INTRO LOG: WELCOME TO THE BATCAVE

[hadrielmods]

Who: New arrivals and everyone else!
What: The intro log for January.
Where: The colosseum and all around the city.
When: January 10th-15th
Warnings: Bats, but not Batman. Weird arts and crafts. Confused newbies.

You awaken on the hard-packed sandy floor of the colosseum. As you blink the sleep from your eyes and begin to try to get your bearings, you might hear the gentle, soothing sound of wind chimes tinkling through the air. It's a peaceful sound, a pleasant sound. As you look around, you'll find tall stands with curved hooks at the top here and there throughout the arena, each supporting a different handmade wind chime.

You could stay and enjoy the sounds, even if what they're coming from is a bit less than aesthetically pleasing. Or you could pause for a moment and wonder where the wind that's sounding the chimes is coming from, considering you're in a cave. There are breezes in Hadriel now and again, but what's causing this wind is something else entirely. Spend too long out in the open and you'll find out what.

Perching atop the broken walls of the colosseum, hidden in crevices and shadows, are a number of Ahools. These giant bats can have wingspans as big as 12 feet, and they're certainly strong enough to lift smaller and lighter people off their feet entirely, carrying them away to devour at their leisure. Don't think you can hide - their echolocation will find you as easily as a bat finds a moth in the black of night.

If you manage to escape the Ahools and get your bearings, feel free to go explore the rest of the city! Find a house, find a new monster, or simply scavenge for supplies until your belly is as full as that giant bat's was supposed to be. Good luck, and enjoy your stay in Hadriel!

► This log covers January 10th-15th.
► Feel free to make your own logs, as well!
► 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

[xiake]

Gods. Sunny's eyebrows lift just the barest hint. He knows, obviously, of the holy book his baron has often derided. He's even flipped through it, though he didn't understand any of it. But not even the men and women in white who gather over their strange little totems speak of a god.

However the man wants to define his situation, though, isn't really his problem.

"You're telling me human cargo comes through here regularly?"

[amos_moses]

"Not as such." Amos doesn't blink at the phrasing: he works for one of Japan's largest yakuza syndicates. Human trafficking is not the least of which he's been involved in over the years. "Those of us who've been brought here stay here, or at least I ain't seen a body leave yet. Unless things change, might as well settle in for the long haul."

[xiake]

"If no one leaves," he says, "that just means the cargo's reached where its going."

Except no one's really approached him outside if these strangers who are clearly in the same position. Obviously, they're not all who they say they are. But he can't see why they'd bother with this sort of deceit if they have the means to take him. Straight out of the badlands, apparently. He can't imagine he's still in the territories. He's definitely not still in his baron's. (Have they found the body yet?)

He peers at the man. "Sounds like you've been here for a bit. How long?"

[amos_moses]

"Mmm, time's hard to calculate, the light's not exactly daylight. But my guess is a month, give or take a few days." Amos has been trying hard to keep track, but it seems the "daylight" cycles are starting to get closer to an actual human-length day.

"There's some how've been here before I was, though." Amos considers what this might mean: either the gods are pulling people through to seek more emotions and thus more power, or they can't control the magic that's pulling people in.

[xiake]

At that, Sunny looks up. It's true: in the short time he's been here, he's been having trouble tracking the direction of the sun. It doesn't seem to be moving east to west. Which makes the already hard task of figuring out where he's going even harder. He has a compass, but it isn't a normal compass.

He frowns. His arms fold across his chest. "And you have no idea what they want?"

[amos_moses]

Amos huffs a little laugh. "Oh no, I know what the gods want - same kind of things god ever want from mortals. Worship, power, hands to help them fight their divine petty squabbles." Or epic battles, but Amos is fine with petty squabbles. Less apocalyptic doom involved for everyone. Though Fear and Hope have been rather more lenient than Amos is used to finding in primitive gods, he's pretty sure things will get dirty sooner or later.

