INTRO LOG #1

[bequiet]

INTRO LOG #1
Muzzle and Mute
Content Warnings: Disorientation, memory loss, confusion
Themes: Arrival, survival, exploration, horror

You wake, standing. A thick, muddy red dust coats your skin and clothes - it sticks to your tongue and blocks your vision. Inhale and it chokes you, exhale and your breath puffs out in front of your face in a transparent maroon cloud. It tastes of copper, tangy and harsh. Movement is difficult, every limb tingles and aches. Look to your left, your right. Evenly spaced in each direction stands another person indistinguishable in every way from the next. You're disoriented and lethargic, unable to grasp onto a single thought. A pinprick of light blooms ahead and grows steadily larger; a door has opened.

Hands grip your wrists, push at the small of your back and guide you out of the darkness into a room with four walls and a thin, sagging ceiling. The plaster is peeling, the air is musty, and the floor is slick. White plastic piping juts up from the center and curves into multiple spouts, clean water flowing in uneven streams. Those hands pull your clothes off and clear the dust from your body, redress you in handsewn jumpsuits. By the time they’re through, you will have begun to come back to yourself.

A finger is pressed to your lips. Kind eyes meet your own and a single word is whispered - hush.

Led out of the room in a line, you’re taken down a short hallway and into another, much larger room. There’s a woman waiting for you there, a child hugging her leg, and a cloth bag in her hands. She reaches in and pulls out a device, passes one to each of you. Once finished, she begins to move both hands in graceful gestures, a language. One of the people who helped you lifts their device and the screen lights up, tracks the woman’s hands. Letters appear on the screen and you understand the device’s purpose. She tells you what she knows and it’s not much.

This world is haunted. Noise attracts them, so it is not allowed. Communication is through body language, soundless writing, and the device. She tells you that your feet must be light and your mouth never used. There is a community outside these doors, where you can survive together, but only if you agree to one thing: complete and total silence. You'll have time to talk it over. You may ask one question and receive one answer.

Acceptance allows you to journey outside. The ground is marked in pathways of sand, lining the paths to each building and everywhere in-between. You notice that the locals hold their devices always, aloft and glance to it often. It will not vibrate or make a sound to signal a message. Notices appear. Rules. Guidelines. Feet on the sand and never anywhere else. To open a door you brush your fingers along the hinges - oiled and you may enter. If not, take the brush from the can sitting nearby and coat the metal with the dark liquid.

Now, you're to settle into your new home.

The Man in the Hat
Content Warnings: Heavy lifting, following the rules, alcoholism
Themes: Moving in, survival, exploration, horror

Once you’ve claimed a room for yourself, it’s time to acclimate to the community. Natives will ask what you need and take you along the sandpaths to different areas in the city to gather supplies - furniture and the like. Heavier items will require assistance and will take longer. Houses are mostly empty so if you and your housemates need something, you’ll have to carry it and put it inside the home. Do not make any noise or the natives will refuse to help you. Getting to know your housemates is key to a smooth transition. They are going through what you are right now; take the time to get to know them. Make house rules.

As the first day gives way to night, the natives can be seen moving at a faster pace outside. They’re hurried, though not frightened. Some even smile at you. When the sun sets behind the ruins of what was once picturesque Reims, your device will signal that it’s time to meet at the center of the community. There, natives will stop each person and give them a small gift - a trinket, a token to show that they are trying their best to make all the new arrivals feel at home. These are all items from the character’s home or from another character's home (they will not be anything that belongs to anyone else). Small, soundless and either something taken during the application process or something brand new. They will have no powers to speak of and are meant to be a momento. If asked, the natives found them the same way they found each of you.

Then the party starts. Sort of. A soundless, stitled kind of celebration. Fun is meant to be had, but it’s not an overly joyous occasion. The natives simply don’t know how to cut loose. There will be extra food in the form of one and two; Phillipa even brought some of her homemade bread. If you stumble across a man wearing a hat, the only man in town who does, and agree to go with him when he offers to show you his house - he’ll gift you with a jar of hooch; it’ll burn on the way down.

Sound Eaters
Content Warnings: Threat, danger
Themes: Survival, exploration, horror, game plot

It’s the second day of your stay, and the natives call for an emergency meeting at the Town Hall. Everyone is paired off (see below) and are asked to walk the perimeter looking for anything out of place and patching any areas that might have been affected by weather. Once finished, the same is done on the inside, and when the community leader is satisfied, the main hall is opened up so that everyone can congregate. Characters, during this time only, are allowed to make sound. This is so that the natives can explain why silence is so necessary...

The Sound Eaters.

In an effort not to frighten everyone, the natives won’t go into the history just yet, but they will warn that when someone makes a sound, it attracts them. They don’t know what they look like because they are so fast. If you’re too loud, then in the blink of an eye, you’ll go through a room reset. This is because either the natives ‘silenced’ you or the Sound Eaters have. They will explain that the room came at the same time the Sound Eaters did and that it doesn’t work for the natives. Sometimes, it doesn’t work on new arrivals. Death, for those born in this world, is permanent. If you attract them, you’ll get someone killed. Hence the need for no noise. During the meeting, the natives will tell each character of their own experiences. Their losses. The families they have left and how they’d do anything to keep them alive. They don’t know if you’ll be reset, but is that a risk you’re willing to take? The meeting will last a few hours and will end on a somber, ominous note - at the end of the month, they are taking everyone to meet them.

