nature offers a violence

[singmod]

NOVEMBER 2023 EVENT

PROMPT ONE — WHITEOUT: Methuselah makes an unexpected early return to Milton to warn Interlopers of an impending monster storm, and boy does it surely come.

PROMPT TWO — A CHOICE: Following the storm, sightings of a mysterious stag prompts a hunt down in the Basin and out in the Outskirts.

PROMPT THREE — REST MY WEARY BONES: While the storm causes a great deal of mess, it also uncovers some far more pleasant surprises. Hot springs.

WHITEOUT

WHEN: Early to mid-month.
WHERE: Milton.
CONTENT WARNINGS: extreme weather; storms; blizzards; themes of survival; possible character cold-related injuries; possible themes of peril.


In the times that he is no longer occupying the Community Hall in the center of town to help tend to the newcomers, Methuselah is out in the wilds. Despite his growing age, he is a hardened survivor, and has been more than accustomed to life living as a nomad, out in the thickest, deepest parts of nature. Sometimes he can be encountered, sheltered in a cave or out in the woods, huddled by a warm campfire, or busying himself with his latest game catch. He seems to be always on the move, never staying for too long, and never coming into town — unless it’s to begin preparations for the latest batch of new arrivals.

To see him returning to Milton outside of these times is a curious sight, and the grim expression he carries is enough to make anyone wary. Even his voice is grave. The warmth and kindness usually found in his expression is gone, replaced with a deathly seriousness. He doesn’t speak in jest.

"I am long used to this world and its weather, even with the changing times to more bitter nights." he will say. "I have seen the years rise and fall, too many to count. Please, I beg that you hear me with this— a storm is coming. Greater than some of you may have ever known. It is in the air, and we must prepare to see it through. We do not have much time. Three days, perhaps. But no more."

He will tell anyone and everyone; encouraging the word to be spread around. He will instruct on what needs to be done, what needs to be gathered. The storm will be long and hard, and will last for some time. With that, Methuselah will begin to prepare the Community Hall as a place of refuge with a stock of food, fuel and water to get through the storm. Interlopers will be free to join Methuselah and bunker down together, or can choose to bunker down on their own in their own homes, or with others.

You have only three days.

And sure enough, the storm comes. Maybe you can notice the signs too: the sudden updraft, the slow gathering of clouds, the drop in temperature, the changes of pressure in the air.

Halfway through the third day, the storm rolls in: a ferocious snow-storm unlike anything you’ve seen before. Even with the fading amount of daylight as mid-winter approaches, the sky turns as dark as night as will stay like night for the duration. Strong howling winds batter the town, and even the sturdiest of buildings creak and groan under the weight. Trees will be felled, some buildings might not fare the storm.

Relentless snow that falls so hard it’s a complete whiteout, and will be impossible to navigate if one were to step outside. Even then, it isn’t advisable. The temperature is bitter, with a frigid windchill. Going out in this kind of storm would be a death sentence. Staying out in it for longer than a half-hour will certainly kill you.

It would be best to wait it out, to huddle around warm fires in the darkness. It may certainly be a test of patience, depending on your choice of place to stay. The storm will last a full week, a stark reminder of what you are, the words you have heard in your arrival: thrown to Mother Nature’s mercy, the Interloper in her design.

But will you persist?

A CHOICE

WHEN: Mid-month, onwards to end of month.
WHERE: Milton Basin, Milton Outskirts.
CONTENT WARNINGS: survival themes; themes of hunting; possible animal death.


After the storm passes, there’s a certain kind of hush that falls upon Milton and its surrounding areas as Interlopers are left to pick through the wake. While the temperature certainly doesn’t get that much warmer, there’s days and nights of clear, calm weather — short afternoons of weak sunshine and nights of chilly peace, the moon hung high in the starry skies. Winter is drawing ever-closer, but it’s still for a little while.

In the early evenings, before the sun sets, there’s strange sightings of a particular white stag that can be found roaming the area — particularly down in the Milton Basin. It seems quite elusive, but there’s plenty of Interlopers that have been able to capture a glimpse over the coming days. Even Methuselah himself has seen this beast before, remarking there has long been tall tales of a ghostly stag that roams the Northern Territories and is said to bring good fortune to those who manage to hunt it down.

Perhaps you’re a little low on luck. Perhaps you’re feeling lucky. You’re going to find that stag.

