Entry tags:

October 2018 Test Drive Meme

OCTOBER 2018 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to October’s Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: HALLOWEEN HORROR.

All Test Drive Memes contain at least one clue to the Deerington's upcoming in-game events for the month! Keep your eyes peeled! But...not literally.

Characters may die during TDMs, but you do not need to count it towards a game-canonical death unless you want to. Consider it a freebie. All TDMs can be considered game canon as TDMs introduce minor aspects about the world of Deerington that can be revisited by characters later on in the game. You may also use TDMs for your application writing sample as well as AC.

CW: Wet and rotting corpses/zombies, ghosts, violence, blood, knives, possessed dolls, options for underage drinking

Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

IT’S JUST A BUNCH OF HOCUS POCUS

It’s not Halloween if you don’t make a trip to a cheesy haunted house. At least, that’s what everyone in Deerington likes to say. The old Victorian stands at the top of a hill, rickety and in desperate need of a new paint job. The yard and porch have been decorated with what you’d expect for your typical haunted house; fake spider webs spread across the overhang, painted foam grave markers with cheesy names like “Here lies Richard Cranium” and “BEWARE!!” in creepy letter etchings. You can see the blinking of variously timed strobe lights in some windows and the shadow of what you’re pretty sure is a full-sized doll standing in the window, meant to look like someone staring out at you. The rocking chair on the porch near the door has a skeleton with a bowl of candy in his lap, and a sign is propped up against the wall next to him.

“ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK. TOUCH NOTHING AND NOTHING WILL TOUCH YOU!”

Well that sounds promising.

The first few rooms you enter are appropriately cheesy. There’s the silly burst of air that you hear just before a plastic figuring pops out of a poorly constructed coffin, the clicking sound of the machinery inside echoing in the room when it starts to pull back and the lid closes once again. There’s fog machines trying to give the appropriately spooky air, stuffed sheets shaped to look like dead bodies wrapped up laying in piles on the floor with fake blood staining the white fabric, black lighting to show off words scribbled on doors like “TURN BACK NOW” and “SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES.” Nothing you haven’t seen before. It might be even worse than things you’ve seen before, over the top cheesy, boring enough to give a yawn. Each door seems to open on its own so you don’t even have to touch the handles.

As you make your way through the next automatic door, the room you walk into is different than those before it. It’s a regular children’s room. A bed against the wall near the window, a dresser in the corner, a small desk with a chair. Nothing out of the ordinary, save for the lights not being on, and the strange flickering light in the closet. You step towards it, figuring you’re in for another jump scare, but the door doesn’t open. Whether you’re naturally the curious sort or not, something in the back of your mind makes you want to open the door and see what’s on the inside.

If you fight it and walk towards the next automatic door, you’ll find you’ve walked out to the backyard of the house, those same foam decorations and a dozen or more jack o’ lanterns lighting your way on a path back to the town.

If you choose to pull the door open, however, it’ll take you into yet another room, with a flickering television playing nothing but static. Once you step past the doors of the closet, they slam shut behind you and whoever else dared to enter. The doors won’t lock no matter what you do, no matter how strong the person shaking the handles or pushing against the wood may be. You realize you broke the one rule; you’ve touched something. But can things now really touch you?

The only light source in the whole room is that television and it’s not lighting up much inside the room around it. If you squint when the TV is at its brightest setting, you can just make out another door. Your exit, you hope. But as you make your way towards the door, the flickering suddenly stops, the TV steadily bright, a low humming noise coming from the screen, and suddenly the door seems several more feet away from you than it was a second ago. Before you can reach the door, there’s the sound of trickling water from behind you. If you choose to look back, you’ll see something coming out from the screen - a girl with soaked clothing and pale, rotted skin. She emerges fully from the glass and starts to move towards you. You know it’s best to start running for that door. If you stay and try to fight, you’ll find that no regular weapons work on her, though special weapons and powers that are effective against spirits will definitely do the trick. For those who don’t have any of these at their disposal, however, there is one more hope besides just trying to run; two old school VHS tape sit on the table near by, a fancy machine between them that is meant to copy one to the other. Work as a team and have one distract her while the other records, and you’ll find that she disappears as quickly as she flickered on the screen and the TV will return to static.

Regardless of what you choose before carrying on, the next room you come to as the door slams and locks behind you is entirely different. Brightly lit and filled with what seems like hundreds of porcelain dolls, it’s almost hard to tell where there could possibly be another exit hidden among the massive shelves. You can start to wind your way through them, but before long, you start to hear the sound of running feet, the jingling of bells, the swish of satin, and most eerily the sounds of children giggling - but there’s nothing that sounds save about them. Some of the dolls you saw on the last shelf seem like they’ve moved and are sitting in the corner or laying in a new position on a new shelf. Sometimes you swear you can see their heads turn to watch you pass, but it has to be a trick of the light, doesn’t it?

