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apocalypsehowcomm2023-11-01 09:52 pm
NPC Interactions - November 2023
NOTE: This will be the last instance of the NPC Interactions post for the remainder of the game's run.
Please note the following:
- To interact, simply place the name of NPC you wish to thread with in the subject line and provide a starter. These do not need to be complex in their set-up and NPCs can be found anywhere one might reasonably find them. In the office or around Gloucester.
- Each player will be limited to one NPC thread on this post per month. This is to keep things manageable for the mods and to encourage players to share whatever their characters might learn in these interactions with the broader group.
- Interaction with NPCs is not required to participate in the plot of the game. This is simply an additional, optional venue for engagement.
The Warden (i.e., head) of the Apocalypse Disruption Initiative/Apex Detectives, Inc., and a very busy woman. She is short, serious, and direct, but can turn on the charm when she needs to. She is the public face of the business and directs strategy for the organization. She is also an avatar of the Hunt. Her status as an avatar came as a surprise, but she has decided to at least partially embrace it, the better to fight the monsters. Nia has indicated she intends to find a way to get Player Characters home or stop them arriving in her universe and then find a way to stop herself from becoming one of the monsters ADI is sworn to fight. She places the mission and practicality first and has been shown to have the ability to smell Entity affiliation on others, as well as know strategically useful information. Nia is most likely to be found at ADI Headquarters.
This month she is not available. If anyone asks around, it seems that Nia is out on a field mission… probably in Dogtown.
Formerly Nia's assistant, currently working in PR for ADI. They have a close, personal connection with Bonnie. When they're not at ADI Headquarters, they might be found out on the town with Bonnie or dropping in to visit her at the Flophouse. They are average height, polite, and eminently calm. They also seem to have a knack for reading other people.
This month they are not available.
HR for New Arrivals at ADI. She is a motherly, older woman who is typically patient, but also has a passive-aggressive snap to her if someone tests that to the breaking point. She is responsible for acclimating new arrivals and for those with a keen eye, she always carries a pistol in a shoulder holster, hidden beneath her cardigans. Due to an event incident, Pam is missing her left hand; she simply covers the stump with a pinned cardigan sleeve when wearing long sleeves or a pretty, fluffy cuff when wearing short sleeves. She's most often found at ADI Headquarters.
This month, she is fretting over Nia's absence and trying to keep things going at ADI. Pam seems to be trying to make the best of things with Thanksgiving, though, and planning a very small celebration for those interested at one of the local pubs. You might also catch her in the hallways putting up fall leaf decorations and pastel pumpkins.
Proprietor of the Flophouse. Bonnie is a tall, red-headed woman from another world, one of the first to find herself dragged into this new reality more than a year ago. She's a Bohemian sort with a lot of manic energy. She also places much greater emphasis on retaining one's humanity over being strictly human. Bonnie has a close, personal relationship with Reyes Amador, and will keep the people in the flophouse apprised of anything important ADI is doing so that they can help, if they wish to do so. She's most often found at the Flophouse or out on the town with Reyes.
This month she is not available.
A young person living in the flophouse as Bonnie's roommate. They are a native to this reality and read a cursed book called The Long Road Ahead around the same time that Bonnie arrived. They now feed on cherished memories to give horrific visions of a potential future to those who wish to avail themselves of the exchange. They are rail thin, sickly, and always keep a blindfold over their eyes. They can sometimes be found in the common area in the flophouse with a white walking cane to guide them. (This NPC provides an IC conduit for OOC 'canon updates.')
This month the Visionary is stepping up in Bonnie's absence to help run the Flophouse. He is nervous and sometimes disappears back into the basement to collect himself, but he's trying very hard. You might catch her in the kitchen or on the phone with a rolodex of Bonnie's contacts, trying to work on establishing connections.
