Chapter 114: Dead Man's Fall

Chapter 114: Dead Man's Fall

I stared at the horrifying creatures before me. For a while, I was too terrified to even think about looking at their tropes on the red wallpaper. When I did, I was in for a shock. Usually, when I looked at the tropes of a high-level enemy, there were some that I couldn’t see. Trope Master was a Savvy-based ability, after all. Most strong enemies have enough Savvy to block the ability to some extent.

With the Avenging Dead, that wasn’t the case at all. I could see every single trope they had, which meant one thing: they had little to no Savvy.

They were zombies after all. Even spiritual avenging zombies didn’t need Savvy or Moxy or Hustle. That meant that the horde’s entire 52 points of Plot Armor was devoted to some combination of Grit and Mettle. That was terrifying.

As I scanned through the tropes, I found that their lack of Savvy, Moxy, and Mettle was countered by abilities that circumvented those weaknesses. Something I had learned from the Vets was that as storylines scaled in recommended Plot Armor, the difficulty in completing them scaled faster.

At level 20, fighting a level 20 enemy is difficult but not impossible. At level 50, fighting a level 50 enemy was a nightmare. Thinking back on it, I was lucky that the Grotesques had a readily accessible weakness.

This could illustrate that. Enemies who could completely circumvent stat differences with a single trope were in a league of their own. When an enemy suddenly no longer has to worry about a stat, it can devote those points to another one.

The Avenging Dead

Plot Armor: 52

__________

Tropes

Fungible Enemy

This enemy is composed of countless largely interchangeable units whose numbers will not diminish until the scene is concluded. There always seems to be more to come.

Death Finds a Way

This enemy will have a heightened chance of finding the victims it seeks regardless of how likely that scenario may be on paper. Determined by a comparison of Effective Plot Armor.

Inescapable Death Sequence

Once this killer has initiated its kill sequence, the victim is doomed unless counteracted by a trope or a saving throw. Even though logically, the victim should be able to escape or fight back, they will fail.

Hive Mind

This creature's mind is linked to that of similar creatures.

Soft Magic is Confusing

The enemy’s lore is vague and broad and offers little insight into the specifics of how the enemy operates.

Mindfully Mindless

Despite having little to no intelligence, this enemy will somehow manage to thwart the well-laid plans of very intelligent adversaries. Buffs Savvy saving throws.

Fate Doesn’t Run

This enemy will not run after their victim, yet they are never far behind in a chase scene. Buffs Hustle saving throws.This chapter made its debut appearance via N0v3lB1n.

Join Us

This enemy has some means of increasing its numbers through conversion.

The Unseen Hand

This enemy is guided by a greater force. This guidance may be a part of the lore or the meta.

Confess!

The presence of this enemy will compel those nearby to ponder their morality, grievances, and outlook on death.

Your Blood Runs Cold

Seeing this enemy will cause great mental distress. Debuffs Moxie and Savvy.

Strength In Numbers

The enemy is at its strongest in groups. Singling its members out will weaken them substantially.

Territorial

This killer will punish those who harm its domain.

Whispers in the Dark

This creature can sense a player or NPC's vulnerabilities and manipulate them via impulsive thoughts, perceived as whispers.

Cloaked in Atmosphere

When this enemy enters a scene, it will change lighting and sound design, and possibly have other noticeable effects.

Convenient Spirituality

Does this enemy have powers beyond its physical body? It must, even if it doesn’t often show them.

Keep You On Your Toes

This enemy has a heightened chance of finding and subduing victims who are not paying attention.

I explained their tropes to everyone as quickly as I could. Then we made our plan. Soon, it was time to execute it.

On-Screen.

Immediately, the wandering spirits outside started back in with their zombie moans. It was overwhelming. The sound of their cries set my mind in a frenzy.

“What the hell is going on?” I screamed.

“I told you!” Samantha said. “Those men defiled the graves at the cemetery in the forest across the field and now the dead are here to take their revenge.”

She was being comforted by the two dogs she had let into the house when we came in. The dogs were clearly disturbed and would occasionally let out a haunting howl as if communicating with the other dogs outside.

“Defiled the graves... grave robbing?” I asked. “The men were covered in dirt. Is that what you’re talking about?”

She nodded.

Bobby decided to chime in. “After they had sold all of my tools and valuables that I had at the hotel, they started looking for another source of quick cash. Even threatened to sell my dogs. One of them came up with the idea of stealing jewelry right out of the graves at the cemetery. I don’t know exactly where it started but it keeps most of them out of the house, so their leader lets them do it.”

“I’m not jumping off the roof,” I said. Carousel was having fun with me. I had just suggested the same thing as filler for Antoine and my fake argument. “You know how far down that is?”

“You’re going to do whatever I say,” Bradley screamed. He grabbed ahold of my hair and put the gun against the side of my head. He was strong. Too strong for me to do anything about.

