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Freedom City’s Orpheum Theatre, The Theatre District, Freedom City

11 pm October 31st

 

A hundred years ago it was the pride of Freedom City, a magnificent Art Deco building for those interested in the newest medium of motion pictures. Closed in the ’70s the building had fallen into disrepair and many sadly thought the building would soon be demolished for a newer more practical (but bland) building put in its places. Then a year ago it was revealed that the Summers Foundation had gained the building (through the ownership by Summers Advanced Dynamics) and were planning to restore it to its former glory.

 

Now the building was was opening and in honour of the time of year, the cinema was going to show a series of classic horror movies and someone had the idea to invite the more “monstrous” heroes of Freedom City. With a promise of big donations to various charities from the first night's box office.

 

For now, those invited heroes were being allowed to gather in the foyer to have a chance to socialise among themselves before any other guests were bought in for the movies to begin.

 

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Lucy Harker

Looking up at the movie posters mounted on the wall Lucy mused that she was actually older than these classics, except for Nosferatu that made her frown due to her own origins. In fact she remembered coming to the Orpheum on a date, nice kid, they made it in about a third of the way through Lure of Ambition. That was it she was hooked watching through the rest of the movies and through the whole movie again. She’d even style her hair after the main actress, Theda Bara, though she didn’t expect to still have it a hundred years later.

 

To Theda Bara!” she smiled and raised her glass, she didn’t need to drink but she was being polite.

 

Never one to dwell on the past to long she turned around to look at the others that were attending this gathering.

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GHOST

 

Casper still wasn't sure why he had gotten the invitation. 

 

Monstrous, scary heroes of Freedom? Yeah, sure, he called himself Ghost, but that was just a name, y'know. Obviously somebody thought it was something more than that, but still... he felt kind of out of place here.

 

He had pulled his white mask up over his mouth, his goggles hanging around his neck, a drink in his hand, while he looked around and just generally felt out of place there.

 

But hey, free movies at least, right?

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Horrorshow

 

"To Theda!," a voice behind Lucy repeated.

 

She knew there would be all sorts of tonight's show, and Lucy had certainly seen a lot in her time.  But when she saw who had just spoken, it may still have been a surprise.  The figure's torso was gaunt, wrapped loosely in yellowed linen bandages.  Its left leg was lean, covered in green scales, and ended in a webbed, clawed foot, while the right leg was powerfully muscles, covered in fur, and in a digitigrade configuration, ending in a clawed foot.  The left arm looked to be completely skeletal, though she soon realized the flesh & muscle of that arm were transparent, while the right arm and hand appeared to be made from a hodgepodge of human parts, sewn together in a manner emphasizing form over function.  The head was relatively normal, the eyes and nose covered by a white porcelain mask, covering skin that was almost as pale, leaving his slicked-back widow's peak hair and fanged mouth with blood dribbling from the corners visible.

 

"She may not have exactly been a horror icon," he continued, "but she was a great Vamp!"  He extended the Frankenstein hand to her, "have we met before?  I could swear I've seen you somewhere before.  I'm Horrorshow, though tonight I'm... The Universal Horrorshow!"

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Grimalkin

 

There was a strange hiss, and suddenly everyone became aware of a striking figure who hadn't been there a moment ago, the fae heroine Grimalkin made up as the wide-eyed Bride of Frankenstein, lightning bolt Nefertiti hair and all! Her head jerked this way and that like a frightened bird until a she grabbed a flute of champagne from the tray of a passing waiter, and raised it in salute with a wide smile.

 

"To Theda Bara!"

 

After draining it in one gulp, she moved much more gracefully, the Bride's newborn stiffness shifting easily into her own relaxed gait. Spotting the somewhat out of place Ghost, she sidled up to him with a grin.

 

"Well if it isn't our friendly neighborhood specter! Are you a horror movie fan, Mr. Ghost?"

Edited by Heritage
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Shadowborne

 

Muirne was kicking herself for arriving late, armour clinking slightly as she entered, her shadows washing over her, causing her eyes to glow green as the outline of her person was obscured by writhing darkness. Little motes of the stuff trailer behind her as she moved, winking out after a few moments away from the source.

