Into the Wyldwoods

[apocalypsehownpcs]

Who: Milo apocalypsehownpcs, Raine Whispers rainestorms, Steve Rogers punched_hitler
When: August 15th
Where: The Wyldwoods
Summary: Raine and Steve have taken it upon themselves to uncover more information about the lower levels of ADI and the illusion that disguises the non-humans at ADI. They encounter Milo, a Perfectly Ordinary Person, who has some information to share.
Warnings: Gaslighting, manipulation, illusions, uncanny valley, potential for loss of name, sense of self, and memory or memory modification

It's not easy getting to the very lowest level of ADI Headquarters. Asking around will indicate that it's where ADI once kept an avatar of the Dark named Katie Dunn. No other prisoners are being kept on that level, but access is severely restricted. By ill-got means or some very serious persuasion, though, two people have managed to gain access to it.

There was also a cryptic bit of guidance found or obtained to 'bring milk and honey,' which may or may not have been listened to.

The elevator door opens to a small, metal room with two sturdy doors leading off from it. The one to the left is labeled Containment. The one to the right is labeled Wyldwoods. Both require keycodes to access, but the infiltrators have acquired those by their various means. Containment is a small cell block with only three cells. There's nothing and no one in here. It seems ADI was telling the truth about Katie Dunn being their only prisoner.

Wyldwoods is a different story, the door opens and the one entering will find themselves immediately hit with the scent of loam and pine. It is pleasantly warm with a blue, partly cloudy sky, and there's the sound of birdsong and wind rustling leaves. It looks to be a full pine forest in the middle of a lovely summer's day. Moving into the room, they'll find themselves stepping out of a door that's appeared in the trunk of a tree. Said door closes and vanishes immediately behind them.

Beyond the trees is a meadow filled with flowers. Sitting in the field is a young and beautiful-looking person. They seem to be lounging and plucking flowers for a chain that they're weaving together. There's a slight frown on their face, though. Approaching, it might become apparent that some of the meadow beyond them isn't meadow at all. It's just metal, much like the walls out in the entry room. The patches flicker and flowers and grass grow back, but more patches appear in other spots, instead.

Raine Whispers (first to arrive and leave)
The person turns to look toward Raine when they approach, whether directly or with stealth. "Ah, hello? You're someone new."

Steve Rogers (second to arrive and leave)
"Two new visitors in one day!" It doesn't matter if Steve is approaching with stealth or not, the person seems to know where he is and looks over at him or whatever hiding spot he's chosen. "I feel very lucky, indeed. Hello? May I have your name?"

(Warning for Both Players: Providing a full name to this character at any point in the conversation will result in negative consequences for Raine and/or Steve.

Additional Information for Raine: In their general exploration and investigation, Raine would have turned up the following information.

1. ADI has not found a way to send people home. Arrivals and disappearances continue to be at random from all paperwork and other documentation that is available. There seems to have been a slow down in recent months, which is concerning to ADI in a different way. Possibly it signals that whatever is doing this has collected what it wants?

2. Artifacts contained by ADI are anything seen in the Dogged event that has not been destroyed or hampered by PCs.

3. Oculus seems to have been a cult that was active several decades ago, particularly in the 1990s. They attempted a ritual in Oracle, AZ that involved the Biosphere 2 experiment. ADI wasn't actually all that involved in disrupting that initiative. They had looked at it and deemed it doomed to failure. And it was. After the failure of that ritual, members of Oculus splintered and there was a lot of in-fighting that ADI watched from afar. Current records indicate that the larger cult is dead with some minor pockets here and there. The largest pocket was dealt with in Gloucester recently. The only other notable grouping of Oculus seems to be out in Arizona where they're trying to get funding for Biosphere 3.

Dogtown has grown increasingly strange since the arrival of the first offworld NPCs. It was always a threat, but it seemed to have Hunt and Dark as the primary Entities lurking within it. 'Primordial' ones, ADI's information calls these. The Wolfe House at the center of Dogtown is a documented site for significant hauntings, but ADI has always dealt with those in the past without too much incident.

