logsinthenight | INTRO LOG: JANUARY

INTRO LOG: JANUARY
ALLES NEU

characters: everyone.
location: the harbor, as well as the rest of town.
date/time: january 1-3.
content: beacon's newest batch of residents arrives on the ferry. the forest spirits engage in some new year's shenanigans.
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 glowing 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.

•••

A small crowd of forest spirits have shown up at the harbor to welcome the newcomers and to ring in the new year! They are very excited to promote and partake in the following traditions:

Making lots of noise! Forest spirits are passing out a variety of noisemakers of all shapes and sizes with which to create a lively ruckus. Happy year!!!

Setting off fireworks! Sort of! More like firecrackers, sparklers, and bottle rockets, but close enough, right? None of them cast light, but they're still pretty glowy things.

Hanging bunches of onions from doorways! And also trees! And fences! And people! Hanging onions on everything! The more onions the better! Where did they get all of these onions!

Smashing stuff! Specifically, the forest spirits are yeeting whole-ass pomegranates into doors and smashing every plate they can get their hands on before sweeping the debris into a pile. In fact, the forest spirits seem to be having small contests to see who can amass the largest pile of broken kitchenware. Hide your fruits and fine china, Beacon bits, because the spirits have a loose definition of "pomegranate" and "plate".

Banging loaves of bread against walls! Maybe the tradition doesn't call for actual destruction or maybe it's just hard to smash a loaf of bread, but forest spirits are definitely running through town whapping hunks of bread on anything (and anyone) they run into. Some of the loaves even have coins and... acorns? Inside? Sure. All the better to bruise you with.

Tossing flowers into the lake! They're all white flowers... mostly? Flowers are tough to come by this time of year, so it's more like white "anything that looks like a flower"s that are getting hucked into the water.

Ringing bells! A couple of forest spirits have been tasked with scurrying up into the rafters of the church and town hall's clock tower, ringing the bells madly. Problem is, the spirits are trying to count and coordinate how many bell chimes peel through the town, but counting is hard and so is coordinating across a distance. So, uh, the bells are just kind of going hog wild for the day.

Melting lead! One forest spirit covered in fur with a long tongue lolling out from their mask seems to be in charge of a lead-melting booth, where lantern-havers can melt bits of lead over a torch borrowed from the bonfire. The molten lead is then dropped into the lake and fished out with the spirits long, long tongue, after which they'll examine the lead's shape and hoot... something at whoever's dropped it in. A fortune for the new year? Tough to say. Even the other forest spirits don't seen to be able to understand this tonguey gent.

Drinking burnt stuff! Be prepared for a forest spirit to run up and shove a scrap of paper and a glass of something bubbly into your hands. The idea, after some miming from the forest spirit, seems to be to write a wish or resolution onto the piece of paper, burn it in a bonfire torch, and mix the ashes with the glass of... something. Maybe you got lucky and it's champagne, but there's no telling what's in that glass. Bottoms up, though. You have to drink your wish to make it come true!

Burning stuff! The forest spirits are making cute little dolls of each other and other folks in town! How cute! Less cute is that these cute little effigies are getting chucked right into the bonfire and swallowed up by the flames. Rastus is moderately distressed by this development, though he won't stop you from making your own effigies to burn.

By the end of the week, the forest spirits will have cleaned up their festivities, but for now, eh, get in the spirit of the holiday. It's a new year, after all.

Luckily for all the newcomers who may find themselves horribly confused by this welcome committee, their tablets 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! We're super jazzed to kick off the new year with a fresh crop of new players and characters.

For these New Year's festivities, you're all welcome to play out your own forest spirit interactions! NPC away, my dudes.

Go ahead and introduce yourselves on the OOC intro, and as you settle in, we'd like to ease everyone's minds with a little spoiler: More housing will be unlocked soon! A location discovery announcement will go up in the next week or so, whenever that exploration wraps up, and a whole crop of new housing options will then be made available. In the meantime, don't stress about finding lodging for your character. So long as everyone's settled by the end of the month, we're good to go!

DELIVERIES

The following packages can be found in the cargo hold:

The monthly store restock
For Midge: A menorah, a seder plate, a mezuzah, and a siddur
For Rosalind: A dozen elegant eyepatches and the equipment necessary for her to construct her Lutece device
For Hux: Equipment and tools to create mouse droids
For Aziraphale: A fountain pen and two bottles of blue ink
For Maes: A large crate full of collapsible cots and sleeping blankets, and an additional crate of various bedding and pillows
For Crowley: A book of prophecies from home, a bottle of white wine, a box of various sizes of PVC tubing, a water pump, the goods, and a variety pack of seeds
For Bucky: Bucky's armored vest from home
For Daylight: A dozen packets of Soldiers' Kisses seeds
For Rosinante: Two newspapers from Rosinante's home published in the months after his death, three bottles of nail polish (red, green, and pink), four cartons of cigarettes, and a crate full of various winter equipment
For Peter: Webware
For Rhys: A froyo machine
For Kol: Kol's daylight ring from home
For Elektra: A make-up case with a full set of make-up, six sets of good quality clothing (three for men and three for women), two bottles of fresh honey, three bags of coffee, and a Braille Bible (which comes in the form of seven very thick volumes)
For Scully: A poster, three sets of medical scrubs, two sets of silk pajamas, and a bag with enough medical supplies to treat 5 major injuries or 10 minor injuries
For Matt: An orchid-scented perfume, twin sai, a bottle of fancy tequila, three classic rock records, and a record player
For Ignis: A violin, two dozen containers of various spices, a dozen skeins of knitting wool, and a dozen spools of colorful thread
For Javert: A dozen outfits comprised of all 19th century clothing and a crate full of bedding materials

If you submitted an item request last month and we've missed it here, let us know!

