It happened very suddenly. A single sheet of paper plastered to a tree. The words “MISSING: Sam Saltiel” scribbled in thick black marker. The only issue is that the picture is completely unrecognizable. A muddied landscape makes shapes impossible to define. The sky, while red, is more of a reddish brown. And Sam… Well, that’s a little complicated. Sam’s visage is certainly there… but it is blurred. The blurriness muddies the landscape further, making it near impossible to distinguish between what is foliage and what is a person.
These sightings would only increase. More posters, each with a concerning lack of details, appear in the most open of locations, yet nobody has any memory of making them, let alone posting them. Okay, that’s not exactly true. Students of Sam’s class made and posted the initial, however all subsequent posters are the strange supernatural ones. Sam’s image twists and contorts with every poster, making their location more of a messed up Where’s Waldo as opposed to a helpful visual of what Sam looks like and where she was last seen.
The posters only grow more strange and desperate from there. The images begin to melt into each other, the messages under the posters cry out for help, devolving into screaming desperation.
The strange occurrences have rallied small groups to dedicate their time and resources towards looking for Sam. The poster’s usage of wooded areas indicates they may be lost in the forest, but the danger of the area continues to hinder much progress. However, as one individual learns of the power of taking care of nature, it leads to other people attempting similar measures to go through the forest. Moderate success is met with and more trekking through the forest is accomplished. Still no signs of Sam, however.
The desperation has put multiple people on edge. The posters themselves aren’t malicious, but their messages stick with people as they pass by, feeling powerless to do anything about the situation. Morale lowers quite a bit as a result. The local “Bards of Evergreen” are working in overdrive to support morale. Legends, stories, jokes, and merriment is to be had with the RAD group and the medical tent. In a strange way, the missing posters of Sam have brought more people together, as opposed to driving people down. The camaraderie has grown between people as they band together to stay hopeful. In fact, a new movement started in Sam’s name: doitforsam. In Sam’s absence, the heart has grown fonder, and the students of Sam’s class became more proactive than ever in the search.
The result is that students have been rallied again. A new fire has been lit under the survivors, encouraging them to work hard and ahead in making the most of a bleak situation by coming up with more creative solutions to problems, and forging ahead on exploring and making peace with the forest and the fog. Everyone is excited for new progress and new adventures, and even more mysteries begin to unravel and excite survivors as they forge their own paths in their new lives.