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.

QUICKNAV
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"Then, forgive the observation, it seems to me like there is still a good bit of you left in there."

He pokes a finger towards Soldat.

They give Ardyn a brief, mildly annoyed look. (Got you there, pal. You shut up, too, Sarge. ~~What about me.~~ I'm going to indulge you. ~~Food!~~ Sort of, anyway.) Then they push up to their feet, and offer him the metal hand to get up, too. "Come on. I'm getting you a goddamn mocha and we're going to stop moping for a little while."

Mochas make everything better, at least for as long as it takes to drink one.

Ardyn notices the look of annoyance as he accepts the offered hand.

"Oh dear, was it something I said?"

Once he's up he leans to one side, right against Soldat as he steadies himself on his feet.

"But far be it for me to turn down a-- mocha, was it?"

He pats Soldat's shoulder.

"Oh! It is made with espresso here, I trust? And not some strange forest brew that will give us antlers..."

"You made an irritating point, that's all. And the coffee's safe." They hold steady under the lean, though it takes effort. Guy weighs hardly anything, sure, but he's tall and awkward and wearing a lot of clothes.

And also, too close. But they can handle it for a minute.

"It's the candy that might give us antlers or turn us purple or make us speak in rhyme for an hour." Soldat avoids the candy. But they frequent the coffee cart a lot, when it's in town. They nod in the direction of it, and start that way, making sure Ardyn can keep up.

Ardyn hobbles along behind Soldat. He is capable of moving more quickly than he is, but slowing down a bit means being able to sneak in an extra question or two.

"You speak from experience? How awful. I fear I'll never get used to this place."

Sure is a good thing Soldat doesn't really mind questions, for the most part, huh?

"I got around the rhyming thing by just not talking for an hour." It wasn't that hard. The first month the Night Market was here, they still weren't all that talkative. These days, they're positively chatty. "Spent most of my time recording music from the jukebox, anyway. Easy to not talk then."

"Well, I hope for your sake that the jukebox gave you music worth listening to."

He thinks back to the song that had played on the boat.

"Although, some of this stuff does get stuck in the head, doesn't it? Make him the cutest man car door hook hand..."

Soldat actually winces. "That's a real song that the spirits mangled, you know. I have it. It's actually on the jukebox." And now you've got it stuck in their head, thanks, Ardyn. "Impressive they used our words at all. But. Still. Mangled it."

"I heard the real one on the boat, I believe."

Ardyn turns to face Soldat, grinning.

"I prefer the spirits' rendition."

It's much more fun.

"Give him the sand that I'm not a hander...

"That wasn't even the real song. That was a very. Fancy. Version of the mangled one. Here." As they walk, slowly at Ardyn's limping pace, Soldat pulls out their tablet and pulls up the actual song, recorded from the jukebox in fact. They hold it up so Ardyn can hear it. "The real one makes a little more sense, at least."

Edited (html yay) 2020-04-13 21:48 (UTC)

"Is this not the version I heard?"

It sounds like it, but he's not sure. Everything from the boat is a blur to him. Mostly he remembers confusion, following Ephrim around in the dark, and collapsing into a vivid dream for what felt like days. Where reality ended and the dream began he's not certain.

"It doesn't matter."

He looks away from the tablet and flicks his his wrist dismissively to suggest Soldat put the music away.

"You'd mentioned coffee?"

Nope, not the one he heard. The ferry still played the parody one. It was just a prettier version. Soldat, being very fond of music in general, definitely noticed the difference-- but then, they didn't even notice the music on the first two ferries, too stressed out both times, so they're not going to judge.

They shrug, pause the music, and slip the tablet back into a pocket under their coat. "The coffee cart is there." They point ahead of them, down the dock and on the floating platform extensions the Night Market always set up. "Almost there, promise."

Ardyn looks back over to the tree where he'd been people watching, then his gaze lifts to the sky. How many stars here have already been extinguished? What is the Night Market's plan for all of this?

He continues to shuffle along the pier again.

"Where do they come from, our dear merchants?"

"Same place we do. They used to live in Beacon, and Pluto snared the smartest or most skilled to go work in the old Helix Station, under the lake," Soldat explains, stepping onto the floating portion of the dock, towards the cart. "Working on their plan to stop the World Eaters. Who knows what that plan is."

Soldat hasn't had the chance to ask Pluto yet. But it's on their list to do sooner than later. Can't make any choices until they know if the plan is even viable. (If even then.)

"The way people spoke I'd thought the World Eaters a yet distant threat. I didn't know until tonight that they'd already alighted upon this star."

He sighs wearily.

"They are not monsters that have yet to come, they devour us even now. With such an imminent threat I have to hope the Night Market's plan is a sound one."

"I hope so, too," Soldat says grimly. That sounds like Ardyn really is on board, at least, to help if they can. That's... good. They stop at the coffee cart and order the mochas, extra whip on Ardyn's because the guy clearly needs it, and offers it out to him. "Careful, it's hot."

Then they frown. "You didn't know until tonight that the World Eaters were already here?"

"Oh, I had my theories."

He gestures around at the sky.

"But I wasn't sure if they'd come and were beaten back for a time or yet remained."

"No one here knows how to fight them. All they can do is reset us if they get too close. Kill us all so they lose interest." They sip at their mocha and add, "Except maybe Pluto. I'm going to talk to her later and see if I can get an idea of her plan. If it's likely to work."

"Ah, the picture is coming together now!"

He sips at the mocha. It's nice, he supposes, but it doesn't bring him any pleasure. Nothing does anymore.

"It sounds to me like we must needs conceal ourselves from their prying eyes through means other than extermination. If we could darken ourselves and blacken the Bonfire without extinguishing it might we avoid detection for longer?"

"That just hides us. Doesn't stop them. We don't even know why they're still here. The world is dead. If they're just here to eat. Why stay? Why not move on to another world with actual life on it?" There's something about it all that just doesn't add up. Something keeping them here. It'd be nice to Solis would get back to them about her portal records, so they could maybe compare them... see if there's something that changed.

"Who can claim to know the whims of the World Eaters."

Ardyn shrugs.

"Maybe the world isn't quite as dead as we think or perhaps they seek their own demise at our hands. Or maybe the Bonfire is particularly enticing... Whatever the case, hiding would buy us more time, no?"

"I think they've tried hiding," Soldat says, looking thoughtful, mentally reviewing the network messages they've read on the subject. "But if you want to know for sure, ask Robin. On the tablet, find the inbox 'beaconkeeper'. She's been here the longest, has the most records, she'd know."

"'Beaconkeeper'."

Ardyn recites the handle to himself.

"My, aren't you a font of information..."

Soldat regards him with mild surprise over their coffee. "We're all working together, here. There's no reason not to share intel."

"Yes, yes, I know. All of us here are lost in the dark together. I wasn't admonishing you, you may relax."

He stops in mid stride.

"Rather, I was remarking on how much you know. You've been here a while."

(no subject)

worthallthis - 2020-04-21 00:49 (UTC) - Expand

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