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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[At this point, Eichi has managed to find a new outfit. Baggy sweatpants with holes in the knees and a shirt that's just slightly too short for him and has the sleeves torn off— but for now, it's working. Honestly, he's even past the point of hoping that he'll find his medication anywhere, as it wasn't in any of the stores he's checked so far.

Right now, he's just at the edge of a toy store, rummaging through whatever's been left behind. The next person who walks up happens to be Prompto, and so he gets the lucky honor of Eichi spinning on his heels and pointing a gun at him with a wink, mimicking a fired shot.]

Bang!

[He doesn't pull the trigger, but brings it to his lips like he's blowing it off as if he did.]

Fufu... Isn't it realistic, this toy gun? I found it here among the other discarded toys and thought it might be fun to surprise someone with. It's weighted, too... Do you suppose it shoots fake bullets?

[Honestly his handgun had been the last thing on his mind, initially. Gladio would have griped at him, if he were here, that he cared more about his camera than his weapon in a survival situation, but he couldn't help it if his camera was more important to him!

But as he nears the toy store and Eichi turns to him, he suddenly can only think of his gun, because it's currently pointed at him, as Eichi mimics shooting him in the chest. For a moment Prompto thinks he actually will, and he flinches back, but thankfully Eichi never so much as touches the trigger - though Prompto would argue he still has terrible muzzle discipline for even pointing it at him in the first place.

He shakes that thought away.]

Toy... that's not a toy, it's a real gun! [His brain catches up with him, and he reaches out a hand.] And it's mine!

...Is that true? A real gun?

[Quietly, Eichi lowers it from his face and turns it left and then right, examining it. It certainly looks realistic, not that he's ever looked at something like this quite so close up. But that's why he's so interested, fingers slipping slightly over the metal of it, feeling it in his grip. Hm.]

Of course, to claim that it's real may prove well enough that it's yours, but is there a chance that you're lying? It would be a little dangerous to hand over a real gun to someone I hardly know.

More than that, though... I'm a little interested in trying to shoot it myself, now. If I aim it away, do you suppose that would be fine?

[Prompto assumes it's a long shot, but he tries to will the gun back into the Armiger, which would get it out of the other boy's hands whether it wanted to give it up or not.

Unfortunately there's no such luck. Prompto pushes down the empty feeling of knowing his best friend isn't here to focus on getting the gun back.

After all, he has to admit that Eichi has a point: Prompto probably wouldn't just hand a gun over to someone he didn't know either.]

You can't just shoot a gun randomly, what if you hit someone? [Even if he aims it "away," there could be others in the mall.] Just open the barrel, you can see the bullets.

I see...

[ He considers that for a moment, and then holds it out, carefully. At least he seems aware of where not to hold it, though his sources of knowledge aren’t clear. ]

Unfortunately, I’m unclear on how to do that, so I’d prefer to see you do it, instead. It is yours, so I’ll be able to tell right away if you’re telling the truth. Beyond that, I’m rather frail and it’s not as if my appearance hides that, so if you were a violent person, you could have easily wrestled it back from me.

[ He rambles a lot for a simple conclusion. ]

You have no obligation to show me, of course, but I hope you will regardless.

[He looks briefly appalled at the implication that he might just violently wrestle the gun away from Eichi, but still takes the gun, holding it so that it doesn't point at Eichi. With an easy, practiced motion he flips the cylinder out, then dumps the bullets in his hand for good measure.]

Here, see?

[Eichi is right that he has no obligation to do this, but he feels like it's only fair. And anyway, he wants to make sure he understands how close he came to shooting someone.]

Real bullets, real gun.

They are real! [Exclaimed just slightly, with a tone like he's speaking about something interesting over tea. Still, at the very least, he does look at Prompto and apologize.]

I hope you'll forgive me... In order to deal with this rather startling scenario, I was searching through this toy store. I hadn't stopped to think that a real gun might appear in the midst of it all.

[Slowly, he looks back at the gun.]

What a relief that I didn't shoot. I had been worried that a fake bullet might fling out and smack you, but the risk was far higher...

[He still seems a little too excited about it being a real gun, but Prompto lets it slide.]

Yeah, thanks for not, uh. Doing that. Kind of like my body better when it's not swiss cheese.

[Haha it's funny because he almost died! But it's fine now, the gun is safely back in his hands and no one was inadvertently killed. All's well that ends well.

He slides the bullets back into the chamber and clicks it shut, then double checks that the safety is on. All good. Thank goodness.]

Oh, I'm Prompto. I'm in the Crownsguard, that's why I have the gun. Guess I should have started with that...

Crownsguard? Like protectors to a King, or something like that? What a cute name. It reminds me of how I used to be called "Emperor"...

[Cute, he says. It sounds like a club, or some sort of sport, and he can't take it more seriously than that. This boy looks around his age?]

It's nice to meet you, in any case, Prompto-kun. My name is Eichi Tenshouin. Are you familiar with this mall?

[He notices how dismissive Eichi sounds about the Crownsguard, but he lets that go. He only really has his position thanks to nepotism, anyway...

But he nods in acknowledgement of the name.]

I’m not. It looks like some of the malls in Insomnia, but if that’s where we are I’ve never been to this one.

