This past weekend, Seamus treated our shared gaming group to a full run of the ‘Reunited’ scenario for the DIE RPG. While you may have heard me run DIE on Cannibal Halfling Radio, the scenario I ran was an adaptation of both Reunited and the one-shot rules, and was significantly shorter than Reunited. When all was said and done, we played for roughly ten hours of some of the most exhausting, emotionally draining, and rewarding gaming I’ve ever done. As often occurs with emotionally involved games, several of us had gnawing itches to engage more with our characters; this included me. My character, Donnie, became the Fear Knight, and had to engage with the fear he had for the future and how it was shaped by his past. Although the character creation in DIE takes some time to let you build the high school version of your character, I needed more. Less than a week after the game concluded, I started writing, and the resulting short story is the product of my post-game rumination. This is Lenny’s Halloween Party, and it stars all of our player characters as they navigate the opportunity to throw a real high school party on Halloween night of their senior year.

Life never changes when it’s convenient, but that’s never more true than in high school. Donnie got out of his last Tuesday class and then made a beeline for the stairwell at the back of the industrial arts wing. Dodging the radio station kids and exchanging a couple of fist bumps with two stoners, he descended the stairs and kicked the metal door at the bottom just to the right of where the lock was. The door swung open with a groan and Donnie walked through, ignoring the large and discolored ‘Staff Only’ sign which hung on its bottom half. Walking past several supply rooms and a set of mostly unused faculty restrooms, Donnie sauntered into the boiler room, plopping down into one of five office chairs pilfered from a closet and, so far at least, unmissed. Sitting in another one of those chairs was a scrawny boy of about Donnie’s age, bedecked in all black and, most curiously, a cape.

“Antonio, really?” Donnie asked. “I feel like I’ve never come in here without you hiding in the shadows.” Donnie began fishing a notebook and a small velvet bag out of his backpack.

“I’m not feeling it this week, man,” Antonio said. He was speaking with a slight lisp thanks to a set of theatrical fangs wedged in his mouth.

“Not feeling it?” Donnie asked. “Come on. It’s Halloween this weekend! And it’s Halloween on a Friday, no less.” Antonio was about to open his mouth when a third character entered. Jason filled the entire doorway as he walked in, looking over his shoulder before removing a set of game books out of his backpack.

“Hey little dude. Hey nerd,” Jason said, looking towards Donnie and Antonio in turn. “What’s this about Halloween? Know of any parties?”

“That’s the problem!” Antonio said, his lisp more prominent with his exasperation. “I’ve been with my sweet Bella for eight whole months, but it’s our first Halloween and I have nothing to show for it.” Donnie gave him a look, then poured out some dice from his bag. The faded Crown Royal logo was still visible on the side.

“Doesn’t Bella know about all the cool parties?” Donnie asked. Antonio looked crestfallen, and once again was about to open his mouth when Jason interrupted.

“Nah, bro,” he said. “Tina the cheer captain used to throw a crazy Halloween party, but since the whole embezzlement thing, the cheerleaders are out and no one has the space for a party this weekend.”

“Bummer,” Donnie said. “Isn’t there some sort of haunted hayride thing at the state park?”

“Donnnnnie,” Antonio whined. “That is not student council level cool.”

“I mean, neither are you,” Jason said. “We still wonder.”

“I contain multitudes,” Antonio said.

“Still trying to figure out how Antonio managed to score with Bella?” Billy entered the boiler room with Lenny trailing not far behind. Billy and Lenny were classic nerds, Billy moreso than Lenny. Billy was king of the chess club while Lenny was a literal heir to a janitorial fortune, and in case you’re wondering neither of those things typically help you fit in at high school. That said, like Antonio, Billy was dating ‘above his league’, and was oddly well-loved by the cheer squad.

“Our nerd is growing up, and wants to show Bella a good time at Halloween,” Jason said. “Say Billy, what happened with the whole cheer embezzlement thing? Aren’t you dating a cheerleader?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Billy said.

“That bad, huh,” Donnie said, chuckling.

