Macario looks at the cookie and quickly replies, "No thank you, we had a wonderful breakfast with Inra just a little bit ago. Please, lead the way in."

Quote from SunDial365 >>

@Brodir

"We have to get out of here," you say. But when you say this your voice also echoes. You feel it reverberating against the walls and through the floor. A wave of confusion falls over the barghest's face. He steps back then suddenly his entire body goes still. 

You're back in the ballroom. You're fighting the same battle. The barghest is standing where he last said that to you. He is stacking chairs and tables towards a portal that is floating above the room. This time the energy of the portal is gray, still lightning crackles out from it. "Well? What are you waiting for?" Jorge calls back out to you, motioning with his head up to the hill made out of furniture. It reaches up to the edge of the portal door.

You realize you still have the Guest Book in your hands.

Suddenly, a large crash startles the portal, causing it to send out a burst of sparks into the air. A long worm-like body falls through the tables and chairs, completely crushing it. Its coils around what appears to be a giant foot that just suddenly steps out. It completely crushes Jorge (what luck!). The foot is hoofed and the other one, coming to a halt next to it, is taloned. You recognize this is Jorum, and he is fighting someone.

The two opponents struggle with each other. One foot (the hoof one) steps back, getting out of the constrictor's grasp. Jorge is somehow safe under it. It looks like these two are just phasing through. They are projections of some sort. The barghest doesn't even seem to notice, just only staring at where the Dimension Door's sparks landed, which was onto the stage's curtains, having now set them on fire.

brodir kneels before jormun. "my lord. i am yours to command." initiative:11

@Argos and Macario

They all just stand here dumbfounded. They swivel their heads over to Macario. "Irna," the human man says and puts back the cookie away. "Okayyyy." Some drool just rolls out his mouth.

"Come in!" he says with his arms out, gesturing at the empty lobby. The tabaxi in shorts just pushes in through the entrance to the ballroom and you find yourselves back in the expanse of the place. It is crowded with people, all of them wearing those fox masks, all white. 

Shorts lifts Argos up in the air and stiffly places him down. The music in the place is lively. Colorful lights dance across the walls and the dancefloor. Chatter lines the air, people sip drinks, and children run about. There is a large display of various food spread out on a long table in the corner. Some people are milling about it. There's that ice sculpture again at the centerpiece. It is a white fox face, and it is melting. 

Inra is there up on stage next to it. She is using her staff to create light displays, shooting out bright fireworks in tune to the music. The castanets she attached to her staff and to her fingers make for such a jaunty romp, and people start moving towards the center for those with skirts and dresses to start the cumbia. A loud "Whoop!" is heard from the stage as the sound of a guitar begins.

Your three guides all stand there waiting for you to go in.

@Brodir

 Jormun's body relaxes and the giant in front of him disappears. 

"My child." 

You feel his mouth moving through you can't see if from down there. It is like this image is in front of your eyelids because each time you blink you still see it there in the black.

"No need for fighting," he booms. "You seek a great perhaps?" 

"How long?"

His questions don't seem to have many answers.

Macario takes his mask out of the pouch at his waist and carefully ties it around his face, taking advantage of the cover and the movement of his hands to subtly cast detect magic, focusing his attention towards the otherworldly energy that has surrounded the hotel all morning, dipping his vision below the veil between worlds to see things for what they are. He looks to Argos, hoping the elf has regained control of his nerves enough to assist with whatever may happen in the ballroom and simply says, "Shall we?" before turning to walk through the doors. 

Quote from SunDial365 >>

@Argos and Macario

They all just stand here dumbfounded. They swivel their heads over to Macario. "Irna," the human man says and puts back the cookie away. "Okayyyy." Some drool just rolls out his mouth.

"Come in!" he says with his arms out, gesturing at the empty lobby. The tabaxi in shorts just pushes in through the entrance to the ballroom and you find yourselves back in the expanse of the place. It is crowded with people, all of them wearing those fox masks, all white. 

Shorts lifts Argos up in the air and stiffly places him down. The music in the place is lively. Colorful lights dance across the walls and the dancefloor. Chatter lines the air, people sip drinks, and children run about. There is a large display of various food spread out on a long table in the corner. Some people are milling about it. There's that ice sculpture again at the centerpiece. It is a white fox face, and it is melting. 

Inra is there up on stage next to it. She is using her staff to create light displays, shooting out bright fireworks in tune to the music. The castanets she attached to her staff and to her fingers make for such a jaunty romp, and people start moving towards the center for those with skirts and dresses to start the cumbia. A loud "Whoop!" is heard from the stage as the sound of a guitar begins.

Your three guides all stand there waiting for you to go in.

---

@Brodir

 Jormun's body relaxes and the giant in front of him disappears. 

"My child." 