That is until one of those dolls runs by you, brandishing something shiny in their hands - something sharp. A knife, you realize too late, as it tries to slice at your legs and knock you down. You can kick them away and they’ll go flying, and when the porcelain smashes, the doll will scream in agony. You notice there’s blood pouring from the hole that formed, spreading quickly across the ground. The dolls are easy to kill, but are they really just dolls? You can take your time to contemplate that later, as now you have to fight your way through the violent and armed toys to reach the door at the end of the maze of shelves. Hopefully you can get out without too many severe injuries.

When (or if) you do manage to get to the next room, you seem to have a chance to take a breath and tend to any wounds. It’s decorated like the room of a small cottage, a large pot over the fireplace that isn’t lit, and several jars full of (possibly rotting) food and herbs on the shelves. You see a book on the stand in the center, latched shut and covered in dust. You can open it, if you want, but remember the warning you ignored that got you in trouble in the first place. It’s probably better to carry on to the next room.

If you do choose to open the book, though, there will be eerily glowing text lining the pages, the light will seem to poor out and fill the room, and you’ll be transported back out in front of the house.

Those who continued through the door will find themselves out in the backyard. Just like for those who got out sooner, there are dozens of jack o lanterns, but the graves don’t look like they’re made of foam this time. They’re real stone, engraved with real names and real dates this time. And the ground underneath them seems to be moving, like someone’s trying to crawl out of there. Better not to wait around. Soon as you start to move down the path, you’ll start to hear the sounds of groans as the undead start to crawl from their own graves, pulling themselves up through the dirt, and determined to get to the only food source they see - you. The zombies seem like they’re never ending, coming from every inch of the yard, but at least they’re just like normal zombies - completely incapable of being killed unless you cut off the head. There are shovels lying next to a few graves if you need a quick weapon, but there’s also still always the option to run as fast as you can up the stone path to the front of the house and back towards the street.

When you do finally manage to get back to the front, there’s a momentary blinding flash of light, disorienting anyone near it for a few seconds. When it finally fades, any leftover zombies chasing you have disappeared and the house looks like the same, cheesy haunted house you walked up to in the first place. If for some reason you decide to go and explore the backyard again, the grass will be back to normal, and the graves will all be replaced by cheaply painted foam once more.

Was that all in your head? Who knows. But maybe it’s best to just get out of here.

WE DID THE MASH

Somehow the street lamps have all been converted to oil based flames, the Authority are in witch hats, and every where you go there is music that seems to be playing from faintly glowing bats hanging upside down from telephone wires. The bats will open their mouths in succession, seeming somehow capable of producing the sounds of instruments and singers alike of popular Halloween songs.

Yards are decorated as thoroughly as the front of stores. Maybe you haven't bothered to decorate, but your neighbor sure has! Fake gravestones are propped up in yards, giant fake spiders in trees, and no matter where you walk, the ground seems covered in thick, rolling fog from machines. Or at least you hope it's coming from machines. Hell, you can't even find it in yourself to be too worried! Everyone around you is having way too good of a time! And God, there is food everywhere! Might as well grab a bite while you're out, huh?

It's tempting to break loose and dance. Jack-O-Lanterns absolutely crowd the streets. There's more than you can even begin to count, and all of them are lit all throughout the night. Even if you accidentally trip over some, they don't seem to catch fire to anything or go out! Some neighbors have camp fires set up with marshmallows to roast, while others have...are those broomsticks? Well that's kinda cool, you guess. Correction: it's really cool since you can actually pick one up and take it for a fly! Make sure to attach a little lamp to the front though because God knows it's dangerous flying at night. The brooms only work if you wear the appropriately provided hats, of course, but you can keep both the broom and hat indefinitely and have a readily available means of flight in Deerington after! Be forewarned though: the brooms are as easily broken as regular brooms and the hats easily blown away in the wind.

TRICK OR TREATS

At any of the events, especially the nighttime partying, you can find any number of the following treats (and their potential side effects):

Donuts (Will make you deliriously happy. Everything is amazing to you. May cause a lot of affection. A lot of affection.)
Candy Apples (You will eagerly tell someone everything you like about them. Talk about a sweet tooth.)
Candy Corn (Will make you extremely sad. Like god, you'll be wondering why you hate yourself so much.)
Pumpkin Spice Lattes (Causes suspicious amounts of obedience and a desire to do what you're told.)
Hot Chocolate (Can provide some minor healing. Best stuff to drink with a common cold!)
Hot or Cold Apple Cider (Nothing will happen. It's just really good.)
Alcoholic Cider (This isn't your grandma's apple cider. This stuff will knock you on your ass. Anyone who drinks this will get wasted regardless of whether or not they are immune to alcohol or even ingest regular food. It only takes one or two before you start to get tipsy, but any more than that and you'll be well on your way to drunk. Please drink responsibly. We don't need any FUIs.)

