Stanley ended up working well past midnight into the early morning and by the time he finally went to sleep it was about an hour or two until to sunrise. This of course led to him sleeping literally half the day away which he realized was a mistake upon waking up and taking a gander at his room.
"I should have seen this coming."
He really should have.
Ezraphel made no attempt to do her 'trick' after making that rather ominous declaration of intent and he like an idiot managed to forget all about it…until just now.
'What fresh hell did she prepare for me this time?'
It has been a while since she did one of her holiday games.
Those were the first words out of his mouth after he woke up to find that his girlfriend had once again done some redecorating while he was asleep. Fortunately said redecorations weren't anything too outlandish like say…a magical forest.
'At least this time he was in a room.'
Just not the one he slept in.
If he were to make a comparison the room looked like the set of a period drama or rather in the context of this particular day it looked to be the set of a horror movie that happened to be taking place in the 19th century European or whenever the Victorian era was. Stanley didn't even bother paying any more attention to the architecture he already had no interest in it to begin with. He skipped exploration and out of curiosity went to the window to peak outside. The window couldn't be opened unfortunately but he could see just a bit through the frosted over glass.
After a few moments Stanley backed away with a blank expression 'yep, she went and made a fucking castle.'
Pinching the bridge of his nose Stanley spoke what has quickly become his catchphrase when dealing with his girlfriend's antics
"God dammit Ez"
*RING*
Stanley flinched at the sound of the loud generic ringing coming from the black telephone on the nightstand he had overlooked.
Crossing the short distance he picked it up "hello?"
"Good morning Stanley~" came Ezraphel's far too chipper voice.
"You have thirty seconds to explain yourself" he cut in immediately.
"I told you Stanley if I didn't get a treat you would get a trick."
"And to think I almost felt bad enough to give you my attention for the rest of the week."
"Wait what? That was an option!?"
"Not anymore."
"Dammit!" he raised an eyebrow at that having not heard her curse before even if that was the most PG of them all "oh well, I'm sure after this you'll be wanting a stress reliever."
"And what the hell is 'this' supposed to be?"
"Oh just a little something I've put together while you were working last night. I based it off one of your videogames"
Stanley looked about the room feeling a sense of déjà vu but unable to really place it he asked "which one?"
"Resident Evil."
"Oh…"
He looked about the room then remembered outside and the fact that he was in a castle. Then he juxtaposed those sights with the memory of his time playing the games and thanks to his superior Incubus memory retention he had a fairly accurate image in his mind's eye.
'Yeah that tracks.'
"I'm sure you are very familiar with this game Stanley."
"I am" he answered still mulling over the situation.
To say that Resident Evil wouldn't have been his first choice for a game he would realistically want to be 'Isekai'd' in would be an understatement.
"What am I doing here Ez?"
"To play the game of course however in this case the name of the game is escaping the castle."
As someone who played all the Resident Evil Games (including the shitty spin off's) he knew that such a goal was far from simple in execution.
"Of course you will be met with obstacles in the form of enemies to battle or escape, traps to evade or disarm and puzzles to solve."
'So typical RE shit' he thought with a frown.
"Fine."
The question now is how much liberty did she take from the source material? How creatively did she implement them? And
"Huh?"
"I'll play your game."
"Really?"
"Why do you sound so surprised?"
"I thought there would be some resistance."
Stanley rolled his eyes "how many chances will I ever get to cut loose like this without drawing unwanted attention?"
"I concede your point Stanley."
"So do I get a weapon or what?"
"Weapons, ammunitions, items and currency will be scattered throughout the castle as well as safe rooms."
"How will I know a room is 'safe'?"
"My visage will be represented on the front of the door."
"Cool" he rolled his eyes "so what constitutes as a 'loss' here?"
"Getting captured and brought back to me~" she answered sensually.
"Say less."
"Aw, but I wanted to say more"
Looking at a close analog clock and noticing the time "is the clock in here representative of the time out there?"
"More or less."
"What are you doing right now?"
"Oh Stanley~ over the phone?"
'This woman…'
"This isn't an intro to phone sex Ez" he scowled "if this is happening in real time I won't be there for the trick-or-treaters."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that Stanley, I will take over in your stead."
"…"
"Stanley?"
He closed his eyes "please tell me you're not going to use Halloween as an excuse to stay in your true form and try to pass it off as an elaborate costume."
"I'm not an idiot Stanley"
He sighed "you never can be too careful with shit like that Ez."
"As opposed to that time you allowed that pizza delivery man to see my true form and excused my appearance as a costumed prostitute?"
Stanley cringed, he remembered that and he also remembered that the guy started asking questions because apparently even depowered as she was Ezraphel is still a Lilim and most men aren't like Stanley who is too stubborn to be taken by a weak ass passive charm effect.
