High Stakes IC

[MrEdwardNigma]

OOC

You'd all signed up for this new reality TV show. High Stakes it was called. It was organised by Max Corp, one of the most powerful organisations in the world, and claimed to be "the most extreme game ever". All reality TV shows seemed to claim this though, so no particular thought was given to it.

Except for these few things, you really didn'y know anything about the game. You had apparently been accepted to compete though, as a letter had arrived telling you to go to the Saint Joseph town busstop. There you would be picked up by a bus, which would bring you to where-ever the game started. You had packed your bags, arranged some matters as you weren't told how long exactly this game was going to take, and then you took off for the busstop when the time had come.

To be honest, you did know one more thing about the game: it promised to give away the largest amount of money ever given away in the history of mankind! This was a good enough reason to abandon your house, though some of you might have had different reasons, such as your love of adventure.

Anyways, the Saint Joseph busstop seemed to be a gathering point for all contestants. People arrived in various ways. Some had taken the bus to get there, others came by foot, by bike, by taxi or by car. one person even arived in a limousine. It was strange to see someone rich enough to afford a limousine competing.

Soon, the bus arrived. It was a quite regular bus, though some slight modifications had been made to it. The seats seemed more comfy than in most busses and the driver had a completely sealed compartiment, probably so he wouldn't be able to interact with the contestants. The bus also had two TVs, but they were off right now. Maybe they indicated that it would be a long trip and a movie would be played, or maybe they wouldn't be used at all.

The driver pressed a button in his compartiment and asked everyone to put their luggage in the luggage compartiment. Then everyone entered the bus and the driver took off. He took the highway, and it looked like it was going to be a long drive. You might as well take your time to get to know each other.

Spoiler

Show

All of you have entered the bus and it is now driving. Your luggage is in the luggage compartiment. No exceptions. Introduce your characters and have them take place somewhere in the bus. Interact a bit with the others and maybe establish some friendships. Knowing your competitors or allying with them will be useful.

Saint Joseph town is not a real place as far as I know. I'll be using locations that aren't real so no-one will happen to live where-ever i was talking about and will screw up the game by saying something like "But Moscow does have more than three teahouses!". All you need to know about Saint Joseph town for now is that it's a fairly large American city somewhere in centre of America and it's known for it's bagels. Some of you might live there.

[JettWilderbeast]

It wasn't a long walk for Trent to the bus stop, the homeless shelter he had been staying in was just around the corner. Trent's unkempt brown hair fell over his face as he stood at the bus stop looking at the people round him, his stubble, baggy jeans and jumper didn't really go well with everyone else. He couldn't help but feel bottom of the ladder.
He put his bag in the luggage compartment and went and sat at the back of the bus.
(Providing someone does sit near him) Trent turns to the person nearest him on the bus and says;
Well, Hi. I'm Trent, Trent Arguson. I guess we will be getting to know each other so what's your name?

[Eldan]

Andrew was still tired from the long flight he had to take to get here from england and the second, shorter flight to get to Saint Joseph. He was only in T-shirt and jeans, his brown hair sweaty and unkempt.
After putting his bag in the compartment, he turned round to the man who approached him.
"Blake. Andrew Blake. Nice to meet you."
Poor., he thought. Probably not too bright. Not a large threat, but probably useful.

[ForzaFiori]

Michael steps off the greyhound he had taken from SC just in time to see the next bus arriving. He sighed when he saw the TV's, realizing that, most likely, he was facing another long bus ride. He had dressed in the usual clothes, jeans and a t-shirt, with his trusty leather jacket. he idly twirled his bic in his hand as he boarded the bus, sitting in the back, and lays his head against the window, hoping to catch a small nap before they arrived. His hopes were dashed, however, as the people in front of him started a conversation. Realizing it would prove useful to know them, Michael addresses them in the distinct southern drawn of SC. Before y'all get the formalities over with, I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Michael Leaf.He interjects, extending a hand to Trent and then Andrew. After shaking hands (or not, if they chose not to) he continues to adress Andrew. Oh, nice accent. England?

