Complete Monster—"Presto": Roman Emperor is a famed magic man who is accused of "dirty magic", or real magic. The rumors are true: Roman makes a bargain with the eldritch spirit of Death for power, emptying out old graves as a sacrifice to her, but the true bargain is filling them up again. At each show, Roman kills dozens of believers with his power, especially children, to keep his power and fame going—the same show that the protagonist Pete is now attending, with clear implications the latter will be another victim of Roman.
The Woobie: Dirk Rogers. He's a kindly Friend to All Living Things who is slowly driven insane by working jobs at both a zoo and a slaughterhouse, which exacerbates his pre-existing mental health issues. It culminates in him killing Eula the gorilla, an animal he genuinely loved and cared for, in a disassociative episode, much to his own horror.
