logsinthenight | INTRO LOG: SEPTEMBER

INTRO LOG: SEPTEMBER

characters: everyone.
location: the harbor, as well as the rest of town.
date/time: september 1-3.
content: beacon's newest batch of residents arrives on the ferry. everyone gets a special gift, courtesy of the lighthouse keeper.
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.

•••

Unlike the past two months, there's not a whole lot happening down at the dock today. It's quiet, disconcertingly so, after the foghorn blows once and then twice to signal the ferry's arrival. Winters is dead, and as such there's no one around to dole out the "need to know" info for the new arrivals.

Luckily, the tablet and the town do have some resources available for playing catch up! The Keeper's recent network post is available for everyone to read, and newcomers can always check out the weekly bulletins and the records in town hall. Everyone's also welcome to get in touch with the NPCs through their inboxes, too.

But, oh! In the ferry's cargo hold is a rather large crate addressed to the Postmaster General, and inside? A bunch of ocarinas! The Postmaster General, set up at their little stall, will be passing out ocarinas (free of charge!) to everyone that happens by. Anyone who doesn't come by the stall will receive one in their mailbox.

Shortly after the ferry arrives, a new message from the Lighthouse Keeper appears on the network:

Did everyone get their ocarinas? If you didn't, check your mailbox at the post office. There's plenty to go around. The extras will be in the general store.

You can use these to communicate with the forest spirits. Their language is based on musical notes, so you have to play little songs for them. Here's a couple of basic translations that should help you guys out:

The rest of the message contains playing instructions and example audio files for the following messages:

- A friendly greeting!
- An assurance that equates to "I come in peace".
- A short melody that translates roughly to polite terms like please, thank you, and you're welcome.
- A shrill note that asks for help.

Characters can use the ocarinas to communicate these phrases to the forest spirits (and are welcome to try learning or communicating other phrases), but keep in mind that there's not much plot info to be learned from the forest spirits, at least not for right now. These ocarinas won't exactly help you translate anything the forest spirits might say back, after all.

The Lighthouse Keeper won't be responding to that network post, but she can be contacted through her inbox!

ooc.

Hey there, wonderful players, and welcome to In the Night! For this intro log, you are officially without a chaperone. Rastus is back at the bonfire, Will is characteristically elusive, and Robin is, well, you know where she's at. It's up to the veteran residents to fill in the new folks.

We're also happy to introduce the YARD SARD... The Postmaster General will be appearing in any intro logs where a player formerly in the game has ordered something through Rastus but is no longer around to claim it! These items will still come in, but since they have no owner, they'll be available for other characters to claim. It's usually a first come, first serve situation, though the Postmaster General may turn folks away for any number of weird reasons. (OOCly, it's us attempting to spread the wealth among the playerbase.)

DELIVERIES

The following packages can be found in the cargo hold:

The monthly store restock
Two silver prosthetic pieces (they aren't a perfect fit, but they work well enough) for Polnareff
A few bottles of holy water, a pouch of powdered silver, and a magic wand (the wand doesn't have the permanence spell Elden was looking for, unfortunately; instead, it will temporarily change the color of its target to either pink or blue!) for Elden
Webfluid components (about a three month's supply) for Peter
A spice rack for Davina, and one for Ignis as well, plus a little geology kit with both of their names scribbled on the package and crossed out various times. Looks like these orders got a little mixed up! Everything each of them requested (plus a little extra) can be found among these packages, but they'll have to sort out what goes where
2 cartons of cigarettes, a flintlock pistol, and 100 rounds of ammo for it (though none for the shotgun, hm!) for Rosinante
A small assortment of dreamcatchers, all with a lot of feathers for Xayah
A flash drive (on which is a very simple app for Morse code translation! this can be passed around or uploaded to the network for many users to download) for Matt
A bounce house (small and with quite a few holes that need patching, but it'll get the job done; it's deflated, but it does have a built-in fan!) for Lunafreya

If you submitted an item request last month and we've missed it here, let us know!

YARD SARD

The Postmaster General is here! They've set up a little stall on the dock, and have a couple of items for... sard?

~~A carton of cigarettes~~
4 2 boxes of .45 bullets
~~A sewing kit~~

If you would like to purchase an item from the Postmaster General, you can haggle with them below!

QUICKNAV
comms	\|	network • logs • memes • ooc
pages	\|	rules • faq • taken • mod contact • player contact • calendar • setting • exploration • item requests • full nav

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

To Ignis, it didn't matter with which question the guy started. He would answer to anything he possibly can. He seems way younger than himself, and Ignis is only 23.

"That's a fair starting point," Ignis nods. "I'm Ignis Scientia. Ignis is just fine. And it's a pleasure to meet you, Jason." Ignis takes a sip of the coffee and sighs a bit, leaning forward on his knees with his elbows, "I arrived here, approximately three months ago. At the time, we were the first ones to arrive. But there were many before us. However, those people are not here now because they went through, what Dr. Ingram and the Keeper," he nods at the Lighthouse, "call "resets"."

