( 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

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[potentite]

[Jake has been hanging around here, hands in the front pocket of his Hope hoodie, trying to keep the place free of too many roaming zombie boars for the poor newbies. But he hears the question and blinks at him. Oh it's one of those trolls. He remembers him more or less.]

I suppose it is probably a riot for them?

[Like. The corpses do seem to be having a good time.]

But in that case we're the real pigs around here, ready to scotch them and toss them in the slammer.

[alienates]

[ oh, it's him. that one guy who was in the booty shorts right before everything went to complete and total shit. ]

Yeah, you should really feel downright ashamed of yourself. Maybe you need to redirect your fellow oinkbeasts and go into the "slammer" yourselves then.

[potentite]

[At least he ditched the booty shorts as fast as possible. The hoodie is really comfortable though.]

Goodness no! Though, um, actually before I derail this undead train into a valley of buffoonery, try not to let one bite you? I don't know if aliens have zombie movies but an important thing to know about zombies is that their bite is infectious.

[alienates]

[ as someone who has, at this point, definitely seen enough human movies while on that three year hell trip-- ]

The undead on Alternia would just flat out eat you.

[potentite]

Oh well most zombies do that, too! But the bites are bad news. [Wait.] Wow! You have zombies? Boy, being an alien seems like a rough life. Don't worry this isn't normal.

[alienates]

Wow. I sure am glad to know that being overrun by the undead isn't normal for this. By the way, I have to ask, what the fuck?

[ he sort of just gestures at everything. it's a lot to take in? ]

[potentite]

Oh yes it is a mite overwhelming...

[Like, truly? Jake rubs the back of his neck.]

I guess the long and short of it is a dying witch kidnapped a bunch of people from all sorts of universes and now we're tasked with gathering magic to help her survive. Or something.

[He thinks that's an okay summary. ]

Oh and, um... As for us... I can't recall when or if you died in that whole mess back there? Anyhoo we all bit it and so far we all seem to recall that last? Unless you're the odd man out!

[alienates]

Oh, no, I definitely had a horrific fucking demise burning alive in lava after being stabbed multiple times by a homicidal clown fucker wearing a codpiece. . It was great.

[ translator's note: it was not great. ]

I'm pretty sure the rest of you were still alive at that point? [ ... ] Except for Harley, who had a house dropped on her.

[potentite]

Well darn. That sure is gruesome!

[Like Karkat, Jake is not always great at conveying things well.]

Dirk didn't arrive until it was over and I guess only um... Roxy and John survived? So! Yep that sure did happen and we did a real bang-up job.

[alienates]

[ oh.

that... actually makes him pause, whatever snarky comment he was about to give as an automatic reaction lost. terezi didn't survive? he failed at protecting her? and then there's kanaya, and if everyone else died, then that means that other girl (the terrifying one) couldn't revive jade, right? ]

Oh. Well. Awesome. I love being a colossal failure, so good goddamn work team. High fives all around for not being able to do literally a single thing right.

[potentite]

[Oh. He seems sad. Well, that's fair. If Jake thinks about it for more than a second, it's pretty damn upsetting. But he doesn't want this poor guy beating himself up over it. He needs to do something that isn't fidgeting with his pocket.]

If... it helps at all, um, I think a nice slice of the failure was vomited up straight from my gullet? I really let everyone down so um. At least it's not your fault!

[alienates]

[ well, he is pretty sure the gamzee stuff is his fault. if he had stepped in sooner, or let kanaya kill him instead of becoming his moirail, then they could have avoided all of... that. maybe.

but that's kind of a lot to unpack on someone he barely knows. ]

Well, it's definitely good to know that we both ruined absolutely everything. Do we get medals for that?

[potentite]

Even the dastardly Sburb doesn't seem to feel the need to rub our failures in our noses that much.

[Instead it just leaves them to rot. Actually this is a terrible train of thought.]

Um, I'm Jake English.

[alienates]

Not Harley? Or Egbert?

[ he is very obviously not a strider or lalonde, so.

wait. ]

English. [ ???? ]

[potentite]

[Time for Jake to be a weirdo as he smiles.]

Yep! Grandma took on the name English after the demon the Condesce fears to send a message. Isn't that cool?

[alienates]

Are you telling me that you are literally named after Lord English?

[ does that mean jade's the grandma here? goddammit alpha jade. ]

Sure, whatever! I guess I'll roll with it!

[potentite]

Eheh, right on the money! And Grandma used his symbol as her own, too. She was basically the best. That's why I love skulls!

[Aren't you sad you missed the alpha session, Karkat.]

[alienates]

[ considering what the alpha trolls were like... no. no he is not sad. ]

Uh... huh. You're not secretly a raging maniac who wants to kill us all, right?

[potentite]

What! [He truly can't see how being named after Lord English and liking skulls could lead to this outlandish conclusion?] I don't even like seeing brutality against those for whom it may be deserved. One time I accidentally shot a fairy bull and I was blue as fuck.

[alienates]

You shot a--

[ ...

okay, he actually laughs. it's not really a "good humor" laugh and more of the kind you'll do when you find something really outrageously stupid. ]

Oh my god! Where's Tavros when you need him, he'd probably cry if he heard you say that.

[ oh, right, he's dead. rip. ]

[potentite]

I didn't mean to! I wanted to cry, too! They're such affectionate fairies...

[alienates]

-- why the hell are you dealing with them anyway? Aren't you from Earth?

[ and the last time karkat checked, earth does not have?? alternian creatures??? ]

[potentite]

Oh! Yes, um, the Batterwitch brought all sorts of critters and monsters from your world with her, I guess? They all lived on my island. Most of them were rather... ornery. [He thinks that's putting it lightly.] But some weren't so bad to deal with.

[alienates]

[ huh. alpha earth certainly seems to have had a wild time. ]

Wow. I'm surprised that you somehow managed to not get eaten alive by grotesque monsters. Good job.

[potentite]

Most of them were champing at the bit to tear a chunk out of me. I couldn't go swimming without this odd goat dragon tailing me halfway back to my room globe. [A pause.] Most of them would scamper off after a few warning shots though. Is that how you're supposed to deal with them?