Intro log: Welcome to The Resort!

[foundationmods]

INTRO LOG

Before you even open your eyes, you can tell something is not right. It's cold. Not quite unbearably so, but cold enough that you can take notice of it. And as soon as you open your eyes, you will be able to see why it's so cold: you're in the middle of a snowy forest, with only a single two-lane road cutting through the thick trees.

Unfortunately, you seem to be without transportation. Fortunately, you are wearing warm clothes and snow gear, so freezing isn't an immediate problem. But without transportation, you're in for a long walk ahead of you.

There are others around as well. Other people, just as lost and confused as you are. Everyone seems to be lacking any memory that might explain why everyone is here. As far as anyone knows, all of you were just ripped out of your previous lives and dumped here on this snowy road, wearing snow gear and having any items that are important to you already on hand. And for some of you, you even have a new power, one that you somehow instantly know how to use...

Two ways to go: forward and back. Despite having no indication of which way is the 'right' way, you feel drawn towards one direction in particular. Going 'back' is possible, but you get the feeling that you will be even more lost if you try. And given that you have no food or water on you, it's best to keep moving forward.

So, are you ready to walk? Because you have a long road ahead of you.



((Welcome to The Resort! Your characters will have any objects or animals with them that they should have given their canon point, but are dressed in cold weather clothing.

This prompt is just the first part of the intro log. New top-levels will go up over the course of the weekend as everyone progresses from 'where the hell am I?' to the resort proper, and to getting settled in. For now, just start with this prompt. We'll link further updates here for easy access.))

Comments

[thejusticewagon]

[...okay, well, it's not like Cynthia has never woken up face down in the snow as a horse nuzzles her head, but it's rare enough that she's definitely a little more baffled than usual when she wakes up...]

...huh? I don't remember going to Ferox...

[She brushes the snow out of her bangs, gets upon her knees, and looks up at the pegasus... only to find that, despite being the tiniest apparently adult pegasus she's ever seen, it looks somewhat familiar..................]

...woah, buddy, wait!? Is that you? Did some evildoer put a shrinking hex on you?

[THE PEGASUS ALSO SEEMS CONFUSED AND NEIGHS LIKE SHE DOESN'T REALLY KNOW EITHER? Which leads to Cynthia standing up and bringing a hand to her chin...]

Hm... I guess this means Great Detective Cynthia is on the case!

[swordhandled]

--Cousin!

[ hey there cynthia have owain rushing up to you but he stops when he sees the tiny pegasus ]

Whoa, what happened here?

[thejusticewagon]

Oh, hey, cousin!

[she waves as he arrives!]

Yeah, I don't... know? I'm pretty sure that's Deidere, but I don't know why she's tiny. If it wasn't for all the other weird stuff I'd be wondering if Henry was experimenting with hexes again...

[swordhandled]

Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that I was visiting my parents in Regna Ferox when I awoke here, that would have been my first thought as well.

[thejusticewagon]

Yeah, I was back in Ylisse...

[...feeling vaguely adrift because despite what everyone says, she still feels... in the way? Like she should be somewhere else, because any day now her parents are going to be like "by the way, we're having you in a few months!" and she doesn't want to distract them from the her that actually belongs to them?

...uh]

...you know, doing hero things. So it wasn't all cold and snowy.

[swordhandled]

Of course! [ he knew he could trust his cousin to maintain the justice cabal while he took the time to visit mom and pop ]

But who would summon us, along with everyone else here?

[thejusticewagon]

That's what's confusing me. I mean, usually someone tells us what our mission is before we go Outrealm hopping, right? Nobody seems to know why we're here, though...

[13thpromise]

[ Okay but the most important thing is- ]

...That flying horse came with you?

[thejusticewagon]

Oh, yeah! She's my noble steed, so she goes wherever I go!

...

Usually I can actually ride her since she's horse-sized!

[13thpromise]

...I guess you'll just have to wait until she turns back into her normal size, then.

[thejusticewagon]

Boy, I hope she can... I don't even know how that would've happened, other than maybe one of my friend's parents doing a magic experiment or something.

But then, I wasn't anywhere near snow, either, so it's a pretty big mystery!