Hammond Castle is the only other location of interest. Notes indicate that ADI has a Special Relationship with the castle given the Hammonds' interest in the occult. In the past, ADI has used the castle as a front for acquiring cursed artifacts.)

Comments

QUESTIONS

[apocalypsehownpcs]

[rainestorms]

Before I continue I think I just need some clarification on things.

I read what you replied to Eda's player about my thread ending possibly, and I'm a little lost! I've been asking multiple questions since the beginning of the thread. A lot of the answers have remained pretty vague. I understand that I/Raine might be asking them the wrong way, but I've felt a little bit like I've hit a wall.

I just want to make sure that there's a way I can still have them find something out about the glamours and how they function, or the ADI?

[apocalypsehowmods]

Hey, there! The response to Eda was based on the idea of coming to a conclusion with Milo swiftly so that you could both tag into the event thread with them and know what the outcome of Raine's first thread would be. It wasn't meant to shut you down, just facilitate you two getting into the action in the main event. To your point about them finding something out, Raine has discovered the following in their interactions already:

- There is someone with illusion powers located in the lowest levels of ADI.
- Milo is not trapped and is down there because of an agreement with ADI.
- They have been around since ADI's inception.
- Milo is responsible for the glamours.
- Milo is from another world and fell through to this one.

That's a significant amount of information to garner that no one had access to until now and specifically addresses one of the key questions you raised for your player plot: How the glamours are happening.

You/Raine are not asking incorrect questions. The responses Raine has received are vague simply because that is how this NPC is. We'd offer that while Milo has not said it explicitly, Raine could very easily come to the logical conclusion that if someone is generating a glamour for everyone, then they need to be feeding their patron Entity.

[rainestorms]

Just to clarify- I didn't mean that they hadn't learned anything! I was just worried that something I was doing was preventing me from getting more specific answers and I wasn't picking up on it. Sorry if that wasn't clear!

Raine did ask in my last turn about how Milo feeds to power the glamours in regards to them possibly being an avatar, so I'll keep on it, but I'm thinking it would be wise to back off the questions.

[apocalypsehowmods]

No worries! We wanted to make sure you hadn't missed some of those things. If Raine would keep pressing, you're welcome to have them do so. Feel free to stay in character for you character! If Raine is the sort to back off when they're hitting a wall, that's fine. If they're not, that's also absolutely cool!

In terms of finding out what's going to happen for negative consequences (as Eda's player was asking about), this will be dependent on Raine. If they press, they could get some additional information, but at the cost of a more forceful rebuke. This would come in the form of either Raine being unable to ask questions for the next while or being able to ONLY speak in questions. If you would like them to have that sort of consequence, please let us know which would be your preferred.

If you would like them to avoid any further negative consequence, backing off after asking the two questions that Milo offered would let them escape the encounter with minimal trouble.

[rainestorms]

Ok cool! Sorry this took so long I've been busy with medical things.

I did have one more question: in terms of staying in character, I do think Raine would probably try and not ask, but tell Milo they want to help them in response to what Milo last said. They'd follow along with what Milo asks because frankly they're scared.

But I wanted to ask if that would be something that might be something interesting?

[apocalypsehowmods]

The interaction with Milo is meant to facilitate giving Raine some info associated with their Player Plot. We will work with whatever you provide in terms of a direction for the the thread. If you're asking if Raine will get specific and detailed answers if they go along with what Milo has said, we cannot promise that just because this NPC is, by their nature, cryptic. But Raine will receive answers with material information of some kind! It just might not be everything they want. (Mainly so that there's still room for additional info to come out in the main event for other players!)

[punched_hitler]

Steve is moving slowly - wary, curious, but not trying to be stealthy. He's both thinking of Wanda, remembering what she was capable of, and wondering if he's actually found what he's looking for. It... seems like he might have.

There's also something tugging at the back of his brain - old, old memories, half-forgotten and partly remembered in a haze of sickness. But that's the easiest of his feelings to shove down when he needs to pay attention to what's happening now.

He frowns, and maybe (probably) he's biased, but he's thinking that this person here is likely a victim, and it's really not a good look for ADI.

