lifeaftr | 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

You can come back after the rockslide. [The rockslide, which is coming down the mountain towards them. The houses look sturdy enough to hold up against it, or at least to take some of the force.] It won't do anyone any good if you get injured!

[She is sure she won't be harmed, and that she'd be more efficient outside, so she looks as if she's going to protest further.

But on cue, a small rock, dislodged from the rockslide, bounces right over her head.

She decides this person... might just be right.] Of course, of course. You are correct.

[Although the question is: do the two of them still have enough time to get to shelter?]

Let us make haste.

[Barely enough time, rocks bouncing and falling around them as they race towards the nearest shelter. A rock pings off his tail blade, another slams into his shoulder. But they make it inside in time to escape the mass of the wall of rocks that comes sliding down over the opening.]

[Toriel remains calm as the pile of rocks buries the entrance, leaving them both trapped. After the rockslide comes to a stop, she looks toward the stranger gratefully.]

That was quite close! I believe I owe you my gratitude - thank you for aiding me.

[Yukio glows slightly in the dark. The blue light is strongest from his eyes (all of them) but still softly visible through his skin, with the way his blood glows. It's not quite enough to substitute for a light, but it's at least a little bit of brightness in the dark.]

Of course. As soon as the rock slide subsides, we can try and dig our way out of here to help. [As opposed to being out there in the rain of boulders.]

[She doesn't know how to react to the fact that this strange human is glowing. Or that he has more than two eyes. Or that he has claws, for that matter.]

Pardon me for saying so, but... you are human, are you not?

[There's a tail too, dark and tufted and curling low behind him from under the edge of his long coat. But the base is human, under all the changes.]

... I am. [And he can at least say it. That counts for something.]

[She notices the tail too and tries not to stare at it. This human reminds her a little more of a monster than a human. She imagines many of her kind would think that they are a monster.]

I apologize. I did not mean to be rude. It is just you are unlike any human I have seen before. I was told this was another world... are these traits normal among humans here?

I don't know about here. [Yukio explains, as he walks over to the buried door and starts inspecting the fallen rocks, trying to figure out how best to start digging out.]

These changes happened to me and others in the place I was before as a result of long-term exposure to fae magic.

Fae magic...?

[She joins the stranger in examining the rocks, crouching down and staring at them. She's never had to excavate a building from the inside before, although rockslides themselves were not uncommon in the Underground.

She points to a relatively large boulder resting on a pile of smaller rocks.] What about this? If we pushed it free, would we not be able to escape?

[Yukio nods, but doesn't explain more. If she won't ask directly, he isn't going to explain.]

Do you think so? [The boulder is... large. Bigger than Yukio can handle on his own, for sure. But this demon might be able to help, he's not going to underestimate her.]

[She'll have to ask more about this "fae magic" later. In the meantime...]

I have no doubt. I am quite used to pushing rocks, after all.

[She walks up to the boulder and starts to push. With her great strength, it easily starts to move, dislodging other, smaller rocks on the way. But, the more she pushes, the more she starts to obviously struggle, much faster than she normally would. She might need help.]

[Yukio isn't exceptionally strong, but he can try and help around the edges of the boulder, cautiously trying to move some of the smaller rocks to help loosen up the one Toriel's trying to move.]

[That's enough. With one last burst of strength and a grunt, Toriel is able to move the largest boulder free, granting them a hole large enough to crawl through.

She wipes her brow.] That should do it. Thank you, my dear.

I'm sorry I wasn't more help. [He says, stepping back to let her go through first.]

April Intro: Better Get to Digging

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