NOVEMBER TEST DRIVE MEME

[sodder]

NOVEMBER 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to November's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: DEATH/ZOMBIE 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: Possible mild cannibalism, organs (including pictures of fake food that looks like organs), mutant insect in linked picture, blood, sensations of starvation, possible binge eating, possible binge drinking.
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

NOT BEAST NOR KIN

The blood and organs that have been festering in the ground and walls of Deerington seem to not only be attracting rats at this point, but something far more dangerous and... just plain gross. These deadly looking maggots are roughly the size of an average human. They’re slithering in an out of the ground, filling up holes where some organs seem to have burst open, or writhing around in the wake of the red waves that have left bloody puddles in the street. If you keep your distance, they’re mostly just disgusting to watch, adding to the feeling of utter decay that the town has gone into.

But those who wander too close or who are unfortunate enough to go by a nest of these maggots without noticing could end up swarmed. They can leap farther than something that large should physically be capable of and the sharp teeth on the end of their bodies will pierce through even the toughest of skin and bone. Once they latch on, they won’t let go; not until they’ve finished their meal. If you aren’t quick, the blood loss will be, and you could end up an evening snack for a whole group of these creatures.

They are fairly easy to kill, luckily. Average weapons seem to take them down or you can smash their heads (if you can call it that) with a few good stomps from a boot. The only trouble is how quick they move and how strong they are; you might need to call for help to get away from them when you get cornered by too many of these monsters.

ALL YOU CAN EAT

Maggots aren’t the only things that want to eat, though! And it seems that the community center is aware of that as well. Advertisements are strewn all over town for an all you can eat buffet that will be set up, not even an entrance fee required (though donations are welcome at the door if you’re feeling generous). No one in their right mind would want to go and get food from a party into Deerington at this point though, right? Of course not. You’re way too clever for that.

Except that as the party draws closer, anyone who saw the advertisements will find themselves slowly feeling like they’re starving. There’s a hallow belly feeling that no amount of food you consume will ever be able to fill. It feels like you might go crazy from how bad the hunger gets, craving something to fill your stomach, anything... And in the back of your mind, you might remember the buffet. You might start to feel a strange realization that the food they’re offering will actually help get rid of your cravings and you’ll be drawn to the party no matter how adamant you’ve been that it’s not a good idea.

The spread they offer isn’t something that should be appetizing to most on a regular basis; raw, very clearly human organs are laid out across the table on fairly decorative plates. A fountain of what looks like blood is put up in place of chocolate for you to dip your food into. No matter how disgusted you might normally feel, you find yourself practically drooling at the mouth and you’re quick to grab a plate and dive in.

At least the drinks look like they’re normal; sodas, beer, wine, champagne, and liquors ready to create your favorite cocktails. A menu will give you an idea of what pairs best with each organ, so make sure you select something that goes perfectly with your plate of intestines.

What would a Deerington party be without something tricky attached to all this. Even the smallest bites of any of the organs will offer sudden changes to the consumer, each power growing stronger the more that you eat.

• Eating BRAINS will make it so that you are able to hear another person’s thoughts. Anyone standing near by, really. They’ll trickle in slowly at first, but the more that you eat, the more you’ll hear, and eventually it could become overwhelming. Sometimes you can focus in on just one person if you stare at them intently, but that could make you look like a creep. Maybe you should just go somewhere quiet until it passes.


• Eating a HEART will make you feel compelled to confess your emotions to someone. Maybe a specific person or maybe it’s towards a complete stranger, but you just want to get everything out onto the table. You’re overcome with feelings so strong you don’t know how to contain them anymore and you’ve just got to get them out somehow.


• Eating LIVER will cause you to want to drink. A lot. You might find that you’re not able to get enough, even. It doesn’t make you immune to the alcohol though, so it’s got the potential to lead some pretty nasty alcohol poisoning if you aren’t careful. Characters who usually can’t get drunk will find that consuming liver makes them a total lightweight. Woops. Better have someone help you walk home.


