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!

QUICKNAV
comms	\|	network • logs • memes • ooc
pages	\|	rules • faq • taken • mod contact • player contact • calendar • setting • exploration • item requests • full nav

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm going to be honest with you, [ peter admits, ], history was never my strong suit. [ science? yes, absolutely. maths? of course. but history? eh, not so much — it was one of the rare classes he didn't pay a great deal of attention in and he's never really had any cause or reason to brush up beyond the basics.

—which ultimately means he doesn't have a whole lot to add to her explanation of magical schools and — standardisation of casting practice beyond a moment of silence, a look that borders on amused before he exhales a huff of breath that's definitely a laugh. it's not directed at hermione, more the sheer absurdity of the conversation, and the thought that this'd be a lot easier if he just admitted that magic existed where he was from, too, albeit not like—

"ferula". ] —You know, there's guy I know of back home. [ beat. ] I took his photo once or twice. He started off as a surgeon, and now he's, uh, not — he made a drastic career change into the mystic arts — and you could definitely give him a run for his money.

[ uttered with a smile because that actually was impressive, and he's going to allow that moment of smugness because it's definitely deserved; punctuated by— ]

But thanks, again. I definitely owe you, and speaking of inns, there's the Invincible. [ he turns slightly, pointing in its vague direction. when they — the first group — had arrived, it'd all but been the only place to hole up, and peter's more or less remained there since. not because it's a bar — he doesn't drink — but because as far as these things go, it's convenient. ] The barkeep is a forest spirit that makes absolutely questionable coffee that basically only hits the requirement of hot, comma, mildly caffeinated, but I hear it's got passable tea, maybe, and food. I'd say 'my treat', but you're right: currency is pretty worthless here.

—But still: my treat.

[ maybe the phrase 'the barkeep is a forest spirit' ought to be strange or discomforting, but hermione takes it in stride. she rather likes most of the ghosts she'd met in hogwarts, and if she focuses, she can hear the kind voice of sir nicholas reminding her to keep her chin up in the back of her mind. she doubts that these spirits will do much talking — if they could, she imagines peter might have referred to them by name — but hopefully they'll still be friendly. ]

Alright, then. [ she's agreeable enough to that. ] Tea would be lovely. So long as it's hot, I'll manage.

[ magic, you see, has its uses. there are exceptions — she cannot outright conjure food, nor money, nor a living thing, but almost anything can be modified or transformed in some way if only you know how.

however! what hermione will find, in beacon, is that such magics will begin to wear on her. unlike in hogwarts, where magic is near limitless, boundaries enforced only by the mind of the caster and their magical experience, beacon likes to make things difficult. she's already found that, to an extent; she'll discover it more as time goes on. for now, though, she's happy to investigate the puzzles already in place. ]

You can treat me to a guided tour, if you like.

[ not quite the same as 'dinner on me', is it? but it's perhaps better, as it's infinitely more useful. and more intimate, besides, though that's not her intention nor on her mind at the moment. a walk just seems practical. ]

Though, first, is there anywhere I might be able to change?

[ she really hates this blazer. ]

[ you can treat me to a guided tour, she says, and he laughs — it's the if you like tacked on the end, the way that it manages to be somewhere between a request and a statement. ]

If I like. [ he half-echoes in lieu of a 'sure'; he'd have offered anyway — or, more accurately, he'd have pointed out buildings of note and interest on their way to the invincible regardless; and he'd inevitably mention that despite beacon being a creepy death town, there's a stall in the village manned by an adorable crab spirit serving ice cream.

but then she asks about somewhere to change, and he pauses. ]

—First? [ he repeats, a small silence bookending the question as his attention shifts from hermione to their surroundings and then back to hermione. whilst he's no stranger to awkwardly changing his clothes in, quite literally, any situation, he's not about to suggest that she dive behind a bush. ] If you need a change of clothes, [ he eyes the small, beaded bag briefly before mentally deciding that given everything, he's not going to make any assumptions about whether she does or doesn't ], there's a store in the square. [ beat. ] If you don't—.

[ oh god, why put him on the spot like this? ] —The closest building to change comfortably is the Invincible — and it's got spare rooms.

[ she is very glad, for the record, that a change of clothes is not something she has to potentially barter for with an otherworldly spirit of questionable amity towards new arrivals. it's a small silver lining in an otherwise potentially overwhelming sky of gray clouds. ]

So perhaps the tour is first, then the change of clothes, and then a drink?

[ to be practical, anyway. it doesn't make much sense to go all the way to the invincible just to change, leave for a tour, and then come back again. they'd likely double up on steps in that order, and she imagines peter might be a little tired after a long afternoon of heroic crate rescuing. ]

Sure, [ peter agrees — it's a loose, easy agreement, and before turning to head towards the square, he points out over the water, at the lighthouse. ] There’s an intro guide on your tablet, [ which he’s going to assume she hasn’t had a great deal of time to read and let the information sink in, not with the ferry issue, and the whole being a walking, talking hair- and tumble dryer combo. ] It’s not totally inaccessible, but it’s pretty difficult and dangerous to reach. The lighthouse keeper is— [ his gaze flickers back to and over hermione for a second, then: ] Robin.

[ a kid is what he wants to say, but there's no easy way to lead on from that, to say: apparently, she was seventeen when she died and came to beacon. she's been here for twenty years, so she's technically closer to forty, but she still sounds like she's in high school and yes, she controls our fate.

