singillatim | i was following the pack all swaddled in their coats

i was following the pack all swaddled in their coats

MAY 2025 EVENT

PROMPT ONE — THE SHUDDERING EARTH: Quake activity in the area, paired with decaying infrastructure, reveals a way for Interlopers to make their way to the coast.

PROMPT TWO — THE LONG ROAD: Interlopers can now embark on the long and dangerous journey to Silverpoint, and make some grim discoveries on the way.

PROMPT THREE — TRY HONESTY: A dream leads to Interlopers being a little more honest with one another, in different kinds of ways.

THE SHUDDERING EARTH

WHEN: Early May, onwards.
WHERE: Everywhere, Carter Hydrodam.
CONTENT WARNINGS: themes of natural disasters; earthquakes; potential avalanches; themes of exploration/survival; potential injuries, potential cold injuries/hyperthermia risk.

Seismic activity is well known within the Northern Territories. Both last year, and over the last month or so, Interlopers have felt intermittent tremors — the ground quaking beneath their feet, enough to upset some objects around homes but never quite enough to cause some serious damage. Interlopers have been fortunate, but the damage caused by these quakes have long left their scars over the years in this world: railroads and roads buckled and crumbled, bridges destroyed and tunnels and pathways caved in, cutting off access. The quakes can cause some serious damage.

Interlopers will find that out in the late evening of one otherwise calm day in May.

Animals will notice the signs of the impending quake before humans do, growing restless and agitated in the hour or so before the shaking starts.

A low tremor that makes items in homes quiver, the ground vibrating beneath your feet. It quickly grows more violent — items can be sent flying if they’re not secured. Light fixtures sway overhead, furniture will shake and topple over, dust and debris could rain down from above — some places worse than others, depending on the building.

Diving for shelter is the best thing to do, out of the way of windows and objects that can fall over. Finding something sturdy to take cover under. The shaking grows intense, especially in the Lakeside area. There is a strange and terrible churning of metal and stone, a crash, something giving way. Roars and crackles of noise.

In Lakeside, where the quake is far more intense, the sound reverberates around the area, but the sound can even be heard so far as in Milton — distant but noticeable. It comes from the direction of the Hydrodam.

The quake is fortunately short-lived and finally dies down. Interlopers will be able to come out of hiding and assess the damage and check on one another for injuries. Within Milton and Lakeside, some buildings that have never been inhabited by Interlopers and remained empty for a long time (and thus in states of disrepair) will be found severely damaged. Water pipes may burst, causing flooding in some unused buildings — ultimately rendering them now useless and uninhabitable.

Generally, it looks like large swathes of the area have come out unscathed — but there is a risk of avalanches in some of the more remote locations near to the mountains. It might take several days for Interlopers to take stock and assess properly, even check further afield.

Interlopers who choose to investigate the Hydrodam will come to find that sections of the dam itself have given way, the metal burst open and water spilling outwards and down the river towards the coast. The huge gorge which separates Lakeside and The Coast is a raging torrent. In time, these waters will eventually calm but it looks like the previously flooded sections of the dam that had meant it was completely inaccessible might be now free to explore with the fact the water had .

The Hydrodam has been in a state of disrepair for some time. Before The Flare, it barely had a skeleton crew running things. Now, with no one to maintain the dam itself following previous quake activity — it looks like this quake has been the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Traversing through the dam will reveal that the lower levels are now accessible and can be entered. But Interlopers should take caution: while the lower dam is now free to explore, this section of the dam still contains freezing cold water that can reach knee deep on the average person. What’s worse is these sections are filled with debris: equipment, furniture and even random junk and industrial supplies that had been once stored there. Some are broken, and can can injury to the unsuspecting traveller.

Travelling through the dam through an Aurora would be incredibly dangerous due to damage in the building, with exposed wiring and partially flooded areas not mixing great companions. The utmost care should be taken when exploring and finding the way through, or it may spell trouble.

But what it will lead to is a way out. On the other side of the dam.

And a way out to the coast.

THE LONG ROAD

WHEN: Early May, onwards.
WHERE: Carter Hydrodam, The Coast
CONTENT WARNINGS: themes of exploration/survival; potential injuries, potential cold injuries/hyperthermia risk; corpses; dead npcs.

