logsinthenight | INTRO LOG: AUGUST

INTRO LOG: AUGUST
KANGAROO COURT

characters: everyone.
location: the harbor, as well as the rest of town.
date/time: august 1-3.
content: beacon's newest batch of residents arrives on the ferry. winters introduces himself and explains the situation. also, rats. :(
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.

•••
Maybe you already noticed them while the ship was still on the move. Or maybe you simply heard them, the sound of skittering claws, tiny squeals that sound more like high-pitched hoots. Whatever the case, they're impossible to miss as the ferry docks itself at Beacon's pier.

Rats. Huge ones, the size of small dogs, and tiny ones alike. They come boiling up out of the cargo hold the moment the boat stops moving, a tide of fur and teeth and nails. If you stay out of their way, they'll probably just run past you. But for those unfortunate enough to be in front of them, there's a lot of gnawing and clawing in your future.

The forest spirit rats seem hell-bent on getting off the ferry, but what they've left behind in the cargo hold is a bit of a mess. Crates and boxes have been chewed open and chewed into, as the horde of little beasties searched for anything they could eat. Did you ask Rastus for something edible? Unfortunately, it may have already served that purpose. And if you asked for something else, well, there's a chance it's still been nibbled on. It looks like the general store's supplies were hit the hardest, with about a third of them gone.

Oh, and you thought they were done? No ma'am.

The rats make a beeline for Bonfire Square, separating into smaller mobs to continue their endless quest for food. They slip through doors and windows, rummage through the bar, and generally make a complete nuisance of themselves. It's a plague of truly bubonic proportions, and it might be a good idea to do something about it. But be careful, if you try. Moving with the ravenous tide is a strange and twisted creature, each of its parts larger than the rats around it: the rat king, hungriest of them all. It moves as one unit of goat-sized animals, and it's quite aggressive.

Good luck!

•••
Winters is waiting for the new arrivals on the beach. He flags you down from where he's standing atop a large rock, surveying the gathering crowd. When everyone's made their way over, he 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 the folks that's already here explain how the bonfire works to y'all.

Ah, right. I'm Ben Winters—Winters'll do—and you'll find my, er, colleague Will in town. 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.

That said, I've got a bit of a plan in the works in terms of getting the Keeper back on the network. More on that in due time, but if you check your tablets, you'll find the network post I put up about it a few days back. If you feel like getting caught up on current events, you'll want to check the weekly bulletins in the post office and the records in town hall.

But most importantly, 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?"

Then he turns to address the group of old hats that have come to welcome the newbies.

"You lot have your bearings about you now, right? It won't do us no good moving forward if I'm always the one standing up here answering the questions. Give 'em the rundown, fill 'em in on what you've learned, and help 'em adjust to this place, yeah? Good luck."

With that, he hops down from his perch and heads back into town. You're more than welcome to talk to him or any of the other NPCs through their inboxes, though!

ooc.

Hey there, wonderful players, and welcome to In the Night! For this intro log, Winters will be around to give his spiel, but then he's heading back to town! It's up to the veteran residents to fill in the new folks.

And, um, better deal with that rat problem? The rats will indeed charge into town and cause quite the ruckus (Rastus can be found standing on a chair near the bonfire), but how much trouble they cause is up to you! Feel free to take creative liberties with these forest spirits, and for those of you with packages on the ferry, you're welcome to decide for yourself how damaged your presents may be. Any rats left in town will be driven out once the rain and storms begin on August 5.

Beyond that, please keep an eye out for an upcoming mod announcement, which will involve more housing options, a setting page/map update, a brand new game info page, and some other notes for the month. Stay tuned!

