singillatim | I'd sit there and look at the deserted lakes and I'd sing

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I'd sit there and look at the deserted lakes and I'd sing

MARCH 2024 EVENT

PROMPT ONE — EXIT STRATEGY: With the way via the main road a no-go, Methuselah finds a potential and very dangerous way out of the Milton area: the Milton Mines. During the Aurora, the Interlopers must find a way to safely navigate the mines and find a way through.

PROMPT TWO — BRAVE NEW WORLD: Interlopers make their way into the Lakeside area, and are free to explore the more of the Northern Territories: a place of both industry and leisure.

PROMPT THREE — THE ECHO: On Aurora nights, the aftermath of the Darkwalker's attack on the Interlopers continues to ripple through the community — with a painful affliction.

EXIT STRATEGY

WHEN: Mid-month.
WHERE: Milton Mines.
CONTENT WARNINGS: claustrophobic situations; potential injury/maiming; potential electrocution/electrocution injuries; potential burn injuries; hyperthermic situations; exploration horror;

Unusually, Methuselah returns to the town around the middle of the month. He is looking pleased and will ask that the Interlopers gather in the Community Hall. Once gathered, he climbs onto the small stage at one end of the Hall and explains that following last month’s Feast, he set out to try to find a way out of Milton, and he believes he may have found a way out.

He goes on to explain that although the Milton Mine has been closed for many years, there may still be access through the mine. The mine had two entrances through either sides of the stone, one on the Milton side since many of the residents worked the mine back in the day, but there was also an additional entrance on the opposite side, which led to a railway track that allowed easier export of coal and precious materials towards the coast. Having gained access, he believes the mine seems to mostly remain intact, but not easy to get through. However, he discovered that during the Aurora, the old mine and its electronics came to life — meaning a way through is certainly possible during those times with the added electronics in play.

It is not much, and it is certainly incredibly dangerous, but it is something. There is certainly no way out towards the south; towards the north might be the Interlopers’ best chance of finding a way out of Milton.

Methuselah will ask for any volunteers to join him in trying to find a way out via the mines, taking them up north and then waiting for an Aurora to happen before they can then make their way through and explore the mine system. Anyone is free to sign up, and he suggests someone drawing up a sign up sheet so that Interlopers have an idea of who is leaving the town on the journey.

The hike towards the mines is a long one, taking a few hours on an incline to reach the northern mountains. Waiting on the Aurora may take time, so setting up camp is the next step — waiting for night and hoping the skies fill with night soon. Interlopers are free to explore the mine beforehand, but will find a lot of it locked up tight. With areas unreachable without power and the darkness suffocating, they won’t get very far.

When the Aurora does finally come, the mine will come to life: the system’s lighting will come on throughout, albeit flickering and a little unreliable. Machinery and track systems whir and groan as the mine slowly cranks itself into functioning once more. While there are maps of the system to help Interlopers navigate the system — showing a second entrance labelled as ‘Lakeside Entrance’ — the true difficulty in getting through lies in wait.

Interlopers will find that parts of the system have been partially flooded: with the frigid water in places mostly ankle deep and others reaching no higher than knee-high on an average-height man. What’s worse, is the half-destroyed electrics ravaged by both time and the Aurora mean plenty of loose wires hanging here and there. It’s possible to accidentally catch yourself on them, meaning burn injuries and mild electric shocks — but care should be taken in checking if these wires may have fallen into these flooded parts. Stepping into these live waters will be far more deadly. They will also find that the electronically-powered gates that open through into areas may not function, with the fuses having been blown.

Gaining access through the mine is not impossible, however. It will simply require a little bit of legwork. One of the larger caverns of the mines houses a fuse board. Characters can switch off sections of the mines in order to traverse them safely, find new fuses in toolboxes scattered through the mines in order to open the gates and make their way through to gain access to the elevator of the mine — which will also require new fuses, in order to power the electrics to get it to function.