"I'm Steve," he says, because despite whatever old memories might try to ping around in his brain, he's not trying to hide and doesn't see how giving a prisoner his name can do any harm. "I'm - I think I've been looking for you."

And then, "Two visitors?" he asks.

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"Steve." They roll the name around on their tongue as though tasting it. "That's a nice one." They turn to face their visitor with a pleasant smile and brace an elbow on their knee to cup their chin in their hand.

"Have you been looking for me?" They breeze past the second question. "That would be novel. Pray, tell me what you seek, then. It must be special if you've wandered all the way to my sanctuary."

[punched_hitler]

"Except when someone's saying it all exasperated," Steve says, because his default even in tense situations is a little bit of humor, when he can manage it.

"I have," he confirms, crouching down a little where he is, because he doesn't like looming over people - least of all, people who might be prisoners.

He reaches into his pocket, pulling out a little palm-sized packet: a fitness bar made with milk and honey, because he wasn't entirely sure how serious said information he'd found was, but everyone can use some extra food, right?

He holds it up as if to ask if the other would like it, even as he says, "I've been trying to find out how ADI helps nonhuman members to, ah, look more like the general populace."

It's not quite a question, either, but it's a little bit of one.

[apocalypsehownpcs]

They tilt their head a moment, visibly puzzled, which just seems to cause a flicker of excitement through their expression. They hold a hand out between them, the fingers too long on the hand they offer.

"I suppose you've given me something of adequate value....so, sure. Some secrets aren't mine and they really ought to learn to close the doors better." Though they pause there, hand out stretched and waiting. "Come closer, won't you?"

[punched_hitler]

Steve frowns, shaking his head and immediately moving forward to hand off the bar, crouching down again once he's close enough to do it.

"No, I - this food was never contingent on me getting answers," he says, because he needs that to be clear. "But I am looking for answers, if you've got them."

Frankly, he doesn't care if the secrets are this fellow's or not to tell. Steve's kind of done with ADI's secrets.

[apocalypsehownpcs]

They take it and set it on their knee with a small nod. Much better. "And yet it relied on those answers. Anyway, yes. I've got some, I'm sure. I've been here long enough."

Milo puts on a show of tapping a long finger to their chin as though thinking. "Hmm...you didn't ask me a proper question, did you? Go on, then. Complete with the little inflection of voice that makes it Official: ask me what you want to know."

[punched_hitler]

"I was hoping for answers," Steve confirms, "but I didn't know what I would find. Or who."

But, it seems, he has found someone who might be able to help him. And he has several questions. But first and foremost is: "Is ADI forcing you to make the nonhumans that arrive here appear human?"

[apocalypsehownpcs]

They tilt their head slightly and let the silence ring a beat too long. "No."

Asked and answered, they turn attention to the interesting bar their new Friend has brought and start the slow process of working out how to open it with a nearly innocent curiosity. "Next question."

[punched_hitler]

Okay. Okay, that's good.

Probably.

It does lead naturally into the next question, though. "Are you doing it for them willingly?"

[rainestorms]

Raine was startled that the person sitting in front of them could see them. They stood their ground, but looked around for a moment at the forest in what seems to be a metal box. A cell. A containment room of sorts. They were unsettled to be in a place that looked similar to the woods at home, with a stranger, where the door disappeared into a tree. Raine had known Katie as the ADI’s only prisoner, but between the voice telling them to bring something, and the mere existence of the door…

They’d perhaps stumbled across a secret that the ADI was trying very hard to hide.

Raine’s attention returned to Milo, however, and they regarded the human (or, rather perhaps, human-looking being) with a guarded curiosity.

“You can see me?” They asked, quietly. “That means you can hear me too, doesn’t it.”

Raine took another moment to study the stranger, before they continued. They’d come equipped with their violin and a small bag, which they unzipped and produced a thermos- the milk and honey. They’d taken the prompt literally, but had even warmed it up for good measure. Maybe the unsettling secret basement stranger would be appreciative.

“I brought this.” They stepped forward, placed it down a few feet from Milo, before they returned to where they’d been standing. “For whoever would like it.”

[apocalypsehownpcs]

They watch Raine watching them, a slow smile building on their lips.

