The Game at Carousel: A Horror Movie LitRPG

We found an old guitar in the jailhouse.

It had the trope Weapons of Mass Absurdity attached to it.

Isaac had that same trope and had apparently used it on one of those yard rakes with an extendable handle in a storyline.

Ramona told this story: he was facing off against the enemy of The Groundskeeper, and right in a climactic moment, he clicked the handle to extend the rake out all the way.

The trope empowered humorous weapons—a guitar, a leaf rake; both were weapons to a comedian.

It was a funny story.

Everyone laughed as we relaxed in the office space of the jailhouse. It was a good time.

Ramona gravitated to the guitar, tuned it up, and was soon playing beautiful, melodic songs that spread throughout the whole jailhouse.

For the first time since we’d gotten there, the strange ghostly sounds from the basement stopped.

There were a few cells on the ground floor. The floor above that was mostly used for storage. While the cells in the basement—with the ghosts—had actual mattresses, there was no way any of us were going to sleep down there.

It just couldn’t be done.

Instead, we all camped out inside the main office, which had a nice plush carpet. We brought our blankets from Kimberley’s loft.

We were doing what was required to change our official base from Kimberley’s loft to Isaac’s jailhouse.

We had to spend the night.

It wasn’t that complicated, luckily.

If you weren’t paying attention, the ghosts down in the basement just sounded like the wind.

Ramona played the guitar, and with some prompting, they got Logan to sing a song. I had heard it before, but I didn’t know its name. It was an old, sad country song.

All thirteen of us were jammed into that office, eating food from the vending machine in the break room and nervously talking about what was to come.

I didn’t mind it. The jailhouse was a scary place, but being surrounded by friends didn’t just cancel out the scariness—it elevated it to something else. It was like we were sitting around a campfire. The spookiness actually comforted me somehow.

Most of the time, you don’t know which moments in your life you’re going to be nostalgic for, but I found myself willfully living in every moment that night because I knew it might be our last happy night in Carousel—or anywhere else.

No matter how we moved around the pieces, no matter how we tried to do the math, at the end of the day, our best bet was to bring our best players and our best strategies regardless of how well-situated the remaining players were. Leaving someone with a rescue trope behind might appease the mind of an anxious man, but it wasn’t really a better decision.

If we lost, we would all lose, even those of us who didn't go on the storyline. If we lost, the audience might abandon us. If we lost, it was over.

I had to tell myself that because there was definitely a voice in my head formulating a dozen different variations that would be smarter. That voice was deafening, telling me to be cautious, to just take our time, and a path will open up.

Damn being smarter.

Carousel was designed as a strategy game, but most of the time, you couldn’t do the smart thing. At best, you had to do the dumb thing strategically.

You couldn’t just run when things got weird. You couldn’t follow your rapidly beating heart away from the monster that you knew lurked in the darkness. ŕΆN∅ВЁᶊ

You had to walk forward.

It was in the town’s bylaws.

Wind blew through the jailhouse. Even though it had been retrofitted to be a museum, it was largely still in the same condition it had been a hundred years prior. It was drafty.

I couldn’t sleep.

Obviously, I literally could sleep—I had a trope just for that.

I couldn’t make myself trigger it, though. When I went to sleep, I would wake up, and it would be tomorrow. I felt like I would do anything to extend the time between that night and the next day.

I got up from the room in the office and decided to do one last look through the jailhouse—the place that might hold our final stand.

Most of the museum was on the ground floor. Everything was stacked away and packed up. The boxes were filled with nothing but those Styrofoam peanuts. They were all props.

I was sure this jailhouse had a history, but I didn’t know it—not just by looking.

I had been through the upstairs multiple times. It was all the same—a lot of cool props, but it was all skin-deep. Once you started digging into it, you just found empty boxes.

We knew that the jailhouse museum would be our characters' place of employment, so I was certain that when we started the storyline, all those props would suddenly become a lot more detailed.

The game makers—those mysterious people—would walk all through the set and exchange our boxes of Styrofoam peanuts with actual artifacts from the history of this place, or at least stuff that would play the part.

I found myself walking downstairs into the basement just to look.

It was safe. The ghosts were locked in their jail cells. I doubted that Isaac’s Writ of Habitation would last long enough for us to see any action on the ghost front.

When I got downstairs, guided by the dim light of the moon and the flickering lights of the basement, I was surprised to see that I wasn’t the only one who had the idea to wander around.