[El_Frenchie]

Michaël yawned loudly. He looked... out of place. Black hair, a few white strands standing out, a cotton jacket over a white shirt and a pair of black jeans. He carried a set of shorts and what seemed like spare clothing over his left arm. He looked towards the bus and boarded after the first half of the passengers got in. It was filling up fairly quickly and he wanted a window seat.

He went towards the back of the bus and spotted people already talking together. He smiles to them and sits in front of Andrew and Trent, near the window. Taking out his notebook and a pen, Michaël starts writing something. Names of the people behind him, and taking a look over his shoulder, descriptions. The words are in French. But there are three paragraphs for each person, titled with the names.

If any of the two people directly behind him (Andrew & Trent) looks towards the book to spot what he's writing, they can see small bits of text:

Andrew Blake

"Un gars intéressant. L'air intelligent. Dan[...]"

Trent

"Plutôt pauvre. Probablement costaud. Méf[...]"

He turns the page after doing so. Writing on the other side, he starts drawing what looks like a map. He also sketches the bus stop and starts writing a description of it and the bus.

Then, closing the notebook after a while, he turns around to them and extends a hand.

"Bonjour! Heh, or hello. My name is Michaël [me-ka-l]. Nice to meet you gentlemen."

[JettWilderbeast]

Trent
Trent is taking a like to these people all ready, maybe this is his new start....
He shakes hands with everyone and laughs, this is the best he has had in months, better than the streets and the fights and the drugs. Happy, he turns the conversation to the game;
So whadda think this game is all about? And the money... Must be some pretty special stuff gonna go down!

[Little Toe]

Lundi sprinted towards the bus stop. She was probably late, or that's what she thought, since it seemed customary for her to be late for everything. She approached the bus and threw her bag in the luggage compartment. She looked particularly radiant today despite her unruly hair.

As she got into the bus she felt the look of men fall upon her. It seemed she would be the only women in the show "génial" she thought to herself. She was certainly out of place in the bus and was browsing for a spot to sit down and keep to herself.

As she looked around she spotted Michaël Lagrange, a reasonably well-known writer from her province. She was surprised to say the least. Sure he was no woman but he had some decent views on women. She remembered a truthful article Lagrange had written on how all humans were equal indifferently of their sex or race.

She sat in front of him. Then turned around with her arm over the seat. Butting in the conversation with a very strong french accent.

"Hello everybody! I am Lundi Jarrett zery pleazed to meet you all."

Turning to Michaël,

"Michaël Lagrange, alors ça c'est une surprise! Je m'appelle Lundi Jarrett. J'ai lu quelques articles à vous dans la presse locale. Je ne savais pas que vous participiez à ce Show?"

[Nibleswick]

"Uh, hi, I'm Henry Doyle, I'm from Utah, where are you folks from?
Henry sat down near the others, readjusting his leatherman as he did so. He was what I suppose you could call "a clean young man", as long as you didn't try to consider his clothes in that context. His clothes were very much not clean, they were stained by dirt, oil, and the occasional burn mark. His steel toed boots were scuffed and dirty. On the whole he looked like some one who made a living in the dirt, even his hands and face (up to where it was protected by his hat) were dirt colored.

[LostOne27]

Justin beat on the door relentlessly. Figures. He promises to drive me to Saint Joseph this morning, then goes and spends all night partying. "Joe! Wake your lazy butt up and get out here! We gotta go!" After a few more minutes, Joe was up and dressed. The boys headed out to Joe's old truck and hit the road.

They made it to Saint Joseph in only 2 hours. Pretty good for 180 miles. Justin hopped out and waved to Joe, saying "Later, man." He threw his bags into the luggage comparment and boarded the bus. He saw a gaggle of people all jabbering away towards the rear, so decided to sit more towards the front. He was still a little tired, and wanted to get a nap. After all, Joe wasn't the only one up partying last night.

