singillatim | but a strange light in the sky was shining right into my eyes

but a strange light in the sky was shining right into my eyes

JANUARY 2024 EVENT

PROMPT ONE — THE AURORA: NASCENCE: Following the strange dream at new year, a three-day Aurora takes place. During which, Interlopers discover a possible ally in the mysterious woman heard in the static and heard in the dream — potentially earning new abilities.

PROMPT TWO — ADUST: The Interlopers find out what happened to the owners of long-destroyed Milton House in the form of hauntings.

PROMPT THREE — THE VISITOR: Interlopers find themselves with an unwelcome visitor — a shadow doppelganger here to make everything absolutely worse.

THE AURORA: NASCENCE

WHEN: January 13th - 15th.
WHERE: Everywhere.
CONTENT WARNINGS: potentially disturbing dreams; dreams of being burned alive; some minor supernatural horror; some minor ‘ghost’ horror/hauntings; death of npcs in various ways including suicide, murder or exposure to elements.

In the middle of the month, it happens. A herald. The noise starts: faint at first, but then growing louder. An ethereal, high-pitched chorus of sounds difficult to place. There’s a kind of electrical buzzing with it all, a low, endless hum punctuated with cracks and pops. The sky is alive with sound, and with it comes the swirling streaking of colour against the inky black of night: The Aurora has come.

Much of what happened previously happens again: Streetlights, illuminating the town’s roads; lights in stores and homes will come alive, buzzing and flickering at times. Previously abandoned cars will turn on, their headlights blaring. Electronics that had previously seemed broken flick on — and whilst there are no broadcasts available on televisions, and the radio waves only drone on in static, both only occasionally blaring standard emergency broadcasts. Any computers and phones will turn on, but will have no internet or reception. Instead, Interlopers may find texts and emails — many of them unsent. The everyday lives of their users stored within, now readable.

There are still some instances of the ‘ghosts’ from the previous Auroras, but they are now only faint outlines, and far fewer in number. However, whilst the Aurora would usually only last until the next morning on sporadic nights over the month — this time it will last for a full three days. The world is plunged into darkness, a seemingly endless night with only the Aurora to light the skies.

On the second night of lights and noise, a voice calls out to you: static-like, and distant — as if someone speaks over a radio. A woman’s voice. It is the same one you’ve been hearing for a few weeks now, but finally it is far stronger than the scant whispers of name and the word ‘help’. She is far clearer now.

“You.” she says. She may whisper your name, too. “I see you.” You’re unable to speak back, the communication is only one way. She sounds upset, but there’s something more… a kind of wonder, perhaps.

”It’s not just a regular aurora borealis, but then you probably worked that out already, haven’t you? It’s so much more than that. Everything is… changing.”

”I don’t know how you can go back. But— but I can help. Maybe. Maybe I can make this place easier, somehow. I need help, but I’m stuck—” There’s frustration in her voice for a moment. ”It took from you. Took you away. It doesn’t always have to take. We can take, too. Sleep. I will help you take back. You will survive this. You will not go into the Dark. This is not the end.”

You have no idea what that means, for the most part. But you might just end up taking the chance and doing as the woman asked, even if it’s difficult with the noise and light with the Aurora. Sleep, and a dream may come to you.

FREE RUNNER: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape. You dream you are a magnificent stag, galloping through the snowy woods with ease. You seem to go on and on, never tiring, never slowing. You feel like the wind, or perhaps the very wind itself carries you. Not once do you stumble or fall, even when the snow is thick and deep, or the ground is shaky and uneven beneath you. You feel free.

When you awaken, you feel the most refreshed you’ve ever felt since you first came here. For the final day of the Aurora, you are bursting with energy and even when the lights in the sky fade — that revitalised feeling within you remains. There’s something within you that understands: you are the Free Runner. The ground will yield beneath you, your energy will not desert you, the wind will carry you.

LIGHT BRINGER: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape. You dream of sitting by a lonely campfire in the mouth of a cave at night, warming your hands. As you sit, a strange feeling comes over you, a desire to reach out to the flames. And so you do, reaching with both hands into the fire — gripping at the white-hot embers. It burns you, and for a moment there is blinding hot pain as the fire suddenly explodes around you, consuming you whole. But the pain soon stops. The fire doesn’t burn you. No, you have become the blaze — your body warmed. You burn bright enough that the darkness around you turns into day.

When you awaken the next morning, you feel warmed and comfortable. As if even the coldest of winters couldn’t reach your bones. The warmth remains even when the Aurora ends, and you are left with the innate understanding:you are the Light Bringer. The power of flame is at your very fingertips. You master the light, life, warmth.

