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

[bigbaddy]

Of course Bigby isn't surprised to see Louis making that face. He's pretty sure Louis is always making that face when he's around - and probably even more so when he likely already anticipates what Bigby is here to asking him about.

.. asking him about it might be feeding a little into the whole cop impression Louis seems to have gotten from him, but-- on the other hand, it's in Bigby's nature to look into stuff like this. It'd feel weirder to him if he would just ignore it.

"Alright, calm it," he says. Not that Louis has even said anything yet, but Bigby isn't blind! He saw that face! "I'm not here to drag you off to some town meeting or whatever for what happened."

Bigby is tired of that too, Louis! You have no idea how tired he is!

"I just wanted to ask about what went down. You don't seem like a guy who'd punch someone without reason, let alone someone you don't even know." Which means something must have happened. And considering it concerns that Forest Talker rather than some interpersonal conflict in town, Bigby feels like it's important to know.

[flambeaux]

If Louis makes that face enough, it will permanently stick, except it won't because he's a vampire whose body is perpetually returning to the way it was when he died.

"No fair trial, just questionin' in the street... Glad to see Milton's finest does things by the book," he says acerbically. He'd throw away his cigarette for emphasis, but cigarettes are precious. He takes a drag instead.

"Public speakin' was never my thing anyway." He did fine as Wynonna's witness, but that's not what he means. "Never met the man before. He gave me a scare, said somethin' meant to cut me... I ain't sayin' I punched him," he adds.

He should not say anything at all, but he does wonder what Bigby might spin about him. And, if it came down to an interrogation, he's sure March is a squealer anyway. There is also a thread of curiosity in Louis about Bigby's surprisingly honorable streak.

[bigbaddy]

Bigby is definitely rolling his eyes a little at the first part Louis says. It's not even that offensive as much as Bigby just thinks Louis is being dramatic as hell over literally nothing. What does he even think Bigby is capable of doing in a place like this?

But at least Louis is providing some information, so it makes standing here through the dramatics a little more worth it. Only a little bit though. It makes sense that Louis punched in a scenario like that, at least, though Bigby wonders what the guy possibly could have said to annoy the other to that extent. It's not like the Forest Talker even knows them. How could he possibly get under Louis' skin so easily? Was he just being dramatic back there too?

"You have never punched me in the face," Bigby points out. The implication being, of course, despite Louis' obvious dislike of him. He's been annoyed with Bigby plenty of times, but it never got physical. "I doubt that's because you think you couldn't take me."

So there must have been something else about the encounter back there. Something that made Louis more than just annoyed.

The only question is what that could be, and Bigby doubts Louis is going to surrender that information so easily.

"So why with him? Is there something up with that guy? That's what I want to know." You're not the real object of the interrogation here, Louis! "I'm trying to deal with this situation."

[flambeaux]

"You only truly unsettled me once. It was when you revealed your nature. And it wasn't enough to incite violence. This fella... he knew somethin' he shouldn't've known. Somethin' I never breathed a word about here."

Despite being steeped in blood, there is a difference between Louis threatening violence and actually carrying it out. He tells himself he's a gentleman, that he has restraint, that he's not prone to dramatics. Lestat might say Louis represses his nature.

Safe to say Louis has certain hot buttons.

"...Situation? What do you mean exactly?"

[bigbaddy]

"That someone in this town thought it was apparently a good idea to kidnap someone from that fucking group here," Bigby explains.

.. you know, as far as you can call that an explanation in the first place. It's not exactly the most polite, but that has nothing to do with the fact that he's talking to Louis at all. It has so much more to do with just how much said situation has gotten Bigby on edge.

"Who can, on top of that, also-- I don't know, read our minds? I don't know how the hell he else would know shit like that about you."

[flambeaux]

Louis is interested in the divisive nature of the issue of kidnapping a Forest Talker. He thinks there are some cops who would go for it, but clearly brings Bigby nothing but frustration.

