This shocking turn of events was precipitated by an amazingly coincidental island visitor from the US Army.
“Grahambone! Wow, it’s great to see you again!” said army lieutenant Eric Eick and current Survivor frontrunner, upon seeing the man in BDUs. “Hey, everyone, come and meet Dave! We were Spec 4’s in Fort Monmouth together from `91-`93! Wow, imagine meeting you out here!” The remainder of the Survivors didn’t seem so happy to meet the friendly fellow.
The Survivors used DC Heroes characters for this challenge. Fortunately, Eric Eick still had his immortal vampire-mage Caine from SGT Graham’s campaign available. The others were all forced to roll up new characters, as SGT Graham didn’t allow characters from other people’s campaigns to be brought over to his campaign.
The mission: the characters were to don night-vision goggles and rummage through the dilapidated, snake- and scorpion-infested buildings in search of a checklist of items: a pocket knife, a can opener, an army helmet- all the while fending off attacks by the Injustice Gang. First prize was canned goods, chocolate, and a few Meals Ready to Eat (MREs).
Eric Eick’s vampire walked out, after only 1AP of time, as the winner, having discovered all the items, and defeating all the foes- usually worth an extra miscellaneous award. “It was a hard fought contest, but you can’t discount 2 years of character growth. 30APs of sorcery sure doesn’t hurt either!” he was quoted as saying, flush with excitement. Tempering his joyous mood, SGT Graham told him that although he did win the challenge, he forfeited all Hero Points earned during the adventure because while Caine did defeat all the foes, he did it by ripping the throats out of all of them, as well as the other PCs. “Engaging in killing combat first forces you to give up all earned Hero Points,” said Dave, who refused to bend on this point.
“I knew I should have bought off that Rage drawback when I had the chance,” sighed Eric.
Possibly seeking to increase his prestige among his tribemates, Eric Eick distributed part of the meals from the MREs to the other Survivors- delicious foods like `dehydrated beef patty’, `ham and chicken loaf’, and `Potatoes All Rotten’. A few people swore they would make him pay at that night’s Tribal Council.
Jay, in fact, woke up the morning of the Obstacle Course convinced it would be his last day on the island. "If I lose, I go," he mumbled, staring into the cooking fire. "Simple as that. You saw the votes from the last council.”
Brian chose to sit out, protesting what he called a series of biased DM decisions, but he always was a whiner when things don’t go his way.
However, the others raced with a reckless abandon, min-maxing the best speedsters they could devise. Unfortunately for them, Caine possessed Power Vampirism in addition to regular Vampirism, and had been involved in a `Ruler of the World’ subplot for quite some time. As the now-powerless speedsters rotted in a Quraci prison, Caine easily won the race. With the grueling obstacle course bested, Eric E would be immune during the upcoming Tribal Council, leaving him safe from any MRE retribution.
The gambit was more symbolic than anything else. Scott had made no enemies, won no challenges, and received no votes since landing on the island. These factors suggested he would survive the upcoming vote, but served to show Scott was becoming more and more erratic as time wears on.
All the gamers looked around nervously. There were no clear voting blocks, and anyone might be the one to garner the dreaded votes.
2 Votes for Missy
Kevin still thought the greedy elf was a good choice. “And besides, she ruined Castle Amber for me by leaving me Magic Jarred in a throne for the entire game. Scott also voted for Missy, following his alphabet strategy. “Elf comes after dwarf, you know,” he stated.
1 Vote for Jay
Missy just seemed to get a kick out of picking on Jay’s dwarf.
1 Vote for Trish
Brian realized that Trish’s dryad’s insidious charm ability makes her a potent force in a game where 75% of the PCs are male.
1 Vote for Brian
Bill voted for the guy who lives a block and a half away, but never visits.
1 Vote for Bill
Jay voted for the guy who lives right across town, but never invites him over.
This left a runoff vote- only Kevin and Missy may be voted upon.
2 Votes for Missy
Kevin had to vote for Missy, and Scott determined that this still counted as the same election, so `e-elf’ it is.
The stunned Kevin, considered by many the most openly competitive castaway on the island, watched his torch get snuffed, then sadly left the Tribal Council for home.
What does Jay think of all that? He laughs. "Oh," he says lightly, "that's just Missy being Missy. She doesn't mean anything by it. We’d never vote against each other until the end."
There weren’t a lot of alliances going on, but I felt like I was targeted tonight, 'cause they know that I’m a proven winner. They knew they'd be better off without me, which is cool. I had a good time. They have more rice in their pot, and I just want to let everybody know that it was great.
Great, that is, until it got malicious and lawful/evil, and too full of players bringing real world grudges into the games. I didn't really want to play anymore anyway, because I have too much work to do on my MWS game. And it was no longer about who could survive, or about enjoying the competition. It was becoming player knowledge stuff. I guess I went into it a little naïve.
So, do I have any hard feelings? Sort of, but I'll just chill with them until I'm back on the mainland. So, that's it. I had a really good time. No hard feelings and nothing's taken personally.
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Updated 2 Mar 01