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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... Breathe?

[ daylight stares at molly for a few seconds, finally blinking as he cocks his head to the side in mild confusion.

then he gets it and whoops! that's right! ]

Oh! Sorry- [ he takes a ridiculously and impossibly big breath of air, looking rather panicked in the process as he tries to mimic normal breathing.

emphasis on 'tries' to mimic. he looks rather silly now as he appears to almost hyperventilating between his rushed speaking ] -Sorry- I- I, um, forgot- That- I need to do this- For this form. Sometimes I forget so- Sorry about that, mister.

No- No. That's- okay, then.

[Honestly, this part weirds him out more than the total breathlessness, especially since his theory was correct and it doesn't do anything to fix the lantern. It just naturally glows dully like.] What d'you mean this form?

[He pauses.] You can stop breathing now if you don't have to. People are either gonna think you're having a panic attack or you're a creep. Neither will get you the kind of attention you'd want.

Oh. Okay. Sure. [ daylight (thankfully) stops as suggested/requested/ordered and he has the decency to look sheepish now. ] -Sorry.

Um... To answer your question, this- [ he then gestures to his entire body for emphasis as he speaks. the aforementioned gesture a sort of flailing display of uncertain jazz hands. ] -isn't my real body. It's an avaform. A, um, display I'm using to interact with you guys.

I'm nearby, just out of sight. I didn't want to overwhelm you guys right off the bat with my appearance so I thought that this would be better.

[None of that made any sense and Molly is just as confused as he was when he started. He opens his mouth, closes it, and then shakes his head.]

That's fair. I'm comfortable with that. You're definitely not the weirdest person to talk nonsense to me I've met so far. I've been getting a lot of that. I expected death to be a lot less full of people talking about and presenting me with shite I don't know anything about.

[He points accusingly at the tablet.]

[ okay- daylight has to laugh a bit when the finger is pointed at the tablet, like its the source of all the wrongs in the world.

it certainly doesn't hurt that it helps dispel the last of the awkwardness that daylight felt upon realising his social blunder, becoming more relaxed and natural as a result. ] I've definitely got to hear some of your stories if you're willing to share then. You must come from somewhere really cool and, um, definitely different from mine.

I take it that tablets aren't common from where you are, mister?

A tablet is something made of stone that you carve things on where I'm from. [Maybe another person would protest that their world couldn't be cool if it lacks these things, but Molly happens to be quite proud of where he comes from. He's only had two years in Wildemount but aside from the Empire, he's had fun.] Stories, however? Stories I've got. I'm nothing but stories in a silk coat, as some of my friends would say.

[He grins, sharp-toothed and full of cheek, having fallen into something that he can balance himself on, as opposed to just pinwheeling wildly in confusion, ready to tip over into the unknown at any point.]

Oh man- Really? [ daylight perks up considerably at the hint of very interesting and cool stories being told in the possible future. he's always been a sucker for being told the exploits and deeds of others. in a very convoluted way, it could, perhaps, be the reason how his life lead up to this.

heck- he doesn't even try to hide his interest at the hint- ] I would really like to hear them if you're open to it! I love hearing about others' adventures if they're down with that.

And! I'm Daylight, by the way. It's really nice to meet you. I know this is a- [ he pauses, trying to find a good word to sum up their collective situation. ] -a mess and a half, but I promise we'll all work together and do what we can.

I am absolutely open to it. [Some of those stories might even be true! Can you imagine?? It's something, however- something he's good at, something he can latch onto.]

I'm Molly to my friends, and I suppose this mess makes us all friends in a sense. I'm all for working together and keeping ourselves in a group of some kind. I know how important that is. [He looks around at the throngs of people moving about. By his count, there's well over forty. Maybe well over fifty.] This is the largest group I've ever been a part of, but I'll cope with that. It'll be a learning experience.

[ daylight looks so excited at the promise of stories. if he was in his actual form, he would have his winglets flick up in joy but, for now, the clear brightening of his expression will have to carry him through. ]

It's really nice to meet you, Molly! [ daylight takes a moment to look around the area himself, his expression becoming almost wistful at seeing so much activity and life at the moment. ] It's definitely becoming lively again. Apparently people come in every month, so expect you doing this in the future. Only if you want to, of course.

But- Right! Helping you out there. [ hence why they started talking. ] Besides giving you a hand with the tablet, I'll try to answer any question you might have. I'm new here myself but whatever you want to ask, I'll try to answer or direct you to someone who could help.

