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

[shineinside]

Sorry, Chara, the moment it bites a child's arm is as far as she's willing to give this monster the benefit of doubt. It's not going to listen.

Hearing Chara's cry of pain, Yuka solidifies her stance and simply starts unleashing an avalanche of blows with her fists, each one aimed at a different head. Punches to the jaw, the nose, the eyes - none of it is going to kill it, but it should hopefully be painful enough to convince it to seek out prey elsewhere.

Are they okay? Was that bite poisonous? Questions she'll have time for once the hydra leaves.

[achievementhunter]

It's a hard limit, but one Chara can accept. Particularly when it's their arm that currently has two rather large tears in it- gashes that have been made all the worse by said child wrenching away, forcing the wounds to become wider.

A knife might make the hydra shy away- but the punches are almost bewildering. It rears back with blow after blow, sounds becoming increasingly more threatening as it attempts to strike at her with a head not currently being accosted. As she takes it's attention, Chara attempts to steal behind it, blade still gripped firmly in their uninjured hand.

They'll fix that later- for now, if they can get behind it, they should be capable of taking it out for good.

[shineinside]

Superpowers or no, keeping a hydra at bay with your bare hands is no easy feat, and she's struggling. As Chara moves into position, Yuka falters, stepping backwards once or twice before a sudden surge of aggression from the monster knocks her completely off balance. She lands flat on her back, surrounded by half a dozen looming pairs of jaws.

If Chara's going to do something, now would be a good time.

Sorry for the wait! Christmas kicked my ass

[achievementhunter]

Now is definitely the best time. It may have multiple heads, but it only has one body-- and that is precisely what Chara goes for, before the creature has time to react to them both. Bodily throwing themself across it's back so they can sink their blade into its spine.

There's not much that can withstand having its spine severed, they've found. And the sand hydra rears up in clear indication of how accurate that statement is, thrashing about as the child holds on for dear life.

[shineinside]

Once she's no longer in immediate life-or-death peril, Yuka has time to be impressed with the speed with which Chara switched from diplomacy to execution. Impressed, and a little unnerved, but hey, she's alive.

Eventually, the thrashing stops, and a bruised but intact Yuka pushes aside a couple giant necks to get shakily back to her feet. "Sorry, I was hoping you'd be able to get through to it somehow... are you okay?"

[achievementhunter]

Slowly, they sit up- it's a miracle, they think, that they weren't trapped beneath the beast's body when it stilled. Pushing to their feet with one arm, they make an awkward attempt to look over the puncture wounds of the other, tears in their shirt surrounded by circular patches of blood.

"I will be in a moment. Would you mind collecting my pack? It's over there."

So they can have her eyes off them for a second or two.

[shineinside]

"Your pack? Sure, one moment."

She was about to suggest healing them, but maybe there was something in the pack they needed. Unaware of any impending strangeness, she turned aside to retrieve the pack.

[achievementhunter]

In the time between her retrieving the pack and turning around, Chara looks- neater. Skin less dusty, hair neat- it's their apparently injured arm that reaches out, taking the pack with ease and securing one of the straps over the unsightly bloodstains.

"I thank you. Might I suggest making our way towards the nearest encampment, before we are assaulted further."