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

Héctor | ota

[vagabone]

burial

[The tree people are good and friendly, so naturally he goes back. That was a mistake. His luck is almost always bad and now it's gotten him buried 'alive' in one of their homes, with a deck of cards to entertain himself and his slightly magical knife for a light source. Ah, well. He's not going to ask for his sorry bones to be made a priority, not when others might actually be in danger or injured, though he has his stone of farspeech and he's going to use it. Lonely down here.

He'll be grateful to whoever digs him out! Or touched if anyone notices he's missing, honestly.]

oh no it's cute

[Later on, once he's free, he decides to hang around a bit. Long enough for something sinuous and fuzzy to find him. Héctor, meet Lorby.

It's actually... adorable, in it's own way. He's seen much weirder alebrijes, ones with teeth and no soft fur or big sweet eyes. Seriously, what is everyone freaking out about?! Too bad he doesn't have any food with him...]

[shiromadoushi]

[[Bakura was not really the best person for rescue duty. He was pretty scrawny and even with the mess of his arm where he'd gotten stabbed that one time he couldn't remember all healed up, he's still pretty out of his weight class when it comes to hefting rocks.

But the rubble in this spot looked to be mostly smaller stones. He could totally take care of that!

It takes some time for him to push aside the rubble, tossing the smaller stones a few feet away while just simply shoving the larger ones to the side. He just needed to uncover a door or a window or something like that, after all!

Finally, all his hard work is rewarded as he gets enough of an opening cleared to poke his head inside.]]

Is anyone--

[[He pauses, blinking as he spots the home's sole (soul?) inhabitant.]]

...I think I might have been a little too late...

[vagabone]

[...who sits up and blinks as soon as he hears someone. Rescue! At last! Your average dead skeleton doesn't have eyes that blink or a mouth that doesn't always grin (but is right this moment--hooray, freedom!). Or hair. Or a voice.

He clatters his way over to the opening, trying to make it a bit larger himself now that he knows where to start.]

Haha! No, you're just in time!

[shiromadoushi]

[[Bakura gives a laugh of his own at the assurance, pulling away more of the rubble]]

Already just the bare bones of things before the cave in?

[[Why yes he is just cracking a joke like this is totally normal]]

[vagabone]

[It totally is normal. He was a skeleton yesterday, and hopefully will be one tomorrow. And jokes are appreciated--laughter's the best medicine after all!]

Nah, that earthquake scared me right out of my skin!

[shiromadoushi]

Sounds like it was a very marrowing experience!

[[Totally normal, just having a pun-fest with a living skeleton, no biggie~]]

orz

[vagabone]

I've had worse days, I think I'll live!

[He keeps on digging, careful not to crack his own fingers. Hole's almost wide enough! After all, he's as skinny as can be.]

[shiromadoushi]

Might be a little late for that~

[[With a strong yank, Bakura manages to pull back a larger chunk of root-bound grass, adding a good amount of wiggle room]]

Here, [[he reaches his hand through to be grabbed.]] Will it work if I pull? You won't all fall apart or anything, right?

[[A serious question, honestly. Disjointing something on a skeleton... that could be serious!]]

[vagabone]

Maybe, but I'm supposed to come apart. Happens all the time!

[Sometimes even on purpose. A lot of the time, honestly. It's perfectly natural, why not take advantage of it? His shoulders fit through just fine, and he takes Bakura's hand in his own rough bone fingers, half expecting his whole arm to pop off since they brought it up.]

burial

[eudaimonikos]

[What do you call it when a skeleton and a demon are trapped underground together?]

.....this seems very appropriate.

[vagabone]

[Normal day in the 'life'?

He's poking around looking for a way out, with a knife that seems to be on fire and ghostlike wings phasing through his shirt. It's the only light he has.]

How's that?

[eudaimonikos]

Dead and buried, real Hell vibes...?

[He gestures between the two of them like it's obvious, and then realizes that Skeleton Man is only in on like half the joke.]

I'm a demon, that's an important part of it.

[vagabone]

[Dude's nowhere near the most demonic looking fellow around, and the poor skeleton man really, really wants out now. Almost a century of being dead and no one has ever claimed to be an actual demon. It's been a long time since he so much as thought about church and heaven and hell. Is the guy crazy or...]

Seriously?

[eudaimonikos]

Yeah. Different afterlife than the one you have, of course. We don't do... [He gestures vaguely to all of Hector.] ...this...

[vagabone]

[Obviously his version of the afterlife is better, if not specifically for him. Just say no to becoming satanic.]

So you... died and wound up as a demon? [He is so screwed, isn't he.]

[eudaimonikos]

[Michael just. Laughs.]

Oh, no, I was never a human! The humans come to the afterlife, go to - wherever they're gonna go - and things proceed from there. It's not actually all that different from a lot of your common myths.

[Except they all go to Hell. But that's...not something Michael enjoys knowing, and it's not necessary to discuss it now.]

Demons aren't really capable of dying like a human, anyway.

[vagabone]

[It just keeps getting worse and worse. He really does have the lousiest luck, getting himself buried alive with literal evil, apparently. What fun!! He'll be sure to recommend this island paradise to everyone!!]

Aaand I'm guessing you're not going to get us out of here.

burial

[onegreeneye]

[Now that Ginko isn't occupied with being trapped himself (at least, not until there's another landslide), he can take some time to look around and see who else might need help. He searches among the buried buildings, hoping that anyone trapped inside will be able to hear him calling.]

Hey! Anyone stuck around here?

[vagabone]

Oye! I think I can hear you!

[This comes through the stone of farspeech a lot louder than out of the rubble, of course. Are you ready to play hot and cold, Ginko? Did he even mention he was one of the ones trapped??]

[onegreeneye]

Hector?

[He absolutely does not recall Hector mentioning that and he thinks he would have remembered. He raps his knuckles against one of the nearby boulders, as if that's going to tell him anything. And he starts walking.]

Can you hear me better now?

[vagabone]

A little! I think you're getting closer!

[Would it help if he stopped using the stone? Too bad, because he isn't stopping. Forgive him, he's not in the best frame of mind at the moment.]

[onegreeneye]

Okay-- turn off your stone, for now. [Fortunately, Ginko is a little more put-together. Advantages of being far too used to crises.

He moves a few more steps, and calls again, his eye flicking among the areas around him where Hector might be.] How about now?

[vagabone]

[Not using the stone means he's going to have to yell... fortunately, being loud is one of talents. (God help anyone trapped in the same small space with him.)]

Colder! Other way!

[onegreeneye]

Got it!

[Alright. He moves toward the sound of Hector's voice, now that he can hear him a little more clearly, and raps on one of the rocks that he... thinks might be in the right area.]

You in there?

[vagabone]

[He's not about to slam his bare bones against the rock to make a sound--even he has limits to his stupidity, apparently. Just. More shouting!!]

Yes! I think you found it!