( TDM | #1 )

[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.

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.

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. Depending on your situation and ability to acclimate, you may not fully understand what's happening. A dream, a hallucination. But when you feel the trunk of the trees surrounding you, it's oddly...real. The smell is real. The moisture on the ground is real. The small grass snake you find slithering close to your feet seems very real as well. There are a few other sensations that also begin to feel a little more like reality with every passing second. Like the fact that your intuition is trying to tell you something that doesn't seem plausible. One is more obvious -- you now have a new piece of jewelry inserted snuggly between your collarbones. Maybe that's when you realize it is real. When you realize that there's no delusion here -- you aren't where you once were. But if that's the case...where are you? A ▢ Your character's first experience here will be waking up in a forest. Specifically, located here. It's up to them to traverse and try to figure out where they are, whether they make it to the beach or the main house area. There's also a mysterious trail of soft, felt bags, tied off with thin rope, leading your character to what appears to be a specific destination. These items can be as useful as a granola bar to as seemingly useless as a stapler. Let's just say that some of these mysterious objects are pretty out there. They're free to travel off the beaten path, but that comes with its own perils. Maybe your character has a power that could fend these creatures off...? They aren't exactly happy about sharing their territory.

After an hour or so of trekking through the forest, you finally come upon a break in the tree line that reveals to you an area that appears to be inhabitable. Your first stop is the large mansion that sits in the valley of the opening...if anyone is here or there's a way to get out of here, the house makes the most sense, right? There are a variety of rooms in this mansion, and you're free to explore them. You also spy a lot of crates sitting in the middle of the floor in one of the main rooms...are you curious enough to open them? B ▢ Feel free to have your character explore the mansion (the won't find much but you can take some liberties with the TDM), and they're free to open these mysterious crates. In them they'll find edible fruit and bread, modern clothing in a variety of sizes and portable medical kits. Characters who apply using the TDM are free to carry these objects into the game opening. If you want some specifics, there are a few rooms of note: the game room (containing a working pool table, non-electric pinball machines and a card table with supplied chips and multiple decks), the cellar (filled with a variety of liquor and wines, all aged quite well) and a large room upstairs that contains a glass ceiling and a variety of books in a foreign language. One more thing -- if you happen to go rummaging around, you may find tiny pin cameras. They're minuscule...you may not even notice them unless you look hard enough. At this point you notice that you aren't alone -- there are other people in the same boat as you! When they're around you, that signet you feel in your chest tingles slightly. The sensation isn't unpleasant, but instead like a warm tingle is spreading from their neck outward. You instinctively attempt to talk to your fellow kidnapping victims, and that works just fine...but what are all these voices you hear in your head now? Are you crazier than you thought you were? C ▢ Here's where you can play around with the telepathy mechanic. It's likely your character won't be used to it which can lead to accidental broadcasting. If they happen to tap the signet purposefully or try to pull it out, everyone within a radius of 100 feet will feel a throbbing pain in their head. But your character won't know that, will they? For those more inclined to adventure, there's also another building to investigate. From the outside, it looks very circular and unidentifiable, but upon entering you'll discover that it's a fully-functioning bath house. D ▢ Despite containing steamy water and luxury bathing accommodations, the bathhouse is currently being overrun with crabs. The not-so-smart members of this species have fallen into the extremely hot water, flash boiling themselves after being unable to get back out. Others are a little more intelligent but equally aggressive. Characters: watch your toes and be cautious if you really want to take a much-needed bath! They may also want to check twice before using the restroom, otherwise the experience might be more painful than they're used to.

