The Season of Revival seemed to seek nothing but punishment.  Late ice storms, snow storms, and general coldness keep scavengers bundled up, even as the Season of Violent Winds drew near.  The Buzzards still seem to be nesting, even though other food could be found again – but a brief yet hideous infestation of Cinder Beetle Larvae seems to promise a great number of Juvenile Cinder Beetles in the future.  (Though one can’t help wondering where last span’s surviving juveniles have gone — and whether they’ll come back, larger and angrier.)

The Season of Violent Winds is proving itself even more violent than anyone expected.   Some of the same fell signs that forecast doom in Bloodmoss Swamp have been seen again in Malady – eerie flashes of light.  Vile gurglings deep within the muck.  Brief eruptions of particularly foul gas, and strange changes in the bloodmoss itself.  When Bloodmoss got the crud, a lot of its inhabitants fled south to Malady Bog, where the bloodmoss seeded and grew, too.  It all seemed safe enough.  In hindsight, maybe we all shoulda known we were on borrowed time.  But if we didn’t live somewhere dangerous, we wouldn’t live anywhere at all.  Those who live there have been packing up and moving out, finding somewhere new to squat somewhere well away from the swamp – and away from even Hambone Slash, for good measure.

And those who don’t live around here… well, maybe we’re more durable than we think.  Stranger after stranger has been found collapsed in Hambone Slash and Malady – apparently more vulnerable to the crud of these lands than we are.  Their remains have been carried to a burial ground in Hambone Slash, where various totems have been put up in their memory.   And, in a way, in memory of memories not yet forged — people we’ll never get to meet in those lands.  Fights we’ll never get into, drinks we’ll never share.  Views we’ll never see again, of the trees and the dunes and the sun setting on that horizon.

As if that weren’t enough, some sort of sickness is going around — even the hardiest Wasters, like Mutants and Ghouls, speak of having itchy throats, fatigue, congestion with some bloody coughing or vomiting from this Plaig.  There are reports of people showing symptoms in the Junkyard, in the Cape, in Hambone Slash, and in Cormac – wherever a sick person is near anyone else, even if they’re not near enough to touch.

The superstitious might say there’s a curse on these western lands.  Or maybe all these lands.  Or maybe it’s just bum luck.  But in the end, it don’t much matter.  This land has been trying to kill us all, even when we’d only explored a fraction of what we know now.  We always seek to rebuild and regrow, and the spite and madness that seem inherent to the world only try to come back in greater force.  But so do we.  Each span stronger, each moon more resilient.   There’s no poison, no rot, that can touch our memories.  We might never walk those lands again, but all we’ve seen and built and done there will live on where it counts — in our minds.  In the memories we hold, and the stories we tell to the new.  The world we live in might get a little smaller.  Our bodies might grow weak.  But our spirit never shrinks.

THIS WEEK IN THE WASTES:
SATURDAY

Dance On The Graves @ The Victims’ Memorial, Hambone Slash 1:oo – 3:00 SLT
A memorial to the hypothetical first victims of the bloodmoss, and to the regions themselves.  
Beginning with DJ Kendo Inaka

Fight Night @   The Arena at the Old Potato Farm, Hambone Slash 3:oo – 4:00 pm SLT
One-on-one combat in a brutal, trap-filled combat arena.  Occasional guest DJs!

Dance On The Graves @ The Victims’ Memorial, Hambone Slash 4:oo – ??? SLT
A memorial to the hypothetical first victims of the bloodmoss, and to the regions themselves.
Continuing with DJ Aposiopesis Fullstop 

SUNDAY

Pathfinder: Curse of the Crimson Throne @   Hambone Slash 10:00 am – 2:00 pm SLT
A high-fantasy tabletop role-playing game related to Dungeons & Dragons.  Spectators welcome!

 

MONDAY

DJ Giuseppe Spicoli @ The Boat House, Burnt Oak 6:00-7ish SLT
Audio collage, bastard pop, obscurities, oddities, and old-school vinyl.

Movie Night @ Burnt Oak Drive-In, Burnt Oak 7:30 SLT
Absurd comedies, so-bad-it’s-good relics of the 80s, occasional documentaries, and things un-categorizable.

 

WEDNESDAY

Guerilla Learning @ TBA 4:00-5:00 SLT
Thematic documentaries and post-apocalyptic television, at a different spontaneous location every week.
This week: The Colony and Thundarr The Barbarian

EVENTS HIGHLIGHTS:

Movie Night Haiku:

5/14 – Pootie Tang   (2001)

Tang, with magic belt,
Sines pitties on runny kines -
Meaning, “Fights The Man.”

Guerrilla Learning:

Recent sessions of Guerrilla Learning have been held everywhere from the Bog to the Cape to the border of Hambone Slash.  The showings of The Colony have now reached Episode 6, where the colonists had some of their most hopeful moments — and were made to cope with loss.  Episode 6 of Thundarr The Barbarian was shown, as well,  which addressed the battle of the sexes with hammer-like lack of subtlety only an early-80s children’s show could provide.  For the alternating weeks’ features, showings have included everything from more episodes of Human Planet, addressing how civilizations thrive in jungle climates, to the entire run of the obscure Channel 101 comedy series The Wastelander.

 

The Wastelands Table-Top Gaming Horde Sessions:

The spirit of Zelara, the slain fortune teller who got the adventurers started on their quest, and whose spirit has been housed in her trusty Harot card deck, has found her peace at last.  But not before one last work of magic with the cards: each member of the party got to draw up to four of the mystical cards, each of which would bestow some boon – or some horrible curse. For instance, the druid received a Wish, which she used to transform her trusty dinosaur companion into a dragon. The party’s mage, unfortunately, got permanently enlarged – while his intelligence, charisma, and wisdom were permanently reduced.  Since he was no longer able to be of service to the party, they headed elsewhere and enlisted the services of a cleric, then set forth into the castle once again to fight the Gray Maidens and make their way toward the Queen.

