Inside of the house was definitely some kind of party going.
The Crystal Maiden knocked again, this time louder. The door was opened by a troll but before Rylai could say anything, he opened it wider and motioned them inside. "Hey, come in, the party just started and we have way too little females here." The troll had a shirt with bones drawn on it on and he was painted like a skeleton in the face.
"Okay, thank you!" Rylai wanted to step inside, but Lanaya took hold of her arm to stop her. "You want to go into the house of a troll to a party, surely with many more trolls?"
"Um, I suppose you want me to say no."
"Come on!" the troll who had opened the door wanted to grab the Maiden's other arm, probably to pull her inside of the house, but the Templar Assassin pulled her a step back.
The Maiden sighed. "Okay." Then she focused on the troll. "Is the Witch Doctor here?"
"Zharvakko? Since it's his party I highly assume he'll be here. Don't know if he's sober enough to come to the door. I'll give it a try."
Through the open door they could see several trolls dancing to what they probably called music. They were all wearing costumes. Lanaya could see a ghost, a mummy, a pumpkin and several trolls that were disguised as nightelves. A sabretooth came towards them then, together with the troll who had opened them the door. The sabretooth-troll staggered and leaned onto the other troll so he didn't topple over.
In front of them, he pulled the hood (which was the face of the sabretooth) away from his face and grinned at them. "Hello, I'm Zharvakko. You coming to join my party?"
The Crystal Maiden grinned back. "I'd really love to, but we have to decline. We're just doing some Trick or Treating."
"DUCK!"
Before Rylai could react to the shout from some troll inside of the house, Lanaya had hauled her to the side, away from the open doorway. A split second later, something big flew past them and landed on the ground with a dull thud and a groaning sound. The Assassin was ready to protect the Maiden before the body had even hit the ground, but it wasn't necessary. It hadn't been an attack but more like a misunderstanding which had obviously been solved by kicking one of the trolls out of the house. The creature struggled to his feet, swaying and almost falling face first into the dirt again, before he made an obscene gesture towards the house and walked away on wobbly legs.
The Witch Doctor looked around the door frame. "Ah, you are all right. That's good. It hurts to get hit by a fully grown troll. They are quite heavy." He stepped out of the house, still (or again) grinning. The other troll looked over his shoulder, seemingly curious. "So, you want some treats. I don't know if the barbarians left anything eatable but just wait."
He pulled the other troll with him inside, so he could hang onto his arm as he walked.
"It looks like the party is fun."
"No." The Templar Assassin would under no circumstances go inside a house where a troll party took place. Except maybe to kill them all. But definitely not to party with them.
The Crystal Maiden laughed. "It does, but I suppose your 'no' meant that it doesn't matter because we won't go inside anyway."
"Actually, it meant that it doesn't look like fun."
"Lame!"
The Templar Assassin narrowed her eyes but just as she wanted to reply to that (though she wasn't sure what to say, because of course Rylai was right, she was kind of lame, at least from the Maiden's point of view), the Witch Doctor stepped out of the doorway, still hanging on the arm of the other troll, with a small bag in his hands.
"I scraped the rests together and packed a bag for you!" He leaned forward a little and the other troll held him so he didn't lose his balance. "I made it because you are so cute and friendly. Not like her." He nodded towards the Assassin. He whispered but was still too loud not to be heard. "Don't give her anything from the sweets, they're only for you."
"Thank you!" The Maiden leaned forward, too, lowering her voice. "And don't worry, she's too uptight to eat sweets."
Lanaya narrowed her eyes even more, until they were only small slits. So now she was lame and uptight. Just perfect.
"Happy Halloween. And I wish you a good party." Rylai straightened and then waved as they walked back to the griffon. The Witch Doctor waved back. He waved so enthusiastically, that the other troll had to hold him, again, to keep him standing.
"You know that it is only fun, don't you?" Rylai asked before she mounted their ride. "When I call you lame and uptight? Because I don't care and I love you the way you are. You keep me out of trouble that way because joining the party would have probably been a bad idea. A very bad idea. Your calm is like an anchor for me and even if I call you lame I don't really want you to change it. You know?"
The Maiden looked a little worried but of course Lanaya knew all that. "It's fine." She smiled at Rylai. "I know you don't want me to change. But you could show me what the Witch Doctor gave you. Because there are some sweets that I do like to eat. Such as…"