logsinthenight | VISIT: THE NIGHT MARKET

Entry tags:

VISIT: THE NIGHT MARKET

characters: everyone.
location: the floating night market, docked at the harbor.
date/time: april 10-12.
content: the night market arrives.
warnings: n/a.

and i came down from the stars.

In the wee hours of April 10, strange blue lights appear just under the waves in the harbor, approaching the dock, until they finally surface entirely. They're submarines, glowing a dim blue now that they're up out of the water, and the fleet is four vessels strong. They've brought with them a floating bridge system to attach to the harbor's main dock to allow access to all four submarines, and they start to unpack...

By "morning", under the light of the full moon, the Night Market is open for business!

This time, it's four vendors that arrive:
Pluto, the Night Market's leader, who rolls out of her submarine in a custom-built wheelchair.

Catherine, a coy-eyed blonde with a bombshell choice of wardrobe, who appears to be somehow teeming with secrets.

Variks, the Loyal, a prison warden who deals in all variety of secrets.

John Silver, an opportunistic cook who spent his life aboard a space pirate ship.

They've brought a handful of helpers with them to set up the market and run the various booths and games. Though they have no torches among them, the docks are lit with the blue glow of the submarines, their lights rippling slowly in intricate patterns and shapes, reminiscent of carnival lights.

•••
Accepted currencies at the Night Market include: Building and scrap materials, old tablets, old lanterns, captured forest spirits, torches, information, and most importantly... Plutonium. Of course, attempting to barter is always an option... but these currencies are your best bet for dealing with the various vendors offered by the Night Market.

All purchases must be logged on the Night Market purchase page while the market is open! Backdated purchases won't be accepted. However, as long as transactions are started ICly while the market is open, you're welcome to belatedly submit those transactions to the purchase page. Please do your best to log the purchases as close to the window as possible, though!

Congratulations to Sydney and King who won our last AC lottery for a chance to play Night Market shopkeepers! Sydney is playing Variks and King's playing Silver! Be sure to hit up these awesome shopkeepers up under the NPC header below! And as a reminder, please direct all plot questions/topics to one of the mod NPCs, as our players and discord mods aren't given any plot info beyond what's already available in the game. This visit, Danielle is playing Catherine, so she can answer plot questions, along with Pluto. P is for plot!

Here are the vendors and their inventories for the current Night Market visit:
PLUTO
Special orders - Pluto can procure items just like Rastus, but she can get you specific goods from homeworlds. The more specific the request, the more it will cost. Items ordered through Pluto will arrive on the next ferry.

Heals - A borrowed gun-looking device allows Pluto to heal even the most grievous of injuries. This item doesn't belong to her, though, so... results may vary

CATHERINE
Confession - In the place of a standard vendor's stall is a small, modest confessional. Catherine keeps the door open on the priest's side, sitting inside it while she waits for her customers. Feel interested in airing out your grievances? Well, it might not be an official sort of purge, but hop into the curtained compartment and she'll give you a non-judgmental ear to listen. Just don't ask for advice; she's not here to give it. But if you want to pray to her, well, she won't object to being treated like a Goddess.

A brief reunion - Just want to see someone's face again? A friend, a family member, someone you miss more than anyone else you've ever known? It seems that this mysterious lady has a knack for sensing who it is you desire to see again the most. Exactly how this works, she's not inclined to share, and unfortunately there's no real way to provide you with who it is she's able to show you... but a few meaningful moments could mean some peace of mind for some people.

Adult toys - A padlocked trunk full of specialty toys and supplies (and apparent torture devices?) to tide over any individual who would consider themselves properly kinky (or perhaps just a tad adventurous in their intimate exploits). Anyone over the age of eighteen is free to browse the wares, but the stall's keeper will keep it locked for anyone who died before reaching a legal age of adulthood. Sorry, kids. Maybe when you've been dead for a few more years.

VARIKS, THE LOYAL
Restraints & prison supplies - Cages, shackles, handcuffs, chains, rope. Want to keep a forest spirit (or fellow resident) contained and restrained? He's got you covered. Maybe it's for their own good, he may be the Kell of the House of Judgement but he won't question your motives too hard. What he has on display is mostly person-sized restraints and smaller cages for trapping forest spirits to use as currency elsewhere in the Night Market. But if you need something specific he may be able to accommodate.

