logsinthenight | INTRO LOG: JULY

INTRO LOG: JULY

characters: everyone.
location: the harbor, as well as the rest of town.
date/time: july 1-3.
content: beacon's newest batch of residents arrives on the ferry. winters, will, and rastus introduce themselves and explain the situation.
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.

•••
Winters and Will are waiting for you on the beach. Winters flags you down from where he's standing atop a large rock, surveying the gathering crowd. Will stands next to him, though he's monkeying with his tablet and looks rather bored. He barely looks up as Winters speaks:

"First thing's first: I'm sorry you're here. There's no easy way to break this news, so let's just get it over with, hm? You're dead. Or, ah, you've died. Call this the afterlife if you want, or don't if that ain't your thing, but point is, you're here 'cause you died. Those are the facts.

This world's dead, too. You've noticed by now it's pretty dark, yeah? That's 'cause there's no life here, not anymore. And that lantern you've got? That's your life, so to speak. The flame goes out, you die, and vice versa. Keep it close. Should be easy enough to remember on account of how the sun don't rise. You'll need something to see by.

This place is called Beacon, and that's Lake Red Jacket. Town's 'bout a mile down the road, and we've got a bonfire there, but that's the only other light you'll see in this place. Save for the moon and all, though the sky won't do you much good out in the woods. I'll let Rastus explain the bonfire to y'all.

Ah, right. I'm Ben Winters—Winters'll do—and this here's Will Ingr— What? For christ's sake, Dr. Will Ingram. Likes to think he's the brains of the operation, as you can see. If you've got questions about these tablets, he's your guy. Rastus tends to the fire, and you'll find him in town. He's married to his job in a way. And you may never've seen a person like him back wherever you came from, but don't make a big fuss over it. He's a nice fellow. Mind your manners.

The three of us are leftovers from past resets. We came here on that ferry just like you, but it's just us left now. 'Sides the Lighthouse Keeper, but it'll be a bit before you get to meet her. She's got control over the town, see, and if she ain't satisfied with a group's performance, they get the axe. Town gets reset. If she pulls a reset on you folks, a couple of you might end up like me and Will here, giving this speech to the next crop."

The red beam of the lighthouse pulses over the group, over the trees. Winters glances up to watch it swing out over the bay.

"But don't hold it against her. Ain't her fault we're in this mess, and we've all got a job to do, including you.

For now, concentrate on accepting your lot, yeah? We're here to answer your questions, but we ain't gonna tell you all there is to know just yet. Some things are best learned on your own, and some of it we just don't want to saddle you with yet. There's a limit to how long we can stay here safely, that's true, but thing is, we do got time. Time enough to play this smart. Do better than the folks before us did. Settle in, make peace, explore a bit if you're up for it. Use these first couple weeks to come to grips. You ain't gonna be any good to the town if you don't sort yourself out before worrying about what comes next.

So listen up: You're dead. You died. Whatever your old life was, it's done now. None of us can go back, so all we've got is forward. Welcome to Beacon. Could be worse, yeah?"

ooc.

Hey there, wonderful players, and welcome to In the Night! For this intro log, all three NPCs will be available for chatting with, whether your character wants to make casual conversation or ask questions about all this. The headers on each NPC toplevel are there for easy reference as to what each of them are responsible for, but you're welcome to go to any NPC for whatever reason. You're welcome to assume your character has overheard any NPC conversation to learn more about the game. After the NPC threads have died down, we'll compile the info learned ICly and add it to the game history page. If your character would contribute something specific to the game history records, let us know!

DELIVERIES

The following packages can be found in the cargo hold:

The monthly store restock

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[The chair wheezes past Ignis and he has to take a step back to avoid it. That- was dangerous. Also a complete waste of perfectly good chair. He squints down the hall, where the chair smashed into a wall and broke in half. Then squints at the man that probably drop-kicked the said chair.]

I heard noise... was that entirely necessary?

[Things are slow and somewhat boring when you're dead but kicking a chair, that someone could use, shouldn't be a form of entertainment.]

No. But I'll not deny it was satisfying.

[He's perfectly capable of carrying all these downstairs or stacking them somewhere out of the way. But without a sparring partner he's got a lot of pent up energy he needs to burn off somehow.]

Are you in need of any chairs? I appear to have an over-abundance.

[Ah- a way to deal with frustration. Ignis mostly trains when he's in such mood, but everyone probably has different coping methods.]

Ah, no, thank you for the offer. I have enough furniture.

Perhaps someone downstairs or upstairs is in need of some. Would you like some help to move them?

I suppose I should stop destroying them in case we need them for some reason. I'd say to burn for warmth, but with the state of the bonfire I'm not sure that would work.

[Sigh. He'd kind of been enjoying that.]

Thank you, but I can deal with it.

Am I your upstairs neighbor? My name is Kuai Liang.

Yes... the Bonfire seems to have a mind of its own.

[And adding more firewood to it probably won't change a thing.

Sorry to burst your happy bubble, Kuai, Ignis is kind of famous for doing such things...]

I reside here, room 206. I'm Ignis Scientia.

It seems to have some sort of magical property. It's not burning the way a fire should. Neither are the lanterns, though I haven't thoroughly investigated it.

[Because it feels weird to poke at what is effectively his life force.]

Ah. I'm in 306. I'll try to not shuffle things around and disturb you too much.

