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 )

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[During his walking, Five might begin to hear a rustling in the underbrush, the heavy panting of some kind of animal lumbering through the dense forest, not exactly keen on keeping itself quiet. And why? There's no real reason to - Ammy knows the scents of people and the scents of the kind tree-like people here. Predators and prey make themselves easily known as well - they scent mark their territories and the signs are all there. It's instinctual, and she as a fellow predator knows the marks easily enough to avoid being detected (not that she actually hunts anything, but you know).

It's the signs Ammy can't predict that are harder. The trembling earth has made her anxious since she felt in the pads of her paws, and a sick churning sense kept stabbing at her gut, like the need to run from something. Something bad. Ammy has had premonitions before, and while they're rare, this is...different. It's like she can just feel something in her bones, in her very skin. Something that fills her with dread.

Eventually, a white wolf emerges a fair bit up the path Five is walking, looking strangely anxious and like she's searching for something herself. Not exactly, it's just the kneejerk reaction that's gotten her moving, the burning itch to just keep on her feet, to not stop, to keep going. Away, far away from here. Why? What's going to happen? Is something going to happen? When? How?

One ear perks up as she hear a voice close by, and she lifts her head up to blink slowly at Five, thankful for the distraction to her worrying thoughts. Her tail begins to wag behind her and she hobbles up to him with a friendly smile. Poor thing looks a bit distressed...maybe he needs a hand, trying to find or help someone? And who better than a mutt with a good nose?

Maybe it'll help calm her own nerves, too.]

Edited 2019-04-17 01:50 (UTC)

[Five notices the rustling almost immediately, fading out his own muttering deliberately slowly to get a bead on the movements without arousing suspicion. It sounds like something large and fast, putting him on edge. At some point, he casually pauses to pick up a large stick, testing its weight in his hand briefly before moving on with it like it's nothing but a walking stick.

He's just about ready to pretend to be hurt or something to draw out the danger on his own terms, instead of waiting for it to strike, when it steps into the path of its own accord. He stops in his tracks. It's, well. Frankly, he's never seen a wolf up close, let alone one so... white. Nothing larger than a rat had survived the apocalypse, after all. And of course he'd kept a weapon on him at all times anyway, always ready to defend them and their supplies, but.

Nothing ever found him.

And then the wolf moves towards him and his hand tightens on the stick, but he doesn't lift it yet. Kinda wants to see what it's going to do, maybe.]

If you're hungry, I suggest you look elsewhere...

[The moment she notices the shift in Five's body posture - the tension of his muscles, the intensity of his eyes - and pauses as she comes closer, looking first behind her after he speaks and then laying down with a low whine. This is always such a strange thing to encounter - someone that's afraid of her. It makes...sense? Kind of?? She is, technically, a wild animal, a wolf, and other places don't have the Story of Nagi and Shiranui to bolster their affection of bests like herself. Sigh, just someone she has to overcome.

But, she waits, panting softly, and thumping her tail on the ground as she looks idly at Five and tries to look as nonthreatening as possible. Perhaps a friendly smile as well? She licks her nose, then pulls up her lips into a pleasant, canine smile as she makes another soft whine, scooting forward another inch before waiting again.

Sue her, she's impatient.]

[The problem these two are facing here is that Five just doesn't have any real experience with canine body language. In fact, his experience can probably be summed up with 'ran into a dog in the park once or twice when he was a kid'. Obviously the old man wasn't ever gonna allow something as trivial as a pet in his house full of excitable children, and wolves don't exactly have a tendency to be master criminals or crucial cogs in the timeline that need assassinating.

Of course, since he wasn't allowed one, he'd always thought dogs were kind of neat.

But this isn't a dog, it's a wolf, and it's laying down and whining at him?]

Are you hurt or something? I don't-- [He frowns, puzzled, and takes a cautious step forward, driven by curiosity.] Are you by yourself? [Yeah, like it's gonna answer, tell him its life story. He quickly scans the treeline again, looking for more wolves, or an owner, or something.]

