[text] @keeper; cw: character death [open]

[beaconkeeper]

Heyyy everybody. I'm the LH Keeper. I know you guys probably got some questions for me but like sit tight first OK? I promise I'll answer eeeeverything you wanna know in just a sec. There's a couple things I wanna say.

The first one being, hi! I'm Robin. It's SO good to finally get to chat with you all, like jeez I've been hella bored over here. That party you guys just put on looked really fun. :( I'm sad I missed it! But that's kinda how it goes when you're the Keeper. Rastus said there's been a lot of talk about like fulfilling our roles and stuff, and this is mine! I'm in the lighthouse because it let's me do a bunch of stuff to manage the town and help keep the world safe, but it means I'm stuck out here all by myself and I don't get to do the fun stuff I want to do sometimes. Which is why I'm so so SO happy that you guys and gals got me hooked up to the network again! Thank you so much!!! ❤❤❤

Oh right, and you guys have had a lot of questions about what I'm protecting the town from, haven't you? Me and Will talked and he's super sure it's best if HE gives you the skinny on all that since he said he would and he wants to make good on his promise, you feel? So he's gonna do that after the ferry gets here so all the new people can get the info too. Sound good? Sorry you gotta wait just a liiiittle bit longer but there's something else I think we should talk about first...

The forest spirits are still reporting the numbers so I don't know exactly how many we're up to yet but... A lot of people went missing and probably died from how things went down after the party. I'll put all the names in the next bulletin (sorry I didn't do one this week btw! things have been kinda crazy...) but if you want to ask about your friends and stuff in the meantime, I'll do my best to tell you what I know. Maybe some of them will come back? We just have to wait and see.

But... you guys probably saw this in that post Rosinante and Riku and Peter did, but just in case you didn't: Captain Winters died, and so did Five. I didn't see what happened exactly but I saw the spirits starting to come for them all and I tried to stop them but they didn't listen. They get really angry about people coming to the lighthouse or me trying to leave, even the ones that are usually really nice.

I hope they'll both come back but I don't know if they will, so, just in case... Winters would want you all to take care of the town for him and move on you know? He won't be around when the ferry comes so make sure you all fill the new people in on what's happened and how to survive here. All that really important stuff he's been telling people is up to you guys to spread around now.

*BIG SIGH* OK WELL I don't want to end on that super negative note but now I'm all sad sooo ask me questions and stuff, and Will will tell everyone about what I'm keeping the town safe from real soon. It really is nice to meet you all!!

Comments

@carnie

[ordinaryannie]

so do the spirits usually listen to you?

[beaconkeeper]

Usually, yeah. Like don't get me wrong I can't control them but I can talk to them and their role is to listen to what the Lighthouse Keeper says.

They just get real fussy when people try to come out here.

@dclaire

[consecrates]

uh, sorry, i'm confused.
why don't you know if the dead will come back?
i mean, we're all dead here so shouldn't they cycle back to the town?

[ unless they need to be consecrated or have a ritual done or w/e like with the witches ]

[beaconkeeper]

I'm not the one in charge of bringing people back. I don't even really know how it works to be honest! That's pretty beyond my understanding, sorry.

But I know it's got to do with lanterns. People can only come back if their lanterns are fixable, so if they get lost or they're too damaged, reviving them is really hard.

If people die like here and there it's way easier to keep track of and to get the lanterns all fixed, but in a case like this? Where there's a bunch of chaos and the forest spirits aren't being all that cooperative? It's harder.

@scientia

[reigniter]

What a coincidence that foghorn goes off just as you get reconnected

[Can someone please invent sarcasm font? Ignis will pay you.]

[beaconkeeper]

Oh it's not a coincidence! That was me trying to get the spirits to leave everyone alone... The foghorn is how I can talk to them when they're just out in the forest. Sorry if it was scary.

@riku; text

[equinoctials]

[ Riku's had questions ever since the lighthouse's red beam swung around and began flashing a pattern on their tiny raft, when he realized that pattern was Morse Code. More questions when he saw her silhouette, small against the bright light. It's not a good way to start a conversation, to ask her how long she'd been cooped up there alone, without any contact.

Or about her very lonesome duty, or why she was chosen for it. If she volunteered to do it or was volun-told. ]

Hey Robin. Hope you're doing ok up there.
This works a lot better than flashing a lantern.
That strange siren... was that your attempt to stop the spirits?

[beaconkeeper]

Oh hey Riku! Thank you so much for going out with Winters... Are you okay?

Yeah. You might've noticed by now that the forest spirits got this sort of music language? The lighthouse is programmed to be able to translate that through the foghorn, so it's how I talk to them all. Kinda like the network just for me and them.

I'm really sorry I couldn't keep you guys safe...

@HK

[catholicisms]

Nice to formally meet you, Robin. I'm glad you have a connection to us again, I can imagine how hard it was to be on your own up there.

As far as questions go, can I ask how you became the keeper? Are you from the same group as Winters was?

[beaconkeeper]

Hi! Thank you. You're Matt, right? It does get like really lonely up here honestly.

