there'll be oats in the water

[singmod]

JULY 2024 EVENT

PROMPT ONE — THE AURORA: REDUX: A storm finally arrives, and with it — Enola extends her hand to help the Interlopers once more, granting them new abilities.

PROMPT TWO — PENSIVE LOOKOUT: With the Forest Talker efforts focused on sabotaging hunting efforts, Interlopers can attempt to explore the Pensive Lookout Tower, where they can uncover secrets from the diary of Sam Bouchard — the former firewatch worker of the summer of 2014.

PROMPT THREE — A PEEK INSIDE: A group of Interlopers get their hands on one of the Forest Talkers in search of answers — and get a little more than they bargained for.

THE AURORA: REDUX

WHEN: Mid-month, for three days.
WHERE: Everywhere.
CONTENT WARNINGS: supernatural/extreme weather; lightning storms; potentially disturbing dreams; dreams of being trapped in ice; dreams of animal death; dreams of the death of loved ones.


July brings warmer weather. The fog has lifted, and the daylight returned — but an odd kind of pressure lingers in the air, the kind that feels similar with oncoming storms but something still feels off about it all. Measurements and readings are erratic, with them often making little sense. It’s hard to predict just what might be coming, but sure enough something is coming.

Hold on a little longer, Enola told you. A storm is coming.

It comes quickly, the gathering of storm clouds. At first, it looks as if a kind of snowstorm is moving in, but there’s something else at play here. Within the grey, cloudy skies, there is a tell-tale sound of an Aurora mixed within those clouds.

And with it, in amongst the dark, the swirling colours. Greens, pinks and purples weaving through the clouds, almost mesmerising to watch. The air is alive with sound: static noise, cracks and pops: a storm and the Aurora mixed into one. For those who’ve been here long enough, it’s a worrying, unnerving sight. The storm rumbles with the low roar of distant thunder, growing ever closer. The electronics of the world begin to come alive, and in the static of it all — you begin to hear Enola’s voice even clearer than before.

After so much darkness, now there is so much light. A lightning storm — aurora colours mingling with the grey clouds, punctured with crackles of lightning. Something powerful and strange — flash forking across the skies, followed by booms of thunder.

The storm lasts three days, and even though her voice is soft — you hear it over all the noise, nestled gently in your ear.

“You're still here. It means something. This isn’t the end, I refuse to let it be the end. It can’t win. You won’t go into the Dark.” Enola tells you. ”I will make you more than what you are, more than what was stolen from you. This place will not be your end. I have to try. We have to try. Together. I showed some of you, once. I’ll show you again.”

She tells you to sleep. For some, they recognise this and realise what may end up happening. For others it feels like going out on a limb. But you sleep, and perhaps a dream may come to you.

COLD FUSION: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape. You dream of a great hall of ice: as if it had been carved into some great ridge of it. You walk through it, marvelling at the beauty of it — a blue gloom, echoing with each of your footsteps. But as you take one particular step, the ground cracks and collapses beneath you, sending you into dark, frozen waters. In seconds, the water freezes around you, encompassing you in thick ice, your entire body trapped within it. The coldness burns you, and you are stuck there — frozen in agony. The pain is immeasurable, your entire body crushed and searing from the ice. There is no escape, no reprieve.

A voice speaks to you, perhaps it is the voice of a stranger, perhaps it is the voice of someone you know: Do you know how you survive the cold?’ They ask you. You do not know, and you wait for the answer: ‘You become colder than it.

Your eyes close. You believe those words, you do. You must become colder than the cold itself. And so you will. Your breathing slows, your heart slows and the cold… it stops hurting, it doesn’t burn. The ice around you begins the crack.

When you awaken the first thing you realise is despite the temperature, you are completely cosy and warmed. You do not feel the slightest chill. It is perhaps only once you are around other than you truly notice the difference to you — you are cold to the touch, lacking the heat you once had. An understanding comes: you are at one with the cold, it will not beat you, it will not cause you agony. Winter is at peace within you: perfect Cold Fusion.

MOON TOUCHED: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape. You dream of running through the silent woods at night. The moon is full above you, the air is calm and still. Hunger draws you forward, everything is so sharp and vivid in your senses, even in this dreamscape. You hear the crispness of the snow beneath your feet, smell the scent of the pines on the air, feel how warm you are against the coldness around you.

The snuffling of a rabbit catches your attention, and you swiftly leap after it, jaws opening and closing around its neck as you capture it. You bite down hard, feeling the crunch of its bones as they break, the sweet coppery taste of blood filling your mouth and nose. You lift your head towards the stars, blood on your tongue. You realise you are not a person at all, but a beast on all fours: a wolf, content and filling your belly with meat.

