We received a number when we arrived at the house in a small neighborhood in Glendale. We purchased drinks from a small cash bar, and waited for our number to be called. In less than 10 minutes we were ushered into the backyard towards a large colorful tent. A lively and mysterious gentleman stopped us and immediately immersed us into the story.

He wanted to know if we were looking for opportunity, hope, and a future. We obviously were, so after some more hints and jokes he ushered us into the tent. Here we met another man who had us fill out forms to join the resistance. He asked us a few questions about our intentions, but remained vague. We still weren’t exactly sure what we were doing there, but that didn’t stop us from signing up.

The two of us attending were split up at this point, one sent off into the tent area to the right and the other to the left. We each met a different recruiter (who it turns out are twins) that worked for the Scarecrow, the new king of Oz. We were a bit embarrassed to say it took both of us much too long to figure out that we were residents of Kansas (the “real” world), who were being recruited to join the scarecrow’s militia in the world of the Wizard of Oz (post-Dorothy).

Things sped up here, and our recruiters told us more about the Scarecrow’s army, and how it was put in place to deal with civil unrest after the departure of the Patchwork Girl (aka. Dorothy Gale).

Press photos Courtesy of The Speakeasy Society

The female recruiter named Phoebe became very strange near the end, almost like she was possessed. She claimed that she was a princess split in two and inhabiting the minds of the twin recruiters. She said her name was OZMA and that we would have to work in secret for her. Separately, both of the twins gave us a small key, and sent us out of the tent, being told to either avoid, or to speak to the man with the top hat.

Waiting outside, we noticed the man with a top hat pacing up a set of stairs, dressed in rags that looked like they were once elegant. We ventured up to speak with him, only to find that it was the Wizard of Oz himself, having fallen from grace. Between swigs from his flask, he told us to be wary, that we were caught up in something bigger than we could even imagine. Then he handed us a card with a symbol and a set of coordinates on it.

Though it didn’t seem urgent to visit the coordinates that night, we were much too excited not to. We drove immediately to the location, which ended up being about 15 minutes drive away. We came upon a locked door with a QR code on the window. Once we had downloaded a QR code reader, the code led us to a secret video of the Scarecrow king. He demanded that the two recruiters we had met find the Patchwork Girl immediately.