DELIVERIES

The following packages can be found in the cargo hold:

The monthly store restock (though it looks like about a third of the food has been eaten by rats...)
5 cloth face masks for Coraline
A very big pack of crayons for Mary
A sword and sheath for Boromir
A carton of cigarettes and an assortment of makeup (all the stuff he requested and a bit extra!) for Rosinante
A shield, two hefty log books, and a set of paints for Elden
Roughly a month's supply of the sulfa, penicillin, and morphine, a two month's supply of basic medicine and first aid supplies, and three cartons of cigarettes (Rastus did his best) for Wade
A usb-based GPS tracker for Spiderman Who Is Definitely Not Peter Parker
Two cans of paint, one white and one silver, for Scarlett
Three different styles of wrist blades (seems like Rastus got confused and just wanted to cover all the bases) and ka-bar for Billy
Leave-in conditioner, hair gel, a popsicle stick, a stuffed bird, a french press, a gun cleaning kit, 4 boxes of .45 bullets (though, upon further inspection, they're blanks!), and a literal potato sack full of espresso beans for Rafe
Seven sets of rosary beads, one in each color of the rainbow, for Javert
Six small bags of various blends of coffee (all of which will fit the description of Ebony brand coffee, even if it's not that exact brand) arranged neatly in a gift basket, as well as a flyer advertising a smalltown cafe's coffee flight with the words "Vote for your favorite!" for Noctis
A variety pack of loose leaf tea and a tea set for Kuai
2 scimitars and sheaths for M.K.
A sword, sheath, and set of knight's armor (it will fit her very well) for Brienne
A set of throwing knives and a three-pack of fluorescent spray paint for Antimony
A carton of cigarettes and just a shitload of wood, good luck getting it off the ferry, for Rosalind
Five different star(?) shaped charms for "Dawn"
A high quality fishing rod, line, and a tacklebox with a dozen various lures inside, as well as a giftbag that fits all of this for Ignis
A shotgun, three boxes of ammo, a 4 inch iron knife, and a big honkin' Swiss army knife with a frankly cartoonish amount of stuff in it for Jo
A Morse code chart, 10 fresh watermelons, 10 fresh fish, and a sign for Sora
5 boxes of .45 caliber bullets, 15 boxes of .45 caliber rubber bullets, 5 glock pistols, a big ol' pack of target practice silhouettes, and a wooden sign that reads "ROOTIN' TOOTIN' GUN RANGE", as well as an SD card (which will fit in Raylan's tablet) with a gun safety video from the 80s for Raylan
4 boxes of 9mm bullets, a handgun cleaning kit, a leather cord, a small jewelry cleaning kit, and two bags of M&Ms for Nate
A small wooden box containing a collection of feathers, a trident, and a set of armor for Alexios
A first aid kit fit for a school nurse, a set of craft paints and brushes, three medium-sized painting canvases, three sketchpads, an art supply kit, and a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle for Riku
Two cartons of cigarettes and a, um, well, this for Gene
A week's worth of clothing (in his size and #aesthetic) and a set of neckties, including this one, for Five

QUICKNAV
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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Wait Mary!!!

[ She runs towards the girl, holding a massive loaf of stale bread in her hands. ]

You gotta have some food so it'll trust you!!!

Edited 2019-08-07 20:30 (UTC)

[Oh! Coraline's lack of trying to get her to actually stop gets Mary to pause and turn back around again. Hooray!]

You're right! Good idea!

[This is gonna go so well.]

[ She breaks off a piece and hands it to Mary because look. Rats are cute ok. And these are the closest thing to animals she's seen. ]

Ok, now hold it out and see if it'll approach first.

[ This worked for cats back home so... maybe? ]

[Mary holds out the piece of bread. It looks like there's interest! Maybe too much interest. Mary becomes very quickly bowled over by a surge of rats, but she just laughs, and they don't seem to be biting her at all. Hooray! Fun times with pets!]

[ For a moment, Coraline is all too sure that she's made a mistake and just killed a child, but as giggles erupt from the rat pile, she sighs in relief before making her way closer. ]

How're you doing?

It tickles!

[Don't mind her she's just being scampered all over. It's fortunate that being trampled by rats isn't all that painful. She might end up with a few scratches but. This is a sacrifice that one child is willing to make for the purpose of making friends. The bread is like, already gone. They're just scrounging for crumbs.]

[ Coraline laughs at the sight, glad Mary's enjoying herself beneath the writhing pile scavenging for crumbs. ]

Hey, hold up your hand and I'll drop you the rest of the bread.

[ She waves said bread in the air, gaining the attention of several of the rats who immediately start heading for her. ]

Oh no.

Edited 2019-08-23 12:15 (UTC)

INTRO LOG: AUGUST

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