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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.
đ„ 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.
đ„ 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...
đ„ 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.
đ„ 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 homeâ or the fantasy revenge you'd like to get someday.
đ„ 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.
no subject
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 wasnât a punch, but it certainly made its point. Some things hadnât changed.
âWith this place or your returning?â He laughed under his breath, hands finding their way to his trouser pockets. âTrust 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.â
Quite the opposite.
âItâs rather reminiscent of old times with everyone here together. I hope we can find a way to work together.â
no subject
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.
no subject
People were soâŠsimple.
âI see that your ability to work with authority figures hasnât changed even after your unfortunate experience.â There it was, that easy patience that was difficult to crack, although many had tried. Elias simply smiled.
âEspecially when I had been right.â
He had warned them. Warned Jon. Of course he had known Tim was still going to go, had needed him to, but that didnât matter. The ability to use this as leverage was too good to ignore.
âBut I assume that you hold me responsible for it somehow, anyway.â
no subject
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.
no subject
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 Eliasâ time in jail, too. He couldnât 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. âI am glad we can understand each other on where that responsibility lies.â What he wouldnât give for some tea right now. âI assume that you heard by now what happened to Jon after that stunt?â
no subject
"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.
no subject
Maybe it wouldnât 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 couldnât control them. A personal support of safety could be enough, he supposed.
âGood.â There was still the secret, the one none of them new, but that was fine. There was no reason to spoil the surprise yet. âAs long as weâre all up to date.â
He started to step away before stopping and leveling the weight of his stare upon him. âTim.â There was a pause, poignant and heavy. âNow, we wonât have any trouble between us, will we?â
no subject
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."
no subject
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 ratherâŠuseful. A rather effective assistant. He had been an appropriate hire with decent performance reviews.
Now, wellâŠ
The smile slowly crossed his lips as he started to walk away.
âI 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.â
no subject
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?"