apocalypsehowcomm | NPC Interactions

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NPC Interactions - August 2023

Player characters aren't the only ones trying to eke out a living and dodge the apocalypse in Gloucester. Beginning in July 2023, Apocalypse How will feature a monthly NPC Interaction post, where we will post any updates about what key NPCs are up to in the background, as well as provide a place for players to tag in and interact with those NPCs.

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.
These NPC threads can be used for AC, but if players are using them exclusively to meet AC requirements across multiple months, the mods reserve the right to request additional non-NPC proofs.
Interaction with NPCs is not required to participate in the plot of the game. This is simply an additional, optional venue for engagement.

Nia Lehrer (she/her)

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… or working her way there from an alignment. 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 seems to be following up on a potential Situation with the government that a conversation with one of the non-native members of ADI raised. Early in the month, she will be away on a trip in Washington. She will be available via email and phone text only. In the latter part of the month, her agitation and paranoia from the previous month is in full gear, as that sense of someone following her grows.

Reyes Amador (they/them)

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 absent for increasingly long stretches of times in Dogtown. They return from these excursions bearing more and more injuries. Word on the street is that they're heavily invested in investigating Dogtown. And it seems to be getting more perilous. They are still engaged with their duties, of course. The work to cover up Wolf Trap is ongoing, even now, with so many people who were affected by it.

Pam Ruan (she/her)

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 has been worrying after the visibly non-human members of ADI, in particular. She's been wanting to check in on them, make certain they're doing all right. When she hears about the black vans (and sees them) patrolling Gloucester, she'll encourage people to stay in their homes or ADI HQ and offer to run errands outside for them with an increasingly paranoid and desperate energy.

Bonnie Gale (she/her)

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 has been more absent than usual at the Flophouse. When asking other, non-ADI residents about her, the story seems to be that she's been going on long walks, often with Reyes. Maybe rekindling their romance? Hard to say. But Bonnie is around sometimes, trying to get her Etsy Sticker Shop off the ground. It's... still going poorly. Some of it might be her lackluster design skills.

The Visionary (he/she/they)

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, as is usual for her, the Visionary is holed up in their room and reluctant to take visitors... though, with Bonnie gone more often, they seem to be coming out a little more in search of things from the kitchen. And maybe even the tiniest bit of company.

Cole Guttuso (he/him)

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 remains holed up in his room as he has been since moving into the Flophouse, but he's always up for a chat over his network. After the kindness shown to him recently, he might even open his door for an in-person visit…if you can stomach his blob monster appearance. He's heard about Bonnie's Etsy shop and has been trying to contribute ideas. A lot of them involve fire.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

With the potential to spin this out into a NPC thread, could Elias use his creepy Eye powers to learn which government officials might be supportive and might not be supportive to Nia's/ADI's cause?

(obviously we can handwave any actual names/lists/positions/etc. if the answer's yes)

Yes, that's fine as the premise for a thread! We're going to keep it nebulous as to the specific officials/names, but Elias would be able to discern that government officials associated with the armed forces are beginning to look askance at ADI and the events unfolding in Gloucester.

Don't worry, I am aokay with this being handwave city wrt actual details.

"Hey Nia?" Cortana pokes her head into the women's office one day not too long after her experience with Hal's coding.

"I've got something to report," She might sound nervous, but there's a growing gravity to her voice that should make it clear that that nervousness has nothing to do with bothering higher ups "and it's a big one."

A widespread piece of medical technology being tied to the vast is, well... disaster might be an understatement.

Nia looks up from her computer and gestures for Cortana to come in, her attention immediately focused. "Sounds like if you're worried enough to tell me. Have a seat, you've got both my ears."

"Well, I found out that Steel-may he forever roll in his grave-was probably not being entirely altruistic with his efforts to provide the public with access to advanced prosthetics." She pauses as she takes a seat. "HAL's tied to the Vast: viewing its source code overwhelms the mind, causing memory loss and inability to communicate except in binary."

Her brows furrow and one hand comes up to clasp over the other while she thinks. "I assume you're talking either from experience or from observation. I'm not really surprised he wove it in other places, but I guess I'd naïvely hoped it was mostly contained."

Another pause for thought and she turns back to her computer to start opening a few files, though the angle towards the front of the desk and the privacy functions on the display itself makes it hard to see what. "Did any of these effects set in before looking at the lines of code?

QUESTIONS

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Nia

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Nia

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Pam

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Nia

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Nia

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Reyes Amador

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A very late Nia!!!

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