lifeaftr | November Intro: Red Sun Rises Like an Early Warning

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November Intro: Red Sun Rises Like an Early Warning

INTRO LOG: NOVEMBER

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

The New Arrivals: Hold My Hand
When you wake, it will be to the lapping of waves, frothed with foam...pulling at your hair, your skin, your clothing. The sand is soft and wet beneath you, but it's several inches submerged. And the longer you stay here, the more obvious it will be that the water level of the ocean ringing this strip of island has begun to to rise, and not merely because the tide has started to come in.

And what's more? You can tell that something else about this entire situation is horribly, horribly wrong.

Perhaps you've lost some special power. Perhaps some piece of your memory is freshly and disconcertingly blank. Perhaps you've just discovered that one of your senses is missing, or that you've been rendered unable to speak, or you've been struck by a debilitating fatigue. Not only are you stranded in some unfamiliar place, stuck on a rapidly flooding beach, but you aren't even doing it in full possession of all your faculties.

For those who agreed to put themselves at a disadvantage for a stranger, these are your consequences. If you're unclear as to the handicap your character has been assigned, if any, please check your initial acceptance notice!

All new arrivals will additionally awake with knapsacks, their names stitched to the front. The contents of said knapsacks can also be found in your acceptance notices!

For All: It's a Long Way Down
The water isn't a problem for the newest arrivals, either. It seems that the waters all over Ensō have started to rise, slowly at first, and then with a steadily increasing rate. At first, you might be forgiven for assuming the tide must simply be unusually high, or maybe that the island's begun to sink. But the longer it endures, the more obvious it becomes that neither is the case.

The water has begun to rise. Something is wrong with the island itself, or the being living on it, and now there is nothing preventing the water's inexorable approach as it steadily washes over and over the mainland. In fact, if you listen closely, you might even be able to hear a peculiar sound tearing over the cold rush of the coastal wind; something akin to a desolate wailing.

Either get to high ground - and quickly - or find out what's causing this. But either way, we suggest you hurry...because there are a great deal of newly arrived, very disoriented folk on the beach that could really, really use your help.

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.

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 )

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[Hopefully Muffet is used to extremely startled reactions, because she's getting one now. His hands scramble until they come to rest on one of the swords in the water -

Which he realizes that he's sitting on, and that makes him settle down a bit.]

No, I think I would remember you.

[Even with the uh, less than stellar state of his memory.]

[She'll just take that as a compliment.]

[Muffet curtseys politely to him, smiling in a way that manages to be surprisingly friendly despite her rather sharp fangs.]

My name is Muffet. It's a pleasure to meet you, despite the unfortunate circumstances. May I ask your name?

[After a brief hesitation, she gets a seated sort of bow in return. There, good manners satisfied, now he can get back to the important business of being confused.]

Luke.

[Sorry, not especially wordy, this one.]

[She doesn't seem bothered by his terse reply, nodding politely.]

Would you care for some assistance, Luke? People tend to arrive rather suddenly to this place, and it can be rather disorienting.

[Somehow, he thinks he figured that part out. Disorienting, ha.]

Anything you can tell me would be nice.

[He's... reasonably confident he can handle the rest.]

Mm. There's a rather frustrating amount that we still aren't certain about, but the short version is that groups of people keep appearing on or around this island at regular intervals, starting from approximately four months ago, taken from various different worlds with no memory of how they were brought here.

This island is the domain of a being- apparently some variety of deity- called the Storyteller, who had been dormant for some time prior to our arrival. They claim to be unaware of how or why we came here, and would prefer to send us all home once they figure out how to do so, but do not as of yet have the power to accomplish this. As per their name, they gain power from being ritually told stories of what one has witnessed or accomplished, and they have a standing offer to trade such stories for favors.

There are a number of dangers on the island- some dire, most relatively avoidable. The two worst that I'm aware of... if you see a large, roughly spherical creature that seems to consist mostly of mismatched limbs, run. And if you see any kind of glowing, pale green crystal, especially if it's moving on it's own, don't touch it. It's infectious.

[Muffet looks grimly serious, remembering her encounters with both the Fustercluck and the Quartzalcoatl. It briefly occurs to her to wonder what might happen if the former somehow made it into the caves containing the latter, and she wearily resigns herself to the fact that the resulting mental image is almost certainly going to show up in her nightmares.]

[Now that is some good information. 'Luke' has an expression on his face that's the sort you usually see on someone actively taking notes. He lets her speak without interruption to the end, though, even with as little sense as the idea of infectious crystal makes.]

I see. Any natives besides the Storyteller, or settlements?

[Muffet appreciates the politeness, and replies to his question with a noncommittal gesture.]

We've found multiple examples of ruins that suggest a number of people did live here at one point, but they've clearly been abandoned for quite a long time. Our own settlement, aside from those who've chosen to set up by themselves, is on the islets that the Storyteller provided, making use of the ruined buildings there.

There was also, until recently, a group of ape-like people that were advanced enough to make and use tools. Sadly, they were uniformly hostile to any other group of people living on the island, and captured several of our number with the intent of eating them. Any attempt at communication or negotiation was immediately met with violence. This resulted in a battle that killed a great many of them, and any survivors have- quite understandably- avoided all of us since.

[Her tone as she explains the simians' fate isn't proud or pleased, although neither is it deeply ashamed. She's merely stating events as they happened, even if she found them to be depressing and regrettable.]

No clues on why they came to be abandoned?

