exploration

[inthenightmods]

EXPLORATION

ACTIVE EXPLORATION SLOTS: 0/8

Explorations are currently OPEN. They will close again when we run out of active exploration slots.

Building a structure may be done at any time and does not affect the active exploration slots.

•••
The forest engulfing Beacon is dense and uncharted, but that just means there's never a shortage of cool stuff to discover lurking off the beaten path. There's always new locations, plot clues, or extra resources to be found, so although venturing into the woods is always dangerous, the rewards may just outweigh the risks.

Once you come up with a plan, please fill out and submit the form below. We'll respond in one of two ways, depending on the nature of your exploration:

• In most cases, we'll respond with a single write-up detailing the outcome of your exploration. For example, characters venturing out into a particular part of the woods may discover a new location! In that case, you'll receive a full description of that new location, along with any other details worth noting, such as forest spirit encounters or difficulties along the way. If your group would then like to react to any of this or explore that location after its discovery, you can then respond with your own write-up of everything your group would investigate, and we'll let you know what happens as a result. And that's it! Then the exploration is wrapped, the location becomes available to the game at large, and you're welcome to thread out any details of the exploration if you like.


• In limited cases, an exploration request will open a dialogue between the players and mods to determine the outcome of your exploration. For example, characters attempting to interact with forest spirits may get the chance to play out that encounter, whether it be a pleasant conversation or, uh, the forest spirit trying to kill you, since that happens sometimes. Explorations of this nature will not always result in a response like this, as it'll depend on our availability as mods. If you're interested in doing an exploration like this and don't want to leave it up to chance, PM us! We'll work with you to schedule an encounter.

Regardless of which type of exploration you end up with, what you do during an exploration is entirely up to you, so feel free to get creative! We always try to reward creativity in some way, even if it's not a success in the way that you hoped for.

•••
Before you embark on your quest, here's everything you need to know about explorations:

• Exploring uncharted territory is intended to be dangerous, and there is always a risk of failure, injury, and other setbacks. If you're not on board with these risks, exploration may not be in the cards for you.


• That said, the exploration form includes an opt-in for serious injury and death. If you aren't interested in having your character(s) at risk for that stuff at this time, you can let us know upfront. Please keep in mind that opting out of serious injury/death does not mean you're opting out of the above risks of failure, injury, and other setbacks. Those risks are always in play during explorations. In addition, while opting out of serious risks doesn't mean you'll get a watered down exploration, some discoveries lurking out in the forest are reserved for risk-taking characters. For example, opting out of serious risks eliminates the chance of running into the hostile green-eyed spirits, so characters interested in pursuing green-eyed spirit plot threads will have to put themselves on the line to do so.


• If you choose to opt into the risks of serious injury and death, your character's safety is forfeit and you give the mods the right to maim accordingly (though, of course, we'll check permissions posts in doing so). This does not mean that groups opting into these risks will always be tormented and killed! It's just helpful for us to know your preferences and expectations upfront. Please keep in mind that opting into the risk of serious injury or death applies to the whole group, not just individual characters.


• Explorations into the area of Beacon currently occupied by the Parade will always be extra dangerous. Characters will run the risk of encountering the Parade itself, but besides that, the Parade's presence gets all the forest spirits in the area extra revved up, increasing their hostility. We'll give you the "danger zone warning" at the top of the exploration if you're about to head into Parade-infested territory, as characters may be seriously injured or killed at any point during an exploration within the parade route. You can check the Parade's schedule on the calendar page.


• Chance of success will be left up to a mix of mod discretion and RNG. We'll typically use a RNG to determine what you find, if anything, but we'll also take player/character ingenuity into account. In short: If you have a solid, creative plan, you're more likely to be rewarded for that. Aimlessly wandering won't always get you nothing, but it's less likely to earn you something neat for your trouble. (However, please do be encouraged to follow the dumb idea that's in your character's heart. We will reward for IC idiocy, too.)


• Having torches from the bonfire with you will also increase your chance of success, though be careful: If you lose the torches while exploring, someone will have to recover them or they're lost forever. Additionally, you must request torches through the item request page in order to take them on explorations. Torches not logged through the item requests page are not considered game canon.


• Once you receive a mod response to your exploration, you will have one week to tag us back. If that week timer runs out, we'll consider that exploration closed, and mod responses will stop. You're welcome to handwave your own IC conclusion to the exploration at that point. To be extra clear: the time it takes for us mods to respond to your exploration is not included in that time limit. The timer starts fresh each time we tag you back.


• Explorations over two weeks old will be wrapped in the next mod response. This is to prevent explorations from dragging on for too long, which will slow up our system, but more importantly, it'll make for awkward timing issues in the game! We don't want to leave players waiting on exploration outcomes to be able to engage with the rest of the game.