Hunting down the stag, however, will take a great deal of patience and time. You might find yourself waiting several hours to wait for it to appear. Building a snow shelter, or hunkering down in some old shack might be needed in order to keep warm. But if you’re patient enough, and able to withstand the cold for long enough — the beast will soon make an appearance.

In the dying light of the day, it is there. It’s unlike any deer you’ve seen before: tall and majestic, with thick, soft fur of brilliant white. It almost looks ghost-like in some angles, it’s an incredibly beautiful creature. But it seems to have also noticed you, just as you have noticed it. It doesn’t dart away, however. Instead it stands before you, waiting for you to act.

You have a choice: slay the creature, or let it go.

It will not move until you make your decision, holding your gaze until you raise your weapon or until you lower it and give up your hunt. But there is a consequence to either action: if you choose to kill the stag, you will be rewarded with a sizeable bounty of venison. Eating said meat will help you feel fuller for longer, and the meat will keep for far longer than any other deer slain.

However, if you choose to spare the stag, the creature will lower its head, as if bowing to you. Then, it will disappear with a swirling of powdered snow. When you return home for the evening and go to sleep, the next morning you will find a gift at the foot of your bed: a pair of deerskin boots, or a deerskin blanket. These boots are supple, tough and waterproof — allowing for a great balance of mobility and warmth. The blanket is incredibly toasty, and will provide a great deal of comfort in the long nights ahead.

REST MY WEARY BONES

WHEN: Mid-month, onwards indefinitely.
WHERE: Milton Outskirts.
CONTENT WARNINGS: n/a.



The storm has blown in plenty of snow to make traversing the area much more difficult, but there’s something else of note that comes with its passing. While the storm has brought much devastation, and some places have been buried in snow drifts, plenty of snow in areas has been blown away, uncovering otherwise lost secrets within Milton. Clouds of what looks like steam can be noted not too far from town, towards the mountains of the north.

If Interlopers head to explore the clouds, they will find old trails leading up towards the mountains. It isn’t a particularly difficult journey, for once, and they will soon discover that the storm has blown away the previously blocked access to a cave. It appears that this is the right place.

The air is warm here, pleasantly so. Warm enough that hats and mittens and coats seem a little unnecessary. One might wonder if someone lives within, and that a great fire is stoked to keep the place warm. But there’s no one in sight, no sounds of life: human, animal or otherwise. If they press on, they will discover that the cave floor is well worn with footfall: plenty of people have come here before, and the reason why is soon revealed.

The air grows even warmer, and more humid. The space opening to reveal small pools of slow-flowing water, warm water. The stone houses a natural hot spring, and following the cave out the other side will lead to another space in the rock open to the air, where there are even larger pools of warm water, perfectly sized and deep enough to bathe in. It seems that this place was frequently used by the people of Milton, where their life of hardship could be forgotten for an hour or two.

The water is pleasantly hot, and incredibly inviting. After so long in the freezing cold without modern appliances and utilities, a natural hot spring sounds like an absolute luxury.

FAQs

WHITEOUT

1. Characters are free to play around with this prompt how they want. Maybe they're dumb enough to go into the cold and get injured or sick. Maybe they're stuck in the Community Hall for the week. Fights might break out as tensions run high whilst everyone's stuck together, or maybe you're actually having a nice time.

2. For those stuck in the Community Hall: there are board games and old school textbooks stored in cupboards. There is also a piano.

3. A floorplan of the Community Hall can be found here.

A CHOICE

1. .... Yes, you can pet the ghost stag.

2. Characters will get one choice only with the ghost stag, meaning they can't keep going back to find it to get extra gifts.

3. If characters can't agree on a course of action, whoever acts first will get their gift. The second character will have a chance to try again another time.

4. If both characters agree on sparing the stag, but players want different gifts (ie. one player wants the boots and one wants the blanket), characters will get the gift the player wants their character to receive.

REST MY WEARY BONES

1. The hot springs will now be a permanent fixture in the Milton Area, enjoy!

PLOTTING POST

Comments

whiteout — open.

[pacificator]

[ The little cabin she's claimed for her own is more than sturdy enough to survive the storm that's coming – she thinks – but even as she piles blankets onto the bed and stocks wood by the black iron stove, she can see Waverly's worried, disappointed expression. ]

I'd be fine on my own. I always have been before.

[ But the imaginary Waverly brooks no arguments, so Wynonna has wound up here at the Community Hall, carving out a little slice of space for herself, eying everyone else milling around. She'd brought some of the wood she'd cut earlier and she's managed a few neutral interactions with some of the other people here, so... Who knows. Maybe things will be different.