No, no. I'm sure I will. [He's not altogether fond of new people coming in constantly and disrupting group dynamics that he's spent all month working on, but whatever, you know? He doesn't really have a choice, does he? And he's nosy.

Anyway.] I sort of learn on my feet a bit? This is just nonsense to me- [he gestures to the tablet] - but survival? Survival is what I'm good at- well, was good at. The situation involving my unfortunate demise was a complicated one.

[He pauses.] What sort of creatures live here?

[ oh! that's a really good question.

and one he can answer, too. ] There are these, um- I supposed creatures is the best way to describe the forest spirits. They all come in shapes and sizes but you can tell they're not like us. Trust me on that.

Most of the ones you'll meet are pretty friendly and they're even helping us out in their own way. We have folks like the Postmaster General- [ daylight, while he speaks, will turn to the direction and point out the spirit and their stand. ] They help us with mail and packages. There's also-

[ daylight stops here, looking a little unsure now. should he tell molly about this...? ]

I know this is going to sound very worrying but I swear the, um, individual who you find out is living under the church is good. They help us if... [ daylight trails off here, unsure of how to word this part. ] We can still get hurt here. To the point that we, um, will die again.

If that happens then they help us out. I don't know how but they take us to where they live and do something. After a few days, we're brought back to life. They really mean well.

[Molly slow blinks for a second. It's very disconcerting from someone without pupils.] ...You're right. That absolutely sounds worrying, but that's fine. That's fair. I know there's magic that can bring people back from the dead. I'm just gonna keep it simple and assume that my fate is being presided over by a non-human cleric who lives under a church. It's not even the strangest thing I've heard.

And I like all of that better than monsters that want to rip me to pieces... Or stab me.

[He places a hand over his chest where the jagged scar from Lorenzo's glaive still stands stark against his lavender chest.]

[ it's definitely disconcerting to see, especially when at proper eye-level at long last, but daylight knows better than to throw stones from his strange glass house of biology.

daylight is about to ask questions about some of molly's comments - there's magic that can bring the dead back to life? he's used to non-humanoids? - but his eyes can't help but notice (and follow) the motion of molly's hand to his chest and...

oh. ]

Um- [ ... a little unsure of what to say, his own chassis pinging from the sudden flare of shadow discomfort, dampened but there, daylight tries to focus on something more... less morbid, maybe? ] Yeah... I mean- There are things out there that are pretty scary, from what I've been told and seen because the rats were just awful earlier this month but..!

I promise, though, that these little guys? The forest spirits. They're really friendly and stuff! They- They mean well. They just want to live. [ which is what they're all doing now, right? ]

[He almost asks if they're gassy, disease-ridden rats, but figures he doesn't want to know and will learn soon enough.] I don't want to damage a perfectly functional ecosystem. If they're not bothering me, I'm not gonna bother them... Unless they need bothering for some reason. [Realizing how that sounds, he adds:] Friendly, life-affirming bothering, naturally.

[ may molly never learn the hard way like daylight had when it comes to how bothersome those rats are - the rat king trying to make a miniature fortress on his bed were not fun times for daylight.

but day does his best to keep his cheer up, wanting to keep the conversation going himself. ] Well! I can definitely say that if you need a round of good sparring, they're great for that at least.

Just- Make sure your food and stuff are real safe if you leave it be. They're mean when it comes to finding their next meal [ in fact: ] The village nearby - the one that's marked on the map I showed you earlier on your tablet - that might be safer if you're looking for a place. Until we get this rat problem under control.

[ ... in the near future. ]

Do they need a bit of killing or do they need a bit of coaxing? [Because he's good at one of those things.] To get them under control, that is. Or are the rats just angrier forest spirits and need to be handled gently?

[He frowns.] I did just say I wasn't going to upset a perfectly functional ecosystem, but the ecosystem needs to exist separately from my meals sooner rather than later, and I don't mind offering some encouragement... It's just that my encouragement tends to be very painful. I don't do much sparring. I mostly just stab things when I need to if the problem needs to be stabbed.

Edited 2019-09-30 02:49 (UTC)

[ daylight falls quiet at the question, trying to articulate himself without coming across as, like, alarming or anything.

judging by his flustered and hapless expression, it's tough. and impossible with what he has to say next: ]

... I don't want to encourage violence- [ buuuut: ] I definitely can't blame you for wanting to stab them if you come across them. They're really mean. Especially when it comes to food.

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INTRO LOG: SEPTEMBER

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