logsinthenight | INTRO LOG: OCTOBER

INTRO LOG: OCTOBER

characters: everyone.
location: the harbor, as well as the rest of town.
date/time: october 1-3.
content: beacon's newest batch of residents arrives on the ferry. scavenger hunt prizes are awarded. the ferry capsizes in a blaze of glory.
warnings: n/a.

welcome to beacon.

It's dim, and the room won't stop swaying, gently rocking you back and forth. A loud sound startles you fully awake, a deep, moaning call: a foghorn. As your eyes adjust, you note faint red light streaking through the room from a tiny, round window.

You've found yourself in a private room, lying on a bed. The last things you remember are the events that led up to your death. Beside you is a folded tablet and a lantern that glows steadily with a healthy flame.

You're on a ship. And that ship is docking.

Making your way to the deck, and eventually the pier, you find only moonlight to greet you, and a dark forest beyond. There are other people here, each with their own unique lantern, and many of them look just as lost as you are. On the ferry you've just disembarked from, the speaker system begins to play a song.

In the distance, across the waters of the lake, you can see the tall silhouette of a lighthouse, its red light slowly turning.

•••

Luckily for all the newcomers, the tablet and the town have some resources available for playing catch up! In fact, as soon as they're prompted to enter a network username, an app containing all sorts of useful welcome information will launch. Newcomers can always check out the weekly bulletins and the records in town hall as well, and everyone's welcome to get in touch with the NPCs through their inboxes.

When the ferry docks, it seems as though you've been spared from any weirdness this month! It's good to have a break now and then, isn't it? And if you participated in the scavenger hunt, you're probably eagerly awaiting your promised prize—

But, ohp, what's that sound? Is that the ferry's engine firing up again? The ship roars to life again as some brave mutineers overthrow its autopilot system. Crowley and the Winter Soldier man the ferry's control room while Aziraphale flits between the cargo hold and the deck, attempting to assuage any accidental kidnapees with reassuring words and cake.

Unfortunately, the joyride is shortlived. Between the ferry's complex control panel and the haphazard attempts to override it, all the group manages to do is send the boat charging full speed ahead—which would be great if it wasn't facing the beach. The ferry jolts forward and careens smack into the dock, tearing down the entire structure and punching a sizeable hole in the ferry's hull.

Well, that could've gone better. But there's no time to dwell on the mistakes of the very recent past! The ferry is sinking, and quickly! Looks like you'll have to scramble if you want to save what's left in the cargo hold before the whole thing goes under... And that's gonna be awfully tricky without a dock.

Oh, and maybe save the new arrivals? Make sure they don't drown? But, then again, if they go down with the ship, they'll just show up again in the church... The same can't be said for the restock for the general store!

As smoke billows from the damaged ferry and the last the harbor disappears into the lake, the Lighthouse Keeper appears on the network with a pretty straightforward question. Also, the ferry's song changes, so. That happens.

ooc.

Hey there, wonderful players, and welcome to In the Night! For this intro log, you are officially without a chaperone. Rastus is back at the bonfire, Will is characteristically elusive, and Robin is, well, you know where she's at. It's up to the veteran residents to fill in the new folks.

And regarding the ferry disaster... Well, you have some options. Here's what you need to know:
This is a player plot organized by MJ, Xy, and Gail! A big thank-you to them for providing us with this intro log event!

Whether or not your character and any packages addressed to them are affected by this plot is up to you! If you would like to assume your character avoids dealing with this chaos and somehow grabs their delivery without issue, go right ahead!

Similarly, if you're looking for an opportunity to make your character's life harder, injury and death are always on the table! Or maybe it's your package that takes the abuse, lost forever to the lake's depths or washing up all waterlogged a week or two down the road. In short: How you engage with this plot is entirely up to you.

What happens to the ferry and the dock? Within a couple of hours, the ferry will sink completely, and anything on board when it goes down is lost forever. Which bodes super well for the ferry, huh? Sure hope the next batch of newcomers has some strong swimmers. Oh, and the dock is gone, too. If you want it back, you'll have to rebuild it.

As for Crowley, Aziraphale, Bucky, and anyone else on the ferry or dock during the collision... Hope you boys like concussions, bruised ribs, and a broken bone or two, because you've got 'em! The exact injuries are up to you, but they're the equivalent of a semi-serious car accident.

One last thing: The fate of the shop restocks, including all of the food for the month, depends on you! Let us know if your character will be participating in the rescue attempt. In exchange for letting us beat up your character, you can save a portion of the month's supplies! We'll let you all know on October 3 what the rations for the rest of the month will look like.

