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 )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He takes a deep breath in, out, making all those loose ribs rattle, and looks slightly less... manic. It's all good, he can wobble on back to his islet and hang out with the tigerlily. What doesn't kill you...]

Eh, I don't have any muscles, there's not much I can do anyway.

[That looks like an improvement, at least.]

All the more reason for you to get home. I'll walk you back.

[Which will mean walking over that godawful bridge between the islets, but that's... fine. He can deal with that.]

[He does have an adorable little cob house and it is so not his home. Not now, not ever.]

If you want to.

[Surely he's had enough rotten luck for the next week or so and he'll make it back safe!]

I do. [High-up bridge or not, he'd rather not leave Hector to walk home on his own after having been trapped in a cave-in by himself for so long.] Want to get going?

[He'll... allow that. Choose to believe no one else needs dug out by a rock-hurling trolldude and get going.]

Right, let's move before it starts up again or something.

Good call.

[He starts in the general direction of the mana pool, moving slowly to make sure that Hector can keep up without a problem.] Let me know how you're holding up as we go, alright?

[There's no reason he shouldn't be able to keep up--his broken bones were healed long ago, though his right foot still has an annoying tendency to turn inwards and his fibula pops out occasionally. Doesn't seem to slow him down any.]

I'm fine. I'll be fine. It's not a big deal.

...If you're sure.

[He doesn't believe Hector for a second, but it's not like pushing will get him to admit much of anything - about how being stuck in the cave-in might have shaken him up, or anything else that could be bothering him.

If it weren't for those damned flowers, Ginko suspects he wouldn't even know Hector well enough to be able to guess that more was wrong here than he was letting on at all.

With asking about Hector's condition being out of the question, though, Ginko can't think of much else to say, being... kind of incompetent at small talk. So he goes quiet, and opts to just... wait and see if there's anything Hector wants to bring up on his own while they walk.]

[If it weren't for those damn flowers, indeed. There's no point in talking about it when every single person with him is as trapped as he is. There's a gaping hole inside of him and nothing they can say to him will fill it. Why drag everyone else down? Just redefine okay, and keep holding on, because it isn't going to kill him.

They walk for a little while before he says anything.]

...So what's Epsilon like?

[Given the opportunity, maybe, someday, Ginko will be able to tell Hector how glad he is that they did end up getting to know each other... even if the circumstances absolutely sucked. The risk of getting 'dragged down' has never really stopped him from latching onto the opportunity to maybe help someone, even if just a little, and he doesn't intend to let it now.

Ginko's expression brightens, though, when Hector speaks up again.] Epsilon? He's a pretty great guy; probably one of the most patient people I've ever met, especially considering what kind of crap he's been dealing with for... most of the time we've known each other. [You know. The whole horrible monster peninsula thing.] I think you'll get along. You'd have a hard time finding someone more compassionate or easier to talk to.

[Maybe he should exercise a little more discretion in how he talks about Epsilon, but-- listen. He's only speaking the truth here. There's nothing weird or suspicious about that, and it's fine.]

Oh, just, uh-- remember that wood, paper - things like that make him pretty uncomfortable. Part of being a nymph.

[Oh.

Oh no.

This is precious. He's struck gold.]

Right, right, I don't take books out of the library anyway. He's easier to talk to than the other robot?

[Ginko... absolutely fails to notice that Hector has picked up on anything about how he talks about Epsilon.] I'd say so, yeah. I guess he's just... made to be good with humans.

[As comforting to talk to as he is stunning to look at. And he doesn't even seem to notice how he draws attention to himself, simply by being.]

He's funny, too, in his own way. I'd say that might help put people at ease, but that part might just be me. [After all, Epsilon's sense of humor matches up pretty well with his own, and he has... gotten the impression that a lot of people don't love his.]

[It's more real and solid than his idiotic 'charming' grin, honestly.

...Making people is all kinds of disturbing, but what's done is done and that's not Epsilon's fault.]

How long have you two known each other? I think he said he's been here before.

[Honestly it is super weird, he's got that right.