*If anyone sits down near Justin he'll say, ""Howdy." and lean back as if to rest.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The bus was driving down the highway at some speed and the sun was rising now. It looked like it was going to be a sunny day. Not particularly warm, but sunny anyways.

The man who had exited from the limousine had taken a seat near the front of the bus. He greeted Justin but didn't seem much interested in conversation otherwise.

Two contestants who looked like experienced hitchhikers had set up somewhere in the middle of the bus, and were talking excessively.

A guy with long black hair still hadn't taken a seat and seemed to be checking out the compartiments above the passengers' heads.

A black man in a business suit had taken place near the rear, but didn't participate in the conversation.

[Eldan]

"England, yes. I'm from London, to be precise, but currently living in Oxford. Nice to meet you all."
French, he thought. Why do there have to be two french people on board? That's gonna be complicated, if they join up.
His entire knowledge of the french language was limited to about three basic sentences and whatever he could try to translate from english and what little latin he knew.

[boomwolf]

"Bakios here." says a slim man in black matrix-styled cloak, "Canadian if it matters."
He takes a key out of his pocket and begins to inspect it with great care, looking for something, but what? nobody knows. a careful look will reveal he is wearing black leather gloves.

He puts the key back into his pocket and asks "Anyone has a clue what the game is all about?"
Bakios lets a wierd smile on his face as he takes off his shades, not clear why he had them on anyway. his bleached hair was clearly not combed lately.

After a short time bakios finds a seat, not too close to anyone, but not far from the center of activity. his eyes scanning the bus of any cameras or things of that style.

[MrEdwardNigma]

Bakios spots a camera in the front of the bus. It's in the driver's compartiment, but it's pointing toward the rest of the bus. It's been encased, but you still managed to spot it.

[Nycthemeron]

Nick gets out of the taxi that brought him from the airport and sucks deeply on a cigarette as out of site from the others as he can. My last moments of privacy for who knows how long.

Stubbing out the cig under his brown leather loafers he brushes down his rugby shirt, jeans and gillet, takes of his sunglasses and throws his things onto the bus after the others. He takes a moment to settle himself of the bus grabbing a seat by himself, having pulled an iPod out of his pocket and putt the hefty book he was carrying down he goes and introduces himself to Bakios. "Nicholas, how do you do." He turns about slightly to the others, "Honestly I don't know a thing about what's going to happen. It should however be interesting. Oh and pardon me, Bonjour monsieur et mademoiselle, J'apprécierai avoir quelqu'un pour parler avec en français." The voice is cut glass English but the French is perfect.

Spoiler

Show

My french is terrible, I'm so sorry, I haven't spoken it since GCSE.

[boomwolf]

"This place has more French then Canada." mutters bakios, clearly displeased.

[MrEdwardNigma]

The guy with the long black hair laughs as he hears this.

"There's barely any French in Canada, they're Canadians! They speak French, but that's a different thing, you know?"

He sits down. It seems like he's through investing the compartiments. He messes a bit with a piece of string, and then he gets up again and walks toward the driver's sealed off room.

[LostOne27]

Justin managed to fall asleep shortly after the last of the contestants climbed aboard. The rising sun woke him and he yawned as he stretched. He finally looked around and took note of everyone. With his ears open, he sat back to hear what there was to hear.

[JettWilderbeast]

Trent is enjoying his company;
Ha! If I'm honest I've never met a real French person before! Nice to meet you!
He pauses, thinking what to say next;
Come to think of it....I'm not sure if I've had many times with canadians either....

OOC; Boomwolf nice to be playing in another game with you!

[El_Frenchie]

Michaël

Looking around, he smiles and presents himself as Michaël Lagrange to anyone who asks.

"Nicholas? Nice to meet you. I'd be glad to teach you french if you so wished. I've had to teach my wife and my kids, so I might be professional enough."

Looking towards Lundi, he smiles slightly.

