it must be that old evil spirit

[singmod]

SEPTEMBER 2024 EVENT

PROMPT ONE — PAINFUL REMINDERS: An Aurora briefly connects the Interlopers to their homeworlds, and with it are able to receive items from home — but these ones will bring no comfort to them.

PROMPT TWO — THE ENEMY WITHIN: Strange and familiar occurrences begin in Milton and Lakeside, growing in frequency and danger for the Interlopers. Who can truly be trusted among their numbers?

PROMPT THREE — BAD BLOOD: The Forest Fighters finally come to Milton, and with it: they bring the yawning grave.

PAINFUL REMINDERS

WHEN: 5th - 9th of September.
WHERE: Everywhere.
CONTENT WARNINGS: potentially upsetting themes; themes of loneliness/isolation.

For many, the sight of the Aurora is now one they have become used to. There have been plenty of them over the year that has passed since the Interlopers first came to the Northern Territories. Often, they have been a sign of great danger, with plenty of unsettling and unnatural things happening when the skies light up. Other times they have been the herald of aid — a link between Interlopers and Enola, gifting them with abilities to help them survive in this world. There is no real knowing what kind of force the Aurora is, truly. And there is a tension that holds amongst the Interlopers as the day turns to night and there is the soft sound that grows louder.

The ethereal, high-pitched chorus of sounds, is difficult to place. Perhaps it sounds like voices, or discordant strings. And with it, the low-drone of electrical buzz — punctuated with the echoing pops and sharp cracks. The sky is alive with sound, and with it comes the swirling streaking of colour against the inky black of night, growing brighter and brighter as time goes on — greens, blues, pinks and purples shifting and dancing across the night. And much like every Aurora before this one, the electricals of the world come to life too. Homes, streetlamps, cars long-stranded in the snow. Man’s world comes alive, buzzing and flickering precariously.

But there are no ghosts like there once was a year ago. No terrible weather, no poisonous fog. If one could call it a ‘normal’ Aurora, that’s what it appears to be. But there is something else in amongst all the light and noise. Snatches of things: whispers of conversations, names called, laughter and tears.

You realise you recognise these voices. They are the voices of home. Perhaps you hear your mother, your siblings or friends. Whoever they are, you can hear them. And although they might not be able to hear you — for one brief night, the Aurora has connected you, bridged the gap between your world and this one. You may sit for a while, simply listening to the voices, relishing in hearing those from back home. If others join you, you will find yourself compelled to speak of them: to share in stories about those from back home — the connections you share with them.

It’s strange, though. These voices do not fill you with comfort or joy. Instead you are left with feelings of sadness, anger, and isolation. The Aurora has connected Interlopers, but now you feel so cut off from home, cut off from friends and loved ones — reminded of everything left behind. Everything you long for. Everything you have lost.

Something strange skips through the sky, a warping of the sound. It’s unsettling. Something feels... wrong, somehow.

It’s not just the voices that will remind you of this. Something else comes through the Aurora after that night. A small token will be brought through. Whatever the item may be, when you go to sleep and next wake, you will find said item. It may be placed on your bedside, on your desk or dining room table.

The item, you will find, will bring you a reminder of pain. Of sadness. Of horror. Perhaps it’s something you haven’t thought of in some time. Maybe it is something that has lingered in the back of your mind. Perhaps it is a part of you, waiting to be uncovered. A sign of something to come. A painful reminder of your past, or an ominous omen of your future.

THE ENEMY WITHIN

WHEN: The month of September.
WHERE: Everywhere.
CONTENT WARNINGS: kidnapping/attempted kidnapping; attempted murder; murder; vandalism; arson; assault; animal mutilation; corpse mutilation/manipulation/desecration; themes of peril/terror; possible character/npc injuries; possible character/npc death.

It starts with strange happenings at night, things left to be found by the next morning. Those within Lakeside many find themselves unsurprised by it, given their location, but the scenes found in Milton are a foreboding sight.

Mutilated bodies of animals: rabbits, ptarmigans, even deer — mangled and strewn about the streets, blood upon the snow. Some may awaken in the middle of the night to the sounds of their windows breaking, with houses on the Outskirts being targeted more than those in the middle of town. There is… a kind of unrest in the world.

It escalates.

Some may leave their home for the day and return in the evening to find the place trashed: items broken, precious foodstuffs thrown about the place and destroyed. Those within the Outskirts are once again particularly vulnerable, as are those within Lakeside. Fires are started in some of the abandoned buildings of Milton. Something, someone is targeting the Interlopers.

It is hard to pin-point who exactly, and it only puts the Interlopers on high alert. Nothing like this has never happened before. This is new, especially in Milton.

As the month progresses, the acts become more serious. Fires may be started in the middle of the night in Interlopers’ homes while they sleep. Some are attacked in the night, others are taken from their beds. Some killed within their very homes. Of the Interlopers that go missing, their mutilated remains may be found days later out in the wilds.

