Play@YSDC

2016
Monday, January 11
05:30AM

Standing in a corridor leading deeper in to a bunker prepared to host a Survivor show, three contestants look at each other. Their packs are on the floor of the corridor and lights flicker to live further along in the bunker. Outside a heavy iron vault door, temperature is around -15°C and snow is falling heavily this morning.
Having been dropped down via rope ladders from an old era transport helicopter, the team was informed that two other groups are en route to the camp site aka Ivdel#4.

A transmitter is sending a signal to transponders which have been handed out to all contestants, the three now inside the bunker also have one such device. It shows where the bunker is located in relation to the device. Now, a red dot is centered on the display. When moving away from the bunker, the red dot would move to the edge of the display, hugging the side which is closest to the bunker. Much as a compass would work against north.

Welcome to Survivor:SIBERIA

"Hi, I am Rona Hattingh and you are?"

"Hi, I'm Jon Bagelman," says Jon. "Nice to meet you."

Fabiano arrives a bit late and see that several persons are already there.
Hi, I'm Fabiano Ferramosca

Standing there, having escaped the biting cold of the outdoors, the red shine reflecting from the lights in the corridor slowly dissipates. There must be some kind of kinetic sensor, judging if there's need for a light source. Suddenly, it decided there was no such need.

At that, a small, red light can be seen in the corner of the ceiling further in to the corridor, slowly moving from right to left and then from left to right.

A gush of wind hits the sturdy vault door, almost wanting to get in.

Rona cannot help the shudder running down her back. Suddenly she wonders if she should have come on this survival game. Then she shrugs her shoulders, there is nothing left from where she came. She has literally and figuratively burned the bridges behind her.

"Okay, you two, what do we do next?"

"We should check out the recording gear and get that set up first," says Jon. "That's why we're here, after all."

Good idea! This way we will be prepared before the others arrives.
Fabiano starts watching the material.

There are two recordings available to watch. They seem to have been transmitted a few days ago. Fabiano finds all the recording devices the team needs in an extra backpack provided by the tv-company. An on-site located camera is the red light you see further in the corridor. Upon venturing through the corridor you find a room with desks and radio devices, chairs and a caged and locked area. Two doors exit the room. From the corridor is an open archway. AS you walk on, new lights flicker on.

The two doors have levers on the inside that keep the doors properly barred.

"Before we explore this any further, shall we start watching those recordings? And don't forget that the world has probably it's eyes in us".
"Besides, I'm not interested to go outside to that frozen weather". thnks Fabiano

A press release formed as a documentary shows the following:
Recording ONE


Angie


Garathil
A woman and a womanenter a C-130 on an air field.

When you hear the pilot speak it's in the Queen's English. "Hurry on chaps, we have another plane to beat."

When you have lugged in your gear the plane starts to tax off and soon lifts from the tarmac. It begins a straight eastbound trajectory.

You suddenly realize the plane is changing course to a northern route. You'll taking a shortcut over the Arctic. "ETA four hours." The pilot discloses. "Care for tea, chaps? There's a thermos here at the co-pilot's locker. Help yourselves."

The adventure is on and leaving all paperwork behind, disclosure agreements, signing away any warranties as this is an over the top assignment and won't be covered by anyone. You are doing this at free will. 


"Thank you, kind sir. A warm cup of tea would be great right now." Angie turns towards the stranger with all the fur. " And no, Mister, I am not a gold digger, do you have some stashed away in your furry hair? Btw. I am Rona Angie Hattingh, but you can call me Angie." Angie gives a beauteous smile at the stranger. 



I'm Garathil Dellandron. You can call me mr Dellandron,



"Why so formal, we are going to spend a lot of time together, I am not going to call you Mr Dellandron the whole time, I will call you....mmm....Ella, or I can call you.....?"



"You are doing this adventure life thingy, are you? With them cameras all over the place. Do you have small cameras on you? Are you recording this?" The pilot beams at the two passengers.

"A bit overreaching to have this old plane pick you up, with that other one leaving just a few hours before, right?"
"They must have some budget to throw around."

"And there are a couple of parachutes over there. One for you each. Oh, and one for your gear. Just place your gear in a net and hook the chute on it. We'll hook you all to a railing and the procedure will be just right as rain. Flawless."

Angie looks with her eyebrow to the sky at the parachutes. How safe are those parachutes? Who checked them? And who said they are jumping out of an aeroplane?



"Uhmm.. no, we didn't receive any little cameras, but what is this about parachutes, are we jumping out of the aeroplane?"

