spellgrinders | ( TDM

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( TDM | #4 )

IMPORTANT: The weekly update post will go up later than usual tonight to give time for any other barrier quest responses to come in. Nothing major will be affecting how old players respond to newbies on this post, so tag away! Threads here do count for September bonus AC for old players.

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.

IMPORTANT: This world is low-frequency. No canon powers or abilities are allowed! Also check out the setting information for more info about what the hub island looks like and what can be found there.

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.

There's a lot to take in here -- you feel weird, your surroundings are weird. Everything is just weird. For starters, there's that new piece of jewelry inserted in the space above your chest. That certainly wasn't there before you opened your eyes.

here

pretty nifty locations

If you eventually make it out of the forest and aren't devoured by a boar, you'll eventually come upon your new base camp. Someone (Genette) will be there with your introductory letter and a brief description of magic you now have. If you didn't discover it earlier...surprise!

One thing of comfort might be that you aren't alone in this journey. There are other coven members here, fresh back from a journey to another world. If your character wants to get the lay of the land or understand what's going on a little better, they may want to hit up some of these folk for information.

There's a large, gold, floating caravan hanging around next to a bonfire, and there's a back gate open that reveals something of a space pocket containing lots of different things. Luckily for new characters, the Palai from the previous world didn't want them to go hungry...which also means they'll be inundated with shrimp to eat. Hopefully they like shellfish!

If you're much more of a loner and don't want to follow the flow of things, there are of course other locations that you should probably check out. Travel to your heart's content and find something new...but there are two other points of interest you may want to discover.

GAME NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[There are a few things that are absolute truths in Edward's mind: you can't circumvent the law of equivalent exchange; milk is barely a step up from poison; but first and foremost, he can trust his brother implicitly, completely. So at the sound of that familiar voice, the blond pulls to a sudden stop.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't squawk about it.] Are you kidding me, Al?! You're going to get me eaten by a pig!

[Which seems like an entirely undignified way to go. Except, then the boar runs straight through him and THAT just shot up to the top of his list-of-weird-things-that-has-happened-to-him-lately. In fact, it'll be a challenge to unseat that one.]

...what the hell just happened? [He turns around, searching for Alphonse and an explanation.]

[One of those things is significantly easier than the other! Although it might not be long before Ed wishes he was dealing with the boar again instead--once Al clanks over, he doesn't waste any time grabbing his brother up off the ground in a crushing armor hug. Look, it's. It's been a while.]

Brother! I can't believe you're here! Are you okay? Where have you been?

[First there was Ed's disappearing act back home, then Al found himself caught up in Qri's mess. It's been impossible not to worry. He'll... get back to Ed's question eventually. Probably.]

[Oh god this again. Edward is sure, for a very dramatic moment that this is finally it, this is how he dies, a victim of brotherly love. It's fitting somehow!! He manages to gasp in enough breath to start fussing though, so he'll probably survive.]

Alphonse... [A sad little flailing of a metal arm to clang against his brother.]

What do you mean where have I been? I've been frolicking among the trees and running from wild boars. [And not. Pleased. About it. Though he's also confused because Alphonse is acting like they haven't seen each other in a lot longer than a couple hours -- which is the truth of it so far as Edward knows.] It's been an hour, Al. I'm fine. I can handle myself alone at least that long.

[An hour? That's weird enough to make Al freeze, and when he puts Ed down he steps back to give him a more appraising look.]

Brother, I was in Aimintas for weeks.

[A closer look at his armor will back up the story; the damage is superficial, but he's noticeably in rougher shape than he'd normally allow, courtesy of brawling with some alien fish people without anyone around to patch him up.]

And before that--.

[Wait, he'd better not get ahead of himself. No one said time flow was consistent across worlds, after all.]

Maybe we should just start with what you remember before getting here.

[Ed bends over, hands on his knees, taking a moment to catch his smothered breath before he stands up, works a few cricks out of his neck and back but then what Alphonse says registers in his brain and it's Ed's turn to freeze. Aimintas? What the hell is that.

And yeah, looking, Alphonse is way more banged up than he should be.

Edward frowns, hand reaching out to touch at one of the worse looking spots. What the hell is going on here. But he's assembling it in his mind quickly. This is a different world. Fine. Not ideal, but not unheard of. He's been to the damn gate, he can't throw around words like impossible. And time can be a funny thing in general and--]

Damn it. [Deep breath.] We were with Winry and that bastard Kimblee. [Sound familiar, Alphonse? Edward isn't sure he wants to ask the next question,] What do you remember, before getting here, Al?

It's going to sound crazy, but that was a while ago for me too.

[There's so much he needs to tell Ed--about this place, about the things he learned from their father, about what happened in the weird stretch of time that Ed seems to be missing. One thing, though, is the obvious priority.]

Winry's fine. Before I got here, she was somewhere safe and we were working out how to get her back to Resembool.

[But that 'we' doesn't include Ed, and not in a way that lines up with him showing up here.]

