As soon as we walked through the front door of Dyer’s Lodge, Todd got a look at us and immediately ducked his head out the back door and yelled, “They're alive!”

Things had changed since we had left.

The chalkboards with all of the Secret Lore information had been filled out with tons of new stuff, but they had all been moved away from the main area and new boards were being set up where they had been. At the top of one of the new boards, the words “Western Excursion” were written.

The Western Excursion was the big run that the highest-level Vets had been prepping ever since Valorie had earned an Excursion Train ticket after the Grotesque storyline. They were nearly ready to depart, apparently.

Soon after Todd announced our return, we were waved out onto the back deck where most of the players were congregated eating burgers that Grace had made out on the grill.

As soon as we got out there, Chris found Antoine and, after a quick evaluation, put his arm around his shoulders and said with a laugh, “A five-day storyline! After that nasty business, you go out and disappear for five days?”

He put Antoine into a playful headlock.

Antoine’s mood picked up as he wrestled with his brother.

“Five days?” Camden asked. “We were gone three days.”

Todd, who was nearby, said, “You must have got done early. Still, you’ve been gone for five days.”

That was a fun fact.

I soon found myself loading a burger with my choice of toppings. Sleep would have to wait.

“So where did you go?” Chris asked as he released Antoine from the headlock. “Lara used her clairvoyance and said you were underground but that something was blocking her. We were worried.”

“We were underground!” Antoine said. “We got locked up in a facility for a psychic experiment by a bunch of scientists working for a corporation.”

“KRSL?” Todd asked.

Antoine nodded. He pulled out his enemy ticket showing that he had killed a KRSL Agent.

“They’re all over the place. They sell contaminated pharmaceuticals, do shady coverups, engineer zombie viruses, the works.”

We sat and talked about Subject of Inquiry for thirty minutes or so, detailing everything we had been up to, from Dina being locked in a cell for a couple of days, to me watching the facility from the cameras.

We didn’t talk about the nearly botched finale. Kimberly was still upset over it and it would have ruined the mood.

As we talked, Sam, an Adventurer archetype I had only recently met, glanced at me and stared for a moment. He was looking at me on the red wallpaper. After a while, you learn to pick up on when someone is doing that.

“You got your aspect,” Sam said.

I nodded.

As I did, I realized that I could see his aspect too. That information had been invisible to me before. Now, it was listed on a plaque under everyone’s movie poster.

Sam’s poster was of him climbing in a cave with a headlamp. Behind him, the glint of an axe was visible, being held by an unseen assailant. “Samuel Wheeler is The Adventurer.”

Despite that, he still had his original base archetype, Athlete, though the poster for that was not visible. His aspect? Health Nut.

Not the best name, but it wasn’t any worse than Fanatic or Hysteric.

I started looking around at the Vets to see what aspects they had chosen. Before I got much progress, I was interrupted.

“You did get your aspect!” Lukas yelled from across the deck. He must have been eavesdropping. He got up and walked over to me. I observed that he had a trope called, “They’re talking about me, aren’t they?” that allowed him to read lips.

“What was the feat you had to do to trigger the aspect choice?” Todd asked. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a Film Buff around. I don't remember it.”

“I had to die in a storyline,” I said.

“Me too!” Lukas said. He raised his hand for a high five.

I reluctantly raised my hand up to his and he slapped it hard.

Lukas was a Frantic-Hysteric. That made sense.

Todd was a Jokester-Comedian.

Chris was a Sport-Athlete.

Whoever named those things must have had really weird taste.

I went on and on and on. I felt like I was learning a lot about the Vets that I hadn't known before. They were assigned their Archetype, but they chose their Aspect. I found it interesting.

“My Plot Armor is 21,” Anna said. She had just gotten the two stat tickets she needed to get there. “What do I have to do to choose my aspect?”

It was a good question. She couldn’t exactly die in a storyline to get hers.

Valorie was quick to tell her the bad news. If she wanted to get her aspect, she needed to be the Last One Alive in a storyline.

Valorie was a Team Leader-Final Girl.

She would know.

