Headline News #2

[apocalypsehowmods]

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Headlines

Like most cities of a certain size, Gloucester gets its daily news from its local paper. Stories concerning local matters are printed side by side with national and international stories aggregated from other sources. For the most part the news is what one would expect in a mundane modern world: business openings, politics, crime, and human interest stories. Every so often, though, something pops up that could be more significant...or might be nothing more than what it appears on the surface.

The following headlines are items of potential interest that appear in the paper throughout November. Summaries represent one or more articles, editorials, press releases, or letters to the editor on a particular subject. Players are encouraged to incorporate these items into their characters' understanding of current events as well as use them for plotting. If you would like your character to perform deeper research or investigations, please pose any questions to the designated mod comment. Players are welcome to use this post for IC discussion and threads related to these news items, or to create their own posts or messages for that purpose.

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➥ Coal Miners Beset by Tommyknockers
(cw: claustrophobia, buried alive, hallucinations, poisoning)

What began as a few isolated incidents has escalated to a spate of walk-outs at Cumnock Mine in North Carolina. Miners have claimed to have been trapped under rubble for hours or days despite a complete lack of any verifiable incidents, as well as reporting encounters with strange creatures underground. Senior staff of the mine's owners, Faulkner, Yuan, Reid, and Eames, Inc., could not be reached for comment; union leads are demanding a halt in work until the mine is inspected for build-up of dangerous gases presumed to be causing hallucinations.

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➥ A Family's Harrowing Hike at Halibut Point
(cw: falling from a height, danger of drowning, danger to a young child, hypothermia)

A fun day out at the turn of the season nearly ended in tragedy for the Deadman family. While hiking the cliffs at Halibut Point State Park, Jill Deadman slipped and tumbled from the rocks into the ocean below. Her husband Tom Deadman was carrying their young son, Jaxson, and in his efforts to catch his wife he followed her off the cliff. A fellow hiker who saw the fall describes the terror of the moment, as well as efforts afterward to help the family back to safety. All three members of the Deadman family were treated for hypothermia and some painful scrapes at a nearby hospital, but were otherwise unharmed.

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➥ Collisions Decrease as Drivers Learn to Stay in Their Lanes
(cw: vehicular collisions)

Traffic collisions around Gloucester have seen a sharp decrease since the end of October. A series of letters to the editor credit a reversion to prior traffic patterns, prompting the City Council to issue an official statement clarifying that none of the changes implemented earlier this fall have been reverted. Instead, council members argue, the change is due to belated implementation of proper procedures by the police department. The chief of police emphatically denies any responsibility for September and October's high rate of vehicular collisions.

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➥ New Horizons: Data Is the Next Frontier in Tech

Copernicus founder and majority owner Zyrian Steel has announced simultaneous advancements in software and hardware he claims will revolutionize data storage capacity and transfer. Steel promises instantaneous wireless data transfer regardless of location, leveraging Copernicus's communications satellites. As is typical for an announcement of upcoming tech, Steel has declined to name a precise date when the New Horizons tech will be available to the public, though he teases that it will be within the next two years.

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➥ Step Aside, LOLCat - Puptato is the Internet's New Rising Star
It's not often the people of Idaho take center stage in national news...and to be fair, they still haven't. But images of "Puptato," a massive potato the size and vaguely the shape of a dog, have proliferated across the internet and become the subject of a slew of memes. Further reading will reveal a pattern of several articles about unusually large and uncanny vegetables found at harvest festivals across the country this fall.

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➥ Gen Z's Favorite VTuber Dies Age 28
(cw: disease, parasites, death)

VTuber Ren Morimoto, better known to her fanbase as LovelyRen, has passed away after her battle with a rare parasitic infection came to a tragic end. Morimoto, an online entertainer who used a virtual avatar in her lifestyle vlogs, had been inactive online since soon after her return from a trip to the Dominican Republic last spring. Health officials indicate that Morimoto's tragic death could have been prevented with proper immunizations and protections prior to traveling outside the U.S., and caution citizens to observe CDC recommendations. The funeral service will be private; Morimoto's family plan to establish a foundation for the treatment of a variety of parasitic infections in her name.

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Comments

QUESTIONS

[apocalypsehowmods]

[sorser]

Are there any descriptions of the “strange creatures” in the coal miners article? (Other than what can be assumed from the “Tommyknockers” title, unless that’s just there for sensationalism.)