Coming out and down from the other side of the Hydrodam will bring Interlopers to the destroyed Connector Bridge and onto Coastal Highway — the main road that leads to Silverpoint. There are a few extra outbuildings on this side of the dam which are dry but not particularly comfortable — but it’ll make do in the face of recovering from getting through the dam itself.

But after that? The world is far more open compared to Lakeside and certainly less sheltered than Milton, meaning winds are incredibly biting and difficult to contend with whilst travelling. There is little in terms of cover, and thus Interlopers may need to really plan well in order to keep themselves alive. Hopefully Interlopers have come well prepared for the journey ahead of them.

A great deal of the landscape has been damaged by quakes, making the terrain difficult to navigate: with huge, icy ridges and gorges in the earth and roads — providing ample danger to travellers. But sticking roughly to the road means a straight-forward way down but it will take several days to walk down, given the difficulty.

There is nowhere indoors to shelter on this journey save for a single garage and gas station about half-way through the trek south. Interlopers will need to brave the outdoors, even sleeping out doors or in the shallow, sheltered caves that may be seen just off the road. Interlopers will need to huddle for warmth, keeping an eye on one another to make sure they make it through the night. The gas station will provide decent shelter and warmth, however, and even boasts a few supplies left of food, water and fuel. Some one has definitely been here, but with it being so remote, it’s no wonder it’s generally been left alone.

The reasons why will soon come to light.

On the road down, Interlopers will make grim discoveries: frozen, partially mummified remains of people, half-hidden in the snow and ice. Many of them appear poorly dressed for the journey, and look to have died from hypothermia or some other kind of cold-induced injury. Some may be found as if they had simply collapsed in the snow and died. Others may be found in small groups, huddled and slumped together — having succumbed to the cold. Suitcases and bags will be littered around with them — sometimes luggage will be left abandoned alone, as if someone just gave up carrying it.

Some Interlopers will realise: these are the remains of Milton’s original residents. The ones that made it out of Milton and Lakeside, only to die on the way to the coast. Dozens upon dozens of bodies, making you wonder if anyone ever made it out alive at all.

One long road, a graveyard.

And then, in the distance, where the ocean stretches out before your eyes: the outline of a village can be seen before the land meets the water. Civilisation? People?

As twilight falls, more curiously, a light blinks slowly on the landscape. It may be easier or hard to spot, depending on the time of day. What… is that?

Silverpoint.

TRY HONESTY

WHEN: May and into June.
WHERE: Everywhere.
CONTENT WARNINGS: themes of honesty/forced honesty; potential body horror.

It begins with a dream. You stand in the atrium of a large cave, lit by a large campfire — the smoke drifting out an opening in the cave’s roof above. Someone sits by the fire with their hands covering their face and as you draw closer and closer to the flames, you realise it is a woman who sits on the opposite side of the flames. For some, they will not know who this woman is but some will recognise her: Enola.

She does not speak, does not look at you. She keeps her face hidden behind her hands, almost-childlike as she sits. The light is low but it’s a pleasant, peaceful kind of ambiance — even if Enola’s actions are a little strange, almost troubling. If you listen carefully, you’re almost sure you can quietly hear crying.

Across the campfire, on your own side of it, there are three stones laid out on the floor, each of them carved with a rune of sorts. It’s hard to tell what the runes mean, exactly. They don’t appear to be in any symbolic or runic language you’ve seen before. Even if you don’t understand them, you find yourself drawn to one of these runes.

You move to kneel on the cave floor and you reach forwards. Your hand hovers over it — a strange thrum in the air, like you can feel some kind of energy of vibration coming from it. You reach for the stone, Enola doesn’t move. As you move to pick up the stone, you feel the sharp burning sting of pain—

The dream ends.

You awaken. Not the sharp snapping of sleep to waking. Just the simple, natural waking that comes when one wakes up. But you feel… different somehow.

Honest. But honest, how exactly?

It all depends which rune you picked in your dream.

HEART RUNE: Interlopers who chose this rune will find themselves more emotionally honest. How this manifests is an aura of colour that surrounds the Interloper which will reflect their current emotional state — ie. golden for happy, shades of grey for exhaustion/tiredness, pinks for romantic feelings. The aura is dynamic and can shift with colours and even have multiple colours in play, depending on the complexities of the emotions.

