Play@YSDC

Stanley goes over to the tree and uses his immense strength to try to get it off of the fox to free it, snapping off a sturdy branch to use as a lever.

OOC,Sanity roll (current level 50) in the forest: [dice]0[/dice] Sanity loss: [dice]1[/dice]

The investigators on the path watch Stanley Kramer stop by a fallen tree and lift it up. There is another short, sharp cry.

Stanley Kramer,[b]Stanley Kramer STR 80[/b] [dice]0[/dice] It feels good to put one's strength to use, [b]Stanley[/b] notes as he hoists up the heavy trunk. The small fox lets out another cry as the weight is lifted from it. It cannot move. The damage to its spine paralyzed it. Then there is a whisper. [color=#008000][i]"Kill me, please."[/i][/color]

Stanley had had a feeling it would come to this. He slings his shotgun over his shoulder and draws his pistol. "Very well," he says, leveling the barrel at the fox's head. In an act of mercy, he squeezes the trigger.

"Jesus Christ!" exclaims Harry, his mind reeling with shock and what the hell he's going to put in his safety report.

"Pull yourself together, man," Jeff snaps, though he is quietly glad not to be close enough to make out any detail.

Due to the terrain, the investigators cannot make out what's lying on the ground before the State Trooper. They only see him producing his handgun, and firing it downwards - and then there is a stream of blood, and a final dying cry. Antal screams almost in parallel with the shot. He starts trembling, and mumbling "No, no, no..."

Stanley Kramer,The point-blank shot pulverizes the animal's skull. Shards of bone, fragments of brain matter, blood flying everywhere. A ringing sound emerges in Kramer's ears (the aftereffect of being so close to the gun); but over it, he can, once again, clearly hear the same voice that spoke to him before. [color=#008000][i]"Good. Very good. One with Nature. A force of Nature. Cull the herd. Bring solace to the weak."[/i][/color] Roll [color=#FF0000][b]Sanity 0/1[/b][/color]!

"It's all right, guys!" he calls, replacing his spent bullet and holstering the pistol again. "I was just putting down a badly injured fox!" Only now does it occur to him that the fox shouldn't have been able to talk, and that it certainly can't be what's speaking now.

OOC,Sanity roll (current level 47) in the forest: [dice]0[/dice]

"Well, some warning would have been nice.., says Harry, trying to subtly direct Stanley's attention towards Antal. "Some of us are little on edge here..."

"I'm sorry," says Stanley, heading back to rejoin the others. "I did say I might have to put it out of its misery."

"Come on, let's get outta here before the bears come to put US out of our misery," Jeff says, looking around. "Antal, stop sniveling and help carry the dang body."

Stanley nods and picks up his end of the stretcher. "Yeah, let's go," he says. "This place is starting to get to me too."

"Do you think you'll be able to fly the plane out of here?" Harry asks Stanley. "The weather isn't looking too good.."

"Yeah, I can do it," says Stanley, "but we'd better go now, before it gets worse."

The team proceeds, as quickly as possible. The wind picks up, too, although this time it feels more natural, then before. The pines and aspens wave back and forth, beating a chaotic rhythm to the droning, moaning wind.

Eventually you exit the woods, into the clearing on the Koyukon riverside. There, you are greeted by a horrendous sight...



The plane is wrecked. It lies canted on its side, half of the cabin submerged in the water of the river. The right wing broke off.

"No-no-no-no-NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Antal's mumbles gradually transform into a piercing scream. "NOOOO! NO!"

He drops his end of the stretcher, and the corpse of Bill Scott rolls off into the dirt. Antal falls forward, and starts shaking, convulsing. His screams continue, but they are no longer distinct words. Just garbled, inhuman sounds.

Jeff groans in disbelief. "How could this happen? It's like a hurricane hit just this spot or something. What a mess."

He realizes they'll have to go back to the camp and radio for pick up - which means spending the night in this hellish wilderness.

Stanley whistles under his breath. "Well, that stinks," he says, righting the corpse on the stretcher and setting it down. "Let's see what we can salvage from the plane and check if the radio's still working. We'll need to call for another ride. If we can't use the plane's radio, we'll have to use the one back in camp."

State Trooper Stanley Kramer tries to keep the situation (which isn't looking very good) under control and walks over the the wreck. He carefully climbs into the cockpit, and checks out the radio.

Roll Luck!



In the meantime, Antal abruptly stops screaming and gets up from the ground. Maybe he got better, overcame the stress? Then he turns around, and... kicks the corpse of Bill Scott! "It's all your fault! Who's the best fuckin' worker now? It's all your fault, you idiot! I'm stuck here now because of you, we are all going to die like you, you damned fool!"

"Woah, woah," Jeff says, putting himself between Antal and the corpse. "Listen, buddy, I'm getting tired of your skulking around so why don't you just tell me what the hell is going on here? What do you mean we're all going to die?"

The radio seems to be beyond repair.

OOC,Luck roll (60% stat) to see if the radio is working: [dice]0[/dice]

To Stanley's surprise, the badly damaged radio powers up. He fiddles with the knobs and tries to reach his home station at Anchorage. A warm, familiar buzz emanates from the headphones, then faint voices come in.

Stanley Kramer,[i]...*bzzzz*....anchorage, receiving... anchorage, anchored, receiving, deceiving... anchor, anchorage.... *bzzz* ....trooper, trooper, trooper, hunter..."[/i] Stanley understands, that this metallic whisper is definitely [b]not[/b] the Anchorage radio operator. This is the same voice that talked to him over the body of the fox. He can feel the current from the radio streaming straight into his brain... [i]... trooper, hunter, killer, prey...[/i] Roll [b][color=#FF0000]POW[/color][/b]! (This is for an opposed roll, so the lower, the better...)

While the State Trooper tests the radio gear, Jeff tries to make some sense of Antal's behavior. The surveyor lurches into a fast-paced rant, his eyes gleaming maniacally. He's visibly trembling.

"You, you, you coming here, you bozo, thinking you understand everything sitting behind your big desk back at your office while we workers are out here in the Big Empty facing the elements and whatever lurks between the trees, so you company men can make more and more and more money; well I say why don' t you go and ask the bigheads at Arctic, what killed Bill here, I bet you Kennedy knows, you put him in charge, but he is hiding it from me, from Bill, this is all a big conspiracy I know-----"