"I—I'd like to try. Please... ?" Nemean looked right at the little fawn asking, and crowed, "well, what are you waiting for? Get in there! Time's a-wastin'—" Oh, and ugh, there's that ugly horse again. She should've rigged the tunnel just to catch him. Maybe this time, she'd get that hide of his. There were pretty little feathers all over it now, so that was a total bonus. Oh, well, there were surprises that'd suit him inside and—UGH?!

"HEY! You're scaring my vic—visitors!" She fanned herself with a hand, sighing wistfully like a madam in woe, "dear hoofed friends of mine, I'd never do such a thing." Holy moly was it funny to see him get his panties in a twist about that, though. It almost made her spoil her own act as the circus ringmaster.

Nemean cracked too wide a grin when she fluttered back up to the mouth of the tunnel. There, she pulled half a split and pointed downward with great glee. Fluorescent arrows of all different festive colors (violet! orange! black... ?!) appeared out of thin air, gesturing at the entrance. "Chop-chop! Get at it."

Bug and Tema both got an eager response out of her. Nemean preened at the dragoncat's compliment, flicking her hair behind a shoulder. "THAT'S the spirit! Let's see more of that, eh?" SPOOOOKY echoed a few more times, each reverberation louder than the last. Clapping her paws together, the sprite chirped, "as Miss Eager-Beaver here says, see you on the other side!" Then, she zipped into the darkness of the tunnel, laughing hysterically as she went:

"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!"
Any of those entering the tunnel would find themselves confronted by a dimly-lit corridor filled with strange sights of all kinds: fluttering bats, a few monsters jumping out at them... classic haunted house fare.

It was up to them to make it to the end of the Tunnel of Frightmares.

This can be accomplished by making rolls! Two Barely+ rolls will have characters making it to the end.* Please Request GM for any failures or interactions with the "props," so that I can post their results! Feel free to break post order!

* Don't worry! There will be no severe/lethal consequences for failing to make it to the end.

@Jampa @Arwen @James @Fahl @Pride @Thalia @Bug @Redwood @Tema

strong language

James fluffed his feathers up again and growled, "I'd remember your stupid voice anywhere. Of course it's you. You were screaming at your partner and mourning the loss of my hide because I unfortunately lived."

His wings flared up and he snorted in outrage, watching the stupid pink bitch zip off into the tunnel.

"GET BACK HERE YOU-", he snarled, cut off as he darted into the tunnel, followed by a purple wisp, lighting the way for his feet.

He was going to fry that stupid creature's ass and stomp it into the damn ground.

Only when he was completely in the tunnel did he realize what a stupid idea it was running off on his own, and held the wisp closer to his chest, suddenly realizing that this was kind of terrifying. He backed up, trotting nervously, trying to regroup with the others.

Arwen completely ignored the commotion and peered up at Blue, gently taking the trinket and moving it in her hands, "... It's pretty. But..."

She ran her fingers through Blue's feathers, "I like these ones more. They're soft and pretty and they're your's. Better in every way, you see."

She reached up and gently took the treat, working it in her hands (which were growing stiffer by the day, showing she was due for a molt) before pushing it under her mask and grabbing it in her mandibles. She trilled happily and ran her hand through Blue's feather's absently.

"This is really good," she said, and drew her hand back, some of Blue's feathers sticking.

Arwen got rid of James' feathers and simply replaced them with Blue's, securing them tightly before draping the necklace around her neck. She looked up at Blue and trilled softly, taking his hand and rubbing her face against it in sheer adoration.

"Come on!", she said suddenly, pointing to Nemean and the tunnel, "That fantastic creature- did you hear? She tried to murder that horse!! It's fantastic! But she wants us to try to get through, so let's go!!"

It seemed that the very moment Arwen stepped into the tunnel, she was immediately knocked over, startled into such a thing. She wiggled on her back, stuck in the only divet in the ground, unable to roll herself over. She was like a turtle, only worse.

"... Blue?", she said, "Help?"

@Redwood

TEMA, the Voidkin
There can be love in Chaos; just follow the Void

Pleased by the host's reaction, Tema made to actually step into the tunnel before the winged horse burst past her, continuing to scream as they summoned a purple fire-light to light their way. Apparently the host had attempted to murder said horse based on the conversation, which meant Tema could no longer be care free about the whole situation.

"I just wanted to relax." The bear mumbled under her breath, a whisper of a growl following after.