AURORA CALL: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape. You dream you are standing in the very sky itself, at the Aurora’s height. Colour and sound twirls around you, within you — and you feel it curl into your body. Your head fills with noise, a chorus of voices calling out, snippets of conversation echoing within you. A woman’s voice calls to you, it is the same voice that spoke to you before you slept: “Don’t you understand it now? We are all connected. The Aurora connects us.”

And you do, you do understand it.

When you awaken, you feel connected to the world around you. To the very people who live amongst you. You feel less lonely, a kind of kinship with others. You have heard the Aurora’s Call and you have answered it, unlocked a connection with your fellow Interlopers. You will be heard.

NOTHING: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape, but only for a moment. The edges of your vision begin the blur with black, slowly closing in until everything goes dark and you fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. You awaken, and although you feel rested, as if the dreamless darkness has helped you feel a little more ready to take on the day — nothing else about you has changed.

ADUST

WHEN: From mid-month to month end.
WHERE: Milton House.
CONTENT WARNINGS: fire; house fire; death of a child/children; hauntings; ghosts; mental manipulation; illusions of burning/being burned; potential injuries via falling/unstable building collapsing.

There is a reason why it is advised to avoid Milton House other than the simple fact that it’s a miracle the house is still standing. Once one of the largest buildings in the town of Milton, it is now a former shell of what was once a fine and grand house. It has lain in ruin for many years, dilapidated and host to a great deal of fire damage.

While he is in town, Methuselah will not speak of the place, but he often looks sad when it has been brought up in conversation. “A great tragedy.” he will say before falling into a pensive silence. “A blackened mark on the town’s memory.” He does not wish to say much more of what happened: sometimes there are things that are just too painful. He will continue to advise the ruin is left alone, out of respect, and the fact that the place is a danger.

Of course, advice will not stop anyone from attempting to get into the ruins and exploring the house, even if it is in fact highly dangerous.

The sounds of voices and whispers may be enough to pique anyone’s interest. You're sure you heard something, maybe you should go to check it out?

It is true in the fact that the house itself is incredibly dangerous structurally: floors and stairs may give way and you’ll find your foot (and half of you) falling right through the floorboards. Damp and rot that have long since set in, and it will be dangerous to breathe in. But you’ll find that the house itself is pretty ordinary: this was once a family home. Just about the entirety of the house and its contents aren't salvageable, but you’ll be able to find out a little about who once lived here.

There are faded, half-destroyed photos that show a family of five: a father, mother, and three young children all under the age of ten. The father with warm, beaming smiles, the mother has kind eyes, the two oldest boys with toothy grins much like their father, the younger girl looks shy, wanting to hide against her mother. They look happy. Just a typical family. In a world where so many strange things are happening, it feels so strange to look upon these family photos and around this home to realise that they simply lost their home in a house fire.

But as you hold a family picture, or some half-destroyed trinket: a toy, a shoe, a book, a vase, you’ll find the item will suddenly catch alight, bursting into flames in your very hands. The flames do not burn you, and as you discard the item, it will fall to the floor as if nothing had happened.

Then, it comes to you. Here and there. Different sensations that stop and start suddenly: the house groans and creaks around you; the smell of smoke enters your nose; the sound of fire cracking and popping with a roar fills your ears; the sensation of heat against your skin; the clawing and suffocating feeling in your lungs that makes you cough and choke; the sounds of terrified shrieks of children echoing above you. Feelings flood you: fear, panic. When you next turn around, the entire house is aflame around you, and you can’t tell if this is real or if you’re reliving some terrifying memory.

You need to leave, get out of here. For some, it will be what comes naturally. You’ll have to fight through the flames and escape the house before it burns down completely around you. You’ll have to fight your way out, find an exit not already consumed by flames — through a window, perhaps. Crashing out of the house and into the snow, you’ll look back and see Milton House just as you entered it: nothing more than a half-burned ruin.

But for others, there will be another pull. You are drawn upstairs, to the screams of children. You need to get to them, to help them, save them. You will battle through the flames, heading towards the ruins of what was a child’s bedroom, or towards the bathroom. Inside either, you will find a figure cowering, engulfed wholly in flames: one in the bathtub or one in the closet. You recognise them as the two sons from the family pictures.

Mom. They will call you. Or Dad. They weep, terrified of the flames. I’m scared, I’m scared. I want the fire to go away. Help me. Stay here.

The tragedy of Milton House is before you. More than just a fire. What is more tragic than the death of a child? What silences voices? Breaks spirits? Leaves one helpless to act in the wake of such a passing?

