The Prisoner's Dilemma

The Prisoner's Dilemma refer to special collectible Documents found in Rise of the Tomb Raider.

There are five total The Prisoner's Dilemma documents in the game.

Freedom Station
I knew it was a mistake when I threw the drink in his face. But I did it anyway. I thought Minister Dyatlov's shocked look would be worth the loss of funding for my research. I was a fool. The KGB bastards knocked down my door before dawn.

Five years. A work camp. They no longer have the spine to call it what it is, they call it "Freedom Station." Liars. It is a gulag. I promised myself I would not let them break me. But I wept for mercy in my first week.

I must find a way out. There is a guard, a red-cheeked boy named Ivan, more sweetness than sense. It pains me to use one so guileless as he, but I will not rot here.

Lara's Thoughts
The journal of Serafima, a Russian political prisoner from the gulag...

A Good Man
Ivan... I thought it would be simple. Most of these rough, stinking thugs take what they want from the prisoners. I chose Ivan because I thought he would bend. But it is worse than I thought. He is a good man.

He does not want to be here anymore than I. That sentiment holds little weight when he eats well and sleeps with a blanket, but I credit him with a moral compass these others lack. This place sickens him. He knows his part in it, hates what he does. I caught him pushing back, when he thought no one was watching, to calm his guilt. I told him it was not enough. Showed him how to do more. We worked well together. Planned our escape.

But it is too late. I am pregnant. We are damned.

Lara's Thoughts
Serafima's fate was bound up with Ivan's from the moment they met...

Torn Apart
I never held my daughter. They took her from me on the surgeon's table. I tried to fight, but they are many, and I am weary. Then they dragged me away, split our three hearts apart.

They have taken me to a hidden vale where ancient ruins stand. They tell me if I cooperate, I will see my family again. I will never trust these monsters, but I do not have a better plan.

There are curious flowers here... Exposure to the pollen has left my captors rattled, and they will go no further than our little outpost. They brought me here in hopes that my expertise in botany would help them find a counteragent. At last, the State has a use for me...

I nod and smile. I play the part. But they cannot break me again. For my daughter. For Ivan. I will live.

Lara's Thoughts
They took everything from Serafima...

The Formula
It's been weeks since these bastards dragged me from the Gulag, from Ivan and my daughter, to this strange Vale. They have tasked me with finding some way of counteracting the unusual effects of the pollen that hangs in the air.

Now, I believe I have a formula that may work:

-An extract from the seed pods of the plant -The liver of animals that consume the flowers and have metabolized the toxins -A Phenothiazine derivative

The last ingredient is a risk. They have it in large quantities around the Gulag, where it is used as an insecticide. It may also act as a rudimentary antipsychotic, bearing a chemical similarity to other compounds I have studied. Or it may be poisonous.

I will try the mixture on myself, tonight.

Lara's Thoughts
Research notes from a familiar Soviet prisoner, tasked with discovering a cure for the hallucinations.

Grandmother Serpent
There was a revolt. A bomb. The native people, the enemies of my enemies, rose up, striking out as we had always dreamed. Ivan and our daughter might have known freedom, but instead... they are dead. Killed by the only people that might have saved us.

The Soviet cowards with me in the Vale say there is nothing left, that we must await rescue. They say they will protect me, but they jump at the dark and supplies run low. There will be no rescue. I will live, and my captors will not. Survival is the only truth in this world.

They are a superstitious lot. I slip the pollen into their rations. And when they are reduced to weeping husks, I will show them a new face, something they have feared since childhood. Baba Yaga. Grandmother Serpent. Witch.

They will die, screaming in terror. They deserve so much worse. If I cannot live free, then I will survive alone, in the shadows, until death reunites me with Ivan and our child.

Lara's Thoughts
Serafima learns of Ivan and her daughter's death, and makes a fateful decision.