MIND RUNE: Interlopers who chose this rune will find themselves with an honest mind, and will feel compelled to speak it. They are honest with their words: blunt and to the point, avoiding lies or bending truths. They may even feel compelled to reveal things that have been playing on their mind for some time — choosing to clear the air, and potential dirty laundry.

FORM RUNE: Interlopers who chose this rune will find themselves physically honest. Their previous hurts and injuries will become visible on their skin. This can be previous injuries or sicknesses the Interloper has sustained over the course of their life — even if they are now long since healed. It could be a physical manifestation of emotional or mental pain in some way. Your body no longer holds it secrets, they’re now plain and open for the world to see.

FAQs

THE SHUDDERING EARTH

1. Players are free to destroy their own homes/make them uninhabitable if they wish. Please amend the Housing Spreadsheet to reflect this. Commercial/Public buildings are off limits for destruction but players can handwave any other random buildings/empty homes in Milton that have been destroyed in the quake.

2. THE HOT SPRINGS ARE OKAY. Just a little snowed in.

3. The Hydrodam (and it's hot showers) will have seen damage done to it and will require repairs/maintenance.

THE LONG ROAD

1. The Coast is now accessible to all players. Please see this page for further information.

2. Beach.....................

3. As a reminder. It takes about 24 hours to get from Milton to the Carter Hydrodam. Once out of the Dam, travel down to Silverpoint will take a number of days.

4. Three minor NPCs have been introduced! Molly, the owner of The Frozen Angler; her teenage son Jace; and Father Thomas of St Christopher's Church. There will be an opportunity to ask them questions, a top level of which can be found below!

5. Marra will not be open for interactions just yet.

TRY HONESTY

1. The durations of the effects are down to player choice, but will last at a minimum of three days or can last up to a full month or so and even continue into June.

2. The Form Rune's effects are purely cosmetic and will not actively harm the Interloper.

3. The Heart Rune's effects will only be visible to Interlopers.

4. Players can only play with one rune, they cannot choose to go with more than one.

PLOTTING POST

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Arthur, who where possible tends to burrito himself between blankets and John in his sleep to retain as much warmth as his unbearably skinny body can handle, grunts and baps John weakly in annoyance.

"John, thought I told you t'keep the window shut." Because obviously this is an aurora localised entirely in their bed and not shenanigans, as he digs himself out from the blankets to give him a bleary look.

Not that the look is easy to tell, since when he surfaces his eyes are completely gold, with red glints to it that make the streaks down his face look like he's leaking gilt blood, wrapped and smeared around his half-missing ear, leaking from his throat. There's no actual harm, just the aesthetic, but it's a hell of a thing to look at.

Charlie is already starting to nod, opening his mouth to answer John in the affirmative. Then he sees Arthur's head poke out of the blanket nest, bleeding gold from his eyes, and it recontextualises things a little for him.

His eyes go wide, and then flat. Nah, it's cool, he actually sees that kind of thing all the time. Totally fine and normal thing to wake up to in his world.

"Oh," he says quite bluntly, as if this is the hideous vision of Arthur's fault, "I see I'm dreamin' still." And he does a full roll abruptly in the opposite direction, taking an irritable amount of blanket with him. Mumbled: "Not in the fuckin' mood, alright?"

John, however, has never had his senses meddled with like that. He trusts what he sees, which is why when he sees the grievous wounds on Arthur, sees his beautiful eyes full of blood and his throat cut open and the burn marks near his temple, he cries out in horror, his aura a jarring mix of deep alarm red and bright desperate magenta, love and desperation entwined with spikes of electric yellow pain.

"Arthur!"

And he's grabbing up the blankets to try and stop the wound immediately, careful not to do more damage to him with his own strength as his voice goes ragged and wet.

"Arthur, what the fuck? What the fuck happened?!"

"Charlie, what are y-John-!!"

Whatever he was going to ask about Charlie's annoyed reaction is immediately superseded by John nearly punching him in the throat as he wraps the blanket around him, putting pressure on and making Arthur cough from the abrupt impact as he immediately grabs John's wrist to pull him off again before he gets fucking strangled.

"John, what the fuck are you-?!" And then he finally pauses, eyes widening in realisation as he sees the colours flickering wildly around John.

And the grip on John's arm turn to a gentler squeeze, still pulling him away but softer as his voice comes out completely baffled. "John, you're glowing."

