DUNGEON LOG.

[dungeon_channel]

Where:  Varying underground locations somewhere on the island.
When: Early morning on the eighteenth through the end of the twenty-first.
Who: Seven teams of two people, listed below.
Why:  Because nobody likes a snoop.

Starting the morning on the eighteenth, there are seven new local cable channels available on island TV.  There are no ads announcing them, so only people channel-surfing will run across them at first.  Each channel shows something rather shocking:  two people held together by a pair of thick, futuristic shackles made of some strange white plastic.  They're somewhere underground, and followed constantly by hidden cameras in their surroundings.  Welcome to the strangest reality TV show ever.

For those seven teams, however, life is significantly worse.  They'll wake up in the darkness, shackled to someone they may or may not know.  They'll be wearing whatever clothes they wore yesterday (thankfully, not whatever they wore to bed).  They'll be carrying anything they usually carry, though any weapon will be lacking extra ammunition beyond the load it started with.  Their electronic devices will not connect to any networks or receive any signal, but will otherwise behave normally.  Worst, however, any supernatural abilities they possess will be dampened -- subtly for some, more extremely for others (sorry Jade).

The shackles will not cut or break.  Any attempt to remove them merely tightens them.  There is no visible lock to pick.  Examine or struggle how you will, but short of severing your forearm there's no certain way to remove them.

So:  where the Hell are you, anyway?

Check out the threads below for answers.

Team One: Tim – Jade

Team Two: Finnick – Remus

Team Three: Jack – Kaylee

Team Four: Sherlock – Davesprite

Team Five: Natasha – Feferi

Team Six: Naoto – Ramona

Team Seven: Jenny – Nathan

 

Comments

Team One

[dungeon_channel]

You wake up in pitch blackness. It is extremely hot – well over ninety degrees Fahrenheit – and so humid that you are already drenched in sweat. The air is thick and musty, and the stone underneath you is crusted with lichen. When you find a light source, you will see that you are in a cavern cobbled together from large, blocky stone slabs, smooth surfaced once but roughened by age and the bearded tendrils of shaggy moss hanging off of them. Between the hanging mosses, rounded faces stare out from the stone. At the end of the corridor is one massive, tilted head, and beside it is a tall iron grating set in the wall.

[detectivewonder]

Tim woke up cataloguing drug symptoms as a matter of paranoid habit. No nausea, not ketamine. No grogginess, not thiopental. He'd clearly been moved, and he was lying sprawled on a stone floor in a hot environment with a wide cuff around his right wrist. Despite the unnatural position he was lying in, he felt less uncomfortable than he'd expect. Propofol, then. That didn't tell him much, propofol was the obvious choice and could be found in any hospital.

He could hear someone breathing nearby, and as a result he kept his eyes shut (not that it mattered, in the dark) and his own breathing regular. If he was being watched, best not to let anyone know he was awake...

WHOOPS totally forgot it's pitch black..

[coloredstrings]

That muted, even breathing doesn't last for long before it's interrupted by the sounds of waking. There's the sound of fabric hissing across stone accompanied by a scrape of metal, a yawn, and the subsequent gasp soon thereafter. A long stretch of silence brings up the rear.

"... This isn't good. Hello! Is anybody there!"

It's a girl, and judging by the pitch of her voice she can't be older than fifteen. There's a rattle of steel again, and the cuff around Tim's wrist pulls taut. And then it's yanked.

Team Two

[dungeon_channel]

You wake to the dim flicker of torchlight. It is cold and extremely dry. Every surface around you is coated in a thick layer of rock dust, which your arrival clearly disturbed – but without leaving a clear trail. You are in a tall gallery – torches and tapestries alternate on the walls, and fluted pillars upprt the ceiling. The walls are made of smooth sandstone, as is the ceiling; and the floor is tiled in interlocking mosaics of ceramic tiles, once comfortable but faded now with age. A pool of still water sits at one end of the room; and a balconied gallery overlooks it from fifteen feet up. The one entrance you can see has half-caved in, a broken pillar lying across it and leaving very little space.

[solemnly_swere]

Being the more level-headed thinker of the Marauders, Remus did not spring into action the moment his eyes began to adjust to the light. There was rock dust settled on his clothing, and the flickering torchlight reminded him of Hogwarts where it barely touched the tapestries and set the world into a mix of low light and long shadows.

He'd seen creepier places, having spent most of his Hogwarts years in the shrieking shack and the forbidden forest. The main curiosity was the potential exit, covered in debris and broken pieces of sandstone and pillar.

For a long moment he just sits and takes it in, hand feeling for his wand to make sure it was still there and had not broken. His fingers curled around it reassuringly and it was only as he went to get to his feet he noticed there was someone else attached to him at the wrist.

"Alright, there?"

[pelagically]

Well, it's been a while since Finnick's been handcuffed to anyone against his will. It's also been a while since he was forced into a strange and threatening situation.

