hadriel_logs | Intro Log: Busy Little Bees

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Intro Log: Busy Little Bees

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for July
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: July 10th-16th
Warnings: Fun for kids of all ages!

Another day, another mysterious transportation to a strange and alien city inside a cave surrounded by monsters. Or maybe that's not normal for you? Weird! You awaken on the ground of a large arena, a stone ceiling stretching high above you. Welcome to Hadriel! Oh, but you aren't alone. That 'surrounded by monsters' bit? Yeah...

Do you hear a buzzing? Better start running now. Along with all the newbies, the Door has brought in quite a few tracker jackers. Wasps are already horrible, and these things are even worse. Bigger and much more dangerous than the insects they were genetically modified from, tracker jackers will sting anyone they think is a threat. Their stings cause extreme pain and hallucinations, and if you're stung too many times - well, that's it for you. You can try to calm them down with smoke, fight them, or just run like hell. Maybe you'll get lucky.

It's hard to fight if you don't have a weapon, though. But hey - you're in luck! Rage, who usually supplies the city with weapons, is currently gone, but the Door has provided you with some instead! That's right, you might find a sword, a gun, a bow and arrow, or an exotic foreign weapon to defend yourself with! Of course, they're all made of plastic and completely incapable of hurting anything. Have fun!

Let's hope your legs are faster than those wasps, and you survive your first few minutes in Hadriel. After you've find your way out of the colosseum there's plenty of other distractions. Feel free to go explore the rest of the city! Find a house, a new monster, a project to help with, or simply scavenge for supplies. Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers July 10th-16th.
► Feel free to make your own logs as well!
► All characters arrive with phones that have network communication and the newbie guide installed.
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Malkus wouldn't have much time to react before there was a shout nearby to his left,]

Hey! [One second Malkus was gawking out at the arena, the next there was an ethereal elven face looking up at him. Glaring.]

Snap out of it and get moving! Don't just stand there! [Though she had been lucky enough to not get stung so far, Lup has seen what effect those wasps have on the people around them, screaming and crying and, she's pretty sure, experiencing some awfully fucked up hallucinations. She doesn't plan on sticking around long enough to experience them herself, but she also can't in good conscience let the rest of these losers get hurt either.

When Malkus doesn't immediately leap to leave the arena, Lup grabs his arm and drags him with her a few feet.] If you can't protect yourself, run. I don't need you getting in my way.

[ Malkus snapped to attention with a JOLT and a muffled yell. Too bad his attention just moved to gawk at her ears and before he knew it he was being dragged like a doll. And with that, everything around him came back into focus. The screams of the other arena goers. The buzzing swarms that clouded the air around them.

Malkus toppled to his knees, but quickly scrambled back up with his hands on his bags. ]

Th-This isn't how it is supposed to be! W-We were supposed to enter safety!

[ And with that, he ran with Lup. A better alternative to being dead weight soon to be... dead. Though the wasps had a hard time piercing his thick leather robes, they still swarmed him in bunches. Too much of this and things might actually take a terrible turn! ]

Yeah, no shit, [Lup grumbles while Malkus is scrambling back to his feet, clutching tightly to his bags and looking all too alike a skittish bird. If they weren't in such a dangerous position, she'd probably find the comparison pretty funny. But for now--] Somehow I doubt the memo from the boss said 'send killer bees to greet everyone'. C'mon.

[But then at least he is running with her instead of Lup forcefully dragging him along, even if the man's stride is hampered by his long robe and the panic so obviously racing through him. The colosseum is big, but with the two of them running now, Lup's focus becomes narrower and narrower the shorter the distance between them and the entrance becomes.

--Until Lup makes one wrong step and stumbles, her foot catching on something half-buried in the sand that sends her flying forward, releasing Malkus' hand to catch herself just in time from eating dirt. She rolls over, looking both startled and affronted, her eyes moving to whatever it was that had tripped her up. Oh, a human skull. Cool.]

O-Oh shoot! B-Beeswax!

[ Malkus almost lost his own footing, stumbling forward as Lup let go. He stared back at her, then at the skull. Could he just leave? He could keep running. Maybe the wasps would be fine with just this lady.

Shit, wait, was that one of his? The doctor ran to Lup's side and knelt to quickly start digging the skull up to throw into his bag. ]

S-Sorry! W-We have to go!

[ Skull properly stowed, he reached to offer Lup a hand up. ]

[Malkus almost jolts forward towards her, and for a brief moment, Lup is about to laugh in earnest at the idea of him offering her a hand to help her up. As if she needs the assistance.

