Shoot Da Moon
 The West Virginia countryside
June 20, 1980
Morning 

Last night, a squad of masked and heavily armed thugs (dressed in stark white all-covering clothing) forced three people wandering through the countryside into a van at gunpoint, handcuffed them and drove them to a remote cabin. The cabin seems to have been abandoned, and then hastily converted into some sort of hideout. The kidnappers led the three down a ladder, taking away their belongings in the process. The basement doesn’t have much furniture - three rotting single beds, a single round wooden tables, two simple wooden chairs and two big stacks of hay.

The kidnappers stole Jo-Ann’s pepper spray, flashlight, mini-recorder, and car. They missed her lockpicks - she still has them tucked into her bra.
They also took Dave’s backpack, axe, fishing kit, flashlight, binoculars, tent, matches, kerosene in a canteen, camp stove, compass, sleeping bag, blanket and personal basics.
Jacob, meanwhile, had his cash, flashlight, backpack, personal basics and medical supplies taken away from him by the thugs.

It has been 8 hours since the three hapless people were left in a crude holding cell in the cabin’s basement. The only way out of the basement is a wooden ladder coming down from a hatch, which was pulled up by the kidnappers when they left the captives in the basement. The thugs shut the hatch door after them when they left. The captives are still handcuffed behind their back (but they can move their legs uninhibited), and only managed to get some sleep in the moldy old beds with effort.

Their grim captivity is interrupted by someone opening the hatch…who then falls straight down the hole and onto the basement’s ground, landing face-first with a meaty thud. The captives recognize the person as one of the masked gunmen who kidnapped them last night. He is not moving…


 Links to the other threads;

 OOC:   https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...ar-Powered-OOC 
 DICE ROLLS:   https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...red-DICE-ROLLS  
AdamSpeg
Dave quickly turns his back and tries to reach into the man's pockets with his restrained hands.  "Hold him down!", he whispers urgently. 
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 

Waking with a start, Warner scanned the dark room trying to get her bearings. Then reality began sinking in: she had been kidnapped, probably by some local gang whose crimes she'd reported on, and been brought to this dungeon with these others.   "I have to get out of these handcuffs"   she thought. Then she saw one of the other captives trying to search the newest captive. She whispered just loud enough for the others to hear,  "I'm trying to get loose here. I'm JoAnn Warner, a reporter with the  Morning Herald  newspaper. Does anyone know who our captors are?" 
MutantDragon
Jacob moves up to the fallen captor and does a quick inspection of the man, trying to determine if he's alive and what might have injured him. He spares a glance towards the reporter and answers with a simple  "No." 
Shoot Da Moon
 
 Originally Posted by AdamSpeg 
 [roll0] vs Search 14 
 

The dead man has a combat knife tucked into his belt and a big folded-up piece of paper in his pocket.

Looking up, Dave can see the ladder through the open hatch, kept up by a flimsy latch. If one could throw a rock or something at the latch, it might knock the ladder loose and get it down...


 
 Originally Posted by MutantDragon 
 I assume this'll be a diagnosis roll, so...

[roll0] vs Diagnosis 17 
 

The dead man is a peculiar case. He definitely could have died from the fall, he landed on his neck.
But a closer look under the mask and the thick long clothing reveals a nasty sunburn and symptoms of hydrophobia. Foamy gums. Very weird and spit-ly and unhygienic. The man was putting himself through hell, and for purpose?
AdamSpeg
After reading the note (with some difficulty), Dave tucks the knife into the back of his belt and tries his handcuffs again. He strains against them, if they are as sub-par as that note claims, maybe he can break the chain. If that's impossible, he'll attempt to slip his hands underneath his legs to bring them in front. He'll need a wider range of motion to knock the ladder down.
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 

JoAnn whispered to herself,   "No. Of course 'no'."   She looked around the basement-ish space again while trying to figure out her next move ...
Shoot Da Moon
 
 Originally Posted by AdamSpeg 
 After reading the note (with some difficulty), Dave tucks the knife into the back of his belt and tries his handcuffs again. He strains against them, if they are as sub-par as that note claims, maybe he can break the chain. If that's impossible, he'll attempt to slip his hands underneath his legs to bring them in front. He'll need a wider range of motion to knock the ladder down. 
 

