( TDM | #2 )

[spellbindmods]

IMPORTANT: This TDM takes place on the current world the coven is part of. Please read the linked Google Doc about the world AND be aware that the world is high-frequency, meaning canon magic and powers can be used.

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.

WORLD ONE: AIMINTAS

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... Some of you might open your eyes to find yourself wandering around a sandy area, outside of a large stone house. There's a large glimmering caravan floating around outside, which might intrigue you. There's also a lot of supplies, food, clothing...all just laying around outside. It's worth investigating, right? A ▢ Your character has found themselves arriving right outside the coven's new digs in Aimintas, and there's a lot of confusing stuff to look at. Th ocean in the sky, that floating caravan...your character probably can't get to that ocean, so they may want to examine the caravan. If they touch it, they'll immediately regret that decision -- the caravan has its own defense mechanism, and you can pick one or the other: - A1: Once your character touches the caravan, they can't remove their appendage from it. Kick it? Their foot is stuck. Touch it? Their hand is stuck. Lick it? Their tongue is stuck. They'll remain like this for 15 minutes without magical intervention. - A2: Your character's hand doesn't stay for long, but the caravan holds onto that hand for five seconds while giving your character a pretty excruciating burn. Medic! B ▢ Maybe they're smart and they don't touch the caravan. Let's go through all of this cool stuff on the ground! It might be sort of obvious that it belongs to someone -- a lot of someone's -- but your character is thirsty, confused...maybe there's some water or answers in this pile. And maybe there's also someone who catches your character going through their shit.

Other new potential coven members will find themselves in a completely different part of town. These lucky individuals will have suddenly appeared in the marketplace area of Aimintas, surrounded by walking lizard beings that suddenly turn and take an immediate interest in this stranger. C ▢ The Palai are very interested in the new coven members, and a new humanoid person -- or anyone that doesn't look like them -- will immediately catch their attention. They'll immediately find your character worth of their undivided attention, talking to them about coven-related things...pretty confusing right? If you need help with the short lizard folk, maybe someone will eventually arrive to help you out. On the other hand, you might learn something interesting talking to them. A friend might join in either way! D ▢ Once you break free of the Palai, you'll find that this marketplace is pretty interesting. It's a mixture of primitive and semi-modern technology...or is it totally unfamiliar to you? Never seen a cellphone before? Unfamiliar with the concept of women wearing pants? There's certainly something to see that'll interest your character here. E ▢ Finally, you might be hungry and thirsty after suddenly appearing. The Palai are masters of making food, including a new concoction of theirs that they're trying out in honor of all the new people. It's a sort of bottled fruit juice that has been energized by the Eltos. It's essentially the first Aimintas Red Bull, except on acid. The drink immediately makes anyone who drinks it extremely giddy, hyper and they may potentially hallucinate. It doesn't seem to bother the Palai's biology, but everyone else...oops!

The setting found in Aimintas is pretty expansive, so you have a lot of room to wander around. Here are a few things that might catch your eye if you're really committed to wandering around. F ▢ A house near the marketplace is incredibly special to the Palai people. Characters who wander near here will find a group of Palai who are even more excited about their new visitors: baby Palai. Some are still in eggs and kept inside, but the juvenile Palai are about two feet tall, rowdy and want to play with these new, bipedal creatures. Some of them still crawl around on all fours and are more lizard-like than others. Hope you're good with kids! G ▢ The Palai have constructed a large library in the middle of town. If you wander in here, you'll find a myriad of books in a strange language. The Palai are a rather visual people, though, so many include pictures and illustrations. They also have a collection of computers here that connect to the Aimintas internet, as well as visual media stations that can play videos -- though they're really just powered tablets that play video files. Time to get a little taste of the Palai culture. H ▢ 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

flynn scifo | tales of vesperia

[thatdamnknight]

c.

[let it be known that flynn scifo can handle himself in a wide variety of circumstances. dangerous missions? you bet. battle? most definitely! even being tossed into a strange world while in the midst of saving his own world wouldn't have been difficult to adept to. a knight must be prepared to handle any situation!

any situatuon aside from a sudden swarm of overly curious lizard people (or sudden swarm of people in general, in flynn's case).

instead of be the calm and composed knight (although lacking in armor and weaponry at the moment) that he normally is, flynn has turned into an awkward and uncertain mess.]

Well, yes I am human... Coven? I'm afraid I don't... I'm sorry, I didn't catch that--

[so many people talking all at once without giving him any room to breathe!! none of these questions make much sense, either! a little help might be nice here.]

f.

[babies. flynn will take them any day over their adult counterparts from earlier. all the little ones instantly grow interested in this human who just wandered into the house. one of the interested kids crawls over and tugs on flynn's pant leg and then lifts its arms up. he smiles softly before crouching down to near face level. best not pick up someone's child without permission first.]

