INTRO LOG: NOVEMBER

[inthenightmods]

INTRO LOG: NOVEMBER
OLD FAT BOAT

characters: everyone.
location: the harbor, and around town.
date/time: november 1-3.
content: the ferry's back! yay! and it's piled high with goodies! yay!
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.

•••

To everyone's surprise, the ferry does indeed arrive on schedule. Right on time, it comes chugging along toward the beach, though its usually noisy engines are silent. And it seems to be sitting quite low in the water... Hmm.

Unfortunately for those unlucky enough to find themselves onboard, there isn't yet a replacement dock for the one that was destroyed last month. The ferry stops right where it would normally anchor, but then... that's it.

Logistically, there's good news and bad news: The good news is that the ferry is only about 25-30 feet from shore, which is well within the safety of the harbor and is a manageable distance for swimming with an open flame. The bad news? It's... 25-30 feet from shore, which is going to make unloading supplies, er, tricky.

The usual monthly stock has also come in, but, oh, what's this? There's an awful lot in the cargo hold. An awful, awful lot. As a matter of fact, the boat is absolutely filled with food and goods. The storage areas are packed tight, but the bounty spills out onto the decks, and even into the cabins. It's entirely possible that some of the newbies woke up surrounded by potatoes, or with a carton of eggs balanced on them. Maybe even in a pile of Beacon's signature standard clothing. In short, the ferry has become a proverbial horn of plenty.

Where all this stuff came from is one mystery, but another is how to get it all to shore. Better unload it before the weight sinks the ferry again! Just kidding. (Or are we?)

At a glance, the only thing out of place on the ferry is that the door to the bridge is welded shut. Seems a small price to pay for this resurrection though, doesn't it? Besides that one door and all these goodies piled high on the ship, it's almost as if the ferry crash never even happened. Maybe things will be okay after all?

Or maybe the new arrivals will have something to say about that. 🤔

And speaking of newcomers, the tablet and the town have some resources available for getting acquainted with their new situation! 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.

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.

As hinted above, it's also up to veteran residents (and newbies alike) to figure out the missing dock situation. Some efforts have already been started to rebuild the structure, but until that's done, the logistics are in your hands! Swim for it, fly for it, teleport to the beach, or maybe use one of the rafts or boats built earlier to shuttle people to and fro. Whatever you do, just make sure you get all the cargo (and people!) off the ferry before it departs.

As an additional note: We will NOT be tracking how you do all of that! There's no need to report salvage efforts to us, as by now, we trust y'all players to make things happen. So long as we see these challenges getting addressed ICly, we'll assume the town came together and figured it out somehow. Nice work, everyone!

DELIVERIES

The following packages can be found in the cargo hold:

• The monthly store restock
  
• A smorgasbord of other items; though limited in scope to the items typically found in the restock/stores, there's an abundance of everything.
  
• And that's it. With the fate of the ferry uncertain, Rastus was unable to order deliveries last month. :(
  
• ...Except for a single box of blueberry Poptarts for Peter Parker.

QUICKNAV
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Comments

Akira Kurusu | OTA

[survivaltricks]

A. The Ferry

[it's fortunate that Akira is more than used to waking up in strange locations with little explanation as to how he got there (thanks, Velvet Room). it means that, once he jolts awake in his private ferry room with his heart hammering in his chest, it only takes a moment or two for him to calm himself down. he takes a second to survey his surroundings, to suck in a deep breath and ruminate on the events immediately proceeding (right. . . the failed battle with the Holy Grail, and his teammates vanishing on him), before he slips his fingers underneath his glasses and digs them into his eyes to stave off the well of emotions that threaten to pour out. focus, he tells himself. now isn't the time. you have to move]

[. . . and move he does]

[for all fellow newcomers, Akira can be found standing silently on the ferry deck, one hand clutching his lantern and the other. . . digging through his pocket?]

[???]

[he pulls an. . . egg?? no, two eggs? out of his pocket and immediately offers them to anyone nearby, expression neutral]

Mmm. . . this is a big of an eggcentric situation we're in, right?

