methuselah (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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singillppl2023-12-06 12:21 am
singmod) wrote in singillppl2023-12-06 12:21 am
Entry tags:
December 2023 Test Drive Meme
DECEMBER 2023 TDM
PROMPT ONE — ARRIVAL: METHUSELAH'S FEAST: A new group of arrivals find themselves lost in the frozen wilds and vulnerable to the dangers of nature. With luck, they make it to the town of Milton, and to a friendly face offering food, warmth and shelter — not to mention the fact they are not the first to come here.
PROMPT TWO — MISTY FALLS CAVE: The Interlopers go out in search of a hidden cave in the mountains found by Methuselah, which may still contain the hidden stash of a doomsday prepper. However, they get a little more than they bargained for when they venture inside.
PROMPT THREE — SERPENT'S BREATH: Interlopers investigate the mysterious cause of whatever is killing and poisoning the wildlife and vegetation of the area — and discover a supernatural creature is behind it.
ARRIVAL: METHUSELAH'S FEAST
WHEN: Mid-Decmber.
WHERE: Milton, Milton Outskirts.
CONTENT WARNINGS: potential animal attacks, potential injuries, potential cold injuries/hyperthermia risk.
'You are the Interloper. You are not part of nature’s design.'
It’s the last thing you hear. A dark, deep voice. Impossibly ancient. You feel afraid. Maybe you’re dreaming, maybe you’re wide awake. You saw the lights, and then your world went dark. But you hear it in the blackness, you won’t forget those words.
You awaken. You are not where you were before. It’s different for everyone, there doesn’t seem to be much of a pattern in where you find yourself. You may open your eyes to find yourself in a cold, dim and dank cabin. The air is stale, dust hangs in the rays of weak sunlight that shine through the tiny windows. Someone lived here once, but they aren’t to be found. You look around, it seems like no one has been here in a long time. The fire is cold, the dishes in the sink are pretty mouldy. It is quiet. The wood creaks around you. Or perhaps you may awaken to find yourself shivering in the yawning maw of a cave, the freezing stone below you. Or maybe you’re unfortunate enough to sit up to find yourself lying in the snow, in the middle of the wilderness. Snow lies thick around you. It’s freezing out. You haven’t felt a cold like this before in your entire life. Cruel and biting. You have no idea where you are, and what’s worse — you are completely alone.
You may feel different, too. Any powers or magics you may have feel... absent. Disconnected. Things that may not have affected you previously now do. Something in you has changed.
You know you can’t stay where you are. You’ll need to move, try to work out where you are and how you came to be here. So you walk, head out into the unknown, in hope of finding a trail or a road. You’ll find one soon enough. It’s here you may find someone else in the same boat as yourself, equally freezing and confused. You’ll both need to keep going. It won’t be easy. You hear howls of wolves around you, and the terrain is difficult: slips and falls are likely. You’re completely vulnerable out here in the open.
It’s possible you may come across someone here. Another fellow Interloper, out hunting or gathering. They’ll likely offer help and get you into town. However, for the unlucky ones who don’t come across anyone, you’ll carry on until you see it: the lazy trail of smoke rising in the air. Fire. Not just one, but several. Civilisation…?
Follow it, and soon enough the way you’ve taken will certainly become a path or road. Unfolding before you in the mountainous forests, you’ll see the most welcome of sights: a small mining town tucked up in the valley. Battered, rusted road signs will direct to “MILTON, POP. 947”. You’re almost there, you keep going, and it looks like other people have had the same idea as you. In fact, you’ll hear the muffled sounds of life. People. In The town!
As you head into the outskirts and further into town, you’ll find it’s a little easier to walk but the cold has gripped you hard. You’ll find the buildings, both shops and homes, some are dark and lifeless, some of them are boarded up, some of them are occupied. People are going about their business, or stood watching from their tiny porches of their small, timber homes. For a town this big, there doesn’t seem to be many people.
Towards the center of town, you’ll find the building from which the biggest of the smoke trail rises: a school-house of sorts, or some kind of community hall. Perhaps both. You’ll find more and more people all drawn to this place, each and every one of them in the same position as yourself (and your companion, if you’ve found one). Some are in worse states than others: some are bloodied, nursing bite wounds or cuts; others might have some other kind of injury sustained in the journey here from falls. Others may look as if they could faint from the cold at any second.
