Browsing around some old folders on my laptop today I came across something from a few years back, this was known as ‘The PC Gamer Forum Project.’ Basically a group of people from the PC Gamer Forums and myself got together to try and start making a mod. We didn’t really do much, but I still have the introduction to the story. Well it was a cross between a story and something else. Read on to see it in all its’ glory.

[Outside on a small cobble street, buildings each side]

Looking above Bud notices the clouds moving in and night drawing near. The sign above the door says ‘The Scream’ bud pushes the door open

[Inside The Scream]

Bud looks around the tavern, the locals stop what they are doing, he feels their eyes piercing him, a deathly hush has fallen, broken only by the crackling fire. After a moment the patrons resume what they were doing and the mood is calm again. Bud walks to the bar and waits for the barmaid to appear. Again checking his surroundings he notices a lone man in the corner, the usual drunk you find in one of these places.

*Thinking via voice over*
I should talk to him tomorrow

‘Can I help ya sir?’

Bud looks around, before him stands a woman of outstanding beauty, long blonde hair, fair unblemished skin and a petite figure. He thinks ‘the owner of this place?’

He replies, ‘Double whiskey, no ice’

‘Sure thing honey, anything else?’

‘Yeah, I’ll take a room for the night if you have one free’

‘It just so happens that we do, the man sleeping there left this morning, said he had some business to take care of, Carl was his name. Don’t know quite rightly why I’m telling ya this, don’t often get two strangers here in two nights in a row.’

Upon hearing the name Carl, Bud says

‘He is dead..just gimme the room key please’

The barmaid looks shocked and hands over the key to the room and the whiskey

Drinking his whiskey in one go he moves up the stairs hidden in the dark of The Scream.

[First floor of The Scream]

Bud moved down the narrow corridor past several doors. He gets to one and stops. That feeling of unease returns and is accompanied with a twinge of fear. Unnerved Bud moves past the door and finds his room for the night. It is a small affair, a single bed, wash-basin and mirror with a chest of draws by the bed. He moves to the wash-basin and splashes water on his face. He looks at himself in the mirror. He looks worn out, a narrow haggard face with specks of blood drying in his stubble. His hair has lost its usual vibrance, bits of grey seem to be appearing. Looking himself in his eyes he realises how tired he is and collapses on the bed.

Sleep doesn’t come easy however, he lies there recounting the past few days and how he came to be here. He digs his notebook out of his jacket pocket and reads through it.

April 10th have just received a phone call from a man calling himself The Boss. He knew I was a PI and said he had a very lucrative job for me, to find a man known as Carl and to bring him to The Boss. The Boss gave me few clues, just a town called Bagshot and a warning. ‘Be prepared for anything…I assume you have a gun, take it.’
April 11th the train is nearing Bagshot and I get a sense of foreboding that I can’t explain. Something just does not feel right about this job The Boss has given me. Though I am intrigued about where this job will lead me…

[Train Station and player control]
(Voice over ‘ Carl, who is he…guess i gotta ask around’)

Bud looks around him, he was the only one to get off the train and he feels alone, the station feels dead. It is dark, quiet. Deathly quiet. He can see the entrance of the station and a wide road leading into town on the other side of the tracks. Looking up and down the platform he sees no walkway over to his way out.

[Here the player can either cross right over the tracks to the other platform or explore the platform he is currently on to find an underground path across]

Bud steps out of the station under the arch looking at a long desolate road. There are terraced houses either side and a black cat crosses the road. It is the first sign of life Bud has seen since getting off the train, but it doesn’t fill him with confidence.

Walking along the road he reaches an open area, the town square with an elaborate fountain in the middle.

A noise. Bud identifies it as heavy footfalls approaching from the right of the fountain. A gloom seems to have descended and Bud again has a feeling of unease. His hand moves towards his gun in one of his deep coat pockets.

