September Intro: The Fields Are Painted Gold

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: SEPTEMBER

Who: New arrivals, and you!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: September 4th and onward
Where: Primarily Ensō, though Umui is also likely
Warnings: Mark as needed!

The Beach: And the Sun is Coming Through
When you arrive on the archipelago of LifeAftr, it is on the shores of Ensō - turquoise waves dragging through the pale sand of the beach. The breeze carries the tang of salt on the tropical sea spray. The sky overhead is a blue to rival the aquamarine surf. All told, the atmosphere is almost...pleasant. Not far from the cream-colored beach, the jungle beckons.

Above the treetops, however, something seems to be drifting overhead.

Bright spots of color drift on the wind like motes of dust. On further inspection, one might be able to discern what, exactly, is the cause of this lazily wafting, brilliantly colored confetti. They are flower petals, being funneled up into the sky. Petals of every color and shape imaginable, thickening the air with golden currents of pollen, being lifted from one specific point. They are streaming freely from the Storyteller's Temple, as it happens, though this may not be clear to the newly arrived. The Temple has at last begun to shed the floral trappings that have ensnared it since the end of last month, and the breeze carries this out across the ocean skyline.

There's no mistaking it: it is very beautiful. Unless you have allergies.

Inland: The Trees Are Filled With Memories
This influx of flowers on the breeze, aside from being a potential source of unpleasant reminders to those who died choking on said flowers last month, have had additional consequences. The creatures rescued from Ziziphus flourish in such pollen-rich environments, which has led to a fresh budding of their young. Baby mosslings crawl like lumps of lichen over the trunks of trees, and the loud peeping of arboreali chicks can be heard in the branches above. Most of these creatures are not tameable, but some, such as flowccus, can be kept as livestock.

Just take care, when venturing into Ensō's verdant jungle. If Ziziphus's prey animals have begun to spring forth, then its predators have begun to reproduce as well. Young spindlanks and rootwyrms are not nearly as vicious as their adult counterparts, but you may have a bit of trouble getting rid of them without killing them - you did, after all, bring them here to preserve them.

Most notable, however, are the fresh litters of tigerlilies that have begun swarming all over Ensō.


Tigerlilies can be tamed and kept as pets, though despite their fearsome appearance, they not terribly vicious. They subsist in much the same way any other plant would; off of water and sunlight, primarily, though they might also graze like an herbivore from time to time.

If you're interested in keeping one for your own, bear LifeAftr's companion limit in mind - two per character, and no more. The process of trying to tame a tigerlily is not always successful, either. We recommend use of a d10, with the following guidelines:

Rolling a 10: Critical success! This tigerlily will follow you to the ends of the earth.
Rolling 6-9: Taming and training this tigerlily will be like educating a stubborn housecat, but will be nonetheless successful.
Rolling 2-5: Failure. You get sprayed with soporific pollen, which will affect you for several hours.
Rolling a 1: Critical failure. Not only do you get sprayed with soporific pollen, but the tigerlily in question decides that you're their new cat toy. Tigerlilies are not carnivorous, but their teeth and fangs are still very sharp, and not highly pleasant to contend with.

Bear in mind that these are only guidelines; you are free to predetermine successes or failures as you'd like, presuming your character can sustain the companion! Our discord channel has a room for dice-rolls, if that's your speed.

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All new arrivals will awake with knapsacks, their names stitched to the front. The contents of said knapsacks can all be found in your acceptance notices!

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

[catpiper]

[The pocket food exchange and lowered weapon calm her down, making her far more willing to answer whatever questions Beau has. She's got her eye on that stick though, in case it comes back up and she needs to bust out of here, but it seems like that's a threat she doesn't need to worry about.]

This place is called Enso. It's an island and there are a lot of people who live here. So you'll find 'some people'-you won't be lonely. Everyone is very kind.

[It doesn't occur to Ren she might be looking for specific people. So hopefully she takes comfort in knowing there are just so many islanders ambling about.]

[lesbeau]

[Look, you should be way more worried about her hands, Ren. She's a martial artist first, and she is not above punching a child. (Please no one let her punch a child.)]

I mean, that's... good. Sure. But like, that's the entire world.

[There are lots of people everywhere. Non-hostile is good, but like, whatever.]

You seen, uh... little goblin girl? Ginger wizard, cowman with pink hair? Or a really buff goth girl, or somebody blue, or green or whatever? You know what, actually, what're just the weirdest people you've ever seen here. It's probably them.

[catpiper]

[Fucking punch her. Do it.

And oddly enough, those incredible descriptors bring some people to mind.]

Is ginger a spice? My uncle is a spicy wizard and-

[She knows A Goth, but that's probably not that ghost this lady's looking for. Princess Kaltenecker the cowlady doesn't have pink hair. Everyone is weird, honestly, in the best possible way and it takes her a moment to sort through her list of friends.]

