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

*shakes fist at work!*

[missing_ache]

[Vanitas notices that Larxene isn't sporting her usual Organization cloak. It's a strange sight to see, but he doesn't comment on it much. He's never been one to care for fashion, preferring function over anything. He even ditched the cloak once he was strong enough to summon forth his old dark suit, which he's currently wearing. If Larxene saw fit to ditch the coat, he's not going to blame her.]

[And a little less association with the old man was. Kind of nice.]

[Her comment about the Leechgrave merely earns a grunt, but he turns to look at her for a moment at the mention of Ventus.]

I know that already. I can sense that he's not here.

[Which was all the more frustrating. If Ventus wasn't here, there was no point for him to stay. The fact that he couldn't just leave was even more infuriating.]

[trancheuse]

I honestly have no clue what powers work right when someone shows up, hahaha. That's always a trip. And getting the fix is a pain in the neck.

[She was smirking as she glanced him over, looking at the others who seemed happy enough to let them chat, and got a wicked grin to replace the smirk.]

Or we could tell them about that time we rewrote all Roxas' memories for a minute and made a copy of his friend. That was fun. [Fun, right.] Ooooor... you and I can spare them more brain bleach and I can ask you the last thing you remember.

[missing_ache]

[Vanitas has no idea what half of Larxene's words mean, and honestly he's not sure if he cares. He doesn't exactly care about his other half's clone, or what sort of issues Larxene may have caused him. The talk about what powers work right is about the only thing that catches his interest, but given their tenuous alliance he's not sure if he should outright ask her what she meant or figure it out himself. His pride is still deciding which one he should choose.]

[He takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly, a sign of his exasperation with this whole situation. But fortunately, it looks like the rest of the crowd here has decided to move on to other topics of conversation, meaning he and Larxene can discuss more personal topics.]

The last thing I remember, eh? Let's see... probably how my brothers-in-heart so lovingly cast me back into the shadows of oblivion before being dragged into whatever world this is.

[trancheuse]

[He might find the idea of a stabilizing gem interesting down the road, but yeah. Not a conversation for tonight. She propped up a leg on the bench and rested an arm languidly over the knee while promptly ignoring the others.

She listened to him and then her lips curled in a nasty smirk and she chucked darkly. Oh yeah, she knew roughly when that happened. Admittedly? Everyone had gotten separated during the fighting, but she could put two and two together from what she remembered and what others had said.]

Yeah, the old man's master plan apparently went belly up. Heh. Almost predictable. Last thing I remember's fucking with the brat one last time before I went back to the shadows. Got my 'old me' in my head along with the new me. It's been...

Ok, seriously. Emotions are a headache. But I can't go back here, so I'm dealing.

[missing_ache]

Not surprising.

[So, Xehanort's final plan had failed, had it? In a way, he could see it; Sora had been persistent in his pursuits, and was backed by his other half and the other Guardians of Light. Somehow, that light had been incessantly persistent. Vanitas hadn't cared either way if Xehanort's plan itself succeeded; he had just wanted to be whole. And since he couldn't do that, well, Xehanort's defeat didn't exactly spring any tears in him.]

Oh yes, it must be so difficult experiencing a few emotions every now and then. I wonder how that must hurt to deal with. [Said with a very healthy serving of sarcasm.]

[trancheuse]

There you go again.

[She reached out and gave him a flick at the helmet once again. Telegraphed very easily to make it up to him if he wanted to dodge her. She was just fucking around. Her elbow went back to her knee and she shook her head.]

You are such a drama lamma. It would be easy to rile you up. Bah. Yeah, it's annoying sometimes, but it's been ... better this time around. I actually get to be happy sometimes.

Take this from experience. Try letting the chip on your shoulder go a little bit. This place will eat you alive.

[missing_ache]

[He can see that flick incoming, and he does duck out of the way. Even with his helmet, he doesn't exactly want to be touched like that.]

Well, isn't that nice for you? If I had the choice, I wouldn't bother with them. Just because you can feel emotion doesn't mean that's a good thing. Yours don't peel away from you and birth monsters.

[He actually stops at that, surprised at his own forthcoming-ness. While he was one for a touch of dramatics, he usually kept his secrets to himself. Why had he been so open just then? It was just like with the stupid campfire story.]

[Maybe this place was affecting him more than he thought...]

Is that so? And how does that make this world any different from any other world out there?

[trancheuse]

There is that, I guess. [Not that she knew much about Vanitas' situation really, but that sounded on par for some of the crap they dealt with back home.] Mine were just the usual pain and angst and following dumbass friends into darkness after all.

I don't really get the option to shut it off here. Remembered getting 'recombined' or whatever we're calling it these days, and now I can't get that half to go away, so... cope city I guess.

...

So, first heads up. Do you happen to remember what that little memory witch we used to keep on tap was able to do? This place can do shit on that level or worse. Short term. Or longer. I had my brain fried for months there through a few methods.

