Christmas Eve

[skeleton_king]

Jack doesn't attempt to leave the custody of Gene as he leads the search party into the forest, map in hand.

There are a great many more doors now, each with a pumpkin, and as Jack comes into the vicinity they seem to give a little click.

He turns to the search party.

"Spread out and search each area of the forest." he says. "There is likely to be monsters behind these doors, preventing the retrieval of the first Santy Claws. Your Santy Claws is, I think, in the hands of a creature called Oogie Boogie, the former king of Bug Day, who appears as a big sack full of bugs. If you find him, or you get into trouble, shout for help at once. The other monsters should not hurt you too severely, but they will attack, so your best bet is to force them back into the door."

Comments

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[a1enzo]

"Gah! These things are worse than the one Hex gave me."

He tries to close the door on them, but they're blocking it, and anyway, too many are already out. He tries to kick them back in; one latches onto the toe of his boot. It is neither strong enough of jaw nor sharp enough of tooth to puncture it, but it takes some shaking off.

"Try to... get them... back... in the door!"

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[ami_imperfect]

"Whatever happened to that thing, anyway?"

Somehow Dani manages to extricate herself from the middle of the duck swarm. She flies in front of them as they make their way into the woods and starts firing blasts at the ground, hoping to force or scare them into turning back.

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[a1enzo]

"It's in the closet. I've thought about letting Minus play with it, but it's so hard to get back in the box."

Enzo loads a byte of Hugh's specialty bolts into his gauntlet. As Dani herds the ducks back in his direction, Enzo fires at the flock, and a net springs out of the bolt, pinning ten or so ducks. Several more shots, and the task is even looking manageable.

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[ami_imperfect]

Unfortunately Dani doesn't have any containment tools with her, although she's not sure if any of her parents' tech would work on creepy toy ducks.

"What do we do, just leave them out here or toss them back through the door?"

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[a1enzo]

Enzo nets a few more and eyes them. They're pinned to the ground pretty well, but it might be difficult to pick them up without their escaping. He'd rather wait until he can focus properly on the task.

"Leave them for now. As long as they're not underfoot, I'm happy."

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[ami_imperfect]

"All right then."

She looks at the open door.

"Well, shall we?"

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[a1enzo]

"Yeah, that's enough of them."

He fires a tracking bolt into the side of the ducks' tree, just in case the grating quacks aren't enough to locate them again.

Back to searching.

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[ami_imperfect]

Dani nods and falls into step beside him again.

Although not before she reaches out and pushes that door shut.

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[a1enzo]

"Hex's rubber duck, biting ducks on wheels... is this a pattern yet, or does there need to be one more?"

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[ami_imperfect]

"Hmmm...I think one more to make it a pattern."

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[a1enzo]

"So we might be safe."

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[ami_imperfect]

"Unless there's been a monster duck hiding out at the lake all this time."

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[a1enzo]

"Oh, don't even."

He might end up with anatidaephobia.

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[ami_imperfect]

"What? There might be," she teases.

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[a1enzo]

"I wish I could argue."

Fragging Milliways.

"Is that another door?"

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[ami_imperfect]

Fragging Milliways indeed.

"I believe so."

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[a1enzo]

"Any bets what's behind this one?"

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[ami_imperfect]

"Hopefully not more ducks."

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[a1enzo]

"Maybe it'll be... ummm... a goat."

Or a brand new car!

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[ami_imperfect]

"Or a rocking horse."

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[a1enzo]

"Or killer potted plants. I'm not ruling anything out."

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[ami_imperfect]

"Okay, so when did you see 'Little Shop of Horrors'?" Dani asks.

She reaches out and puts a hand on the knob, but doesn't pull it open yet. "You ready?"

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[a1enzo]

"What, it's been done?"

(If he ever does see it, he might recognize Bob's old friend Seymour...)

He raises his gauntlet and poises his right hand to either steady his arm or go for his sword. "Ready."

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[ami_imperfect]

Dani stares blankly at him for a moment, then shakes her head. Now she knows what they're seeing on their next movie night...

"Okay, here goes." Taking a deep breath, Dani carefully pulls open the door.

Re: Team 3 - Dani and Enzo

[face_in_the_moon]

Behind the door, it's dark, at first; but there are some colourful lights in the middle distance, and a deep voice humming a jazzy tune.