He hates talking about it but needs to clear it up. "They happen when the town goes mad and start killing each other. Or start plotting to kill the Keeper. According to what we heard," not know, heard, "the Keeper is the one that keeps this world from falling apart. That gives us this one last chance here. If we go crazy with rage, she's the one to reset us."

It is a lot to take in, so Ignis talks slowly and then makes a pause to take another sip of coffee and let the guy process and ask if something's not clear.

Three months and he was with the first group? So whatever had been going on...it hadn't been going on long. At least, that's his first thought before Ignis elaborates. His brow furrows at he term 'resets' and he stops himself from interrupting with even more questions. He can wait until there's a proper pause, but what had he expected? Of course whatever information he obtained would only lead to MORE questions, not less.

Ignis does seem to understand this, because instead of continuing, he pauses to sip his coffee. Jason blows on his own coffee, not wanting to arouse suspicion by not drinking it, but he's hesitant to consume anything here. Not because he doesn't trust the people, but because of his own fears about what rules this Underworld might work by. If he had guessed he was in the wrong Underworld before, Ignis more or less confirms that this is NOT Hades (the place, not the god). Not only does this raise a lot of quesitons, but mostly for Jason it raises concerns. The main one being that if he consumes something from this realm does that mean he'll be stuck here and not be allowed into the Underworld he had expected to arrive at. What would that mean?

He goes to blow on the coffee again but instead lets out a shaky breath, not quite sure he likes where any of this is going.

"What have you heard happens with the 'reset' people? How did they go mad? Or maybe more importantly when?" He studies Ignis, the man says he'd been here three months and he seemed fine. Jason wants to point out they are already dead so why would they feel the need to kill each other, but he decides to stick with one or two questions at a time. Just as Ignis is taking care to dole out the information, Jason should probably be careful how he doles out his questions.

Not for Ignis' group at least. But the night of this place persisted for so long now. At least, according to the Keeper. Ignis has had a little beef with her after last month's incident so he's keeping his personal opinion about her to himself.

"From what I read on the network, people either crack under the pressure or decide to go after the Keeper because they don't trust her. This is all a guess, as I haven't seen the reset myself. There are survivors, or at least, one survivor now, of such reset, Dr. Ingram. He can probably give you better details on it than me."

He leans back, a serious look on his face. "The rest destroys you. You can call it 'second death' if you wish. You can die here as well, multiple times, if the light on your lantern goes out. However, in a reset, your lantern is destroyed and then... you're gone." No moving on, no second chances at life, no resting with loved ones in true afterlife.

Jason considers the explanation, letting his mind put the pieces together. Still, he doesn't want to make incorrect assumptions. Ignis is definitely doing a good job of sounding neutral and Jason can appreciate that. It's hard to leave your personal biases out of things like this, experience tends to cloud how you perceive things.

"So this...Keeper. Do they control what's happening around here? Is that why people don't generally tend to trust them?" It was sort of implied in the name, but this was where Jason was afraid he was making assumptions. Honestly he takes the information he's received so far fairly well, which probably says something about the kinds of things he's been involved in with his past. He's still in shock, but at the same time asking questions, trying to puzzle through things, having a conversation...it's giving him a goal to work towards. Or at least the beginnings of a goal.

His eyes move towards the lanterns. That was definitely important information. He had figured both the lantern and tablet were in his room on the ferry for a reason, but he never would have guessed how important they were. It was just so dark he figured it was more out of necessity than anything. He feels a sudden weight and wonders if this is what Frank feels on a regular basis with that piece of firewood he carries that is supposed to represent his own life force. "The lanterns are super important then, got it," his brows furrow though and he adds, "Just how often are people dying...again around here? Not the reset, obviously, but the less serious kind?"

He feels weird even saying it, but since apparently that's a thing he has to consider, he wants to know how much he should brace himself for this to happen again. He finds himself rubbing at his chest, his fingers catching at the hole in his shirt. Jason stops when he realizes what he's doing. It's a reminder of the death that had brought him here and so speaking so frankly about dying made him think of it. He really hoped if he died again it would not be so brutal.

Especially when they are fresh in your mind. However, Ignis was trained since he was little to be a Royal Advisor, the person that would put aside his own feelings on the matter, take in the situation as is and suggest the most beneficial solution. Rallying people against the Keeper only because his personal feelings on the situation are involved is definitively not a way to go. He will, however, express his honest thoughts if asked about it.

"Yes and no," Ignis sighs, trying to find a way to put it into words. "She can encourage and discourage forest spirits and she is in charge of Town Resets. It is that amount of power that has people distrust her, make them wary." After all, what assures you that she won't pull a trigger when she has a bad day after being locked up for so long?

"Yes, lanterns are extremely important. Aside from the bonfire," he nods at it, "it is the only source of light we have."

Ignis puts down his cup and leans on his knees again with his elbows, fingers entwined between his knees as he stares at the fire. "...I want to say not too many but... people are reckless. Also, recently," man this is a hard topic still, "we made a move to reconnect the Keeper to the network. We don't know how she got disconnected, maybe the spirits went wild on the cables. In any case, it resulted in a lot of casualties. It was going well for a while- I was in town with half of the people, trying to distract the forest spirits with a "party" of sorts- food and silly games that kept them entertained."

