Halloween 2019: Choose Your Spooky Outcome: Chapter 10
With only 26 Pristine Points to your name and less than half an hour until the trophy is awarded, the odds that you’ll snag enough to secure first place are pretty slim, even with Thad’s natural capacity to win and Victoria restored to partial power. Bribery depends on the staff member being corrupt enough to accept, should they turn out as wholesome as the rest of Happy-Ween, then they might sound the alarms. However, if Victoria’s got some juice, then a heist might just be achievable. You’ll need one hell of a distraction, luckily Jim’s almost finished his bath bomb snack, and the look in his eyes speaks to positively untold chaos. Whether it’s a smash and grab or something with a little charm involved, this team has potential.
Of course, what they can manage with only a few minutes of planning is limited, so you don’t waste what little time you’ve got. Hustling everyone back up the winding path, you cut a brisk pace for the prize area. Once you’ve got eyes on it, you can start figuring out angles of approach, meaning a speedy arrival is key.
As you make your way through the well-lit, cheerful scenes, Victoria hangs slightly back, pulling you with her. You notice movement in her hands, and suddenly she’s extending the spider to you, it’s silly expression peering up innocuously. When you don’t accept it, Victoria explains.
“Without knowing how long until my stamina gives way, you should take possession of our tools. In the event I’m unable to be relied upon, they may well be our only magic to play.”
Not feeling great about it, you still take the spider, tucking it carefully away in one of the pockets hidden beneath your robes. Next comes the Phantom Phone, which you manage to just barely fit. You expect the process to be done, except Victoria is holding one last item: a small brown drawstring bag. Picking it up, you recognize the sensation of dust trapped inside.
In another life, you almost held this bag last year. That was before the swing of a scythe that erased the events from everywhere, save only your mind. Even though you’re almost positive of the contents, you still check. Can’t take needless chances, there might not be a Victoria around to cover for you.
“This what I think?”
“It’s your favorite tactic; I’ve taken to picking some up when I can.” Victoria taps the bag lightly in your hand. “Sprinkle it on, become your costume. I’d advise using it on yourself, the others aren’t quite dressed for the task. Be careful, as well. In here, I’m not sure how well such magics can be relied upon. There might be side-effects, for good or ill, so do not use it unless the need is real.”
Risky dust then, potentially bad, but it could also be way better than whatever situation you end up facing. Slipping it under your costume robes, you and Victoria pick the pace up slightly, catching up to Jim and Thad. You’re all treated to several minutes of Jim’s treatise on how volcanoes are just mountains with ambition before finally arriving at the prize table.
Unlike earlier in the night, there are a lot more people milling about. From the thick fists of Pristine Points you see being waved about, it’s a good thing you didn’t spend this time trying to collect a few more. No way you were getting close to some of those collections. They’re all behaving orderly, having their totals recorded and spending their winnings. The trophy would have to wait until the end, when the shop was closing, to have an idea who’d actually won the most Pristine Points.
A sharp hiss from Victoria snares your attention. You whirl around, expecting to see her lilting, or even collapsed, but instead you find her glaring in the opposite direction of the prize table. It seems like she’s looking at a raised platform surrounded by Frankie and Styne décor, probably where they’ll handle the awards and closing ceremonies. Then you look closer, and see she’s got no attention to spare cartoon cutouts, all of her wrath is focused on an elderly man in a white suit, who is committing the evidently heinous sin of leaning on his cane while he retapes down a balloon that came loose.
“Scruples. No wonder I’ve had so much trouble. We’re in one of his.” She appears to suddenly remember the rest of you are there, but that only jerks her attention back to the prize table. When she finally talks, it seems more to herself than anyone present. “Does he know… no, he’d never let magic in here… maybe that’s why none of the prizes have activated.”
Jim laughs, slapping you on the back. “She’s making so little sense, she sounds like me!” There’s the old unexpected self-awareness popping up, the bath bomb must have had something with zip. His face suddenly turns gravely serious. “Wait, did you have a ‘party break’ without me? Not cool, and now we don’t even know what to counter-dose you with.”
“I’m not high, you mischief machine. I’m piecing our situation together properly.” In a way that feels very much like the Victoria you know and adore/fear, she points a sharp nail back at the old man. “Cort Scruples, a long-standing enemy of all the true magics and their celebrations, though the enmity between he and Halloween is especially bitter. That this is all his creation explains much, yet it also doesn’t impact the task before us. This whole enterprise acts to weaken magic, but the effect will fade once the prizes leave the area.”
“So every enchanted item we didn’t snare is going to suddenly become magical and dangerous on the drive home, when the kids will most likely be playing with them.” You can already imagine the sedans littering the highway, split like pistachios as children’s imaginations gave life to impossible, uncontainable creations. “Guessing Mr. Hates-Magic didn’t plan that?”
“He’s a thorn, but not a killer of innocents,” Victoria confirms. “Once I take hold of the trophy, the magical source, it should be a simple matter to dismiss the rogue enchantments. Unfortunately, given my association to the Willowbrook family, he also won’t believe the warning of me or my assistants; not in enough time. We’ll have to continue on with the plan as is, just be warned, Scruples isn’t someone to be underestimated. No matter how much he’ll make you try.”
A single clap pulls focus to Jim, as he follows the gesture by rubbing his hands against one another. “Bring it on! I’ve got energy to burn and have been bored for the last ten minutes. Let’s go have some fun already.” You assume that means the overt distraction option is ready, if you want to go for the smash and grab.
“For the sake of all the regular folks here, we could take a run at talking our hands onto the trophy. Pretend to be helpers bringing it over for the ceremony, with a little charm and confidence they might not even question it.” You’ve got no doubt that sort of thing has worked for Thad many times before, but this whole place isn’t quite normal. Even his sway has limits.
“Given the amount of crowd, I might be able to manage a quiet strategy. We’d have to do something about the lights, however, it’s much too bright to work in.” Victoria’s face flickers, her pride visibly warring with her duty to the task. “It must be said that there is the chance I might begin to fade once more. I feel up to the task, but I understand if the risk is too great. Our success matters most, for the pride of the Willowbrook name is at stake.”
Also probably the lives of untold families, but hey, enthusiasm is enthusiasm. Guess you’d better put a plan into motion though, there’s only so long left until the closing ceremonies begin.