lifeaftr | August Intro: These Days Are Feeling Dark

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August Intro: These Days Are Feeling Dark

INTRO LOG: AUGUST

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

Our lucky new adventurers join the archipelago on a new chapter of our journey, with the new island of Nastrandir playing host to their arrival. With the events of last month leaving many questions in those more settled in LifeAftr, all will find they soon have…other things to think about.

New arrivals may awake at either of the locations listed below. Or they may wander!

A4: Show Me Distraction
In comparison to the warm welcome characters experienced on Io, the land of Nastrindir is not at all promising. The strip of coast hosting the mana pool is a scoop of rock and cliff, and rather unforgiving. To the east, however, it looks as though nearby wetlands leave the horizon lost in a foggy haze. The mana pool is generally a comforting, reliable constant on any island...generally. There looks to be something wrong with this one. The rocks surrounding it are blackened, various spots across their surface almost glass-like under the summer sun. After a brief inspection, most will probably gather that the pool has been set on fire in times past.

More annoying still is the tampering that's occured within the pool. The pool is partially obstructed, due to a blockage of tumbled rocks and boulders that seem to have fallen from the surrounding rocky landscape and toppled into the raised plinth. The choking of the mana water will make return trips to Ensō…inconvenient, to say the least. The rocks are an annoyance that will need to be removed before anyone will be travelling anywhere.

Also of note are the old statues that stand at opposing sides of the mana pool. In their prime, they may have towered a good fifteen or twenty feet tall. Now, however, one has been tipped onto its side, and there are large, crumbled chunks taken out of the other. Both look blackened, much like the mana pool, as though they were also set on fire at some point in their history. Whatever they may have meant to depict has been lost to time...but the parts of them that have survived look to represent smooth, rounded coils of something or another.

It might feel, to the particularly wary or those prone to paranoia, like these statues are watching you. Like they're representative of something else that might have its eye on you, even now.

Or they might not! It could be all in your head. What's way more important is the local flora in the vicinity. The parts of the land that have soil are currently host to some delightful plants that are known, colloquially, as candyplants. And, yes - they're exactly what they sound like.

Candyplants are odd plants that are not unlike a melon vine, except that their fruits take the form of giant candies. The candyfruit is quite edible, though much higher in sugar content than your more bog standard varieties of fruits and vegetables. The variation in the shapes and sizes and flavors is tremendous - some are shaped like fruit, and will have a very similar taste to the fruit they represent. The only exceptions are the ones that look rather like overgrown candy corn, which taste like...marshmallows, for some reason. But they still taste sweet, and they're still full of some of the nutrients you'd expect to find in ordinary fruit!

While candyplants are somewhat less sugary than their real candy equivalents, it's still not recommended that you gorge on them overmuch. They're probably pretty bad for your teeth, if you have any. Candyplants do keep for quite some time, though - particularly if dried, packed in jars, or otherwise preserved.

Candyplants grow in temperate areas near quantities of fresh water - which Nastrandir has in abundance. Most of them grow in shaded, open areas along the ground, like melons; plants that bear smaller candyfruits may instead behave like grapes and other climbing vines, especially when they would be otherwise crowded out by other ground plants. The plants and fruits are quite harmless, though the sweet, sugary smell that tends to linger around areas of rampant growth during hot weather can cause one hell of migraine.

B4: Snakes Are Biting at My Heels
Those who arrive a little ways away from the mana pool or find themselves daring enough to start exploring will end up on the B4 square, which is closer to the swampy environment more characteristic of Nastrandir's inland. The further east one progresses, the wetter and softer the ground underfoot will get, until you're slogging thigh-deep in freshwater algae and muck. It's pretty dirty work, but it's probably more advisable that you go roaming into the wetlands rather than sticking around in the rockier regions. - especially because those regions happen to be occupied.

That feeling of paranoia that may or may not have settled on the back of your neck on A4 will turn out to be justified. Flickers of motion in the corner of your eye, the sensation of something watching you, the clattering of pebbles and rocks sliding down the sloping inclines on Nastrandir's craggy landscape - all signs indicative that something else frequents this region.

And something does. Something large, scaly, and very hungry.

Rocobra have now been unlocked in the bestiary!

The spiny protrusions on this creature's long, sinuous body will make it quite difficult to distinguish from its surroundings; these beasts tend to disguise themselves as the surrounding mountain rock where they live. Mild chameleonic properties allow this predator to blend almost seamlessly in with a rocky environment of almost any texture and color. And, given the size of them, it's very possible you won't realize that you're stuck in one's coils until it's too late.

With thick, scaly hides, large jaws, and venomous teeth, the rocobra is deadly fast despite its significant bulk. Even at their smallest, the rocobra is often as thick as a tree trunk in girth, and can range from thirty to sixty feet in length. Rocobra specialize in draping themselves in a circle, concealing themselves among their surroundings, and waiting for unsuspecting prey to wander somewhere in their coils before drawing tight around them to constrict them into a slow and painful death, so they might be devoured.

The good news is that rocobra only ever hunt and live in solitude; it is highly unlikely you'll find more than one in any one area. Most cannot spit venom, but can deal a paralyzing strike with massive fangs that are just as likely to impale you as they are to poison you. The good news is that they do have a weakness, and that weakness is numbers - when there is more than one target for the rocobra to focus on, it can get hopelessly confused over who it should be striking first, and can be easily distracted and led along by a well-coordinated team or pair. It's advised that you strike it at the mouth, if possible, as those scales can be awfully hard to penetrate.

While the danger rocobra present is very real, that doesn't mean they're completely useless. Rocobra can potentially be harvested for venom, meat, or their tough, scaly hides.

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 plan was to find mountains. This didn't really end up working out so great.]

[Woodland. Fucking great. He's less on edge than he used to be, thanks to living off the coast of Ensō for two years now. Having to make his way through jungles and forests and god knows what else just to get by has been a necessity, but it still doesn't make this terrain his fucking favorite to deal with.]

[He doesn't look happy about it. But Tim never looks happy.]

[Still, he feels for something in his pack, and withdraws a hatchet, just to be safe. That'll do.]

Let's move for that, yeah. Better than this.

[Of course Tim doesn't look happy. Neither of them has spoken about the children's disappearance, but it's a heavy silence.

Asgore finds the distraction of exploring helpful, far better than sitting home alone and thinking. He raises an eyebrow slightly at the hatchet, but doesn't comment.]

I think some of these mushrooms may be edible...

[He stoops slightly to check out a few, but doesn't linger long. It's clear that Tim wants to move on. Mountains were the agreement.]

This is probably just a sort of small valley. I'm sure we'll come out of the woods shortly.

[It's obvious, isn't it? That he doesn't want to be here. (He doesn't want to be here. Can't change that now.) That the woods put him on edge. They're different enough, from the woodlands of Alabama, but it's still not ideal.]

Maybe.

[If they move up, they might hit something easier to bear.]

At least this isn't a total loss. Edible mushrooms. Maybe we can pick some up on the way back. [Assuming something terrible doesn't happen ha ha.]

I will keep an eye out.

[It's clear that Tim has a preference - something rather stronger than a preference, even. Asgore doesn't know him well enough to begin guessing at why. It's just a shame that they didn't quite manage to stick to the mountainous region, as they had planned.]

Is there anything in particular you hoped to find up there?

More information, mostly. What this place is. What those statues were. Who would've tried to set a mana pool on fire, or tried to burn down the area, and why.

[Doesn't really expect to get any easy answers there, but that's the general spirit behind what distraction he can hurl himself into.]

[It's not much.]

A good place to look, then. The pictures did seem to indicate that there was some sort of snake-shaped god in this place - perhaps up in the mountains.

[He doesn't want to make assumptions, but that seems like a pretty obvious interpretation.]

Although I do not think we can begin to guess at the cause of the fires. Strange, to try to burn a mana pool. [it's. it's water.]

Maybe it was explosives or something. We've got no idea how advanced these people are.

[A bug whines as it buzzes too close to his neck, and Tim smacks it away with a grimace.]

...are, maybe. I dunno. Most everything here seems pretty old. I don't think a lotta people are still here, if any of them are still around at all.

They may be...hidden, somewhere.

[What he means to say, and what he's not going to, is inside the mountain. Too many things around here remind him of Mt. Ebbott lately. To many monsters, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing; it's the only home they've ever known. But Asgore remembers the day they were imprisoned there.]

Those statues are rather unnerving, aren't they? I am not usually bothered by such things, but they do make my fur stand on end.

Don't like 'em much myself.

[He deals enough with the sensation that things are watching him. He doesn't need that here, prickling the back of his neck. His motions are a little too furtive, a little too choppy, as if to compensate.]

Always feels like they're watching you.

It is an odd feeling.

[He wonders if they aren't watching, really. Asgore's not sure he fully understands how the gods here work. Maybe no one does. Nonetheless, if those are representations of them...

...that is probably not a helpful thing to say.]

The trees do seem to be clearing, up here!

[It's still not exactly mountain. More of a rockier area, where the trees are indeed thinning out as they approach the mountains proper. There's some ragged little cliffs up ahead - tall, but they shouldn't be too much trouble to summit, not when they were already planning for rough terrain.]

Oh, thank god.