It is perhaps, most frustrating, that once Interlopers get the elevator working and head downwards into the final section of the mine, that they will come across hand-cranks — allowing them to use the elevator without the need for electricity. But at least the hard part is over, and the Interlopers now have a way through from Milton that doesn’t require relying on the Aurora to power the mine’s electrics.

On the lower section of the mine, there will be a handful of more gated rooms to get through before reaching the Lakeside Entrance, and more wires and flooded areas to traverse. But you can taste it: something on the air. You’re close.

You’ve made it, Interloper.

BRAVE NEW WORLD

WHEN: Mid-month, onwards.
WHERE: Milton Mines (Lakeside Entrance); The Ravine; Lakeside area.
CONTENT WARNINGS: themes of exploration/survival; themes of peril; acrophobia; potential character/npc death from falls; potential injuries, potential cold injuries/hyperthermia risk;

Coming out of the mines, you will be greeted by a small mining camp and railway track enclosed by mountains on both sides. It’s incredibly sheltered here, with little wind chill and not as much snow on the ground compared to some of the more open areas of Milton. It may be best to rest here for the rest of the night. There are several portacabins that were used to house some of the former miners, along with additional cabins with one being some kind of foreman’s office, one that served as a kind of mess hall and one for bathing/toilet needs.

While there is little in terms of supplies left in there, some scraps may be found here and there — plus the cabins will provide decent shelter from the cold, which may be the last Interlopers will get ahead of the long walk down through the mountain track and into Lakeside. There is also plenty of coal left lying around, too — allowing for Interlopers to craft fires to keep warm. Even with it being sheltered, it’s still cold out.

In terms of where to go from here, the only way seems to be to follow the track. It’s a long walk, but rather straightforward if you keep to the tracks. A good few hours of it, but it’s quiet — and there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of wildlife or windchill here. It almost seems too easy, or as easy as it could be in regards to a long walk through thick snow.

Until you come face to face with the ravine.

The world opens up to you, with the tracks stretching over a huge valley via a… mostly sturdy-looking wooden and steel bridge. There doesn’t seem to be any way around it, no alternative route of getting over to the other side. Crossing the bridge is the only option. Care should be taken, with Interlopers now being vulnerable to the wind and the snow-laden tracks. As sturdy as the bridge looks, it seems to creak and groan under the weight of a single footstep. There even appears to be the remains of fall train-carts in the depths, from some unfortunate incident years ago. It’s probably fine.

Crossing the bridge and continuing down the tracks will eventually have the world opening up even more — you’ve finally reached Lakeside. Thick boreal forests crowd around the tracks, and in places, Interlopers will note that the tracks have buckled and become badly damaged. When they find roads, they will also find them in similar states of disrepair from beneath the snow. Following them for another hour or so will eventually lead to Lakeside’s Maintenance Yard. From here, there is a road, with directions: signs pointing towards Milton, the Coast, Lakeside Resort and the Carter Hydrodam.

For those interested in searching the Maintenance Yard, they will be greeted by a large, fenced in building. Fortunately, a great deal of the fencing has been damaged with the bad weather and it is easy enough to gain access. The place is a bit of a mess: scrap metal, wood, and dissued trucks and cars litter the yard, along with wood that can be used for kindling and firewood. Inside the Maintenance Yard, it is a little bit of a mechanic’s dream. There’s plenty of tools in this place, and even a forge which could be used for crafting if someone has the patience to fire it up and keep it hot for long enough. There’s plenty of stores of coal, at least. But in terms of a living space, there’s not much else other than a small break room with some comfy chairs to catch some quick shut-eye. Searching the Yard for any letters or such will reveal a similar theme to that of Milton: difficulty in reaching the Mainland with postage and correspondences, the lack of staffing, and the problems with wildlife. There are also complaints and concerns over growing dangers of small quakes causing damage to the roads and rail system.