You wonder, for a brief moment: were you ever a person at all?

You do not know the answer to the question. You do not seem to worry about such a thing but there’s a flash of warning on the air. Something you cannot quite place, but you know that you should not forget it.

When you awaken, you feel… different, somehow. Everything seems a little sharper, as if the world around you had been dull, or behind some pane of frosted glass. With it comes a strange balance of calmness and chaos, tameness and wildness, fear and bravery. You find yourself looking for the moon in the skies and when you finally find it, it hits you — this is what it means to be Moon Touched.

INTERLOPER’S SACRIFICE: The colours of the Aurora dance around you in your dreamscape and then fade into nothing. You dream of kneeling in a darkened, charred wood. You are not alone. In this dreamscape, you dream of a loss, or a time you have never felt more helpless in your life. Perhaps it is when someone you knew died before you, or you stood as someone was sick and injured and you were unable to do a thing. As you kneel, they are there with you: sick or dying or even dead in your arms. You cannot do anything but hold them, and the helplessness is overwhelming.

You look up and a woman in furs stands before you, her expression solemn. Enola herself. There are tears in her eyes, as if she shares the very pain you do: the loss, the grief, the hopelessness, the powerlessness. She approaches you and lowers herself to kneel in front of you and your companion, bracing your shoulders for a long, lingering moment. There are no words, none from neither of you.

Enola shifts slightly, leans forwards. She kisses your forehead, much like when a parent kisses their child: sweet and tender.

And then you feel it, as if you are set alight: an agonising pain that encompasses you whole — so painful you cannot even open your mouth to scream. You feel yourself growing weak, the corners of your vision blurring into black. It feels as if you might die from the pain, and you want for it to stop but it doesn’t.

Enola pulls away and you gasp, slumping in exhaustion, but still alive, somehow. You stare at her, sweating and clamouring for breath, and she offers you a sad smile. Never again. you feel the words inside of you. This time, it will be different. Better.

When you awaken, you can still feel the kiss upon your forehead — enough to make your fingers reach up to touch it, your entire body tingling a little. A small voice in the back of your mind whispers, reminding you as you find yourself looking down at your hands: never again. Never again, you tell yourself and the comprehension comes to you: you have chosen. This is what it means to be: this is your sacrifice. The Interloper’s Sacrifice.

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.

PENSIVE LOOKOUT

WHEN: The month of July.
WHERE: Pensive Lookout Tower, Lakeside.
CONTENT WARNINGS: themes of survival; possible fall injuries/treacherous climbs; themes of terror; themes of diminished sanity; themes of starvation.

The Old Hunting Lodge is located in the southern-most area of Lakeside, and its surrounding area is generally considered no-go territory with the presence of the Forest Talkers. As June turned into July, the Forest Talker’s presence in the wilds of Lakeside has begun to grow again — but their efforts appear to be focused on sabotaging the efforts of Interlopers, Methuselah and Young Bill in hunting fresh game. If anything, it could mean that with attentions drawn away — perhaps the braver sorts of the Interlopers can explore the area a little more fully.

There’s little in terms of buildings of interest in this area. The wilderness is thick and deep here. Perhaps the odd ransacked cabin once belonging to a local may be stumbled across — its contents picked clean, presumably by the Forest Talkers. Many of these buildings will be completely inhabitable due to the damage done — with some cabins being razed to the ground.

However, on higher ground, with a good hike to access it, stands a watch tower.

These lookout towers could mean a number of things: a chance to access supplies that may have otherwise been forgotten about due to the hike to get up there, a better view of the surrounding area, and the possibility of a radio — given the sign of a radio transmitter that can be found blinking a feeble red on Aurora nights.

With the snow on the ground it’s a little more treacherous, but given the circumstances, anything’s worth a shot, right? Those who attempt the hike may fall foul to slips and trips along the steep slow to reach the tower, and should take care in the ascent. Even with the warmth of July, it’s difficult. One might hope this might make the place a decent outpost, if you think about it. Somewhere hard to reach, and with such a vantage point.

Reaching the tower and climbing it to its interior will it largely intact but a mess. Someone has lived here for some time. Interlopers will find no food here, but some useful tools that belonged to the lookout: binoculars, maps, a compass, an alidade. There is even a radio sat upon a desk, and with it — a journal.

The journal, Interlopers will find, belonged to a man named Sam Bouchard — the firewatcher for the season during the previous year, detailing the months of his arrival and ending in November last year. It is unknown what happened to Sam, but his journal will perhaps offer some insight and even some information.

A PEEK INSIDE

WHEN: The month of July.
WHERE: The Gas Station, Milton.
CONTENT WARNINGS: themes of kidnapping; imprisonment; self-starvation; blood/minor injuries; psychological torment, supernatural abilities.

The Forest Talkers have a long history in the Northern Territories, long before Interlopers started arriving in Milton. Champions of nature, they have sought to put an end to the industries and tourism-related expansions in the Lakeside area, first peacefully and then… not-so-peacefully. But with the events known as the ‘The Flare’ last year, Forest Talkers have been… acting peculiarly, disturbingly, aggressively.

There are plenty of questions to be asked. But the Forest Talkers are difficult to communicate with. Previous attempts have ended up in aggression or being ignored entirely. And now, even with the events of the previous month coming to an end — game remains difficult to find, and Forest Talkers are keen on sabotaging any attempts of hunting made by Interlopers, Young Bill or Methuselah. And more importantly: what is the yawning grave?

It starts as mutterings between tired and disgruntled Interlopers. They need answers, and there’s got to be a way in trying to get some. They’re hungry and exhausted and so many of their numbers are now dead. Those mutterings grow, and soon enough a plan is put into place. A small group of Interlopers embark into Lakeside and wait.

Soon enough, it bears fruit. A man is captured, bound and blindfolded — quietly and secretly brought back to Milton to be held up in the unused Gas Station to be questioned. It is not the leader, but surely one of them is better than no one at all. He is injured, but not enough to kill him. It will prove challenging in trying to get answers out of him, but soon enough the Interlopers will get him to talk.

News of the Forest Talker in their midst will inevitably spread, as most things do in small communities. Secrets are hard to guard. It won’t be just those behind the kidnapping who might end up coming across the man being held in the Gas Station.

Anyone who goes to investigate will find the man sat on the floor in quiet contemplation. Attempts of conversation will be met with long, silent stares — holding your gaze for an uncomfortably long time. He will spurn any gestures of kindness: spit on the floor at Interloper’s feet, refuse any food offered — as if the man has chosen to starve himself in protest. He says nothing, at first.

But after some time, he will look into an Interloper’s eyes and utter something. A word. A phrase. It may be a name, or a place. It may be a specific thing an Interloper has read, or been spoken to by someone. Something that holds meaning to the Interloper. It may be the name of a loved one from home, or the last words ever spoken to you by a friend. Something the man shouldn’t know.

Whatever it is that he speaks to you, it is not something that will fill you with hope or fondness to remember — but quite the opposite. A reminder of something painful, of a loss, or some other thing that caused you misery. As if he had reached right inside your mind and plucked some painful part of your past from you and spoken it to the wind.

The Forest Talker smiles, and will say nothing else. The damage has already been done.

FAQs

THE AURORA: REDUX

1. The next three Aurora Feats are unlocked! Please see the following page for more information.

2. Aurora Feats are completely optional.

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

4. This Aurora/storm will last a full three days, darkening the skies almost to night.

PENSIVE LOOKOUT

1. Interlopers who dwell in the lookout for the next Aurora will find the radio works, albeit poorly. They will be able to pick up the same broken morse code message.

2. There are no signs of blood/injury that befell Sam in the lookout. It appears he made good on what he wrote on in his journal and attempted to leave to get to Silverpoint.

A PEEK INSIDE

1. While only a small number was involved in the kidnapping itself, anyone can discover the fact there's a Forest Talker being held in Milton.

2. In terms of appearance, the Forest Talker is very much your typical average white guy. Bearded, weathered by the cold, someone who's lived several years without much in the way of comforts or luxuries.

PLOTTING POST

Comments

Pensive Lookout

[guidemyway]

Ruby liked to think she was pretty good at climbing, but she had to admit she was a lot better at climbing when she was back in her own world. There she had her Semblance and her Scythe worked properly. Now she was relying on sheer ability and while it worked it left her feeling a lot more drained she would be on a normal day.

It leaves her a little out of breath when she finally makes it up to the watch tower and finds Hornet huddled down in the corner.

She approaches with a little wave and takes hold of the journal. "...I don't know. I'm not really all that good at solving mysteries." She said, not really giving herself much credit.

But she fumbles through the journal for a moment and something does end up catching her eyes.

"Huh. Kind of weird about the stars. I just assumed they were just Earth stars, as opposed to where I'm from."

[weavered]

"Stars?" That must be the odd lights in the sky. They weren't lumaflies that's for certain. "That is an odd remark to make. They do say the sky is wrong many times..."

She stands brushing off her shift of dust before she approaches Ruby. "I am curious about the code. Morse code is what I believe the human in the journal describes it as. We have no equivalent where I am from. I would like to know what it says."

