Event - Appalachia: Into the Pines

[apocalypsehowmods]

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Appalachia: Into the Pines

Footage plays on the television as a new story comes on, showing a series of sweeping vistas, intercut with clips of wolves that have clearly been filmed at some local wildlife sanctuary. "As far as anyone knows it, the last wolf to ever freely roam the Allegheny Mountains was slain in West Virginia in 1897. Daniel Stoffer Hamrick saw to the beast's passing, and the woods in our part of the world have gone quieter ever since. Appalachia does not forget its history, though. It buries it beneath coal and flyash, debts and white powder and pills. And the blood of people taken before their time, by the mines, by the mountain, by things we don't have names for, just hurt. But Appalachia does not forget.

"This is Cindy Parsons with Channel 5, Wolf News." Footage cuts to a newscaster standing outside a gated apartment complex with FYRE's logo emblazoned on it. "As we know, our beloved Wolf Pen is home to one of the biggest FYRE worker housing complexes in Wyoming County. It is a monument to the history of our town, and this week, we'll be on the lookout for visitors from all over the country, coming to see the grand re-opening of the historic Bluestone Mine as a museum."

Footage cuts to a nondescript businessman, identified by the news footage as Carl Watts, CEO of FYRE. He's smiling blandly as he stands at a podium and gestures to the entrance of the mining tunnel behind him. "The Wolf Pen community has been a partner to us for decades now, and we knew it was finally time to give something back to all y’all. We'll have our soft opening on Monday with a full Rumble Down Under party in the old mines scheduled for June 15th. We'll have a live bluegrass concert and anticipate a huge influx of tourists to the area to help out our neighbors itching for a few more pocketbooks to tend to." A wink.

The footage returns to Cindy. "FYRE has stated that this new museum will provide an educational tool and tourist attraction for those wanting to learn about West Virginia, Wolf Pen, and the hard-working men and women who have made this beautiful part of our nation their home. Time will tell. Time is always telling when it comes to the promises of people who have used our land and our bodies to line their pocketbooks. They fill our blood and our lungs with black tar and-"

Cindy cuts out and is replaced by in-studio anchors. "Thank you, Cindy!" a blonde woman says, smile just a little strained. "I think we're all looking forward to seeing the big opening by FYRE on Sunday and that rocking good party next month. It should be a gneiss one! Now to Tim with the weather. Tim?"

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Comments

[pennedin]

((It is not too late!))

[cardinalrule]

((Awesome ty!!))

[Well, he has somewhere to investigate. Hunter isn't exactly a fan of breaking the rules, and he certainly isn't a fan of it now, but he has the bigger picture to consider. He breaks his one rule, he helps these humans stop this apocalypse, he goes back to the Boiling Isles and continues helping Belos with the Day of Unity. It's worth it, as long as he's doing it for Belos.

He has Flapjack hiding safely in his bag as he heads down into Bluestone mine. It isn't that hard to duck away from the other tours going on and go off on his own, and it isn't hard to come across one of the tunnels blocked off to tourists. Despite the guilt welling up in him he ducks under the rope, and once he's far enough in he opens his bag up.]

Sorry. [That's to Flapjack, who cheeps loudly and flutters up into the air, circling around Hunter, who pulls out a flashlight, before landing on a rocky outcropping.] But I didn't want you getting into trouble. If you start feeling woozy, then tell me and we'll go.

[Flapjack chirps a response and the two head further down the tunnel.]

[pennedin]

[The offshoot starts out wide and tall, less so than the main museum tunnels but still cleared out enough to be walkable if rough. It splits ahead, one split dimly lit by a string of safety lights, the other pitch black.]

[cardinalrule]

[The lit tunnel feels too easy for Hunter, so he turns his flashlight on (ugh, he wishes he could use magic) and he and Flapjack head down the darker option.]

[pennedin]

[Whatever sounds of chatter and footsteps he could hear in the museum behind him grow diffuse and difficult to pinpoint as he gets deeper into the tunnel, the sound bouncing off the jagged rock as it fades. If he's not careful his clothes will be smudged by coal on the walls; it's thick and dusty here. The tunnel splits again and again - the deeper he goes the more like a hive or maze this place seems to become. It would be easy to get lost down here, or to fall down an open shaft.]

[cardinalrule]

[This is probably a terrible idea, going into an unknown location with only his palisman. But Hunter isn't all that good at making smart decisions sometimes, especially when he thinks it means he can be useful.

Every so often at about eye level he pauses and tries to mark an arrow in the coal dust on the walls, it means his gloves are getting dirty but he figures he needs to start keeping track of his location as he goes further in.]

