AUGUST 2020 TEST DRIVE MEME

[sodder]

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!

Prompt One
Prompt Two
Character Arrival
Master Navigation

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.

Comments

[alongkayakingtrip]

Tim turns his head at the noise of someone approaching behind him. He's never been particularly a fan of it, and working in the Archives has made that so much worse, especially after Prentiss. It's only a half turn, enough to see Elias Bouchard in his periphery, lit in firelight and standing far enough away that they can have this conversation without Tim turning it into a fight.

He pops a marshmallow into his mouth and chews thoughtfully, still watching him.

"It is, isn't it? I always thought being blown up would be a lot more permanent than all this."

[eyeknowyou]

“Yes, I did as well.” And while Jon’s aversion to Death-By-Explosion was well documented, it made sense that it would apply to him; he was the Archivist. Tim….Tim was just an assistant. If one followed Gertrude’s records, they died all the time.

Some even became Something Else. Others simply became forgotten.

Elias’ sweet tooth would not be denied, and while this wasn’t cake, it was something. The lack of fists boded well, and he ventured close enough to pluck a marshmallow of his own.

“However, it seems as this sort of affliction occurs often. You are not the only one to return here.”

[alongkayakingtrip]

The darkness covers most of the face that Tim makes as Elias comes closer, something that might be a sneer or just a grimace of frustration. Is it worth starting a physical altercation? Probably not, as much as it burns in his chest to do it. It had been cathartic to hit Jon, after so long and so much and everything else.

The permanence of death has alluded him in this, but maybe not the permanence of being divorced of Elias's watchful paternalism.

And now his snacks have been ruined, so it's a good thing he didn't want any more. He lets Elias take one, and then throws the whole rest of the bag, plastic and all, into the fire with a rather expert underhand pitch.

"Fantastic. I'd ask if you had anything to do with it, but even I'm not that stupid."

[eyeknowyou]

If it was cathartic to hit Jonathan Sims, then one must imagine that hitting Elias Bouchard would be a transcendent experience.

Still, Elias watched the flames swarm up and consume the bag, watched the food lose itself into the embers as the logs shifted. Well, it wasn’t a punch, but it certainly made its point. Some things hadn’t changed.

“With this place or your returning?” He laughed under his breath, hands finding their way to his trouser pockets. “Trust me when I say that I have other places that I would really rather be at than this town. As for your own resurrection, I think we both know that Terminus was never my passion project.”

Quite the opposite.

“It’s rather reminiscent of old times with everyone here together. I hope we can find a way to work together.”

[alongkayakingtrip]

"Oh, I'm sure you do. I bet the paper work's just stacking up without you there to shuffle it around repetitively between popping in on us, speak of the devil like."

Old times, indeed. None of this is like old time--or rather, it is exactly like old times in that Tim feels the overwhelming urge to run away and be lost in the woods and never return to the stifling, overbearing walls of the Institute ever again, and he's not entirely sure that he can, if Elias is here.

He has so many questions, burning inside of him. Elias told him not to go to The Unknowing, and the thought of it clings inside his ribs, a tarry knowledge that demands an answer. Did Elias know he wouldn't make it out? Does it matter? Did he care that he was going to lose an employee?

Probably not.

"If we can find a way to work with my boot up your ass, I'm sure we will." The faux-chipper tone is punctuated with an utterly pleased smile. Tim was already at the end of his rope by the end of it, but he has no contract here.

He has no safety net, keeping Elias from killing him. But whatever.

[eyeknowyou]

Now, now, just like Jon, Elias couldn’t predict the future; he could only know what foolish human nature would lead to foolish human ends. It was all so predictable after seeing things like this play out over and over decades, centuries.

People were so…simple.

“I see that your ability to work with authority figures hasn’t changed even after your unfortunate experience.” There it was, that easy patience that was difficult to crack, although many had tried. Elias simply smiled.

“Especially when I had been right.”

He had warned them. Warned Jon. Of course he had known Tim was still going to go, had needed him to, but that didn’t matter. The ability to use this as leverage was too good to ignore.

“But I assume that you hold me responsible for it somehow, anyway.”

[alongkayakingtrip]

"Yes, very spooky, predicting I wouldn't have a pleasant time with that, you definitely needed a crystal ball for that one. I am in utter awe of your Knowing, Elias Bouchard, please, continue to impress me with your all-seeing ways."

Tim presses the back of his hand to his forehead, a fake swoon before he scoffs and rolls his eyes. And, if he's honest, he might have blamed Elias if he had made it out. But instead, he had looked Nikola Orsinov in the eyes, a moment of clarity in the midst of the Unknowing, and then blown the whole thing to hell.

