April Intro: Better Get to Digging

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: APRIL

Who: New arrivals, and you!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: April 4th and onward
Where: Cahypdo
Warnings: Mark as needed!

Waking up to the gentle proddings of what appears to be very curious, sentient trees isn't the worst wake up call LifeAftr has to offer. For our newest arrivals, however, it may be a tad…odd.

Situated in the valley between two mountains, Elower is a scenic village filled with the friendly Roaka, tree-like beings that are rather peaceable and happy to assist those who have just arrived. I'’s a peaceful location for one to start their adventures - though, unfortunately, it doesn't stay peaceful for long.

Cahypdo: You'll Bury Me Low
Those who have explored the new island of Cahypdo in the last month will undoubtedly recall the series of quakes that shook the island throughout March. With the arrival of LifeAftr's newest adventurers comes Cahypdo's largest tremor to date, striking without warning and more than enough force to throw even the steadiest and sturdiest of your number to the ground. With a low rumble, the mountains heaped on either side of the island will start to shed an abundance of slag and debris, pouring down their slopes. Anyone who's scaling those peaks risks being flung bodily off them when the outpouring of shale comes roaring down those mountains, and anyone at the mountain bases risks being crushed beneath.

As one might expect, unsuspecting newcomers aren't all that have been shaken up. Though protected by netting and retaining walls, the cliffs around and above the village of Elower can only take so much pressure before giving way - a threshold that has been crossed entirely. With a sound like thunder, rocks fall.

Everyone dies? Only if you don't act quickly. Roaka housing is sturdy in build, enough to protect a decidedly less sturdy body from all but the heaviest of boulders. Hiding inside any of their village constructs built into the sides of the mountains will certainly save you from taking a new weight onto your shoulders. They will not, however, save you from being buried alive.

For those who become trapped inside any of those abodes, your options appear limited. Work to free yourself, or wait for help to arrive. Though, speaking of help, those outside may think to offer the Roaka a helping hand in getting their trapped people - and yours, at that - a few breaths of fresh air.

Before you suffocate.

Cahypdo: Stay Acting Brave
Such seismic activity will also stir up the local wildlife, of course. Those unfortunate enough to come across them will recognize the restless shark-dragon hybrids, hydrac, now prowling across the shorelines, while the wickedly fanged wabbits will also be far more frequent, traveling in larger numbers in the jungle and at the bases of the mountains. Taking care to avoid them would be wise - though another creature may make that venture much more difficult.

Lorbies have been unlocked in the bestiary! A strange mix between owl and serpent, the recent quake has clearly startled these usually reclusive creatures into the open. Alone, a lorby is a rather skittish animal, prone to hiding from most perceived threats. Useless for food due to the toxicity of their flesh, lorbies do have the potential to be tamed...but this comes with its own risks.

A lorby may be prone to flight rather than fight when encountered solo, but in groups, these feathery critters are far more hostile. A defensive lorby emits a piercing cry alone, but a group is an almost ear-piercing experience, capable of rendering the unfortunate unstable on their feet at best, and unconscious at worst. For the days that follow the severe earthquake that so rocked everyone's foundations, any hope for silence is lost in the infrequent bursts of almighty screeching by colonies of lorbies who have so rudely had their homes overturned and disturbed.

While the lorby is omnivorous, it may not think to take a bite at anything so much larger than them. That doesn't mean that conflict with these fluffy creatures won't attract something much more willing to take advantage of the fact that you may or may not have been reduced to a prone sack of meat. If something else does arrive, you best hope that it's a friendly face.

If you're interested in keeping a lorby for your own, bear LifeAftr's companion limit in mind - two per character, and no more. The lorby is omnivorous and can survive off of most odds and ends: insects, fruits, berries, critters it can dig up in the sand, and more. However, the process of trying to tame a lorby is not always successful. We recommend use of a d10, with the following guidelines:

Rolling a 10: Critical success! This lorby will love and adore you, and may even feel comfortable enough to drape itself along your neck like a beautiful, furry scarf, churring softly all the way.
Rolling 7-9: This lorby will prove high-strung and timid, even if safely befriended, and will take several weeks to warm up to you. But once it does, it's yours!
Rolling 2-6: Failure. The lorby enters a state of distress and starts screaming. Hope you brought earplugs, or you'll be snoozing for several long hours for your efforts.
Rolling a 1: Critical failure. Not only does the lorby start screaming, but its panic attracts a colony of its friends, and they all start screaming too.

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 you prefer.

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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

[eudaimonikos]

No problem, I can make new -

[He glances up, does a double-take, and sits up on his heels.]

- what the fuck are you?

[scourgingstars]

...Pardon?

[Ardyn frowned sharply, tilting his hat back enough to look at Michael with decidedly not human yellow eyes.]

