lifeaftr | October Intro: Louder than Sirens, Louder than Bells

Entry tags:

October Intro: Louder than Sirens, Louder than Bells

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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's a poor effort, but a laudable one. A single blink of their dark eyes takes in his disheveled state, his frantic scanning of the horizon, the way he looks as though he's just seen Judgment raining its black corruption upon him and everything he holds dear.

hurt?

There's the brisk rustle of grass, of footsteps, and a familiar figure scuttling up a tree. The instincts are good, but the caution misplaced; the Drifter tries to steady Taako with a gloved hand to one shoulder while glancing in the direction of the tree. Their companion sprite chimes softly several consecutive times more, its little green light blinking in what might be a reassuring fashion - if Ren can see it.

Taako's voice is enough to pique her curiosity and she peers around the trunk to confirm it's not a trick or a figment of her imagination. Any noise outside of fighting or monkey hollering is welcome at this point, even crying ghosts. At least she knows how to avoid those. Being able to recognize the source of it all, both the voice and the chiming light, is a comfort she doesn't have time to enjoy. In an instant, she's running over to the duo.

She couldn't be happier to see them, but doesn't offer any kind of greeting or indication of that. Nope, priority #1 is to drag them to a hiding spot. The creatures attacking the island seem to have the whole pursuit and capture thing down pat. The sooner they leave, the better, and she scans the area around them for the missing member of this little party-where is Lup?

But that has to wait too. There isn't enough time in her panicky little mind to think about it and she reaches out to grab both their hands in an attempt to pull them somewhere else. Anywhere, at this point. The few moments they've stood here feels like far too long and she's trying to recall every spur of the moment plan she came up with in her world to help them survive now. And, well, she can only think of one. Her voice drops to low whisper. "I'll hide you. I know a big hiding spot."

Is Taako hurt? Good question, he thinks the answer is no but he's surprisingly not that invested in the specifics. Normally he'd be on the same page as Ren, this child has maybe not always had the details nailed down a hundred percent, but she's usually got the gist of a good idea. He'll find time to feel distress about how relatable her action-plan is later. When this is over, or possibly never. But for right now he's not about to let himself be dragged anywhere. He shakes his head, at Drifter's concern, at Ren's urgent whisper, his own dimming panic, life in general. "They took Lup," is his argument against that plan. Remember how utterly fucked up this was, before it took a turn for the cosmic horror? Taako still does, and it sucks. "She doesn't have a wand," might be hurt already or soon, "I gotta go." Do they get it now? Because he's pretty sure he just explained everything.

Ren is safe. Taako is - ruffled, possibly damaged, but safe, for the most part. Things are not unsalvageable.

They took Lup.

...

They amend their previous thought. They may not wholly comprehend what it is to have a sibling for which one would do everything, but they can understand being driven to the point where all else falters and falls to the wayside. There is no recovering from this until Lup has been recovered.

A big hiding spot may very well not be sufficient. They took Lup - took her in a camp well-guarded and well-heeled against intruders. There is no saying if they may come back, and if Ren may be safe should that occur.

we will find her

The words are as flat and matter-of-fact as ever, over text. But the Drifter glances up at Ren's tree once more.

cannot leave ren

Somewhere between the drumming around her and the one her own rapidly beating heart is making, she's able to register what Taako says, how Drifter responds and she lets go of their hands. I gotta go and we will find her and all these Seto reminiscent phrases that only scare her.

Ren knows she's weak-that she lacks in every conceivable manner in comparison to the two before her and doesn't have a quarter of the strength they have to boot. That she's the sort of person that won't fight back when someone wants to use her body to hurt others and elicits help from a kind boy to fight the demons she couldn't manage on her own. They're brave. They don't second guess they have to leave. That they can't cower away and hope it all ends with Lup strolling out unscathed.

"...Go to-?" The words spill out of her mouth and stop just as abruptly. She knows what it means to go with them and steels herself, digging her toes into the ground, and tries not fall back on her first instinct to run away from them. From all of this. For a moment, she wishes even a tiny sliver of Seto's courage could reach her. To let it wash over her, so she can wear the same expression as Taako and have the confidence to go after Lup. But even if she can't muster up that same bravado, Ren knows that someone has to save her. Knows that her brother wants to protect her and that Drifter has all the same traits in their heart that makes Seto special-that makes them want to help without hesitation. And she knows despite all her own fears, that she wants to be able to grab Lup's warm hand again and sit on rocks, talking about their precious friends who've yet to show up. "I-I want to find Lup. Let's...Let's go find Lup."

