cat herd #1 - the plot

[beaconkeeper]

Unless otherwise noted, all of the information in this plot write-up can be considered common knowledge from this point forward. It's fun to thread out info sharing and puzzle solving, but you don't need to do that with every detail. If it's more fun for you to assume your character gets caught up offscreen so that you can focus on exploring new things and solving new puzzles, go right ahead!

•••
BEACON'S HISTORY - PRE-DARKNESS (up to 1979)

• All of the relevant town history begins in 1969, which is when Dr. Maridel Solis succeeded in opening up the world's first interdimensional portal. She continued to experiment with portal creation until 1970, when she accidentally opened a portal into a dead world. She tried to close the portal, but she made a mistake, and the portal was left partially open but broken beyond repair. This is the portal that currently remains in Beacon, the one that new characters enter the game through. More on that in a bit. This information was learned through journal entries discovered in Dr. Solis' lab during the Enter Mr. Sandman event in November. The journal entries are not available ICly, but all the info in this bullet point can be considered public knowledge.


• MYSTERY: Although Dr. Solis closed the portal in a hurry, she wasn't fast enough, and was witnessed by something...


• The world finally went completely dark in 1979, but the process was slow. The world started to show signs of death not long after the portal incident in 1970.


• MYSTERY: Not much is known about the end times! Here's a small hint, though: All of the dream threads from the Enter Mr. Sandman event were set during Beacon's end times between 1970 and 1979.


• The current year according to Dr. Solis is 2054, and Beacon has been dark for 75 years this year. This information is not yet common knowledge, as the conversation with Dr. Solis is ongoing. Stay tuned!

BEACON'S HISTORY - POST-DARKNESS (1979 to start of game)

• MYSTERY: Not much is known about Beacon's past after the world went dark! Robin has shared some info from her personal history in Beacon (which we'll get into in her section down below), but little is known about past groups and the progress they've made (or haven't made). Surely someone must know something, or perhaps there are clues around town?


• The group reset last, the group Winters and Will were part of, were reset by Robin because they started killing each other to provoke "the creature under the trapdoor in the church" to reveal themselves. This did not work! The residents devolved into irreconcilable distrust and chaos, leading Robin to reset the group well before the World Eaters became an immediate thread.


• MYSTERY: Many small pieces of evidence of past residents have been found around town! Books at the library, objects spit out by the gacha machine, or names in the Landmark's guest registry, for example. We're marking this as a mystery because it's not an avenue anyone's looked to deeply into yet, even though "stuff from former residents" is a known thing.

GAME HISTORY

• When the game first opened, we had a whole different set of NPCs! Winters and Will were the charged with orienting the new arrivals, as the lighthouse was disconnected from the network during the last reset. But, during the August expedition to reconnect the lighthouse, Winters was killed by forest spirits, and he hasn't returned. Will, on the other hand, was "demoted" to just a regular player character with the destruction of his super special tablet during the Enter Mr. Sandman event (OOCly, this is because Leu stepped down from the mod team). Rastus was also around and doing his usual bonfire keeper duties at this time. He mostly just gets up to Rastus stuff and steers clear of the plot. Reconnecting the lighthouse to the network was successful, and Robin the Lighthouse Keeper joined the gang as an official NPC.


• In October, some characters hijacked and crashed the ferry. The ferry was fixed up by the Night Market, a group of researchers/artisans living in a research station at the bottom of the lake. They hadn't been planning on showing themselves that early so they tried to keep a low profile, but new arrivals on the ferry witnessed some odd blue lights in the water... Later, it was revealed that these were the Night Market's submarines. More on them in a minute.


• Later in October, the forest spirits put on a play! That'll come back later, too.


• In November, the green-eyed forest spirits invaded the town, leading some characters to fall into a hallucinogenic coma while others were left to defend the town from the forest spirit attack. This is the "Enter Mr. Sandman" or "dreamer/defender event" that will be mentioned elsewhere in this write-up. The dreamers uncovered a lot of plot info, as they were able to explore a dreamscape version of Beacon's past, before the world went dark.


