asgardchrysalis | AUGUST INTRO LOG: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

AUGUST INTRO LOG: MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

Who: EVERYONE
What: the August intro log and first god house competition, More Than Meets the Eye
When: August 8
Where: Gladsheim Palace for breakfast, around Asgard for the game/curse
Rating: PG-13; please take anything higher than this to a private log!

morning: a warm invitation

Everyone wakes up to a friendly invitation to breakfast at the castle with the gods. For most of you, this comes as a message on your bracelet, reading:

Join us at the castle today to welcome some new Wanderers into our midst. Breakfast will be served and a lively game will be available to all of our guests, both new and old.

New Wanderers are curious on their own, and this is the first there's ever been mention of a game. Perhaps it's enough for you to make the trek to the castle, to see what all the fuss is about, or maybe even to see if there's someone you know. Perhaps you want to learn more about the game, or maybe you just want the food.

For our new guests, this comes as a bit more of a surprise. Wherever you were before in your world, without even realizing it, you wake up in a strange new place. No time or space inbetween, just an awareness of There and then Here. A matronly figure tries to explain your circumstances with a sympathetic smile, but ultimately invites you meet them all for yourselves: the Gods of Asgard, and the Wanderers that arrived before you.

The sight that greets you on the castle grounds is a rather festive one, regardless of where you're coming from. Colorful streamers and flags are draped above large tables with room for several guests. Natives bustle about, cheerfully offering food and drinks to anyone that wants some. Everyone is welcomed to mingle and greet the new Wanderers on this bright summer morning.

the game: a friendly competition

Among the brightly decorated tables are ones highlighted in a specific color for a specific god house, and most of the gods themselves can be found sitting behind it with a few of their district's natives. They are here to welcome the new Wanderers into Asgard - but they're also here to explain the rules of today's game. There are coins hidden throughout the city and disguised as mundane items, and the god house that returns the most of their coins will win an upgrade to their god housing! No hints will be given, but the natives are excited to help facilitate the activity and happily invite you to wander through their districts to find what you can.

But you don't have to know about the rules to be playing the game! The coins are already hidden throughout the city, and no one knows what they are until they've been picked up. Whether you're banding together with friends to find as many coins as you can or blindly stumbling over an unpleasant surprise, the game and the curse are in full swing!

evening: a fair prize

At sundown, all of the coins in the city disappear at once, whether they're in your pocket or still disguised as a bowl. Points will be tallied and a winner will be announced (OOCly, on August 17) - but Asgardians are keen to celebrate regardless of who wins a rather inconsequential game. The same colorful display of tables and chairs is still spread across the castle grounds, although now they twinkle with fairy lights haphazardly blinking throughout the air. Snacks and drinks are made available, as well as more dinner-shaped meals for those that request it. Mostly the natives simply want to bask in the strangeness of these Wanderers from other worlds for a moment longer - but they're also eagerly listening to any stories from the day's mischievous game. Relax, enjoy yourself, or again, just stock up on some freely served food. Whatever suits your needs today. Welcome to Asgard, dear Wanderers.

[ OOC NOTE: This is the intro log for August, as well as our first god house competition/curse: More Than Meets the Eye. You are free to play with the curse prompts and searching the city in any way you want! If you would like to submit a map to earn points for your god house, please check out the rules to learn what to do. We will accept maps until August 17, at which point a winner will be announced and members of that god house will be allowed to vote for an upgrade to their god housing. As always, please let us know if you have any questions or need any help on the mod contact page. Enjoy, friends! ]

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[She scoffs. She has no idea what to think of all of this, she really doesn't.]

They used to think thunder and lightning was magic made by the gods, and now we know better.

[Which is to say, is it really magic, or is it just something misunderstood and unexplained?]

You've seem to taken all of this in stride.

[ He shrugs. It's a good point. Maybe there is a perfectly reasonable explanation to all this. Now if only he could find it. ]

I've been here a couple of months. Let's just say I've had some time to settle in.

[ It's said with a slightly apologetic tone because she'll be stuck here too for ... well, gods know how long.

Except in this case not even the gods know. Unless they're lying through their teeth, which he still isn't ruling out. ]

A quick learner?

[She quirks her head a little, punctuating the question. Isha is a quick learner, no doubt, but having to settle and accept so quickly is... something else entirely.]

[ A shrug. ]

I don't know. It's not so much about learning as it's just ... rolling with the punches. We're not exactly given much of a choice.

[She hums thoughtfully. Here should be scratching her robotic greyhound's head, but he's not here.

What an odd sensation.]

A wonder the place is in order then.

Well ... They are gods.

[ Just saying. 'Wonders' are probably to be expected.

Yes, he is skeptical of it, but he also can't exactly deny what he's seen, which is ... ]

Or at least they have the ability to actually just create things from thin air. Maybe that's all you need to be able to call yourself gods.