It was Ramona, staring into one of the cells—one of the locked, haunted ones.

When she saw me, she said, “It almost looks like someone is sleeping in that bed, like they pulled the blanket up over their head to block out the light.”

I stared in after her.

It did look like that, but it also looked like some crumpled-up cushions and blankets. If there was a ghost there—and I was certain there could have been—it was hiding itself on the red wallpaper. One perk of being a ghost, I supposed.

"He's probably just blocking out the woman who's staring at him," I said.

She smiled and punched my arm.

We stared together for a bit.

"So, you're going to be risking everything again?" she asked. "Didn't you just do that with the werewolves?"

I took a moment to think before I answered.

"When you're almost out of chips, you go all in every hand," I said. There's a metaphor. That should end that conversation. But it didn't.

"And when you win, you don't win much," she said.

That was true. We might risk it all and walk away no closer to our freedom.

"Well, this life isn’t much, but at least it’s exciting," I said.

She didn’t respond for a moment. She just stared at the pile of fabric that might have been a sleeping ghost.

"Everyone’s talking about you," she eventually said. "They say you’ve got some plan that’s going to set everything straight, but you can’t talk about it."

I hated that people were putting their hopes in me. It was a burden I could barely lift.

"I do?" I asked. "Guess I better draw one up."

She smiled, but it wasn’t a real smile. She was nervous. I couldn’t blame her. More than the rest of us, her future was nothing but question marks.

What was her happy ending?

We didn’t talk about her situation.

Like so many other conversations, this one turned into shop talk. We talked about storylines, plans, and the game. We must have talked for ten minutes, just aimlessly. There was nothing else to say.

"I’ll go with you, you know," she said. "On the storyline. I’d probably end up First Blood, but I’d still do it."

"Thanks for offering," I said. "But your build is more about manipulating a storyline, and you’re not high-level enough to be able to do that."

"Oh," she said. "Sorry."

"No," I said. "It’s just... being under-leveled, being the first blood sacrifice in a storyline with a torturer—that’s something I could never ask you to do."

She stared into my eyes.

"Isn’t Lila going to be first blood?" Ramona asked.

"Well, yeah, but it was Logan who asked her," I said.

We laughed—until the ghost, the one that actually was a ghost and not just a pile of cushions and blankets, shushed us.

I whispered, "Sorry."

He must have been a man after my own heart. Even in the afterlife, all he wanted to do was sleep. I stared at the blanket, and now I could see it slowly rising and falling with the breath of some long-gone prisoner whose name I didn’t even know.

In a way, he was lucky. At least he knew where he stood. He knew his fate.

What was our fate?

I had no idea.

While I was contemplating big questions, Ramona was contemplating smaller ones. I didn’t know what those questions were, but I knew what her answer was.

She kissed me.

We weren’t even On-Screen. It wasn’t even scripted. She just did it because of nerves, or excitement, or the ambiance of the old jailhouse—or maybe just because she wanted to.

Sometimes, girls will just kiss you. You gotta watch out.

Finally finding myself able to turn off my brain, I kissed her back.

For the first time in a long time, I felt normal. Like Carousel didn’t exist and I was truly living in the moment.

Had I ever done that before? Lived in the moment? I couldn’t remember.

I already knew that that night was going to be one I remembered fondly. It was the first time in Carousel that I felt like the night was truly my own—our own.

Those fleeting thoughts that maybe Ramona was a manifestation of Carousel weren’t strong enough to ruin the moment.

The moment stretched on, and time slipped away as we made memories.

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I knew I would value that night for the rest of my life, no matter how long it might last.

I was glad to have an experience like that in that spooky basement jail where I had technically died once—of electrocution.

I just wished I didn’t have to share the moment with half a dozen ghosts and the prying eyes of the audience.

I wondered if they were going to change the channel now.

The next morning, we dropped all the players who weren’t going to join us in the storyline off at Ramona’s cabin.

It was finally summer enough for her Writ of Habitation to go into effect. It was funny. It was always summer in Western Carousel, but you still had to wait before you could use that Writ. The cabin didn’t have any big drawbacks—it was just kind of small. It was in a beautiful location, and I imagined you could hear the banshee very well at night, even through the thick log walls and shuttered windows.

We bid farewell to Ramona, Avery, Isaac, Cassie, Michael, and Andrew.

The rest of us drew the short straw.