There is something to be done here. You are not so powerless. Calm the child. Offer gentle assurances. They will get out. They are safe. You are there for them. You will stay. Embracing them will set you alight. Too hot. Too bright. It will hurt, but you won’t burn. But don’t let go; holding them will eventually calm them down enough for the flames to grow dim, to slowly ease their spirits to rest.

Soon enough, the flames will go out and the child will disappear, leaving you alone in a decaying, dilapidated room.

In the churchyard of Milton, there is a family grave by the name of Barker. Three lie within it: Thomas it reads, and his beloved sons, Patrick and Christopher.

THE VISITOR

WHEN: The month of January.
WHERE: Everywhere.
CONTENT WARNINGS: erything absolutely worse.
THE VISITOR — CONTENT WARNINGS: supernatural beings; dream-related horror/disturbing dreams; doppelgangers; themes of depression; themes of self-harm; themes of isolation; potential themes of suicide.

It seems the dream of the New Year and the Aurora dreams are not the only odd sleep-related instances occurring this month. You first notice that something is off when a strange dream pulls you from sleep. The dream may feel like any particular dream you have, whether it be a usual nightmare or strange concoction your brain has conjured up for you this night. Maybe it’s a dream you’ve had before, maybe it’s a new dream entirely. But no matter the dream, there is one thing that is odd about it. In tiny moments within the dream, you notice that there is something different, something that feels out of place. Something is there that shouldn’t be.

A figure, tall and silent, entirely made of shadow stands lurking in the background. It looks human, but there is not much more that you can really describe further. It is a sad, unsettling presence.

When you awaken, eyes bleary from sleep, and you look about the room, to the bottom of your bed, for a half-moment you see that figure standing there silently. That unsettling sadness permeates the room, and after a few seconds of blinking and sitting up — the figure disappears. Perhaps it was just some trick of the mind, some half-awake illusion.

But the next time you sleep, it appears again. The same figure, the same emotions surrounding it. And when you awaken, it stands at the bottom of your bed once more. Only this time, it lingers, and you find yourself staring down the figure before it disappears once more.

Over the next several days, the presence continues to linger more and more. It stands silently in the corner of the room of your home; it hovers by the window, staring out into the snow; it stands in the middle of the road as you go about your business. More and more, it is there. Always standing, always watching — silent and sad.

No one else seems to notice it, only you. And over time, the shape of it seems to change — the vague, undefined shape of it slowly shifts into something you recognise. The same hair, the same height, the same way it holds itself: it is exactly like you. A perfect doppelganger, a second shadow. And with it, it exudes an oppressive sadness, a particular kind of loneliness. It is suffocating, bleeding into you.

It makes you withdraw from the world around you, from the people around you. Perhaps you stop spending time with others, retreating into solitude. You hide from others, keep to yourself. You find yourself not sleeping at all or perhaps sleeping too much. Perhaps what little you already eat becomes nothing. The shadowy doppelganger draws ever closer to you, close enough to touch you - ever hovering at your shoulder. Its presence bores down on you, making you feel small and more and more alone even with its ‘company’. No one else can seem to see it but you, mentioning it to others will earn odd looks, or even concern. It seems you and your double are alone together.

Hopefully, those around you will notice the change in you. How you stopped reaching out, how you’ve stopped taking care of yourself. Hopefully they will see something isn’t right and reach out. You are doomed to the doppelganger's company otherwise.

However, those around you can push the shadowy double away, and can break its influence and hold over you. Genuine care and concern for you will have it shrinking back. Perhaps it is a kind word, perhaps it is the gentle but insisting coaxing to eat. Perhaps it is an attentive ear to listen to your thoughts, to how the presence has made you feel. Maybe it is even the simplest of touches, an embrace or the holding of a hand, the grip of a shoulder. Continued connection with you will slowly have the visitor’s power diminish.

And hopefully it is done before it is too late, or it may be all too easy to fade into the Long Dark.

FAQs

THE AURORA: NASCENCE

1. Aurora Feats are now unlocked! Please see the following page for more information. Aurora Feats are completely optional.

2. Interlopers will only receive ONE Aurora Event. The only time this is available is this month. After January, players will have to wait for the next Feat round for another chance at an Aurora Feat.

3. This Aurora will last a full three days. It will be a period of only night.

4. For more information on the ghostly loops seen during the Aurora, see this previous event, under 'The Aurora: Aftershocks' prompt.

5. For new players who would like a little extra context regarding the woman can look at December's Tales From The Northern Territories, under the 'New Happenings in December' section.

ADUST

1. Characters will not be physically burned in the fire, but only feel as if they have been. The effects of this illusion will last a short time after they're out the house before they will fade.

