Our May event, GHOSTS OF THE PAST, was full of revelations, twists and turns. The following is a Story Recap for anyone who would like to catch up, look back, or fill in their understanding of the story of the event.
WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS:
* The Nuclear Family, under Trial of faith, tried to change over the Trialed faith of the Profane Wolves through frequent rituals (with milk and cookies!), the fallout potentially changing Barker forever.
* The Everliving Wood visited Barker Meadow via Useless Eyes Pinback, who shared crucial information before dying in a burst of psionics sustained in her Infection from battling Taleholders in strange warfare in the Wood. Daring Barkers uncovered secrets about The Workers at the Amphitheater investigating an Unfinished Cracked Crystal Cairn made by The Workers as it disintegrated in dangerous fashion.
* Missing Sainthood members were rescued from the BIZ cult, but not without a challenging battle and a tragic loss of one of their rescuers to the Grave.
* Assassins killed Packrat, later revealed to be the Children of Constantine, radical Fallow Hopes seeking revenge on Barker Meadow. As friends Morgue-sat for Packrat, Mayor Cassady Jaunt stumbled out, having been targeted by a serial killer known as The Ghost who had been haunting the town in its shadows.
* Hutch from the 7x7 Red Stars led town trap-disarmers on a mission to expose Barker's secrets by declassifying records from the archives, leading to numerous shocking revelations.
* Onda Tal-Servi of the Seventh Scourge Final Knights attacked the town but was eventually defeated and killed by his family, in a battle that tragically felled Grail.
* A mysterious representative from Standards & Practices reminded the Telling Visionaries of Barker Meadow's significance in Lorado's Programming, vexing the local TVs and leading to great debate as well as promising tremendous ratings for their schemes going forward.
* Nightjar Calonyction, a descendant of the dangerous Flesher Calonyction, Graverobber of the Taleholders, collaborated with heroes to uncover the truth about Flesher's past actions. The shocking revelations in their Videbit Mortis on Flesher, including Flesher's creation of a Synthetic Morgue in Barker Meadow and the Sin Eaters’ origin at the hands of Flesher at that Morgue, left them with more questions than answers and the looming sense that "All this has happened before, all this will happen again."
* A mysterious Full Dead using Undead under his telepathic control assaulted the Saloon, going after A. Walker of the Postal Service in the process, but was stopped by those inside in an intense fight. While being killed, the Full Dead revealed themselves as “Tape Four” of The Hobbes who have been vexing Barker Meadow with their maddening Fixations.
* The Panoptic Order, a group of elusive Visionary storytellers, helped narrate the history of Barker Meadow through a captivating shadow play. They revealed that the Profane Wolves were created to fight terrifying forces of Fallen Angel undead in Barker Meadow long ago, and were later used by faiths against their rivals in Barker Meadow.
* After tormenting the town for months, a Grave-born imposter pretending to be a local named Percy was captured and experimented on by her associates. However, upon discovering important information about its nature, the Stranger In Our House escaped and vanished.
* Cassandra Joanna Birch from the Fisken Cosmia Darwins of The Boulder, returned to Barker Meadow in search of the history of the local Dark Sky Darwins. As she shared details about one of their members, Barker’s Spring Speaker named Cassiopeia and her connection to past tragedies, events took an unexpected turn when the Profane Wolves began attacking the Darwins.
* Sunflower of The Mutual Aides brought news that Hutch had been arrested for stealing from the archives. The town responded by establishing a fund to help bail him out and began making plans for his escape.
* Henry Aspen from Bear Claw joined Marx in a hunt against the Profane Wolves. They managed to collect samples from the young Wolves in their den, only to be met with chaos when the Wolves suddenly attacked the Darwins, Nuclear Family, and Final Knights all at once!
* The town also researched The Workers throughout the trade, discovering that the psionic maelstrom emanating from these creatures renders them invulnerable except to those who have immuned themselves to psionics. Finding out The Workers are coming to Barker Meadow, they resolved to pursue synthesizing and reversing the effects of the Cracked Crystal Cairns, to fight off the impending threat of The Workers.
* Realizing something was very wrong with the Wolves, the town decided to accept help from the local Nuclear Family, the Bakers. They provided a powerful Benediction to aid in battling the Wolves.
* As the trade came to an end, the history of Barker Meadow is now splayed before its residents, and many choices have to be made about how to move forward from the ghosts of its past.