MARCH 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to March’s Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: IRISH FOLKLORE.

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: Demons, ghosts, bleeding from the face

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

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

KISS ME I'M IRISH

Did you know that Penobscot County has the highest Irish population in Maine? 38% of residents identify as Irish and they will not let you forget it. Deerington is apparently ready to embrace that, setting up a St. Patrick's Day block party for everyone to participate in! There's plenty of traditional Irish foods being serves, such as a hearty Irish stew with a side of delicious brown bread, bacon and cabbage, colcannon (easily the most delicious mash you'll ever have), and honey roasted ham! And, of course, there's plenty of drinks (both adult and child friendly) to wash it all down with! Help yourself to a pint, it's on the house!

And don't worry, it won't do anything funny to you this time.

If you're not interested in the food, though, there's still a kissing booth that's ready to go! But it looks like someone is missing from the seat. Whoever wanders too close to the booth, whether on purpose or accidental, they will find themselves drawn to it, and if they linger too long, they might even take a seat. How kind of you! If the seats already filled, you'll find yourself inclined to pucker up, even if it's not someone you'd normally give a smooch to. It's a holiday! Maybe you're just in the spirit. Each kiss is 1 credit and all donations go towards helping the hospital get up and running properly again, because let's be honest - it really needs all the help it can get.

People may also notice that the Bettys are around and are trying particularly hard to get people to wear something green. If they don't see them already donning it, they will start to offer them green flower crowns, green and gold pins (with real gold! Bite it if you don't believe us!), green body paint, green anything they can get you to wear, and they'll be particularly pushy about it for some reason. You can ignore them, of course, and eventually they'll walk off to try and talk someone else into taking their gifts.

If you are wearing green, then you're in luck! Everything will go just smoothly for you.

But if you chose not to, there's a bit of trouble to be had. The party might go normally, but shortly after, things start to get a little strange. You start to feel like you're being followed - hunted, even. You can't see them, but eventually you'll hear them, and that's almost worse. The sounds of tortured groans, screams of agony, and they seem to be getting closer. You'll start to feel invisible hands on you, grasping onto you with what feels like inhuman strength, and the very air will start to be sucked from your lungs. The closer you get to death, the more the creatures begin to materialize - rotting, skeletal figures with yellow eyes and faces that look like they belong to demons. The Sluagh are known for going after sinners most frequently, but sometimes, they'll simply take what they can get - and that seems to be you.

If you're lucky, someone who is wearing green will find you, and they'll be able to not only see what's attacking you but help you fight them off. The Sluagh seem to be weak to anyone who is proudly portraying the color favored by the Celtic gods, the connection to nature their undoing. Hit 'em with a tree branch and watch them scurry off.

TO WEEP, TO WAIL

For those who are walking home after the sun is down, whether drunkenly from the party or from the obligations of work or school, there will start to be strange sounds coming from the emptier portions of town - weeping from the graveyard, sniffling down alleys, or anguished wails from the fields out by the run down farm houses in Clark Acres. They echo through the otherwise strangely quiet streets of Deerington, but rather than feeling like you should run, a strange power pulls you forward.

Each sound eventually materializes into a woman; what form she takes can vary, though. The ghostly image of a pained, beautiful young woman who calls for her lost lover, or a cloaked, monstrous looking figure that bleeds from its eyes and screams over love betrayed, or perhaps that of a motherly figure, wailing for her children.

Regardless of how she may look, the result of getting closer can go one of two ways; if you approach her cautiously but with good intent, the woman will not attack you. Perhaps all she wants is a shoulder to cry on or a sympathetic ear to hear her tale. Those who are kind and don’t spook her will be rewarded with a small, polished piece of sandstone, a perfect size to fit in the palm of your hand. A small thanks before she disappears. Whenever you hold or rub the stone, you’ll be given a feeling of peace and any anxieties or troubles you may be having will temporarily ease.

Those who approach with ill intent or who approach too quickly will find that the banshee is quick to become aggressive. Her screams will raise to such a pitch that your head will feel like its splitting open and blood will begin to trickle from your ears, eyes, and nose. It will feel like the pressure is caving your body in on itself. The only means of defeating the banshee is touching her with gold. Whether it’s a ring, a necklace, or even the gold lining of one of the pins the Bettys gave at the party, the moment that the gold touches the banshee, she will disappear in a puff of smoke. If you don’t have any gold, you’d better hope you can outrun her - otherwise, it’s not too long before you really will be crushed from the inside out, and there’s no real coming back from there.

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

Was what emerged from the alley threatening? Well, that was up to Maggie to decide. She had three eyes so she wasn't exactly like the humans here, but she was smiling idly enough as she approached, a heavier yukata on, and her arms slipped into her sleeves for warmth as a light mist flowed from her mouth. Of course, at the same time, there was definitely a sword at her hip, a rapier by the look of it, so there was that...

"My name is Vira-Lorr. A pleasure to meet you, though I promise not to bite if you will do the same."

Maggie jumps slightly when the female figure comes from the alleyway. Maggie lets out a small huff, recognizing her as human enough to be normal. "Could you pick a worst time to come from an dark, mysterious alleyway? Or do you just do that for fun?" Maggie's stance relaxed slightly, still slightly on guard noticing the sword. "I thought you were some kind of serial killer."

She decides to introduce herself too. Might as well, right? "You can call me Maggie. Maggie Lacivi." Her name is technically Magnolia but she doesn't like being called that much. It isn't as cute. She squints slightly, noticing the woman's extra eye. "Is that another eye? Genuine or a tacky tattoo?"

She chuckled some at the suggestion that she was some sort of killer. "Oh, already a little jumpy, are we? It isn't a bad idea to be ready for anything, but no. I promise I mean no harm." She looked down the street to one direction and then another, listening as she did. "But I have to admit the timing isn't perfect. I didn't mean to scare you. It just does't feel safe to walk alone tonight."

She openly laughed and pointed up at her third eye, the orb winking at Maggie when she did. "It's quite real, I assure you, and if my powers weren't so dampened as they are here, it could see the future, like all of my people."

A working third eye? Freaky and...unique. She's seen a lot of things, some being more messed up than others. But a third eye is so simple yet odd at the same time which makes it cool in Maggie's eyes. "Well, you pull it off good. Congratulations on having it." She says with a simple smile.

"Hey, can you walk me home or at least close enough to it? I don't have a weapon and my powers are not as good as they used to be." She looks around, hearing a wail in the distance. "See? Dangerous. This feels like a death trap."

"Thank you. I like to think it suits me well." She nodded and stepped in a little closer when the wail sounded. Yeah, she had definitely heard it, and things like that were exactly why she didn't suggest people travel during any 'event' alone. There was always something.

"It is one giant death trap, in some form or another, and none of our gifts work quite as they should. Tell me, what are your powers, normally, if I may ask?"

"I can turn my arms into trees, actually." Maggie says. What should be a proud statement is instead replaced with an annoyed ponytail flick. "And I'm a lot more durable."

"What about you? Is there something special that your eye can do?"

"Nothing, other than to watch the world around me just like its compatriots," she said, shaking her head. "Normally, it would be able to see the future, but at most all I see is an ominous cloud on the horizon, because of course there is. No, my second sight is blocked here for the moment. My magic dampened, though it is intact enough to defend myself with."

She looked at those arms curiously for a moment. "So... trees? I have to admit... that's quite impressive. I do hope you can demonstrate someday." You know, when they weren't walking home in the middle of the night with weird wailing things off in the distance.