Character Arrival

You can read how all characters arrive in Deerington here.

There is not a collective "all these characters showed up at the exact same moment" occurrence in Deerington. Since characters fall asleep, die, or pass out at various times throughout all their worlds, it wouldn't make too much sense if they arrived in game all at the exact same time. There should be some discrepancy between character arrival, whether by a couple minutes, hours, or even days up to a week.

The players are entirely in control of how/when they want to play their characters arriving in Deerington. For TDMs, you can play it like your character has just arrived and that can be maintained as your game canon, or you can wait until game events for that moment. Or you don't need to acknowledge it at all. The flexibility for character allows a bit more of an organic feel to the character arrival situation, so please play it to whatever feels right for you.

If you are interested in having an "arrival" introduction for one of your TDM prompts, you are more than welcome to explore that option.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( she could hear it and god, whatever it was river really hoped that they didn't have to find out. but it was close and whilst they were free from one danger this one would probably soon be upon them, she just hoped that she could restart his heart before then.

(god, humans and their fragility, even for a man built like him)

there's one problem -- river has never actually given someone cpr before. she knows that she needs to get his heart beating again but doing so with a proper method...

she's at least seen what you should do, starting compressions on his chest, but whether she's doing it in the correct place... he might find his ribs healing by the time that she's done )

[ Logan's never needed CPR in his life, but it's the dim feeling of pressure on his chest and his healing factor finally kicking in in his near death state that has him coughing after good measure. His eyes are still shut, but now they're screwed tight-- the skin about them wrinkling-- and he shudders deeply as feeling returns to his body.

Panting for air, his eyelids part, and he stares unseeingly at the blurry shape of River's head above him. His face slowly starts to fill with colour again. ]

Oh, shit. [ When her hands are off him, he sits up with a groan. His heart feels like it's beating harder in his chest than it should, like someone taking a mallet to his rib cage.

It's not pleasant. ]

Did I die?

[ He cracks his neck to the right, a sickening noise crunching out; it's louder than human bone-- probably cringeworthy, too. But it's not quite as bad as the echoing scraping that starts to fill the room, porcelain against porcelain against porcelain as little doll heads turn around them.

And someone giggles.

Logan frowns deeply. ] ...please tell me that was you.

( though she breathes a sigh of relief when he comes back it doesn't last long, the movements in the room echoing, coming distinctly closer and river has her hands on his arm and shoulder to help him sit, and maybr a slight bit of comfort )

I'm afraid not.

( which could, in a strange way, answer both of his questions. he hadn't quite died, his heart stopping but everything else still trying, and the giggle was not her )

And I'd rather not find out what it was.

( as river stands she offers him a hand, not expecting him to be steady on his feet after what had just happened )

[ Given the woman had just dragged him through a fucking television, Logan presumes she's strong enough to pull him back up to his feet. So he takes her hand, winces as he's back on his feet (his muscles aren't cooperating, and that prickling sensation of blood pumping anew in his veins is annoying), and then growls lowly as he turns his head to take stock of the room. ]

Thanks. But I doubt it matters what either of us think. [ But they should probably start moving, so Logan makes his way forward, walking between two shelves towards the other side of the room.

Said room is too big to be part of the house, he thinks. Hell, its size might as well take up two of what he presumes is the house's area from how it looked on the outside. There's the sound of porcelain again, scraping and echoing, and then the sound of cotton sliding across the floor, and Logan snarls as he turns his head sharply.

There's that fucking giggle again. The sound of footsteps, except whoever's running is terribly, terribly light.

If River looks at any of the shelves, one of the dolls is going to wink at her.

And then its glass eye is going to fall out and shatter on the floor. ]

( she's been trying not to think of it but the more that river hears it, the scraping and the giggling, the more it shakes a memory in her.

angels. she hates that she hadn't thought of it before, though considering what her last encounter had cost her-- she freezes momentarily, daring to turn her head to look.

they're dolls. porcelain dolls but, god, if they didn't creep her out all the same. and they were moving )

Don't take your eyes off them.

