OCT 03HAZING WEEK OPENS
Boiler Room books open a private line on the freshman pledge class. The Den takes bets on how long the rookies last. The line is called FRESHMEAT.
IRONWOOD, MINNESOTA · RESTRICTED ARCHIVE
THE DEN ARCHIVE — 18+
You are about to open the unofficial record of the Ironwood State Wolves: the roster, the Boiler Room, and the Hollow Creek file. Everything inside is dark on purpose.
- Graphic violence, hazing & injury
- Illegal gambling & bare-knuckle fighting
- Substance abuse & PED chemistry
- Obsession, stalking & coercion
- Toxic, possessive relationships
- A death the town calls an accident
THE DEN IS ALWAYS WATCHING
HOMEWOLVES4
GUEST1
3RD PERIOD04:44
EST. 1962 · IRONWOOD STATE WOLVES
ON THE ICE, WE BLEED
FOR THE CREST.
OFF THE ICE, WE BLEED
FOR SOMETHING ELSE.
Population 18,000. Frozen seven months a year. The town lives and dies for the Wolves — and underneath the rink, The Den fixes the games, owns the athletes, and keeps one file sealed under Hollow Creek Bridge. This archive is the record they tried to burn.
POPULATION
18,000
FROZEN
7 MONTHS / YR
WINTER LOW
−20°F
SEALED FILES
1
WOLVES HOCKEY −1.5 · LINE FROZEN 03:15SAINT MORENO 14-0 · NEXT BOUT SAT 23:00 · BOILER ROOMVOLKOV 87 PIM · LEAGUE LEADER · 3 HOSPITALIZEDPIERCE 31 TD · HEISMAN WATCH · SMILE INTACTTHORNE 100M FLY −420 · LINE SUSPENDEDCLEAR BLUE BATCH 10 · CLEARS IN 72HFRESHMEAT LINE VOID · NO REFUNDSHOLLOW CREEK FLOWERS: DAY 214 · STILL COMING BACK30% INTEREST · COMPOUNDS MONTHLY · NO EXTENSIONSNO PHONES IN THE BOILER ROOMTHE DEN IS ALWAYS WATCHINGWOLVES HOCKEY −1.5 · LINE FROZEN 03:15SAINT MORENO 14-0 · NEXT BOUT SAT 23:00 · BOILER ROOMVOLKOV 87 PIM · LEAGUE LEADER · 3 HOSPITALIZEDPIERCE 31 TD · HEISMAN WATCH · SMILE INTACTTHORNE 100M FLY −420 · LINE SUSPENDEDCLEAR BLUE BATCH 10 · CLEARS IN 72HFRESHMEAT LINE VOID · NO REFUNDSHOLLOW CREEK FLOWERS: DAY 214 · STILL COMING BACK30% INTEREST · COMPOUNDS MONTHLY · NO EXTENSIONSNO PHONES IN THE BOILER ROOMTHE DEN IS ALWAYS WATCHING
01LOVE INTERESTS · THREATS · ASSETS
THE STARTING FIVE
Five men run Ironwood's night. Open a dossier. Scouting reports are accurate. The black bars are not yours to read — unless you click.
02HOME TURF · FACILITY MAP
TEN ROOMS THE DEN OWNS
Every building in Ironwood has a daytime owner and a nighttime one. Pick a door. Some of them lock from the outside.
ABANDONED HEATING PLANT, THE WOODS
THE BOILER ROOM
RULED BYTHE DEN
Cage fight ring, bookies, cash, blood on concrete. No phones allowed. The fence is chain-link; the exit is a suggestion.
AFTER DARK — DEN OBSERVATION
This is the after-dark. Saturdays the ring opens at 23:00 sharp.
05
03SOCIAL HIERARCHY · READ IT AND WEEP
THE PECKING ORDER
Ironwood runs on a ladder. Know your rung before someone reminds you of it with a shoulder check.
1HOCKEY STARTERSGods. Untouchable. They walk through parties like kings and the room rearranges itself around them.Volkov · the first line · the enforcers
2FOOTBALL STARTERSDemigods. Richer, flashier, and bitterly rivalrous with hockey. Money loves them; hockey respects only blood.Pierce · Boone · the offensive line
3OTHER VARSITYSwim, boxing, wrestling. Respected in season, invisible out of it. The Den watches their lines too.Thorne · the boxers · the wrestlers
4USEFUL PROPERTYIce girls, boosters' kids, sports med. Proximity to power counts as power until it doesn't.Priya Sharma · Dr. Petrova · donor families
5EVERYONE ELSEPuck bunnies, nobodies, background noise. The town's 18,000 extras. Some of them see everything — and say nothing, wisely.You, until you aren't
04SIDE CHARACTERS · THE BENCH
EVERYONE ELSE WITH A NAME
Coaches, collectors, ghosts and informants. Allegiance tags are current as of last audit. They change. People change. Ask Finn.
COACH MARCUS HALE
AGE 52 · HEAD HOCKEY COACH
Alcoholic. Knows about the Den. Looks away with professional precision.
ALLEGIANCE: The Bottle / The Den's blind eye
COACH BOBBY JENNINGS
AGE 48 · HEAD FOOTBALL COACH
Protects Grayson at any cost. The cost is usually someone else's.
ALLEGIANCE: Senator Pierce's money
FINN SULLIVAN
AGE 19 · FRESHMAN PLEDGE — DECEASED
Drowned under Hollow Creek Bridge during Hazing Week. Fractured ribs. Cigarette burns. File sealed.