Lantern shells - Tired of carrying the same lantern around day after day? Change how it looks with a lantern shell. The "shell" looks like a shimmery 12-sided die in various colors but touch it to your lantern and it'll be absorbed and change your lantern into a specific color / shape / size, etc. They can be removed at will and return your lantern to it's default look. Get multiple shells and have a different lantern every day of the week! You're only as fashionable as your Ghost. Er. Lantern.

ACCEPTED CURRENCIES - He'll take all the basics, with a preference for lanterns or lantern pieces, and also secrets. Secrets can be about yourself, others, places, the Wild Hunt... The juicier the secret the more valuable it is to him. He probably won't tell Pluto. Probably.

JOHN SILVER
Ready-made meals - This extremely personable vendor will greet you jovially and invite you up in a very thick, very pirate-y accent— though it's probably not him that draws you up so much as the mouth-watering smell of cooking food. He has a number of ready-made meals, but he can also whip up something special if you have a specific request. And when he says specific, he MEANS specific... looking at those of you with Certain Dietary Requirements.

Bonza Beast Stew: What's a Bonza Beast? Who knows! Where did he find one on this planet? You'll never find out, because it's a secret recipe. Have a bowl of this hearty stew, though, and you'll find that you'll be pleasantly warm and happy for a good long while.

Wild Rosemary Quiche: Vegetarian and beautifully fragrant. Consuming this will make you particularly nimble for a while.

Fish & Chips: What is says on the tin and possibly the best you've ever had. Wonder what that fish is...? The only side effect is that you have an almost insatiable desire to go swimming. Might want to be careful with that one...

Steamed Buns: A meaty option and the veggie option. Both buns will increase good fortune for a limited period of time.

Apple Rose Puffs: Sweet and delicate, they will also leave you smelling sweetly of flowers for hours afterward.

Baklava: Nutty and sweet, after eating this you feel compelled to say whatever kind things you've been feeling or have been on your mind.

Moonshine: No side effects, unless you count getting completely blasted very quickly.

You can also purchase ready-made packages of ingredients with a written recipe included to take home and cook for later! Except the Moonshine. That you'll have to buy directly.

Poisons - Ask the right questions, and you can get access to Silver's under-the-counter stash of goods. "Poisons" here is used loosely, as it includes concentrated doses of all sorts of concoctions. This includes: deadly poisons of varying intensities, poisons that induce sleep, poisons that will warm you from the inside or that will give you a bone-deep chill, poisons that are actually venom you can put on a blade, etc. All poisons are good for 2 doses, so use them wisely.

Repairs - Nothing too complicated, mind! Silver is good with mechanical fixes, but not with anything too delicate.

ACCEPTED CURRENCIES - Silver accepts all the regular kinds of currencies, but he does have a preference for gossip (which he loves), information, and building/scrap materials. He will also gleefully take recipes your character might know and ingredients that have been foraged or brought from the ferry as a form of payment. Keep in mind that the more you ask for, the more you will have to pay— and those poisons don't come cheap.

DR. SCHICKSAL'S HINT-O-MATIC
AMA - Does your character have any burning questions they just need to have answered? Dr. Schicksal's Hint-O-Matic is a phonebooth-looking device with a screen prompting the user to input a question. When a question is asked, Dr. Schicksal's Hint-O-Matic will spout out an answer! Questions can be typed in via keypad or spoken aloud, and answers will be automatically read aloud for characters that can't read the screen. These answers are always true, no matter what the question, but this information comes at a cost—your character will be blessed with a random status effect for the remainder of the month. We will check permissions posts before issuing a status effect, and please keep in mind that these effects stack! 😃 Each question you ask it (or say at it, rhetorically or otherwise) will "cost" one status effect. And, yes, you can literally ask anything.

Finally, please use the Night Market Purchases page for all transactions! We're changing this up from how we did it last time so that we can better keep track of what's going where. You're still welcome to thread out purchases on this log, though! Just be sure to note it on the purchase page, as well.
•••
Other than the vendors, the Night Market has brought with them the following attractions:
COFFEE CART - The coffee cart offers every variety of hot drink a person could fathom, and it's complimentary! A few small tables have been set up in front of the cart around an outdoor heater, glowing happily as it warms this little section of dock.

CANDY SHOP - Sweet treats offered at the candy shop are also free for the taking, but be careful—some treats carry with them a random status effect that will last for the next hour. The treats and resulting status effects are left entirely up to you players, so feel free to create your own hijinx! This is us trusting you not to break the game, so don't abuse this privilege, and feel free to ask us if you're unsure about limitations! Not all treats will produce an effect, but those that do will have no tells, meaning characters will not be able to strategize when eating the candy. (In meta terms: if you want your character to engage in wacky bullshit, but they're a party pooper and hate fun and wouldn't willingly indulge, this is your opportunity to trick them into shenanigans.)

CARNIVAL GAMES - The small section of carnival games includes ring toss, skeeball, balloon darts, a shooting gallery, a fishing game, a plinko game, and an RC racing game with toy vehicles. The rules are all somewhat nebulous, but feel free to play out your characters interacting with these games on your own! They're all free to play, and prizes include knitted forest spirit plushies, wind-up goldfish that float through the air, and buckets of those plastic spider rings and finger topper guys that cost like one ticket apiece at Swings-N-Things.

WHACKY WAVING INFLATABLE ARM FLAILING TUBE MEN - They are also here, and they have a jukebox with them with an unfathomably large selection of songs. This area of the dock is probably meant for dancing.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I can only cook with what I gots in me pantry! But between you an' me, what I have is far better than the hardtack ye be findin' in that General Store. Ooh, I don't be missin' that at all, let me tell ya.

[ He gives a big, infectious belly laugh, utterly undeterred by this fellow's even demeanor. ]

Now come on o'er, not every day I be meetin' another cyborg round here.

There's not very many, no. One more, but we don't see that much of him.

[The invitation works, though, because Soldat closes the rest of the distance.]

Cyborgs that cook, too. I do a daily meal for everybody at the Invincible.

[So while they may not be a pirate-- right out of Treasure Island or something (harhar)-- they have two actual things in common.]

Is that so?

[ Is he referring to the daily meal, or to the suggestion of a third cyborg amidst them? Both? Both.

He squints his right eye and a laser like the sight on a sniper streams from it, scanning over the Soldier's arm. ]

Mighty fine piece a' hardware! Though not much fer utility, eh?

[ The laser disappears and as if to demonstrate this, his own hand changes into a knife as he begins cutting ingredients. ]

Cookin's a mighty fine way t' pass the time in these dark hours. [ He slides the ingredients onto a pan over a fire and they start sizzling immediately. It could be a torch, since it's giving off light, tucked inside the stove. ] If ye're lookin t' purchase, I'd be willin' t' let some stuff go for a few recipes a' yours.

Designed to be a weapon, not a tool. It's very strong, can do fine motor control okay if I focus, but mostly it's for hitting things. Doesn't change shape, but I can control the plates.

[They pull up their sleeve, and give said plates a ripple, then tighten them up to make it impossible to get anything in between the plates.]

I'd. Like to trade recipes, actually. If that's allowed. I like learning new things.

Ah, but what's a tool, if not a weapon?

[ He says this as his eyes trail down the flex of metal on his arm— but the moment of seriousness disappears almost immediately, Silver grinning. ]

Well let's talk shop!

[ He turns, giving the man his full attention, both hands on his broad hips. ]

What say ye t' a one-t'-one trade? Recipe fer a recipe. An' I'll even throw in a pack o' ingredients with 'em, special deal, just for another cyborg, eh?

Only fair.

[Soldat thinks a beat on what recipes they know that Silver might not know. Clearly, grilled cheese is not a thing anyone needs to be taught, even if they are fancy grilled cheeses.]

I have gumbo. Couple stir-fry recipes. Blueberry cupcakes. A stew I experimented with to make it last longer, that simmers okay over a full day. Good mix for alfredo cream sauce that doesn't clump.

[ He knows a great many, but he's never been one to stick to a single plan or method. He nods smartly as the Soldier lists them off. ]

Aye, aye those all sound good. Save for your stir-fry — stir-fry ain't nothin' special, but I'll count two of 'em for one o' mine. What say ye?

[Honestly, Soldat is not great at bargaining, and they're just excited at the prospect of a recipe Misty doesn't know that they can teach her, for a change. A bunch of recipes Misty doesn't know, maybe. They'll agree to just about anything, here.]

Sure. All of them? Five of yours for six of mine? I'll have to write them down for you.

Ye got yerself a deal! Now let me drum up a bit o' parchment, here, got somethin' lyin' around...

[ He ducks down and there's the tinkling sound of him rummaging beneath the counter before he pops back up with an old fashioned quill and parchment. ]

There y'are, now take yer time. I'll get everythin' together for ye.

[ He turns his back on the Soldier to do just that. ]

[Soldat settles at a nearby counterspace to write. The quill pen is pretty fancy, and in the end, they wind up pulling out their own pencil instead, sharpening it once or twice during the recording process with a knife.

