Chapter 4
The first Path that Virginia eliminated was Chosen One. It seemed like the safest path but…
But I don’t like the idea of not being in control of what role I’ll play. The closest thing to a higher power I’ve seen so far is an evil clown, and I can’t imagine anything good will come of Tryn or anything like him being in charge of my life.
Virginia shook her head, then shuddered. Or even worse, I might end up being written or being influenced by the same people who wrote… my movie. Her cheesy final words to the Blood Drinker Queen ran through her head, and she cringed.
Definitely not.
As horrifying as both of those options were, what really pushed Virginia away from the Chosen One path was how flat and hollow her memories were, and how disconnected from them she felt. There was no indication that Chosen One would be like that… but it would be. It would be her being written and directed by someone else again.
That left Monster Within and Survivor as options. This was a tougher choice for her. The idea of ‘surrendering her humanity’ via the Monster Within path didn’t really bother her. She wasn’t sure whether that was because of her Survivor’s Will keeping her calm, or just the fact that she was never a real human to begin with. Even her character sheet described her as “Human (Story)”. On top of that, that path flat out said it was one that would let her become more powerful than any monster she met, and that had to count for something, right? Probably a lot, right?
Survivor, on the other hand, seemed weirdly plain compared to the other two paths she was offered. It admitted that she wouldn’t be as strong as presumably the other two paths would make her, but… she read the first line of the Path’s description again.
You simply survived.
I’m a survivor. I’ll survive. The similarity between her own thoughts when her Template had been finalized, and the description for the Survivor path felt important. Like it meant something, even if she wasn’t sure what. She glanced at Monster Within again and frowned. Even if she wasn’t technically a human, did that mean she wanted to be a monster? An image of the Blood Drinker Queen, her slimy and bulging body covered in wriggling tentacles, passed through her mind, and she made a face.
Definitely not. Besides… Virginia pulled up her character sheet and looked at the ability that had saved her mind, and likely her life, earlier.
Survivor’s Will (lvl 5)
She didn’t know what this whole business about being a Hero was, but she knew what she was.
You have chosen your Path! You are now at least partially responsible for everything that happens to you from this point forward! How exciting!
Path Selected: Survivor
Virginia braced herself for a moment, expecting to feel something when her path was selected. Some sort of inner power surging up inside her, or suddenly growing to Amazonian height and proportions. When neither of those things happened, Virginia shrugged and turned her attention to the several new blue screens that were quickly popping up in front of her.
For selecting your Path, you receive the following benefits:
Your Primary Stat is now: Luck!
You will receive +3 to your Primary Stat on all subsequent level ups.
Luck +5!
Your Secondary Stats are now: Special!
Instead of the usual moderate bonus to two Secondary stats, your Survivor path will receive a small bonus to all non-Primary stats.
All non-Primary stats +1!
You will receive 2 unallocated stat points per level up!
For selecting your Path, you receive the following abilities:
Lucky Charm for the Damned (Passive)!
Unkillable (Passive!)
Run it Off (Active)!
Virginia studied the announcements, then shook her head helplessly. None of these numbers meant anything to her. Was her new score of 17 in Luck average? Good? The description of the Survivor path specifically mentioned her being lucky, and it was apparently her Primary stat, so she assumed it was good, but without knowing what was normal, she really had no way of knowing. She blew out an exasperated breath, and then focused on her new abilities one by one, smaller blue screens with more in-depth descriptions popping up as she did.
Lucky Charm of the Damned: (Passive) At the end of it all, you’re gonna be standing alone on a mountain of corpses. But until that point, people around you will find themselves lasting longer than they honestly have any right to. All non-hostile individuals near you receive a +1 bonus to their Luck stat for every five points of Luck you currently have.
Unkillable: (Passive) You will not die even when your health is completely spent. This ability surely has no downsides to it.
Run it Off: (Active, Costs 40 mana to activate) By activating this ability, you will regenerate a portion of your health over the next minute. The amount restored scales with your Willpower stat.
More numbers I have no way of knowing if they’re useful or not. Ignoring the ability’s comment about her standing on a mountain of corpses, she frowned. Virginia was starting to regret not asking Tryn more questions when it had been there earlier. She took a deep breath and reminded herself that it would have gone out of his way to make sure anything he shared ended up getting her hurt, and focused. Still, it’s not like people wouldn’t appreciate being even a little bit luckier when I’m around, right?
Her other two abilities were a bit more straightforward. Run it Off seemed like it was a way for her to heal herself from injuries, although it said it would restore her health over the course of a minute, so she wasn’t sure what would happen if she were to be killed before it could heal her enough to save her. Well, she was pretty sure she knew, and it was nothing good for her continuing to be a Survivor.
She glanced at her final ability. Or maybe I don’t have to worry about that? Unkillable was… strange. It was certainly in line with her class, or Path, as a Survivor. But it couldn’t be as simple as just her being unable to die, could it? There was also the final line on its description, which she could almost hear in Tryn’s cruel voice in her head. The only reason to point out that there were no downsides in such a tongue-in-cheek manner like that was if there were, in fact, downsides to the ability. And the only reason that an ability would specifically draw attention to its downside, is if it was a really, really bad downside. Yeah, maybe try not to use that one. Not that I have a choice it seems, so I guess… try not to die? Or get hurt to the point where I would normally die?