A young man living in one of the flophouse's unused rooms. He is native to this reality and was originally part of a Desolation-based circus called the Fenix Down Extravaganza. He was called away from the circus on "family business," just before PCs murdered all Desolation avatars of the circus. Formerly known as Pyre, Cole was subsequently known to be lurking around Wolf Pen, WV during the events of Appalachia before he starting lighting fires on his way toward revenge against ADI for the circus and for their murder of his father, Carl Watts, in Wolf Pen. In his search for revenge, Cole attacked a Gloucester Eye cult, thinking it was associated with ADI and was turned from a man made of wax to one made of viscous eye jelly. He has lost cohesion as a being in many ways, along with access to much of his Desolation-based abilities, and is currently trapped in the form of a melted, mostly faceless flesh-blob monster. He lurks in the Flophouse, avoiding contact with people where he can. This NPC was spared by players from death and hidden at the Flophouse as part of a poll that took place in December 2022. As of June 2023, Cole has repaid some of the kindness shown to him by developing a truly private network app just for off-worlders.
This month Cole is… out of his bedroom! About mid-month, a man that others may have seen before might be glimpsed roaming the halls of the Flophouse or even further afield into Gloucester. He seems to be in especially high spirits and is eager to help out anyone who seems like they might be in need. He still moves slowly and avoids getting too close to people, in spite of his apparently human appearance. This seems to be a 'look, but don't touch' situation.
A local “friend” found in a room in ADI’s basement. It’s been discovered they’re perhaps one of the oldest people from another world still around as well as the being responsible for the glamours that have kept non-humans from being discovered. Through the off-worlder’s efforts, they have decided to stick around and help…for now. ADI isn’t willing to let a known monster stray too far, however, and they can be found under heavy and varied forms of observation in their little house not far from ADI’s gates.
This month the little house near ADI now sports a ring of burned vegetation that has left it cleared and open, but even more ghastly than before. The charred exterior offers no new plant life, but the door is once more available and, as always, unlocked. Any visitors or curious investigators may also find their perception of…everything is a little challenged. Are things getting more dizzy? How long have you been standing there? Was that always the color of your shirt or could you have sworn it was something else?
no subject
As have I. Truly, I would just simply like to know what he has gotten up to these last few months at all! But as I said, I will not complain. He is back. And I must have you meet.
[And honestly, there is no better change of subject, because even in their glamour, Rue simply beams.]
Could you? I would so love to have you over for tea.
no subject
I can...tend to them, my watchers. Cole offered for me to drop by your Bonnie's...I think I will take him up on it and come see you both. Perhaps, if I've found enough energy in the meantime, I can find something that will be a suitable base for what is almost food from home. It will be exactly as real as your eyes and tongue are willing to listen, but the food itself will be solid.
It has been some time since I had anyone I genuinely wanted to see. So...thank you for that precious gift.
no subject
And thank you as well. This place felt so dark for me for so long, I do not know how much of me would be left if we had not met. You gave me purpose and friendship when I desperately needed both.
[Let them blink back a few tears, shaking their head in a way that Milo must know is ruffling their feathers beneath their glamour.]
Forgive me, you just mean so much to me now. I am so thankful to know you.
no subject
And I you...inside and out. I would remain with you. There's little else of interest for me here. A good meal can be found anywhere, a good friend is once in a lifetime.
no subject
You know I would welcome your company anywhere I go. With you and my Hob at my side, I should hardly want for a thing. [Whether it is with ADI or elsewhere out there in the unforgiving world, Rue could face it easier with their loved ones at their side.]
But there is one more thing I wanted to offer you. I have tried so desperately to find your true name, to wrest it back from whatever mortal keeps it, but I woefully regret that I have had no luck.
However, if some day you feel ready to take on a new true name, to be born again under a name that is purely your own, I would be honored to give it to you. A secret I would never reveal, one that I would never use against you. You could continue to live as Milo, but hold a new name in your heart and have the full of your agency returned to you. That is a promise without end. I will fulfill it anytime that you ask, whether that is tomorrow or a millennia from now.
You have my word, darling friend.
no subject
I feel it may be lost to me...but I appreciate your search...and more so your offer. What an offer it is.
[Certainly not one anyone they would have known would have ever given.]
I don't believe I have ever had someone care enough to want to give me a name...still, I must think on it. Perhaps when we are done here with...whatever holds us all in place. Once you are unshackled, I might be as well.
no subject
[Another squeeze of their paw to Milo's hand.]
We shall both go free together, my friend. I promise, whatever happens next, you have me as an ally.