Chapter One Hundred and Ten: Permanent Vacancy

Player Stats:

Player

Plot Armor

Mettle

Moxie

Hustle

Savvy

Grit

Riley

24/2

3

7

4

7

3

Antoine

21

5

4

5

1

6

Kimberly

19

3

6

4

1

5

Dina

19 2 3 4 3 7

Bobby

17 2 3 4 3 4

Players’ Tropes:

Riley Lawrence is the Film Buff.

“Trope Master” grants him the ability to perceive enemy tropes, but at the cost of sacrificing half of his Plot Armor.

“Cinema Seer” buffs the Savvy and Grit of his allies when they hear him predict cinematic and impactful plot elements.

As an “Oblivious Bystander,” Riley remains untargeted by enemies as he convincingly acts oblivious to their presence.

“Escape Artist” buffs his Hustle to help enact plausible escape plans.

Drawing on his upbringing, “Raised by Television” enhances relevant stats when Riley takes larger-than-life or cinematic action inspired by TV or movies, though it often attracts a downturn in fortune soon afterward.

“Director’s Monitor” allows him to watch the rest of the storyline after his demise via Deathwatch.

“Flashback Revelation” allows him to communicate with allies from Deathwatch through flashbacks to his past dialogue.

“Dead Man Walking” buffs his Grit after receiving an injury or condition that guarantees his death, stretching out his last moments.

He did not equip “My Grandmother Had the Gift…,” “Coming To A Theater Near You,” “I Don’t Like It Here…,”“Out Like a Light,” “Location Scout,” or “Casting Director.”

Kimberly Madison is the Eye Candy.

“Convenient Backstory” allows her to believably change her backstory to assist with the current task, buffing the relevant stat.

“Social Awareness” allows her to see the Moxie stat of all enemies and NPCs.

“Get a Room!” boosts the odds of important discoveries when exploring with a love interest during the party.

“A Hopeless Plea” forces the captor to explicitly deny her release when she asks to be released.

“Pregnancy Reveal” buffs her Grit when she pretends that she is pregnant and buffs the father’s Mettle if she dies.

“When in Rome” buffs her Grit until Rebirth if her performance matches the tone of the movie.

“Does anyone have a scrunchy?” allows her to shift Moxie’s points into another stat by putting her hair up.

She will be targeted for First Blood because “Looks Don’t Last,” but the longer she survives, the weaker the enemies get.

She did not equip “Carousel Academy Awards,” “Breaking the Veil of Silence,” or “That’s What I Said!”.

Antoine Stone is the Athlete.

His “You were having a nightmare…” trope allows him to repress or heal mental trauma (he is not strong enough to use its plot-resetting powers yet).

“Gym Rat” buffs Mettle and Hustle by revealing athletic backstory.

“It’s Part of the Uniform” gives him higher Mettle when attacking with sports equipment.

“Just Walk It Off” heals the Hobbled status by walking.

“Knight in Shining Armor” buffs his Mettle and Grit when defending a love interest.

“Time Out!” allows him to go Off-Screen during a fight, reducing enemy aggression.

Brandishing a weapon is “Like a Security Blanket,” buffing his Grit and soothing his and his allies’ fear, whereas swinging a weapon will temporarily halt an enemy’s attack because of “Swing Away.”

He did not equip “Everyone Loves a Winner,”“The Playbook”, “Reload After Cut.” or “Bad Luck Magnet.”

Dina Cano is the Outsider.

“Guarded Personality” resists all insight abilities.

“An Outsider’s Perspective” alerts her to new, out-of-place, or unusual information.

“Better Late Than Never” buffs Mettle and Hustle if she waits until the Finale to assist allies On-Screen against the enemy.

“A Haunted Past” allows her to equip various tickets related to past trauma.

“Encouragement from Beyond” soothes her when stressed, scared, or in pain and may provide useful information.

“Outside Looking In” grants her the ability to discern ideal spots to linger and observe events without actively participating in the narrative.

“They Fell Off” allows her to quickly get out of handcuffs and similar restraints.