“I said I don’t want to talk about it!” Billy said, and Donnie didn’t press the issue further. Everyone started pulling out character sheets and getting the table they snuck into the room set up for a session. Jason had been running their game in “The Darkest Grimdark” for over three years now; his freshman year campaign idea now struck all of them as pretty dumb but they were too hidebound to come up with something new.

“You know, Halloween is pretty boring, anyway,” Lenny said. “My parents are almost never around, so I didn’t even get to go trick or treating as a kid.” Jason was about to start the session but Donnie shushed him.

“Hang on,” Donnie said. “Lenny, you said your parents aren’t around during Halloween?”

“Yeah,” Lenny said. “There’s a big institutional cleaning supply expo in the last week of October almost every year. Buffcon, or something like that.”

“That’s really interesting,” Donnie said, a conspiratorial grin beginning to emerge on his face.

“I mean, the servants took me trick-or-treating a few times, but I never had great costumes,” Lenny said. “There were a lot of Spirit Halloween trips but I always felt like I stuck out.”

“You want to have a much better Halloween this year, Len?” Donnie asked. Jason interrupted.

“This is sweet and all, but I have a session ready and wasn’t planning on waiting for you to give Lenny his perfect trick-or-treat experience.”

“That is not my plan, dumbass,” Donnie said. “Do you realize that we’ve just been told that Lionel Spaulding the Fourth is left alone at the Spaulding Estate on Halloween?” Jason narrowed his eyes at Donnie, but the gears started turning.

“Are you suggesting we throw a party at Lenny’s?” Jason said. 

“Hallelujah, he figured it out,” Donnie said. “How big is your house Lenny?”

“I mean, I usually only spend time in the south wing-”

“Perfect,” Donnie said. “Antonio, what do you think?” Antonio looked over to Lenny.

“Yes! A party! Please, Lenny? Please?” Antonio said. He literally got on his knees in front of Lenny, but Jason, after rolling his eyes, picked him up off the floor and placed him back in his chair.

“This is Lenny’s choice,” Jason said. “I know his parents are loaded and probably would love to test out some experimental janitor gadgets or whatever if we trashed the place, but he could get in trouble.”

“Experimental janitor gadgets?” Donnie said, half-laughing.

“Shut up,” Jason said. “Lenny, floor is yours. What do you think?”

“I’ve never thrown a party before,” Lenny said. “Sounds like fun! Don’t know when else I’d get a chance.”

“Perfect,” Donnie said. “When does your Dad leave for this cleaning supply conference?”

“Oh, he left yesterday,” Lenny said. “Has a bunch of meetings before the conference, which goes until Wednesday of next week. It’s just me and the household staff there.” Donnie and Jason looked at each other.

“Uh, let’s postpone the session and go on a scouting mission,” Jason said. “Lenny and Antonio’s grand adventure this week will surpass the narrative magnitude of The Darkest Grimdark by far.”

Walking back up the stairs, the adventuring party left the industrial arts building and walked towards the parking lot. Jason had his head on a swivel as they approached Donnie’s car.

“Wasn’t the last football game last Saturday, man?” Donnie asked. “Relax.”

“There’s Thanksgiving day,” Jason said. “And besides, I’m always about that double life.”

“Scouting season’s over too,” Donnie replied. “Double life’s ending in college.”

“We’ll all reinvent ourselves in college, little dude,” Jason said. Donnie shook his head and unlocked the car. While everyone in the group had undergone the ritual of the senior year parking pass, it was Donnie’s Toyota Camry station wagon which fit all five comfortably. Antonio tried to lie in the trunk again, but Donnie was afraid of getting pulled over. Thanks to the band stickers on the back of the car every cop in town assumed they’d get him on a possession charge, but Donnie preferred flying his flag to playing it safe. Jason got shotgun by virtue of his size, so Antonio, Lenny, and Billy smushed into the backseat while the Camry trundled along into the rich part of town to the west.