 

ESTATE NEWS:

The Community Meeting notes for March and April can be found on the Forums.

March’s meeting focused, in particular, on the features of V2.  Neo revealed that it will be skill-based instead of class-based, to allow players more flexibility in their characters.  Item quality and gradual wear will be a new feature of the weapons – more skilled crafters will be able to make items with higher durability, while novice’s weapons will be of lower quality.  As weapons are used, they will gradually wear down, and will need to be repaired.  This will mean that even veteran players will still, most likely, need to keep hunting for scrap — and that instead of just selling guns, V2 players will also be able to sell services they excel in, such as repair and masheening, or defense, or cooking, or healing, or trading, etc.

April’s meeting focused primarily on Estate management matters. Neo revamped the ways in which land is advertised, new descriptive text was added to each region, and there are now promotional banners – created by Aki Shichiroji – running on the SLUniverse forums.  Neo also mentioned an upcoming revision to the shop rules: out-of-theme sky shops will soon be allowed, anywhere over 4000 meters up.  These shops will still have to fit the rest of the Covenant, in that Adult-rated content will not be allowed, etc; only the theme aspect will be changed.

The biggest Estate news, however, is the imminent loss of Hambone Slash and Malady Bog.  The spring and early summer months have always been rough on the Estate, and this year was worse than most.  Responding to a confluence of factors, Neo made the tough decision to shed the regions that, historically, had the greatest struggles with occupancy.  Moreover, after having lowered tier prices significantly in 2010, he decided to return to the original prices to help keep the Estate self-sufficient.  The new prices will be a 25% increase over current prices, but all Estate land purchases will still come with the full 4 weeks of tier and free access to the WLPW asset.

RP NAME-DROPS:  A strange sickness is taking hold in those who wander The Wastelands. According to the ghoulish manimal KittyKat, she and Smokey first took ill after eating meat from an unfamiliar Tusk.  The unknown disease – which I’ll call The Plaig until there’s a better word for it – soon spread to others. Jordy, Harvey, and other residents of the Cape convened in the Junkyard for a meeting — and all were ill by the time it was over.  It seems to spread through the air itself –  I took sick just after being near KittyKat for a brief while, and even the Digger did not escape the Barrelhead Bazaar with his health intact.  The sufferers have an itchy throat, occasional dizziness, and tiredness — and some kind of internal bleeding that keeps us from ever feeling fully healthy.  With each passing day, we feel a little weaker, a little less able to hold down all our food.  Even the Healing Rocks can’t seem to help.  What this is – and how bad it will get – is still unknown.

Harvey the Bartender has been found again, beaten and bloodied, but neither dead nor Ghoulified – at least we’re fairly certain he’s not been Ghoulified.  But the celebration was short-lived:   Ozgram, the apparent mastermind behind all these troubles, has been spotted in The Wastelands, furious at his failures and seeking cold revenge.   He was even bold enough to show his face at the Barrelhead Bazaar where he was greeted with a mixture of veiled hostility and curious politeness.  He speaks fell warnings of some unstoppable monster that dwells in its cage in the Fissure.  Some call it a machine, some call it a Mutant, and some call it a load of nonsense.  He seems confident he’ll regain the key, enough to be dismissive of it entirely – but what he knows, what he plans, and what he actually intends aren’t truly known to anyone.  Not unrelated, the young Jordy has vowed to cut off the hands of Syruss, the crazed old Ghoul, for his dealings in the matter – showing once again that there’s never just two sides to any strife.  Who’s taking orders from Ozgram?  And what does he really intend?

The excavation project in Kronbelt took a grisly turn in recent days.  Members of the old Kronbelt Crew such as Jubal Quintus and Gutterblood Spoonhammer had been digging out what appeared to be an ancient bottling plant.  However, a part of the land just beyond its southern border suddenly cleaved away, creating high cliffs and an inlet for the distant salty sea.  The resulting earthquake collapsed the entire hill – apparently trapping Jubal inside.  Though he can be presumed dead at this point, he’s been known to survive worse.  With his disappearance, others ((Stohtwlasikbradia Jurassic)) have ventured into this notoriously harsh barren, daring to make it their home despite its violent history.

More scratches have been found on the ancient Mutant ziggurat in the southeast corner of Malady Bog.  Presumably it’s the work of the unknown Mutant female, glimpsed only once in darkness, who has been sporadically vandalizing the temple for the past few moons, according to Apo – whose shack was built right nearby.  A roll of paper and stub of charcoal have been left on the altar, as if to encourage others to make rubbings of the grotesque stone carvings — perhaps to preserve them, or perhaps to encourage others to destroy them.

Half a decade of existence is no small feat, no matter what it is.  For a Second Life estate — where regions and communities come and go so quickly that even dog years seem conservative by comparison — five years is even more significant.  To help recognize this milestone in The Wastelands’ history, NeoBokrug Elytis, as Estate owner and benevolent tyrant, whipped together the first-ever Junkies Awards as a capstone event for The Wastelands’ Fifth Birthday celebration.  Their goal: to recognize residents’ contributions to Wastelands’ community and culture throughout its history.

I caught up with Neo to find out more about his selections and the context behind them, and to delve into the history of The Wastelands in general.

Hey there, Bossbot!  First of all, what gave you the inspiration for The Junkies?  Was this an idea you had for a while?

I get a LOT of compliments about the estate — specifically, people thinking I’m responsible for it all.  The only thing I’ve built is just a few bits of infrastructure; the residents really make up 99% of the estate, and I tell everyone as much. So, I figured it’s time to start recognizing resident contributions in a tangible way, even if it’s just my opinion.  My opinion may not be what other people think, specifically because I don’t get around as much as I should.  I did ask a few Devs for their opinion, but ultimately, I left some categories up to the residents.

How did you decide what categories to pick?

