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soddersays2020-07-24 05:49 pm
sodder) wrote in soddersays2020-07-24 05:49 pm
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AUGUST 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME
AUGUST 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME
Welcome to August's Test Drive Meme! This month's Test Drive's theme is: CRYPTID 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: Violent animals, ghosts, hallucinations
Don't forget to tag content whenever necessary. Have fun!
ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?
Everyone loves s'mores, right? Of course you do. If you've never had them, you're gonna love them, and if for some reason you hate them, well, as it usually goes in Deerington, something inside of you will nag at you about how maybe you ought to give them another chance. There's a variety of different kinds of s'more flavors to try and plenty of perfect campfires to roast your marshmallows over. There's promise of wholesome and innocent fun to be had! Surely that won't be a lie this time.Everyone who gathers around the fire for some tasty treats will find themselves in the mood to share creepy stories from their home worlds. Maybe they make one up on the spot or maybe it's an ancient legend that was passed down through the ages. Regardless, there's gonna be a whole variety of spooky stories, and the flavor s'more you're eating seems to dictate the theme that you'll end up leaning towards.
🔥 Traditional S'Mores will have people wanting to tell classic ghost stories. Maybe it's a haunted house you ended up in or a spirit who possessed the friend of the brother of this guy from your town once. The main theme here will be ghosts of all varieties.
🔥 Peanut Butter & Chocolate S'Mores will have people wanting to tell slasher stories. A famous serial killer from home, maybe, or the story about a group of kids who went up into a cabin in the mountains where there was once said to be a creepy caretaker and they were never heard from again...
🔥 Chocolate Chip Cookie S'Mores will have people wanting to tell monster stories. Local legends, maybe, or the classic stories about werewolves, vampires, and Bigfoot. Any kind of monsters will do.
🔥 Salted Caramel S'Mores will inspire people to tell revenge stories. These could be legendary warnings that exemplify why vengeance always leads to digging two graves. Or maybe it's your own story of revenge from home— or the fantasy revenge you'd like to get someday.
🔥 Nutella S'Mores will have people wanting to tell personal horror stories. These stories are ones that hit extremely close to home. The scariest, most bone-chilling memory you have, no matter how silly or serious it may be in comparison to those around you. Hopefully most people aren't fans of chocolate hazelnut?
Regardless of which story you hear, anyone gathered around the campfire will listen intently to all words spoken, and they will find themselves believing every word. On your walk home, you'll be filled with a sense of paranoia and dread, seeing things move out of the corner of your eye that may or may not be there. Is that a man with a hook for a hand or is your imagination just playing tricks on you? It's certainly hard to tell.
These can stay as harmless hallucinations, but for those who end up stuck in the paranoia for too long without being talked down, they will slowly start to become real. Eventually, they can become solid enough for other people to start seeing them, and the creatures from your mind may even start to attack. They can be defeated with normal weaponry or by the power of positive thinking! Wish your attacker away with enough conviction, and poof! They'll be gone.
Let's hope you can do it before you end up the victim for the next slasher story someone tells.
AHHH! REAL MONSTERS
It seems that the monsters from these stories aren't the only ones popping up in Deerington, though. There's talk from locals of multiple sightings of classic Maine legends all over town. They're easy to ignore as the townsfolk just being easily spooked for a while. But when enough stories start to line up, you might start to think maybe there's some truth to them. Or maybe you'll even end up seeing one of the monsters for yourself.Down in Lake Tomoei, the legendary Cassie can sometimes be spotted peaking up from the water, or trying to attack anyone who even tries to go near the lakes shores. She's a nasty beast with one hell of a temper and she's quite possessive of the lake she's found herself in. 100 feet long with a skinny neck and a fish like tale, she definitely seems like a force to be reckoned with. Cassie is easily injured by ordinary weapons, but her skin is thick, so it will take a while to draw blood. Most likely, she'll disappear into the depths of the lake before she can be killed.
Up in the mountains, there's talk of the ancient evil Pamola. Penobscot legend describes him as half-man, half-eagle, with the head of a moose and a temper to match one. Pamola can't stand people visiting his mountain, even for a casual hike, and will often try to deter people away with random and unpredictable storms; thunder, snow, and powerful winds will beat down on whoever goes looking for Pamola. If you manage to find him, he will show no mercy when he attacks. Most who have tried to find him have been killed and eaten by the evil spirit. Because he's an ancient spirit, he will be particularly hard to defeat if you manage to find him; he can not be killed, but you can offer a sacrifice to quell his anger. If you have magical powers that can hurt deities, these will still be effective in weakening him until he retreats.