• MYSTERY: During this event, Robin was mysteriously absent from the network, and it was revealed later that the lighthouse had been invaded by green-eyed spirits. They tortured her and made her hallucinate some stuff of her own, but most notably, they gave her an old, broken lantern. Robin sent the lantern off to be studied by Dr. Solis. No one, including the NPCs, claims to recognize the lantern.


• The Night Market made their official debut in December, introducing both Pluto as a permanent NPC and the Night Market as a permanent game mechanic.


• MYSTERY: Most recently, our January event introduced another new game mechanic: lantern malfunctions! Next to nothing is known about these malfunctions other than what's available on the relevant game pages, and neither Robin nor Dr. Solis seems to know why it's happening, either.


• Of course, these are only the broad strokes of our game's history; more details can be found on the game history page or by checking out past events on the comms! The events listed are just the most plot-relevant.


• According to Robin, unless an NPC outright claims responsibility for an event, it can be chalked up to the forest spirits in some capacity, or perhaps just general world weirdness. The world is dead, after all, and that sometimes triggers weird happenings. Robin has also assured folks that NPCs charged with protecting the town—like Rastus, Dr. Solis, and herself‐won't put on events meant to upset the residents. All of the NPCs currently available have expressed an interest in working together with both the residents and with each other, so that's neat.

•••
THE PORTAL

• The interdimensional portal that all characters enter the town through is semi-uncontrollable and... straight up busted. Dr. Solis opened the portal way back before the world went dark, and you can check out that history a couple sections up. The portal itself is located beneath the lake somewhere, but it can be manipulated slightly using equipment in both the lighthouse and the Helix station run by the Night Market.


• Currently, the portal operates under the following set of rules: Only dead things and inanimate objects can safely pass through the portal; the portal is one-way and nothing can be sent out of this world; and a new portal would need to be opened in order to create a two-way transfer between worlds, but none of the NPCs are willing to do that as it'd be super risky.


• MYSTERY: According to various NPCs, attempting to bring living beings through the portal would be disastrous, killing the being permanently, and not in a fun way where they get a lantern now. In general, there's plenty of stuff to learn about the portal. Not much is known about it yet.


• Robin and Pluto use the portal to get supplies for the town and its residents. According to Pluto, the quantum physics/math required to aim the portal at specific items (personal items from home, for example) is difficult to master, which is why she can get specific/personal items while items requests put in through Rastus (which he then sends off to Robin) are less... accurate.


• The portal doesn't look like anything, according to Pluto. She's described it like a black hole; she and the rest of the Night Market are studying it through data readings they get through equipment on the Helix station.

THE LANTERNS

• Every character arrives in Beacon with a lantern of their own, and it's essentially each character's life force/energy/what have you in convenient flashlight form. Lanterns need to be kept on or near a character's person in order for that character to continue to survive. Lots of experimentation with the lanterns has already been done to ICly figure out their mechanics, such as experiments with hiding the light through magic and trying to keep a dead lantern.


• MYSTERY: The lanterns and the bonfire are the only true sources of light in town, save for the lighthouse (which is Robin's lantern anyway) and the stars/moon overhead.


• MYSTERY: 3D printers that print custom lanterns were discovered in Dr. Solis' lab in a dream during the Enter Mr. Sandman event, so it's thought that she is the one who created the lanterns in the first place. Given that she's the one that repairs lanterns to bring people back to life, this seems pretty likely. She probably knows a whole bunch of stuff about the lanterns!


• MYSTERY: Robin has said that masking the light won't work to fend off the World Eaters, as they can sense the life energy more than they can see the light. This is why solutions like simply retreating underground/underwater or otherwise attempting to hide from the World Eaters won't work.

THE FOREST SPIRITS

• The forest spirits are any and all residents of Beacon that don't have a lantern. If it's alive and doesn't have its own lantern, it's a forest spirit. This includes any wildlife in town, even down to the insects! Some are friendly while others are neutral or even hostile, though the hostile ones don't usually venture into the discovered areas of town. They can be encountered in explorations, though. Friendly forest spirits can be found readily throughout the town, both staffing and patronizing various businesses. You're always welcome to create your own forest spirit encounters as you play! There's a ton of them in all shapes and sizes, though all forest spirits wear some form of a mask. The notable forest spirits around town are listed on the NPC page


• At this point, the only "wildlife" presence in Beacon is small woodland critters (and insects though they're not out much right now on account of it being winter). More wildlife-ish forest spirits will pop up as the game progresses! Robin has mentioned the possibility of birds in the spring, for example. Forest spirits of all kinds will become more and more of a presence around town as they warm up to the current group of residents.
  
