Beyond the Dark Productions - ‘The Strata’ - Chapter 11 | Original audio drama
Eddy Elfman for Crichton
*Crichton will be a major ongoing character in coming seasons. Scripts still in development
Word Count: 2500
Role:Supporting
Payment: $100 flat rate
Crichton is a traveller from a far distant region called the Western Reaches. He is tough, rugged, uncompromising, self-disciplined, and ruthless. He is a survivor, and throughout his life he has endured great suffering and hardship. He is a man of considerable size and stature; he is gruff, imposing, and carries with him a palpable sense of menace.
Thrown into slavery at a young age, Crichton toiled against his will in dark, inhospitable mines for many years. He has little to no memory of his life before the mines. After suffering a near-death experience deep underground, he was brought back from the brink by slaver medics who experimented on his body without consent. Once ‘rebuilt’, he was forced to return to the mines to continue working, and eventually bonded with fellow slave Edana, his only true friend. Motivated by his thirst for revenge against the slavers, Crichton managed to fight his way to freedom, aided by Edana, and together they escaped the Western Reaches. Now they are on the run. The two of them have vowed to stay united until the very end. Even though they are now far from home, they both yearn for the chance to return and take the fight to the slavers once again.
- male adult
(Recounting a harrowing, near-death experience in the mines; grim, gritty) "The sudden cascade of light roused the Shadow Mites from their slumber, whipped them into a frenzy unlike anything I’d seen before. They jumped from man to man, gouging through flesh like it was tissue paper. And the screams... such agony. I tried to run, but they caught me. There was no escape. The Shadow Mites blasted through me, a thousand ribbons of fire. Amid the torment, I could only manage a single coherent thought - that this was the end, and that I would finally be a slave no longer.”
(Negotiations fail, and Crichton takes a hard, unyielding stance. Voice filled with malevolence) “Then you leave me no choice. We are coming. And when we descend upon you, we will offer you no quarter. Know that to be the truth, Tessa. For you, and anyone else who stands in our way - you have lived to see your last dawn. Now the only thing that awaits is darkness.”
(In the midst of a torrid hand to hand fight. Breathless. Taunting his opponent) “Maybe once you’re dead I’ll pick over that corpse of yours and take a few souvenirs. Maybe I can make a few upgrades. How do you feel about that?”