She can leave physical or mental messages in the story that her allies can detect when in the location she left them with “Pen Pal.”

Bobby Gill is the Wallflower

Background Noise

Type: Insight

Archetype: Wallflower

Aspect: Extra

Stat Used: Moxie

In the movies, background characters spend their time having muffled conversations at the edge of frame that will never be heard by the viewers of the film. They could be talking about anything.

With this trope equipped, the player will have a heightened chance of getting background information about a storyline from NPCs as long as the conversation takes place off-screen and the NPC. The information will only be related to things that NPC would plausibly know and be willing to say. The information cannot be repeated On-Screen without finding a canon source for how the players learned it. Doing so may mutate the story to make the information false.

Background characters have to be talking about something, why not something useful?

The Good Samaritan

Type: Buff

Archetype: Wallflower

Aspect: Extra

Stat Used: Moxie

When a character has had a run-in with the antagonist and ends up injured, scared, and alone, sometimes it is the actions of unnamed strangers who make all the difference. They are the crowd that the character escapes into, the anonymous 911 caller who gets the police called, or, as in this case, the passerby who engages with the killer, even to their demise.

With this trope equipped, the player gets a Buff to their Mettle and Grit if they act to help a teammate in a dire situation. It only works if they have not interacted with the teammate on-screen at that point.

If everyone was this brave and self-sacrificing, there wouldn’t be horror movies.

The “Wisdom” of Crowds

Type: Insight

Archetype: Wallflower

Aspect: Extra

Stat Used: Moxie

In a stressful situation, strangers can come together and… panic. In a survival scenario, groups of people are often less able to react effectively than individuals. They often dismiss harsh realities, rally against even reasonable ideas, and form tribes for arbitrary reasons.

When the player equips this trope, they will be able to collect opinions about the next course of action from a crowd of NPCs. Most of the ideas will be reactionary and unusable, but the crowd can still produce important information and even some solid plans. The player will have to sort them out.

Some decisions shouldn’t be made by committee.

Last-Minute Casting

Type: Rule

Archetype: Wallflower

Aspect: Recast

Stat Used: N/A

The actor we had hired to play one of the minor roles in the storyline is out with the flu. We just need someone to fill in, any takers?

With this trope equipped, the player will instantly be assigned a moderately important NPC role. They will have no choice in the matter. They will receive limited access to the character script when playing the role but will have access to what they need to play the role. The role itself will give them a fresh vantage point on the story.

All you have to do is stand there and look scared, got it?

From Humble Beginnings

Type: Rule/Buff

Archetype: Wallflower

Aspect: Underdog

Stat Used: Moxie

Everyone loves an underdog story. Unfortunately, the first step of climbing up out of the mud is being thrown in the mud in the first place.

With this trope equipped, the player’s stats will receive a 30% debuff in the Party. However, their stats will raise 15% of their original amount in Rebirth, then again in the Finale, and then once more in the Final Battle.

If you can stick around long enough, you might just get the hang of this.

Craft Services Are The Real Heroes

Type: Perk

Archetype: —

Aspect: —

Stat Used: —

There can be no movie without food for the actors. Behind every production on the silver screen are the hard-working craft service professionals who ensure there is always plenty of food to snack on.

With this trope equipped, food and beverages will be guaranteed to be found on the set of the story. If the story already had them, they will be of even better quality. This food will be available to Players wherever it best makes sense in the narrative.

After all, you shouldn’t run from a zombie on an empty stomach.

And That’s Lunch.

Type: Perk

Archetype: Wallflower

Aspect: Recast

Stat Used: —

After a long stretch of filming, sometimes you just need to take a break.

With this trope equipped, scene breaks will last longer, extending the time before players are required to return to the set. The Player themselves will be able to see a countdown timer until it is time to return.

Just be sure you make it back on time or the Director will lose his cool.

He also had a trope called, “The Hidden Infection” that would delay negative effects of an infection as long as the player kept knowledge of the infection secret. However, once uncovered, the player would feel the effects rapidly. It worked on all kinds of infections, from zombie bites to possession. Pretty cool.