( she reaches down for his hand, well aware that they weren't weeping angels but not prepared to take the risk. it likely wouldn't work, few things had quantum locking mechanisms, but it was better to be safe.

even if he pulls his hand away river will step to the side, trying to urge him with her, careful steps as she keeps her eyes on as many dolls as she can see )

How many do you think there are?

My best bet? [ Given how big the fucking place is, and how many dolls he's seeing per row on each shelf...

He doesn't have a very comforting answer. ] Over a thousand, at least.

[ Logan doesn't notice the dolls looking at him or anything, but he does start to peer up at them at River's behest. He doesn't try to break their connection, either, but only because he takes some form of comfort from it.

Now that they're actively staring at the dolls, however, the ones behind them start to stare back. Their little heads turn, and some of them slip off from their rows, joining in the giggling as they start running to corners of the room. If either Logan or River turn their heads, however, the dolls will be limp on the floor.

Logan is, naturally, too dense to notice that there aren't as many dolls on the shelves as there were before. But he'll be surprised to see some on the floor where he was sure there was none.

The sound of footsteps continues, and there's another little giggle.

Something breaks, crashing to the floor. The smell of blood wafts around them, and Logan growls lowly under his breath. ]

...wanna start running?

( she's about to comment on the dolls missing from the shelves behind them when logan asks his question. her face almost lights up, the idea of running is perfect (and familiar) but it's also a mask, trying to cover the fact that this situation is starting to frighten her. the weeping angels are one of the few things that do frighten her, not just because of how they kill but because of her history with them. to run from this... perfect )

Absolutely.

( she grips his hand a little tighter, only taking her eyes from them to start running. and she's quick, well practised in this sort of thing. running from danger is something that river has done frequently and it's probably a good thing that she's leading the way, darting through the shelves, trying to dodge the dolls.

but they're still moving. she can hear the scraping along the floor, the giggling as the dolls continue moving. and then she stops, almost colliding into him with how abrupt it all is. the dolls are in their path and river bets that there's some coming quick up behind them too )

Now what?

[ River stops and Logan nearly bumps into her, but takes a moment to look at the dolls standing motionless before them. It's not so bad, he thinks-- the dolls are moving, sure, but they're dolls, so what's the big fucking deal?

He releases River's hand, but only because both his claws push from his fists. ]

Now we fi--... [ Logan trails off as the dolls all start to move in unison, reaching beneath their little dresses. Most of them wear the tiny cotton bloomers expected of period dolls, but all of them pull out knives that fit in their hands. ] ...oh, you're fucking kidding me.

[ Their little mouths open in such a wide smile some jaws crack off and fall down.

And then they rush forward, shrieking and giggling in glee.

If it's any consolation to River, she was right to assume there were dolls on their way to get them from behind. Unfortunately, they have knives of their own, too.

Logan snarls, muscles tight with energy. ] You get the ones behind us! [ Because he's charging forward claws first, and he won't hesitate to slash and stomp and kick anything that gets in his way. ]

( river just looks at him as if to say what are you going to do but her eyes flash to the-- claws? knives? again and she has some idea. it didn't seem like the best plan against porcelain dolls but these weren't just dolls.

and no quantum lock either, not that it would help against so many.

she pulls her blaster out as he moves, wasting no time as she turns, a wild shot towards the ground that manages to hit one of them. but they're fast, little feet scuttering around and though river's shots are accurate, sending some of them screaming as they break, it isn't long before they're stabbing at her legs, managing to pierce through her boots )

There's too many of them.

( she can keep fighting, she's kicking that one away, shooting through the pain, but there were even more still coming )

Yeah, [ kicking a doll into the wall, Logan follows it until it crashes, noting the subsequent messy spatter of blood that stains it ] I noticed!

[ But he knows what she's getting at, and growls as he looks about wildly, relying on his ears and his nose to smack and swing into the dolls that come at him. His boots smash through porcelain, creating puddles of blood, and though it's slow going, he manages to move forward step by step, and hopefully River catches it and follows after him. ]

God damn it... [ Finally reaching the end of one aisle of shelves, Logan spots it just at the very corner of the gigantic room: a single door, wooden and brown and its knob shining in the dim, warehouse-esque light.

A doll stabs him in the calve, and he roars as he smashes it with his foot. Continuing this stomping, as if he's getting cockroaches and not dolls, Logan looks over his shoulder at River and points with his hand. ] Lady, over there!

You go ahead, I got this!

[ Another stab and Logan hisses, but kicks the doll (and two others) away in one quick swing of his leg. ]

( there's a small, humourless laugh at his words and river dares to look around him, shooting without looking (and still hitting), feeling the tiniest bit triumphant when she spots the door )

We got together or not at all.