At least Hector seems to be enjoying the conversation.]

Ha. That depends on how you look at it; he has been here before, yeah. But not, uh, consistently.

From my point of view, I first met him around... two and a half years ago, I'd say? [He chuffs softly, a gravelly sound from the back of his throat.] By his count, though, it'd be more like a year.

[...Two year's worth of feeling like this toward someone who's only known him half that time. Put that way, saying he's out of line seems like something of an understatement. His smile falters, but doesn't fade entirely.] Make of that what you will.

[He's not judging. People have married quicker than that, back in his day, and one year is a lot longer when you're going through so much nonsense together.]

How's he dealing with, ah, not being a machine anymore...?

...Better than he could be, so far as I can tell. It probably helps that he ended up a nymph. He still gains energy from sunlight, and the... connection he has to plants reminds him of communicating with other robots with-- [Give him a moment to remember the term.] --uh, electromagnetic transmissions, he's said.

I can't speak to the latter, but I ended up as a nymph for a short time back in Ryslig, and... I can certainly say it's pretty incredible. Easy as breathing. [He sounds kind of wistful, honestly.]

[Isn't that just another way of saying radio waves?? Because... that actually makes sense to a poor old tech-illiterate grandpa skele.]

Huh. What's it like?

[Maybe Ginko could've made that connection if he weren't even more tech-illiterate than Hector, but, as it is, all he can really do is repeat what he's been told.]

Pretty strange, for one thing. It's kind of like... mm. [The first comparison he thinks of - beyond the one Epsilon made - isn't going to make sense to Hector, he knows that much. No mushi in his world means no mugura.]

Nymphs don't have to talk or really... try, at all, to communicate with plants. It just happens. Sometimes they have to be in contact with them - I did - but, otherwise, they can send and receive information with a thought. It's, um... [He gestures vaguely for a couple moments, as if that will add to his point. He gives up and shoves his hands into his pockets.] Once the connection is made, it's like the information is just - there.

What's being said doesn't tend to be particularly complex, by our standards; trees will only relay what interests them, and that can be somewhat limited. [Given that. You know. They're trees.] But it's there, nonetheless. They may even be willing to do what small favors they can.

[That does sound kind of cool. He makes a mental note to ask Epsilon what kind of favors trees can do, with no way to move around and no hands??]

Nice. I think I'd rather talk to animals myself, you know? If I got to choose. Especially birds, I bet they see a lot.

[But not the mushi kind of animals!!!!]

[There's certainly a reason he described them as small favors.]

I suppose I could see that. Don't think I ever got around to asking any of the harpies I knew if they could talk to birds, but, if they could, I suppose it makes sense that they wouldn't need to be quite as vocal about it as nymphs.

[Don't worry about it, Hector, mushi aren't even animals.]]

Because people go around chopping down trees?

[Of course, people also eat birds... and eggs. And murder the trees they need to live in. Oh, well, that's life.]

Exactly. And making them into wood or paper and the like. Or just taking their anger out on them - that happened now and then in Ryslig. [And evidently has to do with why Ed and Ginko's adopted brother hated each other so much.]

It's a lot harder to avoid the results of trees being killed than to avoid a particular kind of meat. No wonder nymphs mostly tended to hang around each other, huh?

[Slowly but surely they're getting closer to the mana pool!]

Ah, yeah. Good point. Is it just trees or all plants?

[Because it's much easier to go vegan than the reverse... which is probably impossible, actually.]

[Nice to see that they're making progress - though Ginko can't complain too much about the conversation. Not often that he gets a chance to talk about Ryslig in a capacity that doesn't mostly involve how goddamn awful it was.]

They have a connection to all plants, but from what I recall it's mostly just trees that read as 'people'. Generally, the larger and more complex a plant is, the more intelligence a nymph will pick up on from it, and the stronger their empathy toward it will be.

Huh. That's good. For everyone who has to eat, anyway.

You think trees have a sense of humor?

[Not really relevant or important, but that's true of half the stuff he says. And he really, really doesn't want there to be silence, since Ginko's insisting on coming along.]

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