The Game at Carousel: A Horror Movie LitRPG

I heard myself screaming "Why would you do that?" and not in a manly way either.

I backed away from the pumpkin display. The shattered gourd and its spewed innards lay at her feet, but Dina had her head on a swivel, watching and waiting for something to appear, for some evidence that all of this was real.

It came from the sky.

It looked like a man in a costume at first, but only at first. I became a believer as the creature floated—yes, floated—over the corn. It was slow and deliberate. I was close enough to see that there were no wires. There was nothing that could be supporting this thing except for the impossible.

It was a scarecrow—not the most famous of horror monsters, but off the top of my head, I could think of three or four movies that featured this creature.

As it grew close, I could see that it wore gray-blue coveralls, like a mechanic might wear. In fact, it had a little red and white name tag on the chest that read "Benny." For its head, it had a sackcloth with a little straw hat.

For eyes, it had buttons. Each was a different size and color. Its mouth was sewn in, stitched in dark colors into an ironic smile. Its hands were gardener's gloves. All of this - the coveralls, the sackcloth head, the hat, and the gloves - were apparently sewn together into one unit and stuffed with straw. The legs of the coveralls were tied at the ends into knots and were so full of straw that little sticks poked through holes in the uniform.

The way it flew reminded me of how Peter Pan was always depicted as flying - belly down, legs folded upward, head up, arms out.

In its right hand, it held a rusty sickle.

I continued to back away from Dina as I watched the terrifying creature bare down upon her. It could simply stab her, and that would be the end of it, but it stopped in the air, paused, and appeared to be looking deep into her soul.

My vision went red. I saw a movie poster of the scarecrow. Benny the Haunted Scarecrow in The Final Straw II.

Its brass plate said, “Plot Armor: 42.”

Well, shit.

My Plot Armor was currently rounded down to a meager 5. This wasn’t even fair.

Other posters were hung on the red wall. I quickly recognized that these represented the tropes that were equipped to this monster. My Trope Master ability was working overtime, allowing me to decipher the rules that this creature lived and killed by.

Judgment Call

Monster Trope

This creature only kills those who it has deemed unworthy or immoral.

It Plays With Its Food…

Monster Trope

This creature spends time to toy with its victims. Often, it enjoys the playing more than the killing.

Of course, I saw the Territorial trope again.

And then there was:

Minion Maker

Monster Trope

This crea-

As I read, I had been running as fast as my legs would take me. Before I could read the next trope, I had gained too much distance. My Trope Master ability was proximity-based, after all. I had to be close to the monster or close to something related to the trope. I was cut off.

I heard Dina yelling.

"Do it!" she yelled. "What are you waiting for? Kill me!"

I cursed in surprise. What in the world was wrong with her? Why would she ask this creature to kill her? Whatever the reason, Benny the Haunted Scarecrow quickly obliged.

I saw it move its rusty sickle toward her, and my instinct to run took over. I heard a sickening thud behind me as I ran away. In my mind's eye, I saw the plot cycle indicator move its needle to the words "First Blood."

I could see the plot cycle begin to fill out. Omen > Choice > Party > First Blood.

I don’t know when the “Party” was supposed to be. I must have missed it.

I ran for what felt like a mile through the twists and turns of the corn maze. I had no luck in finding an exit. Though I was running at my highest speed, there was this thought in the back of my mind that I was running too slowly, that I could never outrun this creature.

In my head, I saw the word "Hustle" with the number 1 beside it. My Hustle stat, which determined my speed, was literally a 1, tied with my lowest stats. I didn't know how it worked, but I suspected that I could never outrun that scarecrow with that score. It’s Plot Armor was 42. If more than one of those points was attributed to Hustle, I was a goner.

Not only could it fly, but I can’t explain it, I didn’t feel like I was making any progress.

One thing I'll say is, I sure felt like an Olympic athlete, passing by ears of corn at top speed, jumping over roots that had grown out of the ground, and making quick turns at every opportunity. Before long, I figured I must have been on the opposite side of the maze, but then I saw something up ahead. It was another display.

Finally relieved to see something other than corn, I ran toward it. From the distance, I could see someone standing in front of it, and I saw no sign of Benny the Scarecrow. I booked it all the way to the display, but as I grew closer, I realized to my horror that there was a broken pumpkin on the ground, the same one that Dina had thrown there earlier.

Somehow, I had gone in a complete circle. It made no sense. This was the exact same pumpkin display I had just left. In all my turns and twists, I had ended up right back here. I refused to believe it.

In my head, I saw the red wallpaper and a blank painting with a bronze placard beneath it that had no writing on it. It was as if there was a monster trope relevant to what was happening, but I couldn’t see it.

The person standing in front of this display wore a light brown leather jacket and distressed jeans, but on their head was a round orange pumpkin. I was so unprepared to see this sight that I didn't comprehend what I was looking at until I got close.

These were Dina’s clothes. This was her body.

On the haystack next to the remaining pumpkins, was her head.

I screamed.

Her headless body, which had ignored me until then, suddenly turned as if to look at me, but it had no eyes. This wasn't a Jack-o'-lantern, it was just an ordinary pumpkin. It lunged at me clumsily.

In my head, upon the red wallpaper, I saw a poster of one of these headless creatures, but not this one. Beneath the painting was the label "Harvest Creep - Plot Armor: 3."

The creature ran toward me, but I easily dodged out of the way, and it continued running down the path far away from me. If it weren't for the abject horror of what I had just seen, I would almost have thought that this creature was funny. It walked as if it had never walked before in its life. I suppose it hadn't.

It occurred to me that one of the tropes that Benny the Scarecrow had that I hadn't finished reading was something called "Minion Maker." As I thought of it, I could see the image in my mind clearly.

Minion Maker

Monster Trope

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

Now that I was close to the titular Minion, I could see the trope. As Dina/the Harvest Creep ran away, the trope disappeared from the red wallpaper.

I wanted to run away from this place, but what was the point? Somehow, I had run in circles. It made no sense. As I considered this, I saw the blank poster and a blank bronze placard beneath it again, and it dawned on me what had happened.

The way I figure, I can see a monster’s tropes if I am near the monster or near something related to the trope. I saw the Territorial trope when I was near the display. Then, as I walked through the corn, I saw this blank poster. At the time I was completely flummoxed.

Now I get why it was blank.

My Savvy stat was too low.

The "Trope Master" ability allows me to see the abilities of creatures, but it relies on my Savvy stat. Clearly, my Savvy stat was high enough to see some of Benny's tropes, but not high enough to see whichever one explained how I got turned in circles.

I was certain that whatever the blank poster was, it was some sort of trope that allowed Benny the Haunted Scarecrow to change the layout of the maze. There really was no running. You either went exactly where he wanted, or you cut through the corn and got killed anyway.

So did I want to die right then, or sometime later?

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