October Intro: Louder than Sirens, Louder than Bells

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: OCTOBER

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

The Beach: For All the Rest
The shores of Ensō are far from the tranquil, almost idyllic tropical backdrop that they should be. And so it is that while you fish, or perhaps as you go about your daily business on the islets, the first thing you will note is the persistent sound hammering at the back of your skull.

A drumming.

And it's growing louder.

The source of the drumming will, like it or not, soon become apparent. At the fringes of the trees, wielding slings and hollow, wooden pistols, is a group of large and very displeased simians who have every intent of claiming this spot of beach - yes, traveler, this spot of beach you're standing on right now! - for their own, and by any means necessary.

And they certainly don't look interested in diplomacy.
If you came armed, you might be in luck, because this conflict will require your steady hand in its resolution. If you did not...well, you may be better suited to run, or risk capture at the hands of warriors skilled, cunning, and incredibly vicious. Laugh at their monkey business all you like; they are ingenious fighters and, what's more, they're just as good at killing as they are at capture.

For the uninitiated, this particular brand of chaos doesn't usually sweep across the entire island the way it has. But those who have been here for some time will recognize the monkeys in question, and might even recognize this for what it is: revenge.

Group I: The Squeakquel
Looks like your monkeying around last month has landed you and everyone else in a spot of trouble. The monkeys in question certainly weren't happy to be confronted with others on their lands, nor are they willing to share their territory. While you may have triumphed last time you confronted them, the apes have been planning their revenge in the meantime.

Some of you were unlucky enough to become targets. Overnight, a great deal of them silently invaded the islets. Their blow-dart guns are equipped with a fairly powerful sedative that is more than capable of knocking most living creatures out - and those that were immune were simply snatched up, gagged, and bundled away.

However, it seems that some of their prisoners didn't suit their purposes, for one way or another, and thus weren't retrieved with the intention of long-term capture. Which is why a number of you will awaken in regions of the island that you've already explored.

...the really, really dangerous ones.

Whether it's a Center of Gravity, a parade of centipuppies, a contingent of Lungblossoms, a Fustercluck, or something else entirely, one thing is certain: the monkeys wanted you out of their way.

So get ready to fight for your life.

Group II: Ape Escape
If you're not one of the slightly luckier newcomers that materializes on the shore, then you're one of the unlucky ones that's managed to materialize square in the middle of the jungle. Or rather, in the middle of one of the denser, more populated parts of the jungle. The abodes woven into the canopy are crude, built of mud and sticks, but they're nonetheless sturdy.

And, as an important note - they are also swarming with monkeys. Snarling, baying, armed monkeys. Perhaps they'd be more hostile toward an interloper...if you weren't already in a cage, along with several others.

Fortunately for the newbies, they've all got something the monkeys didn't anticipate, aside from the element of surprise. Most prisoners don't arrive with knapsacks full of newly-acquired gear, and it's a good thing, too - you may very well need it, and the help of the new arrivals, to escape this place. You could always wait for the cavalry to come, but are you really willing to take that risk?

Group III: Pot Luck
As for you, you terribly fortunate third group?

You'll find yourselves suspended in wooden cages as well, though this time, to the hot curtain of whitish steam clouding your vision. It smells an awful lot like smoke down there. An awful lot like something...burning? Unlike your fellows over in the second group, these cages aren't simply a means of containing you, no. These cages are currently hanging over what might be the largest cast iron cauldron you've ever seen. All of this is, of course, for one simple reason:

Some species of monkeys are carnivores.
The acrid scent of smoke is already hot and rancid in your nostrils; the pyre beneath you has been lit, and the hungry flames are beginning to boil the water below quite eagerly. We'd suggest you hurry up in freeing yourself and your fellows - being boiled alive is not a particularly pleasant way to go. At least the monkeys weren't expecting quite so many main courses so soon, which allows you the element of surprise.

