( 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

[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]