Though it will be difficult to stick to any sort of natural routine without a day and night cycle. I assume people will be awake and asleep at random hours since we have nothing to schedule ourselves by.

A magical property that is keeping everyone safe for now.

[He doesn't want to think what would happen if the fire went completely out. That's why he didn't ask for the torch. Yet.]

I have been trying to navigate the time and date with the phone they gave us, but it is still hard.

[As a person that wakes up early every morning, this is throwing off his system completely.]

[His day is usually a lot more regimented than this so he's disoriented from having too much time on his hands and also not being able to tell what time it is without opening his phone. Everything about it feels wrong.]

I noticed the clocktower rings on the hour, so there's that at least. But whatever the other structure is seems to have bells that don't coordinate to anything.

Can we set alarms on the phone? That might help.

There are a clock and alarm on the phone, yes, however, I didn't find myself using it.

[For some odd reason, Ignis finds himself waking and getting up just as he always had, his internal clock still working impeccably.]

I suppose we will need some time getting used to this.

[Or until they are either reset by that person at the Lighthouse or they bring back the light.]

...would you like some coffee?

[The lack of routine is doing bad things to Kuai's sense of time. His normal day consisted of a few hours of sparring and training in the morning, then meditating, then more training. But here he has one sparring partner, and he can't spend hours meditating when there's much that needed to be done and an entire town to figure out.]

An alarm will be useful for me at least. I'm fairly certain I was awake for thirty hours previously.

No, thank you. But have you had any luck with the stores in regards to coffee? I was looking for tea and found only pre-packaged abominations.

[Last few months have been unpredictable for Ignis- between hunting and fighting the Imperials, searching for lost swords and trying to appease politicians, he's had little time to practice. Then again, the real fighting he did kept him in form but still- he should go back at it soon.]

I found a bag of coffee for brewing in general store and dare I say I swiped it before anyone could take it. [That is something he is going to admit- bar sells mud if you ask him. That's NOT coffee.]

I was offering you some, but if you're sure...

[Coffee isn't tea. But it is caffeine and it's hot and it's at least vaguely similar, though far inferior in his mind. Is he that desperate?]

Maybe eventually if I cannot find anything to my liking I'll take you up on your offer.

[Not yet apparently.]

I should probably inquire with Rastus.

[Otherwise it's Lipton tea and Folger's crystals for everyone.]

[Perhaps the taste of tea is better, but coffee has way more caffeine in it. And Ignis needs it ~~to survive~~]

Very well. And Rastus is, indeed, the best person to ask about it.

[Ignis will just hide his stash and slowly sip on it. He wishes bartender would accept brewing tips from him. Alas...]

Admittedly I've been loathe to inquire about it. It seems...almost as if I'm admitting I'll be here long term if I request anything.

I agree, that it is not a pleasant thought. But- why make your stay here worse when it could be easier? You will be asking for something to make your stay more bearable.

Asking for help is not a crime. [Nor it is embarrassing.]

[Yes it is.]

You make a good point. Still, something about it... Bothers me.

Have you spoken to the others? Will and Winters?

Only Will. I haven't seen Winters ever since we arrived here with the Ferry.

As far as I know, Will made a mapping system on the application, as well as some game to pass time.

[Wasn't obligated to do either, and yet he did.]

Did you have any problems with them?

Neither have I.

Yes the applications were quite helpful.

[And he might have played Sudoku for six hours straight and passed out on his tablet. But no one needs to know that.]

No, I was simply curious. They are our best sources of information, so I assume most are speaking to them and trying to find out what they know. I do think it might be wise to confer separately and see if what they say remains constant. We have no way to tell if they're lying.

[Ignis might've done the same thing, with a cup of coffee next to him. He just gets lost in the puzzles, ok? He loves sudoku.]

So far, I didn't notice anything that would stand out. [As in lies.]

But why would they do that? Aren't they stuck here with us the same way we are with them? [They were probably searching for a way to do it before they arrived before everything was- reset.

Everything leads back to the lighthouse.]

[Someone save them from themselves.]

So they say. I'm inclined to believe them, but I've been wrong before. It's better to be cautious than to find out too late they're not as they seem.

[Look at it this way- at least their brains won't rot.]

A healthy dose of suspicion didn't hurt anyone. [Yet.] We have just arrived, it's normal to feel that way.

Better to be safe than sorry as the saying goes.

There's so much we don't know, and even more we have yet to discover. I can't prepare for the unknown, so these three who are already here are known entities. I suppose that's why I'm focusing on their reliability.

Something easier to parse than the contents of the forest or the lack of lighting.

[Ignis pushes his glasses up,]

It probably sounds cliche, but sticking together and keeping an eye out for anything out of place and weird should keep us all safe. We don't need to give Lightkeeper a reason to reset us.

[There's a slight glint in his eye,] We need to find an upper hand on them before things get awry. [And they always do.]

We don't even know what might bring about a reset, so how do we avoid it? But I agree, together we are far more apt to be able to defend ourselves.

Or to preemptively strike.

One of the ways to find out early is from those that survived it already. [Will, Winters, Rastus.] However, that is not a sure way. Perhaps they also don't know what they did. And if, by chance, they do know, maybe they can't talk out of guilt or grief.

What I want to say is- they need to trust us. As much as we need to trust them.

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paletteswap - 2019-07-26 04:26 (UTC) - Expand

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