She's terrified so let's just go fam. There's a countdown ticking away in her head that ends with her bolting at the next weird forest noise, but she's doing Her Best.

Alright, well, flippant internal thoughts aside, Taako didn't actually expect...that, and he looks like there's a lot of math here that isn't working for him. That they'd get it, sure, obviously he's going to be frantic about Lup being in danger until he somehow fixes it, that's not hard to figure out. But he didn't really think this was going to be a, a join the party and roll out kinda deal? Just like that. Who ARE these people. WHAT are they. Drifter, bless their heart or whatever they actually have, really does seem to get it, and Taako looks at them like they're a REALLY weird ghost. What the whole entire fuck, dudes. What kinda persuasion roll did he just make. Whatever, he'll take it.

Even Ren, though Taako is pretty sure that taking her on a rescue mish into monkeytown isn't ideal. But he gets where the Drifter is coming from. And honestly, if he can just get the umbrella to her, wherever Lup IS is about to be the safest place for anybody to be, who isn't a monkey. After probably like fifteen minutes of absolute hellfire apocalypse fuckshittery, but y'know, just gotta get through that, just like old times. Probs don't mention that to Ren, who looks like he felt ten minutes ago basically, pre-bolt. Welp.

"Co-ool. Party get," he tries a smile of gratitude that probably just looks pained, no matter how many thumbs-up it's paired with. Is he the leader now? Fucked up if true. He wastes about .037 seconds looking around to make sure. "We'll hit up camp? Get the staff. Anything else that might give us an edge. And then we're gonna fuck em up." Hahaha yeah right, he's got shitall for spells, but whatever, this is fine. "Not you, Ren. You're not gonna fight monkeys, Lup would burn my shoes."

Look, Taako has done them a good turn in the past, and both he and Lup have taken good care of the child living alongside them. It is for those reasons, if not additionally some sense of duty, that there is hardly a question here. Duty. Self-preservation, too; if the creatures who abducted Lup could get through these defenses, who can say however many others they may have hurt, or captured?

The Drifter opens one hand, palm up, in Ren's direction, both to gesture at her and as an offer to have something to hold onto.

not safe here
where will she go

There aren't exactly alternatives here. If the Drifter and Taako evaded capture, surely Ren would be safest with them, wouldn't she?

She hates this. All of this. The fact there's even a discussion about heading off into a lair of dangerous creatures, that Lup is there and they have to go. It's nice that Drifter offers their hand and she takes it quickly, latching on with every ounce of strength she has. That's all she can do to ground herself and just go with this impromptu plan to attack monkey village. The important thing is to get back Lup. Once they do that, they don't have to fight anymore. They can just run and hide again. That's her freaking plan.

"I-It's fine. I'll be fine. I won't fight," Because if it looks sketchy, she's gonna bolt and hide regardless. It would be impossible for her to feel safe at camp right now, even with the elves, let alone without them. "I can come. It's okay."

Well, he's not gonna argue, not past making sure Ren knows not to mix in with any throwdowns, and he knows her well enough by now to know that was pretty unlikely even without his stern(?) warning. There's room in all his anger and fear to feel concern for Ren, but maybe not enough room just now to figure out how to express it usefully beyond that warning. But he knows this is REAL DAMN FAR outside her wheelhouse, and he's grateful to the Drifter for being, y'know, a stoic whatever in the face of this.

"Alright. Good, and great! Glad we got that settled." He resists the urge to continue saying things, some of which would probably have slid into unnecessary snark with his impatience, and channels that energy into a ground-eating trot camp-wards instead. Discussion over, as far as he's concerned, anything else, you better walk'n'talk.

They hit elf-camp fast, though they hit some obvious signs of ape destructiveness faster. Not right now, but defs later, he is going to be pissed at the state of the place. Their camp got no business looking like this. He plucks the umbra staff out of the wreckage, puts on his shoes in record time, grabs his hat and with only a moment of deliberation, adds the horrible seafood sickle too. It is not the most fortifying montage imaginable, actually, he's definitely done better.

