nextnightmods | GAME HISTORY.

GAME HISTORY.

GAME HISTORY
Just joined the game and have no idea what's going on? Just got back from a hiatus and feel like you missed something? Need a general refresher on the plot? Don't worry, that's what this page is for!

In the comments below, you'll find brief summaries of all major developments that have taken place in the game so far, in chronological order. This will include both game plot developments and major player plot developments, and it will be kept up to date as new events occur.

This information is available ICly, though not in these exact words. It can currently be found in the records room of town hall, in the form of journals, quick notes, books, etc.. Who wrote this material? That's up to you. Maybe it was a past resident of the town, their name lost to time. Perhaps it was one of the NPCs roaming about. It could've even been another character. As there are likely multiple accounts floating about, they really could've been written by anyone.

Elden and Wanda have also taken it upon themselves to supply the town hall and Invincible with a set of log books for everyone in town to transcribe recent events! Contact Margot for more information.

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Major Events

The first group of characters arrives on the ferry at a mostly-abandoned town called Beacon. There is no day, fire won't catch, and there are very few sources of true light. Oh, and also, everyone's dead.

The characters meet Winters, Rastus, and Will, three people who have been in Beacon for a long time, and are apparently the only ones left.

Will makes some updates to the tablets.

The Graves event occurs, and characters see each others' deaths (including those of the NPCs) via offerings at their graves.

Winters announces his plan to reconnect the Lighthouse Keeper to the network.

Discoveries

Eventually, the characters begin to explore. Locations unlocked this month include: the Post Office, the village, and the Museum.

The characters also meet several forest spirits, and learn that everything that isn't a person with a lantern is a forest spirit. Notable forest spirits the characters meet include: the Postmaster General, the Librarian, the Ice Cream Crab, and... something under the church.

Several people attempt to open the hatch in the church, only to be met with another, metal hatch underneath. This one proves impossible to open.

The characters build bridges over the river to the village section of town.

Lore

From Winters and Will, the new arrivals learn about the Lighthouse Keeper, a woman whose role it is to "protect and control the town". She cannot leave the lighthouse, and if certain (currently unknown) conditions are not met, she will reset the town.

The previous group of people, which Winters and Will were a part of, was lost in one of these "resets" after they apparently turned on one another. This may have had something to do with the church.

The Lighthouse Keeper is currently disconnected from the network. She will have to be reconnected manually.

This world is dead. It is believed that the goal is to "fix the world" somehow.

Apparently, there have been many groups before this one, and many resets.

Winters was chosen by the Lighthouse Keeper to serve as a guide to new arrivals, and Rastus is in charge of tending the all-important Bonfire. Will's survival is a mystery.

There is something important that Will and Winters are holding back, but they promise to reveal it in due time. It involves "something out there" and the Keeper's role as protector of the town.

According to Rastus, there is only one person left who was alive before the world went dark. Their identity is still unknown.

The characters learn that the church is where those who die in Beacon are brought back, but not everyone is. Some come back wrong, and those whose lanterns are too damaged don't come back at all.

A mysterious package is received.

Major Events

A new batch of characters arrives on the ferry, but this time they've brought company. A horde of rat-spirits briefly invades the town.

A flood drives out the remaining vermin and temporarily makes travel very dangerous.

Several groups devise a plan to reconnect the Lighthouse Keeper. A large party will be held to help distract the forest spirits while lookouts, guards, and one small team led by Winters set out to reach the lighthouse.

The plan is enacted. Things seem to be going well...

Until they suddenly aren't. Though the groups manage to connect the lighthouse successfully, the forest spirits realize what's happening and attack the expedition. The foghorn sounds and causes the spirits at the party to behave strangely. Many are killed in the resulting chaos, including Winters.

Winters does not return.

The Lighthouse Keeper makes her first appearance on the network to answer some questions.

Discoveries

Someone figured out what happens when you try to take a candle from the church.

A sign was added to the church. Possibly related to the above.

A forest spirit was adopted.

A rat was dissected. So the spirits do bleed.

A strange machine became available.

Lore

Many things were learned from the Lighthouse Keeper, Robin, including why she won't answer certain questions.

Robin has been the Keeper for about 20 years. She became the Keeper when the previous Keeper no longer wished to continue.

The lighthouse is Robin's lantern.

Bad things would happen if the lighthouse ever went dark.

The forest spirits are protective of the lighthouse, both to keep Robin in and to keep others out.

Robin has the ability to translate to the forest spirits.

There is someone left from before the world died. The world died approximately a hundred years ago.

Robin also writes the weekly bulletin. The information is gathered for her by spirits and Rastus.

