Zar had concluded it was necessary to end the seclusion in the Eastern Tower. He was wasting too much of his time dealing with the sketchy people left.
So he had agreed to let them pick costumes from the boxes of leftover props still available, in case they had not managed to bring theirs when they first came.
These people were fairly inexperienced of how parties rolled in the Castle, anyway, so it was to be expected.
The costumes available were rather skimpy and revealing, but it was a tropical themed carnival and the Castle is well heated. Also, Zar had an idea that these would somehow make evident which of
the sketchy peeps was part of the ploy to bring the party down.
The first of the remaining guests to parade her costume through the hall was elle. She had picked a somewhat flamboyant, but rather well fitting fantasy Samba School Outfit.
.
Since it didn't have any pockets, elle was forced to hand in over her ID.
Zar smiled. "It's okay" he said. "You can go to the party now. We'll forget all past transgressions. Party hard."
Elle felt relieved. She was either sick or tired of hanging out with the same people. "At least I'll share the fun!".
Then, it was SB's turn. He had obviouslt tried to pick something that could match elle's appealing costume. It seemed alright enough. A bit less revealing for someone so eager to carnival out, certainly, which Zar thought was odd.
There was something in the outfit that just seemed off to Zar. The headpiece was too big, and it fit him kind of loose? He decided to card SB until he could inspect the last of the ID's.
Thor was the last to come out of the dressers. He had certainly tried to find something that wasn't too revealing, but it looked like he had failed to find anything fitting him. Particularly bothersome of his costume was the prop he accompanied his outfit with.
So he confiscated Thor's card. Both looked relatively legit.
Zar was thus stuck with a dilemma, of whom to banish from the party. And called ellen to help him judge who was going to join her in the carnival.
Elle was a bit shocked at the picks. She was going to have to play fashion police here.
"So, elle. Tell me who you think is probably the conniving conspirationist against the Holiday Bash between these two?"
"I don't know." elle said. For one, it's like... that headpiece SB chose is probably large and loose enough to hide a bazooka in it. I think SB is hiding something. And then Thor maybe is trying to hide in the clear with that obvious weapon? This is confusing. WHY AM I STILL HERE I WANT TO PARTY!"
"Help me choose elle. I promise we'll make an event of it."
Elle's eyes narrowed, as she scrutinized every single terrible aspect of both outfits. In the end, she decided the stains in Thor's sword were probably not from tomato sauce.
"Hey!" Thor bickered. "Why can't elle hide a gun in her costume? Maybe she has an invisible lasso like Wonder Woman! Who knows! She should be here too."
"Because her ID passed the UV test." Zar responded. "You both took too long to come out so I ran it there while I waited, I just didn't say anything. Thor, I know you picked a Gladiator costume, so I've found a way to let you join the fun. How about we send you to the Lion den?"
Thor's face changed from wrath to horror. He was doomed. He could probably outlive two other sketchy guests, but certainly not a pit of hungry lions.