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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's a bad joke and you should feel bad, Tim.

A slightly pained expression crosses Sasha's face for a few seconds. She knows most of the things that happened between the Prentiss attack and the Unknowing. A little from Jon's memories but mostly the extensive notes scattered all over their study. For just a moment, staring at him for the first time in months, all she can see is him holding that detonator in his hand.

"If you've been stuffing your face with them and haven't felt any different you're probably fine." Her smile returns, warm if a little tired. "Just stay away from the chocolate to be safe. Things tend to get a bit...let's say heated where that's involved."

She settles down on one of the logs, stretching out her legs toward the fire and gives the spot next to her on the log a pat.

"That sounds like a story all on its own," Tim says, which he's grateful for. He wants--something. Something that isn't heavy and dark. And maybe whatever's going on with the chocolate, or was, might still be heavy and dark. But Sasha can manage to make it light, a story, a joke.

She's always been able to. Tim's missed that. So much that he doesn't really know what to do with himself that much as he sits down next to her on the log, their knees touching, the fire light making her a coppery glow.

He hasn't wanted to kiss her in ages, their friendship a solid and easy thing. He holds the feeling of it in his chest and just watches her with a tenderness he thought he'd never get to have again.

"It's more embarassing than anything and requires a bit of context." She reaches over without a second thought to lay her hand on top of his and threads her fingers through his. It still feels so easy, just sitting here with him like nothing's changed and they're just on a weekend camping trip like they used to.

The last time she'd seen Tim, really seen him, he'd told her to run. Prentiss and her worms were too close and someone had to get help. In the firelight she can more clearly see the circular scars in his face and feel them on his hand. She's seen them on Jon every day since she arrived, seen the attack in his memories, and the thought of the worms sends a visceral ghost of a shiver up her spine despite the warm air.

Sasha lifts her other hand, laying her palm against his scarred cheek.

"But if I tell, promise not to hold it over me for too long?"

The familiarity of Sasha's touch is more, even, than the look of her. He thinks, now, how he could have not known when it was notSasha. They still touched each other, maybe not this much, after they broke up, and then, when it wasn't her anymore, suddenly they just didn't anymore. So the soft warmth of her skin, the width and weight of her fingers between his and on his cheek, it's all he's thought of since she stopped doing that.

He leans into the touch a little bit, his eyes half closed. His smile is small, tender. A little teasing.

"I dunno," he says. "Sounds like you're about to give me some very juicy gossip, and I may be tempted to bring that up again at some point. When it suits me."

Part of her wants to lean in, to take his face in both hands and kiss that silly little smile right off his face. It's a war between her sensibilities and her impulses and in the end her sensibilities win- but not before she leans in to rest her forehead on his shoulder to tell the story, no compulsion needed.

"You're the worst." She says with nothing but fondness in her voice. "So...we're not the only ones here. Jon, Martin, Gerard Keay-" She frowns, her grip on Tim's hand tightening slightly. "Elias." But he's not important right now. She's not giving him any more of her attention than she has to.

"A few weeks before I woke up in Deerington, a market popped up in town and one of the booths sold a special rose chocolate. Martin bought some, stored it a cabinet and forgot about it. I've been staying with him and Jon for the past little while since my place got a bit smashed up but I had no idea there was anything hidden away in the kitchen."

She runs her thumb over his knuckles, taking in all the small details of the feel of his scars, the slightly sweet smell of marshmallow and smoke still clinging to his shirt before she continues.

"Not until the other week for Jon's birthday."

"I feel like I gotta meet Keay," Tim says with a shake of the head. They've got a couple of statements, he knows about him, but the thought that he's just, well, around is sort of weird.

Sasha paints the picture in broad, vague strokes, and when she gets to the birthday, he lifts a brow archly. This is much better than dwelling on Elias, who Tim doesn't want to think about existing anymore, if he can help it. He's dead now. He doesn't have to think about Elias Bouchard.

"...I get the feeling it wasn't wine and cake."

"You'll like him, I think. He's much less spooky when you're having drinks with him as opposed to meeting him in a dark hallway burning evil books." Or when you're planning to burn evil books with him. "Just try not to flirt too much."

The Elias Problem is going on the back burner for now. They have loads of time to talk about Elias and the Entities and the horrors of Deerington. Right now is just for the two of them, a campfire and an entire bag of marshmallows.

"Salty snacks and Gerry's terrible whiskey. A bit of a downgrade from his last birthday I got to go to. But it was nice." She frowns slightly, her hand gripping his just slightly tighter. "...It was hard, last month. There was a lot going wrong. We all needed a bit of a reprieve."

Tim nods along, although they appear to be meandering suspiciously away from juicy gossip territory and merely into gentle respite land. A thing they've all earned, no doubt, but not exactly the heed-my-warning Sasha seemed to want to give Tim in regards to the chocolate he was content to mostly ignore in place of nibbling on marshmallows.

Speaking of, he pops one into his mouth whilst making an affronted noise. "Sasha. You wound me. I am a...chaste and wholesome paragon of...Anglican values, my flirting is strictly above board or for gains. Anyway, you assured me this had something to do with not eating the chocolate?"

He offers her the bag of marshmallows instead, as though to entice her to her gossip.