EVENT LOG: WITH ME ALL ALONG

[nextnightmods]

EVENT LOG:
WITH ME ALL ALONG

characters: everyone.
location: around town.
date/time: May 1-10.
content: rain, rain, go away
warnings: n/a. please cw tags appropriately.

And I wouldn't be the same without you

Welcome to WITH ME ALL ALONG, the follow-up event to BOTTOM OF THE RIVER. We're so glad you've made it here with us! The prompts below are designed to cover the entire first third of May as the process of sorting through the wreckage and beginning to rebuild is a lengthy one. Seeing as how we've just overhauled and updated all core pages in the GPSL, there may be errors here and there! If you spot something that looks wrong or out of date, drop us a line.

We are also happy to announce that EXPLORATIONS are now open! Remember that for now, only one explore per character per month will be allowed, so choose your destinations wisely. Rebuilding or other setting alterations is now entirely separate from explorations, and the form for setting alterations can be found below the map on the updated setting page.

Dedicated characters keeping an eye on the bonfire and the torches around town mean that 82 torches are able to be found either in the bonfire, at The Invincible upstairs, or scattered nearby around town in easily-accessible places and can be freely picked up and returned to the bonfire in threads. Many others are still safely accounted for by characters in other locations, but 19 torches seem to be completely missing. To find them, please see the FOLLOW THE LIGHT prompt below, and then sign up for a feather under the Torch Retrieval comment in this log. And don't forget, if you take a torch from the bonfire and place it elsewhere, let us know!

Lastly, keep an eye out for an upcoming npc post on the network within the next couple of days!

HOLDIN' ON FOR SO LONG

The downpour from the heavens fades to a sprinkle, then to mist, over the late hours of April's last night. When finally the rain ceases, the flood begins to drain away, retreating to the lake. And the river, proud and full over its banks, sinks back downward, leaving little rivulets in the dirt like grasping hands that cannot fully hold the weight of all the water in the channel and finally they too lose their grip on the land.

There is darkness in the direction of the lighthouse. The cliffs have eroded, and the tower, the beacon that Beacon was once named for, has slumped and crumbled into the lake with the stones it once stood on. The rest of the town has suffered various fates. Bridges lie scattered in pieces on the lakeshore or wrapped around buildings; the Town Hall has collapsed and clockwork lies scattered around the Bonfire square - and so do people's personal belongings, for the cabins of Bridalveil Falls seem to have been raided by the water and what wasn't smashed or toppled has been carried by the flood to some unexpected places. You might find your favorite mug half-buried in silt outside the Post Office; your winter long johns now hanging from some battered shrubs outside the Delft Theater. Perhaps far worse is the number of people not responding to messages on the network. What's missing, and where can you find it? Who needs help, and which buildings need to be prioritized? Why did the welcome message just start playing the moment you look at your tablet?

And what happens when a full day goes by, and then another - and the ferry never arrives?

I'M HELPING!

Since the storms have ended and everyone's started taking stock of what's been destroyed and who's left among their population, the mood has understandably become a little dour in Beacon and the spirits have taken notice. A few days into attempting to rebuild what they've lost, citizens will start to notice piles of debris stacked up, usually near the supplies they're using to rebuild or in windowsills or doorways. Sometimes they're piles of branches, sometimes they're shingles that had been lost to the storm that you'd thought you'd disposed of, sometimes it's an unusual amount of moss. Usually it's a combination of all of these, plus some other things found along the way.

More often than not, the spirits will leave these quickly enough not to be seen, but if you're lucky you might find one or two setting up their offering, though they don't stay long once they're seen. This is supposed to be a surprise, after all!

FOLLOW THE LIGHT

Much of Bonfire Square fared surprisingly well, thanks to the valiant efforts to protect the torches mostly resulting in success. However, that's not to say the storm did not take its toll. The accommodations built there by long since lost Beaconites have mostly washed away. There is only one exception to that rule — the shack that used to be home to the Bonfire Keeper, while dilapidated, seems to linger on.