( she might have just met you but you seemed bloody useful and someone that has her back like this is worth keeping around. plus he wasn't bad to look out.

the shooting pauses momentarily as river reaches into her jacket for the sonic, masking any yelps of pain as the dolls use the time to stab at her again. once it's out she gets a few quick shots off down near her feet before pointing it around him at the door, hoping that the lock will cooperate )

God damn it! [ Again with the screwdriver? Logan snarls as he stabs his claws down, kicks his legs out-- dolls go flying in every direction, laughing and flailing and cracking their little heads into the walls, the shelves, and the other little ones starting to crawl off their places. It's a mess, and the stench of blood is everywhere, and Logan is so fucking tired...

But River's screwdriver works.

And the door in the corner creaks open.

Logan almost misses the sound of it, given the noise of everything else, but his head jerks up in a shock he can't possibly hope to hide. ]

Holy shit.

[ This is their cue, right? This is it, right?

He jumps up, dolls clinging to his ankles, smashes them and a few more under his boots when he lands, and then takes River's hand a second time.

This has to be their cue.

So he runs and takes her with him. ]

( the click makes her breathe again, feeling for his hand as logan finds hers first, relief running through her as they run. with her screwdriver trapped in their hands river leaves covering shots as they go, not looking but hoping to either hit some or make them think twice.

(she does hit some)

she pushes the door quickly shut once they're through, using the sonic to re-lock it. but they're not out yet. will this ever end? )

Come on.

( she's ignoring everything around her, the danger putting any curiosities that river may have away in favour of them getting out alive. it wasn't worth looking around with everything that had happened.

she walks quickly, finding a door with ease and wasting no time in going through it. they're outside. finally. though doesn't it seem too easy? )

Does anywhere look familiar?

( just in case he knew what this building was or the place around them )

[ It does, in fact, look familiar. ] Yeah, it's the same... neighbourhood we came from. [ He looks behind him at the house, stares at its normal size and normal appearance, and frowns deeply at it. He was damn sure that doll room was, what, ten times bigger?

The blood on his legs is soaking into his socks. ]

Fucking Deerington. [ There's an exasperation there that makes it sound like this is supposedly par for the course. ] Jesus. Guess we can go home now that we made it. Come on.

[ Naturally, it's only as Logan makes his way to the side of the house to walk towards the front of it that he hears earth starting to shift, dirt and pebbles crumbling and rolling. A hand is reaching out from beneath, emaciated and rotten and bone exposed through holes in the skin...

Logan doesn't even try to look. His nose crinkles in disgust. ]

...undead?

( river has the same thought that he does about the size of the room when she looks, though she's also familiar enough with other things that are larger on the inside for it to be little concern. for now, she wants to be out, away and alive. she'll think about the rest later.

at his comment there's a sigh, river gives a sniff of the air. just how many things were there in this place? )

They smell it. ( dead at least. if they were moving... god help them )

I don't know this place. I hope you do.

All I know [ he squeezes her hand ] is we're running.

[ And he isn't going to let River go, either. A more headstrong man might stay and fight the zombies, but Logan's learned that conserving his energy tends to be the smarter choice here.

Fortunately for them, making their way from the back to the front of the house doesn't seem to bring about anything too dangerous, but Logan's going to lead River all the way to the end of the street anyway, and then down a turn so they're out of the neighbourhood entirely. ]

( honestly river was glad for the running. running was good, running was familiar and it meant that, whilst she could, she didn't have to waste time fighting. she was getting tired of the endless, nonsensical fighting.

so she runs, quick on his heels and not stopping until he does. there's a building nearby that river gestures to, a hopeful safe harbour though she lets him decide whether its safe or not to stop in )

[ The building is, in fact, one of those uninhabited houses, and Logan nods in agreement; ducking in there to wait a few minutes until the coast is clear should be good enough.

He was told by Hino before that there're tons of unused homes around the area, and settling in them's just a matter of taking some key or other and setting your things in. This one's fully furnished, but Logan isn't going to take advantage of it-- he's just going to sit on the floor, press his back to the front door, and take a deep, deep breath.

At least they're safe now.

Sparing River a glance wherever she's decided to settle, he frowns slightly. ] Did you just get here?

( she stays standing, a quick check out the window in one of the rooms before joining him in the hallway, leaning against the doorframe connecting to the living room )

Something like that.

( she folds her arms, looking down at him )

I take it you didn't.

[ He laughs, but it's tired instead of mirthful-- and not tired in the winded sense, either. ] Yeah, what gave me away?

[ Probably the question, but sarcasm is forever. ]

Been here about a month. Shit like that house, the monsters-- that ain't even the roughest stuff this town can spit out.

At least no-one played with our heads.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only