While perhaps not living up to Donnie’s preconceptions of an ‘estate’, the Spaulding property was still massive, a two-tiered mid-century modern house built into a landscaped hillside. The hill quickly sloped down beyond the perimeter of the house, but in front a central bay jutted outward, partially cantilevered over the driveway. Donnie parked in the undercroft in front of a three bay garage built into the basement. Also in the driveway was a car nearly as old as his, parked off to the side.

“That’s Martin’s car,” Lenny said. Nobody in the group had actually been to his house before. “He’s the head of staff and handyman. There’s also Jasmine, the cleaning lady, and Charles, the cook, but they get time off during Dad’s conferences.” The entire party was looking at him; they all lived in town, sure, but that didn’t make them rich.

“Explains why you feel like you can run roughshod with the golf carts,” Billy grumbled. Billy’s family and the Spauldings belonged to the same golf club, enforcing that this was all a matter of degree. Billy, though, was a bag boy while Lenny didn’t work for his greens fees.

“I do no such thing!” Lenny said. “Never on the greens and never under the influence.”

“What about the speed limit?” Billy scoffed.

“What speed limit?” Lenny grinned. Jason and Donnie shook their heads and walked towards the door, Antonio following close behind.

The entrance to the house was up a staircase landscaped into the hillside, and a large wood-framed door admitted them into the foyer. The entire middle of the house was open floorplan, including the prerequisite conversation pit from its construction in the 1970s. A fireplace was in the middle of the conversation pit, and the chimney extended straight up, a metal column going straight into the vaulted ceiling. Two hallways extended off either side of the central area, running roughly north to south with a partially glass facade opposite the rooms.

“My bedroom and the study are in the south wing, there,” Lenny said, pointing in one direction. “Mom’s room and Dad’s room are in the north wing.” Jason and Donnie looked at each other again. Donnie wandered towards the back of the massive central room and peered into the kitchen. It was partially walled from the central area, but there was easy ingress and egress; it appeared that there were no doors until you reached the wings of the house, save the bathrooms. The kitchen was done up in dark wood and light granite, with every appliance bedecked in stainless steel. There was a wine refrigerator built into the island, two sinks, two ovens, and a general theme of excess which Donnie was not exactly used to. He started opening drawers experimentally, marveling at the gadgets and the Japanese knives. He glanced in the wine fridge.

“Uh, Lenny, you might want to put any expensive wine away before this party,” Donnie said.

“Oh!” Lenny replied. “There’s no expensive wine in the kitchen, that’s all in the wine cellar downstairs.”

“Lock the wine cellar,” Donnie and Jason said, almost in unison. They returned to the conversation pit and collapsed on couches inside, still looking around the place. Billy walked over and joined them soon after.

“Nice place, I guess,” he said. The jealousy in his voice was concealed, but poorly. Antonio was next, he had been scurrying around the whole house, opening doors and peering out windows, almost running circles around the rest of the party.

“This is perfect, this is so perfect,” Antonio said. “We’re going to throw the greatest, darkest Halloween ever. Bella will love it!” Lenny returned; Donnie hadn’t even noticed where he went.

“Hey, do you guys want to see my room?” Lenny asked. Billy scoffed and was about to say something, when Jason gave him a look.

“Sure, little dude. Let’s go, guys,” Jason said. Billy gave him a look back, but didn’t say anything else. The party pulled themselves out of the conversation pit and walked down into the south wing. Lenny’s room was what you’d expect a teenager’s room to be, for the most part. Posters and action figures adorned the walls and shelves, but they were interspersed with promotional material from Spaulding Janitorial. Next to Batman was a poster for the Spaulding Success procurement program, and next to two GI-Joes was a demonstration model of a Buff-X all-in-one floor maintenance unit. Lenny beamed; it had probably been a while since he had friends in his room.

“Uh, lots of Spaulding stuff in here, huh,” Jason said.

“It’s not only my Dad’s business, it’s mine,” Lenny said. “Nothing wrong with looking to the future.”

“Not a future you earned,” Billy grumbled. Jason and Donnie looked at him, but said nothing. Lenny showed off a few of the items in his room, not all of which were rare Spaulding promotional material, but Donnie started to push the group back into the main living area.