"I'm sorry"
"Hmph, you are lucky we happened to encounter him after my powers were restored."
It was a complete coincidence that they met that guy who turned out to be a fucking asshole. Unfortunately Stanley recognized his partial fault since he put it in the guy's head that Ez was an escort. Still he should have recognized that she was in a relationship and wasn't interested. Frankly Stanley was about two seconds away from stomping a mud hole in his ass and walking it back home when Ezraphel used her magic on him.
A good thing she did because they eventually found out that the fucker posted that first encounter on Reddit. Thankfully nothing came from it and after a few magically induced suggestions nothing ever will come from both encounters. That little mishap on his part could have snowballed into something terrible and it only reinforced his emphasis on secrecy.
Remembering his fuck up had him pinching the bridge of his nose "right, just don't give them any reason to think you're anything more than just an eccentric woman."
Ezraphel scoffed over the line "oh please Stanley this isn't my first 'rodeo' as it were. I will be fine."
"Alright I'll trust you. Don't fuck it up."
"I wo~n't buh-bye now."
There was a click followed by silence which had him staring at the phone, no dial tone? Then again the thing wasn't even hooked up to a landline so…
"Whatever" putting the phone back he looked around the room "Resident Evil huh?"
Looking at it the place does bear a resemblance to Lady Ds castle…or maybe it was just generic enough to be mistaken for it because frankly all that period piece architecture shit looked the same to him. Either way if Ezraphel was faithful to the games (even if it was just the most recent one) then the next logical step to take here would be to loot the place for every scrap of valuables.
Seeing that it was late evening Stanley sighed. He very much doubted Ezraphel incorporated speed run tech in this simulation and without time dilation shenanigans at play it meant...
"Looks like I'm missing Halloween."
Stanley was surprisingly ambivalent to the situation. Yes he felt annoyed at being thrust into this situation again and would be missing his favorite holiday but he actually liked these little jaunts of adventure she forced upon him. There's a reason why virtual reality is considered by most to be the pinnacle of future gaming. There is a certain kind of excitement to be had with living out your favorite games in a safe and controlled environment.
Stanley wouldn't have picked Resident Evil as his first choice because for as entertaining as the games are the premise was scary as fuck. He didn't care who you are no amount of B-movie camp can hide the horror of that shit in real life. Of course he didn't think Ezraphel would utilize the monsters and body horror aspect from that series as they were so he would most likely be looking at lewd renditions of them. But still even the lewd renditions of Resident Evil monsters are kinda…
"I need a weapon" as he said this he checked one of the drawers in the room and found a switchblade knife to which he scowled "I meant a fucking gun, gah!"
No such luck with that unfortunately.
A few minutes later and apart from the knife he also found, half a pistol clip of BB pellets, several copper coins and a larger than average gold coin with a helm on it. Finally he checked the closet to find a single wardrobe and two minutes later and he was wearing a yellow cotton jacket over a grey hoodie, blue jeans and brown shoes.
He was dressed as Ethan Winters as he was in Resident Evil: Village…joy.
Stanley noticed that he seemed to gain knowledge on every item of note he picked up which was mildly worrying. Yet he purposefully overlooked the negative implications his pessimistic mind could conjure to focus on how it would relate to this challenge. On the one hand it would come in handy for discerning what he should or shouldn't keep since he didn't exactly have a hammer space inventory.
On the other hand it will make completing this 'game' all the more tedious.
Resident Evil can be very unforgiving and considering what's at stake Stanley was going to be playing it safe by going at this as if it were on the hardest difficulty. There was no speed running things here but he supposed it will depend on how things go in the next hour.
'I can't believe she went with Resident Evil' he once again shook his head.
Even if she gave him a heads up about pulling this stunt he would never figure her to use this franchise out of them all. With how little interest she had in videogames which, not gonna lie, made him sad but even if she was interested past experience told him she would not like the Resident Evil games. To make an adventure based on a franchise that is traditionally zombie shooters well to that he had to say…
"Well played Ez."
Meanwhile…
"Well played Ez."
Ezraphel couldn't help but smirk at Stanley's words as she watched him through a monitor. With how the aftermath of his last adventure went Ezraphel felt herself squirming in anticipation just thinking about what he would do to her once he completed the game.
'He said he was thinking of setting aside a week for me' she mused before he smirk widened 'let's see if I can't make it two.'
It was something she felt she deserved considering the 'game' wasn't easy to set up even with her abilities. She had this idea only a scant few days after finding out about Halloween at the end of the previous month.
Why Resident Evil?
Funny thing about that she came upon the series whilst searching for popular female characters to dress as for Halloween. She could have taken the lazy route and simply assume her true form under a glamour but she could always do that at any point anyway. The true motive was looking for a character which she could assume the appearance of since she has it on good authority that men of her Stanley would be quite fond of her dressing up as the characters from his beloved videogames.