Following the road towards the Lakeside Resort is a mostly quiet and pleasant enough trek, as long as one keeps close to or on the road there as much as possible. The Resort is largely secluded, even if it is around the actual lake itself, and it’s easy to see just why this place would have been a popular vacation place.

The resort is a collection of a dozen luxury cabins dotted around the edge of the lake, each of them with a decent amount of space between them for privacy. The cabins themselves are sturdy and well built, but look far more modern and almost designer in terms of style - with huge almost floor to ceiling windows and spacious porches for that perfect lakeside view, and open plan rooms and balconies. Each of the cabins contain multiple bedrooms, suitable for vacationing families and mix both modern technology and more rustic means of heating homes — making them ideal for all weathers.

A couple of the cabins are not completed, appearing to be a kind of expansion of the resort that was not finished. Build materials still remain here. Some of the cabins on the furthest side appear to have become victims of vandalism, having been broken into and completely trashed with windows smashed, furniture missing and broken, and any goods completely ransacked from the place. There are perhaps five cabins out of the twelve that remain fully intact and may contain useful items such as food, basic medical supplies and tools, and will certainly be excellent shelters for those looking for somewhere to stay.

There is also a Camp Office, situated at the east side of the lake. Used as a kind of main office of maintenance for the cabins, along with an office or tourist centre of sorts. It has a decent stock of hiking and outdoor essentials. The Camp Office does also have a small living space upstairs — presumably used by Lake staff or rangers, with a wood stove and kitchenette, along with a bathroom and several bunk-beds. It appears that the Camp Office wasn't abandoned until a short while ago — no more than a couple of months.

Following the road to the Hydrodam is a trickier one than the one to the Resort. There is a higher volume of predator wildlife here, with wolf howls closer and more frequent. With the current state of wildlife’s behaviours, it is likely to face attacks from wolves on the way there. The Carter Hydrodam has clearly seen better days. It seems to have fallen into disrepair and may have only been run by a small skeleton crew. While the Hydrodam is gated and locked up tight, it’s possible to break in through the gate and gain access.

While the lower dam is currently out of bounds, Interlopers will be able to get into the upper levels of the main building of the Hydrodam, which consists mostly of offices, maintenance rooms, a medical bay, and rooms banked with control panels, plus staff areas. The med bay is relatively well stocked, but might need a little forced entry with certain medical lockers and cabinets. Tools and other useful items can also be found here, along with bunk rooms, a small canteen and bathrooms/showers. It might be possible with some work to get access to hot water here — the showering systems run on a back-up furnace system, and while some of the pipes are broken, it might be possible to fix them to get the hot water system up and running again.

Following the road to the Coast will find a dead end. The bridge that heads over towards that direction has been damaged beyond repair, and there looks to be no way of getting around it. Perhaps, much like with getting out of Milton, there may be an alternate way of getting further south, but time will tell.

But for now, here is an entirely new region, ripe for the picking. While it appears some places have already seen minor scavenging (with the exception to the vandalism and looting of some of the resort cabins), Lakeside is largely untouched. It is full of game to hunt, an expansive lake to take up ice-fishing in, and indoor locations to search through for supplies. Some Interlopers may decide to stay here permanently now that it’s easier to travel between Lakeside and Milton.

THE ECHO

WHEN: Aurora Nights, the month of March.
WHERE: Everywhere
CONTENT WARNINGS: supernatural/otherworldly afflictions; themes of grief; themes of loss

There are roughly no more than ten Aurora nights during the month of March, and everything occurs as usual: the insanely bright colours swirling in the skies before you, the crackles and pops of static in the air providing percussion to the strange, ethereal chorus of almost-electrical sounds. The electrics of the world around coming alive with its usual sputtering and falters. There is much mystery to these strange, almost supernatural phenomena — but they almost feel like a kind of staple in the Northern Territories.

But on these nights something different happens.

