DECEMBER 2019 TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to December's Test Drive Meme!

This month's Test Drive's theme is: PROPHETIC 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 death via exposure (freezing), Krampus imagery, possible vore, visual and auditory hallucinations, monster violence, stalking, decapitation

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

Prompt One Prompt Two Character Arrival Master Navigation

VANISH LIKE THE WARM STOVE

Winter has set in in Deerington and it’s as harsh as one would expect for the frigid mountains of inland Maine. There’s snow on the ground, icicles hanging off of most buildings, and black ice all over the roads. Better be careful where you step or you might just slip and hurt yourself while you’re walking around town!

But there’s something unusual about the cold. It feels bone-deep and no amount of layers or staying inside seems to make it shake. Your teeth are always chattering, you feel the need to hunch in on yourself to keep any heat from escaping, and if you look at your hands, you might see them go from bright red, to white, to even the slightest tint of blue throughout the day. You’re getting colder by the minute and it feels like there’s no way to stop it. Maybe you’re just doomed to freeze.

The box is waiting on a bench. You didn’t see who placed it, but there’s a small tag with your name on it, so clearly it was meant for you. If you ignore the box, it will start to show up on random surfaces around town wherever you might be; the kitchen counter, a desk or display case at your work, the floor of your bedroom… No matter where you are, the box is there too. Eventually, you might as well just give in and open it.

Inside every box are three matches. They’re relatively long, like the sort you’d use to light a fire in a fireplace, and they appear to be completely normal. People who can sense magic won’t get a reading off of the match and no amount of testing the wood or the tip will show anything other than the exact chemical make up one would expect. So maybe they’re safe! There’s a small note tucked inside the box with only two words written in childishly messy scroll; Keep Warm.

If you light the match, you’ll find that you’re instantly starting to feel a little less cold. It’s the first bit of heat you’ve managed to snag in so long that you’ll probably find yourself a little desperate to hold onto it. The matches burn at a relatively steady rate, not too fast or too slow, and the wind can easily blow them out, so be careful! You’ll have to protect the flame from the elements if you want to keep yourself toasty. The only strange thing that you might notice is that whenever you’re near another person who has a lit match, both the matches seem to burn a little stronger and stay lit a little longer. So maybe you’ll have to pair up and learn to share. If you’re smart, you’ll light just one of each of your matches at a time, giving you a total of six chances to keep yourself from freezing to death.

There’s always a catch though, isn’t there? Each match will come with a unique vision as the flame dies out. A vision that can be seen by both of you. The vision will belong to whoever’s match as burning and it will be as vibrant and detailed as if you were really in the middle of it.

The end of the first match will show you something you want. It can be anything; a warm meal, a new bed, an object from home you’ve longed for. You’ll be able to pick it up, taste it, smell it, do whatever you would normally do; but at the end of the day, it isn’t real, and ultimately you might find that you’re just chewing on your own (or your companion’s) hand.

The end of the second match will show a vision of someone that you miss. Whether it’s from home, a previous world, or someone who’s come and gone from Deerington, you’ll see them clear as day, calling for you and beckoning you to come with them. It’s probably best to not. After all, you’d have to leave your matches behind, and it’s cold out there.

The end of the third match will show you a vision of somewhere you miss. It’ll be like you’re standing in the middle of the very place you’ve been longing for ever since you arrived in Deerington — maybe even longer. It’ll look, sound, smell, and feel like the place you’ve missed most. It’s almost easy to want to stay and forget to come back to reality and light your next match.

If you both can make the six matches stretch until the sun sets, you’ll find that the cold has finally broken, and you’re able to keep yourself warm again. If you don’t? Well, it’s time to find someone else with a bundle of matches, and hope they’re okay with some basic invasion of privacy to stop you both from getting hypothermia.

BETTER WATCH OUT

Have you been a good person this year? Probably not! This is Deerington after all and everyone’s got a sin or two they’ve committed that they’ve been carrying around some deep shame about. Whether it’s something you’ve done here or something you did back home, the things your character feels guilt over will start to plague them more and more frequently as of late. Maybe you’ll start to see small little snippets of the memory flash before your eyes, or hear the voices of the people you’ve hurt calling out to you for mercy. No matter how it manifests, it’ll be gnawing at your insides, growing more and more impossible to ignore.

It might just be the paranoia from having to flashback to your worst memories at all hours of the day, but eventually you start to feel like someone (or something) is following you. You hear the scrape of nails against cement, the thud of heavy footsteps, or the sound of a heavy sigh by your ear accompanied with the smell of rancid breath. But every time you go to look, it seems like there isn’t anything there. No matter how logical a person you might be, you still end up feeling a little on edge, and you know you’re right about being… well, stalked. You may not be the sort who usually goes for comfort from others, but something inside of you tells you that maybe you’ll be a little safer if you aren’t alone. You seek out a friend, a colleague, or even a complete stranger— just someone who might make this creeping suspicion of being watched go away for a little while.

Except the moment that the two of you are together, Krampus finally arrives. He seems to fall from the sky, landing in front of you with a ground shaking thud, his long tongue hanging out of a mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. He’s ever bit the demon you’d expect him to be and he looks hungry. You can try to run or you can try to fight, but he’s quick and strong, certainly hard for any normal human to take down. And if you look into his eyes, then things are about to get a whole lot worse.

