spellgrinders | ( TDM

TDMs can be used for anyone interested in the game and/or testing out a new muse.

Test Drive samples are encouraged to be used for your application sample, though they are NOT a requirement.

Feel free to use one prompt, multiple prompts or make up your own!

These threads can be considered game canon upon game opening if you so choose.

Telepathy and magic can be used at any point in time on the TDM, from Prompt A to your wildcard prompt. A specific prompt exists, however, that makes sure all characters have an equal chance to use this mechanic within the TDM. You're encouraged to have characters use telepathy and their magic accidentally or even purposefully on any TDM prompt.

If you aren't set on your character's power yet or want to try out a few, you're still able to use the test drive. Maybe your character is a late bloomer and hasn't fully unlocked their intuitive drive yet. In the case of multiple powers, only prompts that contain the power you choose for your application will count as potential game canon threads.

While only one character can be apped or reserved during a cycle, feel free to post with more than one character if you like! This is for those who are uncertain of their first choice or who would like to try out different characters within the setting.

You blink and that's all it takes. At first the picture doesn't come in clear, like you're waiting for a screen to fully load -- more aptly, it's like you're waiting for a camera to focus so you can find image clarity. Before you happened to rapidly close your eyes and open them, your life was normal...well, normal for you, anyway. Fighting an alien, making a quesadilla, dying. And then that blurry picture suddenly takes over.

Depending on your situation and ability to acclimate, you may not fully understand what's happening. A dream, a hallucination. But when you feel the trunk of the trees surrounding you, it's oddly...real. The smell is real. The moisture on the ground is real. The small grass snake you find slithering close to your feet seems very real as well.

There are a few other sensations that also begin to feel a little more like reality with every passing second. Like the fact that your intuition is trying to tell you something that doesn't seem plausible. One is more obvious -- you now have a new piece of jewelry inserted snuggly between your collarbones.

Maybe that's when you realize it is real. When you realize that there's no delusion here -- you aren't where you once were. But if that's the case...where are you?

here

its own perils.

After an hour or so of trekking through the forest, you finally come upon a break in the tree line that reveals to you an area that appears to be inhabitable. Your first stop is the large mansion that sits in the valley of the opening...if anyone is here or there's a way to get out of here, the house makes the most sense, right?

There are a variety of rooms in this mansion, and you're free to explore them. You also spy a lot of crates sitting in the middle of the floor in one of the main rooms...are you curious enough to open them?

At this point you notice that you aren't alone -- there are other people in the same boat as you! When they're around you, that signet you feel in your chest tingles slightly. The sensation isn't unpleasant, but instead like a warm tingle is spreading from their neck outward. You instinctively attempt to talk to your fellow kidnapping victims, and that works just fine...but what are all these voices you hear in your head now? Are you crazier than you thought you were?

C ▢ Here's where you can play around with the telepathy mechanic. It's likely your character won't be used to it which can lead to accidental broadcasting. If they happen to tap the signet purposefully or try to pull it out, everyone within a radius of 100 feet will feel a throbbing pain in their head. But your character won't know that, will they?

For those more inclined to adventure, there's also another building to investigate. From the outside, it looks very circular and unidentifiable, but upon entering you'll discover that it's a fully-functioning bath house.

D ▢ Despite containing steamy water and luxury bathing accommodations, the bathhouse is currently being overrun with crabs. The not-so-smart members of this species have fallen into the extremely hot water, flash boiling themselves after being unable to get back out. Others are a little more intelligent but equally aggressive. Characters: watch your toes and be cautious if you really want to take a much-needed bath! They may also want to check twice before using the restroom, otherwise the experience might be more painful than they're used to.

Exploring the mansion and the bathhouse was fun and all, but aside from the crates they didn't prove to be very useful. When you came into the clearing, you also saw a row of very colorful buildings down near the beach. It makes sense that this area may be more beneficial to any escape plans you have, and taking a dip in the ocean might be nice!