DELIVERIES

The following packages can be found in the cargo hold:

The monthly store restock
For Daylight: A variety of gardening tools piled into a wheelbarrow, as well as packets of seeds for the following plants: Boneset, dogtooth violet, starflower, Carolina springbeauty, pipsissewa, bloodroot, red columbine, narrowleaf blue-eyed grass, harlequin blueflag, and purple pitcherplant; he will also receive a translation for the following: An invitation to join the speaker as company
For Aziraphale: A record player, the complete discographies of a variety of bands (Abba, Rob Zombie, Tool, Hanson, Eiffel 65, and Spice Girls), a two-tiered wedding cake, and packets of seeds for the following plants: Strawberry, cherry tomato, cucumber, blackberry, carrot, potato, raspberry, and pumpkin; he will also receive a familiar copy of a familiar book: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, along with a blue ribbon that reads "BEST IN SHOW"
For Bruce: A handheld metal detector and a rechargeable battery for it, a chisel, a climbing harness (that, according to the packaging, is the #1 Safety Rated!) and a 50 ft. coil of rope
For Cao Pi: A go board
For Rosinante: A sextant, and 3 cartons of cigarettes; he will also receive a translation for the rough equivalent to the following phrase: "Danger! Run and hide!"
For Kuai: A basket of 16 mooncakes, as well as incregredients for more
For Javert: 3 pairs of handcuffs, a greatcoat in Javert's size, and a trunk full of swords in varying styles and conditions; he will also receive an electric chainsaw
For Kol: A record player, the complete discographies of a variety of bands (New Kids on the Block, Weird Al Yankovic, Sound Garden, Ke$ha, INXS, and Spinal Tap), a cooler full of blood bags and ice packs, and an assortment of stamps; he will also receive a translation for the rough equivalent to the following phrase: "I'm lost" or "Need directions"
For Elena: A journal; she will also receive a portable generator (powerful enough for a single power tool or small appliance; can be charged through a typical wall outlet)
For Xayah: A thick journal and a glass vial of black ink; she will also receive a sizeable roll of barbed wire, as well as a stuffed animal
For Ignis: A spice restock (with a few new ones mixed in!), 3 paired of leather gloves, and... 12? pairs? of glasses? They're all in slightly different prescriptions, though. A variety pack!; he will also receive a power drill (runs on a rechargeable battery or can be plugged directly into a wall socket)
For Riku: A wood stove, a set of paints, and 5 canvases; he will also receive a translation for the rough equivalent to the following phrase: "Looking for water" or "Thirsty"
For Matt: A rosary and a Braille Bible... which is more of a collection of volumes, really; he will also receive a translation for the rough equivalent to the following phrase: "Looking for food" or "Hungry"
For Noctis: Two complete sets of the Lord of the Rings series (except, wait a minute... they appear to be the novelizations of the movies); he will also receive an SD card that, when plugged into a tablet, will upload GPS directions to a new location...
For Rosalind: A crate of basic all-purpose lab equipment, a fancy microscope, an emergency eye wash station, a mortar and pestle, a lab coat, a Lite Brite, and... the things she needs to make things float, whatever those are; she will also receive a pair of dousing rods (that will actually point in the direction of water, checkmate atheists)
For Jason: A translation for the rough equivalent to the following phrase: "Sympathy" or "I'm sorry"
For Coraline: A translation for the rough equivalent to the following phrase: "Teach me"
For Eliot: A bottle of hospital grade painkillers (it contains 10 doses and functions similarly to Vicodin)
For Allie: A bottle of strong antibiotics (it contains 10 doses and can fight off most any infection)
For Vanitas: A portable camping stove (runs on a portable battery or can be plugged directly into a wall socket)
For Hope: A soldering iron (runs on a portable battery or can be plugged directly into a wall socket)
For Quentin: A cannister of foaming bandage (can be used 5 times to immediately close a wound/stop semi-severe bleeding)
For Mary: An SD card that, when plugged into a tablet, will upload GPS directions to a new location...

If you submitted an item request last month and we've missed it here, let us know!

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

1 -- Ferry, Near & Far

[ooc: Feel free to use this as the ferry is still underway, or after it's docked but before it's crashed.]

[Eleven is young still, and obviously so. Her face has started losing the roundness of childhood, but still has that telltale softness of a young teen. She's somber as she wanders the ferry with the occasional stumble of someone not used to the ground moving under her like this, brown eyes wide with a storm of emotion she's clearly processing through internally for the time being. Sometimes, she glances up in utter confusion over the music.

