NPC Interaction: Marra

[singmod]

JULY 2025 — NPC INTERACTION: MARRA

The Interlopers meet Marra, the Lighthouse Keeper at the end of the world.

WHEN: July.
WHERE: Silverpoint Lighthouse, Silverpoint.
CONTENT WARNINGS: N/A.

MARRA

Interlopers who drop by the Frozen Angler to see Molly and Jace will find them a little bewildered. They will tell Interlopers that someone wants to see them: Marra. They’ll direct them to the lighthouse, where they’ll find her.

To the south east stands Silverpoint Lighthouse. It should be nothing out of the ordinary, lighthouses are a common sight on coastlines, after all. However, Interlopers will note that there is certainly someone occupying the lighthouse and it will become glaringly obvious that the flashing light they have seen in the darkness of the night is actually coming from the lighthouse. In a world without power, it is a startling sight to see.

And for plenty of Interlopers, they will want to investigate.

If they ask around Silverpoint before heading there, villagers seem to hold a kind of uneasy respect for Marra. They seem to regard her with slight trepidation, and would prefer not to get involved with her. They will explain to Interlopers that they cannot explain why the lighthouse works, and admit they rarely ever seen the woman but explain that Marra does seem to be on the lookout for ships, and has done her work well over the years and are in some part grateful for her keeping the light going — it may mean that those on the mainland may finally realise that people are out here, and they might send help.

Eventually, Interlopers may finally go and approach the lighthouse. When they knock on the door, there will be a long wait before they get a response: the door opening a crack and a woman with long, grey hair will peek out at them. Her face is weathered, and she may look to be somewhere in her late fifties, or early sixties — and there’s something familiar about her that’s hard to place. Her mouth forms a thin line as she scrutinises the Interlopers for a long moment.

“You’re new.” she utters, regarding them with suspicion. “You’re the ones who came down from Milton, right?”

She will silently absorb any introductions, nodding a little. But if Interlopers mention Milton, she’ll stare for a long moment, and you’re sure you can see some kind of horror in her eyes, and some kind of short lived ache too. But the moment passes and steps back slightly — allowing the Interlopers inside.

The main room of the interior of the lighthouse is a wide, circular room and the living space. The place is well lived-in, and cosy. It’s clear the lighthouse is not simply a place of work, but also this woman’s home. There isn’t much space for a huge number of people. A single armchair sits by the woodstove fire, and while there is a small dining table with a couple of chairs, the woman simply shrugs it off and tells Interlopers to sit where they can. Or don’t. Whatever. Interlopers will also notice an elderly orange cat snoozing on the armchair, so that chair is definitely out.

“Well, if there’s to be introductions: I’m Marra. Just Marra is fine, thank you. I’m the lighthouse keeper at the end of the world.” There’s a grim smile, “And you have some explaining to do.”

She has questions.

“The ones who came here two years ago could barely speak, and they don’t speak now. I can get blood out of a stone easier than answers out of them.” she explains. “So that leaves you: what happened in Milton?”

Marra will be open to questions from Interlopers, but she will want information of her own from the Interlopers too.

Before they leave, Marra will ask one thing of Interlopers: if they try to get to the Cannery she asks them to look for any shortwave handheld radios and to bring them to her. She will explain that she’s been picking up frequencies on her own radio during Auroras but is unable to investigate them further.

FAQs

1. This is an NPC Interaction with your new NPC, Marra. While a larger group of Interlopers may be present, this is a limited and short-thread interaction, available for up to 5 players. Threads are set at a six comment max totally: three from your character, three from Marra.

2. Characters are free to ask anything, but we ask that players don’t take liberties and list off twenty questions, for example. Keep it short and sweet, please!


3. The plotting post can be found here.

Comments

[friendsfordinner]

Hickey rolls his eyes before, "Deserted is good enough. Houses were there. Goods. Clothes. But no people. It's like they all up and left."

There's a moment before Hickey asks, "Does the supernatural include the Darkwalker?"

[singmod]

"They tried to." Marra says, and her lips are a thin line for a moment as she looks away. But she's looking up again at Hickey's question.

"Ah, yes." Marra sighs, her voice then dropping to a dramatic whisper. "The boogeyman. Or close enough to it. We've all grown up with stories of the Darkwalker here. But it's only ever been that. Stories."

The Abomination. The Devourer. The Ending of Everything. Their Apocalypse.

"And then every so often over the last almost-two years, the sky goes green and the stars and moon go out and everyone goes running into their holes like frightened rabbits and after it's all over— they whisper about it being the Darkwalker being not just a story after all."

Marra's eyebrows raise.

"But I'm guessing you already know about that."

[friendsfordinner]

"Considering it's killed six of our number, yeah, I do."

Hickey doesn't exactly know how to parse this out—if Marra feels that the Darkwalker is actually real or if she thinks it's just something that people are telling themselves to explain away the strange and unusual. But no matter. He knows what he saw. And he's not going to waste time trying to convince a doddering old woman that he's right.

Instead, he looks out of the window, out towards the open ocean as he asks, "You must have binoculars, yeah? You must have something. Seen any ships out there? Or hell, any signs of life in general?"

It's obvious he's hoping the answer is 'yes.'

[singmod]

"Weird it's so particular." Marra crosses her arms. "The general idea is that it kills off the entire world population."

There's no need to convince her, she's pretty much convinced given everything. At least she's had some time to reconcile with the fact the Darkwalker isn't just a story. Two years is a long time, especially when you're toughing it out after the world's gone silent.

Her mouth twists to the side and she follows his gaze out of the window.

"No, nothing." she answers. "Been watching that horizon for twenty three years and I'd seen it all. You get used to the shipping lanes, the fishing boats, the regulars and which countries they're from. Canadian. American. Russian. Norwegian. Danish."

She inhales, shaking her head.

"But for two years? Nothing. Whatever's happened here, I think it stretches further. Global, probably." Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Marra's not all that thrilled about it either. "But I'll keep watch, just in case."