May Intro: I'll Be Scrolling Through Your Shrine

[lifeaftr_mods]

INTRO LOG: MAY

Who: New arrivals, and you!
What: New souls arrive to the archipelago of LifeAftr
When: May 4th and onward
Where: Ensō
Warnings: Mark as needed!

With potentially odd dreams connecting you to people you've never met, in addition to the dream-lecture only recently received from a horned rabbit, LifeAftr surely doesn't need to try to be disconcerting upon arrival - and yet, it somehow continues to go the extra mile. While new arrivals will find themselves upon the now (mostly) safe shores of Ensō, there is one, small problem with where, precisely, they've happened to appear.

Chamber of Glyphs: It Was Written On Your Wall
Within the temple of the Storyteller, one may find a very special room. Betwixt the reality of waking and dreams, the Chamber of Glyphs appears to hold many unique features that allow it to appear wherever one may seek it, both in waking and sleep.

It is not, however, a good room to arrive within. Those seeking out the newest members of LifeAftr's adventuring party - and those who are simply looking to draw - will be greeted, upon entering the Chamber of Glyphs, with the most alarming sight. The small pile of backpacks, unattended, might be the first thing you notice, as well as the fact that they all seem to be adorned with names of those you might not know. Or the names of those that you do, but haven't seen in some time. Perhaps you met them in a dream...

And those of you who are newly arrived, you'll be able to see them searching. Unable to break the barrier between you with sound, you might feel the urge to wave your hands for attention, attracting searching eyes to the walls. Walls that you are now a part of. Hopefully this reduction to the second dimension is only temporary. Those who took part in April's Test Drive Meme may have the benefit of familiarity, for what is etched onto the walls of the Chamber are never lacking life, regardless of the matter used to draw, paint, or sketch those contents.

With maneuverability somewhat akin to a sidescroller - always left or right, up and down, but never outward - the variety of scenes, animals, places, objects, and more are simply all the more to your advantage. Leap to the vantage point necessary to be noticed, as your fellow adventurers may be able to help you out of this predicament with a simple offer of their hand to tug you off the wall. It's an easy solution to your predicament, at least! All they need to do is take your hand to free you from your two-dimensional containment.

If it proves more difficult...well, at the least they know you're there to point out thanks to a very tired Storyteller, who will be certain to let anyone in the vicinity know that you're in need of help within the Chamber of Glyphs, before one of the many, many monsters that have been scribbled onto stone lay claim to you instead.

What kind of monsters, you ask? All of them, of course.

Ensō: Rain Hell
But maybe you don't wake up written on the walls! Maybe you're just relieved to get unstuck from those walls and need a breath of fresh air. Or maybe you don't have any reason to go poking around in search of new arrivals at all. That does not mean, however, that you won't be encountering a new arrival of your own in the interim.

The sky is clouded over and gray, despite the sun overhead and the generally warm weather. The nights are filmed over with a screen of pale dust. This has little to do with the forecast and more to do with the volcanic eruption that occurred just a few weeks prior, on another island in the archipelago. You don't need to worry about the nature of the ash still drifting on the wind currents - aside from the more standard obstruction of sight and airways, it is, at this point, more or less perfectly ordinary. Though if you've got some fragile lungs, you might want to stay out of it as much as possible.

More important is the creature that the hazy cast of ash and dust has coaxed out of hiding. Perhaps you've heard of it in folklore: resplendent with dark gray, furry wings, and glistening red eyes. Or, perhaps, you're less fortunate, and you've no cultural experience regarding the strange monster known colloquially only as...Mothman. At over seven feet tall and with a wingspan of about fifteen feet, the Mothman makes for far more fearsome a sight than it does a threat. For all intents and purposes, despite the devilish red of its glowing eyes and its large, hairy stature, the Mothman is ultimately quite harmless. It does, however, tend to inspire paranoia in fear in the hearts and minds of those it encounters. And this smokescreen in the air has created the perfect environment for it to hunt.

It doesn't want your flesh, or your bones, or anything so base. It only wants your mind, in a sense; your fear and whatever primal terror it may ignite by preying on your paranoia. It will stalk you, rustling the leaves behind you, snapping twigs to your left, allowing you a glimpse of bright crimson eyes before dispersing into the surrounding, ashy murk. The good news is that once it has you scared, it has no intention of sticking around - and its wings makes it incredibly fast, when it wants to be. Anyone who attempts to attack it directly will discover just how speedy it can be, assuming that the air from its wingbeats don't end up pinning you flat to the ground from the sheer force.

The Mothman can be killed, most likely...but there are a lot of you, and only one cryptid for an entire island. It's not likely to want to stay in one place if it feels it's outnumbered, or that it's about to be attacked by someone who isn't so easily stricken by the fear and suspicion it endeavors to ignite. Those who wish to escape it can at least take heart in the fact that the Mothman abhors open spaces, largely preferring the sanctuary of woodland and greenery; all one has to do is reach Ensō's shores to be largely safe from its influence.

Though you could try killing it too, of course. If you wanted.

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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!

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

Michael | OTA

[eudaimonikos]

a: everything is fine

[Michael - once he figures out what the deal with the Chamber of Glyphs is - figures that his duty here is pretty obvious. He is well-accustomed to the whole "welcoming people to another world" thing. Sure, he's got a little less control here. They're already going to be freaked out over the cartoon monsters in there. But they deserve a friendly, unflappable face.

So he'll spend a while pacing up and down the walls, offering a hand to any lost people he sees.]