• Forest spirits behave similarly to Pokemon or other "animal-like but with above average intelligence" type creatures. Most of them can understand human speech, but they can't speak it. Some can understand and speak Morse code, though! They themselves speak a music-based language, which is way complicated and tough for characters to puzzle out, but some basic translations are available! Most communication between forest spirits and characters happens as a result of charades.


• The green-eyed spirits are a small subset of forest spirits that seem to be both more intelligent and more hostile than run-of-the-mill spirits. They're capable of inflicting powerful hallucinations on characters, and they've shown an ability to learn quickly, as well. They used their intelligence to hack the network during the Enter Mr. Sandman event, for example, and were able to briefly communicate with characters through text. Unfortunately, they're very violent and prone to attack with no provocation, but supposedly they mean well and are trying to help the town.


• The green-eyed spirits were named by Lunafreya! Sort of. She suggested "Somnium Visus" and they seemed to really dig that moniker. They refer to themselves in this way now.


• MYSTERY: The green-eyed spirits are largely unknown entities, as even the NPCs don't know much about them. Robin has said that they "were the equivalent to Bigfoot" prior to them showing up in force during the Enter Mr. Sandman event, as they were only ever encountered out in the deep woods before then. It's not yet known why the green-eyeds are so active right now. According to some forest spirits, the green-eyeds are "in charge" to a degree, but that relationship is complicated and not necessarily consistent among all forest spirits. In general, what's up with these guys? 🤷‍♀️


• The Parade is also a thing.


• MYSTERY: There's a running theory that the forest spirits used to be people/residents of Beacon, but this hasn't been confirmed or disproven yet. Robin has said that the NPCs' running theory is that the forest spirits are some new species that can only thrive in a dead/dying world. It's difficult to study the forest spirits, as they dissolve into wispy nothingness shortly after they die.


• MYSTERY: Some forest spirits have suggested that they will all die if the light returns to Beacon, but they don't seem bothered by this. They're also apparently willing to follow whichever path the residents choose.

THE WORLD EATERS

• The World Eaters are massive creatures that feed on life force and light. Beacon is dark because the World Eaters have sucked all the life out of the world—or, well, most of it. There's lingering traces of life left in Beacon (read: you guys), and the World Eaters have spent the past 75 years ambling around the planet, searching for the last dregs of light to suck up. (We think that maybe there's a misconception going around that the World Eaters are currently out in space somewhere, which might be true, but also: they are World Eaters on this planet, and those are the ones Robin is watching out for.) Also, here's a picture of one.


• MYSTERY: They seem to have some connection to the forest spirits, as the spirits didn't show up until after the World Eaters arrived and the spirits can understand World Eater language.


• MYSTERY: As of this point in the game, very little is known about the World Eaters. There's no known way to fight/kill/dissuade the World Eaters, although it has been revealed the lighthouse's light is red because they can't detect that color of light.

THE RESETS

• A reset is basically what it sounds like: the Lighthouse Keeper can, at any time, "reset" the town back to what Robin refers to as a save point, like in a video game. A reset undoes all of the exploration progress made by a group, and it also permanently kills all of the current residents. The only people left alive after a reset are the Lighthouse Keeper (Robin), the Bonfire Keeper (Rastus), Dr. Solis, any former residents in the world that are not within the borders of town (the Night Market), and any residents chosen to be spared by the Lighthouse Keeper. Winters, for example, was chosen to be spared by Robin so that he could orient the next group and manually reconnect her to the network.


• The resets are controlled by the Lighthouse Keeper, but they're carried out by forest spirits. Robin has said that the reset commands speak to the forest spirits in "World Eater language" that is incredibly difficult to translate, which is why the instructions for a reset can't be altered save for in a few small ways (like choosing residents to spare).


• The resets are necessary because the World Eaters are attracted to light/life. Residents have roughly two years to work toward a solution before the World Eaters get too close to town and Robin has to start a reset. Robin has also said that she will reset the town if progress grinds to a halt, such as what happened in Winters' and Will's group. The town devolving into a civil war is, uh, pretty not progressy!