The door opens, and you’re greeted by the gnarled, wizened face of an elderly man, dressed in thick furs. He has a kind face. He smiles warmly, and with pity, ushering you in with haste.
“Ah, even more, still. Just as I thought.” he muses. “I wonder if this is perhaps the new status quo. I am Methuselah. I welcome you Newcomer, although I’m sorry for how you’ve come to find yourself here. You are not the only one, the lights are changing things. They bring more of you every so often. Come. Mother Nature has not been kind to you, but there are plenty here to help.”
The room is dim, lit only by natural daylight through the windows. A roaring fire sits at one end of the huge hall. It crackles, bright and cheerful…. and warm. Even as big as this place is, the room is pleasantly warm. You’ll also find basic cots set up down one side of the hall, places to rest for a moment and get your bearings, or just trying to recover from the cold. Down the other side are tables and chairs, and long tables with food, drinks and bottled water similar to one might find at a soup kitchen. Once again, Methuselah offers a feast, aided by some of the other Interlopers.
There are canisters with hot herbal teas and coffee, along with soup and stew and trays of charred deer and rabbit meats, plus grilled fish. There's also things like instant mashed potatoes, and tinned vegetables. It’s very basic, but it’s hot and filling. A feast, although newcomers will note from others who have been here some time that this particular feast is less bountiful this time.
Methuselah will continue to busy himself, still; there is plenty to do. He will fetch blankets, tend to wounds, serve food and drinks. He does not have much time to talk. More and more people seem to be coming in from the cold. He will not stop to sit and rest until everyone is seen to, taking up a place by the fire to gaze silently into its flames. He is troubled, thoughtful.
He will encourage newcomers to get warm and eat, and when they are ready to — they can explore the time and find one of the many empty homes to call their own. He will not speak much, but perhaps you might be able to get some answers from those fellow arrivals who’ve been in this place for some time now.
However, he will speak of something important, and will gladly share with others: “I have been looking for something for you all. There was once a townsfolk I knew of: Matthew. A suspicious, paranoid old miner who was interested in Prepping. He often spoke of the world coming to an end and strived to survive it. He often spoke of a cache hidden in the mountains, where he collected things of value. I have found the place, a hidden cave, but I am unable to get through, myself.”
… Well, he is an old man, after all.
“There are signs outside, so it is promising it is still intact. Perhaps the cache is still there. It might provide something useful for your growing numbers.”
MISTY FALLS CAVE
WHEN: Mid-month, onwards.
WHERE: Milton Outskirts.
CONTENT WARNINGS: booby traps; claustrophobic situations; potential injury/maiming; potential hyperthermic situations; exploration horror;
Methuselah gives directions to those willing to check out the lead for the old prepper cache. Following the river up from Milton Basin will lead to rugged, difficult pathways up towards Misty Falls — a waterfall, the river source itself. Most of the river is completely frozen with the freezing temperatures, but it is not completely so the closer to the source you go. Misty Falls is certainly idyllic, or it would be perhaps on a fine summer’s day — good for a nice hike. But the place looks desolate in the eternal winter cursing the Northern Territories.
The half-frozen waterfall is a din of sound, but the water itself is incredibly fresh and cooling for those hot and tired from the hike up. Those paying attention might notice a small space between the water and rock, big enough to squeeze through to get behind the waterfall itself. In the small space, the entrance to a small cave can be found. There are faded handmade signs, all in the same hand, reading ‘DANGER KEEP OUT’ and it isn’t too far of a stretch to wonder if perhaps this might be the secret stash of the old miner that Methuselah spoke of.
Venturing into the cave will not be an easy task. It seems the old miner was keen to keep any trespassers out, and most of this comes down to the cave itself. The walls of the cave quickly narrow, with only enough space to walk in single file. Jutting stone will easily make those stumble and trip. Occasionally the cave’s passage becomes narrower, meaning one might have to stoop or even crawl to carry on through. Here and there, the uneven floor dips, and your feet will find themselves in shin-deep frigid water. It’s slow-going, even if the actual passage itself isn’t incredibly long.
But perhaps the worst of all is the pressing darkness. A darkness so black even with lanterns switched off, one’s eyes cannot adjust to it. It is smothering, pressing. The air is stale and damp, you feel small — and the cave itself still presses in on you. The miner also kept a few tricks up his sleeve in order to keep out intruders. There are dead-ends, making it easy to get lost. Trip wires are hidden in the darkness, causing small man-made cave-ins to fall upon unsuspecting heads.