2. The only real injuries characters can sustain will be from fall damage, or if the floor gives way and their feet go through, etc. whilst in the house.

3. The children cannot leave the house. They will be too scared to leave. In addition, they are tethered to the house, given that this is where they died. Simply being calmed/comforted is the best way to help them and they will disappear after that.

THE VISITOR

1. An Interloper's Visitor can't be seen by anyone but the Interloper themselves.

2. The Visitor can be spoken to, but it will not speak back. It cannot be interacted with and is intangible.

PLOTTING POST

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He hadn't seen Rorschach for a few days, so Levi was starting to get worried. There didn't seem to be any traces of a new danger, and he doubted the masked man would wander too far from town, but there were still a ton of things that could get one hurt or sick just in town itself.

It wasn't the first cabin he'd checked, but Levi comes upon the the Rorschach is in soon enough. He knocks on the door and calls out. "Rorschach? You in there?"

Rorschach listened as someone knocked on the door. Now there was a first. He, Rorschach, having visitors. He couldn't recall ever having someone visit the various apartments he'd lived in while in New York City. Then he understood when he heard Levi's voice. Of course. The kid had checked up on him last time he'd gotten himself into trouble, hadn't he?

This time, though, he didn't want to see anyone or do anything aside from turn into a rock as he laid down on the bed. He paused for a long while before a couple of words were growled out. "Go away." The dour voice could only belong to the often-aloof vigilante.

Levi furrows his brow. He's seen people acting odd lately and is worried his ~~friend?~~ sometimes partner is having whatever problem they're having.

For the moment he remains outside. "I just want to make sure you're okay. Did whatever the snake did come back?"

That was a good enough fake reason. He'd inhaled some of it too, so it was something he might have to worry about.

"No. Fine like this."

Lies, of course, all lies. Still, he was hoping the kid would take his answer at face value and just allow him to wallow there in the depths of his despair. He was doing just fine, and if he told himself that enough times, it would become the truth.

But deep down even Rorschach knew that wasn't how it worked.

Levi chews on his lip for a few moments, thinking. Rorschach had told him to leave, but he's not really comfortable doing so. He realizes he barely knows the man, or anyone here really, but Rorschach acting this way seemed wrong. Especially if there was nothing physically wrong with him. He makes us his mind to investigate, then.

"I'm coming in," he states before opening the door and entering to go find the masked man.

"Don't." But it was already too late and the kid was inside. In stark contrast to the library, which he kept in near-pristine condition, the inside of the home was a disaster area. He already only cleaned it enough to remain functional and for practicality's sake. Now it was even more of a dump given he wasn't even bothering to do that much.

Levi would find him in the master bedroom, tucked firmly into bed under about seven blankets and quilts. Most of his usual outfit was draped over a nearby chair as he was in far more casual clothes but his ubiquitous face of course remained a constant.

He notes the mess, but having no idea if its new or old he doesn't think on it much. The guy lived at a bunch of cabins so he probably didn't spend too much time maintaining any.

He pauses in the bedroom door, frowning. Seeing Rorschach lie there is kind of a shock. There had been enough time he had just wanted to do that, hide away in bed or somewhere and hope the world passed him by. But he's pretty sure it wasn't a good thing to do, nor was it safe when they were still struggling so hard to survive in this place.

He's not really sure how to deal with this, though. "You don't look fine."

"Looks can be deceiving." Or in this case told a complete story about someone who was monumentally depressed.

He chanced a glance over to the corner of the room and --yep. There it was. The persistent doppelganger which just refused to leave. He'd tried everything he could of to make the exact double of Walter that was following him around to disappear. But nothing had worked. So here he was, on the verge of completely giving up.

"Maybe. But if you were really okay you'd be out there. When you were suffering from the effects of the snake's gas you were doing more than lay in bed."

"In boxing, sometimes you get back up when hit. Sometimes not." He'd learned that when he'd trained in boxing when he was about as old as Levi was. Right now, this was feeling more like a TKO than anything else. He was down for the count and couldn't get back up.

"I knew a boxer. He'd get back up even if the odds were against him and it looked certain he was going to die." Hell, he got back up again after weird magic had removed an arm. "You reminded me of him in that way. I don't believe you'd give up if you had any breath left in you."

Something about this place, then? Rorschach wasn't the only one acting oddly, just the only one he'd interacted with so closely.

A small part of him that wasn't concerned with just turning into a rock while lying in bed did sincerely appreciate Levi's apparent faith in him. "Not giving up. Just not able to much right now." If only he could just find some way to snap out of this malaise then he'd be able to stand on his own two feet again.

