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

...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.]

Probably depends on the tree. [Listen, Ginko is glad to talk about Nymph Bullshit. Maybe because it was one of the only things on Ryslig that reminded him of his own world, of the workings of mountains and their gods and the natural order, and he had to focus on something familiar so that he didn't just feel completely lost - but, whatever the reason, he's glad to talk about it.

He nods to Hector when they reach the mana pool.] After you.

You should ask him.

[Oh, the possibilities. The shenanigans to be had. Maybe he'll go out and tell jokes to random trees just to see if Epsilon figures it out. Haha.

He plucks a petal and tosses it in a second before he tosses himself in, thinking of his destination instead of saying it. Islet One, here they come!]

Or you could ask him yourself, whenever you meet in person. [Which, let's be real, is bound to happen sooner rather than later.

Ginko follows close behind, making a face as they arrive on the islet and he gets a look at the bridge between them and Hector's shack. Still doesn't trust those things!!] Too bad not all the islets have mana pools.

Or I could do that.

[It clicks after a moment of looking at Ginko and the bridge. He can't even remember being afraid to fall... well, as long as he's on something more sturdy than a cat's tail, that is. He doesn't weigh much, the bridge could probably hold five of him!]

Oh. You don't like heights. ...You don't have to come, it's not that far.

It's not a problem. [He answers very quickly. It really isn't. He can handle a few bridges, even if he won't like it.] Like you said, it's not that far.

Edited 2019-06-10 06:25 (UTC)

[One can never be sure what will be asking too much of a person, making them give up on you forever--and this is so not important. Really really not an emergency, not like a way home might be.]

Relax, I can see it from here, I'm not going to get lost.

I know you won't. [Unfortunately, where Hector might be worried about asking too much, Ginko can never seem to shake the feeling that he's not doing enough. On the other hand, he doesn't want to piss Hector off by pushing too hard.

He's practiced enough at controlling his expressions that his indecision might not show on his face - but his more recently-gained troll attributes are another story. His ears flick back and then down, and his tail gives a couple quick thumps against the ground.] It'd feel pretty ridiculous to leave when it is this close.

Edited 2019-06-13 20:59 (UTC)

Uh, if you're sure. It's not, though.

[Not ridiculous, he means. Third time's the charm? He's not going to say no three times, that's generally always been good rule to follow. He starts across, much less nervous than Ginko.]

I am sure. [He is!!

He pauses again, then takes a breath and starts across, his hands shoved into his pockets and eye set solidly on the stone bridge in front of him. The bridges here are far from the worst he's had to cross - by all rights, it shouldn't be a problem at all.

In reality, he kind of rushes across and doesn't ease up at all until he's on the other side. But he sure as hell did cross.]

[That they did, and the bridge didn't snap. Everything's fine! Héctor waves an arm in the right direction, apparently deciding there's no need to slow down. He'll always be tired, taking it easy only improves it so much. There are worse things!

And when they make it all the way to his adorable little cob house, he's just going to flop onto Pepe the tigerlily instead of a chair or his hammock. Good cushiony friend.

What... now...]

Thanks again.

[Ginko follows behind Hector the rest of the way to his house without a word, his hands not leaving his pockets the whole time. That's where they live now because he sure as hell doesn't know what to do with them.

He slows to a stop as Hector flops down, kind of-- hovering awkwardly nearby. Maybe following him the rest of the way was a bad idea after all, but it's a little late to fix that maybe-mistake. So, now, he should probably keep this from getting any more awkward.

Ginko nods slightly, giving a brief smile.] No problem. I, uh, just hope I didn't bother you too much - and I can get out of your hair now, in any case.

[And just get over that last bridge between Hector's house and his.]

[It wasn't awkward until Ginko made it awkward!! And he doesn't have refreshments to offer... not so much as a drink of (potable) water. The only food here is tigerlily food, raw ears of corn, plain flour, and a single sad weed.]

Uh, if you want. You can stick around, it's fine.

[It'll be a dark day when he tells somebody he likes to go away, won't it?]

[Yeah well that sure is the problem huh!! Fortunately, he definitely doesn't expect any refreshments, seeing as how he just kind of followed Hector to his house. Not exactly an organized visit.

But now he is here, and Hector seems okay with that? So he nods slowly, and sits down on the floor. Believe it or not, that part isn't the result of any kind of anxiety, it's just that he's fully comfortable sitting on floors. The fluffy end of his tail swishes back and forth on the ground.] ...If you're sure. I, uh-- should probably catch my breath, anyway.

[He knows he can't completely hide how much he hates these bridges.]

[At least he has furniture now--two chairs and a table, more for playing cards than anything like eating. That's for the living, unless a monster's been messing with the food.

But hey, sometimes you have to sit on the floor. Or on a plantcat named Pepe.]

Yeah, you with the lungs.

[Haha.]

[He snorts quietly and crosses his legs, so he can lean forward and rest his elbows on them.] Yep, gotta give those their due.

[Ginko pauses, considering if he should avoid asking his next question - but, hey, conversation is probably better than sitting in silence. And Hector generally seems alright answering questions about his... biology, if it can be called that.] You ever miss breathing, things like that?

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