lifeaftr | April Intro: Better Get to Digging

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April Intro: Better Get to Digging

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.

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

"That means you're human." Starting with the most pertinent issue right here. That she's human, and therefore - therefore what she can do with her strength is probably going to be fairly limited. More limited than it would be if she were still in a synthetic body.

"Doesn't it?"

"Yes," she says. "It does. Is that all right with you?"

The words have an edge to them. She's just daring him to say something that would offend her.

He's nearly had his rib cage pulverized by a crumbling house and a rockslide. He's faced at least two forces of nature; he can manage a third. Maybe.

If their last conversation was any indication, she might be genuinely more hesitant to pound his skull in.

"Are you running mods?"

"No," she says, as if it should be obvious. "Now do you want to stand here talking or do you want to help the people who are trapped?"

"You're going to burn yourself out if you don't give yourself a minute." So maybe he's risking getting his ass beaten over venturing advice, but what's it matter? She's already made it clear that they're not about to go toe-to-toe for just any reason.

"You sure you want to risk that?"

She huffs out a sigh and crosses her arms.

"What am I supposed to do, sit around and rest while there are people waiting to be rescued?"

That's not at all like her. Yet there's the part of her that's already tired, already wants a nap.

Wash blows out a sigh. He's not about to make much of a dent on a well-trodden stubborn streak, he's already predicting.

"Look, I'll help. But if you overtax yourself, that's not going to be fun for either of us. Then someone is going to have to help you, and I don't think either of us want that."

She uncrosses her arms. "Okay," she says. "All right. I'll...take it easy."

She's trailing off into a mumble as she turns her back to him and starts down the slope again. What a strange dynamic they've settled into here. She wishes it were her robotic body that had made the jump to this world—but here she is, stuck with what she's stuck with. And Washington is right, she needs to be realistic about it.

Besides, she knows it's not entirely on her to rescue every person who needs it. There are multiple people wandering the rooftops and shouting to the people inside. So that does ease her conscience a bit.

At the first house they reach, she taps on the roof with her boot. "Anyone in there?" she calls.

No idea if that's going to stick, but you can't say he didn't try. He tails her, and after a minute, he removes something from his back - not a weapon, but a shield, gold-tinged metal with a peculiar emblem on the front of it.

A moment of listening, and he sighs.

"Sounds like a couple Roaka might be in there. Those - tree-people. Not sure if you saw them? This is technically their island."

She looks at him. Stares, really. Gives him a moment to clarify what in the world he's doing with that shield. If he's not going to be forthcoming with the explanation, or even if he is, she ends up moving in response to his words and starts probing the rocks to see what would be the best arrangement to rearrange them in.

No explanation just yet, no. He's just hoping he's not going to need it.

"You know what's in your pack yet? Sometimes they've got tools, something you can use." He doesn't know anyone who's showed up with a shovel or pickaxe, but it might be nice.

"Yes. It's mostly food, but there's a saw, and some rope," she says. "I suppose we could cut a hole in the downhill side of the roof and let down the rope. Less lifting to be done, then."

"One of these days they're gonna give us some actual shovels, and then we'll have something we can use." Muttered undertone - annoyed, but resigned.

"Guess we'll just have to use our hands."

Edited 2019-04-08 02:15 (UTC)

Tex doesn't ask who they are—it's the same as the Ingress from the world she came from before this; no one knows who they are. Just that they have the power to draw people between worlds.

"Been wanting one for a while?" she asks, pulling the saw out of the knapsack.

"I've got a lot I've been meaning to ask for," he mutters darkly, but doesn't elaborate. "The shield can block pretty much anything. If we get another rockslide, it'll keep the worst off us."

The armor is supposed to manage that kind of shit on its own, but he's not about to put any stock in what their armor can or can't do after it's been damaged far more than should be possible, just by arriving.

"It's cute," she says, unable to help herself from commenting on its appearance. "You just be ready with it, then."

The residents of the house are soon rescued with the use of the saw and the rope. They're grateful to be set free; Tex makes a point of making sure they can make their way down the rockslide aftermath safely before turning to the next house.

By the time they've rescued three or four households of people, necessitating the moving of at least a few large rocks, Tex is definitely flagging. She's also clearly unhappy with this situation. She much prefers using her robot and being able to press on and through any problems.

"I just need a break," she says with a little wave to Washington, sitting on a rock and taking off her helmet. Is there a bottle of water in her bag? She's dying for a drink. She peeks inside, and of course there isn't. She puts the bag back down and swipes off some sweat that had accumulated on her forehead with her gloved fingers.

"All right," he says. He'd be lying if he said the idea of a break didn't appeal to him. The temp-reg systems in his armor aren't broken beyond all function, but there's a certain limit to how many caved-in homes you can dig people out of before you need to take a breather.

"You can drink out of the mana pool, if you need it. Tastes a little like watered down orange juice, but it'll keep you going."

He's taken to those measures more than once.

"I'm fine," she lies. She takes a few slow breaths, slouching in her armor, letting its rigidness take over the function of remaining upright. She's two months into her recovery post-coma and here she is leaping over falling rocks and lifting people out of their homes with a rope. She needs to quit, she knows this, but she's just not going to be ready until she knows more residents have been saved.

Tex jerks awake after a while. "Mmmh," she grunts, and stretches a little, trying not to show that she'd fallen asleep. She doesn't even remember falling asleep, she was just...there. A little sidelong glance at Washington should make it clear that he isn't to mention it. "Where is the mana pool, exactly?" she says, as casually as she can.

Yeah, it's pretty fucking obvious that she's not fine, but Wash is just as guilty of the same dismissal, the calm shrugging away of every issue that he's not acknowledging, so he's not about to push it.

"The one on this island? It's south, that way. Near the very bottom of the island." He points to the place where the mountain evens out to beach. Near the crags of the coastal rock, that's where the stone plinth that houses the precious water is nestled.

"It's like a liquid MRE." Perfect for soldiers like them, right?

She nods, looks that way for a long moment, then stands and replaces her helmet.

"I'm coming back," she says. "You don't have to wait."

She takes off then, leaving him with the saw and the rope.

"Don't get lost," he says, but he mutters it in undertone, definitely not calling out for her to hear. He needs a break anyway, so he parks himself on the spot and yanks his helmet off in time to comb a hand through his hair, as if that'll make his terrible fucking helmet hair any better or easier to bear.

It doesn't. It still sticks up all over the place, awkwardly flattened in others, the same way it always has.

In the end, once she finds the place, she spends about a quarter of an hour at the pool, drinking the water and allowing it to recharge her armor. She feels better afterwards, at least somewhat. She's going to sleep heavily tonight, though, she can tell.

She returns to the place where Washington was 45 minutes later, all told.

"Good thing you didn't say right back," says Wash, wryly, once he catches her silhouette. "Otherwise I might've started worrying."

Worrying about who, and what? Something that might've happened to her, or someone else?

He doesn't say.

"Feeling better?"

Tex is still approaching when he speaks, and she slows slightly when he addresses her.

He did wait.

But they had a strange relationship, no matter what universe they were in, it seemed. She hadn't expected this Washington to care enough.

"I'm good," she says, as if this is a matter of course. Of course she's good. What else would she be?

The lack of a helmet grants him the courtesy of letting his stare linger a second or two longer than is typical. Then he jams it back over his head, sealing it back in place, and stands.

"All right, then. I guess it's back to work."

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