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): king
character(s): vanitas
type of exploration: exploration? what does major destruction of public property count as
area of exploration: the church
notes: vanitas will feel when sora 'disappears' and will immediately go back to the church to wait for his ressurection. where he'll wait for days. when he comes to realize sora isn't coming back, the same way gene isn't coming back, the culmination of all his conflict and trauma will push him over the edge. he'll start tearing up the church— first, taking his keyblade to the still-standing medics quarters and smashing up the cots and the bedframes. when it's left as nothing but a wreck he'll go into the church proper and start throwing around the pews, smashing them up with his keyblade and throwing furniture around with dark magic, which includes purposefully launching things at the wall of candles. alot of this is out of fury, but much more of it is just because he's hurting and doesn't know how else to find any kind of relief.

What a ruckus! Vanitas' reign of destruction can probably be heard all through town— and beneath it.

The first time he tosses a piece of church pew toward the candles on the altar, he'll hear a loud banging sound. Maybe that's just the furniture, hitting the wall? Oh, nope, it continues. Something is very unhappy, slamming into the metal trapdoor from below.

There's another noise, like screeching metal. Raking claws, perhaps?

Vanitas is welcome to ignore the sounds, but there's no guarantee that whatever's making them will ignore him in turn.

he thinks he's alone, and this is why he isn't throwing things around silently. he yells when the pews splinter, open in his grief when he puts his keyblade through wood, when he upends anything freestanding to launch at the candles from a distance. it isn't until the screech of metal reaches him that he realizes the sounds aren't just the impact of the furniture.

chest heaving, wet-faced, he whirls around looking wildly for the source. when nothing is forthcoming, he screams inarticulately and spins to point his keyblade at the last thing standing: the wall of candles. he summons darkness, preparing to attack.

If at first you don't succeed... make a dramatic entrance.

The trapdoor rises, straight up instead of on a hinge, and from under it a long-fingered hand slithers out. The skin is jet black, tapering to thin claws at the end of each digit. But the hand doesn't come alone.

A dark, humanoid figure drags itself out of the opening, large and even larger when it finally stands to full height, its form positioned between Vanitas and the altar. It appears to be wearing some sort of hooded cloak, with only the spindly hands visible, and long stringy hair hanging down from the shadowed opening of the hood. It has one other notable feature, too: glowing eyes. Actually glowing, enough to be seen in the dimness of the church.

Those eyes train immediately on Vanitas, causing him to have the sudden sensation of being trapped in amber. It's a bit like sleep paralysis; he can move, but only with great effort, as if it's against his body's wishes.

The entity's eye-lights stare, and then wink out simultaneously. A blink, perhaps? Finally, it speaks, though it's a bit hard to understand.

W̸̝̼̮̳̲̼̒̔̀̾̓̾̈́̈́̈́͑͊͘̚͝͠͝ ̶͖̮̿̀̇̆͊́Ḫ̸̨̠̣̻͖̦͚̒̈́̓͒̑̊̌̾̆̆̈͜͝͠͝ ̶͚͕̖͎̭̭̬̞͈̲̦̺͍̾̏̅͜͜͜Ỳ̶̡̛̺̩͈̦̋̋̆͂̓̔̓͆͂͑̀̕̚

Of everything Vanitas has seen, this thing is the most familiar— because this is what he looked like once. This is what the heartless look like. Maybe if it looked more like the other spirits, he would feel more fear. Maybe if he weren't so full of anger and grief, he would stop fighting.

Vanitas strains against the hold on him, but only enough to raise his head and look. To meet the glowing eyes of this spirit. It's hard to understand; just as hard as it is for Vanitas to speak, but he pushes it out against his body's paralyzed wishes. A gasp: "Bring him back."

Something about the entity's posture seems to droop, sagging somewhere around the shoulders. It wavers for a moment, and then moves forward, approaching Vanitas with a jerky pace. The movement causes a bit of light to spill out of its cloak, as if something inside is glowing, but mostly concealed by the dark fabric. And judging by the sound of its footsteps, it's wearing boots. An unusual feature for a forest spirit.

The creature reaches out both hands and sets them, very gently, on either side of Vanitas' face. It then lowers what must be its head, down and further down until it's resting against the top of his, the long hair dangling down on either side. Its words come out like a whisper.

I̶̗͑͂͐ ̷̼̱̻͝c̵̘̈̑͋o̶̺͛ù̵̱̗̫͝ḽ̷̆d̶̪̐̓ ̶̙̔̃ǹ̸͇o̷͓̼̍̇͊ͅṱ̸̈́ ̶̮̘̋̈f̴̦̀͑i̴̳̹͍̐̈͝n̵̨̖͒̀d̴͚̫̅̓̈ ̷̛̙̅h̴͓̪̥̄͐̄i̸͉̳̠͂̅͘m̶͚͔̳͋́.̷̲̝́ͅ ̶̩̭͂̾Ḭ̵̢̖̓ ̵̛̪͎͆͂͜a̵͖̔m̷̪̈̈́͂ ̶̟͈͠s̴̛̺̯̬ỏ̵̬͉͜r̸͈̺̈r̸̥͓̽̎ÿ̵̗̏̽.̸̲̈́̅̾

Is that a bit of a hitch in its strange-sounding voice?

Despite his big personality Vanitas is small, and seems smaller here by just how huge the spirit is. Light spills out of it when it's cloak moves, but Vanitas can't really feel it; not the way he knows he should, not so close to the source, and it drives home the place snipped clean in his heart where the tether should be.