Poor Dave grunts and curses for a bit as he strains to maneuver.
But he does not get anywhere, and eventually gives up after a minute of effort.
He sighs in frustration.

(OC: repeated attempts will now cost you 1 FP per roll, Dave.)

JoAnn wonders if there's anything around here she can use. Or she can get help from her fellow prisoners?
MutantDragon
Reading the note after his fellow captive, Jacob mumbles something about hoping they can find a hacksaw. Then he pauses, thinks for a few seconds, then turns to the man who first read the note saying,  "I know it's not a hacksaw, but do you think we could try using that knife you grabbed to break these things off?" 
AdamSpeg
Dave nods,  "Turn around, I'll try not to cut you."  The back to back motion is awkward, but he attempts to cut through the cuffs.
MutantDragon
Jacob turns and offers up his bound hands, trying his best to remain still while his new companion starts cutting. Idly, he realizes the only one to actually give an introduction was the reporter, and resolves to fix that. Later. When there isn't the potential of distracting the man sawing awkwardly at his restraints with a big knife.
Shoot Da Moon
It is hard to do, what with both men not being able to see the knife or the cuffs, so JoAnn helps out by instructing them from the side.

Luckily, the cuffs are indeed in poor condition, and the chain is rusty. The knife is serrated, so it can in fact saw through the metal. It takes 5 minutes of effort (and care to avoid cutting either man), but eventually the cuff chain gives way and breaks, freeing Jacob's hands from behind his back.

With one man freed, he can easily break the cuffs on the other two.
Shoot Da Moon
 
 Originally Posted by Vorpal Glaive 
 Nope don't tell me. The party should be able to figure this scene out of it's designed properly. JoAnn is going to look over the space again for a clue. 
 

JoAnn gets the idea to look under the beds and through the hay stacks.
There’s a few half-rotted wooden scantlings under her bed. They’re weak and somewhat thick sticks. Not much use as a club past the first handful of swings.
The hay is easily kicked away, it is light and fragile thanks to its age.
On the floor under the hay, there is a somewhat large rock (probably a chunk of the ceiling that fell off due to wear and tear) and a rusty old handsaw (probably a discarded farming tool from before the cabin got abandoned).
MutantDragon
Seeing JoAnn uncover an old saw, Jacob quickly switches from using the knife to using the saw to remove his companions' restraints. Once they're all free, he examines the chunk of rock before holding it out towards the other man, who was obviously the most physically capable.  "My name's Jacob. Think you can knock that ladder down?" 
AdamSpeg
Dave takes the rock and gives the man a terse smile,  "Dave, and I think I can give it a shot." 
Shoot Da Moon
The rock flies up...but misses the latch on the ladder. It falls back down with a clunk.

But before anyone can pick it up to try again, there is a sound upstairs (well, if there WERE stairs). It sounds like a heavy thud, a big wooden door being opened forcefully, hitting the wall next to it.

Did someone up there hear the rock falling onto the ground?

Then footfalls. Someone is wearing heavy boots...
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 

JoAnn walks to the hatch looking up to see if it opens. She makes sure to keep her hands behind her back,  "HELLO? ANYONE THERE? CAN YOU HELP US?" 
AdamSpeg
Dave shushes JoAnn and presses himself against the wall of the pit, watching upwards. He hides the knife behind his back, hoping to still appear restrained.
Shoot Da Moon
Nobody responds, in speech anyway.

Instead, whoever is up there, simply clomps around the upstairs floor for a bit.

Dave sees no-one approach the ladder or the shaft. He does see a very bright light, as if from the day outside, pour into the room above from somewhere. Perhaps someone opened an outer door?

Then the light silently goes away. He sees no shadows in the light. Dave does not hear a door close...