If you listen closely, the sound of weeping can be heard on the air. Those with the Aurora Call Feat will be particularly drawn to the sound, and will hear it more clearly compared to their fellow Interlopers. It is the sound of a woman, and those paying attention might be able to recognise the voice it belongs to: it is the same woman heard over the static of radios and televisions in December and early January. The same woman that spoke to Interlopers, telling them to sleep, with the promise of help — thus granting some of them powers. It is the same voice that screamed out the night La’an Noonien-Singh died, and the night of those recently killed in the church.

She is… grief-stricken. Her weeping is a raw and anguished thing, and the more you listen, the more it seems to grip at you. You feel her pain, maybe it echoes within your own. Those you have lost, those you have failed or hurt — a reverb that grows stronger as the night continues. It is an all-consuming pain, its depths endless. It brings tears to your eyes.

You carry this pain, as she does.

You feel it in your very bones, in your flesh and sinew. It’s an exhaustive pain, and as the night progresses, you find yourself incredibly weary. In a strange state of fatigue that won’t even allow you to sleep.

You may find yourself going in search of comfort amongst friends, or loved ones. To hold a hand, to embrace them — to not be alone in this pain you feel.

But it is a pain that is too great.

On these nights, you will find yourselves alone, without the comfort you would otherwise lean on. You will not be soothed by that comfort of others. For as long as the Aurora lasts, reaching out and touching others will bring real physical pain to you. It will hurt to touch others, and physical contact will produce a sharp biting pain, even for those who may not feel pain otherwise. Too much. It’s… too much.

Some of you were told once, in a dream: “Don’t you understand it now? We are all connected. The Aurora connects us.”

Once the lights in the sky fade, that pain will finally ease and the woman’s sobs will go quiet — but it will return once more, when the next Aurora comes.

FAQs

EXIT STRATEGY

1. It is entirely possible for NPC Interlopers to die in the mines due to electrocution, and players are free to use NPCs — we ask that players give mods a heads up so that the masterlist can be updated accordingly.

BRAVE NEW WORLD

1. The lower dam is currently completely physically impossible to access. The door that leads there is jammed shut. Characters will notice half-frozen water leaking on the floor around the door.

2. It is possible to find bodies in Lakeside, however there is a... suspiciously low amount of them, and the rare ones found by characters will have been there for some time. They will have appeared to have died of exposure.

3. Wolves can be found in Lakeside, and their tracks are incredibly common. Interactions with wolves can happen in the exploration of this region, and they will behave much like they did during the September event and be incredibly hostile to players.

4. Bears are also common in Lakeside, and their tracks can also be found. They technically should be still hibernating, and much like wolves — they will be aggressive towards Interlopers. Keep your distance!

5. Lakeside unlocking comes with a Companion Event of an Interation with a new NPC!

THE ECHO

1. Essentially: physical touch with others will bring Interlopers physical pain. Sorry about that.

2. It is possible for Interlopers with Aurora Call to attempt to reach out to the woman. Those interested can inquire into what that interaction may be like! They can find out what that entails here.

PLOTTING POST

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

“Train car then.”

He couldn’t care less if it’s a cart or a Rolls Royce. He’s impatient for this to be over and for the chance to sit in front of a warm fire. He also doesn’t even want to start. He looks slightly queasy.

“You, uh, ever climb mountains before?”

Just asking for a friend.

“Oh, of course,” Randvi says, as if that's a normal topic for casual conversation. “All the time when I was young. Not usually in wind like this, but it should not be too difficult if we take it slowly.”

“I am in your hands then,” he says queasily. “Or rather, your rope.” Vulnerable, utterly useless… He hates this.

“Ask me for advice if you ever need to row across a bayou.” The trick answer is don’t, if there is a chance of gators. Best to get a bigger boat. Louis feels like abandoning this endeavor in a similar fashion, but Randvi seems so confident.

That does raise a question best asked now, in advance.

“Do I have permission to touch you if the alternative is a fall?”

Yes, it will hurt, but that's better than dying.

"Do whatever you wish if it will save my life," he says, spreading his hands in gesture. "Best check now if that pain is still there."