---

As a final note to those who participated in the Test Drive Meme, bear in mind that 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.

All new arrivals will awake with knapsacks with their names stitched to the front. The contents of said knapsacks can be found below!

---

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!

---

LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

Ardyn Izunia | ota | ffxv spoilers (i'm so sorry for him)

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn was not one for heroics, to say the least. What he was one for was anger and vengeance; the former he held in spades, and the latter he had every intention of getting today.]

[The dagger wouldn't be efficient enough; it bothered him to utilize his true powers so openly, but the secret was more or less out by now. So he held a five-foot long greatsword in one hand, and swung it as though it weighed nothing at whatever threat dared come within range as he casually made his way the hell out of here in long, cavalier strides.]

[Saving people had long since stopped being something he was interested in. The others could handle themselves, it was hardly his problem.]

why are you like this

[encircling]

[ Between getting out of the cage with Jaune and fighting off monkeys, and getting to safety...

She nearly gets beheaded. Which is incredibly irritating, and Mira lets out a wordless yell when she sees the sword come way too close to her head. Considering how short she is, and how tall he is and the way he's swinging it around, it's not that surprising. Still... as a warning, she raises her hand and swings it in an arc, leaving shards of ice in its wake. ]

Do you always swinging your sword around without a care as to who it might hit?

[ Any bite that might have been behind the words is gone; she's tired, after using so much magic, and that's frustrating. What good is her magic if she's more and more exhausted with each use...? ]

shrugs

[scourgingstars]

My sincerest apologies.

[sorry friendo he was kind of busy calmly beheading a monkey. nbd.]

[The magic did catch his attention, but in a way that he seemed to find it mildly interesting than any actual threat. That was certainly unexpected from people that weren't himself,
Noctis, or the would-be Kingsglaive.]

[Apparently this day wasn't done being eventful.]

[encircling]

[ She's not sure how she feels about someone who can so easily and calmly just go and kill something, but... she'll worry about that later. She's more concerned about how tired she feels. ]

... It's fine. [ Is it? Probably not, but she's not about to argue with a stranger. ] Do you know the way to safety?

[scourgingstars]

Hm...I might have a fair idea, though I imagine some would know this isle better than myself.

[He shrugged, the greatsword carelessly brought up to rest against his shoulder.]

[greatcleavage]

I sincerely object to the principles of leverage you are ignoring with that weapon.

[Says the fighter with a longer greatsword but one he is properly wielding in two hands as he dashes -- yes, back into the fray, despite being covered in bruises, lacerations, and blood that all speak of some serious fighting up till this point.]

[You know, he's TRYING to keep the snark down these days, but right now isn't his best hour.]

[scourgingstars]

[Ardyn looked to the sword and back to Roy, then answered with a careless shrug.]

That almost sounds like jealousy from a lack of proficiency, my friend.

[greatcleavage]

I am a fighter! I have proficiency in all martial weapons! That doesn't even make sense!

[No. Really. This isn't his best hour.]

[scourgingstars]

[to be fair this is entirely justified and there's no godsdamned reason ardyn should be able to do this but here we are]

Whether it makes sense to you or not is hardly my concern.

[forgetmenow]

[Well gosh, Mr. Fancy Sword, some of us do just fine with daggers.

In fact, here's someone wielding one dagger in each hand. A boy that is suddenly just there, barely keeping out of range of the sword. He actually is here for heroics, deliberately taking himself to wherever there are people.

And there are people around here. Not all of them are as fast as he is. Some might not watch out.]

You should be more careful with that.

[scourgingstars]

Apologies.

[maybe watch where you suddenly appear, gosh.]

[forgetmenow]

It doesn't matter to me. But other people might not be careful.

[And he just looks at Ardyn, now. Really... looks.

And almost instinctively he takes a step back, quickly, as one might do if startled by a loud noise. This despite not seeming bothered with the big sword being swung around just before.]