"At that time, others moved through the forest to reconnect the cables. However, when she got reconnected, she activated the foghorn in an attempt to "chase away" the spirits so that people can return."

His hands clench here as he tries his best to stay unbiased, "The spirits didn't pull away. Instead, they went into a frenzy. Some went catatonic, others- went for the throat. We killed a lot of them... and we lost a lot of people." It was a grim story of recent events and something Ignis won't forget any time soon.

"I know it probably sounds pretty lame, but I'm sorry for your losses. I've been there. I've seen monstrous creatures tear apart friends of mine...sometimes because of a bad command I had given as their leader but other times it was just bad luck."

Jason's quiet for a while after that, staring at the bonfire as he processes this revelation and what it means for him and perhaps more importantly the survivors. He has a feeling that many people here were not accustomed to the savagery and brutality that could come from facing beings with such strength, that could be pleasant one minute and try to eat your face the next. Jason...well it wasn't exactly the same but he'd seen carnage, he'd seen battles, and knew it never really got easy.

He set his coffee aside. He still hadn't taken a sip and it was definitely not going to happen now. Jason knew that not everything here was the same as the experiences he'd had back home, but it was hard not to draw parallels. The Keeper was reminding him a little too much of Hades. A being who had sway over life and death, many demigods and gods distrusted him, but usually it was for his powers and what he could do.

Maybe it was an accident, maybe it wasn't, but either way it sounded like they were going to need this Keeper and maybe for the time being keep an eye on her as well. Though whether or not they could do anything about it if she WAS someone to be distrusted remained to be seen. From his point of view it really just sounded like the Keeper had made a bad call and the fact that she had such power and could make a bad call again did little to reassure him. But perhaps that was the point, he wasn't meant to be reassured.

He'd have to see, though he had a feeling it would be even harder for Ignis and those others who had survived an attack like that to rebuild their opinion of her. Finally he lets out a sigh and looks away from the flames.

"What have these spirits been up to since then? Are they something we need to worry about all of the time or is it just a ticking time bomb scenario?"

Ignis only nods. He didn't know the people that died too well or too long, but he had seen them around. They were friendly, supportive. Everyone was confused in this dark place with nowhere else to go so all they could do was to grip onto one another and try to survive. Trust is an issue and it will always be.

Ignis knows that because he's been raised that way- "don't trust anyone just because they sound like they have good intentions; you might endanger your king." He is dead now, but some things about himself he still cannot change. The endless battles against Empire and deamons lurking in the night, survival day in, day out. Trust a wrong person and your life will be forfeit.

His problem with the Keeper is that she showed no remorse for what happened- sure she wrote it down that she was sorry, but it was lackluster. She's used to people dying for her cause. She says it's not easy to reset, but she probably won't even blink to do it if there's a reason to. But what nailed his dislike for her was that she didn't want to accept the fact that she made a mistake. Ignis grew up with problematic people, had a hand in helping Noctis go through his own problematic period (disinterest, laziness, immaturity) but when things were bad, he'd accept that the fault was his, sometimes even when it wasn't.

Which can't be said for the Keeper. She keeps putting it under the veil of "I tried to help".

"The spirits that live nearby are now mostly scared of us. Avoiding us. Some that are jumpier would lash out if we come too close to them. There are many kinds of spirits- it's hard to say what they will do next. We tried to befriend them the best we could but..."

The spirits were scared of the humans now? That was interesting and not exactly what Jason expected. Still, as he thinks about it some more it does make a little bit of sense, they were probably worried that they might continue to seek revenge of some kind. It sounded a lot like a very uneasy truce or at least a cease-fire. That wasn't sustainable, but it did seem like both sides might be making slight attempts at something more official.

But could it ever be that way if the people here were afraid one day it could happen again?

"I see. That uncertainty can't be easy..." he looks away from the bonfire, towards the tree line. He wasn't exactly known for communing with spirits back home, but maybe he could give it a try. Surely if he could help reunite the Greek and Roman demigods after centuries of conflict he could help with that. He tries not to dwell too much on the fact that he'd had a lot of help with that one.

Either way, it was a new goal to focus on.

Well, they did massacre those that attacked them. In return, they also killed those that were on the lookout in the forest. There were many casualties on both sides. They were wary of the humans after that, staying in groups and hissing at them whenever they would pass by.

"Indeed. If we look at things from a different side, we are kind of invading their lands. I don't know what my afterlife is supposed to be, but I surely know it isn't here."

He's almost 100% sure that he will have to face the Old Kings all over again, for using the ring. And that will not happen here any time soon.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

INTRO LOG: SEPTEMBER

no subject

no subject

no subject

i'll try not to confuse this knowledge with the post we just saw from Dr. Ingram

lmao yeah xD also warning for word spew because last event was 8D;;;;

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject