Dead Man's Party

Dead Man's Party is a story about Koutali's stay with Finsternis in his castle in England. It can be read here.

## Background

Dead Man's Party is divided into nine parts, each corresponding with the Oingo Boingo song on the album of the same name. It was written by Techno Tinker.

## Plot

### Just Another Day

Koutali arrives at Castle Eclipse, getting a tour of the grounds from Finsternis. He is first taken to the dining hall and the kitchen, where they first meet head chef Harvey, and then Koutali and Finsternis leave to go to the garden. However, in the hallway before going outside, Koutali has a vivid vision including hearing a voice and seeing the hall stretch out before him, until he is touched by something and finds the door, running outside. He rejoins Finsternis, who appears to brush off what had happened, and they go through the garden. Finsternis talks a bit about the gardens and the livestock, then they go to eat dinner. Koutali then has another vision, this time being Finsternis' plating bleeding and crumbling away, as well as the staff members appearing to be skeletons. Near the end of their meal, Finsternis gets up and leaves to take care of personal business.

After dinner, Koutali is putting his clothes away, and believes he sees the painting on his bedroom wall move, but doubts himself and ignores it for now. A member of Finsternis' staff brings him towels for a shower, and when Koutali finishes and goes to bed, he has a nightmare about being in a hot desert with skeletons all around him. When he wakes up, a staff member calls him for breakfast, and slips an invitation to a "dead man's party" under his door.

### Dead Man's Party

Koutali, upon receiving the invitation, at first thinks it's some sort of exaggeration, and goes to breakfast. He talks to Finsternis, asking about the party, but doesn't get a clear answer, as Finsternis tells him the only way to find out is to go. Koutali asks about the visions, but doesn't get a clear answer about that either, and Finsternis leaves to set up for the party.

The next scene is a flashback to a night back at Walter Manor, in which Koutali is cooking food for himself. Finsternis comes in to watch, and the two of them hit it off in conversation, even figuring out that the two had met in Koutali's family restaurant back in Italy in the 1980s. Finsternis invites Koutali to Castle Eclipse, and he agrees.

Koutali is then once more in his room, looking for something to wear for the party. In the extra wardrobe in his room, he finds fancier clothes to wear, eventually settling on a dress before a staff member comes to bring him to the party. Before the staff member arrives, he sees himself in the mirror as a vampire, and his reflection repeats something Finsternis had said to him the night before. Once he arrives at the party, there is nobody else there, and he begins to think he may have missed it until Finsternis comes in. There is no music playing, no other guests, and no snacks on the table. Finsternis invites Koutali to dance, Lightning cracks outside, and suddenly, the rest of the guests and the music appear, all of them appearing to be ghastly skeletons, and Finsternis' faceplate is bleeding as it had at dinner the night before. Koutali, afraid, demands to know what is going on, but Finsternis laughs at him, and Koutali appears in his bed late at night.

### Heard Somebody Cry

Koutali, trying to sleep, hears a voice outside his door, and decides to get up and investigate. He sees a strange figure, presumably a ghost, and follows it through the castle and outside into the castle gardens, trying to see who it is. When it stops and turns around to reveal itself, Koutali sees that the ghost is in fact himself, and it disappears. He at first thinks this is a dream, but in failing to wake himself up, he runs back inside and goes to bed.

### No One Lives Forever

Koutali asks Finsternis to speak to him privately, and Finsternis takes him into his study. Koutali talks to him about seeing the ghost, and Finsternis explains to him that it was Koutali's soul wandering from his body. Finsternis then shows him his werewolf hunting tools and takes him out to do his nightly personal business, which is werewolf hunting. Finsternis takes the opportunity to talk to Koutali about both of their relationships with death, and how Koutali ought to enjoy the time he was given instead of wasting it being so sad all the time. Finsternis kills the werewolf they were tracking and they go home.

### Stay

Koutali, wanting to be left alone, goes into the castle library to relax. He gets up to get books to read, and encounters Finsternis, who convinces him to stay at the castle for just a while longer with the promise he would explain a few things.

### Fool's Paradise

Finsternis and Koutali talk in the study again, and this time Finsternis answers questions about the castle and himself, including how he'd came to be mechanized and how he got his fortune. Finsternis reiterates what he'd said to Koutali in the woods, and then talks about the ghosts living in the castle, and they leave to eat dinner.

### Help Me

Koutali is making his rounds at the castle when Finsternis comes in, injured. Koutali goes into the kitchen and gets Harvey to help, and he and a few other staff members bring Finsternis to a medical wing, where they tend to his wounds. Finsternis, once stable, explains to Koutali that he would die if he were turned into a werewolf, and also mentions how he had successfully been able to synthesize a cure for lycanthropy.

### Same Man I Was Before

Koutali, finally embracing the weirdness of the castle, seeing ghosts in the dining hall. Instead of being scared, he joins them in dancing.

### Weird Science

Koutali is packing his suitcase in preparation to return home to Walter Manor, and discovers the painting in his room can talk. When he is finished packing, he gets the sense that there was more at the castle to discover, and goes to Finsternis' study to investigate. He discovers a secret passage that leads to a strange laboratory, filled with notes and strange substances. Eventually, Finsternis catches him and belts him to a chair, using a bonesaw to detach all of his limbs and put him back together again. Koutali blacks out and wakes up back at Walter Manor, at first thinking his entire visit is a dream, until he goes to the kitchen and sees Finsternis leaving. Finsternis quotes something he'd said earlier, and leaves.

## Trivia

* In Heard Somebody Cry, Koutali's ghost originally said "Milos," which is what Koutali used to be known as, instead of "home." This was later changed.
* Dead Man's Party is the only character-centric album story Techno Tinker has written that does not serve as backstory.