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

As much as I love a good pizza, I think that's out of the question for now.

[Eggman's munching on some snacks himself, but he absolutely lives for artificial, processed garbage like this. Junk food is his preferred form of sustenance.

Despite that, he seems to be more interested in the simpler, frozen hunks of meat.]

Now something like this...all we need is a fire and we should be able to make something of it.

[No guarantees it'll taste great though.]

[goodbye pizza, he will dream of you. Abbacchio looks a bit forlorn, but he lets it go. The big man is right and they have better things to worry about.

Wordlessly, he offers his potato chips. He's not feeling too much of an asshole right now, and it doesn't hurt that he's not attached to the chips.]

I can look for seasoning. I'm not exactly a five star chef, but I can put something together if we find enough ingredients.

The fire's the biggest problem, though. I can't even find a damned lighter around here.

[And he's taking those chips without a second thought.]

Seasoning? Well, you're more optimistic than I am. I just meant something cooked. But hey, not a bad idea.

[Eggman...finishes off the chips he was offered, but he pushes up his glasses confidently with a little grin afterwards.]

As for the fire, it shouldn't be too hard. All we need is a battery and some steel wool...which shouldn't be scarce in a Mall.

Usually places like this have bigass containers of seasoning. Guess we'll see.

[Chip bag is now empty, but that's all right. Abbacchio deposits it on a table, because it's not like the trash is gonna go anywhere for now.]

Huh. Not what I would've thought of, but all right. We'll try it your way.

[The frozen meat isn't going anywhere, so Abbacchio shoves his hands into his pockets, ready to go adventuring in the Definitely Not Haunted Mall.]

[And off they go. Eggman strides confidently with his hands held behind his back, with the gait of a guy who probably thinks too highly of himself.]

Now, starting a fire is all well and good, but we'll need a few other things as well. Something flammable to burn, something to contain the fire so we don't burn the mall down, something to keep the meat suspended over the fire...[A beat. A groan.] Roughing it out in the wild really is the worst.

[Destitute as the mall is, it's not exactly roughing it the way some people might describe it. But hey.]

...and of course, we'll have to keep an eye out for any kind of spices too. I have no idea what to expect around here...

[Ugh, he definitely knows the type, but right now as far as help goes he really can't be that picky yet. Besides, if this guy can help make the fire, Abbacchio isn't going to complain.]

A metal bin or something would help. We'll figure it out. Better to be stuck in here than in the wilderness honestly. I'd rather not take a shit in the woods.

[There are better reasons to appreciate being in a mall than the woods probably.]

What's your name?

That's if the toilets don't break down.

[He'll yell. He'll actually yell, seriously.]

But I am the world renowned Dr.Eggman. [A beat.] You?

[The "you" is dropped in that "i guess ill ask if i have to" tone, compared to how eager he sounded introducing himself.]

I don't wanna think about that.

[He would be REAL SAD if that happened!!

A normal person might ask: what the hell kind of name is Dr. Eggman? However, Abbacchio is not completely self-aware enough to ask that, because almost everyone he knows is named after fucking food, a band, or a pun in some way, so he doesn't even blink at that part.]

Leone Abbacchio. Never heard of you before though, Doc. Nothing personal, I'll admit I'm not real into the medical or science side of shit.

[He is well versed in the concept of alternate worlds and timelines, so he assumes there may be some of that going on here. Why? Because even if someone wasn't into those areas of interest, they'd definitely know this is the guy responsible for shooting the moon in half one time.

But it's something to bring up later, not now. Because right now his lack of infamy is to his benefit.]

Oh, don't worry about that. It doesn't-- [But he stops talking, and with a bit of pep in his step all of a sudden he breaks out into a little jog towards--] A hardware store! Oh baby, now we're talking!

[SWEET SWEET TOOLS. HE'S GOING INSIDE.]

[WELP there he goes. Abbacchio stops for a moment, then huffs out some air before he goes to follow.] Like a kid in a candy store.

[Not that he can blame Eggman. One of the more useful places in this entire mall is going to be a hardware store, honestly. There's going to be hopefully some useful equipment in here aside from batteries.]

I'll grab a couple of bags. Just grab what's going to be immediately useful, we can come back later.

[Because honestly, he's going to assume someone like Eggman would like to clean out the store, but it wouldn't be physically optimal right now. Though for Abbacchio's part, he's definitely going to grab an axe.]

[While there is some inventory left, it's an unfortunate fact that a lot of it seems to have been looted previously, while a lot of the bigger items have been destroyed. Eggman's mood takes a sudden downturn once he realises anything he could really modify to be dangerous falls into either of those two categories, but he's still found himself a duffle bag and he's not letting the essentials go to waste.]

Screwdriver...wrench...hammer...saw...

...drill? [He turns it around in his hand, before tossing it.] Busted. Figures.

[Eggman stands up to his full height to look around, calling out:]

Hey, Abbacchio! Had any luck finding anything electronic that isn't busted?

Other than probably an espresso maker? Shit out of luck.

[The axe was probably only a lucky find at this point. Almost everything else isn't in great condition in some way or another, but...]

Got your steel wool. Hopefully we'll find you some batteries too.

[He zips up the bag and hangs it over his shoulder, crossing an aisle or two to meet up with him again.]

Well, no matter. I wasn't all that hopeful anyway, given this place is a dump.

[But he heads on over to the section where all the batteries would usually be hanging. Not only are they missing, but even the shelf seems badly damaged. Even so, he isn't giving up!]

We ought to look around. If any got loose, they could've rolled away or under a shelf.

...Actually. It wouldn't hurt to check the backroom. Retailers like this probably have their own stash of batteries hidden away in their drawers. You keep looking here, I'll check out the back.

[Which, you know, batteries are a great goal, but he's admittedly got a deep, deep hope in his heart that he can find something else for himself as well. Looking in the fridge is probably the worst choice though as there's some leftover food in there from however long ago, which causes Abbacchio to immediately slam it shut.

On the bright side in one of the desk drawers he finds a bottle of whiskey. Nice.]

Not a bad idea! Go right ahead.

[And he'll take it from that immediately slammed door the fridge is not a good idea. Duly noted.

After some searching (some of which actually involving kneeling down on a dirty floor and reaching under shelves, gross, he hates scavenging) Eggman has pretty much zero luck. He's got a few batteries in his hand as he approaches where he'd seen Abbacchio go, but he's picking through them one by one and tossing them.]

Hey! Had any luck? All these ones are leaking, waterlogged or both!

[Whiskey bottle: in his bag. Not much else looks useful, but he does hold up a ziplocked bag. A couple of varying kinds of batteries inside.]

Not sure if these are any good. Could definitely beat a man with it.

...That wasn't a threat. Just. You know. An observation. [Nailed it.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

INTRO LOG #1

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