“Why don’t the soldiers have their aspects yet?” I asked. There were three soldiers that I could see. I had only really gotten to know one of them, Garrett. None of them had aspects.

I looked around for someone who might know the answer.

“Soldiers have to clear a rescue mission to get their aspect,” Todd said. “Kind of hard for them to do that.”

It certainly was.

Without Rescue Tropes, there were no rescue storylines.

After some more discussion, we learned all of the required feats each of my team would need to do to get our aspects.

Antoine would have to best a strong or fast monster in a contest of physicality during the Final Battle.

Camden would similarly have to outwit a Savvy-based enemy in the Finale.

Kimberly would need to give a five-star performance in a storyline that was at or above her level.

Dina would have to complete a storyline Unscathed, while also helping resolve the main plotline.

Those sounded more like actual feats than simply dying in a storyline. But still, they didn't have to die.

From there on in, the conversation continued in much the same way, with the Vets reminiscing about getting their aspects.

As things moved forward, I started remembering how tired I was.

I left the back deck and made my way inside with an eye for my bunk. As I entered the Lodge, though, I saw Arthur and Adeline over near the Western Excursion board. They were arguing.

“Why does it have to be you?” Adeline asked. “Is this because you don’t think they can handle it?”

“Yes,” Arthur answered.

“They are high enough in level and they have been working as a team for as long as they have been here,” Adeline said. She was whisper-yelling.

“I have to go,” Arthur said. “I need to be there.”

“Why?” Adeline asked. “There are plenty of storylines where having a Monster Hunter around would actually make things worse. You know that, right? Sending in a team with a variety of flexible Archetypes is more logical.”

“I can be a Scholar if need be,” Arthur said.

“You haven’t been a Scholar in a storyline in a decade,” Adeline said. “You’re out of practice.”

“I need to be there to make sure that they are safe,” Arthur said.

Adeline paused and stared at Arthur.

“To make sure they don’t disappear?”

He didn’t answer. I knew why.

I could hear the Axe Murderer breathing just from her mentioning the disappearances.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Arthur eventually said.

Adeline pursed her lips and turned away from him. “I’ve given you a lot of leeway… Sending you out there risks all of our lives.”

“I’m no good here,” Arthur said. “I can’t rescue anyone. I can’t just sit around and wait, hoping they come back. If it really is the way to the other side of the mountain, I need to be there.”

I noticed Adeline’s eyes lift toward the door where I was standing. I started walking toward my room, hoping not to make things awkward.

“Filmmaker, huh?” Adeline asked. “Instead of… Critic or…”

“Fanatic,” I said. “Filmmaker was the best fit.”

“Good to hear,” she said. “You all are making some real progress.”

I nodded and said, “Thanks. Ready to sleep for a week.”

“Try to be awake for the brief tomorrow at noon,” she said, pointing at the Western Excursion chalkboard.

“I’ll be there.”

As I left the main hall and found my way to Camden’s and my room, I made eye contact with Arthur.

I could guess the real reason that Arthur needed to go on the Western Excursion. What they were about to do could very easily cross the line into cheating. Their plan was to try to reach the lights on the other side of the mountain from the west.

Someone who had seen the Axe Murderer needed to be there so that they could tell if they were going too far.

At first, it surprised me to hear that none of the high-level vets had seen the Rulekeeper. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Most people who had seen the Rulekeeper had done so when their teammates got chopped to bits. Separated from their original teams, leveling up was pretty difficult unless you got lucky and found a team to take you.

More than that, knowing that there was a mysterious entity enforcing the rules probably prevented players from leaving their comfort zones enough to level up.

As I fell into my bunk, I stared out the window. I could see the NPC campers playing hopscotch and daring each other to go explore the forbidden cabin.

I felt that I would lay there contemplating everything that had happened the last few days for hours as had become my habit, but I greatly underestimated how easy it was to trigger my Out Like a Light trope. Ten seconds after my head hit the pillow, I closed my eyes and didn't open them again until morning.

And it was glorious.

I rose with the sun, rested and ready to take on a new day. A day that wouldn’t have any invisible monsters or security duty.

I actually woke up smiling.

