The First Announcement

[Megami*]

"Bah, bah da da, bah rum pum pum pum!" Danya mused, tapping his hand in rythm with the tune as he sat in his trademark plush chair and studied the paperwork in front of him, "Goodness, I just LOVE the start of new seasons. Don't you, Dorian?"

"Oh!" Dorian, who had been sitting at a computer not far away suddenly exclaimed, "Y-yes sir. O-of course."

"This season's really got potential, Dorian! Lots and lots of potential! They've already soared above the first season's record for day one. Unfortunately, they're a little behind season two, but what they lacked in kills they're sure making up for in pure brutality, don't you agree?"

"Y-yes sir," Dorian yelped, staring blankly at his computer monitor and attempting to evade his glance from Mr. Danya.

"I've got a lot of hope for these kids," Danya continued, grinning broadly and taking another puff from his cigar, "It's funny how much of a difference a couple years can make. Add two more years of high school into the equation and it doubles all the drama and cinematics! It's simply brilliant, I tell you!"

"Well... of course, sir, b-but..." Dorian trailed off.

"But?" Danya piped up, rising from his chair and pacing in front of his desk.

"W-well sir... it's just that... that..."

"C'mon, c'mon, spit it out!" Danya barked.

"S-sorry sir. It's just that, well, there seem to be a lot of groups this time around... a-and a lot less players, to boot... is all."

"Oh?" Danya responded, his eyebrows raising in curiosity, "How many?"

"Um..." Dorian stuttered, scrolling through a menu on the computer in front of him, "Let's see... one of the largest groups seems to be congregated at the hospital, s-sir. It's B22, Ianto Murphy; B26, Gabe McCallum; B19, Dan Wolfe; G03, Serenity Halos; G06, Viki Valentine, and G08, Evelyn Richinson."

"Sounds like they're having themselves quite the little orgy there," Danya cackled.

A disgusted look passed over Dorian's face and he faded into silence, causing Danya's laughter to become that much louder.

"I'm kidding, you fool! If that's the only group, there's hardly anything to worry about!"

"B-but it isn't, sir. There are several others. There's a large group at the chapel, too. B77's in it, along with about four other students. And another group as sprung up at the marsh, this one's pretty big too. A-and there's another at the hollow tree. A-and another in the jungle, and..."

"Alright, alright. So there are a lot of groups. We've definitely got our players to dwindle down those groups a little bit, but maybe they could use a little hand, you think?"

"W-well sir, at this rate, the students may band together and refuse to participate, a-and... the collars would detonate and ruin the show."

"And we simply can't have that!" Danya exclaimed loudly, slamming his hands down on the desk and causing Dorian to jump visibly, "But don't worry, Dorian! I have the perfect plan. I'll just give everyone a little motivational boost... make them realize that they can't trust their classmates as much as they might have thought. That should do the trick. Then, they'll be slaughtering one another like cattle in no time!"

---

The public access speakers which had been strategically placed inside each sector of the island suddenly sparked to life with a screech, followed by the sound of somebody clearing their throat. Mr. Danya did so love doing the morning announcements. And, he was especially looking forward to this one. He was certain his idea for creating tension and distrust on the island would work like a charm.

"Good morning, Southridge High School!" Danya mused into the microphone, "And congratulations on surviving for one full day on the island! Of course, not all of you survived. I've got to commend you kids, really. In terms of death and mayhem, you guys totalled only three kills behind that crazy group of kids we had last season. Of course, you all did much better than those pathetic little weaklings from Barry Coleson High back in 2005. Two kills on the first day... really now, what kind of joke is that? But! I digress!"

Danya chuckled and the sound of papers shuffling echoed through the microphone for a moment.

"I guess you all want to know who the dead are and all that jazz, right? I guess I can oblige. Over the course of the past day, you all managed to slaughter a whopping nine classmates! And, I've gotta tell ya, some of these deaths were just downright cruel. The very first death on the island was quite interesting. After an extended fight, Nathanial Harris decided to get creative and used a pool of his own blood to electrocute Josh Goodman. Props to you, Nathanial, for your creativity. But really, kid, couldn't you have picked a different victim? Given Mr. Goodman's previous history, I was hoping he'd be quite the little game motivator. Then again, even less people would be suspecting you, now wouldn't they?"

