A TRAIN COMES INTO THE STATION.
You wake up on a train.
Your phone is buzzing. It's in your pocket, in your hand, on the seat next to you. It's a normal phone, and you're on a normal train car. One of the lights flickers, a little further down. The world is very quiet. It feels like you're right where you're meant to be. On the phone's surface is a white screen and the words—
WELCOME TO THE CITY. BEGIN ORIENTATION?
▶ NO
Please take a moment to complete your orientation.
Once you're finished, the subway doors slide open to let you out onto the train platform. To your right, the platform continues on and eventually ends; to the left is a set of stairs that will lead you up into the station itself. The platform is quiet, clean, empty—there's no one else around, and the only sounds you can hear are your own footsteps, your own breaths, and the occasional faraway sound of a creaking pipe or rush of air. The train you disembarked will stay there as long as you do, its doors still open, until you finally decide to venture up into this new locale.
As you make your way up the stairs to your left, you find yourself in the belly of City Hall station. The station is large, a sprawling underground mini-metropolis of corridors and storefronts. Here, you may find others like you, freshly-arrived city residents from other realms (or even your own). There is also a subway map, which will give you an idea of the layout of the neighborhood, and ticketing machines, which can currently only be used to buy tickets to a handful of stations located on lines 1, 2, and 9.
If you're hungry or in need of any kind of supplies, there are plenty of storefronts inside the subway station as well—snack stands, convenience stores, restaurants, clothing stores, a pharmacy, and a variety of empty shops that may or may not have ever been in use. Everything is unlocked, and you can take whatever you need.
Characters may stay on the train platform indefinitely, and may re-board and re-disembark from the subway as many times as they like, but the train will not depart nor will the doors close. Once they go up the stairs into the train station, they may hear the train doors closing and the train departing. Another train will not arrive, no matter how long the character waits. Only once they come up the stairs into the station itself may characters encounter their fellow newly-arrived residents and take advantage of what the city has to offer.
JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS
WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD.
The station is located in the city center. It has three major exits that lead to areas of interest in the district, but there are several other smaller exits that lead in other directions around the neighborhood. You are welcome to use any of them, but may find the north, southwest, and east exits to be the most welcoming.
TO THE NORTH
The northern entrance to the station leads up into the sunlight and puts you out in a brickwork plaza. There's a modest building in front of you, three or four stories of stone with a welcoming facade. There's a sign above the entryway—it says City Hall. You may be tempted to explore, if you're interested in learning more about the city and how it functions, but prepare to find yourself disappointed—the folders in the records rooms are full of empty, blank sheets of paper, and the logbooks and balance sheets are similarly devoid of information.
Immediately to the southwest of City Hall, you will find a small building that houses the tourist information kiosk. It looks welcoming, with an inviting glass facade and a sign above the entryway announcing it as the "TOURIST CENTER." It's a humble building with a receptionist's desk on the back wall opposite the entrance, empty magazine shelves lining the side walls, and a few spinning brochure racks full of blank pamphlets. Anyone is welcome to peruse the tourist literature, though they won't offer much information, being primarily filled with pictures of the surrounding area—City Hall, the park, a statue garden, and the surprisingly heavily-featured cemetery. There are a few sentences sprinkled throughout about basic offerings of the city, such as apartment complexes and office buildings, as well as a few maps with the same limited scope as the larger version on the wall behind the receptionist's desk.
The main feature of the tourist center is the interactive kiosk installed dead in the center, right in the middle of a few rows of uncomfortable chairs that fill the small room. It's noticeably in the way of any would-be foot traffic through the tourist center, and something about the technology seems a little more modern than the computer behind the desk or the landline phone on the wall. The kiosk is a tall silver rectangle, about average adult height, and the upper half is a screen welcoming visitors to touch it to activate the kiosk. If you were to touch it, the screen would come to life with simple dialogue inviting visitors to ask it their questions.
However, residents should note that the kiosk is only programmed to assist with exploration within the available areas of the city. It may not be able to answer every question, and tampering with the kiosk may result in unreliable or inaccurate answers!
