December Intro: Don't Come Home for Christmas

[lifeaftr_mods]

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.

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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.

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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!

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[greatcleavage]

"I've been adding to mine." With a slight smile, Roy tugged out a fairly unappealing chunk of walking cactus flesh, which he offered over to her. "Here. Not tasty, but nutrition and hydration both."

[shineinside]

Yuka perks up at the sight of it, eagerly taking it. Fighting monsters in the desert is busy work.

"Oh, thanks! Where did you get this?"

[greatcleavage]

"They're another kind of monster lurking around here. Walking cactus, is the best term we have for them. Exactly what they sound like,. They tend to be aggressive, so the ones I've had to put down, I've collected." Hoping all the while he wasn't committing some sort of genocide. Ideally they could find a way to just avoid the monsters.

[shineinside]

Oh right, he mentioned something about walking cacti earlier. Sounds like a pain to fight, especially as a fist-fighter.

Eurgh, it tastes about as appetizing as it looks.

"Is monster hunting something you do for a living? You seem pretty comfortable with it, and I'm not sure what else you'd need a sword that big for."

[greatcleavage]

"I'm an adventurer, so while it's not technically my profession, it's an integral part thereof." He left his knapsack open, just in case he needed to supply more to her. Plenty to offer. "Unfortunately, the sword is not reserved purely for monsters. There's more evil in the humanoid races than I particularly like, too."

[shineinside]

That's troubling for Yuka to hear, being from a more upbeat genre than Roy. She's never hard to kill a living person, and isn't sure she could if she had to. Hopefully it won't come to that here, but it's a sobering thought.

"...I'm sorry for barging in on your fight unexpectedly earlier. I'm Yuka, thanks for the food and the answers."

[greatcleavage]

"It's fine, no harm was done, and your help came in very handy. I probably would have gotten bitten a few times trying to take it down alone." Those bites wouldn't have amounted to much for him, in all fairness, but he really didn't mind skipping them. "I'm Roy Greenhilt. Happy to be of help, really... this place is something of a mess."

[shineinside]

"I've actually never seen someone respond that strongly to my enhancement, I was really surprised. I wonder if it varies based on some factors I don't know about..."

She's only ever had two people to use it on before today, after all.

[greatcleavage]

"If I had to guess, it was bolstering strength multiplicatively rather than additively. And I happen to not only be particularly strong, but I have a belt which enhance my strength further." Roy hooked a thumb into said belt to draw it to her attention.

[shineinside]

Ooh, a magic item. Yuka resists the urge to get a closer look, because staring at a guy's belt while he's still wearing it would be potentially awkward for everyone involved. Roy's world sounds pretty crazy

"Where did you get something like that? It sounds really useful, especially for someone who has to fight huge monsters." She kinds of wants to try it on, but voicing the thought seems rude.

[greatcleavage]

"It's a bit of a story, but we rescued some people from slavery and they offered that as a reward." It quite glossed over the details, but loot-for-victory was an established part of the adventuring lifestyle.

[shineinside]

"Really? That's amazing! It's like you're some kind of hero of justice!" Forget the dark bits earlier in the thread. You're cool in her book, Roy.

[greatcleavage]

"Well, I try." Roy met her compliment with a smile, wondering if he deserved it. "But I'm also in an environment where it's necessary. Here, for example, there's very little of that sort of thing needed."

[shineinside]

Hmm, that's interesting. She folds her arms, looking thoughtful. "Is it because everything else is so dangerous? I imagine with so many other dangers to worry about, people would rather work together than hurt each other."

Hey, she has her occasional optimistic moments.

[greatcleavage]

"While I can't say that's universally the case," Roy said, less than pleased that so many people put themselves first, "I can certainly say that no one is committing acts of evil or other deeds that would require a forcible physical intervention. And generally, there have been few hostile creatures outside of Monsun here..."

[shineinside]

Huh. "Well, that's good to hear. After waking up to this, I was expecting everywhere else to be about the same in terms of being hard to live in."

[greatcleavage]

"The island we mostly inhabit is much nicer than this area. I wouldn't say perfect, but we have some comfort in where we live." By no means ideal, but -- who wanted perfect?

[shineinside]

"And that's why we need to find a mana pool, so that we can get back there."

...A thought. "Hang on, if there's no mana pool you know about, and you're from the other island, how did you get here in the first place?"

[greatcleavage]

"That would be the Storyteller's doing. They possess numerous abilities, and transport apparently is one of them." Roy did very best to keep both his voice and expression utterly neutral.

[shineinside]

"Did they tell you why they did it?" She suspects she already knows the answer.

[greatcleavage]

"'There is a new chapter to begin on stranger shores'," Roy said in imitation of the Storyteller's tones. Having been on the western side of the island for quite a while, Roy put no bitterness, anger, cynicism, or any further uncharitable inflection on his paraphrasing.

[shineinside]

"In other words, 'something fun is about to happen, you're on your own'. I wonder if there really is a reason for all this, or if it's just whimsical chaos." Yuka's best traits focused in other directions, so she wasn't going to be shy about being a bit cynical.

[greatcleavage]

"The Storyteller has some level of investment in stories -- that isn't just a name. That appears to be their prime concern. At the very least, sending us here will result in us having more stories to tell, which apparently benefit them so significantly that they will transactionally repay us for telling them." Which was no sign of benevolence or kindness, to be sure.

[shineinside]

"...Is that why we were chosen, too? Because they're looking for people who have lived interesting enough lives to make for good stories?" They both seem to fit that bill.

[greatcleavage]

"I don't know the answer to that. Reading between the lines, the Storyteller has strongly implied we all have our stories back home... but legitimately speaking, doesn't everyone have a story?" He can attest to his own importance, without bragging, but that didn't necessarily apply to everyone.