She shook her head, leaning on the now smoldering wreckage of the boat as she climbed to her feet. That was her whole plan anyway, so hopefully she’d never have to see just what the deal with that ability was.
If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Looking around, Virginia frowned. The fire from the boat had burned down to a low smolder, and with the power still off from the Blood Drinker attack earlier, the lights were out at the small boathouse and pier nearby, meaning she was now in almost total darkness. Turning in a slow circle, she eventually oriented herself on a overgrown dirt path leading out of the woods near the boathouse. That should lead back to the main commons at the camp. She took a step forward, then paused, frowning again.
The camp was never real. It was just part of some dumb movie. Like me. She glanced over at the darkened boathouse. Except… the boathouse also wasn’t real. But it’s right there. I’M right here.
She took a moment to consider the path into the woods, and wondered where it would actually lead, before turning and facing the boathouse. Just in case… let’s see if there’s anything useful in the boathouse first.
***
Virginia made it halfway to the boathouse before she remembered the knife. The silver ritual knife had been kept in a display case in Camp Muddy Paws little museum room in the main office building. The little information plaque on the case had speculated that the knife was used by the local Native American tribes in strange rituals. Wallace had been the one who’d excitedly told Johnny about how the strange symbols they’d been finding painted in blood near the victims around the camp looked similar to the ones carved on the knife’s fancy handle of carved bone. It had ended up being the key to killing the Blood Drinker Queen and sending her back to the Below.
Wherever that was.
Actually, is the Below even anywhere? It was part of the movie, so does it actually exist? Virginia sighed as she searched through the mud of the lake shore, nearly blind in the low light. If this Depths had somehow pulled her into existence with it’s weird and seemingly all powerful magic, just how much had been brought with her? She thought again about what she would actually find when she followed the dirt trail into the woods, and then shook her head. Even more reason to take anything that might be useful here.
The Blood Drinker Queen was dead. Virginia glanced at the placid surface of the lake, almost waiting for something to come erupting out of the water in response to her thoughts. No, definitely dead. And if not, I’m not swimming out there to check.
However, even with the Blood Drinker Queen dead, the knife was still a knife, which seemed like a handy thing to keep on her. After another couple minutes of blindly digging through the mud, her fingers bumped against a familiar hard surface. She quickly pulled the knife, now coated in muck and mud, up with a gross sounding ‘schlorp’ sound, and she moved over to the edge of the lake to wash it off. As she did, the expected silver gleam of the knife’s blade in the dull light was accompanied by the unexpected blue glow of a Depths screen, as she’d started to think of them, appearing in front of her.
You have discovered an Artifact of your Story!
Artifacts are important or powerful items from the story you were created from and now embody. These Artifacts can only be used by those associated with the Story they originate from.
Blood Drinker’s Bane: This silver bladed, bone handled knife is covered in strange and arcane runes from ancient people now lost to time. Actually, they’re just doodles that the director for Blood Drinkers from Below, which the knife is a prop for, did on a napkin during a preproduction lunch meeting. In the film, the Blood Drinker’s Bane was a powerful magical Artifact that was the only weapon that could kill the dreaded Blood Drinker Queen. In reality, it was a three dollar knife the props departments bought at a five and dime, and then modified with some clay, and blunted the edge of to prevent accidental harm. In the Depths, this Artifact is neither of those things, but still carries a legacy of both.
The Blood Drinker’s Bane has the following innate abilities:
Artifact of Story: As an Artifact of a Story, this item is immune to any form of degradation or being broken in any way, that is not thematic to its Story of origin.
Bane: This item was a weapon that was used in its Story to kill something that couldn’t be harmed by any mundane weapon. This property is retained in its current form, and this weapon will do damage as if it was the Bane of any supernatural or subnatural creature.
Safety First: This item was a prop for a movie, and as such it was modified to be safe to handle, to avoid injuring anyone. When using this item, the user may decide what this blade will and won’t cut.
Definitely glad I came back for that. She wasn’t sure what the item being a “Bane” meant, but she assumed it meant it would kill anything like the Blood Drinker Queen. Virginia smiled as she went to slip the knife into her pocket, then grunted in annoyance as she was reminded how tiny and useless the pockets on the short shorts the counselors were required to wear were. Hopefully the boathouse has a pair of pants in it. She thought, without much hope, as she turned back to the boathouse still holding the knife awkwardly in one hand.
***
The boathouse did not have a pair of pants in it. It did, however, have a couple useful items. Tucked away in one corner, buried underneath a pile of faded orange life jackets, was a tackle box, along with a pole, fishing hat covered in lures, and vest covered in pockets of assorted sizes. Leaving the hat and tackle box, Virginia slipped on the vest over her bloody tank top and managed to fit Blood Drinker’s Bane mostly in one of the larger pockets, the handle still poking out a bit. That looked like that was going to be about it for anything useful, and Virginia turned to leave. However, as she did, something against one of the walls caught her eye.