TO THE SOUTHWEST
The western exit of the station takes you up into a city park, lush and green with a very light fog still hanging about the trees. There are lampposts on the walkways and benches where you could rest, and plenty of flora, although you can neither see nor hear any signs of animal life. You walk the paths that meander idly through the verdant grass and you feel a sense of peace, some of your unease about this place easing into a pleasant calm. The air smells fresh, like it's recently rained, and you'll find the grass ever so slightly damp should you decide to take a seat.
As you make your way deeper into the park, the trees grow denser and the smell of soil and plant life grows stronger. This is the older part of the park, very nearly a forest, with ivy climbing the trunks of the trees and plants and shrubs growing riotously around their bases. As you turn a corner, you find yourself first in the statue garden, although the statues are harder to see now, choked as they are with ivy. There are many statues, some partially obscured, some fully—very few of them still stand free of the vines and clinging roots. (It doesn't feel quite as peaceful here.) If a statue's face looks a little bit familiar, you may not want to look at it too long.
Continue down the path and you will find yourself in a graveyard, one that seems centuries old. Most of the headstones are worn away by time and covered in moss, rendering them impossible to read. The few that are free of moss are blank, or bear only suggestions of names too faint to be understood. (Was that the name of—no, it couldn't have been. Could it?) Many of the headstones stand at an angle or are toppled over completely, having been subjected to either strong winds or the roots of the trees that grow up from some of the graves, spreading branches toward the sky.
TO THE EAST
The final exit of the station, to the east, puts you out on a quiet surface street. Are you hungry? Or are you paralyzed by choice? There are plenty of restaurants, offering options of almost any food you can imagine. You could try a convenience store—it's well stocked, and the items there seem free for the taking. How about a restaurant? There's no one to take your order, but when you look in the kitchen, there's something on the stove, and it's just what you've been craving. Imagine that.
A few blocks down, you come in through the lobby of a tall building and find yourself in a corporate office. The fluorescent lights are steady and unforgiving, and the cubicles and offices are empty. There are a few pieces of paper on desks, a few folders left in organizers, but everything is perfectly blank. Despite how empty and quiet the office is, it nonetheless gives you the feeling that just a few minutes ago, this place was bustling with workers going about their daily business.
You enter another building and find yourself in the lobby of an apartment complex—finally, a place to rest. The first door you try opens easily into a completely empty living room, freshly vacuumed but without a single piece of furniture. It's a nice apartment, quiet, but with a little too much echo for your taste, maybe. Still, and perhaps oddly, you have no trouble envisioning what life here would be like.
The second door you open leads to an apartment that feels lived-in. Why does it feel lived-in? It's fully furnished with items that seem to go together perfectly, true, but the feeling is more than that—the room feels like someone was just here, maybe standing right in the kitchen only moments before you swung the door open. The air is a perfectly comfortable temperature, and it somehow smells like home despite that you've never once set foot here before. The refrigerator is stocked, and the cabinets are full of spices and flatware and kitchen utensils.
As you look around the living room, you find that there are pictures in frames on the walls and some of the flat surfaces—a seascape, a field, a shot of a city park bench. In each of the photos there's something just slightly wrong with the angle, as though the photographer were aiming for a subject that can no longer be seen.
Characters are welcome to explore the district around the City Hall subway station to their heart's content. The City Hall building itself contains several floors of offices and file rooms, but none of them contain any particularly interesting information. Nonetheless, characters may wish to team up with other newcomers and try to find some hints about the nature of the city. They can also spend a while in the park, the statue garden, or the graveyard. In the blocks surrounding the station there are plenty of options for food and housing, as well as office buildings, storefronts, and alleyways to look around. There are no workers in any of the buildings, and there does not seem to be an honor system for payment, nor any consequences for taking food from the stores or setting up camp in an apartment or office building.
JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS
SO A TURKEY WALKS INTO A BOWLING ALLEY...
There's a bowling alley open in the newly-accessible district, and you're invited to come test your mettle!
Walking into the lobby, you're struck by a peculiar combination of scents—shoe polish, floor wax, pretzels and nachos, and something pungent and a little oily. On the wall behind the desk is a shelf full of pair after pair of shoes, in every size you could possibly imagine, and there's a low rack filled with brightly-colored, heavy bowling balls that are ready for the taking. You can also hear the low hum of machinery and the rattle of pins being reset every time someone knocks them down, the bowling alley a well-oiled machine despite the fact that no one seems to be manning it.