Here is where Louis faces a dilemma. He can't remember if Bigby is aware of Lestat or of his and Lestat's connection. It's not like Louis and Lestat never met in public, but they kept their interactions chaste.

"I... had the thought that he might have met someone from my home, somehow. But divulging that... It doesn't seem like the move. If someone wanted to get a rise out of me, there are lower fruits."

He lets his gaze rest on Bigby. Bigby should know.

"Mr. March has a theory the guy was tapped into the aurora, but there's no proof."

[bigbaddy]

Thankfully for Louis, Bigby doesn't seem to be all that interested in whoever else from his world may be here - even if Louis technically admitted to as much in this moment. But it doesn't feel all that relevant to the case at hand, so the man doesn't dig into it in the slightest. Instead it just looks like he's still thinking about this situation as a whole. Especially with how heavily it's been on Bigby's mind, heavily enough to go talk to Louis in the first place when he is probably the last person Louis would want to see.

"It's possible that he got an ability from it, just like us."

That seems like the most likely option to Bigby, if he had to pick any at all. If the Aurora grants them abilities, then why not the other people in this place as well? Bigby doesn't think they're any special.

"Seems like a weird ability though, compared to the ones we got. I doubt what he knew about you was something that was at the top of your mind enough that he just read your thoughts. And seeing random facts about a person's past just by looking at them seems like a shit-ass ability."

Pardon his language, Louis. Bigby seems rather worked up about all of this. The man seems like he's only a moment away from pacing back and forth with restless energy.

[flambeaux]

"Our mind gift from the aurora only works one way, like sendin' a telegram. And I wasn't thinkin' of the thing at the time. He just... pulled it out of the blue. We're Interlopers and we hear some voice tellin' us we get powers, but do the people actually from here get them too? I haven't seen any such thing... until now."

He crosses his arms and frowns at nothing in particular, a sure sign he's uncomfortable. He's supposed to be the apex vampire here, not some random fella who likes to throw trauma at people for no good reason!

"Does no good to speculate when I don't know shit. Anythin' else you wanna ask me, Big Bad Wolf?"

[bigbaddy]

He gives Louis a momentary Look, but then--

"No."

Look, Bigby isn't an idiot. He gets that Louis doesn't want to be talking to him any longer than is absolutely necessary, and it's not like the sentiment isn't mostly returned all the same. So he shakes his head, and he doesn't thank Louis for the information, but..

At least he's walking away after it. The best gift he can probably give Louis is just not being near him, so he's leaving. It doesn't seem like Louis has got any more information than this anyway, so Bigby is going to have to work with it.

louis's part time gig as an npc

[flambeaux]

He does nothing but slightly raise his eyebrows. Yeah, he said what he said.

He can feel his shoulders relax just a little under his coat. The tension doesn't completely go away; his mind is still partly on what the prisoner said to him. One word: his brother's name, and a smile to raise the hairs on the back of his neck.

He imagines Bigby going home and sitting down with whatever is his beverage of choice and trying to work this out, maybe in a notebook or on a wall. A wall of crazy, scraps of paper pinned to it, scribbles or yarn wound between them. He wonders if that's Bigby's whole life, passing through the lives of others trying to piece something together from a few offhand sentences.

It must be lonely.

"You solve your mystery, I got a bottle of top shelf with your name on it. Or what passes for top shelf around here."

we should've known it the moment he became the store owner.. he's an npc now...

[bigbaddy]

The man stops walking for a moment. He huffs.

Honestly, Bigby wouldn't mind having that bottle. But--

"I would've tried to get to the bottom of this anyway," he says. Not that he's turning down the offer, it's more just that he doesn't want his intentions to be misunderstood here, even if he thinks Louis the least likely person in town to ever fully understand his intentions. "But don't get your hopes up too much. I don't work miracles."

And this place is sometimes too damn confusing for even a Fable to wrap their head around, Bigby's found.