Sunflower—Bottleton (EG_001)

[hengest]

During your speech, the girls exchange several glances.

The loose-haired girl looks away from your face and down a bit, her eye widening as she responds inside herself to what you just said. She moves both her hands in an abbreviated expressive gesture to herself, then sits back down for the first time since she saw you.

"You...you can't have...I don't know what to say first...I" she begins, then looks over to the candle girl, who taked her meaning and tries to explain.

"Thank you for thinking of our 'honor.' But none of that means anything anymore in Bottleton. And we were wondering about the rest of the country...but I suppose if you came here from somewhere normal, that's good news. I think." The candle girl moves back and picks up her candle again, setting it down on a low table to the left of the window to illuminate that side of the room a bit more. "My name's Aspen. This is my sister, Ethel." She pauses as if realizing something. Then her mouth spreads into a mildly twisted smile, a cross between amusement and horror. Her eyes also earn their keep, showing relief and pity,as you stare into them in the shadow.

Ethel starts to speak and Aspen looks over at her, signalling you to listen to Ethel now.

"It's been months! Months now! This used to be like any other town in this whole country! You could go in and out! There were different folk, at market, in the shops, anywhere! Everything was...you knew what was going on! You could buy a piece of fish!" Ethel is beginning to get tense in her excitement. You feel that she is trying to pound this knowledge into you as if you were resistant to it, or perhaps she has had no one to explain this to until now, and is trying to use force to supplement her lack of skill in putting it all into words. "Everything was as it should be--we had normal clothes!" She looks at and plucks at her nightgown, then looks back up at you. Shaking her head, she continues, "It was just Bottleton. We always lived here, since we were little. Our father...our father is a merchant. We had all kinds of clothes. We would wear them and they would be gone again and he would replace them with some other things. Not queenly but pretty! We were the girls who always had different dresses! A bracelet one month and a shiny ring the next! Now look this, we're in these sacks all day and all night! We have water to drink, but we've only washed these things once!"

She pauses for you to take this in, and Aspen speaks. "We can still go out sometimes, but...we have to use the window. As you did. Of the rest of our father's house, little is left to us. The hall leading down to my chamber that way," she gestures to your right, "and to our storeroom the other way."

Ethel speaks again, a bit calmer now. "That's all we have. We have to walk up and down all day to keep from going crazy. Or just sleep and eat sometimes. But yes, we can go out...in the morning, through the window." She stops, at a loss about how to say what she means next.

"I don't suppose you were here this morning," Ethel goes on." Between sunup and daynoon you can crawl down and take a walk! Those...people are always there. The new ones. The strange ones with their garb. Everything is too bright. But at least you can eat the food and breathe the air and stretch your legs! Most of the day-folk leave us alone. But there's no way to for us to leave Bottleton now! You get pulled right back. We had to go out at first. We went out a lot for a while, but now...only if we really need to. And only before daynoon." She pauses, looking over to her sister for aid.

"It happened twice and both times it was in seventh hour," Aspen continues for her. "One of them spoke to us. Really..." she looks back to her sister so they can be together while they remember it, "...it was just as bad as it is at night. It was like he was...their emissary. I am sure he would have taken us."

They both look at you, as if searching you for what you know, clearly not suspicious of you at all. There is a pause. 

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

I soak in their words during the pause and try to make sense of it all.

"That's...that sounds like such a drastic change.", I mumble as I glance around the room still not sure what to make of this new information.

Silence remains in the air for a few more moments.

"Ok. First, nice to meet both of you. Thanks for what you have told me.", I pause momentarily before continuing, "Yes, I was here earlier. I'm not quite sure what time but I did notice the colorful clothes on the people. I did get some food from Pearl. Is she one of these new people that have your worried? Should I have taken the bowl of stew?".

I rub my chin with my thumb and forefinger as I think for a moment.

"You mentioned the seventh hour being connected to not being able to leave? One of these people spoke to you. I could not get a response when I tried talking to them. How about Alura? Is she one of the new people also?".

I pause wait for an answer.

[hengest]

Aspen speaks first. "Alura was an old woman when we were girls. She was kind to us and gave us trinkets from her shop. You've seen her now. How did she look to you? About like us, I imagine."

Ethel continues, looking horrified. "The new people are bad enough, strange enough. But the ones like Alura...something changed them. It's not all bad. Alura let you go. But she..."

