INTRO LOG: A TAXING JOURNEY

[hadrielmods]

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for December. Watch your step!
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: December 10th-17th
Warnings: Taxxon-related violence, teeth shoes, general unpleasantness, mass confusion.

You wake up in the dust of the colosseum with no shoes on, regardless of the state of your feet when you arrived. There's dust covering your clothing and in your hair, but other than that, there's no signs of injury or bruising. You're also not alone- nearby, there are others, either still passed out or just waking up like you are. Feel free to take solace in that fact. Or don't- some of you aren't human, and are clearly not great people either. No offense.

To your left, there is a door in the wall of the arena, supposedly leading to the halls which will then show you to your freedom. To your right, and scattered haphazardly on the ground, are a myriad of teeth shoes. These shoes might be better than going barefoot right now, but good luck finding a matching set, let alone one that fits you.

When you do eventually try to escape, be careful. The halls are crawling with Taxxons. Large and grotesque, these caterpillar-like creatures have circular mouths and multiple rows of sharp teeth. Their sense of smell is impeccable, and they will stop at nothing to feed when they scent blood. So, you know, try to avoid stepping on anything sharp on your way out.

All done with the horrible monsters and awkward greetings? Try your hand at exploring the rest of the city! Find a house, find a new monster, or simply scavenge for supplies until your little heart is content. Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers December 10th-17th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well!
► Characters may find their own shoes scattered around with the teeth shoes if you like.
► All characters now arrive with phones that have network communication.
► Please put your character's name and open/closed in the subject line of your starters!

Comments

[closerift]

"Not exactly." She, too, returns to the search, but there isn't much left that hasn't been picked clean from the city's stores since the first group arrived months prior. "He gathers power just the same as Fear, but using less painful methods. Unless... it's his own brand of illusion, which only sets you up for massive disappointment later on."

Once you realize you aren't where he's made you think that you are. When the little daydream ends.

The Inquisitor straightens up, hovering near the doorway with a hand on the frame.

"If you have any other questions, I can do what I can to answer them. Else, I'll take my leave."

[vendetta]

Given how new Kaz still is, he hadn't had the chance to really think about it, but Cecily's words make perfect sense. Given that they've been abducted, there isn't much chance for hope to exist here, unless it's manufactured by playing with their minds. There are ways to do that, chemical imbalances that can be created to make people hallucinate.

The whole idea of "magic" is something he still refuses to believe if there's a better explanation available to him.

After doing some one-armed juggling, Miller drops the kit and the bandages into his pack and then slings it back over his shoulder. It looks like Cecily's ready to be on her way, but there's one more thing he'd like to find out.

"Just this... has there been any progress with finding a way back to where we come from?" Snake hadn't had much to give him on that, but he's not the end all, be all of everything. And this Cecily seems to know what she's doing.

[closerift]

'Magic,' 'chemical imbalances,' it all adds up to the same thing. Hallucinations, visions, artificial feelings and thoughts, hopes and fears. None of it is any good for them, not when their likely-captors are gathering power and strength from it all, day by day.

"We don't know much," she says truthfully. "Hope has said that there is a god, one of the fallen, who would know how to return us. He won't say which, though, and it's all for nothing unless that particular being is resurrected."

In the meantime, the pair will likely be restoring a slew of other, less desirable gods who'll cause a mess of trouble for them. Or worse.

"They say it was some kind of artifact that brought us." She thinks of the anchor lodged in her own hand and curls it into a fist. "But we don't know much more than that. They aren't fond of answering questions, of being straightforward, or of helping us with anything."

[vendetta]

Cecily doesn't hesitate to say what she really feels when it comes to the gods. Not that Miller imagines that there are many captive who have anything but disdain for them, since from what he's heard they've been brought here to have their emotions milked like currency.

It's never a pleasant feeling, being used.

"So now it's a matter of guessing which one could actually help?" he asks with a long-suffering sigh. He hasn't even been here for a few days and he's already exhausted by this mess he's gotten dragged into. Then again, he gave up on ideas like rest and peace a long time ago.

"And maybe if that artifact could bring us, it could also send us back. Do you have any idea what it is?" All of this sounds insane, if he's honest. An item that can move people across dimensions sounds like it belongs strictly in fiction, and everything about his situation seems better suited to some elaborate, bizarre dream.

He knows he isn't dreaming. In his dreams, he still has all his limbs. In his dreams, it's still 1974.

[closerift]

No, she absolutely doesn't hold back. She has a lot of feelings regarding their captors, and almost all of them are negative.

"We don't have much of a list to go off of as far as the dead ones go, and Hope says he's got an idea, but won't tell us."

Maybe he could be coerced, she thinks mildly, and stores that idea away for later.

"Exactly. But, no, I've no idea. I think you would have trouble finding anyone who did know, maybe even Hope and Fear, though they're a better bet than any others."

[vendetta]

Coercion is always an option. Even back during the MSF days, they'd found ways to convince people to join their cause. Some of it had been Big Boss' overall charisma. Some of it hadn't.

Annoying though it may be, for a moment Kaz finds himself wishing that Ocelot were here. If anyone would be able to get a straight answer out of Hope, it would be him.

"It looks like I'm going to have to wait for one of them to show themselves, then." Kaz may not be an interrogation specialist like Ocelot, but he's not unfamiliar with the concept either.

It doesn't seem like Cecily has much more that she can tell him, and at this point Kaz has already kept her too long. He considers leaving off with a slightly flirtatious comment, but... he isn't really that kind of man anymore, is he? "Anyway... thank you for answering my questions. I'll let you be on your way." He nods firmly at her.

[closerift]

Cecily feels the same way about some of her own people. If anyone could coerce Hope to action, to do something for them rather than just pretending at it, it would be Leliana. The Spymaster of the Inquisition always seemed to know where everyone's weaknesses were tucked away, even if those people were gods, or claimed to be, anyway.

"It won't be long," she says, wryly. Not when Hope and Fear love attention in the way that they seem to, whether it be positive or negative. 'Don't understand humans' my ass.

"You're welcome. I hope you'll be able to make some sense of all this, and... good luck."

With a nod of her own and a polite smile, the Inquisitor departs.