( TDM | #5 )

[spellbindmods]

IMPORTANT: This TDM is something a little different -- it's a mix of 4th Wall shenanigans and test driving. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come and make this spooky experience even more creeptacular, and all threads are canon. Any weird happenings, magic shortages or flip-flopping for new characters will just be considered part of the strangeness of the night.

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.

The foreign moon has come as close to the hub island as it possibly can, and the nocturnal deer aren't the only things acting up at this point. Those with intact spiritual intuition or with the power of emotional understanding will have felt the heaviness in the air, and as the days have dragged on that thickness has only intensified. Tonight that thickness might be explained by the heavy fog that's settled in on the island. However, that doesn't mean it's all that's making the night unsettling. All across the island, spirits are taking shape. They're humanoid in nature and completely devoid of sound -- like holographic projections with the audio broken. They flashstep around at times, and other instances they'll walk around like a normal person. Their mouths move and yet no sound escapes. They tangibility is as erratic as their movements. In one moment they have control over their solid mass, despite being translucent, but other times they can walk through walls or pass right through flesh. Their clothes are indicative of a somewhat modern time period, and sometimes they're indistinguishable from other coven members outside of their blue, sepia-toned hue. Another inconsistency is that their demeanor and actions are as varied as any modern society's. Some of these spirits are confused and angry. Some are trying to go about life as best they can. One might be able to pick up a sword and swing it, while another might want to braid your hair. Ages, strengths, dispositions...they match the state of the person as they once were. But where do new, potential coven members come into this equation. A ▢ Some "new coven members" will come to the island as they are. That's your choice. Others, however, are also affected by the bizarreness of the moonlight. Unlike other spirits, characters affected by the moon will be able to talk, but everything else will match their new spirit friends -- from translucence to physical inconsistency. B ▢ No matter whether your character is spirit-y or 100% as they were, the spirits in question are still going to interact with them. For this prompt, they've run into a kind spirit. Whether this is a child spirit tying to round them up into a game of tag or an adult spirit who is trying to communicate with them in some way, this spirit will be neutral or welcoming to their presence, as well as to the presence of other coven members. C ▢ Other spirits may not be so friendly. While their demeanor will mirror the type of person they were when they were alive, the spirits run on very simple and exaggerated emotions. A person with a gruff demeanor in their life will exist as an aggravated spirit. A person with violent tendencies when alive will exhibit as a malevolent ghost. This is the type of spirit you happen to have encountered. How will this interaction turn out?

Brie's been pretty busy trying to fix the wild boar problem that the island has been having, which the results? It's hard to tell if they're paying off, yet. She's somehow smuggled out some Elto bones and tried to use them as something of an electric fence system around the boar-dense areas. The boars who are alive seem to be reacting well! Others, however, are not. D ▢ Dead boars are now waking up around the island, somehow affected by a combination of magic and the moon's spiritual awakening. Some are a little more like their alive cousins -- undead flesh still pretty much in place. Others are totally skeletal, roaming around and thrusting their tusks anywhere they please. E ▢ These boars and spirits happen to be attracted to several shrines located on the island. While the religious affiliations of these shrines are unknown and vastly differ from one another, the spirits seem to be drawn towards them. If your character happens to be exploring the island and finds one of these unique locations...good luck with that hoard of spirits and/or boar zombies. F ▢ Boar zombie tusks should be avoided at all costs, but there's also another threat they pose: their bite. Instead of turning characters into the undead, their bites or their saliva results in something of an instant poisoning. Characters touched by their mouths will die temporarily, just without the whole gaudy spectacle of death. Everything will stay exactly as normal, except they too will be turned spirited. This counts for new characters and old characters -- so if you don't want your character to go ghost, you should avoid their gnashing teeth at all costs.

Despite the creepy air the island holds right now, let's say you want to do something...normal. No boars, no spirits. Just some good ol' fashioned test driving. You have a few options, though they still may be tinged with the spirit of...spirits. G ▢ Despite the moon causing a lot of craziness on the island, there's a lot of beauty in how close it is. You can't reach out and touch it -- everyone would be dead and frozen to death, let's be honest -- but it does cast a lovely cool glow on the entirety of the island. The moonflowers are in full bloom, with the nocturnal deer dancing around through the foliage. There's a lot to see on the island that isn't necessarily overrun by spooky spirits. H ▢ There's also the issue of NPCs preparing for new characters -- which they did! There's the beginning of a welcome party set up, though it's obviously abandoned. With all the craziness going on, the base camp is thrown into chaos. If your character makes it here from wherever they spawned (or if they spawned here in the first place), they may be confused by the chaos. Asking questions might be good, especially since there's still so many to ask outside of dead people suddenly coming back from the grave. I ▢ 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

Comments

[transcutation]

Do you have another name for animals without pulses?

[Cagliostro's more worried the boar will just charge right through the wall, but hey, it's worth a shot.]

Don't have to tell me twice.

[Hey, if he wants to make the heroic sacrifice, more power too him - she can certainly use the time to climb, considering she's about the same height as it. It's undignified and clumsy but it turns out the approaching threat of zombie pig is a great motivator]

1/3

[insubordination]

[ he ignores the quip for now, instead gauging the height of the wall. easy enough to vault, and the girl doesn't seem to be out of shape or having difficulty running, so roy chooses to let her take care of herself before he turns quickly, flipping the stick in his hand to catch it on the opposite end, quickly stomping his boot down on the end against the ground to crack it, splintering it into a point.

he isn't a bad shot, but roy is definitely a kill enemies quickly type of fighter. overwhelm them with power and walk away to fight another day. that being said, relying exclusively on alchemy isn't smart, and roy's training in the military (and otherwise) has prevented him from being useless, absent his gifts.

contrary to popular belief, anyway.

once the pig gets within striking distance (which doesn't take long, as they're apparently fast), roy quickly thrusts forward, tossing his full weight onto the stick as he aims for the most vulnerable spot he can -- and the branch is shoved into the pig's eye with a disgusting squelching sound, and there's something of a screech out of the boar as roy hisses: ]

Undead my --

[insubordination]

[ . . . except the pig, with a stick now embedded in its skull, lunges forward, still mobile despite having a stick in its brain. ]

[insubordination]

[ -- but the stick throws the pig off balance, somewhat, giving roy the opportunity to quickly vault up on top of the wall/ledge, landing soundly on the grass next to cagliostro. and, despite his somewhat failure in slaying the zombie boar, and decidedly being proven wrong about the whole zombies are stupid comment, roy mustang exhales once before asking, in a remarkably calm tone: ]

Are you alright?

{ NO ONE SAW THAT IT'S FINE. ]

[transcutation]

[Yeah, yeah, make your macho-man posing, Cagliostro's too busy scrambling up the wall to watch. She manages to pull herself up on top as she hears that crunch, screech and most importantly his attempted one-liner. She doesn't bother looking back as she hops down on the other side and gets ready to book it, having no faith in either his tree-branch or the wall.]

I'm fine - how's our porcine friend doing? Want to keep running?

[She might be grinning a little smugly as she hears labored, wheezy snuffling behind them - and starts running again. Maybe the wall holds, but no reason to stick around and find out.]

[insubordination]

[ not dead, that's for sure, is what roy wants to say, but he doesn't, instead allowing the girl to get a bit of a headstart. he no longer has a weapon, but that seems to be okay, given the zombie boar isn't having a great amount of luck at scaling the wall. it is continually beating against it, though, furious over the stick in its eye . . . and while the wall, indeed, is holding, roy is also not going to take any chances.

so he quickly follows after her -- and once they're a suitable distance away, and it's clear the pig is no longer chasing them (or, rather, is unable to do so), roy slows his run to take a deep breath, exhaling quickly to turn and look behind him. ]

It seems, for the time being at least, they've decided to go after slower prey.

[ which is great. smh. that monstrosity could only be rivaled by shou tucker level of garbage creation. ]

Chimeras -- or whatever that was -- should be illegal for a reason . . . at any rate, I take it you're still fine, despite the circumstances.

[transcutation]

[Cagliostro ends up slowing as much from a sense of safety as from an unwillingness to keep running - as she is right now, her physical strength is more or less exactly how she appears.]

Let's hope we don't run into any others then.

[She feels like she'll be pretty slow prey if they have to make another dash for it.]

Most necromancers I've met don't really care much for the law either way. [She raises an eyebrow at "chimera" - rotting though it was, that was pretty clearly all boar as far as she could tell.] More or less, anyway. I'm not sure I'd want to know what happened if one of those things bit me.

[insubordination]

Likely nothing good.

[ he pauses, then, for a moment, before turning to incline his head, in a slight bow. he's dressed in his military uniform, but when he speaks, he doesn't bother with the title. mostly because edward and alphonse won't ever call him brigadier general and it will just confuse people. ]

Roy Mustang, though I wish the introduction was under better circumstances.

[ a bit dryly, and he pauses to glance her over a bit more curiously, before he raises his right hand to snap his fingers -- a demonstration, and if cagliostro is paying attention, there's the tiniest of sparks from roy's gloves. but no explosion, no manipulation of the elements . . . the only thing working with his gloves is the flint-like material, unfortunately. ]

What were you trying to do, back there?

1/2

[transcutation]

[Finally having gotten her breath back, she manages to strike a cutesy pose, giving him a wink. Her sudden bright and saccharine tone is a pretty big change from all the serious sarcastic complaining she'd been doing up until now]

Cagliostro, the cutest genius alchemist!

[Look, this doesn't even count as title dropping for her - she's got way too many of those]

[transcutation]

Ahh, that... [Her mood (and voice) return to a more somber complaint] As I'm guessing you've noticed, magical abilities don't work on this island - except the ones given to us by Qri. I was trying to use mine, but apparently it doesn't work on undead animals.

[insubordination]

[ the word alchemist, really, is what draws his attention -- 'cutest' may be an entirely subjective assessment, but if the little girl is willing to call herself a genius, she either (1) is highly self-absorbed or (2) is actually that brilliant. ]

A fellow alchemist. [ young, too young to want to immediately run to danger and combat, in roy's opinion -- but children fight and die in wars just like everyone else, and roy will reserve his judgment, for now. ] My own alchemy isn't a magical ability, but a scientific process based on the notion of equivalent exchange. [ somewhere, edward elric is praising the nonexistent lord that someone gets it ] And while I'm afraid 'cutest genius alchemist' is not my official title, I consider myself decent at the craft.

[ THAT BEING SAID ]

You were attempting to use your 'magical ability' granted to you by Qri, then, and not your alchemy? [ somewhat disappointing, but. like she said, it's impossible to use here. ] My personal style works on the living or the dead, but -- what ability, if not alchemy, wouldn't work on the undead?

[transcutation]

[Porque no los dos? Though if anything, she's being extremely humble, in her opinion, to agree to "fellow" alchemist, as if they were of the same class at all.]

Certainly there's a science to my art, and it seems equivalent exchange is a universal concept for alchemy, but I take it "magic" wand-waving and spirit-guiding is a thing where you come from? [She's certainly getting that from his tone every time he's forced to say the word "magic" in any conjugation]

I'm not sure what whimsy decided it, but apparently I was given the ability to command - very specifically, command others to kneel before me, with absolute authority. Or at least, that was my previous understanding but it seems I still need a more thorough list of exceptions and conditions for it. I guess its brain was too rotten to obey.