John's panic knocks the last grogginess out of Charlie, and he's able to reflect that yeah, he's been cognisant of his own dreams before, and no, this is not what it's like. So unless he's about to surmise that this is a Capital D Dream instead--

Well, as a rule he tries not to waste his weekends thinking he's back with the King. So.

Anyway, John and Arthur's little scuffle gives Charlie time to recontextualise everything again, to think 'oh shit' at himself, and to hop up out of the bed.

"Like a goddamn neon sign," he confirms, circling the bed as if it'll give him a better view on this whole situation. Arthur, thank god, seems confused rather than hurt. That's more easily helped. "And you, kid, you look like you burst. You got some kinda, I dunno what it is, gold ichor and blood comin' outta..."

A tense gesture towards just his whole head-neck area.

"Eyes, neck, ear, damn near everywhere. It's a sight."

Okay, so that didn't have his usual poetry, so sue him.

"Who the fuck cares if I'm glowing?!" and John is growling, but it's a wet sort of growling, a 'HELP ME' sort of growling, desperate and panicked. The electric blaring red and yellow has not calmed down. "Arthur is bleeding!"

"John, I seen so many guys bleed to death that I lost count. That ain't what's happening. For one thing, he ain't makin' the right noises."

Don't get him wrong, he sounds stressed, but not exactly for the same reasons.

"What?" It's hard to quite tell where his eyes are aimed right now (familiar much?) but the angle of his head suggests Charlie, and he quickly struggles a little more under John's weight to get his hands out from under him, and when he sees his left - the same gold 'dripping' down his pinky, tracing the roots, stains of it in the bite mark and weak flecks marring the electric burns on his palms...

"I'm not hurt," he comments, more offended than confused. But then his attention flicks back to John and he catches his partner's jaw in one hand. "John- John, listen to me-- look at the sheets, there's no blood on them, I-I'm perfectly coherent-- it's this place, not me, I'm fine."

"What the fuck does that mean?" pops out at Charlie in a bright spark of confused green.

But then the hand is on his jaw, the most helpful, taking the blaring bright reds and yellows down to something warmer, pink and a lost purple-green swirl. He's listening. But his attention can't entirely wander off from the blood on Arthur that he can see.

The blood and the gold.

Arthur will feel John swallow, hard before he speaks, slow and measured and golden eyes bright and watching him.

"...you aren't in pain? Your head- you're not dizzy or sick? Nothing? Really nothing?"

His tone says he's going to kick Arthur's ass if he's fibbing here. Cause he will.

...verbally. But still.

"Well you're still pressing on my throat," he comments wryly, patting John's cheek with his hand. "But even I'm not so talented as to get this bloody just by waking up."

Though he does frown slightly, as he nudges John's hand off his throat so he can finally sit upright. He's wearing a threadbare undershirt, so the gold marks on his chest are visible through, but it's still clean and unbloodied itself. "Probably just that dream I had. You know? Looks like you might have had one too."

Sorry John, Charlie doesn't know where the fuck that came from. A significant segment of him is now interrogating the fact that that's not... exactly... what he meant to say. It's maybe 600% more than what he meant to say. For someone who's very careful about what he says, that isn't a casual slip.

"It means he ain't injured, and I got some idea how to tell the difference," he mutters in the background while the two of them have their moment. He tries not to say it. It doesn't work.

Oh. Oh. That's terrifying.

Given the suspicion rising in him, he absolutely refuses to chime in and mention that he had a dream as well--

"I had a dream as well. Felt more significant than just a dream, and I ain't exactly crazy about that, but that's by the by. Are either of you sayin' more than you mean to, just now?" Despite his efforts, his voice won't lie, and it's getting fast and shaky. "I got an inkling I'm saying things I'd rather not say out loud, and to be clear that's one of 'em. I was gonna try and hide that it was happening." And he does the first thing he thinks to do and shoves a fistful of nightshirt into his own mouth, so that the last syllable is muffled.

John was in the process of slowly pulling his hand away from Arthur's neck (that is going to give him anxiety until this ends) when Charlie starts talking. And keeps talking.

He'd been about to mention that no, he's saying exactly what he wants to say, no more and no less, when Charlie again keeps talking.

"...Jesus Christ." But he'll shake that off like a dog with water before hurrying to answer.