"I'm glad you've actually heard of me." He then switches to French. "Pour être honnête, je ne pensais pas rencontrer d'autres francophones."

[MrEdwardNigma]

Suddenly the video screens flicker. A face appears on them. It's a rather bulky man, with round purple specs and a grey business suit on. He's got a ring beard and you see black hair strands peaking out from under his fedora. You recognise this man to Maximilian Burns, the leader of Max Corp.

Maximilian folds his hands, showing the big golden rings on his porky fingers. They look the kind of rings that are obviously fake and tasteless, but they are most real. And tasteless.

"Welcome to High Stakes, the most extreme reality show ever invented by man. You probably thought you'd have time until you reached your destination before the game started. I'm here to dissapoint you. This bus will take you a couple of cities over. The ride will take a day and a half. This is most unfortunate, as you really need to be in Saint Joseph town"

"The Saint Joseph town bank holds 15 vaults, each in one of your names. You'll have to figure out the codes to open these vaults, since what is inside is really important to you. Inside them, see, is a clue to the whereabouts of the antidote. The antidote, you ask? You've been inside this bus for quite a while now, and all that time you have been breathing colourless and smell-less poisonous gas"

"You'll want to get to the clue as soon as possible, because when you have it, you'll still have quite the trip ahead of you. But as I said, this bus doesn't make any stops. It's driving straight to San Gregor, and it won't be driving you back either. You have twenty days to live, ladies and gentlemen. I told you this game would be extreme. Have fun!"

The screens blurred and Maximilian Burns' face dissapeared. The bus driver kept on going, on to San Gregor, if you could trust the word of Maximilian.

Spoiler

Show

San Gregor is another fictional place. It's a quite small village, so most of you won't have heard of it, especially the foreigners. Those of you with thorough geographic knowledge know San Pedro is a village near the Mexican border

[boomwolf]

"You have GOT to be kidding me" mutters bakios, thinking to himself "Damn now I need TWO antidotes."
After a few moments he adds "Lets assume that the windows are reinforced in this bus. so have some time to keep going, better make plans now. I suggest we all work as a team."

[Little Toe]

Lundi had her mouth slightly open as she heard the fat man tell them about the poisonous gas. "Non, mais, c'est une blague!?" She let out a small laugh for the sake of hoping it was indeed a joke. She looked at the others.

"What ze hell? Zey poisoned us!? What ZE HELL?" Lundi, was little shaky, she had not expected the game to be that extreme. Disbelief was written all over her face as she stared into emptiness, running through all possible ways to escape. But of course, she couldn't, she'd need that antidote.

"Zat sick bastard.." she muttered to herself.

[Eldan]

Andrew raised an eyebrow, silently.
Panic won't help us now. Opening the windows, probably by force, won't help, since we've been breathing the gas for such a long time, that we will all have reached lethal dose. Now, I've never heard of any gas killing in twenty days, they usually kill you instantly or not at all. It could be a bluff, but I'm not willing to take that risk.
First thing: we need to open the bus. Door or window. Stopping it is a bonus, to get our bags.
We don't have any equipment, except what we have on us. So, pocket check. Each of you, show the others what you have."
He reveals a swiss army knife, a roll of string, a piece of wire and some matches.
"Not really helpful, but we might find some screws to open. I guess heavy equipment is right out, we don't have any. After you have revealed your pockets, look for any screws we might be able to open. Someone test how strong the glass in the windows is, we can't just assume that it is reinforced without testing that. Also, check the floor if there is any way to access the luggage compartment."

[El_Frenchie]

Michaël

Getting up a bit he looks for windows to open. (He opens them if possible.) He then moves to the back of the bus and looks inside his pockets. On the belt of his spare clothes, he had his knife. In fact, everything he had was in his spare fisherman-like jacket. He took off his cotton one and put on the spare one.

"I have a couple of pens and pencils. White chalk. A swiss army knife. A compass. A box of matches."

He sighs slightly.

He gets flat on the main aisle of the bus and puts his ear flat against the ground, he knocks every 10 cm, trying to perceive where it is hollow.