“Okay guys,” Donnie said. “This can work, even on short notice. We need two things, though. We need to invite the right people and we need enough booze to drown a-” At that moment, a man entered the house. He appeared to be in his late 40s, not skinny but not particularly fat either, with a full but greying head of hair.

“Ah. Lionel,” the man said. “You’ve brought…friends over.”

“Hi Martin!” Lenny said. “Yeah! We’re going to throw a party while Dad’s gone!” Jason and Donnie immediately put their faces in their hands. Martin’s eyes narrowed with disdain. Thinking quickly, Donnie went over to Martin and pulled him aside.

“Look, Marty,” Donnie started.

“Martin,” Martin said. His eyes narrowed further.

“Martin,” Donnie corrected himself. “How many of Lenny’s friends have you seen in this house?” Martin sighed.

“A few, in elementary and middle school,” Martin said. “Not so many now. I assume you are his ‘adventuring party’? Those are the friends he speaks of, mostly.” Donnie nodded.

“We are,” Donnie said. “And we want to give him the best high school experience we can before we all leave for college. This is our last chance, man.” Martin sighed; he didn’t bother hiding the fact that he was already regretting being talked into this.

“If you assure me this will be a good experience for Lionel and you aren’t just using the poor boy, then yes, I can make sure that Lionel the third will not hear a word,” Martin said.

“On my honor,” Donnie said. “Lenny is going to have a great time. Um, if you don’t mind, could you uh, overstock the bar downstairs a little bit?” Martin stared daggers at Donnie, who grinned weakly. He then sighed.

“Master Spaulding hasn’t reviewed the food and beverage budget in months,” Martin said. His face clearly betrayed that even he didn’t entirely believe he had just said that.

“You won’t regret it, Martin,” Donnie said.

“My dear boy, I already do,” Martin said. “And if you trick or humiliate dear Lionel, I will personally destroy you.” Donnie’s eyes shot wide open, and he managed a curt nod before excusing himself back to the conversation pit where everyone else was talking.

“…we need to make sure the music is stuff people will like, nerd,” Jason was saying, looking at Antonio. “I’ll let you sneak in ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ after everyone’s drunk.”

“And the Monster Mash!” Lenny said.

“No,” Jason and Billy said in unison. Donnie plopped back down into a couch, briefly making eye contact with Martin as he left the house to go get something from his car.

“Okay,” Donnie said. “We need to start inviting people like yesterday for this thing to go off.”

“Bella will totally help!” Antonio said, his enthusiasm aggravating his lisp.

“That’s a good start,” Donnie said, scratching his chin. “We need more of the popular crowd to really get this thing going, though.” Slowly everyone turned to look at Jason.

“It’s not going to work if I just start inviting people to the nerd party, little dude,” Jason said.

“That’s not true and you know it,” Billy said.

“I said it won’t work, nerd,” Jason said. He paused, and then a smile crossed his face.

“Hey Donnie,” Jason said. “You’ve got National Honor Society tomorrow, right?”

“No,” Donnie said flatly.

“Come on, you know it’ll work!” Jason said. “Her crush is so huge. Tell her I’ll be there and the whole posse will show up like white on a ghost.”

“Like butter on toast!” Lenny said, laughing. He was very happy to have friends over.

“I’m not inviting Gracie,” Donnie said. “That’s going to be a disaster and you know it.”

“She’s not that bad,” Jason said. “She even tolerates Antonio being with Bella!”

“Tolerates is a bit of a strong word,” Antonio said, briefly crestfallen.

“Dude, she calls me ‘floater’, and that’s way too scatological to be endearing,” Donnie said. “She does not like me, and this plan won’t work.”

“Yes it will,” Jason said. “And she already doesn’t like you, so it’s not like this will make it worse! Besides, don’t you want Antonio and Lenny to have the best Halloween of their high school careers?” Antonio and Lenny looked towards Donnie with puppy dog eyes.

“And Billy!” Billy added.

“You’re dating a cheerleader, nerd, no one feels sorry for you,” Jason said. Billy rolled his eyes.

“All right, all right,” Donnie said, pushing Antonio and Lenny away from their begging posture. “But I swear to God we’re going to regret this.”