"I can, indeed. And look at this...a present. How pleasant." They reach out to take the thermos without needing to get up, even with the distance a bit longer than an arm should be. It didn't seem to matter.

They brush the flowers and the partially-constructed crown aside in favor of turning to sit facing Raine as they pop the top of the thermos to have a scent. The look that passes over their face is nearly rapturous.

"Oh...now that is nice. How unique to find someone who follows The Old Rules." They close the thermos and set it in the cup of their crossed legs. "I am Milo, may I have your name, my lovely new face?"

[rainestorms]

Raine couldn't exactly say that Milo being able to just grab the thermos scared them. Eda could lose her limbs and reattach them with ease because of her curse. The Boiling Isles was full of creatures doing all sorts of things with their surroundings and their bodies that anybody human might find strange.

Here, in this context however, it made the bard feel... Uneasy.

Or rather, this place made them feel uneasy. Milo was just apart of the uneasiness. The icing on the cake. Normal human realm people weren't supposed to have powers. But, they'd already guessed correctly that Milo was no normal human realm human.

Raine tried not to show their worry on their face, and smiled at their newfound acquaintance.

"I'm glad you're pleased with it," They responded, but their attention snagged on The Old Rules.

There's a degree of hesitation as they mused over how similar it sounded to long forgotten beings from the Boiling Isles. Beings long lost to myth and destruction, that abided by their own codes of conduct and interaction with those outside of their group. But information from the Savage Ages, or, they'd rather known them as the before times, was scarce. So for now, they'd treat these rules as unfamiliar.

"The Old Rules?" Raine quietly inquired, but don't ask anything further when Milo inquired in return about their name.

"My name is..." They hesitated. Giving their name could be dangerous for multiple reasons. Namely, the ADI very much did not know Raine had found wherever they both were.

"It's never been very important."

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"Hmmm..." Their humm fills the air for only a split second, like an echo that refuses to leave, but then it does and everything is perfectly normal once more. "How unfortunate, I would rather have something to call you by. I know you from your ears...but everyone has those. You must have something else. Besides milk and honey and questions, that is."

Not that it's going to stop them from having a sip of said milk and honey.

"It is so hard to have Friends without names." They offer next.

[rainestorms]

"Well, you haven't exactly told me your name either," Raine pointed out, matter of factly. "Friends usually introduce themselves to each other. But, you can call me..

There was a brief moment as they tried to conjure up one of the various nicknames people had given them. Raincloud, Rainestorm, Songbird, Sprout. Eda's nicknames felt too close to their own, and if anybody called Raine Sprout ever again they'd maybe subject the person to one or two horrors.

"Songbird. It comes from my music."

They decided to sit down to get more comfortable.

"And I do have questions. But I didn't want to come in and immediately ask them. That's rude."

[apocalypsehownpcs]

"Songbird is nice." They take another sip and then close the thermos to set aside. On to business. "I'm Milo, then. And forgive me if I seem surprised: walking in and asking questions tends to be the normal, if I get spoken to at all."

They prop their elbows up on their knees and rest their chin in their hands to look at their Songbird. "Well, now you've brought reciprocity and manners. What else would you like to bring to the table?"

[rainestorms]

"Thank you. And it's nice to meet you, Milo," Raine fidgeted with their bag, admittedly not sure how to posture themself across from their strange new...

Raine wouldn't necessarily call Milo a friend. They'd just met, after all. Raine wanted to be friendly to them but... the ADI had worn their trust in others thin as of late.

"Well, I have questions, and not a lot of time, which I'm sure was obvious but... I'd like to know about you. And why the ADI put you down here."

They paused, and looked around, before they added:

"Did you make this forest? It's very pretty."

[apocalypsehownpcs]

Their brow raises and they watch Raine work through the things they wish to know…and the single question they ask.

Milo grins, pleased with themselves. “As it happens, I did! I have plenty of time on my hands and little else for company but imagination, so I make myself…comfortable. I suppose we all do, don’t we? When we’re far from the familiar, we seek out what remains so.”

[rainestorms]

"Is this part of why the ADI put you here, then? Because you can create things?"

They paused, before they added:

"What all can you create? Besides forests."