A peek at the top bunk told me Camden was still asleep. He hadn’t woken me when he came in the night before.

I made my way out of the room and into the main hall of the Lodge. Other players were up doing their morning routines.

Several were reading a newspaper that was delivered to the front door. They had split it up and were each reading different parts. It listed scheduled Omens, sales at various shops, and stuff like that; all kinds of useful information was available if you knew how to read between the lines. At face value, it was just a normal small-town newspaper.

Lukas was filling his jug with coffee.

As he saw me, he sheepishly asked if I wanted any. I waved him off. I was plenty awake.

I took a seat on a couch that faced the corner where the chalkboards for the Secret Lore had been relocated and tried to see how much information they had found.

They had not actually done any new runs yet but had spent time gathering information at each known location. It was all very well and good. I still had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach about it, but I would be happy to be proven wrong.

My morning contemplations would not last, as I was interrupted by a screaming Outsider.

It was Travis. I hadn’t seen much of him since after the Grotesque storyline when he was being an ass.

Travis. Criminal-Outsider. I wasn’t surprised at his aspect choice, though I was pretty confused at being able to see him on the red wallpaper. Normally, Outsiders could block that. He must not have equipped that trope. Of course, I could have simply leveled up enough to get past it or he may have whitelisted me.

“You goddamn idiot,” he was yelling.

“Travis, I’m sorry. I said I was sorry already,” Bobby Gill stammered as he walked in the door with his tail between his legs.

“We knew you were sorry. You don’t have to tell us that,” Travis’s brother Vernon yelled, walking in the door behind them. “Sorriest bastard I ever seen!”

No one ever accused the Haley Brothers of being original.

On the red wallpaper, I saw that Vernon was a Bruiser with a Bully aspect. So, they both lived up to their aspects.

“What are you screaming about this early in the morning?” one of the Vets yelled down from upstairs.

“We aren’t going to be babysitting anymore,” Travis yelled.

Travis normally had this way of sounding angry without looking angry on his face. He was boisterous, for sure, but he also looked like he was having a good time usually.

Today, he looked wounded, maybe even scared.

I took a deep breath and hoped that he wouldn’t see me. It occurred to me that I could go to sleep to avoid him. I could lay down right there on the couch and be out like a light. The thought of it put a smile on my face.

I regretted it immediately.

“You think it’s funny?” Travis asked, having locked eyes with me. “Well, Bobby here just nearly got us all killed. You want to know how?”

I did, but I didn’t want to help him humiliate Bobby.

Travis didn’t wait for an answer. “He spent so long talking to some nobody NPC off-screen that he was written off permanently. Disappeared when we actually needed him for once.”

“Travis,” Bobby said, “I didn’t know I would be written off that soon. I thought I had more time.”

“You wanted to go on this storyline. We told you it was dangerous. We told you we needed everyone to play their part,” Travis said. “We can’t take you with us anymore.”

Bobby was very upset. He hadn’t exactly been doing well since his wife… disappeared. Now he was getting really emotional.

“There are six more houses on Toother Street,” Bobby said. His voice was cracking as he spoke. “I just need your help for a little longer.”

Travis didn’t give in. It looked like he was biting his tongue.

He took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry, Bobby. You’re a good guy, but this isn’t going to work out. If Tory hadn’t made it out of there. We would have all died. Permanently. Even you.”

Travis almost looked ashamed. Whatever storyline they had been on had not gone well for them. From the sound of it, they must have made it out narrowly.

After a moment of looking conflicted, Travis bounced back to his ornery self.

“So,” he said, fixing his gaze back toward me, “You got your aspect. All grown up, aren’t you?”

“Yep.”

“Well, everybody finds their way eventually,” he said.

He walked past me and turned down a hallway toward his room.

I looked back at the entrance where the rest of his team was still stumbling in. They looked tired and stressed.

A dozen or so onlookers had dragged themselves out of bed to see what the commotion was about. Most of them went back to their bedrooms.

Bobby sat himself down in a chair on the other side of the room from me and stared in my direction. He looked pensive. I had some idea of what he was thinking about.

I thought it involved me.