Monday, February 17, 2020: Somewhere in the Bering Sea, 10:38 AM
The wind stung at her nose and cheeks but Josie continued pushing forward through the woods, bow and rifle slung over her back. The stones and dirt crunched under her footfalls as she trekked deeper, ducking under grasping branches and over gnarled, disfigured roots. She had been steadily building up a mental map of the island, and the woods were the final unfinished piece. But completing a map wasn't why she had been dropped off on the island with nothing but her supplies and a satellite phone. Wilson had given her the job of killing the island's wolf pack. She had yet to start on that particular objective.
In fact, she had questioned the entire enterprise. She couldn't have thought of a better way to attract the eyes of the countless fucked up people that lived in the world than to have some real-life wolf attack footage on the feeds. But Wilson had been firm with her.
"We're only interested in kids killing kids," he'd said. Josie disagreed as the danger zones, cliffs and other general stupidity managed to kill enough kids by themselves to render the whole gospel of it only being about kids killing kids moot in her eyes. Richards and Baines had even told her stories about how they'd been required to go onto the island in the fourth game to kill a student who had managed to remove her collar. So the task she had been given seemed both pointless and hypocritical in nature. But she was being paid well, so she supposed her complaints had been tempered somewhat by the promise of additional dollars in her bank account.
As she continued onward she saw the telltale indentation in the mud and dirt of a paw print and the worn-away grass layer that was a giveaway of frequent animal usage. Crouching down Josie inspected the paw prints for size, using her index finger and thumb to roughly gauge out the length and width. The estimate she came to indicated that it was likely an adult wolf and the number of tracks gave her a range for the pack size. Standing again Josie looked around then licked the tip of her finger and held it out into the wind.
Once she had figured out the direction of the wind, she looked around for a sturdy-looking tree and began to climb. When she was satisfied it would hold her weight, Josie jumped back down to earth and set out to find a goat.
______
Her choice of location and patience to sit in a tree above a rotting goat corpse was rewarded as the sun began to set. She heard the telltale patter of paws and a wolf appeared from the undergrowth, its shadow long and drawn out across the ground from the sunset behind. It probably looked majestic rising up against the orange glow. Josie didn't have time to contemplate those details though because as the wolf lowered its head to sniff at the goat's corpse she put a bullet through its skull, ejecting a clump of blood, brains, and fur onto the trunk of a nearby tree. The undergrowth rustled as the other members of the pack darted away, having been observing what happened to the one brave enough to step forward.
Without waiting for their return, Josie climbed down the branches and dropped onto the ground. Pulling a length of rope from her pocket she tied it around the wolves back legs pinning them together and then began dragging it away through the undergrowth. As she did so, she could see green eyes staring at her through the orange-tinted light of dusk, seeming to be full of fire. She merely smiled at them as she continued to drag their pack member away.
______
A couple of days later Josie was sitting on the trapping camp roof, lit cigarette between her lips and rifle resting between her legs. It was night and the gently smoldering embers of the fire pit occasionally spit out sparks. Four of the wolves hung strung from a log she had placed horizontally across the edge of the roof and into the Y-shaped crook of a nearby tree. Meanwhile, the other three wolves prowled the treeline at the edge of the camp below her. The light of the fire pit caught their eyes every so often, bathing them in an otherworldly glow of hellfire, demons summoned in the night. Josie exhaled a cloud of smoke as she watched them, and they watched her. Together they were the last outlaws of the island. The last four predators remained. The wolves had seen to the bear that had once lived there, and Josie was going to see to them.
It would be fine she figured. The island would see more wolves soon enough.
Monday, December 13, 2021: Undisclosed Location, 9 AM
Tracen Danya strode towards the desk that held the microphone that would soon beam his voice out to all those who had made it seven days on the island. He had his list and he had coffee, which steamed gently out the top of a mug that proclaimed "I hate Mondays," the words stamped onto the side. He gently pushed his head to the left and right until his spine produced a soft, satisfying pop. Tracen smiled gently, looked down at his notes, then pressed the button to start.
"Hello, class," he said smoothly. "It's Monday morning, but you don't have to worry about school or work anymore, so at least there's that, isn’t there? I'm certain you'd all like to get back to whatever it is you're doing, be it sleeping or slaughter, so Ill make this briefing brief."
"Starting off are a pair of kills that occurred when a group of your peers decided to get extra rowdy at our Hunting Lodge Bar. A little bar brawl ensued, resulting in Jack Anderson being shot by Donovan Lauer and then Donovan Lauer being shot by Crystal Henderson. You just can't take some people anywhere," he sighed through a sharp grin.
