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

Could be worse. Always good to have a pair.

[ She sniggers a little; she has all the mature humor of a thirteen year old boy. ]

That's a winning hand, plenty of the time. But not today.

[ She sets her own down; the pairs of three and the pair of eights she managed to snag when she'd replaced her two discards. ]

Look's like this round goes to me.

Edited 2023-11-13 20:53 (UTC)

[ Two pair are better than one pair.

Well yeah that makes sense. That's intuitive. That still tells him nothing about the game!

He's not going to tell Wynonna that, though. ]

Next round's mine, though. Deal me in again.

I like the confidence. Okay, cowboy, next round.

[ She deals again, checks her own cards, which turn out to be a big old goose egg. Well, can't win 'em all. ]

What's your move, friend?

[ Why are none of these pairs?!?

Hell, four of them are hearts, though. Maybe if he gets five hearts, that'll be good? Hopefully? Why is this game so counter-intuitive?! Try as he may to hide it, Hickey gives the cards a look of pure bafflement before he makes his decision. ]

Just one this time, [ he says, as he slides his non-heart card towards Wynonna. ]

[ She's distracted from her own hand by the expressions crossing this guy's face. Her eyebrows hike up towards her hairline as she deals out the requested single card. ]

Haven't spent much time working on your poker face, have you?

[ Is whatever he has in his hand terrible or just confusion? Doc would be able to read his expression; Wynonna's working off her best guess. She discards two of her own and hopes to hell she manages to get something, anything –

She ekes out a pair of fours. It's not great, but she'll take it. ]

Okay. What've you got?

Oi, my poker face is perfectly fine.

[ What the hell's a poker face. Hickey takes his card, hiding the look of relief on his face. Thank fuck, another heart, time to see if this means anything. ]

Case in point, [ he says, as he lays down his hand of five hearts, knowing full well that he's going to look like an ass if this game doesn't focus on suits like it does numbers. ]

[ She stares at the flush laid out on the table, then wrinkles her brow at him. ]

A little rusty, huh?

[ He's either got the best or the worst poker face she's ever seen. ]

I guess you were right. This round is yours.

It's been a while since I sat down for a game, [ Hickey admits, with a little shrug. By 'it's been a while' he means, 'I have never played this before.' But hey, still counts! ]

I'm up for going as long as you want. After all, 's not like we can go anywhere else.

Don't remind me.

[ Sulky, as she reshuffles the deck and deals again. ]

The only time I like being around this many people is if we're all drinking and minding our own business.

On that, we agree, [ he sighs. ]

I was stuck on a ship before this, crammed in with a hundred other men. Getting space here is a damn miracle.

God, not you, too.

[ She rolls her eyes as she checks her cards. ]

Was everyone here on that expedition? Did you guys come on a two-for-one deal or something?

[ Hickey lets out the world's most irritated sigh before, ]

Trust me, I'd prefer less of them there. I've spent too long with them already, I'd rather spend less time with those men.

[ There isn't enough whiskey in the world to deal with this place. ]

Yeah? No buddies of yours in the bunch that's here?

Very few buddies period.

[ There's a moment before he continues with, ] Picture this current situation. All of us, holed up in the community center. Can't go out, can't do much, all we can do is keep things running and hope for the best. Keep on as usual.

Now, picture this current situation but imagine it's been going on for three years. Easy enough to have people wear on your patience.

Everything about that sounds basically like my worst nightmare.

[ This is a lie; her worst nightmare is getting her dumb ass killed and forcing Waverly to take up the mantle of Heir.

Her other worst nightmare is the one where she has to take a calculus test and forgot to study. ]

I'm already losing my mind, just being stuck in here.

[ He can't help but chuckle at that, shaking his head before pointing out, ]

So you'll see why I'm giving them a wide berth. Add in the fact that some of us don't get along to begin with, and you can see why my patience might be shot.

Fair enough, but –

[ She tips her chin at his cards. ]

None of that explains why you haven't discarded yet. What, you got a royal flush over there?

[ Still caught up in the idle conversation, in the chatter, Hickey slips up and admits, ]

What the fuck's a royal flush?

[ Wait a second - !

She tucks her cards all together and points them at him, accusing. ]

You don't know what the fuck you're doing with this game, do you?

[ Well. It seems like the game's up.

So Hickey simply gives Wynonna his best, most shit-eating, 'ain't I a stinker' sort of crafty little smile as he teases, ]

And yet I still managed to beat you in a round or two.

O-kay.

[ She puts up a hand, palm out. ]

You won a round. Let's not roll out the red carpet just yet.

[ He's lucky as hell Doc isn't here; that guy has definitely shot people for a whole lot less than a shit-eating grin. Wynonna shakes her head and can't help a chuckle; it's true, she'd given him the benefit of the doubt. And it takes a certain type of personality to sit down at a table with someone and pretend to know how to play the game.

Is it a good type? She has no idea. But one thing's true: he's a hell of a lot more entertaining than a bunch of the others crammed in here with them. ]

That explains the lack of poker face, I guess.

Mate, I don't even know what a poker face is supposed to look like.

[ Cornelius Hickey is many things. Self-assured, confident to the point of delusional, the sort of man who honestly thinks that he can get away with things if he just smiles and grins and goes at it with gusto.

And really, it's better to charm his way out of not knowing how to play poker than other things like 'that time he kidnapped a woman.' ]

So now that we've got all this established, mind telling me how this game's scored?

Last man standing wins, basically. Whoever doesn't end up tapping out and wins the last round gets the pot.

[ She shrugs and leans back in her chair, setting one booted foot on a chair seat and crossing the other over it. ]

The whole point's to keep other people from knowing what hand you've got. If you react, the other players will know if you've got a good hand or a bad one. So:

[ She lifts her hand, palm toward her face, circles it, keeping her expression straight. ]

Poker face.

[ Hickey makes a small noise of understanding. Right, poker face. He's got that term. He raises an eyebrow, looking at Wynonna before pointing out, ]

I still don't know which hands get you more points than the other. What's better, four of the same card or having an entire hand full of the same suit?

[ In answer, she reaches over to pluck the cards out of his hand, tucking them back with the others in the deck before she starts fanning cards out and picking out a few here and there. ]

Okay, so: easiest hand to get is a pair, like you had that first round.

[ She sets out a pair of twos, then a pair of threes, then taps a finger on the threes. ]

If we both have pairs, highest cards win. If one person has two pair, they win. Next best is three of a kind.

[ She adds another two to those previously set down. ]

Three of a kind beats two pair. With me so far?

nature offers a violence

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fade them out on a game maybe?

works for me!

this was great!