Halloween 2019: Choose Your Spooky Outcome: Chapter 1
Welcome to Drew's Annual Choose Your Spooky Outcome Novel, done over the 13 nights leading up to Halloween. First and foremost, this is a running story, so you'll want to read prior years' entries to know the whole tale.
THIS IS A SEQUEL, SO IF YOU WANT THE STORY TO MAKE SENSE YOU SHOULD GO READ THE FIRST ONE HERE, SECOND ONE HERE, THE THIRD ONE HERE, THE FOURTH ONE HERE, THE FIFTH ONE HERE, AND THE SIXTH ONE HERE
If you're reading one of these as it's happening, then be sure to vote for the choices you want made. If not, simply enjoy reading the finished story! Here's how it works:
The novel will run from October 19th – October 31st (13 days of Halloween). Every night I put up the newest chapter, along with a poll for you to make your decisions. Polls close at Noon CST on the following day, so I can write the next installment. Post goes up at night, rinse, lather, repeat.
There will be Dead Ends, choices you make that get your character killed. Choices with this potential have a skull motif on the voting block so you know you're in danger. If people pick one, I’ll give you the Dead End, then redirect you to the other choice that didn’t kill you, because I think we all cheated at those books as kids and I see no reason to change that. Since all available current content is either a Patreon reward or not yet allowed to be shared, this year the game is for pride, bragging rights, and the chance to advance your story.
Happy Haunting!
Another year, another Halloween that’s arrived. You stroll down the street, bag in hand, enjoying the late-afternoon chill. Wilbur is out of town, managing yet another opening of Dem Bones Coffee, his shop that’s been exploding since he got investors last year. One would think that being a giant skeleton brought to life by magic and happenstance would be a detriment, but it turned out the world of venture capitalists was full of monsters. If anything, Wilbur was too human to fit in properly among that crowd. His business turned a profit though, and that was all they cared about.
An upside to his growing business is that the three of you have officially moved out from apartments and into a house. A rent house, granted, plus so far you’ve had to deal with an infestation of mushgnomes and a portal to another world in the attic. The other world is kind of boring, mostly snow and some goat-guy that Jim tried to ride when you walked through, you didn’t get an especially welcoming vibe. Still, the rent is cheap, and you probably won’t have to mess with the obvious killer plant in the backyard until spring.
Between having an upgraded home, making some headway at work, and keeping Jim from setting fires for a whole week, you’re almost starting to feel like an actual adult these days. Enough that you took some initiative on Halloween for this year. Look at you, coming so fa; hell, the sun is still up and your barely even buzzed. Talk about growth!
Of course, you can’t help wondering what the night will have in store. In recent years, there’s been a rash of enchanted objects showing up in mundane surroundings, causing a lot of panic. Victoria is clearly bothered by the incidents, yet if she’s made any headway on locating the source, she’s declined to share it with you. Par for the course, right? Whatever tonight holds, it can’t be scarier than last year. Watching your brother die, meeting Death itself, the memories still send shivers up your spine.
You focus on your surroundings, leaning on the present to block out the past. As you stroll through the relatively quiet neighborhood, your eyes fall on a jack-o-lantern sitting halfway up a set of stairs, putting it directly on eye-level with you. No sooner does your gaze fall upon the gourd than a light flashes behind that wide-toothed smile. The candle, previously dark, is burning now, blazing much too brightly for any mundane source of light. You can already see the insides of the pumpkin beginning to sear, the face warping, mouth shifting in a way that almost seems like it’s… talking. Forming words, using the burning of it’s body to gain motion. Unfortunately, it’s not long before the entire jack-o-lantern collapses in on itself, a slightly smoldering pile of vegetation.
That was weird. Not anything that would truly knock you off course, given all that you’ve seen an dealt with, but yeah… strange all the same. Hurrying along, you avoid staring down any additional pumpkins on the rest of the trek home. Soon you arrive at the rundown two-story you now share with your friends, the trees of the yard still gnarled and twisted from years of neglect. The overall look of the place is no doubt part of why so many ghost stories have spread about it, and it’s not like you or Jim are big on yard work. Wilbur will probably spruce things up, once he’s home for longer than a week.
Entering the house, you find Jim already dashing down the stairs, nearly toppling over from his enormous backpack. This year, rather than go as Godpunch Lightning-Fucker, a comic character of Jim’s own creation, he’s chosen something new… sort of. Jim introduced a fresh character to the comic this year: Stout Carryall, Godpunch’s sidekick/general helper who carries all his stuff. To Jim’s credit, he did give Stout the power of immortality, which will come in handy if costumes come to life, plus Stout can carry virtually anything, as well as access a portable dimension where abandoned items are gathered. Most importantly of all, to Jim’s thinking, the costume has plenty of pockets to hide his various party favors for the night ahead.
Close on his heels is Victoria, who is clad in a dress that looks more like a toga, dark purple fabric and gold trim comprising the vast majority of it. Woven through the strands of her hair are black snakes that appear to be actually hissing and slithering, something that could be a trick of the light, but you know probably isn’t. Surging ahead, she grabs hold of Jim, yanking off a sticky mass of candy-wrappers from somewhere on that giant backpack and tossing them over the railings, where they sail gracefully into the trash.
“At least look at where you’re setting that thing,” she chides before releasing Jim, who barrels the rest of the way down the stairs and bounces off a wall, landing hard. You’d be concerned, but honestly, it’s Jim. If anything, he probably just got the wall high from their brief contact. Task handled, she turns her eyes to you.
“About time, Merlin. I come with news, it seems we have yet another anomaly in town. Again in an aggressively normal location too, meaning we can anticipate confusion and chaos.”
“The norm then?”
“So it seems, as of late.” A rogue look crosses her face, one of the few times you’ve seen her actually show worry. “In truth, I am bothered that we continue to only manage the fallout, rather than identify the threat itself. However, another year is another chance to sink my fangs into our little troublemaker.”
You barely resist a gulp, eyes darting to the snakes, wondering just how metaphorical the fangs in question are. “Well good news, I came prepared. Bought some costumes of my own this year.”
Victoria cocks an eyebrow. “Are my offerings inadequate?”
“Just been a while since I made entirely my own selection. Plus…” You almost trail off, then realize if there is one person in the world who might understand, it’s Victoria. “Plus, after last year’s near miss, I decided I wanted to have access to magic again, in case of costume shenanigans. Got a variety though, you can help me pick which is the best option. I went with stage magician, warlock, and alchemist. No wizard hats at the store this time.”
Making her way down the stairs, Victoria glances down at the slowly stirring Jim before peering into your bag of outfits. “All potentially viable, depending on the situation. The larger question before us is whether or not you’d like to call on your brother for this evening. As we are once more into the more human end of Halloween, to a particularly peculiar event this year, his aide might be useful against whatever we face. I know your relationship is complex though, so the choice should be yours.
Oh yeah, you nearly forgot Thad was an option again. Since last year things have been better between you two. Not necessarily perfect, he still casts a long shadow to live in, but certainly improved. Looking back down in the bag, you wince imagining wearing an almost tux next to whatever spectacular costume he puts together. At least the others look more like you’re trying to be scary than fancy. Time to choose your costume, as well as if your brother is along for the ride.