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.

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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.

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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): carlee, margot, kitty
character(s): elektra, wanda, matt, respectively
type of exploration: expedition!
area of exploration: these three are hoping to trail the river as far as they can to see what crops up.
notes: they are bringing enough rations to allow them to travel for multiple days. wanda has magical abilities, elektra is trained in martial arts, and matt has his slightly nerfed super senses but they still work to a point (even if he's not big on mentioning them). basically, they are all capable of handling an altercation if they need to and have a surprisingly perceptive blind dude along. wanda is smart and brought a torch with, too. c:

Good luck, intrepid adventurers!

To start, how close to the river will they be? And based on this description, we're assuming they're starting roughly from Bonfire Square, heading westward along the north bank of the river. Is this correct?

Will they be looking for anything in particular on their journey?

That's about right! West seems as good a direction as any. Mostly, they are looking for any signs of past groups or residents, even more or less destroyed ones. Anything that seems out of order, and they're sticking fairly close to the river, about 10ft away and following it to see if they can discover anything out of the ordinary.

The first thing the group will come across is a little ways past the fork in the river. It seems like the remains of an old bridge.

Not far after that, there's something kicking about in the fallen leaves up ahead... Whatever's making the noise is too far upstream for their lantern light to touch it, but squinting into the shadows, they'll be able to make out something roughly human-sized and flailing in what seems to be like a modified two-step.

a few clarifying questions:

is the spirit on their side or the across-the-bridge side of the river?

also, can parkour-minded individuals cross the bridge? if not, wanda can levitate, is it possible for her to explore the other side?

The spirit is on the same side of the river as them!

The old bridge is just a battered bunch of rope and planks stuck in the river now (it seems to have washed here from upstream somewhere and gotten caught on the rocks), but anyone in the group may attempt to cross the river! Wanda in particular would be able to levitate to the other side, though if anyone else attempts... We'll let you know how it goes. :)

HMMM so, they're gonna try and chat with the spirit first! they choose to head that direction and maybe they'll head across the river if they feel the need to bail.

they are going to try and talk to it, see how that goes. if speaking doesn't go well, Matt will try the hello song on the ocarina! they are going to approach gently and fairly quietly, bc the last time matt and elektra went in loud they got deafened...

As they approach, the being does indeed appear to be a forest spirit! One some of them may recognize if they were at that party a couple months back... It's the Two-Step King! They're doing their little dance and chugging extensively from a bottle of wine gripped tightly in one hand.

When the Two-Step King sees the group approaching, they hold up a hand to halt them! Do not approach!

But they keep dancing, and when they do, they point at the group with a hand over their eyes. No looking!!!]

Matt was absolutely regaled about this jaunty spirit by Cao Pi. This comes in handy as they confer very quietly with one another about what to do next; the ladies advise Matt what the spirit seems to have requested, as well as its particular dancing talent and noticeable thirst, and Matt surmises that it is, indeed, Their Royal Highness. Since this was a spirit who at least seemed pleased or appeased by their antics before things went south the month prior, they decide to try this same approach and see if information could be gleaned from them before perhaps being compelled to make a hasty departure.

They each make a somewhat theatrical gesture of placing a hand over their eyes (Matt is considerably disgruntled by this, given he's already blind, but Wanda reminds him the spirit doesn't know that and so he begrudgingly goes along with it). The party reasons that Elektra and Matt can hear reasonably well if something untoward starts approaching, and Wanda— well, Wanda doesn't say this aloud but she knows she can telepathically sense spirits approaching in a generic sort of way. Next, all three of them sweep a bow together. They do not approach further, as requested.

Yes, good, this is good. The King appreciates all these gestures, as possibly indicated by the fact the dancing grows more vigorous. Though they hop, skip, and twirl in place, the sound of surprisingly deep breathing gets louder and louder, til it sounds like the King is up close.