Aspen fills in the rest. "Her way of seeing as changed. It's like she became some kind of gnome-lady. All she can do is the strange things in that shop now. And she's...she was never like that before. No one here was. You must have seen it if you went in there. We don't know what happened. Did they choose it? We can't bear to stay outside long enough to learn anything. You said you ate what Pearl gave you. She was never Pearl before. She was Margaret. I can't tell if she's changed or not. She gives that new name now, but she seems like she was before...almost. It's like she's still in the doorway or something. We ate her stew back at the beginning--we were hungry and wanted something hot. And she seemed almost like herself. It felt like a dream at first and we weren't so cautious as we are now. I don't know if it was right to eat it. It did us no harm we could see. But...I felt afterward..."

Ethel speaks. "I remember what it felt like. Look." She gets up and shows you the dark hallway down to the left and right. You can see almost nothing. She walks over and sits on her haunches by the low table, brushing her hair out of the way. "Look here. This is our room here. That's the passage I just showed you." She makes an invisible sketch with her fingers on the near side of the table. "This is Aspen's chamber over here. From there, you could go down a short passage into the rest of our house. We didn't have the whole building, but all of this floor and part of the next. You can still go down that passage, but...that's where it changes. It's not the same after that." She gestures with a circular motion at the rest of the invisible map.

Aspen takes over again. "She's telling you this because...at first that whole area just looked like a dream. Ethel went into it before we understood. But I noticed—after we ate what Margaret gave us, it was...it was like we were more inside it. Instead of just looking at it. It was real."

"You said about the seventh hour...it's not that time itself," Ethel says, a little calmer. "But that's the latest hour I would even think about being outside. Only in the morning now. That's why we pulled you in like that. We used to have shutters, but we broke them up and burned them in her stove. We don't sleep well. None of the people ever try to come in through the window, but...well, they could. But when we saw you just now, we both knew you were like us. Not like Alura or even Margaret."

[hengest]

Just as Ethel stops speaking, the whole structure shakes a bit. It feels like a strange blow came from above. You look to them for answers and just find them both quietly making a gesture that you understand is intended to avert harm or evil. Ethel looks into her lap. You look at Aspen, who looks tired. "It's strange that you're here. You can share our fate, I suppose. If we have one."

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

"Yes...", I nod knowingly before continuing, "We shall share a fate whatever it may be. From the noises above I believe it has already been decided for us.".

I look around at the ceiling and the windows and finally back to the pair.

"The good news is the rest of the world - well, all that I know - isn't like this. It just seems to be Bottleton. We need to find a way out of Bottleton or a way to change things back.".

I concentrate on my fingers as I appear to be mentally going over a checklist.

"You told me how the others changed. I don't have any good explanation for that. Yes, Alura seems as you said. Back to Pearl or Margaret...she mentioned Massey. Do you of this Massey or if they've been changed also?

[hengest]

Aspen replies, "We never heard of Massey before all this began. But that name comes up now. If Margaret said it...I don't know. She said to find this person?"

The thud from above is repeated, less strong this time. The girls seem used to it.

Ethel gives you a resigned look, showing that they don't really know what that sound is from, and says, "When you came to the window, we were talking. I don't want to wait to grow old here. Whatever is happening will come for us in the end. That's what I think. So I would chance it. But I don't think we can leave anymore. We're just sitting here. We'll have to do something, but I can't think what."

Aspen turns her candle a bit and explains, "The hallway out there is open to us, we think. And as you see, the window works even at night. I think...it may sound silly. I think these areas are protected because we were girls here. Like they're really ours. We played all kinds of games in these three chambers. Before we grew up and were supposed to be...well, not like that anymore."

They exchange a moderately hopeful, moderately resigned look. Ethel says, "We were hoping we would run into someone else. Someone still...like us, from Bottleton, we were thinking. It would make it easier. But you don't have to help us. I don't even know what help means. You can go back out the window in the morning and forget us. Or you can try to go to the fire chamber if you want. You could take any of our...toys that you want. We haven't dared to go that way in a long time. But I wouldn't."

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

"Pearl said not to miss Massey, so...not necessarily to look for him but not to miss him. What THAT means.". I reply before shrugging my shoulders.

I take in all they have to say before I settle on my actions.

"I think my only choice in this matter is to help you in any way I can. I'm not leaving out the window in the morning. Tell me about this fire chamber. Why haven't you gone there in a while?".

I wait for an answer.

[hengest]

"That's what we call the chamber with the large fireplace. We used to entertain our friends there. But now...it's where it stops feeling like the normal way of things. Even in the daylight, going there or anyplace further from this hallway is unthinkable," replies Aspen. "You would really have to see it to believe it. For us it's like...a desecration. Maybe it wouldn't seem quite as bad to you, since you don't live here. But you can't tell what's going to happen there, and the feeling it gives you is..." She looks to her sister for help.

Ethel continues. "It feels like everything good you know is being drawn downward. If you go with it, you know you will never return. And if you resist, it feels like all that will be torn out of you and you'll be nothing. Like this terrible pull that's either going to eat you or tear you apart. And apart from that...it's hard even to look at it. I pretend it isn't there. And there are creatures there sometimes, and strange twists that weren't here before. It's like the world is ending but we're still in it and we're still young! Why did this have to happen to us?" she says.

Aspen touches your arm. "I can show you, if you wish. Everything we have and everything we fear. Or we can sleep now and wait until morning. We have spent so many nights just talking..."

[hengest]

Ethel gets to her feet as she interrupts. "Wait. Before you go anywhere...where are you from? And why did you come here?"

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

I shake my head in a mix of disbelief and confusion as I let their words sink in.

"You know, getting a good night's rest before doing anything may be a better idea. Let's do that.". I look around the room like I'm trying to find a good spot to rest for the night.

"Oh. I'm for Westford. I just came here to get out of my little piece of the world and see what the larger parts of the world had to offer. Maybe not a good choice.". I say as I let out a nervous laugh and shrug my shoulders.

[hengest]

"You can sleep in here," Ethel says. "Just...I see you have a pack. I'm sorry we don't have a lot to offer you..." she trails off as Aspen darts out the door and down the hall, the first time you have seen either of them pass through that doorway. She returns very shortly with a fairly thick woolen blanket. You recognize the make as what they call croc, an old kind of finger-knitting, in and near Westford. She tosses it to you, already with the familiar motion of a long acquaintance.

"Oh. Yes," says Ethel. "Take my bed," she continued, gesturing towards the dark corner to the left of where you entered. You see a bed that looks like it was once somewhat fine but is in need of repair. "It may not be long enough for you." She shrugs. "Better than spending the night in the street."

She stands and shoves a couple small objects into the pocket she wears on her hip. "Call us if anything...happens. But don't scare us!" She takes a look back at you, as if wondering something, and disappears down the hall to the right with her sister. She calls back "But you can go to the storeroom if you want and see if you need anything!" You barely hear their footsteps as they pad down the hall.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

"Thank you for your hospitality.". I say loud enough for them to hear even though they are no longer visible.

That was nice of her to give me her bed, but I would have been happy sleeping on the floor. Anything to be inside instead of out on the streets right now.

I wonder if there is anything I could use in the storeroom before going to bed.

I get up and proceed to the doorway as I call out, "Ethel, Aspen...I'm going to the storeroom. I just wanted you to know in case you heard me.".

I head to the storeroom.

[hengest]

[What is your light source?]

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

[Haha...should've mentioned that.]

I reach into my pack and remove one of the torches I have stored inside.

I leave my pack beside the bed and then take the torch over to the candle burning in the room to light the wrap at the end of the torch.

After I am satisfied with the light coming from the torch, I exit the bedroom and head towards the storeroom.

[hengest]

You hear a sound of assent coming from the other direction, but nothing else. As you creep some fifteen feet down the hallway, you notice a small, low door on each side. Perhaps some kind of other storage area...but there is a larger room up ahead which must be what they meant...

You enter the doorless room. It feels normal enough, but the stone walls seem to breath a chill onto you. There is a smell of cold, old mustiness. The room is really not that large, and your torch gives enough light.

To the left, you see several medium-sized barrels. They might store anything, but you have a hunch that pickled vegetables are the order of the day. Straight ahead of you...you can see why the sisters call this "their" area. There are items piled high: dolls, blankets, broomsticks (you sense that forts have been made around here), and various bits of costume: armor, crudely made 'regal' outfits, both men's and women's, rings and bracelets either crudely or moderately well-made, some ornamented with shony stones and some without. To your right, you see a wardrobe with its doors open a bit, but you cannot see in at this distance.

