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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Wash is officially worried.

The fact is they don't know enough about this place for him to be comfortable with either of them wandering around alone. All Winters' bullshit about their lives being over and accepting this place and not worrying about what comes next...? Yeah, Wash isn't buying it. He can't shake the feeling that this place is going to be just as inherently dangerous as anywhere else he's ever been, and Will's run down of the different ways to die again and the fact that if they don't "perform" well they'll get "reset" and disappear didn't help one bit. He really didn't want to let Kyna out of his sight at all but didn't want to seem either needy or overprotective, and she was clearly feeling pent up while he was all people'd out, so had said she should go out on her own while he fussed with his armor, it was fine.

At first it was, but it's been a few hours now so Wash sent a quick message just to check in and Kyna hasn't answered.

It's no longer fine.

He shoots a longing glance at his damaged armor before grabbing his weapons and lantern and heading out to search for her. It'd probably be smarter to stay put since she'd head back to their room eventually and he doesn't even know where to start looking, but sitting still and working himself into a panic sounds worse. If they miss each other, she'll check her tablet, right? But then she's not at the tavern, or the store, or the bonfire, or the church, though someone was obviously just there. Wash finds himself back on the path heading north into the darkness, alone, something he knows is ill advised.

Where'd you go, Kyna? How far does he have to wander into the woods to find you? ]

[After Kyna parts with Rafe, she finds herself pacing at the edge of the woods, stupidly tempted to go back in. Something was watching them and then went in there, and the fact that it either expertly hid or extinguished its lantern altogether isn't sitting well with her. Wash doesn't have to go too far to find, her, though—her lantern is easy to spot near the treeline, and once he gets close enough for her to see his face, she immediately realizes she probably freaked him out.]

Hey. I'm okay.

[ The relief when he realizes it's Kyna is visible on Wash's face as he quickly closes the distance between them, reaching out to drag her into a slightly-too-tight hug. Yeah, he was indeed rapidly approaching freaked. ]

I messaged you and you didn't answer. What are you doing out here?

[Oh, Wash. Kyna hugs him back, settling her head against his chest. She can't help but feel guilty. Disappearing on him considering their circumstances probably sent him into a panic.]

I'm sorry. I was checking out the church, and there was this trapdoor, right? So me and Rafe tried to get through it. We couldn't, but we saw someone watching us, and they ran into the woods.

[ Before Wash can really uncoil at all, Kyna drops that on him. He looks around warily, but doesn't see any light coming from deeper into the woods. No one in town would have any reason to run, and they've been warned against going into the woods alone, so who the fuck was it? ]

I saw the boards were damaged but... why would anyone run? Did you try following the light?

I don't know. I guess they didn't want us to know they were there. I followed it into the woods and it disappeared, and then once Rafe caught up we heard this... I don't know. It sounded like something coming towards us through the trees, so we backed off.

Sounds like it was someone sneaking around, which means they probably aren't from town and our welcome wagon was either hiding something or doesn't know about them... and that they're either comfortable moving in the dark or they got eaten by something in the woods. I hate literally everything about this story.

[Kyna can't help it—she giggles a little at that.]

Yeah, me too. The thing that weirded me out is that we're supposed to protect our lanterns, right? So either they're really good at covering theirs or they can put it out.

[ Kyna nothing is funny about this!!! ]

Could be either of those things. Or something killed them and was coming for you guys next. There's no good explanation here.

Ugh.

[Kyna finally pulls back, arms still around his waist.]

I really wanna know what's in those woods.

[ Wash lets her pull back, glancing into the oppressive darkness of the forest with a worried expression. ]

So do I, but we shouldn't go in alone. I'd say at least four people to a scouting party. And maybe we should question the long term residents more thoroughly first.

[Kyna frowns at that, but she knows he's right. If she had her way, she'd grab Nate and one of the medics right now and go, and though she's itching to do just that, she curbs her impulsiveness for once.]

Will's an asshole. Maybe Winters or Rastus?

Edited 2019-07-07 23:31 (UTC)

Let's try Winters first, and if it seems like he doesn't know or is hiding something, Rastus. Either way I don't want to hang out here much longer if you heard something in the woods, let's at least go back to the church. I take it you guys are the ones who hacked up the floor?

Yep.

[Kyna hesitates, then wraps her arm around his to tug him towards the church.]

I used Arcane Hand and it didn't even touch it. It just splintered some of the wood off.

[ Church it is. They may as well go in so she can see what he's talking about because uh. There's way more damage than that now. ]

Well I was just in there and there's a huge patch of floorboards hacked up, the hatch underneath is metal. Kind of like the bunkers on the ice planet but without any sign of how it opens.

Oh, yeah, Rafe took an axe to it.

[Clearly that worked out well.]

I don't know what the hell it's for.

It's probably safe to assume that nothing good ever comes out of a mysterious unmarked hatch.

[She wrinkles her nose at that.]

Yeah, I know, but... What else are we supposed to do?

I don't mean we shouldn't try to get it open, just that whatever's inside is almost definitely going to be terrible.

[ He'll pull open the door to the church for her, though, if she wanted to go back in?? ]

[Kyna slips back inside, and once he follows, she plops on the floor and tries to tug him down beside her.]

Everything we run into is terrible. Can I try something first?

[ Wash tilts his head at her curiously, then sits on the floor as well because.... sure? ]

What do you want to try?

I tried this thing with my lantern earlier, right? I cast identify on it, which usually tells me what spells something is affected by or if it was made by magic. Casting it on my lantern just felt like casting it on me, so I want to see if it's the same with yours.

[ That actually... makes some of the things Rastus and Will were saying make more sense. That the lantern flame is them, that if your lantern breaks it can kill you, things along those lines. But Wash doesn't feel anything particular from his lantern, he just carries it because it's the most convenient light source. Now he's curious. ]

Okay, try it. But why have you cast identify on yourself before to know what it feels like?

It's a good way to practice when you're just learning it. Plus, if you're in a sketchy situation, it'll tell you if you're being influenced by magic, like an illusion spell or something.

[She smiles, reaching up to run her fingers through his hair.]

Want me to try it on you?

[ That does sound useful... so even though he doesn't feel like he's being influenced by anything it's worth a shot, right? He lets his eyes close for a moment as Kyna plays with his hair, then nods. ]

Go ahead. Will I feel anything?

INTRO LOG: JULY

wildcard! (after her adventure with rafe)

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