Hello. Can you ta--

[a baby hand reaches out and grabs a solid chunk of flynn's hair. then comes the tugging while laughing joyously!

his smile immediately becomes strained. maybe he was wrong about babies being better...]

Hair isn't for pulling.

[uh-oh. the kid's grabbing on with both hands and not letting go. how does one extract an infant from their hair?? and preferably without losing said hair in the process.]

g.

[computers. those... yeah, those are not a thing where flynn's from. although the technology back home can hardly be called primitive, they lack anything comparable to this.

upon entering the library, he scans the multitudes of books before his eyes land on the computers. huh, what might those be?? he walks over and stands behind someone using one. pardon him for looking on curiously as someone uses them. does he realize that's kinda creepy? not at all.]

F

[baiter]

[Pica, alas, is of no help. She's been watching the babies hatch with some mixture of fascination and alarm. Whenever one crawls her way, she skips a couple steps back, always careful to keep out of their reach. Sure, they may be harmless, but they're still aliens. You don't know what you'll get with aliens.

Therefore, when she spots the poor man being besieged by lizard children, she doesn't move to help him. He's dug his own grave.

In fact, she's pressing her hands together in prayer?!]

Our Father, who art in heaven--

[thatdamnknight]

[praying does not help!! not one bit!!

if nothing else, it at least manages to catch flynn's attention. the baby's? not so much. playing with fun hair beats talking lady any day!]

Excuse me, but what are you-- [he winces when the baby tugs waaaay too hard. ouch ouch ouch, his poor scalp.] what are you doing?

[because that appears to be praying. why pray here, of all places??]

[baiter]

[Without missing a beat:]

Your last rites.

[thatdamnknight]

[......

flynn smiles but the smile is about as weary as it gets.]

As considerate as that is, Miss, I hardly think it's necessary right now.

[hair pulling toddler hurts like hell, but isn't lethal!]

[baiter]

[Pica re-examines the situation. She's genuinely putting thought into this predicament.]

The baby's belly.

[...]

A weak point.

[..........]

Tickle it.

[thatdamnknight]

[flynn almost opens his mouth to protest. a weak point it might be but he will not hurt a bab-- ...oh. tickling. that... that isn't a bad idea, if one flynn hadn't even considered. could something so simple really prove effective? well, only one way to find out.

he starts tickling and the baby immediately erupts in happy laughter while letting go of his hair in the process. color flynn pleasantly surprised.]

It worked. [he smiles at pica while straightening upright a bit, just enough so for his hair to be outside of the child's reach.] Thank you for that.

f

[talim]

[ yikes! that looks painful! he probably shouldn't just leave this guy in the lurch. that's not the type of person jude is, so... ]

Uh... Need some help?

[ jude kneels down next to flynn and motions for the babies to come to him with a little hum, hoping they'll get distracted and respond to it. he reaches out his hand —

and just one of the palai tugging at flynn's hair is now nipping at his pinky finger instead. worse, it looks like flynn is still having trouble with the others. ]

This isn't what I meant...

[thatdamnknight]

[ah, the sound of some kind soul offering to help immediately gives flynn some hope. maybe he'll escape this without a bald spot... or 5, at this rate.

sadly, those hopes of rescue go out the window as soon as they appear. getting a second playmate only makes the babies more excited and eager to approach. flynn offers a weak smile just as another baby decides to try crawling up on his back.]

I still appreciate the effort.

[and, hey, two heads are better than one. maybe they can still figure out a way to get out this!]

I never expected babies to be so difficult to deal with.

[talim]

To be honest, neither did I. Maybe I'm more naive than I thought I was.

[ jude offers him a rueful smile before wincing as another palai gets to his thumb. it doesn't hurt, but it's not exactly comfortable...

then an idea dawns on him. ]

Maybe we can find them something to eat? Er... Besides your hair. There has to be something around here somewhere.

[ lizards like bugs, right? ]

[thatdamnknight]

[feeding them could work. it beats the alternative of doing nothing and being overpowered by teeny lizard people. who would've thought something so small could prove to be so formidable an enemy?]

There may be a storage area of sorts with their food. I doubt a building that houses so many children would lack one.

[babies need a lot of food. since these all look like healthy and energetic --if too much so-- lizard children then that means they had to get food from somewhere.]

[talim]

[ jude manages to (gently) shake the baby palai off, grimacing at the little bite marks on his fingers, before standing up. ]

I'll go look around. Just hang tight.

[ a pause. ]

... Not that you have much of a choice.

[ harsh but true... jude set off to rummage around the house in search of food. there are no bugs — all he can find are bite-sized pieces of food anyone would eat. it makes him wonder if these are even lizards at all. on such a strange planet, it's not like he has any way of knowing what they are.

regardless, it isn't long before jude comes back with a small loaf of bread. it was the first thing he found. it'll do, right? he starts picking off pieces and setting a trail from flynn to a short distance away from jude himself. he decides to address the palai directly, talking to them in a reassuring voice as if they can understand. ]

Okay, okay. Look what I have! Tasty, right?