--But then he isn't offering her anything at all. The man is just kneeling into the sand and digging up the skull that tripped her up. And suddenly, watching him delicately place the skull into his bag, Lup is furious and, honestly, very offended!

The offered hand comes (too late!) and Lup bats it away, already scrambling up to her feet, but not before shooting Malkus a glare.] Just keep up. [Turning on heel, Lup throws her head back and stalks off towards the entrance.]

[ Woah JEEZ lady, take it easy! She must be mad that Malkus got to the skull first. He should have offered... Wait, no that didn't make sense. What did he do? The threat of death hung above their heads and this woman wanted none of what Malkus was sellin'. ]

Y-... er- Yes, right behind you!

[ Malkus swatted and occasionally had to stop and roll across the ground to squash a number of wasps that tried to make their way through his leather hide.

What a strange mix of eccentricity and danger he was in! ]

We're approaching the exit! Be cautious! They might not want us to escape!

[Considering he seems to be taking care of the wasps going after him all on his own--as hilarious as that rolling is, it's somehow actually working--Lup just leaves Malkus to fight off his own bugs, saving her magic only for when she needs it. The weapons they were provided with are utterly useless, but she manages to pick up a couple of plastic guns and throws them at any lone wasps buzzing her way. It doesn't hurt them, but at least it's disorienting enough for her and Malkus to get away and move that much closer to the exit.]

I'd like to see them try. [She's still mad, but at least her glares are reserved for the bugs for now.] C'mon, now's the time to make a run for it. Time to move it!

[ It didn't take long for Malkus to find himself covered in hallucinogenic stingers and bug guts, but the cool thing was that it all seemed to slough right off like a clean plate! The doctor focused on running, but diverted from their path every time she threw a gun.

After quietly kneeling like a toddler to gingerly put the toy in his bag, he would sprint to catch up without saying a word. ]

I-I'm right behind you! Don't worry! I'll keep them off of you!

[ How? He didn't seem to do much to help at all, and by now he had fallen behind too far to do anything but yell his responses. Eventually they made it far enough INTO the actual coliseum that it seemed they passed whatever aggro boundary the wasps came with. ]

[At this point, Lup has to wonder if it would be more merciful to just kill the idiot or leave him to the wasps.

She wastes no time in sprinting towards the exit once the coast is clear for them, but when she peeks over her shoulder and sees Malkus has fallen behind, her sprinting comes to a halt and the woman just sighs, angry and exasperated all the same.]

Are you trying to get yourself killed, idiot? [Or whatever the wasps do. She doesn't want to stick around to find out. Besides, the guy looks wimpy. He's probably allergic.]

[ Malkus gasped, and seemed to bristle intensely. He moved with a brisk, upset pace until the two of them were out of the coliseum. Hidden beneath his robes laid a single wasp, stunned for the time being. God only knew when that problem would rear its ugly head. ]

You may have no regard for valuables- [ He grabbed his hat and smacked it against his hip, knocking dead wasp parts loose. ] b-but I am bound to collect all that holds usefulness! [ He didn't stop as he spoke, continuing to move if that remained their objective. ]

Besides, I am built for survival! [ It was a different tune he was singing earlier, but now that the buzzing remained in the meat of the arena he seemed to build his nerves back. ]

[Foreshadowing level: Master.

As Malkus ranted and raved, Lup kept an eye out for any stray wasps or worse that might have been headed their direction, but after a few minutes walk out of the coliseum, it was soon very clear that all of the danger seemed to be contained inside. Now that they were outside of it, the city seemed so much more quiet. Hm.]

I don't think plastic toys really hold that much value, but whatevs. Chase your bliss and all of that. [Somehow, miraculously, Lup manages to not respond to that built for survival comment, instead moving on what she thought was much more important.] Okay, so where are we anyway? Are you from this place or did you get dragged in like me?

I hadn't realized they were toys. Well, suppose it is obvious but the material... Plastic was it? An alien material can be valuable.

Besides there may be... [ He let out a deep sigh at the thought and rubbed the side of his head. ] children... here.

[ It was a grim thought that he absolutely did not want to think about. Poor kids stuck in a place like this. It did not take long for him to realize that this was anything but the underground paradises of his homeland. ]

I thought... originally thought that I had somehow been dragged to one of my own homeland's deepdark settlements by accident. But this place is alien.

And... empty. This isn't my home. And I worry that this may be far from any good place.