 

Normally she wouldn't have bothered with the... Dark-show? But the invitation had been for the 'monstrous heroes of Freedom City' which was a title she supposed she deserved. But that was why she wasn't just going to be normal Muirne tonight, and while the pain of using her power like that was ever present, it was better than the alternative.

 

She wasn't going to let Aoife out at a party.

 

With that last thought- and Murphy unintentionally yet never the less thoroughly tempted- Muirne arrived to a chorus of "To Theda Bara"s. She had no clue who that was, and hoped her silence wouldn't be taken as rude.

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Lucy Harker

And yet everyone remembers him!” she gestured at the poster of Nosferatu “Personally I always preferred Carmilla, shame Theda never got a chance to play her.”

 

She turned and smiled at Horrowshow, all smile and charm.

 

I’m Lucy Harker, attorney-at-law and occasional superhero.” she shook his hand holding back her full strength “That a pretty good costume, though I’m more a Hammer Horror girl myself! I should really have done a costume tonight, I guess I could take off these…” she gestured to her sunglasses “But the black eyed look is a little cliché!”

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GHOST

 

Casper paused for a brief second when someone adressed him. Alright, that was... Grimalkin, right? Former Interceptor or something like that? He didn't think he'd met her before, but she sounded kinda familiar. Then again, the whole Freedom League Aux membership had put him more in the spotlight than ever.

 

"Grimalkin, right?" 

 

He tipped his glass to her briefly.

 

"Sure, I like 'em well enough, but y'know, looking around, I kinda feel like somebody thought I was a real ghost or something like that. And I kinda feel like I should've put something more on. But, y'know. Party's a party, right?"

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Horrorshow

 

Davyd nodded to Muirne, vaguely recognizing the her as one of the students who'd arrived the same year he graduated.  "Hey!  Shadow... Shadowburn, yeah?  How're things at Claremont?"

 

He turned back to Lucy and shrugged, "well, yeah, people tend to remember the villains, especially in horror flicks.  Though at least in his case," he nodded towards the poster of Max Schreck, "his monstrous nature was limited to his on-screen portrayal.  In the remake, with Kinski..," he exhaled slowly as he trailed off.  Then a sharp intake at Lucy's next comment, "oh, yes!  Theda would've been great as Carmilla!"  He smiled at the comment on his appearance, "thanks!  I did it all myself!," he said, unable to quite hide a grin at his half-joke.  "It took me some time to get this together.  Tricky part was sticking with just the classic Universal Monsters.  I had thought of doing my head up like The Fly's, or one arm be a big plant like from Little Shop of Horrors, but those aren't Universal.  Ohh, Hammer's got a good stable of monsters, too!  I may have to do that next year," he said, his mind already spinning out possible combinations.

 

He nodded to the Bride of Frankenstein and to Ghost, then did a double-take.  "Grim?  Grimalkin, is that you!  Hey!"  His porcelain (well, bone) half-mask shifted and peeled back, and she was instantly able to recognize the Ukrainian-American metamorph (despite the Dracula fangs), "it's been a while, yeah?  How've you been?"

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"Ah, so no supernatural in your super powers? Yeah, your name probably threw them off." Grim frowned and looked Ghost critically up and down. "Well, I suppose I could at least help you out with the costume part, Cinderella." A long thin silver wand appeared in her free hand, and she made a sort swirling gesture with it. "Bippity-boppity-boo!" 

 

Streamers of grey mist coiled around the startled superhero, solidifying into moldy, decrepit bandages wrapped over his costume, snug but still comfortable and a bit elastic, transforming Ghost into a classic mummy! Despite his ghastly appearance, the fae heroine made the seemingly rotten wrappings smell slightly of a pine forest out of consideration to all those present.

 

Grim dismissed her magic wand with a wave of her hand and nodded in satisfaction. "There we go, now you're the belle of the ball!"

 

Noticing Davyd's arrival, the shapeshifter smiled warmly in happy surprise. "Davyd! You look amazing!" She leaned in and gave him a firm hug; she was much taller than usual in this costume, due to either shapeshifting, serious platform shoes under her white shroud or both. Finally releasing him, she beamed with pride and spoke in perfect Ukrainian. <"Congratulations on escaping from high school! You did it!"> She raised her glass, now mysteriously refilled with champagne, in a toast. "Mazel tov!"