He doesn’t know what caused it exactly, only that it coincided with the sound of a wailing woman.

Randvi looks a bit reluctant - the pain when Kirk had rescued her from the live wires had been shocking - but extends her hand.

“All right.”

Louis throws a dubious look up at the fading Aurora. He can't hear the weeping woman, so maybe there will be a reprieve...

"All clear. We're in luck, ma'am. Just tell me what to do."

His shoulders relax the tension he didn't know he was holding.

Randvi nods, immediately relaxing. It's a bit surprising how much she’d been dreading feeling that pain again.

“My balance has always been good. You can hang on to me. Take steps when I do.”

He lightly slips his hand in the crook of her elbow like she's leading an elderly man around. Sacrificing a bit of dignity is better than dying.

"Is it good to plant my feet for the wind? Or should I remain loose?"

If he talks, he'll feel less like the wide open air is pressing in on him. He doesn't like the way his boots crunch the snow, afraid it will make him slip, and he doesn't like the way he shivers in the cold, afraid a rogue spasm will tip him over.

“It’s probably best to remain loose.” If the wind strikes at an odd angle it might fill him like a sail if he's holding himself rigid. “I'm strong enough to hold us.”

As he well knows, if he remembers her helping him with his window.

"I'm a full grown man, thank you, not a dainty Southern belle."

But he does as instructed. At some point he has to lift his eyes to the horizon ahead rather than directly at his feet. He breathes more deeply, though elevation didn't seem to be an issue.

"I didn't think I could get queasy anymore unless I ate somethin' funny. I hate this. Feel like I'm fallin' already."

“Of course you're not a bell.” What does that even mean. “You're doing well, though. Nearly there.”

There must not be much to climb in Louis’s southern city.

"Thank the Lord." New Orleans is very much at sea level. The most climbing Louis did was up and down stairs or trekking around some mud in the bayou.

"Doing well, next you'll tell me my ABC's are in order. Thank you, Miss Randvi, this is a class I never want to take again... Beggin' your pardon, but when did you have time to learn climbin' and such between all your schoolin' and rulin' tasks?"

There is in Louis's mind an image of nobility that only includes sitting in fancy chairs or poring over maps... perhaps on occasion riding into battle swinging an axe, but never climbing.

Unless he wants to stay in Lakeside forever Louis will need to do this again eventually. Randvi decides against mentioning that for now. As silly as this is she does kind of admire him - doing something that frightens you this badly has a type of courage in it.

“I used to roam the mountains behind my village often as a girl. It's been a while since I've had the chance to do this.”

Louis is definitely not thinking ahead to the second time he may have to do this. It would overwhelm him. One step at a time.

Louis is not a man overly afraid of the myriad ways the world could hurt him. He's already been hurt. He knows pain and sorrow. This is different. He cannot place where exactly this fear comes from, nor even worry that it might come from an abyss he pushed down. It bubbles up like a human retching, and perhaps a human might in this circumstance, but Louis's physiology is different. Even the fear feels different to a vampire, like a picture just slightly crooked in its frame.

"I didn't think kids from way back when had a lot of time to be... just kids."

Randvi only lets it slide that Louis is calling her old again because she knows that thinking about this conversation is getting him across the bridge.

"Many didn't. I'm the youngest daughter of the Jarl of the Reindeer Clan, and my father indulged my whims far more than he should have. Until the war I hardly had any responsibilities at all."

That is exactly it. If he keeps talking, he won't have to look down. He laughs nervously, a sound quickly carried off by the whistling wind. He's genuinely amused, and also genuinely rattled.

"The younger ones have to be spoiled a little, it's just the way of things. I'm the eldest and I say so." Flawless logic.

His brother is dead. His sister called Louis dead to her. Louis has a tombstone in the cemetery back in New Orleans. Claudia is the only one left he can call sister, the new title she chose for herself when his blood sister left him.

"No tellin' how much longer we'll have them around, may as well spoil them while we got them."