[He's still paying close attention, though she'll see him make only the briefest face of displeasure at the mention of the apes attempting to catch and eat people. That's certainly a possibility for the original inhabitants that he hasn't dismissed, but if they're smart enough for tools, then it doesn't make any sense that they wouldn't move into the dwellings of the people they got rid of.]

No solid evidence that I'm aware of, unfortunately. There are any number of guesses we could make, but nothing to indicate that any one thing is more likely than another.

[The apes, at least, she suspects they can probably rule out- the Storyteller had implied they were a relatively recent development, and the ruins seemed notably older than that.]

[Hmmm.]

Can't say I like that much, considering what it might mean.

[He's not all in for dangers that drove civilizations to their end that they don't know anything about.]

Likewise. Do feel free to let me know if you happen across anything that should shed some light on the subject.

That said, it occurs to me it might be remiss to focus on the future without addressing more pressing matters. Specifically, showing you the way to somewhere that isn't currently flooding before we continue our conversation.

Gladly.

[After all, anything that he does manage to find might not make much sense without the context of previous discoveries or info that he doesn't have!

He gestures her to lead the way, scooping up the rest of his things.]

[Muffet smiles and turns to lead him up the path to the mana pool, trying to walk at a pace brisk enough to move quickly but still measured enough that he won't have trouble keeping up if his arrival left him tired.]

[She continues to explain as she goes:]

The islets I mentioned before don't appear to be flooding the way the main island is, thankfully. We've been trying to get everyone there for the time being. We reach them via what's known as a mana pool, a circular basin of glowing water that allows one to teleport to another pool in a different location if used properly.

[It's not exactly his arrival that's left him tired... But he's used to pushing through anyway, so he keeps up well enough without any complaint.]

That's definitely unnatural.

[Just an observation. Assuming the islets are anywhere near close, at any rate.]

[In all fairness, Asch, you're talking to a spider lady. Unnatural is relative.]

It seems that my world is a bit more used to magic being used casually as part of everyday life than most- though I admit that this particular type of magic is new to me as well.

[She has some suspicions about whatever the fuck it is Sans does, admittedly, but whatever.]

If you mean that it wasn't formed by nature, however, then yes. The Storyteller seems to be responsible for it, as they are for the islands themselves.

Somewhere in between, I think.

[There's also the howling, screaming, sobbing wind to consider.]

Unnatural as in "a thing that shouldn't logically happen."

[Which, given that he comes from a world where their JRPG magic is treated as a full science, to the point that you can legitimately get a degree in it and there's research labs and the whole shebang, is a perfectly normal concept of 'unnatural.']

'Shouldn't' is a bit subjective, at this point. I concede that much of all this is quite implausible- but given just how much of it is that way, and that it seems to be happening despite that, it seems more reasonable to assume that the train of logic we were using prior was based off of somewhat flawed assumptions and incomplete knowledge.

...Ah, here we are.

[However illogical the mana pool might be, he'll be able to see that Muffet did describe it's appearance pretty accurately as it comes into view.]

[Those are a lot of words of many syllables and thank goodness he's used to Jade or else his brain might have glazed over a bit.

But, he is, and so it does make good enough sense once you take the wordiness out of it.]

I guess it's only natural for a different world to have different rules.

[He bends as they arrive to examine one of the flowers more closely. They remind him of selenias, a little. He wonders if they too grow from the energy of the pool, rather than the sunlight.]

So I've come to believe, yes.

[Sorry, Asch- Muffet gets more and more formal when she's stressed, and it's been a very long week.]

[She stops at the edge and carefully plucks one of the flowers, explaining as she does.]

To activate the pool, one picks one of the flowers and tosses it in the pool while concentrating on where one intends to go. Like so...

[Suiting words to actions, she throws the flower casually into the pool, and it flares up with a shining white light.]

[No, that's fine, he can imagine. He's just the opposite, really. He watches her closely before carefully plucking the flower he's examining.]

Seems like a strange way of doing it. I think I prefer our glyphs.

[If she's gone elsewhere, he'll follow... Though it might take a minute or two of bouncing around the other pools before he actually changes up.]

It's a new method for me, too, but if it works...

[Muffet gives him a polite little wave and turns to step into the pool.]

See you there, dearie.

[When he arrives on the other side, it's with a bit more confidence than Muffet might be used to seeing from first-timers - instant transport is not totally unknown to him.]

Seems simple enough.

[And dry! It's dry over here!]

[Muffet greets him with a friendly smile, already standing off to the side of the pool when he arrives. She gestures cheerfully at the area around them, indicating the peaceful-looking land and houses in various states of repair.]

Welcome to the islets. If you're not worried about making your way from here, I'll take my leave for now- but if you ever care to speak to me, my house is over that way.

[Honestly, the fact that it's the one with half of the roof replaced with a giant spiderweb is probably all the clue he'll need to guess which one is hers.]

[It really kind of is. And his world's preferred Giant Bug enemy isn't even spiders!]

I think I'll be able to manage.

[A pause, like he's not entirely sure if he should - ]

Thanks.

And wrapped, unless you've got something to add.

prettypurpleparlor - 2017-11-26 22:20 (UTC) - Expand

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November Intro: Red Sun Rises Like an Early Warning

Re: Beach

Re: Beach

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Can probably wrap this in the next couple posts if you want.

yeah prolly

Re: yeah prolly

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And wrapped, unless you've got something to add.