lifeaftr | September Intro: Knowledge is Hot Water on Wool

INTRO LOG: SEPTEMBER

Who: Everyone!
What: The Storyteller makes use of their first offering, and new souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: September 2nd
Where: Ensō...and surrounding lands
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Part I: New Arrivals
You probably didn’t last fall asleep on the warm spit of white sand that you find yourself, but nonetheless, that is where you awaken. There’s the hush of waves lapping up against the edges of the beach and the soft chill of a coastal breeze stirring at your surroundings, but the place is, all things considered, quite peaceful. The sun is merciless as it reflects across the glittering spread of seawater that surrounds you on three sides.

Three sides.

You’re on an island, if a rather small one. It can’t be much more than a mile across at the height of its length, and what’s more, it’s dotted with small, straggling outcrops of stone buildings that look as though they may have once been used for shelter of some sort or another, now weather beaten and wind-blasted. If you peer into the distance, it will rapidly become clear that you are on one small islet of a grouping of five. Battered bridges of wood-and-rope swing precariously between each one, joining them in a rough circle.

What’s more is that you aren't alone. You'll find that you have one or two companions waking on the islet alongside you, and each will discover a knapsack with their name stitched to the front, containing a paltry number of items, along with any rewards you may have accrued. There's probably a way off these islets, and a means of accessing the shadowy lump of a mainland that rears up in the distance, maybe two miles across the stretch of sea...but what is it?

We do recommend treading carefully, and not simply embarking on a poorly-advised mission to swim all the way there. A school of tiger-sharks have begun to stir up the waters surrounding the islets, hungry for fresh meat. They are at least edible - if you can succeed in taking one down, that is. If you do not, don’t worry: at least you have shelter. Very dilapidated, ruined, half-crumbled shelter that will hardly serve as protection against wind and rain, but surely that's better than no shelter at 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.

Part II: Old Souls
A floral, faintly bitter tang rings about the air of the ruined temple this morning. As you rise, you may find a familiar scene: a rabbit with snow-white fur, crouched nearby a dilapidated pillar, thumping their foot impatiently. They look to you, or perhaps they are addressing the room as a whole when they say:

"Ah. Finally. First, I must thank you for fulfilling your end of our transaction - your stories have done their job. Thus, it is time for me to fulfill mine. I've arranged something for you all. I’m aware that in many worlds there is a poor association with following white rabbits, so perhaps you would find the flowered path more enticing." The Storyteller shifts their gray tome from one paw to the other, giving a great leap across the fallen pillar. "Now, what I am about to grant you…there are procedures, of course. You must follow the instructions to begin with. And then, well - you need a place to go. You needn’t even need a name, specifically. The power will know. Simply be sure to tell it."

The rabbit sniffs and flicks an ear. "Just remember what I ask: no bathing, please. For all's sake."

And then they bound off into the darkness, disappearing just before the shadows engulf them wholly.

Indeed, where the dust-trodden ground gives way to grass, a sparse growth of white flowers have blossomed, winding wildly through the growth and leading around the temple’s exterior.

Those who find fit to follow the Storyteller's suggestion will find, first, that the path of flowers leads them to an outcropping of stone that overlooks the great cove formed by Ensō’s landmass. In the distance, just short of the ocean’s horizon, a white scatter of islets sit in the blue-jade waters. Those certainly hadn’t been there before, had they? Intrepid explorers, be patient: the path of flowers doesn't end here. In fact, it veers off cleanly in the direction of the mana pool behind the Storyteller's ruins.