We had bought them a mobile omen—something low-level, a toy soldier that I suspected was as aware of us as we were of him. If you took his gun, you would activate the omen. They had Isaac as a scout, but his scouting trope wasn’t foolproof. If they needed to run a storyline or run from a bad guy, they could just activate the omen, and they would be safe as they trekked out to run it.

Purchasable mobile Omens had their place, after all.

Ramona and I hugged goodbye. She didn’t go for a kiss, and neither did I, but I could see in her smile that she enjoyed having a secret. I didn't think Carousel was a place to fall in love unless you were a lesbian werewolf, and I wasn't the kind of guy girls fell in love with, anyway. Still, of all my secrets, it was the most comforting.

As soon as we started walking back, Kimberley was giving me the Did I just see what I think I saw? eyes.

I didn’t acknowledge her silent inquiries. We had a mission.

The team ended up being me, Antoine, Kimberley, Dina, Bobby, Lila, and Logan. Everyone had a job, a role, and we knew how to adapt depending on what Carousel threw at us.

As we walked back toward the jailhouse, quite a distance from Lake Dyer, Antoine thanked Logan and Lila for helping rescue Anna and Camden.

Lila said something like, “We owe you. We have to help each other.”

Logan, ever the straight shooter, said, “We are completely dependent on you all. If you’re going to throw yourself at something like this, it’s in our best interest to make sure you succeed. I just hope you know what you’re doing.”

Not even a sarcastic quip. I would have killed for a sarcastic quip at that moment. If this storyline sounded scary enough to make Logan abandon his sardonic humor, it must have been really scary.

But he was right. Every decision we made would affect them. As much as we wanted to pretend this was an alliance between teams forged of shared purpose, it was more than that—they needed us.

We could not take them for granted.

We walked to the jailhouse, did one last walkthrough to ensure all our preparations were ready, and then left for the roller rink.

Carousel sounds so unserious on paper. Perusing the jailhouse museum and then heading off to skate the days away.

I was excited and nervous and all sorts of other emotions.

“We’re going to see Anna soon,” Kimberley said.

I couldn’t help but smile. That kind of instant gratification rarely happened in Carousel: enter a storyline, see your dead friend.

“We might even be able to see Camden,” I said. “Depending on how the time travel works and whether the first movie is canon.”

“Let’s not get too excited,” Antoine said. “We have to keep our heads.”

That was an odd remark coming from Antoine, who a month earlier couldn’t be found saying anything short of a positive affirmation.

It was an improvement from where I was standing.

We walked until we saw the roller rink—the one that occasionally stopped existing and was replaced by a giant pit in the ground.

“Everything check out?” Antoine asked me.

I double-checked all my insight tropes again, and everything was as expected.

With our new levels, technically, Post-Traumatic might have even had less of a level gap than Stray Dawn, but it was also a much harsher subgenre of horror—with time travel thrown on top.

As soon as we got into the story, we needed to get our bearings straight. We needed to know the lore, to understand what type of time travel we were dealing with, and what this enemy could conjure up against us.

There was only one way to find out.

We walked down the hill toward the roller rink. As soon as it reappeared, we stepped onto the asphalt of the parking lot. The rescue posters of Anna and Camden were held firmly in my hands. Our base was set to the jailhouse.

We walked across the parking lot quickly, unsure if it would disappear on us.

As soon as we reached the door, Antoine grabbed the handle. The moment I heard his hand hit the metal, everything went black, and all I could feel was the sensation of falling.

Riley Lawrence is The Film Buff

His aspect is Filmmaker.

Filmmaker: The Filmmaker has a comprehensive understanding of the filmmaking process. They can manipulate the game environment effectively, altering the game's dynamics in subtle but impactful ways. Their abilities are a mixture of meta-Insight and meta-Rule tropes. They have higher Hustle, reflecting their ability to stay out of the way, stay alive, and remain unseen as they manipulate meta-movie elements.

Riley has a Plot Armor score of 36, Mettle of 4, Moxie of 9, Hustle of 7, Savvy of 9, and Grit of 7.

Free Background Trope: "My Grandmother Had the Gift…" A background trope that gives Riley’s character some ambiguous connection to “The Gift” through his heritage.

Current Trope Limit: 10

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

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

“Dead Man Walking” buffs his Grit considerably after death is imminent, stretching the moment of death out considerably.

“Method to the Madness” allows him to speak in character with enemies Off-Screen.