The previous group devolved into a murder spree, and was therefore getting no closer to a solution to Beacon's problems. This is one of the reasons Robin has to perform the resets.

Robin won't reveal the entire town's layout, but she has her reasons.

People are pulled into Beacon through some sort of portal, though Robin does not understand how it works.

Major Events

The new arrivals come in as usual, but this time, the ferry also bears gifts courtesy of Robin, the Lighthouse Keeper. Characters now have a way to attempt communication with the forest spirits.

Those gifts become useful when, in the aftermath of last month's disastrous party/expedition, Rastus holds a vigil of remembrance for those lost— Beaconite and forest spirit alike.

Will revealed the existence of the World Eaters to the town at last.

A group of Beacon residents led by Jason Grace attempts to start a new tradition: capture the flag! This first game seems to go well, with some fun twists for everyone.

Robin hosts a scavenger hunt for prizes, to help everyone work together and mend fences after last month.

Eliot Waugh throws a big ol party at the Invincible. Booze for all!

Insects (or rather insect-shaped forest spirits) have returned to the woods. Just what everyone wanted!

Discoveries

Turns out the creature under the church will show up if you wreck the place. Who knew?

(Thankfully, a kind group of volunteers has started to fix things up.)

Davina Claire discovered that it's a bad idea to go in the river.

A large expedition group discovered a new location: The Armory!

Rosinante found out what happens when you fish in the lake.

Lore

The reason for the resets is that there are beings known as World Eaters who are attracted to light. They will come and make the town uninhabitable in roughly two years' time, so to prevent this, Robin resets any groups who do not make progress toward a solution.

Winters and Will did not release this information earlier in the fear that it might cause another reset.

Robin waits until the situation is "hopeless"; she does not reset the town lightly.

Will and Winters' group was convinced that the entity under the church was the key to their situation, and they killed one another to provoke it.

There is no known way to fight the World Eaters, and no one is known to have seen one, but there are pictures.

It is believed by Will and Robin that the World Eaters are responsible for the state of perpetual darkness in Beacon.

There are other people somewhere nearby. Not much is known about them, but they exist.

The mysterious person who's been around since before the darkness can be referred to as "Mom". According to Robin, at least.

Will survived his reset by hacking into the lighthouse computer.

There seems to be some evidence pointing to the members of previous groups.

Daylight found an interesting conversation on Winters' tablet.

Aziraphale had an interesting conversation of his own with the creature under the church.

Jason Todd found even more interesting conversations by hacking into Will's tablet.

Finally not a conversation, it seems flight is somewhat difficult in Beacon.

There are now some markers to indicate trees that are inhabited by forest spirits.

Major Events

The new arrivals came as usual, along with the prizes from last month's scavenger hunt, but things didn't end there. Crowley, Aziraphale, and Bucky Barnes hijacked the ferry, causing it to crash. And sink. Goodbye, ferry.

Luckily, the efforts of many townsfolk and newbies alike managed to salvage most of the supplies. Good job, everyone.

Will made another update to the tablets. And publicly shamed the ferry-crashers.

A certain two someones, who shall not be named, destroyed the boat house.

Everyone experienced some highly unsettling hallucinations for a week. Much trauma was had by all, but it was worse for those who ventured into the forest.

The forest spirits put on a cautionary play about the Fire Snatchers, and proceeded to demonstrate by stealing everyone's stuff.

Discoveries

Hacking Will's tablet yielded some interesting findings, but didn't turn out so great for the perpetrator.

There is now a bridge for easy access to the Armory.

The gacha machine has been refurbished.

The Armory's camouflage is due to a mixture of science and magic.

A bike shop was discovered.

Some railroad tracks were also discovered.

Apparently, some spirits know Morse code.

Some experiments with the lanterns revealed what happens when you try to hide them with magical Darkness.

Lore

According to Will, there's no precedent for the ferry crash. Uh-oh.

Looks like it's possible to find books about yourself in the library. How strange.

The stars over Beacon are slowly disappearing. But there is a "north star" of sorts (two of them, technically), and the stars can be used for navigation.

February began with our very first CAT HERD post, which included a big write-up of the plot thus far: CAT HERD #1: THE PLOT

Most of the plot this month happened by way of THE NIGHT WE MET, a memory-sharing event where opals dropped down from the aurora overhead and each opal contained a pre-death memory belonging to a character in town. Meanwhile, the forest spirits engaged in a "dogsled race" where many of them chose to rocket themselves into the aurora, killing themselves instantly. The forest spirits seem to revere this event as a holiday.