Hi, I'm Michael. Welcome to the islands - watch your step. [Coming out of a wall seems a little precarious maybe?]

b: enter the mothman

[Michael, as it happens, isn't quite so easily overcome by the creature's aura of fear and paranoia.

The paranoia's one thing. Anxiety gnaws at his gut as he stalks through the woods, posture rigid and hands curled into fists. But even with his new bodily needs, even with the limits on his powers, isn't he still a demon? He refuses to be afraid of some thing in the woods that couldn't even really kill him! It's his job to see to exactly this sort of problem.

Not...not with violence, perhaps. He'll think about that if he ever actually catches it.]

Hey! Is this some kind of a joke to you?

[He follows the flashes of movement he can see, too intent on making this thing stop to be dissuaded by its aura. There was a time when he was the thing lurking in the background, giving people stomachaches. It isn't funny.]

b

[sandsister]

[It's when she's alone that paranoia blooms. When she doesn't have Cent by her side, telling her all kinds of amazing facts, or the kids asking her a million different question, it gets quiet and when that quiet comes-

She thinks about her sisters, their childhood together, the weird blurry way the pieces fit together. She thinks about what their parents were like. Thinks about whether or not she's doing right by the kids she's adopted, if Cent liked dinner last night, if One was getting enough fresh air and-

She has the same feeling now, wandering through the woods. Something is watching her and she can't shake a fear she knows she shouldn't feel. Cent's gotta be around her and as long as he's nearby, she's got nothing to be scared of and-

Someone's voice cuts through her thoughts, making her immediately pull out her big ole sword, but it's just a person??]

Hey, are you okay?

[eudaimonikos]

[Oh, hey, that's a big sword! Michael doesn't seem particularly alarmed by it; if anything, it's useful that someone around here is armed.]

Yeah, I'm fine. Did you see a big, vague thing with red eyes fly through here?

[sandsister]

[At that, she glances at their surroundings, hoping to catch a glimpse of said weird creature. She sure didn't see it before?? It would explain that weird, prickly feeling she has on the back of her neck though.]

Like some kind of monster? No, but you better stick by me in case it comes back.

[eudaimonikos]

[..........]

Yeah, I guess I should. You gonna go after it...?

[sandsister]

It hasn't attacked anyone, has it? Doesn't seem right to hunt it down.

[People are getting nervous and antsy, her included, but she doesn't think anyone's being harmed.]

Is it dangerous?

[eudaimonikos]

I don't want to kill it. I just want it to go back wherever it came from, it's just screwing with the humans!

[It's mean.]

[sandsister]

Is it? What's it doing?

[That's a different story entirely-if it's messing with people, they need to get rid of it and she's more than happy to kill it for that cause. ]

Soooo what? Are you not human then?

[eudaimonikos]

Stalking people, peering at them from the trees and ash with glowing red eyes...might have some kind of fear aura to it.

[He can pick up on shit like that sometimes! It's literal.]

No, of course not.

[sandsister]

It's scaring all these nice people? That's not very nice at all. I'll find a way to take care of it.

[She's curious about this dude though-if he's not human, then-]

What are you? Some kinda weird golem?

[eudaimonikos]

This body is a construct. But no, I'm a demon.

[sandsister]

[Is...he?

She knows those types of creatures can take many forms, but dang. He looks about as human as human can get.]

Whoa, really? You totally look like a human, but I guess I do too. We're pretty lucky, huh? Can you imagine looking like a dragon or something?

[That sounds cool, actually.]

[eudaimonikos]

I've looked like a lava monster before. I can't say I cared for it, that's a very unwieldy form.

[And her...well, that's not a human, but fuck if he knows what it is.]

What're you?

[sandsister]

For real? Better it was hard to cool down like that, huh?

[But, look! There's a q she can answer.]

I'm an Intoner-it's like, you know, like the legends. I'm a goddess.

[eudaimonikos]

Heat never bothered me anyway.

[A goddess? Eh, not really any of those where he's from. You could count the Judge, maybe, but he sure as hell doesn't.]

We don't have any legends about Intoners. That's really a human thing anyway, you know?

[sandsister]

[The amount of people who don't know what Intoners are is shocking and bizarre. Yeah, the legends only started getting passed around, but it's still a culture shock to have people not know her.]

Guess I don't know much about demons either, but I'll be One does. She knows everything. I'll ask her if we're like, distant cousins or something when she shows up.

b.

[a_shadow]

You've seen it too, haven't you. That thing.

[ She studies the direction Michael called out in, trying to see if she can catch another glimpse. ]

I'm trying to figure out if it's sentient.

[eudaimonikos]

Seems sentient. It's not hunting people for food, it's just fucking with them.

[He knows the type. Although, you know, maybe he's reading a lot into this.]

[a_shadow]

If it's sentient it doesn't seem right to just kill it.

[ Tex didn't used to have such compunctions in the past but she tries to do better these days. If something needed killing, she'd just kill it, but now she gives it at least this much thought. ]

[eudaimonikos]

It's not. But we shouldn't just let it keep doing what it's doing. We should make contact, or else just chase it off.

[a_shadow]

You're right.

[ She pauses. ]

How are we going to do that? The contact part, I mean.

[eudaimonikos]

Apparently not by yelling. Do you think it likes fire...?

[a_shadow]

Usually wild creatures are afraid of fire.

[ Tex doesn't realize this is a moth-based creature and would probably love fire. ]

[eudaimonikos]

It's like a big bug, though. Or maybe a bat...?

[One of those likes fire!]

[a_shadow]

[ She gives him a quick look. ]

You really think that'll work?