lifeaftr | January Intro: I Know the Winter's Getting Colder

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.

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

A

[It's probably good that even in a fleshy body again that Lydia doesn't... weigh all that much, given elves are pretty lithe and ridiculous things. She's squeaking as she starts as her skin (skin, why is there actual skin) feels like it's going to completely be attached to the ice in front of her. Which is only when she idly realizes that something is... off. Unable to change to a more floaty form she's accustomed to and that she's absolutely freezing as this awful torn black cloak and basically rags and tattered leather shoes aren't doing a damn thing to help her.

Gingerly she's grabbing the knapsack nearest her with her name on it and darting to land, managing to just barely get to land before the ice totally cracks. Which merely ends in her dropping to her knees to take deep breaths and maybe warm her lungs up. This sucks, it really, really sucks and just ignore the harsh coughing as trying to catch your breath in the cold isn't... generally a good idea.]

B

[Same verse same as the first, except things are going a little worse for her as when she's getting close to land the ice is cracking away beneath her and she's finding out that that water is freezing and is managing to keep her head above the water by clinging to a sturdier piece of ice.

Whatever she's yelling for help in is not English or common, but something of a more archaic elven. Either way, it should be loud enough to get some sort of attention, right?]

[ Yeah the knight understands exactly nothing of what Lydia's saying, but it's not like they've never met anyone who they couldn't understand!

What is immediately more obvious is that she needs help, and the Knight assesses the situation. Trying to pull her out is a little beyond their capabilities, even with their strength; besides, thrashing might just crack the ice more, and send her into the water again.

So instead they shed their pack, and jump into the water without fear. They can swim in acid and are temperature resistant, at least to cold. ~~Heat is another matter.~~

Lydia will find that her little island is being shoved around; the knight kicks quite handily, occasionally sweeping their sword to break away ice that's too fragile for their discerning eye (?) until the chunk of ice meets more, solid ice that she can scrabble onto.

They hold it in place and gesture. They can steady it while she moves.

...They don't seem to be bothered by how cold it is. ]

[Wait, what the hell is she looking at? She's blinking slowly at this odd person... creature? She's not entirely sure but when they just jump into the water she's pretty sure this is the time she's going to end up dying, until that ice is... moving... and getting to solid ice.

There's no need to tell her twice as she scrambles onto the more solid ice and is catching her breath before remembering where she is and is being far more careful until she reaches solid, dry land to where she can just plop down to sit and rummage around in that bag to pull out... oh, she has a blanket.

That's immediately wrapping around her as she shivers and keeps an eye on the Knight.]

Th... thanks. [Oh, common again, at least that makes more sense than continuing in her real native tongue.]

[ They climb out of the water, shaking themselves off slowly, pulling their pack back onto their back again. Though they don't feel cold in the exact same way, it still dulls their reaction time quite a bit. They walk slowly to solid ground, so they can put their pack down safely again.

They fluff their cloak out, pat at their face, apparently work some life, such as it is, back into their small limbs. Then they look up, curiously, at Lydia when she speaks (even sitting down, she's much taller than they are).

They pat her hand, gently. Apparently they're trying to say that it's fine now, or at least more fine than it could be. There's no real universal way to say "are you okay" without a mouth. ]

[So he, she, they, whatever, she's not sure on what to use here, can't speak. Right, that makes things a little more awkward than she'd rather them to be. But body language at least is pretty universal in most places and she's keeping her attention focused even while this blanket isn't really doing much to keep her warm, more to soak up the water soaking her lower body really.

But she has at least some idea about what that hand pat means and is managing a small bit of a smile, without the normal snark and sarcasm it normally contains.]

Is there anywhere around here that has some kind of shelter than you know of, by chance...? The cold bites to bone. [That's weird to say, too, she hasn't been cold in over a millenia at this point.]

[ The knight nods again. They've learned to navigate around their own lack of voice to give active directions, at least, and they gently tug on Lydia's sleeve, such as it is.

Then they point towards the island, and look at her. They can lead her there, if she wants. She needs it, it seems. ]

[Really, she honestly appreciates someone that doesn't talk at this point, so there's that little bit of knowledge. But as her sleeve is tugged she's turning her attention towards where they're pointing before nodding slowly. Ah, that would make sense.]

Lead the way then, just... let me get back on my feet. [Since she's pretty sure she can walk again now that blood seems to be getting back to her legs. It's a little hard but she's managing to push herself back up to standing. Good, that works.]

[ Not too far away, a few feet from when she ran ashore, this human man is staring up from the bottom of a cliff, mind mostly occupied by trying to figure out what the fuuu-uuuhk is going on.

But, at some point, the sound cracking ice and yelping catches his attention, and he turns just in time to see a cloaked figure kneeling in the sand.

Maybe they'll have answers, maybe they need some help. Either way, he watches them for a moment, before cupping his hands by his mouth.]

Heeeeey!

Y'alright?!

[A little too busy coughing and trying to catch her breath and not die in this place to recognize that voice, at least.

She's managing to pull herself together at least a little bit before finding her voice, oops.]

DOES IT LOOK LIKE I'M ALRIGHT? [She's calling back, not really managing to get rid of the major irritation and confusion of all of this out of her voice, but whether or not that voice is familiar to Magnus is up to him, really, she's not trying to hide it.]

Jesus.

[ Right now, it's not, because it's not really a logical step for him. Not that he's known to take many, but seeing an already double dead person coming back to life right now would be a little too weird to consider!

He cups his hands around his mouth again.]

You need some help?!

[ Seriously, Magnus, just walk over there. ]

January Intro: I Know the Winter's Getting Colder

After a million years...

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MANGO PLS

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