[Insomnia...? He lets that one slide, as well, humming.]

I've rarely had the chance to visit any place like a mall, you see... So even if it were in Tokyo, I doubt that I'd recognize it. I always send others to shop for me.

[Quietly, he looks through some of the toys on the shelves, rolling a hot pink truck from right to left. There's nothing else useful here, either.]

Aside from that, I haven't been able to recover any information about this place.

[Similarly, Prompto has no idea where Tokyo is. Maybe it's just a city in a country he hasn't been to, though...]

Yeah, me either. Other than we're stuck here...

[What with the burning atmosphere at all. Prompto also glances around the toy store, but nothing catches his eye.]

You have people to shop for you, though? Wow. [He must be rich or something!]

Normally, yes. As the heir to a huge financial conglomerate, it's difficult for me to find time to shop on my own. Even if I were to...

[He trails off and then laughs to brush that off, a soft chuckle. Fufu.]

It's hardly important here, is it? A shopping mall... There was a time that I wanted to go more than anything else. Even now, I'm thrilled to see one, though it's in a sad state. I wonder what happened...

Waking up in that substance was more than startling, as well. I thought I was going to die.

Ohhh, yeah, I get ya. Sometimes when me and Noct would go shopping, we'd have to schedule it, like, two weeks in advance.

[Way to just casually namedrop the Prince of Lucis to someone who doesn't even know who that is. Well, anyway.]

But yeah, this one is pretty run down... And that water is pretty disgusting. [He makes a face.] Good thing the water from the sinks seems clean...

[Eichi doesn't even blink at the name. Noct? He doesn't know one, and he can only assume he's rich? But plenty of people are rich, so he's not even too concerned with that. He nods instead, glancing down at his own ridiculous outfit.]

Thankfully. That water below caused so much irritation to my skin that it's still a bit red... Ah, but I washed it off quickly enough and found spare clothes. I hope you've had as much luck? [A pause, and he looks at the rest of the toy store.]

There is power in numbers. Would you like to look around the rest of this store with me? It seems that things can be found that are of use here, if I located your gun.

[His skin got irritated that fast, huh? Must be pretty delicate.

Prompto doesn't say that, instead mulling over the proposition. This guy isn't much younger than him, that's true, but if he doesn't have any weapons he's probably not safe wandering around on his own. And Prompto is a little sick of being on his own, anyway.

So he nods.]

Sure. We might as well check it out. Maybe we can find something cool.

Something "cool"... That reminds me, but your item isn't the only personal item I've found on accident. I haven't found a single thing of my own, however...

[He hums. What would there even be? He doesn't know. Stepping further into the store, inching carefully over worn out boards that creak loudly.]

Though it may be that I'm not missing anything terribly important that had been on my person. Is there anything else that you're looking for?

My phone, I guess. That's the only thing I had on me that I'm still missing...

[Alas, his phone is not here, but he doesn't know that.]

We can just be on the lookout for anything that looks familiar.

That's true... I also had my phone on me at first, but it seems to be missing.

[He frowns thoughtfully, stepping over a knocked down shelf to dig deeper into the store. Something scutters from the sides, and Eichi assumes it's some sort of bug or rodent...]

I wonder if anything might be lost to the flooded floor.

Ugh, I hope not... I like that phone.

[He moves away from Eichi, to check out a bin of what looks like kickballs. A lot of them are deflated now. He rummages through it, just in case.]

But if it is in there, no use getting it back now.

[He's peeking at higher shelves, picking up something that resembles a nerf gun and glancing back to Prompto with it. Well. At least this one is obviously fake. He sets it aside and keeps moving.]

That much is true. My skin still feels a bit irritated over that...

Ah, what color is your phone, by the way?

Black. The lockscreen has a picture of me and my buddy and a chocobo.

[Everyone knows what a chocobo is so this requires no further explanation! Prompto moves away from the balls and over to scan some shelves nearby.

This is the second time the guy has mentioned his skin being irritated, so don't mind if he asks...]

Does your skin get irritated easily?

It does... I've been quite delicate since I was born, so even a short time in the sun can cause me to burn. However, more than that, that water was certainly acidic in some way. Even my sturdy unitmate became a little irritated from it.

[Hey, there's like, some kind of a candy bar shoved in here? Eichi grabs it and stands up, turning it over in his hands curiously.]

Did you manage to escape that irritation?

I guess. I got pretty lucky, though - I was wearing a whole snowsuit when I ended up here, goggles and everything. The suit is pretty much ruined now, but I was okay.

[Now he's glad he had it on, if it irritated everyone's skin.

He glances back at Eichi, noticing what's in his hands.]

What'd you find?

A snow suit! That's incredibly useful. It's better that the suit is ruined than you yourself. If you look closely at the mess below us, you can see that pieces of even the mall itself have eroded to that acidic liquid.

[Seems like bad news. But, he offers the bar over.]

It seems like chocolate that's incredibly old. This isn't something that I can eat normally, let alone expired, so you're free to have it, if you'd like.

INTRO LOG #1

Prompto

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barrel, cylinder, Prompto knows guns but I clearly do not lol

ME EITHER I DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE

OKAY AS LONG AS WE'RE EQUALLY CLUELESS

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