I tried to pick things that either deserved recognition, or what would be a ‘popular’ category amongst the residents.  For instance the High Rollers category is all about who owns the most non-Homestead land.  Those people are doing a lot to support the estate.  As well as the people who have owned the same plot the longest.

Were there any categories you considered at first, then decided against?

Of course.  The awards were something I had been wanting to do for a long time. When January rolled around, I realized just how out of time I was to work on them.  I literally thought up some awards the day of — but there were a couple of  award categories I had to scrap at the last minute.  For instance I really wanted to recognize the Devs, but I thought that would be too self serving.  What people don’t realize though that aside from estate powers, they’re residents just like you and I.  So in all fairness I decided to not have a “You’re so great Devs” award.  Being a Dev is award or punishment enough.  I think people might have seen it as too clique-y.  That doesn’t mean Devs and Road Patrol didn’t win any awards, they won them for other non-Dev related contributions to the estate.

 

One of the most interesting categories, in my opinion, was the Oldest Builds.  What are some of your memories about these builds?

Grady Echegaray’s missile silo was in competition with several missile silos when there was only one region.  I think, at first, there were a total of 4 missile silos at some point, all on one region.  I thought it was pretty funny that everyone had similar ideas — but I didn’t care.  Her build still has the original sand textures that the estate once had.  It doesn’t look too out of place, and makes me nostalgic.

Isambard Portsmouth’s adobe hut.  Man, I wish he would come in-world sometime.  Nonetheless, he still pays his tier regularly, even if we don’t see him.

Kazuhiro Aridian.  I didn’t know Kaz very well when he was a newer resident, and I was sort of intimidated by him. But I thought the things Kaz made were cool, the birdhouse and garden underneath the Junkyard were certainly unique, even if land static was way rampant back then.  I think we fixed it up good though.

 

We only got to find out the top three.  Who were some of the close runners-up?

Of the oldest builds yeah.  There was a bit of contention whether or not I should have oldest plot, or oldest build.  If I would have picked oldest plot, there would be different winners for certain — but I figured that having the oldest original build was more significant than holding a plot for years.  I think Kaz and Isambard woulda lost out to another resident or two in The Wastelands region.

 

This category was specific to buildings that had been in the same spot, under the same owner, without gaps.  Are there other residents who may have moved around throughout the years, but who have owned land non-stop since the beginning (or close to it?)

Not really, a lot of oldbies have had gaps in their tenancy.  Everyone needs to take a break from SL or the Wastelands, and that’s totally understandable.

 

 What are your thoughts and memories about the cooperative builds you chose?

I tried to base that on people who shared land between each other, but chose to build in a certain theme. Certainly a lot of cooperative builds have come and gone, but I wanted to choose ones that were here-and-now.  I miss when the catwalks were bigger, but like I said earlier people need to take breaks.   I still get lost in the Junkard tunnels, though I wish the terraform for them were better — it’s pretty TERRAble in some spots.  The big forest in Stygian has sort of shrunk a bit, too, but it’s nice to have trees in the estate.

 

The following might be a sensitive question, and I know it’s important to be impartial, both as the Estate owner and as an individual.  However, are there any builds that have come and gone which you particularly miss?

Certainly.  Builds come and go all the time, and it’s hard to not have favorites.  It’s very inspirational when other people make great things in the estate, and in a sense we all feed off each other. When a good build goes, we all lose out. I assume you’re talking more than just nostalgia.  The first couple years were hard to see things go, but I’ve sort of learned that’s the nature of things.  If I could narrow it down to three builds, I would say Turp’s Bar, the old indoor movie theater in The Wastelands, and the terra-forming Cloudy (theblackcloud Oh) did with Ashvasta.  The Martini is a good runner-up.  If you can’t tell, I really dig the social spaces.

 

I’m sure it felt risky, opening up the first sim for the first time, and — waiting list aside — not knowing for sure if people would stick around, or for how long.  What was going through your mind in those first months?

I was pretty excited because I knew SL needed us.  At the same time I was nervous because I was taking on a whole ton of new responsibilities.  There was so much I wasn’t familiar with owning an estate and all, and it’s really something you just have to grow into. But at the same time I knew we couldn’t fail.  In a way SL was much simpler back then, so was the Wastelands. I think because SL was simple, and because SL was actively growing that helped a lot. The first region had about 30 residents, and within the first week of going live we were all full up and I had to make a reserve list. Back then it was much easier to communicate with everyone because I’d just work down at the telehub. Now we’re 13 regions big with hundreds of parcels, and about 150 unique residents, plus about 150 more very regular visitors. That’s not including the casuals, so to be fair the community is about 300 strong.  I’m very glad to have stuck around, and very glad to have people stick around with us.

 

This ties in somewhat with the Largest Landholders category:  Why do you think some people want to own so much land, or hold onto their land so long?  In other words, what is it about The Wastelands that makes so many people want to invest in it so much?

Sometimes I honestly don’t know.  I like to think it makes people happy to contribute a lot.  Most of the largest land owners also have big group efforts, where they’re responsible for the tier, but other people make use of the land.  The Wastelands has communities within communities, if you think about it that’s at least four SL layers deep. I think what it really is, is that people want a sense of community of their own.  Land is a good place to establish a space for that community.

 

And that sense of community is very prominent in the Entertainment category.  What can you tell me about these top three entertainers?

Giusepe Spicoli.  I can’t even begin to explain him. I hope that some day he hosts his own real life gameshow. He deserves it with as much as he’s done over the past 5 years. That guy is a machine, he’s pretty steady with the events. Just like you’ve been going on non-stop for quite a few years.

Man, Redzone.  It still blows my mind that a live band plays in SL. And that Red is such a cool guy. Actually, all of RedZone is really cool. They sent me some CDs a long time ago; I think they’re amazing.  I know music is difficult to do, and I am very surprised they’re not more popular.  They’re very popular in SL, though - I think one time they had a concert in SL where the region had 72 avatars in it.  RedZone can certainly put the regions to the test.   I’m just impressed by RedZone, sort of mouth-agape-all-the-time impressed.