EVENTS

BULLETINS: FEB 2 • FEB 9 • FEB 16 • FEB 23
INTRO LOG: GRAVEYARD WHISTLING
VISIT: THE NIGHT MARKET
PLAYER PLOT: SPIRIT VALENTINE'S DAY OOC INFO
PLAYER PLOT: SPIRIT VALENTINE'S DAY LOG
EVENT INFO: THE NIGHT WE MET
EVENT LOG: THE NIGHT WE MET
THE NIGHT WE MET RANDOM ENCOUNTERS

NOTABLE EXPLORATIONS

JAN 28 - Midge, Sarissa, and Akechi find a walking excavator.

FEB 1 - Rosalind and Javert explore the courthouse, but the hostile forest spirits inside will need to be dealt with before the location becomes fully available.

FEB 3 - Prompto, Lunafreya, Somnus, Ravus, Noctis witness some strange figures and lights at the inland lake.

FEB 3 - Kol delivers a gift from the Librarian to the Postmaster General.

FEB 7 - Misty asks the Postmaster General about the Fire Snatchers.

FEB 8 - Kal-El who is definitely not Clark Kent discovered 25 torches in the elevator shaft of the Landmark Inn.

FEB 8 (cw face trauma) - Maes, Cao Pi, and Will encounter a hostile spirit while searching for the medical center. Cao Pi and Will are killed.

FEB 10 - Fjord, Mollymauk, Alisaie, Kal-El, and Sora experiment with the river. Fjord is killed.

FEB 12 - Misty and Bucky find... the stump... uvu

FEB 23 - Fjord attempts to get past the crocodile spirits in the shopping center. He learns they want their own territory!

FEB 23 - Carmilla consumes a forest spirit and suffers some strange, green-eyed side effects.

FEB 24 - Link attempts to communicate with the hostile forest spirits inside the courthouse. He learns they want to consume!

FEB 24 - Vanitas attempts to portal across the lake. He encounters some strange noises and sensations in the portal, as well as some hostile forest spirits.

FEB 25 - Ignis asks the forest spirits why they wear masks. The masks are a part of them and their culture, it seems.

LOCATION DISCOVERIES

THE PAWN SHOP - discovered by Coraline
THE SCULPTURE PARK - discovered by Mollymauk, Jason G., Kol, Duster, and Ambrose
THE GREENHOUSE - discovered by Xayah
THE WEATHER STATION - discovered by Castiel, Stone, and Rosinante
DOWNTOWN: THE DELFT THEATER - discovered by Peter P., Jason T., Bruce, Riku
DOWNTOWN: THE FALLOUT SHELTER - discovered by Duster and Tadashi

NOTABLE NPC THREADS

RASTUS - Link asks Rastus ~~if he's Javert~~ about the bonfire, lanterns, and World Eaters.

DR. SOLIS - Daylight and Cao Pi meet with the elusive Dr. Solis.

ROBIN - Vanitas messages Robin to ask about the World Eaters. They discuss how Robin became the Lighthouse Keeper.

ROBIN - Minimus messages Robin to ask about the Fire Snatchers, which Robin reveals to be more officially called "The Wild Hunt". They discuss the world and the position of Lighthouse Keeper.

PLUTO - Pluto reveals to Rosinante that the Night Market was affected by the lantern malfunctions during a recent event. One crew member died and another was critically wounded.

PLUTO - Minimus asks Pluto for details on the Night Market faction.

PLUTO - Jason G. gets the same story as Rosinante with regard to the lantern malfunction event.

LETTERS SENT BY DR. SOLIS: Daylight, Mollymauk, Maes, Aziraphale, Rosinante

OOC

GAMEPLAN: FEBRUARY
CAT HERD #1
MOD ANNOUNCEMENT: GAME UPDATES
MOD ANNOUNCEMENT: DOWNTOWN UNLOCKS
MOD ANNOUNCEMENT: APP CYCLE SCHEDULE
ACTIVITY CHECK

Major events:

The ferry arrives empty, for the first time - loaded with cargo, sure, but no new people.

Dr. Solis finally addresses the network to explain that she has been working on improving the ability to repair lanterns, and that she is particularly interested in reviving a former Lighthouse Keeper whose lantern was delivered to Robin by the green-eyed spirits a few months previous.

Green-eyed spirits kidnap about half the town and perform gruesome torture and experiments on them. The Wild Hunt arrives to help free everyone, and then explains their position - the world is dead, and the kindest thing to do is to let it die, and perhaps the world eaters will then die with it, having no remaining food source.

Robin warns the town that the Wild Hunt may themselves be dangerous and in "letting the world die" they might actively attack people and try to snuff out lanterns.

