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

If you're one of those people that, like, feels bad unless things are even? [He had so many clams.] I'm just trying this new thing where I contribute to society - oh, but I kinda want the basket back when you're done.

[They take him a while to make and that's the one he usually uses to keep his lunch in when he's exploring. He can make another one, but he'd rather not if he doesn't have to.]

I'm pretty easy to track down - if I'm not here, I'm probably at the monkey compound.

Well, on behalf of society, we appreciate the contribution. I'll make sure to return the basket once I've put these to good use.

[Honestly, he's probably going to be getting that basket back with some coconut cookies in it. Partially because she does like things to be even, but also because much like him and clams she has so much coconut.]

[At the mention of the monkey compound, though, she brightens further.]

Oh, do you live there?

Yeah. The one with the sign - don't come through the front, if you're gonna stop by. If you try to walk straight up to the ladder, you'll fall into the pit.

[He says that like it's not a big deal that there's a pit in front of his house. People rarely come visit him, it's not his responsibility to make sure they know the threat on his sign is real.]

It's easier to climb up and around from the back, but you can take a running jump at the ladder if you're that kind of person.

[Honestly, that's kind of nostalgic- it reminds her of monsters back home, setting up puzzles. "Ancient fusions between diversions and doorkeys", wasn't that how it went?]

Noted- though I think I'll just avoid that ladder entirely, for safety's sake.

[She is a spider, after all, they're pretty decent at climbing.]

I ask because I've been meaning to store some extra supplies in a few places, in case we need a backup at some point in this whole upcoming mess, and that was one of the locations I was considering, given that there's already a working mana pool there.

Oh, if you wanna keep some of it in my house, it's - I'm pretty sure it's supposed to house an entire family? But I live by myself, so you can just leave it in one of the other rooms.

[He's not really planning on being there, but he didn't dig a stake pit for no reason.]

I might not be there the entire time, but I don't think anyone lives in the other ones.

[Muffet briefly debates with herself whether it would be more or less of a safety hazard to pick a treehouse that didn't have a pit trap in front of it.]

I would appreciate it, thank you. To be entirely honest, I'm just glad to hear that someone might be there at all- I had some concerns about things sneaking through that mana pool without any of us noticing...

They can do that? [He has not been totally caught up on what happened before he arrived, whoops.] In that case, definitely leave it in my house - the problem with the treehouses is that there isn't a good way to make them defensible because you can't pull the ladder up when you leave. It's why I have a stake pit.

[He did consider asking the Storyteller for a rope ladder instead, but it seemed more sensible to save his favors for other things and just dig a pit.]

I'll try to stay in the general area, keep an eye on it.

[Muffet explains, expression grim:]

Some rather unpleasant ape-like creatures managed to come through and attack the islets, quite a while ago. I'm not certain if these things we're preparing for can do the same, but I've no desire to take the risk.

[At his volunteering, she smiles warmly. He's officially going to get something really nice in that basket when she returns it to him. Maybe blackberry pastry.]

It would be a great deal of help. ...Though it occurs to me I ought to ask your name before I ask you for favors. My name is Muffet, by the way.

Oh. I'm Connor. [He holds out a hand, a little awkwardly. Do spiders shake hands? God, he's gonna feel really stupid if they don't.] Nice to meet you, Muffet.

[He really, really wants to ask if that makes her "Little Miss Muffet," but 1) that's almost 100% rude and 2) he would bet himself ten bucks she didn't get the reference if it wasn't rude.]

[She's definitely heard that joke before. How a perfectly respectable old family name for spider monsters wound up in a human children's rhyme, she honestly has no idea.]

Likewise. [Luckily, it seems that spider monsters do, in fact, shake hands.]

Meeting lots of interesting new people seems to be one of the benefits of this place- it just would have been nice to have had a choice in the matter.

January Intro: I Know the Winter's Getting Colder

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