Time passes uneventfully after the light goes away. No more noises are heard. It seems the captives are alone in the cabin again. That's their cue to try escaping again, fingers crossed...
MutantDragon
Jacob swallows nervously and fidgets with the saw. Eventually, when it becomes clear that whoever was up there has left, he speaks:  "W-well then. Shall we try again?" 
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 

Looking around the room again JoAnn's eyes fall on the table then she looks at the hatch above,  "Maybe we could use that table or a bed frame to climb up to the hatch?"  She looks anxiously at Dave and Jacob waiting for their responses.
MutantDragon
Jacob shrugs slightly and says  "Well, it's worth a shot."  He then moves to help JoAnn shift furniture over to the hatch.
Shoot Da Moon
Dave throws the rock at the latch again, but he badly botches the toss. The rock slips out of his hand and falls to the floor hard, cracking it.

The other two captives drag the beds and table over to the hatch, and try to stack them under the hole to see if they make for a good platform. They think the improvised platform could help them reach the hole...
(OC: You can try a Climbing roll at -2 to get out.)

They also find a small door at the back (dirt is piled up around the bottom crack) when they moved the beds - it looks like it's stuck, but it could allow entrance to a tunnel out of here.
(OC: You can roll ST or Forced Entry to open the stuck backdoor.)

Which way out is better, the captives pondered?
AdamSpeg
Dave thinks the best idea would be for the two men to help boost JoAnn up and out of the pit. They'd be able to help each other out one at a time.
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 

With the guys helping her up, JoAnn reaches the hatch! With a noticeable 'gulp' she reached up and unlocking the latch, slowly pushed the hatch open trying to be as quiet as a mouse. She peered up through the slight opening to peer into the space beyond looking for activity?
Shoot Da Moon
JoAnn clambers up the hatch and out of the basement. She lets the ladder down as carefully as she can.

Looking around, the upstairs room of the cabin is a mess. It's just next to a back door and it seems a whole lot of miscellaneous junk and random rusting tools were piled on here when they were no longer needed. Over time, it seems, the room became so lousy with stuff that it's hard to move (and easy to hide) around in here. Black plastic garbage bags, ragged stained cloth bundles and faded leather suitcases store things in massed piles.

The sun shines brightly out of the small window. It is going to be a real scorcher of a day.

An open doorway allows access to the living room. Another door is shut, probably going to more private areas of the cabin.

The temperature here is noticeably hotter as well. A grim dryness pervades everything, and there are no fans or AC available to help. No moisture, just heat.
AdamSpeg
Dave is mindful of the footsteps they heard from up here, and wants to make sure they're alone before checking out the cabin more. If they're indeed definitely alone, he'll see about finding his personal belongings.
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 

JoAnn blinked at the sunlight gleaming through the space and her first instinct was to run for the door.   "RUN!"   she thought but then looking around the space her eyes seemed to freeze at the black plastic bags.   "What's in there?"   she thought   "What if there's evidence of others? Others who didn't escape? I can't NOT look. I owe it to the families of the missing."  

Creeping as quickly as possible JoAnn walked to the black plastic bags and tried tearing a whole in one to expose its contents.
MutantDragon
Jacob started to think back on the dead kidnapper (cultist?), and his catastrophic heat and UV damage. With how bright and hot it was even just inside, it wasn't hard to see how someone could get killed by the sun in that weather. Still, something about it seemed odd...but, for the moment, he would settle for searching the place for anything that could prove useful.
Shoot Da Moon
 
 Originally Posted by AdamSpeg 
 Dave is mindful of the footsteps they heard from up here, and wants to make sure they're alone before checking out the cabin more. If they're indeed definitely alone, he'll see about finding his personal belongings. 
 

Dave missteps and clomps around oafishly.
He does not become pretty certain that the captives are alone here, thankfully. He sees no sign of recent activity in this room or from what he can see of the living room.
He can see there's stuff in the living room - including a familiar backpack!


 
 Originally Posted by Vorpal Glaive 
   JoAnn Warner  
 

JoAnn blinked at the sunlight gleaming through the space and her first instinct was to run for the door.   "RUN!"   she thought but then looking around the space her eyes seemed to freeze at the black plastic bags.   "What's in there?"   she thought   "What if there's evidence of others? Others who didn't escape? I can't NOT look. I owe it to the families of the missing."  

