DRAGOV (The Beast):
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A heavily-tattooed, mountainously-built Siberian hunter, trapper and bandit, and the most wanted criminal in Russian history. It took three platoons of Spetsnaz Special Forces to capture him originally, and now he’s on the loose again, slaughtering his way out of the country’s most secretive and brutal gulag prison and fleeing on foot across hundreds of miles of frozen tundra wilderness.
Military helicopters are in pursuit, the snipers aboard them already given orders to shoot to kill as soon as they have him in their sights. But someone, somewhere has heard about Dragov’s escape, and has decided he’s worth a lot more alive and dead. A phone call is made to the Kremlin. Almost immediately, the helicopter snipers are ordered to switch to tranquillizer darts. Shot after shot is pumped into the running figure of Dragov. Finally, with a final bellow of rage, he sinks unconscious to the snow as the choppers come into land around him. The Club have a new recruit, with Dragov promised his freedom if he survives the contest.
RENWICK (The Roughneck):
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In his fifties. Possibly black? A tough, no-nonsense NYPD detective of more than 30 years standing, and one of the most decorated cops on the force. Renwick first picked up rumours of The Club – some kind of freak-circuit underground snuff show entertainment – from his contacts in the New York underworld.
Intrigued and sickened by what he was hearing, he tried to investigate further, but found all his official lines of inquiry blocked by NYPD bureaucratic intransigence. The harder he pushed, the more resistance he encountered. The Club must have powerful allies within the Mayor’s office or the NYPD, because not only was Renwick taken off the case, but, when he tried to go to the press with his suspicions, convincing but trumped-up allegations of bribe-taking were suddenly brought against him.
Forced to resign to avoid a scandal and possible criminal charges, Renwick continued his investigation unofficially, using his own time and money to try and break the veil of secrecy surrounding The Club. He must have got closer than he knew, or finally irritated The Club enough to make them do something about him, because what he thought was a new lead turned out to be an ambush, with The Club enforcers waiting for him. The Club’s money men are impressed with Renwick’s persistence; since he wanted to find out about The Club so much, then now’s his chance.
As its new star attraction, Renwick’s own survival instincts will carry him through the tournament, with him hating himself every time he has to pull the trigger, but there’s a greater motivation driving him on. If he gets to the end, then he might get a shot at bringing some justice to the sick freaks behind the thing.
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
