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!

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Not here, that's-- no. Back at the cabin? [Not giving in to the sudden and idiotically useless urge to just hold a hand to Eliot's forehead, as if that would tell him anything useful.] If it's the lantern, we'll see if moving it makes you sick. If it doesn't, we'll try walking, uhm, maybe we should walk past where it hurt? A few times? To make sure it's not something at that spot, that we just can't see?

I just got here, Q.

[ do you want that pizza or not? ]

Ooookay? I can come shopping with you, I can even carry stuff and everything.

[Yes to pizza, no to leaving Eliot alone until they know about why he was in pain. Welcome to your new shadow.]

Good, because you don't get to make some crazy demand like pizza and make me deal with the whole thing.

[ turning on his heal, he leans down to pick up his lamp and gestures lazily for quentin to follow. ]

Come along now, Coldwater. The sooner we get the done, the sooner you can ease your poor little heart.

Why aren't you more worried--? [But it's mumbled as he follows along and enters the store. It looks like -- a store. Not even a very well-stocked one, but there are things on most of the shelves and even a few that look some what useful.]

You asked what I wanted, remember. And it's pizza. I mean, just look at this place? If I have to spend, uhm, forever? here. At least I want pizza.

Because I'm not hurting right now, aside from wanting maybe a hit or two of something illegal that they don't have here. For fun. Not like. You know.

[ he immediately starts skimming the shelves, plucking up things here and there and handing them off to q to hold onto. he did say he could help carry stuff, after all. ]

And like I could even forget a ridiculous ask like pizza. But I'm a genius, so. If pizza Q want, pizza Q get.

[ he's filling q's arms now with various foods. eliot had seen a basket they could use for the items as they walked in, but this is way more fun. ]

[Quentin is a lot of things-- a former king, a magician, nerd. A quester? But handy or even steady on his feet is not one of those things. And he struggles to keep all of the things in his arms without losing a few of them to the floor or dropping the lantern he's got hooked between a few fingers, stuff is falling in to his sleeves and when he's just about to drop all of it, he huffs, places everything on the shelve next to him before putting it in to a make-shift pouch by folding up the bottom of his hoodie.]

But it could start again. You don't know that you're okay. You-- you think know? But you only think you know, and thinking you know isn't good enough.

[ q makes a spectacle of things, as always, but manages to figure out a solution that is somehow more endearing than almost anything eliot has seen in a while. ah. quentin tries so hard, doesn't he? it's admirable, even for something simple like this. ]

No, I do know. You're the one that thinks I only think I know. I'm not hurting at all. I haven't had any issues since I got my lantern back. I'm even well enough to pull the shit I usually do and you're just taking it like always because that's how fine I am and that's how goddamn precious you are.

[ eliot starts holding onto the rest. he thinks the pouch idea is clever, but he doesn't exactly want to rip quentin's clothing from too much weight. ]

[With his arms and clothes filled with whatever it is Eliot has pulled from the shelves, Quentin has to settle for just looking at things without being able to really look at them. There's no way for him to pick things up and touch them, and just looking stops being funny after a short time.

So, he follows along, keeping his eyes on Eliot because dammit. And also, why pain? Here? They're dead, everyone is. So, why is there pain? Is this hell? Or, some off-shot version of it?]

You're dead. [Quentin says, voice flat] and you still felt pain. How-- why is that even possible?

You literally were saying earlier how we can die again here, and now you're asking me how I felt pain. I'm pretty sure I can't answer either of those, but I like that you tried to ask me anyway.

[ it's like that moment quentin asked if he was hallucinating all over again. ]

Obvious shit aside, I don't know why you wouldn't assume there's pain. Isn't that how you know you're awake and not dreaming? Do I need to pinch you on the ass to make sure you're really here?

[ not how it works, of course, but he'll still gladly pinch q's rear with any excuse necessary. ]

Uhm, yes? No? I don't-- what? No, don't pinch my ass. We're in the store and I'm going to drop all of this and-- and it would be all your fault.

[As if it would help any, he clutches the things tighter and blinks.]

Don't you think we need answer for those questions, though? I mean, we're dead. But also-- did you know that you're breathing right now? Like, Eliot- you're breathing. Am I breathing? I am, right?

[Breathes a few times, but thinking about breathing is like not thinking about the purple elephant in the room and it just makes him do it too fast, which leaves him dizzy.]

[ that's a horrible defense, but eliot obviously wasn't really going to pinch q anyway, as fun as the end result would be. ]

Yes, you're breathing, now stop thinking about it before you pass out and drop everything on the ground. I thought you were trying to avoid that, Coldwater?

Obviously we're alive in the plainest sense. Dead on a different plane, but existing here in a way that seems like life and may as well be life if we can die again here anyway. Dead only means dead where we were before on Earth and its tangents. Alive is still alive here.

Anyway, my actual point was that we already know the answer to those questions. Pain can happen, and we're awake to feel it. So, yeah. Don't know how it's possible, but maybe it's because we're just straight up alive and not dead here.

Oh my god--!

[And yes, the hyperventilation stops but only because Quentin is too busy gaping at Eliot to really breathe at all and the things almost slip out of his hold, before he fumbles around to catch the edge of his hoodie and again and just--]

Maybe-- uhm, maybe we're not dead. Maybe this is, like, an alternate timeline? We've had those and- and Marina managed to come over, right? And 23? And-- I talked to some guy who said the stars are all wrong here? Maybe this-- Eliot, maybe this is like Fillory, only no opium in the air and everyone went through a portal when we died?