---

National Honor Society met in one of the history classrooms on Wednesday after school. Donnie loitered around his locker after his last period, steeling himself for what was going to happen next. Finally, he wandered into the classroom at 3:00 exactly, and took a free seat next to Gracie. Gracie was student council president and took her job extremely seriously, much to the chagrin of essentially everyone. That said, her quest for power had made her and the other student council members, like Bella, some of the most popular people in the school. She looked over at Donnie, raised an eyebrow, and then faced forward again. Her hair, immaculately French braided, followed her head exactly.

“Hey floater,” Gracie said. She smirked. Donnie sighed.

“Hey Gracie,” Donnie said. She looked back over at him, slightly confused at how much acknowledgment she received. Typical responses from Donnie ranged from ‘uh huh’ to ‘fuck off’. The advisor for National Honor Society was running late, but all the high-GPA kids were well-behaved and there was only a murmur of conversation.

“Decided to stalk me for the day?” Gracie said.

“You flatter yourself,” Donnie said. “I…I wanted to know if you wanted to go to a party.” Gracie’s head snapped over towards him.

“A Halloween party?” She hissed. “Tina is literally wearing an ankle bracelet. Where is there a party happening?”

“So, my friend Lenny’s parents are out of town, and-” Donnie was interrupted.

“Janitor junior?” Gracie said. “No way. We’re desperate for a Halloween weekend, but not that desperate.”

“Look,” Donnie said. “You know I’m in with everyone, and you know Lenny’s folks are loaded. I’ll make sure it’s a good time.” Gracie raised an eyebrow, but was interrupted. Bella had walked in, about five minutes late, and taken the seat on the other side of Donnie.

“Hi!” Bella said cheerily. Since she had started dating Antonio she had taken to dyeing her hair black, wearing more makeup, and preferring clothing with more straps and buckles than Donnie had in his entire wardrobe. Still, it took more than the inventory of an entire Hot Topic to turn down her sparkling personality.

“What’s going on?” Bella asked. Gracie rolled her eyes.

“Floater here is trying to get us to go to a nerd party,” Gracie said.

“Yeah, Antonio told me! He and Lenny are throwing it,” Bella said. “You should go!”

“This is going to be so lame, Bella,” Gracie said. “You and Antonio should just go make out in a graveyard or something instead.”

“Jason’s going to be there,” Donnie said. Gracie stopped talking and looked at him.

“You’re lying,” she said.

“I’m not,” Donnie said.

“So the rumors are true?” Gracie hissed. “That Jason’s all buddy-buddy with the nerds?”

“Jason’s all buddy-buddy with me,” Donnie said. “And if you must know he gave the same song and dance bullshit you’re giving me right now until I reminded him that it’ll be a mansion. Filled with booze. Even the star running back can do that kind of math.” Gracie scowled. Bella looked towards her expectantly. The faculty advisor, now about ten minutes late, walked to the front of the room and began apologizing for the delay.

“Fine, floater, I’m in,” she whispered. “But if this is lame, I will not be happy.”

“It won’t be lame if you invite all your friends,” Donnie grinned.

“Yay!” Bella said happily. The advisor and the rest of the room turned to Bella, who giggled and softly apologized, blushing. As the club started going over the meeting topic, college essays, Donnie noticed Gracie scowling at him one more time before they returned to taking notes and writing down important deadlines.

---

Friday came quickly, almost as quickly as rumors of Lenny’s party spread across the school. It seemed like the word reached every corner of the social strata, thanks to the Antonio-Bella-Jason-Donnie-Gracie pentagram. After school got out and football practice ended, Donnie drove over to Jason’s. His Mom was taking his little sister to the haunted hayride, so they ate pizza on the couch while the TV was on in the background.

“Anyone else coming over here first?” Donnie asked.

“Nah,” Jason said, mouth full. “Lenny is at home getting ready, and Antonio went over early to help. Billy is pre-gaming with the chess club.”

“Pre-gaming…with the chess club?” Donnie asked. Jason shrugged.

