inthenightmods | exploration

exploration

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:

player name(s): (please list ALL PLAYERS involved with the exploration!)
character(s): (please list ALL CHARACTERS involved with the exploration!)
area of exploration: (please be as specific as possible! we need to know where your character is/is trying to go.)
date(s) of exploration: (you may forward or back date by up to two weeks from the current date.)
plan: (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!)
is your group willing to accept risk of serious injury/death? (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:

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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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

player name(s): Mina
character(s): Melisandre
area of exploration: The Hungry Ones who keep posting advertisements in the weekly bulletin.
winters? She'll practically manifest herself out of nowhere in Winters' general presence, take one of his hands in hers, and inform him that scripture demands she feed the hungry and she cannot ignore her God-given task any longer. Once he's lived through that experience, she'll ask him if he has any idea where those people/spirits/creatures might reside.
notes: She'll also try the Postmaster General for information, since... well, who would know what lurks where if not the Postmaster? Since she'll be troubling the poor spirit, she'll offer him a very shiny button for their help: it comes from the robes she arrived in, it's made from a red stone, and it has the Flaming Heart of R'hllor engraved in it.

OH HEY THERE MEL Winters is startled, but this is his life now, so he'll tell her the following: "Ah, yeah, that'll be one of the spirits. They don't read or write too well. Just ain't in their wheelhouse. The only ones that have any handle on our languages tend to pick it up from whatever little corner they've made for themselves in this world. Whichever one's been writing that's probably got some experience with the written word."

If she heads for the Postmaster General, they'll seem very excited. Grabbing Mel's hand, they point in the direction of . . . hm. Well, the woods, anyway, they don't seem very accurate. But they cherish that button, and place it carefully on a shelf in back, on which lies a few interesting rocks.

Shall she head onwards?

If a button elicits such a sweet response –– and she does think they're very sweet, this Postmaster General, especially by the standards of the spirit she usually encountered in her world –– perhaps she'll keep an eye out for the odd interesting rock.

Two things first: she leaves Rafe a voice message, to let him know she's off to feed something weird in the woods, and next, she collects a variety of food items in a basket from both the Invincible and the general store. She has, after all, no clue what kind of food this spirit is looking for. Rafe (as played by the ever-amazing Sammo) thinks this is a spectacularly stupid idea, and thus decides to join.

Together, they head on out in the vague direction the Postmaster General pointed out to Melisandre earlier.

Lovely (if ridiculously hot) day (well, ever-present night) for a walk, isn't it?

Edited 2019-07-20 22:34 (UTC)

It's gross. You can just say it. It's gross, and air conditioning should have died so it could accompany them.

Still! It seems they ought to be heading for the village; it's just that there's that tricky river to try and cross. Any ideas, gang?

Rafe knows of both the crawl rope of joy –– and the rock-throwing thingamabobs in the water. Strangely enough, that doesn't make him super keen? Odd, right?

The decision Melisandre and him reach is this: they will meander up and down the river to find where a spot that is somewhat narrow. Any luck? If not, they'll have another think. If yes, Melisandre will use the amply provided darkness of the night to shadowbind a 'bridge'. It'll be a bit of a balancing act, really more of a log-across-the-river type deal, but hey, no one would touch any of the water!

It's an unusual solution, but it certainly works: the shadow-not-really-a-bridge is more than enough to get them across, so well done, gang! Onwards and upwards, presumably-- and sooner or later, they'll hit the village. I wonder which building a semi-literate creature might enjoy . . .

The ice cream st–––

Unfortunately, Melisandre's very first ice cream cone will have to wait, but she will be back for you, crab spirit, just you wait. Of course, she recalls the advertisements she's seen – the drawing of a book in one, the mention of them not being particularly tasty in the other – so the library is where Rafe and her are headed!

Knock-knock, who's there? It's fully-grown Red Riding Hood and the big bad wolf, and they're here to feed something that is hopefully a friendly grandma spirit.

Well, there's surely something in there. Probably. Maybe? There's a faint feeling of eeriness, a creeping sensation that leaves our dynamic duo feeling as though they're being watched. Books upon books are stacked very neatly on the shelves, making it clear whomever runs this place is very organized.

Ah-- maybe they see a hint of . . . something. A veil? A cloth? It's faint, but the feeling of being watched increases.

What's up, buds?

Edited (what are tenses) 2019-07-21 00:45 (UTC)

This is every bit as unnerving as wandering about Asshai, so Melisandre feels right at home, presumably while Rafe wonders if it's too late to just leave her to her fate.

She'll offer a friendly (but overtly religious) greeting directed at whichever area seems to hold the most unseen horror, take a careful step or two in that general direction, and set down one of the two loads of food Team Fuck has brought along for this purpose.

It's an offering, she'll say. So you eat that and not us, Rafe will think.

There's an awfully pregnant pause, like the entire building is holding its breath. The eerie feeling creeps up, and both Rafe and Melisandre will feel something cold against the back of their necks, a repeated puff of air that suggests someone is standing right behind them, panting.

Then there's a shriek, loud and ear-splitting, enough to make the wax melt from their ears, and a figure flies forward, bending over the offering, back hunched and elbows out. They're covered in long veils and robes, all in white, the figure vaguely humanoid. Their face can't be seen, but presumably there's a mouth in there, because the smacks and chewing noises suggest this offering is very appreciated.