[WELCOME TO BEACON, AKIRA KURUSU]

B. The Shore

[with how the ferry stops some 20 to 30 feet away from land, it's a miracle that Akira even managed to make his way to shore without accidentally dousing his lantern in the first place. but somehow, he did! and he's 100% dry for it all, too. huh! what a mystery]

[you could ask him about it, but whether you get an actual answer is another matter entirely. and anyway, despite being on dry land again, he has his sights set on the dark expanse of the lake, his lantern held up as though the light from its tiny little candle will shed some insight onto a very mysterious situation]

Hey--

[whoever you are, newcomer and oldbie alike, he may be flagging you down to ask you a simple question, his brow furrowed and mouth curved into a frown]

There was something out there. Did you see it?

[???]

Wildcard.

[if there's something else you'd like to do, feel free to hit me up via PM or comment to my ooc intro! Akira is willing to help people from the ferry to shore as well (HE HAS HIS PERSONAS), and after making it to dry land he'll be hitting up oldbies and newbies alike just to chat. I AM EASY]

shore

[withsadness]

[Hello, new...friend?! Mary is holding a handmade welcome sign that looks like its seen better days. The paper is crumpled from having become wet and then dried again, but...the words are at least still legible, having been written in crayon. She looks from him and then out over the lake.]

I didn't see anything.

[survivaltricks]

[ah. . .]

[it's the briefest of moments, but upon seeing her, Akira hesitates, a pained look crossing his expression. he quashes it quickly. he doesn't know her, but she looks so young. and for someone so young to be here. . .]

[. . .]

[well, nevermind. he can't dwell on that now. sometimes, that was reality, was it not?]

You didn't?

[he supposes they were pretty far out on the water, but those lights were bright]

Then, do you know if there's something living in the lake?

[withsadness]

It might be a spirit! A big, big spirit!

[She tries to demonstrate how big by waving her arms around, sign included.]

They're everywhere, and they wear masks!

[survivaltricks]

A spir-- ah.

[fortunately, he had skimmed the welcome message before arriving to shore, so the existence of spirits doesn't surprise him. still, Akira rubs the back of his neck, a bit uncertain. was that thing a spirit? he certainly can't say]

I don't know if it had a mask. It was underwater.

Do these spirits light up their bodies, too?

2

[originallutece]

How did you get on shore without getting wet?

[This answer may imply that she has an answer for him, and that she is willing to trade one for the other. She does not. But she sure looks like she does, standing there all confident and airy.]

[survivaltricks]

[STRAIGHT TO THE POINT]

[there's a pause, and Akira lifts a hand to adjust his glasses, expression perfectly neutral]

I teleported.

[. . .]

[DID HE. . . REALLY?]

[originallutece]

[STARTING THIS CR OFF RIGHT]

How.

[It's a crisply enunciated word.]

[survivaltricks]

[AS IT SHOULD BE]

Science.

[yeah, that's all she's getting. as though SCIENCE is a perfectly good explanation for how teleportation would work in the first place]

shore

[evulsed]

[ Vanitas turns his head, looking away from the progress of his Unvsered in the water. Under the surface, they look like the shadows of sea serpents, making their way to the ferry. At this distance, it's probably mostly impossible to see them snake up onto the deck and disappear to find the hold. Vanitas can't really see them either, other than the shine of their red eyes when they wink out from the darkness, but he doesn't really need to. He's given them a job and they'll do it.

The gold of his own eyes flick up and down the new person, like he's assessing whether or not talking to him will be worth his time or energy... but the question brings his gaze back to his face with a snap.

He could mean Vanitas' Unversed... but judging from the direction he's looking, which is out and not down, he has a suspicion that isn't what he means. And after his last conversation with Robin, after what Vanitas himself had seen out there: ]

What did you see?

[survivaltricks]

[if Akira could see the Unversed (he cannot; they blend too well in the darkness, and he doesn't know to look at them in the first place) he would definitely separate them from the creature he noticed lurking in the depths below the ferry]

A shadow?

[lowercase "s" for Akira, since he's certainly it wasn't a Shadow. if Shadows even exist in this world]

It was large-- about as large as the ferry. And I could only see it because it was able to light up its entire body with blue patterns.