 

What are some of your favorite memories from these events?

I miss Giu’s gameshows – HINT HINT.  In all fairness, I remember that one time the “add a one” incident ended up costing him about $300 real dollars.  Back on the gameshow, Taunt the Mutant, I have really vague memories that someone had a score of about 10,000 in Linden. Add A One made it effectivly L$110,000.

Every RedZone event is pretty memorable.

 

Unlike the other categories, you left the roleplay-focused Heroes and Villains categories open to votes from the audience.  Why was that?

Out of all the activities in the Wastelands that one is MOST community driven, and because I don’t roleplay often enough to warrant an opinion.  It wouldn’t be fair for me to choose a winner with as little as I participate.

 

Who are some of the people who were nominated on both lists?

Ccindy Pfeffer and Jubal Quintus.  They were closely matched for both hero and villain categories.

 

You’ve always maintained a fairly hands-off approach when it comes to roleplay, even when it was Dev-moderated.  Unlike in other estates, roleplay has never been mandatory here, and never been forbidden.  What has factored into that decision?

I was very into exploring SL when I first started. There was an Old Western sim, before the Wastelands existed.  It was my first time ever there, and I was banned from it within 2 minutes of landing there for not being in proper RP dress attire. RP is the way we have it in the estate because I don’t want people treated like that.  I believe it’s important to allow people to explore and get a feel for the place without having to be in-character.  Besides, even back then RP-Only estates were floundering, and they’ll continue to do so until they’re more relaxed about their experience.

 

If memory serves, you never even anticipated that there would be roleplay when you began the Estate.  Is that true?

That sounds about right, but then people were demanding that we do something, or at least instill some structure.  So we tried to be administrators of it for a while, and that didn’t work out.  So we figure we’d just write stuff and say that this is ‘official’, do what you want, but don’t expect us to enforce it.  It’s been rough and it’s taken a very long time for that mindset to be adopted, but in the end it’s worked out rather well I think.

People coming from hardcore RP estates have a problem with that.  RP is so freeform here, I think they may be paralyzed with the opportunities.  That , or they think how we manage it is 100% bullshit.

 

How did roleplay begin, then?

I… really don’t know how it started, but I remember when some events made us to decide to step in.  I think they all just started between a lot of people trying to have too many conflicting or unoriginal ideas at once.  Back then, people would literally try to RP things like “I’m a shapeshifting nanobot swarm prostitute from before the wars.”  You’d think I’m kidding but I’m not.  That’s when we decided to step in and make some documents about what we were about.  Spider and Caligo did a lot of the initial documentation with feedback from a lot of the community. One thing that kept popping up that we all didn’t like is that people were somehow instilled with knowledge of “Before the Fall”.  I always feel like that’s cheating in a POST APOCALYPTIC environment.  Sure, it’s fair to say that some people may know something in a setting — but when the estate was made, we wanted to make sure that we were going to have a clean slate.  I may not want to RP, but I have some expectation of the direction we’re going.  I guess that’s a bit hypocritical of me, in that I want to participate in the direction of RP, but not RP myself.

 

Still, the RP was basically created by the people, and you guys just codified and clarified it over time? 

Yes, and the good stories and events were actually — and will continue to be — adopted into the history of the wiki.  There’s actually going to be a big wiki RP section update soon.

 

Ideas of “heroes” and “villains” aside, tell me about some of the more memorable roleplay characters or stories you’ve observed.

I don’t RP much but I like to watch on occasion.  Sandling Honey, Jubal Quintus, and Pietro Moskvitch are all pretty memorable.  Probably because I don’t see them that much.  Cancer Manimal had a group/clan called The Clubs — they may have been too much for the budding estate, but I’d like to see them make a return. I always really liked Ccindy Pfeffer’s character, and Sandusky Kayvon’s.   Barry Wiranata has somehow made himself some part of legendary lore in the Wastelands.  Like a great albino moose.  I like that.

 

To get a little philosophical: although it’s fantasy, all fiction has an element of truth to it.  What insights do you think Wastelands roleplay can provide about real-world human nature?

We all seek to better ourselves.  Everyone  is at least a dick and retarded sometimes.  We all like food.

 

Beyond just the roleplay aspects, what do you think about the Wastelands community as a whole?  

What strikes me most as being impressive about the community is that we’re so old and still trucking in SL. 5+ years is an amazing accomplishment for ANYTHING. There’s only a handful of things that are still on the grid when the Wastelands started, and they’re all backed by amazing communities.

I think it’s great! As a huge community we all have one founding common interest, and that’s the post-apocalypse. But not everything is always unicorn farts and rainbows. If I had to make one wish to improve the community, it would be that everyone try to be more forgiving of each other. Even then, it’s not really applicable to everyone.  Most people are pretty relaxed here, but some people are very high strung and want to segregate themselves from the greater community because they think someone slighted them somehow. We’re a very large community and it’s a given that EVERYONE won’t get along with EVERYONE. I can’t control how everyone acts (yet), so I can only try to be diplomatic with the occasional unhappy person. Sometimes that doesn’t work out and everyone mutes and ignores everyone, which is a shame. I can only hope that in time they’ll forgive each other and give each other a chance.  Maybe I’m trying too hard – in all honesty, that’s a 1/500 occurrence.

I hope that someday we’ll have a Wastelands convention here in Austin. I want to meet all of you.

 

Given the size and duration of The Wastelands, you’d think there would have been more – and worse – problems than there have been.

Most of the problems that we have are from LL directly, and that’s kind of a shame. I occasionally communicate with other estate and community managers, and they tell me the same thing. As much as I love Second Life, I think their internal policies are the estate’s main problem. I’m sure LL has some colorful notes on my customer file about how I communicate with them (read: rage).

 

The very fact that we’re here and participating in various ways – and that even the people who wander away have a tendency to wander back – speaks to how much the place feels like a second home to so many of us.  Did you ever anticipate that this would become so much more than “just another Estate?”

