Hey! Hey, you! You're new around here right? I can always pick 'em. Where are you from? The west? Not many people from the west out here. Though, I suppose some a you guys had to open up eventually, right? So, who do you figure for the Hunt? What! You don't know about the Hunt? Must be a real backwater establishment you're from.

Anyway, after The Ruin there were a lot of abandoned sites that we now, appropriately, call 'ruins.' Now, in these ruins are artifacts from before The Ruin and are pretty precious. However, due to bad conditions and monsters the artifacts are all but inaccessible. That's where the Hunters come in. Hunters are the people who excavate these ruins. These excavations are being televised and regulated. An organized excavation of a ruin is called a 'Hunt.' There are two types of Hunts: sanctioned and unsanctioned.

Prior to a Hunt being scheduled, scanning and seismic technology is used to get a look at a ruin. It identifies relics inside and researchers note what ones would be of value. The biggest value ones are books, data discs,audio/video recording discs. Basically, anything that would contain information.One relic is chosen arbitrarily from those identified on one floor of the ruin. It could be a priceless piece of technology, or a worthless doll. Four Hunters are then scheduled to go after it. Whoever can get the relic and take it to the designated exit zone gets 5000 points. A Hunter also gets 1000 points for each additional relic recovered. Hunters also earn points based on their aggressiveness and movement. A Hunt ends when a relic is brought to the exit zone or all 4 Hunters are incapacitated.

A Hunter is allowed 5 inventory slots. These are used for all items beyond basic clothing. It is slanted to be fair. A suit of body armor takes 1 slot. Extra ammunition is counted with the gun.Inventory slots are taken up by relics found in the ruin. This limits what and how much a Hunter can bring into a ruin.

Now, I bet your wondering how they keep this safe and enforce the rules down in what is essentially a dungeon. Well, each Hunter has an arm band. This acts as a tracking device for them while they're in the ruin, a camera, generates a protective force field, simulates damage, teleports the wearer, detects and punishes rule infractions, stores and displays a ruin map, and manages the Hunter's 'hand.'

Too much to take in at once? I'll run down the functions for you. First, the tracking device. The televised view will occasionally segue to a map of the ruin which displays each Hunter's position. It also allows the crews to see when a Hunter has reached the exit zone.

The camera. Now, what would television be without cameras? The camera isn't attached to the arm band, but it does receive instructions from it. The camera itself is a small, flying, ball that follows a Hunter in the ruin. It's equipped with night vision lenses for dark hallways.

The force field is for safety. It deflects projectiles and hand weapons and relays the info to the arm band's computer. It's-semi resistant to the elements in that lethal or incapacitating heat and cold will be protected against. It's really an ingenious tool. It allows Hunts to be bloodless blood sports.

However, just because it won't let you get killed doesn't mean you're off the hook. The arm band connects right to the central nervous system through the forearm. The bullet may break up against the force field, but you'll still feel like you've been shot. It can also realistically simulate debilitating injuries. I mean, if a Hunter is shot in the arm, the arm band can disable the use of that arm. It can also, in the case of non-lethal attacks, open cuts.

When the force field and arm band report lethal damage the victim is teleported to a random location in the ruin and paralyzed completely for 12 minutes. If another Hunter has caused the lethal damage then before teleporting the Hunter is allowed to take any 1 inventory item from the victim. The arm band also randomly teleports a Hunter if they enter the exit zone without the target ruin.

Being directly connected to the central nervous system, the arm band can also punish for breaking rules. If a Hunter tries to pick up a relic when his inventory is full he'll get aparalyzing headache every time he tries until he removes one item from his inventory first. However, larger rule breaking results in the Hunter being instantly teleported from the ruin and any relics they may have picked up are left behind. Larger rule breakingconstitutes trying to remove or disable arm bands.

A map can be displayed for a Hunter as a 3D holographic image VIA the arm band. It shows topographical information as well as the location of the exit zone and relics. It doesn't show the positions of other Hunters, monsters, except in certain instances.

