( 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

[parodeity]

[ a shrug that is meant to be "do whatever you want" with an unsaid you always do. ]

Just jumpy. New territory. [ he wants to say "i don't need the protection" but shit, guess he fucking failed at everything, didn't he? besides, he doesn't actually want to start a fight he isn't sure he can win.

the idea that dirk doesn't want him to get hurt is so mind-boggling that dave just. doesn't even address it. so he only addresses his own reaction, explaining it away calmly even though it's mostly about dirk, not the area. ]

[splinten]

Yeah. Uh, me too.

[A pause. He holds the silly putty out to Dave.]

Do you know what this it?

[He doesn't.]

[parodeity]

Silly putty. Just open the egg thing.

[ gestures with his right hand, since his sword is in his left. ]

It's a toy. Haven't seen any in...years, I guess? Not that I ever had any myself, but there were commercials. You know. "Here's an egg that's full of fun. Silly putty. Silly putty is fun for almost everyone - "

[ said/half sung before he cuts himself off. that's stupid. fuck. ]

[splinten]

[Dave has a nice voice. A flicker of amusement crosses Dirk's face.]

'Almost' everyone. Who is the Silly Putty marketin' campaign not includin' in their offer of fun? [He opens the egg. And... stretches it!!]

Shit, they were right.

[This is fun.]

[parodeity]

[ dirk makes some sort of vaguely positive expression and dave stops dead in his tracks even though he'd been about to continue on.

okay, that...occurred, he guesses.

for a moment his mouth works without sound before he gets himself under control again. ]

Anyone whose guardians wouldn't buy them silly putty, I guess? Fuck if I know. [ he'd only seen commercials, really. ] S'weird thing to leave in a random bag in a forest.

[splinten]

[A thing happens in his head and he gets confused. Dave said he didn't have silly putty. Then Dave talked about guardians not getting him silly putty?]

Why wouldn't I get you silly putty?

[He looks down on it.]

I can't see how it'd be a serious health hazard.

[...OH YEAH the mystery of This Place instead of. Whatever.]

The line keeps going. [He nods to the other bags] Probably, it's a lure for the curious.

[parodeity]

[ okay, shit, he didn't mean it specifically about him even if that's True. ]

Never asked for any. [ also true, said with a shrug, and holy shit that was a reminder that yeah, this is bro. he even knows he was bro.

dave shrugs and goes to the next bag to open. ]

[splinten]

Oh. Okay.

[This time, Dirk is nervous about upsetting Dave, so he's on high alert but lets him open the next bag.]

[parodeity]

[ a granola bar. dave registers what it is and then tosses it to dirk without any apparent pause to think about keeping it for himself, and starts working down the line again. presumably, the line has to end somewhere. ]

[splinten]

[He catches it in one hand and. Puts the silly putty in the eg.]

This is going to be a pain without our sylladexes.

[parodeity]

You're tellin' me.

[ he looks in the next bag.

...

what the fuck is he gonna do with a mood ring? dave takes it out anyway and rubs it with his right thumb, just to see the color change. ]

It's like a trail of shitty infomercial breadcrumbs.

[splinten]

Dude, is that a mood ring? Can I see?

[He wants one? They seem so hilariously shitty.]

[parodeity]

[ he just hands the ring over on automatic on the grounds he'd probably hand dirk whatever he was asked for on automatic regardless of personal preference or opinion. it's still hardwired into his brain three years after the fact and while there's a pause after it didn't stop it from occurring.

for the record, he'd taken the shades carefully without touching dirk, and he hands the ring over in the same fashion. ]

Looks like it. Dunno what I'd do with it, anyway. [ apparently we are just assuming dirk is keeping it since he asked for it. ]

[splinten]

Huh. [He turns it over in his hand, rubbing it to see the colour change. Then he looks up at Dave.]

Are there songs for this one too?

[Will Dave sing it? He has noticed but not really registered the meaning behind the way Dave has been engaging with him physically.]

[parodeity]

No, they were mostly like...dramatic about how legit the mood rings were, and how they'd reveal all your emotions, blah blah blah.

[ what is this.

to be fair to dirk, dave doesn't often initiate physical contact with most people, but yeah. that's a thing. ]

[splinten]

[Weird. But also, Dirk slips the mood ring on? It's fun. It settles on whatever the colour for 'kinda awkward tbh' is. Probably one of the ones from when your body is a bit warm.]

Cool. I wonder if we'll find Shamwow. [HE SAW THOSE they were funny]

[parodeity]

[ there's kind of just a shrug. dave isn't sure he wants to look into any more of the bags actually because he will just end up. handing everything to dirk anyway when asked. AND THERE IS NO REASON TO GET ATTACHED TO DUMB ITEMS when their being in your possession is always nebulous and easily changed.

the shades were supposed to be different.

but it's still as good a trail as any to follow out. ]

Dunno. You can keep lookin' if you want. [ he'll start up again, because at the very least jade should be around somewhere, if not rose and john. ]

[splinten]

[Dirk follows after him.]

No, it's cool.

[Ah yes the awkwardness returns. But now Dirk is holding a granola bar and silly putty, as well as his sword.]

[parodeity]

[ dave is...holding just his sword since he handed over the mood ring and granola bar.

he ALLOWS THE SILENCE TO RETURN because. yeah.

he mentally kicks himself as they go down the trail, and kind of just. retreats into himself since it's easier than trying to figure out what the fuck to do with someone who eclipses your existence by just being Around. ]

[splinten]

[Cool. That lasts for a while, and you might be nice enough to give them bags of stuff but I'm not giving them boars. You'll have to be the generous one here.

It takes like. However long, before Dirk eventually says,]

Do you want the silly putty? It's.. fun. Uh. At least I think so.

[parodeity]

No thanks. You can keep it.

[ well they aren't even looking in the bags of stuff now SO THAT WAS A USELESS DISTRACTION!!!

god how much longer do these woods go on for. they can't be eternal, can they?

...

fuck he's probably wandering through eternal woods with bro. great. this is like the prelude to at least twenty different nightmares. ]

[splinten]

Oh. Okay.

[Then he'll just keep it.

HAHA MORE SILENT AWKWARDNESS]

[parodeity]

[ YEAH THIS IS GOING WELL.

look the only item he had any interest in was the mood ring, and that was mostly because his immediate thought was "i should give this to rose".

he sees an edge to the treeline. ]

Oh thank fuck.

[splinten]

Oh.

[Dirk is not actually relieved. He pauses and looks at Dave. As they approach the treeline, the mansion comes into view.]

Rocky Horror Picture Show?

[parodeity]

Probably more like Psycho.

[ he doesn't actually care either way. besides, the mansion is a thing, but the small colorful houses towards the beachfront seem a little more welcoming to dave. ]

But looks like there's two locations, so we should maybe divide and conquer?