Lightning flashes. Thunder booms and rain patters on the roof. It’s all about ambience here in ViViD, of course. You gotta set the mood!
Welcome to the Pleasurable Super Youthful Caring Hospital Stage, PSYCHward for short. It works, shut up. It’s a stage created for your well-being, health and happiness. Be careful, though. The first step you take in the dilapidated asylum carries you right into a puddle.
Look down, and the puddle is red.
Ah.
Of course it’s blood.
It’s only going to get even more fun from here.
 Good Day. I Am The New Introducer For ViViD Levels. Mosley? Who's That?
Anyway, Please Have Fun And Remember To Be Safe. Safety Is Our First Priority At CERES.
Thank you. Enjoy.
|
PHASE I [ 4 00 ] The first room any people familiar with the ViViD song and dance routine will find is one that is...wonderfully full of body bags. Body bags everywhere -- on the floor, on the shelves, uncomfortably tossed over the back of a chair...and each body bag has a helpful tag.
Handy.
Of course, within each bag is a newcomer; they won’t be able to escape the body bags until someone else unzips them. They’re dressed in little more than hospital gowns, toe tags still attached to bare feet.
Welcome to ViViD! Enjoy your stay.
Of course, there has to be an element of surprise to it. Some body bags contain living, breathing newcomers, yes. But the others?
These contain corpses. The toe tag on them indicates a loved one or someone important to you -- or someone you hate beyond all else. You open the bag, and there is their face, achingly familiar and frozen in death...but blink and suddenly they’re the corpse of a nondescript stranger.
PHASE II [ 600 ] Step out of that room and now it’s the asylum proper. Lights flicker. It’s dark, but it’s still more than clear to anyone with ears -- something’s stalking everyone in this place.
The shadow flickers on the wall, the lights go out -- you turn a corner and there it is, jumping out at you with an unearthly cackle --
A puppet.
It hangs there limply, utterly harmless.
All around the facility, these harmless puppets lurk. In lockers, behind doors, in dark halls…
But they’re all literally inanimate and harmless. Whose dumb idea was that?
PHASE III [ 1000 ] But slowly, the atmosphere changes. Go in deeper, and the sounds around deaden until there’s nothing left but the dark all around and the sound of your own breathing. And yet, irrevocably you know, whether as an aspect of the level or something else entirely --
Something is actually hunting you now.
It makes no noise. It can’t be seen. But it’s stalking, and it’s on the hunt.
To make matters worse, now the asylum seems to have become a proper maze, with dead ends everywhere, and practically no light to see them by.
And the only other souls you’ll see are the other people stuck in the maze -- but there’s something not quite right about them either. You can see...bits of their code, lurking under the surface of their skin, and as you watch, it’s being corrupted, bit by bit, the longer they’re in the dark.
If you look down, it’s happening to you too.
Better hurry.
There’s only one way out.
PHASE IV [ 1400 ] And then you step through a doorway into light.
You escaped the maze, but this is an asylum, and you’re about to see why. There are rows upon rows of cages of aliens. They cry out and reach out through the bars with webbed or clawed hands or tentacles, begging for release.
Let them out, or don’t -- the exit to Cerealia proper is right there at the end of this room, inviting and safe.
But if you do elect to let them out, the entire room suddenly goes silent.
And there, in that cage you opened, there is no longer an alien, but instead a doll. And it’s watching you. Stay any longer, and the doll with start to move, reaching -- and if it touched you, suddenly you’re the one locked away behind bars.
On the plus side, when you take the exit to Cerealia, it’ll deposit you in the Pleasure District, where massagebots will reach for you to try to drag you in for a sensual massage.
Welcome!
PENALTY [ ???? ] You were caught in the maze.
It’s hard to say even now what it was that caught you, but now you’re strapped down to an operating table, and there’s a flat-faced doctor standing above you.
The restraints can’t be broken.
There’s a prick of a needle, and you fall unconscious -- and that’s probably a mercy. When you wake up, you’ll be back in the asylum somewhere, but missing a sense -- the one from your character’s application will be gone. A character who is sight will have been blinded, for instance, and a character who is touch will feel nothing. This will last until they log out of ViViD and get into Cerealia.
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
Welcome to Cerealia's July intro log! For your convenience, we have compiled the characters' arrival experience here, and should you have any questions, feel free to ask them here! You can also check the FAQ for more general inquiries. Should this event log hit Captcha, there is an all-purpose overflow here. Thank you! |
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
no subject
Also, Jack has had enough button mashing to last a lifetime, so he's happy to trail after his new companion at a slightly more sedate pace.
Only slightly more sedate. He's still operating under the very unpleasant sensation of being stalked by something very unpleasant.]
Down would probably be best.
[Like. To a ground floor. Where exits are typically located.]
no subject
... ... ...
[Whatever! He hits the button.] Down it is!
no subject
[That would suck.]
There should be a "ground floor" button inside though...So even if we do have to go up it should be fine.
[He shifts his weight uneasily from foot to foot while they wait.]
no subject
Um.
What will it look like?
