( 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

[storyseller]

How to skateboard. I see. [More interesting, though.] Then things like this arrived from above, as if discarded by the sea?

[unvictory]

It seems that way...it wouldn't be unusual for another species to have similar tools or pastimes to human culture, so I didn't think much of it at first.

But maybe they were introduced rather than developed...

[She gives it some thought, then rests the tablet on her lap, leaning down into it.]

Could you show me what else fell from the sky? [...] Oh.

[She holds down the home button, prompting palai siri again. See, she's getting it.]

Show me what fell from the sky...ocean. Above.

[An entire category for it is filtered, showing a ton of videos all detailing specific objects that fell to their home land accompanied by detailed how to explanations similar to the skateboard.

She just starts scrolling...]

Coffee machines, blenders, laptops...it seems as if this network they use is kind of like the internet, too.

[Maybe they even have online idols here...nah.]

[storyseller]

How strange... Then we must wonder what is above, that they may shower them with such technology.

[unvictory]

Hm...

[She brings up the voice function again.]

What's above the city? In or above the ocean sky?

[It filters to one video. She taps it with a finger and...it begins to detail everything about the Uvis. Their appearance, that they live in the water, that they occasionally descend to ransack the city and take the palai with them against their will.

All she can do is bite her lip.]

Oh dear...

[storyseller]

[Caster feels only one response. I don't want to die.

She does not want to die. She does not want to die. For a moment, she thought she may be close to safe—but how foolish. For living means, eventually, to die. And now, that death comes from above, as predictable and remorseless as the turn of the moon.

She doesn't speak, but she does move closer to Boudica. Her body is drawn in tightly around her staff.]

[unvictory]

[Ah.

She doesn't need any kind of skill to tell how Caster's feeling. She's like an open book, with a story Boudica's had to read too many times on the faces of so many people, be they ally or enemy.

But she has to make a decision. On the one hand, she wants to give Caster her space. On the other, she wants to reassure her. Caster moved closer. That's significant, and something she can't ignore.

So she makes her decision and settles on what she thinks is best. She reaches out to take one of Caster's hands in her own. Her fingers are closed, but her grip is only tight enough to serve as a reminder she's there, not tight enough to be forceful.]

Caster...you're going to be alright. I promise.

[storyseller]

[Caster does not pull away. She feels the warmth of the touch, and its human presence. Human... Can they call themselves that? Yet, that is what Boudica is. Though she is one who carries Sovereignty in her being, she also carries the warmth of one who is human. That kindness... Yes, it's almost like the affection of a sister.

Caster closes her eyes.]

You are very kind... But even the greatest of kings cannot promise safety from he who is the Severer of Ties and Destroyer of Delights. It is merely the natural consequence that to exist is followed by non-existence.

[unvictory]

No...I suppose that's true.

[There are greater heroic spirits than her who tried to overcome death, after all. They used every weapon in their arsenal, every skill at their disposal. Every conceivable method and yet their existence in Chaldea is proof of their failure.

She's just a woman who'd become consumed by her own rage. All she has to her name is a sword of unpromised victory, a chariot and her own mettle. Not particularly impressive by comparison.

Even so, she shakes her head.]

But at least until we make it back home, to Chaldea...you'll live to see Master's face again. I promise you that much.

[storyseller]

Boudica... Thank you.

[Her eyes remain shut, and she still doesn't pull away. This warmth—she doesn't want to let go of it.]

I had thought it would be nice not to die, because dying... means not seeing Master again. That, at least, was a resolve I had come to.

Truthfully, I envy those for whom you were their Sovereign.

[unvictory]

[She doesn't want to touch on that, really...as much as she said it was for the good of her home, and her people, her time spent as sovereign was nothing more than a vendetta. Countless dead, friend and foe.

Ah, but it's not worth thinking about right now.]

Well we're comrades, aren't we? And comrades look out for one another.

So if you're ever in trouble, I'll rescue you. It's like a story, isn't it? A young lady could always use a knight by her side.

[storyseller]

[yeah but she didn't marry people and then chop their heads off so that's 10/10 monarch to Caster here]

I believe we are both imperfect fits for those roles. However, I will not reject that kind offer.

If I may be of assistance to you, Boudica... I will do my best.

[unvictory]

[okay fair

In any case she took her mention of the lady and knight roles a little too seriously so...Boud's just going to move on.]

Then it's settled. So long as we look out for each other, I'm sure we'll make a great team, Scheherazade.

[And she'll hold her hand as long as she has to, too.]

[storyseller]

Hm, if only we had an Assassin for completion.

[#classtriangle]

What do you wish to pursue, Boudica? If I am to be assistance, then perhaps my role as advisor to a monarch is the best to assume...

[unvictory]

I...want to do something about the Uvis.

[Caster probably already expected that answer, all things considered.]

From the sound of things, they don't defend themselves very well each time this happens...all they can do is accept it as a fact of life.

I can't let that stand, Scheherazade. It's no way to live.

[storyseller]

[To live knowing death may come. To live uncertain and afraid of above. To live under constant threat that some will be taken, some will be killed—]

No. That is not an existence that might be envied.

First, we must gather what information the Palai may have about those who attack from above. Then, we should look among those summoned here for any who are capable of flight. My own creations may be able to assist. The best course would be to attempt to discover information about the Uvis without ourselves being discovered, then plan a resolution they will not expect.

[unvictory]

Hm, hm~♪

As expected of the Caster class! You didn't even miss a beat. You'll let me praise you a bit, won't you? You're really quite the intellectual woman.

[Since they're still holding hands, hopefully Caster won't mind if Boudica just

Lifts her free hand to give Scheherazade a headpat.

It goes as swiftly as it came, and she immediately moves on.]

My chariot can fly too, provided I find something to power it with...[Be that a contract or something else.] We'll just have to plan the rest around how many volunteers we can find.

[storyseller]

[Was that. A headpat? Scheherazade looks at Boudica in confusion, rather than fear. That was definitely a head pat. She gets the sense of being treated like a little sister.

Strangely... it's soothing. It feels safe.]

Yes. A key component of this plan may be to understand those who are our 'coven,' and so our allies. We must also determine how we will continue to access sufficient mana supply for survival...

[unvictory]

Hm...you know, I'd been thinking about mana supplies myself. I think if I don't exert myself I should be able to last for a few hours, but that's being generous...

We'll probably need to establish new contracts in the meantime. We're completely cut off from Chaldea.

[It's a shame, but it can't be helped...even Merlin's endless supply of mana can't reach them here, wherever it is.]

Hah, when did I start taking life in Chaldea for granted, I wonder...

[storyseller]

[Scheherazade is one of the newer servants around, so she hasn't reached that point of comfort yet. There is something soothing in the way Boudica speaks of it, however.]

Truly... Knowing what I do of the Servant summoning system, there is a great comfort in the Chaldea system. Although, there are also many opportunities to die.

[there are people who burn her for the rare prisms and you know it]

It may be difficult to find one who has the spiritual energy for even one of us, and more so, there is the challenge of seeking one to Contract with who is trustworthy and not likely to take advantage of us.

[unvictory]

Unfortunately...that'll be the hardest part.

[She sighs.]

It's the same with being summoned in a grail war...we might not have much of a choice.

We're strapped for time as it is, so in the end, our gut instinct might be the deciding factor...as nice as it would be to get to know the people here first.

[storyseller]

If it were a sovereign, I could instantly discern sufficient information about their true nature to decide, however...

[For others, it would be pure intuition. No skill cheat.]