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

[i.]

[...Well.

Alexei can't say he's expecting to be here, but he's still kind of in the general mindset of being pleasantly surprised to be anywhere; that said, he has the dubious honor of this being the second time that he's shown up here - maybe not this island specifically, but he recognizes enough of the setup (the weird dreams, the general dampness, the sword nearby, the...godforsaken embroidered bag) to know exactly where he's ended up.]

So it's this again...

[When he gets up he's quick to check the inside of the bag like he's expecting something that isn't supplies in there (not that he's complaining about the supplies, but...) before standing up and resheathing his fuckoff sword at his side.

The fuckoff sword is thankfully not broken and debatably thankfully still has an Entelexeia's soul in it, as is evidenced by the fact that it works at all. Small favors.

Anyway, he's dressed like an escapee from Ren Faire and he isn't hesitating in approaching people.]

How long have we been here? Or is this one of those places we're all experiencing for the first time?

[ii.]

[Today is a really awkward day at best right now. His idiot subordinate isn't anywhere that Alexei can find him, his other idiot subordinate hasn't even had the decorum to show up in a vision or something to make things awkward, he hasn't located the kid he'd had the weird dream about, and he doesn't even know where his incompetent pile of feathers and fur that likes to call itself a snake is.

Again, awkward day.

But then there's movement, and there's quite a lot of it and it's rather large and it's not his snake but it sure is a snake, and as he draws his sword the phrase "oh, come on" has never been so obvious in one that isn't directly saying it.

What he does say is decidedly more aggressive, when he settles on something to say.]

Apocalypse Toll!

[It barely leaves him before he's making the questionable life choice of jumping at this thing to launch a handful of crimson flame at the snake's face; he's no sooner landed than he is immediately retreating, and if you're there... ]

I would suggest moving, that creature won't be happy when that explodes-

Edited 2019-08-05 00:23 (UTC)

[Bucky doesn't even have time to register that Alexei is back, or that he's just shouted something and caused flames to appear like he's one of the characters in one of those sci fi shows he used to make Steve listen to whenever they were on the radio.

The feather snake headed right for them isn't something he wants to stick around to see it get even more pissed off.]

Sounds like the reunion's gotta wait.

[Bucky is absolutely not sticking around.]

It likely won't be a fatal explosion on something that large; moving is prudent, yes.

[Come on, Bucky, we're moving while it's still pissed off at flames to the face and

oh

there it goes.

The explosion is loud but again, likely won't be fatal to the giantass rock cobra thing back there. Hopefully it'll disorient it long enough to facilitate not being in its vicinity for any longer than needed.]

Even so, I'd rather not stick around to see what one of those things are like when they're really pissed off.

[He doesn't even bother looking back. Bucky is in favor of getting as far away from both the explosion, and the incredibly angry snake owl.]

[She's the opposite, looking like something out of an old sci-fi novel. Head to toe, she's covered in her armour with her body suit hiding the rest of her flesh. It shouldn't be the first time that someone assumed she was a robot, although she's not.

Unlike him, she has come to this island on purpose, although like him, she hasn't come to this place in general on purpose. Hadn't stopped her from showing up twice, and she's not entirely certain how to take that. She'd have kicked herself anyway, knowing that Wash had remained while she had disappeared for a time.

As it is, she has been exploring. Not that she's much of an adventurer, exactly, but she is someone who likes to do something. Sitting around has never been something that she could manage for too long before she got antsy. As it is, she does regard the man who approaches her, pausing.]

The latter.

[A hint of curiosity in her voice, although she doesn't bring rise to a question.]

It's a new island.

Good to know we're all in the same situation, then, more or less. A bit unfortunate for information's sake, but that's hardly on you.

[...He's a little intense but in no way belligerent, so at least he has that going for him.]

This is the second time this has happened in fairly recent memory. I imagine it best to at least attempt to get my bearings before this place starts trying to kill us all.

[She had been confused as hell when she had woken up not where she recalled having been. Of course, Wash had set things straight, but it had still been hard to comprehend. Others had arrived, and some had left, and for Carolina it had felt like moments, not months.]

This place enjoys bringing you back then, I take it.

...It enjoys doing something, at any rate. I can't say I know why it enjoys doing it to me.

One of the very many unanswered questions about this place...

...Are you compensating for something?

[Apparently this is how we're saying 'hello' today. Blue armored man puts a fist on his hip and tilts his head, motioning with the other hand.] I mean, sword, dude. My sword's a normal size, for people who don't need to show off.

Plus--I don't know where the fuck this is. New, far as I know?