[apocalypsehowmods]

Miners who have been interviewed give a wide range of descriptions regarding the 'things' in the mines. Some of these descriptions include:

• Misshapen, coal-dust covered figures moving in perfect unison.
  
• Unnaturally tall silhouettes cast at angles that are not coming from any apparent light source.
  
• Enormous stone figures that block tunnels one moment, then sink into the ground the next.
  
• A figure that appears to have a cage atop their shoulders instead of a head. For this ones, it's said miners can hear the sound of a twittering canary, as well.

[sorser]

SPOOKY. At the risk of being completely off the mark, would ADI have anything to say about this article if Stephen brought it up to them, with the suspicion that it sounds like maaaybe something Deepthi would do? (He has definitely not forgotten this conversation.)

[apocalypsehowmods]

ADI will be very concerned about the news reports when Stephen brings them to their attention. When the information reaches Reyes, they will get in touch with Nia ASAP to discuss the situation, and Stephen is likely to hear the name 'Austin' a few times. If asked, Reyes will explain that Austin Yeats is one of ADI's lead field agents, and he's currently down in the region where those stories are originating, tracking other unusual activity. They're going to put him on looking for leads on Deepthi while he's local.

This will have an impact an event coming up in the next few months. Please keep an eye out!

[sorser]

Aaah cool! Looking forward to seeing what happens. 👀 Thanks mods!

[septieme]

For the Puptato article, if characters look further into the vegetable growth, can they get their hands on one, either in Gloucester's grocery stores or better yet, be able to physically visit a nearby local farm (some harvest/vegetable picking tour via bus or something) for on-site investigation? Can they also find anything about potential side effects of consuming these large and uncanny vegetables from locals/NPCs? Tangentially, what if player characters try eating them?

[apocalypsehowmods]

Characters will find that the vegetables in grocery stores this fall are quite ordinary; while multiple uncanny vegetables have turned up and made the rounds of the internet, they're not so widespread as to make it into the general food supply. Discussions with NPCs will vary, with some claiming that they read online that someone ate Puptato and died, while others shrug it off, saying that it's just vegetables.

A little digging will turnip turn up an opportunity to head out of town and visit a pick-your-own farm. Pickings are a little slim this late in the season, but there are still raspberries, blackberries, corn, and tomatoes. If characters go on the hunt, they will find one (1) lumpy tomato that kind of looks like it has a face.

There are no apparent supernatural effects from handling or eating the tomato.

[aelwyn_aberration]

Could Aelwyn potentially look further into the Deadman family, just to keep track of what they've been up to since the accident?

She'd also be interested in sharing it with someone who's been here longer than her, probably Reyes, to see if they can back up her suspicions that they might have only "survived" by becoming avatars of The End.

[apocalypsehowmods]

How would she go about keeping track of them? There will be waning media coverage as the news cycle wears on, so she would probably need to track them by other means than press coverage. As a note, there is the potential for negative IC consequences for digging too deeply, depending on how she's going about it.

Reyes would be intrigued by the idea, but uncertain. While they've been here some time, this isn't their world. They would agree with her that it's a reasonable possibility, but until they see more concrete evidence they can't dedicate ADI resources in that direction.

[henchgal]

Beloved mods, I'd love to know more about Faulkner, Yuan, Reid and Eames. What might someone with above-average google-fu (but not any actual hacking) find out about them with a few hours dedicated searching?

(I am asking here and not on the January event as an indication that I've made this connection already.)

[apocalypsehowmods]

FYRE is a mining company operated across the Appalachian region and down across the southern United States. They were started roughly 30 years ago, and the president is a man named Carl Watts. Mr. Watts is in his 60s and was born in Maine. He comes from a long line of miners, but went into the management side of things as a young man, rather than working in the mines. He was appointed as president of FYRE about 12 years ago. He's somewhat renown for being germophobic and a massive Star Trek fan, using the Vulcan salute of a raised hand, splitting the middle and ring fingers, as a greeting. FYRE is financed by a wealthy American investment firm called The Whiterock Group that seems to have its fingers in most of the oil and gas sector in the country. FYRE has projects focused on coal, oil, and gas production, with a few small solar projects that they promote heavily on their website to show they are committed to being a "green" company.