[Lup certainly hadn't seen any kids running wild in the arena, but that doesn't mean they aren't around somewhere. The thought was pretty chilling. She hadn't seen anything else that Hadriel had to offer outside of this thrilling arrival, but she was assuming that giant wasps weren't going to be the worst thing living here.

Best to get out and soon.]

Well, we'll just have to find a way up to break out of here, right? How hard could it really be? [Even if Malkus had been a little useless, there seemed to be plenty of capable fighters and magic-users in the arena with them. If they all worked together, they'd figure something out. She always did.] Maybe we'll come across some natives interested in helping. And, y'know, maybe this is your home. We're just--[she shrugs]--like, way fucking underground.

Can't be that hard at all if they won't even see their little arena show through.

[ He looked straight up and then off to the side again. How far could this cave possibly extend? He didn't know much about physics or weight, but surely it could only be so big before collapsing right? ]

We got here through some path. Reason states that we can leave right out that same way. Worst case scenario I suppose we just dig our way out the hard way.

[ He looked at Lup as she suggested that this might be his world after all, and then gave the buildings another glance. ]

It may be... If it is, we may not want to leave the underground. Not dressed as you are.

[ Malkus stopped with his fingers touching the end of his mask before abruptly continuing. ]

You look great of course but you would suffocate in our overworld.

Or blow it up, [Lup replies casually with a gentle wave of her hand, her gaze still trapped upwards, scanning across the dome of rock for any hint of the real sky above it. But she can't spy any cracks from this far down, the artificial lighting making her squint against it's unnatural brightness.] Way easier than digging.

[The mention of her wardrobe has Lup's glare snapping back to Malkus, her mouth already opening to spew an insult right back at him for his shitty taste in fashion. But before she can bite back, he's explaining himself and the sudden fire behind her gaze goes out. The man had only meant for her safety. Oh.]

I always look great, natch. So that's the reason for the whole bird thing? I was starting to think it was a fashion statement. Or a weird kink.

That is also an option. Would be faster too. Na-

[ He leaned his head to the side and gave Lup a curious look. Natch? She spoke his language but occasionally bits of slang or another sort of tongue slipped through. Maybe he'd need to learn it sometime.

If it wasn't already obvious that she came from a different realm, her ignorance on his attire sealed it. ]

I'm not entirely sure it is a... ah, "kink" but it's something of a uniform. Ow- ow! Hell- [ He slammed a hand against his leg and felt what must have been a spider or something die. Horrid things. He thought he sealed his garb. ]

I move a lot of the dead. The mask helps keep their nightair from infecting me, and the robes are made to be slick, smooth so some nastier elements don't stick to me and... well, you just don't usually want viscera to stick to you as a rule of thumb.

[His sudden squawking almost startles Lup with how quiet everything around them had been since leaving the arena. She watches Malkus slap comically at his leg, not bothering to hide that she was looking at him like he was crazy.]

What's wrong with you? [Lup's head tilts quizzically to the side, a hand reaching up to brush her hair behind her ear.] Leg cramp? We really didn't run that far. [Yeah, she's sticking by her initial assessment. This guy has absolutely zero survival instincts. If she hadn't dragged him out of there, he'd have gone under fast.

But at least hearing about his world is interesting, even if she'd rather be there experiencing it herself instead of just hearing about it.] Nightair. What's that? You mean their like, just the general decaying? It's dangerous enough to require a filtered mask when handling corpses?

[ That was an odd numbness running up his leg, but the doctor continued on. ]

No, sometimes- sometimes when I am sleeping- spiders crawl into my mask and lay eggs- [ He rubbed his thigh and tried to slap it awake. ]

One must have found its way down my robe. It's fine.

[ It's fine. fine. fine. He heard the words echo through his head, as he started walking. And walking. And walking. Lup was keeping good pace, despite not moving and starting to grow that tree branch out of her head. ]

Corpses? The hell are you on about?

[When it comes to sensing and responding to danger appropriately, Lup's twin easily has her beat, Taako the more cautious half to Lup's oftentimes reckless bold streak. But even she can't help but take half a step backwards at the rather disturbing words falling from Malkus' mouth.]

Uh, we have very different definitions of the word fine. Yours is honestly pretty messed up.

[With his face obscured, Lup might have missed most of the physical signs that something was very wrong with the man--a shortness of breath, dilated pupils, maybe even some facial spasms--but she caught the way his body swayed beneath his heavy robes.] Okay, you need to sit down. Maybe one of those wasps managed to get you after all. [or it could be those spiders that were apparently hiding in his cloak...]

What? No- no, thank you but no I'm okay.

[ He tried to take a step forward and suddenly a massive THRUMMM emanated from inside of his head and sent the world spinning. Oh no. Oh no this isn't good. Malkus had been intoxicated like this only once before and it was from a very poisonous plant that by all accounts should have left him dead. ]

Ohh... Ohh oh no oh- oh hold on-

[ He reached out towards Lup before falling back onto his rump. ]

This is awful- I'll be fine- it's just me.

[ Malkus seemed to repeat that to himself a number of times more to convince himself than the woman. ]

Please don't go.

[Oh boy, this whole situation just took a turn towards the massively freaky. Malkus is suddenly reaching out for the woman as he stumbles awkwardly forward, like a clumsy teenager working in an off-brand haunted house. Still, as non-threatening as he may look, Lup is quick to step out of his way, putting a few feet of distance between them easily. Whatever is going on with him, she wants no part of it.]

Don't be an idiot! This? [she gestures at his whole self] Definitely not fine! It's--...

[Then he has to go pulling the 'please don't go' card on her. Ugh, unfair.] Fine! But I don't know what to do to help you. I'm not a cleric. [Lup crosses her arms and just grumbles.] You really fucked this one up, man.

[But she's there, so at least that's something.]

Let- let- [ He held a hand to the end of his beak and shook his head. A couple of quick breaths and Malkus continued to speak. ]

Happened before. Sometimes. Whew it is warm. Hot. Oh hell, hang on. Wait, I'll be good. Just need to, ah... uh-

[ Malkus swirled his hand impatiently as he felt himself melting into the earth. Maybe he'd die? Maybe this was more serious. Oh shit this was serious. He felt his heart racing and sweat began to run down the back of his neck. ]

Calm down I just need to calm down! Ohh lord- I- I have- smelling salts! Bag- my bag hey- I need my bag.

[ He shut his eyes tight and pointed off to wherever his satchel was. It shouldn't be too far, but then again everything felt miles away to the doctor at the moment. ]

[There is so very little that Lup can do for him in this situation--comforting someone she doesn't really have a strong relationship with isn't really her thing--but when given a task, the elf moves quickly to Malkus' bag, throwing open the top and peering inside.

It's kind of a scary mess.

Lup's eyes trail over the various contents, sliding over random pieces of bone, a bleeding scalpel, some strange animal skins, and--Oh! The elf peers back at Malkus, still moaning on and oblivious to anything, before she picks up an old-looking jewel, giving it a quick look over before stuffing it into her pocket. That is payment for all of her trouble. After that, Lup swipes up the smelling salts and closes the bag, returning to Malkus. She honestly doesn't want to get too close to him in this state, but she leans in near enough to put the salts under his nose, giving him a good ol' whiff.]

[ Malkus couldn't even shut his eyes for long, as each time he tried the world would threaten to spin more and more until he opened them. Colors flashed over and over again, each thought connected to the next yet he could never focus on just one. His brain was short circuiting, and all he could feel was stress.

The colors and images changed so quickly that he couldn't even process what his eyes were seeing, until something shot through his senses. Smelling salts were... an ungodly creation. Mixed from ground antler and ammonia, the scent was one of few things so strong it could wake the dead. ]

OH-- God's WOUNDS, not so much!

[ Malkus pushed the tin away, almost spilling it over. There was that strange woman who had the temper with him. His head was pulled above water just long enough for him to take the tin of salts into his own hands. ]

Th-Thank you. The constant-- [ He sniffed again and gagged, but the motion seemed to keep him grounded. ] stimulus. It overwhelms the senses. It-- EUGH-- is like chewing black peppercorn. I hate it- but it works.

[Even just the slightest whiff of it from far away had Lup's whole face scrunching together in distaste, the woman leaping to cap the salts the second that Malkus felt the fullness of their effect on him. When he reached to take the tin, he'd find no hesitation on her part. Lup may like to pocket a lot of things that weren't hers, but never that. It's all his.

Now that he seemed to be talking more normally (but was it really normal for him? Lup had only just met the man five minutes ago...), she kneels down next to him, looking him over with particularly sharp gaze.] Just keep at it then, man. I'd ask someone else for a cure but-- [Lup juts a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the arena, where the faint screams of the other people stung are still echoing faintly in the distance. She shrugs. He's the only one who managed to fight off the hallucinations.] Can you walk? Might be better to get you off the streets, maybe find a place you can actually lay down.

[Lup could gather more intel if Malkus was somewhere a little safer and she didn't feel like he needed to be watched so closely.]

Intro Log: Busy Little Bees

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