INTRO LOG #1

[collectedmods]

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

Comments

[knifegf]

One - Wet Cat

[ there is a loud gasp for air the moment villanelle's head splashes out of the water. she may not be a perfect swimmer but it doesn't take her long to get out, coughing up spurts of the foul liquid, hunched over and looking like a wet cat. her long hair is slicked back by the water, her red dress drenched, and her makeup faintly smearing around her eyes. she grips her hand on the railing of the escalator, taking a couple steps up and uncaring if she's blocking the path for anyone else.

once most of the water is out, or at the very least her heaving coughs turn dry and panting, she stands up straight and takes note of her surroundings. there are other people around here, some still in the water, and she breathes out a solid wheezing- ]

What the fuck?

[ like, what else is there to say? ]

Two - Contraband search (use the bold terms to indicate location)

[ after getting out of her ruined red dress and dumping it into a trash can (it was dry clean only, of course) villanelle is now on the look out for clothes and weapons. anything to feel semi-normal and protected.

the clothing situation is, tl;dr, dire. this mall is absolutely not up to her standards and the freedom of stealing whatever she wants is not fun with no security to stop her. she settles for - ugh - a gap knockoff store to find what she needs. you can catch her grabbing several different shirts, pants, dresses, and more, and spending well over an hour going in and out of the dressing room with a hefty pile of clothes dropped on the side of her room. she is not at all happy about this, and looks it every time she shoves open the door enough to disturb the hinges.

when it comes to weapons she's in the mood for something on the blunt side. she hunts down a furniture store and starts turning over small tables to try tearing the old wooden legs off, hoping any decay will favor her in breaking it bare-handed. she's grunting over the table and you can either watch her or help. eventually she manages to do it, but pulls so hard she ends up losing balance and slamming into a display of lamps. the lamps knock over to the side as she slumps against the dresser they were on. it appears she is unconscious and there's the smallest gash off to the side of her forehead where the edge of the dresser knicked her.

all of this and unbeknownst to her, she has lost her small gun and a fashionable jacket. however if she spots someone carrying around either, she will begin to quietly loom and stalk from a distance. an opportunity needs to present itself before she tries to get it back, but being stealthy is not easy in an open mall. she'll take cover behind old kiosks and walk beside store entrances in case she has to make a sharp turn out of sight, but more than likely she may get caught following her target. awkward. ]

Three - And I must scream

[ after a long day villanelle gets tired, as one does when they have been through an ordeal, but she does not feel safe in this mall. not enough to fall asleep at least. she can appeal to the mercy of total strangers or try her hardest to stay awake. unfortunately she had a recent bad experience with the former that landed her under the care of a creepy doll man, so she's not in a charitable mood on that. staying awake it is.

however how does one stay awake? well, there is one obvious answer - stay active! you can't pass out if you're active, that's clearly logical.

so forgoing sleep she instead walks aimlessly around the mall, keeping her pace slow to not tire herself out. when she does start feeling sluggish though? well, there's also one thing you can't fall asleep while doing - scream. hope you weren't trying to rest nearby because if so, get ready to hear a woman screaming loud and hard at the ceiling. it's not the sort of scream someone does in danger, more the kind you'd hear at a sports event. the best kind and most obnoxious kind! enjoy the sweet soothing sounds of villanelle screaming as you try to get some fucking sleep. ]

Wildcard

[ make it up and I'll follow along. if you want to claim either the gun or the clothes you can also make up a prompt here of your character with it. one person per claim of course. ]

2 - furniture

[globs]

[ This store has two distinct advantages over the others: one, Cinnabar actually knows what furniture is, so they don't feel as out of place as they could, even though being surrounded by it is still weird, and two, furniture is very easy to hide behind. Even a flashy, heavy gem is just a little bit harder to notice tucked behind a queen-size bed. (They've never seen such a huge bed in their life.)

It's also where they accidentally find a peculiar object. The mall's got no shortage of unidentifiable rubbish and weird items they've never seen before, but usually, they're old and damaged; the pistol, on the other hand, looks to be in fine shape, and has absolutely no discernible purpose that they can see. They're holding it daintily in one gloved hand, staring down the barrel with a puzzled expression. ]

... Part of the bed...?

[ they don't know where it would go, though... ]

[knifegf]

[ pulling this wooden leg off the table is not going as she hoped. what she wouldn't give for a damn ax right now.

(nevermind she would not need the leg of the bed if she had an ax, she isn't thinking that far ahead.)

she pants slow breathes, setting her hands on her hips as she tries to regain her stamina, and turns - right to seeing cinnabar holding the gun like a toddler would. well, damn. it's actually kind of funny? she should say something. ]

Hey! [ she calls out to get her attention first. once she has it- ] Make sure you turn the safety off. It's on the side.

[globs]

[ today, Cinnabar will not blow their own face off. probably. even though they do jump quite impressively when they suddenly hear her voice, it's coupled with them dropping the gun to the ground with a loud clatter as they stumble backwards. ]

W-what?!

[ that's really all they can say, because they don't know what they were just looking at and they sure as hell don't know what a "safety" is. Already seeking some kind of escape, they start edging behind the headboard of the aforementioned bed, although it doesn't do much to hide their inhuman form. ]

2, gap

[oomfies]

[ Lottie's been fairly busy for the past hour at the gym, washing her hair and her things of all the mucky water. Because, obviously, you can't go shopping when you're looking like a wet rat! So when she has a decent enough pile of equally questionable things to try on, after scavenging the mall and this store, she wanders over to the only dressing room.

She drags a table over while Villanelle is getting changed, shoves all her stuff on it and leans against it as she waits. Sadly, she can't be a good person and stop there. She casually examines the pile of clothes belonging to whoever is changing inside, only gives a flick of her eyes down at the pile before hearing the door shoved open.

..And, right away, she can tell that someone else is going through a similar crisis she is - ]

Lemme guess.. None of it's good?

[knifegf]

It's trash!

[ she calls out from behind the door, getting herself into what seems like a decent dress. the first she has found actually, and so far it looks to be she'll fit into well. maybe she should add a slim belt to the middle? it's definitely made to compliment a bust she does not have.

she's humming in front of the mirror, turning inside the room, and calls back out to the stranger- ]

Most of it isn't even worth stealing. This catalog is for housewives and people who have given up on life.

[oomfies]

[ What an icon, she was thinking the same thing. Lottie laughs at the coincidence, feeling herself growing excited at the prospect of a potential survival buddy (who is also fashion inclined). ]

Right?? It's pretty tragic. I wouldn't be caught dead wearing any of this stuff.

[ But, you know.. She definitely will because she refuses to recycle the same outfit every day, for however long she's going to be here. She knows when to settle, sadly, but that doesn't mean she can't play it up for the person in the dressing room. ]

Hey, if you wanna try and find some better stuff, I got a good haul over by the gym. It's kinda far but worth it!

2, gap!

[lifespanned]

[ The clothes she'd picked out for after her shower had been whatever she could get her hands on first - now she actually has the time to look for something. She happens to wander into the store while Villanelle is still changing in the dressing room, so she takes it upon herself to peek through the massive pile of clothes that seems to be collected there. It's only after she picks out some red zip-up jacket that is totally 2005 that she sees that someone's in the dressing room, and calls out (very friendly), ]

Is someone in there? You don't mind if I take something from this pile, right?