[Does he have to admit things this early.]
no subject
I dunno, they're different sometimes. It might say "Ground" or it might be like, the numeral "zero" or "one", or something.
no subject
It's not marked with a nice, simple symbol like a down arrow?
... ... ...
How about you hit the button?
[he can't read, help him]
no subject
[Ding! That's the sound of the elevator arriving on their level.
Whoosh! And those are the doors opening!
...It sure does look...dim. And...kinda mildewy in there...]
no subject
[But even though Pit's giving it a distasteful look, he doesn't seem to hesitate entering the elevator. He starts walking in, planning to trust this musty elevator with his very life.]
[It's the first step that gives him pause. Because as soon as his sandal hits the floor, the elevator gives a lurching moan, like a metal ship might make as the hull strained against the waves of the sea.]
[He withdraws his foot, giving his traveling companion a quick "I didn't do it" look before stepping back and scrutinizing it properly.]
So... they probably haven't been keeping up with the maintenance either, have they?
no subject
[He fidgets uneasily, looking around. Usually where there are elevators there are also staircases, but he doesn't see any promising-looking doorways.
...He does see a shadow, down at the end of the hall, though. The kind of shadow that runs a chill down his spine and makes his hair stand on end and makes him wish all his guns hadn't been taken away.]
I'm willing to chance it, though!
[And he darts inside the mildewy death-trap. It wobbles alarmingly with the addition of his weight but holds solidly enough. He barely notices as he scans the control panel for the CLOSE DOOR button.]
You coming?
no subject
[Pit scans the area. Being the kind of idiot who needs a goddess to point things out for him, he doesn't catch sight of the same specter.]
[He has no reason to believe this is a good idea, whatsoever.]
[On the other hand, bad ideas are pretty much his bread and butter. And more importantly, he just met this guy. What kind of jerk would let someone they just met die in an elevator shaft? The real heroes die with the person they just met.]
Okay! Hold the door, I'm coming!
[He steps on, and starts praying to Palutena that the lurch he felt when he did was just his imagination. He stands guard at the door while the other guy mans the buttons. Just in case, he reaches for a weapon...]
[... ... ...]
[Where are the pockets on this gown.]
no subject
[No arguments here.
He smashes the button marked "G" as soon as he sees it, and it lights up - dim and begrudging. After that, it takes him a long, panic-ridden second to find the door close button, but when he spots it he mashes it repeatedly with all of his might. He tries not to picture the shadowy thing moving any closer, but it's difficult to reign in his imagination when there is a very real, undeniable chill descending.
The elevator lurches slightly as the doors begin to shut, agonizingly slowly to start, but they seem to pick up fairly quickly, and slam shut with a very final-sounding thud.
Then there's a high-pitched whine, and he can't tell if it's the ancient corroded gears of the elevator protesting as it begins to jerk and twitch downward, or if their pursuer is voicing its frustration at being eluded.
Maybe it's both.
Jack lets out a long sigh and slumps against the wall to the sound of continued high-pitched, metallic screeching.]
....I need a vacation.
no subject
[And then, for a moment, he sees what the other guy saw. Something is coming.]
[Pit can feel his wings getting goose-bumps as he catches the glimpse of motion, as the unknown enemy starts to make its move towards the elevator -- and before it can make it, the doors shut, blocking it from sight and mind. Nothing can happen now. They are safe, in this whiny little metal box.]
[He flops down on the floor, letting his heart rate calm back down.]
You're telling me, buddy! [A beat.] So, come here often?
no subject
Nope, first time. And last, if I can help it.
[The elevator continues to lurch and complain dully around them as it very, very slowly...moves. There's a definite sensation of motion, but for the life of him he can't tell if they're going up or down. Based on the way the floor buttons are organized on the wall panel, he would guess down, but. Who even knows.]
What about you? And what's your name? I'm Jack.
[Maybe if he ignores the unpleasant sounds produced by the elevator and covers them with small talk, they'll arrive safely at their destination floor without any more blood-curdling mishaps.
Maybe.
A guy can hope, right?]
no subject
[He tries to smile reassuringly. Nope, he is not terrified. He's not a chicken. He is totally cool with the low moan of straining metal, the way it moves like a diving bell sinking into the black heart of the ocean. That sweat beating on his forehead is just from the earlier scare -- he is courage epitomized. Everything is fine.]
A-and I can't say I'm planning on coming back here, either. My health care gives me way better options than--
[He's cut off by a scrape of metal on metal, and a sudden jerk in the elevator's movement.]
--thiiiiis super-creepy haunted place that's full of whatever that was and I'm not sure I want to know??
no subject
Ow, jeez...
Just, uh, try not to think about it?
[He is the best at advice. Not. And now the elevator is making smaller metal-scraping noises as its movement continues. It actually feels like they're going...up? Weird. Not that he cares too much, whatever direction will take them away from the shadow beast haunting the maze.]
Did you get stuck in the mansion, too? Before getting stuck here? I think I prefer the mansion...
[And not just because he had his clothes there...although that was a big bonus.]