You're the one I've been worried about. We had to split up, and as far as anyone knows, you've gone missing.

That does sound crazy...

[Muttered. But Edward won't question Alphonse. If anyone else were trying to tell him this, he'd be having a fit. But as it is, he's trying to reason through it, and his brain is making a decent go at almost wrapping around it. Almost.

The news about Winry helps though, and Edwards shoulders sag just slightly in relief.]

...missing? What does that mean?

[That's... huh. Well. That's his future, so it's not like he could possibly have any idea why.

And then the most horrifying thought he's had yet...]

How long is a while ago?? Are you older than me now?!

[Priorities.]

[This is a serious conversation and he should not be tempted to say yes, but. He's very tempted to say yes. He pauses for effect, but after a moment he gives himself away by laughing.]

Nothing that dramatic. It was only a few more weeks, but a lot happened in that time.

[Watch out, he's catching up.

There's something in the familiarity of Ed's reactions that helps ease his tension; after being on his own for a while, the effect might even be more pronounced than usual. Things are weird, sure, but he's certain that together they can figure it out.]

We should find somewhere safer to talk. I haven't been on the island that long either, but I can get us back to the camp.

[What an evil little brother. That pause. That look on his face (and granted Alphonse doesn't have facial expressions, exactly, but Edward is certain he can tell sometimes -- like now) and Edward is starting to sweat when he finally hears that laughter.

Oh god. Thank god. He slumps.]

Don't mess with me like that, Al...

[But okay. That crisis averted for the moment. For Edward, finding out that Alphonse is here too, wherever this is, somehow he's a bit calmer about it. Not thrilled to be here, not planning on sticking around any longer than they need to, but if Al is here, it'll be okay.]

Yeah, okay. Somewhere safer, but then I have questions. Like what the hell was that with the boar. [Ghost pig? What? Why? How?]

[Al turns to start walking in the direction of the base camp. Did Qri really just dump all the newcomers in the middle of the forest? Geez.

The immediate concerns are probably a decent enough place to start on getting Ed up to speed, awkward as they are.]

Oh, that. [Ed's going to take this about as well as he did.] No one can explain how they work, but everyone who shows up here gets some kind of weird ability.

[The M word must be eased into.]

That one's mine.

[To demonstrate, he repeats the effect on a nearby tree and casually walks through it.]

[Alphonse knows him way too well, and is right to avoid that word, and keep Edward from launching off into a complete dismissal of magical nonsense. Even so, there's a skeptical furrow to his brow as Al speaks.

Edward follows along, listening. Ability. That...

Well. When Al demonstrates, Edward only stares. He walks up to the tree and pokes a finger at it.]

How? This isn't alchemy. [That much is plainly clear.]

I have no idea.

[And he sounds more than a little frustrated by that fact. The rest of the coven is so accepting of magic, so unbothered by not knowing the rules of how it actually works. It's been driving Al up the wall, and he can't help venting a little to the one person he knows will understand.]

Everyone keeps calling it magic, like that makes it okay for nothing to make any sense!

[Before he can go too far down that road, he shakes his head to stave off the rant.]

But... I have seen them do some incredible things, sometimes because of where they came from and sometimes because of Qri. If you're here, you must have some weird power too.

Edited 2017-09-26 04:19 (UTC)

[Everything has to have rules. People an all things whatever they want, that doesn't change the facts that physics, chemistry, alchemy, all work a same way, are all bound by specific natural, universal laws!

...so Ed feels you, Alphonse. Boy does he.]

There's no such thing as magic. Not like that.

[Reflexive. But not without rules, without frameworks and-- okay. No focus.]

What me? Oh no. No thank you. [EXCEPT. RIGHT. In his flight from the boar it'd been pushed to the back of his mind for worrying about later. It's not later.] I had trouble transmuting before. Nothing happened.

[Al hesitates. Taking Ed to the edge of the island is a detour from heading back to camp, but if he were in his brother's place it's absolutely something he'd need to see for himself right away. (He did see it for himself right away, and he can still hardly believe his eyes.)]

Alchemy isn't going to work here. The others will tell you it's because of the world's frequency, but that's because they don't understand the difference between alchemy and magic.

[Another sore point, from the way he says it.]

The island we're on can't produce the right energy because it doesn't look like it's even attached to a planet. It's just floating in the middle of nowhere.

[Oh... Ed may very well need that detour because there's no way that can be true. He trusts Alphonse, knows his brother isn't trying to pull one over on him.]

How does that even work?

[Islands don't float! Even actual islands don't float in water. That's not how that works! Right? None of this makes sense, and it's starting to get to Edward.] So no alchemy, but still somehow magic.

[He's already running over it in his mind. He needs more information to even begin to make sense of it.] This place is giving me a headache, Al.

I know what you mean. [Yep, time for a slight change of direction. Might as well let Ed stare into the abyss early on.] I'll show you, but I don't know how much it will actually help.

