EVENT LOG: WHEN THE NIGHT IS OVER

[nextnightmods]

EVENT LOG:
WHEN THE NIGHT IS OVER

characters: everyone.
location: Everywhere
date/time: March 15
content: The World Eater arrives.
warnings: probable violence, gore, death; mark threads as needed

Everyone here was brought to Beacon for this one reason: to try and find a way to strike back at the thing that threatens to end the world entirely. You've spent the entire time learning, preparing, and for many, making this dead world your home. You've made friends with each other but also with the forest spirits, you've discovered much of the town's past and have set out to ensure its future.

This is the moment that every decision, and every person, shall finally come together, or be lost forever.

i feel the weather change

At the missile silo, Weaver and those helping her have been busy for over a week straight hammering scrap metal into place, wiring the controls to the launch system, and running new cables from the silo to Solis' lab to get the place set back up onto the Beacon power grid - a feat possible only because several batteries were recovered from the power station some time ago. Disassembled drone pieces lie scattered for easy repurposing, and networked tablets allow easy network chatter between the silo and anyone at the Helix Station who has offered to observe from the lake.

In the distance, those around the missile silo begin to hear an eerie droning hum. Weaver's eyes go wide and her ears lay back against her head. "It's here," she says with a shudder, then quickly bounds over to the control system. "That's the sound that the lighthouse used for the reset. If I don't need you down here, get up top, and get ready to fight."

At ground level above, the snarls and warbled growls of spirits call back, but immediately, there's rapid movement in the trees and some of those calls are cut short with a gurgle. Masked figures with green eyes dart through the brush, giving the silo a wide berth as they move in to fight, but those who would be allies must be outnumbered as aggressive forest spirits, both green-eyed and otherwise, break through into the clearing and seek out the people of Beacon. Their many-eyed leader has been kept occupied, but these ones are still looking to pick off every creature with a lantern. It's time to stand and fight before they make it to those still below, who are preparing to aim and launch the largest bomb Weaver has ever built. If this wasn't difficult enough, the green-eyed spirits are up to their usual tricks - you may find yourself suddenly fighting someone who looks just like your best friend, or perhaps your own animated, dismembered body - a cruel vision of what might soon come to pass. They are fast, they are ruthless, and only with the effects of the potions will you be able to shake off these horrible visuals, so make good use of them.

i hear the river say your name

Those at Helix notice it first - the droning hum that had first been noticed as a minor vibration in the hull swells in volume until it can be heard throughout the station. Thanks to the tablet network, they hear when those at the silo do that the sound is the speech of the World Eater - and it must be very, very close.

Inside the station there's little means to act directly against it; however, you'll find yourselves plenty occupied anyway. The little spirits (and the large corpse-wearer, shrouded in decaying bodies) that had previously been docile and had tucked themselves into hidden corners in the station scurry boldly out of hiding, with teeth and claws at the ready to devour and dismember anyone they find. And proximity to the World Eater once again has its effects - you may feel nauseous, disoriented, or despairing; you may find that it's hard to breathe, that your fingernails fall off their digits, or that sabotaging your fellows is the only way to survive. The potions help substantially, even if the effects aren't completely removed, so drink up, stand your ground, and keep an eye on those tablets to help let those at the silo know when to fire, and if they've succeeded.

Because eventually the creature itself is visible against the night sky over the lake, a void in the place where stars should be, and that means it's close enough to be targeted.

i watch the birds fly by

Soon, Beacon Square and the harbor as well as the general reaches of town become a dangerous place to be, but perhaps you feel you need to brave the run - to get supplies, to check on your friends, to flee and hide as spirits emerge to do the World Eater's bidding. There aren't many, thankfully - for those who care commanded by the many-eyed spirit are busy fighting those at the silo and the green-eyed allies, and nearly every friendly spirit seems to have gone missing. But alone and in the open without anyone to back you up if you need help is a frightening prospect, made even worse when you see the distant figure silhouetted over the lake, vastly taller than anything else you've seen since arriving.

The disruption from all the fighting must have delayed the launch, or perhaps something else went wrong. Just looking at the World Eater from a distance creates a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach as it takes one long stride after another, drawing nearer to the town and singing that eerie song that drives the spirits to hunt you and to destroy everything you've built.

And then, suddenly, you hear something else. A counter-drone, a song like birds, like cicadas, like howling wolves and the strange whistle-warbles of the spirits, all merging into one. It's sung from every tree all around, and it drowns out that jarring hum of death.

