Scene 5: Torslunda Marshes

Later that day, in the early afternoon, the four of you - unsurprisingly, Peter has called up Mikael and let him know that he's really busy today and can't come but to definitely let him know what you find and also to say hi to Yumin - meet at Mikael's house from which you take the bus up north to Sånga-Säby. From there, it's still a bit of a march to get to the Marshes but you arrive still pretty early in the afternoon.
You all, especially Mikael who lives closest to these parts, still remember this area before the Flood. It was just fields, some forests and nature, nothing unusual, but the dirty, potentially dangerous grey water that rose from below ground during the Flood has turned this area into a swamp. As you follow the lead of Sabine who saw Mark's photos and thinks she has an idea of where to go, you often have to test where to step in order to not sink into the creepy mud all the way up to your knees.
There are birds around but only far in the distance and it seems that many wild animals of other kinds avoid the marshes entirely. Here and there, you find large frogs and toads or you see something move out of the corner of your eyes but disappear before you can turn your heads, but for the most part, the swamps seem empty and uncomfortable. The marshes are damp, smelly and, despite summer not having arrived yet, full of mosquitoes.
As you close in on the location where Sabine believes the photos to have been taken, you notice pieces of black cloth tied to the branches of many trees, damp from rain and swaying weakly in the light wind.

Sabine looked many times at the photo she had taken from Mark's room for visual clues to the location in the background, as they proceeded to the marsh. She studied their surroundings for any familiarity.

"Huh," Mikael wonders aloud while Sabine studies the photograph, "This cloth we keep seeing, looks like someone tied it on. Marks of some kind maybe?" He can't help the fleeting thought that the cloth might be the same as those black, hooded cloaks Peter had said were seen in the field where Mark was killed. Could the cultists be out here? He brushed it off, as there certainly wasn't anything tying this black cloth to the cultists. Maybe they weren't cultists, Mikael thinks, what if they were these robots, wearing cloaks to hide their appearance? What if...? "Uhh, guys...what if Mark's not really dead?" he asks.

"Not dead? He looked dead, didn’t he? Didn’t he?" she thinks.

Yes… he did…

"You think it could have been faked? Would he do that to his aunt?"

Kim tried not to think about what she was doing to her own mother by even taking the risk being out here today.

Sabine looks at Mikael and then to both Eric and Yumin; shaking her head. "Of course Mark was dead. We all were there. He wasn't breathing. His eyes didn't blink. The mark of the electrocution was visible clear through his coat."

"But..." She adds. "...Who knows now. We still aren't sure what else Dr. Franken-Liv cooked up in her torture basement. Mark could be back from the dead—I guess its possible."

"I'm just...I don't know, crazy thought. Someone put those flowers over his body. Seemed like someone that cared about him was there after he died. He was friends with these robots...and the doctor was doing some weird experiments. Maybe, somehow, the electricity from the pole was used to, uhh...sorry this is crazy. Maybe his brain went into one of the robots somehow? Maybe the flower was there because he put it there himself, you know...after?" He shakes his head. "Someone did that. If it wasn't Mark, it must have been his Aunt, or maybe one of the robots did it - they were friends, it seems from what we've seen so far."

He purses his lips and darts his eyes around. crazy, yup, he thinks. "Nevermind. I keep thinking about what all this means, trying to make sense of it, and what makes sense is making less and less sense..." He kicks the dirt and laughs, "Heh. Hey Sabine, any idea where we're going?"

"Hmm, zombie robots... Cyborgs? Well, only one way to find out."

Eric continues walking, using his stick to test the ground ahead making sure he doesn't sink any deeper than necessary into this bog.

"Did anything else weird happen to anybody else last night? Once you all got home?

"Sabine, any idea where we're going?"

Sabine looks back and forth between Mikael and Eric. "I think we're on the right path." She answers. "Although, I am not very familiar with the marshes. Its not a place I'd choose to take Kaysa on a romantic date obviously."

As you walk through the swamp, you keep seeing movement in the distance and you have the feeling of being watched, but you never manage to actually see anyone.You do notice that certain paths through the mud seem to be blocked up. At first, some of those barricades appear natural, just branches and plants obscuring the way, but when you look at them more closely, they seem to have been placed there purposefully, almost as if someone was trying to keep you away from your goal.