Whoever locks eyes with him will have the very thing you have been feeling guilt over put on display for both you and your companion to see. It’ll be like you’ve been transported directly into the memory, Krampus’ clawed hand gripping your shoulders and forcing you to watch whatever your shame is play out in front of you all over again. The detail is striking and there’s nothing left out, no matter how hard you or your companion try to stop it.

When the memory stops playing, Krampus will start to move his tongue around you, wrapping you in the long, blood red muscle like it’s a snake. You can try to break free and it’s possible to cut the demon’s tongue with a sharp blade if you or your companion happens to have one; whatever you do, it’s best to do it quickly before you end up a snack.

Krampus can be taken down in one of two ways; either the person who is experiencing the guilt must confess their sin out loud and profusely apologize, begging for forgiveness for their misdeeds or he can be taken down in a somewhat simple ceremony. The chains dangling from the Krampus wrists must be grabbed and somehow secured into the ground; this will weaken Krampus greatly and leave him more vulnerable to attack. Once he is secured, you must take off his head. It doesn’t matter if it’s cut off, ripped off or blown off, the moment the neck is severed from the rest of the body, the Krampus will turn a deep black, like coal, before crumbling into dust, leaving only the head behind.

A little messy, but definitely efficient.

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

[ The last, literally, stone-cold last thing Raylan ever expected to see upon finishing up a shift at work was Boyd Crowder walking into the bar. He's pretty roundly convinced that he's seeing things, so for a few minutes after heading in for his usual after-work bourbon he just stands by the door with his arms folded, eyes narrowed, watching the back of Boyd's head and expecting it to cave in on itself and start blurting out brains and blood and guts like any other grotesque shitshow this place is so fond of throwing at him. But nope, all Boyd does is order a drink, and then start to drink it, which makes what Raylan's seeing positively fairytale. Unless Deerington's idea of true horror is just plain ol' Boyd Crowder, which is verging on believable.

It's a little suspicious to him that Boyd didn't see him first, but maybe Boyd's too wrapped up in his own shellshock to be paying attention for any familiar faces. Which, strangely enough, Raylan can empathise with. What a goddamn bizarre feeling.

He's had enough staring. Raylan puffs out a sigh through his nose and peels away from the wall, loping over to Boyd in a few easy strides, and sidles up next to him. ] Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, he walks into mine.

[He must be hearing things. That voice, here, and Boyd almost doesn't want to turn around because he's not sure what would be worse, but putting Heaven and Hell aside for now he thinks at the very least this has to be a dream.

He sets his drink down, and turns, and he's already grinning despite no recollection of telling his face to do that.]

Why, Raylan Givens. [Boyd shakes his head slightly, looking Raylan up and down in amazement.] I would say you surely are a sight for sore eyes, but under the circumstances, I find myself wonderin' if you ain't just a figment of my imagination.

[ A second after Boyd looks him up and down, Raylan's eyes flick down too, and then back up to Boyd's face, like he was trying to see exactly what Boyd had been looking at. Just Raylan, wearing what he usually wears, standing the way he usually stands, one arm lined up against the bar and the other bent with his hand on his hip. Why is he so self-conscious right now?

Raylan sighs around the smile he's carefully plastered onto his face, to shake off that bizarre feeling. Is it weird that, all things considered, he almost missed him? The real test of Boyd's character is how long it takes before Raylan is regretting even thinking that. He flags down the bar staff for a bourbon for himself and lifts a hand briefly to adjust his hat by the crown. ] Well, that offends me, Boyd. I'm very real. You, on the other hand, I ain't so sure about.

[Boyd attributes it to the relief of seeing a familiar face that Raylan could probably say anything to him right now and he wouldn't mind it one bit. God. Him and that damn hat.]

No offense intended, old friend, but I'm sure you'll understand my concern seein' as, if you'll forgive a religious metaphor, I wouldn't expect to find you of all people waitin' to escort me through the Pearly Gates. Although if there is a God and He is served by Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens, one might take that as hard evidence that He is vengeful indeed.

[He's basically forgotten about his drink, even when the bartender brings one for Raylan as well.]

With all that bein' said, I am surprised myself to admit that your presence, Raylan, is a comfort. Real or otherwise.

[ Aaaaaaaand now he's sick of Boyd again. Amazing how quickly that happened. It's been about a minute and already Boyd has suffused the conversation so heavily with religious imagery that he's half convinced he walked into a megachurch and not a bar.

The longer Boyd goes on talking, the more Raylan's jaw works, until he's just shy of snapping it with the pressure required to jut his chin and tighten the grit of his teeth. ] That just warms my heart, Boyd, it really does. [ ...n't. Haha, got 'im. Raylan eyes him suspiciously as he's dragging his bourbon close, and he thinks about being refined and careful, tasting it like it was just handed to him by a sommelier, and then decides that's a stupid idea and skulls it in one swallow, baring his teeth for a second on the burn. Much better. ] Me, I'm just about the opposite. I take one look at you and I start worryin'. And to think I was havin' such a nice day today.

[ That's a lie, barefaced enough that Boyd can probably tell. Oh well. ]