Pluto steps forward with a plan to kill the World Eaters for those who will work with her and against the Wild Hunt.

Discoveries:

Daylight shares his findings on spirit language and provides an update to the tablet app for better translation.

Jo Harvelle warns everyone that there's a deadly swamp out past the scrapyard. Be careful when exploring, everyone!

A group of explorers finds the amusement park, which is a lot of fun probably but also features the euthanasia coaster that was used as a peaceful way out when the world was in its death stages.

Beacon General Hospital is discovered by half the town while being held prisoner by the green-eyed spirits.

Lore:

Matt Murdock shares an opal with the network which seems to take place shortly after the original residents of Beacon launched nuclear missiles at a World Eater.

Spirit birds arrive and begin to fill the forests with song.

Edited 2020-06-23 01:23 (UTC)

Major events:

An immense flood tears through Beacon. It causes an immense amount of damage to structures in town, including the Lighthouse, which falls when the cliff below it erodes.

Characters struggle to maintain important buildings and supplies. Thankfully, The Invincible, the Church, the Landmark Hotel, and the General Store are all saved by people working hard to keep them intact. The Bonfire itself is split up into piles of torches which are protected indoors, and most are saved.

The Town Hall, the Medical Center, the Village housing, and the Museum are hit especially hard.

Contact with Dr. Maridel Solis is seemingly lost, as she becomes unresponsive on the network.

Discoveries:

Will talks a lot and eventually produces a map to a location that had not yet been explored by the current group in Beacon.

A new safety app is uploaded to the network to allow people to check in during emergencies

Lore:

Bottles of sand on the ferry's arrival cause people to dream of Beacon in its living, breathing, light-bearing heyday.

OOC:

In the Night is brought to a close.

The Next Night is born, and continues exactly from where the game ended, with a few small changes. Some of those changes (no apps, no deaths, no new items) were temporary due to IC events and have since been restored. Permanent changes include the removal of previous NPCs (as they were the characters of the previous mod team), and because of their disappearance, the Wild Hunt vs Night Market faction split also ends.

Major Events:

The storm ends and the flood receeds, everyone takes stock of what's left

In addition to the damage to the buildings in town, it is discovered that half the town's citizens are missing, a new welcome message plays on the tablets which can no longer be edited

Spirits try to help repair the damage with garbage

Feathers are found around town that lead to torches in different locations when followed, buildings are uncovered, pieces of lanterns and tablets of past reset citizens are also found

Jason organizes and holds a memorial for those lost in the flood

A post is made on the network by Clara, Dr. Solis's robot assistant, after emergency protocol is initiated; she states that Dr. Solis has gone missing

A bulletin is made confirming the deaths of half the town, including Dr Solis and Rastus, lanterns are unable to be repaired, supplies are unable to be retrieved

Discoveries:

Ephrim, Pudding, Misty, and Xayah investigate the Greenhouse and discover that some plants yield more food while others exhibit healing properties

Javert investigates the sewer and attempts to open the door down there with a key he got from the skunk judge

Fjord and Soldat explore a tunnel underneath the church, they discover a keypad to be opened with a combination along with a lot of decomposed bodies, a post is made about it

One of Rastus's feathers prompts the exploration of one of the buildings it was found by; Daybreak Orphanage is discovered

The graveyard is discovered by Duster, he makes a network post announcing it

Kuai Liang, Matt Murdock, and Minimus Ambus discover Dr. Solis's labs and find Clara, who is brought back with them, people volunteer for lantern repair and newcomer and item acquisition, Clara takes over as bonfire keeper, everyone falls in love with her

Lore:

After the bridges are repaired, Stone, Sora, Rosinante, and Jason head to the Lighthouse remains and find records from a previous keeper

Ardyn absorbs a child spirit and gets very sick in addition to experiencing some of its memories

Edited 2020-07-04 04:59 (UTC)

Major events:

Robin posts to the network, confirming she's alive.

The spirits throw a solstice party in a sunless world. Which sounds fun, right? Until festivities get out of hand, people begin to act like spirits, some people join the Parade for a bit, and it turns violent. Thankfully with people now able to attempt to repair lanterns at Solis' Lab, many of the dead are able to come back.

The Radio Tower, on discovery, is receiving an SOS message from the Helix Station which says they have a world eater within that killed most of the people there. A group of explorers manages to contact a survivor at the station who pleads for help.

Discoveries:

The Radio Tower is discovered and seems to be inhabited by a spirit that loves walkie-talkies and birds.