[ please be tasty. please leave this poor guy alone. ]

[thatdamnknight]

[nothing changes while jude's on the hunt. hair pulling, hair eating, climbing all over: all that fun stuff that flynn really could do without but just keeps on coming. luckily, jude returns before it gets too much worse. all the children's attention turns toward the food as it's placed on the floor. the moment of truth arrives and flynn holds his breath. will the babies go for the food or will they keep on clinging to their new playmate?

after a very tense moment of silence, the babies decide that food beats playtime this time around. they all slowly make their way toward the bread trail and abandon their human playmate.

for which flynn couldn't be more thankful. he heaves a relieved sigh as he stands up.]

Thank goodness.

[lesson learned: babies are more difficult to deal with than even monsters.]

c

[windeity]

[It doesn't take long for John to gently push past some of the Palai, patting the lizard-people on the head as he approaches and ignoring that some of them seem to be looking at him in awe, too. Given Flynn's hesitance he can't help but offer a grin.]

The coven is just a fancy word for people like us that are traveling together. We just got here a few days ago, too.

[thatdamnknight]

[ah, thank you for intervening! flynn looks immediately relieved to no longer be the sole center of attention, giving a thankful smile in response to john's grin. any chance of voicing a thanks goes out the window since the palai's awe subsides quickly enough.

'what's the coven like!' 'how many of you are there?' 'are you all equally as pretty??' etc etc.

again, more questions flynn himself can't answer so about all he can do is stand there and smile and hope that they lose interest sooner rather than later.]

[windeity]

[He's doing his best!! And by his best he means suddenly he's also overwhelmed with the questions from the Palai and he blinks suddenly, trying to keep up and not quite able to do so entirely. He listens to them chatter over one another before he glances at Flynn from the corner of his eye and lowers his voice to a murmur.]

I think I have an idea, but you might want to brace yourself. Can you do that?

[thatdamnknight]

[brace himself? well, whatever this plan might involve, it still likely beats dealing with this overzealous crowd any longer. no, it definitely beats that. let's do it.

flynn nods, replying in a hushed tone.]

I'm ready whenever you are.

[windeity]

[There's another bright grin as he nods, waiting for the right moment. And then there comes the perfect question: "What can you do? Are you magical?" There isn't a verbal reply but John nods and holds up his hand. With that, there's a sudden burst of air and a miniature tornado forms around himself and Flynn, pushing the Palai back to give them breathing room and possibly sending some of them back several feet? Whoops.]

Now might be a good time to go.

[thatdamnknight]

[of all the things he'd expected, a miniature tornado certainly wasn't one of them. both effective and impressive, but being awe struck can wait for later. making a run for it takes priority. granted, flynn takes a second to reaffirm that those palai who'd gotten thrown were all right before anything else.

flynn nods as soon as he sees them begin to stir. yup, they're fine... mostly.]

Right.

[and time to make a break for it! the cleared path makes it easy enough to dash past the still confused about what happened palai.]

g!!

[heartkey]

[ Sora can hardly be considered to be using the computer. More like he's randomly tapping the keys to see if anything shows up. Spoilers: nothing is showing up. At least nothing useful. Just random error messages and such.

But he notices Flynn there behind him after a moment, and turns toward him. ]

Oh, uh, sorry. Did you wanna use this?

[thatdamnknight]

[that is a lot of error messages. maybe he doesn't understand computers at all, but even someone lacking any knowledge gets that error message = bad. maybe flynn's concern starts to grow the more of those start to pop up.

when the boy speaks, flynn smiles and shakes his head.]

No, but thank you. I was just curious to see how this device works.

[and, uh, is it okay for there to be so many error messages??]

[heartkey]

[ He's not going to say he's good at this. Computers are just straight up not his thing. ]

I think you'd have better luck than I am, then.

[ Even if he sounds like he doesn't know how to use one either ... ]

[thatdamnknight]

[flynn hums thoughtfully.]

Then would you mind if I give it a try?

[maybe all of his computer watching could be enough to save this poor machine from all those error messages and potentially exploding. do computers explode? best not wait and see.]

[heartkey]

Of course not! [ And he'll go ahead and move aside so as to give Flynn the room he needs to reach the computer. ] Here. Knock yourself out.

[ Maybe Sora can learn something from him here. ]

[thatdamnknight]

[as soon as he has the room, flynn sits in front of this odd device. hmm, okay let's see here... going off from what he's seen and via the use of a little logic, the best way to handle this would be like so.

click click click! open up a window here, do a reset there... and presto! no more error messages. what an easy to use piece of technology! granted, rita would've likely figured out twice as fast and with less effort, but that's a genius mage for you.]

There, I think that's the way it ought to look to be usable.

[a nice and error free desktop all within a few moments. no big deal, which flynn is grateful for.]