Exploring the mansion and the bathhouse was fun and all, but aside from the crates they didn't prove to be very useful. When you came into the clearing, you also saw a row of very colorful buildings down near the beach. It makes sense that this area may be more beneficial to any escape plans you have, and taking a dip in the ocean might be nice! It's not until you reach the beach huts that you realize that murky blue color you spied wasn't the ocean. It's outter space. There goes any hopes you had of swimming to safety. E ▢ Time to explore the beach huts! Most of them are abandoned, but your characters will notice they seem to be more livable than the mansion somehow. This is in part due to a little note tacked to the door of each beach hut that reports in scrawling script "Claim your hut, please!" Will your character listen or reject the sinking feeling that they may not be leaving anytime soon? Some huts are also bigger than others, and a few even contain small sinks and softer beds. Grab these while they're available! Even though it turns out the ocean was a lie and you're precariously close to falling off the edge of the world, the area around the huts is decidedly beachy. Sitting on the beach is a lobster trap, though about 10 times the size of any you might have seen before. Inside are more felt sacks, though larger. The weirdest part is that peering through the bars, you notice each has a nametag attached. The reason you know this to be true is because you just spied your own name written on one of the labels. There's also something else underneath it. The descriptor may not mean much to you yet, but it will soon: it's the title of their newfound magic. In each felt sack is a sort of starter kit: a set of dated and drapey plainclothes, a bag of dried boar jerky, a leather flask filled with water and a small tube of sunblock (the writing is in a bizarre pictograph language, but the giant picture of the sun on the tube should explain the purpose). There's also a rolled up paper tied with a string that reads as follows: "Welcome. Things will be explained in due time. For now, understand that you have been blessed with a gift of magic. Look into your brain and feel the instinct for both. Practice makes perfect." F ▢ Here's the official prompt for playing with newfound magic (and telepathy if you want more practice). It's likely characters have already accidentally broadcast their thoughts, utilized the C prompt or used their magic inadvertently, but maybe this new information and small explanation has motivated them to try and see what they're truly capable of. Don't worry. If they're lucky enough to stick around, all will be explained. ...What if you're a wildcard, though? Someone who doesn't play by the rules and follows a different path, no matter what direction the world may be guiding you in? This island is large and contains many areas of interest, from crystal streams to hidden locations. Maybe you want to do something different...so break the mold and explore! G ▢ 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

Sorey | Tales of Zestiria the X

[imsorey]

A. It's all downhill from here

[Weirder things have happened to him before, but ending up in a place he's never seen before is new. It could be an incredibly realistic dream--those happen in spades these days.

He's not terribly bothered by the fact that he might be awake, either. It's better than an extremely extended nap.]

Standing around here won't do me any good...

[He picks a direction and goes, steadily picking his way through the forest and keeping an eye out for any signs of life. He'll leave the animals alone, but if he spots a person he'll wave them down.]

Uh, excuse me, I think I'm a little lost. Could you tell me where we are?

B. Raid the mansion

[An initial search of the mansion may not have revealed much, but it does have one very important thing: food. Should any other haphazard traveler make their way into the main room with the crates they'll find Sorey sitting next to an open one, chowing down on some of the bread with gusto. He has enough manners to swallow his food and look a little guilty that someone's caught him in the act.]

Sorry, is this yours? I can pay you back for it.

D. Rescue the crabs

[The crabs that have fallen into the water are already beyond saving (dinner for later?), but there's no reason to let them all fall to their deaths. Sorey is only able to spend about a minute poking some crabs away from the edge of the baths with the tip of his wooden sword before the rest of them spot him and start to swarm.]

--Ouch! Hey, I'm trying to help out here!

[Bad move. He probably needs some help.]

A.

[ofthedemiurgescomposition]

"No clue." [Joshua's eyes scan the boy up and down. Human, from the looks of him, if dressed rather oddly. Like the protagonist of some sort of fantasy series. Which really isn't off the mark there. But if not for the outfit, his appearance strikes Joshua as being hopelessly generic. Then again, even the physically generic can be mentally intriguing.

Still, he approaches the young man with caution. He has no way of gauging whether or not he's a threat, because while Joshua can gather he's in the same boat as himself at the moment, he also doesn't trust him for an instance. That was another thing about the generic, their boring faces could mask malicious intent better than the greatest liar ever could. If it's a name you want, then you can simply call me Joshua."

[imsorey]

[A name is better than nothing, even if it wasn't exactly what he was looking for. It was still information of a sort--at least one other person other than himself was wandering aimlessly around the forest with no clue where they were.]

I'm Sorey. Circumstances aside, it's nice to see a friendly face. I was beginning to wonder if I'd run into anyone out here.

[He takes another look at Joshua, who doesn't look like he has any weapons on him...]

