The Game at Carousel: A Horror Movie LitRPG

Questioning Dr. Howard Halle was coincidentally very easy. All it took was a call to the number on his business card to find out that he was at an event at Hallowed Heart Hospital just up the street.

He was Jed Geist’s personal physician. He knew something. He may even have been the killer. It was clear that the plot was pushing us in his direction.

We could have walked, but Chief Willis (Officer Willis in this storyline) insisted on driving us.

“Can’t leave my vehicle unattended out here,” he said. “Gun theft is a rising crime.”

That was his subtle On-Screen way of telling the audience there were more guns in the car than what he had on his person. When we went Off-Screen, he told us that explicitly.

“Carousel has a sticky relationship with guns,” he said. “Doesn’t like them making things too easy. You understand that you’ll do just fine. Listen to the flow of the battle and move with it and you’ll get the best results. Hotshots out here trying to force a win end up on a little white missing poster sooner or later.”

He was mostly talking to Antoine. Antoine was our powerhouse. We only really had one fighter so if we got a gun, we knew who it would go to nine times out of ten. I could probably use it to blow up a gas tank or some other feat of precision, but if we needed to gun something down, we had to put it in our Athlete’s hands.

“Is that what happens next?” Cassie asked nervously. “We have to fight?”

“No use worrying about if you have to fight,” Willis said and he pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. “You’re never more than a few scenes from a fight. After a while, it’s the peacetime that will make you nervous. Now use that Moxie to act brave and let’s get this show on the road.”

As we approached the non-emergency entrance of the hospital, we saw balloons and banners celebrating the opening of a new wing at the hospital.

All we had to do was follow the signs.

The hospital was one of the expensive, fancy ones I had only seen on television. The banquet room we arrived at was on par with the ballroom at the mansion that had hosted the pickled wizard masquerade.

A hundred or so NPCs we in attendance and all of them dressed in their best tuxes and gowns. We were completely out of place.

Luckily, it would seem, we arrived right at the end of the event.

A man was standing on the podium in the middle of a speech. Behind him, a large, red ribbon hung tight ready to be cut. On the red wallpaper, his name was Dr. Howard Halle, the very man we sought to talk to. He was a refined and well-dressed gentleman with an ease of elocution that almost distracted from the fact that he was marked an enemy on the red wallpaper.

Dr. Howard Halle in Cold-Blooded Things.

Dr. Howard Halle

Plot Armor: 25

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Tropes

Intellectual Curiosity

This villain will alter normal targeting to pursue players who trigger his curiosity.

Non-Combatant

This villain cannot be attacked On-Screen until it attacks the player or is otherwise identified as hostile. Attacking it will not be effective, nor will it change the story. It will cause the player to go Off-Screen for a time.

They’ll Never Believe You

When tangling with this villain, the authorities will not believe or take seriously anything the players tell them.

PHDs Unlimited

This villain has an education in every scholarly topic related to the storyline.

The Mad Doctor

This villain cannot be dissuaded from their strange or unethical beliefs.

Heart of the Operation

An attempt to kill this villain by players or allies will attract powerful protectors buffed by his Moxie.

Advanced Rhetoric

This villain may use their Savvy stat as Moxie.

Minion Maker

This villain is able to summon or create low-level monsters to do its bidding.

2 Additional Trope Imperceptible

Dr. Halle spoke smoothly and intelligently in a dated mid-Atlantic accent that seemed completely out of place in this story.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“As we gather here on the eve of Carousel’s Centennial Celebration, we are not just marking a milestone for our town, but also unveiling a beacon of hope with the inauguration of our new Plastic Surgery and Reconstructive Wing. This wing is more than a building; it's a promise—a promise to restore, to renew, and to uplift the spirits and lives of those who have been touched by trauma.

“Tonight, we've brought together some of the I’ll just say it—deepest pockets in Carousel.” He paused while the crowd laughed, “As I've often said, ‘With better incomes, come better outcomes,’ and the outcome is all that matters. I'm sure our benefactors here tonight agree that the only nip and tuck we're interested in this evening is nipping the ribbon behind me and tucking into some of the excellent food our caterers have prepared for us!” Another laugh from the audience. “I’m sorry for that one. I couldn’t help myself. No wonder my nurses tell my patients ‘This is going to hurt a bit’ every time I’m about to tell a joke.

“Let's not forget, while this new wing is built with the support of generous donations, it's the compassion and expertise within its walls that truly make it a cornerstone of hope. It's your unwavering support that transforms lives, giving our patients not just the medical care they need, but the confidence and courage to face the world anew.

“So, as we stand at the threshold of this new era, let's celebrate the collective spirit that makes Hallowed Heart Hospital a haven of healing. Here's to a future where every individual can embrace life's journey with strength and self-assurance. Thank you.”

With that, Halle took a scalpel from his pocket, removed its cap, and then used it to slice the red ribbon behind him to the applause and laughter of the room.

He posed for a few photos and then made his way into the crowd, which, over the course of twenty minutes or so, began getting food and filtering out of the building. Dozens upon dozens of well-dressed NPCs followed their scripts to help set up the next scene where we had a one-on-one chat with Halle.