It's not until you reach the beach huts that you realize that murky blue color you spied wasn't the ocean. It's outter space. There goes any hopes you had of swimming to safety.

Claim your hut, please!

Even though it turns out the ocean was a lie and you're precariously close to falling off the edge of the world, the area around the huts is decidedly beachy. Sitting on the beach is a lobster trap, though about 10 times the size of any you might have seen before. Inside are more felt sacks, though larger. The weirdest part is that peering through the bars, you notice each has a nametag attached. The reason you know this to be true is because you just spied your own name written on one of the labels.

There's also something else underneath it. The descriptor may not mean much to you yet, but it will soon: it's the title of their newfound magic.

In each felt sack is a sort of starter kit: a set of dated and drapey plainclothes, a bag of dried boar jerky, a leather flask filled with water and a small tube of sunblock (the writing is in a bizarre pictograph language, but the giant picture of the sun on the tube should explain the purpose). There's also a rolled up paper tied with a string that reads as follows: "Welcome. Things will be explained in due time. For now, understand that you have been blessed with a gift of magic. Look into your brain and feel the instinct for both. Practice makes perfect."

F ▢ Here's the official prompt for playing with newfound magic (and telepathy if you want more practice). It's likely characters have already accidentally broadcast their thoughts, utilized the C prompt or used their magic inadvertently, but maybe this new information and small explanation has motivated them to try and see what they're truly capable of. Don't worry. If they're lucky enough to stick around, all will be explained.

...What if you're a wildcard, though? Someone who doesn't play by the rules and follows a different path, no matter what direction the world may be guiding you in? This island is large and contains many areas of interest, from crystal streams to hidden locations. Maybe you want to do something different...so break the mold and explore!

G ▢ Wildcard prompt. Go nuts and utilize your own creativity within the setting. This can mean striking out on your own or utilizing a certain location in a different way. The world is your oyster!

GAME NAVIGATION

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Ya heard 'im!!

[Here comes the cavalry, summoned by the sound of struggle - a yelling girl dropping from the trees, but more importantly, some kind of metalzilla charging ahead of her, sweeping its head low and spooking squealing boars in every direction.]

[And in the blink of an eye and the shout of a battle cry, it went from a couple boars to some sort of kaiju battle.

It might have been a little bit intimidating were it not also kind of awesome. And hey, it even got them to go away! Red hoped it would stick this time.]

...Well then! Thanks!

[He wasn't even going to question the presence of a human here. He was too busy gawking at the metal... monster... thing.]

That, uh. That thing yours?

[Rono doesn't catch being called a thing or doesn't mind it, preoccupied with chasing stragglers away with playful snaps of his jaw. Sapphire's left to stare openly at Red on her own; she'd put together from the word go that he was talking but also maybe a Pokemon, but having a moment to actually take the facts in is something else.]

'Course he is. Call 'im Rono. [She crosses her arms sheepishly.] Lemme guess, you're a stranger 'round here too...?

Edited 2017-07-06 00:32 (UTC)

Rono, huh. [Not quite what Red was expecting- 'Crusher' or 'Reptilicus' or something, but it had a nice enough ring to it. Either way, it was probably for the best that the first one he saw was, apparently, tame.] he... seems nice.

[Her question, on the other hand, left him strangely relieved. He clicked his tongue, his chewing bone briefly clattering between his teeth as he turned to face her.]

That obvious, huh? Been at this all morning and still got no idea where I am. ...boars weren't makin' it any easier, either.

Don't suppose you've found anything out here yet...?

[A nice pile of basic data on boar behavior and ecological interactions?]

Nothin'. Doesn't look like anywhere I know about, an'...

[I keep running into people who just seem off?

You're a talking Pokemon??

Something's wrong with the ocean???]

...an' it's just fishy. Somethin' did this. Just don't know what, or even everythin' it did...