Do you want to stick together and try to find a way out of the forest? It'd be pretty bad if you ran into any wild animals on your own.

[ofthedemiurgescomposition]

[You know when it comes to Joshua the phrase friendly is a really dubious one.]

[He almost scoffs at the idea of an escort. Almost. But of course, he could feel some of his power being inhibited and he had no way of actually knowing just how much of his abilities were being inhibited. And frankly, he wasn't about to find out. And so he swallowed his pride for a moment, gave the boy a small smile, and allowed him to do so.

"Lead the way. I don't think I'll be able to do much at the moment."

[imsorey]

There might be a limit to how much I can do too, but I'll give it my best if we run into trouble.

[He obligingly takes the lead, not more than half a step ahead as he tries to pick out a path for them to follow. Every now and then he glances over at Joshua, curious as to how both of them ended up in the middle of the forest when they don't look like they have anything in common between them, except maybe age.]

If you don't mind me asking, do you have any idea how we might have ended up here? It might help us figure out a way back.

[ofthedemiurgescomposition]

"Well, in order for us to have come here, someone, or something, would have had to forcefully tune us into another world. Not only that, but... they also can stop those of us with the power to leave from doing so. Now, as for how that's possible, all I have at the moment is just conjecture. But whatever it is, there's definitely one thing I'm certain of. the thing that brought us here is exceedingly powerful."

[It was a change of pace, to be at the mercy of another. usually Joshua was the one running the game. He knew plenty of ways for people to have their vibes forcibly tuned across planes. he had set some of those ways up himself. But to forcefully tune someone's vibe across worlds was a different matter entirely. It took an entity of his power just to be able to cross the boundaries between worlds himself, let alone bring others along. So this had to be some sort of ultra-powerful angel here, or something Joshua himself had no experience with. And he was beginning to lean towards the latter.]

B

[windeity]

[John had just turned around a corner and entered the main room, first spotting the crates and then spotting Sorey with bread in his hands and his cheeks. It's hard not to let a friendly grin cross his face as he shrugs, eyeing some of the crates one more time.]

I think I would remember stuffing crates with bread, so I do not think so. [He'll approach though, giving the room another cursory look.] Where do you think all of this came from? [And also is the bread good? Please share your thoughts with the class, Sorey.]

[imsorey]

[The bread is delicious but now that he's been caught eating other people's food without permission he stops eating, at least so he can answer the question.]

I'm guessing whoever owns this place left it all here, or it's abandoned and someone's using it as a place to store their stuff. The food would go bad after a while, but most of this other stuff won't.

[windeity]

Like a shelter? [Give him a moment to reach for one of the crates, fingers feeling along the top to find a way to pry it open.] The food still looks fresh so whoever left it here can't have left too long ago. And it tastes okay still, doesn't it?

[Mysterious. He finally gets the crate open and pulls out a few pairs of jeans.] This one is all clothes. [Thanks, John.] Maybe they were preparing to move in instead of out.

[imsorey]

[Peering at the jeans with interest. What the heck are jeans. They look wearable. He pulls over a pair of jeans to get a better look at the material as he nods along.]

The food tastes fine, and all of this stuff looks pretty new. You're right that it can't have been here too long. Why just leave all of the stuff here instead of putting it away though?

[windeity]

[Sorey that's kind of cute. He's not going to say anything about it since this isn't the first time he's dealt with people who don't know about normal earth things, so explore away.]

Maybe they're still moving stuff in? The forest was a pretty long walk from here, so I sort of wonder if they just got sidetracked in moving stuff in. It seems easier to put everything away all at once than put stuff away and then bring in more. [But there's another soft hum as he moves to open another crate.] The house doesn't seem like it is dusty and stuff either. That's what I don't understand.

a

[breaksouls]

[Wherever she is, she doesn't want to be here. She can't be here. That's all that's going through Velvet's mind as she makes her way through the forest. She wonders if it has something to do with an earth pulse or Innominat, but she honestly doesn't know. There's no fog either...

When a voice interrupts her thoughts, she turns to face it.]

No.

[And with that, she continues walking away.]

