[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

@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.

[consecrates]

huh. so it's really the lantern and not necessarily the fire in it, is that it?
that guy winters said it's the fire when we arrived so i thought if it goes out, then we're dead-dead.

sorry, i'm just trying to figure things out.
in case it's something that my magic can do something about.

[beaconkeeper]

Hmm well I guess it's both? Something has to hold the fire to keep it safe. If the fire in your lantern goes out, that's how you die, but it's possible to put that fire back I think.

I don't really know how it works, sorry! I think it's kinda like the bonfire, though? How that fire never really goes out? I never really spent a lot of time in the church when I was in town but I think it's got something to do with whatever goes on there.

What kind of magic can you do?

[consecrates]

and the bonfire's being guarded too so i also think there's something going on there.
does the lighthouse use some kind of fire similar to how the lanterns are?

i can do different kinds of magic like spells for protection, pain infliction, locating people/stuff, etc.
it's just that some of them don't really work properly here.

[beaconkeeper]

Guarded? By RASTUS? I know he talks a mean game, honey, but he wouldn't be able to stop you if you really wanted at that fire. He's not a guard, more like a bookkeeper.

It sure does LOL. The lighthouse is my lantern.

Oh, hmm, yeah I've heard of stuff like that happening. Magic not working like it's supposed to. Still, it's better than nothing, isn't it? I wish I could do magic.

[consecrates]

better than nothing, i agree.
it kinda helped when the spirits were all going crazy.

what do you mean it's your lantern, though?
like same with us?

[beaconkeeper]

Well, I'm glad to know some of you had stuff to help with that. Ugh. I'm sorry. I was really hoping they wouldn't freak out...

Yeah, same as with you. I had a proper lantern just like you guys when I first came here, but I had to put the flame into the lighthouse when I became the Keeper. That's how it works.

And it's not some weird like symbolic thing LOL just like something's gotta light up the beacon.

[consecrates]

i think a lot of us freaked out at the sound, not just the spirits.
not exactly the most comforting of sounds to hear, you know.

so when someone becomes a keeper, they give up their flame to the beacon.
i guess it's like giving up your life to become the keeper.
but it's a big flame, isn't it? what happens if that light goes out? aside from the, well, obvious of you losing your life.

[beaconkeeper]

Yeah, it's really not. Sorry. At least if you hear it again you know it's just me honkin' away!

That's one way to look at it. I don't, since it was my only choice, and we're all stuck here anyway, so... Idk! All that matters is that I'm here now.

If the light goes out, the lighthouse shuts down, meaning we're fucked LOL. Without the lighthouse, we don't have ANY control over the town or the forest spirits, and we lose all of our defenses against the stuff Will's gonna tell you about. It'd be super bad if the beacon went out and someone wasn't around to relight it with their lantern. The town wouldn't last very long.

I mean, either way, I would be dead, so that would suck! But it would suck MORE if it was just out permanently.

[consecrates]

[ she's taking notes, if robin doesn't mind ]

that's duly noted, then.

right. so lighthouse = important.
what do you mean that it would "suck more if it was just out permanently"?
are you saying it won't be a permanent state?

[beaconkeeper]

Oh, I mean, if no one was around to replace the beacon with their own lantern. If I die, it'll go out permanently unless someone's there to take my place like, super fast. I don't know exactly how much time you have between switching, but it's not long! Maybe a few minutes before it's just out for good.

Or so I've heard? It's never happened before, obviously.

[consecrates]

so someone's always around to replace the beacon.
do you know how many times that's happened so far?

[beaconkeeper]

No, sorry. I know it's happened at least twice, since the guy before me took over for someone else too, but I think it's been more than that. Maybe like 5 or 6 if I had to guess??

But, yeah, someone's always around to replace it, given that we're all still here.

[consecrates]

5 or 6 doesn't seem a lot.
but i guess it depends on how long each lighthouse keeper stays to do the job.

how long have you been doing this?

[beaconkeeper]

I've been here for about 20 years, I think. Sooo a pretty long time, lol. I don't know if that's the norm for other Keepers. The guy I replaced hadn't been doing it for very long... Just a few years, I think.

[consecrates]

20 years is a long time to be tending to the lighthouse by yourself.
i hope this isn't the first time you got finally got to talk to people.

[beaconkeeper]

Yeah, it is. :( But I get to talk to most groups! Every now and then some crew messes up and I never get reconnected, which is REALLY annoying, but usually I'm able to get back online sooner or later.

[consecrates]

this is good news for you, then :)
you said most groups. you mean groups other than us, right?

[beaconkeeper]

Yep! The... generations, I guess? I'm not really sure what to call you guys.

Buuuut yeah, it's good news for you guys too! The groups that don't get me hooked up don't tend to last very long. :/ Being stuck totally in the dark both physically AND mentally is just a bad scene all around.

[consecrates]

i know, and the fire is barely enough to light everything up.

are there other people aside from us here, though?
i mean, in other locations somewhere else?

[beaconkeeper]

Hmmm. The short answer is no, probably not. I don't know that for super sure, but there's never been any signs of life out there since I started manning the lighthouse. Everything that's left is here.

But you haven't met everyone that's still hanging around. I'd still call them part of the town, though, if tangentially.

[consecrates]

you mean there are others aside from rastus, etc?

[beaconkeeper]

Yeah. I don't know how many, and I don't know when/if you'll encounter them, but they're out there.

[consecrates]

out there, as in not in beacon, right?
which means we'll need to figure out a way through the woods.