 

In response to the recent graduate's question, the Bride sighed and switched back to English as she watched the bubbles rise up in her glass. "Better, now. I, uh...had to take some time off from hero work the last two years; health crisis in the family." Then she took a deep breath, downed her champagne in a gulp and smiled, though her eyes twinkled with barely-suppressed tears. "But now I'm jumping back in with both feet, and looking forward to getting into some trouble. How about you? Any college plans?"

Edited by Heritage
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GM Post

 

The air seemed to tingle and for those with any magical sense something had changed, but there wasn’t time to worry about that as changes were also happening at the Orpheum. A fog rolled into the room, not the unnatural smoke of a machine but the damp misty air from nature. As it did the room filled with darkness as all colour seemed to drain from the world, until you seemed to be in a black and white world. Then shapes started to form in the shape of tree’s, but the perspective seemed off they looked like props in an old movie going off into the distance in an Expressionistic style.

 

More worryingly up the hill you were now on there was a small crowd making there way towards you. With torches raised and pitchfork in hand you couldn’t help but conclude that this is your traditional mob.

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(Universal) Horrorshow

 

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," he responded to Grimalkin's news of family health issues, offering a sympathetic look, "but good to hear you're getting back to... well, I don't know if 'normal' is the right word," he chuckled, "but, back to more a familiar place.  No, no college plans yet.  I'd thought about going to FSU, but mom talked me into going back to work... at... the..."

 

He trailed off as he noticed the shift to their surroundings, and to himself, which was also shifting to a black-and-white mode.  He tried to stop his transformation, to will the color back into his limbs, but to no avail. 

 

"Okay, so," he quickly addressed Grim, Ghost, and Lucy, "best case scenario, this is probably just some hologram.  Worst case, we're actually in some sort of mindscape, if not another dimension.  Question is, do we get out by playing along, or by going off-script?  Either way," he looked around, trying to see if any of the other attendees had changed as he had, "I'm pretty sure I saw some kids and teens here that will need our help."

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GHOST

 

"Bippity?" Casper replied with just a little bit of hesitation before he realized what Grimalkin was up to, his lips twisting into a slight grin as he bandages appeared all around him. "Yeah. Alright, this does look good."

 

He decided to let the Grimalkin and the Claremont kid reconnect, while sipping his glass. Davyd? He couldn't place him at all. He really should look into any Freedom League files on the recent Claremont kids at some point, but then again, that might be frowned on? Or not? Be prepared and all that.

 

Casper opened his mouth to offer his sympathies to Grimalkin for family health crisis. The pain of losing his mother a few years ago still lingered, he hoped it wasn't anything that bad, but...

 

Then everything changed. Everything was black and white, angry mobs, everything. It was... 

 

"Somebody put us into one of the movies, didn't they?"

 

Black and white didn't really do a lot of difference to his usual costume, but everything else...

 

Casper quickly pulled his mask down to cover his mouth with one hand, then pulled his goggles up and turned them on. If this was just some illusion, then maybe...

 

"Uh, right, so, those guys? Looks like they're really there, bones and all, not some kind of illusion."

 

Angry mob, then, coming for them, and the kids that Davyd mentioned. He leaned down, touched the ground, making it intangible under as much of the mob as he could reach and letting them sink in into their knees. Should give them a moment, at least.

 

"First we keep the kids safe, then we figure out what's going on, yeah?" He motioned to Davyd. "Sorry, kid, but I got no idea who you are. What do you want me to call you? Figure you'd rather we use our made up names when we go around saving people."

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"Ohhhh, this can't be good," muttered Grim as the color began to bleed out of herself and the world. "I hate getting sucked into stories!" Noting the angry villagers on their way, she first waved a hand to dismiss the bandages from around the Ghost. Then she quickly assumed her costumed identity (great, another teenage super!) before fading from view. Her voice came softly out of the air itself.

 

"I'm still here, guys! I'm going to try and misdirect them, you go help the kids!"

 

The fae heroine then snuck towards the mob to get a better idea of their motives and fears.