Other women seem to have figured this out and have built followers of thousands just based on this act of dressing up which they refer to as 'cosplay.'
In any case the real burden came with getting through the 'Resident Evil' series of games which reinforced the gripes she had with earth was how they portrayed monsters in their media.
One of the largest gripes Of course she understood that much like in the era before her mother's reign they were just going with what they are like but it's hard for her not to take umbrage. It is especially grating to see the correct representation for mamono be cast aside and seen as incorrect, weird or even disturbing.
Why they would find the savage and grotesque forms of monsters to be fine yet the lovely forms of monster girls to be disturbing truly blows her mind. Ezraphel was certain that those people would be singing a different tune for their presence if they were suddenly faced with them in real life. As for the enlightened individuals who prefer monster girls she would very much like to introduce them to actual mamono.
But back to her situation, once Ezraphel got over the misrepresentation issue she found the games to be…fine. She watched playthroughs for multiple games which was a completely different experience from watching a movie of TV show. She did not enjoy the experience nearly as much as others considering the games are rooted in 'cheesy B-Movie action horror schlock' as one person so charitably described.
It wasn't until the seventh and eight installment where she came around to actually finding enjoyment in the story. She would even go so far as to say that the story was actually compelling. After all what could be more compelling than a man going on a harrowing journey braving dangers and horrors to rescue his wife and the child? Ezraphel was very much a fan of stories like this and the setting, particularly in the eight installment provided some interesting ideas for her to work with.
When all is said and done Ezraphel had a blast preparing this game for her Stanley using the 'mechanics' of the game while mixing the setting with her home in Eos. Hopefully she nailed it well enough that her Stanley would appreciate her efforts. She also hoped that it would keep him sufficiently distracted long enough for her to complete her other endeavor.
Just then she was interrupted by a familiar yet unfamiliar sight of a fair skinned woman with short blue-purple hair and grey eyes wearing a grey high cut strapless latex bodysuit under a short dark open leather jacket, fingerless gloves, dark low cut tight pants and boots. The outfit was form fitting outlining her curvy and voluptuous figure, the low cut pants combined with the high cut body suit and short jacket exposed the side of her thighs giving her a provocative appearance.
"What is it?"
Without saying a word the held up a hand and tapped her wrist and at the gesture Ezraphel glanced at a nearby clock to see that it was now six o' clock. At seeing the time Ezraphel smiled, it was time to begin. Chuckling to herself Ezraphel stepped through the portal into the living room where four individuals were seated watching TV. Three of them seemed to be children dressed in costumes that hid their faces.
In truth both the 'children' and the woman were Golems. In fact she was the very first Golem Ezraphel created months ago for the Easter Egg Hunt. Ezraphel ended up putting more effort into than was necessary for the task she would perform. This ended up giving the Golem sentience and Ezraphel could not bring herself to destroy her first creation since terminating her at that point would be akin to murder. Instead she put her in stasis while she figured out what to do with her or rather figure out how to explain her existence to Stanley without him 'freaking out.'
…she hasn't drummed up the courage to tell him and she felt bad enough putting the as of yet named Golem in stasis all this time so for tonight she would assign her first creation an important task that would see her venturing outside to experience the world…or rather the neighborhood.
"It is time" she spoke and the 'children' got up from the sofa. Unlike their adult counterpart Ezraphel gave these Golems rather rudimentary intelligence. They were created for a single purpose with no path to evolve beyond it or the ability to gain sentience. They were mere automatons in the truest sense.
"Is everyone ready?" in response the children held up decorated bags to which Ezraphel gave a little clap "excellent~"
Stanley said that if she wanted she could go trick-or-treating but he never said that she couldn't send out proxies~
"Fufufufu"
She began chuckling to herself like an evil genius however paused once she saw the adult Golem giving her a look that despite being neutral was laden with subliminal judgment
"Ahem" coughing into her fist while straightening her posture Ezraphel adopted a regal disposition "now to go over the fine points of the plan, visit every house, receive your bounty, only deviate if it gets you more and be back with it by ten o'clock, midnight at the latest. My Stanley should be finished by then."
*Nod*
"Also" her expression turned dark "there is a potential for you encountering ne'er-do-wells who like to cause mischief. Should you come across any and they threaten you, the others or your bounty you have my permission to teach them a lesson."
*Sharp Nod*
Ezraphel frowned "you can speak you know, I gave you a voice for a reason" The Golem simply blinked causing the Lilim to sigh "you prefer playing the mute? Fine…actually it would be better if you did since people are less likely to have a conversation with you."
She cupped her chin for a bit before snapping her fingers and a shimmer appeared over the Golem's face who blinked away the spots.
"There, now you will be able to convey your intent without words" in response the Golem gave a low bow to which Ezraphel raised her head high "you are welcome now go and happy trick-or-treating~"