The Next Night OOC

FERRY ARRIVAL: MARCH
DANCING QUEEN

Howdy, players! This is our very first OOC ferry arrival post (check out the March gameplan if you're not sure what's going on!), so here's a little reminder of how this will work:

Everything that current players need to know about the non-intro log ferry arrivals will be posted in a ferry arrival announcement like this alongside our TDM. If you don't follow the meme comm, you don't have to worry about missing out on important plot or game info. It'll all be right here.

On that note, this post is just OOC info! Go check out the current TDM if you want to do some threading. You might remember that our TDMs of the past had mini versions of events on them, so instead of that, one TDM prompt will now always contain the "mini event" for the ferry arrival. We'll include that TDM prompt on these ferry arrival write-ups.

•••
So what's up for this ferry arrival? Well, uh... Here's your ferry arrival prompt for the month (cw corpses):

When the ferry chugs up to the dock, its speakers are crackling with a happy song. What a fun way to bring in all the newcomers! Except... goodness, what's that terrible stench? The ferry docks and lowers its gangway as per usual, but the ship is quiet. No newcomers flock to the deck to disembark, and instead, the faint sound of buzzing flies can be heard over the breeze.

Boarding the ferry quickly reveals the source of the flies: decaying bodies, dozens of them, are littered throughout the ship. Some lie in bunks and could be asleep if it weren't for the rot, and others are strewn throughout the cargo hold and the deck. There are no lanterns among them, and there aren't any signs of fighting or struggle around the ship. Inspecting the bodies (if anyone seriously wants to do that) won't yield any definitive answers in terms of cause of death, but, oh. Though it's difficult to tell at first glance due to the decay, these bodies... They're residents of Beacon.

Maybe you find your friend or yourself or, oh, there's Rastus! And Robin! The gang's all here, albeit disgustingly—and Dancing Queen crackles over the speakers. Welcome, welcome!

—but before the ferry departs again, the corpses start to move. Moving about the ship, someone might first hear a sigh, or a sputter, or a little laugh, and maybe it could be brushed off as a trick of the mind until the bodies stand, hoisting themselves up with whatever limbs they have left, and drag themselves toward the deck. One by one, they slip clumsily over the railing and back into the lake, but not before they drop their disguises and slowly contort back into their usual forest spirit bodies (source).

Ugh. Frickin' spirits.

•••
So, yeah! To address this weird first ferry with no people on it, not long after the ferry shows up with, uh, no people and a whole lotta corpses (that turn out to be forest spirits playing a very uncool prank, Robin makes a post to the network!

Oh holy god uhhhh OK so no idea what's going on with the ferry this month, wow. Data from the portal is saying nobody new came through, so... nothing to worry about!!! Probably!! I really don't know anything more than you guys right now but I'm gonna get in touch with Dr. Solis. She'll have a better idea of what's going on than me. I'll get back to you all as soon as we figure out what's up.

She then invites everyone to play hangman, but that's just a TDM prompt with no big plot significance. Point is: stay tuned for Dr. Solis' network post on March 3! Everything will be explained then.