Edited by Heritage
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Shadowborne

 

Muirne blinked as the world swam put of and into focus on a different scene. A year ago she would have been panicking like no tomorrow, but she'd time travelled, fought demons, time travelled again and generally survived being at Claremont.

 

She was even dating a dragon.

 

Instead of panicking she grit her teeth and made herself useful. She surveyed the crowd, seeing them all normally, if in black and white, while also seeing a small sea of lives. She could make cover by darkening the area, it would also make it incredibly cold, and she didn't know if anyone here could see in the dark.

 

She could try to make everyone invisible, but that required physical contact. Impractical with this number of people. And stabbing them all with her spear would not be practical.

 

So, she channeled her shadows forwards into a channel of grasping darkness to supplement... The other person's snaring. She heard him asking about names and decided to reply. "I'm Shadowborne. What's your hero name?"

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Lucy Harker
Of all of them Lucy had changed the least, her visage being almost black and white at the best of time. Still keeping others comfortable wasn’t going to be necessary so she took off her sunglasses to show her coal black eyes. With the grain of old film they sparkled and shifted making them seem worse than her regular look. They still showed her what she normal noticed, and maybe even a little bit more.

 

None of them are undead, but it all tinged with necromancy. Which is ironic as I’m probably going to be burned as one of the un-dead. despite the seriousness, and weirdness, of all this she was pretty calm about the whole thing. Even if the fire wasn’t exactly her most favourite thing.

 

She then took off with the other helping them get the younger members of the mob and keeping them safe from harming the heroes or themselves.

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GM Post
With the combined effort of the heroes they managed to subdue the mob, without causing them any harm. The world didn’t changed from it’s black and white goodness, and it took a few seconds to work out why they hadn’t yet left for the colourful real world.

 

Slowly drifting from the far distance was a single figure, floating a few inches from the ground. The slow incessant movement including spooky diegetic music started to building an unnatural sense of dread in those heroes who could feel such thing.

 

Those of a more analytic nature might recognize the figure from an obscure version of Dracula from the Golden Age of cinema. One of Dracula’s wives dressed in billowy robes. Real experts in the genre might know the actors names, Lauren Hammond, a few more up on super powered foes might know her with a different name, Silver Scream.

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GHOST

 

"Eh. Happens to all of us at some point," Casper shouted after Grimalkin as she disappeared into the crowds. This wasn't his first rodeo, so they just had to figure out how this was happening. Grimalkin being within the crowds just meant he had to focus a bit, making sure that he didn't make the ground under her feet swallow her along with everyone else... but at least his X-Ray goggles helped track her.

 

With Shadowborne asking him his name, he raised an eyebrow behind his mask, not that she could really show it. Really? He'd even joined the Freedom League, and people still didn't recognize him half the time. Alright, he'd deal. "Just the friendly neighborhood Ghost."

 

Aaand somebody called out necromancy. Great. It was magic. Casper really didn't have the best track record with magic in the first place, so of course he'd end up in the middle of something like that, and then somebody dressed like some kind of Dracula's wife showed up.

 

Casper stared at her for a long moment, then threw up his hands. "Aaand of course it's a ghost. Any of you magic types got any idea what her deal is?"

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Horrorshow

 

"Good work, good work!," Davyd cheered on his fellow heroes.  So far, so good...

 

Then he saw her, and reflexively shifted back to his 'civilian' form.  The form he was in when he first saw her on a big screen.

 

"I don't know much about magic," he replied to Ghost, a large grin spreading across his face, "but I know exactly who that is!"  He turned to the others, practically vibrating with excitement, "that's Lauren Hammond!  One of the earliest 'Scream Queens'!  The first Non-Blonde American Scream Queen!  Well, it's her ghost, probably -- Miss Hammond passed away about 70 years ago!"

 

He turned and waved at the figure, and started to approach her.  "Hello, Miss Hammond!," he called out, "it's an honor to meet you!  And on Halloween, no less!"

 

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Grimalkin

 

As Horrorshow began to eagerly wave at the spectral movie star, Grim suddenly appeared to his right out of thin air. She'd never faced Hammond herself, but she had done her research into supernatural threats.

 

"I'd be careful, Horrorshow; this lady's killed before! Think less Ghostbusters and more Dead By Daylight!"