Creeping as quickly as possible JoAnn walked to the black plastic bags and tried tearing a whole in one to expose its contents. 
 

JoAnn's curiosity pays off.
Inside the bags are bloodied pairs of clothing, dozens of wallets (all emptied of cash but with the IDs of strangers still tucked inside), 8 wrist-watches, 3 empty plastic water bottles and a baseball.
But next to those bags, there's a discarded screwdriver, a chipped wooden baseball bat, a carpenter's hammer with blood on its head (did these foul kidnappers enjoy hurting people?) and a dirty shovel lying forgotten about on the floor.


 
 Originally Posted by MutantDragon 
 Jacob started to think back on the dead kidnapper (cultist?), and his catastrophic heat and UV damage. With how bright and hot it was even just inside, it wasn't hard to see how someone could get killed by the sun in that weather. Still, something about it seemed odd...but, for the moment, he would settle for searching the place for anything that could prove useful. 
 

Jacob finds nothing but rusted out junk in the piles he checks out. Looks like someone was trying to fix a car and had no luck.
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 
 "Oh my G..."  JoAnn head spins at the thoughts of what happened to the people. She starts taking a few I.D.s as evidence for the police and reaches for the bat but pauses thinking,  "These are murder weapons. Do I want my prints on them?"  She calls to Jacob and Dave,  "I, I think I found something. Take a look." 
AdamSpeg
Dave shoulders his hiking pack and comes over to JoAnn. He shifts the weight of his bag uncomfortably,  "Come on, let's just get out of here. We'll call the police as soon as we can." 
MutantDragon
While looking over what JoAnn has found, Jacob hears Dave's plan and responds,  "Before we head out into that heat, let's see about scrounging together some sun protection and hopefully finding some water in the process. We don't know how far we are from civilization, and the sun can kill us just as easily as our captors." 
AdamSpeg
 "Good idea, no telling where they drove us to."  Dave checks his personal kit to see if anything is missing.
Shoot Da Moon
 
 Originally Posted by AdamSpeg 
  "Good idea, no telling where they drove us to."  Dave checks his personal kit to see if anything is missing. 
 

To his annoyance, Dave finds his entire stash of belongings have been moved out of the backpack. It's empty.
Come to think of it, there was a big steamer trunk next to the backpacks in the living room. It was locked with a padlock, but the key to the trunk can't be too far away, can it?
A second look around the living room is in order.
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 
 "Right. No telling where they drove us to"  JoAnn muttered and grabbed the bat for protection. She looked around at the others saying,  "We need to get out of here before the gangsters come back." 
AdamSpeg
Dave spends a moment examining the locked trunk in the living room before resolving to find the key. He begins to search through the cluttered living room, looking for a key or anything that might be useful in the wilderness.
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 

Seeing Dave trying to open the trunk unsuccessfully, JoAnn turns away from her allies and retrieves her lockpick. She then walks to the chest and kneeling attempts to pick the lock,  "They make this look so easy in TV." 
Shoot Da Moon
 
 Originally Posted by AdamSpeg 
 Dave spends a moment examining the locked trunk in the living room before resolving to find the key. He begins to search through the cluttered living room, looking for a key or anything that might be useful in the wilderness. 
 

Dave does not find any keys, but he does tumble upon a folded-up map of the local county. It's marked in red in several places.
He also finds 5 hand flares and three glass bottles of strong alcohol among the clutter.


 
 Originally Posted by Vorpal Glaive 
   JoAnn Warner  
 

Seeing Dave trying to open the trunk unsuccessfully, JoAnn turns away from her allies and retrieves her lockpick. She then walks to the chest and kneeling attempts to pick the lock,  "They make this look so easy in TV."  
 

The trunk pops open. Inside, there is a lot of familiar looking gear. JoAnn finds what was confiscated from her by the kidnappers. Her pepper spray, flashlight, mini-recorder, and car keys.

(OC: Every PC gets their personal gear, except the car owned by JoAnn, of course. Cars can't fit in there. There is the car keys, though. JoAnn, do you need stats for the baseball bat or anything else?)

