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

Ah! You know Fai-san? I've met him! He's here! And...do you mean Syaoran-kun? He's here too! I mean. At least. There's probably lots of others with brown hair and eyes but. Syaoran-kun and I know each other from back home. So he's the one I thought of.

[Except that unfortunately for Kurogane, Syaoran is also bittier and has a different history to the ones he knows back home. Still, she's trying to help even if she herself might not necessarily realize that yet.]

[ His eyebrows raise at the mention of Syaoran, but any feeling of hope at being reunited with his travel party is gone when she mentions that they know each other from home. ]

Maybe that's him. The kid I'm looking for might just look like him though.

[ But he appreciates that Sakura is already so willing to help, because of course she is. ]

You already met Fai? Did he just get here too?

I can take you to find him? Syaoran-kun. Fai-san we can check with on the phones to let him know you're here!

[She gestures, pointing to her Fluid at her wrist. At least. She assumes if Kurogane is looking for him that they were friends or something. Not even beginning to consider the idea that he might want to find Fai or Syaoran for less pleasant reasons or anything. She just wants to help if she can in getting him to his friends. Traveling companions, whatever Kurogane wanted to call it.]

[ He's glad she isn't questioning him even though he doesn't have nefarious plans. It makes all of this go a lot more quickly, which is a definite plus for him. ]

Thanks. That'd be a big help. [ He looks at the Fluid. ]

How do you use that thing?

[ At this point, he's used to messing around with different technology and figuring it out eventually, but a crash course is always welcome. ]

[She gives a nod, taking a pause from just straight up leading him to find Syaoran in at least checking her boyfriend's apartment when Kurogane asks about the Fluid. She gives him a basic, quick run down on how it works, being familiar enough with such technology from home that it isn't too much of a learning curve for her on her end at least.

It's only after she's sure he gets it that she starts leading the way to Syaoran's, gesturing for Kurogane to come with her while showing him how to message Fai if he wants.]

[ Thankfully, it doesn't take him long to pick it up once she goes over where everything important is. It's really a good thing he's gotten past the steep learning curve of using technology in general.

He gives her a quiet "thanks" when she's done, and starts following her lead. Texting Fai can wait until later, since Kurogane knows he can take care of himself. ]

Does the kid live by himself?

[ Kurogane knows Syaoran is perfectly fine living on his own and that this Syaoran probably is too but... he's still worried. ]

Mm. He has this apartment here. I think Fai-san lives around there too. I live with some other girls, so Syaoran-kun and I aren't living together or anything. But I'm just glad to have him here after I'd been here a while before he showed up. And after so long being apart back home when he went back to Hong Kong.

[She explains, since it might seen odd to be kind of relieved in having a familiar face here given what Deerington is capable of. What Mother Superior is capable of and all. She seems confident enough though in leading the way to the apartments.]

[ He nods. Good thing Sakura isn't living by herself at least. ]

At least there's someone nearby.

[ He makes sure to look at their surroundings, taking note of the different businesses around the area. ]

Do you live near here?

Ah, we're in Prospero. Syaoran-kun lives in Brahms. But it's easy enough with getting a bus or using the Flight card to get between our places at least to see each other.

[She gives a shrug. She's used to living apart from Syaoran anyway of course. She's just relieved he was here at all. So it isn't a bother on them not living together. It isn't like she can't visit any time she wanted, so it's fine. Not like there's an ocean separating them like back home while he was back in Hong Kong.]

[ He's glad they can see each other pretty easily here, even though they live in different neighborhoods. That certainly isn't the case with the Syaoran and Sakura he knows.

Kurogane looks at the building. He should probably at least go check in on Fai, see what he knows. ]

Thanks for taking me here. [ And he's about to walk away with a wave when he pauses. ]

...Do you need me to walk you back home? I know how to get here now, and my place is probably on the way back anyway.

Ah, sure! But.....you don't want to go up and see him now? Syaoran-kun?

[That was why she thought she was leading him here? To take him to see Syaoran like he had been asking about the other? Kurogane isn't even necessarily sure if he knows which apartment is Syaoran's in there for that matter. She blinks then, tilting her head a little in confusion at that.]

I know my way back, I'll be okay. I just figured to show you which apartment Syaoran-kun lives in, if he is home.

[ Right. He had been planning to just look and figure out eventually which apartment Syaoran was in, or come back later. Sakura had already gone through the trouble of explaining a bunch to him already—he could figure out the rest on his own. ]

I figured I could go see him later, after I looked around more. [ He pauses. ] You can just give me the apartment number if you want.

Ah, I guess. That's true.

[She writes down his apartment number, and her own address if he needs that as well, on a spare piece of note paper she has with her in her little bag she carries. Passing it to him and putting the rest of the paper and pen back in her bag.]

Here.

[ He takes the paper, stuffing it in his pocket for now. He's glad Sakura gave him her address too, just in case anything happens.

There's a small pause, and he looks at Sakura. ]

...Thanks for helping me out. It would've been a while before I figured out if anyone else was even here if you didn't tell me.

Hm? Ah, it's alright! I'm happy to help! Especially with Syaoran-kun!

[She isn't sure if Syaoran would recognize Kurogane either but. He and Fai seem to know some version of them at least? As far as she gathers so it makes sense that they'd be looking. That they would be curious and ask about her and her boyfriend here. Even if she isn't necessarily aware on how Kurogane has already softened with her in comparison to how he might have been with anyone else trying to help him or encountering him like this.]