Faith in Rorschach, belief in him being a stubborn bastard, same difference.

"Bullshit. Something's wrong, you just don't want to admit it."

"Plenty of things wrong with me, kid. Doubt you can fix them." This was very unlike him, giving up and just using a bunch of dry wiseacre talk to hide behind. But part of him also wanted Levi to just leave him alone even as most of him wanted the teenager to stay.

He resists the urge to sigh. "Something different than the usual things. Other people are acting weird too."

But he didn't know them enough to go check on them.

"Then go bother one of them," he growled out, a little bit of heat in his voice thanks to getting irritated. Couldn't Levi just leave him alone the way everyone had his whole life?

A large part of him is screaming for him to go, to not be a bother and to not get any more attention. But he can't shake the feeling that something is wrong, and while he doesn't acknowledge it as such, Rorschach is one of the few people in town he considers a friend. Almost a partner since they've worked together in the past. So he doesn't want to leave, even though he's often the most non-confrontational person ever.

He finds a chair and takes a seat, nervously fiddling with the edge of his oversized coat. "No," he says firmly. "I'm going to help you with whatever this is. I owe it to you."

The fact that Levi was willing to stick around finally got Rorschach to lift up his head. He was surprised and his mask reflect that, the dots coalescing right in the middle before splitting off into the four corners rapidly. He'd had very few people in his life who'd ever wanted to genuinely help him, especially when he was often deliberately prickly and difficult to get along with in an attempt to drive them away.

To hear Levi did it because he felt he owed Rorschach something was also surprising. He'd never thought of what he'd done as being worthy of someone returning the favor someday. After a long pause, he finally said a single word. "Okay."

He'd let Levi try to help him and see where it got the pair of them.

Okay, great, Rorschach had accepted him being here. But...now what? Did he try to say something? He was shit at small talk and the masked man probably wouldn't like it anyway. Did he just sit here in silence? Maybe, but for how long? He'd probably have to start any conversation himself, which brought him back to the small talk issue.

Ugh. Dealing with people was hard. This is why he preferred to stay apart from them...but he liked Rorschach. And aside from wanting to make up for the time Rorschach helped(?) him after the nightmare he couldn't deny that he liked the man. Sort of. They worked well together at least.

So, for the moment he just sits there, thinking. He'll speak up after awhile, since Rorschach probably wouldn't.

Rorschach wasn't big on talking and he felt like he'd already met his quota for the day arguing with Levi and trying to get him to leave. He let the silence simply stretch out between them. But it wasn't an uncomfortable one. Much as he hated to admit it, the kid had definitely grown on him in the time they'd spent together.

Shame he hadn't been born in Rorschach's world. Levi would have made a great superhero once he'd gotten a little bit older. But maybe that was for the best. Rorschach wasn't sure his world would be around much longer with how it stood on the brink of Armageddon. He thought about this while he lay there and eventually managed to find the energy to read part of a book he'd been working on. He got absorbed enough that when Levi finally spoke, he didn't quite catch the words. He sat up and looked over where he was sitting. "Hmm?"

Before he can second guess himself (again) Levi speaks up, "I was thinking, I don't know much about the place you're from." Or the man himself, but asking about that might be too much.

Rorschach deliberately hadn't talked much about himself to the other Interlopers. He preferred to act like he didn't have a past, a time when he'd been a genuine human being. Kate had gotten the most out of him and it was still only a drop in the bucket.

Plus the world he came from wasn't exactly a good one. Sunshine and daisies it was not. What could he say? Only the truth.

"World stands on the verge of Armageddon," he told Levi. "The end coming anytime now."

"Oh...at least one other person's world was coming to an end. Mine...I don't know. It might have been just a smaller scale apocalypse we were dealing with." His world probably deserved to be destroyed, though. Was that why people were here? He can't really make any guesses with just two stories to go n.

"Was trying to stop it with my partner just before was brought here," he explained. He worried about how Nite Owl had fared against going up against Ozymandias alone. Even together, they only stood a small chance of defeating him. Alone, his one-time partner would have stood no chance. Perhaps Daniel was dead by now. That was a depressing thought.

"That's what I was doing. Trying to stop what was happening or figure out something. I don't really know, I just followed the people who had more of an idea what they were doing." Had they been left behind when he'd been taken? Forced to try and conquer that bunker alone? He hates the idea that he might have left them there, even if he had no control over it. But for all he knew they might have been taken somewhere else as well. If gods were involved, and he ended up here, they could be anywhere.
It was all very confusing and best not to think about as far as he was concerned.

"My, uh, where I came from it was 1942. So a lot of the things here are new to me." Maybe a better line of conversation.

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