 

Altering the density of her own body, the shapeshifter floated slowly up in the air and towards the deceased starlet.

 

"What do you want here, Silver Scream?"

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Revenant

Despite her career being after her first passing Lucy had caught up with most of the movies. One of the advantages of not needing to sleep was all that time to catch up on things.

 

“Why is it always vampires?” she added with a sigh “Besides I thought sister number three played her part much better!”

 

She had been helping rescue the more innocent, though the younger heroes seem to have the matter in hand when this new wrinkle appeared on the horizon.

 

“This is at least going to be interesting to see what she has planned now.”

 

Expecting trouble Lucy struck a pose ready to fight as needed.

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GM Post

“These entrances are so tedious, but the fans expect such things,” she spoke with one of those weird accents you only heard in Goldern Age movies “But now I think it’s time for a scene change.”

 

With a wave of her hand and a screen wipe, you were in what looked to be an old mansion or castle. At least the type seen in a hundred black and white horror movies. You were all sat at a large oak table with your host at the head of the table lounging in a big throne-like chair.

 

“I tire of these games and wish to stay here for a while, but it seems that someone alive must fuel my kingdom!” she waved a hand as if it was like some tiresome business of etiquette.

 

“Either one of you must volunteer to stay or I choose one from the mob you secured...”

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Horrorshow

 

Davyd seemed unfazed by the sudden shift of scene, thanks both to his own malleable nature and his love of horror movies.  His outfit had shifted to fancy dinner dress, black tail coat over a white shirt, cotton vest/waistcoat, and bow tie, high-waisted black trousers and black patent leather Oxford shoes.  He raised a glass to their hostess-captor, "a marvelous show, simply marvelous!"  He spoke with the same Mid-Atlantic accent Hammond used, "such attention to detail!  The shadows, the chills -- terrific!  But, why would you want to give this all up?"  He lowered his glass and tilted his head, "you're really showing your range of talent not, and you can do so much more!  Would you really give all this up, just to live in... New Jersey?  Much has changed much since you were last here."

 

Really wish I had some of that Grue telepathy, to better coordinate with the others.  But maybe they'll pick up what I'm putting down...

 

"And I don't just mean the city -- the people, too!"  He gestured to the other heroes, "they view the type of horror you've known as passé, a quaint amusement.  Monsters just don't scare people like they use to," he said with a touch of regret.  "Oh, you still have your admirers, certainly," he turned back to her and nodded respectfully, "and they already flock to you, revere you in their own way.  But would you really want to come out here, and learn an entirely different type of acting?  And if you did leave, and one of us took your place... how do you know we'd give it back?  You might not be able to return to your kingdom -- do you really want to take that chance?  To lose your starring role, and become another unnamed extra in the background?"

 

Hammond was a diva in life, maybe this will get her to back down.

 

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GHOST

 

"Oh. Great. A ghost then." Casper was completely deadpan when Horrorshow explained who the ghost woman was.

 

And then the scene shifted, they were now in a castle at a big table. And what a chair she had.

 

And... and this Horrorshow kid? He was good. Casper grinned slightly behind his mask. Yeah. The good old talk their heads off trick. He either knew a lot about the undead diva here, or he was playing a hunch. Either way, sure. Ghost could back him up.

 

"Kid's got a point, y'know. I mean, look at me. I'm basically a ghost, nobody's getting scared of me. Hell, people barely seem to notice me most of the time. You really wanna settle down and just have everyone ignore you?"

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  • 2 weeks later...

Grimalkin

 

Grim wasn't exactly sure what angle everyone was playing right now, but the one thing everybody seemed to be gunning for was getting under the lady's skin. And that something the changeling was really good at.

 

"Okay, fine, I'll volunteer," the petite heroine declared with a sigh as she held up her hand. "I mean, let's be honest, if you've seen one Lauren Hammond performance, you've seen them all!"

 

Suddenly Grim shifted into the form of the actress herself, wearing a particularly cheap looking Shakespearean costume, complete with badly-fitted wig. This was a bargain basement Juliet.

 

"Romeo, OH Romeo? Wherefore ART thou, Romeo? Blah blah blah!"

 

The fae was pulling faces right out of an old Looney Tunes short.

Edited by Heritage
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