WannawannaWANNAfood indeed.

Melisandre displays pathological non-reactions to pretty much everything, but that cold breathing? That one gets her a little, so while Rafe makes mostly these faces '😐😑' and radiates big 'told you so' energy, Mel's just going to take his hand.

What?! Stop judging her.

I said stop judging her!

Anyway, the moment passes, their eardrums are successfully assaulted, and then she's just going to watch the Devouring of the offering. See, Rafe? It's going well! She'll stop holding your hand now.

We brought more, she'll say, motioning for Rafe to set down what he carries as well, and we can visit again, she goes on, because why not? It's kinda sweet, right?

Rafe, although thoroughly more weirded out by the hand holding than the eldritch abomination shrieking its hunger and stuffing its face, will do as instructed and put the basket down at his feet and gently push it with his foot closer to...whatever the fuck that thing is. And he will very much keep his thoughts on SWEET to himself, thanks.

Edited 2019-07-21 04:30 (UTC)

The spirit will soon move on to the second offering. Gliding with uncanny grace, they at least take the second meal with a bit less shrieking. That's nice, right? Yeah. We'll hold on to that.

It's odd, honestly: no matter how they move, the spirit never once shows their face. There's always something obscuring it-- and if our dynamic duo manages to catch a flash of flesh, it's always blurred, like someone smeared petroleum jelly over a camera lens, all hazy and out of focus.

Weird.

But! If Mel and Rafe stick around, once the spirit is done, they straighten up. Offer a wheezy exhale that may or may not be an acknowledgement of that kindness. And then, quite primly, they go to stand behind the desk.

Meet the Librarian.

While Rafe mourns the death of every hot librarian fantasy he has ever had, Melisandre just keeps smiling like she has never had a care in the world, complimenting the spirit on their well-kept library and promising to return soon with more food and some time to dedicate to the books they so clearly treasure!

She's not mentioning their appearance. Seems rude.

Anyway, looks like Little Red and the Big Bad will be sticking around town (well, village) for a bit, because someone needs to rest up after her little bridge stunt. Rafe will take point in attempting to get in one of the village houses to have something semi-defensible while his bridge-generator takes a nap to recharge.

Before they leave, whenever that is, Melisandre would like to see the crab spirit! She'll try to trade one piece of weird jewellery from the general store for a 'balloon' and explain that she means to take it to the Postmaster General as a gift from her trip. Rafe will attempt to see what kind of ice cream is in there. Come on, Crab. Show him the goods, you tease!

When they approach the humble ice cream stand, the hatch opens and the spirit peeks out to greet them, hat and all! Hello, hello! They click their claws in what is surely a greeting, accepting the trade from Melisandre with relish. Something shiny? Hot dog!

Not that they sell hot dogs, mind you. This is an ice cream slash balloon stand!

They disappear briefly before coming back up again with the inflated hand-shaped balloon resting delicately between both claws. Hopefully, the Postmaster General will be brought much happiness by this souvenir.

There doesn't appear to be a menu, and sadly the spirit isn't able to communicate traditionally, but they do seem to understand what Rafe is asking. They reach down for something, and after a bit of scrambling offer Rafe: a sample spoon! The tiny utensil is grasped very delicately in a claw. Clearly, this spirit has been practicing.

They open up a sliding door to a cooler, presenting a few rows of widely differently colored flavors! None of them are labeled. Choose wisely.

Rafe had only been meaning to look, but when a spirit, who could still be turning out to be a moderate to severe human-eater, offers you a sample spoon, you take the sample spoon.

Is there a light-coloured vanilla-looking one? Apparently, something vanilla is what Rafe is after for once.

There is absolutely an unassuming lightly colored vanilla-looking ice cream! When Rafe takes a nice sample of it, he'll...hm. What is this, exactly?

Depending on how refined his palette is, he might be able to tell that he's currently sampling some udon flavored ice cream.

Rafe, who half-expected to die on the spot, can definitely tell he has been fed noodle-flavour ice cream.

Unexpected, but not bad?

Whatever his facial expression is, it seems to remind Melisandre that mortal persons eat regularly, and she's going to gesture at the red-most flavour there is.

Edited 2019-07-21 05:32 (UTC)

The spirit provides a second sample spoon for the lovely Melisandre! And lucky her, she takes a bite of some dark red beet ice cream.

It is both cold and reminiscent of root vegetables, so in a way, it feels like home. Having had no previous experiences with ice cream, she just assumes that this is what it's meant to be. She compliments the Crab on their mastery!

And could she have a coneful of mysterious orange for the way? Rafe should have some as well!

On the way back, she'll be more carefully looking for a funky rock souvenir to go with the gauntlet of joy for the Postmaster General.

Delighted by the compliments, the spirit offers them both a smile! Which, apparently, is a bit of an odd thing.

It looks like their mouth, which was all but impossible to see before, is a vertical cavern down to middle of their face. Lamprey-like rows of sharp teeth spiral inward. They're trying their best. This was not a mouth made for smiles.

They scoop them both two cones piled with orange-colored ice cream, per Melisandre's request. They have a little bit of trouble with the scooper, but they're very balanced with the cones! Ultimately, the job is done.

Enjoy your sriracha ice cream.

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