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

[inthenightmods]

When he attempts to talk to the forest spirit behind the counter, they'll offer him a letter! The envelope is worn with age and... is chunky? Hm.

Upon opening it, M.K. will find a metallic rock about the size of a grape. The letter inside is quite faded, but eventually he (or someone else who can read) will be able to make out the following message:

I'm trapped out here. I thought I could make it back to the dock in time, but they've already hidden the road... I'm going to try to follow the river. I doubt I'll make it, so I'm sending this via letter in hopes it survives the reset and makes it back to you safely. Good luck.

It's signed with an illegible signature, and the only "address" on the envelope is this symbol.

[darkeyed]

WHAT THE JESUS H. ?? ?????

Okay, he'll take it amid the ominous background music that is clearly playing at this point in time. .__. Afterward he'll:

1. At least give poking around the mailboxes a good ol' college try, and maybe snatch some things if he doesn't get chased out for it.
2. Look around the rest of the inside/outside of the building.

[inthenightmods]

😃

1. The mailboxes are behind the counter, so the idea is that the forest spirit will give you the mail addressed to you without allowing you to snoop through other people's things. However, M.K. is still welcome to try and get back there! The forest spirit will not appreciate it, but if M.K. would still give it a shot, let us know.

2. There's not much else to see in or around the post office. It's a small, one-room building made of brick, and it looks to be quite old. Inside, there's just the counter and a bench for waiting. The only notable detail is the wall of mailboxes behind the counter, but as we mentioned above, M.K. will get the impression he's not allowed back there (given that the forest spirit will shoo him away if he tries to slip past the EMPLOYEES ONLY sign).

[darkeyed]

I find that smile deeply disturbing on all fronts and approve.

IF HE MAY BE SO BOLD he'd head back at that point but leave his torch behind to light the way because it seems a little Rude to leave the poor dude in the dark. (Should I update the item request page to say it's a fixture there now?)

That said, he'd go back within a few days to test his luck in getting behind the counter because he's also Rude that way. :|

[inthenightmods]

Y̼̭̗͇̞̫o̰͚̠̪͔ͣ͂̆̇͆ṵ̯͊ͬ ̻̘̩̯ͥ́̍̾s̳ͨh͙̝ou͎̝̮̙͊̍ͩ́l͔̳͎̉̆͐d.̐͛ͬ̾́ͥ

The forest spirit manning the counter appreciates this! (And no worries, letting us know here is just fine! We'll update the spreadsheet.)

When M.K. comes back, the forest spirit recognizes him. They give him a little wave, but if he tries to get behind the counter, they'll block his way with a spidery arm. With the other, they'll trace a symbol on the counter.

?

[darkeyed]

Will, the reception on your digital shit is gettin' fuzzy, fix it. Bangs fist on the top.

But oh??? No??? Don't cute @ him, forest spirit, this is some grand tier rudeness. In the world's worst game of charades ever, he'll have absolutely no idea what this critter is trying to tell him and want to know what he's hiding back there WHICH I'M SURE will get them nowhere in a hurry but would be entertaining to watch.

Meanwhile I cry because this poor post office spirit is precious. :(

On the subject, a good q came up as well! If someone whose native language wasn't English tried to read the note the spirit passed over, would it fall under universal translator rules like the tablets?

[inthenightmods]

Wow he doesn't control the eldritch horrors, leave him alone.

The Postmaster General seems flustered, continuing to block M.K.'s way, now with slightly more of their spindly body. The only answer they give to his demand is to cross their gangly arms over one another in an X shape. Do Not.

As for the language question: the tablet text is in Beacon's "universal language", meaning it can be read by anyone. On physical paper, however, people can write in their native language. This means M.K. will indeed need someone who can read English... or he could use the new photo-text-to-speech app, as it translates the words it detects.