You feel his mouth moving through you can't see if from down there. It is like this image is in front of your eyelids because each time you blink you still see it there in the black.

"No need for fighting," he booms. "You seek a great perhaps?" 

"How long?"

His questions don't seem to have many answers.

"is this really you?"

@Argos and Macario

Macario feels the power of the mask sinking into his skin. It chills all the way down to the bone. It comes like a rush full of energy inside you- this whole place. This whole place is bursting with magic! Despite being the straight-faced man you are, it overwhelms you, a feeling that could knock you to the ground. Yet you stay up.

Brown. All brown. But it's slipping. This sight from the mask flickers and tingles.

There seems to be a pull, a tug from all the dancers. The stronger the music plays the more rapidly it gets.

They know you're here.

@Brodir

The snake stiffens.

"I am not." The barghest watching you raises an eyebrow as he is not sure what you are staring at. 

Jormun resumes again. "I am made of collective memory. What you are watching is my battle with the great-" The words he says next are comprehensible to your ears. Then the next plays out as they would in a dream where knowledge is imparted onto you where you just know.

This was a scene that played out centuries ago. A creature had showed up in his seas unlike any the Great Jormun had seen ever before. The sea serpent asked the invader what he was here for and the intruder replied: for liberation.

Now the sea serpent has heard this line before and knew all that it entails, so he held his body stiffly at the border between the land and the sea.

'I think you are confused,' he said, 'what is it that you really seek?'

'I have told you all before. Freedom,' the intruder replies. 'Choice.'

'From what?'

The creature clicks its tongue. 'You.'

'My people did not ask for a stranger to free them.'

'Is that what they tell you?'

'They are content and do not grovel. They have only what they need. The rain befalls them well. Harvest has been good. My people-'

'My. As all the gods say,' the creature muses, returning back on the question. 'the lines have already been drawn, the paths unfolding. You seek to shelter us from the pain but only do so much more so.'

He raises up a fist that melts into a claw. 'I seek a great 'perhaps?'. What ifs. And with the choices I make-'

Claw slices through bone. The sea serpent bears two, each half writhing in the salty murk. 

'To come again.'

The scene fades back into the one before you. Jormun blinks. 

"Do you see?"

Argos stepped back a bit, still quite wary of Irna.

"Wasn't this place filled with..." He said quietly.

Macario looks around the room, searching for anything resembling the pile of masks from the prison world as well as for Inra or whoever the mysterious "he" is (perception 13). At the sound of Argos's voice, he leans over and quietly interrupts the elf, saying "Shhh. Blend in. Keep an eye out for anything that looks like it might be connected to that shadowy prison world."

@Argos and Macario

The trio of black mask guest stare at you with curiosity. They do not say anything further but at the sound of the music begin to dance. They seem to snap out of the daze and actually act a but more lively. They start to disperse into the crowd. Dress by the punch bowl, Shorts by the snacks, and Pajamas (who people eye curiously) wanders over to the dancefloor and does a dance that appears to be the robot. You don't know if that's intentional or not.

You do see a pile of unused masks on a table. These all have some sort of defects on that which is why you assume that they haven't been worn. There's one missing whiskers; the other is a bit faded. One looks like the string is torn and was reattached but with every reattachment it grows short until it's unusable and unlikely to fit around someone's face.

Inra on the front appears to be waving down the crowd. "Okay folks!!! Get ready for the best one of the night. Mr. G!!!" She points and moves aside for someone to enter onto the stage. It is a stout paleish human man with slicked back brown hair and piercing blue eyes. He holds a bandurria, a stringed instrument similar to a guitar more popular in the coastal regions of Twimee'zah. 

"Hello everybody. Good to be here tonight. I'm really excited to share this with all of you." 

Everybody claps, so he starts playing. 

"All alone here tonight and the wind insists on howling. Oh rest easy, young one, troubles are far from home." 

The song continues and Inra commences with her light show once again. The cumbia dancers go even harder with this melody.

Quote from SunDial365 >>

@Argos and Macario

Macario feels the power of the mask sinking into his skin. It chills all the way down to the bone. It comes like a rush full of energy inside you- this whole place. This whole place is bursting with magic! Despite being the straight-faced man you are, it overwhelms you, a feeling that could knock you to the ground. Yet you stay up.

Brown. All brown. But it's slipping. This sight from the mask flickers and tingles.

There seems to be a pull, a tug from all the dancers. The stronger the music plays the more rapidly it gets.

They know you're here.

---

 

@Brodir

The snake stiffens.

"I am not." The barghest watching you raises an eyebrow as he is not sure what you are staring at. 

Jormun resumes again. "I am made of collective memory. What you are watching is my battle with the great-" The words he says next are comprehensible to your ears. Then the next plays out as they would in a dream where knowledge is imparted onto you where you just know.

