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]

[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.

[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.”