I opened my eyes.

It was daylight outside. Late evening perhaps. I could see the sun poking down through the hole at the top of the cavern.

I raised my head. I was alone. Arthur and Valorie were gone. The giant Grotesque leader wasn't there either, though I suspect that I saw pieces of him lying here and there.

I looked down at my body. No bandages, no wounds. I was wearing my hoodie again. My sunglasses were in my pocket.

I tried to stand up but my body shook. I could still feel the fire on my skin. I wondered if I'd ever forget.

It took me a few minutes to bring myself to a standing position. I tried to remember how it was we had gotten here and where I needed to be at that very moment.

It was then that I realized that the plot cycle was stuck at The End. We had succeeded.

They had succeeded, Valorie and Arthur. Had I even made it to the end?

I suspected not.

All I remembered was intense pain. Then a gunshot and it was over. I shuddered to even think about it.

Once I had gathered my nerve and the shakes had stopped, I remembered how we had entered this room and made my way to leave it. The tunnel seemed further now. When I had entered it before I was in really bad shape. Now I was better. I've tried not to think about what happened between those two points in time.

The path took me to the room where Donald had created so many of the Grotesques. Then, I found the stairs up to the doorway to the church.

As I opened it I heard voices.

Roxie, Valorie, Arthur, and even Reggie had all made it out and were waiting for me in the pews. Roxie stood closest to me so I looked to her for some explanation.

“We made it?” I asked. My voice cracked like I hadn't spoken in days.

Roxie smiled. “How else would I be here?” she asked.

I know that she was making a joke but at that moment I couldn't really focus on it to laugh or respond.

“You did a good job,” Valorie said.

“Thanks…”

When she said that Arthur nodded which I think is the same as him saying it too.

I couldn't think of anything to say or ask. I was pretty sure that I had just died. I felt like I needed to throw up. Luckily the church was pretty much wrecked at that point so I found a secluded bench and dry-heaved behind it.

In the distance, I heard someone talking. It was a familiar voice by that point.

“Congratulations, you won a ticket!” Silas the Showman said. His carnival music played in that slightly off-key way and filled the church with its crooked echoes.

The others were a bit less shaken up than me. I imagine they had each died plenty of times, save Valorie perhaps who might not have even died once.

Valorie was the first to press Silas’ red button. This storyline had actually been a little over her level so she got rewarded pretty well.

I don't know what tropes she got. The veterans didn't share the same little ritual of showing each other what tickets Silas had given us. I saw that she got some tropes and one stat ticket which is probably pretty impressive at her level.

She also received something else something she was very excited about.

“Arthur, look,” she said, holding out the ticket.

Arthur looked at it and a smile grew on his face. “Looks like we're in business,” he said.

I got close enough to look at what they were talking about.

Her ticket read: One Free Voucher for any Group of Six or Fewer aboard Carousel’s Own Excursion Train! Any Included Destination, Any Time. Ticket is valid for a round trip, assuming you make it out alive.

An excursion train? To get to destinations presumably outside of Carousel? That sounded huge. What kind of places could you go?

“What destinations are there?” I asked. I felt numb inside and out, but this sounded important.

“All around,” Valorie said. “They're for storylines that can’t take place in Carousel. We’ve been trying to get another ticket for a while.”

I thought about what she was telling me.

“Any destinations to the west?” I asked.

Arthur smiled. “In fact, there are.”

For years they had tried to go directly west. Now they were going to try and take a train west instead. Maybe they would have an easier time getting to the mountain with the lights that way. I wondered if that could work. Would Carousel see that as cheating?

“It’s worth a shot,” Valorie said. “I guess they told you…”

“He knows,” Roxie said.

I smiled faintly. I was now one of the few who knew about the Rulekeeper and their attempts to make it west. I still didn't completely understand why it was a big secret, but it was nice to know.

Arthur got tropes. No level up.

Reggie got two stat tickets and five or so tropes.

Roxie got the same.

They all got a handful of coins.

Then it was my turn. I pressed the red button and… It was like I had won the jackpot.

Coins and tickets started to pour out of Silas’ receptacle. In the end, I got around 200 dollars, five stat tickets, and thirteen tropes. I even got a monster ticket, though only for one of the smaller Grotesques that I had killed with a hammer. I guess I didn't get the kill for the big one.

I decided not to use the stat tickets until I had time to clear my head.

The tropes I received fell out of the machine in two batches.

With the first batch, Silas said, “It’s a shame to waste a good plan. Luckily, in Carousel, we recycle.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant at first.

Awarded tropes:

Raised by Television

Type: Buff

Archetype: Film Buff

Stat Used: Moxie

The Film Buff has spent their entire life on the sidelines watching heroes of the silver screen. Though in most of the story, they are a minor character, they can achieve great things by referencing their fictional heroes and trying to emulate them.

When this ticket is equipped, the Film Buff will receive a buff in whichever stat allows them to take a heroic or otherwise larger-than-life action. However, after this action is taken, the player’s status as a minor character will catch up to them, often leading to disastrous results.