October Intro: I Think We Should Run

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: OCTOBER

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

Nuidan: Checking that the Coast is Clear
This time around, newest arrivals to the archipelago of LifeAftr will open their eyes to the skies overlooking the relatively recent island of Nuidan. Namely, they'll be waking in the northern quadrant of said island, the region perpetually locked in the season of spring. This means rich fields of gold and green and buff-colored grass and skies swollen with unshed rainclouds. The scent of turned soil and petrichor mingles with the faint, earthy scent of manure.

It's not an unpleasant way to wake. There are doubtless worse places to rouse yourself. But the cloud of dust clotting up the horizon soon suggests that there might be a bit more to the circumstances of your arrival than some nice weather.

And, unfortunately, that's exactly the case. There's a herd of something charging directly for you, and nothing short of a natural disaster is going to sway them from their course. A thick-packed herd of scaly aptonoth have been spooked, startled, or otherwise galvanized into a panicked stampede across the northern reaches of Nuidan.

Quadrupedal, herbivorous, and scaly, aptonoths resemble dinosaurs in appearance more than they do so in their generally placid nature. They are far more akin to cows in temperament, even if their skin is a good deal more leathery. Even the broad spikes at the ends of their tail or the heavy horns atop their heads aren't terribly dangerous unless the entire herd feels threatened. While aptonoths are typically easily tamed, in this case they are far from amenable to conceding to anyone's interference.

It's probably best to try and get out of their way. Fast.

Ensō: 'Cause They're Already Ghosts
Things are quieter on LifeAftr's mainland. They might seem a little...eerily so, in fact. Today officially marks the day that the Storyteller makes their departure, and seeks out new islands for you intrepid explorers to uncover. The difference that their absence creates is small, at first, and most prominently felt on Ensō itself.

The temple is the most obvious thing. It simply looks...defeated and empty, as hollow and unoccupied as it currently is. That aura of proud mystery is absent, though the Chamber of Glyphs at least remains as it was. But anyone who comes looking for the Storyteller themself at this time will find no one waiting for them. No flower-touched animal, no old, dusty tome. You're currently on your own.

Or...maybe not? The Storyteller was courteous enough to issue a warning last month about the nature of the dream-island of Mu. The effects of that island will start to make themselves evident in small, simple ways: namely, in the way you're going to start seeing things.

Nothing serious, of course. Just...flickers of movement in the corners of your vision. Something about your surroundings just being so slightly off. The color of that rock - it's always been that way, hasn't it? Or was it only always that way five minutes ago? While these blips and hitches in reality are decidedly non-specific, they can be unsettling for those who can't adjust for a bit of strangeness.

The source of these odd quirks in the fabric of reality is easily explained by the presence of clockroaches, one of Mu's wily dream-creatures. You'd be hard-pressed to catch a glimpse of any of them directly; they specialize in the ethereal and the ephemeral, and seldom reveal themselves to anyone if they can help it. But you might, if you're very attentive or very lucky, see some indistinct, silver-misted blur disappearing behind the trunk of a tree in a blink-swift ghost of motion.

But they are, in essence, harmless. At least...for the moment.

As of October 4th, the Storyteller will be unavailable for both IC Contact threads and Item Requests. If you need anything vital backdated, just let us know!

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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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( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[devilstongue]

I'll build me a house of twigs, I guess.

[ This is horrible and he really needs that drink. ]

Your armor is impressive, by the way. Is it heavy?

[uptightness]

Or you can find one of the vacant ones.

[But hey, if he wants to live in a house of twigs...]

It's not from here.

[So don't expect to find it anywhere but on the three Freelancers who are here. As to heavy... It is relative. She's had armor for years. It's more like a second skin to her at this point.]

You get used to it.

[devilstongue]

[ Molly skips over the house question to bother her about the armor instead. ]

More of a leather armor person myself. I like being flexible.

[ He pats the scimitars at his side that he had pointed at her earlier - one gold and one silver. Overly decorated and silly things, barely weapons and more like props. ]

Is that a weapon you're holding? I don't think I've seen anything like that in my life.

[uptightness]

It's flexible.

[Carolina has never had any issues, and considering the weapons that she has had to deal with in the past, leather wouldn't cut it. Guns, missiles, bombs... They'd slice right through leather like a knife in warm butter.]

A pistol. A gun.

[Which might not be familiar to him, if he doesn't know the general shape of the weapon.]

It shoots bullets.

[devilstongue]

Huh.

[ It doesn't look like it, but he's not going to argue. It's so far out of his world anyway, and the closest he can imagine is a fully-decked Crownsguard.

Her mention of the gun has Molly raising a brow slightly. He... kind of recognizes the word? There were firearms in Exandria, but the flintlock and steampunk-ish style - and so rare that he's only glimpsed some at the Gentleman's parlor.

Bullets are easier, because thank you slingshots. ]

Sounds effective.

[uptightness]

Like any weapon, it has it's pluses and minuses.

[Like running out of bullets or having it jam, although Carolina does take care of her gun, so it malfunctioning doesn't happen often. She does know a variety of weapons though, familiar with many of the ups and downs that they have. Like blades. Typically you need to be close range for such things, or have a really good throwing arm. Even then, it's a limited range.]

But it's handy to have around. Gotten by without firing it since I got here.

[devilstongue]

It's not a very violent place, then?

[ You know, since she hadn't needed to fire it. ]

[uptightness]

I wouldn't quite say that.

[It has had it's bloody moments, but it's not fighting tooth and nail every day. No war waging across the galaxy either. Then again, everything is fairly confined in terms of that to this planet.]

Not exactly a shop to buy things at. I'd suggest being careful with your resources.

[devilstongue]

Managing resources is a little different than fighting monsters and bandits all the time, so I'll be good.

[ No, he really won't. ]

[uptightness]

[She's not entirely certain that she is buying that, but Carolina tends towards the side of caution and wariness than just believing most at face value.]

Just don't eat all your supplies in one day.