hadriel_logs | Intro Log: Please Remove Metal From Luggage

Entry tags:

Intro Log: Please Remove Metal From Luggage

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for August
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: August 10th-13th
Warnings: New folks, metal falling apart, fun stuff

As you wake up on the sand of the colosseum, gazing up at cloudy gray skies, you might wonder what you're doing here. Where are you? How did you get here? You'll figure it all out soon enough, so try to clamp down on that rising panic, or you just might end up in a dangerous situation.

Because, of course, you're not the only thing that arrived. The Door has also chosen to pull in some rust monsters. These monsters may look a bit like insects, but they're much larger, with a rather vicious bite. You can fight them, but be careful - anything metal that touches them instantly begins to corrode. Your sword, a bullet from your gun, even your robot friend. Might want to keep a little distance.

And that's not all. Scattered across the ground of the colosseum can be found a variety of unique and delightful musical instruments. If you're the musical sort, maybe you can figure out how to play one - or maybe you already know. Hopefully no rust monster has wandered too close to the one you want to try, or you might find that it's missing important metal bits.

Once you've found a way to express the song in your heart, feel free to leave whatever bit of safety you've found. 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 August 10th-13th.
► 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

[In general, Peter doesn't really like to kill anything, so for a while he'd just been sticking these bigass bugs to the ground with his web-shooters while he tried to find some people to help out. Well okay, mostly with these giant, nasty looking fleas or whatever, it was more a matter of him not wanting to touch them. Since he doesn't carry weapons, killing them means having to touch them, but they're just so gross. He gets over it eventually and just punches a couple out because he doesn't have time to stand around and sling webs all day, but as soon as he tries to web up this bug that's creeping up on him, he realizes that this one web shooter isn't shooting web. Because his dumb ass went and got it all rusted. Whoopsiedoodle.

Lucky for him a purple guy with the coolest sword that he's ever seen in his life just chopped the snot out of that bug critter and saved him the trouble of having to deal with it. NICE.]

That was awesome! I-I mean, yeah, totally. Thanks for the assist, dude!

You're very w--

[Now that Molly's up close and personal with the bug corpse, frosted over at the point of contact as it is, he can see the guy he just helped much better, and...

Well now. That's different. Now, Molly, with his numerous tattoos, his asymmetrically patterned pants, his thigh-high boots, and his kaleidoscopically colorful cloak that's embroidered to the Nine Hells and back with religious iconography is not normally one who feels like he should point out a person's eccentric dress, but he's really never seen anything like this before. It's like a spider costume without all the parts that make him a spider. It's very... unique.

And for that reason, it's just enough to catch Molly off guard.]

...You know I have to ask, right?

[He nods towards him, gesturing to the getup.]

[He looks up from fiddling with his busted web shooter (fixing this is going to be the biggest pain in the ass), glances down at himself, and then back up at the flashy looking purple guy. Dude you look like a rainbow my little pony threw up on the devil, like really, we're having the fashion conversation?]

What? This is the height of fashion where I'm from. This is my fancy suit, for when I do fancy things.

[Fancy like fighting giant fleas, apparently.]

[Molly just grins, snickering as he dispels the ice magic from his sword with a quick flourish of the curved blade.]

You know what? I got exactly the answer I asked for. I don't know what I expected.

[And he's perfectly willing to let it stay the answer he receives. Demanding the truth is simply not Molly's style.]

So, let me guess, your spider-gun got rusted through?

[While Molly doesn't know of any guns that shoot strange spiderweb material, he's certainly familiar enough with guns. The strange red-and-blue suited person doesn't appear to be holding anything like a gun, but it just seems more apt to call whatever it is one, rather than something like a crossbow, which it is even less similar to.]

[Oh good, this is the chillest purple guy Peter's ever met. Not that he'd have a problem with explaining the whole Spider-Man thing, but right now he was a little more concerned with the state of his web shooter.]

It's not really a gun, but yeah! Like, what even- ugh, if it was just broken I could probably fix it? Jeez, I didn't think this stuff even could rust.

[I mean, with Peter's track record with purple guys, Molly's likely a breath of fresh air with how much chill he has to spare. Molly shrugs.]

This is why people like us stick with two weapons. When rust monsters come along, there's always a backup.