Major Events:

The Radio Tower, on discovery, is receiving an SOS message from the Helix Station which says they have a world eater within that killed most of the people there. A group of explorers manages to contact a survivor at the station.

A crew from Beacon descends to the Helix Station, at long last. They are split into three groups - one team goes to restore power to the station, another explores the Research and Development wing where weapons were being tested and spirits were being experimented on, and a third team goes to explore the crew quarters to obtain the keys needed to open the portal room door, where an injured, and likely immature, World Eater is trapped within the portal itself.

A lantern is delivered to Haein by a forest spirit. It is the same lantern that was given to Robin by the green-eyed spirits some time ago. He manages to restore it at Solis' Lab, and thus Beacon is treated to the arrival of Diode, a former lighthouse keeper.

Ultimately, after weighing their options, the group in the Helix Station decides to try Weaver and Pluto's plan to kill the World Eater with an internally-detonated bomb. It works, but the cost is heavy - some are killed outright, while others suffer heavy physical and mental wounds.

Discoveries:

While exploring the R&D wing of the Helix Station, a group manages to find Weaver, the only survivor of the Night Market.

After the group from Beacon returns to town, Weaver offers to help with tech and repairs if those who ask for help are willing to pay her back by helping to clean up and restore the Helix Station, where she wishes to remain.

Lore:

Jul 1 weekly bulletin as posted by the Librarian.

It has been one whole year since the last reset!

Weaver explains that the World Eater trapped in the Helix Station was intentionally brought there in order to test a weapon that the Night Market crew was working on: a drone with an attached plutonium-derived bomb. The idea Pluto had was to deploy the bomb inside the World Eater, through a mouth or other opening or site of injury.

Unfortunately, even an underdeveloped World Eater is immensely strong, and its presence caused green-eyed spirits, trapped within the station for experimentation, to break free and begin to kill the residents in combination with the deaths caused by the World Eater's presence. Several of the crew died simply after seeing it or being within close proximity for too long.

While the World Eater was ultimately killed, other avenues were explored. Magically-inclined members of the Night Market had developed potions which provided some mental resistance against the hallucinatory effects of the World Eater, as well as tranquilizers which were powerful enough to temporarily help contain it. Another former member had found a way to eject the World Eater out of the portal back to where they had pulled it in from.

Major Events:

CAT HERD 2 was posted at the end of September. It summarizes the majority of relevant plot points at this point in time, and provides direction on the next steps to take. If you don't read anything else, at least read this!

The August portal arrival also includes a town hall meeting organized by Cao Pi, where people who explored the Helix Station the previous month came together and discussed their findings.

Feeling as though people might need something lighthearted and fun as a break, the spirits got the Amusement Park up and running for a bit in order to put on a carnival complete with food, games, and fortune telling.
In mid-September, forest spirits from the outskirts of town and beyond visited, having heard the people in town might be willing to welcome them. They shared their memories with people who gave them gifts. These memories included the following information:
- The forest spirits are what remains of not just dead townspeople from before the world eaters, but also anyone who has died since. People currently in Beacon can die and become forest spirits if their lanterns are not repaired.

- The green-eyed spirits arise from forest spirits.

- The first World Eater to arrive was killed just before everything went fully dark. The military took control of the Helix Station and tasked them with building weapons. Multiple nuclear warheads were eventually launched at that World Eater, and it was in fact destroyed in the bombing as witnessed by a man stationed at a makeshift observation post in the power plant who was one of the few left alive by that point. He succumbed shortly after but left behind a journal.

- Multiple new locations were hinted at: a farm, a pizza shop, a missile silo and bunker with a plutonium cache, the power station, and the mines.

- Various groups in Beacon since have tried to kill the remaining World Eater(s?) but have all failed, though one group did manage to stun a World Eater with an EMP but their lanterns were snuffed out in the process. Other groups were set upon by spirits, which attacked when they heard the World Eaters' speaking to them, similar to how resets were conducted using World Eater language.

- Most of the spirits do now want to help the current group in Beacon succeed, but are unsure how to do so.

Discoveries:

Javert discovered the Wastewater Treatment Plant, where highly-useful items can turn up any time an explorer succeeds in reaching the plant. However, travel there is likely to be dangerous and at least one green-eyed spirit seems to be stalking the area.

Explorers seeking the mines found a train station instead along the way. The tracks seemed to lead further, and will have to be revisited. The group found a journal written by the Wild Hunt with details on every arrival ever in Beacon up until just before the flood.

Merwen has a lead on another new location that has yet to be found.

Lore:

See above! The major event in September with the visiting spirits contained a lot of detailed lore information that informs some possibilities for current plot strategies.