It might be safer, saner to give up and turn back. But persevering will see the cave opening up once more, this time widening into a room. The place is fashioned into some crude shelter. There is furniture, lanterns to be lit.
With more light, the miner’s stash is revealed: the painstaking, time-costing work of a paranoid old recluse. Crates of non-perishable foods, MREs, and bottled water. Medicines and basic medical supplies, flares and tools.
A perfect supply of survival goods, ripe for the taking.
SERPENT'S BREATH
WHEN: Throughout the month.
WHERE: The entirety of the Milton area.
CONTENT WARNINGS: mentions of dead animals; malevolent creature; snakes/serpents; poison/airborne toxins; potential poisonings; potential burn injuries; potential (temporary) blinding.
It’s noticed in different ways: perhaps a trail of dead animals stands before you, each one with no particular injury other than what appears to be burned hides and flesh — it is as if the wildlife simply dropped dead, for the most part. Perhaps you notice huge, tunnel-like grooves in the deepest parts of the snow, a few feet in width — as if something long and thick had made its way through to clear a path. More worryingly for some, they might notice trails of rot: destroyed trees, decaying plant life, as if the very earth itself has been scorched in the wake of something passing through, leaving nothing but destruction and devastation.
Something is destroying the flora and fauna of the world. There seems to be no pattern, simply the random trails all over the place. There appears to be no other tracks, other than the long, smooth tunnel-like pathways. Whatever it is, it must be stopped. Resources are so precious in this world, if the beast is allowed to continue then all who live here will soon starve due to lack of animals to hunt and plants to gather.
Following the tunnels is a sure-way to hunt the beast down, although these paths will lead far from town. It is best to go prepared. But soon enough, you may come across the slumbering beast, curled up on the snow or coiled underneath some jutting space of stone along the mountains. You’ll hear and smell it before you see it: the long grumbling snores as it sleeps, and the putrid stench of rot. Everything in you tells you to flee, much like when an animal senses something toxic, or poisoning.
You press on, finally stumbling across the beast: a long, serpent-like dragon, with tremendous horns and fangs, coloured with muted grey scales and huge, glowing, flamed eyes.
The element of surprise will work in your favour to try and kill the beast, but it will give up a good fight. It will take several rounds of fights with it before it will finally be taken down permanently. It moves quickly, with scales like steel. Its eyes and mouth are its weakest spots, as is the soft underbelly of its body — fire will work well on harming this beast, especially with a well aimed shot into its mouth.
Its open mouth is where it holds its most powerful weapon. Not the fangs, no. The very reason why the air smells of rot, why the wildlife lay dead, why the earth decays at your feet: its breath. The beast’s breath is highly toxic, it will burn the skin of those it comes into contact with. Breathing in the fumes will poison those who breathe it in, and will cause a weakening, sickly illness. The breath may even temporarily blind.
These injuries are not fatal, and will heal with time and the basic medical attention available in the world. Victims will require rest for at least a week, depending on how severe the blast of the serpent’s breath. But killing the best will ensure its havoc is brought to an end.
FAQs
1. Arrival threads can be treated as game canon.
2. Items characters have brought from home can be found either strewn around them when they awaken, or in the community hall — as if someone left them out for them to collect. Methuselah will not know how they got there, and will be quite bemused by the happenings.
3. Reminder that all characters are now depowered upon arrival. They can choose not to notice it at first, or can immediately sense something is different about them.
4. If asked any personal questions, Methuselah will smile and say "Oh, you don't want to know about an old man like me. But I have lived all over in these parts for all my life." He will be more concerned with trying to help Newcomers, and is genuinely concerned for them and their well-being. Other Interlopers will say much of the same — there's little to know about him.
5. More information about Milton can be found here.
1. Tools found would be basic survival/camping tools one might expect: knives, hand axes, rope, handsaws, torches, batteries, etc.
1. The Stoor Worm, or Mester Stoor Worm, was a gigantic evil sea serpent of Orcadian folklore, capable of contaminating plants and destroying animals and humans with its putrid breath. Assipattle, the youngest son of a local farmer, defeated the creature by flinging still-burning peat into its mouth. As it died its teeth fell out to become the islands of Orkney, Shetland and the Faroes, and its body became Iceland.
