video, un: gorgug (pre-mingle)

[tinflower]

[ The camera turns on and focuses in on a motley duo: Riz and Fabian, a Goblin and a Half-Elf respectively (and, it has to be said, the camera has to be considerably zoomed out to accommodate both of their heights) who wear matching expressions of distinct disgruntlement. Behind them is a clue board that Riz refers to every now and then while he talks, his speech quick and efficient, words stumbling over each other in his haste to get them out. ]

Uh, hey everyone. Welcome back to Etraya, I guess? I’m just going to cut straight to the chase: a team of us did some investigation of what was happening back at Moorecroft, and I think there are some things that everyone should know. We went ahead and tried to figure out what the whole curfew thing was about – in case some of you just decided to behave yourselves the whole time, our curfew was being maintained by robots that would straight up kill you if you decided to stay out.

First, some of us went to check out the hospital, which is where most of the suspicious activity was coming from. Something there had the ability to lock away people’s powers, and they were able to somehow mimic people we knew from home, which were sent out to attack us. Presumably, that was to get our guards down. Fabian and I managed to get into the underground, where… [ He frowns, rubbing the palms of his hand together. ] Honestly? Things there were pretty inconclusive. There were a bunch of hand-drawn pictures along the walls of the corridor, stuff from around town, and it looked like they were raising some sort of… kids down there? Some of the rooms were obviously for teens our age, and other rooms were for really little kids, and it all led to some sort of tracks that led somewhere else. Where and why, we don’t know. But something real fucked up is going on there. You don’t find empty hidden bunkers of kids stuff without it being super fucked up, you know?

The others ran into other stuff around the city – smoke that turned into these big monsters that tried to eat them, the things those robots were trying to protect us from. Others ran into these android kids, who we can pretty easily assume the rooms in the hospital were for. The monsters didn’t try to go after them; apparently they only went after people who didn’t belong. Namely, us. Now, we don’t know what the hell those monsters were, but Adaine could feel what sort of arcane energy they were giving off – it was some seriously powerful reality-shifting energy. Conjuration, but the sort you’d only get from really, really powerful wizards.

That energy isn’t restricted to Moorecroft. She felt it here too, once we got back. That doesn’t bode well for any of us.

[ Riz takes a deep breath, glancing up at Fabian. ]

Did I miss anything?

Yeah, maybe some more emphasis on how fucked up this all is? [ Riz may have sounded relatively composed. Just objectively trying to get information across. Fabian, on the other hand, sounds anything but. He’s not looking majorly upset - yet - but he’s definitely both looking and sounding annoyed as he speaks. It isn’t aimed at Riz, nor even really at the viewers, like it’s some sort of general annoyance at this place. ] We almost died back there. Someone actually did die! And it’s not even the first time, since the stuff with the maze and the stuff with the plushies was just as fucked up!

[ Riz grimaces, a row of sharp teeth on display as he tugs at Fabian’s arm, hissing in a far less officious whine: ] Dude, time and place, this is just the mission report—

[ Unfortunately, Fabian just keeps going, wildly gesturing with his hands at this point as he speaks, the smaller boy visibly giving up on stopping him beside him: ]

We can’t just act like this place is normal! If it really wanted to help us save our worlds or whatever, then it could at least stop constantly trying to kill all of us, right?! How are we supposed to trust anything in this place when clearly it does not have our best intentions in mind in any way? [ His hand gesture arm swing is so wild that he almost manages to accidentally hit Riz. Sorry bud. At least it’s a near miss. ] I mean, the least we can do is for people here to stop holding hands with the companion bots! They’re trying to kill us!

[ Wait, what is that weirdly specific mention—

And a deep sigh can be heard from the other side of the video, which then ends there. Wow, wonder who that could've been!!! ]

( ooc: responses can come from one of the three boys (riz, gorgug, or fabian) just as an fyi! )

Comments

un: m.donato | text

[topgradesandbraids]

It figures that the challenges wouldn't be so easy. They ARE testing us, correct?

And, I'm sorry if this is crass, but if death isn't a permanent feature here then it would be best if we prepared for similar problems in the future.

Is it okay if I take notes on this briefing? More heads working on it might make it easier to prepare for later.

[tinflower]

we're probably going to get told to fight or kill each other so that stuff is something to think about, yeah

taking notes is fine. riz (he's the goblin) likes notes too

[ Please don't contradict him, friends!!! ]

[topgradesandbraids]

Oh, I hope not. That's a challenge that most of us aren't going to be up to.

[tinflower]

death isn't permanent but there's a price to it so i don't think they're gonna be gung ho about making us die too often? but i don't know

the missions are weird. they could throw anything

[stresstokens]

It's not crass at all. It's just problem-solving. Where we're from, death isn't all that serious as long as you have a good enough Cleric on-hand, and enough money to purchase the materials. Coming back at a cost is new.

Take all the notes you like. I'm happy to share my own too. I've got like

A lot. A lot of notes.

[topgradesandbraids]

That's roughly the same for me, especially when we are in a Dungeon. There's a certain magic in effect in Dungeons that allows us to be revived as long as our bodies are still intact-- but it typically doesn't come with ill effect if it's done the normal way.

What kind of cost, besides material and financial, are you talking about in this case?

[stresstokens]

Okay, so we're pretty much the same there, just without the whole Dungeon part of things. Especially being that it doesn't hurt us in the long run to get revivified. Hell, we come back better than before, since it cures all our injuries too.

Memories. I don't know if the cost is limited to memories or what, but that's the only one I have a decent source for. And as much as I'd like more clues, I'm a fan of everyone staying alive long enough that we don't have to find out more.

[maximumlegend]

are you really sure they are even testing us
at this point it just seems like unnecessary torture to me