There are two instances in which a Hunter's location will be revealed. When a Hunter is dealt lethal damage, the position he was 'killed' at will be revealed to other Hunters for a period of 10 seconds. When a Hunter finds the target item his position will be revealed to the other Hunters until the end of the Hunt or untilhe loses the target relic.

Every 12 minutes a Hunter is given a digital'card.' The Hunter's hand holds a maximum of 5 cards and is shown on the arm band's touch-screen display. There are four types: damage, defense, trap, and exit. Touching a card on the screen will activate it.

Damage cards are activated during a fight. For a ten second period other arm bands will record trauma at a magnified rate based on the number on the card. The numbers range from 3 to 9 in addition to a special 'S-Card.' The 'S-Card' just about guarantees lethal damage. However, damage cards are ineffective against monsters as they don't have arm bands.

Defense cards do just the opposite. They reduce incoming damage based on a number on the card. Like damage cards, defense cards range from 3 to 9 and include an 'S-Card' which negates all incoming damages. Chances of getting a given card decreases at an inverse rate to the card's value. Still with me? Good. Defense cards can also be used to avoid triggering a trap and they worki against monsters.

I guess I'd better address those monsters now. In most places that Hunts take place in there are automated guard robots that are still active. Thinking that Hunters are invaders they attack. These monsters are the primary reason Hunts are used at all. Normal military folded under attacks from monsters. However, specialist efforts proved successful.

Now, for trap cards. There are four varieties of traps: damage, leg damage, stun, and empty.

Damage traps, when activated; make the victim feel as if they'd just been in an explosion. These traps can deal lethal damage to a wounded victim.

Leg damage traps inflict crippling cramps to the victim's legs. This reduces them to little better than a hobble. It also makes them easy targets. It lasts the duration of a Hunt or until the Hunter is dealt lethal damage.

Stun traps can really hurt a Hunter. Moreso than any other trap.Not in a physical way, though. When activated, the arm band completely paralyzes a hunter for a 12 minute period. The victim will not draw a card during this time.

Empty traps give almost no indication they've gone off. As the name implies, an empty trap removes all cards from the victim's hand. As a bonus, the victim will not draw a card for a 12 minute period.

Exit cards are the rarest and best. Most Hunts finish without anyone seeing one. When activated, exit cards will automatically teleport a Hunter to the exit zone.

Damage cards are red on the arm band display. Defense cards are yellow, traps are green, and exit cards are blue. Cards were introduced to balance the hunts by creating a luck-of-the-draw variable. There are 80 cards to a deck, not counting the 5 each Hunter starts with, and 1 deck to a Hunt. If a Hunter is at his maximum of 5 cards in a hand, a new one will not be dealt to him at the drawing times. Also, hunters can't use multiple damageor defense cards simultaneously. They also can't use damage and defense cards at the same time.

All this applies to sanctioned Hunts. Unsanctioned Hunts are a whole other animal. They're sponsored by private citizens that don't go through the proper channels, IE the Commission. Sometimes the private citizen finds a ruin or suspects a major find and wants it excavated. Sometimes a rich person just wants some personal entertainment.

Equipment for unsanctioned Hunts isn't guaranteed. It ranges from being almost official: full arm bands and suchto nothing. Usually, unsanctioned Hunts provide an arm band with only the teleport capability useable as it is the only model available to the civilian population.

Unsanctioned Hunts aren't all bad. They generally have a higher a payout and you don't necessarily have to becompetitive unless the sponsor wishes otherwise. However, there usually isn't much in the way of rules and protection. Hunters get insurance with the job, but no insurance company covers injuries incurred during an unsanctioned Hunt. It's a risky venture and there have been fatalities.

Hunters don't do the hunts for fun, either. A successful Hunter lives quite well. But, they need a Broker, like me. I manage their accounts and schedule for the Hunts. I publicize them.

A side source of income for Hunters is relics. All relics aside from the target relic are fair game for a Hunter to keep. This is because the target relic has a buyer set up before the Hunt begins.However, most of them are useless so they end up getting sold.A Broker tries to find a buyer for the Hunter's relics, taking a nominal commission for this service of course.

Unfortunately, it's not a clean game. There's a lot of politics to it. And then there's the B PHS, but you'll learn the rest on your own.