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

The ash burns in Five's throat, in his eyes, making them sting and water and he wipes a shaking hand across his face. There's so much, so much destruction enveloping him, the scale of it, the people, his family--

But there's no ash.

He hears a voice and flinches away, his hands digging further into the dirt as he almost loses his balance. He was just, just alone, where did-- how did--

His horrified stare finally sort of meets the stranger's, and after another moment a few hoarse words follow.

"Who are you?" Sure, that's an intelligent question entirely relevant to the situation at hand.

This is a situation where it is very, very good that Kravitz no longer directly answers that question with 'I'm the grim reaper', because in this situation he would be fought to the death immediately. It's also just not a comfort for people at pretty much any point, so he's going to rephrase.

"Another resident here. Someone displaced from another world, like the group of us." He takes a step forward, though he is still a bit crouched as he gestures to the pile. "Do you know if someone is down there?"

Another world. Displaced residents...? The information trickles through his mind at a painful crawl, everything so much slower, so muted, as if the horror is unwilling to release its hold on him. But this isn't the end of the world. Of course not. It was just an earthquake on an island on a planet in a universe different from his own. So get it together.

He takes a shaky breath. Blinks the dust out of his eyes and turns his gaze back on the pile as if he's seeing it for the first time. "I-- No, I didn't see anyone." Then why was he digging? Suddenly it becomes imperative that he gets out of the rubble and he stumbles to his feet, a jerky movement he instantly regrets as he curls around a sharp pain in his side. Goddamnit.

He moves forward when it seems he's injured, reaching for Five's shoulder to steady him as he moves. "It's alright, things have been uhm-- sudden, lately." Kravitz knows he sounds like a total idiot, but he either has all the words or None Of Them and it looks like we're in bucket B right now.

In the meantime, he tries to get a look at Five's face, see if there's someone he can recognize. "Did you just arrive?"

Yeah the last thing Five needs right now is some stranger getting handsy with him and he pulls back immediately, almost falling again as his feet slip on the loose gravel. But he keeps his balance this time, pressing a hand to his side. "It's nothing," he snaps, even as he feels his shirt sticking to his skin underneath the vest. He must have torn a stitch when he was-- escaping the earthquake, or shifting debris around. He can fix it later.

Right now he just needs to get away. Isn't even really aware he was asked a question. It's just, it's disorienting, the upturned earth still covering every direction. Doesn't matter. Five picks a direction and staggers off, jaw set in determination.

Kravitz freezes as soon as things go wrong, even though he can't just abide on them waltzing off when they're obviously in trouble. It would be one thing if it was an adult, but a hurt and scared kid? Well he has to at least try.

He jogs after, not touching, but not abandoning him either. "There's a clinic here, you know. Or healers." At least this time he's a lot more aware of his hands and where he's putting them, trying to make it so he doesn't push Five away more. "There's no need to strain yourself."

It's too much, it's just all too much, the cold sweat and racing pulse like he's scared, and the pain in his side, and the rubble slowing him down and he doesn't have time for this. He needs to be anywhere but here, he needs to find his family, he needs to get back.

The stranger's concern is the last straw, makes his back crawl like he's being followed not by a person, but by a ghost. He wheels around on him furiously.

"Are you deaf? I don't need help!" And the next step Five takes has him disappearing in a flash, instantly reappearing a good distance away where he's finally spotted the edge of the landslide.

A ghost would be appropriate, under certain circumstances. After all, if Five knew who Kravitz was, or had he been met by the ghastly skeleton that might have been on the other side of his little dimension hopping stunt. There are a million bad ways this interaction could have gone, and neither of them really know, but at least they're not fistfighting on the beach. At least.

But seeing as they almost get there and Five makes his intent very known, Kravitz slows his roll, the faster pace he was keeping up deescalating to a walk, then stop. Okay, well-- that's about as much effort as he was going to put into this. If he's determined not to speak to him, that's just how it is.

So Kravitz shrugs, turns around, and takes his leave as well. Maybe he'll see them again when they're in a better mood. Who knows.

April Intro: Better Get to Digging

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