[She scuffs a foot against the ground, agitated. Normally, getting her bearings would be as natural a process as breathing, but the situation's all upside-down right now, like there's no solid ground to start working from.

Rono lumbers back with a deep, rumbling sigh.]

Edited 2017-07-06 01:14 (UTC)

Great. So we're both lost.

[He breathes a long, exasperated sigh out through his nose, staring back out into what may as well have been an indistinct ocean of trees.]

And this whole forest looks the same no matter how you're lookin' at it.

Well, guess we're gettin' outta this together. Wanna just pick a direction and start walkin'? Or maybe that big friend of yours can smell his way back.

Name's Red, by the way. ...Sorry I can't get us outta here myself, but this ain't my usual line of work.

[???usual line of work???]

The only thing this fella's smellin' is iron ore [pats his side], but I could already tell ya which way's up into the mountains. [Which is where she's been headed, for visibility purposes, but she's open to other suggestions.]

I'm Sapphire. An' feelin' out the wilderness is my usual line a' work, actually, but this is just...somethin' different.

Wait, mountains? [All he saw so far was trees!]

Might not be civilization, but you've felt out somethin'! Which way is it?

...we're not gonna be riding Rono, are we?

[Hyup. Can't you feel it, Red? The gradual incline of the land, the trickle of water away from a high point...or maybe that's an outdoorsy thing. Hmm.]

What, ya wanna try? [Rono's amenable! It's...probably not bound to be very comfortable, or sustainable, really? But he'll give it a shot, maybe get a kick out of Red falling off?]

[On the one hand, he HAD been walking all morning... but on the other hand, he somehow still wasn't tired. And after seeing Rono's work chasing off those boars, and trying to envision exactly how he'd even sit...]

No thanks, doesn't look too comfortable. I can walk.

[And so he would, but not before striking up a conversation with his new traveling buddy.]

So how'd you two meet, anyway?

[What a sweet question to ask.]

My pop gave 'im to me for my fifth birthday. Back then he was just a li'l Aron, maybe this big. [Hands indicate about a toaster size. Rono snorfles. Sapphire jogs a bit to take the lead, talking while she steers them towards higher ground. Saying her dad "gave" Rono to her is a bit of an abbreviation, but not too far off - five-year-olds aren't generally great at catching Pokemon on their own.]

Aaron? Why'dja change his name?

[Not to mention he was having a difficult time envisioning something so big and bulky being so... small. Then again, it had to start somewhere.

He speeds up his pace a bit when she takes the lead, however, almost pointedly keeping stride next to her instead of behind.]

...He doesn't talk much, either, does he?

[And Rono speeds up, too, like he's decided that flanking Red is his job at the moment. It's nice - forests in Hoenn tend to be denser, too much so for him to tag along like this with his size. Sapphire gestures widely at her Pokemon, sweeping an arm back while she talks.]

Aron's what he was, but Rono's always been his name.

[She hangs back long enough to thump the Aggron on the side. Rono answers Red's second question with a long, rumbly gruhwuhwuh noise, flapping his jaw playfully and dramatically.]

An' uh, well... [Sapphire's not sure enough of what he's asking to figure out a decent reply, glancing between him and Rono.]

Wait, if that's what he was-- then what is he now?

[When he looked to Rono as if awaiting some sort of confirmation... all Red received was a grumbling roar. Well, if he 'talked', it wasn't anything he could understand.]

...Guess not.

"Aggron". S'called evolution.

[Which isn't really something she can explain adequately. Sapphire waffles for a moment, seeming faintly embarrassed.]

I guess...you ain't a Pokemon after all, then. I didn't really know what to think...

"Aggron." [It still even kinda sounded like "Aron;" was he weird for thinking all of this was getting confusing?

...Well, apparently not, from the look Sapphire was giving him. He just blinked, scratching his cheek with a fingertip.]

A Pokeymon? Nah, I'm just a Caninu. Never heard of a Pokeymon before.

( TDM | #1 )

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