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

[ At that, she cannot help but grimace a bit... because ew, who-knows-how-old meat and fried chicken. She's aware that she'll have to eat it if she has no other choice, but that doesn't mean she'll be happy about it. ]

This is so gross... [ From the looks of things, this guy is way better prepared to deal with this than she is, also given by the fact he's already buckled down and decided to cook the damn stuff. But she still feels her complaints will be seen as valid! Because who wouldn't be disgusted by this? ] I mean, what if we all get sick from eating this stuff!

[ That's probably the least of her worries, given the circumstances, but she still finds it in her to complain. Nonetheless, she's still opening up the freezer while she says so, though she's wary to turn her back to him. She stays half turned into the freezer, keeping him in her peripheral - just enough to see his lifespan. ]

You're not even scared to eat that...?

You'd smell if it was rotted. And it being poisoned would be real stupid after all the effort it musta taken to get us here.

[It's not out of the question, of course. But the odds are low, if only because this place (this arena, he cannot help but think) is too built for long-term use. This isn't the kind of game that's meant to end so abruptly.]

Tell me something: you ever starve before?

Well... no.

[ She admits, albeit a bit guiltily. Of course, her dieting had never came close to actually being starving. ]

Why...? Have you?

[ Misa avoids eye contact with him, beginning to rummage around in the freezer for something she thinks she'll be able to stomach. ]

[Of course he has, and that's nothing special, not really. But it does give him a palate for the most disgusting things, canned mall meat included.]

Sure.

[He shrugs one shoulder and settles back down, listening as she moves about.]

Getting sick is better, believe me. Besides: it's not all bad. What kinda food you used to, anyway?

[ She pulls out what appears to be frozen spam, settling on it. ]

Rice, fish, salads.... light stuff. I'm a model. [ Misa explains, stepping out of the freezer and closing it by leaning on the door with her back. ] I don't eat sweets or processed foods at all anymore...

[ Giving him a tentative look, as if asking if it's okay for her to join him, she stays leaned against the freezer door while she goes on. ]

But that's probably like nothing to you. Right?

[His mouth purses a little, but he waves a hand: go ahead, sit down. She's harmless, and while he's not gonna be all buddy-buddy with the supplies, he can at least share the fire.]

What, you look at me and don't see a model?

[Drawled out.]

No. More used to bread and meat. Mostly liquor.

[His diet is . . . poor. A moment, and then:]

Go find a pan. Heating this in the can is just gonna give you burnt fingers.

[ That earns a small smile from her, a muted laugh under her breath at his joke. She turns to look around for a pan - settling on the idea that maybe this guy isn't so bad afterall. ]

Okay, thank you. [ Luckily, finding a pan is way easier than finding anything not disgusting to eat, so she brings over a small one as soon as she finds one, kneeling across from him. ] I can pay you back somehow! For the fire. Misa always pays back her debts.

[ She offers, getting to work on peeling the can open. ]

Don't worry about it.

[He should hold her to it, a nagging voice in the back of his head reminds him. She seems both sweet and naive, and he should absolutely take advantage of that. She's even offering.

But shit, what could she even do for him? Probably doesn't even know how to hold a knife. There's no point in it, he tells that voice.

He's quiet for a bit, but:]

You might wanna switch out those shoes, too.

My shoes? [ She repeats back without thinking, oblivious. It takes her a full 3 seconds to get what he means. ] Oh, you must mean because they're hard to walk or run in.

[ She hasn't been that worried about her unconventional ways of dress thus far, even if she's a healthy amount of suspicious of the other people here (who wouldn't be?). Part of it is that she vastly underestimates what it will take to survive here, and the other part of it is arrogance; she's thinking that if anyone really came chasing after her, she'd kill them before they caught up. Misa shakes her head, hitting the opened can against the bottom of the pan to try and get the meat out. ]

I'll probably find some eventually, [ Nonchalantly. ] You don't think we're going to have to... run from anyone, do you?

INTRO LOG #1

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