The spirits so bent on drawing blood and viscera slow, and listen.

The World Eater slows, one foot raised into the air, then swings its head, seeking the source and finding it everywhere. And that's when it happens.

At the missile silo, Weaver has been successfully defended, but just barely. One of the spirits got to her before it could be killed, and a horrible gash has ripped through her clothing and the fur of her back. Her lantern is flickering desperately when she presses the button, and the makeshift missile roars and arcs into the sky.

From the square or the lakeshore, or for those watching monitors at Helix, the streak of vapor from the bomb's tail vanishes somewhere high above. And then moments later, it drops - landing not on the World Eater, but into the lake at its feet.

Rather than a blinding light, the tablet monitors go fully black as an intense roar and rush of water fills the audio channel, and the Helix Station shakes horribly, creaking and groaning as the rush of water from elsewhere in the lake strains every element of its construction. The noise and the confusing darkness persist for several minutes. It feels much longer.

But eventually, the darkness diminishes as stars shine through the mist and ongoing falling rain. There's still a tall column of water vapor in the air over the lake - it stays for nearly half an hour, slowly dissipating as powerful waves smash into the shore, triggering a small series of tsunamis that swallow the harbor and threaten, but never fully inundate, Bonfire Square.

The towering void has buckled where it stood, and only a few pitch-black spines jut out from the surface of the lake before they are slowly swallowed by its returning waters.

i see an emerald in the sky

When the spirits stop singing, the rain persists. Clouds billow up into the sky over the lake, and fall back down. The droplets are warm - warmer than the frigid air, than the ice and snow that surrounds the town.

The damage has been limited - most of the buildings still stand, for there were too few spirits that sought to attack, and those that did now sit in place or pace around curiously as if they hadn't just tried to tear out your intestines and dismantle The Invincible - which, actually, hasn't even seen a single scratch, as suits its optimistic name.

Many of Beacon's people may be injured, and many may be dead. But those whose lanterns still burn bright now find themselves in a slowly thawing world, as the deep and endless winter seems ready to launch into a new spring. Cautious and curious, spirits watch from the trees, then point out at the lake and chitter with excitement.

There is light in the water. It funnels upward from the foam left by the bomb, and with each ever-gentler wave, it touches the shore. And in a few tiny patches of sand, sheltered between rocks, green grasses begin to sprout.

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Comments

[paletteswap]

"It knows we're here, and it continued to come back after every reset, I find it hard to believe that it would retreat so suddenly. If it was injured maybe it's gone off to lick its wounds, but surely we would have seen that?"

Unless that's what the water column was, but they should have seen it ascending into the sky, even for as dark as the eternal night is. It would have blotted out the stars entirely as it fled.

"It almost seems too quiet doesn't it?" saying what they're both thinking, that they're just waiting for movement, on edge for this to be some brief moment of hope that will be dashed when reality hits.

[callada]

It is definitely quiet, aside from the gentle lap of waves on the lakeshore now that the water has sunk back into place.

"I don't hear the spirits," he confirms. "Not used to that. I wonder if they're all right?"

No birds or insects, or the creatures that mimic them. No far-off hoots and howls and whistles. They'd banded together to sing, and then all fallen quiet. "Maybe they're just as shocked as we are," he proposes.

[paletteswap]

"I hope they didn't all die as well. I'd wondered that before, if they might be tied to the world eater and ending it would harm them." For as much as he'd not understood them, fought them, and is currently suffering burns and bite wounds from them, he didn't wish all of them ill.

In fact some of them he'd been fond of.

"I hope you're right, that they're just in shock. Maybe they'll come out soon."

[callada]

"Maybe."

Cautious optimism at best, which is how he feels about the whole situation now. He wants it to be over, he wants everyone and everything here to be safe for real, but it's going to be a while still before he truly believes they did it.

"...Do we go out there and check?" he asks after a pause, nodding to the dark water, before pulling out his tablet to glance at the network chatter. "I know Helix was watching, but I don't feel great assuming that just because we don't see it above the surface means it's really gone."

Going out there sounds like an awful idea, of course. That means braving the water and potential proximity to the creature just to confirm that it's gone. But someone has to do it, because leaving the World Eater's destruction unconfirmed sits even worse with him.