[ he instinctively reaches out in cause he needs to steady q's arms when he sees the wobble, and then quentin is rambling in that way when he gets an idea and has to force it out of his mouth before his body explodes. but that's a good thing. historical, q ideas are a good starting place. ]

That.

I actually did go through a portal and ended up here. The clock.

You might be onto something, Q.

Right?

[And it just forces so many of his other theories about this place right out of the water. Because a portal, or something similar, would explain so much. It would explain why they came here, in the first place, if this place called them. And also why they all seems so alive, why pain and death is a thing here. It doesn't explain why they can come back, though and he frowns, mind working and it's an almost tangible thing. Hope. That this isn't the end for-- for all of them. That somehow, they could fucking solve this and bring people home...

He looks up, almost vibrating with energy.]

I think you're right. We're not dead. Not really?

[ frankly, the idea is a great relief. if it's true, then something must have snatched q up when he'd gone into Afterlife, and whatever rules there are there no longer applied. quentin was here now, breathing and probably heart beating. another chance.

if eliot can figure out how to escape, maybe bring q with him-- ]

I really hope so. Can you look more into it? See if there's anything on that on your next book binge.

[ he guides them toward the register now, apparently have selected everything he thinks they need. the items are only checked for inventory reasons, no currency exchanged. ]

I'll-- yes? And I can think up some questions to ask the people around here, but I need to think about this first. Eliot-- if this is. I can't even.

[Still very much caught up in this new pet theory, Quentin just follows along and plops down all of the things he had in his pouch. Someone behind the register writes it all down, ticks of lists and moves them along. No bags, but-- the pouch works well enough even for the walk back to the A-frame.]

There's no list of books, but I can try to narrow down the search? Like, make a list of things I need to read about. Or.

So... all of this is going to be a pizza at some point?

[ while the pouch is definitely cute and watching quentin trot around with purpose like a kangaroo is something eliot would love to be entertained with for at least another week, he makes a mental note to get q a bookbag. he can't imagine that usage is good for the cloth. ]

No rush. We have time. [ sure, he's heard about the attacks that happened before they got here, but he doesn't plan on letting q die again. ] And I certainly hope not. I don't know that toothpaste goes very well on pizza.

[ someone was clearly distracted while following along like a golf caddy. ]

Toothpaste?

[It could most of the things in the pouch and Quentin wouldn't notice. It all just went in there, like his own personal wearable Bag of Holding and he was pretty sure Eliot would make sure they got what they needed. Or, most of what they needed? A little bit of everything in the store and how could that possibly go wrong.]

What? Well, there's a little bit of a rush? Because what if there's another attack? I read that a lot of dead people died again and one of them, uhm, he told me that he didn't come back right? Like, he was missing something? [Like Pet Cemetery, only without the creepy kid]

Didn't come back right? Like how?

[ if you're going to be ominous, at least give details, q. ]

I'm not saying another attack won't happen, but. [ he takes a breath as he continues leading the way back to their cabin. ] You won't get much done if you're constantly waiting for bad shit to happen. Sometimes you just have to assume the best and work with it.

Hell, that's. Basically how I ruled my first year in Fillory. And a fuckton of Bad Shit happened anyway, so.

[ he shrugs. if q doesn't get the idea, that's really all that's worth saying about it. ]

Uhm, I'm not sure he'd want me to tell? But, I talked to someone who died here, and he came back. But. Eliot, he didn't come all the way back? I don't mean like he's lost his Shade or anything, although-- we can't possibly know? Because no one knows each other and there's a possibility that. No, that's not what I wanted to say. He just said that he's missing something. A part of his vision? So what ever is going on, it's not-- it can get worse? The magic or whatever is making people come back, it's not perfect.

[Losing the ability to see yellow wasn't a big thing on its own, a part you wouldn't even think about much until it happened. But. It opened doors he'd rather were firmly shut. The possibility of only coming part way back, or losing something a lot more important than the color yellow.]

Just assume the best? [Tilting his head a little, Quentin gives Eliot a wry smile and rolls his eyes.] Yeah, that's really not something that I'm good at. I mean, I can try? I am trying?

[ um, okay, potential blindness is kind of a big deal, to be sure. ]

Jesus. [ and that's how eliot has to start because he doesn't know how else to with information like that. ] That's.

[ yeah, not much to say there. it speaks for itself, and quentin laid it out plainly already. sucks for that person though. ]

I'd certainly hope you could. Try. You've done it enough, even if it's not ideal. I mean, isn't that how you found so many of the keys? Doing what you can with what you've got and pushing through because that's really the only choice we had with it.

[ he says "we" of course because the quest is technically his and not quentin's. ]

Uhm.

[Wow, was that how it looked? As if he didn't have second (and third and forth) guesses about every single thing they set out to do? Every single quest and Key, from the Beast saying his name at Brakebills and to tutting out the last popper in the Mirror World, there had been nothing but doubts. Nothing but that horrible sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, telling him he'd never actually do anything that really matters to anyone. That he'd fail. Every time.

That's why he fought so hard. Not because Quentin had a secret hope in his heart of hearts that he'd ever succeed. He just knew enough to know that not doing was worse. Which, isn't exactly the same thing, even if the results got pretty close sometimes.]

Right. It could be. I don't even know, Eliot. It's been a crazy couple of days and I'm just. So tired.

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INTRO LOG: SEPTEMBER

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