Yes. I saw how bad a lot of places in SL were when we started. I wanted to make sure we weren’t like that. I wanted to be better than them, based on what I saw and didn’t like.

One of the biggest problems I saw when we started was just how many estates can’t balance their books.  They don’t take it seriously, and that’s understandable because SL blurs the line between game and platform.  I chose to run the estate as a business first, to ensure we’re always in the black. I also knew that, if we kept doing things that we liked, and if that FELT right more than anything, we were destined to succeed.  I’ve had a lot of McJobs in my day, so I like to think that my broad range of experience helps guide the estate. I mention that because, as a business, I wanted to “keep it real.”  I know all the boring corporate BS that goes with companies.  I figure, if I’m doing something someone doesn’t like, I can at least explain to them in great detail why I can’t meet their expectations.

Keeping the estate in the black is easy, but I can tell you now that estate owners in general don’t make a lot.  For the hours I put in, I make less than minimum wage — so, for me, running the community is more of a labor of love.  If you do something you love, it more than makes up for the pay. It also inspires people to contribute to the idea.

 

It’s pretty easy to see that, to keep everything going, you work very hard and have to do a lot of critical thinking.  Not only does your avatar look like a robot, but you seem to have one’s work ethic and mentality as well!  I’d like to know what you feel about The Wastelands.  What has it all meant to you?

That’s sort of hard to put it in words. I may be remembered by distant people of the internet for helping contribute to something great, and that is what makes me feel good. That, and doing things I like doing, and finding other people that like doing the same thing.

BLEEP BOOP BEEP.

Is there anyone else you’d like to thank?

The Devs, always.

 

The Digger wrote up the basics of how all this started — the dead girl, the key, the stones, her weird tattoo, the Courier, and that old note from Madeye.

None of us knew Madeye all too well; that time he was prancin’ about the Bazaar all crazylike was the first and only we’d seen him.  But we knew he was allied with Frank.  So, I started looking for him or for Madeye or both, to try and get a read on who this Courier fella was, what they knew of this girl, how they tied in to all this malarkey — or if they tied in at all.  Wasn’t a whole lot to go on, but at least we had a couple of names.  Better names than nothing.

And that’s what all this comes down to. Who knows what?  Who knows who?  Where was who when, and why, and what the balls happened when they were there?

Being too free with one’s knowledge can bring you trouble.  And that ain’t just true of recipes.  Whether you’re a scoundrel to the core or one of those pride-blind crazies who wants to redeem us and civilize us all, there’s always things you keep under your hat.  What folks say might be outright lies, or might not be the full truth, and who’s to say that what someone even sees is actually what went on?  I’d blather on about if there’s even any such thing as truth, but A) I already ain’t getting to the point and 2) I ain’t had enough to drink yet.  So, with this more than with most articles, I gotta remind everyone that all I’m writing down is what I been told.

So….

Few days back, I managed to catch up with Frank out in the Junkyard.   He was hangin’ out up on a building with Smokey Steamweaver and Cat Yuhara.  I was just lookin’ for word on where I could go lookin’ for Frank, as I hadn’t seen him before and didn’t know him from nothin’. But, once I said I was there in a press capacity, Frank seemed all too glad to introduce hisself – and to go on, at surprising length, about what he knows.  I wrote it all down as we talked  - an’, cleaned up just a bit, here it all is.

First thing he said, when he knew he’d have an audience, was “My side of the story is this, I want the key. You know what I’m talking about, you all do – so stop pretending. I will slaughter whoever keeps it from me… And no fire girl, no Pip, no devious barman, no manimal, no witch from the East will stand in my way.  This is war,” he went on, “I trust no one but my allies. Tell the Pips I’m coming for them. My kidney burster will be red before they will even blink… ”

I said I didn’t even know who had it at this point, and he seemed to think it made no matter. “Whoever has it will die.”

He was damn grim, to be sure, but he eased up after a bit, when I made sure he knew he could say whatever he liked and I’d type it up just as it was.  And he admitted he was gonna leave some things out and not give full details.  But on he went.

“It has come to my attention that The Pipsqueeks tricked the man called The Digger into their base yesterday. There they attacked him and stole the key that everybody seeks… The very same key that probably the most of you first head about as a beaten up girl handed over to the Mutant Witch at a bazaar meeting not long ago. The digger had the key as the dumb witch traded it with him for some stones found on the dead girl. And now it seems those little rascals with deadly blades has it… So naturally, they will soon be tasting my blade.”

“Let everybody know that the key shall be in my hand and Ozgram – If you’re reading this, you are going to have to pay me alot more than three pieces of coal just to look at it.”  He gave an odd grin, mumbling “And look is all that I’ll let you do before I chop your head off.”

This was the first I’d heard the name of Ozgram, so I asked if that was the real name o’ that Courier we’d heard about — the one we figured was responsible for that bloodsplat in the Brutes’ shed.

“The Courier is who Oz payed me to rob. Steal his backpack. Don’t know much about them. Except that Loonella, the girl that had the key, who I killed…uhm..scratch that part…”

So, one small mystery solved – we knew who beat Loonella up and did her in. Still, who is this Courier? And who’s this Ozgram person?  Before I could even ask, he went on to drop another new name.

“Now hear this. As some of you know there is a little crazy girl running around. She talks in chants and mumblings. If you see her and can bring her to me, I shall hand out a reward.”

I told him that a fistful of rubble could buy a dozen crazy mumbling girls, out here in the Wastes, and he’d have to be a little more specific.  Lajka, he said her name was.

“She is the sister of Loonella… Loonella is the girl I kidnapped.. the girl that got away…and turned up at the Bazaar… Ozgram told me to take the girl and hold her til he arrived… Lajka came in and saved her. Now I’ve been told that Loonella died…but Lajka is still out there.. she knows more of the key than I.”

He said that he’d seen Lajka in the Wastes before, but not Loonella — not until he kidnapped her.  I asked if he knew how Loonella knew some of our names, then. “Well, she kept talking about the Digger as I had her at my home, awaiting for Oz.”  But he seemed stumped as anyone else.

Though he said that Lajka knew more of the key than he did, I hadn’t seen her — still haven’t, as I write this — and Frank was my only living source of information about that key at all.  So I pressed ahead.  ”I know some details… The key first got mentioned as I held Loonella. She told me that if I handed her over to Oz it would be devastating. That the key had to come to its right owner… ” He chuckled. “She said that owner was the Mutant Witch, but I believe it’s me…”

He glanced over at Smokey and Cat and, perhaps as an afterthought, added “And my new friends, of course….”

I mentioned how the Witch had no interest in any of this nonsense, hoping he’d reveal something Loonella said about the purpose of the key, the Mutant Witch, and so on.  But he only laughed, saying “Exactly, the Mutant Witch is OBVIOUSLY not the right owner!”

“Loonella said that a second witch will come from the East,” he went on.  Which had – and still has – me pretty baffled.  We’re pretty low on East, seeing how we only claimed the Cape a few moons back, and the Big Water beyond it stretches farther than anyone’s dared to go.  And we’re pretty low on witches, too — besides the Mutant Witch, the only one I’d ever heard of were the Reaver Witches.  Though their lands are a little more North than they are East, even others in the Reaver Cult often don’t know what the others are up to, and interloping outsiders tend to become a nice meal.

This word of the witch being pretty meaningless, I asked about this Lajka lass again.  ”I caught Lajka a few days ago, she kept rambling as usual. Didn’t understand a lot of it. Something about the doors that has to remain closed. Then she managed to escape me. So yet again, I must point out – a reward to whoever will bring her to me. ”  Specifically, “I still have the three pieces of coal I got from Oz for killing that first Courier. I can let go of one of them.”

Now, that phrasing caught my ear.  Not only because it was the first he’d admitted to killing the Courier — but because it was the first direct statement that there was more than one Courier. I asked him straight out if there were more Couriers out in the world. “Five, I’ve been told,” though he admitted he didn’t know much about them.

“Five total — or more like four, now?” I asked.

His yellow teeth showed in a grin again, and he said “Four now.”

So it seems this Ozgram guy is behind most of these deeds.  Hired Frank to rob and kill the Courier, hired Frank to kidnap Loonella, clearly has an interest in this damned key and is, apparently, the last person who should have it.  Wealthy bugger, too, to pay out 3 coal for a hit.  But my hopes of learning more were quashed pretty early.  ”"I will not speak about Oz. He is a powerful man. I… I… Let’s just say he’s what drove me into all this.”  Strange hesitation, from a rogue otherwise unrepentant.  Since there seemed to be no love lost, I asked Frank if there was a bounty on Oz’s head, too. “No.  He’s all mine…”

For admitting that he was gonna leave some things out, Frank seemed more than willing to tell of his dirty deeds.  So I tried to set things straight about what happened when, and why.  The first unclear thing was why he kidnapped Loonella.  I asked if that was a hired thing, too, or done just for his own amusement.

“Yes, he asked me to kidnap her. Hold her captive and await him. I had her in a shed in my yard. That’s when she brought up the key and how Oz cannot have it. That’s when I first heard about the key. I got curious and tried beating more info out of her. Then Lajka came in and torched my house and managed to save her sister.”

But when, exactly, did this happen, I asked?  How long before the Bazaar?

“I believe they must’ve wandered for a couple of days.  And what I’ve been told – Lajka was not with her as she arrived at the Bazaar…”

Which was true — but it was strange, I thought, that Loonella would try and tell us of the key and the Courier and saving him in seven moons and all that other jazz, but say nothing of her sister.  Wouldn’t ask us to find her, wouldn’t tell us to go to her for information about it.  Just said that the Mutant Witch needed it, like nothing else need be said.

I asked Frank if he was sure they were sisters, and said, come to think of it, he wasn’t.  That Lajka had called Loonella “Big Sister,” but that Loonella hadn’t said anything about her before nor after.  Though she wasn’t in a state to talk much.

So I asked more about the Courier Frank offed. “”He was Courier No. 5; he had a logo on his backpack I were to look after,” Frank said. I didn’t ask for a description.  Shoulda, in hindsight.  But anyways, I asked if Frank had kept both Loonella and Courier No. 5 in the shed at the same time.  Nope.

“The killing of the courier and the kidnaping was on two seperate occasions. First I killed Courier No. 5, then Oz cam the day after and picked up his cargo. Then Oz came back some weeks later and gave me a new assignment – kidnap Loonella. I took her, held her in my shed, and she started rambling about the key – then Lajka came and nearly burned my house down; in the confusion she saved Loonella.”

As for what the big deal was about that pack, Frank seemed to have wondered that, hisself.  ”"I looked through the backpack and found some papers with symbols and a box I could not open.”  I asked him about the symbols, if he remembered them or would recognize them again — thinking it might have been Glyph or some other scratchsign.  But that went nowhere.

And that was about it.  Though Frank had just one thing he wanted to ask anyone reading this, or anyone having it read to them:   “Question: Has anyone seen my colleague Mr. Madeye? He’s been missing a while, and as much as I hate to say it, I miss his stupid poems and crazy antics…”  No reward was offered for that information, at least — but who knows what all Madeye has seen?

As for my take on it all… I’m sure there’s plenty that Frank didn’t say.  But I doubt there was much that he outright lied about.  He seemed to have no care for consequences, and didn’t seem the type to downplay his deeds.  But he knew things that I doubt anyone else could’ve known.  So there’s surely some gaps, but what he did say was probably close enough to facts.  He surely knows more about Loonella — even if he dismissed some of her talk as frightened ramblings, he probably heard more than he’s revealed, or has a better idea of who she was and why she mattered than he wanted to say.  I suspect he knows more about Lajka, too, than he’s telling — or at least has a better idea of what she knows or why she might know it.  And I’m damn sure he knows more about this Ozgram.