Danya once again laughed before continuing on down the list.

"The second on our list of kills was just as gruesome as the first. You all remember dear Heather Tilmitt, don't you? She died next. Her baby's daddy was off his rocker, that's all I have to say. They found one another in the hospital, had a spat, and Lance Barrett wound up stabbing her to death with the little saw we gave him before he cut her fetus right out of her body! It was quite gruesome. Around the same time, everybody's favorite giant, Gabriel Theobaldt, was in the graveyard devestating the little group of idiots who had decided to hole up there. Unfortunately, he only scored one kill, Jason Foley. If he'd been smart, he'd have killed Will Sigurwhosawhatsitkid and Christian Rydell too. Shame on you, Gabriel!"

"Moving right along though, our next kill goes to a student who was already a pre-existing murderer outside of the school, and no, unfortunately, I'm not talking about Adam Dodd. Though I'm sure our dear fan favorite would have killed already if we hadn't given him such a crappy weapon! But no, I'm talking about Bobby Jacks! You see, Mr. Jacks encountered Tyson Neills on the riverbank not long after waking up on the island. Tyson was looking for friends, comfort, companionship. Instead, Bobby only saw the pretty little gun we gave Tyson, and, well, that was more than enough reason for Bobby to take the needle we gave him and put it through Tyson's skull! That put Mr. Neills as our fourth death of the day."

And that was that. That was Danya's devious, diabolical plan for planting the seeds of distrust in the heads of all the students on the island. It wasn't as if he was completely deceiving them. More like... romanticizing the truth just a little bit. People like Bobby Jacks were playing the game anyway, so they shouldn't mind being made to look even better, right? Danya sure hoped not. Making them out to be vicious, brutal murderers was a lot of fun, after all. The older man smiled a toothy smile and let out a light chuckle before clearing his throat and shuffling through his papers once again.

"Moving right along, fifth on my little list of the dead is Lance Barrett.. It seems one of my favorite little psychopaths didn't get to experience the joys of fatherhood for very long at all. After carving up Heather like a Christmas turkey and cutting her baby right out of her womb, Lance decided to hang around the hospital for a while. Apparently, it wasn't a very smart move on his part. Melina Frost had been hiding inside the hospital and had seen the whole messy scene go down, and I guess that in some weird form of vigilante justice, she felt the need to blow Lance's head apart at close range for his troubles. Now he's the headless horseman! Bahaha. Of course, even if she hadn't killed him, Paul Smith probably would have."

Danya let out a low chuckle and rubbed the side of his head slightly.

"By the way, hospital group? If you wouldn't mind, could you bury that nasty little fetus laying on the ground outside the hospital? Leaving a baby to rot in the sun? Really now, that's just morbid, even for this game. Shame on you people! You should have some decency. Hahaha! I suppose that brings me on to death number six. This one's a doozy, kiddos, so pay close attention while I tell you the story. Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, there lived a group of students who foolishly thought that they could band together and save one another from the horrors of the program! Well, one of these kids was a girl named Madison Conner, who had a schizophrenic fit when the group barricaded themselves inside the lookout tower and shot her friend Izzy Cheung. Unfortunately for Madison, she was a horrible shot and didn't manage to kill Izzy, but she did manage to turn her whole group against her."

"Enter Charlie Burchman, a very unlucky little man who wandered into the wrong place at the wrong time. Poor Charlie came into the tower looking for shelter and friendship! Know what the poor guy got in return? A bunch of paranoid kids who thought poor Charlie was trying to kill them! Wanna know what Charlie got for his troubles? This is where it gets confusing, kids, so pay attention. Keith Jackson was the first to attack, shooting poor Charlie at close range with his shotgun. Twice! Now, Charlie didn't wanna die, you see, so he started swinging his golf club around like a madman and got busted in the head by Izzy Cheung for his troubles. It was Ivye Dewley who delivered the coup d'etat, though, when she shoved a grenade down the boy's throat! It might have been a collaborative death, but sorry Keith and Izzy! Ivye's the one who finished Charlie off, so I've gotta give her credit for getting our sixth kill of the day!"

