logsinthenight | 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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[ Steve remains between a state of woozy and queasy, making it hard for him to take in a whole lot about his surroundings, including details like bullet holes in winter coats. For now, anyway.

He barely noticed the fact that he'd been wearing this uniform for the last million years, after all.

He nods his head a little shakily, and then slides down to sit where he is, leaning back against the ship's railing, and of course, his chosen spot for throwing up. He tilts his head back and closes his eyes.

Conversationally: ]

Well, this sucks.

[ She watches him uncertainly, ready to keep him from face-planting as he sways on his feet. The rocking ferry doing little to help, she imagines, as the guy who looks like he's had the crap beaten out of him, slides down onto the ground.

Given what she knows about being here? It's kind of hard not to wonder if that's what had actually happened. It's enough to see Allie lower her guard just a little, joining him a few feet away. Her back to the edge of the ferry, her knees tucked to her chest as she tries to ignore the faint, yet still present scent of vomit. ]

I'd say that's putting it mildly but - [ A quick glance in his direction. ] I think you're having a worse day than me.

[ And then he'd hear it; The laughter. The near-hysterical bubble of it that she tries to suppress because she knows, nothing about this is funny and yet she can't seem to keep it from spilling over. ]

Sorry - [ Her shoulders shaking. ] It's not funny. [ Another poorly contained trill of it. ] It's not.

[ But if she doesn't laugh she might cry and if she starts to cry? She's not sure she'll ever stop. ]

[ Steve exhales through his lips, exasperated, and honestly a little helplessly too.

All things considered, this is all pretty insane, and if he weren't nauseous and sore, he'd probably be laughing too.

No, wait.

The laughter - it reminds him a lot of Robin and the way she'd laughed too, the moment they both realized they really might die a hundred feet below a suburban mall, in a Russian underground base. Almost delirious, definitely scared.

He really thought that might be it. Guess the joke's on him now that he's here on a boat to who-knows-where.

He opens his eyes and shifts his gaze towards the other girl. His expression softens a little when he says: ]

Well, it's a little funny.

[ And then he gestures to his ridiculous uniform (vomit and blood and all), because you can't forget this ol' thing. ]

[ She's trying, she really is. Trying to keep the sound trapped in her throat but then he speaks and her shoulders are shaking again. The hand that covers her mouth doing little to contain the sound. ]

It's not. [ Her denial only makes her laugh harder, Allie hunching over so that her long wavy hair creates a shield around her face. Like the fact that he can't see the tears of amusement in her eyes, will somehow make it better. ]

I'd say it could be worse... [ He could be stuck wearing those clothes for the rest of the afterlife? But as messed up as this whole situation is, she's still not convinced this is that. It's not that she imagined there'd be peace in death, a place where you could be united with loved ones. In truth she expected nothing and this is anything but that. ]

I'm sorry. [ Trying again as she straightens, wiping her fingers beneath her lashes to capture the salty tears that cling to them. ] I'm really not laughing at you, I swear I just -

[ Her laughter slowly fades away, her smile turning bittersweet and when she turns her head to look at him the strain in her features is hard to miss. ]

Have you ever just - feel like you've forgotten how to laugh? [ She knows it's a weird question but it doesn't stop her from pushing forward. ] You know like, ice-skating or... riding a bike? You don't do it for the longest time and you look at something and you're like... Can I?

[ Steve's pretty sure this girl might be a little bit ... not-all-there ... but honestly, he can't blame her. After everything he'd just been through right up until the second he arrived here, he's surprised he isn't losing his own damned mind with delirious laughter.

He studies her then, because it's better than thinking about his nausea, eyes going towards her jacket and the perfectly torn holes that can't have been carved out by anything other than a gun. Okay, maybe after everything she'd gone through, too. ]

Hey, you do what you have to. [ His voice is softer when he shrugs a shoulder and makes an attempt to sit up, still feeling like his stomach might want a second go at trying to escape his body. Valiantly, he manages to keep it all in. ] Something tells me it's been a while since you've had a reason to laugh. This place kind of puts the icing on the cake, doesn't it?

INTRO LOG: SEPTEMBER

im so sorry about the delay! i'm back now!!!

no worries! I hope Hamilton was awesome \o/

IT WAS!!! it was a dream come true! ty! cc:

:D I saw it in Chicago and it was the b e s t! I would have killed to see it in NY!

the ny experience was the only way i wanted to do it hahaha but im so glad you saw it too!