Still, you manage to keep going until Sabine recognizes the exact place where the photo labeled as "The Shaman" had been taken. There's the fallen tree, there's this weird, rooty plant, there's the small pool of dirty water...
And further to the right, near the edge of a relatively small group of trees, there are three robots, rusty and dingy-looking, seemingly playing with some chickens and rabbits, luring them to themselves in turn, feeding them and petting them.
All three robots are dressed in tattered clothes. One is wearing a tan dress and a headband with a plastic feather that look like they might be straight out of a costume store where they would have been labeled "Indian Woman". Another is wearing a T-Shirt with Cyrillic letters and leather boots with no pants but a cheap cowboy hat on his head. The third is just draped in what looks like blankets and is wearing a necklace made of small animal bones.
They are all too absorbed by their play with the animals to have noticed the humans yet.

"Last night? No nothi…" she stops up short.

"Oh my god…" escapes her mouth before she clasps her hands over her it to keep herself quiet. She mouths to the others with exaggerated motions so they catch her meaning without any noise.

"Look. Over. There. Ro. Bots!" he eyes go wide as she takes in the trio again. She feels the immediate need to get small and low.

"They are indeed robots." Sabine confirms. She pulls out the photo, takes a couple careful steps forward, and waves her hands to attract the robots' attention. "HELLO! We are looking for the Shaman! We knew Mark. Can you show us the way?"

"Whoa," Mikael expresses, "Are they...are they playing?" He take a couple quiet steps forward and leans forward, as if that would somehow allow him to see differently. So weird, he thinks as Sabine suddenly exclaims to his side. He practically jumps and subconsciously reaches out a hand to stop her, but before its halfway to her arm he catches himself. He straights and steps forward into the open with Sabine, holding his hands forward. "We - uh - come in peace!" Mikael adds in an effort to help.

The robots startle when you approach and greet them. Their reaction in turn scares the rabbits away. The chickens meanwhile don't seem to care that much at all.
The three robots look at each other and exchange some quick, rough words that you don't understand as you're still too far away. They look like they're going to run away.

Seeing the robots, Eric holds onto his stick defensively and nearly jumps out of his skin when Sabine shouts for them.

Sabine, are you sure we want to be talking to them? he whispers to her as the turn and see them.

"Oh eh, hey!" Eric shouts at them, and soon realises that they're perhaps not quite as scary the robots he had envisaged. Eric looks towards Mikael and gives him a slight nudge. "You go talk to them, I'll just scare them away if I get any closer. Perhaps they can help us through this marsh." He whispers through his smiling teeth.

Mikael continues to hold his hands up, palms forward and up near his head to show (hopefully) that he is no danger to them and means no harm. Do robots care about self preservation? he wonders.

"My name is Mikael, and like my friend here said, we knew Mark. We worry that something bad happened to him, that someone hurt him. Nobody else seems to care, none of the adults in town, so we've been looking into it. We know he was friends with the Shaman," he gestures towards them, "maybe you, too? We're just hoping to meet you, and at least hear what you can say about Mark so that we might better remember him. If you happen to know how he was killed, we'd like to know that too...maybe we can help bring Mark some justice if we knew what really happened." He smiles, entirely confident on the outside while incredibly unsure of what he was doing on the inside.

The robots exchange glances. They seem pretty frightened by the teenagers' sudden appearance and the four of you get the impression they might not fully understand all you're saying.
After a moment, the one wrapped in blankets takes a couple of hesitant steps towards your group. "Friends... of Mark?", he asks carefully. His voice sounds tinny, like through a bad telephone, but there is an audible Russian accent in it. "You want to speak to Shaman?" When Mikael confirms, he steps back to his two friends and they chatter for a moment, then the robot wrapped in blankets says: "Come, I show you. But you promise, you won't hurt him!"

He then begins walking towards the group of trees they were playing next to. His companions hesitate for a second, then follow him, always throwing back nervous glances at the unfamiliar humans.

"We promise not to hurt him." Sabine confirms for the blanketed robot. "We only want to meet with him and talk." She adds; following along beside Mikael.

Mikael glances at Yumin, Sabine, and Eric, then back to the robots. "You have my word," he says, "We're not here to hurt anyone, we just want to talk. Thank you."

He takes a cautious step forward to begin following them into the treeline.

The three robots cautiously lead you into the growth of trees that might, optimistically, be called a small forest. It's not a long walk until they stop and the one wrapped in blankets points a finger up. "Shaman," he announces.
As you look to where he's pointing, you see a treehouse up high, set between two trees that both wouldn't be strong enough to hold it individually. There's no ladder leading up but one of the trees it's on has enough broken off branches growign from its trunk that they can serve as a kind of ladder. Climbing up shouldn't be a problem.
As you look up, you catch a glimpse of a robotic face peeking down at you through the curtains that serve as a door to the treehouse. The head is decorated with feathers and Sabine believes it might be the robot from the photo, the Shaman.