INTRO LOG: APRIL
MAN ME A SAND

characters: everyone.
location: the harbor, as well as the rest of town.
date/time: april 1-3.
content: beacon's newest batch of residents arrives on the ferry. explosive sand bottles send everyone careening into the dreamy past. some forest spirits learn a couple unhelpful lantern-haver words.
warnings: n/a.

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 glowing 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.

•••
Scattered throughout the ferry are colorful bottles of sand! They're sitting atop packages in the cargo hold, lining the railing of the deck, even rolling around on the deck itself or nestled in bed in the newcomers' bunks. They're all over the place, and they're pretty! You feel compelled to pick them up, to check out those neat sandy patterns or take one home as a souvenir. Heck, maybe you just want to kick the rolling bottles out of the way so no one slips.

But when you get too close to the bottles, they burst like little firecrackers, showering everyone in the vicinity with sand. Contact with the sand doesn't seem to do much at first! But whether the effects hit you after a few minutes or a few hours, you'll start to feel in desperate need of a nap. And hey, a quartet of forest spirits has made their way onto the beach to sing along... in their best approximation of lantern-haver speech! Pretty cool that these forest spirits have picked up a couple of genuine words instead of hoots, but, uh, attempts to talk to them will just get them riled, and they'll croon about man door hand hook car door more loudly. They're singing in your weird language, what more do you want?

Anyway, once you've come into contact with the sand in the bottles, you'll need to lie down and sleep soon or run the risk of passing out on your feet.

Once asleep, you'll find yourself in the sunshiny Beacon of the past! This may feel familiar to some of you, but don't worry, the spirits don't seem to have any nasty tricks up their sleeve this time.

You're welcome to spend as much time in dream Beacon as you like, but once you're ready to head back to the waking world, all you need to do is hail a cab.

•••
Luckily for all the newcomers who may find themselves confused by their sudden arrival here, their tablets and the town have some resources available for getting acquainted with their new situation! In fact, as soon as they're prompted to enter a network username, an app containing all sorts of useful welcome information will launch. Newcomers can always check out the weekly bulletins and the records in town hall as well, and everyone's welcome to get in touch with the NPCs through their inboxes.

Hey there, wonderful players, and welcome to In the Night! We're thrilled to play with you.

If you haven't already, you might want to check out the April gameplan and the recent mod announcement to get acquainted with the game! There's also the game history page to check out, where you can find all the plot info that's been uncovered so far. The game history page is due for an update, and we'll be getting the March update posted as soon as we're able!

And of course, go ahead and introduce yourselves on the OOC intro, as well!