But anyway, so like, it's kind of a long story, but no, I got here a long time before Winters. Rastus is the only one you guys have met that has been here longer than me.

I became the Lighthouse Keeper because... I kind of got lucky, I guess? At least I thought I did at the time. The Keeper before me didn't want to do it anymore and was trying to reset the group I was part of but I didn't want to die for good so I said I would take over.

@kingsknight

[broplaints]

So you're the reason they all reacted like that?
You know you probably just made it worse, right?

[beaconkeeper]

I mean... Maybe that's true. I don't really know but I couldn't just sit there and do nothing... I gotta do so much of that already.

A big bunch of forest spirits was already coming after all the groups out in the woods by me. I thought since Winters and his group were already heading back, I could talk the spirits down. I didn't want them to get hurt.

@silent

[callada]

Glad we succeeded in getting you reconnected. Looking forward to hearing from Dr. Ingram.

Do you and your lighthouse ever serve the functions of a standard lighthouse? Monitoring water traffic, for example, or maintaining any sort of observatory? I'm interested in what else is out on the lake.

[beaconkeeper]

Oh Rosinante! Hi! Thank you so much for helping out and I'm glad you made it back safe. Are you okay?

Uhhh sort of? Will will talk more about that later, but it's my job to keep an eye on just like any traffic that's out there, like the ferry mainly. I've been doing this for a long time and I've never seen anything ELSE out on the water but I guess maybe it's worth exploring? Could be reeeeeally dangerous to get that far away from town though.

But there IS one thing out there that isn't exactly on the water, exactly, but they'll come to us eventually. Soon I hope! Once things quiet down. You'd probably get along with them.

@missprincessmary; voice

[withsadness]

Hello! I'm Mary!

[That's all she's here for.]

[beaconkeeper]

Oh! Hi Mary! I've heard you're super duper cute. :)

Did you have a good time at the party?

( text | un; warlock )

[necromantiae]

it's good to meet you, robin.

it sounds like you've been here a long time. i have a little experience being stuck in one place for a little while.

is that by choice, you being here, or did someone force you?

[beaconkeeper]

Good to meet you too! You're Ambrose?

Umm it's sort of by choice. I knew what I was getting into when I chose it but when it's this or dying permanently, this sounded like a wayyy better gig.

What about you?

@lancelot

[silvercrusader]

How long did you know Winters?

[beaconkeeper]

Since he showed up here, which was liiike almost two years ago, I think? He got here pretty early in that last batch.

Like I mean I never MET him and we didn't talk a ton, but he was someone I tried to keep an eye on as soon as he got off the ferry. Not that he made it easy! He didn't hang out on the network very much.

Why?

@kingofwei

[pure_havoc]

you do the news bulletin? how do you know what's happening here? how did you get all of that information without being connected to the network?

[hella suspicious but of all the questions he has that one bothers him the most]

[beaconkeeper]

Yeah! I know they're really corny, but it gets boring out here. Writing a little newspaper for you guys makes me feel like I'm part of the town. :)

The forest spirits fill me in. They mostly tell me what you guys get up to out in the woods, though. Rastus gives me the gossip LOL. He's such a sweetie. He writes me letters.

text | un: sdkbmri92kgb

[darkeyed]

_{[This is worth breaking his moratorium on privately following activity on the network--]}

This is idiotic. Something brought us here, but you won't say who or why. We're supposed to do something, but you won't explain what, and we're risking our lives against creatures you know more about than you're saying.

A lot of people just died for you. Does that mean anything, or are you just going to keep spouting bullshit?

[beaconkeeper]

What! No one's asked me any of that stuff, dude!!! I don't know what Winters told you and what he didn't! JEEZ but OK, here!!

- The thing that brought you here is like, some sort of weird spacetime rift??? I could not even begin to explain it to you since I can barely wrap my head around how it works. The best I can do is try to swipe inanimate objects from other worlds, but I have nooo idea how that technology works and it SUPER doesn't work on anything living. It just kind of sucks in random... Souls, I guess??? Of dead people, like you and me. There's someone in town that'll be able to explain it in better detail, but it's not a thing we know how to control yet.

- You're supposed to find a way to bring light back to this place! Or get us out of here! Get ME out of this lighthouse, too!!

- If you're talking about the forest spirits, I don't know what else you want to know about them!! Try asking me questions instead of COMING IN ALL HOT AND YELLING AT ME. Gosh!!

For your information I feel really, really bad about all the people we lost. Like, my friend just died, okay? He died doing the job I asked him to do, and that sucks a lot. This is a pretty bad way to introduce yourself you know!

@jtodd

[mind_blown]

alright, robby
you sure know a lot and nothing at all
i don't need to ask you how many people died because of your antics
do i

[beaconkeeper]

Ew, I am not about that nickname.

Look I know you were probably expecting some wise elder watching over the town ready to tell you everything about this situation, but that's just not how it works here. I know a lot, yeah, but not everything.

And if I did, wouldn't that be worse? If I was up here sitting on my hoard of intel and just making you guys work for it for funsies?

At the risk of sounding like Zefron, we're all in this together. Tell me what you want to know and I'll give you whatever I can.

