singillatim | nature offers a violence

nature offers a violence

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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He'd noticed the clouds to the north pretty quickly while taking inventory of what the storm had done to the town. At first he didn't think much of them, but when he notices that later they're still in the same place it seemed notable. So he's eager to go out and investigate it. Heading into unknown territory alone isn't that great of an idea, especially when things are likely unstable because of the storm, so Levi asks around. Does anyone want to join his search? He doesn't really know anyone's capabilities here, so he'll be asking pretty much everyone. Do you want to help? He'll have his gun if you don't have a weapon. It could be anything out there!

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This place was amazing! It was warm, which was a sensation Levi though he'd never really feel again. Practically hot, even. He'd abandoned his coat and the lighter shirt over his coveralls as they went further into the cave. He'd likely abandon the sweatpants too in time, but he's not so sure about going in the water. Why was it so hot? Was it safe? It could just be hot water, or it could be some weird chemical making it hot that would seep into their skin and slowly kill them all (It might be worth it, though). Or there could be some creature under there, waiting for its lure to bring it enough prey to strike. Or any myriad of other dangerous things that his mind kept going over...

So walks around near the water, peering and the pool, the cave around it, and anyone who'd dared to go inside.

Edited 2023-11-11 16:35 (UTC)

Raju tears his eyes from the weapon to give the boy a decisive nod. Raju’s knife is only good for very close range, and the arrangement of blankets he’s been wrapping and tying around himself every time he needs to go outside still feels ridiculous, looks ridiculous, but the need to be out is stronger than anything else.

“How many bullets do you have?” He nods toward the gun. If anything attacks Raju will have to find a way to deal with it, and he’s certain that he can. But the boy’s weapon will help. As long as he’s any good with it.

Edited (forgot about his knife, whoops) 2023-11-16 19:15 (UTC)

"Enough. More than enough. It's fully loaded and I have a couple dozen more in my pack."

He looks towards the mountain. "The wolves haven't caused trouble in awhile, but if we run into them further out of town--or bears or whatever--I'll be able to handle it. I've got a knife and a revolver too."

All said very matter of factly, as if this was a normal thing he talked about every day.

That’s promising, that Levi at least talks about combat like he’s done it before, like he’s used to using these things. Raju tries to think more about that than about the urge to figure out some way to take one, as helpful as the urge to take the coats and gloves he’s seen so many wearing has been. Satisfying in the short term, but no good in a place where cooperation and goodwill are going to be so important.

“Let’s start, then. I’ll keep an eye out. Do you think… that way?” He points in the direction of an open spot in the trees. It had been difficult enough to spot trails in the snow even before so much more of it came down, and the boy is more familiar with the place than Raju is by at least a few months.

Levi considers for a moment, "Yeah, there's a game trail--or something--near there. It goes the right way for a bit."

Raju nods and starts moving that way, gaze sharp. Each hand is tucked into its opposite sleeve but he’ll be quick enough to move if anything should attack. The snow is deeper, more difficult to walk than it was before the storm, and Raju grimaces as his leg sinks deeper into snow. Still, nothing for it but to keep going.

As they near the tree-line Levi shifts his rifle from his back to his hands. Its a fluid, practiced motion that's clearly been done many times. He's even gotten used to getting around the oversized coat.

The snow is deeper than usual, but he's practiced enough at it by now it doesn't delay him much. He moves through the forest like hes used to it, keenly looking for anything moving or out of place. Unless spoken to, he'll say nothing until they get to the trails heading up into the mountains. He's not seen these before.

The trails they find soon after are a relief; it’s less the snow itself and more his own lack at knowing how to move through it that’s getting to Raju. And from the trails, they find a cave. Raju stops, eyeing it, then looking up to the white clouds coming up from it that had led them here in the first place.

“There aren’t people up here, are there? Outside everyone living in town?”

"Not...that we know of. The only person who lives in the woods is Methuselah when he's not in town. But I've never been this far...maybe."

A cave would be a good place to ride out the storm, right? So maybe there is someone in here. Or some animals. Either way he raises his rifle before carefully heading into the cave, attempting to be quiet.

"Mm." Raju draws his knife and heads in alongside, moving over to the opposite side of the cave's opening so they won't be so close together. Anything could live in here; he doesn't make a habit of disturbing odd caves, usually. But nothing in this place is usual.

Levi, being the one with the gun, has no problem moving into the cave first. He's even more cautious here than he was in the forest, practically paranoid. Nothing seems to stand out or attack, though, and as they get further into the cave he pauses.

"...it feels hot to you too, right?"

Was there a fire or volcano or bunker full of mad science further in?

The frown Raju gives him is almost insulted. He's been too damned cold for too damned long to call this hot, he won't lower his standards that way only because he's starting to stop shivering. The boy's clearly been in this place for too long. But the question itself:

"It isn't so cold here," he allows, grudging to stave off the gratitude that wants to creep in for whatever it is that's making the temperature rise. "But I don't smell a fire, or hear equipment."

"Me either. But it looks like people, or something, have been this way before."

No use turning back after coming this far, so he presses on, until they reach...water?