There might be something useful in here if you look around a bit more.

You can feel that deep night has fallen on Bottleton. There is no sound from the girls at the other end of the hall. This place is a cold sanctuary, you hope, in the middle of the strange town to which you came of your own will earlier today.

[hengest]

As you stare into the room, you do hear a click or crackle, most faint, coming from far down in the direction you came from.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

After taking a good, long look around the room and evaluating the options before me I decide to see what is inside the wardrobe. Just as I'm about to step forward to approach the wardrobe I hear the faint noise coming from the direction where I previously came from.

<thinking to myself> I could check out the wardrobe first, but I better see what made that noise. I would feel awful if something harmed Aspen & Ethel while I was in here browsing through the wardrobe.

I turn around and cautiously start moving in that direction.

[hengest]

[Ruled on the OOC thread that Ethan does have his sword on this foray.]

You creep back down the hallway, passing those small doors on your left and right, then passing Ethel's chamber on your right. You notice that the candle lantern has burned out and the room is utterly dark. As you move further down the hallway, you are listening carefully to your senses and you notice that the atmosphere has changed a bit, as if you are close to something. Another chamber on your right comes up and you pause. When you are quite still, you can hear at least one of the girls breathing, and assume that they are both asleep.

Using your torch as your light source leaves you unable to see much outside its immediate range. You can see no threat to the girls or yourself. 

[Do you wish to explore further, and if so, do you wish to continue using your torch as a light source? The upside is that you can see and are not in darkness. The downside is that you are blind to any possible subtle lights and you give yourself away, if there is anyone to give yourself away to.]

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

I pause at this point in the hall as I collect my thoughts.

<thinking> There doesn't seem to be any threats roaming about but it would be easier to move about in the light. Maybe there's some lanterns on the walls that I can light?

I hold my torch out and inspect the walls for any lanterns in the nearby area.

[hengest]

Now that you are paying attention, you find without difficulty several small sconces along this length of hall. Only one of them has any usable length of candle. It seems the girls have been using all the resources at their disposal, or perhaps they simply do not maintain the sconces, as they know their way in the dark.

[Do you light the candle? It shouldn't be difficult and seems quite normal. Reasonable to expect it will throw a little light that could be useful as a "home base," should you wish to proceed a bit further without your torch lit.]

There is just a touch of sound that reaches you occasionally. It sounds like what you heard before. It seems to be coming from further down the hallway on your left. It does not quite sound like the building settling, although you cannot be sure. You hear nothing at all from the direction of the storeroom. The air is quite cool but you cannot see your breath. You hear no further pounding such as you and the girls heard before.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

<thinking> I could wait until morning in case they are low on candles. What if I go to sleep and then something happens? Thoe noise sounded close so I might as well just see what it is now.

I light the candle on the wall. I then make a few practice extractions of my sword from the place it is strapped to my back. I decide to instead strap it my waistline.

I advance down the hall towards where the sound is coming from on the left.

[hengest]

[Torch extinguished, yes?]

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

Jan 30, 2022 14:03:53 GMT -5 hengest said:

[Torch extinguished, yes?]

[Yes. Just gonna roll with it and see.]

[hengest]

You light the candle, which takes a few seconds. However, it burns normally. It is a well-made candle, although not that much remains. It might burn for half an hour or so. It does give a spot of light and illuminate a bit of the otherwise very dark hall. You extinguish your torch and look away from the light, letting your eyes adjust as they can. Creeping along the hallway, passing the girls' chamber on your right for the first time, you soon come to a opening, at least twice as wide as a normal doorway in the left-hand side of the passage. This seems to be the source of the still very faint sounds. 

Peering into the dark room, as your eyes adjust further, you realize that there are two sources of light in here: a window much larger than the one you crawled through not long ago, on the far side of the room, and a fireplace faintly crackling with a strange and somewhat unfirelike sound on the right side of the room. Staring at the fire, still without entering the room, you see it appears to be burning quite low, but with a gray-white light rather than the red or orange that you expect. It looks like a cousin to fire more than fire itself.

Looking back to the window, you realize that it is the source of much of the dim light in the room. Through it, you see an open area filled with what might be moonlight, but seems different somehow. You can tell no more without getting much closer.

This must be the fire chamber the girls spoke of.  

