, the witch had one last spell up her sleeve, and she sends a burst of sickly green light at Crowley, catching his right wing. It sends him careening downwards even faster, and currently unable to use his wings to actually fly, he does the next best thing; tucking them forward around the kid in his arms and angling the both of them so that he hits the ground first.

Hopefully someone saw that and might want to come help before the witch decides to make another grab at them.]

Sanctuary

⇀ option iii

[After the blow to his wing and subsequent fall (ha), Crowley has decided it might be best to focus his attention on places that aren't overrun by witches, and promptly makes his way to the improvised sanctuary to help out as much as he can.

For a demon, he is perhaps surprisingly good at helping calm down the terrified children. The older ones get asked questions about whatever their current main interest is, and he's very good at looking as if he genuinely cares about the answers (he's had plenty of practice with Aziraphale). The younger ones get little toys pulled out of thin air, or he shows them how to play cats cradle with a piece of soft twine. The really young ones are held carefully as he sings quiet lullabies.

If he catches anyone watching him, they'll get a sneer.]

Quit staring and lend us a hand, will you?

[He doesn’t know what he needs a hand with, but he'll find a way to put people to work.]

⇀ option iv

[When not entertaining the children, Crowley takes to circling the room, expression thoughtful as he regards the floor and walls of the basketball court. The salt and sand are decent protection, but he's been around a long, long time and demon magic isn't just about summoning miracles out of thin air.

Crowley snaps his fingers, creating a large piece of charcoal, and promptly gets to work drawing arcane, infernal symbols on the interior walls of the basketball court. They're… difficult to look at, for anyone mortal, and it wouldn't hurt to ask him what on Earth he's up to, even if his intentions are probably good.]

Supply Run

⇀ option v: buy one get one free (feat. Aziraphale)

[The good thing about being accompanied on a supply run by an angel and a demon is that the raw power contained between the two of them means that whoever is tagging along likely doesn't need to worry about being murdered by witches.

The downside is that the angel and demon frequently bicker like an old married couple, and will likely get into an argument at the grocery store, or toy store, or wherever else they might have been sent.]

[[ooc: feel free to set the scene for this option, but it's here for anyone who might want a thread with both Crowley & Aziraphale. It can either be a chill supply run or they can get waylaid by witches, just let me know what you'd prefer!]]

Edited 2023-10-25 15:45 (UTC)

The witch lands and walks slowly up to Crowley with a spell building up in her hand. It's not enough just to win. She's going to make him suffer.

That's a mistake.

There's a snarl from further back. Ammy charges foward, plantlife trailing in her wake, and powerful jaws latch right onto the witch's butt before flinging her from to side to side.

Typically speaking, demons are a lot harder to put down than humans, but a fall from about ten yards is still enough to knock the wind out of Crowley, especially with the additional pain from the wound on his wing. There's also the kid to consider; the fall startled the boy into tears, and the best Crowley can manage at first is to keep himself between the boy and the witch.

So it's a relief, when he hears a snarl followed by a witch shrieking in pain, and he lifts himself just enough to see a wolf with her teeth sunk into a witch's arse. Later, he'll get a good laugh out of it, but his priorities are elsewhere right now.

Ammy will have to take care of the witch by herself, while Crowley handles the arduous task of sitting up with a litany of groans and curses, and looking over the boy in his arms so he can heal any minor injuries.

Another fling and the witch is sent rolling off. Remarkably, she's not quite down after that and casts another spell. A sickly green orb of magic is flung Amaterasu's way.

Amaterasu flicks her tail. There's the faint impression of a line of ink striking the orb before it bounces right back towards its point of origin. The orb engulfs the witch and in a flash of green she dissolves into ash.

"Need any help?" Ammy asks as she walks over to Crowley and the child.

The MVP of this situation is truly Amaterasu, and Crowley is glad he at least managed to catch that orb being flung right back into the witch's face. He's also managed to get himself into a mostly upright position, seated on the ground with the boy in his lap. The boy has mostly stopped crying, aside from the occasional sniffle, but he hasn't let up the death grip on Crowley's shirt. He peeks at Amaterasu as she approaches, looking both awed and a little scared, which is a pretty valid reaction to seeing a magic wolf.