The figure approaches and says

‘Bud, it’s me, David’

‘David..you, *stammering* you’re dead! You died the accident with Suzie’ (Suzie is Bud’s sister)

‘Listen Bud, we don’t have much time, i’m the man you’ve been sent to find. I am Carl’

‘What!’

‘Bud, trust me on this, there is only one safe place in this town, The Scream. I’ll take us the back way, I think someone is still following me.’

‘S-s-sure thing pal’

Bud follows David down the path David had come from. It seems to be a collection of warehouses down here. David pauses, then moves down a side alley between two warehouses. Bud had felt calm on seeing David his nerves had calmed, but following him down the alley they returned.

At the end of the alley is a fence with a gap in the bottom, David motions for Bud to follow him under which he does.

On the other side of the fence is a long path with several dim lights shining down on the two men. At the end of the path is a street lamp.

David turns around

‘Bud there is someone at The Scream you have to talk to, i’m sure we can trust them, we will get a room and I’ll explain this sordid business to you. Now just keep quiet and follow me, I don’t think we’re safe yet.’

Bud allows David to leave the alley first and hear’s a shout ‘SHIIIT!’ followed but a gunshot. Bud sees David collapse onto the pavement

Bud grabs his gun from his pocket and approaches the end of the alley.
[On the floor is a pipe and some other crap, Bud can use these if he wishes]

He reaches then end of the alley and the fight takes place, two goons to kill.

Once they are taken care of there is a faint moaning from David, he was hit in the stomach and is bleeding heavily. David says ‘The Scream…Bar…’ he dies

Bud searched David’s body finding his wallet, s small hand drawn map shows the path they have taken and how to get to The Scream.

[Bud can either search the goons bodies to find some more clues or go straight to The Scream]

[Screen fades out and we are now at the entrance to The Scream, upon entering Bud wakes up in the bed]

Bud awakes, his view is blurry, eyes still leaden but he shakes his head and regains focus. Opening the door he steps into the corridor, looking to the right he sees the back of a figure moving down the stairs. Looking at his watch Bud realises it is 1 am and wonders why anyone would be up at this time. The feeling of unease returns as he sees the door that he had paused at earlier wide open.

He moves out of his room and into the other, looking at the bed he sees the blonde hair of the barmaid and her body covered in bright red blood.

Bud quickly leaves the room heading downstairs. The front door of The Scream is open, moving quickly Bud steps onto the street to see someone running away in the distance.
Bud walks up the road, moving past a lamppost he gets turned around by a powerful hand on his shoulder.

It is the drunk from the bar earlier, or at least the one he thought was drunk. The man puts his fingers on his lips telling Bud to keep quiet. Something about this man inspires confidence in Bud something he hasn’t felt since leaving the train, even David hadn’t been able to fill him with confidence.

The stranger walked back into The Scream with nowhere else to turn Bud follows. In the dark of night The Scream is illuminated just by the dying embers of the fire. The man walks behind the bar grabbing a bottle of some liquor. He drinks then turns to face Bud.

‘I will lay the deal out to you now, you either listen and get my help or you leave now and try to get yourself out of this mess.

[pause]

So you’ll stay and listen eh? Good for you Bud.’

‘How did…’

‘I shall get to that in time, for now I’ve got something to give you, go in the corner and read it, then come back to me’

[The letter]

April 2nd 1923

Carl,
I have sent you to Bagshot to carry out some simple business for me. Go to The Scream it is a local tavern. Find a man who sits in the corner, a drunk. Say the words ‘The flowers are melting outside.’ Upon saying these words the man will know I sent you and supply you with some tools you will need.

There is a small harbour in the ‘town’ I want you to go there, find the harbour masters office and break into the safe. Whatever documents you might find, don’t whatever you do look at them, your life is not worth the risk. Simply return the documents to the man in The Scream.

Do not speak to anyone else in the ‘town’ and try to avoid raising suspicion. I know it will be hard, but if you do this for me I promise you, you won’t regret it.