In Milton, soon enough, someone is bold enough to come out from the darkness, out from the gloom of the night. Interlopers may be attacked in broad daylight — by those they may recognise as newer Interlopers of the community, who appeared from the wilds: lost and shivering, with nowhere else to go. Some of them have been within Milton for a few months now.

Those in Lakeside will face something similar: Forest Talkers are making a move, rogue and isolated incidents — done with sabotaging attempts at hunting and taking a more direct approach.

They have no qualms about being captured or killed, only determined to get rid of as many of the Interlopers as they can. They whisper, they scream: “You don’t belong here. You should never have come here. It wants you gone, it wants us all gone. The end is here, it’s too late for any of us. Nature must run its course. The yawning grave has been opened.”

The attack is on two fronts: the first of Forest Talkers in Lakeside amplifying their actions. The second in Milton, enemies within the ranks of the Interlopers, Forest Talkers hiding as Interlopers.

Within Milton, newer Interlopers will likely be met with suspicion as being some of the Forest Fighters as a result of these individual acts of violence. As the numbers of Milton have been infiltrated, and it’s easy to have mistrust amongst those newer to the community. In-fighting is likely, and the entire town is stuck in some terrible, tense state — unsure of who to trust within their own numbers. In the days and weeks that follow, it remains like this. Acts of violence and vandalism — chaos and disorder.

BAD BLOOD

WHEN: The night of 27th - 28th September.
WHERE: Milton.
CONTENT WARNINGS: attempted murder; murder; vandalism; arson; assault; mentions of blood; themes of peril/terror; possible character/npc injuries; possible character death/npc death; actual NPC death.

Towards the end of the month, the moon is full. They call it the Harvest Moon, but colour seeps into it — oranges and reds: a blood moon, partially eclipsed. The night is calm and cloudless, but there’s an uneasy feeling in the night.

The earth groans, the rumble of another quake that’s plagued the Northern Territories since the beginning of August. It is the only warning Interlopers will get — if they may realise it as a warning. To some, when they look back, it’s a omen, a starting pistol.

They do not come through the Mines. Thanks to the efforts of Interlopers to guard the entrances of the Milton Mines, they know better. They come to town from the south, not the north.
The quakes of August and September have opened a new way from Lakeside to Milton. They are led by their Leader: a man dressed in white, a large deer skull upon his head. And while their numbers are small in comparison, they come armed and with the determination to get rid of the Interlopers once and for all. As they come into town, they launch their attack.

More fires will be set, Interlopers will be attacked with abandon. Shot at, stabbed, beaten. It is a mass execution. They will not stop until the Interlopers, or them, are dead.

Well, the majority of them. There are just under a dozen teenagers and younger people amongst their ranks who have shown hesitance toward violence in the past. Perhaps they can be reasoned with. Perhaps there may be a way to convince them to abandon their cause. There is fear in their eyes. Some of them do not want to die. They fear the yawning grave.

What will do you then, Interloper? Are you willing to fight for your life? Are you willing to take another’s to save your own, or a friends? Will you hide, or run? What choice will you make? The Forest Talkers have long since made their own choice. Now you must make yours.

It is another night of chaos on a town already scarred by the events of June. Interlopers will note two familiar faces in the fray: at some point during the night both Methuselah and Young Bill will arrive. While Methuselah will concentrate on aiding the wounded and trying to shelter Interlopers the best he can, Young Bill will help protect Interlopers from the Forest Talkers with his rifle in hand. But fortunately, it is just for one single night. Ammunition runs out, sides are switched, and people are killed. As dawn approaches, Forest Talker numbers dwindle. Either killed, incapacitated or defected. In the early morning light, bodies lie in the snow both Interloper and Forest Talker alike.

Those trying to hunt down the leader will see him slipping inside an empty cabin, heavily wounded. Following after him, they will find him settling himself down to kneel on the floor. The white of his tactical gear stained red with blood as it blooms from his wounds. Slowly, he removes the deer skull from his head to reveal a clean-shaven man in his late twenties with a shock of white-blond hair. His eyes are blue, calm.

He sets the skull down, panting and sweating. He is dying. He is not afraid.

“My name is Mallory, not that it matters now. We are dead, you and I.” he says softly. “We exist in a dying world.”

He is in much pain from his wounds. He moves again to sit cross-legged on the floor. A hand touches the bloodied fabric of his front and he laughs humourlessly.

“You don’t understand, do you? The end must come. That is the order of things. The end must come so the world can be reborn. That is how it’s always worked. When the world is swallowed, it will grow again from the earth.”

It is a story. The story of the Darkwalker. Some believe it to be the end of the world, but Young Bill had once said there is another telling of the tale. A creation myth. The Darkwalker swallows the world and returns to its slumber within the earth. Within it, everything its swallowed grows again and the world returns.