"N-no, Noel. No, I'm-" His colors are swinging wildly from the pink of a moment earlier to a deep, rich blue edged with the rosy pink of affection and a few deep slate spikes of worry. He clears his throat. "Other than the colors, nothing else seems effected."

Beat.

"And I think if Arthur was effected, there'd be even more swearing." Quick! "But it's all- we're all effected by something, clearly."

You're not crazy on your own, is what he isn't saying. Which proves he can not say it.

Arthur can't help the slight stare he's giving Charlie, but even as it's sympathetic it's also distracted, his mind going like a live wire.

"Alright- alright, so it's- this is Enola's handiwork, not the Darlkwalker, trying to get us to- to communicate, right?" He pats John's chest without thinking. "You can't hide your emotions anymore, not that you ever could--" he turns and gestures to Charlie. "You can't hide your thoughts, a-and I can't hide my scars."

The makeshift gag pops back out. "Yeah, I feel like I'm comin' off worse in this deal."

Now that's one he would've said either way. He feels like a tightrope walker whose net got cut. Also there's a high wind and, why not, the rope is greased. Also under the hole in the net are sharks. He could go on.

He focuses on John's technicolour concern instead of Arthur's unsettling golden stare, wishing he'd done it sooner. That guy's having an upsetting morning. "Hey," reassuring, "are you okay? I don't want you worried about me either, I figure I got a few ways around this. If it's pink elephants I'm golden. I can just think about Bobby the Airman -- I made the whole guy up in the Dreamlands so I could think about him instead of Roland."

His face sort of freezes and he looks like he's about to be sick.

Edited (covering your mouth is cheating charlie) 2025-05-25 11:58 (UTC)

John's golden eyes go very wide for a moment before he swallows and looks to Arthur. He's not sure what he should say, if he should say. The colors around him flicker between green and grey and pink and a deep painted red and a flickering yellow before settling on a gentle sapphire purple that's almost blue.

Like a rich blue overlaid with a deep pink.

"I'm okay, Noel," he says with a slow nod, "The colors... it's not entirely unlike when I was with Arthur. He can see what I'm feeling while previously, there was always some... bleed between us. I could feel some of what he felt and he could feel some of what I was feeling. Mostly. So. I'm fine."

A glance over at Arthur.

"As long as Arthur isn't actually hurting, I'm fine."

Knowing how John thinks when they were entangled properly was an easy enough task, when the entity wasn't outright lying to him by omission, but even separated it's been fairly simple, when his friend had to rely on him for cues still.

So when John's look meets him, he gives a small, tight smile and a quick nod. They can do this, keep the focus off of Charlie for a few minutes until he feels a bit more grounded.

"I-I'm alright, John, genuinely," he assures, giving his hand another pat before he fully untangles himself from the sheets to stand up. He can't help the shiver that runs down his body, at being exposed to the less warm air, but he pointedly avoids looking down where he can, at the ugly streaks from where broken bones once punctured through his leg. "Look, it's barely even visible through my shirt. Once I'm properly dressed there won't even be anything to worry about. I'll just-" he gives a slight chuckle, trying to rally. "Be a little bit awful to look at for a while. It's fine. A-and it's not like it's showing anything new, really!"

Though in saying that, he half-turns away from Charlie, so his poor friend gets a view of the nice spatter marks on the back of his neck under his hairline.

Unfortunately Charlie is not looking. He's slipped a hand into his pyjama pocket (yes he sleeps with the frog, you can't tell him about people being transported in their sleep to the mines and expect him to not sleep with the frog) and has a drawn, focused expression as he studies the boards of the wall behind them. His heart is going at quite a clip.

The boards are steady. There are the correct number of them. Other things in his peripheral don't shift around while he's counting them, unless you count the dancing colours of John's new aura. He really dislikes how often he's having to ground himself lately. Half the shit that's happened since he met Arthur and John has felt like rebreaking a leg when he'd almost been good to take the cast off.

All this to say: it takes him a moment to see what he's being shown. That's one of Arthur's weirder scars, which is saying something.

"I ever ask what did that?"

He hasn't asked. But now he's feeling around the confines of what he can say, and what he can stop himself from saying. Questions are on the table, none of his other thoughts got dragged out in the same breath, and maybe he's honestly wondered what did it sometimes, too.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

i was following the pack all swaddled in their coats

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty

Re: Try Honesty