( TDM #9 | FAUX 4TH WALL LOG )

[spellbindmods]

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. For this app round, you can utilize both a linked sample OR a written sample!

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 game-given 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 Shehui.

IMPORTANT: This TDM should be treated like a 4th wall of sorts. While the threads can be considered canon, it can be a character free for all -- you're allowed to toss in any character, duplicate or AU that you'd like for a surreal experience.

IMPORTANT AGAIN AND NEW: This is post, while an OOC TDM, does count as a log! Any threads on this post can be used as activity outside of AC bonus and considered game canon if you do so wish.

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. For some of you, the shock is a bit more sudden. You've packed up your belongings and you've been escorted through the city into a building similar to the one utilized during the jailbreak -- down a pothole-like door that's extremely similar to the other one you might have been familiar with during that same incident. There's a long tunnel with no windows that you travel through, slowly but surely. It's dimly lit, and you can see others in front of you -- don't worry about any repercussions for cutting in line. You eventually get to a closed door and your monitor escort opens the large turnstile for you, gesturing for you to continue onward. The walk won't be much longer, they reassure you, but they won't be traveling with you from here. After a fifteen minute walk, you'll reach another door, though this one is much more manageable when it comes to opening it on your own. Once you step through, things are certainly...different. A ▢ As soon as you step outside, a sort of blackness hits you. It's hard to describe -- it feels more like everything around you, even the people, become a void. The blackness is a concept, not a color. Then something comes into focus...it's something you recognize? Or maybe something that you're unfamiliar with altogether. There's a person there, or maybe you're alone for now. For a few minutes you're in a classroom, but then it's a clearing. This entire experience, no matter what it looks like, leaves a strange taste in your mouth...it's like the one you may have found in your mouth once you discovered that magic you were told about for the first time. That isn't to say these voids are endless. In reality, the space around you is tainted, but you still exist on this plane -- the outside of Shehui. Things feel very real, but once you force yourself to move outside of these spaces, you mind your shoes are firmly planted in grass that is inches long, potentially surrounded by other people with no idea what's going on; they too have just escaped their own little void. From here you can feel it near to you -- you can sense the magic that's seeping out of somewhere, and you can even see it if you squint. The air around it shimmers with a certain sparkle. It's, again, hard to accurately put into words. But you can see these voids once you really focus on them. However, you can't see the people who happen to be trapped inside. B ▢ Once you reach these safe havens of non-magic, raw and in its purest form, you'll find yourself in a reality that is somewhat...overgrown. There aren't any buildings outside of the giant dome structure of Shehui in the background, as far as you can see. There are trees and plains, grassy fields and the occasional oddly-colored deer. If you look hard enough, you can find a small pond here or there. Just watch out. Magic can leak into that water, and that means... C ▢ ...ingesting that contaminated substance carries that magic with you. Absorbing this magic directly into your body creates that void, except it's contained within you. Once you do, you carry around whatever you might see or hear with you. This might create a comical scenario, like you're ordering from an invisible pizza man. It may also trap you in something more sinister. This magic can use your mind against itself. Whatever is in that void, which can last for hours, is up to you...whether you can control it or not.

[ OOC: For this TDM, characters testing in can create their own scenarios and interact with characters in very bizarre and imaginative ways. Want your character to be the judge in a murder trial, roping in other characters as defendant and accuser? Or maybe you'd like to do something different with your character -- age them up, give them different powers? Anything can happen in these voids of concentrated magic, and that also means anyone can appear. Your creativity can create any situation you'd like to put your character in, and these situations can also pull in other characters. Everyone is there, after all! Characters can also take a break and do some minor exploration -- though more info will come out about the setting and potential in a later post, don't worry. For ingested magic, the character will be in a scenario like the one mentioned above, except it won't be a potentially public experience. For instance, your character can project a horrible experience into the void in Prompt A, but in Prompt C? That horrible experience would be stuck in their own mind...speaking on the negative end of the spectrum, anyway!

GAME NAVIGATION

Comments

[dealed]

[ the trip, the late morning start . . . it lines up, neatly, with what he last remembers from home, and his shoulders noticeably drop an inch or so, as the tension is released. he steps forward to kiss her forehead, resting his own against hers for a long moment before dipping to intertwine his fingers with hers. keeping her close. ]

Late morning start. [ with a somewhat thin smile, but the warmth is back to his tone, now, and to his eyes, as he focuses on her. perhaps a little too much, not wanting to take in the surroundings of the ghostly vision swirling around them. ] I have no idea where we are, though, because this --

[ and he raises his hand, with animus, to gesture toward the tree. ]

-- this cannot be real.