Does something live in the lake?

[evulsed]

[ Vanitas' eyes narrow, and there's something calculating in it. A shadow could mean anything. Vanitas himself was a shadow— it's the expanded explanation that gleans his interest. In the water and not on top of it. Large, and it lit up. He searches his memory for the spirits he's seen, trying to recall which ones would light up— if at all. But nothing acts like what this person is talking about. The only glowing lights come from her, in the church, and the glowing green eyes of those things in the woods. ]

Something lives in the water.

[ It's a confirmation, though not of what this guy is talking about. Vanitas knows about the other things that live in the water. The things that live in the river. But what's being described— that isn't what those creatures are. ]

What kind of patterns? Did you see it's face?

[ Vanitas looks back out at the ferry, he unfolds his arms. ]

Did it follow you in?

[survivaltricks]

[there's a pause as Akira tries to remember the patterns of the lights he saw. they're difficult to describe, but. . .]

At first they were circular. Like they were lighting up a cylinder that was jutting out of the shadow's body.

[that]

[doesn't make much sense, but hey. he tries!!!]

And then once the cylinder disappeared, the entire creature's body lit up with lightning-shaped patterns. Or maybe vein-shaped. . .?

[extremely eerie, either way! being a newcomer, Akira couldn't say whether what he saw was a spirit or not. but he can say it piqued his interest enough that he wants to look further into it]

I think it's what got the ferry moving, though whether it followed us to shore, I can't say. It disappeared pretty quickly after we started moving.

—shore

[webshoots]

[ peter's got an armful of groceries — yes, groceries, because it's been a long month, okay, and there'd been that lingering concern about whether or not they'd receive rations in the first place; it's topped off with that box of poptarts because — well, they are for him.

(but listen, he didn't actually ask for them. it's a long story.)

his lantern's by his feet in the sand, and he'd just been about to pick it up head back to the square because this is way less dramatic than it'd been last month, and since it doesn't look like they're going to starve any time soon, it'd probably be a good idea to get everything unloaded.

or at least, that'd been the plan.

there was something out there is what the kid says — and peter's attention shifts from him to the water and back again. his expression flickers briefly — of course there was something out there, they're in a creepy pocket dimension that's taken a few too many cues from stephen king. it's a thought that he doesn't vocalise, at least not yet. instead: ] —No. [ he answers; it's a statement, more than anything, because he's been on the beach and it's dark. a beat, then a flicker of curiosity, and— ] What did it look like?

[survivaltricks]

[what did it look like, Peter asks, and Akira wryly thinks to himself that he might have more details if a) it wasn't so damn dark, and b) the thing hadn't been completely submerged]

Shadowy.

[HELPFUL]

About as big as the ferry. It had glowing lights on its body, too.

[webshoots]

[ shadowy earns a sharp glance and a furrowing of his brow that says if akira hadn't just arrived, there'd probably be a interjection thrown his way. ]

Right, [ is what he settles on instead, the corners of his lips twitching slightly, before akira elaborates and okay, fine. ] That's new. [ he shifts the groceries from one arm to the other, and waves his now-free hand towards the ferry. ] Someone sunk the ferry last month, whatever you saw is probably the stop-gap. [ a beat. ] There was a dock, too, but I guess four weeks is only so much time, and figuring out how to stop people from immediately dying a second time is a priority over disembarkment protocol.

( prompt: shore! //SHAKES IN EXCITEMENT WHAT UP. )

[sunborne]

[ was akira talking to someone else? was he actually addressing the still pile of red-and-gold metal that just happened to be at the shore?

well- either way- the lump of red-and-gold metal actually begins to move and sit up. soon the pile reveals that it's very much not a pile but, rather, a humanoid(?) who is looking down at akira with flickering blue optics. as if drowsily blinking their eyes. ]

Er- Sorry- [ daylight pauses, yawning a bit as the winglets behind flare to view and wiggle a bit to work out its kinks. ] I was taking a nap for a second. Tired ferrying people.

Did you- [ another yawn. excuse him about that...! ] Did you see a spirit, maybe? They're usually friendly.

