TEST DRIVE MEME ( 005 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #5

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 November 17th and that Applications will open on November 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.

All That Glitters
The caves deep beneath the island's surface are not dimly lit; in fact, they practically sparkle with a strange, unearthly greenish light. Blame it on the crystalline growths that protrude plentifully from every nook and cranny, stalactites and stalagmites alike.

Their glow might be soothing to some, and viscerally terrifying to others, but one thing remains absolutely certain: based on the creaking, groaning noises of shifting rock and the high-pitched tinkle of breaking shards of crystal...

You aren't alone down here. The deeper in you venture, the more the thicker clusters of the things begin to move. And eventually, it will become plain to you that it isn't the crystal at all that's moving, but rather the thing inside of it - something vaguely humanoid shaped, bipedal, with arms and legs and the dull, pale glimmers in the region of what might almost pass for a face.

Formed entirely from crystal.

Upon spotting a living creature, each of them will begin to lurch closer and closer, arms outstretched. Every one is slow and cumbersome and even fragile enough to be smashed, if you dare venture close enough. But once they've trapped you, there is no escaping whatever fate they have in store for you.

And rest assured, it is not a pleasant one.

[The above prompt is a version of our Crystal Clear event from October! Feel free to give the event write-up a read for more information.]

It's High Tide
When you initially wake on the beaches of this strange island with its bleeding, dreamlike edges, you might notice that something seems deeply amiss...something like the fact that you're lying in a whole mess of seawater. Assuming you're not thoroughly soaked already, you'd better figure out a way to get to high ground, because the water level is rising very rapidly. Pretty soon, there might not be anywhere safe to go besides the trees, and even those might not be safe the longer this goes on.

Fortunately for you, if you can find them quickly enough, the island of Mu has helpfully provided some assistance for those who don't feel like doggy-paddling for the duration of the dream. Better hurry and hang onto them before you drown! Unless you'd rather doggy-paddle the whole way out, that is. In which case, we're sure the water feels great.

A Crappy Endeavor
In your travels on this strange new land, you might start to notice something following you. Something...oddly shaped, like a lot of dirt and clay that's consolidated into one great awkward moving lump of a creature. What lies beneath is far more like the common beetle...just much, much larger. And unfortunately for everyone involved, they have a very specific appetite:

Your poop.

Mu has produced a very close approximation of the creatures known as f'rshaymes, animals that go beyond merely being useful for disposing of all that nasty waste. Doiing so comes with significant benefits, as the combined process of mud and excrement as it goes through a F'rshayme's digestive system leaves behind pure clay for the...brave.

Often found in small herds of six to eight individuals, f'rshaymes are extremely docile and would be very easy to turn into a herd of your very own. How nice!

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LOGS ● OOC ● STORIES ● MAIN NAVIGATION

( CODED BY BOOTYCALL )

Comments

[thermalwind]

What do you know about this, ‘god’?

[Helping isn’t always a good thing. He pops his shoulder and relaxes that arm. He’d banged it on the rocks on his way in. Probably going to be sore later.]

...anything you can tell me. I want to know what we’re dealing with.

[esper_magic]

Not a great deal - he doesn't show himself in person often. [ Ah, she winces inwardly at the sound of that pop, but soldiers on as she thinks. Most of what she knew she's heard from other people who might have actually spoken to him but... ]

I think the general opinion of him is rather divided.. some think he's genuinely trying to help, and just doesn't know how to interact with mortals properly, and others... think he's only claiming to want to help and is actually trying to get everyone killed.

There..was an incident last month...the Storyteller said he needed our help investigating the depths of a cavern that blocked him from going inside because of some magic seals. He didn't know what was in there, and he didn't -ask- us...even if we would have willingly cooperated. We just woke up in the caves one day and ...and it was bad. People died - they were killed by some kind of crytalline abomination.

[ A pause as she frowned through that memory, then glanced at Keith again. ]

Then they were revived a few days later - the people who died. [ What else... ]

A month before that, there was a compound of creatures armed with cocount guns - I'm told they resembled things called monkeys. They invaded the islets while we were asleep and managed to drag us away to their compound to.. I think they meant to eat us. [ Gross, right? ]

But we managed to escape from that. I'm uncertain if the Storyteller had any involvement with that - but.. I doubt it. But some people blame him for what's happened all the same. [ She was... on the fence about it. A lot of what people said made sense, but at the same time... eeh. ]

[thermalwind]

Wait. Repeat that bit about raising the dead? [What the Quiznak? It had all seemed mostly routine right up until that tidbit. There's only one thing he knows that is capable of that and what he knows is...fractured information at best. Is it true or? Either way, before he tracks down Team Voltron he has to investigate this.]