You can bowl alone, start a match play (1-v-1), or bowl as a team, but you'll quickly find that bowling is much more fun (and somehow easier) when you're playing with others. Maybe it's because being around other people raises your spirits, but you feel more confident when you step up to bowl, and you find that when you're playing as part of a team, the bowling ball travels faster and in a straighter line, and you seem to be making strikes and spares with much greater frequency. Teamwork really does make the dream work!
If you occasionally see what you think might be the shadow of someone passing behind the machinery at the far end of the lane, don't worry about it—that's probably just your imagination.
If you stop by the bowling alley at night, you will find the place totally transformed. There's a disco ball hanging from the ceiling and brightly-colored lights flashing and dancing around the floor and walls. Any white parts of your clothing glow a delightful blueish color, and you find that you're illuminated in all kinds of interesting shades by the blacklight bulbs glowing in the ceiling. This is cosmic bowling, truly not for the faint of heart!
When you've finished bowling, you may want to stop by the snack area for a pretzel or hot dog, a soda, or—if you're there for cosmic bowling—maybe even a more adult beverage from the food counter on the far end of the building.
There isn't anything especially spooky about the bowling alley—except, of course, being forced to wear shoes that have been worn by a hundred strangers before. Characters are welcome to find their shoe size, grab a bowling ball, and go to town! Characters who come during the day will encounter a normal bowling alley, but they can always come back at night to get the full cosmic bowling experience. There will always be shoes in their sizes, the pins will reset themselves, and the balls will always be returned. Just be careful, those ball chutes can crush your fingers if you're not careful!
JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS
WILDCARD.
The city is by no means small, and there are plenty of things for you to see. There's no rush in exploring, so feel free to take your time looking around and peering into various nooks and crannies and alleyways—and don't worry, you're not very likely to find anything peering back.
If none of the above prompts appeal, feel free to check out the Locations and Maps pages and write your own freestyle prompt using one or many of the available locations.
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citylogs2023-07-01 11:00 am
Mollymauk Tealeaf | Critical Role C2
[ Well! Whatever Molly had expected to find after death, this was not it. But finding himself underground(?) felt a bit too on the nose at the moment, and he'd rushed himself out into the air as quickly as possible. What he's found outside doesn't seem any less utterly confusing, but at least it has fresh air, and he'll take what he can get.
Of all the things he can see the park space seems the least likely to give him a headache, so he starts there. He may not exactly be the woodland type, but at least he knows how to deal with it. Probably. Only the silence gets oppressive after too long, and Molly is not someone who weathers the quiet well. Which is when he launches into a steady monologue about exactly what he thinks about slavers and kidnapping and the ramifications thereof. It's fast, colorful and barely pausing long enough to take breaths and seems entirely like Molly can keep going for a while. Clearly not worrying about being overheard, then.
In fact, it's only when he finds himself staring at grave stones that his rambling trails off into confusion. ]
Now what does the afterlife need with a cemetery?
ii. CITY CENTER
[ If there's anything Molly's learned, it's that the best way to find information is to get it from people. Of course, the few he's seen in passing don't look any less confused than he feels, but someone around here must have some answers. And rather than wasting his time chasing people down--he's had a long week and quite frankly he's tired--the best thing to do is to make himself available.
What seems like the city square is equally as sparsely occupied as everywhere else, but that just means less competition as Molly finds himself a nice corner and pulls off his loudly decorated coat to spread it out on the ground. Onto this flash of red and gold material go a stack of tarot cards and Molly seats himself in front of the whole thing to smile winningly out onto the street. ]
You there! You look like you're in need of a fortune told.
[ Do you? Who doesn't? The smile Molly gives might widen into a flash of pointed teeth when he makes eye contact with whoever he's trying to get attention from. It's probably fine. ]
iii. COSMIC BOWLING
[ Does Molly have the slightest idea what's going on here? No. Does he appreciate the vibes anyway? Absolutely. He might lose a solid few minutes staring entranced at the glittery ball hanging overhead. Maybe he can find a way to attach some of that to his coat? Important things to think about.