For a few moments, he's quiet, looking around and getting his bearings. It was only a matter of time until something like this happened; he's been growing less and less complacent, skipping those mandatory therapy meetings and spending more time at sea. All in all, it's not really a surprise.

What he didn't expect: Being attached to a man he's never seen before. Finnick doesn't pay as much attention to the network as he should. This guy could have been here for months — but he's had a lot on his plate, so it's hard to know.

"I'm fine, aside from the obvious." He lifts his hand, dragging Remus' along with it, and rattles the cuffs. "Well, that's fun." Yeah, this guy is in a position many would've literally killed for back in the day. He throws the mystery man what he knows is his most charming and reassuring smile before introducing himself. "Finnick Odair. It's a pleasure."

It really isn't, but might as well keep up appearances before this gets nasty.

Team Three

[dungeon_channel]

You wake to a dim, almost imperceptible light, in a narrow corridor made of blue-grey brick. If there is a ceiling it is too high above you to glimpse. There is a distant churning sound from somewhere further down the corridor, and at the corner where you are a rusted copper pipe with a mouth nearly two feet across looms above you.

[chronosexual]

Jack awakens to a dull headache and a chill. His back aches as he sits up and groggily looks around the unfamiliar surroundings. What the hell did he do last night? He didn't really remember any drinking. Just falling asleep at the office again with his head buried in paperwork and research, and nothing about going to strange buildings. Not this time, anyway. He frowned and lifted his hand to scratch at his head, pausing when the clink of the handcuffs caught his attention.

Jack took a long moment to study the situation, examining the handcuffs and the pretty girl he was chained to. Definitely not the first time that's happened, but this was one of the stranger places it happened. She was still asleep, and clothed, thankfully, but it was still a strange predicament to be in. He takes one last look around the room and down the corridor, straining his old eyes to see what was making the odd noise. It's hard for him to discern and he decides to wake the girl before investigating. He reached over with his free hand to gently shake her shoulder.

"Hey. Hey. Wake up."

[hot4engines]

Kaylee didn't stir very hard at first when she felt someone shaking her and telling her to wake up. She was having such a nice dream... Simon was there, and she'd been leaning against him, while Luki played tag with Aisling and Red nearby, Aradia and Ryoji took turns playing a gigantic claw machine full of stuffed animals while Tavros watched with an ever-increasing pile of them in his lap, and Kyon debated philosophy and aliens with His Greenness, Zim.

"Ain't time to wake up yet, Simon," she murmured, reaching up to rub her eyes- and the clink of a chain made her jerk awake. Slowly, she opened her eyes and took in the sights around her, blinking hard, before looking at the man she was chained to, at a loss for words.

MAKING A NEW THREAD due to page-stretching yes good

[hot4engines]

"That's what I was thinking," said Kaylee, nodding in agreement. "There's t-shirts and everything... and plenty a'booze. Maybe they went outta business or... something." She wasn't sure she really believed that, but it was better than a lot of the alternatives. She then turned and followed Jack's gaze, feeling her heart speed up with excitement. Maybe their journey was coming to an end, finally.

"I certainly think so. Let's try it."

♥

[chronosexual]

"I don't know about that... looks like whoever left, left in a hurry. I don't like that. Here, take my hand. I don't want us to get separated." Without a thought, he extended the hand that wasn't being used as a torch, the one that had been earlier removed, and started toward the lift, hoping that there was some kind of power still left in it.

Team Four

[dungeon_channel]

Fluorescent lights flicker crazily around you as you wake. Once, this corridor you were in was probably part of an office building – or maybe a hospital, judging by the pale tiling of the floor. It seems to have survived an earthquake at some point in the past – wall panels tilt crazily and claustrophobically inward further down the hall, and several glass panels opening onto side office are mazed with cracks.

[worldsonly]

Sherlock is actually used to waking up in strange places, the result of kidnappings and cocaine binges alike, although it had been a few years since it had happened until showing up on New Moore broke his streak, and he reacts the same way: he feigns his continued unconsciousness until he can assess his surroundings with his remaining senses.

Unfortunately, his remaining senses only tell him that he's somewhere smooth, cold, probably indoors and certainly far away from the sounds of the city, and he's attached to something at the wrist. They also tell him he's not alone, but there's only one other person beside him, so he chances opening his eyes. He immediately closes them again and groans.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

whoops

[retroversion]

Davesprite is used to all kinds of freaky shit, courtesy of being raised by Bro and also spending four or more months in the Medium, but waking up in places he's never been before is a new one. It takes an embarrassing minute too long to realize that's what's going on, because okay seriously what the fuck who expects to wake up in some Saw set knockoff instead of his room? So he opens his eyes slowly once, closes them because it's way too early for this and too dark to really tell where he is anyway, then jerks upwards at the horror movie-esque lighting that's already threatening to give him a migraine at this rate. His wrist, of course, catches on a heavy weight and pulls him back down because he's a scrawny teenager, and he gets a look at the - person he's cuffed to.