Dave and Jacob are happy to get their stuff back.
MutantDragon
Jacob walks over to where JoAnn opened the trunk and breaths out a sigh of relief at being reunited with his basic survival kit, especially the water, and his medical supplies. Actually, upon a quick reflection, he double checks that his canteens are actually still filled.
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 

Gathering her belongings from the trunk Joann stands and pockets everything except the pepper-spray that she keeps in her left hand. Seeing the map Dave discovered she asks,  "Can I take a look at that? Maybe we can figure out where we are." 
Shoot Da Moon
 
 Originally Posted by MutantDragon 
 Jacob walks over to where JoAnn opened the trunk and breaths out a sigh of relief at being reunited with his basic survival kit, especially the water, and his medical supplies. Actually, upon a quick reflection, he double checks that his canteens are actually still filled. 
 

Jacob find all his canteens are all fine. Water still at their levels when last checked. In fact, it looks like they've not been opened at all since Jacob himself did.


 
 Originally Posted by Vorpal Glaive 
   JoAnn Warner  
 

Gathering her belongings from the trunk Joann stands and pockets everything except the pepper-spray that she keeps in her left hand. Seeing the map Dave discovered she asks,  "Can I take a look at that? Maybe we can figure out where we are."  
 

The map's red markings were done by common markers.
One of the red drawings is a circle around a motel in the small town of Redfield. The motel is a common cheap brand, with not a good reputation. Redfield is a one-horse burg kept alive by a highway full of truckers going through the place.
Another circle marks the campground in Quentin Woods. Nice and quiet place, no animal attacks reported much. Come to think of it, JoAnn vaguely remembers cops kicking up a fuss about some kind of violent incident happening out there recently. She didn't have much time to look into it before she got grabbed by those creeps.
The third circle is where the abandoned ruin of Pollaxe is. Pollaxe used to be an unimpressive coal mining town, before a series of nasty arsons wrecked most of the place.
AdamSpeg
 "If we could just find some landmarks, we could orient ourselves and head towards this town here. I think we should get out of here and follow the nearest road."  
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 

Joann gazed at the hallway leading to the back area then looked at Dave and Jacob,  "I'm as much for getting out of this place as you guys but what if there's more captives in the back room? Check it out or do we leave?" 
MutantDragon
While some part of his mind was telling him to flee as swiftly as possible, Jacob's inherent altruism simply wouldn't let him until he was sure there was no one here who needed his help. Since JoAnn called that into question, his decision was as good as made. Turning to the reporter, he said  "If there's any possibility of that, we have to at least check."  He quickly added  "Besides, we might find something that'll help us get out of here alive,"  to make the prospect seem more appealing to his companions.
Shoot Da Moon
JoAnn quickly sweeps through the cabin, looking for more clues and tools.

She finds a few metal containers of highly flammable kerosene (each weighing 2 pounds with all the liquid in them) left out near the bathroom. In the bedroom, she discovers an empty bed (it has not been slept in for a week or more) with bloody sheets and pillow - the blood is dried, brown. The kitchen, meanwhile, has an empty fridge that's not been plugged in. The shower, toilet and sink all have no water running.

No-one else is in the cabin, and it seems nobody goes here often.
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 

Shaking her head at the insanity of this place Joann says,  "Let's just get the heck outta here."  She rushes for the exit while shifting her pepper-spray to her right hand.
AdamSpeg
Dave leaves the cabin with Joann, taking a moment to enjoy being in the fresh air. He looks around at the surrounding area, searching for landmarks for trails noted on the map.
Shoot Da Moon
The outdoors is less a relief than expected.
Myriad mosquitos are just dead underfoot, dropped right out of the air in thick enough places to notably carpet and mark the brick footpath but not *totally* cover it, just splots of masses of dead mosquitos here and there in conspicuous places away from water.
The grass and trees in the yard are dead from lack of watering, brown or dark yellow as if burnt half to ashes.
A jagged mountain range is in the distance, the dilapidated road running alongside it.

The heat hits you in the face right away, harsh and cruel. Humidity is a distant memory.
(While outside, any FP lost from physical exertion is increased by 1.)

