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

[postictal]

There's gotta be a reason they're doing this.

[He has to stop to wipe aside a trickle of sweat as it runs, stinging, into his eye.]

A reason they rebuild. Why up against the mountains? The fishing villages are hit way less than this. Why not settle there instead? [He hasn't asked them, but...he's not sure he'd get an actual answer, if he did. He's also slightly unsettled around the presence of people who appear to be living trees for...reasons that aren't entirely clear to him.]

[Reasons he doesn't remember.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

Perhaps I should ask... [Muffet isn't bothered by treeple (tree people), but she'll admit that she doesn't always understand other cultures' priorities. Humans are already fairly confusing, and they at least theoretically came from the same planet she did.]

I suppose they might have their own dangers, there- this world certainly doesn't seem to lack for them.

[She works steadily as she speaks, shifting rocks with careful patience.]

[postictal]

This island, even. You hear about the rabbits?

[Because apparently this island has them! Massive fluffballs that sprout way too many teeth when you get too close! And poisonous flowers, because landslides were not the only natural danger they should have to deal with!]

[It's not as bad as, say, Umui, but it feels arguably worse that he put all the work into helping the Roaka repair, only for it to go thoroughly to waste.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

I've heard them mentioned in passing, though most people seemed to be more concerned with those... ah, rather long furry creatures? I'm not certain we ever were told a name for them.

[Muffet is undisturbed by the lorbies due to having encountered them primarily in the context of the Knight riding one, which was adorable. But other people seemed a little more uncomfortable about them. She can't imagine why.]

[postictal]

I have no idea what they're called, and I don't plan on bothering any of them. [At least they're not innately hostile, which is more than he can say for the fucking rabbits.]

They don't look like they're attacking anyone on sight, so they can do whatever they want.

[prettypurpleparlor]

An entirely reasonable approach.

[With this whole island of people who go around getting themselves in danger on the regular, she really appreciates Tim's attempt to just not bother the unknown animals unnecessarily. She can only do so much healing, here, she doesn't want to do any more green magic than she has to.]

Was there a particular part of the island the rabbits tended to reside on.

[postictal]

The jungle, up north. Apparently there are poisonous flowers there too, so I'm probably not gonna go poking around there anytime soon.

[Given the shit they've got to do here, it's just as likely that he simply won't have time for it.]

Yellow oleander, I think they're called.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet grimaces. She's not going to say it out loud, but the thought of poisonous flowers reminds her automatically of Chara's mishap those... months ago? Can it only have been months, or was it longer? Even keeping careful track, it gets so strange to try and measure time, here...]

I suppose I should just be grateful they've been properly identified. I know what plants can be eaten, but my knowledge generally doesn't cover much beyond that... I'll have to ask someone for a description, so I can recognize them elsewhere.

[postictal]

[Poisonous flowers are and always have been inextricably linked to both children, knowing the experiences they've had as he does. The temptation to refuse to say anything about it to either of them is there, just so the temptation to do something about it isn't there for either of them, but...]

[For all that he's a liar, there are some people he can no longer lie to. Not really.]

Probably safest. I dunno if there's actually anything of worth in the jungle, but it might pay to check before the island's gone for good.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[They'd likely find out somehow, in any case.]

That's always puzzled me, how the islands shift like that. Is it something to do with the mana pools, I wonder, the connections between them becoming more and less difficult to open and maintain? Or are the lands themselves changing places...

[It's more idle musing than anything else, something to talk about while her hands are busy. But she's keeping pace with her work well enough, and sometimes conversation helps the time go faster.]

[postictal]

I've never asked. Maybe if we request islands back, it'd happen.

[There just...aren't any islands that Tim would probably want back, except for possibly Nuidan. Nuidan had been nice. Doing shit, earning rewards - he could get a hell of a lot more done with the help of a hardworking god, that's for damn sure.]

[The Roaka would get a lot more done, too.]

Harv would probably be pretty useful in patching this place up.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She misses Harv.]

Goodness, imagine how upset he'd be to see the state of things here. [Muffet smiles fondly.] I doubt we'd get a word in edgewise before he raced off to start working.