The Keeper himself is nowhere to be found, even when most of the wreckage is cleared away. That is, until the very last pieces are stirred and a scattering of feathers is left behind.

There's something odd about the feathers, and when touched, they will float up on a sudden breeze, glowing a comfortable gold in the dim of the square. Almost like a breeze takes them away, suddenly the feather will float off in the dark, beckoning like a guiding light. As it drifts the light will fade, yet the feather insistently twists a trail to something, gently navigating those brave enough to follow. Eventually, the feather will find a torch that has been displaced or lost, floating just above it until it has been reclaimed. Once it has, the glow will fade and the feather will return to normal, decorated in the colors that will seem familiar to any that knew Rastus well.

It seems his system for locating absent torches has helped to protect the bonfire one last time. Where will the feather lead you?

QUICKNAV
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pages	|	rules • faq • taken • mod contact • player contact • calendar • setting • exploration • item requests • full nav

Comments

TORCH RETRIEVAL

[nextnightmods]

Sign up here! Simply post a blank comment with your character's name - or describe picking up a feather, if you like - and we'll get back to you with the results!

Sora

[arsarcanum]

[ Probably one of the first to pick up a feather! Caution? What is that?

He'll speed off in chase as soon as the feather whips away. Hey, where's Rastus? Will the feather take him to birddad? What is happening??? ]

[nextnightmods]

[The feather drifts gently southward, never straying too far as if making sure Sora can keep up. As if caught by an updraft, it floats sharply upward to clear the river, which still rushes muddier and faster with the remnants of the flood, then leads Sora through the wreckage of the village's cabins and past the pawn shop. It winds its way deftly between trees, and finally slows at the disastrous scene that is the Medical Center.

As it slows, it slips downward. Hovering just inches above the ground, it slips and wedges its way under a collapsed wall, beneath which is a staircase heading downward. Bright light shines from somewhere within the staircase - and with a little patience and some hard work, Sora can clear just enough of the debris to get inside. It seems to be jammed up again about twenty feet down, full of mud and ruined concrete, plaster, and branches, but resting atop the pile of flood-deposited junk is a torch, and a mud-filled lantern, extinguished.]

Jason Grace

[notthatjason]

[nextnightmods]

The feather trails across Beacon, carving a path through the trees and over the water as it guides Jason toward the greenhouse. The building looks to be in good shape and is already well-lit, and seems to be more lush than ever before.

Just past the greenhouse is a thick wall of undergrowth. Vines covered in sharp thorns pile into a heap that looks nearly impenetrable - but a faint glow comes from within. Jason can find pruning tools at the greenhouse easily enough, though, if he needs them, or use a blade of his own, and eventually he's able to cut through the wall of brambles. It seems the vines were growing up and around the wreckage of an old, rusted tractor. Wedged inside under a seat is a torch. But Jason's hand hits something else as he goes to pull it out, and he finds three disconnected pieces of metal and glass - a broken tablet.

Pudding

[flangirl]

[ One of her excitable teenaged friends invariably sends her a message or a selfie, and while this is about the last thing she wants to do it's. It's time to be helpful, right??? She'll just ignore the world's most nauseating tinnitus and edge toward the wreckage cautiously - oh. There's one right out here halfway to The Invincible, directly in the path. That isn't ominous or anything. ]

[nextnightmods]

It glows as soon as Pudding touches it, and lifts into the air and floats onward as if beckoning that she continue in that same direction. It keeps just ahead, then drifts toward the riverbank and slowly tilts and drifts its way through the breeze, pausing and waiting for Pudding to climb over the wreckage of a bridge, or skirt around an upturned stump with its roots washed clean and exposed to the starry sky.

Once roughly parallel to the Post Office, the glow from deep in the river channel is visible through what looks like a tangle of branches. Just below it, a shock of vivid pink can also be seen through a gap in the debris thanks to the bright light of the torch, which stays lit even within the rushing water.

Link

[sublimebeast]

[Link is searching through wreckage near Bonfire Square when he sees a feather drift past.

He immediately hooks his lantern back to his belt and chases after it.]

Rastus?

H-hey, wait!

[nextnightmods]

[For a moment the feather pauses in its twisting flight, seeming to hold its own against the breeze, then floats onward as Link follows as it leads him south, away from the bonfire.

Once it reaches the river, however, it floats sharply upward a few feet and then hangs in the air as if waiting. The river, though no longer over its banks, is still a good twenty feet across and running fast. No bridges have been constructed yet to cross it, either. But as Link moves around, the feather holds fast in its position, only turning slightly so as to point across the river from whichever perspective he takes.]

Soldat

[worthallthis]

While prowling his normal patrol route once the first basic bridges are back up, checking to see how much is still intact, he'll find a feather somewhere along the route and follow it.

Haein Seo

[unwieldy]

[ Time to follow a strange, glowing feather.

Haein isn't expecting anything when he reaches for the feather, but as soon as the tips of his fingers brush against it, it's up and away. He's reluctant at first to see where it leads, his steps hesitant as he follows, but they grow more and more willing when he realizes there's a deliberate direction it's taking. ]

Fjord

[fjorgedinfire]

Once Fjord has been given the clear to explore again after his concussion, he'll head back towards the church to check it out with a clear head, and find a feather near the giant hole into the tunnels that beaned him earlier.

[catholicisms]

Matt & Elektra are gonna head off to follow a feather together! bc he blind and can't do it on his own, whoops... .. . . . unless magic pathfinding feathers have a significant sound cue BUT WHATEVER babe is here too

Minimus Ambus

[legalcy]

[He's going to initially reach for the feather while cleaning up, but once it appears to move on its own accord, he follows it slowly.]

javert

[policier]

( He discovers one of the feathers while out on patrol, shortly after the waters recede, in the northern area Beacon. He seems quite hesitant to touch it, at first, not knowing what its purpose may be, but he does so eventually, once curiosity gets the better of him. )

[paletteswap]

[This sentimental old fool is going to pick up a feather to put on his tea table with the origami frog Hanzo made him. But then whoosh, away it floats.]

Rosinante and Mary

[callada]

It's Mary who reaches for the feather first honestly. Rosinante has no choice but to scoop her up and give her a ride to wherever it leads them rather than letting her run off alone.

Fitz Kreiner

[rereremembered]

There's a conflict between Fitz's sense of self-preservation and his urge to learn more (and maybe be helpful), but he'll follow the feather. It glows, which must be a good thing in this place, yeah?

megara

[bigtoughgirl]

[ meg's in the middle of sorting through a pile of supplies and/or debris (some that's been set up to sort through, some that appear to have been left by spirits) when she notices a feather placed a few feet away. well, that's unusual. she gets to her feet and heads towards it, picking it up and looking at it curiously. ]

kol

[unpredict]

[ please... give him a feather, even if it lands in his hair. ]

[vampirella]

Xayah is intrigued and fascinated by the floating feather and decides to follow. Carmilla is just here for moral support, and when I say moral support i really mean to provide a bad attitude and to hang out with bird babe.

Cao Pi

[pure_havoc]

[obviously not paying attention to the overall issue but hmm what's this]

Stone

[scarsolderthanyou]

It takes some doing for a feather to catch Stone's attention-- he won't see it until it starts to glow.

Prompto

[techtype]

[Random glowing feathers are interesting! Let Prompto chase a quest feather somewhere!]

TORCH RETRIEVAL CLOSED

[nextnightmods]

Thank you everyone! While not all torches have been retrieved just yet, all have been signed up for! Good luck getting those last few torches back to the bonfire, and following up on any leads you might have discovered along the way.