Nameless, Tennessee
Zeke's Cabin


A man decked out in hunting gear sits inside a small, ramshackle cabin somewhere deep in the Tennessee backwoods. He sharpens a large knife against a makeshift whetstone by the light of a crude fireplace. Something bubbles on the fire in a scorched, blackened pot. It might be a stew, or it could be something else. Some rays of moonlight filter into the alleged building through a hole in the roof the man hasn't bothered to repair yet.

Otherwise, the only other light is the torch he holds with his other hand.

The man hums as he works, a small smile on his face as he watches the knife turn sharper, and sharper, and sharper.

The sound of metal on stone is accompanied by the wind whistling through the holes in the walls, and the man's humming.



...and the muffled sounds of screaming.

Zeke smirks as he stops his task and walks over to the opposite wall, torch in hand. He holds it close to his captive's face as he pulls the gag away.

"LET ME GO YOU FUCKING PSYCHO!!!"

Now, now. No need for that kinda language. We can still talk as friends here.

Zeke jammed the torch into a makeshift sconce on a nearby wall and proceeded to pick up his freshly sharpened knife, along with a large spoon.

This can go one of two ways for ya, villain. Either you can tell me what I wanna know and I'll untie ya and use this here spoon to scoop ya up a nice big bowl of that there stew... or...

Zeke lowered the spoon and held up the knife.

Well... heh. Let's just not let things come to that, shan't we??

@boc rolled 7. (2 + 5 = 7) + I Know My Prey (+1) + Tough (+2) = 10

The captive cowers beneath you and only takes a few seconds to think about it before shouting, "ALRIGHT... ALRIGHT!!"

He tries to stop himself from hyperventilating.

"I'll... I'll talk but I don't know what the fuck you want with me man! I ain't done shit to you! I'll answer whatever you want but I don't know nothin'!"

Zeke surreptitiously reached into his pocket and cradled a small chunk of amber with a mosquito inside. He'd like to say that Amber herself gave it to him, but it was really something he went out and bought the next day at the local gift shop. He had asked the shopkeep if they had any fossilized butterflies instead, deeming it much more fitting to her memory, but no luck.

She was...she was the most beautiful woman I ever seen in my entire life...

Zeke felt a lump form in his throat and quickly fought back tears. Signs of weakness would do him no good here.

Ambuh. Her name was Ambuh. I believe you two were acquainted, villain, were you not? I don't have a doubt in my gosh damn mind that you know where she is right now!

The 'villian' growls, though he's obviously still terrified.

"The name is Villain. Vil-LANE. And what the fuck? I have no fucking clue where Amber is. She went out to meet some guy and never turned up the next night. Figured some shit went down or she ran off with him or something. Wherever she went, I ain't got a clue."

Zeke sends the spoon clattering to the floor, leaving only the knife in hand.

I'm sorry to hear you say that, Toddy. That's some real good stew you're passin' up on! Caught those rabbits fresh this mornin'.

Or was that yesterday morning? Everything's been a blur lately.

I was that guy! ME! And I tell ya what, we fell in LOVE! Chances are we woulda ran off together the very next mornin', that's how strong our connection was! But in the black of night, when we was walkin' back to my place down that dirt road east of Bob's honkytonk, she up and disappeared! WHOOSH! Things like that don't just happen. I believe--no, I KNOW--there to be some foul play involved. And I want ANSWERS!

Zeke chucks the knife into the floorboards right in front of Toddy in an attempt to rile the sonuvabitch up.

I might've got a little over-emotional there. I've gotta keep a cool head. But dammit, how can I when it comes to that girl?

He's trying to keep his own anger down. It helps that he's terrified, but it's still a struggle when he's been kidnapped by some lunatic out in the woods.

"Yeah I'm sure you two were gonna be a real fricken happy couple. You sure she didn't just bail on you? Amber's always been a runner. Hell, I always expected her to vanish. She's far from the first girl of mine to do that."

Listen here, you villainous sonuvabitch.

Zeke strode up to the knife and went to yank it out. Unfortunately he had lodged it pretty deep in there and had to wiggle it several times to get it out. All the while he could feel Toddy Villain staring and judging him, which just made Zeke even angrier.

He picked up the knife and held it to Toddy's face.

You best be watchin' your mouth when you talk about her. I know what I saw. She didn't run. She was taken, somehow. Are you really meanin' to tell me you don't have any kinda idea what could've happened there? THINK!

"I AM THINKING! I'm thinking, I'm thinking, alright? I don't want to piss you off but I DON'T. KNOW. SHIT."

He sighs and it comes out shaky and rough.

"OKAY! Okay listen. I... I genuinely, don't know shit about this." He quickly adds a "BUT! Okay, so, maybe you can try to... to hunt her down or somethin', wherever she left to. You can chase her, find, kill her for all I care, whatever! Cuz that's the only lead I got for you, is where she mighta ran off to. You promise to let me go and I'll... I'll do it. I'll tell you everything I know about her and where she mighta went."

Look, I'm a reasonable guy. You give me something, I'll give you something. On my honor. So start singin', fella.

Zeke laid his hand on Toddy's head and rustled his hair.

But if the song you're singin' is feelin' a bit...outta tune...well...let's just say we'll have ta change the track, one way or another.

Zeke grabbed the spoon off the floor and took a heaping scoop of stew out of the pot. Little flecks of rabbit and carrot got caught in his beard as he casually gulped it down in one go.

He'll... he'll take it.

"Okay, man, listen. Here's what I know about Amber. Her real name is... uh... well she actually didn't change her name when she got into the game. It's Amber Matthews. She ran away from her boring upper middle class life in friggen Oregon. Guess she got tired of the high life and decided she wanted to spend her time with fucking low lifes like us. No offense."

"But I've seen that shit before. Girl runs off, stays a while, regrets it, heads off back home, and pretends none of this ever happened. Usually some line about goin abroad and volunteerin' or something. Building houses instead of wreckin homes."

He looks around, remembering that this line of theories isn't exactly your favorite.

"She's got some sister there. Big sister, kinda lived in her shadow or somethin'? Maybe she knows more. Or maybe she's your type! I don't fuckin know... but she's bound to know more than I do."

Zeke tapped the knife against Toddy Villain's nose.

Now that's an interestin' yarn you've spun there. Mighty interestin' indeed. But I can't help like feelin' you're holdin' something back...

Zeke hoisted the knife above his head and thrust it downwards...to cut off Toddy's hand bindings.

...but in any case, I'll give ya a chance. One chance. But believe you me, if I find out this intel is bad then...I'll be back in town in no time flat.

Now...what's this sister's name?

Fuck. He doesn't spend a lot of time talking to his girls about this shit. Or... ha, at least he doesn't spend a lot of time listening. Once he had Amber figured out, that was it. He didn't need to know more.

"Fuck man, it was... it was... Emma? No, no I remember! Emily! It was Emily. Emily Matthews, of Oregon. Portland, I think or some shit. High class city folk."