INTRO LOG: JULY

[inthenightmods]

INTRO LOG: JULY
IT'S HAPPENING AGAIN

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

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

Comments

[webshoots]

Spider-Man, [ he answers — dead, not-dead, revealing his identity isn't something he's quite prepared to do, and he hasn't quite had chance to acquire a new set of clothing, so: spider-man it is. it's followed by a breath of a pause and: ] You mentioned a job. [ beat. ] Now, I get it: the market is tough for employers and employees — the people want rights, benefits, a fair wage and incognito browsing; unsociable hours and hostile work environments don't exactly draw in the applicants that the very undiscerning [ p a u s e; peter gestures loosely at their surroundings: darkness, with a hint of pitch black. ] interdimensional kidnapper who wants to build up their portfolio is after. [ another beat, this one punctuated by peter holding up his hands in a vague approximation of 'eh'. ] But I've got LinkedIn. [ what do the kids say? slide into my DMs? there's a very real moment where peter considers saying just that, but instead he whispers: ]

They do invites.

[ aka the long way of asking: so what is this job you mentioned? ]

[scrapcap]

[...Winters follows like, maybe 45% of that? What's a LinkedIn???]

Er, no one's kidnapped you, far as I know. Who comes in on the ferry seems to be random. I don't control it. The Keeper don't either.

[webshoots]

The Keeper can choose to reset the town, to keep some of us here— [ punctuated by a sideglance that isn't immediately obvious thanks to the mask. as far as peter can tell, given the mention of a job and the fact that they've been selected (in a manner of speaking, randomly or otherwise) certainly implies that there's somewhere else that they could be, perhaps even should be, but aren't. ] —so what would you call it? [ beat. ] Where do the others go?

[scrapcap]

Mm, no. The Keeper tends to the lighthouse. She controls the town, yeah, and protects it, but she don't have control over who comes in on the ferry. We're all just dealing with the lot we've been dealt.

[And as for the rest, he frowns.]

Others? You die with someone else and they didn't show up here with you? Or are you talking about the folks that didn't make it past the reset?

[webshoots]

Both, but mostly the guys that didn't make it past the reset. We're already dead, what else is there? [ does he really want to know the answer to that question? maybe not.

—but also: ] What is the Keeper protecting it from?

[scrapcap]

We're dead, sure, but we can get deader. Some folks see this as a second shot at life more than an afterlife. Seems to be some truth in that, seeing as we can die again.

[He gestures to his lantern.]

Couldn't tell you where folks end up if they ain't walking among us here, though. But if your lantern's too banged up to fix, you ain't coming back. That's just how it goes.

[He hesitates on that last question.]

Can't tell you that right now. All you need to know is what she's protecting us from won't come knocking for at least a year or two. We've got time.

[webshoots]

That's ... ominous. [ because dude, seriously. ] But okay, this thing that's going to come knocking in the world's worst game of ding dong ditch, do we have to fight it? [ a pause; moment of consideration, then: ] —In a manner of speaking, because I'm going to guess that's where the resets come in, right?