"I think we're doing alright, thanks for the assist." His damaged wing is hanging much lower than the other, blood trickling down his feathers, and as much as he hates the vulnerability that comes with his wings exposed, he needs to brace himself for tucking them away.

That can come in a minute, once he's caught his breath. He's pretty sure he's cracked a rib or two, and his glasses are a mess of twisted metal on the ground, but those are minor problems. For the moment, he inclines his head in a small gesture of deference. "You must be Amaterasu."

[Jaskier has been entertaining children with stories, song, and games. He doesn't have the ability to summon toys, but he has made a career of the entertainment of people of all ages. The thing he's best at is cutting through the overwhelming fear of the situation.

He's walking around, just having finished telling a story to a group of children, when he becomes distracted when he hears someone singing softly. Jaskier looks around to find the source, and his eyes land on Anthony. He grins at his friend's defensive words and is all too happy to go over and offer his assistance.]

It's a shame we haven't gotten me one of those phone things yet. I'd like to take an image-recording of this.

[His voice is low so he doesn't upset the child.]

[The one-and-a-bit year old held in his arms has been a successful project so far, since the kid has mostly drifted off to sleep. Which means that while he's still scowling a little at Jaskier, Crowley starts to hand off the kid, because there's a slightly older one he has his eye on.]

Oh, didn't I tell you that demons don't show up on recordings?

[This is a lie.]

[Jaskier gives Crowley the side-eye because he's 95% sure that that's bullshit. He's played this game before and refuses to fall for it once again.

He was not expecting the sudden baby transfer. He tries to protest and give it back.]

No, no, no, I don't think that's a good idea. I'm not exactly the paternal type and he looked so comfortable in your arms, really it seems for the best--

[He whispers his vehement protests, but the child still ends up cradled awkwardly in his arms. He is supporting the butt and neck, so he's not completely useless, but he is holding it like it may explode at any time.

His expression is one of betrayal and alarm. Why, Anthony, have you forsaken him?]

[The protests are thoroughly ignored, but Jaskier will get a reward for being so accommodating.]

There's a good lad.

[This is directed at Jaskier, not the baby, judging by the approving look that he gets, along with the softly spoken praise.]

Here, he's old enough to hold his own head up, so you're better off getting an arm under the arse and letting him rest against your chest. It'll take some of the weight off your arm.

[Jaskier is furious that he can feel the blush blooming on his cheeks. Gods damn this man! That might be in bad taste but Jaskier is too busy being flustered to care.]

Lad-- I am a man! A fully grown man who is in his early twenties at the least, but definitely not any older than 29! Which means I am not going to stand here and tolerate this treatment!

[He's 31 and still whispering as he makes the suggested adjustments.

He looks down helplessly at the babe he's holding.]

If you shit on me, I'm dropping you.

[He's lying.]

[The skeptical look that Jaskier gave him about demons showing up on camera is now returned at Jaskier's lies about his age.]

Good man just doesn't have the same ring to it.

[A flirty ring, as it were, since he might be kind of useless in the romance department but he's been around long enough to know how to flirt.

Sort of. As long as no one flirts back and he gets flustered.]

Oh, don't worry, princess, the diapers these days are miles better than what you'd be used to, and I won't even make you change him.

[The fact is that you can't go several millennia presenting as a woman without ending up on baby duty a few times, especially when child rearing was more of a communal project. He's likely changed more diapers than Jaskier has had hot meals.]

[If Anthony keeps calling Jaskier names he's going to awaken something in him. (Actually, it's far too late. Jaskier's definitely at least little into it, which could easily turn into a lot into it in the right setting. The human spirit is indomitable.)
If he's looking a little flushed, that's obviously just the aftermath of an invigorating performance and the nervousness from holding a tiny, fragile human.]

Oh, thank Melitele for that. I haven't even held care of a baby in...

Ever, now that I think on it. And you're trying to distract me, you dastardly man! But I shan't be provoked. [He is so easily provoked.]

What was that you were singing just now?

crowley | good omens | ota

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iii. Sanctuary

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iv simply invades ur inbox

oh nooooooo what a tragedy

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