When Dana left the house in Desert Creek, she found herself in a desert with a mountain in the distance, upon which was a blinking red light [ep 31]. (That is presumably the same blinking red light/mountain combination that then showed up as a "mirage" -- Carlos's lines there are actually the same in canon and the fic, adorably [ep 32].) Dana later reports that time apparently moves differently in the desert otherworld, because she's been there for months or years; that she was catching glimpses of giant masked soldiers; and that she found a free-standing door but it was chained shut [ep. 41]. She finds she's starting to be able to phase between realities briefly; explores the mountain, which has creepy stuff; and senses the approach of something vast and terrifying [still ep. 41]. She gains more practice phase-visiting Night Vale (incorporeally) and somehow visits a years-future point [ep. 44], and she befriends/recruits the army of masked giants [ep. 45].
Doors start appearing all over town, opening onto a desert scene with people who urge secrecy and close the doors again; meanwhile, after scientist "Rachelle" (sp?) goes in for 45 minutes but experiences hours, Carlos decides to go into the house in Desert Creek, his team standing by outside to ensure he doesn't become trapped [ep. 46]. After arresting Cecil at the end of that episode, Strex then arrests the team of scientists, noting that Carlos was not among them [ep. 47]. Dana then uses a door to break people (including Cecil) out of the "company picnic" (prison/work camp) and introduces him to her assembled army of masked giants and angels, and an Erika (angel) then transports Cecil back to the radio station (via picture of a lighthouse -- go with it) so he can reclaim the radio station [ep. 48].
Then episode 49: Doors start appearing all over town, and the armies (and Tamika's insurrection) start fighting against Strex, while Dana finds Carlos and helps him phase-visit. He hadn't called because he thought he had to preserve his phone's battery and wouldn't have service, but she points out that they get really good service and the battery never drains. John Peters and Maureen "have seen the rumbling in the desert. We have heard the bright light entering Night Vale. Cecil, that light … it is the great glowing coils of the universe unwinding. It is the unraveling of all things. It is a Smiling God of terrible power." Carlos is working to invent something (and it is not an umbrella) to protect Night Vale from the light when the doors are opened. There's fighting, Strex is defeated and banished, but the doors won't close. Carlos discovers that "Night Vale is a place that is difficult to leave, and difficult to enter, and connecting a place as weird as that with a place as weird as this was causing a lot of … strain on linear time and space"; the doors can't be closed until all Night Vale natives had returned home and non-Night-Vale people have left ... and then as the last masked soldier goes from Night Vale to desert through a door, all the doors close and disappear, leaving Carlos in the desert, because he is not a Night Vale native. He doesn't remember how he got to Night Vale in the first place or even where it is, but promises he'll find a way back soon. He sounds confident at first but less so as he continues speaking.
And he's stuck there for the next year of the show. He starts out agreeing he'll look for a door or other way back "soon" but getting distracted by new discoveries (rumbling, odd behavior in the blinking light, swamp dirt with small bones, sudden self-healing of his phone).
By episode 58, Carlos has decided he doesn't feel trapped there and has asked Cecil to stop describing it that way; he's made friends among the giant soldiers and is "doing research", and he instead suggests that if he does find a door (which doesn't seem to be much of a priority for him), maybe Cecil could come to visit him instead. He phase-visits in episode 59, talking about the amazing rocks and changing constellations, and looks forward to finding a way for Cecil to visit.
In episode 65, while helping build a new settlement, Carlos meets a new group of people and eventually discovers they're the people who were trapped in the Dog Park in Poetry Week. "And I realized … this is the Dog Park! This whole desert, the mountain, the light up on the mountain, we’re in a vast, perhaps endless, and definitely endlessly forbidden Dog Park! Which means you can visit now! You just have to walk through that Dog Park gate, and then … you know, walk a few more hundred miles after that to wherever we’re at in this huge desert, and then you’ll be able to take that vacation here!"
Cecil takes a vacation and visits Carlos; after he returns, Carlos calls to reveal that his new buddy Kevin has built a radio station and maybe Cecil could, you know, think about maybe ... [ep. 68]. In episode 69, Cecil declares he's leaving to move to Carlos's new home. But in the next episode, all of Carlos's research is destroyed, so he up and returns to Night Vale instead (discovering, in the process of breaking this news to his good buddy Kevin, that the red stains on Kevin's clothing are not "barbecue sauce").