“Don’t see much use for this one,” He said as he unequipped it.

I had to agree. Everything we knew about this storyline told us it was not supernatural.

The thing is, we couldn’t use any of our scouting tropes until the Omen actually showed up, which was tricky because the Omen in this case was just the NPC running at us for help.

We waited in front of the wrought iron fence for the NPC to show up. I looked over at the sign on the gate down the road. I could see the name of the bed and breakfast, but its slogan was difficult to read because the bottom of the sign had been damaged.

I wondered if I was supposed to figure this out long ago. Could we have gotten to this part sooner?

“Even if this doesn’t work out, we aren’t going to let it stop us, right?” Antoine said.

No one said anything, so I said, “Right.”

There were so many stories of players just giving up when their leads led them in circles. Most of those players didn’t have a mysterious benefactor guiding their every move though, right?

“You don’t have to be the First Blood sac if you don’t want to,” Antoine said to Kimberly.

“No, I’ll do it,” she said. “I have to.”

The tension was building as we waited for the NPC to make her way to us.

Eventually, we heard her in the distance. I heard a hound in the distance.

She burst through the thick underbrush just as I remembered her. She was young and scared out of her mind.

Her pace was so frantic that she ran right into the gate, leaving a gash on her forehead.

On the red wallpaper, her name was “Samantha Cole, a Stranger in Need.”

She was level 50 and like all level 50 NPCs I had seen before her, she had tropes on the red wallpaper that I could not decipher.

Quickly, I equipped all of my scouting tropes that would work outside of storylines.

“I don’t like it here…” told me that we triggered the Omen by trying to open the gate. The difficulty was “This is scaring me,” which meant it was tough but not impossible.

“Location Scout” told me there were 13 rooms in the bed and breakfast. It had all the normal places a B&B would have. A dining room, porch, kitchen, etc. The only location that interested me was called the “Graves.”

I quickly relayed this to my friends.

Bobby’s final trope was a Wallflower ability called “Cattle Call”, which was a term used for the mass casting of extras in a movie. It was a scouting trope that let him know how many NPCs were in a storyline, though the insights it gave varied in utility.

This time, however, it gave pretty solid intel.

“There are only two NPCs in this storyline,” he said. He looked bewildered.

He didn’t need to take that trope into the storyline with him.

I didn’t bother with Casting Director because this story didn’t appear that complicated from that perspective. I equipped everything I needed for a run. It was time to go.

~-~

“There’s a gate down that direction,” I yelled to her. “Run.”

She looked in the direction I pointed and started to move that way. “They have another guy in the basement. My dad. Please help,” she screamed as she booked it toward the gate.

We followed her along.

When we got to the gate… we were in trouble.

Antoine had brought a pair of bolt cutters so that we could get the gate open. They were in his back pocket… until they weren’t.

The needle on the plot cycle was on Choice. Carousel had taken them away and I knew why.

The gate had a trope. The last time I had seen something like this was the Astralist’s machine, which warned of its indestructibility.

The gate, however, had a different trope.

Time Suck

This plot device cannot be used within the time frame you would like.

“Look for a rock. We’re going to have to bust the lock,” I said.

Dina grabbed the lock and started trying to pick it with what looked like a bobby pin. She wasn’t having any luck.

“Hurry!” Samantha screamed, “They’re coming!”

I looked around. We were meant to open the gate. It was just going to take a while.

“Got one!” Kimberly yelled.

I turned to look. She had found a large rock, probably the biggest rock Antoine could lift realistically.

“It’s too big!” Samantha yelled.

“No,” Antoine said, “I’m a weightlifter. Just give me a second.”

His Mettle rose 2 points and his Hustle rose 1. It had been a while since I was around for him to activate Gym Rat.

He hefted the large stone, carried it over to the lock, and struck it hard with the stone.

I was confident that this was going to work. But it didn’t work fast enough.

He struck the lock one final time and it burst open. We were in.

The needle on the plot cycle switched to Party.

