“Hey…Guys?” I said.

“What?! What’s your problem now, friend?” said Stefanos. Looking and sounding like he was finally growing tired of me and my many gripes.

It was the third night, and we were already on the third phase of the game. There was an issue that my fine host had forgotten to address.

I’d noted it a while ago, way over on the first night. I’d sat on that realization because it gave me solid causa belli to either wrangle more advantages out of the game, or cheat without worrying about some kind of cosmic backlash. Just in case the universe had suddenly decided to have morals that particular day. A thing that rarely happened but often happened at the most inconvenient of times.

“You remember how those of us with only four members in our teams were all supposed to get two bonuses for being short members?” I said.

Suddenly the entire table stilled and Stefanos’ expression changed from annoyed to pissed. He, Maci, and Darla all glared over at Barnabas. The little demon shrank into his seat under the gaze of the three immortals.

“Hold on a minute? What the actual fuck? Are you trying to cheat us, you demon?!” growled Stefanos. The sound resembling mountains being crushed into gravel.

“Say it isn’t so....little Barney? Are you really trying to cheat us? Again? Didn’t you learn from the last time?” said Darla. Her voice light and almost playful. Her gaze sharp enough that even I was feeling a little pressured.

“N-, No...G-, Guys. Come on. It was an honest mistake. H-, how about this? You guys can start messaging your pieces from now on. And this time you won’t have to be as circumspect as you would have had to be before...Plus...Plus, um, plus all your people get extra lives. Only one extra life though.”

The atmosphere at the table immediately ease. Lamont just shook his head. Barnabas, he and Julian were some of the few members who’d been able to keep all five of their players at the start of the game.

I remained straight-faced and tried not to smile. With the average IQ of the beings at the table, it didn’t take long for everyone to realize what I’d tricked our host into doing.

Even if only Barnabas, a devil known for hoarding secrets, and Julian, a spirit of knowledge and temptations, could be truly called “smart”, everyone at that table was an old monster. Each of us was clever in our own ways. Each of us had been made shrewd by the eons of adversity we’d had to get through to make it to where we were. Each of us was an entity that had evolved to the point where the sheer processing ability of our minds far-exceeded the grand mechanical masterpieces of the myriad immortal crafters.

I’d turned my disadvantage into a net positive that couldn’t be taken back since everyone else had already agreed and on the surface, I’d only been asking for what was fair. The only downside was that now I’d have to play by the rules because from the embarrassed and hateful look in little Barnabas’ eyes he was already thinking of me as a cheat.

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Margot woke up in the middle of the night. Or rather the middle of the day, because apparently that’s how things were done in Camp Midnight. When the day came and the moon's light grew dim the campers were dismissed to their cabins.

The exhaustion from the day’s travails had put her in a dead dreamless sleep. However, instincts and training, and a lifetime of anxiety issue, made her a light sleeper. There were only a few circumstances where she slept deeply and without a care, and trapped in a nightmarish, illusory world, while trapped inside a mascot costume was not one of those circumstances.

Margot sat up and her attention was immediately drawn towards the door. The windows on the cabin had bars on them, thus the door was the only way in or out. There were noises coming from the door. Whimpering combined with the sounds of small pieces of metal plinking against each other. Someone was trying to pick the lock on their cabin’s door-beast.

Eventually, the noises stopped and whoever it was pushed a large envelope through the bottom of the door. For a moment, Margot thought she might have been imagining things. Overreacting. Then a thing peered through one of the windows.

The creature was humanoid, with a large head and even larger smile. Its skin was pale blue. It’s beady eyes were bloodshot and very dilated. It wore a cap atop its disheveled, straw-like hair, and some kind of uniform clung to its emaciated form.

The creature trembled with a psychotic energy, twitching with a violence that matched the bloody aura that oozed from its form. The creature’s nostrils were flaring, and its breath fogged up the window’s glass.

The creature stood at the window trying to peek at those inside. For some reason, Margot just knew to lay still. Pretending to be asleep. She lay still and listened to the sounds of the creature's heavy breathing and not for the first time that week, she found herself hating her currently de-powered state.

Every sense in Margot’s body was telling her that the thing outside her window would have been a hard fight even if she’d had her powers. All she could do right now was thank her lucky stars that the parameters for this illusory world somehow kept it from simply breaking through the walls of the cabin.

Eventually, the creature ...the “mailman” went its way. Margot remained lying flat. She didn’t move till at some point, a short while later she heard screams from nearby, coming from one of the other cabins.

“Th-, The fuck?! What the fuck was that?!” said Margot. Her heart hammering in her chest.

*************************************************************************************************************

“What the fuck was that?!” I said. Looking up at Barnabas in shock.

The little imp smirked at me and I realized he’d just gotten his vengeance on me. Getting me back for putting him in a tight position a little while ago.

“ *Snrkt*...I don’t know what you mean, mate? You wanted your messages delivered. I had to find ‘some way’ to get them to your pieces without breaking the boundaries of the game. Thus the activation of ‘Mr. Wobbles’. “ said Barnabas.

“Mr. Wobbles?” I said.

“He’s one of the game’s NPCs like Fishel and the other denizens of the camp. He’s just a little more... antagonistic.” said Barnabas.

Part of me wanted to curse at the little devil for his pettiness. The other half of me wanted to applaud. He’d gotten me good. I of all people should know, you don’t become ruler of a hell without learning how to be decisively vicious. Besides, even if I wanted to hold a grudge I suspected I’d have to wait in line.

I smiled and shrugged. My shoulders rising and falling, my palms upturned.

“Fair enough...Fair enough.” I said. Quietly thanking my lucky stars that Margot had managed to survive this first run-in with the creature. I didn’t know how she’d known to win the door-beast’s loyalty ahead of time, but it was definitely the right call.

I didn’t need to get angry and get in Barnabas’ face. There were others there who’d do that for me.

“This isn’t over, Barney dearest…” said Darla. Grinding her teeth so fiercely that sparks were flying from her mouth.

“You fucking idiot!...What is that shit?! Wobbles is an end-stage character. End-fucking-stage! He’s not supposed to be about yet, ya git!!” roared Lamont. Watching red-eyed as one of his pieces was bludgeoned to death with a cardboard box.

Barnabas’ look of victory diminished as he realized that in trying to get back at me, he’d created quite a bit of collateral damage.

As the game progressed, the pieces were supposed to gain various tricks, tools, and powers to defend themselves. We hadn’t gotten there yet, and Margot’s cabin was the only one where the denizens had thought to make friends with their cabin’s living door.

Thus that day ended with a massacre. Camp Midnight played host to a great chorus of screams as the eerie, smiling, mailman crept from cabin to cabin. Killing off the campers and occasionally placing a body in his mail sack to play with later.