Hallowe'en 2008 9

"It probably means Please Turn Over," White Knight said.

"Then stop fooling around and get it turned!" scoffed the Black King.

"Alas, the enchantment is a subtle one, requiring a magician and not a humble swordsman... A stiff piece of boarding would suffice just as well."

"Just telekinettickify it," sighed Weft.

"Oh, well, if you want me to break character..." Suitov lifted a hand and turned the entire jigsaw over in one piece.

On the back were more glowing marks, in a completely incomprehensible cipher.

Suitov picked up one of the pieces to see what happened. The marks razzed at him, disappeared and wouldn't reappear until he turned the jigsaw back over, reassembled it and flipped it again.

"Is that magic notation?" Weft asked, creeping up behind him.

"Yes..." said Suitov, suspiciously.

The Joker huffed and pouted for a moment, and after a look around sat down cross-legged next to the doombeast.

"Do you have any clue about magic, beyond personal ressurection and transformation?" she asked conversationally.

"Yeah!" said the doom beast. "Here, balance a coin on my nose." He raised his sable terror muzzle expectantly.

With an amused smirk and a flourish, the Joker pulled one of the foil-wrapped chocolate coins she'd secreted out of thin air, and did what the beastie had asked.

The beast balanced it on his nose, on its edge, then with a snake-speed twitch of the jaws had it between his front teeth. Then the coin disappeared altogether. Just vanished.

Of course, it was more impressive with a real coin...

The Jester didn't mind, and applauded with a an enthusiastic, "That's neat!

"And, are you telling how it works?"

"Wait, wait a moment. Look in your shoe," said the grinning doom beast. He hoped she'd do it quickly before the chocolate melted.

Having a very similar idea, she did move quickly. The coin just felt a bit softer than before, but the wrapping still held. She lifted it to eye level between first and second finger, and looked at the doombeast expectantly.

"Taadaa," he said.

After a delighted little chuckle, the Joker deflated a bit. She took it that the beastie was not going to give the trick away - not that that was unexpected.

Rather than asking again, she shiften position so she could drape an arm around him and scratch the side of his neck, while having a look how Suitov was doing.

The doom beast cuddled the Joker enthusiastically. Fortunately, the spines in his costume were not sharp or particularly rigid.

"Well, make it do it, then," the Black King said, prodding a finger in Suitov's direction.

"It's an unknown spell. It could do anything. Casting it would be reckless, foolhardy..."

"Do as I say or I'll throw you in my dungeons." Black King looked over his shoulder. "Which, incidentally, goes for you too, dearest."

Suitov shrugged. "Sevruga mxyzzyptlk manis tricuspis fors penitencia fulgens filfre," he read.

A display of very bright and noisy fireworks began.

After a startled twitch, the Joker enjoyed the show. Since it limited her field of vision, and she was getting tired of it, anyway, she took off her mask.

In the middle of giving the Black King a most murderous look, The Black Queen flinched but didn't, to her satisfaction, look like she had almost ducked for cover. Instead the slightly startled look on her two-coloured face turned into a kind of smile. The white end of her mouth was higher than the other.

She clapped her hands together in front of herself once and held them together. Where she came from, that meant she was quite enjoying what she saw.

The White Knight was staring at the Black Queen, or rather at something just above her head, very oddly.

"Nic-- Joker, look, on your costume," the Black King said. "D'you mind if I..." He reached out a hand and pointed at something.

"Your Majesty, might I have a closer look at your crown?" the white one asked, meanwhile, after getting close enough to be heard over the pops and fizzes.

The doom beast, quite simply, was tearing around extremely excitedly and occasionally jumping up at one of the flashes, which were luckily so far up that even his dauntingly huge haunches couldn't launch him high enough.

"You may," said the Black Queen, inclining her head and making a sweeping gesture with her right hand.

"Hm, what?" Nico asked, and looked from the King to the snake.

As soon as another rocket went off, the King reached over and plucked the thing that was glittering in its light. It was a little chain of what he thought was electrum. It had been completely invisible up to now.

"Shiny?" Weft said, holding it up.

After a sweeping bow, the Knight took the crown off extremely gently and examined the jewel in the centrepiece. It came loose easily. The stone was red and obviously fake, except for the way it shone... backwards... in the light of certain flashes.

"Risifibble spud," he ordered it. The jewel surrendered its disguise. And its true face, or facets, were green and - not fake.

"Well," Suitov said, holding it out.

"Damn," said Helmine, falling out of character. At least she hadn't used a harsher word. She took the jewel and examined it with a wrinkled forehead.

What kind of party was this again? She glanced at everyone present.

"Not mine," Nico answered.

The magician, meanwhile, was looking for a servant. One of the masked crew was, as ever, hovering close by (this one literally; her feet were a centimetre off the ground).

After lighting up the emerald with one last bang, the fireworks finally died away.

"How can one have a treasure hunt without treasure?" the masked servant replied equidably to his unspoken question. "Compliments of the house. And the same goes for the other."

Suitov glanced over his shoulder to where Weft was staring at the oak-leaf decorations on the little chain.

The magician looked like he would have liked to ask a good few more questions just then, if only it weren't rude to look a gift hors... well, you know. He settled - for the moment - for giving his compliments on the fun and games.