August Intro: You Think...You Wink...You Do A Double Blink...

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: AUGUST

Who: Everyone!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr.
When: August 3rd
Where: Ensō
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Part I: Get Wrekt
You rouse to a splash of sea salt drying on your skin. A haze of glass-white sand glitters in your vision, dappled by lush palms and thick, curling foliage that disappears into a jungle of deep jade. From behind, crackling wood and sawing rope groan from a mangled life raft ran ashore. A petering wash of tide over pebbled sand fills your ears as you struggle to gain your bearings in a vast portrait of tropical color…

No...no, no, that’s not precisely how this story starts.

Why don't we start over?

You rouse to a splash of sea salt, spraying across yourself and the wooden floor beneath you as it breaks across the edge of the platform. The light as it dances across the sea is blinding, dappling white spots across your vision as you slowly come back to consciousness and realize that - this is not where you last remember being.

The middle of the ocean is likely not a place most recall being at all. As you struggle to fully comprehend the new scenario in which you have found yourself, three things become quickly apparent. The raft you find yourself upon barely constitutes as something that should float, never mind a boat. In the distance, perhaps a few hours away at most, a large island beckons to you, a wide strip of beach surrounded by cliffs making it very clear where the most fortuitous of directions shall be.

Lastly, of course, you’re not alone. Hopefully your new companion(s) are just as keen to get ashore before nightfall as you, or voyaging together will not be the most positive experience. At your side you will find a knapsack, one to every member of your raft party, and upon inspecting its contents, you will discover any rewards you may have accrued - as well as a few other items to give you a fighting chance.

A note to those who participated in the Test Drive Meme: those threads, if all parties involved would like, can be game canon in the form of dream-like memories involving a place very much like this one, though the layout is considerably different.

Part II: Choose Your Own Adventure

By fortune (or misfortune, as it were), you eventually find your feet meeting sand, blessed shore to stagger upon as you shake off your newly found sea-legs. There are those that may find this place familiar, as though it appeared in a dream, though the expanse of shore certainly seems larger. The beach stretches off into the distance on both sides, curving around sharp ridges and cliffs, mist obscuring the view the farther along it goes.

So here you are. You’ve found land. Company. Supplies. The sun is now beginning to trek rather low upon the horizon…spending the night outside in such an unfamiliar land is unappealing at best and outright dangerous at the worst.

There is one silver lining in the midst of this mess. Directly ahead, the beach curves up a gentle slope until it meets forest, some manner of building visible through the trees. Further exploration of this area will reveal a dilapidated building of sorts; the architecture is indiscernible to even the most skilled eye. Despite looking as if it has seen better days, there are areas that offer some form of shelter...and who knows what else. Just because it appears uninhabited doesn’t mean you won’t wind up pleasantly, or unpleasantly, surprised.



So what shall you do from here, traveller? There is land to be explored, strangers to meet, friends to reunite with. Supplies to inspect and plenty of questions in need of being said aloud. Choose your path, make haste, and above all else: survive. And whatever you will, take heart.

Your story is about to begin anew.

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Feeling a tad adrift? Make sure to check the Locations Page, which has details regarding the starting areas and a handy map for those who feel better with a bird's eye view!

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[hyperlit]

[Along comes the Drifter, trotting along at a brisk pace. They'll have to pass through the ruined area in order to set about exploring properly - the cliffs cut them off from making a complete circuit of the island, somewhat infuriatingly.]

[They do not announce their presence. They're rather incapable of doing so, but they certainly do not intend to sneak up on him. The only indication of their presence is the soft patter of their footsteps as they draw closer, closer - ]

[unpurify]

[The silence reminded the Batter strongly of the mines in Zone 1, so he had been approaching travel through the ruins in the same manner. He did not have the Puppeteer to guide him and see the things he could not, but the Batter could at least take care of the basics of exploration on his own if needed.

And like the mines, the silence was broken. Then it was the occasional sound of an Elsen's pickax breaking through stone. This time it's footsteps steadily approaching his location. Given he knew nothing of this place, the Batter's reaction is both understandable and predictable. He draws his baseball bat.]

Show yourself.

[His voice echos thanks to this place, so hopefully the Drifter can hear him. Otherwise things will get...interesting.]

[hyperlit]

[They certainly hear him, their brisk trot petering out to a more cautious tap of approaching footsteps. Perhaps it's the vibrant cobalt of their skin that shows first, or the rich red of the cloak falling about their shoulders, but either way, the Drifter draws closer slowly, step by step - cautious, but not hostile.]

[Not without reason.]

[The sprite at their shoulder chirps softly, projecting its weak pink light as the text-based HUD springs to life.]

?

[unpurify]

[It's the color of the stranger's appearance in general that catches his eye. The people of his world did not possess any color but simply white and black. And regardless of one's interpretation of the Batter, he stayed the same in that regard.

Those new world was colorful in ways that many had not thought of before but this was the first time he had met someone with blue skin.