Apart from the fireplace and the window, as far as you can tell, the chamber contains a wide central table, a kind of standing desk, on which something is spread out, covering much of its surface. There are several high-backed chairs along the walls. Surely there is more detail and more objects in the room that you could see in better light or if you got closer.

As of now, you are still in the corridor peering in. As you get close to the passage, you do get an odd feeling, a kind of gentle pull or push, a sort of welcoming resistance. But there is no barrier you can see or sense. 

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

<thinking> I wonder what is spread out on that table? There might be other stuff in this room if I can get a good look around.

I peer into the room looking from side to side and plotting out my next moves.

<thinking> I've come this far. I might as well just go ahead and at least look at the table.

I gather my courage and remember the religious wards from my youth. I hold my hand out and say, "Give me strength and give me guidance. Protect me from the evil ones.".

I hold the candle a little further out in front of me and place my hand on the sword handle, ready to draw if needed. I step toward the table to see what is spread out upon it.

[hengest]

As you step into the room, your vision seems to clear. Everything brightens. The room is still dark, but lit enough by the fire and by hanging lanterns that you can see better. It seems to you that you could not see the lanterns at all when you were just a few feet back from where you now stand. All the flames in the room give light, but it is of a strange, whitish color, dances somewhat slowly, and is hard to observe directly. The shadows cast in its light also have a quality to them than you might describe if you thought about it more.

It seems warmer as well, the midnight warmth leftover from a summer's day.

No movement catches your eye and you step closer to the table. You can now see plainly that the item spread out on the table is a map. There are small counters of some kind off to the sides of the map, as if swept off the map by hand. You think maybe it was a game the girls played, but you note also notes and emendations to the map done by an adult's hand. Perhaps they made these notes, or perhaps the father they mentioned had some use for it in his business. By the landmarks, at least, you recognize Bottleton and your own town, as well as the village at Grendelsmere. There are other places marked as well, although you are not sure you know the country so far off. Most of what you recognize is in about a fifth of the area that the map covers. You see also odd yellow circles, here and there, neither on Bottleton nor on your own town, and not all where a settlement is marked. But you may be misunderstanding and do not feel certain about how to interpret it all, certainly not without further study.

Nothing is happening here. You wonder why the girls made this chamber sound so bad. Is it merely because it means something to them? Why exactly do they consider it inaccessible now? The fire and light do seem different and disorienting, but not exactly haunted or harmful. The room did seem to change as you entered it, however. There was a kind of barrier that you passed through without effort. Why their hallway should seem distinctly normal while the rest of the house is like this is not clear.

In addition to the items mentioned, you see without effort a regular-width doorway on the far wall to the left. It appears to open into a corridor that goes at least a little ways, although you cannot see where. You also get the sense that, passing through the doorway, you might be able to skip down some stairs heading to the right. Perhaps they lead to that open area or garden you can see some of through the window.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

<thinking> This doesn't seem so bad. I wonder what got the girls spooked about this room. It IS..."different" in here but I just don't see anything to be alarmed about.

I glance at the locations on the map again.

<thinking> I wonder if they made these markings. What could these yellow circles mean?

I take another look around the room and weigh my options.

<thinking> I could keep going but it doesn't seem like anything dangerous is happening. Of course, if I did get injured somehow and couldn't make it back then they would think I left maybe. I wonder what's down that hallway on the left or if I can make it to the garden. I better get some more answers from them and a good night's sleep before I go any further.

Having made my decision, I turn around and prepare to exit this room and go back to the bedroom

[hengest]

As you turn around and attempt to head back into the hallway, you feel significant resistance as you try to step through the wide doorway. It feels as if there is an invisible force between you and the hallway. As you pay attention to it, you also feel a bit of a draw backwards, towards the garden.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

I stop to collect my thoughts for a moment.

<thinking> Okay, NOW I see what they were talking about.  Maybe they are scared that one of these times they won't be able to make it back out of this room.  It does feel like I am being..."persuaded" to go towards the garden.  Maybe I should just go...

I turn back around with the intention of heading towards the garden.

[hengest]

You turn around. The fire continues to burn in its...unusual way. You wonder why the room seems better lit when you are inside it.

Without event, you make it across the room. Nothing impedes you. As you approach the opening, you can see that there is indeed a passage leading off a ways, but you cannot see where it goes from here. Peeking around, you see that indeed, there are a few steps leading down and out into that area. It is as it seemed.

[Do you proceed?]