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When Dana left the house in Desert Creek, she found herself in a desert with a mountain in the distance, upon which was a blinking red light [ep 31]. (That is presumably the same blinking red light/mountain combination that then showed up as a "mirage" -- Carlos's lines there are actually the same in canon and the fic, adorably [ep 32].) Dana later reports that time apparently moves differently in the desert otherworld, because she's been there for months or years; that she was catching glimpses of giant masked soldiers; and that she found a free-standing door but it was chained shut [ep. 41]. She finds she's starting to be able to phase between realities briefly; explores the mountain, which has creepy stuff; and senses the approach of something vast and terrifying [still ep. 41]. She gains more practice phase-visiting Night Vale (incorporeally) and somehow visits a years-future point [ep. 44], and she befriends/recruits the army of masked giants [ep. 45].
Doors start appearing all over town, opening onto a desert scene with people who urge secrecy and close the doors again; meanwhile, after scientist "Rachelle" (sp?) goes in for 45 minutes but experiences hours, Carlos decides to go into the house in Desert Creek, his team standing by outside to ensure he doesn't become trapped [ep. 46]. After arresting Cecil at the end of that episode, Strex then arrests the team of scientists, noting that Carlos was not among them [ep. 47]. Dana then uses a door to break people (including Cecil) out of the "company picnic" (prison/work camp) and introduces him to her assembled army of masked giants and angels, and an Erika (angel) then transports Cecil back to the radio station (via picture of a lighthouse -- go with it) so he can reclaim the radio station [ep. 48].
Then episode 49: Doors start appearing all over town, and the armies (and Tamika's insurrection) start fighting against Strex, while Dana finds Carlos and helps him phase-visit. He hadn't called because he thought he had to preserve his phone's battery and wouldn't have service, but she points out that they get really good service and the battery never drains. John Peters and Maureen "have seen the rumbling in the desert. We have heard the bright light entering Night Vale. Cecil, that light … it is the great glowing coils of the universe unwinding. It is the unraveling of all things. It is a Smiling God of terrible power." Carlos is working to invent something (and it is not an umbrella) to protect Night Vale from the light when the doors are opened. There's fighting, Strex is defeated and banished, but the doors won't close. Carlos discovers that "Night Vale is a place that is difficult to leave, and difficult to enter, and connecting a place as weird as that with a place as weird as this was causing a lot of … strain on linear time and space"; the doors can't be closed until all Night Vale natives had returned home and non-Night-Vale people have left ... and then as the last masked soldier goes from Night Vale to desert through a door, all the doors close and disappear, leaving Carlos in the desert, because he is not a Night Vale native. He doesn't remember how he got to Night Vale in the first place or even where it is, but promises he'll find a way back soon. He sounds confident at first but less so as he continues speaking.
And he's stuck there for the next year of the show. He starts out agreeing he'll look for a door or other way back "soon" but getting distracted by new discoveries (rumbling, odd behavior in the blinking light, swamp dirt with small bones, sudden self-healing of his phone).
By episode 58, Carlos has decided he doesn't feel trapped there and has asked Cecil to stop describing it that way; he's made friends among the giant soldiers and is "doing research", and he instead suggests that if he does find a door (which doesn't seem to be much of a priority for him), maybe Cecil could come to visit him instead. He phase-visits in episode 59, talking about the amazing rocks and changing constellations, and looks forward to finding a way for Cecil to visit.
In episode 65, while helping build a new settlement, Carlos meets a new group of people and eventually discovers they're the people who were trapped in the Dog Park in Poetry Week. "And I realized … this is the Dog Park! This whole desert, the mountain, the light up on the mountain, we’re in a vast, perhaps endless, and definitely endlessly forbidden Dog Park! Which means you can visit now! You just have to walk through that Dog Park gate, and then … you know, walk a few more hundred miles after that to wherever we’re at in this huge desert, and then you’ll be able to take that vacation here!"
Cecil takes a vacation and visits Carlos; after he returns, Carlos calls to reveal that his new buddy Kevin has built a radio station and maybe Cecil could, you know, think about maybe ... [ep. 68]. In episode 69, Cecil declares he's leaving to move to Carlos's new home. But in the next episode, all of Carlos's research is destroyed, so he up and returns to Night Vale instead (discovering, in the process of breaking this news to his good buddy Kevin, that the red stains on Kevin's clothing are not "barbecue sauce").
More than you ever wanted to know! :)