• Characters may only embark on one exploration at a time, no matter how small. Pretty self explanatory! One at a time, please. If you play more than one character, you may send them on concurrent explorations, but keep in mind that we might deny exploration requests like this to give other players a chance to hop in.


• We will only accept a maximum of 8 active explorations at a time. If those 8 slots fill up, we'll close the queue to new submissions until we're able to wrap some of the active adventures. This number is based on mod availability.


• Explorations will always be closed during events except under rare special circumstances. Similarly, explorations can't be forward- or back-dated to happen during an event. Go do event things instead!


• You can also submit an "exploration" to build a new structure on this page! Just use the appropriate form below.

To EMBARK ON AN EXPLORATION, please fill out the form below:

<b>player name(s):</b> (please list ALL PLAYERS involved with the exploration!) <b>character(s):</b> (please list ALL CHARACTERS involved with the exploration!) <b>area of exploration:</b> (please be as specific as possible! we need to know where your character is/is trying to go.) <b>date(s) of exploration:</b> (you may forward or back date by up to two weeks from the current date.) <b>plan:</b> (what, specifically, are you doing? this is the place to detail the plan in full, so be sure to include all of the relevant details so that we can factor it all into our response. consider questions like: what's the goal? are you bringing supplies or torches? does anyone have experience or training that could assist with your plan? is anyone already injured or impaired? tell us what your plan is! AS A REMINDER, EXPLORATIONS WILL TYPICALLY ONLY RECEIVE ONE RESPONSE TO DETAIL THE RESULT, so it's important to be clear about your intentions and plans!) <b>is your group willing to accept risk of serious injury/death?</b> (a simple yes/no is all we need, and please only give ONE ANSWER for the whole group. a "yes" here doesn't automatically mean you'll all die horribly, and a "no" doesn't mean you won't get anything cool. we'll check permissions posts before injuring/killing characters.)

To BUILD A STRUCTURE or ALTER THE SETTING, please fill out the form below:

<b>player name(s):</b> (please only list the names of the players ORGANIZING construction/alteration.) <b>character(s):</b> (please list ALL CHARACTERS involved with construction/alteration.) <b>location:</b> (please be as specific as possible so that we can add it to the map!) <b>start date:</b> (when does this project BEGIN? based on the details you provide in this submission, we'll let you know how long it will take the characters to complete the project.) <b>plan:</b> (this is the place to tell us how the construction/alteration is going to happen! hit us up with as many details as you have, as we'll be using this plan to determine the length of the project.) <b>description:</b> (what does the finished product look like? this is the description as it will appear VERBATIM on the setting page.)

Please note that with the recent discovery of the medical center, each player may only explore the medical center ONCE for the time being in order to give everyone a chance to get involved. If exploration requests die down and there are still areas to be uncovered, we may lift that rule. We'll make an announcement in the OOC comm should that happen.

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Comments

[fjorgedinfire]

player name(s): Maniette, Chris, PG, Lance, Mawi
character(s): Fjord, Mollymauk, Alisaie, Kal-El, Sora
area of exploration: The stretch of river immediately south of the bike shop, between Bridge Markers 4 and 9.
date(s) of exploration: February 10 or so
plan: Fjord heard that it might be Spirits Being Dicks that keeps drowning people, so he's recruited people to help him investigate this for sure. The goal here is to try and discover if it is a spirit causing people to drown and get fucked up around the rivers, or if it's something about the water itself. Sora and Kal-El will be staying on dry land, out of range (hopefully) of the river's effects, and minding the group's lanterns while Fjord, Molly and Alisaie head towards the river for themselves.

The Water Trio will each have ~50ft ropes around their individual waists (Fjord is a sailor so these are secure) so that Kal-El and Sora can pull them out if it starts going wrong. Fjord and Alisaie are both supernaturally good swimmers; Molly is wearing Fjord's armour to achieve the same effect. Fjord has Control Water, which can last up to ten (10) minutes; one teleportation spell that can grab someone else, and two that would get just himself (and one of those would subsequently unmoor him from his rope); Molly has one solo teleport, and Alisaie has none. All three are armed and prepared for a fight - Molly is primarily close combat, Fjord is mixed-close, and Alisaie is all-round - but all three are also charismatic out the ass. Fjord also has a Wisdom based lantern trinket for additional charm resistance.

The Land Buds will be staying a minimum of 20 feet away from the river bank; but Kal-El is also willing and able to leap into the water after the trio if something goes wrong. Both Kal-El and Sora have ice-based attacks and limited flight, both of which they are willing to use in order to save someone, give themselves purchase, or defend themselves.