“No!” Samantha screamed as two men approached her from behind. I hadn’t even seen them. They wore bandanas around their faces as masks, though I wasn’t certain they were to hide their identities. The masks were covered in dirt.

One of them, a large one with a yellow bandana, grabbed Samantha and hauled her back in the direction they came.

The other one was thinner and looked very worried. He stared at us like a deer caught in the headlights. I could see him reaching for something in his pocket, but he was hesitant.

I could still hear the sounds of dogs in the distance, but I couldn’t see any.

Before he removed whatever it was, a light hit his face. A car was coming from the direction of Carousel.

I turned to look. When I looked back at the masked assailant, he was gone.

I wasn’t able to see either of them on the red wallpaper except for the title, “Grave Robber.”

I looked back at the headlights. Their yellow color was soon drowned out by red and blue.

“The cops?” Dina asked.

I wasn’t expecting that.

The very old model squad car approached the gate quickly. Soon, both doors opened, and out stepped two men.

One wore a sheriff’s hat and uniform, though the uniform was dirty. On the red wallpaper, his name was “Sherriff Randall Halloway.”

He held a gun out toward us. He was a man in his late thirties. He had a serious expression on his face. I had no doubt he would shoot us if given the opportunity.

The other man was wearing civilian clothing and a trucker hat. He brandished a gun. His name on the red wallpaper was “Deputy Bradley Speirs.”

“Get on the ground!” the sheriff screamed. He sounded wickedly serious. “Get on the ground and put your hands in the air.”

We had no chance but to comply.

“There’s a woman in there!” Kimberly screamed. “She needs help.”

“Shut your mouth!” Deputy Speirs yelled.

“If I see even one of you move, I will put a bullet in your brain!” Sherriff Holloway screamed.

He took a moment to assess the situation. I couldn’t read his face.

“You said a woman was in there?” he asked.

“She was scared,” Antoine pleaded cautiously, “She said she needed help.”

“A woman…” Sherriff Halloway repeated. “I see you breaking into property here with a rock, and you say you’re trying to save a woman? What woman? You come into my town breaking shit and then you lie to me.”

Sherriff Halloway continued trying to think. He reached into the car and appeared to grab something.

“This Sherriff Halloway down on Olde Hill Road. We got four trespassers trying to break into the old bed and breakfast,” he said.

I didn’t hear the reply.

Four trespassers? There were five of us. I looked around.

Bobby was nowhere to be seen.

“Deputy Speirs,” Sherrif Halloway said, “Please restrain these lawbreakers.”

He turned his attention to us.

“If you make me think you are going to harm my deputy if you so much as give me an inkling, I’ll be justified in shooting you. So don’t you try me, ya hear?”

I trembled at the thought. The scariest part of all of it was that the needle on the plot cycle was moving much faster than usual. This storyline was only supposed to take an hour. The Party Phase couldn’t last too long.

Deputy Speirs went around to each of us and grabbed us, twisting our hands behind our backs to put them in cuffs.

“Now you don’t have anything in your pockets that’s gonna stick me, do you?” he asked Antoine as he put the cuffs on and patted him down.

He turned to the sheriff, “He’s got a baseball bat over there against the fence, you see? We caught ourselves some perpetrators.”

Once all of us were handcuffed, lying face down in the dirt, the sheriff put his gun back in its holster. He and the deputy grabbed me and Antoine and hauled us back into the back seat of the squad car.

They then walked over to Kimberly and Dina and grabbed them up off the ground.

“What do we do with these two?” Deputy Speirs asked with demented glee. “Hey, ladies, you lost?”

“We just hold onto them until Tank gets here,” the sheriff said. “And don’t hurt anybody. Your brother’ll kill us both.”

“I didn’t do anything,” Speirs said. He slammed Kimberly back against the hood of the car. She fell to the ground. “I’m just enforcing the law.”

Deputy Speirs started laughing. Sherriff Halloway joined him.

“See Randy,” Deputy Speirs said, “I told you we should have been cops.”

They continued to laugh together as the large man with the yellow bandana reappeared at the gate.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep