January Intro: I Know the Winter's Getting Colder

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: JANUARY

Who: Everyone!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: January 5th and onward
Where: Chol and surrounding waters
Warnings: Mark as needed!

The Overview: New Lands
New arrivals will not be waking in the typical hub of activity; instead, they will find themselves coming to on the small island of Chol. While the island's fringes are little more than an unforgiving spread of craggy, canyon-like rock and coastal cliffs, the island dips down to form a fertile divot of edenic woodland in its center. The people living there will even be helpful and polite to you, should you inquire after them.

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!

Icebreaker: This is the Winter of Our Youth
Unless you're someone with a fondness for the cold, you'll undoubtedly be waking with more than a slight chill in your bones. The appearance of the island of Chol has signaled a coming event of great import in LifeAftr, and unfortunately, the signs of that event's approach have already been set in motion. The temperature has begun to drop as the sun's rays begin to die, faster and faster, leading to an impressive cold snap in the ocean waters - particularly those surrounding Chol.

It is for that reason that you won't be waking on Chol, per se. Instead, you'll be waking on a thick crust of ice that's mantled itself over the ocean waters, freezing solid enough to bear your weight...for the most part. The ice won't hold forever; it isn't meant to. If you happen to be particularly vivacious in your waking, or especially active in general, thick cracks will start to spiderweb out from underneath those impacts with low, warning chunks and wrenches of fracturing ice. Better hurry to land soon, unless you care to take a little dip into those freezing cold ocean waters.

Mainland: When We Pick Over the Past
Should you make it to the land of Chol, braving the iced-over waters surrounding its craggy shores, you'll encounter something at least as startling - the people who have elected to set up a rudimentary encampment upon its lands. While a bit on the scalier side, the Jormun are nonetheless allied to you land-dwellers, and will welcome you to the island. Most will be preoccupied with preparations for an approaching siege, but many will comment idly that the cold is a sign of the coming battle. Some may point you to their leader, known to most as Munin, but others will venture hospitality based on the actions of those land-dwellers that came before you, who were successful in allying themselves to this sea-dwelling people.

Those who might have braved the cold a little too fiercely will quickly be offered some rather rough blankets - perhaps more on par with burlap sacks in terms of texture - as well as a hot brew that the Jormun call brrkshavak. Heated to a boil just prior to being served, the drink will be more than adequate in warming your weary bones, though it bodes mentioning that it is both scalding hot and made with a fleshy kind of undersea herb that is akin to crushed chili pepper in taste.

It'll warm you up, all right.

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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

C

[quietknight]

Sonje sat next to Isette, focused on tying her armor up into a neat bundle. It was too cold to cover yourself with metal if you didn't absolutely have to. Her rather more substantial bulk did an excellent job at adding to Isette's windbreak.

"What's in the canister?"

[budgetmage]

"Sonje. Thanks the Stars, you are here." She lets a smile slip onto her face. "I had a dream that may have been more, and you were there as well, but..."

She trails off for a moment. "Ah. Well, not important. Anyway, it's salt." She shakes the canister a little.

[quietknight]

"Well, you paid me to guard you. You're stuck with me until the pay runs out."

She pulled a string tight on the armor bundle. "Any idea where we ARE? It almost looks like Ai'dan, except for all the snow and ice."

[budgetmage]

"There's nothing here but snow and ice."

[quietknight]

"There's rocks. Lots of rocky coastline in Ai'dan."

Sonje made one last adjustment to the armor bundle, then nodded, satisfied, and started adding the stuff from her new knapsack to Isette's array. If they were going to get out of this, they needed to pool their resources. Some jerky. A hammer. A first aid kit. A bottle similar to Isette's. A blanket, though that was already wrapped around her shoulders.

"Well, SOMEONE wants us to not immediately die, at least."

1/2

[budgetmage]

"It's... probably that stupid dream rabbit." You know, the... what? Storyteller? Isette should probably have written down that dream, it was obviously one of those prophetic Divine-inspired ones.

[budgetmage]

Moving on, Isette glances over the assembled gear. "Ah, we should probably switch tools. I know some carpentry, and you're probably better with a hatchet than I am."

Her eyes follow along, and then her eyes lock on to that bright orange first aid kit. Her eyes light up (metaphorically.) "Wait, what's that? I've seen that symbol before, in some ruins near Khia. Three lines intersecting, and a snake wrapped around a staff. That looks brand new though."

[quietknight]

Hatchet <-> Hammer. Trade complete.

Sonje peered at the little bag. "I dunno. It feels like it's got some stuff in it, but I can't figure out how to get in it. It doesn't look like something you're supposed to rip it open."

What is a zipper?

[budgetmage]

Annoying smug face, activate. "I can open it." Silly Sonje. She grabs at the bag, then grips the zipper....

ZIP.

Look at how easily Isette moved, how easily she got it open. Are you impressed yet? Do you see the power of academics!?!

[quietknight]

Wow Isette! So cool! And here she thought all your academic study of the long dead was completely worthless! Sonje resisted the urge to applaud.

"...What's in it?"

[budgetmage]

"It looks like..." Isette peruses the contents of the bag. Bandages... pills of some sort... small towels... "A medical kit."

She shoves the bag into Sonje's face, gesturing at the logo. "Also, that's what this text says. I think."

[quietknight]

She blinked as the bag was shoved into her face, and tried to focus on the letters. They were in English, which she couldn't make heads or tails of, so she pushed it back a bit. "If you say so. You haven't seen Sawyer or Iris since we landed, have you? Or the Princess, for that matter?"

You should keep track of princesses.

[budgetmage]

"Not the cat, either. That's why I was glad to see you here." She pauses for a minute. Sawyer was in that weird dream, though, in the forest... but that's not important.

"We'll be fine, though, if we stick together. And they'll be fine if they're not here." I mean let's be honest, they have Iris and that's all they really need.

[quietknight]

Sonje nodded in agreement. Yup, Iris should keep them all safe enough.

Their inventory complete, Sonje started packing all her stuff back up, reclaiming the first aid kit. "We should probably head inland. See if we can find more supplies or more people."

[budgetmage]

Isette still wanted to properly catalog what they received... but concedes that heading to a better location might be best first. She had them sorted out mentally at least, and that would have to do. For now.

She began to pack up as well. She's done this enough that her packing is quick and methodical. Within half a minute, everything is packed back up and slung over a shoulder, her own pack now tied off to the one she received here. "Lead the way."

[quietknight]

Sonje led the way.