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

And if they are, we can find a place to live with them. It'll be like our own little home.

[He's speaking out his thoughts out loud, hoping that by doing so he can distract Yuichiro from what sounds like a very traumatic memory.]

[Noticing the sunlight too, Mika smiles weakly. This is very different from living underground.]

I've missed this. Fresh air.

We'll see if they're here before you go planning too far ahead, huh? But....yeah. That'd be alright, I guess.

[More than alright. It's basically their normal now. So much time together, so used to their routines together and working together to get things done. He can't quite yet figure the idea of it just actually being the two of them yet. Not yet anyway.]

Mm. I forgot just how bright the sun is.

Okay, okay. But even if they're not here yet, we can still plan.

[It certainly made things better than he found Yuichiro here. It is less scary that way.

Mika takes a deep breath, enjoying the view. It's pretty different from what he's used to, but it's nice in its own way.]

Yeah... I wonder if the virus even hit this place. Maybe it never got here.

I guess we'll see. It isn't like we need much to be happy, after Sanguinem.

[Proper beds, actual food that isn't those disgusting pouches, normal clothes. Simple things would be enough to cheer them up and all. At least, Yuu figures. Whether it's him and Mika or the others are around somewhere around here in this dream town. Maine. He gives a shrug at that though, in observation of the virus.]

I've seen older people around. And this isn't underground so...it must be safe. No virus here.

As long as we have together, I'm sure we'll be able to make it work.

[Mika has missed the easy life they had in the orphanage, before everything went to hell. At least Yuichiro has come into his life. That has made him feel less alone.]

Do you think it's safe to ask the adults if they know where this place is?

We managed back home, yeah. This map has the town. The other map had I think more, with this Maine place. It's definitely not Japan. I don't recognize any of this but it said something about Canada. I'm not sure if this is Canada or in the United States, this Maine where the town is?

[But Mika isn't wrong. Eventually they would need to probably ask some adults. For all that they were pretty well independent for the most part after Sanguinem and being orphans and all.]

But the letter said not to trust the locals. That they don't want us here? Or something like that.

[So they have to find others like them. Sleepers? Dreamers? Whatever they were called.]

I thought Canada was close to the north pole. How weird.

[Either way, the nature and buildings are far from what he's used to. It makes sense that this is a completely different place than Japan. Feeling a little unsafe, he loops his arm in Yuu's elbow, so they won't get separated.]

Even if the locals aren't trustworthy, they can't be worse than the vampires. But... You're right. We should look for people who are like us.

[Mostly, Yuu can't help staring at the colour. The blue of the sky. The green of the grass and trees visible. After years underground it is only a memory to recall the sky and such. But here it is again, even in some strange dream land like this. At the least, he has Mika with him now.

He blinks, glancing to Mika when the other looks his arm like that while he tries to keep hold of the map.]

I guess we could tell from the clothes maybe? Or just ask....?

[Mika doesn't say anything about the arm thing, because he is just glad that they're walking together. It feels almost too good to be true, to be out in the world again. Getting to breathe fresh air again.]

I can ask the first one we meet. I bet people like us have a place they meet up in, so they won't talk too much with the people that doesn't like them.

I guess we can. Ask whoever and go by process of elimination or something. I dunno where people like us meet or whatever since I just got here too but there's gotta be some around like we are, exploring or shopping or working or whatever.

[Yuu figures it should be easy enough to tell with some people how well or not they fit in here like them. Or like the locals with their more dated outfits as far as he figures. He doesn't seem to think anything of Mika's linking their arms, more focused on the map and their surroundings in not getting lost. Besides, Mika's usually the more affectionate of the two of them and they can't lose each other like this, he supposes.]

Exactly. Even in Sanguinem there were spots where we gathered. It's probably the same thing here.

[It makes him feel better to be able to hold him close, if he's honest with himself. Mika's glad that Yuu didn't call him out on it, or demand that he didn't do it.]

Have you seen any other kids around?

Hm. I guess. We'll see. Maybe at the hall? But as far as other kids go....Not yet but I haven't been paying attention to everyone that goes past. Seems like a lot of people around.

[Mostly it's just different in not being all white. With the clothes everyone wears. Between the vampire uniforms and the livestock ones they all have in Sanguinem. While Yuu is jumpy and unsure on all this, he hasn't been paying attention all the time in who was coming or going nearby, especially when he had been messaging Mika. So he could have missed some other kids their age.]