That shouldn't be possible. Did anyone see them revive? [Where the hell is he? He checks to make sure his knife is still in its sheath as he tries to puzzle out the jumbled mess.]

I thought I saw some caves along the edge of the island. [Part of what he's hearing makes him pause and study her. If people are showing up here was it really the monkeys invading? It isn't important right now but...he'll be thinking about it.] Was it those?

[esper_magic]

Well... I didn't actually see it happen. But once the seals were broken the Storyteller was able to teleport everyone out of the caves to safety, and we found out that some of the people who went in were..killed. But we saw them again a few days later, so... they must have been revived. [ How else could they be walking among them then? And Raise spells weren't new to her -- well okay it was a different kind of mechanic than reviving someone from the dead, but still. ]

Those are the ones, yes. They were sealed off again afterwards...for a while. [ Buuuut since some people are winding up in there somehow, they must have gotten open after all, in some way. ]

[thermalwind]

[They may or may not be the right caves. Still he will have to check it out.]

Thanks. Is there anything else you think is important for newcomers to know? [A lot of this still doesn’t make sense to him. He pulls the hood back over his head as he prepares for the investigation ahead. He can stash the pack that had been floating on a swan boat at the edge of a cave.

Seals.]

Wait. What do the seals look like? How many did you find?

[esper_magic]

[ It's probably rule of thumb that whatever's in any of the caves will suck for everyone, though. ]

Um... [ Important for newcomers to know... she should mention some of the dangers, things to avoid like those bloody fusterclucks. And the mana pools. ]

Well..it's been a little difficult to find resources around here, with so many people arriving, but we found some strange animals recently that are edible. And we can still fish, so it should be fine a little longer.

Then there's the fusterclucks.. and the mana pools.

[thermalwind]

[His thoughts come to a screeching halt. He blinks and stares at her unsure if he heard the last words right.]

...repeat that last bit again?? [He's wrong, right? She didn't say-]

[esper_magic]

[ Oh! She forgot to show him what the seals looked like. She draws her sword from its sheathe, aiming the point at the ground. ]

Um, and the sigils... looked like this .. most of them were behind crystals when we destroyed them. [ She carefully drew her sword through the sand to make the sigil from memory. ]

I've lost count of how many we came across though. I think we destroyed them all... I Hope. At least, enough to allow the Storyteller to retrieve everyone. [ She blinked. ]

The.. the last bit? Do you mean the part about the mana pools..?

[thermalwind]

No. The...clucks. [He pauses, his words a bit stilted. Wait she'd drawn on the ground. He draws his own knife and copies the symbol in the sand. He'll remember it.]

[esper_magic]

Oh. Have you heard of them before? [ Maybe he knows how to destroy them! ]

They're currently one of the most dangerous threats on the island. They're a mass of limbs and body parts, and whatever they come in contact with they absorb into themselves. So far no one has been able to find a way to destroy them, yet, so it's advised that we avoid them whenever possible. [ Don't go being a hero and trying to kill it Keith. ]

[thermalwind]

[Suddenly the bad word he heard in the name doesn’t matter anymore. He climbs to his feet and stores his knife. Even before he wouldn’t have risked something like that with as little equipment as he has.

His hand scanner is on the fritz.]

What are the other dangerous threats? Tell me about each one.

[esper_magic]

[ And here Terra has no idea there was a bad word in it! ]

Well... there's the tiger sharks.. in the ocean. You've probably seen those already..? And.. the centipuppies, and lungblossoms..

The centipuppies are like.. large furry bugs? Doglike bugs. The lungblossoms are ...well, plants, but they still can attack you if they're threatened. [ Fire fungus. Yikes. She luckily has managed to avoid getting targeted by the hallucinogenic gas though. ]

[thermalwind]

How do they attack? [He'll focus on the rest when he learns more intel. He nods once, yes he's seen the sharks. He'd planned to go after one before nightfall. He doesn't have rations on him.]

[esper_magic]

I've never actually seen a centipuppy, I've only heard of them, but the lungblossoms have a kind of gas as one of its defenses - and they've also been known to spit out a kind of spikey spore, and a fiery fungus that it shoots in terms of long range attacks.

[thermalwind]

[Keith’s face is covered by a flickering light then a mask covers his entire face. Two purple circles for eyes and when he speaks his voice comes out distorted.] That won’t be a problem.

I’ll keep watch for the bugs. ...how many people are here? [A pause.] From this island or from somewhere else.

[esper_magic]

Mmm... I'm not sure, actually. I haven't met everyone, but it seems like I meet someone new every time I go outside. ... Oh, but I should let you know that not everyone here is human. [ Herself included, but she doesn't know that yet, so shh. ]