Fjord, as a precaution, will cast Water Breathing on everyone (this does not hamper air breathing) despite insistence otherwise. Kal-El and Sora will bring two torches with them, which they have both already hired out. Everyone will have earplugs.

Sora will also bring towels.

is your group willing to accept risk of serious injury/death? Yes! Though theoretically nothing should happen to Kal-El and Sora?? WHO KNOWS this is why we do these things

[inthenightmods]

Fjord, Mollymauk, and Alisaie will be able to make it to the rocky riverbank and hop into the water no problem! Unfortunately, things immediately go south from there.

Swimming skill doesn't make much difference in the river, as what appeared to be a leisurely babbling brook on the surface is actually an incredibly strong current. It sucks the trio under as soon as they touch water, plunging them deep into the depths of the river. In fact, Sora and Kal-El will quickly find the ropes snapping taut only seconds after the trio disappears.

But the trio never finds the river's bottom. Instead, they finds its banks, the rocky walls continuing straight downward on either side of them, narrow and hard and smooth, too smooth to allow any grip to gain purchase.

So here's the situation: Fjord, Mollymauk, and Alisaie are trapped beneath the water's surface, the current pummeling them repeatedly against the rocks and each other. Water Breathing buys them time, in theory, but it's pitch black and only Fjord and Alisaie have any hope of orienting themselves as the current whips them around. Fjord's shoulder is quickly dislocated, and one of Alisaie's hands is crushed as she slams against the riverbank. Mollymauk is knocked unconscious.

The river will make quick work of the trio if they don't act fast, but they do have just long enough to make a snap decision... Teleporting, perhaps, as the current is far too strong for swimming or pulling themselves out by the rope.

Meanwhile, on the surface, Kal-El and Sora can attempt to help! They'll have no idea what's going on under the surface, of course, but hey, good thinking on the ropes! Only Kal-El will be strong enough to pull any of them up, though. If he'd like to do this, please let us know which rope(s)!

[fjorgedinfire]

okay so first of all, thanks to the Mariner's Armour enchantment on Fjord's armour that Molly is wearing, as soon as he's knocked unconscious Molly will go RUSHING back to the surface like a cork out of a bottle.

Alisaie can't climb out with a broken hand, so she's going to cling tight to her rope with her one good one and hope Molly doesn't get eaten.

Fjord, who cannot see shit and therefjore can't use two of his teleports, will cast Blink. This will detach him from his rope and place him in the Ethereal Plane, where there is no gravity, no elements, and visibility is lightless grayscale for 60ft in every direction before it fogs up - all at mod discretion ofc. When he returns, about 6 seconds later, he will be 10ft higher, and will try and grab back onto his rope with his one good arm. He will also continue uncontrollably teleporting in and out of the Ethereal Plane for the next full minute, and will attempt to move Up every time.

(Ethereal Plane: home of ghosts and idiot sailors)

Sora has Molly's rope, and Kal-El has the other two. They will notice Molly's line go distinctly less intensely taut, and Fjord's go completely slack, and assume the worst? Since Fjord specified his teleports would be for escaping, and Molly is floating thus got Merced, Kal would start pulling Alisaie up. Sora would also attempt to pull Molly out, since he's currently, temporarily floating.

cw character death

[inthenightmods]

Blink is enough to get Fjord closer to the surface, but it isn't enough. Free from his rope, he's sucked down into the river, bludgeoned against the slick rocks below. Good thing he can breathe underwater! He'll remain conscious, then, as he's battered violently this way and that, until his neck is finally snapped.

Between the Mariner's Armour enchantment and Sora hanging onto the rope, Mollymauk makes it to the surface with nothing more than a concussion! He'll wake up in a few minutes, spitting up river water as he does... though, ew, the water has a foul taste to it, like something decayed.

Kal-El is strong enough to yank Alisaie out of the current (though it does take some effort for even Superman), though the river doesn't let her go easily. Before she reaches the surface, she'll suffer half a dozen collisions with the rocky river walls, covering her in deep bruises and perhaps even fracturing a bone or two (up to you!). She too will notice the disgusting taste to the water once Kal-El pulls her back to land.

As the living members of the group collect themselves on dry land, Fjord's lantern flickers unsteadily for a minute or two, until finally it snuffs out. Nearby, the river babbles gently, the streams of galaxy-like debris whirling this way and that on its surface. How peaceful.

Re: cw character death

[fjorgedinfire]

Would Fjord have been able to notice anything about the depth of the river before he got wrecked? Either seeing it through the Ethereal plane or hitting the ground?

[inthenightmods]

Fjord can look through the Ethereal Plane to try to see the bottom of the river, but he won't find it. Somehow, the river seems to continue forever downward... Or at least downward beyond where Fjord will be able to see, which is, uh, 60+ feet.

It's a real deep river, fam.