"As for the other people here...mostly, we're just surviving." Which takes a lot of energy and simplifies a life. There are politics going on, Amos knows, but he's not gotten deeply into them yet: the motives of the gods had been a more pressing matter.

[xiake]

Sunny raises his eyebrow. "Sounds like men to me."

Isn't that what's been wrung from him since boyhood? His life for a baron who can't help but start squabbles with other barons, who demands an entire army kneeling at his feet. Sunny included. The sting of betrayal is still fresh. With Quinn's blood still on his blade, he's not interested in picking up where he left off.

"Have you seen their faces?"

[amos_moses]

"Men and gods are much the same. The only difference is gods can fuck over your immortal soul." Amos shrugs. Or, you know, strike you with plagues or lightning or blast you into living a very interesting life. This is why Amos has been playing nicely with the gods: he knows which side his bread is buttered on.

"I haven't seen them face-to-face, but they're not shy about appearing on the network."

[xiake]

Right. It's obvious he doesn't really put much stock in this kind of talk, but he doesn't care enough to debate it, either. He's busier picking out things he doesn't get altogether -- words that keep coming up every time he talks to someone that he doesn't understand. It's happening a lot lately.

"The network?"

[amos_moses]

"Yeah, it's..." Amos pauses, head tilting to the side like a curious puppy's. "Mmm. What's the fastest way of passing messages, where you come from?"

Because the way Sunny shapes the word tells Amos it's unfamiliar to him. Amos has been the acting translator in enough backwoods bush country to pick up on that, and he doesn't want to launch into some confusing muddle of an explanation that will get them both frustrated.

[xiake]

Where you come from. As if it's only natural they're from all over the world. Sunny is rapidly catching on to how true this is, but it's some getting used to. His whole life, there's just been the territories.

"Letters," he says. "Sometimes by horse, sometimes by car."

Sometimes in person. And sometimes pinned to a severed head. It depends on the transport and the messenger.

[amos_moses]

Ah. Amos thinks for a moment about how he's going to phrase this, and taps his toes before he fishes out his phone. "These can send letters to eachother over the network. The network is...an invisible connection that lets the messages go to these, the phones."

It's really not the best explanation ever, but it's a small start, and Amos has never claimed to be good at this.

[xiake]

Huh. Curious. He knows about phones, kind of, but if any are around, they're junk. The equipment and people that made them work collapsed with the wars a long time ago. Where is he now that it's all still being maintained?

"I see." He peers at the phone. It doesn't look like the phones he's glimpsed in thinly pressed pages. It looks more like a thin glowing brick. The strangeness is enough that he finds himself curious in a way he rarely ever is. "I thought phones were for talking to one person."

[amos_moses]

Ah, there is at least that much Amos doesn't have to try to explain. And Sunny seems bright, clever enough to catch on very quickly. Amos nods. "Yeah, they were. An' these can still do that you can talk to just one person, but now they can also send a message out anyone can respond to."

[xiake]

The explanation, on a functional level, makes sense to him. It's still strange, its whole existence, but he doesn't feel the need to dig too deep for answers. He's used to things just being as they are.

His gaze shifts instead to the man. "What's your name?"

[amos_moses]

Amos hesitates over that, just a beat too long, eyes suddenly wary: in his world, giving out your name too freely can result in being enspelled or enslaved by a supernatural being. Even children are taught to be careful with their names. But the man before him doesn't look like anything more than a man, no overt signs of glamour or trickery. So Amos nods, wariness sliding again into the little friendly smile.

"Amos. An' what's yours, if I may?"

[xiake]

"Sunny." Unlike Amos, names mean nothing in his world. It's not even his real name; all that counts are titles and how good you were with a sword.

But Amos has been helpful in a way that few people are, and Sunny feels he should acknowledge that. "Thanks for the information."

[amos_moses]

Amos nods, relaxing once the favor is returned. True name or not, he doesn't particularly care, it's the gesture that makes it even. "You're welcome. I'm glad I could help you out." His smile is easy, friendly. "I could show you around, a bit, if you like, or you could explore on your own. It's not too dangerous here."