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

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[ It all happened so fast. One day, he was preparing an army to march on the Imperial capital, and the next thing he knows, he was underwater. All too dark, and as toxic to his lungs as it was to his skin.

Swimming in such heavy armor was a trying task, and the dash for the stairs, a surge of adrenaline pushing him forward, telling him to survive. Before that, he can't even remember when was the last time he actually feared for his life, yet there he was, hunched over himself and gasping for breath. Against all odds, he continues to live. But where to go from here...? ]

i. (almost) outside
[ Naturally, upon spotting the clear glass doors, his first impulse had been to go outside; the skies burned like the sun, and though his mountain boy self wasn't fond of high temperatures, anything was preferable to that patch of water he had woken up in.

... or so he had thought. Boy, had he been wrong. ]

Ah, please halt! [ He reaches for the arm of whoever is trying his same daring escapade from earlier, hoping to spare them from his fate. ] It is not safe to go outside.

[ And if the unsuspecting person happens to take a look at his hand? They'll see the gauntlet of his armor is gone, giving way to a severe burn, going all the way to his wrist and beyond. ]

ii. food court
[ The next order of business is, of course, ensuring survival, and as it doesn't look like they can go outside and hunt anytime soon, scavenging is the next best option. Looking around here and there, Dimitri eventually makes his way to the food court and, more importantly, to the fridges.

He takes one hand to the surface, and it's cold to the touch; a good sign. The lack of keys does not pose a problem when one can simply crush the locks in a deadly grip, but when that raw power leads him to pulling the refrigerator door off the hinges? That... that might be a bit of an issue. ]

Ah, such delicate contraption, this is...

[ Not it's not, you just have too much brute force for your own good, Dimitri. ]

iii. wildcard
[ For inventory finds or anything else you might want to play out, PM or hit me up at

pinkgrasshopper for plotting! ]

⟪ Never in her life has she spent as much time thinking about food as she does now, and a good part of it is due to the fact that acquiring food was never her job. The frozen food closet (not the term) shows some scratches – evidently, someone tried to get in before Dimitri came along, and that someone is now returning, holding a piece of metal she hopes to use as a wrench. Fire wouldn't do – fire would destroy the thing and possibly whatever is inside.

Except there goes this one, who simply takes the whole thing to pieces with one hand.

That's.

Different. ⟫

Metalbender?

[ If there were any such prior scratches, Dimitri never noticed-- and really, what's a little scratch when the whole door has been pulled out, right?

An actual metalbender would probably be far more useful than him right now, maybe make the refrigerator whole and, you know, actually functional again. But as it stands, Dimitri only looks at her over his shoulder, a crease between his brows. ]

Ah, excuse me? Is that what this is called?

[ He means the frozen food closet(tm), of course, not his little... accident. In his defense, Azula wasn't exactly very clear, either. ]

No. That is a freezer.

⟪ She says it with the utter confidence of someone who has learned the word from Haymitch. ⟫

I thought you might be a metalbender. Someone who controls...

⟪ She waves him off. No point. If he doesn't know what a bender is, it must be something else he did, or something else he calls it, at least. ⟫

What did you do to it?

[ How very knowledgeable for a little girl, Azula! Good job!! ]

Ah, well... [ He shifts his look to the door still in his hand-- yes, singular-- as though trying to figure out what to do with it. If he can't fix it, maybe he should just put it down, and yet this girl seems to know something about handling metal? Might be worth asking, later. For now: ]

The kind of ice I am used to seeing is more resistant than this... freezer turned out to be, so I misjudged the amount of strength I needed. [ And then, on a lower tone, as tough speaking to himself: ] Everything in this place seems so poorly constructed... Even the ruins of Garreg Mach looked more secure.

[ In other others, local king discovers modern malls do not withstand the test of time as well as medieval structures. Who knew! ]

Well, I suppose I will just have to find a way to fix it later. [ He turns back to Azula, sheepish smile in place. ] That aside, we seem to be in luck, however. Have a look.