•••
ROBIN GUNN, THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER

• Robin is the current Lighthouse Keeper, which is a job that comes with a lot of responsibilities. Mainly, she controls the resets and is responsible for protecting the town from the World Eaters. She has some command over the forest spirits via translation tools and other equipment in the lighthouse. Currently, she's only accessible over the network, as forest spirits will kill anyone who attempts to venture to the lighthouse. They're very protective of it, and are said to almost revere the structure. Robin herself can't leave to come into town, as the lighthouse light serves as her lantern.


• MYSTERY: She's been the Keeper for about 20 years and has presided over 25-30 resets. This makes her "younger" than Rastus and Dr. Solis, but "older" than Pluto. She says that she became the Keeper because the last one didn't want to continue and was planning to destroy the town and then himself by means of a reset. Not much else is known about Robin's promotion, other than that she chose to take up the mantle to avoid dying herself. She's said that she didn't exactly want the job, but she chose it over dying forever and letting this world die, too.


• Robin has talked a little about her life prior to arriving in Beacon: She died in a car accident at 17, she was going to pursue dance had she made it to adulthood, and she had a younger brother who was in the car with her when she died. These aren't things she's shy about sharing, so it may as well be common knowledge. Though she was 17 when she died, she's technically in her late 30s now, but... she's still pretty teenagery.


• The lighthouse comes equipped with a lot of nifty tech that allows Robin to maintain the town from afar. Specifically, she's confirmed to have: a program to translate forest spirit language, weather radar, a radar to detect World Eaters approaching, an archive with records written by previous Keepers, a telegraph to communicate with the Helix station, and programs to roughly control the portal to fulfill item requests and bring in supplies.


• MYSTERY: She's talked about being able to detect anomalies in town by listening to the forest spirits, though she hasn't gone into much detail on this process. She uses the info gained through the forest spirits to write the weekly bulletin and to turn on the lighthouse beam at the first sign of an event or threat.


• She's promised various characters that she won't reset the town on a whim, as it's not a decision she makes lightly. Similarly, she's shown a willingness to answer questions and help to provide the town with more information as necessary, but she's said that she won't outright "spoil" all the town's secrets, in particular the undiscovered portions of the map. She feels it's important for the residents to take ownership of the town and to make it a place they care about, which won't happen if she spoils the fun of exploration! In short, she tends to be forthcoming if asked a direct question or if the information is important for characters to know right away, but is more likely to be coy or clam up in response to broader questions.

RASTUS, THE BONFIRE KEEPER

• Rastus is the bonfire keeper! He takes his job very seriously. His responsibilities include tending to the bonfire, keeping a record of each torch's location, taking orders for specialty items, and... semi-officially, gossiping to Robin. He's supposed to keep her informed as to the town's goings-ons, but sometimes that means she gets multi-page ranting letters about how people keep dying under his watch so he had to put up a magical barricade over the harbor to stop people from sailing out to their doom. Also, he's an arakkoa.


• MYSTERY: Outside of Dr. Solis, Rastus has been here the longest of any NPC. Not much else is known about him or his history, though visions of his death during our very first game event showed that he died in his sleep. He also apparently stayed at the Landmark Inn at some point, Maes discovered his name in the guest registry.


• Rastus doesn't actually obtain the items that come in on the ferry! He's more like the town manager. His job is to take the orders and generally assess the need for supplies in town, and then he writes up a list to send to Robin. Robin then uses the technology available in the lighthouse to "aim" the portal to bring in supplies and specialty goods.

PLUTO, THE LEADER OF THE NIGHT MARKET

• The Night Market is a faction of researchers living in the Helix research station beneath the waves of Lake Red Jacket. They come up once every other month to spend a weekend in the harbor, trading with the residents of Beacon. The Market is made up of various shopkeeper/researcher NPCs. The ringleader is Pluto, who can be found during every Night Market visit. The rest of the shopkeepers are a rotating cast of NPCs. (OOCly, players who meet AC requirements will sometimes be given the chance to play these shopkeeper NPCs! More info on that here.