They finally offer it over, and ask, because they're curious,]

Just how strong is your moonshine, anyway?

It'll strip the paint off a schooner what's never even left port yet. Me own special recipe — no gettin' any ideas there, though, I ain't sharin' it with ye.

[ He wags his finger playfully from where he's putting things together. ]

Bottles only!

Edited 2020-04-12 22:15 (UTC)

[Hrm. Soldat has more than once here wished fervently that they could get drunk. They've managed slightly buzzed once, for about five minutes, and it wasn't a pleasant drink.]

Normally. I can't get drunk. Not even a little. Metabolism's too fast, I'd need to drink liters, usually of something that tastes like gasoline. Think it's that strong?

[ Silver comes back to the counter with a large bag, full to bursting with ingredients. He regards the Soldier heavily, and for a moment he looks very different from the happy-go-lucky cook he'd been seconds ago, and instead like a man that's seen his fair share of troubles. You give up a few things, chasing a dream. ]

T'ain't easy, livin' like that. Guarantee ye, ye wouldn't need t' be drinking bottles of this brew to wipe some hours clean.

[You got no idea, pal. The turn of phrase actually gets a little flinch out of them, because the Asset was wiped clean more times than they can count. The accept the bag of ingredients, though, tucked into the crook of the metal arm.]

Maybe not. That exactly. But softening a few things now and then would be nice. What else do you trade in? I could get something out of the scrapyard or the building supplies. But I think I've already shared most of my secrets with other vendors.

[If he like stories the way Sypha did, Soldat could tell some of those, they just won't be secret stories.]

[ Hmm, so not interested in forgetting something, per se. Silver is curious, can't help but be, though he doesn't press. He knows when to pick his battles. It's how he lived as long as he did. ]

I'll not say no to some buildin' supplies and scrap material. Always need to be fixin' things up and doin' handiwork round the Station and on this ol' hunk a' hardware.

[ He pats his right arm with his left hand, but smiles, his jovial nature returning. ]

That said, I'd be willin' t' let a jug o' moonshine go for some good ol' fashion gossip. Who's romancin' who? Who's got themselves a rivalry? The last good ruckus I heard someone had crashed the ferry! Surely somethin' fun's goin' on, ye've a whole town a' people up here, and ye might be a quiet lad but somethin' tells me ye've got an ear to the ground.

[Ah hell. Even down there, they've heard about that-- well, clearly, since they fixed it... or got a new one... or whatever they did. Soldat droops a little.]

That was me. The ferry. Me, Crowley, and Aziraphale. Was a stupid plan, and I wasn't careful enough.

[This may count as gossip, if nobody down there knows whodunnit.]

[ He booms a laugh, tossing g his head back before coming forward again. ]

Oh go on, tell me more. Whatever possessed ye to come up with that plan? And how'd ye manage to sink it so thoroughly?

First day we got here. Crowley asked me how best to get home. Neither of us knew any better. I suggested the ferry. He came up with the plan, but I still obeyed. Even though I didn't think it would work.

[They look kind of. Embarrassed.]

I tried two things to start the engine before it started. Second one. I think. Put it into gear. Didn't put the control back to neutral before trying the next thing. So as soon as the engine started, it surged forward. Hit the docks.

[ Silver laughs again, it's especially hilarious to him, given the fact he's spent most of his life on boats. He wipes a tear from his eye once he reins himself back in. ]

Oh, mate.

[ He pats the Soldier's flesh hand with his metal one. ]

Yer heart be in the right place but best be leavin' the sailin' to those of us better equipped, eh?

Always question the people around ye! Ye never know what their intentions might be.

[ He seems satisfied, tho, and turns from Soldier to his stash of moonshine. ]

Working on it.

[Said bone-dry. They've spent so long simply obeying, it's taking an effort. But at least they're to the point where they can say they're working on it.]

And I know how to operate some boats just fine. That one is just completely backwards from anything I've ever used before.

[But the positive reaction is helping with the embarrassment, anyway. People have been surprisingly forgiving about that whole incident, even now, months later.]

'Course not! Where d'ye think ye are? T'ain't no regular planet we're on, or regular circumstances.

[ He deposits a gallon of Moonshine in a jug in front of the Soldier and folds his arms over his broad chest, smiling. ]

That ol' vessel needed replacin' anyway.

Glad I could give you the opportunity.

[They accept the jug. If it actually works, maybe it'll last a while. They can only hope.]

Thank you, sir. Looking forward to trying your recipes.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

VISIT: THE NIGHT MARKET

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