Maybe that can help them. This morse code seemed important in a journal filled with this humans eventual madness. It worried her, that someone who befell such may be wandering out in the snow, but the likeliness of him being alive...

She crosses her arms, shifting her weight upon her feet.

"What is at Silverpoint?"

Did they know?

[guidemyway]

"Yeah. It's more than a little weird. I don't know how much it'll help us figure out what's going on here, but a clue is a clue." Ruby gives a little shrug. It seems like there was a lot more misplaced here than just them at the very least.

She flips through the pages and settles on the code again. She had spent a fair bit of time hanging out with military types so the code wasn't exactly unfamiliar to her. At the same time she wasn't what anyone would call an expert on it either.

"Ative bear oak nter mute down" That's about the best she can make out. She blinks and gives a little shrug. "We're probably missing some chunks of the message to make sense of it. ...Or it's a code in a code, and I'm already pretty bad at this.

She leans up against the wall and taps her chin in thought. "First I've heard of it. From the the beginning of the journal it sounds like it might be where the port is on this island. Might be our best bet in finding our way off it."

[weavered]

"Ative bear oak nter mute down...?" She repeats slowly.

What could that mean?

"I am impressed you can decipher it." She means that, truly. "The human states that they got it from the radio... Perhaps if we listen to this radio we may hear more?"

It was worth a shot at any rate. She knew if they were to solve this mystery, they would need to do more than just look with their eyes. She assumed that this Sam Bouchard was dead if he wasn't in Milton, but if he left for Silverpoint...

"Then we should travel to Silverpoint." She says matter-of-factly, "It will likely be dangerous, but perhaps worthwhile." There outcome of a expedition to Silverpoint could be bountiful, or it could be nothing. It was worth the risk.

[guidemyway]

Ruby rubs at the back of her head a little sheepishly.

"I uh- worked with pretty closely with a kingdom's military for awhile. It's uh- just something I picked up while doing that." She had to take the positives of that particular gig where she can, because it hadn't ended up going all that well in the long run.

"Not a bad idea. It's not going to work until the aurora comes around again. Hopefully the forest talkers aren't around when that ends up happening."

She gives considers the next idea, she likes it. But there are problems that go along with that.

"Yeah. That's not a bad idea. We might need to track down a map first. If it's days away we aren't going to be able to just mount an expedition. Especially with how short food is."

[weavered]

"You must tell me more of this some time." She nods. Right now they had a mystery to solve!

She nods again when she mentions that the radio wouldn't work until the next aurora, which means they would be waiting for some time. This was disappointing as she is unsure how predictable the aurora is considering she has only been through one.

"We would need to take time and prepare, of course. Proper measures for a lengthy expedition." Food was definitely a concern, but-- "I think it is worth it, however. Let us look for a map here. There seem to be a few but I am not sure which would be most useful for us."

[guidemyway]

"That's something I can do for sure." There's a tinge of uncertainty in her voice. This didn't end too well for her, but she thought she might be in a little bit of a better spot to actually talk about that.

"I don't disagree with you there. ...We can probably focus on figuring out the radio thing until we're ready for the trip. I have a feeling that might come by a little faster." Prepping an expedition would probably end up being a lot of work.

"Man- It'd be super lucky to find something like that around here." Ruby will go and focus on searching through the top shelves and stuff, since she had a bit more height on Hornet.

[weavered]

"Does the aurora happen often, then?" That might be a boon to them if it was more frequent, but how would they track it? Is that something where they could hold out here in the lookout until the radio starts up again? It'd definitely be a tricky thing if that was the case.

Either way, the idea of an expedition to Silverpoint may be a worthwhile endeavor. Maybe they could get other people involved, though that would add to their food resource that was in slim supply right now.

"If we find something, we should bring it back to town. See if we can't get more people on board." She pauses as she starts to search the lower shelves. "We would want to move quickly... in case the weather turns for the worst."

[guidemyway]

Ruby taps her chin in thought before saying. "A couple times a month I'd say. Sometimes a little more, sometimes less. We've had one month without any at all." Which did make it hard to track or keep track of.

Either way she wasn't opposed to the idea of an expedition they were just going to have to plan it right.

Ruby gives a little nod and starts to scrounge around the shelves too. She wasn't exactly the tallest but she had height on Hornet here, so she picked at the higher spots first.

"Yeah. The weather has actually relaxed a little since the time I got here. But- It would really suck if we got caught in another blizzard.

I'm sure there are more than a couple people around who would be interested in making the trek."

[weavered]

She shakes her head, pulling out maps in her reach as Ruby speaks. So it was difficult to track the aurora, it wasn't a static event, but one that could be random. Unfortunate. She unrolls a few of the maps she found, trying to compare them, but they all seemed to be the same. No additional markers, no distinct paths to Silverpoint, but at least it was consistent with it's details.

"The fog was not ideal." Though the warmer weather was nice, she supposes, even though there is still snow to be found. "We would need to plan swiftly, especially if the weather here is unpredictable as it seems."

She sits back on her legs, glancing over at the maps she has found and at the ones still in her reach. Did this human not think to update them or mark them with interesting things?

"Do you think the effort would be well received? Everything about Silverpoint is unknown. The mystery of what we'd find there would be enticing for some, but dangerous for others."

[guidemyway]

Anything on the higher shelfs doesn't seem to land them with anything overly useful. It seemed more like manuals on how to operate this place when it was fully functional, schedules, and to do lists.

She gave a little bit of a frown. "It wasn't- But what really matters is that we made it through it. And that we can keep working to figure things out here."

The next question catches her off guard for a moment. If only because she knows about the kidnapping that had happened before, and that people were testy after what had happened with the fog.

"I think it'll be better received than some of the other hurdles we've faced at the moment. But it's risky at the same time.

Personally if we have the supplies, the man power to spare, and a solid idea of how to get there. I say we go for it."

[weavered]

Ruby was right. Perhaps this expedition would do well for the community.

"I will find the best way to approach the community. The bulletin board may be a good start, but I would rather bring them together for another meeting."

The first meeting she had been to was fascinating. So many different voices arguing about what to do about the forest talkers. She wondered how she could call a community meeting when not many knew who she was. She has a handful of people she sees regularly, keeping to a small group that she can trust, but this may be a chance to introduce herself to the Interlopers as a whole.

Prove she was useful to the humans in a way.

"Let us hope it is well received."

She says as she picks one of the maps she has found and sets it aside. "These do not have anything of note. Sam may not have been the best to station at this outpost."

At least there was information, a hint of something.

[guidemyway]

Ruby considers the Hornet's words briefly and gives a firm nod.

"I think that's a great idea. I think if people have an issue it'll probably be with splitting our resources and man power. But I think if we make a good plan and case for it, that shouldn't be a problem." It would be easier to consider than a kidnapping at the very least. ...But heck people were determined enough to pull that one off.

She shifts slightly and comes up with nothing on her end.

"Maybe not- But it looks like he was pretty fresh to this job at the same time. ...And I don't think anyone expected things to get quite this bad around here."

[weavered]

"I will find time to put a note up and come up with a plan. It seems we need to know how long it would take to get to Silverpoint and back. I know resources have been scarce lately, so it would be a huge undertaking."

But it would be worth while. What would they find? Where would it lead? Do the people who left still live there? It would certainly give them something to do if anything. Hornet sighs, rolling up one of the maps to take with her, before looking up at Ruby.

"One never does." She speaks from experience. "But at least we have some information - a starting point."

[guidemyway]

"It's true. But there's a chance we'll run into a better situation resource wise, or maybe we'll even end up finding more once we get there. If there's a chance it could work, it might be worth the risk."

Ruby had dealt a little with weighing risks back where she was from. Being protective was good, but ignoring the good they could might also not be in their best interest. It was hard to know what was right.

"Yeah. In general, I would say this was a huge success already."

[weavered]

"I enjoy your optimism." She sounds completely sincere too. "It's refreshing."

She nods in agreement, hugging the map close as she stands. It might look a bit comical, but she has decided it was useful and will fold it to a smaller size once she is back in Milton. She's been relying on her memory to get around, but this map will be useful not just for exploration.

"Yes, we should speak with others about this journal." A pause. "Should we leave it here?"

[guidemyway]

Ruby can't just take a compliment and she feels a bit of an awkward grin play up on her lips.

"Well you know- It's better than sitting around and waiting to fail, you know?" And look- She doesn't think Hornet hugging the map is comical, she thinks it's a little adorable actually. And it's better she hold the map than Ruby, because Ruby has a habit of just losing those along the way.

She considers the journal for a moment and then moves to take it. "I figure it might be better in our hands. I don't know how much the Forest Talkers care about it, but I don't think it's going to make them more or less hostile toward us."

[weavered]

"I do not think there is much to gain from it for the Forest Talkers, but I do not want to underestimate them." She's in agreement about her taking the journal. At least then it would be in someone's hands and cannot make it to the Forest Talkers. Who knows what they might glean from it, if anything. It was useful to some extent, giving them a better picture of their strange world, but how much could they really get from it?

"Let us return to town." She says as she starts to walk over toward their exit. "I think we've learned all we can for now."