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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.

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How many of 'em did ya off?

[ Yes, absolutely. That was the main point of focus here. Definitely not that utter disaster they'd just managed to pry themselves away from. God willing, these dolls wouldn't be animated by the souls of unfortunate children because he was just about done with all of this.

Which perhaps he should have announced out loud, as a particularly feisty one leapt out from amongst its fellows and swiped at him with a knife, screeching a high-pitched war cry. Majima caught it with the silver-tipped toe of his right boot. ]

Run and get the door open while I distract 'em, how's that sound?

[ Even he thought taking on hundreds of tiny stabby dolls was a terrible idea, but he'd do it for you, Merlin! All for you! ]

Uh, none. What do you take me for, a barbarian? I don't kill people. Or things. [...] ......Maybe I broke one by accident.

[see: another doll following close on the heels of that first one, diving down from a shelf. merlin doesn't need to point but it looks kind of cool, which is why he even bothers lifting his hand to casually swat the thing aside without actually touching it. it sails into another doll with a eerily petulant wail. if it cracks and starts screaming, it's not his fault! they're really fragile and he has no time to be that gentle! they have! knives!!]

Maybe I broke several of them by accident. [ahem.] Sounds good. We just have to... find the door first...... again. [it is still down that way, isn't it? why are we always playing find the door. why can't we just play open the door? open the door is fun and easy.]

..Well. Let's hope it hasn't gone anywhere. [merlin's tall but not particularly fast when his life isn't on the line (which it has been too much lately. sppoky dolls with knives are pretty relaxing and easy to avoid.), but he still checks to make sure majima isn't too far behind as he moves forward.

ur such a good guy, majima. god speed. great sacrifices must be made for knowledge. merlin will float your corpse out if you die and try to cry about it at least a little bit.]

[ Merlin, please. Stop savaging those poor dolls, or continue doing so, because so long as they were wielding sharp, pointy things and did not look like nice (???????) ladies, Majima was perfectly content punting one that wandered too close into a cluster of its fellows.

It emitted an almost comically wail as it sailed through the air, waving its non-broken arm in the manner of an old man strongly urging kids to get off his lawn. Majima was following Merlin, but not too close, which was why as a doll came swinging at Merlin, suspended from a chandelier and yodeling like Tarzan, he had to shout a warning. ]

Hey, head's up!

[he's not doing it on purpose! normally he's a very nice guy. very respectful of people's belongings, never broke any toys. maybe a few cups, but everyone breaks cups, and cups generally don't yell or scream or..... yodel?]

What? [he looks up. oh. Oh That. y'know, idly, he wonders if he could get them to shut up by.. breaking their throats. or their. voice box. whatever's making those weird noises. which seems a little drastic even to him, but it's not like he can try asking them to shush? they don't look very obedient. they actually look- oh shit he should dodge that before he dies or something.

merlin throws himself to the side like a proper panicking human and nearly goes headlong into a set of shelves. luckily there are no dolls on it... because they've all jumped over his head to run at majima instead. isn't that nice of them. this... is not gonna be fun.

he takes a deep breath and lifts his hand again. this place does weird things to his magic, so only some random number of dolls freeze in place, and even in mid-air if they haven't landed. he was gunning for all of them, but beggars can't be choosers. hopefully this helps majima a bit. it better help. his nose is bleeding again you better not die majima.]

[ Majima was having fun.

Granted, not as much fun as if the dolls had been rude young men, yelling at him about how they didn't like his face or fervently felt he should hand over some compensation for bumping into them on the street or whatever the hell else passed for an excuse to start a fight in Kamurocho.

But there were still some joys to be had in blatantly smashing someone else's face in, and currently he was a blur of black and violet flame, lashing out wildly with his dagger and the heel of his boot in turn. At times, he barely seemed to touch the ground -- ]

How's that door comin'?

[w. well.

now that merlin knows he doesn't need to worry about the guy... dying.....

he's just going to let the rest of the dolls by, looking back occasionally as he makes his way to the other end of the room. if it looks like majima might be surrounded or outnumbered, merlin will freeze a few dolls to even out the odds, but he seems like a sturdy fellow now and he's having so much fun, god, you destructive hellion. why does everyone like breaking things so much.]

Oh I thought I'd take a little longer since you seem to be enjoying yourself so much. [not actually moving at a snail's pace. it's still really dark and every now and then he has to grab a doll lunging at him and throw it over to where majima is.] Hang in there!

[aaand back to groping the dark walls hoping to find something like a-- aha.] Gotcha. Hey, I found it!

[ Look Merlin, breaking things was fun, and it was even more fun when they were not your things!! For his part, Majima did seem to be genuinely enjoying himself, but when Merlin called him over, he broke off from the dolls (a few chased after him, waving their steely knives, but it seemed they just couldn't get kill the beast) and toward the door. ]

Alright, let's have it!

[ Maybe they'd finally see this magic book of Merlin's! ]

[it's not fun it's exhausting and time consuming!!

merlin makes a face at all the dolls following after majima, but he figures there's not much you can really do about that short of tying them all down or breaking them and they. don't have time for that.

he pushes open the door when majima is close enough, slips inside, and then slams it shut before the dolls can get in. even reinforces the door with magic while they throw themselves at it, just in case.

only when the screaming and banging dies down and he's nursing a headache does he step back, letting out a sigh.] ..That went better than the first time around.

[now that that's over with... merlin pats himself down and looks around, making a beeline for the bookstand in the middle of the room. carefully. wouldn't want to get sent out before they can even look at it.]

Yeah? Thanks.

[ You know, for shutting the door against the angry dolls, and all that. Majima took a look around while Merlin was heading for the bookstand, taking in the herbs, the jars, the fireplace. If this was all part of some set decoration, it certainly was elaborate.

He circled around to the bookstand. ]

It looks like a dusty old magic book, anyhow.

What'd you do last time, just grab it and start readin'?

[merlin already looked at everything else so none of it is really interesting anymore, save for checking to see if anything's changed. aside from the book that doesn't look like it's been touched before, it's all the same.

this time though, he circles around it a few more times, looking at it from different angles. maybe he missed something in the room last time.]

More or less... Magic wouldn't open it, which just made me want to open it more. It could need some sort of ritual or spell to be read properly.

[hmmm.]

..Actually, I'm a little more curious who put it back. And put dust on it again.

What if it put itself back?

[ C'mon Merlin, think hard and solve this with your magic!! You can do anything if you try! But seriously, though, he was not aware of any easy method that would allow one to easy re-apply a perfect layer of dust to an old book.

There was a halfhearted rap on the other side of the door, then what sounded to Majima like nonverbal grumbling noises. ]

I've. Never heard of anything doing that on its own. [...which means!] Maybe someone's behind all of this. The girl in the box, the dolls.. whatever this house is for.

[he tries it: a wave of his hand makes all the dust fly off in a cloud. another wave and a pinched expression later gets most of it back onto the book- but not all, and not evenly. it's too fine a job for merlin as he is. maybe with some time and less inclination to bleed everywhere he could do it. hmm. hmmmmm.

he freezes when he hears the rapping, and the noises that... definitely were not from majima. merlin takes a few steps back and reaches for the nearest weapon-able thing. like a jar of rotten food.]

..Enemies, you think? [his free hand is up and ready to do whatever needs doing. maybe they should just grab the book and go.]

Probably more of those dolls.

[ Majima didn't seem overly concerned; the rapping had been close to the ground, and the door showed no sign of opening. He'd stick by the door for now, however, just in case. ]

You got any kind of spiritual sense?

Spiritual? Not.. really. If there's anything behind the door I can stop it from moving, but that won't tell me what it is or how many.

[hmmm. he uses his magic on the door away, and the rattling stops. whatever's knock is still knocking, but at least this way he knows the door isn't going to bust open. if they don't. slam it with 400 horses, anyway]

That should hold for a bit. Not sure how long, though... We could just take the book and leave.

[creepy tiny fist door beating intensifies.]

... [loudly:] Nice try, but that only makes me want to take it more.

[he is already inching towards to the book again.]

[ Majima turned, stepped back toward the bookstand. ]

If we're gonna do it, let's do it.