That accomplished, he looks a bit less driven and a bit more lost. It's all fine and well to talk about fucking up monkeys, but his magic is mostly useless and his melee abilities amount to about a fart in a whirlwind at the best of times. Last chance to back the fuck out of this dumb mission! "We uh. We good for this?"

No backing out here. Ren's fear is apparent, her grip around their hand tight and unrelenting. The camp is a clear indication that the simians had their way with the place and snatched Lup in the process. They recognize the tidepool sickle extricated from the wreckage; evidently Taako is arming up.

A quick mental double-check with their sprite assures them that they're fully stocked in turn.

ready

They're not about to abandon this effort now. Not when Ren is distressed, Taako is on the verge of something violent and immediate, and Lup is missing. A quick glance down in Ren's direction, and their shoulders sink slightly.

carry?

If it wasn't already apparent by her absolute silence the entire way back, she still hates this idea, and Ren's immediate answer to Taako's question would be, honestly, no. But she can't find it in herself to vocalize that fear and while she looks the opposite of prepared with her bare feet and flimsy outfit, she nods. It's just her and no garbage filled bag to buffer whatever attack is going to come. "We can go."

The camp is unnerving now, lacking the warmth it had only a few hours before. While a part of her was tempted to stay here, it's reminiscent of her world now and she can remember how packs of wild dogs would wait and surround their prey in areas just like this. This enemy works on a larger scale with far more planning that dogs could ever muster up and Ren doesn't have the confidence she could outrun them like ghosts. Not yet.

She's about to start walking, not leading the way so much as getting the heck out of there before they're spotted, when Drifter's question catches her by surprise. Ren wants tell them it's fine-she's fine-in weak attempt to hide her obvious distress. She can walk, but her feet already feel like lead with the one step she took towards the Danger Zone and she doesn't want to slow them down. Cautiously, she places a hand on their shoulder, ready to get on when they give the okay. "It won't hurt you?"

Why would--? Aw, dunk. Taako narrows his eyes in confusion, and then it occurs to him, health kits; it seemed like a reasonable thing to shop for at the time, but he's putting two and two a little more together now. Or maybe Ren is just super concerned this armor-wearing, charmingly inscrutable being is somehow gonna be damaged by hoisting up a scrubby jungle gremlin like her? He'd rather it be that one. For a couple reasons. It's not his business if Drifter has some weakness, some hurt or ailment that they haven't chosen to make known to a frivolous island shopkeeper they barely know. Well, it kinda is, if they're about to get in a big fight, but they probably know best and they didn't back out given the chance, so. What a good dude. He really hopes this doesn't turn out too badly.

"I can, I can spell you, if you get tired. Not like with magic, I realize how that sounded, Taako's had a long night," and it's not over, and he's got a party now? Still pretty fucking weird, hasn't stopped being a thing. He grins like a nervous tic, sheepish and fleeting. "Just, you know, say the word," he winces, a minor faux pas, "And I can carry Ren." He's pretty sure that's actually true. He's carried things before, how hard can it be. They're in this together now.

The Drifter is already lowering into a kneeling position. They may be thin and fragile, it's true, and it will surely hamper their speed, but - but they've ranged weapons, and it's not a hopeless battle. Should things grow to be too untenable, they can press onward from there.

They've done worse.

can
don't worry

Perhaps not the most reassuring of promises, but they're willing to try. And that's the important part. And, should that be enough, they'll allow her.

should not wait

There's a couple benefits to having a skittish child latched onto your back and one of them is you don't have to worry about making sure they don't fall, because she's already got a firm grip on their shoulders. The second one is that she's already looking to the trees and scanning the area around them for the 100th time. It's still safe for now and maybe the help of a second pair of eyes will make up for the burden they're taking on by carrying her.

Taako's offer itself is kind and she can't believe this many people are willing to literally carry her into battle, but he needs to be able to reach his sister at a second's notice. He won't be able to do that with her weighing him down. And all this talk of spells makes Ren add her own little bit of encouragement from the 0.01% understanding she has about all of this. "Taako's good at that. He can smile at you if you get tired and it'll make you feel happy."

So you know Drifter. Just let them know if you need a second to rest. Ren can jump off and Taako can smile at them and their journey can continue as normal. It's great. What a blast.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

October Intro: Louder than Sirens, Louder than Bells

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject