aftr_ooc | TEST DRIVE MEME ( 008 )

Test Drive Meme #8

Hello, and welcome to LifeAftr! We’re pleased that you’re expressing an interest in the game. Here, you can test the waters, gauge how your character may fare in the world of LifeAftr, and even gain some in-game incentives, if you so choose.

Remember that Reserves open on February 16th, and Applications on February 23rd!

Two important notes:

1. LifeAftr's test drives take place on the island of Mu, which exists apart from the real world and possesses a dream-like quality that characters are innately aware of from the moment they appear on its shores. No need to panic or fret. Dreams are odd things, after all - and anything can happen in them. Why would anyone question where their mind chooses to wander in its sleep?

2. Due to the nature of Mu, threads in our test drive can not only be accepted as thread samples in your application, but can be accepted as game canon as well. In fact, certain choices your character makes in Mu have the potential to bear in-game consequences, largely in the form of test drive reward items.

Bring on the Night
It's dark.

It's overwhelmingly, impossibly dark, the sky both starless and moonless, and as soon as you awake, the chill of a perpetual night begins to set in. The dream has been kind enough to provide you with a torch, thrust into the sand of the beach upon which you've awakened, and that may be for the best, too, for you are not alone here. A deep, terrible growl will start to roll out from the surrounding shadows. It's soon joined by a rumbling chorus. Whatever it is lingering beyond the fringes of your vision, it's clear that it's not the only one. The torchlight may catch the odd prowling shape: the impression of a rough, kelp-like coat, parted jaws, and smoldering eyes.

Grimlings are black-furred, quadrupedal beasts with ropy, greasy coats that gives them an almost seaweed-like appearance. The creatures resembles dogs superficially, but the proportions are nightmarishly wrong, as though certain parts of it were swollen and others atrophied beyond all use. No two Grimlings have the same general look, but all tend to travel in gurgling, snarling packs. They tend to surround their targets and swiftly overwhelm them.

However, they have one simple weakness: pack mentality. If one of their number grows too injured or overcome, Grimlings will quickly set upon their weakest member and tear it hungrily to pieces. And as they are creatures of the night, the guttering torchlight will be quite effective in keeping them at bay, as long as you don't grow too tired of swiping at the pack of the curs to keep them back.

Because once they've scented prey, they're loathe to let it go to waste.

An Attention Horse
The soft hush of waves against the sands are a soothing regularity in this pitch-dark dream, though Mu sees fit to allow you an impromptu torch, even if it is rudimentary at best: little more than a chunk of driftwood with one end lit up in guttering orange-red.

And unfortunately, even that light will offer little protection against the soft, musical cry of something standing in the shallows.

Those familiar with the stories of water-horses or kelpies may find this creature familiar in some respects, though their function is far more similar to that of a siren. With a tall, powerful stature, Uskal resemble ordinary horses but for their size and the webbed, water-slick quality of their glossy coats.

Those who grow too close may be caught in the strange aura of the Uskal's ululating cry, which invites one to come close enough to touch its silky, beautiful coat. Provided you cannot resist the lure of the Uskal's song, physical contact with its coat will reveal it to be quite adhesive. Those who do not manage to cut, burn, or tear themselves free are dragged into deep waters and drowned for the Uskal's next meal.

Let There Be Light
But eventually, the proverbial sun does rise, just as it did for the islands of LifeAftr themselves. The "sun," in this instance, appears to be quite regular, though the snow raining from the bright blue sky is far from it, especially given that the temperature seems to have climbed a little too much for that sort of nippy weather.. Those grayish white flakes cascading from above? That's not snow at all - it's ash.

And borne on the winds of that ash are creatures small and helpless and wrinkled, little tufts of tawny-orange that squeak and croak rather pitiably as they come streaking to earth in wispy little trails of flame.

Instead of one great firebird to light up the sky, Mu has granted you several dozen little phoenix chicks, all freshly hatched and all in all, rather helpless. You could certainly take advantage of that, if you wanted to, but honestly, the benefits of ensuring that none of them die on your watch are far greater, as long as you don't mind the odd first-degree burn, or the chicks' somewhat alarming habit of spontaneously bursting into flames. Not only do they freely provide light and warmth against the bitter winter cold, but you'll find they don't need much of anything in the way of sustenance.

Congratulations on your successful adoption!

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Once again her irritation melted away for a chance to brag about her own skills. She was...a bit predictable about that kind of thing sometimes.

"THIS little thing? Oh nothing, just a magic powered prosthetic arm connected directly to my nervous system that I whipped up with a friend after a sorcerer accidentally chopped my original arm off. This is the second generation model. The third version should be lighter, actually have five fingers, and be able to sense temperature!"

Of course, she'd need a couple of months in a well equipped workshop and the help of a surgeon to be able to make that, and that was unlikely to be found around here.

The girl looked at her. She might as well be speaking a different language for all the words that this child did not understand.

She held the torch a bit closer to the weird arm looking intently at it. Powered by magic. That was... The only bit she really understood. So it was armour that moved by itself under the power of this stupid weird not a priestess woman's magic.

"I do be thinking you can be fighting really well with it." Because surely that was the point of having an arm made of metal.

"Well..."

Samata's ego drained a little bit. "Not...really. It's heavy, and not any stronger than my normal arm. I'm not a warrior, I'm an academic."

Edited 2018-02-24 05:45 (UTC)

"Oh." The girl wrinkled her nose. That didn't sound as great as it first had. But if the woman had magic she probably didn't have to be that strong. She would be able to fight in other ways.

"That's why you did be knowing about ancient words." She knew what an academic was at least. This woman seemed too stupid to be a scholar though.

TEST DRIVE MEME ( 008 )

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