lifeaftr | 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

Shit, man. The weirdest I've been is--well. That fucking fish magic stuff.

[Piggyback rides, no sweat. Though, normally he was the one doing the riding. Can't be too hard as a robot, right? He turns around and squats.] I dunno how you wanna do this--just, like, get your arms around my neck in front of you, and I'll grab your legs? I won't drop you, promise.

I can't imagine that transforming into a mer-creature would be any less weird than transforming into a tigerlily would be.

[Ignis bites back a joke about there being only a few ways to carry someone on one's back (and that certainly is one) simply because he is sure that, that promise not to drop him can be 'accidentally' broken at any time.

Carefully, he pulls himself onto Church's back and then nods when he is finally settled.]

Ready.

[Listen, he's trying to be nice to the blind guy! He hasn't known anyone blind before. In a literal sense. In a figurative sense, he's known lots of blind assholes.

But once Ignis is good to go and secured, Church hefts him up. He does so with a little groan and huff of effort, which, y'know, isn't necessary given he's a God Damn Robot, but hey, you try forgetting to feel like a human after thinking you've lived like one for a while.]

Anyway, looks like there's some kinda structure in the distance. I'm gonna take us that way and maybe we can climb out of this swamp for a bit. Hey pretty kitty, c'mon boy!

[Even with how miserable he is, Ignis can't help but grin at the noises Church makes while lifting him up. He'd give him a playful punch in the shoulder if he didn't know it would hurt his fist more than it would bother Church.]

Leo, come!

[Fortunately, Leo seems to be of the same mind as Church and Ignis are. Getting out of this muck is a good idea. Mud can be fun to play in, but this is too much mud. The tigerlily doesn't come back to join them, though, instead moving directly toward the clearing and structure Church pointed out. Once there, he waits patiently for robot and human backpack to join him.]

Looks like he's got the right idea. [It's much slower going for Church. Can't exactly bound through swamp mud even without piggybacking someone. Is this what he put Tucker through? Guy must be ripped by now. (If he's still alive. Wash made it sound so.)

The house is in fact...a little house. Kind of crude, but hey, better than he build off the top of his head with the shit around them. The little chimney even had some smoke coming out of it.]

I'd say someone's home. Maybe they'll know more about the island than any of us fuckers do.

[Ignis is glad when he finally has his feet back on solid ground. Or semi-solid ground. At least solid enough to put a little building on. He tries once more to wipe away some of the mud and has just as little luck as he did before. Well, whoever it is probably is used to mud-stained travelers at this point.

If they get visitors at all that is.]

It certainly can't hurt to knock. At worst, they will probably just try to trick us into the house with candy, then cook us in the oven for supper.

[You have that story back home, right Church?]

Ha, well, I don't smell any goodies, and the house doesn't look all that edible. Gimmie a sec and we'll be polite tourists new to the area.

[Back down Ignis goes, but not right into gross muck. Well, not as gross. It's better over here.] I'll be on my best behavior. [And not going 'what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck'. Probably.] Though maybe you wanna do the actual talking. [Being the much politer boy.

Church raps on the door a couple times, not too hard.]

'scuse me, can you help us out?

[Ignis chuckles at Church's promise and then gives Leo a hand signal to get him to stay where he is. They have no way of knowing if the occupant of the house will know what a tigerlily is and they don't want to scare them. After Church has knocked and given his greeting at the door, Ignis speaks as well. Best to give the person notice there are two of them, again so they aren't unpleasantly surprised.]

We won't bother you for long, but I've had a rather unfortunate encounter with the muck. Would it be possible to get a rag and some water so I might clean up a little? I would be extremely grateful.

[The door eventually, after what seems like an achingly long moment wherein maybe nobody's home, creaks open. What appears in the doorway is...

...well, is what looks like hopped right out of the fairytale he and Ignis apparently both have a version of. Less evil, maybe. Shorter, probably. But definitely appears not unlike a rather cliche appearance of a witch, or some similar variation thereof. She peers owl-eyed at the two of them, saying not a word, but gets an excitable expression on her face. Like she's glad for company, maybe?]

Uh...yeah, what...he said. Hi? Hi. I'm Church, this is Ignis. Oh, and Leo. He's harmless, won't hurt anyone.

He's also covered in more mud than I am, which means he should definitely stay outside.

[Ignis can't see who has answered the door, but what he imagines really isn't too far off the very thing Church is seeing, and why not? He doesn't put anything passed these islands anymore.

He is about to speak again when the witch suddenly cackles and then turns and scuttles back into the house. After a moment of listening to her steps fade, Ignis fixes a confused look on Church.]

Did she give any indication if we should follow her?

August Intro: These Days Are Feeling Dark

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