Reaching out, she tugged the rough canvas sheet down from where it was hanging on the wall. Underneath, prominently displayed was a harpoon. The shaft was some kind of plastic or fiberglass, with a small loop attached to the butt where a rope or chain could be attached. The head was shaped like an oversized arrowhead, barbed edges coming to a razor-sharp point. Virginia stared at it silently for a moment.
Why the heck is this here? There was no reason for something like this to be here. The lake honestly barely merited a boathouse, and the biggest things that lived in it were snapping turtles. Hesitantly, Virginia reached out and lifted the harpoon off the hooks on the wall. It was surprisingly light in her hands, with the steel head pulling most of the weight to the front. She waited for a moment for another barrage of Depths screens, offering an explanation and description of the item, and when nothing appeared, she frowned at it, then shook her head.
Harpoon clumsily gripped in two hands, knife poking out of the pocket of a bright blue fishing vest, all over her bloody and filthy green counselor tank top and shorts, Virginia stepped out of the boathouse and oriented herself on the dirt path leading off into the dark woods. Squaring her shoulders, she strode forward more confidently then she felt.
Alright, well, let’s just see what happens next.
***
At first, nothing happened next. The overgrown dirt path wasn’t lit at all, and she was quickly stumbling over shadowed roots and rocks in the path. It seemed like the biggest danger in the woods, despite her apprehension, was turning an ankle on an unseen tree root.
That would be bad, actually. The idea of not being able to run from anything she encountered in the woods filled her stomach with a squirming ball of nervousness, and she slowed her pace further, squinting down at the path beneath her feet.
This was already wrong. Camp Muddy Paws was definitely run down, but they kept all the paths and common areas, including the one to the boathouse, well lit, for the safety of the kids. The power had been knocked out by the Blood Drinkers earlier, but the darkened light poles that should have dotted the sides of the path were now entirely absent.
If the Camp wasn’t real, aside from the lake where she’d just been, then the question remained, where did this path lead now? Virginia nearly tripped on another darn tree root and banged the butt of the harpoon against the ground as she stumbled, nearly dropping it. Grimacing, she readjusted her grip, trying to focus on the path in front of her instead of wondering where it led.
Despite that, it was only a couple minutes later after slowly making her way down the path while squinting at the ground that her foot caught on another tree root, this one almost seeming to yank her down, sending her sprawling forward with a cry of surprise. As she reflexively dropped the harpoon, stretching her hands out to catch herself before she landed face first, lines of burning pain tore up her back.
Virginia screamed, as a large shape landed scuffling on the path in front of her. She frantically scrambled back, skinning her knees on the rough dirt as the shape in front of her shifted and turned, a pair of sickly-looking yellow eyes fixating on her. There was a wet sounding panting, as the thing moved towards her.
Hissing in pain, Virginia crawled backwards, shoving herself back onto her butt, and awkwardly scrambling and crab walking backwards until she banged her head on the rough bark of a tree at the side of the path, the slight pain lost in the ongoing throbbing agony from her back, where she could feel and smell blood dripping down and soaking into the top of her shorts.
I can’t see, I can’t see it, oh god it cut me open. Virginia felt herself start to panic, her heart rate spiking and her breath coming in fast unsteady gasps, before a cold calm descended, her own internal screaming quickly and abruptly silenced.
Survivor’s Will has leveled up! Now level 6!
Virginia took in a steadying breath, Survivor’s Will once again saving her by dampening down her fear and panic. She continued to stare at the shape slowly stalking towards her, its form seeming vaguely like some kind of wolf or large dog, but… wrong. Too many of what might have been legs, mismatched sizes making the thing move toward her in an odd lopsided way. With Survivor’s Will steadying her, she studied the thing, even as her hand went to the Blood Drinker’s Bane in her pocket, the harpoon still lying on the ground where she’d dropped it, now behind the thing. Whether it was due to her skill’s calming influence or just how long she’d been staring at it, Virginia was awarded with the blue glow of a Depths screen.
Innate Skill activated! Acquired the ability Analyze!
And immediately following that:
Analyze: You focus on an item or creature that is corrupted by the Depths System, and receive information related to that corruption. Higher levels of this ability will allow you to gain additional information on use and may allow access to information on currently restricted items or creatures. This ability is an Innate Skill for all Depths Constructs.
Virginia shook her head wildly, quickly banishing the Depths screen as the thing took advantage of her description to lurch even closer to her. Staring at it intently, Virginia licked her lips nervously. “A-Analyze?” There was a strange feeling of pressure behind her eyes, and then another Depths Screen popped up.
Stitch Beast: This creature was created by stitching together parts of various other creatures together and then animated with mana. It was then sent out to collect more parts to bring back to its creator. If you’re lucky, it will kill you before you get dragged back to its master to be broken down for parts.
The Depths screen seemed to shudder, blurring and flickering briefly from blue to an angry looking red, before stabilizing back to normal, with an additional line added to the Stich Beast’s description.
This creature is a minion of a Ravager.
Virginia wasn’t sure if the Stitch Beast had noticed, or understood, her using Analyze on it, but it let out a wet sounding growl, and then lurched forward, its mismatched limbs sending it flying at her at an angle as it lunged for her.