But eventually he's drawn away from the light show towards what sounds like a series of small explosions. The carnie in him recognizes a game pretty quickly, but that also means that he needs to watch long enough to figure out the trick to it. Throwing balls at stacked cups but larger, maybe.
Curiosity sends him stepping onto one of the empty lanes to try and figure out how the targets are stacked, but he doesn't manage more than a step forward before his feet attempt to slide out from under him. It's only a feat of catlike reflexes (and some impressive swearing) that keep him upright, and even then he's still sliding a little. Is this the trick? Clever. ]
So what do you get if you win? [ Perfectly conversational despite the fact that he's still standing in the middle of a lane. Nothing to see here, everything is completely normal. ]
iv. WILDCARD
[ Hit me with anything you like or PM with ideas/questions! ]
ii
[ This teenager looks perplexed for a minute to be hailed by a purple man with pointy ears and horns (which part of this surprises her remains to be stated and may never be stated because Tsuruno learns to roll with the unusual very quickly), but as her eyes lower and come to rest on the deck of cards...
Something briefly flashes in her eyes, right before it's gone again and she trots closer with apparently no ill ease. She seems to have decided it's fine, just like the bracket text said! ]
I don't think I'm in need, and I don't think I've got the right kind of money to pay you, but do I still qualify?
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[ And Molly has already reached for the deck and is letting it fly back and forth from one hand to the other. Overdramatic, maybe, but so is everything else about him. ]
No, no, I can certainly tell that you're in need of a message from the universe. No charge.
[ Or, you know, it's all bullshit, but Molly puts on a good show. He absolutely would charge anyway under different circumstances, but right now he's just looking for information. ]
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She's also a big fan of overdramatics, so she is ooooooohing appreciatively like a good captive audience. ]
Then, do I need to do anything...?
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1/2
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i
A tiefling...? She's not met many tieflings, apart from (one of) her adoptive mothers and her sister...
His abrupt pause to regard the gravestones doesn't quite register to her; instead, she hears it as a dramatic end to his monologue, and so she... claps her hands. ]
That was a thrilling monologue!
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Thank you, I'd hate to think I'd had no audience for all of that.
[ Or more he's just pleased to see another person here at all, but that's besides the point. He straightens again to actually take in his erstwhile fan, eyes lingering for just a curious second on the ears before moving on. ]
I don't suppose you're here to pay respects?
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No! I was just exploring when I heard someone's voice, and... Now I'm here!
[ ... She has to ask, because she's so curious: ]
I'm sorry if this is rude to ask, since I guess people here come from everywhere, but... Are you a tiefling by any chance, sir...?
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Graveyard
Uh... I dunno how this place works, but this doesn't seem like the afterlife-afterlife.
[ Hi, have a human shaped thing with too many tentacles and eyes. ]
Why, do humans die and become demons now?
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[ A deeply insightful response from someone who was fairly sure he was dying just a little bit ago.
But he twists to face the unexpected reply, and finds his eyes widening a little as he takes her in. Ah, a fellow being of refined taste in coloring. That much alone earns a grin even if Molly isn't entirely sure about the rest of it. He can roll with things. ]
Not that I'm aware of, but humans do all sorts of fascinating things sometimes.
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But that's neither here nor there. Zoe herself feels a bit puzzled by the stranger's reply. ]
So... You were born a demon?
[ It takes a moment for her to realize this guy might not be from her world. Um. ]
Sorry, I'm from the Monster Realm. Sometimes humans die and show up there as ghosts and zombies and vampires and stuff. I... Thought that sort of thing happens here too. Wherever this place is.
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bowling.....
Plus, he hasn't been bowling in a while, so that's different...
Presently he's just sitting there, having claimed a lane for himself and his small arsenal of soft pretzels and sodas, heedless of the innate rudeness of bringing food down onto the actual bowling area. He's got his goof-ass bowling shoes on, there's at least one ball waiting in the ball return for him to get up and actually bowl—and now there's some guy on the lane. Uh?]
Bragging rights, [he offers, without getting up. He sips his soda with only some judgment, considering this dude... "purple guy with horns" is not the wildest appearance he's seen, so this might as well happen, sure.] Most people consider it cheating to walk out that far, but maybe you're on to something.
