lifeaftr | December Intro: Don't Come Home for Christmas

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December Intro: Don't Come Home for Christmas

INTRO LOG: DECEMBER

Who: Everyone!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: December 3rd and onward
Where: Monsun
Warnings: Mark as needed!

The Overview: Uncharted Waters
Stay alert, new adventurers; instead of the white-sand beaches of Enso, you will instead be coming to on one of two sides of the relatively uncharted lands of Monsun. Most of the information regarding this peculiar land can be found in the informational post linked, but as a quick-and-dirty rundown: Monsun's western side is a hot wasteland of a desert prone of disasters and mishaps, but will affect your character's emotional and psychological state in a positive sense, while its eastern side is a verdant forest filled with endless resources...as well as a tendency to bring out the absolute worst of your character.

To start with, all new arrivals will be showing up in one of two squares that characters uncovered last month! We are leaving it up to player discretion as to which side of the island your character arrives on, but bear in mind the psychological repercussions!

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

Monsun, C4: These Are Your Good Years
You wake to the hot sun steaming overhead, rapidly drying your clothes and belongings, waterlogged from washing upon this desolate shore. The heatwaves shimmer at your vision, distorting your view of the horizon. But if you really squint, it looks like there might be something dark green fringing that pipecleaner skyline, like a lush woodland awaits you on the other side of this desert nightmare. A mirage, maybe?

Whatever it is, you don't get very long to contemplate it. Beneath your feet, the ground has begun to shake as a many-headed horror erupts from the earth. Great streams of pale sand slough from its dry, scaly hide as multiple horned heads unfurl in a hissing inflorescence. The creature's eyes are all pale as grubs; it is quite blind. But that does not mean it cannot smell you.

Boasting both a thick hide and a chitinous coat of sandy-colored scales that blends them perfectly with their surroundings, Sand Hydras sleep several feet under the sand until they sense the vibrations of potential prey aboveground. While they are significantly smaller than their mythological counterparts - they can only span eight to twelve feet in length - Sand Hydras are cunning creatures nonetheless with a number of heads that can vary from one to as high as ten. Their weakness, on the other hand, is simple: water burns them like acid. It seems they may flourish only in any moisture-poor environment.

Assuming your character lasts that long, remember: as physically destructive as Monsun's west may be, your character's most admirable traits will be amplified to their fullest potential by the twenty-four hour mark.

Monsun, D3: Before You Bury Yourself Alive
Those waking on the eastern side of the island, on the other hand, will face a far more pleasing tableau. The temperature is perfect, the sun shines modestly through the canopy of deciduous greenery above your head, and the air is thick and sweet with the smell of fresh fruit.

That's right - within minutes of their arrival, your character will discover several plants laden with fresh wild blackberries.

Should that temptation arrest their attention, should they be vulnerable to the foibles of greed or hoarding or paranoia, your character may very well wish to keep this treat to themself. Or...perhaps not. Perhaps they'd much rather search out a fight, or try to steal someone else's supplies, or embark on a poorly-advised mission to swim out into Monsun's surrounding waters.

For that is, after all, the catch: as physically soothing as Monsun's east may be, your character's most hateful traits will be amplified to their fullest potential by the twenty-four hour mark.

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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Assuming you aren't too distracted by the Sand Hydra- admittedly, no one would blame you if you were- you might see a line of purple light appear suddenly, one end striking the sand in front of you.]

Over here, dearie- grab on!

[If you look for the source of the voice, you'll end up following the line to the person who cast it- a neatly-dressed spider lady standing on the top of a tall dune nearby.]

[Assuming you're not more creeped out by spiders than the hydra, you might consider letting her pull you to safety...]

[Huh. A monster is offering to save her from a monster.

That's her first impression, but her brain shifts gears quickly. Of the two monsters, Muffet is offering to help, can apparently talk, and is cuter. Also, her super strength burned out a while ago, so her chances with the hydra aren't looking great.

Yuka dives to grab the thread, quietly hoping that she isn't throwing herself out of the frying pan and into the fire.]

[Cuteness is clearly the best way to decide who to trust- just look at those adorable hair ribbons she's wearing.]

[As soon as she sees that Yuka has a good grip on the line, Muffet plants her feet and pulls her hand in sharply, causing it to contract and haul her rapidly up onto the dune.]

[It's kind of an abrupt way to travel, but at least the sand means she has a soft landing- and it's faster than the hydra.]

[Whoosh! Yuka flies through the air, landing on her face in the sand. Awkward, but it beats getting eaten.

She rolls over and gets back to her feet, still feeling a bit dizzy.]

Before I say anything, are you on my side, or are you just another monster...?

Well, technically, yes- that is to say, I am a monster, but I mean no harm to you or any other person here.

[She smiles at her, an oddly gentle expression given how sharp her teeth are, and offers her a hand in case Yuka needs some help pulling herself up.]

I do apologize for the rough landing. Speed seemed more important than caution, at the time.

[She's good, just give her a second to... okay. Head not spinning. She's good.]

Well, thanks for the save, then... we should probably put some distance between us and that thing while it's still confused.

[Muffet nods, eyeing the creature warily.]

An excellent idea.

[She pauses briefly, and gives Yuka a quick, polite curtsey as she says:]

My name is Muffet. I'd offer you a more proper introduction, but we should be on our way now.

I'm Yuka, it's nice to meet you!

[And she's off! Normally this would be where she bursts off with an amazing surge of speed, but... apparently not this time. Her pace is decidedly average, even a little slow.]

Likewise, circumstances aside.