[ There are frozen rations inside! And yes, he did say we-- naturally, he's willing to share his find. ]

[ she jumps at the sound - because, of course, industrial refrigerators make quite a bit of noise when they're being lowkey destroyed. the old lock she's been working on to try and unlock is giving her enough trouble that she decides to put it down for now, brush the hair out of her eyes, and tease dimitri instead. ]

If you don't want your food chilled, Dimitri, you could just take it out of the icebox. You don't need to destroy it.

[ Wow thanks, Dorothea, it's not like this is exactly what he was trying to do? But sometimes? Accidents happen?? ]

My apologies for the scare, Dorothea. [ He would bow to reinforce the sentiment, but at the moment he's a little preoccupied with that door and, more importantly, what to do with it. Even if they could find the tools to attach it back, the thing is... a little bent out of shape. ] I thought this container would be much sturdier, especially with how chilled it was, but... ah, well.

[ At least it's open now? So they should raid it before anyone else gets the chance. ]

[ she comes over next to him, leaning to inspect what's inside the fridge. ] You underestimate yourself. Not many things count as sturdy when it comes to you.

[ she fishes out a carton from inside the fridge, turning it over in her hands - but there's nothing identifying on it to help her figure out what's inside, and she frowns. ] I hope this is food. I'm almost scared to open it, though.

[ He only huffs a laugh at her initial comment, a little bashful. He will definitely have to take his strength into account next time. ]

I am afraid we have no other option. [ He sets aside the huge chunk of metal scrap formerly known as a refrigerator door, and joins Dorothea in investigating the contents they have just uncovered. ] But I suppose we can load up for now and share our findings with Sylvain and Felix, if you would rather not do this yourself. From there, we can evaluate what is still edible, portion our rations, and figure out how to conserve them. After, further investigating these frozen containers should prove to be useful, as well...

[ He's zoning in on full king mode and going over their next several courses of action, but maybe they should take that initial step first? Maybe? Someone snap him back to the task at hand, please. ]

[Eggman's attention is on that burned hand more than Dimitri himself, as he strokes his mustache curiously. Since the outside world is better off ignored for now, he may as well do some investigating.]

I take it you learned that fact first hand?

[Ha ha. But he does say it entirely dry, so maybe he isn't messing around.

(It's both)]

... ah.

[ That... particular brand of humor, it's. Hm. Under any other circumstances, he would actually appreciate it-- it's a lot like Alois's, after all-- and maybe even have to hold back a laugh, but right now?

... well, okay, maybe he lets the tiniest, tiniest muffled snort escape? But otherwise: ]

Yes, I am afraid so. [ And now that he's grabbed the man's attention, Dimitri will let his wounded hand fall back to his side. ] It was only for a brief second, enough to cause some damage. I cannot imagine anyone surviving outside under such harsh conditions.

Don't put it away. Give it here.

[His hand, he means. Eggman holds a gloved hand out towards Dimitri, specifically towards that damaged hand, brow still furrowed curiously.

But then he realises it's not an easy request to make of a stranger, so maybe--]

I'm a Doctor.

[Not a lie.]

[ There's a crease between his eyebrows for a second as he considers the request, but eventually relents and offers his hand for a closer inspection. He may be admittedly too trusting for his own good sometimes, but it doesn't look like his man is about to try anything funny-- other than his puns, that is.

(Plus, Dimitri could always yeet him off if he does turn out to be harboring ill intentions? Yeeting is always an option.) ]

It is not as bad as it seems, I assure you. [ It does look pretty bad though, with quite a bit of loose skin hanging off the edges. ] I have sustained worse before.

Whether you sustained worse isn't the issue here. It's obviously...hrm...

[He's turning that hand this way and that way, perhaps not being quite as delicate as he should be given he's a supposed doctor.]

Hold it steady, would you?

[He raises his free hand and taps the frames of his glasses. It might not look like he's doing much, but the miniature computer inside of the lenses is actually scanning the burn.

Unfortunately that's only visible from the inside of the lenses, so it seems as if he's just.........staring at his hand in total silence.]

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INTRO LOG #1

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