2. It is possible the harvest the beast once it is killed, particularly for its fangs and skin. The skin/scales will provide ample protection to try to use it for armouring themselves. The fangs would provide useful for crafting knives or weapons.
3. It is... technically possible to eat the meat of the beast. Care should be taken in butchering, however. And it is not advised to eat the head.
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So there's not too much of a protest against Hickey's statement, even though Billy is still convinced the other is too confident for his own good. He will gladly agree though that anything is better than Irving, for a variety of reasons. ]
He said he was going to protect me from you. [ There's a little bit of dryness to his tone as he says it, given..
.. you know. Everything. So many things. Alanis Morissette writes songs about it. ]
Lieutenant Little, I mean.
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Then starts to giggle. He is trying very hard not to bust out into laughter. But the idea of Little protecting Billy from Hickey, hell the idea of Little protecting anybody in the first place, is absolutely hilarious.
Hickey's still trying (and failing!) to repress those giggles as he teases, ]
I'd love to see what he does. After all, I'm a devious seducer, yeah? How does he plan on keeping you out of my clutches?
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Well, let's not give him any reason to think he has to do something.
[ Regardless of how likely - or unlikely, in Little's case - it is that the man would do something in the first place. Cornelius, babe, it's only funny until they've got another case of homophobic boss on their hands, okay!! ]
Even if he may have absolutely no authority here, I still don't want any unnecessary trouble for-- [ He pauses, like he's hesitating on which word exactly to use here, before ending up with ] --us.
[ He shakes his head. ]
He does not have to know where I am.
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Little knows where I live. But he doesn't visit. He came by once to accost me for the mutiny and never again. Stay with me, and I'll make sure none of our crewmates come by.
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But that exact fact - that he thinks those others would rather just not see Hickey at all - is what makes him sound a little surprised as he asks: ]
He did?
[ Honestly, the fact that it's Little of all people is maybe what makes it most surprising of all. Billy can't even imagine how that'd go down. Did he grow a spine.. Even though there's no way Little would be able to win an argument with Hickey. Absolutely not. ]
What happened?
cw: references to cannibalism, it's the terror, baby!!
The first person who vanished was a young man, about the age of a ship's boy. One of his friends put up a notice about a missing person. Lieutenant Little thought that I had something to do with it, so he met me in person.
[ Lieutenant Little thought that Hickey had something to do with it because of the butchery. His history. Because of the fact that after Billy died, they used him as meat. And if Hickey could use someone he was so close to as sustenance, it would be easy enough to use a relative stranger.
Not that Hickey is telling Billy this, of course. As far as he's concerned? Billy doesn't need to know what happened after he died. ]
Suppose he was thinking about Irving. Kill someone, blame the natives, rally people to my cause. Except I had a reason to kill Irving. That boy vanished in the first month we were here—and I barely knew him in the first place. I let Little search the premises and tried not to look too smug when he came up empty-handed.
[ That's a goddamn lie, Hickey was annoyingly smug. ]
cw: continued murder and cannibalism talk, i guess!!!!!
[ It's a little hum as he takes in all this information, turning it over inside of his head. Today has been involving a whole lot of processing information so far, after all, and at this point he definitely needs a moment to get it all in line in his mind. ]
He knows you killed me too. He said doctor Goodsir told him. [ He speaks as if this might be news to Hickey. (And, you know, a little more hushed again, since the entire world doesn't need to know about this.) Billy figures it is news though, especially since he thinks the other would have no reason to assume it was just because of what happened to Irving unless he thought Little didn't know about what else happened.
It also happens to let Hickey know that Little did, in fact, not tell Billy about the cannibalism part of it all, judging by what the man is saying now. ]
It's more likely that he figured you could kill anyone, if you could kill someone who was on your side. [ Even though the lieutenant would obviously have no idea just how much further that went than just being on the same side.. ] Easier for him to blame the devil he does know, rather than having to consider the devil he does not.
no subject
Well, thank fuck for that. Hickey's keeping that part of it all to himself. Instead, he listens to what Billy says, frowning slightly as he points out, ]
And we all know Lieutenant Little would rather go for the easier option. Less to think about that way. Less to worry about. And I do know I make a very convenient scapegoat for this place's crimes. [ a pause before, ] Not that I've done anything, of course. I've no reason to.
no subject
I believe you.