[ What was the worst that could happen, right? Those jars weren't getting any less smelly. ]

[well alright then let's blow this joint.]

As long as you think it's a good idea! [always nice to have someone backing up your questionable plans. merlin grabs the book and.... books it. the rattling intensifies to an almost painful amount. the door cracks open a bit before merlin slams it shut again with great effort, what the hell is trying to get in? this didn't happen last time!

....must be majima's fault.]

Very good idea. Let's go. [he can't hold the door much longer anyway, between the book and his headache, and whatever's behind it breaks in once they're through the next door.]

[ Pumpkins, pumpkins, everywhere -- and graves as well, though these tombstones looked the opposite of fake. Majima sidestepped as the ground squirmed under his feet. There was a distant moan as they ran from the house, but surely --

A hand burst out of the dirt in front of a grave, capped off by ragged fingernails and a smell one could only describe as extremely unpleasant. A little far for some special effects, wasn't this? ]

What the hell? I didn't see a graveyard when we went in!

[ like... not a real one, certainly. ]

[that's uhh... that's a real zombie there isn't it... not a walking, talking skeleton, but an actual zombie. that's--] Necromancy? That's illegal, isn't it? No?

[oh, huh. right. this is probably still a dream. nothing's illegal in a dream.

merlin whacks one of the zombies in the head with the book, because that's the best way to use a book in this situation. and also he has no other weapons.]

Edited 2018-10-18 19:40 (UTC)

Yeah, someone better call the cops.

[ That was a joke, sort of. As far as Majima could tell, there were no cops in Deerington and therefore it was extremely unlikely they'd send out a patrol car to stop a flash mob performance of Thriller, no matter how realistic.

Here's what was up, though: Majima swapped his dagger out for a katana instead. Go for the head, right? Best to use the right tool for the task, then. ]

Let's get outta here, even if we gotta fight our way through.

[ God there were a lot of graves. BOY THERE WERE A LOT OF ZOMBIES COMING OUT OF THEM. ]

[majima he's being serious here!! we don't have time for fake cops!!]

I'd rather not fight through anything..... [wow merlin this is not the time to be non-confrontational. why are there so many graves! how is this yard so big!] I don't even have a weapon.

[merlin, you have magic.

instead he just bashes a few more heads in with the book and slowly moves towards... where's the exit?] How the hell do we even get out of here? Just go forward?

Ya want one?

[ WHO LEFT ALL THESE SHOVELS AROUND? Either way, Majima was going to pick one up and toss one in Merlin's direction. Or, you know. It could just hit a zombie. ]

Hell if I know! Let's just get away from the house!

[ Granted, this might actually take them further into the graveyard, but sooner or later, it'd have to lead them out, right? He struck out with the katana, and as it hit one of the zombies, the creature was blown back in a gust of wind and shoujo sakura petals.

why couldn't he have a normal sword

because!! ]

[or he could you know dodge it! let it hit a zombie. if he touches that he might feel obligated to actually use it what the HELL is that sword majima. WHERE did you get that. he wants one.]

If you say so! [looking at that. slowly rising horde of zombies......... okay he'll take the shovel fine. it's a little awkward to use with one hand though.

he puts the house behind them and just. goes. and tries to avoid as many of these graves as possible. unfortunately it looks like the further they go, the more zombies seem to crop up... and why doesn't the yard look like it's ending any time soon.]

..I don't think this is working. [trying to cop a zombie's head off with the shovel. he gets about 50% of it with a really gross-sounding noise. so that's what a (failed) beheading sounds like.] Next plan!

[....the house looks so far away now.....] We.. might have to use the book. [ooh, that's painful to say. after all they went through to get it.]

Yeah? My hands're full, so you're gonna have to read the magic words yourself.

[ Or however the book worked, he didn't know. He struck the half-beheaded zombie, full-beheading it. Whew, nothing like a job well done. ]

But whatever ya do, do it soon -- otherwise I'm gonna have to take open a can on these things!

[ In the meantime, Majima could do his best to keep the ravenous hordes off of both of them. The zombie before him was thrust backwards, knocking into its fellows with the resigned groan of a man doomed to nonspeaking roles. ]

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