...It's far from unreasonable. For a holy sword, at any rate - as long as it isn't impractical then I take up no issue with it.

[...He is fairly sure the literal twelve-year-old from the guilds uses larger swords than this, but that is neither here nor there.]

Ohhhhh, it's a holy sword, my bad. [His tone clearly says vague disrespect.] I prefer guns anyway. They're just...a little more impractical around here. Limited ammo and all.

[You know, he actually doesn't seem to mind the disrespect, given that the Empire's reliance on an alleged holy relic to do pretty much anything is, in his esteemed opinion, Fucking Stupid.

He just needed something to serve a purpose, so he just made a damn holy sword. As one does.]

Guns are quite the limited commodity where I'm from. I only know of one person who uses them regularly, and even then it isn't his primary weapon.

They've always struck me as a pointless weapon, more for show than anything useful. But time will prove that notion wrong in many world's - at least, from what I've heard.

For show. You think guns. are for show. And not swords? Flashy fancy close quarters combat swords? You could pop someone's head from three hundred meters, but sure, pointless showy weapons.

[Like at least this guy admits that that train of thought is probably (definitely) wrong as fuck, but still!]

Swords are rare where I'm from. Everyone's got guns. Swords are kindaaa special? And also might be holy weapons, I found that part very unclear. There's some chosen one nonsense, I wasn't paying attention.

We quite like our "chosen one nonsense" as well - or at least, those of a certain persuasion do. I've always found that pointless as well.

As for the arguments on behalf of gun, I've often found those to hold slightly more water when they come from civilizations where magic fails to exist. If I can impale someone from across the battlefield using nothing but the ground beneath their feet, what need have I of a gun?

...Wait, can you really do that?

[Magic might be 50 Shades of Bullshit, but his tone is one of quiet awe. That'd be rad as fuck.]

I do like my lies believable, if I must tell them at all. I would hardly try to sell magic on one who uses guns if it were untrue.

This place likes to dampen what I'm capable of; it's mostly ice and explosions as opposed to earth magic. But I can, yes.

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motherfucking_ghost - 2019-08-10 21:12 (UTC) - Expand

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ideismo - 2019-08-13 20:47 (UTC) - Expand

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Alexei -

[Asgore would love to have some kind of emotional reaction right now, because we all know that he tends towards emotionality, but apparently there's other stuff going on, shit - ]

What is that? [he's moving, he's moving]

That is an excellent question that I don't have an answer to. I just know that nothing pleasant comes out of fighting anything so large.

[In his experience, anyway.]

...Always a pleasure, Asgore.

[Moving and exchanging halfway decent words are not mutually exclusive as he goes, clearly.]

It is! I had not thought to see you again -

[You know how Asgore is; he gets weepy easily, especially recently. That's not at all conducive to this kind of situation.

Normally, he'd be more inclined to run, or even calm the creature. It's only being here with someone else in danger that gets him to materialize his trident. Even so, he holds it just slightly at the ready, not moving to attack just yet.]

This island only just appeared. I do not think anyone was aware of these.

Good to know that I'm not just horridly out of the loop, then.

[And that's when the explosion goes off in a bright burst of crimson, nowhere near powerful enough to be fatal but more than enough to ruin this thing's day pretty solidly.

Even so, he prepares Dein Nomos to strike again; it's been a while since he's fought something like this without Heracles, hopefully this is less powerful than anything warranting that.]

I would apologize for leaving, but I didn't have much say in the matter.

[YO what the fuck - ]

Oh, of course. That is always the way of things.

[Asgore summons a wall of fire to try and deter the snake from coming any closer. It does appear to be made of stone, but nonetheless.]

This is the island that no one wanted to vote for. I suppose we were correct in that.

[He's preparing another round of those crimson flames regardless, in the event that he needs to, you know. Punch the thing with another explosion.]

Oh, indeed? Correct though we may have been, this is almost preferable to what I was concerned we might find here.

Well, it is only the first day.

[Asgore's sure it'll get worse!]

I think we could escape under the cover of fire.

[...Alexei is usually very much of the salt and burn approach when it comes to his enemies, as leaving them alive generally eventually leads to This Battle II: This Time They're Pissed. But on the other hand: Asgore.]

Very well, then.

[Those crimson flames will be directed towards the ground a fair distance in front then, near that wall of fire; that's going to make the whole thing into an escape as envisioned by Michael Bay in a few moments, but you know what, Apocalypse Toll is nothing if not a good deterrent. And, you know, if the flames don't work maybe the fucking explosions will.

Let's leave, shall we?]

August Intro: These Days Are Feeling Dark

Alexei | OTA

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