"Uh?"

"There are hot springs here," Raju breathes, wide-eyed, loosening the blanket even more from around his arms and shoulders, moving toward the water with his hand stretched out—

He'll have to leave this place, though, afterward. Feel the piercing cold sinking back into the cracks in him left behind by the warmth. He hasn't even started teaching himself to live with what it is to exist in this place yet, not properly, but he isn't ready to lose what little he's gained.

Raju pulls his hand back again, tucks it under the blanket for a second, then pulls it out again to wipe over his brow. He may actually be sweating. He'd started to think he'd never be warm enough for that again.

"You had no idea it was here before? No one in town knew?"

"Hot springs?" He doesn't think he's heard of those. He moves up to the edge of the water and crouches near it. It sure did seem hot.

"No. I don't think we could even get here. We should tell the others..." But that would involve leaving. Maybe they can wait a bit.

"Mhm." Raju watches the boy crouching next to the warmth for a moment, hungry to be that close, too. Then he tilts his head back toward the way they came, taking a bracing breath. "We may as well go now. Unless you'd like to stay. I can go on."

He shakes his head and stands up, turning to face Raju. Of course he'd love to stay, but that wasn't really helping anything. And he doesn't know if this is safe or not. "No, we can go. I've never heard of hot springs, though."

Raju's frowning as he turns away, jaw tight, pulling the blanket more tightly around his shoulders even though it's too hot yet to cover up. He glances over at Levi and then ahead of him again, voice distracted. "No? Water, heated by the earth. People travel from far away to find them. I didn't know there were many in Canada, I never thought about it. Nothing like it where you're from?"

People travel to find these places? Did that mean they were lucky to find this place? He immediately doesn't trust it; there is nothing good in Milton.

"There might be, I guess, I just haven't heard of them. But I haven't heard of a lot of things." Even things from his world/time. He'd really only learned what the army needed him to learn.

He starts walking back towards the entrance, gun still in hand. Just because there was no trouble on the way in didn't mean there wouldn't be on the way out.

Raju makes an acknowledging noise, but leaving the first, real deep down heat he's felt here isn't putting him in a talkative mood. He hunches his shoulders as they near the entrance, shivers. Like he'd thought: It's worse now, having just been in the warmth.

"Any who come back will have to keep an eye out," he mutters as he steps out, to think about something other than the sound of stepping back out into the snow. "I'm surprised there weren't animals already inside there."

"This'll be popular." Leaving the warmth was hard and depressing. But he'd come back. He just needed to report the place first.

"...Yeah. There are supposed to be things that live in caves but I didn't see anything. That doesn't feel right."

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load_aim_shoot - 2023-11-19 23:15 (UTC) - Expand

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solitarysoul - 2023-11-19 23:21 (UTC) - Expand

He's here for the rabbits.

Somehow, that's become his life. Tim would cry if he dwelled too long on it (on the inside), and he's cried an utterly embarrassing amount already. It turns out, yes, that house he had slept in most nights was more than mostly destroyed by the blizzard's winds. After some grumbling about it, the construction began on... rabbit cages. Hell, he's been delivered furry lil' friends already; and so life marches on.

Levi was going out to investigate the smoke-- Tim was going to lose his mind if he didn't tag along. Like Levi carries the rifle, Tim has his collapsible fighting staff strapped over a shoulder. A broken arm makes for slower going than Tim would like

and he frets over the caves and their stability

and it's a bit of a bitch trying to shrug off so many layers of clothing when things start to warm up, but

"Oh my god, Levi, it's not going to bite you," Tim points out, because this might as well be heaven. Not that he's going to be the one to take a dip. He can't! Fuck having a broken arm, man. It sucks. so. bad. "Hot springs! Dude, they're hot springs!"

The look he gives Tim is still very wary. He doesn't think this guy would try to hurt him, but he's having a lot of trouble believing a good thing happened. Not just to everyone stuck here, but to him specifically. He doesn't get nice things.

"I...I don't know what that is though?"

To his credit, Tim marches steadily ahead until he's dipping the sole of a boot into the pool of water- the rock around is minimally slippery, but he keeps his waits about him.

Can't wet the cast or he runs the risk of getting his arm offset, again, which would suck. Again.

"It's hot water, it comes from closer to the earth's crust. It's naturally occurring in mountainous regions-- I hadn't seen the cave before. They must have been here all along," he states. Bringing up the shoe, he notes it's (thankfully) not a deformed, dissolved gunk of vibram-brand rubber.

"See? It won't eat away at-- find me a stick and I'll poke around it some more, if you want."

Tim didn't think he'd ever get so-- carried away, again. But good news is-- well, it's not really something that happens to Tim Drake.

Hot water coming from earth's what? His meager education never covered things like the earth's make up or layers. "So, um, do these happen a lot? Have you found one before?"

He watches intently as Tim tests his shoe, then nods. "I think I'll have to go back towards the entrance to find a stick, though."

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nature offers a violence

Rest my Weary Bones

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if you wanted something in particular to happen on their walk there let me know and I can edit

im good with quiet trip. levi's not all that talkative

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2!

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