[paletteswap]

For the first time there's a bit of hesitation from Kuai. It's a reasonable plan of action: to make sure that the creature they've worked so hard to kill is actually and truly dead. But what if it isn't? They'd be close enough to suffer whatever hallucinations it might inflict, not to mention the physical danger. He'd worked with Pudding to make potions against the similar effects of green-eyes but he's fairly certain the concoction would have worn off by now. And it might have only been partially effective against the wrath of a full-fledged world eater.

"We should. We can't go on assuming that it's dead while always second guessing ourselves and looking over our shoulders because we don't really know."

It's a logical plan, and yet Kuai isn't really making a move to head for the docks. "Weaver said there'd be a submarine we could use should we need to flee, it should be still there and at our disposal. I don't think the bomb would have displaced it out of the water."

[callada]

"So we have a submarine," Rosinante begins, as if listing off necessary ingredients for their survival. The problem is, there are no guarantees and a lot of guesswork, and being surrounded by water is usually the last thing he wants here - not just because of his devil fruit but because of the danger to his lantern.

They need to do this, but they can't just charge in headfirst.

"I gave the last of my potions to people back at the silo," he says with a frown, thinking along the same lines as Kuai. "You suppose Pudding had more at The Invincible? I know she stashed some of the stuff you guys were working on in that stockroom. We might have time to go run over and look."

Yes, it means they can't leave right this moment, but at worst it might set them back an hour between walking and searching. And if that World Eater is still under there, lurking, waiting to strike, and if they somehow have less than an hour to find out that fact, it won't change anything about their survival, ultimately. They have to hope it's down for longer than that if they're going to have time to do anything at all.

[paletteswap]

He would never admit it, but the delay is welcome as he sorts out the complicated feelings about being in a submarine, under water, looking for a creature that wants to destroy them.

"She said she had enough to make some for everyone, I'm unsure if she had extra, but I gathered as much of the ingredients as I could so perhaps? It would be in the stockroom with the rest of the things she mixed together."

He'd just handed her what she needed, he wasn't about to touch the ingredients or the cauldron. There was an element of sorcery to it and if there's one thing he hates it's sorcerers.

"Let's look, we'll need it should the creature still be alive. The submarine is set to autopilot to the dome and back, but I have no idea how to pilot it around to scour the lake floor for the creature. I don't suppose you know how to drive a submarine?"

Kuai's understanding of what a navy marine in Rosinante's world does is fairly limited.

[callada]

With a nod, he starts toward The Invincible. Definitely worth a look, for their own protection.

"Never tried," he admits. "They're not common where I'm from. Sailing ships, mostly. But I can probably figure it out if it's not too far removed."

The technology that the Helix Station employs is so far beyond what he's used to seeing that it could well be very far removed, unfortunately. But it also doesn't seem like that much of a stretch to hope that the general gist of the controls are still based on those of the other ships he's handled, except with a third dimension added. There will be some sort of wheel or stick, perhaps, for the rudder, and while he hasn't ever captained a ship that had a power source of its own rather than relying on the wind, the concepts must still be the same. If anything, the handling might be better without sails and masts.

So, no, he doesn't know how, but his modest confidence in being able to work something out is genuine.

[paletteswap]

More confident now that they have a plan of action, Kuai walks along next to him, nodding in understanding. "That should be enough. Weaver said even I would be able to pilot it, but I think that's highly unlikely given I've never driven anything before in my life."

Weaver probably assumed he'd have some sort of technical familiarity and not that he'd immediately crash into a wall, which is more optimistic than he'd admit.

"We'll figure it out I'm sure. And we need to know if the creature is dead. Though the more time that passes, the more hopeful that outcome seems; however, I don't want to get ahead of myself and be disappointed later."

Always thinking the worst, never letting himself even consider a positive outcome.

[callada]

Weaver must indeed think highly of Kuai, or maybe just assumed that most people here could figure out the controls, having spent time in and out of the station for so many years. Or maybe they're just exceptionally easy - Rosinante isn't exactly going to bet his lantern on that, but he's hopeful. He'll allow himself that small amount of optimism.

"The last thing we need is for it to take us all by surprise," he agrees. "But I certainly hope it's done for. After all we've done..."

After all they've done, what? It isn't like the universe owes them anything for their hard work. Good and bad things happen to people all the time without sparing those who have worked especially hard, or been especially good. Doesn't stop him from trying, though.

It's a few minutes' walk to The Invincible, and they're walking quickly, but it still feels like it takes forever in light of the situation they're in. He wrenches open the door with unneeded force on account of the urgency, then holds it open for Kuai to hurry on in ahead of him.