"Sure. When we reach the destination, I'm obliged to let you off."
He hands a chart of the area in Russia he's been handed by the production team.





"No worries, there's a tracker at your camp. Just use one of the transcivers I have here. You'll be able to locate the signal while we can see where you are."






No map? Odd. Well, let gear up. Garathil proceeds to put his stuff in the net and hooks it up, but not before taking out the axe and putting it in his belt.

He then checks the other parachute, nods and puts it on.



Making his way to the cockpit Garathil asks the pilot: What's the weather like down there?



"-8 C to 5 C. Hard winds, will feel like -15 C." The pilot replies. 
"I'm Andrews. Glad to be at service."


Angie makes sure she has her hunting knife in her boot, she puts her gear in the net and hooks it up. Then she takes her parachute and puts it on. In for a penny and in for a pound.

"How much further, Mr Andrews?" 

"Any snow on the ground where we'll drop?" Garathils asks.

"Most certainly is. And we're doing the jump in 30 minutes. Make sure the lines are hooked. I'll check them for you in a minute." Andrews says as he leaves the controls. 

"Ready if you are?" Angie winks at Garathil. Ready to make the jump.



What? Suddenly not scared about the quality of the chutes?



Andrews, give the signal and we're going.



"Darling, one thing I already know, observing you, is to trust you on such matters, if you think it is safe then I do too." 



"Good luck and have a jolly time!" Andrews makes sure the lines are all where they should be and then pushes Garathil off the plane. "You want a push or do you prefer to jump yourself, miss? I'm not to push a lady off of a plane." He smiles at the young woman.





The parachutes are automatically opened as the line from the plane stretches and tenses up. Garathil finds himself landing in what seems to be a small village. It has power lines at least... No sign of any life, though. 

Local time is 19:30. Quite dark and a blanket of powder snow covers the roads and roof tops. Three or four houses or rather cabins can be spotted from his landing location.



"Oh, well, here goes." Angie takes a deep breath and jumps out of the plane, trying to keep an eye on where Garathil is going and using her body as an arrow to push her to his direction.



Trying to follow the chute beneath her, Angie soon loses trail of the competition and finds herself in the wooden slopes of the Urals. 


No gear, except what you have in your pockets at the current time. 
A third parachute was released after the two of you jumped. It should have been dropped, though. 

At the slopes, Angie finds heavy snow fall as the wind catches her chute and almost pulls her off her feet.



Garathil looks at the transceiver he was given to find out where he needed to go to.

Garathil mumbles to himself:  Damn useless thing, no sense of landscape or anything on this, just a directional header. Might as well see if anyone's home in one of these cabins. Might have some info about it.

The last Garathil saw when dwindling down through the cold air, was the speck of black against white when the chute Angie used. Then all above him was a grey blur. 

He remember that the chute for the gear had a bright red-orange fluorescent colour. If he could get to higher ground and dawn broke, he'd possibly be able to spot it. It might even be seen in the dark at that. 

Making his way to the nearest cottage, which is unlocked and unbarred, he steps into the outside - it seems. The inside of the cabin is all over-frozen and covered by a sprinkle of ice crystals. Crude furniture made out of discarded pieces, seemingly picked from all eras between 1920's to 1970's. Closed cupboards and closets line the walls and a kitchen with an ice water fall sprouting from the tap is the centerpiece of the small kitchen. The main room double as living area and bedroom.

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

The recording is cut and you can hear a last soundfile. Where the two seems to have met and argue about what to call one another.

Recording TWO



Mina



Nick



Ned

Inside the Hercules C-130 -
En route Russia-
28 December 1800 EST-
Inside the transport aircraft benches line the sides while the massive cargo hold is empty. Off in the front a pilot in black and white camouflaged flight suit wave at you.
"Secure your geer und backle up!"
He turns on his heel and starts to pull levers and push flips on a wall panel, making the hydraulics of the cargo ramp come to life.

Mina feels excited, this is a totally new adventure. She looks at the other contestants and yells over the noise of the Hercules C-130 : "Hi, I am Mina!"

Hah, Sure brings back memories.
"Yo, I'm Nick."


As I hear the comment I immediately snap my look at its direction.
"Oh, you're awake" I said a bit surprised and gave a friendly smile.
"We might be overthinking it. Maybe there's a high tech signal transmitter that tells them everything they need? You know the tech today..." With a chuckle in between, I said: "No one knows what's possible nowadays..."

