Intro Log: Fly, My Pretties!

[hadrielmods]

What: The intro log for May
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: May 10th-14th
Warnings: Flying monkeys! New friends! Prosthetic limbs!

Here in Hadriel, we do introductions right. That means dumping you on the ground of an old Roman-style Colosseum with a bunch of scary monsters and also a bunch of weird shit. Your monster of the day happens to be Winged Monkeys, more commonly known as flying monkeys, from the Wizard of Oz and affiliated stories!

As you may have been able to guess, these creatures can fly and they're rather intelligent- intelligent enough to wield spears and daggers as crude weapons and strong enough to pick someone right up off the ground and fly with them to a perch, where they'll... you know, stab them with their knives and stuff.

Why? We don't know. It's Hadriel.

Just in case you lose a couple of limbs in the process of escaping these critters, we've got you covered. Scattered around the newbies are prosthetic limbs for various body parts. These limbs are all fully functional, even if they look a bit... odd, so if you've lost an arm or two, or a leg, or even a pinkie finger, feel free to grab one and try to figure out how to use it!

Good job dealing with those monkeys! It's kind of a weird thing to be threatening, but clearly someone was afraid of them once. Once you're done, you can 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 May 10th-14th.
► 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!

Comments

[unnature]

[Avisheh scoffs, completely offended at being handily overtaken in this made up Calvinball-esque game of Battleship.]

Why doesn't this damn game have submarines? This is rigged, my world has no war mages.

[It was an interdimensional game of Battleship, see.]

I suppose it's only just that all my sailors drowned. Their commander is Disorder, after all.

[abyssalarcana]

It's fine, mine are all on their way out anyway with what you did to them. Guess everyone dies today!

[The way she prefers it. Satisfied, she has a long drink.]

Your world really needs war mages, though.

[unnature]

I'm sure someone in the Nexus is from a world with war mages. Mine only had parasites and shahs. ...Which I suppose is just two ways to say the same thing.

[Aaaand talking about her world of origin definitely means it's time to refill her drink. She wiggles the empty bottle of lager.]

Need something from the bar?

[abyssalarcana]

[Caedra eyes her with renewed and real interest when she starts talking about her home world. She's about to ask, in fact, when Avisheh changes topics quickly. Caedra eyes her own glass, then nods.]

Sure. Maybe something lighter. Hard cider? If they have any. Otherwise, more of the - I forget what they called this. Some sort of red wine. Whichever they think is the best one.

[unnature]

[Avisheh mock salutes and heads over back to the bar to procure more drinks. There is cider, though not the spiced ciders Avisheh found popular back on the Nexus. She grabs two bottles, anyway, and heads back to the games room, sitting down with a sigh and presenting one of the bottles to Caedra.]

On the Nexus, the most popular were spiced ciders -- added cardamom and cinnamon and the like -- but it looks like these are just the basics.

[abyssalarcana]

[Caedra takes it without offering thanks, but seems pleased nonetheless and has a drink.]

Mm. It's not bad, though. I wonder - there's an orchard here, and it doesn't have apples but it does have other unusual fruits. Someone ought to try making their own drinks.

[unnature]

Apparently the proprietor of this establishment does in fact brew all the alcohol herself. I was quite impressed when she told me, considering the selection.

[So probably this cider is made from one of those unusual fruits? It certainly tastes apple-y enough...]

[abyssalarcana]

Oh! Well. Cheers to her, then.

[At least someone here knows how to help keep things from getting too inhospitable. Caedra can tolerate all sorts of harsh conditions and these are far from the worst she's been in - but this is the longest she's been stuck somewhere she didn't want to be. The booze is appreciated.]

So. What sort of doctor are you? We just call them healers back home, mostly, but I've learned here that the profession can be very specialized in some of these worlds.

[unnature]

I was mainly a surgeon when I worked in a hospital, but nowadays I do a little of both that and general practice. And everything else. I worked in a two person do-it-all clinic and one of those persons was a receptionist.

[Surgery, nursing, outpatient rehab, she does it all! And all without one ounce of bedside manner. It's incredible.]

But I am very good at my job.

[abyssalarcana]

Mm, surgery - so you know all the inner workings of the body, then. Fun. Humans, mostly?

[The average state of these worlds, apparently. Humans, with a dash of elves, and very little else bar odd exceptions like her. The creatures just prove themselves so good at multiplying and displacing other races, even across multiple planes somehow.]

[unnature]

Mm. Mostly. Other humanoids as well, and others not so humanoid. The Nexus is majority human, but they have all types. I was taught the basics of handling other species, thankfully, because otherwise I would have been entirely unprepared to handle the Apgnit forsee who needed a ruptured and infected vestigial organ removed.

An organ I don't even remember the name of, but you know. The internet exists, thankfully.

[abyssalarcana]

[Oh good, one of the rare ones who comes from a world with a bit more variety. It doesn't make a whole lot of difference, but it would have been rather depressing if the majority of the multiverse was just humans. And even if it is, at least there are a few other worlds that aren't.