This knowledge made her wonder if there was more than just a good scare in the caves, but the bear shook out her fur to brush off the thought. She was here already, and she was here for a good time. Horse be damned if she didn't get to have one!

Albeit a bit grumpy, Tema began to make her way through the cavern ahead of her, hoping that she wouldn't see the horse again. Not that she could really blame them for being upset after almost being killed of course; she just really wanted a stress free day. Just one.

OOC Notes:

There was a slight delay in James's wisp's glow illuminating any of the props and jumpscares, but the floor ahead was lit in purple relief. He could follow that, at least. Tema simply ambled through and was harassed by a few overly large spiders jumping at her.

Poor Arwen, even after stroking Nemean's ego (she liked this one!) found herself plummeting into a hole. It wasn't super deep—maybe four feet—but it was a hole nonetheless. The sprite buzzed out from hiding, laughing hysterically and pointing down at the fairy. "HAHAH!" Victim number one! More were sure to follow, yes? The floor was full of holes.

Arwen can help herself out of the hole, or be assisted by any other participants.

@Arwen

Tension had laced the air, the surrounding anger a high humidity that threatened to make him choke on his own breaths. But a large smile and flashy exit later, this Nemean had seemingly dodged the accusations as lightly as she'd fled inside her tunnel. He peered after her into the darkness, his tail lashing on the ground in a blatant show of ramping nerves. There'd been no reassurance from what he'd heard, only further suspicion.

If this was who he thought she was, if this was the one who'd taken from... him. To even consider the words he remembered caused what was left of his warm demeanor to turn frigid. Fear twined with a protective rage; although the grievance was not his, he owned it by association. Conviction banished any reservation.

Fahl charged inside—this was no longer merely a matter of his pride but also someone else's.

Blue's face turned a soft shade of pink at Arwen's compliments, aside from an otherwise straight face. "t-thank you, Arwen... i do appreciate it" they chirped. the moved to tie their trinket around their tail, holding their snack in one claw.

they practically buzzed with a chuckle at the ruckus the others were causing, nodding as they followed arwen into the tunnel.

their eyes adjusted nicely to the dark after a moment, walking, but of course they wouldn't miss arwen falling into one of the many, MANY holes littering the ground. they almost scraped the ground with how fast they STOPPED walking, immediately moving back to pick arwen up, cradling her in one arm. "are you alright?" they asked. they werent particularly worried, arwen didnt look injured, but it would kill them if they didnt ask.

Comet had given no thought to the weird hole of a booth in the Fall Festival. That was, until she heard James's voice yelling at something. That was strange, he almost never yelled at anything, unless it was something very bad. Oh shoot, that looked like Nemean! That animal tried to kill James! Next thing she knew, she was off at a sprint towards that tunnel. What was James doing now? He chased right after Nemean into the tunnel. Not a very smart move. It was a good thing there were plenty of other animals there, it would be pretty hard for anything super bad to happen. Either way, she needed to catch up to him to help. "I'm coming renny!"

In her sprint, she lowered her head, and charged full speed into the mass of animals. She was not going to wait for them, if there was a chance James could be in danger. Making her way past the thick of most of them, she was completely in the tunnel now-- was that the glow of his wisp? "Oof!" Comet's paw caught on a rock, and she tumbled head over heels, splayed out flat on the ground. "Renny?"

@James

Arwen immediately snuggled into Blue's arms and trilled happily, "Thank you!"

She crawled onto their shoulder and snuggled up against their neck, gripping onto them tightly with their small little numbs, wrapping her arms around Blue's neck.

"She laughed at me," she mumbled, "Do you think she'd noticed if I gave her horrible diarrhea?"

The cloud rose into the air towards the fairy thing, and hopefully it made contact and she breathed it in. Arwen tugged Blue and tried to guide him off so they didn't accidentally breathe it in.

"Come on, Blue," she cooed, "Let's keep going!"

@Redwood

James whipped his head around and saw a flash of white fur, "Comet?"

"Easy," he said, nosing her and helping her up, "Be careful, that creature is here."

He turned to glare at her and peered at the two in front of her, an insect-looking thing and a harpy. Weird, but the smaller seemed agitated. The wisp he'd summoned remained floating above his head, illuminating the space around.

He trotted forward and snorted to announce his presence, "She laughed at you, didn't she? Wait.."

He remembered the harpy, and perked up just a tiny bit, "I remember you. You were at my booth. Did you guys like the treats?"

James peered at their trinkets and huffed as he saw the grub's own replaced with blue feathers. That was sweet. His heart melted just a bit. How cute.