[darkeyed]

FINE, you win this round, Postmaster Killjoy. He'll leave you in peace. This time. /points to eyes, points to you

Ah, thank you for that, I was curious how the translation with notes worked! THIS IS SUPER LATE, but we have some smarty pants looking the envelope's contents over for ~clues~ or any kind of detail that stands out like if the rock is radioactive, if it's identifiable, etc. Can they make heads or tails of anything?

[inthenightmods]

Nothing stands out about the letter itself. The address symbol remains mysterious, but there aren't any hidden codes or anything in the words themselves.

As for the rock, it's difficult to identify without a strong background in geology and a way to test for radioactivity, but it's definitely a metallic element, about as hard as iron. It's got some weight to it for how small it is, meaning it's probably pretty dense. Other than the fact that it's, you know, glowing, that's about all that's readily apparent.

If the characters investigating the stone do have a background in geology and/or a way to test for or sense radioactivity, let us know! Also let us know if they choose to try to do anything with it, or experiment on it.

[darkeyed]

Y on radioactivity tests at the very least! Dick Grayson is on the case with some fancy schmancy Bat tools that could give some insight there, if at all possible. :3

[inthenightmods]

The stone is indeed radioactive! Yay!

[darkeyed]

:') What the fuck kind of cursed object did you give him, Postmaster. :')

Juuuust how radioactive is it? Like, dangerous levels of radiation? Is Dick gonna lose all his nice hair for this...

[inthenightmods]

Hmm... hard to say without knowing exactly what sort of material it is...

(No one is going to die of radiation sickness.)

[darkeyed]

sdlfkjfg THAT'S A RELIEF...... If they did, we'd have to upgrade the Postmaster's superlative to Most Devious Character In-Game. .__.

After talking it out, would it be possible to use a phone a friend option and consult the NPCs on whether they know what it is? Dick, for one, would want to ask after discovering the radioactivity.

[inthenightmods]

Absolutely! Which NPC(s) would they like to contact?

[darkeyed]

M.K. would pick Will because sharp-tongued dickhole solidarity, man.

No preference on Dick's end so he could go for Winters and Rastus both, but in lieu of giving you guys more work I'd say either one!!

[inthenightmods]

After examining the rock, Will's reaction is the closest he ever comes to open surprise. He'll ask "where in the world did you get that?" and inform the duo that what they've got there is most likely raw plutonium. The glow, he explains, is because of the outer layer of the material literally burning away in the oxygen environment. Fun! (M.K. has probably noticed by now that the lump has gotten increasingly warm. Better be careful with that.)

"And I hope neither of you have been licking it." You never know around here. "I wouldn't suggest sniffing it, either."

They are welcome to get a second opinion if they like, and if they'd rather be rid of the thing, Will does not seem opposed to the idea of taking it off their hands.

[darkeyed]

whOOPS somebody deleted the notif out of their inbox and forgot to come back to this... haha... /sweats

Being the uneducated apocalypse swine he is, M.K. would at least want to know what makes plutonium so special and why it would be a big deal to find some... Why do want it, Will, what do you want with it. /steeples fingers. People only want stuff if it's important!!!

[inthenightmods]

You're okay!

Will's answer mostly concerns more things that M.K. doesn't know about. In Will's world, they use this stuff to power space-faring vessels. Not like this, though. In this form, it's basically useless for anything practical. As for why it's a big deal... well, it's poisonous, for one, so it's dangerous. And pretty rare to find without digging huge mine shafts, so that sure is odd.

He mostly wants it to study it. But if M.K.'s adamant about keeping it, Will won't argue. YOUR (PROBABLE) FUNERAL, BUD.

[darkeyed]

Gosh, if Will's so smart then tell him why one of his past group would be mailing a basically useless rock? Riddle him that, nerd Batman???

But yes, Will could deffo study it! With supervision he neither wants nor needs because M.K. might be a Mad Max-style savage but he's a savage who wants to learn things, too. D:

[donttalktome]

Maybe they knew someone with a rock collection, who knows?

Unfortunately Will lacks a lot of the equipment necessary to perform tests on this thing, so it's time to rope in some assistance. M.K. and Will's adventure will be continued here!