But that’s about it.  In the end, I think Frank’s the middleman here.  Ozgram, this powerful and apparently wealthy Outlander, is pulling all the strings.  He’s the one who wanted the pack and wants the key; he’s the one who wanted Loonella taken alive.  And Frank?  He’s the schlub who got hired to do the dirty work.  He doesn’t seem to really know any more about that key than any of the rest of us, nor much about the Couriers.  So, if you want to tip that one coal reward, or to ally with him to storm the Pipsqueeks and steal the key back, or have a chat and see if he’ll tell you things he’d not tell me, Frank’s your man.  But I think that’s the extent of it.  Even if he told you, it’s like I said before:  all he knows for facts is what he’s heard, and what he’s done.

And, as I found out a few days ago, there is at least one ‘fact’ about which Frank was very, very wrong….

Despite Shelter’s frigid chill, not everyone was frozen and still during the last few seasons.  A stranger’s death with a curious inheritance set off a complex chain of events.  Continuing into Revival, the rumors and stories turned into a buzz of activity humming across the settlement .  The Digger now sorts through scattered pages of old entries in his journal.  Digging for hints and rumors.  Moments dismissed at the time may now prove important.  Clues tied to recent whispers on the wind.

 

Excerpts from the Digger’s Journal:

(The date is unreadable, the charcoal is smudged…)

Busy day.  A new face missing most of its jaw wandered in.  The ghoul couldn’t speak apart from hisses and gurgles.  Most scavs kept their distance.  We tried to talk with drawings in the sand but the closing of the day sidetracked progress and understanding.  Didn’t even figure out a name for it.

 

Fire King – Day (smudged)

Odd stranger near the bazaar today.  Human with a hat and a book.  I called out for him to join us, but he never did.  He just kept circling and scribbling in his book.  Folks got restless at the behavior.  So I chased him off with some rifle shots, before they chased him with flayers.  I reckon he can put that in his book!

 

(The date is unreadable, the charcoal is smudged…)

I found a piece of folded paper pinned to one of the posts in the bazaar.  On the outside, it was marked as a delivery from “The Courier”.  On the inside, a message was written from the odd notebook scribbler who I shot at several days ago.  Says the sun made him act all funny, that he didn’t mean any harm, and that hopes he won’t get shot at the next time he showed up.  It’s signed with the name of “Madeye”

I reckon I’ll let this Madeye know he’s welcome if I see him again.  Maybe the Courier could pass on a message.  Never heard of him until now.  No idea where I’d find him if I wanted to.

                (Scribbled in the margin by “Madeye”)

and Frank = the Brutes. Between Cormac + Fissure. Between a rock and a hole in the ground.

 

Withering – Day 40

A busy day despite the chill of the season.  Several traders braved the cold.  Harvey set himself up in a stall.  Apo kept folks warm with her brew.  Dassina growled at bad deals offered.  The manimal was restless…maybe she sensed the death that soon stumbled in.  When the young girl, beaten and bloody, walked into the middle of the bazaar and dropped lifeless, the trading kept going.  Battered bodies are nothing new around here, but some of us couldn’t just let her lay there and die.  That’s just bad for business.

We gave the injured stranger some water and tended to her wounds but it was useless.  Her dying words were vague.  Mixed messages of request and warning and offering.   She asked us to save the Courier.  She warned us of the Brutes.  She spoke of another Witch and the passage of several moons.  She died trying to give a small pouch to one of our own witches, the mutant Ccindy.  A metal key was inside the pouch.

Searching the girl’s body for clues or scrap, I discovered a crude tattoo on the back of her neck:  a length of flaming chain.  No one among us recognized the mark.

In her pockets, I found a handful of unfamiliar stones.  They’re not from anyplace around here.  The Mutant Witch believes they are sacred stones of her tribal ancestors and that I have no right to them.  She believes the dead girl stole them from her people and the Witch wants them.  She’s made an offer: the key for the stones.  She doesn’t care that the dead girl wanted the Witch to have the key.  I’ll probably make the trade but not until after I study the stones.  Still, she and I have received a strange inheritance.

I buried the girl in a shallow grave under the schooner while Apo and Tsukiko hiked over to the Brutes’ place to look around.  Witch wanted her burned right there.  Probably the wiser thing to do and I might still later.

                (Scribbled in the margin of this entry)

Dead girl named Loonella, sister of Lajka.  Second-hand talk from scavs with Frank and Lajka.

 

Shelter – Day 14

I’ve been busy down in the Cape building a shelter and dock.  Isolated from most scavengers but Ol’Jubal and Sohma found me there today with word that the Mutant Witch was eager to make that trade.  So we made the long hike to her temple near Hambone Hill.  A Pipsqueek named Greg followed us.  He was very enthusiastic to see what would happen.  The cold weather has left me little time for thoughts on rocks and keys but others felt differently.

We found the Mutant Witch, made the trade, and she was pleased to get the stones.  I would have liked more time to study them, but she was eager to have them…or eager to get rid of the key.  With the stones in hand, she spat curses about “smoothskin thieves” for a bit.  She claimed not to care about the key, and now that I have it, I don’t know if I do or not.

Apo showed up after the exchange and she told us all about the strange things she and Tsu found at Frank’s place.  It’s not clear what happened to the Courier or if he’s even alive but -

(the page is torn here)

Shelter – Day 17

If rumors are true, the locals are asking around about the key.  Some with words and others with fists.  All for reasons unknown.  They probably don’ t know themselves.

At the last bazaar, Tralala told us how she was mugged by the Brutes, roughing her up for info on who had the key.  Some scavs and a kid I haven’t seen before have also asked me about the key; so it’s not just the Brutes looking for it. This thing will probably turn out to be more trouble than it’s worth.