(they can come back to that.)

the walk into the square doesn't take long and there's not a lot to see on the way - the bonfire's more or less the central point, with the rest of the town (quote unquote, loose definition) spilling out from there. they pass the church first (non-denominational, by the way, he'll say, with an impenetrable trapdoor from which anyone who (re)dies in beacon will emerge once they've been revived. it's morbid, it's creepy, but it is a super creepy death town, so what were they expecting?)

after the church is the post office and the general store — bothe former is manned by a spirit (who like shiny things, peter will explain with a shrug, before adding that the spirits communicate musically, and ocarinas can be found in the store if hermione wants to learn — and despite its name, the latter isn't so much a store as a storage hub of groceries and supplies.

in other words: no payment necessary, which would be way more refreshing if it wasn't a creepy death town.)

finally, before they reach the invincible, peter will point out the town hall: not to emphasise the creepy thing too much (but it really is, okay, it really is), he'll skirt around the subject of the super weird and not at all ominous busts that line the walls of the town hall and instead mention that it holds the current history of beacon. no, not the history, just the current history, of the current residents, and yes, did he mention beacon's actually kind of unsettling? sorry, hermione. ]

—There's a bridge just past the bonfire, which leads into the village. It has a [ he holds up a finger ] library, [ second finger: ] a gym, [ third finger ] a park, and an ice cream stand.

Edited (whoops apparently the park's that great i had to mention it twice) 2019-10-08 20:04 (UTC)

[ she is grateful for the tour. more so than she can really articulate — if not for lack of trying, what with peter's gift of gab on full display — and more than she really knows quite how to process. she's never been good at social indulgences or setting someone at ease, and so when peter uncomfortably begins to skirt around the hard truths of just how unsettlingly morbid beacon is, she only stares at him, as if waiting for more to spill from his lips.

but, eventually, he is blessedly put off his immediate role as docent and tablet guide dictation specialist by their arrival at the invincible. more specifically, by their arrival to the space adjacent to public restrooms, where hermione can slip away for a moment (after a courteous, if not a little bemused, thank you for the tour) into one of the rooms, the door shutting snug behind her.

only then does she pull her handbag out, settling it on the edge of the sink while she splashes a little cool water on her face, trying to clear the dirt and muck from the ferry and the lake water and merlin only knows what kind of sleep from her skin — and then, apparently, only for the bag to tumble down, the echo like a cargo hold's contents all shook up by a hurricane loud and clear even through the closed door, hermione's exasperated cry of oh, honestly ringing out a moment later.

luckily, she is still a witch, and she can still summon just fine, even if light seems to be beyond her at the moment.

it's with a mildly embarrassed grimace (no one likes to admit they've spent that long in the loo, even if... not for that reason) that hermione steps out a minute or so later, now clad in casual attire of jeans and a jumper, pale lilac and miraculously still warm and clean. small miracles. ]

So. I was promised tea?

[ he waits away from the bathroom, because really, it'd be weird otherwise. he's read the menu more times than he can count, has managed to more or less memorise the food and drink offered, but he reads it again — you know, just in case something's gone and changed on him (it hasn't). the thick paper is slightly curled at the edges, yellowed in places but otherwise readable.

(though — papyrus? really? that's the font they went with? an alien planet in the middle of — okay, maybe not the middle, but somewhere in the universe — and they went with papyrus?

at least, maybe, it wasn't helvetica.)

his eyebrows knit together when he hears that oh, honestly from through the door and he eyes it, cautiously, the question of are you okay in there on the tip of his tongue and ready to be asked if she takes an extended amount of time getting changed.

but then she emerges in an outfit that somehow manages to be the very opposite of what she'd gone in wearing, and peter glances pointedly from her bag to her and back to her bag. ]

I'd ask, but we can probably just skip straight to the answer of: it's magic. [ he admits, and it's accompanied by the thought of: man, that'd save him carrying around rucksacks, and webbing them to walls and ledges and just behind skylights; of forgetting that he's left a rucksack on the ceiling of that one apartment building — the one with gary, probably, who always manages to hear something but never actually sees anything, so what are you doing, gary?

or it'd save him a small fortune on sewing kits, because it turns out that good thread adds up way more quickly than you'd think, and needles — he hates needles. all needles.

—eh, who's he kidding, he'd still sit there with a needle and thread. magic is one of those things that he just doesn't get and will probably never get, but that's why they had the stephen stranges of the world (universe. multiverse.). there's a part of him, too, that hates it just a little bit, but that also doesn't mean he doesn't find it a little bit fascinating.

what he asks though, is: ] —Earl Grey?

Yes. Magic.

[ that, at least, is easy enough. it is magic, and his assumption is well-spotted, but that doesn't mean she won't elaborate. or that her continued explanation isn't the slightest bit self-satisfied, a small victory amidst the crushing defeat that is her supposed death via apparition. ]

An Undetectable Extension Charm. They're, mm, rather tricky — but I think it's held up alright, all things considered. Loads in there, anyway, and the weight hasn't changed, so that part's right.

[ she's still not certain if it's meant to sound quite so full, but without the expertise of someone more knowledgable to inquire on (she misses you, professor mcgonagall) hermione can only assume. it sounds quite like a heavy freight settled on a cargo ship, absurdly heavy, as she lifts it up for him to get a better look. not to take from her hand — not yet, anyway — but to see.

and as for his question? well. ] Honestly, I prefer Irish Breakfast, but Earl Grey is fine in a pinch.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

INTRO LOG: OCTOBER

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject