The Game at Carousel: A Horror Movie LitRPG

I don't know how long I stood there but when I heard someone talking to me and snapped out of the daze, I noticed that the door with the employees only sign was now closed and that the tickets I had been reading were safely secured in my pocket.

“Hello,” the voice called. It was a woman. “Are you all looking for Carousel?”

I looked down toward the road. Three people stood there expectantly. The person talking was a slender woman with black hair. She might have been in her late twenties. Two men accompanied her. One was a tall twig of a guy who wore a jester’s grin. He might have been her age.

The other guy was older—maybe forty-five or so—and he did not look nearly as entertained to be there. He wore a gruff beard and tamed his slightly overgrown hair with a ballcap. He said nothing, but slowly smoked away at the cigar in his mouth.

My friends had apparently been out of it as long as I had. Everyone started to snap out of it at once.

Antoine spoke first. He cleared his throat. “We’re here to visit my brother. Carousel is just down this road, right?

“It sure is,” the tall skinny man said.

The woman said. “My name is Valerie. This is Todd and Arthur.” She gestured toward the tall man and then the gruff man respectively. “We’re here to guide newcomers to town and help you get all set up. Things are a little diff- “

She was cut off by the man, Arthur, “Is your brother Chris Stone?” he asked. He didn’t speak with the tone one might expect from the welcome committee.

His two compatriots seemed taken aback by his question. They quickly began looking intently at Antoine.

“… Yes,” Antoine said. “Do you know him?”

Valerie, Arthur, and Todd look at each other. There was real concern in their faces. I had no idea why.

“Yeah, we know him,” Valerie said. The pep had gone out of her voice. “You two look alike. We’ll take you to him.”

“He has a lake house on Dyer’s Lake,” Antoine said, “Is that down this way?”

Todd started to laugh. “A lake house?” he asked. “I guess that’s one way of putting it.”

Valerie sent him a death stare. He stopped laughing.

“We’ll take you to him,” he repeated.

They gestured for us to follow them and began walking down the path toward the road.

“Actually the two of us are going to the horror convention in town,” Bobby said, putting his arm around his wife. “Is that this way too?”

“Yes,” Valerie said softly. She continued walking.

“That was weird, right?” Camden whispered to me as we grabbed our luggage and began following the three guides.

I nodded enthusiastically.

“What kind of place is Carousel?” Anna asked Antoine as we took to the road.

“Dude, I have no idea,” he answered. He must have been as confused as we were. Apparently, his brother didn’t warn him about the welcome committee.

As we walked, my curiosity turned back to those strange tickets we had been supplied so generously by the creepy mannequin. I took mine from my pocket and examined them. Truthfully, they looked like they belonged to some sort of game. Was Carousel a fancy LARPer colony?

“What did you get?” I asked Camden, showing him my tickets.

He showed me his.

He had a gold ticket:

The Scholar

Major Archetype

You were always the smartest, cleverest, and most knowledgeable. Let’s put it all to the test. When danger lurks at your door will you be able to outthink evil, plan for success, or solve the mystery?

Study up! This will be the hardest test you have ever taken.

Base Stats

Mettle-for Feats of Strength and Offensive ability

1

Moxie-To make your performance convincing

2

Hustle-to be Quick, Deft, and to always hit your mark

2

Savvy

-for Intelligence, Planning, and Deduction

5

Grit-for Durability, Toughness, and Endurance

1

Plot Armor- Mastering all five aspects of Plot Armor will make you a master of horror.

11 (total of all stats)

His stats were almost the same as mine.

He had also received a green ticket:

The Right Tool for the Job

Player Trope

Can be equipped to the Scholar.

Stat Used: Savvy

Every monster has its weakness. The Scholar must work to find it. When formulating a plan that incorporates the enemy’s mortal weakness, receive a bonus to Savvy. When fighting an enemy and attacking it with its mortal weakness, receive a bonus to Mettle.

Werewolf, meet silver bullet.

His third and final ticket was blue:

Eureka!

Player Trope

Can be equipped to the Scholar.

Stat Used: Savvy

In the movies, a character is often able to find the one line of text in a book that will help them solve the mystery or defeat the monster. It never takes more than a few moments of looking. When searching through volumes of text for needed information, you will be drawn to it quickly.

“What the heck are these things?” I asked under my breath as I handed the tickets back to him.

At the time none of it made any sense.

“Maybe they’re collectables?” Camden suggested.

I shrugged my shoulders. I wondered if I could take a look at everyone else’s but before I could even begin to ask, the three guides had stopped in the road and turned to look at us.

“We have to wait here for a few minutes. There is something that newcomers need to see,” Valerie said. She had regained some of the command in her voice.

On the left side of the road at the place we had stopped was a wrought iron fence. The gate was further down the road and was labeled, “Olde Hill Bed and Breakfast.” The gate was padlocked, and the entire fence was covered in those decorative spikes that can often be seen on fences surrounding expensive homes. It was a step up from barbed wire, at least.

“I can’t wait,” Bobby said. “I knew this was supposed to be a fancy convention, but I have a feeling this is going to be great.”

His wife didn’t look so enthused. She clearly had a dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach. I think we all did.