Hm. Perhaps so.

[Isha had never been one of complete faith. There are things she can find comfort in, sure, but they're not often she relies on them.

She is far too realistic and materialistic to put too much stock in higher powers.]

Some may need less to call themselves gods.

[ As for Rhys, if there's ever been anything like a god, he's sure that god has abandoned them a looong time ago.

There's a wry, knowing expression at that statement, though. Now that's certainly true. With enough money and power, anyone might start to think of themselves as such. A certain Handsome Jack comes to mind.

He's so happy to have that guy out of his head. Sometimes he still feels relieved, temporary as it undoubtedly is. That's the only good part about his cybernetics not functioning completely. ]

Yeah, that's true. At least I'm pretty sure they're not human. Sometimes it seems like they have no idea what to do with us as a ... collective species?

[ He shrugs a shoulder. ]

[Isha smirks. Truthfully, she doesn't know what to do with the collective species either sometimes.]

We are a sordid, confusing bunch that refuse to die, I'll give them that.

[Carefully, she nicks some new food that's being offered by the wait staff, eyes it curiously.]

Seeing as that we are of a similar enough mind, has anyone died by poisoning in the last several months?

[Her mechanics go only as far as her arm. Isha had never put any thought into survival mods, she really didn't have to thanks to her own ability to survive by clever means.]

Not that I know of. I've been eating their free food for two months now and haven't died yet, so.

[ You know. Probably safe. ]

Yet.

[An operative word, but she hazards a bite at least.]

So who do you find yourself allied to these days, Rhys? Something about choosing a god, some such nonsense?

Yeah. If we don't, I'm pretty sure they pick one for us. Something about ... keeping us safe.

[ SHRUG. ]

I'm with Tyr.

[She raises a brow at the notion of being protected by gods, but says nothing else.]

Odin, myself. Though I don't quite yet understand why we need to be under one specific god when we're all in the same troubling situation.

[And given that the little information provided to her was vague at best, she's yet to trust it all at face value.]

I don't know. Maybe it's less effort for them, if they need to like ... use their powers to make sure nothing goes wrong. Those of us who arrived here first, uhm-- Some people say they think they died.

[ All he's sure of is that one way or another he lost consciousness. Whether that was through simply passing out or actually dying, well. He tries not to think about it too much. ]

The gods, or the locals? [She squints a bit, frowning slightly.] Neither sound promising.

[There's too many questions, and presumably a distinct lack of answers. Knowing that the first generation is rumored to have died hardly puts any of her nerves at ease.]

Us. The Wanderers, as the gods call us. I haven't talked to any gods or locals about it. Frankly, I'd rather not know if we died or not.

[ Because they're clearly ... conscious, and the gods seem intent on sticking to the claim that they'll get everyone back home. So does it even matter? ]

[She tries her best to not scrub her face. She simply opts to look even less amused than before. Bordering on the sort of bored incredulity that comes with the "disappointed but not surprised" territory.]

I've worked very hard to not die, so to find out I am, indeed, dead by some godly mishap would be a joke.

They keep saying they'll be able to put us back where we came from, so I don't know.

[ Could be lies. As much as he still believes it probably is all lies, Honir in particular has truly made him wonder. Maybe not all gods are in on it? ]

Ah, I do so love a good yet vague promise.

[She doesn't believe that they can get them back if they had no idea how they got here in the first place. Then again, she constantly undid the things that weren't done by her.]

[ He makes an apologetic grimace, and shrugs. ]

Right now it's what we've got. There was this ... At one point, a giant dragon appeared from ... some other world, we're guessing. It created this huge and really deep hole in the ground. A bunch of us climbed down there, me included. I was hoping I'd be able to figure out something from it but, I don't know, the caves there sort of messed with your head. It was pretty creepy.

I'm not drunk enough to ponder the existential conversations of world-jumping dragons and caves filled with madness.

[But she suspects that even if she were drunk enough, she wouldn't want to ponder those things anyway.]

[ There's a quick wry chuckle at that. ]

I'm not sure you can be drunk enough for that. But, no, I don't think the dragon was a world-jumping dragon. Pretty sure it world-jumped in the same way we did.

You realize everything you're telling me provides little comfort, right?

[She doesn't seem overly offended by that, she's just... pretty incredulous. It's a lot.]

Uhhh, yeah. But that's how it is.

[ Another shrug. It's not a very comforting situation to find yourself in. ]

So it goes.

[She glances about, then focuses her gaze on Rhys. A slow grin starts to crawl on her face.]

Be a gentleman, love, and show me around the place. I've got some eavesdropping to do and I haven't the faintest idea where to begin.

[That is absolutely her holding her arm out, as if she's waiting for him to take it and guide her.]

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theprezident - 2019-10-06 18:36 (UTC) - Expand

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