He pulled me away from the bookcase and dragged me down the hallway toward a room on the other side of the bed and breakfast.

He shoved me through the door and I saw that he had already broken out one of the windows to make extra room for the mattress he threw down on the ground.

There was a small ledge outside the window.

“Get out there,” he said. He thrust the keys into my hand.

“I can’t do this,” I said.

He practically shoved me out the window. I crawled out on the small section of roofing on my hands and knees.

“Jump,” he said.

I refused. If I was going to die, it would be on my terms.

“Get down there right now or I’ll push you off,” he screamed.

I moved to the edge of the roof, as far away from him as I could.

He had to lean all of the way out the window to get to me, but even then, only the tips of his fingers could reach.

“I’m not going. You’ll have to shoot me,” I said.

I looked down at the ground and saw the mattress. I could barely see it through the fog. He had thrown it about ten feet from the house. I would have to jump to get to it.

While it was true that there were fewer dead around this part of the house, there were still plenty nearby. Jumping was a death sentence.

“Get off the roof this minute you pussy,” he screamed.

He pointed the gun at me but never pulled the trigger. We both knew why. The idiot had wasted his bullets already on the zombies. If he had ammo he would have shot me by now. I had to pretend my character hadn't thought of that yet.

He tucked the gun in his waistband and leaned out further onto the roof. In the background, Merritt watched cautiously.

Bradley leaned out to me. I was barely able to avoid his grasp.

Eventually, he gave up. His Desperation grew too great. He climbed up out of the window and moved closer to me.

“Get over there,” he screamed.

A little closer.

The funny part was, his plan might have worked. Who knows. I didn’t want it to. I had plans of my own.

As he got closer, my heart beat so fast I worried it might explode. It was now or never. Second Blood was upon us.

He reached out to try and push me, to urge me to jump out onto the mattress. His left hand reached toward me. The other held onto the window frame.

I tossed the keys up at his right side. His instincts were sharp. He reached out to grab them with his right hand. Caught them right out of the air. Without those keys, his plan would fail. His escape would be ruined.

As he let go of the window frame, I grabbed his left hand and pulled with all my might. I may not have that much Mettle, but I did have some weight to throw around. I grabbed onto him and pushed off the ledge with my legs. I wanted to push him off and climb back inside. That is what my character would try to do. That was a pipe dream, though. There was no way I could avoid falling.

In an ordinary matchup, he would beat me ten times out of ten. But this wasn’t a physical matchup. This was a battle of the wits and he was out of bullets.

He was unable to grab hold of anything to save himself.

We fell off the roof together. We didn’t get anywhere near the mattress. I hit the ground first. There was something hard there, under the fog. A cement block retaining wall if I was to guess.

Something broke inside me. I couldn’t say what, but as I lay in shock trying to evaluate my pain, I realized that there was very little. I had broken my back, perhaps. I couldn’t move my legs very well. My arms still worked, though moving them was difficult.

My Grit jumped up ten points. My Dead Man Walking trope had triggered. It was ironic. I couldn’t walk at all. Still, the moment of my death was now stretched out. I was bleeding from the back of my head and I could taste blood in my mouth.

It was enough for Second Blood to trigger. It was possible the camera would never look at me again. I might as well be dead.

“Get back!” I heard Bradley yelling.

Through great pain, I managed to turn my head to see him. He was barely injured. The dead surrounded him though. For a moment, he even tried to point his gun at them, as if they could be intimidated.

He tried backing away from them, but then something ran up to him and latched onto his arm with its teeth.

It was a dog, but not an ordinary one. This dog had crossed to the other side. It was the one that Bradley himself had killed. I could see its deadly wound. It's strange that zombie animals seem to move at normal speed but human zombies are usually slow. Maybe it's because we walk upright.

That’s when I saw her.

She was stumbling forward from the horde.

Kimberly.

She had risen from the dead.

Her skin was pale and her clothes bloody. She shuffled forward, a large hole in the back of her head. One hand on her stomach, as if out of habit.

On the red wallpaper, she was Dead and Infected, though this wasn’t a typical zombie infection.

She approached Bradley and grabbed him as he turned to look at her.

“No!” he screamed. He cursed at her and threatened her with acts of violence and depravity, but none of that mattered now.

She grabbed him, and soon others did too.

They started dragging him back toward the cemetery.

For a moment, I thought I saw Kimberly look at me, as if she was still there, still in control, but that moment passed, and she continued to drag Bradley away while his brother screamed from upstairs.t

It would have been better for the story if Antoine had killed Bradley out of revenge. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity.

I lay there and wondered how long I would be kept alive, dead in all ways but my last ounce of consciousness.

I stared up at the nearby zombies and waited to see if they would take me as they had Bradley. They didn’t seem to care that I existed at all.

Either way, I would be joining them soon.

Whatever the case, the Finale was here, and it would soon be over. I just hoped Antoine and Bobby could figure it out.