For anyone versed in fashion, her shirt is a hideous yellow and black travesty ripped straight from the 80s, the pants are baggy and inoffensive, and her feet are curiously bare. She wears a blue hair tie around her left wrist, and holds a slightly rusty, worn blue lantern in the same hand.

Her eyes keep drifting over the railing, but she decidedly never steps close to it.

She does at some point get distracted scanning the horizon, as if she expects shapes looming in the darkness overhead. Eleven seems... remarkably, not as distraught as one might think for a 14 year old girl over her own death, though clearly upset over something. It's then that the deck tips a little, and with her eyes on the horizon, Eleven missteps, stumbles a little harder. She falls against the railing - not over, no, but she scrambles back from it in obvious fright anyway, overbalancing the other way and just stumbling against someone else. Before she regains her footing, the blue lantern slips from her grasp and nearly crashes onto the deck, but Eleven holds out her hand, fingers splayed, and the lantern stops in mid-air. The girl breathes out shakily, and only then realizes she's still steading herself on whoever she knocked into, immediately backing away as the lantern rises back into her slightly shaky grasp.

Her eyes dart from the lantern to the railing to whomever she knocked into, and her mouth opens and closes once or twice as she tries to shake off the way she was lost in her own mind until just now. ]

Sorry... [And then, after a moment of hesitation in explanation of her near panicked scramble while not offering an explanation for the nose bleed or how she handled her lantern:] Can't swim.

2a -- Ferry, Tip of the Iceberg

[Eleven is hesitant to get off the ferry. Someone with more self-reflection might realize that the reason is simple: Stepping onto the docks will make this real, once the ground stops swaying beneath her feet and she has to... according to the strange flat screen she was granted... make a life, here?

She doesn't even know how she can think about that when the Mind Flayer... when she doesn't know if after ending her, it puppeteered her body to also end everyone else as it declared... when she doesn't know if...

But Eleven is torn from her spiraling thoughts when the ferry is torn from its resting place. For a moment, there's just confusion all around, as the engines roar to life. She has enough time to look around wildly, muttering a soft, clearly worried 'what' to anyone nearby or no one in particular.

And then, of cours, the ferry crashes into the docks, and she slides across the deck and into a nearby surface, hard.

In the ensuing chaos of the crash, the tipping of the deck, she doesn't immediately abandon ship either - perhaps too scared of the churning water around, or too distracted by the overall chaos. Voices, loud and clamoring over each other - there are supplies on this ship, there are other people on this ship.

Eleven is frightened, yes, and she uses that to spur her into movement, into action without pausing to think too much.

And she's dead, she's no longer able to save her friends as she once swore to do. Maybe, though...]

I can help!

[And she does, wading into the depth of the ship with others. There are a lot of uses for her telekinesis - jammed doors can be blown open, and scattered supplies collected a little more easily. Her nose bleeds when she stretches out skinny, shaking arms, but Eleven never once complains, determined to do what she can.]

2b -- Ferry, At least no one is arguing about doors

Closed to Jim Gordon: Continued/adapted from here

[Eventually, the decision not to abandon ship before it properly sinks becomes an issue, as the sinking vessel tips with a pained groan, and Eleven isn't fast enough to throw out a pulse of her power to keep from being pushed further into the area of the cargo hold that have begun flooding. She lands with a pained cry that's nearly drowned out when water closes above her head.

It's a miracle that she manages not to let the lantern fall into the water. She scrapes a palm bloody as she scrambles for purchase on some of the crates that tipp and fell and crashed, and she cries out high pitched and shaky when she realizes she's trappe, space confined, with only her lantern, and rising water, and she can't swim and...

Someone comes to her aid, and the first thing he offers to save for her is the lantern. And even though she can barely keep her head over water, the panick grips her chest too tight to relinquish this thing easily, the one thing left in her own control that holds her life - only if she does not pass it up and away, even if she doesn't drown, the lantern will be snuffed out in the water. Droplets of water and drops of tears cling to her lashes as she sobs and pushes the lantern to the stranger, nose and lips smeared with blood.

The broken crates and wooden planks groan in protest as the man reaches back inside for Eleven herself, and she doesn't have time to process 'He doesn't lie' before the entire ferry screeches once more, and she chokes on water.

If he hasn't realized it before, he must realize it now: This child cannot swim.]

3 -- Beach/Dock Ruins, Post-Titantic-Reenactment

[ooc: Feel free to interact with her at any point here - she can help you lift something, or even yourself out of the water, you can direct her to something that needs lifting, you can find her doubling over in dizziness because apparently she banged her head pretty hard, or you can find her finally slumping into the sand when she's exhausted.]