[pennedin]

[As long as he makes use of his flashlight and steps carefully, he'll be able to traverse the narrow tunnels without injury. What Audrey said rings true, though; there's a lot here that's not on the map and if he hadn't thought to mark the way he could easily get turned around and lost down here.

As he reaches a squeeze point and will be faced with the decision to either turn back or press through a narrow spot, a light clicks on ahead and around a turn. Wherever he's ended up, there's apparently another entrance. Or exit, depending on one's perspective. A masculine-sounding voice can be heard faintly, echoing enough that it's hard to make out.]

Hey, Dad -- wanted to call, let -- how things are going!

[cardinalrule]

[He's sorely wishing he had thought to bring paper for a map, or at least some string, but the arrows will have to do. He's got Flapjack with him though, and that's reassuring.

The two of them continue further on and when he reaches that chokepoint he pauses, weighing his choices. It becomes a pretty easy decision to make when that light flickers to life. He moves to squeeze through it, Flapjack settling on his head to make it a bit easier for him. Luckily, in a sad attempt to blend in he's here without his layers of armour, and for all his pomp he's still a scrawny kid, so he can get through as long as he avoids deep breaths.

As he makes his way through he does so as quietly as possible, listening to whoever that is. It's eavesdropping, sure, but it's all in service of the Emperor so it's fine.]

[pennedin]

[There's a long pause, long enough to create doubt as to whether the owner of the voice has left as abruptly as he seemed to arrive, but then:]

...Dad?

[...A shorter pause...]

I saw something weird--did you send someone over to work on the Cathedral? There was a kid in my group that said he saw a monster, and I thought I saw someone going down one of the north tunnels. I thought we weren't supposed to work on it while people are here?

[Another pause now as Hunter squeezes through only to find a wall of wooden crates between himself and the voice. There's enough room for a scrawny kid to slip out from behind, but the voice is much clearer now, much closer, words ringing crystal clear.]

Maybe they're ADI?

[…]

Okay. Love you-

[…The briefest flicker of a pause with a sad little hitch of breath…]

Dad.

[cardinalrule]

[Well, that's an interesting half of a conversation. Hunter makes sure to turn his flashlight off before he makes it through to the crates. He pauses to listen, exchanging a cautious look with Flapjack.

A cathedral and a monster, huh? So there's definitely something suspicious going on down here.

(There's a small part of him that aches at the emotion behind that dad but he tries to ignore it. He's on an assignment.)

When it sounds like the conversation is over he's going to try and peer around the crates to see what's out there. Avoiding getting caught when he's between a rock and a hard place would be nice, but he'd like to scope out more, see who it was that was talking.]

[pennedin]

[Whoever it is seems to pause where he is before there's the click of a phone hung on its receiver. He lets out a long, heavy sigh before muttering a little pep talk to himself.]

Okay. That's okay. He's just busy. I knew that.

[The view Hunter will get while remaining hidden isn't great, but he'll get a glimpse of a what appears to be a section of tunnel currently used for storage, a landline phone on one wall, and young man taking a moment to draw in a deep breath before he turns to exit the area, turning off the lights as he goes.]

[cardinalrule]

[..... It sounds like 'dad' ended this conversation first. Hunter knows what that's like.

He squints, doing the best he can to commit that face to his memory, quietly waiting until he's sure he and Flapjack are now alone. Then he carefully stands, turning his flashlight back on to check over the crates - either for writing on the sides, or to see if one is open, or if one can be easily opened. It's strange for a tunnel all the way down here in an inactive mine is being used for storage.]

[pennedin]

[The crates aren't labeled with their contents, but they are addressed to 'Bluestone Mine Museum', apparently having been shipped in. He'll be able to open any he can reach; it looks like someone opened them up and then just set the lid back on after checking their contents. They're full of speakers, stands, disassembled pub tables, parts for a modular stage that can be set up onsite, and banners for the Rumble Down Under--in other words, all the accoutrements for a big event. Unlike the cramped tunnel he crept through, the other exit to this area is carved out pretty wide and walkable, like the tunnels that make up the museum.]

[cardinalrule]

[Hunter and Flapjack will poke around a couple of the crates until he has a reasonable idea of what he's looking at (modern human technology is still new to him, okay). Once he's done that he's going to sneak back through the way he came, and head back up to the surface.]

[pennedin]

[Thanks to his arrows, he should be able to get back the same way he came. If anyone spots him once he's back in the tunnels that make up the museum proper he's likely to get some confused and concerned looks thanks to the coal dust on him, but no one descends upon him to stop him from leaving or anything.]