He can count on less than one hand the number of people to have showed him this kind of compassion. Vanitas might even have spurned it if he weren't rubbed raw by now. With a mighty effort he raises both hands against the pressure of this creature's presence weighing him down and clutches the hands on his head. Not to pull them off; just to hold on.

"Look again!" It's a sob. "Look again— this isn't fair—"

The creature continues to mumble against Vanitas' forehead.

Ḋ̸̠e̸̼̕ā̸̘ṱ̴͑h̶͕̥̀̓ ̷̖̗́i̶̢̊s̵͓͗͠ ̵͉̆̾n̸̦̳͐͘o̷̫̾t̵̝̀ ̵̗̊f̵͙̈a̷͖͙͘i̸̠̎͝r̸̼̐͛,̷̺̬͆ ̵̫́́c̷̮̟̽h̴̼̋i̵͇̓l̶̙̕͜d̷̤̠͑.̵̧̰̒

It pauses for a moment, breathing carefully in and out. Its next words are... oddly more coherent, though spoken very slowly and with difficulty.

"There are things I cannot fix. I am sorry."

It isn't fair he says, and means his own loss. Vanitas came back: Vanitas who is all dark and no light, who shouldn't have existed in the first place, whose existence is suffering. But not Gene, who was kind while understanding how vicious he could be. Not Sora, who has always defied fate; who let Vanitas rest with him, who used the word 'friend' after every cruel thing he'd done.

Emotion floods out of him, drawing wet tracks down his face and bubbling up in the shape of small Unversed that tremble and huddle under Vanitas' legs and try to hide under the spirit's cloak.

"It isn't fair! You brought me back— you have to!" Maybe the only reason it isn't a wail is because forcing himself to talk is like swallowing tar under the spirit's paralyzing pressure. Vanitas shakes, exhaustion creeping up under all that adrenaline now that he's forced to stay still.

"I can't—" But he chokes on the confession and doesn't finish whatever he was about to admit to.

If the entity is bothered by those little Unversed, they don't show it. The creatures are welcome to gather around its long legs as they wish.

For its part, the entity makes a quiet sound like a drawn-out "shhhhh", rubbing its thumbs over Vanitas' temples. Again it speaks in its stilted manner:

"One is not more important than the other. I did not choose."

Though he clearly has other things on his mind at the moment, at some future time Vanitas may remember that there's something of a feminine quality to this voice.

There's safety under that cloak, and when the Unversed aren't killed on contact with whatever glows under it, the others start to scuttle forward and tuck themselves away underneath the fabric, climbing on whatever might pass as feet or legs underneath there.

This is maybe only the third time in his life Vanitas has ever been soothed, and the pressure on his temples makes him close his eyes with a small, pathetic sound in the back of his throat. He holds onto the entity's wrists with the sort of grip that would bruise a normal person.

"If I find him," It's barely more than a whimper, "Will you bring him back?" There's nothing altruistic about the question, only his own selfish desire to stop hurting.

Whatever's glowing under the cloak seems to be higher up, so the Unversed don't touch it directly, and the creature doesn't seem to mind the climbing. Nor does it seem to mind the death grip on its wrists.

"Yes," it breathes out. "Of course. But do not fixate. Your friend would not want this. There is much to do."

"I don't care," About what Sora wants? About the work they have to do? All of the above?

Vanitas grits his teeth and pushes his face against the spirit, shaking his head. Maybe just to feel the resistance, to feel something solid that isn't the hollow yawn in his chest.

"What you want is Light—" And Vanitas has never had that. His knees threaten to give out under the weight of his own grief and the pressure of the entity's presence. If they wanted to bring Light back to this place, then why bring Vanitas? Why take Gene, why take Sora? This creature should have left him in the woods when they tore him apart. At least then he wouldn't feel anything at all. "Don't you see? What I am— is Darkness.

I'm no use to you."

The creature shakes its head in return, its long hair waving around them both like a curtain.

"Return the light or not, that is your choice. You misunderstand."

It extricates one hand from Vanitas' grip, easily, as if it could have done so the whole time. The hand moves to indicate his lantern.

"You have this kind. That is what matters."

It isn't the first time a spirit has made him feel weak. It pulls out of his vice-like grip like it's nothing but a baby's, and Vanitas feels himself reaching for that lost contact before putting his unmoored hand on his own chest. He should be asking what is this entity, how does it have this kind of power, how does it have it's own light when it's gone from everything else— and why can't he feel it?— but those aren't answers that he needs right now.

"I don't want it," The only thing he's ever wanted is to stop hurting, and he doesn't see an end to that. Connection didn't help. All it brought was more misery when they were gone. "Just— make it stop."

The creature offers no answers to those questions, and the answer it does offer probably isn't the one Vanitas is looking for.

"I cannot mend this kind. Nothing can."

It breathes deeply for a moment, as if thinking, or hesitating. Or both.

"But you are not broken forever."

She— It?— is wrong. Vanitas knows he'll be this half a person for eternity, without Ventus, without Sora. Even with the x-Blade in his possession, there's no relief to be found in it. Without the other half, it's only a weapon, like Vanitas himself. But with the adrenaline pooled out of him now, held by this dark monster with it's low, stilted voice, and the weight of the entity's presence, he's too tired to keep fighting. Whether the spirit will stay or not, just like that, all the strength goes out of him and Vanitas passes out.

The entity catches him as he collapses, moving him over to what's left of one of the former makeshift clinic's cots. Now at least he's on something soft?

When he finally wakes, the creature is long gone, but there's a small blue flower lying next to him.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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