Upon arriving at the pool, characters will find that the narcissus flowers have bloomed in full and prolific splendor around its edges, filling the humid air with a thick scent of bitter hay and honey. Upon a great slab of stone rising from the edge of the pool, a strange limerick seems to have been engraved:

A flower once loved above all,
The hubris of his mirror-thrall.
Were he water-lily!
Yet fate wet and pithy,
Narcissus, what a fate to befall.
No other instructions appear to have been left other than this cryptic rhyme. Should characters solve this riddle, however, they will find themselves engulfed in a flash of blinding white light, given the briefest sensation of falling…

Followed by the familiar vision of Ensō looming in the distance. Quite far out, in fact. Their surroundings have dramatically shifted from a lush jungle to an almost barren island, surrounded on its sides by four nearly identical islets. It would appear that any characters who use the mana pool have been randomly transported to one of the five islets appeared overnight. Other than a nearly identical mana pool lapping at their feet, it would seem that - aside from weather-worn, dilapidated shacks and shelters - these islands don’t have much on them at all.

Except, perhaps, new faces.

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

[Well, that's always a nice quality in something you were sharing an island with.]

Floating as in flying, or floating on the surface of the lake?

hovering

[Much in the same way their companion hovers.]

did not disturb
no trouble

Well, I'm certainly willing to avoid troubling anything that doesn't trouble me.

What did it look like- you know, size and color and so on.

small
ball shaped
multicolored - red, blue, green, white

Hm, another unfamiliar thing to me, then. Sounds a bit like some kind of living balloon, if it didn't have any wings...

looked like fire
but

alive
?

[Fire, but not.]

We have fire elementals at home, but I'm... relatively certain none of them arrived with us here.

[Grillby is probably not floating above a lake. ...Right?]

uncertain
will investigate further

[They'll put it on their docket. It pays to know more about the fellow inhabitants of the land upon which you've found yourself.]

I'll keep an eye or two out for it, myself. Please feel free to let me know if you find anything- I will, of course, do the same.

ok

[An even exchange. That's easy and fair enough.]

[They sit back, most of the meat successfully trimmed into easily portable strips.]

[Ah, her diabolical plot to spend time with them and talk about their day is working. Success.]

[Muffet picks up the bag of sea salt and hands it over to the Drifter, so they can use it on the meat.]

[And thus they encounter the first flaw in the plan: the Drifter has no idea how to salt meat. Presumably they just sprinkle it all over the mess of it?]

[That's precisely what they're going to do, without asking for clarification. Just. All at once.]

[Luckily, Muffet isn't too concerned about wasting the sea salt- the ocean's right there, she hasn't had any trouble getting more of it.]

It helps to rub the salt into the meat a bit, so it stays. Then you hang it up to dry.

[Ah. That...yes. That makes sense.]

[The Drifter stoops to do precisely that, rubbing at each strip in turn, coating it as thoroughly as possible, and then...not having anywhere to hang it up to dry. Whoops.]

[Time to assemble a drying rack?]

[Their hesitation is oddly adorable. Muffet stands up and looks around thoughtfully.]

There's a tree branch over there that looks like a good place to put the meat, I think.

[Tree branch it is! They drape each slice over the branch after brushing it free of stray bark, leaves, and twigs, and then stand back to admire their handiwork.]

[First time for everything. But all things considered, it didn't go so terribly.]

how long

Hm, I'm not actually sure how long it would take for shark, I know it took about eight or nine days for chicken.

I'd recommend finding some broad leaves to cover it with so nothing tries to steal it. We can check back each day to see how it's doing.

[That's fair. They'll set out to do exactly that without much of a word in response. They're...driven, to say in the least, to the point that social exchanges rather take a secondary priority.]

[Time to find some leaves!]

[Luckily, Muffet understands persistence. She just smiles, and starts looking around for some sufficiently large leaves. Slightly smaller ones might work, too, if they tie them together...]

[With that handiwork complete, the Drifter stands back to survey it, albeit briefly.]

[Complete.]

will return

[For now, they're overdue to check on a number of people.]

[Muffet nods politely, and gives them a brief, fond look as she turns to leave.]

And I'm sure we've both got plenty of things to get done in the meantime. Until then, dearie.

September Intro: Knowledge is Hot Water on Wool

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I just Googled this because it seemed like the kind of thing Muffet would know.

FAIR

Re: FAIR

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