Shelter – Day 42

While finishing my work in the Cape, two Pipsqueeks, Jordy and Greg, told me about a strange girl named Lajka.  Jordy said she spoke strangely in riddles or maybe she’d been out in the sun too long and her brain was scrambled.  And that she has a thing for starting fires.  She claimed to be the dead girl’s sister also.  She spoke of the key and warned of unseen danger and things not to be opened.  Ominous talk but considering the source, who’s to take it seriously?

I guess the Pipsqueeks did ’cause they offered to look after the Key and keep it safe.  They’d also heard about Frank leaning heavy on other scavs for news about the key.  Jordy seemed spooked about Lajka’s warnings but he proudly claimed that he just wanted to protect the Cape.  It seemed like a decent offer and one I was going to accept but I wanted to at least check out the Brute’s place first.  I turned over those stones before giving them a careful study, so I didn’t want to let go of the key just yet.

But the Pips are greedy urchins for more than just sweet food and candy.  They didn’t like that I wanted to wait on their offer so they tossed some threats at me that I ignored as I left.  I’d barely even turned down the road when they attacked me from behind.  Caught off guard by their betrayal, they quickly knocked me out and stole away the key.  By the time I picked myself up, they were already hiding, locked up in their fort on the shores of the Cape.

I probably shouldn’t have kept the key in my coat, but it didn’t seem worth guarding.  I don’t understand all this jumping at a brute’s threats and getting scared at some crazy girl’s stories.  Besides, they’ve traded squarely with me in the past, so I didn’t expect them to flip to gang tactics.  Bad business to barter in one breath then stab a back in the next.  Or maybe the Pips are just all twisted around by Lajka’s words.  I recall Ashlee kept them from running wild back when she looked after them, but I haven’t seen her lately.

Revival  - Day (smudged)

Shelter’s cold keeps a grip on the land as we head into Revival.  Scavengers are grumpy and the mood is foul.   I haven’t crossed paths with the Pips since they took that key, but I’ve also been too busy to go hunting for them.  From what I’ve heard, there’s plenty of other scavs that want them, that Lajka girl, and, of course, the key. I’ve heard  Frank’s got some new friends in the Junkyard and probably some other places.  If they’re willing to believe black coal promises.  Along with these promises, another outsider’s name has been dropped and with unfriendly tones: Ozgram.  Apo’s been keeping a closer track of the stories and rumors than I have so she’s probably learned much more than me.

 

Revival – Day 16

Late in the day, I found a note from Apo saying that Lajka was captured by the Black Market.  When I scouted out the Yards, nothing was stirring.  Maybe they  moved Lajka or had already sold her off to Frank.  Apo’s note also says Lajka talked about Loonella’s brother named Moy-Moy?  Daylight was fading fast and I still had work to do so I didn’t stick around.  Maybe I’ll learn more tomorrow.

                (Scribbled in the margin next to “Moy-Moy”)

Loonella, Lajka, and Moy-Moy = Sisters and brother?  How big is this family?

 

Revival – Day 17

Found another note from Apo.  The Pips rescued Lajka away from the Black Market.  Not too surprising.  That last time I dealt with those Pips, Jordy was concerned with her riddle-speak.  I guess her cryptic warnings convinced them to help her.

 

Revival – Day 18

From what I hear second hand, plots and schemes are getting stirred up among the Wastelanders.  The sneaky Mwrr ghoul, Kittykat, approached me on Hambone Hill.  She stubbornly made repeated offers to barter for my bow or measure its value.  When our talk shifted to local rumors and stories, I found out she doesn’t trust Frank Hilltop or his schemes at all. She also grumbled about the Mutant Witch clinging to her stones.  When I described the jaw-less ghoul that had visited the Bazaar in the past and drew pictures in the sand, she got very excited and distracted and quickly scampered away.

Other whispers on the winds say that Harvey Jillybean, the bartender in the Cape, has suffered a serious injury from a nasty fall and that the Black Market are responsible.  Sabotage to the zip-line.  Payback for keeping company with young rescuers probably.

 

Revival  – Day 46

Puppets on strings or flies in a web?  Now I hear that people are after the stones too!  Greedy gangs and scavengers trying to convince the Mutant Witch, Ccindy, to hand them over.  They’re ready to fight each other over a bunch of rocks, but I don’t know why.  I wonder if they do?  I can just imagine that Witch laughing and cackling as they bicker and threaten.  I doubt any amount of coal or threats will convince her to share them or trade them.  Those stones are very important to her and sacred to her people, but someone must want them pretty badly if several groups are bartering for them.  Who’s pulling the strings this time?  Lajka, Frank, or the mystery man Ozgram?  And why the stones?  And whatever happened to the key?  Maybe Apo’s heard something that I haven’t.

It’s been a couple of seasons since Loonella died at the bazaar and left behind her strange inheritance.  While all of these people, locals and outsiders, argue over her key and stones, a part of me would like to think she must’ve died for some other cause.  In her mind, she probably did.  Food and salvage may grow scarce but there’s never a shortage of meaningless deaths in this world.  And no shortage of scavengers to fight over the things left behind.

DECEMBER 3

The finalists for this Fight Night were Ccindy Pfeffer (1st), Aposiopesis Fullstop (2nd), and theblackcloud Oh (3rd).  Fighters fought in the classic Fight Night tourney matches.

.

DECEMBER 10

The finalists for this Fight Night were Dassina Andel (1st), Ironblood Mechanique (2nd), and theblackcloud Oh (3rd).  Fights were conducted via the Point System.

.

DECEMBER 17

The finalists for this Fight Night were theblackcloud Oh (1st), Kittykat Borkotron (2nd), and Lucifer Vale (3rd).  Fights were conducted via the Classic Fight Night bracket rules.

Fight Night runs every Saturday of the month at The Potato Farm, Hambone Slash, in The Wastelands, 3PM PDT. War Zone is typically held on the fourth or last Saturday of every month at 3PM SLT/PDT in Hambone Slash.