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

No. The doctors couldn't figure it out either. This place likes to screw around with our heads, but seems to pick people at random every time.

Just keeps getting better and better.

[ THEY'RE NOT LOOKING HARD ENOUGH. WE WILL FIND IT AND TEAR IT TO PIECES AND EAT THE PIECES AND IT WON'T BOTHER ANYBODY ANYMORE. ]

Don't you think that's a little excessive?

[ NOT IF IT WORKS. ]

[Excuse Arthur while he just stares quietly, brows rising as he waits for Eddie to finish the conversation.]

... Is your friend gearing to do something extreme?

[ Eddie hesitates, then shrugs. How much to explain, how much to divulge. How much of what he could say is going to bite him in the ass if he does. ]

He always wants to do something extreme, that's not really anything new. But...he's just curious about your search for who's responsible. I am too.

[There's a brief pause and then a cheeky smirk crosses Arthur's face.]

Lookin' to getting into trouble so soon? Careful. I might end up liking you both.

[He takes off the computer-looking wrist-cuff on his arm, letting the Fluid flatten out as he unlocks it an accesses his contacts, holding out his free hand without looking.]

Pass me your phone. Got a few numbers and addresses you might find handy.

Trouble's my middle name, unfortunately. Family curse, I guess.

[ Eddie smirks right back; how the hell else did he get into all of his messes? He searches through the basket, eventually digging out what looks like a phone, albeit much fancier than any he's ever seen before, and passes it to Arthur. He's never been one to turn down a lead, after all. ]

[Arthur just smiles, shaking his head as he starts putting in contacts for Eddie - the doctors who've worked in Harren Hospital and witnessed some of the chaos in there, F.E.A.R. HQ and Majima, the man in charge, and his own number, because why not? Easier for Eddie to come find him if he wants to talk investigating.]

Keep an eye on the 'Deerfeed'. It's where Sleepers put up posts about the latest strange or dangerous thing that's shown up in town. [Passes the Fluid back.] Could save your life.

[ He accepts it back after, scrolling through the new numbers and nodding in acknowledgment of the statement. ]

I'll keep an eye on it. What's F.E.A.R.?

'First Encounter Assault Recon'. Protective task force to keep the Sleepers safe since not everyone's capable of defending themselves against all the things in Deerington. We also investigate some of the latest crazy stuff that crops up, have some researchers and doctors there to analyse the samples we might collect, that kind of thing.

[He pauses, then adds:] It's not local. Not sure who set it up in the first place, but it's definitely not something the townspeople made.

How do you figure?

[ Not that he's doubting, just asking. ]

No locals work there. I don't think any of them even realise it exists. Other places... If you try getting a job in town, you have townspeople there. Some weirder than others. But none of them are at F.E.A.R. Might be Sodder or someone else set it up way back when Sleepers first started getting dragged into this mess. Some of the equipment they've got for us don't exactly fit in with the whole... vintage aesthetic of the rest of the town.

How long has this place been here, do you know?

The town? According to historical records in the library, since the 1900s. But... the books are a bit...

[He looks more than a bit peeved by what he's about to say, like he doesn't want to believe it himself.]

... 'Glitchy'. You can look at the same page every day and the text will... change. Sometimes blurred, sometimes bleeding together, holographic... it's weird. Like they don't want the information to be known, so it's been physically scrambled.

[ The laugh he gives, a chuckle, really, is dry and not particularly humored. He reaches up to run a hand through his hair, scratching at his scalp as he thinks. ]

Like when you try to read a book in a dream; it makes sense in your head but if you stop and think about it you can never actually read the words.

Yeah, that doesn't make me feel any better. [Given he's made a career of navigating dreams and making sure to remember all details present in them.] But that's as good an explanation as any.

Oh, me either, but at least it's a start. Somewhere to work from.

Even for a dream, this place doesn't make sense.

Oh- [Speaking of which] -don't try to kill yourself. You won't wake up.

[ Eddie raises an eyebrow, curious and questioning and more than a little uncertain. ]

Sounds like you speak from experience.

Not personally, here. Back home, I'm something of an... expert, with shared dreams. Quickest way to get out of a dream there is to kill yourself before the Somnacin - the drug used for shared dreaming - runs out. But here... when people die, they stay dead for a while, and then they come back. Sick, hurting, needing a while to recover, but they definitely didn't wake up.

They must need us here pretty bad.

[ Not that it makes much of that make any sense, but it's the best answer he can come up with. ]

Whoever 'they' are. [Grumble grumble.] Generally, if I'm working for someone on a project? I like to know who I'm working for.

'Least it's mostly good people here to work with so far.

There's some use in staying anonymous, but for this kind of place? Just comes across as suspect.

[His lips quirk at that and Arthur gives Eddie's face a considering look.]

Funny you of all people should say that.

What, because I'm a reporter? Hey, I put my name and face on everything I do.

Nah, more because you look exactly like a guy I know. He spends most of his time impersonating others, so... about as anonymous as can be, really.

(no subject)

familiarnightmares - 2018-11-02 14:35 (UTC) - Expand