"I don't hold you to anything," he says, the sarcasm melting into something dull and bland, a quiet neutrality.

[eyeknowyou]

“So very glad to see a gruesome death hasn’t damaged that ‘biting’ wit.”

Oh, Elias had not missed this. People had stepped up to fill the void of course: sometimes Martin depending on his mood, something Basira depending on her temper, but Timothy Stoker had been someone else entirely.

It would only be a matter of time before he found out about Elias’ time in jail, too. He couldn’t wait to hear the commentary on that little stint, even if had worked in his own favor.

Then Elias heard the sound of that admission, and there was a slow nod. “I am glad we can understand each other on where that responsibility lies.” What he wouldn’t give for some tea right now. “I assume that you heard by now what happened to Jon after that stunt?”

[alongkayakingtrip]

Tim doesn't want to say that the responsibility lies with him, because it doesn't, but that's because Elias is using responsibility like fault rather than cause. Tim's death is entirely his fault, and he owns that. He went to that place and he pressed that button and he took those bastards with him. But Elias constructed the elements in such a way to get them there, and he won't hear word one any other way.

"We had a lovely chat about a lot of things that I missed, yes," Tim says. There's no point in hedging about it. The conversation had been like pulling teeth, but Tim feels more steady about things now.

At least, he feels more steady about some things, which isn't saying much at all, and he knows it. But Tim has been exuding false confidence for years, and he's not about to stop just because he's not stuck in that hell hole of a job any more.

[eyeknowyou]

Did death end the contract? Was there a clause? Were they far enough away where it wouldn’t count anymore? With the varying strength of Jon’s power, it was difficult to gauge if the Beholding could keep certain clauses binding. Elias would keep playing the card, of course, but not willing to die to test those waters.

Maybe it wouldn’t be death, but hopefully it would be painful. Or hopefully the threat of it would at least stop them from attempting to murder him, even if it meant he couldn’t control them. A personal support of safety could be enough, he supposed.

“Good.” There was still the secret, the one none of them new, but that was fine. There was no reason to spoil the surprise yet. “As long as we’re all up to date.”

He started to step away before stopping and leveling the weight of his stare upon him. “Tim.” There was a pause, poignant and heavy. “Now, we won’t have any trouble between us, will we?”

[alongkayakingtrip]

Tim almost exhales, almost lets out that this sagging posture that he's been holding his spine erect, as Elias starts to move away from the fire and from him. He doesn't want to have him this close any more, doesn't want to have the creeping scrutiny of his presence.

It isn't the same. Maybe it's the atmosphere as much as anything else. So he almost exhales, turning his face away so that the relaxation is a more private thing.

When Elias speaks like that, the question, the sinking morbidity of it, it puts Tim's heckles right back up. He's spent months being vicious and defensive. There's nothing protecting him here (not that he was ever really protected back at the Institute), and he's very aware of that suddenly.

Tim looks at Elias, quiet a moment. A contemplative darkness of how far he can push this. "Guess that depends on the trouble you're expecting," he finally says, and with another slow, weighty pause, "Jonah."

[eyeknowyou]

For a moment, Elias didn’t move, nothing moved except the crackle of the first behind them. Of course Jon told him. Of course Tim knew.

And of course Tim would be difficult. Sometimes Elias thought that was all Tim knew how to be, especially in his later tenure at the Institute. Early on, he had been rather…useful. A rather effective assistant. He had been an appropriate hire with decent performance reviews.

Now, well…

The smile slowly crossed his lips as he started to walk away.

“I would like to remind you that you are not alone, Tim. I would hate for something to sour the reunion with your coworkers. Absolutely disappointing to think about.”

[alongkayakingtrip]

It's not like that unnerving compulsion that Jon exudes sometime, the need to talk to him when he phrases things just right which Tim knows is a part of the Eye and the Knowing that he does, a thing that Tim cannot do despite working in the Archive for years. It isn't even what Tim imagines it to be like, based on how Melanie managed to describe Elias dragging trauma to the surface.

Because it's none of those things. It's just another advancement in the protracted game of chess they've been playing, he and Elias, since Sasha died and Elias knew about it that whole fucking time. Well, Tim is playing chess about it, maybe. Elias is probably playing fucking backgammon.

He watches Elias, and Elias watches him, and Tim has no other pieces to play. He put himself forward to soon, not expecting a threat in the opening gambit.

"Jon and Martin already know, have to assume Sasha does too," Tim says, slowly, "so we're all on the level of what you are here, aren't we? So are you threatening me because I'm not going to hand myself over again? Or because you think you've still got leverage on them?"