This was a scene that played out centuries ago. A creature had showed up in his seas unlike any the Great Jormun had seen ever before. The sea serpent asked the invader what he was here for and the intruder replied: for liberation.

Now the sea serpent has heard this line before and knew all that it entails, so he held his body stiffly at the border between the land and the sea.

'I think you are confused,' he said, 'what is it that you really seek?'

'I have told you all before. Freedom,' the intruder replies. 'Choice.'

'From what?'

The creature clicks its tongue. 'You.'

'My people did not ask for a stranger to free them.'

'Is that what they tell you?'

'They are content and do not grovel. They have only what they need. The rain befalls them well. Harvest has been good. My people-'

'My. As all the gods say,' the creature muses, returning back on the question. 'the lines have already been drawn, the paths unfolding. You seek to shelter us from the pain but only do so much more so.'

He raises up a fist that melts into a claw. 'I seek a great 'perhaps?'. What ifs. And with the choices I make-'

Claw slices through bone. The sea serpent bears two, each half writhing in the salty murk. 

'To come again.'

The scene fades back into the one before you. Jormun blinks. 

"Do you see?"

"yes."

*there are some other gods: Surt, giant deity of fire, Þryr, giant deity of cold and the afterlife for the good, Heil, goddess of the afterlife for the evil, and Nóth, giant deity of darkness and comfort.*

Argos nodded and tried to look for anything that is connected. (Rolled 18 on perception)

[[ Anything specific from the discarded masks or Inra with the detect magic? ]]

Quote from blackcat31102 >>

*there are some other gods: Surt, giant deity of fire, Þryr, giant deity of cold and the afterlife for the good, Heil, goddess of the afterlife for the evil, and Nóth, giant deity of darkness and comfort.*

 ((Oh these ideas are cool, but since we do have the main gods established is it okay if they're just like demi-gods but they definitely will be included. I love the puns bryr especially. gives me such a vibe ))

@Brodir

"Good," he nods. "Now, young one, I will warn you. He has taken a part of me." The snake looks off to the right though you can't see his full head. Still you just know it's there. "I am not as whole as I once was."

"The world is on a breaking point. You will be tested." 

"Tested," another voice chimes in. This was the same one as before (the blinking light from the void). "Tested." These words repeat all around you.

"What is going on?" the barghest asks, looking around.

"You will be tested on your merits, my priest of the present," Jormun continues, "The past threatens to tear the future."

"He lied to me. He said I was ready," the voice says again.

"This is strange," the barghest wonders out loud. You see where his eye are catching; he looks up to the portal which is now swirling. "It's no supposed-"

"Said the one in yellow. Said the one in gray. Said the one who took my life away."

The swirls of the portal make churning noises as it sparks. Jorge backs away in fear.

"The waters don't stop running."

"The current keeps taking."

"I made my mistakes now take-"

Jormun opens his mouth and you are swallowed.

"Wake up."

Everything around you is cold, black, and empty.

 @Argos 

Argos looks around for anything that can be connected. You don't see anything out of the ordinary but you feel a little tugging in your head. Something, not really a voice, but a feeling is telling you you need to look harder. Look... where? You try to follow this sense but the more you try to hold onto it, it reminds you for that searing fire you went through before. Yet it's warmer, not painful. So, you hold on and your willpower is stronger than to let this overwhelm you. It's telling you that there's something behind the stage. 

@Macario

You search around the discarded masks for any trail of magic in them. You find... nothing. They seem perfectly normal. There is nothing else strange about the ones the people are wearing expect for the ones who seem to have been hypnotized; theirs emits a deep brown, olden type of magic. The music itself seems to also glow, like almost as if the room were covered in this cloud of ancient power. You see it directly lead towards Inra and the man onstage (and the whirlpool that seems to be tugging at your magic connection), but you can't distinguish which from which. The thing about Inra you see is that she's also covered in this glorious rainbow. Something about her... she feels paper thin almost flat. You're not sure if you're seeing the real thing.

Argos slightly moved away to check behind the stage.

Quote from SunDial365 >>

@Brodir

 

"Good," he nods. "Now, young one, I will warn you. He has taken a part of me." The snake looks off to the right though you can't see his full head. Still you just know it's there. "I am not as whole as I once was."

"The world is on a breaking point. You will be tested." 

"Tested," another voice chimes in. This was the same one as before (the blinking light from the void). "Tested." These words repeat all around you.

"What is going on?" the barghest asks, looking around.

"You will be tested on your merits, my priest of the present," Jormun continues, "The past threatens to tear the future."

"He lied to me. He said I was ready," the voice says again.

"This is strange," the barghest wonders out loud. You see where his eye are catching; he looks up to the portal which is now swirling. "It's no supposed-"

"Said the one in yellow. Said the one in gray. Said the one who took my life away."