[Yes, they're already "people like us", even with the costume this guy's wearing. Because this stranger is obviously the odd one of the two of them.]

Interesting choice of weapon, though. Entirely nonlethal. I can appreciate that.

[Even if it's not Molly's mindset at all. It's just interesting to him. And says a lot about this guy as a person.]

[Molly is the most refreshing purple guy, it's true.]

I had backups, but they're not here. Didn't exactly get to choose what came with me when I got here. But yeah, killing isn't my style. I just web people up and let the cops deal with 'em.

[Or at least he did when there were cops. At least he hasn't had to fight people yet, so far its just been creepy monsters.]

Is that what these are called, rust monsters? Not the most creative name ever, but it's... apt, I guess.

I'd argue monsters aren't people, but given how fine the line between monster and person can often be, I'll let you have this one.

[Also, what are "cops".]

And I have no idea. It's what I'm calling them. I've never encountered them before.

[Luckily, they are in fact called that extremely obvious name.]

Yyyeah, I'm honestly not sure where to draw the line on that one, so I figured I'd just not kill anything if I can help it.

[That simplifies things. Or maybe it just makes everything more complicated? Having morals is hard.]

Rust monsters works for me, then. Also the exit's like this way, [he points with his thumb over his shoulder,] and these things won't follow people outside if you wanna leave. Don't ask me why, I have no idea. It's just a thing, I guess.

Edited (html failure 8() 2018-08-11 20:03 (UTC)

Very noble of you.

[And also very stupid, potentially, but Molly isn't here to judge people.

(That's a lie, he's very good at judging people, even if not openly.)]

And very noble of the monsters, as well. Well, I guess they just have a favored location. So you're not a new arrival as well, then?

[He'll move to leave if this guy does too, he wants to keep talking to him.]

[Stupid maybe, but Peter's just a kid. He's allowed to be a little stupid. he does move to leave, since the whole reason he's hanging around the arena is to help the new arrivals get out safely. He sort of just assumes that this dude's going to follow him.]

Not really, I've only been here about a month though. There's still a lot I'm trying to get figured out, but I might be able to answer some questions.

Edited (icons this time SORRY) 2018-08-11 21:04 (UTC)

[And follow him he does. Molly's known plenty of kids willing to be lethal, meanwhile, but yes, he's perfectly willing to let kids be kids. Have the childhood Molly never had, spider-teen. Which is just any childhood at all, Molly's a complete blank slate there.]

Okay, easy first question then, and it might be a stupid one so bear with me: are we all dead?

[Because, yeah, that might be the last thing Molly remembers, but it definitely doesn't seem like it should be possible to kill a monster in the afterlife.]

[He said EASY first question but honestly Peter's not 100% certain on that one for reasons, soooo]

Uhh... I mean the good news is, that's really not a stupid question at all? People have said this isn't like, some kind of freaky afterlife, and I don't really feel dead, so I'm gonna say that we're not dead.

Fair enough. I suppose if this were the afterlife I wouldn't feel my heart beating.

[He deeefinitely has a few alarmingly placed tears in his shirt, though. Very obnoxious. He'll have to get that mended. If only Jester were here, with her Mending spell.]

Enlighten me on this place, then. If it's not the Raven Queen's domain... excuse the very vague question, but where are we?

[Good news for his shirt at least, there's totally a sewing shop in town. That's probably the only good news, though.]

Buckle in, buddy, this is gonna be a trip. So, we're in this city, Hadriel, which is split up on four islands. It's like, I dunno, some kinda pocket dimension or something that grabs people from different universes and tosses us all together like some kind of screwed up reality survival show. It's run by these god people who like, feed off of our emotions, which is super creepy. I hear they're also able to just make people feel different emotions too, which is also pretty up there on my creep-o-meter.

[Mollymauk "Cosplayer Tears" Tealeaf is about to become the sewing shop's single most annoying customer.

A lot of what the teen says flies way over Molly's head, but he doesn't ask for clarification. He understands the general meaning, regardless; something to do with a "pocket dimension" that draws in people from different universes? Explains the strange garb, probably. Unless that's odd where he comes from as well.]

Well. That's a little invasive.

[But really, if he's being given a second chance at life, as Molly, as himself... he can't hold that against the ones responsible. He half expected, when that giant glaive plunged into his chest, that if he came back, he'd be someone entirely different. Again.

