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

[It might just be the easiest way to specify who's from what dimension (or whatever the fuck), but Arthur's expression still hardens at the inherent possessiveness of Eames' phrasing.]

I'd like to think the Eames I know would choose his words more carefully.

I'm glad to see that you're just as interested about semantics, [ Eames snorts softly as he studies Arthur with a keen look that might be a little too intruding now that they've established that they don't actually know each other much at all. ]

And perhaps he would. Who knew, there are some differences between us.

[ He doesn't seem worried about it. It's one of the few things that have kept his interest lately. It's fascinating. ]

Do you hail from the same universe as he does?

[The semantics of who's whose are pretty touchy when you're talking about a fae, but Arthur's not going to go there. From here on out he's planning to play pretty close to the chest with this Eames until he can get back to the-Eames-he-knows' place and tear into him for the lack of warning.]

If we're even talking about the same person, then yeah. There's a man named Eames here who I know from outside this place.

[ Of course he is. They don't need to know each other's life stories for Eames to know that Arthur's going to be on defence after losing his footing like that. If Eames would know what to do about it, he would.

But he doesn't.

He seems a little wary for a moment, looking at that closed up face that tells him that he's stepped out of line already. And while he usually wouldn't be discouraged by it, right now he feels like a roadkill and it's hard to be charming when your breath is wheezing and throat burns and everything aches.

So, he nods instead. ]

There's also an Arthur, [ he says warmly in case the Eames-this-one-knows hasn't told him. ] Whom I've known for quite a while. There's probably not a whole lot in common between your histories, but you seem to have - similarly to my situation with the other Eames - a hefty amount of reflection surface in terms of personality and the type of experience.

[Arthur doesn't look surprised at that information, which is the only indication he'll show that Eames has told him anything at all. Now that he knows this man is different, he actually starts to notice that something seems physically wrong with him. His hunter brain drops the threat level a few notches and he feels a little more comfortable taking a couple steps closer and crouching down to his eye level.]

How much do you know about him?

[ Eames watches him quietly as he crouches down, a little bit of a twitch at the corner of his mouth presenting itself even as he wraps his arms around himself and shudders. He's constantly cold now. Dying takes a toll in Deerington. ]

Which one? [ he asks then shakes his head right after - he knows which one Arthur is asking about. ] That is a hard question to answer. Do I know facts? Probably not a whole lot of them. Some. We compared notes. However, it is questionable if I need to know all the facts to know quite a bit about him. It seems we are the same person after all.

[Arthur almost feels bad for him. Almost.]

[He rolls his eyes in his weary, sarcastic way, partly because this Eames is just as good saying nothing with way too many words, and partly because knowing Eames the fae is an exercise in constantly discovering how much you don't know. It's frankly exhausting.]

Well, you might be right about that.

[Still, there's one big thing Arthur suspects might be different. He tilts his head and narrows his eyes at Eames, trying to decide how to figure it out.]

How old are you?

[ Dogged is a good way to describe any Arthur. This one obviously doesn't have a whole lot of good humour towards him. Eames wonders if it's because of his relationship with the other Eames. In good or in bad.

It's almost like meeting Arthur again after all these years of knowing him.

It's both lovely and a little disconcerting. He has to remind himself at least twice every five minutes or so that this is not the person who has let him (not so) gracefully into his home. But someone else he has no history with. ]

We definitely are not the same person, him and I, if that is what you're trying to figure out. Our histories are different, yet there are similarities.

I am thirty-four years old if you must know.

[Arthur nods, satisfied with that answer. Eames is right, they're not the same person. They're not even the same species. With that sorted out he feels like he can go back to grill Eames on the rest.]

[The corner of his lip quirks up into a wry smile.]

Well at least I know you're both older than me.

[ Well now, there's a little bit humour in that curve over Arthur's mouth and Eames finds himself responding in kind, his smile a bit warmer if no less amused. ]

Age is just a number, Arthur, [ he says with a small chuckle. ] You do have that youthful energy about you, don't you.

[Arthur gives him a dry laugh.]

I think the Eames I know would say the opposite. Has said the opposite, actually.

Edited 2020-07-31 16:10 (UTC)

That you're an old man at the age of... twenty-eight? [ Eames suggests. Not that he knows anything about this. ] I wonder why that would be, hmm.

Thirty-one, and I have no idea.

[There's a touch of sarcasm in his voice as he stands up, holstering the gun at last. He regards Eames with a slight frown, trying to assess if his injuries are bad enough that it would be irresponsible to just leave him here. He did get here all on his own, after all, but Arthur has at least a bit of empathy.]

You need a hand?

[ Struggling to his feet, Eames shudders again and reaches up to rub at his throat, which his the only visible place where his "injuries" are showing as a solid red mark around his neck. ]

I'm good, but thank you, luv.

[There's that "luv" again. At least it helps solidify the difference between this Eames and the one from his world in his mind.]

Alright. See you around then.

[He spares the lake one last look and turns to leave, no longer in the mood for his monster stakeout. Now he's got too much on his mind.]

I hope so, [ Eames calls after him with a small, fond smile.

Arthur is always Arthur it seems. ]