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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[ Quentin. Aziraphale speaks over forty languages and he still has no idea what you just said. ]

Right. That's.

Very unfortunate. Sorry to hear it.

[That was clear as mud!]

So. That's the Old Gods. A bunch of dicks. Which, is not the same as a bag of them? because I think only Margo would think up something like that and, like, take it literally. But I guess you haven't met them?

Uh. No. I can safely say I have only met the one God, and we never formally. Well, I haven't seen Her, it's very rare to behold The Almighty, you know.

Even as a -- faithful -- servant, myself.

Servant? [Quentin looks him over, because- this does not look like a priest. Maybe he's some strange kind of British Mormon.] Do you-- did you work for a church?

No-- quite different. Suppose you could say I was a missionary of sorts.

[ A missionary with no proselytization... ]

You were a missionary?

[This gets Aziraphale a long look over, like. He doesn't look like any missionary Quentin has ever seen. At all.]

Which god did you do it for? I mean, if that's okay to ask?

Uh. Just God. The Abrahamic God if you prefer.

[ Welp, this is going to get confusing if people start asking him what religion he belongs to. ]

Oh. Uhm, I know about that god. From, you know, church? And-- [a million little things, all seeped through most layers of the society he grew up in. From televangelists to the pledge of allegiance they had to recite at school. Who didn't know about that one god, even if every other one seemed to do a whole lot more godlike things.]

Well, everywhere? So. You were spreading the word of god. That wasn't what killed-- I'm sorry, stupid question. Not everyone wants to talk about how they-- how they died.

Oh, no. I... went against God's Plan. Or, what ... my community thought was God's Plan, and they.

Burned me alive for it.

[ He shrugs. ]

Suppose if I had been right, I would be alive.

[ He offers Quentin a smile. ]

I don't expect a story in return, if you don't want to give it.

... that's. Shit. I'm sorry. That's-- that's really horrible.

[Quentin's hand twitches on the table, an aborted motion to pat Aziraphale on the shoulder or something, but he stops at the twitch and picks up his tea instead.] Been right how? Like, about God's plan?

Oh, that's okay. It's just a long one and it's probably not really all that interesting. I didn't get-- uhm, so. A monster, or it was a. I don't even know what it was, because even the gods were scared of it. But. It possessed my best friend? And used him to kill people? [For months that felt like years, but who's counting?] So. We found a way to drive the monster out of him, only nothing could kill it and I-- we weren't willing to give it a chance to try again? And we-- I chose to use magic in a place where you should not use magic and it blew me up. It was fast. It saved everyone. So. That's fine.

Oh, that's always good!

Yes, I'm afraid mine was also a bit self-sacrificial except... that they're going to try again in about ten years, so hopefully we'll be able to get back then.

What do you say? I'm sure your friends will still have need of you.

They're going to... do God's plan in ten years? Just what year did you die? Maybe it's already happened and this is just where you ended up? After?

[Quentin puts the cup down, poking at the saucer with a fingertip.]

No? I mean, I'm sure they'll miss me for a while, but-- they're going to be fine. They're going to lead great lives, now.

What?

Oh dear, I hope not. No, it was 2019 and we stopped Armageddon from happening. You know, the Apocalypse, the Rapture, all that. Satan needs an 11-year-old heir, you see, and the current Antichrist doesn't want the job. So we've got another twelve - one for Satan to conceive another child, which he has probably already done, and then around another 11 for his or her birthday.

[Nodding, Quentin agrees. Yeah, the end of the world as we know it sucks. Hard. But, then again, it happens like once a year and that kind of makes it hard to have the same gut-wrenching feelings about it as he had the first time. Or the second. But he nods his head.] Why eleven? I mean, first off, why a kid? And why eleven?

Oh, because that's the day he gets his Hell Hound, and then-- you know, I'm not entirely sure, I never really got to ask Satan. Didn't seem appropriate at the time.

You seem to accept this rather easily.

It's just-- it seems like a pretty arbitrary age, right? That's not just me?

[Snorting in to the tea, Quentin looks up from where he's been busy doodling at the margin of his notes.]

Well... this isn't really my first time being stuck in the middle of something weird? It's not even the first time I've tried to solve an impossible puzzle. Satan's new, though. And-- kids? But, everything else seems pretty much par for the course for my life. You know, I really thought I'd stop having to do this once I died.

No no, you're right. It's pretty arbitrary, I've just never asked.

And-- you know, usually I think you're right. Most people, I believe -- wouldn't know myself -- but most people probably get to go to Heaven or Hell. Retire, really retire.

That's a-- hey, that's a really good way to put it. Retire. Yeah, that's what I thought would happen. But. Now it's this place? I don't even--

[Quentin rakes a frustrated hand through his hair and huffs.]

This place, you know?

Yes, I know exactly what you mean.

I was also hoping my retirement would be more full of... gardens, and beaches.

Oh, I do love reading on the beach.

Perhaps, if it is ever sunny here.

You think we're ever going to see the sun again? But yeah, reading on the beach is okay. I'm more of a, uh, reading at home and in bed kind of guy? But. I've seen people reading on the beach.

Well, I also usually prefer to read indoors in my reading chair. Particularly when it's cold or rainy outside, but totally dry and warm inside.

Ah, but besides the point. When it's just a little overcast, and there's a cool salty breeze, the beach is quite agreeable to sit at and read with just company of seagulls.

[ He picks overcast days because then nobody wants to be at the beach to do beach things. Being all alone after summer season is such exquisite decadence. ]

I implore you to give it another chance sometime.

Yeah. That's never going to happen. I mean, not that it isn't a good suggestion, because it is? It's just, we're stuck here forever, or until we're reset and I don't think sitting on the beach in the dark is. What you were going for.

I do think we'll be able to go back sometime. I hope so, anyway. At least, somewhere that isn't this.

Yeah, I hope so too? Not that-- it's not that I hate it here or anything, it's just. It's a lot? And I want to see the sun again. You know? Really see it, because. Because of a lot of things, really, that happened before I died and I'd really hate it if I have to stay in a place with no sun forever.

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INTRO LOG: SEPTEMBER

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