[ time travel, to his knowledge, has not come to pass. time fluctuation, yes, but time travel? ]

And I haven't been able to find Tary, Keyleth, Vax . . . [ he trails off, obviously frustrated, but keeping his tone low. ] I have absolutely no idea where we are, or what plane, because this is not Whitestone.

[ it's some sort of damned mockery, but it certainly is not his home. ]

[moneytwin]

[ To see that relief earns a compassionate look; one hand grips his, while the other reaches up to touch his cheek, lightly cupping his face as he presses a kiss to her forehead, then rest his own against it. ]

Good. I'm glad you remember the same. [it had been a very good morning, even if Cassandra hadn't been impressed. (Privately amused, but not impressed.)] And that we don't have to face this alone.

I turned to enter the Grey Hunt stables, and instead I was walking in nothing. And then, this. [a grimace] I haven't seen anyone else, either. Only you.

Whoever's idea this is, they are sick.

[ It cannot be real, and she tightens her grip a moment on Percy's hand, he an anchor for her as much the other way around, before turning again to really look at the darkness seeping through every street and cobblestone. ]

[dealed]

[ indeed, it is sick. and he grips her hand, keeping himself stable as he, too, finally looks around. it's hard to read his expression, as his jawline clenches. he knows, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that this is not real. but it's hard to ignore the pit inside his stomach, or the automatic name that popped into his head when he first arrived.

delilah. sylas.

neither options. but it's hard to shake the feeling of gloom and despair that is seeping through his stomach, into his heart. ]

Well, we'll gain little to nothing if we stand here.

[ it's said a little briskly, and he takes a step forward, still holding vex's hand. still keeping her anchored, as they walk forward. ]

Let's head to where the Slayer's Cake should be, and test how accurate this hallucination truly is. See how far the rabbit hole goes.

[ with any luck, they'll find a way to break it, and get out. ]

[moneytwin]

[ The dangling bodies have haunted her dreams in the past, and she knows that this entire city has given Percy sleepless nights before. So when Vex is tugged, she is more than willing to be towed away from the gruesome sight before them.

She dare not let go. What if she were to lose him here? As she hadn't--

No, no thinking like that, Vex. ]

That's a good plan. The further out from the city we can go thereafter the better.

[ She does pause, however, pulling his hand a moment. and cocks her head to one side. Listening. Or trying to. ]

..I don't hear anything. Nothing moving around. [no undead giants.]

[dealed]

[ he stops the moment vex pulls his hand, falling silent to allow her the time to listen. and percy follows suit, allowing his eyes to scan the surroundings.

vex (as always) is right. no sounds, no undead giants, no hordes of zombie creatures . . . nothing that haunted whitestone in this past memory seems to haunt it now. which only reinforces his belief that this mockery isn't real. ]

This is absurd.

[ he can't help it; exhaling between his teeth in a hiss, as he continues to move forward. away from the inner city, toward the shops that are supposed to line the town. away from the castle, more to the walls, to the forests. he knows every street, every building, every sidewalk. this isn't right. ]

There's no explanation for how we were on the prime dimension and suddenly wound up in a bastardized version of where we once were. You can't spontaneously plane shift. [ and if you can, that only proves him right, that magic is stUPID ] Who would even have that amount of power . . . [ ugh. ] And whoever it is, how do they know?

[ he's just talking out loud to fill the silence, at this point, to run through ideas, to figure it out, to try and get to an answer -- but as they step into a sidestreet, to where the slayer's cake is supposed to be, percy and vex are met with nothing but an empty building, shuttered up. like it was, before vox machina took the city back.

a dead end. ]

[moneytwin]

[ If anything, the silence is deafening now that Vex is aware of it. Save for some atmosphere, the quiet wind flowing through the town square, nothing else here seems to move. It sets every nerve on edge, and she can't help but agree with Percy's frustration. ]

Neither of us have enough knowledge of the arcane to know if this is within bounds of anything save a god -- and none of those are supposed to be free and able to commit such acts. I wish Pike was here..I don't know of any that would have the power to pull us from the material plane to here.

Or Keyleth, her people have more knowledge of the different planes. [or Scanlan; the old gnome may have quit the group but his knowledge was surprisingly sound..most of the time. But he's still a sore subject for Percy.]

[ Then, they turn and reach the boarded up ruin that would--will-- someday become the Slayer's Cake. If they ever needed proof that this was a moment in time, horrific and unforgettable, perhaps this is it.

Her hand squeezes his again as he begins to rant, tripping over the thoughts they've both been having, until she has to drag him back to a stop. Then Vex lifts both of her hands to cup his face. It's a dirty move, but right now, they need more focus, and perhaps some further reassurance will go a long way. ]

We're going to figure this out, Darling. We're together here. And you're the smartest man I've ever known. No amount of magical bullshit can stop us.

I need you to think. Did you start in the square? Or were you somewhere else first?