He couldn't help but smile. If he couldn't make more people play the game, he'd simply have to make it sound like more people were playing the game. And besides, he wasn't lying. Just twisting words a little bit. Keith and Izzy had attacked Charlie. Nobody on the island needed to know that it had been in self-defense. All he had to do was consistently twist stories to make the students look like crazed killers and in no time flat, people'd be offing one another like rabbits for fear of being killed themselves. It was such a simple idea with such potentially devestating consequences. It made Danya giddy just thinking about it.

"But Mr. Danya, this is madness! No. This is SPARTA!" Danya blurted out before bursting into a fit of laughter which lasted several minutes. Moments later, it stopped, and the large man took a deep breath before continuing, "Really now, Mr. Villa. You've been watching far too many movies. In case you all haven't guessed, Eduardo Trinidad-Villa scored kill number seven for the day, with a little assistance from Nathanial Harris... or at least, the pool of blood he used to electrocute Josh Goodman. His victim? Tanya Bonneville. Long story short, the stupid cow impaled herself on Eduardo's sword and he proceeded to kick her Leonidas-style into the electrofied pool of blood and fry her. Such a pity."

A fake sob escaped Danya's lips before the smug man grinned once again.

"Now that I've shed a tear of sadness, I'll be moving along to death number eight for the day. Tegan Bianco.. Most of you are probably wondering who the heck this girl was. From what my sources tell me, she was quite the unsociable little creature. Anyway, I wish I could tell you she went out with a bang, but it was more like a ... well, crunch. Hahaha. Tegan didn't wanna play my little game, you see, so the silly little girl hurled herself off the sea cliffs and into the rocky waters below. But, on the bright side, that's one less person you all have to kill! And that brings me to my final death of the day, Alex Steele. Let's see. Alex's game went horribly awry when resident loudmouth Guy Rapide burst into the mess hall and ruined his little party. Alex spazzed out, Guy spazzed out, the two wound up fighting, and Guy decided the right thing to do would be to lock poor Alex in the deep freeze!"

Danya started laughing, apparently finding the event itself quite funny. He laughed so hard that he snorted before breaking off into a light wheeze and finally stopping.

"I wish I could tell you that Alex froze to death, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case. The crazy little guy started firing the pistol we so graciously gave him ninety to nothing trying to get outta the freezer. Long story short, he got hit with his own bullet when it ricocheted off the side of the wall. And that concludes the deaths for day numero uno. Like I said, I'm pretty impressed with you guys overall, but I'd like to see you up the ante a little bit for today, alrighty? You people were offing one another like crazy this morning, and I'm disappointed to say that it's died down a little bit. Because of that, I think I'll be setting some dangerzones for this next portion of the game. You all read your handbooks like good little patsies, didn't you? I hope you did, because it's good to know that dangerzones, just like their name implies, are quite dangerous."

He coughed for a moment and stared down at the map in front of him, pondering just which sectors he should designate as dangerzones.

"I think... I'm going to make three!" Danya announced giddily into the microphone, "First of all, we've just got way too many people in the church! That simply won't do! So, the chapel is going to be the first designated dangerzone of the game! Secondly... let's see... how about the lookout tower? Yes, I think that'll be dangerzone number two. Finally and thirdly, the last dangerzone... let's see... the showers. Get out of there, you stinking kids! Bahaha! But seriously, you have five minutes to vacate the area before I blow your collars! Have a great day, everyone! Get out there and kill 'em all dead!"

Before Danya turned the microphone off, a lightbulb seemed to suddenly appear over his head and he jerked his head away from the speaker, making a loud noise in the microphone so as to keep the attention of the students that was probably diverting away from the announcements by now.

"I almost forgot!" Danya exclaimed loudly, "One more thing! Due to popular demand, the Best Kill Award is back? Know that that means, duckies? That means that if you kill somebody real good, and the boys around the office like it, we'll give ya an even better weapon to kill people with! We're awarding today's prize to B27, Mr. Nathanial Harris, for his cool little electrofied blood trick! This is how this is gonna work. B27, head on over to the sea cliffs A.S.A.P."

"Nobody get any bright ideas and try to follow Nathanial, though. The Sea Cliffs will become a temporary dangerzone for the morning. Once you enter the area, Nathanial, your collar will be deactivated and will not receive the dangerzone signal. It will, however, still be active should you try to remove it, and you'll blow your head off. Anyone who enters the area other than Nathanial will have their collar detonated, so if you're going to try to steal his weapon, please, wait in the bushes OUTSIDE of the dangerzone."

"Now, Mr. Harris. If you take too long and we get tired of waiting on you, we'll reopen the area and any Mr. Nobody can come and steal your weapon. We run the show here, we don't have all day to wait on you. When you enter the area, you'll find a crate with your weapon inside. Sounds all hunky-dorey, right? Of course it does! Get moving, Mr. Harris. I don't like my time being wasted! This is Danya, over and out!"

---

The OOC Stuff:

Alrighty, first and foremost, I'm going to take a moment to explain the dangerzones to people who might be new to the game. When an area is declared a dangerzone, you have 3 days, or 72 hours to evacuate the area. That means that if your character is still in either the showers, lookout tower, or chapel at 12 AM CST on March 4th, his or her collar will be detonated and you will have no choice in the matter. It might seem harsh, I guess, but it's a rule we've held since SOTF V1 and we've had very little trouble with it, so we're going to stick with what works. So yeah, if you're in the dangerzones, it'd be in your best interest to get out of them as soon as possible. Please note that your character doesn't necesarily have to enter another topic immediately but there must be a continued elsewhere (or topic link, if they moved to a new topic) at the bottom of their post.

Please note that being away does not exempt you from dangerzones. That's why we heavily encourage you to exit any and all topics you're involved with if you plan on being gone an extended amount of time. The way this announcement fell, you'll have all weekend and then some to evac your character, so there shouldn't be too much of a problem. If you absolutely cannot post to remove your character, please, please, please don't hesitate to PM a member of the staff and let us know. At the very least, we can post a short "So and so continued elsewhere." post at the bottom of the topic and save your character from imminent doom, and we don't mind doing it!

That being said, it's time to move on to the infamous dice rolls!

So, I upped the number a little bit this time around, 'cause I wanted to kick day two off with a bang (Hahaha...ha...ha...haaa.) so I rolled FIVE characters this time around. Those characters are as follows:

Serenity Halos
Owen Fontaine
Ivye Dewley
Kara Holmes
Karl Van Buren

Just like the mid-month rolls, the same rules apply. From the date of this post, you will be required to begin your death in three days and have it completed in five. Any extensions for deaths will be granted at my own discretion. If you wish to use a swap card to exchange one character for another, or if another handler wishes to use a hero card, it must be done before day 3. Links need to be provided to the characters' future resting place when the topic is prepared. I was very proud of everybody last round, everybody really got on top of it and stayed there, so I hope we can keep up that sort of enthusiasm in this round and in future rounds to come!

Just one final thing before I go: BKA and BDA prizes. BKA is going to be handled a bit differently than last time around. The terrorist interaction, while a neat sort of trial thing, has been thrown out for this version of the game. We felt that the topics lagged too much and diverted the staffers away from their own characters. Instead, an area will be designated a temporary dangerzone, just like last time, and the students explosives will be deactivated from detonating while entering the dangerzone (though they'll still be active should the student try to remove his/her collar). Instead of being hand-issued their prize by a terrorist, a large crate will be dropped in the immediate area.

So basically, that shortens it from an actual thread to one post going "So and so walks into the area, sees the crate, pops it open, gets their weapon, and gets out of the area." Once the person is out of the area, the dangerzone will become clear and reusable for play. Also, I'm adding one more element to the game. The BKA winner will have 72 hours to enter the dangerzone and claim their prize. If the winner does not post within 72 hours the dangerzone will automatically be cleared and their weapon will remain in a crate on the ground and be accessible to any contestant who wanders into the sector.

BDA's still going to work the same. Just post here within 72 hours and tell me that you accept your prize. This round's BDA winner was Riserugu and she'll be getting a roll nullification card, so congratulations, Riser! I suppose that concludes this announcement!