ALLEGIANCE: The truth
PRIYA SHARMA
AGE 21 · CAPTAIN OF THE ICE GIRLS
Mean girl with a reporter's memory. Rhett's informant in every room you'll ever be in.
ALLEGIANCE: Rhett Callahan
MARCUS "TANK" BOONE
AGE 22 · FOOTBALL LINEBACKER
Grayson's enforcer. Moves like a verdict. Thinks like a door.
ALLEGIANCE: Grayson Pierce
DIEGO ALVAREZ
AGE 20 · BOILER ROOM BOOKIE
Saint's only friend. Takes the bets, keeps the tape, knows too much.
ALLEGIANCE: Saint (and the spread)
DR. LENA PETROVA
AGE 38 · RECOVERY CENTER DOCTOR
Supplies the pills. Scared of the Den. Signs what they tell her to sign.
ALLEGIANCE: Fear
DEAN ALAN WHITAKER
AGE 60 · DEAN OF STUDENTS
Seals files, chairs hearings, cashes checks. The administration's human stamp.
ALLEGIANCE: Booster bribes
VIKTOR & YURI
RUSSIAN COLLECTORS
Black SUVs, gold teeth, polite knocks. Nik's debt has their names on it.
ALLEGIANCE: The bookies partnered with The Den
05THE BOILER ROOM · NO PHONES
THE DEN
Underground betting syndicate. Fixes games, runs the cage, lends at 30% a month and owns you through debt, video and injury. Below: the board as of Saturday.
ODDS BOARD
LIVE- HOCKEY — WOLVES vs NORTHERN MINNHOME −1.5Steam hit at 02:00. Line frozen by 03:15.FIXED
- FOOTBALL — WOLVES vs STATE TECHO/U 58.5Over money from three booster shells.FIXED
- SWIM DUAL — 100M FLYTHORNE −420Line suspended. Nobody bets against the angel.
- BARE-KNUCKLE — SAINT vs BUTCHERSAINT −380Public on the Saint. Smart money on the Butcher. Think about that.
- HAZING WEEK — FRESHMEAT (CLOSED)VOIDAll bets void after OCT 12. No refunds issued. Ever.FIXED
CAGE — RECENT RESULTS
BARE-KNUCKLE- SAINT vs. K. 'THE ANVIL' MERCERW — KORD R2 · Mercer ate concrete. The book paid out.
- SAINT vs. BALTIC 'IRON' PETROVW — TKORD R4 · Russian corner threw in the towel. Yuri smiled. That's bad.
- SAINT vs. D. REYESW — KORD R3 · Illegal elbow. The Den ruled it an OD. You know the rest.ORDERED
- SAINT vs. T. 'HALFMASS' HALFORDW — SUBRD R1 · Ordered win. Saint hated the order. It shows on the tape.ORDERED
- NEXT: SAINT vs. 'THE BUTCHER' BALTICSAT 23:00Line opened −380. Steam moved it by dawn. Someone knows something.
THE 30% — BORROW LIKE AN ATHLETE
Desperate? The Den lends to players who can't say no. Interest compounds monthly. There are no extensions, only consequences. Drag the sliders and see what your name is worth.
YOU OWE, COMPOUNDED
$4,394
vig alone: $2,394 · that's a new car, or a new kneecap
STATUS: THEY KNOW YOUR CLASS SCHEDULE.
NIK STARTED AT $90,000. HE'S AT $140,000 AND THREE HOSPITAL BILLS. DO THE MATH.
06SULLIVAN, F. — SEALED · OCTOBER
THE HOLLOW CREEK FILE
Nineteen years old. Drowned with fractured ribs and cigarette burns, ruled a drunk accident by men on a payroll. Evidence chips open on click. Read fast.
OCT 09FINN HEARS THE WRONG THING
During a 'bonding' session Finn overhears a fix being arranged — a spread, a name, a Saturday. He tells a teammate he's going to the police. The teammate tells Priya. Priya tells Rhett.
OCT 11"TEAM BONDING"
SEALEDFinn is taken to Hollow Creek Bridge after curfew. What happens next is in a sealed file. What the creek gave back had fractured ribs and cigarette burns.
OCT 12BODY FOUND
A townie pulling crawfish traps finds Finn Sullivan under the bridge at 6:40AM. The creek is half-frozen. His jacket is never recovered.
OCT 15THE STORY GETS WRITTEN
ACCIDENT — DISPUTEDOfficial cause: drunk accident. The autopsy is sealed, the file is sealed, the boosters' lawyers seal the rest. Dean Whitaker signs everything twice.
OCT 20THE FLOWERS
A memorial appears on the bridge. Within a day it's gone — torn, scattered on the ice. By the next morning someone has taped new flowers to the rail. This cycle has not stopped since.
NOV 02THE HOWL DIGS
A Howl reporter files a records request for the Sullivan file. That night her tires are slashed, all four, evenly, professionally. She keeps a copy of everything at her grandmother's house now.
NOWYOU FOUND THIS ARCHIVE
EYES ON YOUWhich means the Den will find you reading it. Choices have consequences here. Injuries, reputation, debt, secrets — all of it is tracked. All of it matters. The Den is always watching.
THE FLOWERS KEEP COMING BACK.
Whoever tapes them to the rail has never been caught on the one camera that points at the bridge. The Den checked. The Den is not checking again.