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.

---

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

[hyperlit]

[The Drifter nods, but leaves it at that. More or less.]

my supplies as well.
as well as additions

[Largely unnecessary ones, as far as the Drifter is concerned, but what can you do? Anything could be useful when in a survival situation, and it would not do to discard them.]

[manasponge]

Really? What'd you get? Any food or cooking utensils?

[ Look, Marcille anticipated getting hungry sometime in the near future and food was important. ]

I got a knife, some rope, and a coconut. It's not much, but it still looks like there's plenty to eat on the island.

[hyperlit]

[They start ticking down the list almost immediately.]

dried fruit
knife
spare cloth
jug of liquid

[Alcohol, actually, but they didn't stop to double check.]

sickle
?

[At least, that's what they think it is?]

[manasponge]

A sickle? Like for grain? I guess that could be used as a weapon...

[ The dried fruit and knife, at least, seemed valuable. What the heck was in this jar of liquid, though? ]

What kind of liquid? Did it have a distinctive color or smell?

[hyperlit]

[They extricate the sickle in question from their pack, holding it delicately - markedly uncertain as to what they should be doing with it. After all, they already possess a weapon.]

wet.

[manasponge]

Well, of course liquid's wet, it -- what?

[ wtf was that? Was that a starfish? She reached over to give it an experimental poke. ]

Look at all those barnacles. I have kind of a bad feeling about this...

[hyperlit]

[The Drifter shrugs. It does not concern them very much, one way or another.]

i have a sword.
it is unnecessary.

[manasponge]

No, what I mean is... it looks like someone purposefully made it. See, it's got a little hole in the end to attach a thong or something. I've never seen something quite like it before, but it looks like the kind of weapon an aquatic demihuman might use.

Plus, look at the size of that crab claw. That means that there are monster crabs at least that big. If this weapon is from around here, then we'll likely have to deal with them at some point.

[hyperlit]

[...those are fair questions. The Drifter studies the weapon a bit more astutely, turning it this way and that. Perhaps more concerning is the bottom line that, above all else, it - ]

feels alive.

[manasponge]

Yeah, it does... seem alive, doesn't it?

[ Marcille's face said it all, really. She really hoped this wasn't part of some larger, still-living monster that was going to want revenge or anything. That would suck. ]

W-well, on the bright side, maybe the crab would make good eating.

[hyperlit]

[They tuck the thing back in their pack - it pokes out awkwardly, but that matters very little, as far as they're concerned.]

we will face what comes

[It's a simple pronouncement, and an equally simple sentiment lurks behind it; if there is a creature out there that needs facing, they will face it, and they will defeat it. That is all there is.]

[manasponge]

In other words, we don't really have a plan?

[ Oh, well. Par for the course. Marcille sighed a dramatic, long-suffering elven sigh, and continued on. ]

By the way, what's with that getup? Are you from the east?

[hyperlit]

[East?]

[Not particularly. The Emperor had ensured no life would survive for very long in the Eastern regions of the world, its manifold followers trapping and devouring the peaceful inhabitants, stripping them of their furs to leave the skinned corpses hanging in the sunlight like ghastly lawn ornaments.]

[What could survive there?]

no.
a drifter.