@bestimmt

[mutterseelenallein]

Besides the announcement that will be made upon the arrival of others: What are the questions you can't answer, whatever the reason?

[ aislin thinks she might as well figure out what can and can't be asked. ]

[beaconkeeper]

Hmm, that's a good one... All I can tell you is that I'm not purposefully keeping secrets. If I don't answer stuff, it's because I don't know the answer. That doesn't sit well with a lot of people, I know, but I want to know those answers too, man.

Well, OK, I thought of two things, actually. I'm not gonna reveal the whole entire town to you guys even though I could, and that's because you won't really gain anything from it. You should make this place your own, you know? It's REALLY boring to just sit around, so you should make it into a little adventure, I think. But I'm not gonna hold back really important stuff! If you want advice on where to find something, I can help.

The other thing is that I'm not gonna tell you about the other people in town. Like, the one you guys have been messing with in the church? I'm not getting involved. It's better if those people come forward on their own time.

@darkness

[evulsed]

There you are.

[beaconkeeper]

I mean, I wasn't hiding!

[The lighthouse beacon flashes once.]

@parker

[webshoots]

Hey, Robin.

[ THERE IS so much to unpack here. aaah. ]

How many resets have you been through?

[beaconkeeper]

Oh, Peter! Hi! Thank you so much for helping Winters, and I'm really sorry about what happened. :( I hope you're OK.

Hm... I don't like counting them, to be honest. I've been here for probably about 20 years? So that's roughly... 25-30 resets?

Some of them happen kind of quickly. It sucks.

@violet_raven

[featherknives]

[She's been reading all the chats and conversations and- how typical. Humans turning on humans. She didn't expect it would be just because Keeper was bored. Nevertheless, she keeps thoughts to herself- for now.]

why wipe everyone off? is this 'craziness' like a plague that spreads, so you did it out of fear? give me some examples to know what to keep an eye on

[She knows a LOT about "kill everyone- just in case". Especially if this Keeper herself went crazy and overthrew the previous one because- why would keeper want to exchange place and die? There's no proof for it though and it's too late now.]

[beaconkeeper]

You mean with the resets? Well, when the people in town turn on each other, either I sit around and watch them devolve into a The Purge situation or I end it with a reset. The reset is quicker and, like, not as scary.

For the people in town, I mean. Not for me. I don't really have anything to be scared of up here besides, like, the thought of being trapped forever. I would super like to avoid that.

@cgriffin

[colonists]

[ clarke's no fool — the blaring of the foghorn coming from the lighthouse had directly correlated to the spirits' strange behavior, during the party. even so, there's something unanswered and possibly related, that nags at the recesses of her mind when she thinks at length about the attack. she's read the other responses and replies to this network post, and while she's still inclined to mistrust, there are some things about robin's answers that don't add up. ]

You said that there's been something in the past iterations of Beacon that have made people go crazy. Is it related to that thing I saw, in the forest, after the foghorn went off? The thing that had green eyes?

The creatures froze after the foghorn sounded, but they didn't actually attack until the beacon light went off and whatever was in the forest had disappeared - but its presence seemed to disturb them, somehow.

[beaconkeeper]

Ooooh OK let me back up a sec.

I didn't really mean "crazy" in the literal sense, sorry! I meant, like, they let the stress of this place get to them? This has happened a couple times, but it's usually just due to people deciding not to trust each other (or me!!!) and then trying some kind of mutiny. That's what happened last time. Everyone turned on each other and started a murder spree.

That kind of stuff is really hard to watch, but more importantly, it's the end of progress. If everyone's too busy killing or trying not to get killed, no one's working on FIXING this place. That's the whole point of being here, you know?

Buuuut as far as the green eyed thing, I've heard of something like that before. Never saw one myself, but they're bad news. Like, they're still forest spirits! Just a different kind or something. They can mess with your head.

I'm surprised you saw one. They're pretty rare. That could definitely be why the spirits all lost their shit, though.

@rlutece

[originallutece]

Can you tell me more about how people arrive here? I realize "the ferry" is the standard answer, but I meant from a more metaphysical point of view. We all of us came from other universes . . . and it's more than possible to bring a person from one world to anothe.r But I want to see if the method that was used here is the method I'm familiar with.

If you aren't familiar with physics, I can work with that.

[beaconkeeper]

Wait, you're familiar with this kind of thing? That could be super useful! There's someone else in town you should talk to about this since I don't really know much about how it works, but she'll have to get in contact with you guys in her own time. She's pretty nervous about showing herself.

All I know it's that it's a sort of portal, or like, a hole in space-time? Or something? Except it doesn't just open to one place, and as far as I know, it's a one-way street. Only certain stuff can come through it, too. Nothing living, for example.

I guess you can't bring live stuff to a dead world.

@cuttingedge; text

[knifecollecting]

How are we supposed to trust you?

[beaconkeeper]

I dunno! Seems like most of you don't, for reasons beyond my control. I'm not sure how to change that. :/

Why wouldn't you, though? Aside from the theory that I kidnapped you all myself which, I'll tell you right now, not the case.