[After being saved from the miserable experience of near drowning, a wet and miserable Eleven can be found on the beach and by the ruined docks. She looks pale and tired, but there's a determination in her brown eyes. Her nose is bleeding badly, rivulets running over her lips and dripping down her chin. She doesn't bother wiping it away, but does occasionally dab at a trickle from her forehead - she banged her head pretty hard during the crash. The blue lantern sits nearby, and Eleven is never far from it. For now, she helps - as much as she can, she will use telekinesis help people ashore, help lift things out of the water as needed. She never goes near, though, barely lets the lapping waves touch her bare feet. If other people are nearby, she will approach them and simply, stubbornly declare what she said on the ferry earlier:]

I can help.

[She holds herself a little strangely, probably hurt as the ferry crashed or during her attempts to help salvage things while the ship took water. More and more often, Eleven has to lean forwards, bruised palms on her knees and just breathe.

As this goes on, she can feel herself growing ever more tired and dizzy, and to reach for that power becomes an ever bigger struggle, yet she keeps going for it in single-minded determination - whatever she helps lift though, now hangs in the air much more precariously, and she is very obviously straining herself, panting and at times even crying out with the effort. Her steps grow sluggish, and finally she stumbles, goes down on her knees and just breathes for a moment. Whatever she was trying to hold in the air drops - back into the water, or down in the sand.

At that point, Eleven shakes her head.]

No more.

[And she looks up with an apology in her eyes. She's exhausted. Not near the point of passing out, not near the point of needing to just lie down and sleep immediately, but the heavy lifting, for now, is no longer in the cards.]

4 -- Bonfire Square, Our Hearts Have Gone On Now

[ooc: If anyone wants to integrate our TDM threads, continue them or adapt them here, I'm happy to do so, or just throw something new in here, it's all good.]

[It's some time after Eleven had to abandon her attempts to help with the ferry that she finds herself exploring away from the beach. She still looks rough and exhausted, but has cleaned most of the blood off her face at least. Her steps are a little hesitant, because it's dark and her surroundings are unfamiliar, but also because her feet are bare. Sometimes she just stops to look around, take in the scenery with big eyes - still wary, still exhausted, still shining with the pain of all their shared reality of death, but also gaining a certain level of curiosity.

She thought, at first, that this was like the Upside Down, but...

It's different, very different.

Eventually, she comes to a stop and sits on one of the benches. She grabs the strange device again that she gained along with the lantern, and turns it over in her hands. Holds it upside down, squints at it in utter bafflement.

If left to her devices long enough, she will eventually just huff in frustration, and let go of the thing. It stays in the air, hovering at eye level while Eleven begins downright glaring at the device. She wipes the thin trickle of blood from her nose.]

Useless...

Edited 2019-10-02 00:40 (UTC)

[ A large, silverly wolf pads up on silent feet. A lantern is held in its jaws and it whines, ears pricked.

Then it stretches, shaking itself, and is suddenly gone. Kettara stands in its place, the lantern hanging loosely from her hand. The light is better now and she can see the thin line of blood trickling down Eleven's face. ]

What is useless?

[ It's clear now that Eleven has power, though it's not a kind that Kettara recognizes. Some sort of mage, perhaps? ]

[The wolf, once close enough to be illuminated by what little light they have here, in the constant darkness, makes Eleven flinch and tense up, and the tablet, hovering, jerks sharply, as if she's about to smack the creature with it should it prove hostile.

When the wolf disappears and leaves Kettara behind, Eleven still looks startled, though her posture relaxes. With a frown, she leans sideways, holds out her lantern to check behind Kettara even as she snaps her teeth, slowly, mirroring the gesture from their first conversation.

There's no wolf behind Kettara, and Eleven comes to the most logical conclusion.]

You're... like Stone.

[And if there's any further explanation for that comparison to be had, Eleven doesn't offer it. Just compartmentalizes Kettara, tusks, orc, wolf and Stone into one vaguely shaped category.]

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1 -- Ferry, Near & Far

2a -- Ferry, Tip of the Iceberg

2b -- Ferry, At least no one is arguing about doors

3 -- Beach/Dock Ruins, Post-Titantic-Reenactment

4 -- Bonfire Square, Our Hearts Have Gone On Now

Bonfire Square

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3. Let's just jump straight to powers

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3 Post-Titanic

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the beach

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Bonfire Square

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2b

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2a

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—bonfire sq.

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