"Okay, what the actual fuck."

Team Five

[dungeon_channel]

You wake on a smooth cool floor, staring up at stalactites above you.This vaulted cavern was once rough and natural, but now marble tiles coat the floor. Sourceless light illuminates it dimly, and while a cave-in blocks the way behind you, a shallow staircase rises ahead and leads into a narrow corridor , gauzy with cobwebs.

[vdova]

She knows that feeling. That dazed, grey, foggy sensation behind her eyes and in her brain, thick and soupy. She's been drugged, and heavily by the feel of it, and she fights it, mentally clawing her way into consciousness. The only sign of this, outwardly, are a few minute facial twitches, things that could be perceived as dreaming, REM sleep. She lays still a few moments more, listening to her surroundings.

There's the breath of someone next to her, the cool floor under her skin, and behind her eyelids she can see the vague sense of light. There are no voices, no noise other than the person next to her breathing, and Natasha risks opening her eyes, frowning at the sight of the stalactites above her, at the strange weight on her wrist. She glances down at it, and follows the trail--

And her first reaction is to gasp, scrambling away from the.. whatever it is she's connected to. What the hell is that?

[splashes]

And Feferi would have most likely been content to stay sleeping, quite comfortable barring the sudden shock her arm receives from the tug of the cuffs. Upon waking, her first instinct is to brace her arm against the pressure, surprisingly strong for being so scrawny.

"Hey!" she grumbles, steadying herself into a seat with her free palm. Giving her eyes a good scrub, she then blinks owlishly at the plastic cuff encircling her wrist, following it up to the source of the jolt. A human!

"Oh! Well, how do you glubbing like that. Hello?"

If she's noticed their bleak surroundings, she's not letting on. It wouldn't be the strangest place she's taken a nap, after all.

Team Six

[dungeon_channel]

You awake in pitch blackness and complete silence. When you find a way to make light, you see a rough cave of blocky, irregular stone, mounded soil against one wall. A slanted rift in the floor seems to be the only way out, presenting what almost seems to be a crude ramp further into the earth.

[subspaceflowers]

Ramona wakes with a start, acutely aware of the silence, and upon waking, the darkness. She sits up and begins to feel around with her hands, her heart beginning to race and pound in her ears harder and harder with each second that passes. However, her hand bumps into something hard, but soft and warm right next to her, and her panic and shock leads her to pull a terrified scream out of her throat as she tries to scramble away from the unidentified object.

[expositional]

Naoto wakes up to screaming. Jolts awake hard, tearing the arm back that's inexplicably has a cool press of metal and plastics against her wrist, that's suddenly being pulled-!

With a yelp of pain, Naoto tries to wrench her arm back. "That's enough! Who's there?" Understandably, she sounds just a little bit unsettled.

Team Seven

[dungeon_channel]

You wake to see faint orange light seeping through the cracks between stones in this massive corridor. Fifteen feet tall and just as broad, it nonetheless narrows to thread between two looming statues, their heads hidden in shadow. Odd, narrow ledges, some set with rusted iron railing, run alongside the walls at various heights and occasionally vanish like mouseholes into the walls.

[jenratedanomaly]

Okay. Waking up in a strange corridor with glowing orange lights was certainly a bit disconcerting, but Jenny really wasn't worried. The confusion shows on her face for a moment as she studies the surroundings, but then disappears into an excited grin. Dangers be dashed, this was an adventure waiting to happen.

She was always looking for the chance to find them. Maybe even rescue a civilization or two or fight some more creatures like her brilliant dad. So it's perhaps an unorthodox reaction that she displays.

"Nathan?" Yes. That was definitely her boyfriend cuffed to her arm there. That was... new. She gave him a light shake, a bright smile still ever present. Strange or not, no reason to let new surroundings get her down. They would figure out a way out of there, and until they did, Exploring!

"Nathan, wake up!"

[reanimated]

It's probably not normal that the first thing Nathan does when his eyes snap open his check himself over for just-healed wounds. But no, he's not gasping to life, not lying in a puddle of his own blood. He's perfectly fine. Somehow, that makes the situation even weirder.

He gives Jenny a sidelong smirk and a customary "hello, love" before taking in his surroundings.

There are better places to wake up handcuffed to your girlfriend.

Specifically, anywhere but a cold stone corridor with creepy-as-hell statues.

Oh no, this is not on.

The panic edges quickly into his voice as he asks, "The fuck is this? Is this some kind of seedy sex dungeon?" Yeah, because that's the most likely scenario here.

Reaction Thread for the rest of the island.

[dungeon_channel]

[If you're watching this on TV, every half an hour or so a link will flash on the screen, directing you to the discussion forums of the Dungeon Quest Network. You're welcome to either post in your own journals, or to put any reactions here].

[invisus]

Hey!!