DAYLIIIIIIGHT!!!

[survivaltricks]

[yes, Akira is talking to this large pile of metal. once you hold multiple conversations with your cat, talking to colorful hunks of steel is absolutely nothing. in fact, Akira barely even blinks as Daylight sits up and stares down at him. he's in the afterlife (???) now, apparently. this might as well happen!1]

Mmmmmaybe?

[he has yet to run into any confirmed spirits of Beacon, so it's tough for him to say]

Do the spirits here glow?

YESSSSSSSS. (I MUST VANISH NOW BECAUSE TIMEZONES BUT YESSSS)

[sunborne]

-No. Not at all. [ that definitely gets his attention. what a way to wake him up...!

daylight sits up straight, looking a little bit worried as he looks over the guy's shoulder. like he'll see whatever he had seen to prompt the question. ]

The forest spirits don't glow. Not the last time I interacted with them. [ did they have torches...? no. that's silly. not after the play. ] Where did you see it, mister?

[ it's a little weird to address the guy as mister, daylight admits, but he's only, like, half sure of the guy being made his possible age bracket and that's not a safe enough bet for him. so 'mister' is until otherwise...!

(not that he minds. the fact he isn't reacting to daylight's appearance is really nice.) ]

[catholicisms]

( he gets that question, from time to time. even on occasion from people who realize he's blind as a bat. the fact that his present company doesn't immediately realize and fall into the usual guilt trip is a strong indication they don't quite realize — Matt wouldn't call the sunglasses he wears subtle, though, there's enough going on during a Ferry Arrival the fact he's wearing sunglasses in pitch blackness might be less noticeable.

still, he pauses at the inquiry, looking out in the direction of the lake, not really sensing anything out of the usual, though that's nothing new. his senses have been heavily stunted since his arrival, the fact he can't make heads or tails of anything outside a 10 or 15 foot radius isn't a huge shock to him anymore. )

No, ( he muses, frustrated by the question just for the sheer fact he'd really like to. he's not offended to be asked, though, he knows that it was unintentionally insensitive. ) These sunglasses aren't a fashion statement. Why? What did you see?

[survivaltricks]

[the sunglasses are absolutely dark enough to blend into the surroundings, and Akira definitely doesn't notice them before he asks the question. he doesn't notice them now, with his gaze still locked on the dark waters of the lake, some part of him hoping that the creature he saw earlier will resurface]

[when he does realize his new conversational partner is blind, he'll very likely apologize. but for now. . .?]

Some kind of creature.

[he thinks. . .?]

It was about as big as the ferry, and had glowing blue lights all over its body. I think. . . it's what helped bring us to shore.

["shore" being a kind of loose term, considering the ferry still stopped some 30 feet away from the beach]

[catholicisms]

( some kind of creature. well, that's mildly disturbing — Matt frowns, trying to make sense of the limited definition. the scope of a being as big as the ferry itself is a bit of a shock, though considering how large the lake is it doesn't seem impossible that it could hide something that large.

still more than a little uncomfortable to imagine. )

That's the first I've ever heard of underwater creatures, but considering the engine wasn't running... I suppose something had to move the ferry.

( trying to imagine something that large and strong is pretty difficult, though not even the weirdest thing he's heard of in Beacon. )

the shore

[mind_blown]

[ look, after a month of limited supplies, Jason's absolutely willing to get some real food going again. A man can't survive on chips alone, after all. (even though they could, because of a trick of this place)

But he glances at the other guy, though. A newbie. definitely some soft of magic user, judging by how he's been spared cold water, despite the destruction of the docks. but he doesn't say anything about that. just his question. ]

Light's pretty limited around here for seeing.

[survivaltricks]

[. . . Akira can't help himself; he huffs a laugh at that response]

Touche.

[but, that said?]

This thing was glowing bright blue, though.

[and he automatically assumes glowing blue lights could be easily seen from the shore due to the darkness, right?]

[mind_blown]

Hadn't seen it.

[ but he does look interested, when he says it. ]

It wouldn't surprise me something like that exists, based off what I know about the water. But you'll learn pretty quickly that the darkness doesn't behave normally, here.