[13thpromise]

A magic experiment?

[ That...gets his interest. ]

I wasn't either, but does your friend's parents do a lot of magic experiments?

[thejusticewagon]

Yyyeah, kinda. My mom told me a story where he did an experiment where they switched bodies once, so... some kinda shrinking spell isn't super weird.

[latebluemer]

[Most people in Link VRAINS don't have pets or mounts or anything else with them (other than the ones with IGNIS stuck on their arms, but that's the exception rather than the rule), unless they're dueling. So when Blue Angel (please note outfit) sees what looks like a duel monster(?), she's immediately drawn in that direction.

She'll approach with curiosity and not all that much caution, because she's still more or less convinced that anything that is humanish is digital and anything that isn't human is a digital hologram, however those work.]

What a small monster... Since you're a detective-- [spoken with mild skepticism] --you know where this is?

[thejusticewagon]

Uh... haven't you seen a pegasus before, actually...?

[...like, she's thrown off the detective thing because usually outrealms people know pegasi...]

I mean, she's smaller than she should be, but she's just a normal pegasus. I guess that deepens the mystery, then...

[latebluemer]

... Of course I know what a pegasus is. There are so many horse-like duel monsters I wouldn't know what to do with them all.

[What is she even rattling on about, they're totally talking past each other and this is going to go places. Or nowhere. Probably nowhere.

Anyway, once she's close enough she'll hold out her hand for the wee pegasus to sniff, because she may not have interacted with a winged horse outside of duels before but a horse is a horse!]

I also know they're supposed to be bigger. Maybe there are different rules here.

[Why would the rules shrink things though. Fushigi mystery.]

[thejusticewagon]

[the pegasus looks at Cynthia for confirmation before sniffing a bit warily.]

Duel monsters? I mean, those sound cool as heck, but I've never really heard of them before. Deidere here is just a pegasus. They're pretty common where I'm from, but maybe there's something weird about where you're from...?

[latebluemer]

[A smile spreads on Blue Angel's face when the pegasus reacts to her presence. Whether or not it's a monster or a regular mini-pegasus or whatever, it's kind of cool. She doesn't always have time to appreciate her duel monsters when their actual holograms are used only for dueling.]

Duel monsters are virtual creatures in a game we have.

[That's probably the easiest way to explain it, if she doesn't want to confuse anyone or explain the mechanics in the middle of a blizzard. Maybe?]

So I guess they're... common? In a way. Well, Deidere might not be a duel monster, but she's still pretty cool.

[thejusticewagon]

I'm... not entirely sure what virtual is, but yeah, she's super cool! There's been a lot of stuff I haven't really gotten here, though, which is... weird. Usually I at least kinda get stuff.

[maskarang]

... So Minerva wasn't the only one afflicted. [ He skips right over the "Great Detective Cynthia" stuff. He sees exactly where that's going and feels deep in his bones that he's going to be dragged into it with all the willingness of a kicking and screaming child.

Which he isn't. That's a bad metaphor, clearly he's an adult. And neither kicking nor screaming. ]

[thejusticewagon]

Ah, Constable Gerome...

[...wait a second...]

So wait, Minerva's tiny now, too? Man, that sounds... kind of adorable, actually. Well, I mean, mine's also really adorable, but how am I supposed to heroically pose with her like this?

1/2

[maskarang]

Take that back! Minervykins has always been adorable! [ wait

shit he fucked up ]

[maskarang]

... you didn't hear that. [ also she didn't say minerva wasn't adorable before??? he cannot chill, there is no chill here. the anti-chill zone has cometh. ]

I... Uh... She's... diminutive, yes, but no less lethal than before. You shouldn't recklessly pose with her or drag her into your games.

[thejusticewagon]

Oh, I meant that like, kittens are cuter than cats, but cats are still cute, you know? Making something smaller makes it even cuter!

...But anyhow, aw, man! I was talking about Deidere, but now you're making me sad that I can't have Minerva pose on my shoulder now....

[maskarang]

No. [ he's protesting because he can. not because he believes. ]

And. Right. Of course. I knew that. [ a beat. ] ... Why would you want either of them on your shoulder?