lifeaftr | 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

[They are at that. Not necessarily a failure in their equipment or a lack of intelligence as it is simply a profoundly straightforward way of going about things. Just as rapidly, they clarify with a fresh line of text.]

you
self-defense?

Oh!

[Her thoughts dart back to her botched Arcanist lessons.]

Unfortunately, no. I'm usually don't go where there's lots of fighting.

[...ah.]

[All the more reason for them to accompany her. They will see her to safety. Though, given the fact that the monkeys of this region were capable of invading the islets, they cannot say that safety may be viable in the long term.]

must learn
or stay with someone who can

[Well. It's not like she hasn't tried before, at least.]

I understand. But... right now it's probably best that I find somewhere safer. That isn't up a tree.

[She's already tried that. It worked for a bit, buuuut...]

[Up a tree will be insufficient in keeping safe from the simians. The Drifter nods shortly. The only other alternative would have to be...the abode of the elves. But even that had not been safe, in the end. So what choice have they?]

[Use the same words that they used when last confronted with such unnerving uncertainty.]

i will guard against whatever there may be.
will accompany

[For a moment her eyes widen, but then she smiles, a little sadly. She bobs a small bow.]

You have my thanks. Sorry for all the trouble.

[Situations like right now were why she usually stayed out of the front lines, so that she wasn't an inconvenience to those who did best there. She didn't really have that option now though.]

not trouble

[They have taken care of more and more erstwhile explorers such as herself as of late. One more will surely not strain their abilities.]

hostiles have made safe areas difficult
combat danger with danger

Ah... So places that used to be safe aren't?

[That's... uncomfortably familiar in some ways. Now really wasn't a good time for those memories, though.]

creatures got into shelters all over
cannot trust they will not again

[Or that they won't pursue anyone they think may have escaped their grasp.]

I... I see...

[Not quite the same as either of the instances she's experienced something similar, but still a serious problem. And one she's not sure how to even begin helping yet, new as she is to this whole situation.]

I suppose that will have to wait until the worst of the danger is past, though.

[The Drifter's only immediate response is a solemn nod of agreement. A moment or two elapses before they issue another response.]

may take refuge somewhere unexplored
but poses new danger

I imagine so... you'd be trading dangers you know for ones you don't.

[She hums thoughtfully.]

Could it be possible to fortify or disguise current safe locations?

[Like the spell Urangier cast on the Waking Sands in the wake of the banquet.]

[Fortify or disguise...it's not a bad idea. Presumably the creatures slunk in while everyone slept, or while their guards were lowered. Something curious and intrigued sparks in those dark eyes of theirs.]

possibly
take shifts
keep watch

[Tataru nods.]

It may help to see what magic is available to us as well.

One of my friends, Urangier, was able to disguise our former headquarters as an empty warehouse one time, when our organization was betrayed by those we thought were allies.

[That would require cooperation from others, but if this had impacted all of them as much as it seemed to, surely people would not object at least to the defense of their own homes and selves.]

have no magic

[It's not admitted sheepishly, but matter-of-fact. If Tataru wants to find people talented enough to perform said skills, she will have to look elsewhere. The Drifter works in the physical, not the metaphysical.]

unsure who does/does not

October Intro: Louder than Sirens, Louder than Bells

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