collectedlogs | INTRO LOG #1

INTRO LOG #1

Welcome to Collected’s first Intro Log! The information we’ve provided about the setting is not exhaustive - feel free to interact with the setting as you see fit. Rather than have specific prompts, our event posts throughout the game will generally have information listed out like this and players may come up with their own prompts.

If you have questions about the setting or the intro log, please ask them HERE in the comment thread! And most of all, have fun, shoppers.

PROMPTS

The first thing anyone does is gasp for air.

It’ll feel like the first breath you’ve taken in years. That’s right; before you can even become aware of your surroundings, the most immediate thing they’ll process is that you’re in water. Foul smelling water - like rotten eggs and decay. It’s pitch black, and you’re swimming in it with only your head above the surface. If the smell doesn’t deter you, the longer you stay in will; the water stings to have on your skin, chemical in nature.

So - you need to get out. This water can’t be okay to stay in. Once you’ve gathered enough about your surroundings, you’ll see that you’re inside a mall, of sorts. There’s a large (non-functioning) escalator in front of you that will lead you to the semi-safe havens of the second floor - but be careful, because everyone’s going to be gunning for that only exit.

» Once on the second floor, exploring will lead you to a few notes of interest: Long windows and tall glass doors show the conditions outside. The sky is a burnt orange, and there is a thick sort of fog on the horizon. Nothing for miles in every direction - just an empty parking lot, completely devoid of life or any sign that anyone has come across this place in many years. Even so, you’ll find the windows and doors unlocked, so getting outside is easy… the problem is what’s out there.

A trip outside will make it instantly clear why you see no life outside the mall’s walls: exposure to the radioactive sun outside causes your skin to bubble with welts, and the thick, toxic air of the outside is impossible to inhale without keeling over. It’s blistering hot, too. Even non-organic creatures would melt or be eroded by the sun’s radioactive qualities. One thing is abundantly obvious: you cannot survive outside. Not now, at least. Those who receive a burn or other damage from the conditions outside will discover that strangely enough, upon returning inside the mall, the wound begins to heal up on its own. Slowly, and extremely painfully, but it’s healing. That’s strange…

» Another thing of note is that there’s a food court on the second floor. There, you’ll find a variety of abandoned restaurants that have varying amounts of non-perishables inside - canned vegetables and preserved meats, as well as dusty old jars of sauces and the like. There are a few walk-in freezers with hefty locks on them, but if the locks are broken or picked, there’s actually some frozen rations, as well! Many of them are not labelled, so the dining experience will be pretty hit or miss. None of the stoves or cooking appliances in the food court work anymore, either, so you’ll have to get creative when it comes to cooking up these ingredients. (Or just, you know, eat them cold.)

» Throughout the mall’s bathrooms, water fountains, and gym showers, you’ll find that all the water in the mall is suspiciously clean. Like, way too clean to be normal in a place as run-down and clearly abandoned as this. You’ll find that toilets flush completely fine, and shower water heats up (eventually). Should you be grateful, or concerned?

» There’s an electronics store on the second floor, as well, along with a internet cafe. Should you try to turn on the computers in the internet cafe, you’ll find that it only opens to the same forum page: a site called Mall Watch. It’ll prompt you to make an account and password if you try posting to it. In the electronics store, you’ll also find that any phone you forage for and try to boot up will also only open up to this forum page. Weird!

» If you’re looking for a place to sleep, the department stores of the mall still have a variety of furniture sets collecting a lot of dust. Then again, no one’s around to tell you where to sleep - and maybe you don’t trust all these new faces you arrived with. If you’re okay sleeping on the floor of a random store, more power to you.

» You’ll probably want to do something about your clothes that were stained by the black water on the first floor.. try foraging for some clothes! Looking around, you’ll find that some clothes stores have some stock left over, though everything’s generally a mess in clothing stores - it’ll take you some time to find anything that’ll fit you. Looking around enough on this second floor, you might end up stumbling across some of your own belongings or clothing, or those of your peers.

More than anything, the longer you explore and scavenge the mall, you’ll recognize how eerily silent it is. If not for you and your peers here, this place would be totally desolate. Clearly, there’s no one around for miles, and as far as you can tell, you’ll only be able to survive here for as long as the supplies here last. No one’s coming to save you - no one even knows you’re here. In every sense of the word, you are alone.

For now.

NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Dark Water

[There seems to be a medium-sized white animal foundering in the water. While Silver may not be as bad at swimming as certain other, bluer members of his species, he wasn’t expecting to be dumped into what smells like it might be raw sewage or something like that. The spiny creature finally manages to tread water after taking a huge breath of the stale air]

Ugh… gross… so gross…

[and it stings. His fur protects him, but in areas where it is thinner, he can feel an unpleasant tingling sensation on his skin. The hedgehog begins to glow bright cyan, and he floats, as if gravity meant absolutely nothing all of a sudden, out of the water and up to the second floor. He touches down lightly on the floor and then does what you might expect any animal to do—

he shakes all the water off. He is now very poofy

So, he gets to spend the next twenty minutes or so grooming his fur and quills back into place. His gloves and boots, stained with the dank water, are wrung out and hung over a nearby bench]

Man… where am I? … When am I?

