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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[Well, that's... hm. Okay, sure, we're doing this. Kravitz opens his mouth once, closes it again, and takes a breath. He's staved off going for titles recently, seeing as when he tried casting them around when he arrived he was met with many, many unhappy people, but this is a specific circumstance.

He straightens his back, the way one might when conducting some kind of deal.]

Not especially. My role as the emissary of death left me dealing primarily with escaped souls. Most people here have recognized the term grim reaper best.

[So y'know. Scythe. He lost the skeleton bits thanks to this island but they're there, he promises.]

[Huh. As far as Michael's concerned, the Grim Reaper's some human story. He mirrors the business-like stance, a habit that's easy to fall into with so many years of hellish office work behind him.]

We don't have have a need for that. The humans gets funneled straight into processing, they don't ever have a chance to escape.

[It's a cold term, for a cold system.

Now, Michael's not exactly the most law-abiding afterlife denizen out there. There actually have been four escaped souls in the history of his world, and he was directly responsible for that. So, you know, great to meet a fucking cop!]

[Sir do you have a permit for those souls, sir, SIR DO YOU HAVE DOCUMENTATION OF YOUR TRANSFER, SIR WHERE IS YOUR LICENSE AND REGISTRATION

Ironically, this is a little... weird, for him? Kravitz has never had coworkers, or any other assistance other than that of his Lady. He gets the souls, he keeps the bad ones in lockup, he chases the real assholes down... it's a lot of work for one man. A whole system seems nice but too complex for him to run on his own.]

In that case, I imagine you live in a world where necromancy doesn't exist, at which point I am exceedingly jealous.

[His posture relaxes somewhat, not bothering to summon his tome and get possibly more than he bargained for. Yet.]

So you can simply conjure anything you wish? Even here? I've found this place does not take kindly to otherworldly abilities.

[HIS LICENSE IS HE LOVES THEM]

It feels a little iffy. Still works better than it does on Earth...even our powers can't function there, so there's definitely no necromancy. Well - no real necromancy. Humans will still try a lot of rituals with bones!

[Does, uh, does interfering in Earth's timeline so that people who had died end up never having died count as necromancy? Because. Well, technically he did have legal authority on that one.]

[SIR

He has no ground to stand on anyway when he's already promised to kidnap someone from their world here and intends on keeping it, soooo oops. And look, timeline shenanigans? Not necromancy, but dicey. Not one of the things that makes his Goddess happy, at least.]

That sounds so much simpler.

[He would love for his biggest problems to be idiots with bones.]

This world has a restriction on magic of any kind, so you will likely find yourself exhausted or worse if you attempt to use your full skillset. It... was an adjustment, to be certain. Perhaps monitor yourself at first.

I'll keep that in mind.

[Like, kinda]

I do feel a little more bound to this body than usual...but that's fine, I like it. [Thoughtfully, he roots around in his bag and pulls out a large leather-bound book to flip through.]

[Kravitz opens his mouth and shuts it again at least once. Is that. Is. No, it can't be. All other questions he might ask have been thrown out the window in favor of confirming if that's what he thinks it is.]

Is that-- don't tell me that's your book of the dead.

[This feels eerie. Is this why it was so weird when he just started looking up people's death crimes right in front of them, because he never expected to be in this role reversal.]

[Michael stops, looking up at Kravitz.]

It's my Book of the Dougs.

[And, well, it's not technically his. Except he has it now, so.]

The majority of them are dead, at this point.

It. Y-- what?

[He doesn't even have a good answer for this. He's lost track of what's going on so heavily, he's just gone.]

I don't. I. What does it do?

Keeps track of the Dougs.

[Obviously?]

Like, here...ah. Doug Washington, of Verona, Illinois, just cut somebody off in traffic. That's a negative twelve points. But! [He slams the book shut again, smiling sharply.] The universe is an uncaring machine and the points don't matter!

You have a book that only tracks people named Doug? Why do you only need information on them?

[With a wave of his hand, a large black tome appears, floating gently in front of him. It's as gauche as it sounds and absolutely has skulls on it, because Kravitz does nothing by half measures.]

I can assure you, if my book tracked only Dougs, I'd have a much harder time doing my job.

[Michael bristles. He's not even sure why, the tracking system is not even remotely his design and at this point he actively dislikes everyone who did design it.]

I don't carry every single book around with me. The rest of them are still in Accounting, I just needed to reference a Doug.

Oh. Hm. That's... quite a system.

[He's really not used to the idea that this place he comes from has like, more people running it than just one. But that still leaves more questions here.]

Do you have to go somewhere to get that, though? By the sound of it you may travel a little less, so that would make more sense.

It's not typical for us to leave our areas of the afterlife. I only went to Accounting to check on some things. [.....] Doug things.

[He just shrugs. Okay, sure, that tracks in whatever universe he's operating in, he doesn't need to have some kind of dick measuring contest here.

... Even if he wants to like, a little bit, for no other reason than the act of flexing on someone.]

Right, right. I find myself spending more time outside of the Astral Plane, myself. My job lends itself further towards finding convicts than keeping the peace for souls.

[He's just now realizing this has been a very weird conversation though, and maybe he should... correct that somehow? Hm.]

Ah. All that is to say, we... may have gotten off on the wrong foot here. Welcome to the archipelago of Lifeaftr. You're rather far from your home no matter what.

[Oh. Hm. Convicts. That could be weird, so Michael seizes on the opportunity to continue not discussing, like, any of his recent activities.]

Yeah, not a fan! I was a little bit busy.

As were most of us. And yet.

[Here they are, trapped in Furby hell. Sometimes it fuckin' be like that.]

Well. My apologies for the, ah... abrupt address, here. Do you need anything, or would you like to continue with your, uhm...

[He gestures uselessly to the Lorby. He might know what they are, but it hasn't stopped unsettling him, so here we are.]

[He holds up the lorby as if for inspection. It purrs loudly.]

Do you have any idea how many real animals I've touched? It's maybe three, including this one.

Oh. Uhm. No.

[Why hasn't he touched?? Animals?? Are there no animals in the afterlife for him?

He needs to go like, lie down for a while.]

Well, I hope you're having fun then. Do try to avoid them screaming. It causes some, uhm, mild unconsciousness. Not the best thing to experience.

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April Intro: Better Get to Digging

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