OOC
From your mods:

Please be mindful of content - if something triggery comes up or if it goes up a rating to say, something sexy, mark your threads in the subject line. We're very flexible and allow any material; we just want our players to be respectful of each other. If you have questions, pp the mod account, use the faq or comment to the appropriate post below. Have fun!

NAVIGATION

---

Comments

General Questions

[bequiet]

Re: General Questions

[gimmesometassel]

Quick question: if there isn't any little trinket a character would have from their own world, what would they get? Something of the mods' choice, or something from someone else's world, or what?

[priwen]

For the small memento, can it be a small tool (non-magical)?

[lunisolar]

would photographs be an option for the trinket?

[dear_heart]

I might be re-asking the same questions as someone else, but can the momento be a small weapon, like a knife?

[imitationsoul]

When gathering furniture, would books be among the "furniture" that can be gathered? Or is it all bare necessity stuff?

[iisupergirlii]

how are we supposed to patch things silently? Like, is this just a "Get Creative" task or are there special silent tools the natives have?

Additionally, is this too loud? (hopefully time-stamped to just the haircut scene snippet but if not, starts at 0:18. SORRY MODS.)

[clarius]

Will it be possible for the characters to get mementos in the form of printed works like small posters or pamphlets or... you know... funeral programs for funerals that occurred when they weren't around... Asking for a friend.

[oorah]

Can my character forfeit his question? And if he does could he give it to another character?

Re: General Questions

[tropism]

can characters visit the 'reset room'?

[lunisolar]

do the devices show the in-game date? if so, what is the in-game date?

[xochipilli_cursed]

Can I just assume Aaron can't step into the spirit reflection of this place for whatever reason?

[twoaffirmations]

For the momento, can 9S get his visor back with its functionality (it's mostly a HUD), or does he just get a plain old blindfold?

The idea of him putting it on and being confused why he can't see is kind of funny, so I'm fine either way--

[cronusian]

What color(s) are the jumpsuits and can the gift be a pair of gloves?

Re: General Questions

[thinhammer]

hey mods!

so, the devices they can use. they can type to each other on them, i assume, like virtual pen and paper?
if so, i'm assuming the keyboard will have a way for naruto to input in japanese characters? will someone set that up for him or will it be idiot proof enough for naruto to figure it out?

second, if naruto does type in japanese and shows it to someone, will it translate for them either on his device or if they hold up theirs to scan it?

also, regarding their question, do they have to ask it then and there or can they hold off and wait to ask it later on, once they've found out a little more?

[warfares]

For the characters that could pick up on the thoughts and emotions of others, would the Sound Eaters give off any particularly noticeable impressions?

[poodlemom]

Question about housing! There's a fireplace noted in the Family Room. Is a real fire too loud inside the homes? Is there some kind of heater that works with minimal sound or maybe just a blocked up chimney for better sound proofing?

Re: General Questions

[kiljoy]

...Does the plumbing work? By which I mean: can the toilets be used (and flushed) without making a sound?

Also, what about natural sounds? e.g. the flow of the river. What if it rains, or if it's windy, or there's a storm?

Finally, because it's bound to happen at some point, if a character gets punched in the face and cries out, is that enough for the Sound Eaters to get them? Any loud noise and you're instantly dead? EDIT: Actually, let's go one further: what if a character gets straight-up murdered? Do the NPCs have any kind of justice system i.e. would they do anything about the murderer? Also, how long does it take before the dead character wakes up again in the reset room?

Re: General Questions

[potentite]

this is probably a silly question but is a blanket too big to get back?

now not as a top-level to the log

[lowkeycrazy]

If a character leaves the reset room without using their question, will it be considered forfeit or are they allowed to come back and use it within a certain time frame? And will Natives be keeping track of what was asked for, so that if Akechi came back later and asked for all the information that's been given, would they be able to reiterate that to him?

Re: General Questions

[accessdata]

I just had a couple questions on things she could find while moving in;

1) Would Friday be able to find computer parts or even full (broken) computers? Laptops, monitors, towers, keyboards - she's not picky, just anything related to that sort of stuff so she could play around with the technology (quietly, obviously) which leads into...

2) Would she be able to find a soldering iron or, if not, can she find the parts to make a homemade one? Those would require batteries, a lighter, some ball point pens and/or mechanical pencils, and wire (preferably copper but any kind will do).

[underachievement]

If a person dies quietly or otherwise leaves a body behind, what happens to it, considering they wake up in the room immediately?

Re: General Questions

[lifewithoutrest]

I was wondering if her father's journal would be too big for the trinket?

[skittering]

Since I read that they wouldn't hand back a knife - would they give him back his outfit from home, if he seemed visibly upset that they were taking it and if it were basically soundproof already?

[thinhammer]

hello again..
just wondering, if the houses have been soundproofed does that mean characters can talk while within the walls?

also, i don't know if this has been answered or not yet, but is the deck portion of the house enclosed or is it open to the outside?