In the first few days, she can be found leaning back in a chair, boots up on one of the tables, idly shuffling a deck of well-worn cards and dealing them out to whoever seems interested. ]

The game is five-card draw, folks.

[ A beat, as she reconsiders. ]

Unless none of you know how to play, in which case: the game is 'go fish.' Buy-in... whatever the hell you feel like, I'm not a fucking casino.

[ But as the time goes on, tension sets in. It's there in the line of her shoulders, in the terse way she reacts to even the most innocuous of comments. She spends more time than she needs cleaning Peacemaker, considering she hasn't fired the old Buntline Special since she got here. Find her lost in her thoughts sipping a mug of tea by a boarded up window or prowling restlessly around the edges of the hall like a caged animal.

Okay. So maybe things won't be so different, after all. ]

Re: whiteout — open.

[friendsfordinner]

You'll have to remind me on the rules, [ Hickey muses, as he sits across from Wynonna. ] Far as I know, your side of the pond might have different rules on how the whole thing goes.

[ asks the very English accented Cornelius Hickey. He's interested, though. Better they play a game of cards than him just sitting around, twiddling his thumbs, waiting for the weather to let up. ]

[pacificator]

Yeah, sure.

[ She halves the deck, then riffles the two small piles together and forms a bridge with the resulting shuffled cards. They flutter into a newly random deck like autumn leaves in a storm. ]

I deal us both five cards. We check our cards, make our bets, and decide if we want to keep 'em all or discard any. Say you want to discard three, I'll deal you three more, and then we show our hands or fold. Best hand wins.

[friendsfordinner]

Simple enough, [ Hickey says, with a little nod. ] Deal me in.

[ It's something to do, at least. And this woman certainly seems like the sort who might have a good time. ]

[pacificator]

That's what I like to hear.

[ She shuffles again, the sound of the cards riffling against each other just as familiar as the howling wind outside. How many times had they whiled away the long winter nights at the homestead with games of Texas hold 'em and gin rummy?

Cards shuffled, she deals out ten total, going back and forth between her hand and his. ]

You know what kind of hands to look for?

[friendsfordinner]

I've got a good enough idea, [ nods the man who....really doesn't have much of a good idea. Fun fact: poker wasn't a popular game in the 1840s! But look, how hard can it be. It's a card game, yeah? Just focus on getting multiple of the same cards. Besides, Hickey's fine losing a few rounds if he's able to learn how the hell this game works.

He picks up his hand.

None of these cards match.

Fuck. ]

I haven't played in ages, though, [ muses the man who has LITERALLY NEVER PLAYED POKER BEFORE. ] I fully expect my first few hands to be a bit rusty.

[pacificator]

[ It's a good thing for the fine people trapped here in Milton that Doc Holliday hadn't come along with her; he'd be fleecing them out of every canned good they've managed to find.

No one who knows her would call Wynonna soft-hearted, but at least she's no legendary card sharp. ]

Hey, just playing to pass the time anyway, right?

[ Her own hand isn't great, but she's got a pair of threes that aren't anything to sniff at. ]

[friendsfordinner]

[ Hickey takes a punt, picking two of his cards (a queen and a jack), setting them down as he says, ]

Deal me two more. And you're right. Situation like this, all of us stuck together, you'll do anything to pass the time—and to keep each other from driving us spare.

[pacificator]

[ Wynonna snorts. ]

Pretty sure that's already happened.

[ At least, there are people she's already intensely annoyed about being stuck with inside this none-too-large building, and that's about the same thing.

She peels off a burn card, then deals him two more; discards and deals two of her own. ]

Let's see 'em.

[dimensionalcanopener]

[Jack looks at the cards, and gives that ever mild smile of his.]

I know how to play 'go fish'. [His eyes drift to the cards.] But you could teach me five-card draw.

[pacificator]

If you want.

[ In contrast to his mildness, she feels like she's made of edges. This damn storm; all these people. It's only a matter of time before something goes wrong and the place goes up like a tinder box.

But maybe not over a game of cards. ]

Take a load off. [ Said as she languidly shuffles the cards together. Once, then again. ]

[dimensionalcanopener]

[ One would hope it wouldn't explode over a card game, but it wasn't always predictable how a card game would go. ]

I think I will. [ Not that he needs to tell people that, but Jack is still remarking on the obvious sometimes. ]

[ He takes a seat and watches Wynonna shuffle. ]

I'm Jack. You are?