"We're in russia, some of their equipment is still holdovers from the comunist days. Also, I don't think russian and US military tech are very compatible."

"Well then maybe the producer is in good terms with them? Some money and some bureaucracy here and there can solve it, perhaps. and from looking at this giant plane and the existence of such a tv show, I'm sure he doesn't lack of it."

"Also a good point."
"Good old coruption, I hope you never go away."


"Huh, Be careful what you wish for..."
"I didn't quite catch your name. I'm Nikita but call me Nick." I offer him my hand for a handshake.

"Ned Masters. Pleasure to meet you" Ned stands up to shake Nicks hand.


Nick stands up as well and they both shake hands.
I look at the girl again "You're awfully silent Nina..."

Mina waits for them too settle down again.

Nick grins awkwardly and looks away...


Hmm, my name is Mina, Nick. Glad too meet you Ned. I am just observing a bit and listening to you two." I smiled at both of them.
"Hello Mina." Ned said as he took her hand. "So what did you guys bring along?"


Nick is quizzical by Neds sudden touch with Mina, "Heh, you guys know each other?"


I meant a handshake!

"No, I don't know any of you. Sooooo...I brought some warm clothes, lots of socks, some food, water, matches and then this..." Mina takes out her hunting knife out of her boot and starts playing with it in her hands.


Ned doesn't say anything, but just unzips his hoodie and shows off his belt.

"Okay, it seems you guys are better prepared then I am." Mina tries not to worry about her meager belongings, her father taught her how to look to nature to provide for what you need.

"I brought some food, water and a first aid kit just in case. Oh and a hammer" Nick nods twice. As Ned unzips his hoodie, Nick couldn't help but say: "Oh, I see you have brought a hammer as well... how quaint..."

"A hammer? What are you guys going to do with that?" Mina feels a bit nervous with this reveal.


"Lots of things."

"He brings a hatchet and you are more worried about the hammers xD?"

"Such as......and a hatchet?" Mina waits with dread, is she here with a ........serial hammer/ hatchet killer. Maybe both of them are.

Ned couldn't help but laugh at Minas expresion.

"In case you're thinking we're nuts, just so you know, he's way more nuts than me if we're measuring by dangerous tools" Nick points at Ned with both of his hands with a smile.
Nick reaches for his gum and pops one. "Guys want a gum? Mine's mint."

"Ooookkaayyy....thanks for the gum." Mina pops it in her mouth and with her first bite, she thinks: "What if it is poison?.....You nitwit, he is eating one too." Mina relaxes and starts blowing bubbles.


"They said we could bring wahtever we wanted, so took what I could carry. Oh, yeah, and a large chunk of my bag is full of mint candy, so yeah, I'll take one." Ned cuickly snatched a peice of gum.

"I was never really good at it. blowing bubbles, that is."

"Okay." Ned said while he blew a large bubble.


Nick looks at Ned and thinks "This guy is good... at least I'm leading on the first aid kit..."
"So tell me, what made you guys want to join in on this 'Adventure' " Nick says while chewing

You all here some conversation between the pilot, air traffic control and a third party. The conversation switches between English, German and Russian. Hearing only one side, you understand it's flight times and permissions. Six hours pass while you get acquainted to each other. You might even manage to nap a bit. A rather uncomfortable flight it is though.
Passing over what you hear from the pilot is Moscow. He declares the following. "Nearing the Urals. Next stop Surgut Airport. The frontier to Siberia. Hey, cowboys. We're not dropping you off there. Only pick up more contestants. Then, you jump for the game. Very good!"




You can't but hear the likeness in the speech pattern to a certain Hollywood actor, Peter Stormare.
New stop, new contestants and maybe a place to get more gear?

"Oh, so there are more peeps? just when I was getting comfortable with you guys"
"Hey, should we make, like, teams or something?"


"Don't know, maybe."


"guess we'll see tomorrow"
Nick lets out a big yawn.
"Don't about know you guys but I'm beat. Guess i'll go catch a few z's if you don't mind"
Nick finds a corner, puts his backpack firmly against the wall and is now lying facing the side of the wall.
"Good night everyone"

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

A cut in the reel and then four new contestants arrive on a helicopter going down for landing at the airport.



The four argue about lack of objectives and the fortune of going to meet some who know what's what.
"Hey! I see a light and some figures in the panorama window on the upper floor. Great!"


Fade to black.

A voice in broken English says: "Join in for the adventure at 8PM every Friday. Who will pull out and who will pull through?"

Static.