But regardless of all of that they do not appear to be hostile, just warry, which is understandable. A chirping noise catches the Battery's attention next and he looks at the HUD.

Curious. It reminds him of the Add-Ons.]

Who are you?

[hyperlit]

drifter
you?

[There's no reason to introduce themself any further than that - that is their occupation, their life, and therefore it is the only title they've ever required. No one has ever asked for anything more specific than that.]

[The stranger is...odd in appearance and garb. Even more than most others they've encountered. Paler. More uniform.]

[Odd.]

[unpurify]

[It's not the strangest name he has heard. The Batter's own was strange, or at least according to the others he has run across thus far.

But a name was a name, something to address another without sounding rude. So like many, the Batter will simply stick with "Drifter".]

I'm the Batter. Did you arrive with the others?

[The most obvious solution, unless this island wasn't as uninhabited as it looked.]

[hyperlit]

[A nod. That name is equally acceptable - a title need not grow more specific than that.]

on a raft.
far from here.

[unpurify]

[So the same as everyone else. They found themselves adrift on a barely held together vessel, presumably with others as well. That would be the likely explanation from anyone else.]

What is that object beside you?

[Again, it reminded him of the Add-Ons even if they ever spoke. Or typed, in this case.]

[hyperlit]

[The sprite chimes again as it projects a fresh line of text. The Drifter does not glance at it, noting its presence without needing the visual confirmation.]

companion.
enables communication.

[unpurify]

['Enables communication'. Suggests that the Drifter could not speak or simply did not for one reason or another. How the machine was able to convey his words back and forward was a curiosity but not one the Batter wished to pursue at the moment, so he changes the topic back to something more practical.]

What have you found in this place?

[hyperlit]

[Brusque shifts of the subject are nothing new. He is a little like them, in that regard: businesslike and bent on uncovering what is relevant to a goal, and nothing else. They can respect that.]

not much.
pack contains supplies.
additional weaponry.

[Largely unnecessary; they already have their trusted hard light blade.]

[unpurify]

[Not much, but at least they were granted a few things to begin with. Interesting that some received another weapon - or the Drifter did, going by their 'additional' comment - while others didn't. Someone or something had to have prepared those.

More questions for later. He was coming up with a laundry list of things to ask when possible.]

Have you encountered any impure beings in this place?

[hyperlit]

[Their head goes to one side in apparent confusion. Impure can mean a great deal of things - and, in a small bout of abrupt self-consciousness, the Drifter tugs their mantle a bit more securely about the lower half of their face.]

[Impure may mean...anything.]

impure
?

[unpurify]

[If it matters to the Batter that the Drifter adjusts the mantle hiding their face, he doesn't comment on it. Their appearance thus far has not shown the signs of the impurity he knows of. Blue skin is not a problem.]

Specters or other such beings. Unholy beasts that seek to harm the innocent.

[Monsters, in other words.]

[hyperlit]

[Hm. That isn't the term they would use to describe any of the hostiles they've encountered in their world, but there are deviations - that much they've already registered.]

no.
no one hostile.

[unpurify]

[There are many deviations but when it came to the impure, it all was the same and would end the same way it did back home, by his own hands.]

I see. If you see any, let me know.

[The Batter can take care of it, despite appearances.]

[hyperlit]

description?

[If anything looks as though it's bent on harming anyone, then it will have to be destroyed out of necessity. particularly if anyone here plans on living here in the long-term. Which, given the state of things, is looking likely.]

[unpurify]

The ones I fight are ectoplasmic entities that come in various shapes and sizes. They are always hostile. As for this land, I am unaware but they will have to be purified.

[And if the land itself is infected...

Well. The Batter is here.]

[hyperlit]

[Ectoplasmic.]

[Hallucinations? Visions? The Drifter's head cocks at that, sharp and attentive. Can shadowy entities such as those be killed?]

visions?

[unpurify]

No. They are real. I am capable of purifying them.

[It's what he was made for. So if they really were here along with him, the Batter could easily take care of it.]

[hyperlit]

[There is an almost imperceptible shift in their demeanor. They are real, and things that are real can be destroyed - but not that which lurks in the head, pink and glistening, circling like an ever-present thread.]

[Those things in their head - those are not real.]

how

[unpurify]

[The shift is noted although it is not an aggressive one. Curious. Was this a subject that interested the Drifter?]

It is an ability imbued within me. Through battle I am able to purge their impure souls.

[Or basically he has a baseball bat and good aim.]

[hyperlit]

[Ah. Not something they can simply learn, then. But they'll ask - just one final time. Just to be sure.]

cannot be learned?

[unpurify]

No. I am not capable of it.

[It was something he was made to do, not teach.]

Why do you ask?

[The Drifter isn't the first person to ask about the Batter's power of purification but they are the first to ask if it can be taught.]

[hyperlit]

[There is no kind or normal way to admit that you experience hallucinatory instances of your own death on repeat as a result of the illness sitting astride your chest and polluting your lungs with your own blood.]

[So they say nothing of it at all.]

in case it is needed