God speed

[signature]

The Boss

Having read the letter Bud looks up to see the man smiling gently.

‘You found Carl..or David earlier, I could sense it on you. The Boss sent you here because Car, I mean David was in danger. He made me aware of your presence in town so I could keep watch of you. Not many people know who I really am, Janice was one of them and I got her killed [a look of anguish/despair across his face] They now surely know who I really am, The Boss’ right hand man. David failed to recover the documents mentioned in the letter, someone found him first and attacked him when he was with you. I can only hope you will continue in your stay here so as to find out who was behind your friend’s death. The harbour is the place to start looking’

With that the stranger stands and walks calmly out of the door. Bud is slumped in his seat still absorbing all he had heard.

A few minutes pass until he regains his focus, he moves to the bar and finds a more detailed map of the town. It shows him the way to the harbour, Bud will have to travel through the Warehouse district again.

[At this point the sky starts to brighten and the morning is here. Player can walk around some areas and try talking to people, most of whom will tell him to mind his own business etc.]

[Butchers]
[If the player while wandering around the town happens to find Derek’s Butchers then a bit more info can be revealed]

Bud enters the store and sees a man in a white apron and blue denim jeans working behind the counter.

Bud: ‘Hey mate, you know if anything strange has been going down in the harbour?’

[Derek looks around checking they’re alone]
Derek: ‘I don’t know much, but what I have heard is..unsettling. I’ve heard that people have gone down there minding their own business and hearing dreadful screams from some of the buildings.’

Bud: ‘What do you mean, screams? From people?’

Derek: ‘ I dunno man, look i saw you in The Scream last night and the drunk was eyeing you up, if you’re with him I’ll tell ya more..’

Bud: ‘Yeah, I spoke to him, he told me to check the harbour out’

Derek: ‘Ah, so you’re with The Boss then. The noises have been coming from the Harbour Masters building, well below it to be exact. Just a sec mate’

[Derek walks into the back of the shop]

Derek ‘Here, you may find this helpful’

[Bud picks up a machete from the counter that Derek placed there]

Derek: ‘Look you seem a good guy, just take care and don’t get yourself hurt too bad’

[Bud nods]

Character walks around the town some more, talks to other characters without much response. May go to some shops and look at items, but no buying. May steal later on…?]
[Look at map with a pointer to the harbour, character goes there screen fades to black...end chapter one..?]

[Harbour - early morning sky. At the end of the warehouse area. Wooden jetty's lead up to the boats. Mainly just small fishing boats. Three old men sitting on a jetty fishing]

Man 1 – I’m tellin you boys, i don’t trust *points at a building* as far as i can throw them. They up to no good and we all know it

Man 2 – But what can we do? We’re just three old fisher and i don’t trust no more outsiders to come along and do anything. We all know what they’ve done to this place

Man 3 – [looks around sees Bud, gestures to others and they stop talking]

[Building which they pointed at, two floors, one door, windows all on top floor]

Bud walks into the building:
-Table with random crap on it
-rug on the floor
-door in the far wall

Bud goes to the door, tries to open it but it doesn’t open easily. Looking round examines the rug and pulls it up to reveal a trap door. Lifts it up and goes downstairs. String bottom of the stairs turns on a single bulb.

A chair against the wall..looking closer red stains on it and the floor
Table covered with paper – examine it to find a bit of paper with a four didit number on it
Safe in a corner

Bud approaches safe having found bit of paper and enters the combination. Inside is a sealed envelope, some money and a gold key. Can take all or just the envelope.

Goes upstairs and leaves quickly having seen two people shouting abuse at the fishermen.

Leaves the harbour area along a road passing some flatbed vans and gets called over by someone. goes to them and it is the stranger..your ‘contact’ from The Scream
….

Tags: PC Gamer Forum Project

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 11th, 2009 at 4:04 pm and is filed under Chris Evans Writes, Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.