• Eating the STOMACH will make you want to eat everything. You’ll no longer feel starving, but you just want to taste any food that’s near you, and you won’t stop no matter how full you feel. It’s not just organs, but any food consumed outside of the buffet. It might be a bad time to go to Peter’s Pizza for a late night meal.


• Eating INTESTINES will give you an abundance of courage. You’ll find that you’ve got guts you never knew you had and it might make you willing to go tell your crush how you feel about them, or tell off that one guy who’s been pissing you off for weeks, or maybe you might start to think it’s cool to go scale a building or fight a monster when you don’t have any skill sets to actually take one down. Hopefully you don’t do anything you’ll regret in the morning— assuming you don’t get yourself killed doing something stupid, of course.


• Eating EYEBALLS will allow you to obtain the memory of the first person that you touch. Depending on how much you’ve eaten, you may just see a small snippet or you could get sucked in to a full and heavy flashback. The memory will feel like it takes place in real time, but by the time that it’s over, you’ll find that whoever you touched is only just starting to ask you what’s wrong — or tell you to watch where you’re going, buster.


All affects from the food will wear off within about an hour if you’ve only had a bite — or they could last up to twelve if you really stuffed yourself. Please be sure to obtain OOC permission from any players for the brain and eyeball prompts!

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.

Comments

[so_dark_a_road]

Awful sights do tend to mar the mind. [ He knows this from experience! ] I've mostly survived by finding the beauty in things. . . Well, that wasn't true all the time. If I say so, I make myself sound like a better person than I am. But I'm an Elf, and our main mission in life is to love the earth and the beauty of the earth. And I guess it goes without saying, to love our friends and to find solace in that. And I have found that other races usually have some version of that philosophy, and it sounds like you do.

This Sodder person is the one who chooses our first dwelling place for us? If every home is protected, that is well. But what kind of small things might be off?

[onerthes]

An elf, eh? Your world's elves look a little different than mine. [She was looking for his ears curiously. Not as wide or long, but there.] But so many elves in so many worlds. Yet they do always seem to love the natural world.

Mmm? Oh, it's usually a haunting of some sort. Usually harmless, but there's always a certain amount of safety in the homes here. [They were easier to make sanctuaries.]

[so_dark_a_road]

Yes, I suppose we do. It's true, Elves exist on many worlds, but we're not always the same. [ His ears are just slightly tipped, but not more so than some mortals' ears are. ] But I guess we do have that one thing in common -- we have a connection with the natural world. What do the Elves of your world look like?

The homes here are haunted? Hmm. That must be another thing all worlds have in common. Ghosts.

[onerthes]

It depends on the breed. The high elves are particularly magically attuned and fair skinned, while the common elves look a bit closer to humans. Dark elves are dusky, brown skinned and more swarthy in appearance, and the syrium, who are like the elves but not quite the same, have a very long ear and a gray, almost ashen hued skin with a bluish tint. They're not quite as long lived as the elves are, though elves live longest when close to their magic.

Ghosts ... I think are part of this world being a nightmare. The child whose dreams we inhabit was probably raised on ghost stories, so there are ghosts here.

[so_dark_a_road]

So you have four different tribes or ethnicities of Elves, or of Elf-like races? Your world must be an interesting world. What do you call your own tribe?

Are you saying that Deerington is a nightmare, being dreamed by a child?

[onerthes]

Something of the sort. There are three varieties of the elven people, and then the Syrium, the children of Chaos. My own people are called the Onelthes. I think you can guess what we are known for, physically, easily enough.

That is one of the prevailing thoughts, yes. We seem to be in the dreams of a trapped, terrified but extremely magically powerful child who cannot send us home normally, and who some of us are trying to help free of her situation.

[so_dark_a_road]

The Onelthes? And of course, you are known for having three eyes. I'm wondering what that is like! When I look at the world, I only have two images to integrate, whereas you have three. Your brain must be more complex than mine. [ Smile. ]

So, this idea of Deerington as the dreams of a child is the leading theory? How did the community come to believe this? Is there some kind of evidence that people turned up with searching? And some are trying to help free this child? What are you doing to help her? [ So many questions about this place. ]

[onerthes]

Hmmm, I do not know that it is more complicated, though it is useful to have three angles at times... a different way to view things never hurt.