The guides were looking at their watches. I checked my phone, but the time was way off. It said it was eight in the morning, but it was actually pretty late in the evening. Almost sunset.

Whatever time they were waiting for must have come because they suddenly stopped looking at their watches.

“You need to listen to us with what is about to happen. It is vitally important to do what we say,” Valerie said.

Their eyes were looking through the wrought iron fence. I couldn’t see much on the other side, what with the overgrown grass and thickets.

But I did hear something.

Footsteps.

Heavy Breathing.

Whimpering.

A woman burst through a thicket right next to us and ran directly into the fence at full speed. She was young, around my age, with dark skin, long, curly flowing hair, and a look of absolute terror in her eyes.

Kimberly and Janette screamed.

The woman hit the fence with such a force that a wound opened up on her forehead. Blood began gushing down her face.

“Help! She screamed as she saw us. “Please please.”

She shook the fence but it held solid.

Arthur spoke loudly to us, “Don’t do anything!” he said. “Don’t even speak to her!”

We were freaking out. Antoine was cursing repeatedly, Kimberly was pulling at his arm, looking for some reassurance.

“Help me,” the woman screamed again. She looked directly in my eyes, Pleading with me. “Please. They’re coming.”

I started to point toward the gate down the road, but Arthur must have seen the thought forming in my mind and reached forward and grabbed my arm.

“Do not speak to her,” he said again. “Look at her. Focus on her. Do you see something strange?”

Of course, I see something strange, I thought, there is a terrified woman bleeding all over the place. I still did what he commanded. Sure enough, I caught a glimpse of something I had never seen before. It was the first time I saw the red wallpaper. I couldn’t make out what was on it but it was the first makings of a movie poster. I saw the word NPC too, but I didn’t believe it. I felt sick to my stomach.

Yelling could be heard behind the woman. Men were chasing her down. I heard the baying of a hound.

“Please,” she said, “They have another guy in the basement. Please help us.”

No one said or did anything. Everyone had a terrified look on their faces. Everyone except the three guides, whose expression was something closer to shame or, perhaps, resignation.

Then the woman began attempting to squeeze through the bars. She was too big. The bars were too tight and their barbs too sharp. They stuck into her like fishhooks, but still, she pushed desperately for freedom.

“Alright, let’s go,” Arthur said. “You don’t want to see the next part.”

I believed him.

Everyone followed him at a quick pace as we left the woman.

Samantha. Her name was Samantha. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but I did.

We passed by the gate and were soon beyond the property altogether. The last we heard of her was a scream that echoed from far behind us. I refused to even think about it.

“What kind of place is this?” Janette demanded. She was in between tears and fury.

“Honey,” her husband said, “It’s just part of the show. It’s for the convention.”

God, I hoped he was right, but the three guides ignored the question.

After they had gotten us away from the bleeding woman, we came to a section of the road dominated by farmland. There was corn as far as the eye could see.

Valerie coughed to get everyone’s attention. “We’re sorry you had to see that,” she said. “But we hoped that by showing you that, it might make the next part easier.”

She looked back at Arthur. He nodded to her, encouraging her to continue.

“Carousel is not what you think. There is no horror convention. Your brother Chris did not invite you. It was all a trick.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Antoine said. “I spoke to Chris. You said you knew him.”

Valerie didn’t look like she knew what to say. She must have been new to this part.

Arthur took over. “How long has it been since you’ve physically seen your brother, Antoine?”

I was taken aback. Had he heard one of us use Antoine’s name?

“Years, right?” Arthur continued. “What was it, eight or nine years?” He looked back at Todd.

“Eight years,” Todd said.

Antoine didn’t answer for a moment. They must have been right. “I’ve been facetiming him,” he said.

“I don’t know what that is, but I can tell you, it was not your brother you were talking to,” Arthur said.

“The fuck it wasn’t,” Antoine said defiantly.

“Let me guess. Your brother disappeared one day. Probably left a note or a phone message so the police weren’t called. You haven’t seen him since until he called you out of the blue years later?”

Antoine didn’t respond but I take it Arthur’s guess was on the money.

“He asked you about your life and your friends. Of those two things, he always seemed more interested in your friends. Wanted to know a lot of specific details. Get to know their name, their personalities, hobbies?”

Antoine’s eyes widened.

“And when he finally invited you to come out to his lake house- “

Todd giggled again.

“- he told you which of your friends he wanted you to bring along. Not your buddies on the basketball team. He wanted you to bring your smartest friend-“ he gestured toward Camden “-your prettiest lady friend” he pointed at Kimberly. “He even must have asked if you knew anyone who was obsessed with scary movies too, didn’t he?”

He pointed at me.

Son of a... How did he know?

“He said bring these specific friends and come out to my place, right?”

Antoine didn’t answer. Kimberly implored to him, “Antoine, is he right?”

Antoine nodded. “It wasn’t like that though. Chris was just- “

“You weren’t speaking to Chris,” Arthur said. “Chris has been trapped here with us the whole time. If I’m not mistaken, he came here with Val and Todd, right?”

Todd nodded.

“You weren’t talking to Chris. You were talking to Carousel. And now that it's got you here, it’ll never let you leave.”