Montalvo Enclave - Jan 2018
Though the weather seemed questionable leading up to the expedition, the sun burst through to give us beautiful blue skies dotted with clouds on an otherwise chilly January day. Fifteen members of Troupe 001 gathered at Montalvo to with our mission in hand. We were to:
Inspect the Montalvo grounds and
Detect any and all traces of L.A.J., an explorer who many years ago delivered a precious artifact that was only recently recovered. Its further noted that Troupe 001 has only ever received faint traces to other Explorers Guild members or troupes, so this is a priority.
As the troupe all landed at the rendezvous point, we started off with a few cheerful games before turning to our mission directives. After greeting one another and ensuring we were all committed to the task at hand, we were quick to discover a rather large Brownie spider, which our specialist indicated meant that good luck was in store for us this day.
Our first discovery came in the shape of an extruded explorb. We should have seen it coming as it stood about two explorers tall, but alas it was early in the day and it captured several troupe members in it. Upon exiting (piano, piano!) we found that the space seemed to not be exclusively used to capture explorers but is used in Montalvo as a squirrel racetrack. Specifically, the upper details don't seem to be architectural flourish as much as practical grabbing points to assure that during the one time of year it's used, squirrels don't go soaring into space. According to our squirrel expert, this track is switched on during a ritual which we believed to be a part of a solstice festival. Whimsical and fun, our hopes that this place would be nothing but these kinds of installations changed as we continued sinking deeper onto the property.
One of the clearest and most troubling pieces we found was an obelisk detailing a warning from the "Judge-y Bird" and its incessant demand of perfection. The warning suggests that the Judge-y Birds live in Montalvo and insist on a performance illustrating its reign of power. The bulls, being the strongest and most powerful, were selected to execute a perfect dance party, if not they would be bitten by snakes as punishment. The problem is that no one is born perfect, so the only time to practice was during the full moon which was when the snakes would turn into slugs.
The property was absent of any bulls, which made me wary, but there were many judge-y looking birds. Heading the warning, we posted up a few sentries to be on the lookout as eight of us practiced square dancing. I wasn't about to let our troupe succumb to the punishment of these snakes or birds, but wanted to be ready just in case we were called upon to perform. Occasionally we had to cease our activity as we spotted some judge-y looking birds, but overall we left feeling great about our session and were ready to perform if necessary.
We also came across the Judge-y Bird Mansion, a control tower type installation which was a collection of hundreds of bird houses along one of the trees. Clearly the birds are a significant aspect of the Montalvo culture, serving as superintendents of the property. Right next to the mansion was also a plant penal colony, imprisoning plants which seemed to have been acting out. Though the mansion was close by, there was also the art installation of the Warden nearby, an all seeing being cast into bronze, lording over a fountain and establishing proper order be in place. This character reminded us of the proscenium gargoyle we found near the stage. Watchful control and dominance kept reoccurring as themes in our examinations. Wanting time to take it in, we stopped for lunch under the large reflection tree (another explorb which to escape you needed to conduct personal reflection to get out - I assure you we still haven't lost an explorer yet!).
Over shared lunches and some additional revelations of the space, we realized something just wasn't right about the property and that we were still no closer to finding L.A.J. After finishing our food we still had one place to inspect which was the temple beyond the gates. Beyond the sphinxes we entered a closed garden to discover a disturbing site. Along a direct line from the mail villa stood a demon table. A place where sacrifices were made to keep demons locked away, all housed in a marble table displaying some rather demonic creatures.
Needing a break from Montalvo, we were thankfully met with a tip as to L.A.J.'s whereabouts! We hiked up to her favorite spot, the lookout in the hills above the center. It was here that we heard her voice ✪ and got to know a bit more of another explorer. The story we heard reflected the same passion we had currently, that she too had been in search of the Explorers Guild, though 70 years previous. It was with a heavy heart we heard her story though it also seemed as though this is just the beginning for her. As Binary put it "this raises more questions than answers." Hopefully soon we'll hear more and continue to fill in her story, for now we can have comfort in knowing there are others out there.
We concluded our trip by reflecting on the experience of Montalvo. Though we were struck by much of the art, it was no surprise that L.A.J. didn't stay long here. The overbearing sense of control over nature just isn't a value that the Explorers Guild follows. The grand pieces such as the point/counterpoint hut, the spectator training zone, the mismatched garbage pants, the signal boosting garden and the treasure guarded by the prickly dragon field will be long remembered. We have concluded our mission to Montalvo, but for troupe 001, we are now set on a course to find L.A.J.'s work.