• Members of the Night Market are all former residents of Beacon, meaning they all came in through the portal and started out in town, just like the PCs. As there's limited space on the Helix station, the group has to be choosy about who they allow to join them. Members are selected at the discretion of the current Night Market leader; they may cherrypick residents from town with special skills that may be useful in finding a way to defeat the World Eaters. According to Pluto, the Night Market is comprised of Beacon's "best and brightest".


• MYSTERY: What are the Night Market's exact goals? We just don't know. Pluto has said that they have every intention of keeping up the alliance between the Market and the townspeople, but she hasn't said much about the details.


• MYSTERY: Pluto herself has been the leader for going on a decade (so roughly 8 years). Before that, she was a normal member of the Market, and before that, a normal resident of Beacon, so she's the baby compared to the other NPCs. She was also apparently named by an 11-year-old. Not much else is known about her, other than that she uses a wheelchair.


• The Night Market only surfaces when they feel a group has earned it. Under the lake, they're safe from resets, but they're also cut off from all of the town's amenities, such as the network, revivals after in-game deaths, and the freedom to, you know, not be confined to a tiny marine research station in the dark. Because of this, they're careful to vet characters before trusting them. According to Pluto, they've only surfaced for 3 groups since she's been with them.

DR. MARIDEL SOLIS, THE MOTHER OF BEACON

• MYSTERY: Dr. Solis and her entire steez is largely a mystery yet, as she's just barely been unlocked as an NPC within the past month or so. She was once thought to be a forest spirit or potentially two different NPCs, so if you hear mentions of "the Hozier in the church", that's Dr. Solis pre-dramatic reveal. She finally revealed herself to Vanitas in late December, and there's an ongoing meeting between her, Daylight, and Cao Pi, which will likely uncover a ton of juicy deets. We'll let Dr. Solis' intro play out naturally so that the involved players have a chance to spread that information around before we detail it all here. In the meantime, Dr. Solis has requested for those involved with the dreamer side of the Enter Mr. Sandman event to write to her detailing what they saw in the dream. All characters are welcome to attempt to contact Dr. Solis through the post office. Her "official" public reveal will happen... soon!


• Here's what is currently known about her, though: She's the last remaining native of Beacon and has been here since before the world went dark (in fact she's the one that caused it to go dark in the first place, albeit accidentally); she stays in seclusion most of the time, which is why she's a long time lurker, first time poster; she maintains the church and is responsible for reviving characters who have died in Beacon. She does this last bit by fixing their lanterns, though some lanterns are beyond repair or never recovered.

???

• MYSTERY: So what was up with that play the forest spirits put on...?

Finally, here's an OOC list of ongoing plot threads! These are not necessarily IC knowledge unless your character has reason to know about it, but we want to round them up here to give players an idea of the stuff currently underway.

• During the Enter Mr. Sandman event, some locations came up that have not yet been discovered in town! All of the locations have been confirmed to be around here somewhere, though: a medical center, an amusement park, a train station, a farm, the furnaces, mines, Dr. Solis' research lab, and a radio tower.


• M.K. found a chunk of plutonium back in July! Currently, it's the only known piece of plutonium uncovered in town. We also have no idea where it got off to, as it seems to have maybe changed hands at some point. Finding it isn't critical to the plot, which means that if it's lost, it's lost forever. Womp womp.


• There's a sewer entrance in East Beacon which leads to a locked gate! The gate seems to need a key to unlock it.


• Some mysterious electrical boxes have been found in buildings downtown. There's space inside of them to attach something roughly the size and shape of a car battery, but, spoiler, if you attempt to plug in an actual car battery from the scrapyard, it won't have any effect. Weird!


• Vanitas and his pals found a mysterious film reel with "1979" written on the case.


• Link ran into a pretty weird thing out in the woods the other day.


• A couple of characters have discovered a Morse code translator app! Apps can sometimes be found during explorations in the form of SD cards, but those apps will need to be shared with the rest of the game somehow in order for them to be readily available to the public.


• Mollymauk and his pals recently discovered an art gallery and sculpture park! Mollymauk also seems to have discovered how to use those GPS coordinates Pluto sold at the last Night Market visit.

If any additions are made to this write-up after it's debut, we'll be sure to note those additions in the comments below.