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[ Well never let it be said that Molly is above cheating, but usually he's doing it on purpose. He is finding, with some observation, that everyone else seems to be stopping right at a painted line on the ground, so fair play. He considers his position for a moment and the unsteady floor beneath his feet before he starts trying to skate his way back to firmer ground. ]
I wanted to see how the targets are set up. [ Oddly not an excuse! Molly's going to have to do a lot more lying to make up for it. ] But far be it from me to interrupt your search for bragging rights.
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[But that's how you know they're good, so he holds up a piece of one for emphasis before taking a bite. See! Pretzels! Everything is fine over here on the chairs, where he's not supposed to have food, but who's going to stop him!]
You, uh, need a hand out there?
[Junpei doesn't know a whole lot about how bowling alleys are run, but he does know that the lanes are super smooth and that bowling shoes are unnaturally slippery compared to all other shoes, too? He... puts his pretzel down, in case he needs to get up and peel someone off the lane in the next few moments.]
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ii city center
Which leads to the flamboyant man's statement.]
Do I? [A beat of silence, then] A real fortune or the kind that's more 'guided introspection'?
[But she is stepping closer now, because he's single handedly one of the most alive people she's seen in the eerily quiet city, and because she can't help but be curious about what he might consider to be a fortune despite herself.]
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Why don't you see for yourself?
[ Which is a neat way of sidestepping the fact that it's all complete bullshit, but at least an entertaining experience if Molly is doing it correctly. ]
The cards work in mysterious ways, you know.
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I don't have cash on me, unfortunately. I'd offer to maybe be able to fix any broken electronics you might have in exchange, but with how weird everything is around here, I'm not sure how 'in demand' that actually is.
[And she sounded genuinely apologetic about that, because she wanted a fair trade, even if all this strange man was doing was essentially a flashy show.]
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iii
I don't think it's that kind of game. Satisfaction appears to be from the enjoyment of playing.
[ He might be misbehaving right now, but he still maintains his placid, upright posture. ]
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[ Seems harder to make money off of people that way, but what does Molly know? Everyone here seems pleased enough and he's the only idiot trapped out in the middle of a slick wasteland. ]
Ah, but I seem to have ended up in a precarious place. I was overly curious, you see. If only there might be someone to give me a hand onto firm land?
[ Hint hint, pretty boy. ]
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Are you all right? It's dangerous to travel to places if you have no way to return.
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ii
Well, there are certainly more strangers around the station, so that's a start. Seimei can't really miss the bright colors and abounding sparkles, but even if he could, he gets called over by the voice. He stops on his walk, turning to the seated man with wide eyes. ]
Who, me? I do? Why- Do you think there's something wrong?
[ Please entertain him. He's always good for a game of playing pawn. ]
Oh, but I don't have any money.
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No charge, of course, friend. I'm only a recently traveler doing his best to provide for my new surroundings.
[ Laying it on just a bit thick. But he plants an elbow on his knee and rests his chin in his upturned hand, watching the man with knowing eyes. ]
Do you think there's something wrong?
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That's not fair. I have to repay you with something. It can't be terribly elaborate, I'm afraid, but I don't intend to collect debt here.
I personally don't feel anything wrong at all, but you're the expert, right? Tell me what I owe you for the fortune. I'm sure we can agree on something.
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ii
[This stranger might be tucked into one of the corners of the city square, but between their strange appearance and the colorful sweep of his coat on the ground, how can his eyes not be drawn to the sight?
Henry halts his gait, smiling faintly at them.]
Or is that you're looking for a way to keep yourself entertained? [Still, he steps closer, and that's not necessarily a "no."]
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[ He'll admit to it easily enough, now that he's already caught someone's attention. If he were actually looking for a grift, Molly might put some more effort into it, but this is just attempting to feel a new place out. Being called out for his bullshit has never stopped him before. ]
Nothing wrong with entertaining the both of us, is there?
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[With an outward-facing smile and a shrug of his shoulders, he can't really argue that point. Color him curious.
Henry drifts closer, then, to get a better look of the set-up here.]
So what do you need me to do?
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