"If we are to leave before we're dropped off, then we better grab our luggage. I'm personally not sure where we are, but I have an encyclopedia with maps to figure it out. It'd be nice if one of us was the lookout. Checking what kind of cities we're going through. Any clue is good: Architecture, names, roads, people, etc."

He continues checking the floor. He then speaks up:

"Does anyone have a solid knife so that we can puncture through the floor? I have a sawing knife, so as soon as there's a hole in there, I can probably saw it open easily enough if it's either plastic or wood."

[MrEdwardNigma]

None of the windows have any way of opening them. There are some of the tiny hammers with a diamond top along the walls of the bus for emergencies, but the bus is going really fast. It's on the highway, after all, and though it's a busy day, there seems to be no traffic jam.

The floor seems to be made out of metal, which was carpeted. You know this because here and there in the corners it's loosened and the metal is showing. There don't seem to be any hatches in the floor.

The man with long black hair is checking out the wires of the TV for some reason, while the two hitchhikers are trying to ask the driver to stop. Either he doesn't hear them in his sealed off compartiment, either he won't listen, because he isn't slowing down.

The black man in the business suit seems rather relaxed for a situation like this.

The man who had come in a limousine on the other hand seemed absolutely distressed and was bashing on the windows with his fists, screaming.

[El_Frenchie]

Michaël

Well, looks like they thought a bit ahead of us. Looking at the other passengers, Michaël sighs. He never heard of gases that consumed you inside for 20 days either. At least not the kind that wouldn't leave traces or smell anything.

But this man... was powerful. And rich. Who knows what kind of sick device he got his men to design for the poor souls in this bus. Taking out his notebook, he starts writing and describing the distress aboard the vehicle. He makes a particular note of some people that remained level-headed. They definitely had strong wills.

"Well unless one of you has something to puncture metal, we're pretty stuck in this bus."

As he says so he goes check what kind of wall separates them from the driver.

"Perhaps we could use the window breakers to puncture through the front window. Don't you think the bus driver might slow down enough if shattered glass goes in his face?"

[JettWilderbeast]

Trent

Trent doesn't really know what to think, If the richest man in the World tells you that you are going to die in 20 days.... perhaps he isn't lying. People on the street kill for less than this so why not for entertainment?
Thinking about the pocket check, Trent gets a guilty pang before rather dodgily saying;
I uhh, I havn't got anything useful.
Then quickly to change the subject Trent says;
That's it! Smash the window and stop the bus and simply turn around!
Trent picks up 1 hammer and puts it in his pocket and takes another to smash the window to the driver's compartment, he steps forward and then stops as if hit by a sudden brainwave.

[boomwolf]

"Only keys and glue." says bakios "But if I manage to get my luggage I can smash the driver's little cage."

While saying that bakios slides a hammer to his pocket, as well as anything else of value he can see. thinking to himself "A gun. gotta steal a gun."

[MrEdwardNigma]

The wall separating the driver from the rest of the bus is glass, just like the windows. It thick glass, but it's the kind regularly found in busses.

Trent smashes the window separating the driver from the rest of the bus. The two experienced hitchhikers next to him look stunned. The driver curses.

"Oh, ****, the gas!" he yells, his hand quickly diving in a small compartiment next to the steering wheel. Now that he's paying attention to the contestants though, he doesn't seem to be paying attention to the road anymore.

[LostOne27]

"What. The. Hell. This guy's freakin' nuts!" Justin sat there, stunned for a minute while everyone else started reacting. After a moment's thought, he grabbed one of the hammers and went forward to the driver's compartment, intent on getting to the driver. Trent beat him to it, though.

"Heh, sucks, doesn't it?" Justin pulled his switch blade and leaned through the shattered glass, pressing the cold steel against the side of the driver's neck. "Bleed or stop, your choice. And forget the mask. You'll bleed to death MUCH sooner than 20 days unless you stop NOW."