[She nodded.] Through a few of our searches and experiences. For the most part, it's anecdotal evidence, hard to prove for certain. I can show you some of it... but as for helping her, I admit that we are investigating, not saving her yet. It is a matter of finding out what must be done, after all.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ The idea of having three angles to see things from was fascinating to Curufin. ] I suppose it would be really valuable to view things in such a way.

[ He listens carefully. ] Anecdotal in the sense that it's just the descriptions of people who have witnessed something that makes them think Deerington is a child's dream? I'd definitely be interested, if you want to show me some of the evidence. I guess you can't help that child without knowing exactly what the situation is. Besides, if this is a dream, then how do we break the spell in order to wake the child and ourselves?

[onerthes]

Basically, that is part of the question. How do we wake her and free her, and us, from this.

As for the proof, I can and will show you what I am able. It is difficult to qualify it as definitive, because only one has ever woken and returned with memories, and I have only heard of them second hand. But we do what we can.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ He nods. This is obviously a very complex and mysterious situation. ] I'd find this unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that I'm from a world in which the mysteries never cease.

Can you show me any of the proof now? I have nothing but time!

[onerthes]

[She pulled out from her bag what looked like a drachma, a coin fashioned of old, burnished gold. It glowed softly there and she showed it to him.]

Within this dream, there is a deeper dream called the Great Sleep. We find these there, and in traveling through that darker, deeper slumber, we rifle through old memories of our worlds and another's, but at the same time the harm that might come there is just like in a dream. No worse than a bad night's sleep.

[so_dark_a_road]

[ He looks with interest at the coin. It is of a similar style to the coins in his world, clearly made by experienced craft-workers and quite beautiful. ]

Very strange. You fall into the Greater Sleep and bring back the coins as talismans of the memories you find there? I suppose that must mean any kind of memory, the good and the bad. If you die, then you simply wake in Deerington and it is as though the harm never happened? I have experienced something similar in the world I visited for a few years before I came here. But are you saying that someone dreamed of memories that could only belong to that child you were speaking of, and so you know she is in some way real? I'd accept that as evidence!"

[onerthes]

Something like that, yes. Though awakening in this place is not as if nothing happened. The harm grows worse every time we awaken from death. Sodder has greater and greater difficulties bringing us back.

However, yes. I have seen memories that could only have been hers, personally. The method was... not easy, and it involved those talismans in fact, but I have seen her mother through her eyes.

[so_dark_a_road]

Ah, that is not good, if the harm grows worse with each awakening. It is Sodder who brings you back? What can you tell me about this Sodder? He seems to have a great deal of influence around here.

[ He considers the memories. ] You saw the child's memories yourself, then. You saw her mother? What was she like? Was there any hint of what the child herself is like?

[onerthes]

She is a child, a child with incredible magical power behind her that may be the source of what draws us into her nightmare, because she does not have full control over what is happening.

Her mother was ... tired, but sweet and she loved he child. Sodder was very afraid of her father, and in a great deal of pain, scared of many things, of monsters that seemed to be growing out of the world around her, desperate for any protection and hope she could find.

[so_dark_a_road]

A child that is marvelously gifted, then. But disaster must have come upon her family, beyond their power to control or heal. Sodder was afraid of the child's father? I wonder what part the father had in all this? Was he like the child's mother, striving to protect her but unable to do so?

[onerthes]

These are things that only time will tell, and tenacious research. For now, though, why don't we go find omething to eat? To relax. It's weighty talk to be sure.

(OOC: By your leave, I'd like to Fade to Black here, if that's ok.)

[so_dark_a_road]

[ He nods. ] This is a mystery that seems to me eminently worthy to be unraveled. I will be glad to help you in any way I can, if you wish for help. But for now, yes, let us go and find some lunch. Weighty talk requires sustenance.

[ OOC: It's fine with me! I hope to be in this game sooner or later, and I'll enjoy playing with you then. FADE TO BLACK. ]