Ghost Town Caravan

Seasonal travel event connecting main village to mysterious ghost town. Operates during specific date ranges (default: October 24 for 14 days - Halloween event) or when two or more moons are new simultaneously. Players obtain "Admit One" day tickets (5 gold default cost), queue with other excited villagers at wagon, ride through multiple villages to reach abandoned ghost town with rusty population sign claiming 720 residents despite everything being broken and long-abandoned. Same ticket valid for return trips same day. Automatic forced relocation if you're sleeping in ghost town when tourist season ends. Requires ghosttown module to function (provides destination village). Limited-time inter-village travel mechanic for accessing special seasonal location. Where you clutch your admission ticket and join a queue of tourists boarding a wagon to visit a spooky ghost town that claims to have a population of seven hundred twenty people but when you arrive everything is clearly broken down and abandoned for decades and the ticket collector cheerfully warns all passengers that if you're foolhardy enough to fall asleep there when the season ends you'll wake up back in your home village whether you like it or not.

Activation & Timing

Date-Based Activation (Default):

  • Starts: October 24th (admin-configurable)
  • Duration: 14 days (admin-configurable, range 1-28 days)
  • Ends: November 6th (calculated from start + duration)
  • Halloween special event timing

Moon-Based Activation (Optional):

  • Activates when 2+ moons are simultaneously new (first 12% of cycle)
  • Requires moons module active
  • Admin can enable/disable moon trigger
  • Adds additional windows beyond Halloween

Ticket Availability Window:

  • Starts 4 days before caravan opens
  • Example: If caravan opens Oct 24, tickets available Oct 20-24
  • Continues throughout caravan operational period
  • canticket setting controls availability

Requirements:

  • ghosttown module: MUST be active (provides destination)
  • If ghosttown inactive, caravan won't appear
  • Players stuck in ghost town get auto-moved to main village if ghosttown deactivates

Obtaining Tickets

Ticket Mechanics:

  • Name: "Admit One" day ticket
  • Cost: 5 gold (default, admin-configurable)
  • Valid for: One full day (resets at newday)
  • Reusable: Same ticket works for multiple trips same day
  • Auto-expires: At newday, must obtain new ticket

Ticket Acquisition:

  • Admin can enable random ticket drops (canticket setting)
  • Possible sources: Forest events, random encounters, quest rewards
  • Or purchase from ticket sellers (implementation varies)
  • hasticket preference tracks if you have valid ticket today

Ticket Storage:

  • "You place the ticket back in your purse"
  • Not consumed on first trip
  • Valid for return journey same day
  • Can make multiple round trips with one ticket

The Journey There

Boarding the Caravan:

  • Available at any normal village (not ghost town, not "world")
  • Navigation appears: "Ride the Caravan to [Ghost Town Name]"
  • See others with similar day tickets queueing for wagon
  • Sign proclaims it will be touring ghost town today
  • Small man smiles at your ticket, waves you aboard

Wagon Ride Description:

  • "In the back of the wagon, excited villagers are discussing what the ghost town might be like"
  • "You're rather interested to find out for yourself!"
  • Ticket collector reminder: "You will be returned to [Home Village] if you are foolhardy enough to fall asleep in [Ghost Town] when the tourist season ends in a few days"
  • Wagon stops at several other villages collecting passengers
  • Multi-village tour bus experience

Arrival:

  • See rusty sign among weeds on roadside
  • "[Ghost Town Name], Population 720."
  • "You find this difficult to believe."
  • ".as you pass through the gates and into the old town, you see that everything seems broken, run down and long-abandoned"
  • Immediate contradiction: claimed population vs. obvious abandonment

The Ghost Town

Location:

  • Separate location (requires ghosttown module)
  • Admin-configurable village name
  • Functions as temporary alternate village
  • Full village navigation available

Appearance:

  • Everything broken and run down
  • Long-abandoned atmosphere
  • Rusty population sign (falsely claims 720 people)
  • Weeds on roadside
  • Gates entrance
  • Spooky Halloween theme

Activities:

  • Depends on ghosttown module content
  • Likely special Halloween events
  • Temporary seasonal content
  • Unique shops/encounters only available during event

The Return Journey

Riding Back:

  • Available at ghost town if you have ticket
  • Navigation: "Ride the Caravan back to [Home Village]"
  • Demure ticket lady smiles, waves you aboard
  • Same ticket still valid (not consumed)
  • "You place the ticket back in your purse, knowing that it will still be valid if you decide to travel there again later today"

Return Description:

  • "You sit quietly, thinking about all that you saw in [Ghost Town]"
  • Caravan stops in several towns dropping passengers
  • Finally arrive in your home village
  • Returns you to original location (fromvillage preference tracks this)

Multiple Trips:

  • Can travel back and forth multiple times same day
  • Same ticket works for all trips
  • Resets at newday (need new ticket tomorrow)

Safety Mechanisms

Forced Relocation:

  • If you're in ghost town when caravan closes (event ends)
  • Auto-moved to main village at next newday
  • "foolhardy enough to fall asleep in [Ghost Town] when the tourist season ends"
  • Prevents players getting stuck in inaccessible location

Module Dependency Protection:

  • If ghosttown module deactivated while caravan active
  • All players in ghost town instantly moved to main village
  • canvisit automatically set to 0
  • Caravan navigation disappears
  • "nowhere to catch the caravan to"

Ticket Persistence:

  • hadticket preference tracks if you had ticket yesterday
  • If you have ticket and are IN ghost town, hadticket = 1 at newday
  • Allows escape even if ticket system changes
  • "We allow anyone in [Ghost Town] to get out of there, in case the ticket was cancelled or the village removed"

Admin Configuration

Settings:

  • activate: Start date (format: mm-dd, default: 10-24)
  • days: Duration (range 1-28 days, default: 14)
  • moon: Enable moon-triggered activation (bool, default: 0)
  • ticketcost: Gold cost for tickets (int, default: 5)
  • canvisit: Is caravan currently active? (auto-calculated)
  • canticket: Can players obtain tickets? (auto-calculated based on timing)

Auto-Calculations:

  • canvisit: Set to 1 during active dates or when moons align
  • canticket: Set to 1 starting 4 days before activation through event end
  • Updates at newday-runonce and moon-cyclechange hooks
  • If ghosttown module inactive, both forced to 0

Player Preferences

Tracked Data:

  • fromvillage: Which village did you travel from? (default: Degolburg)
  • hasticket: Do you have valid ticket today? (bool, default: 0)
  • hadticket: Did you have ticket yesterday? (bool, used for escape mechanism)

Behavior:

  • fromvillage: Set when you board caravan, used for return destination
  • hasticket: Resets to 0 at newday if caravan active
  • hadticket: Preserves ticket status for emergency escape routes

Strategy Guide

When to Visit:

  • During Halloween season (October)
  • When two moons align (rare, special occasion)
  • To access ghost town exclusive content
  • For seasonal events/quests

Travel Tips:

  • Obtain ticket early (4-day window before opening)
  • One ticket = unlimited round trips same day
  • Keep ticket safe (stored automatically)
  • Plan to return before newday or accept forced relocation
  • Visit early in event window (14 days to explore)

Cost Analysis:

  • 5 gold for day pass (very cheap)
  • Unlimited trips = great value
  • Access to unique seasonal content = worth it
  • No additional costs besides ticket

Population Mystery

The Sign vs. Reality:

  • Rusty sign: "[Ghost Town], Population 720"
  • Actual observation: "everything seems broken, run down and long-abandoned"
  • No visible residents
  • Clearly hasn't been occupied in years

Theories:

  • Old sign from when town was active
  • Ghosts counted as population (720 spirits?)
  • False advertising for tourism
  • Time-frozen snapshot of past
  • Intentional spooky Halloween atmosphere

Lore & Atmosphere

Tourist Experience:

  • Excited villagers speculating about ghost town
  • Multi-village tour (stops at several locations)
  • Professional ticket collectors (small man, demure lady)
  • Organized seasonal tourism
  • Halloween adventure expedition

Ominous Warnings:

  • Ticket collector explicitly warns about "foolhardy" behavior
  • Emphasizes forced return if you overstay
  • "tourist season ends in a few days"
  • Creates sense of urgency and danger
  • Spooky undertones despite cheerful tourism facade

Technical Notes

Hooks Used:

  • village: Add caravan navigation options
  • newday: Reset tickets, check for forced relocation
  • newday-runonce: Update canvisit/canticket status
  • moon-cyclechange: Check for moon-triggered activation

Dependencies:

  • Required: ghosttown module (provides destination village)
  • Optional: moons module (for moon-triggered activation)
  • Without ghosttown: caravan completely inactive
  • Without moons: date-based activation only

Ghost Town Caravan: where you obtain an "Admit One" day ticket for five gold pieces and queue with other excited villagers who are all clutching similar admission passes and discussing what the mysterious ghost town might be like while a small cheerful man checks your ticket and waves you aboard a wagon where the ticket collector reminds everyone in an ominously casual tone that if you're foolhardy enough to fall asleep there when the tourist season ends in a few days you'll wake up forcibly relocated back to your home village. The wagon stops at several other villages picking up more passengers until you finally see a rusty sign among the weeds on the roadside proclaiming "[Ghost Town Name], Population 720" which you immediately find difficult to believe because as you pass through the gates everything is obviously broken, run down, and long-abandoned with zero signs of the seven hundred twenty residents allegedly living there, making you wonder if they're counting ghosts or if this is just the world's worst tourism false advertising. You can explore the spooky abandoned town and ride back the same day with your same ticket which hasn't been consumed and the demure ticket lady smiles at you while you sit quietly thinking about all you saw, and you can make unlimited round trips as long as you have your day pass, but if you're still there when the Halloween event ends or the ghosttown module gets deactivated you'll be automatically yanked back to the main village whether you like it or not because the developers wisely implemented safety mechanisms to prevent players from getting permanently stuck in a seasonal location that might disappear. The whole thing activates by default on October 24th for fourteen days creating a perfect Halloween-themed limited-time travel event or optionally when two or more moons are simultaneously new if the admin enables moon-triggered activation and requires the ghosttown module to even function because there's literally nowhere to catch the caravan to without a destination village configured.