[postictal]

I didn't talk to them that much.

[He, as a rule, kind of stays away from taking any interactive stance with the gods. It's not his specialty. He'll leave that to people who are actually good at diplomacy, and who can manage social interaction on a semi-regular basis.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She certainly won't blame him for that. It exasperates her when people seem to want to actively antagonize the gods- she understands the impulse, but it rarely seems to accomplish anything helpful- but preferring to avoid them is entirely fair.]

In fairness, he might have preferred that- he was a very brisk fellow, always wanting to be productive, always working on something.

[Given her similar workaholic tendencies, she can respect that.]

[postictal]

I guess I can relate.

[He's not a workaholic, but he knows where his thoughts stray to, and what he defaults to, when he's bored. He doesn't want to be bored. When he's bored, that's when he starts to spiral.]

[It's incredible that he's actually managed to obtain some awareness of this fact.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[He's doing his best and that's what counts.]

Well, it isn't as though there's generally a shortage of work to do here, is there?

[There's always something that needs to be taken care of.]

[postictal]

'Specially with people coming and going. There's that lighthouse full of stuff that Gladio was managing, and now someone's gonna have to take care of that.

[Someone who isn't Tim. He's got his hands full running Denny as it is.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[A quiet sigh.]

I really ought to take a look, in that case- I lived near enough, there's no sense not at least dropping in to see if I can take on some of it.

[Muffet has her hands pretty full, too, but she's got more of them to spare. And even if she didn't, she's never been able to leave something undone.]

[postictal]

You know anything about metalworking? 'Cause I don't, really.

[A manual on that kind of thing might be available as of the library's manifestation, but it's still something that probably requires a learning curve - and more supplies for fuck-ups than they have, currently.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

[She grimaces in frustration.]

Little to nothing- I've grown much more skilled at woodworking, but I doubt the skillset translates. I might be able to help keep a forge running, with what I know about regulating heat for an oven, but I'd have very little idea of what to do with it.

[A brief pause to shift more stone, and then:]

Though, on reflection, metal wire specifically I might be able to make some good use of- I've seen it used it weaving before, when it's thin enough. The principles are the same.

[postictal]

If we could figure out how to get some kind of tech running here, that'd be...well, it'd be something.

[He's got no idea how likely that is to work, but the steel used to make the automatons back on Umui clearly managed to work without the Storyteller's intervention, so it's probably something inherent to that ore. Which they now have in abundance.]

[Thank fuck for the twins. He's pretty sure they're responsible for hoarding those things.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

Mm. [She nods in firm agreement.] Had I known during my college years that it would be so useful, I might have minored in engineering and spared myself the headache of trying to puzzle it out from scratch now.

[She would have still majored in business and economics, because she will not be stopped.]

[postictal]

Library might have something, now that it's here.

[He's mostly one for teaching himself by hand, but the library is...at least it has the potential to be helpful in helping someone teach themselves. Someone who isn't Tim, anyway. He thinks his area of expertise lands pretty solidly in the realm of construction, and trying to expand that means more opportunities for him to fuck something up for everyone.]

[In his opinion.]

[prettypurpleparlor]

It's certainly worth a look, at least. [She's genuinely pleased by the library in and of itself, even beyond the practical possibilities. She's always been a very curious sort of person, fond of learning and gathering knowledge, so it's nice to have a new source right there at hand.]

[...granted, she wouldn't expect her attempts at self-teaching to be free of fuckups, either. Some of them may be rather memorable. But that's part of the learning process. There's probably still some faint scorch marks on the stone floor of her old home in Hotland, testimony to her childhood mistakes early in learning to bake.]

[postictal]

[For someone else to attempt, sure. Not Tim. He's set. He's found his niche. He is good and solid in this much.]

Looks like this area is just about as cleared out as it's gonna get. [He rolls one shoulder, trying to gauge whether he's strained it in the process of shifting debris and splintered bits of wood. After a moment to assure himself that he's only sore and not courting injury, he stretches.]

Thank god.