Halloween 2019: Choose Your Spooky Outcome: Chapter 4
It occurs to you that you don’t actually need to win the contest, you just need the spider. As long as no one else wants it, then it doesn’t really matter what place you come in. You cycle through options rapidly, mentally grasping for a tactic that might drive off interest. Victoria would be scary, not something you can manage, and Thad would be smooth, again out of your wheelhouse. May the god of idiots be with you, looks like you’re going to Jim this problem.
“Yo I don’t give a shit about the question, just wanted to thank you for putting Abner the Butt-Plug spider out as a prize. Most places like this won’t even acknowledge those cartoons, saying porno doesn’t count, but you guys put his merch out as prizes! It’s awesome, and appreciated, and I wanted to know if this one does that thing where is shoots the ‘webbing’ out of the… you know… secret dong.”
Somewhere from the wings, you hear a human voice making the rough-equivalent of a buzzer sound, they really want you to shut up. After several long, awkward seconds, the father and daughter ring in, offering the answer: “Mummies don’t dance, they only like to rap.” Not too far off from where you were guessing, and based on the chime evidently the answer is deemed acceptable.
Second place is awarded to the sci-fi guys, because they didn’t mention butt-plugs around a kid, whereas you and Victoria claim a paltry third. The outing isn’t a total loss, thankfully. Despite winning, the young girl is denied the spider prize by her father, showing the entirely reasonable judgement of not grabbing a potential porno toy for his child. The sci-fi guys also give it a pass, though one eyes it enough that you’re pretty sure he’d have grabbed it, were he alone. When you two walk up to the prize wagon, there is a stern look in the helper’s eyes, one that Victoria entirely ignores as she scoops up the spider.
Just as you turn away, the helper thrusts something into your hand. It’s a fake currency, with a 3 emblazoned across the top and sides, along with the words “Pristine Points” in a few spots. You nod thanks quickly, then stuff it into your pocket, following Victoria.
“Interesting. The item has clearly been enchanted, just not with any magic specifically. It’s enchantment is malleable, likely determined by the will of the possessor. If I were to sincerely wish the spider would come to life and spray webbing, I believe see soon precisely that sight. Same if I wished it were the size of a car with an insatiable appetite.”
“So it could be benign, useful, or go on a murderous rampage, all depending on what the one holding it wants?” You’re starting to wonder if perhaps you should have taken the magic spider doll. Then again, if Victoria wanted bloodshed, why would she need a pawn to accomplish it? It’s as safe in her hands as any others.
“Those are merely the three first examples that popped into mind,” Victoria clarifies. “Untold potential exist in the imagination, and if the vision is sufficient then the magic can manifest it. Items such as this are incredibly potent, and also very short-lived. These sorts of loose enchantments unbind after a single sunrise, meaning our spider has been given this gift in the last few hours.”
Having something with tangible magic and danger in grasp seems to have revitalized Victoria, she’s barely even bothering to glare at a picture of a happy demon roasting marshmallows. As you follow her gaze, you spot Thad and Jim hustling along the path. Jim’s mouth and face is coated in some sort of sticky orange powder, whereas Thad manages to draw lingering looks from his spontaneous fans watching him effortlessly part the crowd.
“Jim found the concession area, and also they’re now out of orange sugar-coating for the candy apples,” Thad reports, setting your friend down nearby, where Jim proceeds to lick the sides of his mouth with a surprising, and horrifying, amount of tongue dexterity. Paying him little mind, Thad keeps right on going. “I also found something, the area where Pristine Points get exchanged at the end of the night. There’s all sorts of neat costumes and prizes, plus a huge trophy for whoever gets the most points.”
“Tell me, were there other trinkets in this area, and did you see any carted off by wagon?” Victoria slips the spider into some unseen pocket on her outfit, where it vanishes entirely.
Thad nods eagerly. “Yeah, like two of them came through while I was watching.”
“Then we know where the spider was prior to arriving at our set. Lead us to this prize counter.”
It doesn’t take especially long, Thad guides you both through the growing crowd to a huge area walled off my homemade fencing. A happy display is gathered in the full-view, prizes, toys, and various Halloween-themed treats scattered around for purchase. Perched on the very top of the pile, surrounded by high-end prizes similar to the spider, is a trophy that appears to be carved from old, gnarled wood. If not for the googly eyes slapped on top, it would come very close to embodying Victoria’s version of Halloween, rather than the cheery incarnation Happy-Ween is pitching.
You know before Victoria even speaks, though it is nice to have confirmation. “That is our target. I can feel the magic radiating out from here, flowing into the prizes nearby. It is our source of this evening’s troubles.”
“Let me guess, it’s also the most expensive one to get,” you ask.
“Awarded to the top earner of the night,” Thad clarifies. “We have to come out number one overall to claim it.”
With one last slurp that you were oh-so-glad not to be watching, Jim finishes cleaning himself. “If we know where it is, why not just have Victoria go take it? This is her night, she’s basically pure Halloween magic.”
To your shock, Victoria appears worried by the idea. “Normally, that might be viable, but… I do not share this lightly, understand. Only because we have been through so much can I offer this truth to you, Merlin. Here, within a place like this, I am weakened. Not fully mortal, mind you, but my power is far from its zenith.”
She gestures to all the sweet, adorable, light-hearted decoration. “Halloween is a celebration of fear, of the things that make us scared of the dark. Fear we bind and manage yes, but fear all the same. This enterprise has stripped the fear away entirely, and with it, the true soul of Halloween. I may still be able to succeed in charging the prize table, however if I fail we risk losing our chance entirely.”
There’s another concern that springs to mind as you watch a helper load toys from the pile into a wagon, scooping up a bat that was near the trophy. “Hang on, if those prizes are going out, then what happens when someone else wins one? Will they all be as dangerous as the spider?”
Victoria answers with a shrug, she’s starting to look worn down again. Thad, on the other hand, pitches an alternative idea. “We could also just find whoever is running this place and try explaining things to them. We don’t have to say ‘magic’ or give them the full story, telling them it’s made of toxic materials should make them plenty panicked.
Win more points, attempt a heist, or seek the people in charge. Plenty of ways you can go with this one, but you might want to get a move on. Those all seem like plans that will take quite a while to execute.