Let's just say. Careful what you wish for here, Vani. The town can dish it out.

[missing_ache]

Hmph. That's why it's stupid to do anything for friends. I would have thought one that the old man scooped up wouldn't fall for kid stuff like that.

[What was it with everyone doing so much for their friends? Ventus and the other Wayfinders had gone on and on about the powers of friendship, and now Larxene? He didn't see the point. Friends just got in your way, were a weakness to be exploited.]

[And maybe he felt a little bit of jealousy, having felt the echoes of Ventus's happiness for his friends for so long. But he'd gotten good at stomping that down before it birthed an Unversed.]

Memory witch..? [He frowns for a moment. Did he remember a memory witch? He's not sure. But then again, he had been very narrow-sighted on his own end goal of merging with Ven, so some of the details may have been tossed to the wayside in that pursuit. But he does tilt his masked face in her direction when Larxene mentions her brain being fried.]

...huh. Now that is interesting. Exactly how fried are we talking?

CW severe amnesia & Bioshock Addictions for good measure

[trancheuse]

Order's off there, not that it matters. Became a nobody following an old friend. Marly and I go way back, believe it or not. But... they can have their perks.

[She wasn't going to explain the niceties of dating to Vanitas, in part because she was so bad at it that she'd make an ass out of herself in the process, and she had some pride.]

Namine. Used to be able to rewrite memories. Maybe they didn't read you in on that plan. Wouldn't surprise me. Xemnas was always stingy. [Shrug.] Well, let's see... So about five months of my life are this blur of fucked up memories I've spent the last month getting sorted.

Spent a month thinking I was a stewardess in a luxury liner and hating all the rich people. Thought my name was Lara or some garbage. Woke up for all of a wee before I got hopped up on loopy gene juice that gave me all kinds of nifty powers but made me addicted and needing the help of a creepy slug monster that kept me alive and wanting to protect every single kid I came across, instead of screwing with them... and then I just forgot who I was for like two months, and woke up after I remembered the last weeks of my life, all of that all at once.

So, yeah, my brain's a janga game and they keep pulling pieces and rearranging them something fierce. I think you were even here for a while before all that garbage. A few of you were, but I've been here alone for at least the last three months or so.

[missing_ache]

Like I care what you and that pink-haired other vessel were up to before you were chosen.

[He's aware of "Marly" just enough to know he was one of the Thirteen, but he hadn't gone out of his way to make friends. But it wasn't hard to miss the way Larxene and Marluxia seemed to get along well enough.]

[Vanitas listens to Laexene tell her story, and though his face is masked, his posture shifts subtly to betray his surprise. One world could do that much in terms of messing with someone's memories?? He would have to be careful while he was here.]

Sounds like you weren't as prepared as you thought you'd be. [Because of course he would blame some weakness on Larxene's part, rather than the world itself. But still, he would have to be careful. His memories already confused him, and he didn't want them to get any more messed up than they were.]

[He tilts his head in confusion.]

You're saying I was here before? Now I know your memory's shot.

[trancheuse]

[Oh, that bravado. It made her snicker. Man, she'd sounded just like that when she got here too. Her giggles were wicked, but they stopped after a minute.]

You know, I could just let you watch as some random crap happens to screw with you and laugh when you growl at the network. That'd be kind of fun, not to mention predictable. [Snicker] But I will warn you that when you're done blustering you might want to get ready for the worst. You're not half as prepared as you think you are.

I'd love to offer you proof, but you were way too busy screwing with your other half while he was here to bother with most of us. And before you ask, Ventus's been gone for a while.

[missing_ache]

Oh yeah? And how would you know that? You don't know half the things I'm prepared for.

[That's some of his old defensiveness flaring up, because he was damn proud of his abilities. He was Darkness, after all; many of the things others feared, he could control. But this world is throwing him for all sorts of loops, and it's setting him on edge. He likes to be the one taunting others and making them uncomfortable; he doesn't really like being on the receiving end of that.]

Hmph. So even he was here... why am I not surprised? But if he had half as much fun as you have so far, I think I can be okay with that.

[trancheuse]

It was a whole little crew for a while. Him, Roxas, Sora, Nammers, Riku, you, me. Roxas and Sora were this whole lovey dovey thing. I'm shitting you not. Like for moooooonths. It was kinda nauseating.

[She only judged because it was easy to mock her 'friends' in the case of Roxas, and he wasn't here to get pissed off for bad-mouthing Sora. Not that Sora had turned out 'that bad.' Just, eh, whatever.]

I doubt I can really convince you, Vani-poo. [Snicker] But when you're done being brave and bold, and the dark little badass you are, and you're all alone, go check the network out.

Most months? This place is a joke. Sometimes, though, it means business.

[There was an unstated offer. They were technically on the same team. He could call, as long as he could deal with being poked fun of, and she sort of expected the same might be true eventually. Maybe. It was Vanitas, after all. Neither were known for being team players.

But there were appearances, and thus? It was unstated.]