[pacificator]

Your new poker instructor, apparently.

[ Fli-i-i-i-i-i-p go the cards as she bridges them, sends them riffling into a new pile. ]

Wynonna. So, we starting at ground zero, or do you know the basics?

[dimensionalcanopener]

Hello. Nice to meet you, Wynonna. [And Jack sounds he literally means every word of that.]

[His smile never wavers, either.] Probably ground zero. Unless poker is anything like 'go fish!'

[pacificator]

In the same kind of way any card game can be kind of like 'go fish,' I guess.

[ The cards shuffled, she deals out five for each of them. ]

In the first round, you can discard however many you want, and I'll deal you replacements. You're looking for pairs of numbers, five sequential numbers in a row, five of the same suit, or three or four of a kind, pretty much.

[dimensionalcanopener]

Oh. So we're still kind of matching? [Jack smiles to that. See, that's like 'go fish!' But also, putting cards in order.]

What about the suits, though. How do they go in order?

[pacificator]

I guess if we both get a flush with the same cards, we can fight to the death over which one should be worth more.

[ That's not going to be an issue, looking at her hand. ]

Otherwise, high card wins. They just all need to be the same suit, they don't need to be in order.

[dirtytrenchcoat]

[Getting stuck in the school house, or greeting center in their case wasn't in his plans but the harsh winter spell goes on for so long that he and his roommates get caught up in the flurry in the midst of trying to grab more provisions to take back to their place.

Castiel occupies the seat across from the woman with the deck casually, he'd gotten quite fond of card games and board games like Sorry during his time in the asylum alongside Meg but Meg wasn't here and in lieu of her presence, Wynonna is enough like her that it's somewhat of a comfort. Both confident, with dark hair, and some thorny pain.]

If you don't have a group for the five-card draw, I'm open to go fish.

[pacificator]

Finally, someone I don't need to teach how to play poker.

[ There are only two of them; she deals out seven cards each. ]

There go my plans for fleecing everyone out of all their canned goods, I guess.

[dirtytrenchcoat]

I'm aware of poker but not interested in the gamble.

[Castiel left that to the true professionals, those who knew human nature and could play the line between it and deception a lot better than he could.]

Well, given our present circumstances maybe that's for the best. You can save the fleecing for later.

[Castiel picks up his deck and brings it toward him to look at the cards. No matches out of the gate. At least not from his base-deck.]

Ladies first.

[pacificator]

Maybe better not to get run out of the community hall on a rail in the middle of a blizzard, you mean? Uh...

[ She glances through her cards. ]

Any threes?

[dirtytrenchcoat]

[Castiel looks down at his deck, and then meets her gaze after a quick perusal.]

Go fish. Do you have any eights?

[It's been a long time since he's stopped to play a trivial game like this one and there's some catharsis in it for him. He arranges his cards in his deck, and fans them inward to keep his selections secret.]

I'm sure no one would kick you out, but you might have to deal with a level of discomfort and potential shunning. At least while we're stuck here.

[pacificator]

I've gotten kicked out of places you wouldn't believe, so that just sounds like a challenge.

[ She reaches for a card, glances at it, and hands it over to him: it's an eight of hearts. ]

Oh, good, I was afraid I wouldn't have any shunning to deal with here. Now it'll feel just like home. Any twos?

[dirtytrenchcoat]

You sound like someone I know from home.

[Dean would also be the first to brag about how often he'd been thrown out of bars, card games, and institutions all in pursuit of doing good. The irony was in how they both wore it as a badge of honor, linking it to their perseverance and aptitude for trouble.

Castiel moves the pair to his right, lies it face down, and then looks at his deck for the two. A spade is plucked from his fan of cards, and he offers it over to her with the ghost of a smile on his lips.]

You won't be shunned by me. Anyone who enters into a game of stakes willingly deserves the loss if it happens.

[pacificator]

Sounds like you could use an improvement in your acquaintances.

[ She takes the two and adds it to her own cards, then sets the pair aside. How many times had she and Willa and Waverly played this game, or one like it, trying to while away the long winter evenings back at the homestead? Innocent children's games, back when they were innocent children. Before the Seven came.

She's thought more about those winter nights here than she has in years. ]

Now you sound like somebody I know. But he's a professional gambler. What's your deal?