“So hey, we might still throw a lame party, but if we get the chess club, the golf team, and the goody-two-shoes half of the student council, it’ll probably pop off anyway,” Jason said.

“I think we’ll do better than that,” Donnie said.

“I hope so,” Jason said. “We need it to be loud enough that Lenny isn’t able to tell stories about his character and scare everyone off.”

“You absolutely know Antonio tells Darkest Grimdark stories to Bella,” Donnie said. “And she probably loves it.”

“Ugh,” Jason muttered. He grabbed another slice of pizza. “If the guy in our class who dresses like a vampire loses his virginity before me, I’m going to fucking spit.” Donnie laughed, and took another slice himself.

Around 7PM, the two got in Donnie’s Camry and headed over to the west end of town. He parked in a public park a short walk from Lenny’s cul-de-sac and left the car all the way in the corner. It was Halloween night, so he assumed the police had better things to do than tow a car left in the park for a few hours too many. They walked on the side of the street and up the cul-de-sac, finally making it up the driveway on the far end of the circle. There were already a couple of cars in the driveway; Donnie recognized Antonio’s immediately. It was a black Lincoln Town Car from sometime in the 80s; he got it with his Dad at a police auction because “there weren’t any hearses”. The windows were illegally tinted and a sugar skull hung from the rearview mirror. The other cars were newer and nicer than either Antonio’s or his; he assumed someone from either chess club or the golf team was already there.

While the party hadn’t technically started yet, there were a few people milling about. Antonio was there, as was Billy, and a few chess club nerds as well. The nerds were hanging around in the kitchen, grimacing as they sipped cans of Bud Light pulled from a few cases left on the floor next to the island. Jason shook his head and began loading the beer into the fridge. Donnie looked around; almost all the flatware and dishes had been removed, leaving the cabinets oddly bare. In their place were three hundred-count sheaves of solo cups, a Costco-sized package of paper plates, and a cardboard box filled with large bags of chips and other snacks. Martin had clearly taken the advance notice and used it to do some damage control, which Donnie weirdly appreciated. While Jason took it upon himself to teach the chess club about beer, Donnie slipped away to the downstairs bar. As he expected, there were bottles of well-grade vodka and rum in the extra wine fridge as well as bottles of soda and orange juice. Donnie padded over to the wine cellar; it was locked. He grabbed the bottles of Smirnoff, Bacardi, Coke, and orange juice and went back upstairs.

Donnie was loading the liquor in the freezer and the mixers in the fridge when Jason came over to grab him. Antonio and Lenny were talking happily with a few of the chess club nerds, clearly thinking the party had started. Jason and Donnie walked down the hall towards Lenny’s room to be out of earshot.

“So there’s a good amount of real liquor stashed,” Jason said.

“Yup,” Donnie replied. “More downstairs, and more than enough for a party. Even more if we’re dumb enough to open Spaulding’s stuff.”

“Yeah,” Jason said. “I’m suddenly having second thoughts. This could get really out of hand.” Donnie nodded.

“I thought you’d say that,” Donnie said. “Here, take this. If things start to go to shit, put it in the stereo.” Donnie produced a jewel case with a CD inside. On the CD was scrawled ‘Australia DnB Demos’. Jason looked at him.

“What if this music makes the party crazier?” Jason asked.

“Then there’s nothing more we can do,” Donnie said laughing. “You could always put on Bauhaus like Antonio wanted, that might get everyone to leave.” Jason chuckled.

“Having a get the fuck out song isn’t a bad idea,” Jason said. “I…I’m just worried this is going to turn into a shitshow.”

“It probably will,” Donnie said. “Why do you think I parked my car a quarter mile away? Still. All we need to do is make sure Lenny and Antonio have a good time.”

“Are you going to have a good time, little dude?” Jason asked.

“Probably,” Donnie said. “I get along with people pretty well. And if anyone gets too drunk and starts something, you’ll deck them.”

“Yeah,” Jason said. “I probably will.”

---

Want to see how the party goes? Check out Part 2! Be sure to check out DIE on Cannibal Halfling Radio!

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