The Outside World

[Well, he’s managed to get his quills into some kind of order, but he can still smell the nasty water on him. Ugh. He needs to find a source of clean water, and quick. But something else catches his eye first — the doors to the outside.

It’s barren out there. Desolate. There’s nothing to be seen as far as the eye can see. He puts his hands on the glass and shakes his head. If he sees someone thinking about leaving, he’ll put his hand on him and frown]

D… don’t go out there… Something is really wrong.

New Clothes Required

[Well, there’s worse places to be trapped than a shopping mall. There’s lots of supplies at least… but Silver is concerned about water. They can have all the clothes and beds and snacks they want, but if there’s no fresh water… they’re going to be out of luck.

On a whim, he finds a bathroom and inspects the sink. He isn’t expecting much when he turns on the tap, and a sputtering sound greets him first. But after a few spurts of dirty water clear the pipes, the water flowing out is clean and clear] Uh…. that’s… good….? [Silver turns on all the taps, one by one, suspicious] … I should definitely still boil this…

[the water is at least safe enough for a shower, and Silver finds his way to the gym. There’s some girly screaming from one of the stalls;] EEIYAAAH! Cold!! So cold…! [but eventually he manages to wash all the dingy, foul-smelling stuff from the first floor out of his fur. He then spends quite some time rinsing out his gloves, socks, and boots in one of the sinks. The boots are made for heavy wear, and clean up fairly easily… but his socks and gloves are (well, were) white, and they seem like a lost cause.] Well… at least I can still use these boots…

[Off he goes to the department stores, looking through the messy racks and shelves. He’s found the children’s department, which has shirts and pants that might fit him… but who needs pants?]

All these clothes are fitted for humans. [he finds an unopened bag of socks and takes some of them out] Oh, that’s right… humans have really tiny feet… I guess I gotta find the adult section if I want to ever wear my boots again…

Wildcard
[Silver is literally all over the place. Want to plot? Hit me up on Discord @ Fishbone#3416 or plurk at

DrFishbone! Especially if you want Silver to find some of your stuff while he’s foraging]

Edited 2020-07-01 02:01 (UTC)

...Okay, so.

[How the fuck does he approach this.]

What the hell are you, first of all? Second, how do you know it's bad out there?

[Tactful. Real tactful.]

First, uh... I'm a hedgehog? See all these quills? [he primps the ones on his forehead like someone might run a hand through their hair] Hedgehog.

Second... well, just look.

[He peers back out the doors, frowning. He gestures to the desolate parking lot]

There's cracks in the asphalt, but no plants, not even hardy weeds. There's no birds, no dead bugs around the door, no other buildings as far as the eye can see... that color in the sky when the sun is still high up, it means there's probably a lot of weird gas in the air. I don't think it's safe out there.

Hedgehog. Sure. That would've been my first guess.

[Okay, just... go with it. For now, this hedgehog does make some good observations about the outside. Abbacchio folds his arms and looks outside, squinting his eyes.]

No. You're probably right. Whatever the hell's going on, we'd be worse off out there unless we could find protective gear. And we probably won't in a place like this.

[Yeah. He's not going to risk it right now.]

Wonder how this building is so protected. Just looks like a shitty mall to me.

[Silver totally misses the sarcasm and just smiles a bit] Some people guess "porcupine" because of the style of my quills, but porcupines have longer tails! It's ok. Humans kind of all look the same to me, too.

[he frowns as he looks back outside]

Yeah... we'd probably need full body clothing... some kind of gas mask or air supply... And even if we did go out there, which direction would we even go...? I guess there are worse places to be than a mall, though.

[he turns back around, tilting his head curiously] So... it sounds like you aren't from around here, either.

[For now, Abbacchio just sighs and shrugs. If he wasn't from a series with bizarre in the title, he'd probably freak out a lot more. As it is, Abbacchio's seen his fair share of weird shit; a sentient adorable hedgehog is the least of his problems right now.]

We might be able to find information in the mall. Pamphlets, advertisements for the area. Something to give us an idea where we are, anyway. Most of the signs seem to be in English, so I'm guessing it's America. Could be wrong, though.

[He shrugs.] Nope. None of this looks all that familiar to me. But we have tools to investigate with. If outside isn't an option, we'll have to explore the rest of the mall.

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OUTSIDE WORLD

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dark water

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new clothes

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dark water

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1/3

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new clothes required

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