The final creature that seems to be wandering about is the Specter Moose (pictured above). This moose is thirteen feet tall, with thirteen foot wide antlers, and is a blinding white color. The moose can be found wandering in the park, usually, but sometimes it comes out to look around town. He may seem harmless, even cute, but don't get to close; moose are dangerous and locals fear them for a reason. They can charge at the drop of a hat and not even large vehicles tend to survive an encounter with a creature that big. The Specter Moose also seems to be incapable of being injured by normal weapons; solid objects mostly go right through it, unless it's purposefully aiming for them. You'll either have to get a shot in while he's slamming into something (or someone) or just run. Anyone who has magic or weapons that can hurt spiritual beings will be able to fight the Specter Moose as they normally would.
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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I haven't. He's definitely new..or at least hasn't ever ventured in this far before.
[his grip tightens on his flute as he sees the moose pause as if hearing or sensing something. But it quickly relaxes again and so does Wei Wuxian.]
But this place is always full of these kinds of surprises.
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Really? What other surprises are there?
[ Monsters, he guesses. But maybe there's more than just that. ]
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[And he's only been here about three months.]
Never a dull moment. But he might be the biggest thing I've seen.
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[ Which makes this moose even more concerning, and why Kurogane's trying to keep as close as possible in case it charges at something.
But one of those things he mentioned... ]
What do you mean by despair shadows?
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[He doesn't really want to remember that dark time.]
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[ As curious as he is to know what it was like, he knows it's not a question he should ask.
Before he can say anything else, the moose suddenly looks over to them, as if it's thinking about coming towards them. Kurogane's hand immediately moves to the hilt of his sword, not sure if the moose is just going to walk over or suddenly charge at them. ]
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If he is a spirit or a ghost..then I might be able to control him. I was hoping I wouldn't have to but if he charges, then I'll do whatever I can go get him to stop.
[He really doesn't want to harm the moose, but he also won't let it harm anyone else either. If he can get it to stay calm and leave then that is his goal.]
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I'd like to see that.
[ He takes a small step away, his hand back down at his side now. Without warning, the moose decides to start charging at them. ]
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And when the moose is only a couple feet away from him, he slides to a stop. Black clouds of spirits have also heard the playing and come out from wherever they had been residing to circle around the moose as well. Perhaps he can use them as a distraction as he signals for those clouds to aim for the moose's head. He tries to shakes them away with his antlers but the spirits are persistent. The moose, now a bit more pacified then a moment ago, turns to start walking away again, the spirits seeming to guide him to a different part of town.
Only when they are a decent distance away does he stop playing and lowers the flute.]
I don't trust that he won't be back. But at least we know now that he is something like a spirit.
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Let's get out of here.
[ The fact that the moose is a spirit has him wanting to leave even more. There's no way he can touch that thing. He looks at Wei Wuxian. ]
What kind of magic is that?
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We call it cultivation..my particular style uses resentful and spirit energy as a means to battle other spirits or control them. [It's also taboo and considered against the rules on his world since cultivators are supposed to release spirits..not use them.]
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Resentful and spiritual energy, huh. I've never seen it used before for anything. [ It's pretty interesting, and he's definitely curious about it even if he won't say that aloud. ]
That style common in your world?
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[That used to be his biggest secret. But since everyone on his world knows about it now..no reason to really keep hiding it on this world.]
Cultivator's jobs are to release the spirit from this world. What I do goes against the normal way of doing things.
sorry for taking so long!
What'd you use it for if you weren't releasing spirits?
[ That's the thing he's most curious about. There must have been some reason. ]
No problem!
Mostly..I use spirits to fight spirits. Like with the moose for example. But..resentful energy can be targeted against anyone.
[War becomes a very complicated thing when someone can control the dead to do his fighting for him.]
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[ So it can be used to fight anyone... honestly, it sounds pretty effective. Kurogane wants to ask more questions about it, but there will probably be plenty of time to learn more about it anyway. ]
Thanks for taking care of that moose, by the way. I wouldn't have been able to take that thing.
[ A spirit like that can only be fought with magic, and he has none to speak of. ]
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[There has been enough of that recently.]
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Do people here at least know how to fight if they don't have spiritual power or magic?
[ If so, that'd make things a lot easier. ]
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[Which is good considering this place likes to throw dangerous things at them.]
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[ If that were the case, he could at least train some people, but he would still have trouble taking care of himself too. ]
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[And spirits are no match for robots he has learned. It was the first thing he has encountered that he was completely unmatched against.]
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[ He sighs. ]
Guess we can't be prepared for everything here.
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[He doesn't like it. And he certainly doesn't like when someone tries to mess with his mind or his emotions. He has enough trouble with those things on his own.]
But if you ever encounter something you can't handle, everyone here is pretty willing to help each other out.
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Good to know. I don't want to deal with everyone being out to get each other, especially if our weaknesses are being exploited.
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[He smiles though, since the danger has now left so he knows he can relax a bit.]
But it's not all bad. Don't let me turn you off the place completely. It also means there are lots of good people here and there are some good times as well.
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