logsinthenight | 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

[the touch-screen is actually rather fascinating, he's not even going to question why or how it works and just accept that it does for now. At least, until the keyboard. Being able to somehow naturally understand each other in conversation is one thing, but this?]

...those are nothing like the characters I know.

[will it work if he just starts tapping them? will his mind somehow form words even if those individual letters don't right now?]

[Oh right. Written languages.]

Just let the translator kick in, it'll start to make sense. Type something, see what happens.

[It's basically what he was already thinking; the keys will make sense on a subconscious level. They'll make the words he wants, even if they don't look familiar.]

[it's worth a shot, though Cao Pi is wary of looking foolish in front of...well, anybody, but especially this guy. In true old guy fashion he starts one-finger tapping different letters, starting with a few in a row on the top and then others at random. To his credit he somehow comes up with onion in the middle of a string of nonsense, not that it really does anybody any good.]

A far cry from dictating letters to a scribe. [dryly]

Edited (h t m l) 2019-07-11 22:13 (UTC)

Oh no, you'll have to learn to do something on your own, how ever will you cope?

[Sympathy: zero.]

What language are you used to, anyway?

[ugh such good snark, thanks Will.

For lack of a writing utensil anywhere on his person, Cao Pi looks around for a glass left idle with any kind of liquid in it. Aha, that'll do. Dipping a long finger into it like a brush in an inkwell, he uses the water to trace the character for his own family name, Cao, on the surface of the bar. It's a dialect 2000 years removed from modern Mandarin but still pretty obviously Chinese]

This is how we write. Precise and elegant.

[He aims to please. Actually he doesn't, that's the point.

Will studies the character on the bar top for a moment, mentally flipping through his knowledge of Earth's written languages. He's never had a need to learn most of them, but at least this one's different than most of the others. It stands out.]

Chinese? [He's taking a guess. It could also be another Asian language, but if memory serves, that culture was one of the larger ones.]

It's possible someone before me added it to these things, I've never really bothered to go through the list.

[He takes the tablet back and goes back into the settings, searching through the list of languages until he finds one that looks like it's... probably Chinese? He picks that one and hands it back.]

How's that?

...ah.

[the flicker of relief that accompanies the recognition is unmistakable. Granted, it's still a bit awkward given the time difference but it'll do. He can work with this.]

Thank you. [see? he can be polite once in a while] This may be a strange idea, but can this technology...would it be possible to draw a character with my fingertip, and it would recognize it?

Hm.

[Time to flip through a different mental catalogue: the one with all the tablet functions.]

It's certainly within the device's capabilities, but it isn't programmed to do that yet. It's something I could look into, though I don't know enough Chinese... But then, the computer does, so that's not really a problem.

[It's almost like he's talking more to himself now. Cao Pi has given him a problem to solve.]

[....just as planned?]

You sound like precisely the person to work on that, then. In the meantime, I think you've shown me enough that I can experiment and fumble through it. [poking at more icons on the screen] Enough that I won't be left out of communications, at least.

Good. And do try to do better than your fellows and actually figure out what other things do besides just the talking app.

[Why is everyone so un-curious!!!]

I'll let you know when I've figured it out.

[He's On the Case.]

[CHALLENGE. ACCEPTED.]

Hmm. I believe I can manage as much. [slow, sage nod.] It is appreciated, Master Will.

[Master Will, that's a new one. Whatever, he'll take it.]

Have fun and don't hurt yourself.

INTRO LOG: JULY

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