"Next it —"
Tracen stopped and squinted at the paper in front of him, reading it over a few times.
"It seems that Medea Parth was killed when Jezzie Stark hit her in the back, causing her to fall down a small slope… and then she then landed on a rock… resulting in Jezzie stabbing her in the throat."
His voice paused for a moment. The sounds of him speaking harshly to someone could be heard, but the contents were too muffled to be made out.
"Right. Anyway, it looks like we had another accident when Olive Mayo fell off the snowmobile she was driving and hit her head on a log. If anyone wishes to take revenge on that snowmobile, I'm sure it will be waiting.
"Moving right along, we had yet another messy fight. Daenerys Todd started an altercation with Betty Hartley and her two companions. Daenerys was shot by Chiara Masina, but unfortunately for Betty, her ally Derek Caldwell accidentally stabbed her with a sword in the confusion. I thought this would have been obvious, but my advice to all of you is not to point a sword at someone unless you want them dead.
"Now on to a dead pair of would-be lovers. Aion Rhodes was —"
There was another pause and this time quieter but still harsh indistinct speech.
"Okay, there was another accident where someone pushed someone and they fell down a slope and hit a rock. In this case Aion Rhodes was pushed by Daniel Ozanne, causing his death."
Tracen took a sip of his coffee and leaned in.
"I don't believe I've ever personally seen such a clumsy group of people. I suspect if you had made it to that ski trip, a quarter of your classmates would have still died," he sneered.
"Well," he continued, straightening up, "It seems that poor Amos Flanigan couldn't live without Aion. Luckily, a very good Samaritan wandered by to provide him enough rope to hang himself so he could join his beloved. How romantic.
"In other news, Andrew Lapson landed in some trouble and couldn't find his way out. Well, not alive, anyhow. He made use of a cyanide pill we generously provided.
"Billie Sommerfield wasn't able to defend against home intruder Salem Fox. It seems Mr. Fox is on a roll, even though Billie wasn't.
"Our last murder on the list comes full circle with another appearance and several new stab wounds from Jezzie Stark, this time killing Humphrey Hayward. And the day finished out with Betty Quinn dying by walking into a danger zone. We call that a Betty Boop."
Tracen yawned and scanned further down on the papers.
"On to more pleasant business. The entire Shoreline will become a danger zone, so take care to avoid it. That means both the Downed Plane and Rocky Beach are no-go zones. That is, unless you are the Fantastic Mr. Fox. Congratulations, Salem, on winning the best kill award. Please head down to the beach to get your prize of a chicken pot pie, snickerdoodle cookie, and cola.
"That's the end of today's update. If you can hear my voice, it means you've made it one week here, so congratulations. Check back for tomorrow's news!"
DAY SEVEN: MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2021
Weather: The temperature has dropped slightly again and the snowfall that began to get heavier overnight has continued with heavy snowfall present across the island, causing reduced visibility. The high is around 30 degrees F, -1 degree C in the morning with a low of 16 F, -9 degrees C, in the evening once the sun has gone down. The sun rises at 9:11 AM, and sets at 3:17 PM. There is a brief period of 5mph winds in the early evening with a longer period around midnight. The moon is now in the waxing gibbous stage. There is a semidiurnal tide with two highs one at 6:14am and the other at 5:41pm while there is only one low tide today at 11:57am
Here are your roly polys for this set.
Summary:
1. Danielle Bird (TheLordOfAwesome) - Daniel Ozanne (BlizzardeyeWonder), Hero Card used
2. Fred Hobbes (midnight_twelve)- Chloé Delacroix (midnight_twelve), Swap Card used
3. Leslie Romero (Jilly) - Przemyslaw Ziemiak (Maraoone), Hero Card used
4. Derek Caldwell (DerArknight)
5. Letitia May (Laurels) - Chiara Masina (Laurels), Swap Card used
Finally, congratulations to Dr Adjective for their Best Death Award win! Your quote nomination thread will be up shortly!
Please remember that there are three days for cards and for regular posting to wrap up for threads that are now in danger zones and a further seven days for leaving posts.
Characters slotted to die at the end of the 72-hour card period have an additional NINE days to die before they and their killer become ineligible for the Best Kill and Best Death Awards for this rolls cycle.
Any characters who have not died by the BKA/BDA deadline of the next rolls cycle will be taken over by SOTF_Help in order to complete their deaths.
Card Timer:
BKA/BDA Timer:
That's all for this fortnight folks, we'll see you for the next set!
