Where is everyone in Thomson's Crossing? (Spoilers!)

[GothSkunk]

Something occurred to me while I was out running errands today and I wondered if it crossed anyone else's mind as well:

 

 

Where the heck IS everyone?!

 

Besides Molly and Father Thomas, there doesn't appear to be anyone else alive in Pleasant Valley. Everyone at the community hall -- except Father Thomas -- is a survivor from the plane crash. Yet Father Thomas makes a number of references to 'his flock' -- Catholic parlance for one's congregation -- but where are they? All the other buildings are abandoned, no one is holed up in the community hall helping out Father Thomas with the survivors. So, what exactly is he doing there, all by himself?

It's evident that Molly can take care of herself, so her solitude isn't out of place. But Father Thomas does not appear to be able to hunt or defend himself from aggressive wolves. No one, besides Astrid, has come to his aid. There's no one IN the town to come to his aid, either. Everyone else we find in Pleasant Valley is dead, or barely hanging on until Astrid can get to them and rescue them to the community hall.

Is this intentional, do you think? Or an oversight? I'm familiar enough with RPG's to know that oftentimes, townspeople NPC's are merely there to provide some semblance of hustle-and-bustle in a town/village/city and offer nothing of core substance. Could it be that for this reason the townspeople are not present, because they wouldn't offer anything of substance? Or could it be something else? Could it be an intentional design choice by Hinterland to have no other NPC's in Thomson's Crossing, because they've all abandoned it? And if that's the case, why would Father Thomas remain behind if everyone else has gone or died?

Edited October 27, 2019 by GothSkunk

[MarrowStone]

13 hours ago, GothSkunk said:

Father Thomas makes a number of references to 'his flock' -- Catholic parlance for one's congregation -- but where are they?

They all died in the snow looking for the lost artifact.

All joking aside I did find this detail strange and I just wrote it off as they're busy gathering firewood for the infinite fire. I think you're right where it just wasn't necessary to add NPCs you cant interact with or offer nothing to the story. Or maybe they got sick along with the survivors. Thomas never mentions them leaving/abandoning him does he?

[ajb1978]

I had the same thought, but wrote it off as artistic license.  The plane crash survivors factor in to the story that Astrid is a doctor trying to take care of them.  Townsfolk merely hunkered down for some warmth does not, and so they would have literally just gotten in the way.  (I'm just glad there is no penalty for accidentally stepping on people.)

The thing that got me though is that party line.  If Molly is doing as she says, and is just ringing the line repeatedly until Astrid eventually happens by a phone and answers....why is Father Thomas not losing his mind?  Imagine that phone just ringing non-stop for hours waiting for Astrid to answer.  You think he'd pick it up and be like "Whoever this is, you know I got God on speed dial right? Do not test me!"

[Black_Bird]

We can imagine that like the inhabitants of Milton, they leaved their homes to rejoin the coast. We will surely find a lot of people some where around Costal highway or Desolation point. 

[Guest kristaok]

They could have left with the others like +Black_Bird said.

[Fuarian]

I think they are the nameless corpses you find around who aren't prisoners or that guard. Maybe the two people in the cave? The one guy with the wolf jacket (sasquatch)? He said there were half a dozen people around the time of the first flare. So 6 people isn't a lot. I'm guessing they went out to look for supplies, maybe find help, or go look for more survivors at the crash site but didn't make it.

[RegentRelic]

Wonder if we’ll ever met a living guard.

[GothSkunk]

5 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

The thing that got me though is that party line.  If Molly is doing as she says, and is just ringing the line repeatedly until Astrid eventually happens by a phone and answers....why is Father Thomas not losing his mind?  Imagine that phone just ringing non-stop for hours waiting for Astrid to answer.  You think he'd pick it up and be like "Whoever this is, you know I got God on speed dial right? Do not test me!"

There is a part of me that suspects Father Thomas is similar to Methuselah, insofar as he's actually a supernatural entity who's come to Thomson's Crossing when people are at their most dire need of help. Perhaps sent from God himself.

On the other hand, he could just be the village priest. Though I'm perplexed as to why he stuck around when the priest from Milton did not.

And if that's the case, an endlessly ringing party line would be insignificant to him.

[RegentRelic]

22 minutes ago, GothSkunk said:

On the other hand, he could just be the village priest. Though I'm perplexed as to why he stuck around when the priest from Milton did not.

The priest in Milton left before the first flair as we see during episode three in a note.

[ajb1978]

2 hours ago, RegentRelic said:

The priest in Milton left before the first flair as we see during episode three in a note.

Exactly this.  Fr. Francis McGill was withdrawn by the Archdiocese due to inactivity in the church.  Having some familiarity with the Catholic church, this was most likely decided based on how centrally located the church was.  No doubt Fr. Thomas has also had problems with attendance, but Pleasant Valley being more centrally located on Great Bear, it would make sense why their superiors chose to recall McGill and not Thomas.