She sort of tunes out all the weird jargon, though. Nods, shrugs, has a drink. The whatnit? Vestigi-what now? What's an internet? Mysteries she doesn't actually care much about.]

Have you ever gotten a really weird surgery case? Like someone with an extra arm, or - ooh, or eyeball parasites?

cw: gross parasites imagery

[unnature]

[At "eyeball parasites", she sputters her drink that she just so happened to be taking a sip of at the moment, immediately remembering a few cases back in Tirazis, long before she had her medical license and long before she was even a teenager.

Back when she had her own parasites.

They may not be the same "parasites" Caedra is thinking of -- Avisheh quickly learned it means something very different on other worlds -- but it's very obvious that the term caught her completely off guard.

She coughs a bit and regathers herself, laughing it off to recover.]

You ever heard of myiasis? It's this medical condition where certain species of flies lay their eggs inside open wounds. Not very common in humans.

[She looks around, lowering her voice conspiratorially, smirk creeping over her lips.]

Normally.

[abyssalarcana]

[Caedra snickers, seemingly unaware of the nature of the reaction her inquiry triggered - because truly it is sort of a gross thing to ask about. And no, she hasn't heard that word, but the description reminds her of things she has seen the chasmes do to their victims. Delightful.]

So what happens in these not-so-normal instances, then?

[unnature]

Well, not-so-normally, say you're a complete idiot and sleep around a lot of trash bags and not in a perfectly normal, trash-free alleyway, like a decent person does.

[Yes, she gave this guy a hell of a talking to about endangering himself.]

Often enough that flesh flies find an easy place to lay their little eggs in you. The next step is they hatch and maggots come bursting from your skin.

[abyssalarcana]

This happened voluntarily? Was he drunk? Or is that something humans in your world just do to themselves for no good reason?

[They're generally unintelligent creatures after all, but the little she knows from her life among them, and the things she has observed afterward, suggests they are tenacious people who will grasp at anything they can to keep themselves alive and comfortable. That said, they also can be unpredictable and incredibly stupid.]

[unnature]

Not voluntarily, just really stupidly, but he definitely was high. The wounds they found their way into were track marks from needles.

[She pauses.]

I think he was still high when I was lecturing him.

[abyssalarcana]

[Caedra's smile fades into puzzlement at the explanation. Needles? How does one get high off needles?]

Ahh, I was close, then. Perhaps he ought to have been left there - if he sleeps in the trash, it isn't so unusual to expect he would become it himself.

[And this is why she could never be a doctor.]

[unnature]

[Avisheh shrugs.]

I've met more addicts I liked than non-addicts I liked.

[Which probably speaks more to the crowds she runs with than like, anything else.]

But yes, this one in particular was exceptionally out of his gourd.

[abyssalarcana]

[Caedra shakes her head a little with a laugh. She's quite familiar with recreational mood altering substances - though addiction is different, of course.]

Oh, I didn't mean the drug use made him trash, simply that it was his own fault for becoming infected with maggots. But it makes for a unique story!

[unnature]

[Yeah, that sentiment Avisheh agrees with a little more.]

It does. You wouldn't happen to have any of those, would you? Unique stories. You must, if your world has war mages or... battle mages, whichever.

[Besides, Caedra's clearly not entirely human, or at least somewhat enhanced in some way, judging by her black sclera.]

[abyssalarcana]

Hm. Yes, I imagine so, and I have seen quite a lot. I did a lot of traveling in my youth. Any particular interests?

[Because who is to say what's unique, really. But the question gives her a moment longer to think, and decide just how much she wants to tell this woman. There are so few here who she has even mentioned her true home to that it will be simplest to continue to act as though she is from the prime material world, as she has with most. They all seem to think that place sounds fantastical enough anyway. No need to dip too deeply into the truth. Even with a few drinks in her, Caedra knows that much.]

[unnature]

I don't know.

[She gestures vaguely.]

Something fantastical, probably. Like eye parasites.

[Is that what counts for fantastical? Apparently.]

[abyssalarcana]

[Right - Dr. Razi here had missed out on the item given to her at the feast. She would probably have been fascinated by the little grublike souls. Caedra taps her chin a little as she thinks. What to tell?]

Well, for a while I lived in a city named Hafeld, on the northern coast of Lionde. Sort of a gray, rainy port city. Farther to the north were all these little islands and they said orcs lived there and raided villages with their warships. They were always a threat to sailors too but they didn't usually come straight to Hafeld because it was too well-defended.

[She has a sip of her drink, then continues. It's all fabrication, but easily the sort of story that could have happened. She just doesn't remember much about this part of her life and the actual events that took place from day-to-day.]

Except one day I saw a man all bundled up in a cloak wandering through town. Big, tall, strong-looking guy based on what I could see. And he wasn't talking to anyone. I'm pretty good at reading people, and he just looked off, you know? A little too shifty.

[unnature]

So was he an orc? I don't know orcs. They don't sound very subtle.

[Despite the interjection, Caedra has her rapt attention. Avisheh takes a big sip from her cider, fully invested in the story already.]