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Link removes his shield from his back and rests it against the sofa. The scabbard is unhooked from his shoulder but he keeps it lying across his lap as he sits down.]

Can I help with the tea at all?

Oh no, that's really not necessary.

[ He says this in such a polite voice that one might read it as saying "no, and don't dare try to interfere." ]

So, I, um, suppose I should start at the beginning.

[ His nervous attitude probably doesn't help. ]

[Link tenses, more in response to his host's nervousness than in anticipation of anything he might say.]

That would help, yes....

Well, um, see.

We've all... died.

We're all dead.

I was-- well, I was executed by fire-- hellfire, if you need to be exact, and woke up on a ferry, same as you, and uh. Yes.

[Link just stares at the other man a moment.

Then, slowly, memories surface in the back of his mind...

A name, a stillness in his chest, the sensation of falling into the depths of his own soul...

No, it can't be true!]

What?

But... I can't be dead.

Is this a joke?

Ah, no, I'm afraid not.

[ He pauses for a moment of silence and watching Link intently, trying to gauge his thoughts when--

--The kettle goes off, loudly, so Aziraphale hurries off to the kitchen to go make tea. ]

[Link remains seated, his gaze slowly becoming wild.

It's not true. It can't be true.]

But I'm the Chosen One!

Ah, yes dear, I know.

[ He comes back with the teacups and teabags steeping, trying to calm Link down by passing him a tray of biscuits. ]

No, you don't understand!

[He buries his face in his hands and trembles.]

There are terrible things happening back home and I'm the only one who can stop them! If I die then--

Then Hyrule is gonna--

[Aziraphale hands him the tray and he screams despite himself.]

BISCUITS AREN'T GOING TO FIX THIS ARE YOU INSANE!?

[ He flinches but then puts on a stern face. ]

Please calm down. I can't explain things to you if you're going to yell.

Edited 2020-01-20 00:48 (UTC)

[Link freezes, hands clutched against his breast.]

I...

I'm sorry.

I can't--

It can't be true...

I'm so sorry, my dear, but it is.

This is... what some might call the afterlife.

This...?

[He peers around and his lips move as he silently mutters to himself.]

...Is this Hell?

Oh, no. Hell is much different. More enclosed from what I hear, and lots more paperwork and torture. Trust me, this isn't Hell.

[Link buries his face in his hands.]

So it's just...

Just a dark world of the dead?

I've died and gone into the Twilight!?

I can't believe that.

It's not true.

It's not true.

It can't be, it can't be, this is a dream, this is a dream...

[He rocks back and forth and mutters to himself.]

Wake up, Link, wake up...

That, um. That won't work, but you're welcome to try. I'll still be here, when you've. When you've decided.

[Link curls his knees up to his chest and tucks into a ball, head bowed and hands folded over the back of his neck.

He remains like this for quite a while, trying not to cry or have an even bigger emotional break down in front of a stranger. His warrior's pride won't allow it.

Part of him wants to believe it's all a lie intended to upset him but he can remember his heart stopping.

Why?

Why him?

Why now?

Last time he'd died, the Light Spirits had brought him back. Why not this time? Because he hadn't died in one of their Springs? It's not fair.

Link indulges in some self pity before finally lifting his head a bit. He's dry eyed but looks as tired as he suddenly feels.]

...Could you pass me some tea?

Yes, of course.

[ He pushes some tea forward, carefully, trying not to upset Link any further. ]

I am very sorry, you know. We are all trying our hardest to save this world from what ails it, so that we can focus on going home.

[Link lifts the cup to his lips.

The warm drink is soothing and familiar, at least.

Another sip, then he looks towards the other man.]

Tell me about it... Tell me what's happening to this world.

Well, from what they tell me, it's dying. It's dark here, and the World Eaters will come eat the rest of the light and kill us.

But, we can fight back. And once we kill them, we can work reverse engineering the portal that brought us here to take us back home.

[ Is that enough of a summary? Not too much? ]

So we kill these World Eater things...

Right. Okay.

I can do that.

[He rests his cup against the scabbard still lying across his lap.]

So, ah.

We don't know how to fight them. Or what they're capable of.

Just that, they.

Disappear the stars.

[Link tilts his head pensively.]

I have the Master Sword.

If they can die I can kill 'em.

...Has anyone ever actually seen one of these things?

[If he's going to kill them, learning what they are exactly and what to look for seems like a good place to start.]

There's a... photograph of one, I think. Supposedly it's bigger than the buildings here, but I don't think that's quite the issue. I wonder how such a small being consumes stars.

How many of them are there? Maybe a whole lot of 'em eat stars a nibble at a time like a swarm of....

[Broad gesturing.]

I dunno.

Bees.

[Wait, bees swarm to attack, not eat... He tucks his tongue into his cheek but in the heat of the moment doesn't bother correcting himself.]

(no subject)

lunchbreaks - 2020-01-28 23:33 (UTC) - Expand

sublimebeast - 2020-02-01 06:14 (UTC) - Expand

lunchbreaks - 2020-02-02 05:03 (UTC) - Expand