[Tim doesn't sound very relieved at all, actually, but he still puts his back into digging heels into the earth to start climbing up the incline. Moving up isn't as hard as it used to be, back at the start. He's gotten better at traveling uneven landscape. Taken to living on islands, in the wild, over time.]

[The ground feels looser than it should be, but that's...probably not a big deal. Right?]

[It does seem a little loose...Asgore frowns at his feet. That doesn't alarm him so much now, when they're just on the ground, but it does make him wary of trying to head up into the mountains from here.]

I think we should not try to climb here. It doesn't seem secure.

[To his credit, Tim does halt, squinting upward at the incline. A few trails of gravel and dust start to hiss down the slope toward him, but it doesn't seem so bad. Still, the ground isn't all that stable.]

Where d'you think we should, then?

[Asgore pauses as well, looking ahead. It's difficult to tell from far out, especially as half his mountain expertise comes from being inside the mountain, but maybe a little more to the...

...there's a fair bit of gravel skittering down the slope now. Asgore watches it, and then turns his head to listen for anything more. It's not enough yet to jolt him into immediate action, but after a moment he lifts a paw, motioning back the way they came.]

I think we should go.

[Tim looks up. And up, and up, and up...]

[And nods.]

[It could be nothing. It could just be some unstable ground. But it could be something way, way worse, and Asgore knows mountains better than Tim does. Tim only really knows one mountain, and he knows it via someone else's memories. Mostly, he just remembers falling down it.]

...okay. Yeah. Let's...let's go.

[To be fair, Asgore's experience mostly does involve that same mountain. But he's known it for centuries upon centuries, and back in the early days of the Underground, when it was all still dark and unexplored, and cave-ins were a constant threat. The only thing worse than a rockslide is a subterranean one.

Asgore nods and turns to go after Tim, eyes still mostly on the slope. He still hears the falling rocks - far larger than those earlier pebbles - before he sees them.]

Go!

[Oh, fuck.]

[Tim doesn't need further instruction. He bolts, and he's not fast, given how much he's fucked up his lungs these past few days alone, but what other choice is there? He should've brought the damn pauldron. He must've...fuck, how'd he forget?]

[Because he's been forgetting a lot of things, lately. A lot of important things.]

Shit, shit, shit, shit - [Wait. Fuck. Asgore. Is Asgore keeping up? He's bigger. How fast is he? Goddamnit, fuck.]

[Oh, Asgore is surprisingly fast! He's got a much longer stride and no smoker's lungs. Or possibly any kind of lungs, who knows how monsters work? It seems like he could definitely outpace Tim.

So it's clear that he's not really running as fast as he could, because he certainly isn't outpacing Tim. He's got an eye over his shoulder, watching for any falling debris that might hit either of them. It's mostly going to hit him, with his bulk; he lifts an arm to shield his head from a few larger chunks of stone.]

Fuck - fuck - fuck!

[The words are sharp, short barks of irritation, outrage, frustration, every shitty thing he hasn't wanted to feel for the past several days. Hasn't been capable of feeling, it seems like. It only occurs for him to move because Asgore's moving. Otherwise, why shouldn't he just stand there and take it - ?]

[Asgore's getting the worst of it. He has more surface area.]

You okay?

I'm fine.

[Rocks are dangerous, but they don't have souls or the capacity for killing intent; in this case, Asgore is no more vulnerable than anyone else.

Not that they don't still hurt. He flinches as one strikes him between the shoulders.]

Make for the tree cover.

Are we gonna be safe there?

[Maybe not "safe." Safer than out in the open, probably. Much as he hates it, much as the sight of looming canopies drawing closer and closer makes his stomach turn, Tim still books it for the treeline. That'll probably slow the rocks down, right? Fuck, fuck, fuck.]

[Asgore doesn't answer. He doesn't really have an answer - they may not be. But that's the safest option he can see in the immediate vicinity, so it'll have to do. He'll do his best to cover Tim's back as they retreat, at least until they reach the trees. It's probably best to keep moving even then, but at least he can catch his breath enough to ask:]

Were you hit?

Scratches, scrapes - nothing serious.

[The adrenaline got him through the worst of it. There's a cut on the back of his neck, and he can feel bruises on the backs of his legs where large chunks of rock must've gone flying out, struck him low. Nothing serious.]

You? [Asgore is the bigger target, after all.]

Oh, it is nothing.

[His own injuries are easy to miss, pale dust in white fur. His back and shoulders are hurt - his right shoulder in particular - but he's not going to crumble away.]

Here, let me heal you.

It's fine, it - are we sure we're good out here?

[There's a seething curtain of dust hemming the trees in, but so far the rumbling hasn't pursued them all the way here. Might be that chunk of the mountain is done doing whatever it's doing, or it just has nowhere else to go.]

LET'S SUFFER LET'S DO IT

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