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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Aziraphale will drop the tea off next to him, but isn't sure if he should be disturbing him. He seems to be concentrating pretty hard on the books.

He knows how he gets when he's working.

So he'll just... slide that over and then step back. ]

You came back?

[And there's going to be so much surprise in his voice at that, like he didn't really expect him to and he slides the cup over carefully before taking a sip. It's tea; not something he's that familiar with. But.]

And tea. So-- uhm, you said you've read all of these? he gestures to the piles of books, the ones he's read himself and the ones he hasn't] and you didn't find anything about this place? About the town or the lighthouse? Just-- even just something about who used to live here? Or-- or spirits? Nothing?

Not all the ones you have there, no, but I haven't found much. We're probably in some place that was made to look like North America, I'd say in the northern parts of America, maybe up to mid-Canada.

There is a log book about what people have found so far, but nothing from before.

And no, there's frustratingly little about the spirits. The Librarian is very kind to me and always suggests books, but none on their own culture.

[Wait, what?]

There's a log? In town? About everything everyone here has found out? Since, uhm, since people started coming back from the dead? [Saying it makes every single zombie-movie Julia made him watch, just rush through his mind and really, it's not far off.

Burning his mouth when he takes a too large swallow, because - a log? That could at least be a starting point. A pool of knowledge, or as close as he's hear of until now and he swears at the burn but still keeps blinking owlishly at Aziraphale.]

What about the librarian? I haven't seen anyone here, well- you but. There's a Librarian?

Yes, there's a log, it's in town.

And yes, there's a Librarian, they scuttle about sometimes. They really enjoy treats if you bring them any, they'll bring you some books. They understand a little English but can't speak it.

Oh! So, that's what I saw. I thought maybe it was, um, just someone who didn't want to be seen? But-- but, treats? Like, bribes? [Surprisingly, that would not be the first time Quentin had to bribe a librarian to get to the books he so dearly wanted] Can they read?

Yes, kind of. A little, their English isn't good like I said, and no, not bribes, dear boy, just. Snacks. Little favors, I suppose. I would hardly call biscuits --sorry, cookies-- a bribe.

[Dear. Boy? What?]

Well. Uhm, I know High German? And, uhm, ancient Coptic and latin? Would they know any of those? [That's really more just Quentin thinking out loud, like moving his lips while he reads and he looks around the library as if these librarians are just going to pop out from nowhere and answer him.]

So. Nice things. Okay, I can do nice things, not cookies, but-- you know. I'll find something.

I think English might be their preferred speech, American especially.

[ Since the Librarian did call the cookies... cookies. ]

Or North American, I can hardly tell the difference between American and Canadian accents, I'm afraid. I haven't tried Coptic, mine's a little rusty, you can feel free to try if you see them.

I'll try?

[Since Quentin can't really think of anything to ask about the librarians without blurting out weird things, he settles for sipping his tea and looking at the useless books. He should return them to the shelves soon, since there's nothing in there. But. It's books and they always held a certain sort of comfort. Even when they're effectively useless.]

So... are you a [magician, wizard, warlock-- so many words for the same thing and yet, they all carried different flavors of magic.]-- did you die? Before coming here?

Yes? I believe it was a prerequisite for arriving.

I imagine most people don't want to talk about it as death is generally a ... sore subject.

[ He frowns. ]

Did you not? You would be the first, I think.

Oh, I died. Like, I don't think I could have died any harder than I did? I was just-- gone. Dust in the wind. Poof. Gone. But, not everyone remembers dying? So-- uhm, nevermind. Stupid theory.

[But the hope of it had been so good.]

This is nice tea.

Oh, wow.

[ That's. All there is to say about that. ]

--Very sorry to hear that. Sorry, I'm-- I'm fresh out of biscuit-- cookies-- they go so nicely with the tea, it might. Help, I think. The sugar.

Uh huh.

[Dying wasn't so bad. There were worse things.]

That's okay? I mean, I choose it? And, uhm, so it wasn't a surprise or anything. I've never had tea and, uhm, cookies? I'm usually more of a coffee person, but I haven't found anything here yet. I haven't found anything.

So. Uhm-- [small-talk is hard, you know] are you settling in? Here?

I suppose. I don't want to, of course. I'd like to get out of here.

You haven't found the grocery store? Have you been here the whole time, Quentin?

You must come with me at once!

I'm not sure we can leave? Since the dead coming back to life isn't something that, uhm, happens all that much? Or at all.

I've been. Here? Yes. Most of the time. But, oh, that's fine, I-- Eliot is the one who's been, like, finding things? We have food. And. Stuff?

[Stuff, what stuff? It could be anything, but Eliot drags it back to the cabin and Quentin is all too happy to let him figure out what to eat, so they aren't forced to eat cereal dry out of the box or refurbish the bedspreads for toilet paper.] But thanks, though.

[ That's an acceptable alternative. ]

Oh, alright. Eliot is your roommate, I presume?

[ Just checking. Could be a spirit or something, who knows around here? ]

He's-- yeah, you could say that. [You could say a lot of things about Eliot, really.] We're from the same place? Back home? Not that we died together or anything, and I'm still not all that convinced that someone didn't make a mistake when they sent him here? But. Yes. So, we live together. And he gets things.

[That isn't so hard to follow, is it? Quentin sips his tea.]

Oh, you're friends from home! That's lovely. Ah, yes, and very interesting. I've met a few people who have one of those. You'd think we wouldn't.

Very funny coincidence, that.

I know, right? It's like, are they doing it on purpose? And why, though? Why bring more people in from the same place? World? Timeline? I don't even know what to call it, but that.

What is?

That so many of us should be in that situation.

I wonder... Perhaps the portal that brought us here is trying to encourage us to be successful.

Wait, what?

[Aziraphale has all of Quentin's attention now, head snapping up to stare straight at him and Quentin is breathing just a little too hard, like he has to force it in and out of his lungs.]

Portal? Tell me. Do you remember one? Did you see one? [and after a beat] Do you feel one?

No, no, I've just heard it referenced. I'm not sure if there's a physical portal, I only remember waking up on the ferry.

[ He frowns. ]

I'm very sorry to have gotten your hopes up like that, dear boy. Unfortunately I know only about as much as you do, though I must say - the ferry, the forgetting. Does sound very Greek.

Oh.

Oh, well. That's-- that's okay. [it's really not but, that's just how it is apparently] It was stupid anyway. Yeah, sure. Greeks were the only ones who, uhm, believed in a boat or a ferry to the afterlife? They are just the most popular ones? I should check on that, maybe this library has books on it?

[That last bit might sound like Quentin is talking more to himself than to anyone else]

Yes, the Greeks did but the Egyptians as well, burying boats with their dead.

I wasn't buried and I can't say anyone would've thrown a boat in the flames with me, but also there is the river.

According to the Greeks, there was the river Lethe, of forgetfulness. Perhaps something similar has happened, though... I am not missing any memories of my life. Come to think of it.

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