Halloween 2017: Choose Your Spooky Outcome: Chapter 12
Lying in wait might be sound tactically, but the moment you remember all those people downstairs in danger, you realize it isn’t the most expedient plan. As for Jim’s plan… yeah do you really need a breakdown of the drawbacks to a Jim plan? Victoria is the most sensible of you all, so you decide to go with her idea. “Room by room, until we find our culprit. Is there something specific we should be looking for?”
“When we drew near, it defended itself with a massive burst of magic. I have a suspicion we’ll know when we make true contact.” She doesn’t even wait for you to corral Jim; Victoria is already heading for the nearest door, whipping it open to reveal an empty projector room.
Through the window facing the screen, you can see a frozen frame of Terror Camp 4 flickering in view. It’s stuck on the mess hall, the exact scene where you three escaped. Part of you wonders what happened to the rest of the people stuck in there. Did they flee out one of the other portals, or are they still trapped in the frames? There’s no telling, and despite the nickname Victoria uses, you aren’t exactly an aficionado on magic itself. Your best hope is that stopping the force causing all this will set everyone free. Otherwise, you might be in for some fresh nightmares.
“Clear.” Victoria pulls a tube of lipstick out from somewhere on her dress and makes a quick mark on the door as she shuts it, ensuring you don’t lose track of which rooms you’ve tried. While she goes to another, Jim has found a can of spray paint plainly used for the ceremony symbols and is drawing a dick over each one.
“What… what are you doing?”
“Messing up the altar, in case our evil mastermind is still getting power from this place.” Jim looks at you like you’re an idiot for not knowing, even as he sprays another wang onto the carpet. At least there’s some attempt at logic going into this, for Jim that’s pretty good.
Victoria shoves open another door, then another, marking each as she goes. When she’s made it to door number five, her hand hesitates before grabbing the knob. Silently, she looks over to you, giving a nod. Apparently she’s feeling something behind this one. Once you signal that you’re ready, Victoria throws the door open to reveal… nothing. Just another room with a running projector. Another rare expression of confusion on her face as she steps inside, looking more closely.
The shadow slips in behind her, gliding out the door and slamming it shut. You can already hear Victoria pounding on the door, but it is holding firm as the figure turns around to face you and Jim. Glowing red eyes, jagged yellow teeth, this is clearly another movie monster. You know this one too; the name is on the tip of your tongue.
“Oh, fucking duh,” Jim exclaims. “It’s Fearsipper. They summoned Fearsipper.”
God damnit, he’s right, and the moment you hear that name it all falls into place. Fearsipper is the movie monster generally used as a cameo vehicle for other studios. Back in Chapter 5, you even thought about the flick he did with Umpire Mask. And, if the name doesn’t give it away, he’s a monster that feeds on fear. There was no greater purpose to this chaos, the fear was just a meal flowing into him, making him stronger.
Classic as Fearsipper looks, there is one detail that stands out to you: a reel of film visible in his left hand, clutched tightly. That’s got to be the source from the ceremony, why would he haul around a random spool of film? Well, to trick you into going after a fake target, maybe, but that seems like a pretty complex plan for a B-grade movie monster. The first explanation makes a lot more sense.
“What do we do, Jim? I’ve only seen a few of his flicks, how do we kill him?”
“Let’s try violence!” Jim barrels in, leaping upward and executing a nearly flawless dropkick that you are positive he couldn’t have pulled off sober. The soles of his sneakers slam into Fearsipper, accomplishing all of jack shit before Jim tumbles to the ground. Fearsipper’s twisted mouth turns into a hideous smile and he reaches out for Jim’s legs with his free hand.
Moving on instinct, you dive in, swinging your axe wide. To your surprise, Fearsipper pulls back from the blade, allowing you to retrieve Jim. Interesting. He didn’t care at all about Jim’s attack, but the axe made him cautious. Are axes his weakness? No, that would be the easiest vulnerability in the world to exploit in a horror movie. But this isn’t just any axe; you brought it from within a movie. Maybe that matters? Or perhaps he just reflexively pulled away from a sharp-blade’s attack, like most sentient beings would.
Nearby, you hear pounding on the door from Victoria, who is audibly cross about being cut out from the action. Fearsipper isn’t blocking her door directly, you could make a go for it. Chop right through, get Victoria back into the fight, and see how this fucker likes going up against someone truly scary. It only stands to reason that if the monster wants Victoria out of a fight, then you want her in it.
Jim staggers to his feet looking slightly dazed, which is less dazed than usual by Jim standards. “We have to get that film, right? That’s the obvious play? That’s how Victoria said we win. How about I distract this bastard and you go for the prize. Just tear it up as fast as you can.”
He unrolls another baggie and downs the contents, giving you a brave smile. “For courage. Oh, hang on, my feet stopped working… never mind we’re good again. Okay, yeah, for courage, let’s fucking do this!”
At least one of you is psyched up. You’re trapped in a room with a monster that feeds on fear and has killed a lot of people in his movies, so maybe don’t take too long deciding which strategy you want to try. This is the fight with the big bad, make it count!