And the island's not even the weirdest part of all this. Did you get told anything before you ended up in the woods?

[Bring on the abyss. Edward nods at what Al has to say. Good. He wants to see it, though if Alphonse can't make sense of it, he's reasonably sure he won't be able to either. Not right away.

This all feels like some messed up dream.

He shakes his head at the question.] I was exactly where I was supposed to be then bam, in a forest. Here. What should I Have been told? [Did he miss the orientation meeting?]

[Al sighs. Ed has probably picked up on some of the details from the things he's said already, but he'd better spell it all out for clarity's sake.]

Well, to start off with, there are people here from all kinds of different worlds. I know that much is true, because I've talked to a lot of them and heard their stories. Some of them are able to do things that would have been impossible back home.

[Compared to all the complaining he's been doing, his voice takes on a distinctly more positive note when talking about the coven at large. They've done a lot to help him and it's clear he thinks pretty highly of them.]

And then there's Qri. [Goodbye, positivity.] She's the witch responsible for kidnapping everyone, and her story is that she's running low on energy and needs us to collect it for her. Supposedly, she's so powerful that everyone's worlds will die off if she doesn't get it.

[No need to point out how terribly shady and convenient that sounds.]

She either can't or won't talk to us, and does her communicating through Brie and Genette, the two people who have been with her longer than anyone. Even they have no proof of anything she says beyond just having faith in her.

[He's starting to put together a picture of it, from things Alphonse has mentioned, from his own limited experience since he got here -- which in fairness mostly includes running from wild boar and being pissed off at the fact that he can't use his alchemy.

But he's listening closely now, mostly quiet as they walk. For once. It isn't a surprise that Alphonse has made friends -- which is what Edward is getting from that shift in tone. Of course he did. Al's always been the nicer one between them, a million times better with people than Edward will ever be. And despite himself, Edward smiles.

Until the witch gets brought up.]

...so we're here to feed her energy. How exactly do you collect energy? And what the hell does she need it for? [He realizes these may not be questions Al has answers to, so they're mostly rhetorical.] Sounds like crap to me. What do you know about those two, Brie and Genette?

[Always suspicious. But experience has given him nothing but reasons to be.]

Not that much. Genette's the friendlier one--in fact, you'll probably meet her soon since she likes to try and greet the new arrivals. As suspicious as their story is, I don't get the impression that they're lying.

[But that's only because a liar would come up with something way more convincing.]

They're willing to go along with Qri's plans because they think it's what they have to do to get back home.

As for the energy...

[A bit of digging around in his armor and Al produces the amulet the Palai gave him before they left, a bone-like structure sparking from within its glass case.]

These are what Qri was after in the last world. A lot of us refused to help, but not enough to stop her from getting what she wanted.

So it's possible they're being used...

[Apparently "so it's possible this is legitimate" is not even a remote possibility in Edward's mind. This Qri got off on the wrong foot and then it kept getting wronger and wronger. Kidnapping him and dropping him here? In a world where he can't use alchemy? And kidnapping his little brother even before that? Not getting on Edward's good side. It's such a small side to begin with.

He shifts in closer to look at what Al's taken out.] What is it?

[He offers Ed the amulet for closer inspection--the glass around the structure should keep the electricity in check--and falters on how to best explain the saga of the lizard people.]

They're sort of... magic centers. See, there's a race called the Palai, and the ones who are born with these bones have special abilities.

[He shrugs a bit helplessly. It's as ridiculous to say as it is to hear.]

Their enemies the Uvi even hunted them because of it, until one day when the Uvi put too many of these things together and blew themselves up. Qri wanted us to collect the ones they'd taken.

[So the kidnapping witch also scavenges the body parts of another race. He takes the amulet carefully, holding it up to the light and turning it over to get a better look at it.]

If the people who stole them in the first place blew them up, isn't that risky?

[This Qri person risking people for her own gain? Edward's skepticism is running intensely high right now.] Kind of feels like profiting off a tragedy too.

[The same issue with chasing the Philosopher's Stone, now that they knew...]

Yeah. The Palai were still getting attacked while we were there, so if she'd told us everything earlier, maybe we could have done more to help them. Or we could've taken the bones from the Uvi and stopped them from getting hurt too. But saving people was never the goal. That's why I can't believe us being here has anything to do with protecting worlds.

[Finally, he stops to gesture up ahead to where the edge of the island meets with the nothingness of open space.]

Edited 2017-09-28 03:21 (UTC)

[Edwards holds the amulet back up to Alphonse. He frowns at this information. His opinion of Qri is plummeting, and it didn't start out all that high to begin with either.]

Damn it. That really pisses me off. [Taking advantage of a situation like that for nothing but personal gain. Edward would probably rant more if they hadn't just come to the end of the fricken world.

He steps forward, closer, not quite right to the edge.] How the hell...

[He turns back towards Alphonse, pointing.] That shouldn't be possible.

( TDM | #4 )

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