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

[triggerhappytraitor]

Even without the empathy, it would be hard to miss the excited waving, Garren bouncing up and down on his toes as his Slammer approached. Or the very warm, soft, parental smile on Tachibana's face as he gave a much smaller, far more reserved wave in return. Followed by a few quick signs, which Garren emphatically returned.

His Partner greeted, Tachibana looks up at Jules, giving him a small nod of acknowledgement. "I thought Garren might have made a new friend," he greeted, tone still warm and pleasant as he held out his hand for a shake. "Sakuya Tachibana," he introduced.

[suspecteverything]

Jules offers his hand in return no matter how strange it feels to him. The greeting has always felt foreign no matter how many times he's had to use it recently. Ignoring the gesture, however, would be asking for trouble. Jules gets more than enough of that without needing to ask.

"Dagger."

It's the most he's going to offer. Only one person here knows his real name, and even Shion calls Jules by Dagger.

[triggerhappytraitor]

Garren waved his arms before making the "stabby stabby" sign he had made for Dagger and making a pleased sound, which pulled a single puff of amused laughter from Tachibana. If that was the sign Garren wanted to use...

"Nice to meet you," he returned, his shake very formal and accompanied by a small bow of this head, the salaryman reflexes still very much with him. "Hopefully Garren hasn't been any trouble."

[suspecteverything]

This is all so strange to Jules to be treated kindly upon introduction. While it has been relatively common here when he has had an introduction, he generally stays away from people on principle so his experience with "normal" responses are rather limited.

"None at all. He's been rather enjoyable."

The answer is much stiffer than Jules typically is, but that's just because of the formality. Jules was court trained growing up and is very capable of using those abilities whenever he chooses. He just doesn't choose to do so very often.

[triggerhappytraitor]

Garren nods in agreement, starting to sign rapidly to his slammer.

"He helped you climb?" Tachibana repeated, smile warming once more.

Garren nodded again, pointing to the branch and mining the climbing motions before echoing his earlier victory pose.

...before reaching out to tug on Tachibana's jacket and lift his arms up for his Slammer to help him up. Once lifted, he carefully climbed up to sit on his Slammer's shoulders with a pleased sound before waving a small victory sign. While Jules was still taller, now he was much closer in height!

[suspecteverything]

Jules is starting to become more and more uneasy by this interaction. He has never liked attention and has yet to learn how to take a compliment or praise very well. Both happen so infrequently. Still, he manages to keep himself from showing his unease except for a slight shifting of weight from foot to foot.

If Tachibana is expecting some confirmation of that from Jules, he certainly isn't going to get it. Offering information isn't really Jules' style.

[triggerhappytraitor]

Garren tilted his head, making a curious sound at Jules's subtle discomfort and silence. Normally people got more chatty when his Slammer showed up...

Tachibana for his part, was not the most socially adept individual, but was at least able to pick up on the general awkward silence. Normally, he wound up being interpreter when Garren was showing off a new friend, or answering a flood of questions. Not being the best at small talk himself, he was at a bit of a loss at the lack of them.

"...Did I interrupt something?"

[suspecteverything]

Jules and chatty don't really go well together unless you're talking about chatty in terms of being a sarcastic asshole and tearing people apart. He doesn't have a lot of experience making basic conversation. Most of his life he got torn down no matter what he said or did, so there was never really any point in learning how to converse normally.

"Interrupt?"

Not really, he'd just been looking for edibles and any wood that might make for good carving - not that he's even sure what that is quite yet.

"No. I was just looking for supplies before this place goes to hell again when I ran into Garren."

[triggerhappytraitor]

Tachibana paused, blinking. "..Again?" he repeated, a note of something between tiredness and worry in his voice.

[suspecteverything]

Jules snorts. He's never been one to sugar coat the truth just to protect someone, and he certainly isn't starting now.

"You're obviously new here. Every time a new island appears it eventually goes to shit. The only questions are how and when."

While Jules can be overly cynical, on this he's pretty much just right on point.

[triggerhappytraitor]

"...same as Traveling," Tachibana reflected with a faint frown, as Garren nodded in agreement with an over dramatic sign before leaning his helmet against his Slammer's head.

"And we are, yeah," he continued, looking back to Jules. "I was here briefly.... not long ago by this place's time, but almost 13 years ago my time," he explained. "And Garren just arrived with me when I returned."

[suspecteverything]

"Traveling?"

Jules has no idea what that means, and it could be a lot of things. If he had clue what that was he might have an idea whether or not Tachibana really understands that situation he is currently in.

[triggerhappytraitor]

"The place Garren and I were before, there was a group of us who went between different worlds -- most of them were something was about to happen; anything from the end of the world to ridiculous garbage with aliens interfering with a battle of the bands." He shook his head with a faint huff that bordered amusement. "Most of them were something in between."

[suspecteverything]

"Define worlds."

That is... so not a sentence Jules ever thought he would hear himself say. Before coming here he never would have considered needing to. Now, well, world could mean more than a planet.

[triggerhappytraitor]

"Alternate existences, or realities; Like how this place isn't native to most anyone who is here now."

[suspecteverything]

Jules appears to deflate a little bit. He was hoping it would be something he had more understanding of, though at least Tachibana's question answers whether or not he understands the type of games this place can play. A moment after that he realizes something else, something even more important.

"How did you get out?"

Maybe it would work here.

[triggerhappytraitor]

There was a long silence before Tachibana let out a long, slow sigh. "...I'm not sure."

Because if he knew how... maybe he could get back.

"The way that we Traveled, we could go between Liminal and the World we were visiting, but not back to ones we had been to before, or to our own worlds."

Not that he had wanted to go back there.....

[suspecteverything]

Well, that's not as good as Jules had hoped, but it's something at least. He's trying to force himself to be hopeful. He hasn't had any good news in a while.

"Could you get back to that Liminal place now?"

At least if Jules could get there, wherever the minsid hell that was, he would probably have more technology, or resources at the very least, than here.

[triggerhappytraitor]

Tachibana shook his head. "I can't access any of it, not even things I would normally be able to on a Jaunt. And I've been cut off from the Network as well. However we got here... severed our connections to that place."

Garren gave a small, lamentful nod. He didn't even have any of his toys that he had stuffed in his Slammer's hammerspace...

[suspecteverything]

"Tch. Covered all their minsid bases, didn't they?"

It seriously pisses Jules off. He absolutely cannot stand being without a fully functioning link.

[triggerhappytraitor]

Tachibana paused, looking a bit curiously at Jules. "By 'they'... who do you mean?"

[suspecteverything]

"The storyteller and all the other so called deities that run this place."

Generally speaking Jules blames the storyteller, but he's aware that there much be others out there too.

[triggerhappytraitor]

Tachibana's frown grew, thoughts turning. "...you think they have something to gain, by us being here." It wasn't so much a question, so much as asking for confirmation.

[suspecteverything]

"Or they're just assholes who enjoy toying with us, though entertainment is something to gain I guess."

Jules doesn't know any of that for sure, but he's pretty confident of it. At the very least not everything is being done or offered that could be.

[triggerhappytraitor]

A small, almost bitter snort escaped at that. "Hell of a lot of energy to put out just for something as unimportant as entertainment."

If there was one thing he had learned (and really, learning just one thing had been... a herculean task, all things considered) over the years, it was that if there was someone manipulating a situation, there were normally large, or very personal stakes involved. Tennouji's gambit, the Arcana's game... Hell, even Takuya's subterfuge-- All of it had been for something of world-altering status, even when that world had been a single existence that revolved around a small, deaf child...