Maybe he was distracted, or maybe it was inevitable, but his foot catches on some brittle wood which snaps, and he wobbles dangerously. Vampires don't stumble easily, but his reaction times aren't what they used to be. He grimaces like an angry cat, lips pulling back from--well, he's still not riled enough to show fang.

“Yes, I believe my sister Thora felt the same.” Neither of them had died, but they'll never see one another again.

Before she can get too wistful, Randvi feels the snap too and plants her feet, a strong anchor for Louis.

“Hold onto me! Is your foot stuck?” If he’d gone through too far they're going to have a bad time.

He hangs onto her for dear life. If his pointed nails poke holes in her clothes, he doesn't care.

"Don't let me go!" he cries reflexively, which makes no sense. She's not holding him over the air or anything. He gasps and tries to forget the sensation of his stomach dropping into his shoes.

"It's..." His foot? What? He looks down at his boot crunched into old wood. "It's... a little. There's a nasty bit of wood I don't want to tango with."

What does he do? He takes far to long in his book to figure out the simple motion that could free him. "Can you help me to the left? Uh, my left. One... two..."

"I won't let you fall." Louis's frantic terror makes her anxious, but Randvi speaks calmly. She'll ask him what tango is in a moment.

He does seem to recover quickly enough. "Yes, a moment." She moves as indicated, bracing to support him. If he loses his balance in this wind, he'll need her help.

Her voice steadies him. Maybe this is what panicking servicemen feel like when their buddy gives them moral support in the trenches. Louis wouldn't know; he never signed up, and the army preferred not to put guns in the hands of Black men anyway.

Louis pulls free relatively easily. His usual grace counts for something. He feels almost stupid, losing his cool like that. He clings to Randvi like a barnacle. He can check for any cuts on his leg when he's safely across.

"Let's just--let's just keep goin', I can't do this much longer." The only thing that frightens him more is the prospect of giving up and trying to go backwards.

Randvi can feel Louis's fingers digging almost claw-like into her arm. That scare certainly won't have helped him in his efforts.

"Yes. Just a few more steps, look." It's likely that the boards near the end of the bridge are a bit weaker, which is why Louis had sunk in now.

His leg hurts, but not too much. With a groan more of exhaustion of spirit than body, he raises his head to look ahead. He wouldn't try running when they were far from the end, but this close...

"Fuck this shit," he hisses with a new fire.

He fastens himself more securely to Randvi's side like he's about to take her on some rendition of one of Lestat's Old World dances. Instead, his feet move quick as the wind, and there he is on the other side as easy as breathing. Louis has a very good handle on Free Runner since he used to be able to move at such speeds as vampires do back home. (His nerves are still buzzing.)

Louis must have been even more frightened than Randvi had imagined, to go from being reluctant to even touch her arm to tossing her about so easily like a bandit.

By the time she even manages to yell, "Louis!" they are already on the other side of the bridge. Randvi staggers. This is the power that she hadn't known existed, so it's doubly shocking.

"Louis, are you all right?"

For a moment, he is the vampire and she the human as inconsequential as a sack of potatoes, the gulf between them immense. Then he is frail again. He lets her go and stumbles to his knees, heart hammering as if to break free of his ribs. He couldn't stand even if he wanted to. Half of him thinks he will simply faint--but he's too angry.

"To hell with all right!!" he bursts out. Something kept coiled in him unfurls to slash at the hands of the world that wound it. "I'm not all right! I never have been! I used to hate small spaces, but when he invited me in, I didn't give a damn! I used to love standin' on a high balcony, and now the air makes me sick if I lean too far! I'm afraid of the damn sky! What the hell!!"

He scoops up a chunk of snow disturbed by their footfalls and hurls it in the vague direction of the bridge with none of the grace his power just afforded him. It just barely sails over the edge.

"This is the finest heap of shit!" he hollers at the chasm. "I shouldn't be so afraid! Why am I afraid?!"

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cw: emeto mention

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