“We fought against man’s actions to ruin this place, not knowing our true purpose. The Devourer has shown me the truth, and I sought to put that into action.” His head tilts to one side. “The yawning grave is opened. Does new life not grow from the decay? It is a cycle. The grave and the cradle.”

He finds it difficult to breathe, but he presses on.

“You fight to live. You come here and you do not see what you are. You are only delaying the inevitable, perverting the true course. Prolonging the suffering. You are the Interlopers, you are not part of nature’s design. The Darkwalker does not want you here. And where it fails, we have tried to succeed.”

There’s another laugh, something catching in his throat. He coughs, blood bubbling from his lips.

“And failed. For now. The First Cursed cannot hold it forever. She, too, delays the inevitable." Even as he is dying, he still have the energy to sneer. He speaks of Enola. "A woman who plays at being a god. What right does she have? All must go into the Long Dark. ... As will I. Return me to the grave.”

Mallory’s head dips, his body sagging. He inhales once more and then stops.

FAQs

PAINFUL REMINDERS


1. Players must sign up for items. See the toplevel on the plotting post.

2. Items will face the same warps/nerfs as everything else that is brought into the game.

3. Items can be no bigger than something your character can reasonably carry.

4. While items do not have to belong to your character, there has to be a good reason why they’d receive such an item — ie. something related to your character.


THE ENEMY WITHIN

1. The Forest Talkers within Milton are a number of NPCs that have been pre-selected from NPCs who arrived in April and August. Not all of them will show their true intentions as the month goes on but will continue to stay hidden.

2. Two NPCs killed in the June Event were also Forest Talkers. … Good… job?

3. The following NPC Interlopers will out themselves as Forest Talkers at this stage: Devon Busswood; Rita Yee; Realm Lovejoy.


BAD BLOOD

1. Following the events of this prompt, Interlopers now have an additional way into Lakeside. It’s still rather dangerous: it’s through a partially collapsed cave system that ends into abandoned bunker on the Lakeside side. The game map will be marked accordingly in due course.

2. Some Interlopers may recognise a familiar face in the Forest Talker ranks: the man who was kidnapped by Interlopers previously in July has returned. Looks like he made good on his promise. He's come back to cause problems.

3. The following NPC Interlopers will out themselves as Forest Talkers during the attack: Jackie Blackmore; Ross Huguet; Jennifer Kitchen; Daniel Kresco.

4. As a reminder of numbers: around fifty Forest Talkers will show up for the attack.

5. There is an OOC vote on the fate of the remaining Forest Talkers, the link is here.

PLOTTING POST

Comments

[notarat]

It's a strange question.

Mostly because it's something he's never really thought of. Sure, he was afraid of his power and what it could do when he first realized he had it, but it's not like he ever thought it would fundamentally change him. His power is strange, but it's just that. A power. Something he can use, something he can try to control.

Billy has never considered the intertwining of power and identity - and even now it feels strange, thinking about it. Being presented with it.

Still, the situation they're in still isn't great, so he doesn't spend too much time thinking on it now either. He just echoes the question right back at the other.

"What do you think you might become?"

Why don't you explain it to him, Edward? Because Billy can't even imagine where your mind must be going right now.

[fidior]

Of all the men from their expedition here, it's Gibson that Little has opened up to the most, directly. It's never been in the form of a nice, calm conversation.... rather, in the throes of some turmoil, where Edward's bared his soul and his truths and his former steward has told his own — with a lot less misery. It's all almost been almost factual, coming from William, as opposed to Edward's emotional.

Even now, the question bleeds no emotion, and Little stares at him, startled by it. Yet like has been the case each time he's spoken to this man so honestly (no longer bound by their old roles, no longer keeping up some polite distance from one another, but everything open wide and raw), Little doesn't run away from the words. Gibson... unapologetically demands him to face certain things, and Little does it. Even if it aches, even if it forces him to confront some of his worse thoughts and fears, he stays with it.

He doesn't deserve to run away from this man, after all, or any of the men. Not even Hickey.

So he stays there, faces that question. His nostrils flare and his heart pounds like some scared, trapped animal. The wind whips his hair, tangling locks of messy waves and stinging his eyes. But he stays standing there.

"A monster," he says quietly. Is that the word for it? He thinks of Bigby Wolf, and how unfair that word seems to use, when the other man can do exactly what he can do now, was that way before he came to this place, and yet isn't something that Edward would ever refer to as monster... He's a good man, even if he isn't actually a man at all, but a beast, a wolf.

But for himself... Edward can't see it that way.

He realises that just like that, he's confessed to Gibson that he's been Touched by the supernatural, too.

(He could also say that he's afraid of becoming a killer, but he's already become one, hasn't he.)