We didn’t get a chance at first. He was tied up with guests. I couldn’t hear what he was saying, but I could tell he was very charming from the way everyone he talked to laughed.

“High Moxie Players get ready,” Willis said as he shoved down some of the catered food. “Moxie is used to counter deception. Tonight we’re going to see if you can tell whether he is lying. Good luck.”

He was talking to me and Kimberly. We were tied for the highest Moxie. Cassie and Bobby were next, but Bobby was off NPCing somewhere.

“I thought there were tropes for that,” I said.

“Sure if you want to use up a slot for it,” he said, “Detective’s got one. Sleuths got a worse one. Heck, even Agent’s got one. Psychic too, but they get a little of everything. Most Archetypes get a taste of stuff like that. When it comes down to it, it’s best to rely on your stats and the gray thing between your ears.”

“How will we know?” Kimberly asked. She had a good Moxie stat, though she had been mostly beefing up her other stats of late.

“You get a feel for it. When you aim your gun and pull the trigger, you know if you hit the target before the bullet gets there. Intuition. Know what it’s telling you.”

This was not a topic the Vets had told us much about. Sure, Adeline had told us the line about not relying on tropes for things that we could accomplish with leg work, but using our stats like that was still something we were new at. I wasn’t even sure if the Vets had it down pat.

As I watched Dr. Howard Halle and waited for our turn to talk to him, I noticed that we were being watched.

On the other side of the room was a woman whose face was covered in a black veil. The fabric was so thick I couldn’t see through it. She wore black gloves and a long gown with a fancy jacket whose sleeves covered her arms.

Despite not being able to see her face, I could tell she was looking in our direction. It made sense. She was an enemy, after all.

Cecilia

Plot Armor: 25

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Tropes

Don’t Wake the Beast

This villain is asleep or in a similar condition. They will not stir without outside intervention. Waking them will transform them into a more dangerous form that plays by different tropes.

Non-Combatant

This villain cannot be attacked On-Screen until it attacks the player or is otherwise identified as hostile. Attacking it will not be effective, nor will it change the story. It will cause the player to go Off-Screen for a time.

They’ll Never Believe You

When tangling with this villain, the authorities will not believe or take seriously anything the players tell them.

We had gone in and out of being On-Screen. The next time we were in the clear, I said, “Enemy in black across the way.”

“Cecilia,” Kimberly read off the red wallpaper. “Is she staring at me?”

I then explained both her and Dr. Halle’s tropes.

“That’s a pretty neat trick you have,” Willis said, referring to my Trope Master ability. “If we had someone like you in my world, I might never have ended up in Carousel.”

After a few more moments, he added, “Spread out and look for clues. This will be a bit. There’s only really one meaningful clue before we move to the next set. Whoever finds it gets a dollar.”

We fanned out and looked for clues. I hoped that he didn’t mean we had to talk to people. Finding one piece of information from someone in a room full of people felt impossible.

Antoine and Kimberly wandered off to make use of Kimberly’s Get a Room trope. I was confident they would be successful.

I hoped they would be. The first NPC I interacted with asked me if I was one of the patients in the burn unit. We were Off-Screen at the time, so he was really telling me I should check out something related to the burn unit. Little clues like that made an unfair game fair again. High Plot Armor was what naturally led to clues for players. My effective PA was low thanks to Trope Master so I rarely got steered anywhere.

It was always possible he was saying something unflattering about my face. I decided to go with my first theory.

When I got to a wall in the banquet hall that led to the burn unit, I saw that Kimberly and Antoine had beaten me to it.

On-Screen.

“Look at this,” Antoine said as I strolled up to them. He read from the plaque, “This Burn Unit is dedicated to those who lost their lives in that terrible blaze on April 10th, 1984. Purified by flame, their souls lifted toward the heavens.”

“It’s a bunch of Geists,” Kimberly said. “Was this the fire at the Geist Manor?”

There were over two dozen Geists on the list. It was a slaughter. I went through the names listed: Thomas, Helene, Lillian, Moira, Bastion, and more and more.

“It was,” I said. “You know a lot of the original Geist films burned up in that fire. Most of what we have are copies.”

I made that part up. How would I know? I just needed to stay in character.

“That’s the real tragedy,” Antoine said sarcastically.

“There’s a quote from Jed Geist here,” Kimberly said. “Does the light of a flame create dark shadows? Or does it only reveal them? My family’s deaths will leave almost as deep a mark on this community as their lives did.”

After a moment of contemplation, she asked, “I hope he didn’t write their obituaries too.”

“He was the only one not invited to the party,” I said. “Come on, I think Dr. Halle has run out of rich people to schmooze.”

We left the memorial wall and found the others who had already gathered to speak with Dr. Halle, who was saying goodbye to a fabulously bejeweled woman who seemed absolutely taken with him.

He turned to us. “I understand that they have finally reopened my old friend’s murder case. I cannot thank you enough for your efforts to bring Jedediah’s murderer to justice and I will answer any and every question you have for me.”

He looked each of us in the eye one at a time with a reassuring gaze and said with a warm smile, “Now ask me whatever it is you desire. I’m ready for anything.”

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