[Muffet keeps pace with Yuka, walking briskly but being careful not to speed up and leave the girl behind her. Still keeping a wary eye or three out for the sand hydra- or any other dangers- she chats politely with her as they continue on:]

Have you been out in this desert terribly long, Yuka? I can offer you fresh water, if you're in need of some. New arrivals tend to have supplies with them, but they're not always what would be most useful.

[This is definitely the most polite monster Yuka has ever met.]

I have food, but not water... if you have any to spare, that would be really helpful.

[Probably it helps that she's capable of a lot more thinking than any monsters Yuka has met before- although who knows, maybe the sand hydra actually has a very rich inner life...]

[As for Muffet's own perspective, she's met polite humans often enough before, but she still thinks that Yuka seems like a rather nice young woman, based off her first impression.]

Of course, it's no trouble. There is at least one lake here on the dry side, quite a bit further to the north, and a river running through the middle of the island- but I'm not entirely certain whether the water in either of them is completely safe for humans to drink, so it seems better to stick with things you know have been filtered properly, when you can.

[Muffet is much less worried about herself on that front, given that she's not human enough to need to worry about diseases or toxins, although she'd still rather not take any unnecessary risks.]

Do you know if you have anything you can use to carry water in your supplies? It would make things easier if you did, since I don't have many containers.

[She would appreciate the sentiment, if expressed.]

Let me check...

[Now that they're safely removed from danger, Yuka takes off her pack and roots through it.]

There's a jug, but it's already full of alcohol. Beyond that, nothing, unless this gnome is hollow.

The... gnome.

[Muffet blinks and looks over at Yuka's pack. ...Yep. That sure is a gnome statue, all right. Huh.]

Hm. I admit, the one I arrived with did contain a small rubber duck, but a gnome is certainly new.

Maybe it has some kind of powers, but I don't know how to use it.

Setting that aside, all I can do is pour out the alcohol, but I don't know if that would be useful to have later...

No, no, I'd say you're quite right not to waste something that might be useful in the future.

[She opens her own pack, pulling out a large jug of water.]

Perhaps for now, just drink a bit from mine and we'll see if we can find you something to carry more in later?

Yeah, that sounds great. I should hopefully be able to find a source of water once I'm out of the desert.

[Muffet nods, holding the jug of water out to Yuka with a smile.]

Ideally, yes- although you might want to be careful about leaving the desert. I'm not clear on the exact details, since I've spent all my time on this island over here, but some of the people who started out on the other side of the river have informed me that there's something dangerous about that half.

Regrettably, the more pleasant-looking area being some kind of trap does sound rather plausible for this place. Still, even if you'd prefer not to risk crossing it, you should be able to use the river from this side.

[Yuka accepts it gratefully, and takes a long swig. She could probably empty a good chunk of it, but she's aware that it doesn't belong to her, so she holds back a bit before handing it back.]

If there's danger here, and there's danger there, then I might as well not worry about which side I'm on and keep trying to find a mana pool. They didn't tell you any specifics?

Ah, good, you're already aware of the importance of mana pools- explaining them and asking if you'd seen one anywhere was going to be my next question.

[Muffet would gladly let her have more of it- honestly, given how being on this half of the island is boosting her natural tendency to take care of people, the only thing keeping her from outright giving Yuka the entire jug is the knowledge that she might run into more people in need of it- but she takes the jug back and puts it away again without arguing.]

No, I'm afraid not- they did imply that the problem was something to be concerned about as soon as one crossed the river, however, which leads me to suspect something more magical than physical.

[That does give her pause. Monsters, you can usually manage to do something about, but...]

...If that's the case, it might be better to stay on this side. I'd rather deal with a concrete threat than an abstract one, you know?

[Muffet nods ruefully.]

That was more or less my reasoning for staying over here, yes. I'm both curious and concerned about what's going on over there, but when it comes down to it I'm likely to do more good sticking to problems I have a practical way to fix.

Fortunately, most people seem to be staying over here as much as possible any case, since presumably they don't want to deal with whatever it is either.

Something so bad that people would rather face a desert full of monsters than deal with it, but that nobody will describe or explain... whatever is over there, it sounds pretty scary. [The vast amount it leaves to the imagination makes it somehow worse.]

...So, maybe this is rude to say out of the blue, but... I've never met a nice monster before you.

[Muffet doesn't sound offended as she replies, thankfully, just politely understanding. She'd rather Yuka get any problems she has with the idea of a friendly monster out of the way in advance instead of letting any worries fester, honestly.]

Sadly, it seems a number of people I've met here come from worlds where 'monster' has much less pleasant connotations. To me and my people, it just means 'a magical person who isn't human', but it seems most think of creatures like that hydra when they hear it. I'm sorry if you've had to deal with that sort of thing before.

A lot of them are like that, yeah... there were others who could talk, but they weren't exactly people, either. More like all the bad parts of a person, gathered into a distorted reflection.

[A pang of slightly irrational guilt. You almost created one of those, remember, Yuka?]

My powers were given to me in order to defeat monsters, so I'm sorry if I seem like I'm on edge or anything. This place is really different from anything I'm used to.

That sounds... deeply disturbing, in all honesty. Are the people that happens to all right, afterwards?

[Hilariously enough, she could probably get a pretty good idea of what it's like just by crossing the river, but neither of them know that at the moment.]

I'd say it's entirely understandable for you to be stressed, dearie- even without your unfortunate past experience with monsters, being suddenly whisked away from your home into a strange and dangerous land would be upsetting for anyone all by itself. Besides, you were still willing to talk things out with me politely instead of jumping to conclusions, that counts for a fair bit.

December Intro: Don't Come Home for Christmas

Muffet, C4

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