Or worse: he'd go back to being the person he was before.

So yeah. In a way, he owes something to these "god people".]

Appreciate the synopsis, though. And it's always nice to have a purpose, I suppose.

[RIP sewing shop you will be missed.]

It's a lot invasive, and I can't say I'm a huge fan of this set up, but hey. Guess it could be worse?

[It's either this or the purple guy problems back home which. I mean, technically they aren't his problems anymore, so that's a... plus? No, not really.]

But yeah, don't mention it.

[Yeah, take it from Molly, it's pretty hard to look back on your former life and say, "Well, at least I'm dead!" Those were his people he was trying to save. He doesn't know how the rest of that battle turned out, but if what happened to him is any indication, he doubts the three captured members of the party got miraculously saved in the end.

Which means he's still got Issues left unfinished. He believes his death was worth it, to get one last thing to hold over Beau's head, to protect her, but he'd like to know that Jester, Fjord, and Yasha were safe, at least.

Keg talked of torture. He knows Yasha can hold her own, but he'd rather she didn't have to. Jester could probably handle it, up to a point. Fjord... he has less confidence in. Call it a hunch.

And that's not even counting the fact that he could have been just the first to fall. He has somehow even less confidence in the remaining three's abilities to keep their shit together long enough to extract the captive ones.

But who knows. It's... not his problem now. Even if he'd really, really like it to be.]

Trust me, it could definitely be worse. It's often hard to realize just how worse it could be when it comes to things like this shite, but I'm good at finding silver linings.

Not sure if this counts as an easier question, but perhaps I should also ask your name, while I'm at it. Mollymauk Tealeaf, by the way. Molly to my friends.

[At least this guy's good at finding silver linings. Peter's been pretty good at keeping optimistic about everything that's happened since he'd arrived here, but he's not going to bother trying to fool himself into thinking that things are going to be okay back home. He knows how his story ends, or at least he's pretty sure he does, and it was kind of the worst case scenario for the rest of the universe too. Not much by way of silver linings there. On the plus side, not many uncertainties? Everything definitely sucks, he's positive about that much.]

A little more optimism's always good to have around. Nice to meet you, I'm Spider-Man.

[Maybe some day he'll stop bothering with the secret identity stuff, since what even is the point here, but today is apparently not that day.]

Edited 2018-08-12 18:53 (UTC)

[Well, Spider-Teen wasn't too far off the mark, then. It's obviously an adopted moniker, but if that's what he wants to be called, then Spider-Man it is.]

Well, I can certainly see that. Spider-Man, then.

[As for his optimism, Molly wouldn't call his positive outlook something so blind. He knows how cruel the world is; he's deeply familiar with the fact that most people die unfulfilled and most undeserving people suffer throughout their lives, but that's the main reason he does what he does.

Putting a little piece of good in the world, doing a little bit of a kind turn for someone, finding the beauty in surprising things, it's just his way of making the world a little less cold and mean.

Ah, and now they're coming upon the exit to the arena.]

And thank you for the escort, though I'm sure there are those that could have used it more than myself. Anything else I should know about before I'm unleashed on the "pocket dimension" at large?

[And y'know really, the world could use more people with that kind of outlook. Or the "pocket dimension" could. Either way.]

It's no biggie, really. I'm gonna stick around here a while and see if I can find anyone else. Anything else though, let's see... Oh, yeah! There's shops sitting around where you can grab food and clothes and stuff. You don't have to worry about paying, it's all free. If anyone hassles you about stealing or whatever, they're full of crap.

Free food and clothing? That's surprisingly generous of our captors. And here I brought my full purse.

[Just Wait Until You Actually See It Molly.]

Alright then. Good luck with your heroism.

Yeah, it's uh... it sure is free.

[Hope you like tacky flamingo shirts and canned peas, bro, because you're gonna be swimming in it.]

Thanks, man. I'll see you around. There's not really a ton of people around here, so chances of that are pretty good.

[RIP basic luxuries of living in the real world.]

Good thing we both stand out.

[He flashes a grin, and wanders off to go check out these shops full of free things and inevitably be incredibly disappointed.

Well, maybe not by the tacky flamingo shirts. He can make those work.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Intro Log: Please Remove Metal From Luggage

COLOSSEUM

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

LMAO ITS OK

;A; OK GOOD

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject