TEST DRIVE MEME ( 002 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #2

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 will open on August 17th and that Applications will open on August 24th!

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.

I'm on a Boat
The rhythmic rocking may be soothing to start with - perhaps reminiscent of how an infant might feel, rocked in the cradle. Well, up until you wake up long enough to take stock of your surroundings. You're on a flimsy wooden raft, comprised of logs lashed together with straw-like twine. You're surrounded by water on four sides, with the only landmass for miles rearing like an inkblot on the horizon.

Right - and you're not alone, either. You have a raftmate, and they're probably just as shocked and displeased to be here as you are. Good thing the boat appears to have come with a pair of oars - as well as a pair of very large butcher knives.

Those, ah...are probably just for survival's sake.

Probably. Though that's rather up to you, isn't it?

The Beast of the Bay
A roaring bonfire, the sound of waves lapping up against the sand, the uniform dark blanketing all but the orange glow of the embers at your feet - what more could you ask for? Those who huddle around the flames for warmth will find themselves oddly compelled to make something of the setting. It's simply too perfect to resist.

It's time, once again, to tell a story.

In fact, your lives may very well depend on it. As long as there is silence, the fires begin to dim, and the flames sink low. And in the distance, you swear you can hear...a snarling, a liquid yip-growl of a great stalking thing with slavering jaws. Maybe you glimpse it in the corner of your eye, dark-furred and clawed with golden slits for eyes that glow like molten amber.

For as long as your fire burns, you're safe. But you'll need a story to fuel it...and if the story is insufficient, if it's more lie than it is truth, then there's a beast that's hungry for your failure.

Get Spelunked On
The caves built into the cliffs lining the beach may be imposing, but you're going to need protection from the elements, and you might not have much choice if you want to last the night. In you inevitably go - or maybe you simply wake up there, having bypassed the need for a raft and a bad-tempered boatmate.

Never fear if you lack a natural means of producing light - it seems that there's all manner of round, glowing orbs buried in the ceiling of each sea cave. Isn't that thoughtful?
Maybe it would have been, if those orbs dispensing that faint cerulean glow weren't sentient - and annoyed at the sight of so many people invading their dark, secluded, peaceful habitat.

Glowgrubs are pale, wormlike creatures that like to dangle from the ceiling like very peculiar stalactites. Most don't grow any larger than two or three feet, but they can be remarkably fast on the ground when they like to be - and they do like to be, when there are intruders afoot. Armed with fanged mouths on both ends of their slightly striated bodies, glowgrubs can deliver a nasty bite that, while not fatal, is dangerous in its own right.

Those who succumb to the bite of a glowgrub will find themselves drawn, trancelike, to deep water. But while a glowgrub can survive submerging itself in those murky depths for hours at a time, most oxygen-breathing creatures cannot.

So don't go wandering about all alone, all right?

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[greatcleavage]

[Roy is neither relaxed nor sheathing his sword, so if the grub makes a move, she won't be the only one who responds.]

I hope so, but if this is a demiplane it may be possible that any clerics are cut off from access to their patron gods. That may be something we have to account for. Whatever the case, I think playing it safe is wisest... but on the other hand, I also think we can't just give up on exploring either.

[hasitsthorns]

[ Demiplane... Clerics... Patron Gods... This dude stepped straight out of D&D, it seems. ]

Yeah, no, I agree. But I'll try not to piss off the native cave inhabitants. [ A beat. ] Well. Not as much, anyway.

Guessing you're new to the island too, dude?

[greatcleavage]

[Strictly speaking he stepped out of a webcomic originally based on D&D -- catch up by purchasing Order of the Stick books online or at your local gaming store!]

[...sorry, shilling is in his contract.]

Yes. Roy Greenhilt. [He offers a hand, presuming she's familiar with the gesture.]

[hasitsthorns]

[ ... Well, then. Rosie's player actually did Google that, so good on you. ]

Rosalina Nurumi, [ she replies, offering her only good hand. He's free to note that her other is missing. If he's familiar with grievous body wounds, too, he might note it was clearly not a clean cut that took her other hand. ] But you can call me Rose.

Nice to meet ya', Roy. You seem like the hero type, am I right?

[greatcleavage]

[The only thing he concludes from his observation is that she doesn't have access to a cleric with a high enough level to cast Regeneration. Which is a pity, but they ARE pretty rare, so it isn't surprising.]

I aspire to be heroic, yes. [He'll be the first to admit he hasn't exactly racked up a ton of successes.]

[hasitsthorns]

[ That she does not, no. Wouldn't that be something, if she had. ]

Not a bad thing to aspire to be. Shame it doesn't always work out so great.

[ Rose knows all about trying to be 'heroic.' Don't worry, Roy, she hasn't racked up a ton of successes on that front either. ]

What's your plan?

[greatcleavage]

Caves are traditionally a source of encounters and loot. I'm hoping to find some of the latter and have it be useful. [Sometimes, the adventuring life is a very straightforward life indeed.]

[hasitsthorns]

Uh. Right.

[ She always forgets, for some people dungeon crawlers are... ways of life instead of the stuff of video games. Alright, sure, gotta re-adjust her thinking a little. That's cool. ]

I mean, if fighting these things weren't so risky they'd probably spill some cool loot I imagine.

[greatcleavage]

Not the grubs, though they might have parts suitable for sale... but maybe deeper in, if there's any sign of intelligent life or whatnot. Still, I'd settle for finding supplies and resources that help us survive. If there's been prior civilization on this island, for example, a cave seems a logical place for goods to have survived. There might also be fresh water, too, as well as opportunities to shelter in case of inclement weather.

[Roy is coming at this from many angles. Always think, always plan, always prepare as best as possible.]

[hasitsthorns]

Huh. You're a regular survivor, [ she comments, eyebrows raising in interest. He's got some good ideas though, she'll admit.
Haven had been a dilapidated city so she was a bit rusty on roughing it in a nature survival setting.

But she was a wolf and the earth beneath her feet and sprawling forests around was what she'd called home for centuries. She can do this. Just like riding a bicycle, you never forget but might have to be reminded. ]

Alright, dude, I'll follow your lead. If that's alright?

[ Rosie has joined his party. ]

[greatcleavage]

[As natural as it is for him to take charge, a part of him wants to rebel -- since lately, that could have been going better, to put it mildly.]

[Still, Roy is all about responsibility. If he has the ability to lead, guide, and protect those here on this island, he has the responsibility to do so. So he nods at her words.]

Quick overview of your skills and abilities, then?