[ Unless he's entirely wrong about Hickey. He could be. Billy didn't see that knife coming, after all, but if Hickey is telling the truth to him about why he did it, then it all makes a little more sense to Billy. It means the pattern - though more rapidly escalating than Billy ever could have imagined at the start of this entire chain of events - holds true, and in that case.. yes, Hickey wouldn't just go around killing people for no reason.
He glances down at the bottles the other has gathered by now. ]
.. we should get going now.
no subject
After all. I've got an entire bloody house to show you.
no subject
It probably says a lot that Billy goes right along with the mood shift. Even if he doesn't smile - let alone the way Hickey is grinning - he does seem to grow a little less tense when he speaks. ]
The more you say that, the more I feel like you might be overcompensating and said house is going to be the most rundown thing I have ever seen.
[ Not that he's actually that picky.
After all, he's still wearing the world's cheapest ring around his neck like it's a national treasure. ]
no subject
[ It's only a little rundown. No, the problem is that it's the world's messiest bachelor pad.
rip to Gibson's steward sensibilities, your man has barely cleaned up after himself at best. ]
It's got multiple bedrooms! You've never lived in a place like that before, yeah? [ At least, Hickey certainly hasn't. His life has been multiple people crammed into one room, beds at boarding houses, hammocks strung across the ship. He's never had a place where he could have a semblance of privacy before. It's nice to have one here. ]
no subject
For now, though, he shakes his head. Billy sure doesn't come from enough means to really know anything else either, after all. The idea of living in a place like that is a little like the idea of sharing a house with the other man - almost impossible to imagine. ]
And you've been living there by yourself?
[ What do you even do with all those bedrooms, Hickey!! ]
no subject
Yeah, [ Hickey responds, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. ] All that time on Terror, I was more than happy to get a place to myself. To get some space I was well overdue.
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[ It's said in that usual Billy way. So perfectly neutral that it's really hard to figure out whether he means it as a compliment or something a little more sassy than that.
To be fair, in this situation, it's probably a little more of the former, given that he is glad at the idea of getting a roof over his head at all, let alone one like this. Especially when this place seems no better than the Arctic, weather-wise. ]
Perhaps you might even be willing to give up some space in close proximity. [ Please don't make him spell out what he means by that.. ]
no subject
Hell, we're sharing a bed! I'm not letting you go, Billy. Not here, not ever.
[ it's said with complete sincerity. ]
no subject
Even after he's done, there's still a moment of quiet staring - but then Billy puts down their plates on the table, off his arm, and uses his freed hand to grab a hold of the other's wrist. He would tug the other along, but.. well, it's not like there's a whole lot of strength in that arm right now. The scurvy may have cleared from his body, but it still left said body wrecked in the process, especially so soon after.
So it's likely with some cooperation on the other man's part that Billy gets the both of them out of the most nearby backdoor. There's only a moment spared to glance and make sure there's no one else around out here, unlike in there--
And when he's sure they're alone for the moment, Hickey's body between the wall and Billy's own body, he's putting his hands on the sides of the other man's face as Billy leans in for a kiss.
Though he hasn't said a word, the way he kisses Hickey like a man drinks water after spending weeks in the desert probably says enough about what those words just now are doing to him.
(Sorry about the probably super chapped lips, Hickey.) ]
no subject
Hell yeah!
That's nice!
Hickey kisses back, just as passionately, just as intensely, taking in all of Billy and indulging in a way that he hasn't done in ages. Hickey is going to kiss this man as long as humanly possible, only coming up for air when those super chapped lips get a little bit too much.
....at which point, Hickey licks his lips and goes right back in for a make-out session. Kiss number two is using tongue, Billy. ]
no subject
Billy isn't complaining though, apparently, since he allows the other to move right back in for that second kiss, even opening his mouth invitingly when he realises what Hickey is going for here. Who cares that Hickey shoved a knife into his back only a few hours ago. That was then, and this is now, and right now this feels much better than any sensation Billy has felt in quite some time now, and isn't that what matters?
He's only snapped out of it when he catches a sound - something like a branch snapping - that makes Billy instantly back off the other, head turning to nervously glance around them. It doesn't seem like it was an actual person, but it's seemed to have spooked the man enough. ]
We should wait until we're inside after all.
[ Yes, Billy started kissing, but he can't help just how stupidly attractive Cornelius Hickey can be at times, alright. ]