lifeaftr | March Intro: Let Loose Your Glow

INTRO LOG: MARCH

Who: New arrivals, and you!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: March 4th and onward
Where: Ensō (and potentially Monsun)
Warnings: Mark as needed!

With a quiet month behind them, those on Ensō will be greeted by the new month with even more quiet days, weather only just beginning to take a turn for the immensely hot as summer begins to loom on the horizon. For our newcomers, this is also the scene in which they’ll find themselves waking; washed up on the island's shores, meeting interesting people, missing some key items, and gaining some new ones.

This peaceful time to greet one another and collect yourself won't last long, however. As the sun begins to rise into the sky, the quiet air will be disturbed by shrieks of surprise, dismay - and triumph. There is no new creature set to wipe out all life, no elevator from the sky, or clown box to chain. No. This month, the new arrivals have been set upon by Ensō's deadliest and most ruthless creatures.

Their fellow adventurers.

Ensō: Give Me One Drop
Last month, adventurers eagerly participated in the Storyteller's request to coat the island in protective ink, one of many steps the local god has been taking to keep Ensō, and its occupants, safer than they have. However, a great many variables to account for inevitably leads to something falling through the cracks - such as what to do when new arrivals arrive on these heavily protected shores.

Though they’ll have time to "automate" this process in the coming months, for now, the Storyteller once again humbly requests some assistance. Nothing harmful, of course, but...well, it does need to be done. In order for the new arrivals to be protected and not considered a threat by the local contingent of flocking, fluttering pages flying on the breeze, they'll need to come in contact with the base material that ties these protections together, and a lot of it. That base material being ink.

Which is where our more settled adventurers may step up to the plate. Though the purpose here is unstated, the return of the...equipment that was initially provided to paint the island sends a message all of its own: the Storyteller is happy for you to "assist" these new arrivals by any means necessary.

Welcome to LifeAtr, dear newcomers. Please excuse this very necessary, absolutely reasonable hazing. At the very least, all signs of ink on your personal items - and person, at that - will fade away within twenty-four hours.

And of course, the option to retaliate is yours for the taking, if you can find a bucket or water gun. There happen to be quite a few lying around on the beaches when you first wake - and they're all loaded, too.

Monsun and Ensō: As the Heavens Set Fire
Those of you who have been with us for some time may remember a time when a rather costly item request was involved in placing a mana pool on Monsun's western desert half, so as to bypass the verdant east. The mana pool in question seems to have been...lost, for the time being. It's not clear what happened to it.

Until now.

You see, Monsun didn't take kindly to you throwing its idea of balance out of balance. With the artificial placement of a mana pool on the western side of the island, it seems that hardly anyone would have any reason to visit the east, and that simply won't do. When the landscape shifted, the mana pool wasn't just lost - it was broken, its stone containment shattered, scattering its magical, greenish fluid to the sands.

It's just terribly unfortunate that it was some of Ziziphus's displaced population that were the ones who found that precious mana first. Ziziphus's creatures are most notable for being an even blend of plant and animal. Thus, they could soak up those juices by their roots...and flourish.

Have you yet encountered a rootwyrm - the plantlike dragon with entirely too many legs, bowed beneath the weight of its turtle shell and shelled in bark? Or perhaps you've had to contend with a plant beast, with its hissing lunge-attack and gaping, toothy maw. Several members of those innately hostile flora-fauna - the scrambling spindlanks, the shambling shrumal ogres - have had enough of you adventures crawling all over their territory, and are seeking to retaliate. It's not immediately clear how some of them managed to reach Ensō...but rest assured, several have.

Perhaps you'd be inclined to call these variants something catchy, like...a Rootwyrm +1, for example. Whatever the case, you can be assured that these "improved" variations are larger and stronger than their ordinary counterparts and tend to regenerate damage, having sustained the mana pool's "recharging" capabilities. And, because mana pools have multiple uses, they can also teleport - which would be how they've managed to reach Ensō, despite originating on Monsun. Thankfully, they're fairly distinctive and might be easy to avoid from a distance. They're larger and more vividly colored, for one, though they're also much more hostile by nature. It's likely they'll require a significant amount of teamwork to be successfully taken down, or at least driven back to Monsun.

Let that be a lesson in where you ask to set down your mana pools.

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.

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

Loads of times! I sniped the Meta before! [After the bullet ricocheted everywhere.] And times you weren't there to see! You can't prove or disprove anything.

Right now, I'm not totally convinced that leaving you alone with a sniper rifle is much better than leaving your for dead, so until I am, that's not going to be an option.

[He owes you, all right?]

[He's not going to responsible for the death of another Church.]

Do you remember the part where I was on a base alone, armed, for over a year?

[Do you remember how fucked up that is if you think more than two seconds about it?]

I remember you trying to blow Caboose's brains out and missing every shot.

[Though to be fair on that count, he's pretty sure that might've had to do with an emotional attachment that Church didn't want to admit he had. Vaguely sure.]

I hadn't shot at anything in over a year, I was rusty!

Sure. I'll believe it when I actually see it.

[You can probably hear the lineface through the visor.]

Let's not test that now.

I won't so long as nothing disgusting down there realizes I'm up here.

Yeah, because when I think of you, I think stealthy.

[He was abandoned at a military base, alone, for literally...over a year, so apparently he can manage on his own for a certain amount of time, but that might have more to do with the complete absence of surrounding life than anything else.]

Are you gonna go or what?

[There's a minute where he glowers at him, wordlessly, and wonders if the cocktail of frustration, exasperation, and guilt seeps through.]

[Then he unhooks his last grenade and holds it up.]

This is my last one. So don't use it unless you have to.

[Catch.]

[He won't fumble it! Much. It's fine!]

Oh. So. You don't trust me to shoot at anything, but a grenade, that you'll trust me with.

It's harder to miss with a grenade.

[And the grenade seems to have actually slowed the last plant beast down, which means that it's probably more helpful than a sniper rifle, anyway.]

Bullets didn't get that thing off our backs, but one of these did.

...Right. I'll try not to waste your last grenade on anything I don't absolutely have to.

And...just...wait for you to get back.

If you need me, just...ring me up.

[He holds up his own Stone of Farspeech, trying not to feel exceptionally foolish in the process. Mostly failing.]

The screen's your caller I.D.

I'm not gonna bug you with pointless texts, unless I think it's funny. So. Uh.

Good luck out there.

Good, 'cause it doesn't text.

[It's strictly audio-call only. Very literally a walkie talkie, which he refuses to call a rockie talkie, even now.]

Good luck...up here.

March Intro: Let Loose Your Glow

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