"What if we're.... changed by this, over time? What if it turns us into something else?"

[notarat]

He has a power too. It's obvious. If it wasn't obvious enough from the other's words, it would be obvious just from his posture here alone. If it's something serious enough that Edward even considers it might turn him into a monster, then it has to be an active power too, rather than some of the more passive ones Billy has seen around. And it can't be the same power as him either, since he's pretty sure Edward's fear and nerves would have burned down this entire city by now if it was that.

.. that leaves very few options, doesn't it? And Hickey had said that he was getting closer with the other man, so..

Christ, is it the wolf thing? Of all powers to give, of all people to give it to? And Edward is seriously thinking it might change him into a monster?

Billy breathes in, and it's mostly the scent of fire and ash that's keeping him from getting too exasperated here, sharply reminded of their current circumstances.

"The only thing that can turn you into something else is you yourself," he simply says. It's something Billy believes to be true. None of the people in the mutiny were changed into anything else because of circumstances, after all. They were just doing the sort of things they were inclined to do under those circumstances. Even Hickey stabbing him falls into that category, as far as Billy is concerned.

He breathes in.

"If you don't realize that, Mr. Little, this place will be the death of you."

It doesn't sound ominous. It's not a threat. It's not even said all that harshly on Billy's end - it just sounds like he's stating something he considers a fact.

Maybe it's a warning, more than anything else. If their current chaotic situation is proving anything, it's that Edward can't stay the way he is now. Not when these are the sorts of things they are dealing with. He wouldn't have survived any of the things they went through back home with this sort of mentality - Billy knowing fully well the main thing that saved Edward is his position.

[fidior]

Is it true? Would he want it to be true? It would give him so much more autonomy, after all — so much more control over himself. Not a victim to his circumstances, but a thing shaped however it needs to be shaped, by them.

....But he's never been that way. He's been shaped by everything around him, rather than shaping himself. Whether it's keeping the peace by swallowing everything down, every anger, every upset, every hurt. And he knows he's not the only one who swallowed things down — this very man before him had done much the same, especially given his particular role. But the difference is that now, Gibson seems.. freed of that, whereas Little.... isn't. He still isn't freed of it.

He stands there staring widely at the other man, hair whipped into tangles by the bitter chill in the air. The sounds of fighting are closer, louder, worse; he knows this is dangerous. Perhaps if he were to shift into that "monster" form... he could be in less danger himself, and keep more people safe as a result. It's a strange thought.

'If you don't realize that, Mr. Little, this place will be the death of you.'

He's weirdly calm in the face of those words. Raju had said something much the same — more aggressively, angrily than Gibson says it now, but.. it reminds Little of those words now. He just stands there, shuddering softly in the cold, and in the aftermath of a man burned to death right before his very eyes.

"Maybe that is what I deserve."

He voices it almost assuredly, as though it's something he's always known. And— he has. He has, ever since he'd stumbled up to Milton on his very first day, offering his greatcoat to anyone he came across, nearly freezing himself in the process. It's not that he's trying to die, or even wants to, it's just.... He wouldn't fight against it. He wouldn't try to protect himself. He won't, even now.

But it's not the time or place for Gibson to have to keep dealing with this, and Little dips his head again, breathing hard once more, nostrils flaring as he comes down back into the present.

"...You should seek cover. I fear things are growing worse." He casts a look back to the corpse of his assailant for a moment, wincing deeply. He's not even sure Gibson would be worried about such a thing, but Little remembers the trial last time, and if anyone were to find out that he'd killed someone with his powers... even if it's one of the Forest Talkers....

"I'll not tell anyone."

[notarat]

Billy stares at the other man in the darkness.

He's mostly mulling over the other's initial statement - like a question that Billy can't fully answer either. He is convinced that Edward Little does deserve something negative, yes. For having been part of what seemed like an useless command. For letting things get so bad in the first place. For having thought more of themselves than the other men suffering.

But on the other hand, it very much seems like Little has already given himself that punishment. It's like he's punishing himself with every single moment in this place. With every word he voices about himself.

Do those things even each other out? It's not like Billy knows. He may judge, but he's no executioner. He's never been.

Not to mention that the other - thankfully - is already saying something else, freeing him entirely from having to say something to the earlier statement. It also brings Billy back to reality a little more, to the situation they're in. The scent of smoke in the air reminds him more of the thing he's looking for in the middle of this - safety, or at least Hickey - and reminds him he can't linger here.

His gaze briefly moves to the burnt corpse on the ground, then over to Little. Billy doesn't think anyone will blame him for what happened here regardless, not with the wanton violence everywhere, so the other's offer doesn't mean that much in this context. But if he's wrong about his assumption, it could be useful.

For a moment he stares at Little.

But he doesn't say anything. After that moment, he just turns away, running back into the darkness.