Drifter is blue. They look like the sky-are you their friend?

[lesbeau]

[There's too many fuckin' DND podcasts on this island, you're gonna get her hopes up. She's trying to follow along as Ren goes, counting on her fingers as she tries to think.]

Does he have a cat? Kinda-- fuzzy face, really dirty, accent? And uh, no, her name's Jester. She's got horns?

[She holds her fingers up to her head like someone might mime a bull, as if that's any fucking description.]

[catpiper]

[Fortunately? Unfortunately? No fortune at all? Ren has a sixth sense for cats and she hasn't come across a fuzzy faced, dirty, accented cat owner. That's definitely not Taako. And Drifter has horns, in a sense, but they're not named Jester.

How tragic. She mimes the bull horns and then lets her hands fall back to her sides.]

Drifter is Drifter, not Jester. They're different.

[And as far as she knows, Drifter doesn't have a family they're waiting for. It's too bad. Jester could've potentially been their aunt.]

And Taako's a different ginger wizard. He doesn't have a cat or sideburns and he's very clean. He smells good all the time.

[Which is too bad for her. Sorry Beau, your friends are in another castle.]

I can help you look for them.

[lesbeau]

Damn.

[Alright, well, there goes that. She thought she might've been close. There's still a chance this Drifter knows something, though, so she notes that name down in her mind. Also Taako. Wizards may not exactly be her M.O., but they're at least kind of normal- or at least familiar. Maybe they'll have some answers.

She refocuses on the girl in front of her, crossing her arms.]

So who're you, then? Do you live here? 'Ss this all, you know, yours?

[catpiper]

I'm Ren and I live in the woods, but this place isn't mine. It's the Storyteller's. They're letting us stay here.

[Which is nice of them because the rest of the islands are apparently a nightmare and she hopes a time doesn't come where they all have to relocate. This one is comparatively mild, killer monkeys aside.]

Do you have a name?

[lesbeau]

[She will 100% want to hear the killer monkeys story, because that is her preferred type of party. The murder party.]

Beau.

[That's a simple answer at least.]

You live in the woods? The story woods? Is that what this place is? Are you like... a changeling or something?

[beau no]

[catpiper]

[What?? What??? What???? What even are all these words? She should probably call someone to deal with this. This got away from her pretty fast and she's not sure how to answer all that.]

I change my clothes sometimes.

[Does that make someone a changeling Beau??? Does it???]

I don't think this is the story woods-the trees don't have hearts, so they can't do things like that.

[Right? She takes a not so subtle glance at the nearest trunk, stares it down and then turns back to Beau with the knowledge she was right. No heart.]

Are you changeling? Do you like to wear different clothes?

[lesbeau]

[This is kind of the Beau Experience. You think you have a handle on things, and then you don't and neither does she. You Just Die. But seeing as what Ren said also makes no fucking sense, she just squints at her as she speaks.]

... Okay, uh. Sure. I mean, yeah, I wash my clothes.

[She isn't a hobo, unlike some people she knows.]

So do you have like, any other useful info? Like a way out of this place? Or who to talk to next?

[She should make some connections around here, if she's gonna be here long term.]

[catpiper]

[Does she? Maybe. What she considers useful isn't typically what other people consider vital, but Beau did give her a preason, so she's gonna try.]

You can't leave this place and you can talk to the Storyteller. They're the nice god in the temple over there-[The vaguest hand gesture in x direction] They look like an animal, but they talk like a person. They have a good heart and know a lot of things.

[Give them a little pet, Beau. Please don't spook them.

And as an afterthought, she fiddles with the strip of bacon in her pocket, cutting in half-]

You should give them this when you say 'hello'-they might like it.

[lesbeau]

[She makes a mental note of that. Temple to a god, probably not the actual god, that's not how gods work. Likes food as tribute. Cool, cool, she can work with that.]

Uh, don't worry about it, I'll figure something out.

[Just keep the pocket bacon, kid, it's the peace offering now.]

Okay, last question. You know where I can get a drink around here?

[Beau, please, she's a teenager.]

[catpiper]

Yes!

[Her voice perks up, like an all knowing sage about to offer some dank wisdom.]

There's water over there.

[And she points in the general direction of freshwater, which is clearly what Beau was asking about. It's fine.]

Sometimes Guzma has hot chocolate and the Storyteller gave us cider once and the Jormun bring spicy ones sometimes. I think Denny has drinks too.

[The point is, she won't be thirsty for long.]

[lesbeau]

[Man, why is this kid so weird. She's not gonna just stick her head in a spring. Okay, maybe she has been known to do that in the past, but it's easier to just stuff your head under a spout in town, so.]

Uhh, cool. Who's Denny and what do they have? I'm not a chocolate or cider kinda person.

[GIVE HER LIQUOR]