Hmm. Their respect is noted, and appreciated, and so the King will offer them a boon. Arise, subjects! Gaze upon them! And notice the way that they're gesturing away from the river rather dismissively. Who wants to go near the river? That's stupid. Instead: the King gestures for them to head a little deeper into the forest.

Now go! Begone, thots! The King is done with you.

Edited 2019-10-08 02:27 (UTC)

since their initial plan was to follow the river's path and the king clearly doesn't want them to, they are all a little dubious about following their instructions. however, they also think it might be a bad idea to disobey the king. after some discussion they decide to follow the king's lead, approaching the forest cautiously. they figure they can always come back to the river later.

Fantastic! The Two-Step King disappears into the shadows behind them, having bestowed their wisdom upon the group.

It's not long after departing from the river that the group will notice a terrain change underfoot. Oh, it seems they've discovered the remnants of a path! The path seems to head east, presumably back toward town, and west, deeper into the forest.

they'll discuss a bit about the merits of going deeper and heading back to town, but ultimately they think they've got it in them to explore a bit more. into the woods they go!

Elektra, Wanda, and Matt head deeper into the woods, following the path west and presumably away from town...

But, oh! Perhaps they're just finding more of the town. Now that they've found a path to follow over reasonably flat ground not totally covered in underbrush, traveling is much easier, and soon they come across a small structure.

The building is overgrown with ivy and a bit slanted, but it looks sturdy enough to enter should they choose. There's not much to see on the outside, but the group will note a couple of things: One is the large garage door that takes up most of the front of the building, and the other is the large set of factory-style windows that line one side of the building. It's too small to be a factory or a proper garage though, as it'd be tough to fit more than a single car inside.

Next to the garage door is a smaller, regular door. The sign in the window reads "OPE".

Is it meant to say "OPEN"? Who can say?

sorry for the wait mods, we got a little swamped this week!!

okay, their first objective is to case the joint for anything suspicious/spooky. the girls can look in the windows etc, matt will listen in to see if there's anything moving in there. if nothing murdery jumps out at them then they're gonna try and get inside! by the small door first, or the garage if necessary!

The windows are too dusty to be able to make out anything inside, unfortunately, but on the plus side, it's all quiet! The group won't find anything in this joint-casing that would hint toward this building being dangerous. That's not to say it isn't, of course, but for now? The coast seems clear enough.

The small door is unlocked, though it's a bit tricky to get open as it's stuck in place from age. They'll manage eventually, and once they do...

It appears they've found a bike shop! The building's interior is just one room and a bit of a mess, with various tools and parts scattered over the shelves and floor, all of it covered in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs. But, good news! The bikes do seem to be operational, and any that aren't could be fixed up with equipment from around the shop.

In a row along the garage door, they'll also find a few motorbikes! They run on electricity, and though all of their batteries are empty at the moment, the bikes will work once given an opportunity to charge.

Other than the bikes and various bike-related stuff, there's not much to the little shop. At the end opposite the garage door, there's a counter and a broken cash register. Papers litter that particular section of the shop, and there's a safe hanging open under the counter that looks to have been broken into a long time ago.

they take a moment to discuss, then wanda and elektra start inspecting the bikes to see how they run and what it would take to repair them. once that's determined, both will examine the papers in that section and try to see what's inside the safe, or what could have been inside the safe. matthew will hang back and keep an ear out for whoever could be approaching or whatever might still be in there with them.

Any less-than-functional bikes just need some quick fixes (e.g. replacing the chains, tuning the brakes, the tires might need some air...) to get going again! Huzzah, something kind of easy!

As far as the papers go, there's no real order to them as they've just been tossed willy-nilly around the shop. The content ranges, and they'll find a variety of papers including scraps of a shop ledger, brochures for local mountain biking trails, guides to proper motorbike upkeep, and hobby magazines relating to bikes, mechanics, and... taxidermy and pin collecting? Sure.

For the safe, there's not much left over, but there is a dusty (and empty) cash register tray and a bank deposit bag.

Matt won't hear anything out of the ordinary, thankfully! It seems they're pretty safe inside the shop.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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