“The Wrong Reel” creates a rescue where the player finds footage related to the original storyline and is beset by the enemy.

“Quiet on Set” allows the user to listen to the audio of the current On-Screen scene while Off-Screen, depending on Savvy and the information's value.

“Raised by Television” buffs the user to do one big meaningful action if they establish their inspiration from film and television to establish it.

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

“Director’s Monitor” Grants the user Deathwatch upon their character’s death.

“Cinema Seer” buffs allies’ Savvy and Grit when meaningful On-Screen predictions come true.

~

Kimberly Madison is The Eye Candy

Her aspect is Celebrity

Celebrity: The Celebrity aspect treats the player like an actor and the storylines like films they sign on to. Using meta tropes to create hype, fan favoritism, and larger-than-life roles, the Celebrity is the most versatile of the Eye Candy aspects. Using past roles to help their “career”, the Celebrity can specialize in virtually anything if they have long enough to build a career.

Kimberly has a Plot Armor score of 34, Mettle of 5, Moxie of 13, Hustle of 8, Savvy of 1, and Grit of 7.

Free Background Trope: --

Current Trope Limit: 9

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

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

"The Penthouse" The character will get the nicest, safest accommodations in a multiday storyline.

“The Hall of Fame” The user gains Center of Attention and will have a heightened role in the story regardless of casting. Meta story elements are more central.

"Contract Negotiations" buffs the user’s ability to improvise after "discussing" an their plan with Carousel.

“Carousel Academy Awards” buffs her Moxie based on the quality of her performance in the previous storyline.

“Breaking the Veil of Silence,” the user will get warnings from knowledgeable NPCs. Outside of storylines, NPCs will warn of dangers to women and hint at storyline rewards.

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

"Social Awareness" allows her to see the Moxie stat of all enemies and NPCs and intuit relationship dynamics.

~

Antoine Stone is The Athlete

His aspect is Health Nut.

Health Nut: The Health Nut is devoted to maintaining peak physical, mental, and spiritual health, highlighting their wisdom and their intelligent approach to fitness and wellbeing. Health Nuts use their high Savvy to make strategic decisions, enhancing their overall endurance and adaptability in challenging situations. Their healthy lifestyle is reflected in their elevated Grit, showcasing their resilience and ability to bounce back from setbacks.

Antoine has a Plot Armor score of 33, Mettle of 9, Moxie of 4, Hustle of 7, Savvy of 5, and Grit of 8.

Free Background Trope: --

Current Trope Limit: 9

"Gym Rat" buffs Mettle and Hustle by revealing athletic backstory.

Brandishing a weapon is “Like a Security Blanket,” buffing his Grit and soothing his and his allies’ fear.

“Willpower is Magic” makes all applicable enemy technology or magic resistible through sheer effort. Results vary. Effects vary. This will hurt.

“Stronger Together” buffs mental health and healing when the user and allies are together in a group.

“Reload After Cut” takes the player Off-Screen when reloading a weapon.

“Time Out” allows him to send a Fight Scene Off-Screen for a set time.

“Better Make it Count” greatly buffs the last round of ammunition the player has available in a fight.

“The Mountain as a Metaphor” boosts allies' uses of Grit and Savvy and allows the user to conquer maladies through metaphor by tackling physical challenges.

“Coyote in a Trap” plans that logically involve self-inflicted injury in a Chase Sequence or when Captured have a greatly increased chance of success.

~

Logan Maize is The Comedian

His aspect is Cynic.

Cynic: The Cynic wields sharp wit and high Savvy to navigate chaos, using insight and meta-irony to uncover truths and manipulate the narrative. Their imperviousness to meta challenges makes them masters of reframing chaos, adapting quickly, and turning even the direst situations to their advantage. With sharp analysis and biting humor, the Cynic thrives as a critical thinker and unshakable ally.

Logan has a Plot Armor score of 29, Mettle of 6, Moxie of 4, Hustle of 5, Savvy of 8, and Grit of 6.

Free Background Trope: "Misspent Youth" is A background trope that gives Logan’s character some secret criminal or quasi-criminal history.

Current Trope Limit: 9

“Awfully Considerate Symptoms” suppresses the effects of terminal illnesses, poisonings, and injuries until they are plot-relevant.

“Unmoving Facade” prevents the user from feeling pain if they willfully act like they are not in pain.

“Knock On Wood” allows the user to assign First Blood by sarcastically jinxing an ally.