JoAnn immediately sees her car, parked just out front of the cabin and in the yard. It looks the same as when she left it, no worse for wear. She hopes.

Another car, this one not belonging to anyone, is also parked in the front yard. This car is half-wrecked, rusty and the front windscreen broken. Its driver-side door is wide open.

Dave immediately works out where on the map they are, thanks to those mountains in the distance and a nearby rusty road sign (weather-beaten and half-collapsed from wear-and-tear). He knows to check the map and scan the horizon, eventually figuring out which mountains he's looking at and which part of them he's close to. From there, he can find trails and roads on the map that can get him where he wants. He figures they're now somewhere in the middle of the county, which is about 17 miles from where he was kidnapped.

Dave also sees no-one else around, and no boobytraps or signs of sabotage on JoAnn's automobile. It should be safe.
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 
 "There's my car! We can drive from here!"  Running for her car Joann fumbles for her keys and uses them to enter and crank the vehicle!  "I was low on gas but we should have enough to get out of here. Maybe." 
Shoot Da Moon
JoAnn gets the engine roaring to life, the car is ready to be driven out.

Looking to the road, she sees no other vehicles out here.

The gas tank shows enough fuel is left for about 10 miles. None of the stuff she left in her car has been touched, it seems.
MutantDragon
Jacob, jolted back to reality by JoAnn's engine, jogged outside to catch up with the others. At least there wasn't anyone else needing help. Cautiously, Jacob takes a closer look at the abandoned vehicle while his companions seemingly figure out an escape route.
Shoot Da Moon
The abandoned car is a nightmare of decay.
The seat covers are almost shredded in many places.
The steering wheel is half-broken.
The backseat has been host to a savage murder - the dried blood all over looks like they threw some kind of ketchup party back there.
The tires are calloused and faded (if not decayed into worn-out rubber) by a huge mileage on hard road.
The radio is not hooked up to power. Shame, a little local color and pop music could raise your spirits.
The battery is half-dead and the fuel tank is half empty, according to the dashboard's display.
The heat inside the ruined car has built up in the car's time in the sun. It is hellish.
No keys in the ignition.
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 

When the engine started Joann felt as if she'd waken from a nightmare. She thought she might not survive her captors but working with her allies she might live long enough to expose her murderous kidnappers. She looked at the others as she shifted into gear,  "Check the map. We can reference it on the drive to the police. Should we grab that bag with the remains in it?" 
MutantDragon
Jacob grew a bit paler as he looked at the scene in front of him and felt himself shiver in spite of the oppressive heat. It took him a moment to realize JoAnn had said anything, though he felt compelled to say his piece on the subject.

 "I-if we can't use it to immediately improve our odds of survival,"  Jacob began, still staring at the bloody wreck before him,  "I say we leave it and let the cops sort it all out later. We...probably shouldn't be handling evidence if we don't have to." 

It was odd. He was no stranger to blood. Heaven knows he had seen some terrible things since entering the medical field. And yet...this was somehow different. More primal. More real. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, he took note of the fuel gauge and called out to the reporter once more.  "Hey, does your car need fuel? If the gauges work, this thing should still have some gas we might be able to transfer over." 
Vorpal Glaive
  JoAnn Warner  
 

Joann blinks repeatedly looking around frantically like a squirrel surrounded by cats,  "Transfer gas, right. No. No, changed my mind. Let's just go before the gangsters come back." 
AdamSpeg
Dave looks a bit sick himself,  "I don't think messing with a crime scene is a good idea. Let's just get to Redfield and call the cops." 
MutantDragon
Distantly, a small part of Jacob's mind told him that JoAnn's suddenly heightened panic and spontaneous mind changing didn't bode well, though he himself was spooked enough for that voice to be drowned out under the weight of his own worries.

 "All right,"  he called,  "if you think we have enough gas, let's just go." 

He started to walk towards the car, intending to get in the back seat.
Shoot Da Moon
The former captives all pile into the car, JoAnn in the driver's seat.

The car starts without any bother.

Now JoAnn can drive to Redfield...

(OC: JoAnn, roll your Driving skill if you would.)