1/2

[scourgingstars]

[The things that were in Ardyn's head were...unpleasant. The closest memories were bad enough; flashes of bright fire and blades, rain from a blighted and blackened sky. 'A war of attrition, then,' he'd said in an exhausted voice that still managed to have the strength to be mocking and arrogant.]

['When the prophecy is fulfilled-']

['-this time, you can rest in peace.']

[A young girl looking to him with compassion and sympathy in her dying moments. A man with clear blue eyes extending the same compassion ten years later. Blue eyes that matched those of a red-haired man who spoke a millennia-old order of execution in a voice that was overlaid with static and long since forgotten. Burning, beheading, impalement, hanging, why can't I die I'll kill every single one of them for this and through all of it the armored silver-haired knight who had sworn to protect him did nothing.]

[('Such a pitiable waste', he'd said in almost a melodic tone as he watched the capital burn so many ages later. Let them die, he almost envied them for having the ability.)]

[A body that had once been human, degenerating into something black and monstrous beneath the weight of his own sacrifices. Betrayal, agony, a hundred years or so left alone in a prison of stone and forgotten. Centuries upon centuries of wandering the planet under countless illusions and aliases, the name Ardyn Lucis Caelum never once spoken on the planet again until he said it himself to a boy vanishing into a shining Crystal.]

[Two thousand years of memories and all of it colored by a harsh current of rage, of hatred and anguish that hid the deep and immeasurable exhaustion of immortality.]

Hay there (so many FFXV spoilers to follow)

[shedgrace]

[Lunafreya's far enough away not to see Ardyn at first, occupied as she is with the tired and fallen. Despite the blood on her dress, the tears in the fabric, she is stronger than she has felt since the fall of Insomnia; though her reserves of magic are far lower than she knew them to be, her body holds her without complaint. Truly, she has been restored.

So when she rises from someone else's aid, turning to see the Chancellor swinging a royal arm like it's nothing, the shock of recognition ebbs not into weakness, but strength. She stands her ground, trident in hand, and waits for her murderer to notice her.]

mmmmWELP

[scourgingstars]

[How annoying. Hopefully that would be the last of them, or at least the last stupid enough to come within firing distance. The blade didn't vanish just yet--magic seemed a bit hard to come by in this world, and it would be more prudent to save that energy for a quick spell or warping in an unlikely emergency rather than carelessly use the Armiger.]

[He paused briefly upon seeing her, as if for just an instant Ardyn simply wasn't sure he believed what he was looking at. But...well, if Nyx Ulric of all people could be here, why stop there with resurrecting the dead?]

If it isn't dear Lady Lunafreya. [The sword was driven into the ground, Ardyn leaning lightly on the hilt as he greeted her in a mockery of something casual. He knew she'd know what it was, and at this point he could not have cared less who knew his secret anyway.] What a delightfully pleasant surprise.

[shedgrace]

Chancellor.

[After a pause, she bows, the picture of grace and scathing politeness. The bloody hole in the side of her dress is an accusation that she knows won't trouble him for a moment. She straightens and doesn't bother voicing an additional complaint. He won't care. He can't.]

I had not thought to meet you again so soon. I trust you are uninjured?

Never be sorry

[power_of_dominance]

[Ardyn isn't the only one swinging a ridiculous greatsword one-handed. At some point, the Blade of the Mystic clashes against another massive weapon, this one longer and broader, sending up a shower of bright sparks. The ringing of the royal arm on holy steel is loud and high, almost unnaturally so for such an impact, as if the metal of the strange blade is singing for a brief moment.

The hand clutching the white and gold sword remains steady, as heedless of the weight as Ardyn is of his own weapon. The wielder is a tall, slim boy, paler than the Glacian but for eyes that burn as scarlet as Ifrit's darkest flames. Those eyes watch Ardyn closely, too keenly intelligent and far too old for such a youthful, androgynously beautiful face.]

I'm not a threat.

[Maybe not to Ardyn or anyone else but a homicidal monkey, but if the Chancellor can sense power he'll find it in spades in this boy. Dark, seething, nearly as virulent as Starscourge in its hatred. Yet the youth is outwardly calm, not betraying even a hint of the endless, wordless scream inside him.]

[scourgingstars]

[Was it the red eyes that made him lash out without thinking, or the silver hair?]

[...Ardyn wasn't sure, and he also wasn't sure what to make of him regardless. This child's presence felt...was 'familiar' the right term? That tranquility in spite of whatever was within him (magic? Something like it, perhaps, he couldn't pinpoint anything specific) struck a chord that echoed in a distant and near-forgotten note.]

Oh--heavens, do forgive my terrible manners. [Disengaging the far too large swords, Ardyn lowered his own and greeted Soma with a smile meant to look charming.] It's been a painfully trying day, hasn't it?

[power_of_dominance]

Yeah, that's an understatement. It's okay, though, with all the chaos around here, I'm sure you swiping at me was just a self-preservation instinct. Can't blame you for that with the way I look.

[Soma lowers his sword as well (it's so weird that Claimh Solais won't phase in and out like it usually does, but at least it's not heavy to him), and while he doesn't really smile some of the fight-ready tension goes out of his face.]

I thought the quicksand was bad. The monkeys are worse.

[One leaps at them, shrieking. The holy sword swings up as if it weighs no more than a feather, cutting the monster in half diagonally in a single strike. The blow is almost casual, like Soma is swatting a fly.]

Way worse. They're loud and they smell bad.

8) here we go

[achievementhunter]

[They might be a little late to the party, but they have something going for them, at least. It's for emergencies only, now- but when one has been running across practically half the island for the past six hours, avoiding collapse counts.

So the child who joins him, this fine day, appears to be in good spirits. No winded, nor injured, even if their clothes and skin are liberally spattered with blood. It's a particularly unpleasant smile on their face, right now- superimposed over their features, like their lips have been painted on.

They say hi by ramming a flaming knife into the back of the simian facing Ardyn. Call it luck, or actual intent- but with it's spine severed, the creature crumples all too quickly, yelping more out of surprise than any pain.

Looks like that issue isn't registering to it, anymore.]

It's rude to steal all the fun for yourself, sir.

[scourgingstars]

...And a fine good afternoon to you as well.

[Oh, he knew he'd liked this one. Good to know his judgment on that front hadn't failed him.]

It's been a peculiar sort of day, hasn't it?

[achievementhunter]

Indeed. At the least, we're all getting some much needed sunlight.

[A rather knowing comment- before they glance down at the monkey twitching away on the ground.

You want the honors here, or do they get to finish their kill?]

I take it that you are well?

[shatteredlenses]

[Considering the size of the blade and the strength with which Ardyn is swinging it, it's probably a surprise when the blade comes to a sudden halt on the backswing. At the same time, there the sudden scrap of metal on metal, followed by a soft, but amused snort. One that might even sound oddly familiar.

Looking back over his shoulder will reveal the cause of his weapon's sudden stop to be Ignis who has caught the blade and is now holding it very firmly between his daggers. Though the larger blade doesn't look as if it has truly come that close to hitting him, the advisor wastes no time letting a scold slip passed his lips.]

Oh dear, that would have been a dreadfully quick ending to the little truce you've set up with Noctis now wouldn't it? You really should be more careful where you swing that thing.

[scourgingstars]

...You're quite dramatic, aren't you?

[Said the pot to the kettle.]

You trust my aim so little? I've held this blade for longer than Niflheim's had an empire, I should think I know what I'm doing with it.

[shatteredlenses]

[Were it still possible, Ignis would be rolling his eyes at the suggestion. Notice how he very much doesn't let go of his hold on the blade.]

It's amusing you think I trust you at all, let alone when you are swinging around a blade like some kind of deranged behemoth.