Some people at least start with 'hello'.

[eudaimonikos]

[That...is true.

Michael's unbothered by the yellow eyes; he's more concerned about, you know, every other thing going on there. There's - it's not a demon like him, but it's also not exactly not. Weird demonic hivemind, maybe?]

...fair enough. Hi, I'm Michael.

[scourgingstars]

Ardyn.

[He didn't really get casual conversation in a general sense, but that had obviously caught him off guard as an opener.]

You aren't seriously going to try taming that thing, are you?

[eudaimonikos]

Taming? [He doesn't seem like he really considered that.] I just wanted to look at it. It's like somebody gutted a Furby and sewed it to five weasels, I love it!

...you think it can be tamed? [thanks, ARDYN]

[scourgingstars]

[Let it never be said that Ardyn Whatever Surname He's Using Today is anything but an endless source of bad ideas.]

I've seen--well, not stranger things, but certainly a fair amount of native wildlife not averse to the concept.

But again, could also rip your arm off. It's a bit of a gamble.

[eudaimonikos]

I can make a new arm.

[Granted, he's never actually done that. But it sounds cool to say, and he probably could.]

How do you tame things? Give them food, lock them in a paddock...? [The closest he's ever come is the humans, and...well, if you're gonna use that metaphor, he was probably the one that was tamed.]

[scourgingstars]

Do I genuinely look like I have any idea?

[a fair point, because he looks like he woke up under a park bench and robbed a thrift store.]

...What, do you just sprout a new one?

[eudaimonikos]

Just gotta put all the component atoms together, no big deal.

[Presumably? It's fine! He can do it!]

You look like you might have an army of pigeons or rats. No offense - who hasn't controlled a horde of vermin at some point?

[scourgingstars]

...You make a compelling case for me to rip your arm off to test the theory.

[ardyn please]

What, precisely, is your problem with me?

[eudaimonikos]

I said no offense...

[That wasn't even a thing he meant as an insult! Although in general, yeah.]

More broadly speaking, you seem to be made of...a lot of tiny, idiot demons? Just sort of wriggling around? What's wrong with them? [There is like, no sign of intelligence there and it's kinda wigging him out.]

[scourgingstars]

How can you--?

[This was very obviously something Ardyn had never been called out on before within minutes of meeting someone, and for once he was actually fumbling for a response.]

What are you?

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael frowns a little. Can't he tell?]

I'm a demon. Not...like those.

[scourgingstars]

[Apparently, Ardyn's own ability to sense that kind of thing was either nonexistent or highly limited. Because he looked over Michael, frowned again, and:]

No you aren't. That's completely absurd.

[in his defense, a tonberry doesn't really talk or wear a fairly nice suit.]

[eudaimonikos]

[Okay, now he's frowning.]

That's rude. You seriously can't tell?

[scourgingstars]

Oh, yes, and 'what the fuck are you' is so much more polite.

[ARDYN YOUR GAME IS RATED T YOU CAN'T DO THAT]

You're no brand of daemon I'm familiar with.

[eudaimonikos]

Apparently. Gets a lot ruder than that back home.

[No demon of Michael's sort would get all bothered about one fuck. Questioning his species is a little different - as much as he likes humans, he isn't one.

He considers this, and shrugs.]

Well, this is clearly some other dimension. Things get weird when you screw with those.

[scourgingstars]

To say the least, yes. Though you're the first to presume anything out of the ordinary merely on sight--perhaps I should be something resembling impressed?

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael chuckles. He'd like to preen - he likes preening - but just for something like having eyes?]

Save it for when I do something impressive. I don't rely on these human eyes, I'd never get anything done.

[scourgingstars]

Terribly limited, human senses. Absolutely useless, really.

[eudaimonikos]

Ugh, right? And I got the one with the glasses, too.

[He taps the frames of his glasses.]

Love the look, but can you imagine really being blind because you lost your glasses?

[scourgingstars]

[He paused for a moment as if wanting to say something, but apparently decided against it.]

Afraid I can't. I do have a bit better eyesight in the dark, but I'm hardly without the ability in daylight.

[eudaimonikos]

I've got a friend who needs glasses. Seems like a real pain.

[Ah, let him just...grab this lorby...]

So, what's with the giant rabbit I saw before I got here? Said it was a god...?

[scourgingstars]

That useless thing? The resident deity of this specific island. Unfortunately there's something of a pantheon developing.

I'm not the right person to ask. We don't get along very well.

[eudaimonikos]

You want me to ask someone who worships it? Wait, do the humans here worship it?

[Michael has no real experience with gods himself. Not really. But he's always found the religious parts of ethical philosophy a little offputting, and lately he's been soured on celestial authorities in general.]