[dealed]

[ the touch to his face is, indeed, unfair, but he soon stills at her words. and he's about to keep talking, when she asks him a very simple question, one that hadn't occurred to him before she asked.

he pauses, not shifting, not moving away from her hands on his face. clearly thinking, doing what vex is asking of him, piecing together the puzzle before he allows his eyes to shift, to take in stock of where they are. ]

No, I was at the castle. [ slowly, as he returns his gaze to vex's, with a slight frown. ] On the steps. I didn't go inside. [ having recognized this as whitestone-what-was, percy didn't think it was Clever or Smart (tm) to wander around by himself, given his penchant for being shot. ] I walked down the steps to see if there were any people about, but there was no one. That's when I saw the tree.

[ and, subsequently, found vex. ]

[moneytwin]

[ That he doesn't pull away is testament to the trust he has in her, and Vex knows better than to squander any he is willing to give. Her fingers press lightly along his jawline, left thumb absently crossing back and forth along his cheekbone, as she watches him mentally take a step back and rewind.

Her frown matches his, but that's not surprising. They've often operated on the same wave length. Now is no different (thank the Gods.) ]

I was outside the house we burned down. [Stonefell's.] All in one piece, but silent as a grave. All doors and windows closed.. And here, the Cake is still boarded up. Perhaps, if we backtrack to the castle together, we can see if the doors to the castle open?

[ And whether or not they lead to a new old-memory of death - or somewhere else entirely. ]

[dealed]

And if they do?

[ it's a counter-argument, pursing his lips together as he lets his eyes drift over the top of her head, toward the looming might that is whitestone castle. it's hard to forget, exactly, what was once inside that castle, and what monstrosities lurked in the dark. a part of him, when he arrived, wanted to pull the doors open immediately, to search for cassandra, vex'ahila, the rest of vox machina . . . but to what end? his own death, likely, if the briarwoods (or some damned carnation of them) exist here.

but he soon exhales slowly, returning to meet vex's gaze. ]

Shall we?

[ there's really nowhere else to go, and by the heavy sound of his tone, percy would rather just get it over with rather than delay the inevitable. ]

[moneytwin]

That, we can worry about it when we get there.

[ IF it happens. Potentially a big if.

They still have no idea to what end their presence being required here here is, nor who is responsible for making this version, this time frame from their world appear in this way. Frankly, Vex has half a mind to give them a good talking to, and she certainly won't leave Percival in harm's way whatever may be hidden here.

She presses a very light kiss to the corner of his mouth, then draws back, letting her hands fall to rest on his chest. ]

Lets. Before something decides to prove us wrong about being alone here.

[dealed]

[ the corner of his mouth tugs slightly, as vex gives him a light kiss, and he exhales slowly. steeling his nerve, gathering his courage, and all of that. and, deciding that he should be the one to take the first steps, reaches to take her hand once again before moving toward whitestone castle proper. ]

It would be our good fortune to be happened upon by a group of zombie trolls.

[ dryly, as he intertwines his fingers with hers. seeking courage, perhaps, but also to keep her close. ]

I half-wish Grog was with us.

[ at least the two long-range glass cannons could have a goddamn meatshield this is the WORST ]

[moneytwin]

[ He gathers his courage and she straightens her back, pressing into his side when he weaves his hand into hers. He isn't alone in this, he isn't alone here -- and she is not alone either, and beyond grateful for it. ]

Dear, let's not jinx it.

[ There is a pang at the mention of Grog. Earning a small half-smile in return. ]

Or Pike. Smashing undead with her mace. They wouldn't stand a chance.

[dealed]

[ there's a soft noise of approval at the thought of pike smashing through hoards of undead. not a pleasant memory, but certainly a welcome one, at the time. pike comes in clutch, time and time again.

as they move forward, toward the castle, percy loses himself in thought again. tracking through what they had been doing in whitestone, earlier that day . . . ]

It makes no sense that we were taken without them, without anyone else noticing. They must have separated us. Most of Vox Machina was in Whitestone.

[ with some rare exceptions. scanlan is, indeed, still a sore subject. ]

Why only take us? It isn't as if the rest of them weren't as affected by what happened here.

[moneytwin]

I'm not aware of any new enemies that we should have our eyes open for. [aside from one she'd half-promised they'd keep an eye out for to the Raven Queen..] So this suggests someone new. Which is equally problematic.

[ She does frown then shakes her head. ]

Perhaps we weren't taken because of our ties to Vox Machina, then. We've been instrumental in Whitestone's recovery, especially comparing this-- [her free hand subtle gestures around them, waving past the Tree, beyond the city streets and towards the castle proper] --to what we left today.

Much as their company would be welcome, if the others aren't here, all the better. That means they'll be looking for us. [And Heavens help any who stand in their way, especially her brother]