[imsorey]

[When she just...keeps walking, he has a long moment to decide whether or not to let it go. She's obviously not much for conversation and trying to get anything else out of her will probably get him nowhere. But if she's in the same position as him, he'd feel bad just letting her go off on her own. And there was still the small, small chance that her "no" meant she was from the area and just didn't want to tell him where he was.

He does what any normal person would do: he follows the woman who clearly doesn't want to talk to him.]

Do you know where you're going?

[breaksouls]

[Velvet keeps walking, not bothering to turn around this time. Her pace quickens a little, but she still responds.]

Somewhere away from here.

[It's easier to say that than admit that she doesn't. But she figures she'll find something if she keeps walking. If she's lucky, she'll find a port. If not, she should still be able to vaguely figure out where she is.]

[imsorey]

[He more or less keeps pace, walking a few steps behind her in the hopes that it's an unobtrusive distance. Her answer is enough for him to assume that she's in the same boat as him even if it doesn't give much else away.

It's quiet for a minute or two as he thinks about what to say; part of him is fine with just walking behind her in silence, heck, he doesn't need to start up a conversation. But then the questions pops into his head and he has to ask it.]

Are you from Glenwood, or someplace else? Guess we might not exactly be going in the same direction.

[breaksouls]

I've never heard of it, so no. I'm from Eastgand. Have you heard of the Holy Midgand Empire?

[That might help to establish some sense of where they are or where he's from. Maybe he's more lost than she is and they're just on some island off the coast.]

No matter where we're from, we need information. You have no idea what direction you should be going in, right? But you don't really gain anything either by following me.

b

[p_mortem]

[ It's not his, but Minato keeps that bit of information to himself as he sits down on one of the crates, watching Sorey eat. Or, stop eating, until he says something. ]

...It's fine. [ It's not his anyways, but that can be interpreted either way. ] How would you pay back for it?

[imsorey]

[The question makes him pause to think--this place likely isn't his world, so his money would be pretty worthless. A minor oversight, but he isn't used to being on another world.]

I don't think my money would be any good here, but I could work off the cost or trade something of equal value. Would something like that work?

[p_mortem]

Probably.

[ Since it isn't his to trade to begin with. But Minato shrugs anyways, trying to think of where he would put people to work, or how much work would amount to barely one hundred or two yen worth of bread. ]

Did you pick up anything interesting in the forest?

[imsorey]

[His reply is a little sheepish as he shakes his head.]

The only thing I found in the forest was a bunch of animals, so I wouldn't say so. Did you end up there too?

[p_mortem]

[ Minato shakes his head. Not to deceive Sorey into believing Minato is a native resident whose house and crates Sorey's broken into, but because he didn't exactly "end up" in the forest so much as he "started out" there. Semantics. ]

Walked around a bit, though. Saw some other people. What are you all doing here?

b. sorry not sorey

[ex_tenzoku558]

Are you sure about that?

[ an ominous shadow is cast upon sorey as she stands over him. edna, you really ought not to have that thing open indoors... ]

Well, if you insist [ she begins to twirl her umbrella nonchalantly ], then I should inform you: this special bread made of only the finest and rarest wheat-flour is [ deadpan stare ] 10,000 gald, per loaf.

[ not that it is hers or that gald is even the form of payment in this crazy place, but hey. he did offer and could learn to be more careful in that regard. ]

[imsorey]

Edna!

[He looks really happy to see her and doesn't even mind the bread extortion. He hops to his feet and sort of sizes her up to make sure it's really her and he's not stuck in some crazy dream.]

I know it's not yours. Unless you got into the bread-making business while I was gone.

[ex_tenzoku558]

[ not bad sorey, not bad. or perhaps she is losing her touch and made it too easy? ]

Stranger things have happened...

[ although not overtly expressive like he is, edna would not deny that she is in some part relieved that he is around. not enough to stop her from shutting her umbrella and thrusting it forward to keep him from getting too close though. gosh sorey, respect a lady's privacy. ]

—being here, for one.

[imsorey]

[She definitely made it too easy, but he's grateful that he doesn't have to wonder how long Edna's been in this new and strange place to have picked up baking. He'd like to assume that she's been here for about as long as he has.]

I was going to ask about that. Do you have any idea how you ended up here? I just sort of woke up in the forest.