“Gallows Humor” allows him to ease mental pain with dark humor after a tragedy.

“Comedic Timing” prevents the enemy from attacking while the user is quipping.

“Window Shopping” allows the user to identify and know the rough monetary value of any object they look at, including rare, technological, or magical objects, especially if it fits their backstory. (Via Background Trope)

“The Voice of Dissent” bolsters the players’ current plan when the user confronts the team’s planner and forces them to clarify, justify, or modify it.

“Last Laugh” retroactively buffs an attack when a humorous quip or similar is added to the end. If done well, this will end a Fight Scene.

“Class Clown” attracts the focus of enemies through distraction, often cinematic or comedic.

~

Dina Cano is The Outsider.

No aspect has been chosen.

Dina has a Plot Armor score of 24, Mettle of 5, Moxie of 4, Hustle of 6, Savvy of 3, and Grit of 8.

Free Background Trope: "A Haunted Past" A background trope that gives her character some past trauma that haunts her, often literally.

Current Trope Limit: 8

"Guarded Personality" resists all insight abilities.

"An Outsider's Perspective" alerts her to new, out-of-place, or unusual information.

"Encouragement from Beyond" soothes her when stressed, scared, or in pain and may provide useful information in the form of communication from the beyond. (Via Background Trope)

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

“Who you truly are…” increases her PA as she performs her role. Makes her a major character in the Finale with something important to contribute. Must start with the lowest base PA. (Borrowed from Riley).

"Savvy Safecracker" tells the character how long it will take to pick a lock of some kind. Buffs Hustle in the attempt.

“No Return Address” gives the user insight from anonymous letters and allows them to send similar letters to allies.

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

~

Bobby Gill is The Wallflower.

No aspect has been chosen.

Bobby has a Plot Armor score of 28, Mettle of 3, Moxie of 8, Hustle of 7, Savvy of 6, and Grit of 4.

Free Background Trope: “Actually, I'm a Veterinarian” changes his character’s background to being an animal doctor.

Current Trope Limit: 9

“Background Noise” allows him to get background information from NPCs when Off-Screen.

“Last-Minute Casting” recasts him as an NPC that is moderately involved in the plot. The selection is seemingly random. He will get some limited background information for the character and some access to the NPC script.

“Pure” protects the user from enemy targeting if they avoid the storyline's principal “sin,” until they interfere with the enemy's agenda.

“Craft Services Are The Real Heroes” ensures that there is edible food and water on set somewhere during the storyline.

“Character Notes” reveals general needs from allies until Second Blood, though specifics aren't provided.

“My Only Role is Exposition” gives him some useful information to be relayed On-Screen but takes it away if he starts to bore the audience.

“If you Can't see it, it Won't Bleed” allows him to temporarily mend wounds by covering them from the audience’s view. (Via Background Trope)

"Act Like You Belong" lets the user blend into any scene by quickly adopting small, fitting elements like props or attire. However, all these elements must work together to maintain their cover.

“Animal Whisperer” grants important animals the trope Animals Are Psychic and allows the user to interpret their intuition. (Via Background Trope)

~

Lila White is The Wallflower

No aspect has been chosen.

Lila has a Plot Armor score of 27, Mettle of 1, Moxie of 4, Hustle of 10, Savvy of 5, and Grit of 7.

Current Trope Limit: 9

“A Hopeless Plea” Begging for release forces the captor to verbally deny it; if they don’t, persuasion might succeed.

“A Scream in the Distance...” A loud scream sends the user Off-Screen, allowing an ally who hears it to appear On-Screen.

“There’s Been a Murder!” Discovering a gruesome scene lets the user scream, initiating an investigative scene with applicable characters.

“Not Important Enough” Staying out of plot-critical actions keeps the user safe from intelligent enemies until the Midpoint, where they are Written-Off. Grants limited access to the script.

“Dying Last Scream” A realistic death scream sends the user Off-Screen, allowing enemies to ignore them while gaining Deathwatch and the Dead status.

“The Killer’s Wake” Playing dead during a massacre allows the user to escape safely after the scene and provides knowledge of the complete script for that scene.

“A Cry in the Dark” A cry during peril alerts nearby allies to the user’s location and status.

“Run for Your Death” Once death is imminent, the user is guaranteed a chase sequence before being killed for First Blood.

“And That’s Lunch” extends breaks between scenes and provides a timer to all players. (Borrowed from Bobby)

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