"I bet you everything we are saying here are recorded and will be send to those other players." Rona thinks back on what she has already said. She gives a sigh of relieve, nothing that will implicate her in anything.

"You're probably right," says Jon. "I think it's best not to do or say anything you wouldn't want others to know about in today's world, and not just here."

"I agreed. And so it means we must do teamwork and not against each other, that's good."
Fabiano feels a bit more relaxed.

"Yeah," says Jon. "Good idea. We should get to know our way around this place."

(This is where you enter the room you are in now.)

The two doors exiting the terminal room are locked from this side. They can be unlocked by turning the two levers on each door. What lies beyond them is unknown. No signs on the doors or symbols telling what might be there. It could just be some storage or an entire maze of corridors.

The caged area - the locker - can be opened if the padlock is bypassed.

On the desks you find folders with profiles of people from a long time ago. They all seem to be world war II files. Experimental and medical journals too.
No food or sleeping quarters are within this area.

A sole empty cup sits on a shelf.

"We could probably get that padlock open if we had the right tool," says Jon. "I only know a little about picking locks. My uncle taught me how to pick a simple lock when I was little, but this is probably beyond my skils. However, there's another trick I learned from a maintenance guy at my school when I couldn't get into my locker. If we had a hammer, we could use the claw end to pry it open. If we do it right, it won't even really damage the lock, and it could still be used."

"Let's look around for a hammer." Rona starts looking in every corner. "Also look for anything else that will help us to survive."

"I am sorry, I cannot find any hammer here, I don't want to dwell to far away from you guys, what about this pipe, can you use it?" Rona holds out a piece of pipe she found in one of the corners. She looks apprehensively around her, suddenly she doesn't think it a good idea to open the door.

"That might work," says Jon. "We'd have to use it to lever off the padlock. That will damage it for certain, but I don't think we care about that. I don't think I'm the strongest person here, though."

"Why don't we all try together?" Rona takes hold of the pipe, motioning for the others to take hold of the pipe.

"Sure, if it's long enough," says Jon, gripping the pipe. "If we can get enough leverage, we shouldn't need that much strength anyway."

"Well, let's try all, I'm not exactly a very strong person too".- says Fabiano

With a big lunge they tore the padlock from the door. Rona looks at the door with apprehension. "What is hidden in the next room?"

OOC: The Keeper has been busy repairing his car. Sorry guys.

You did however get a new transmission about the group at The Terminal. They seem to have been overrun by Spetznas troops. According to the transmission they thought a group of military in black fatigues were their transport to the camp. They were wrong. Their current location and status is unknown.

The group over in the wilderness left a last signal in the snowy slopes far east of the camp. Apparently they are hiking it out in the snow.

The padlock breaks. Behind the steel wire cage wall there are cabinets blocking the view. Behind them you find a desk and a bed. On the bed is a body covered by a white sheet.
Across the desk are several documents spread open, showing case profiles. The files are from an expedition in 1986. A group of students were out on an excursion and went missing. This seems to be a looking station for GRU, the military intelligence of the USSR. Apparently the studio has provided English props to go with the show. Cause of death and wounds can be read for eight of the ten students. Maps showing where they were killed can also be found among the papers.

"That's serious bad news about the Terminal group," says Jon. "You don't want to mess with the Spetznas. I don't think World War Three has started yet, or they'd have much more important things to do right now, but something's up. There could be more of them on the way here right now."

"That's probably a test of some sort. I mean, if we are in a tv show, it wouldn't be very good to their image killing the members of a reality show. Anyway, what are we supposed to do? To run outside and avoid any presence?"- says Fabiano

"No, going out there is not the answer," says Jon. "They're far more used to Russian winters in Siberia than we are, and I'm sure they're good at tracking. Even if they aren't, it isn't hard to follow footprints in the snow. I'm not sure what the answer is, though, or if there even is one. I don't think they killed the other group either."

OOC: Would you guys hate me if we say the producers cut this show for lack of viewers?
I had an idea where to take this and it doesn't feel like it will be a great plot for the game.

It bugs me that I get ideas that sounds good in my head, but when on-site they fall apart.

My other points for Gaming Ideas are:

Maple Hill, the western scenario which has lured forth some interest in the starting-a-game-thread.

Alternatively, I'd love to take a stab at The Emerald Hammer from DGML. It will have some ties to L.A. Skinner and the first chapter sits on my laptop.
It's about rare books and neo Nazis. One of the hooks from LASKIN.

Are you guys up for one of those instead?

Cheers!
/Dave