The swirls of the portal make churning noises as it sparks. Jorge backs away in fear.

"The waters don't stop running."

"The current keeps taking."

"I made my mistakes now take-"

Jormun opens his mouth and you are swallowed.

"Wake up."

Everything around you is cold, black, and empty.

"hello again."

Wary of the whirlpool of magic around the stage, Macario tries to catch Argos's eye as he moves towards the stage and gesture to keep some distance. He then moves towards the hypnotized woman who had guided him into the ballroom, the one furthest from the stage. Trying not to be too obvious and catch her attention, (oh god stealth nat 1) he approaches the tables next to her. [[ Perception 19 to notice her noticing me? ]] Realizing that he's been spotted, Macario gives up on blending in, and simply holds his hand out to the woman. "Would you like to dance?" 

[[ why can't the dice just let me be cool for once ]]

//Dice have a beef with u hehe//

@Macario

With his signaling to Argos, Macario attempts to slink his way towards the hypnotized woman. She stares intently on the horchata in the large bowl, simply mixing the ladle around to others dismay. Though you do not see her pupils from behind the mask nor does she turn, you feel a cold shiver in your spine. It seems she spotted you. She drops the ladle. It goes into the bowl with a splash. She moves rigidly towards you, arms outstretched and jaw hanging (her teeth seem much sharper now), ready to-

"Dance?" you hear her squeak. It almost sounds real genuine. She nearly was about to grab your wrist, but then you offered it so gently, she stepped back. "Dance," she seems to meditate on this word for a bit. She firmly grasps your hand in like a handshake but then eases up to hold you just softly. She lifts her right hand up then gestures with her left a 360 of her wrist to spin. The music plays continuously in the background. She tilts her head to the right. 

"Are you... happy?" 

@Argos

((Stealth with disadvantage.  first roll 12 + 2 = 14; second roll 1 + 2 = 3... critical fail ))

You try to sneak your way into the stage while Macario provides cover. You skirt pass the hypnotized woman with ease. The door towards the backstage is only yards from you... but your clanking chain mail causes the black-masked tabaxi to turn around and stare. He slowly starts to rise up from where he was sitting, claws out, and starts making a move towards you. This alerts the attention too of the other hypnotized man who quickly jumps up.

The tabaxi attempts to wiggle around the other dancers, muttering "sorry" and "excuse me" to them. The man has less manners than him and just walks straight through which gets him a few stares. You're within his grasp, yet you're much faster. You reach the entrance in time and lucky you- it's open! You step through.

You see an open hallway. It is dark and musty. Water drips from above.

The tabaxi hisses and attempts to scratch at the door from the other side, "Off limits..." You hear them jostling with the doorknob as you lean your back against it to hold them out from behind. "You can not stay in there forever."

There doesn't seem to be a lock on this side... 

@Brodir

"Hello... again?" the voice chuckles, "I don't believe we've met?" 

You see a snow white tabaxi sitting out in front of you, legs crossed. They are short, wide-eyed, and have a very kitten like face. It's hard to tell the age of tabaxis, but if you had to guess this one is a cub. They eye you warily as they sit up, getting on their knees and leaning in. From the way you landed into this place, you've ended up on your back. The darkness below you though all consuming, feels soft, almost grassy even.

"I've never met your kind before," they say then laugh heartily, "Well, I've never really met anyone before!" They tilt their head, "What's your name? Are you trapped here... like me?" They stand up and put their hand up. Surprisingly, water drips down as they continue running their hand through the 'ceiling.' They stop only a few feet later.

"We could be best friends, you and me."

Quote from SunDial365 >>

 @Brodir

"Hello... again?" the voice chuckles, "I don't believe we've met?" 

You see a snow white tabaxi sitting out in front of you, legs crossed. They are short, wide-eyed, and have a very kitten like face. It's hard to tell the age of tabaxis, but if you had to guess this one is a cub. They eye you warily as they sit up, getting on their knees and leaning in. From the way you landed into this place, you've ended up on your back. The darkness below you though all consuming, feels soft, almost grassy even.

"I've never met your kind before," they say then laugh heartily, "Well, I've never really met anyone before!" They tilt their head, "What's your name? Are you trapped here... like me?" They stand up and put their hand up. Surprisingly, water drips down as they continue running their hand through the 'ceiling.' They stop only a few feet later.

"We could be best friends, you and me."

"could have sworn you sounded like someone I knew. I'm brodir, a bugbear. and yes, I think I am trapped."

//haha, sorry got punished by my parents that they took away my tech besides tv. Kinda understandable tbh.//

//Ah, seems like the dice has beef with me too.//

"H-hey what are you doing? There no harm done here..."