[It doesn't answer, not in the way one would expect, but Ammy does nod her head at the question. She is alone, yes, and while not hurt necessarily, her senses are going absolutely mental. The fur on her back and neck seems to point up and fluff out, her skin twitching and tensing here and there. Every muscle in her body seems tense and coiled, like she's ready to just spring up and away at a second's notice, and her ears keep flicking and turning to each tiny vibration in the earth that she can feel.

All her natural instincts are telling her that something is coming, something bad, and she's battling her more intelligent, almost human side for control. It's like a constant anxiety, a feeling Ammy has never had before, and it's exhausting... She pants a little, and cranes her neck toward Five - without moving from her spot - to try and lick his hands.]

[Okay, so. This wolf definitely just nodded at him, right? That sure happened. Which doesn't fail to draw his curiosity even more, despite the obvious nervous tension the wolf is showing. Against his better judgement, he closes the distance and reaches out one hand carefully.

And flinches back, startled by the warm wetness of the wolf's tongue and shit, those are some serious teeth! But it's not making any other moves and he wipes his hand on his shorts, almost a little sheepish about his own reaction. He's usually more put together than this.]

Hey, no licking, okay? We got a deal? [And he searches the wolf's face for a spark of recognition.]

[There's a soft noise of discontent, because not licking is...really hard for this overly affectionate canine, but she nods her head again and stands up at long last, shaking her fur free of dust and sand, one legs coming up to dislodge a few pebble that tangled into the fur on her belly. Her tail wags, and instead of licking, she just gives Five a few curious sniffs, trying to get a good read on his scent and memorize it. It'll take more than one interaction, but she can at least put it in her mind for right now...in case they get separated.

Speaking of, he was calling out to someone before. Is he lost? It's about the time newcomers show up, she thinks (time is weird for an ageless being), so maybe he's confused? Oh boy...it's always hard for her to be the one to find the newcomers, given Ammy's aversion to speaking human language. She can do it, but boy does she try not to. And...oof, getting Five to someone who'd be able to is going to be a task as well, what with her nerves being so shot, and her internal compass trying to lead her out to the shores.

Bleh, what a conundrum...]

[The wolf acknowledges his terms and Five feels extremely vindicated; he knew it was sapient! That wasn't just his imagination. How remarkable, though perhaps slightly less so for someone who grew up with a talking chimpanzee in the house. Still, you don't get that many intelligent animals where he's from.

He's almost ready to give into the curious temptation to run a hand across the wolf's fur when it suddenly stands up and he too straightens up, all business again. He offers his hand for the sniffing, wondering what sort of information about him it can gather from that.

Obviously he's not disappointed he didn't get to pet the wolf, that would be silly.]

Got somewhere to be, huh? Yeah, me too. I'm looking for my brothers and sisters, they must have come through with me.

[If he wants to per her, he's more than welcome - the wolf seems to give off a pleasantly warm radiance, something akin to a sunbeam...or a toasty fire. Never overly hot, just comfortingly warm. It makes her actually quite nice to pet, and more so to hug, and for this lovable pup? She enjoys all the attention she can get.

Though she saw that reach, young man, it doesn't take much for Ammy to know that people tend to want to pet a dog that they happen upon. It's just instinct, like it is for her to sniff people when she first meets them. Thankfully, after she is done sniffing, she bumps her head into his palm to invite those fingers to give a few scritches or pets if he so desires. Go ahead, son, you deserve some puppy love in the most literal of ways.]

Hrrn? [Brothers? Sisters? Oof, that's no good... If they're lost, especially now, it's not great. Something bad feels like its coming, and Ammy's been on edge since a few days ago. Maybe she can help find them? Her sniffer is pretty good, even with the foot traffic around the island recently. If he has anything of theirs that may have a scent, she could try to track them.]

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April Intro: Better Get to Digging

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