10/1|Rusty|Vanilla|Long|Monthly — I recently sat down for an exclusive interview with a player who has been making many allies and even more enemies in recently weeks.
His name is Keegan. His profession in Rust is Bounty Hunter.
Scarrab: On behalf of RustNE.WS, thanks for agreeing to this interview.
Keegan: Of course.
S: First off, is there anything you want to tell the world to help paint a picture of yourself?
K: Boom.
Sweat, dripping from my arm.
A bullet wound.
It’s not sweat, it’s blood.
The life of a Bounty Hunter…hopping teams, finding himself in the middle. Neutral to both sides.
S: What kind of situations have you found yourself in because of that?
K: Having to choose whether I want to take the bounty on someone I know personally. Someone who I’ve played with before.
S: What goes through your mind when you have to weigh that situation?
K: It’s no mercy. Gotta get paid.
S: How many corpses does this mentality generate?
K: Oh man. You need to see my bio on Steam. The body count is…uncountable.
S: Have you ever run into Stigma?
K: All I know is they haven’t hired me for a bounty yet.
S: Many players have been asking about you in Global. Help us understand more about you and your mindset.
K: Here are two of my favorite quotes: “A Bounty always receives part of its value from the manner in which it is bestowed.” and… “I’m a Bounty Hunter. Weapons are part of my religion.”
S: Do you have any interesting stories to tell?
K: Of course. Hundreds. Whether or not I remember them is another story. When you’ve been killing for as long as I have, the blood and bones all start to blend together. But there is one that stands out clearly in my mind. It’s the story of how I met my friends Spicy Boy and Respectable Businessman.
In the chat, I would see they had issues with some guy whose name I don’t remember. At the time, I didn’t know my employers at all. But they issued an open bounty in the chat, saying they’d be happy to pay anyone who can take this guy out for them or at least deliver his coordinates.
At the time I was still prim, so I had to work my way up. It took a while to get up there to full kit. Then I talked to Spicy and told him my plan. He told me the payout. And I said, “I’m solo. It sounds good.” And yeah, I took the job. I hunted them down, I acquired the tools I needed to raid, and I solo raided a duo. One of them was online.
S: What happened in the raid?
K: Well, I died, so I was like, “Aw s***, this is it.” But I had the sense to put down a bag in my raid base. I spawned in, grabbed another kit. A Bounty Hunter always has multiple tools and plans at his disposal to be prepared for any possibility. I repositioned myself, and killed him again. Then I blew in.
There wasn’t really a lot of good s*** in there, it wasn’t really a crazy base. But it was never about the loot. Respectable Businessman wanted them wiped.
S: And after your raid, your victims were just done?
K: There was no recovery possible. They had to get off the server, they weren’t going to rebuild from nothing mid-wipe. When my target is Wanted Dead, that’s what I deliver.
S: As any true professional would. What can you tell me about the last job you took?
K: Well, I was actually teamed with Elsa, and they were getting raided. I was hired to defend their roleplay base. I needed their TC so I could open up their windows to shoot. I was badly outnumbered, so to singlehandedly hold off an army, I needed every advantage I could take.
Of course I needed some food, so I started eating some of her mushrooms, and she –
S***! Hold on. What…? …I’ll be back.
After that, Keegan mysteriously disappeared for the night, cutting our interview short. But even his sudden exit is just part of another day in the life of a Bounty Hunter.