spellgrinders | ( TDM

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?

here

its own perils.

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?

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.

Claim your hut, please!

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah. That's me.

[ He nods in lieu of a wave, wonders whether they should find more people before setting out, but decides it'll be fine if they just scout out a distance while keeping the mansion or the huts or other landmarks in sight. So he nods towards the mountains, visible in the distance, before he starts heading towards it. ]

Where were you before coming here? I could hear you from the shoreline.

[ If they knew a maximum distance, it would be useful to keep that in mind in case they need to call for help all the way up the mountains, he thinks. ]

Near the other end of the houses, I think. I was trying to see if I could find anything else around here, but it's just the mansion, the houses, and the beach.

[So, probably not too much of a distance to test, yet. Still pretty close. And she overall isn't sure how big this island even is.]

The forest was pretty big though.

[When they were walking through it, at least.]

It was. I followed the path straight to the mansion. Wonder if it goes on forever, though.

[ He'd also been too preoccupied with focusing on the forest itself and the danger it presents, both boars and losing his way, to think about listening for other voices. He hadn't known about how to use the telepathy then too, though. ]

The opposite direction was the mountains, so we could take the same path back to them.

[ Not getting lost their first day here would be helpful, and they can scavenge the rest of those bags for any that hasn't been picked clean. ]

Yeah, that makes sense.

[She turns to start walking back in the direction of the mansion-house. No sense wasting time, if they had a plan in mind.]

Maybe those bags might have something that could help, too.

[Like a map, maybe, though that's probably wishful thinking.]

Yeah. Did you find anything useful in them?

[ Minato turns out his pockets as he walks, showing Xion what he'd scavenged during his first pass through the forest. It's pretty much all junk, things like half a plastic spoon with the handle broken off, a bottle cap smelling faintly of lemon, a hairband (the most useful thing he's got), and a pretty large rock like one that can be found anywhere. ]

Hopefully everyone's out of the forest, and we can empty the rest of the bags out.

[Xion pauses to pull out her own finds - including a pinwheel he nay have already seen sticking out of her pocket, a thing length of rope no more than a yard long, a screw, a pencil with a used-up eraser, and a couple other miscellaneous items.]

Hmm... [Xion pauses - she hadn't thought of other people still being out there.]

I guess we should keep an eye though. If anybody else is out there, and they're trapped here like us...

[ Rope is always useful, and a pinwheel they can use to... tell the direction of the wind or something, he doesn't know, he'll think about how to use these things if they ever get to a point where they need them. ]

Right. If we find somebody, we could send them to the shelters. They can tell the rest that we've gone to check the mountains.

[ Leading a party larger than three or four will be too cumbersome, by experience, so he would prefer pressing on with just the two of them, taking what they can in the meantime.

The next time he passes one of the bags, Minato tangles it from the branch, shakes out a rubber ball, and sticks both that and the bag into his pocket. On the ground below, he arranges some fallen branches into a crude arrow pointing back down the path. For those lost in the forest, the bags are simply indicators of the path out. This can substitute. ]

[Xion ends up drifting a bit ahead to keep watch while he's working, though no more than a dozen yards or so. And in any case, when she turns back and sees what he's working on, she ends up walking over to inspect his work curiously, and with some measure of relief. She even kneels down to trace the arrow with a finger.]

That's a good idea... That way if we get lost we can find our way back.

[Which... may or may not be exactly what he's going for, but either way, it's the impression she's getting, from what she can see.]

Oh. Yeah.

[ Yeah, that's it. Minato will take credit for the idea, sure. ]

I talked to someone earlier, who said it's like Hansel and Gretel. This way, we have a trail and a direction.

[ But no evil witch boss battle to fight after they've come to the house at the end of the woods, which is slightly disappointing because at least a confrontation would allow for some answers. ]

[Xion nods, even as the question emerges from her mouth.]

Hansel and... Gretel?

[If they're two people she'd known or heard about, she must've lost that memory when she lost her heart.]

It's a story. You've never heard it before? I think it's German...

[ Not that the language of origin matters, as it's been translated and retold so many times that Minato knows the story without knowing where exactly he might have read or heard it from. ]

I-if I did, I don't remember.

[Here face feels slightly hot, and the ground is so very interesting to stare at right now.]

Sorry.

It's fine.

[ The apology takes him by surprise, as it's not something to apologize for at all, unlike history or science or whatever's taught in school that one shouldn't be entirely ignorant of. ]

It's good, I guess... This way, I can tell you the story, if you want. It'll help pass the time.

Huh... [She hadn't really thought of it like that.]

Um, okay. Sure.

[She stops to inspect another bag tied to a tree. It's contents are revealed to be a single eyeglass lens, which she lifts to peer through. It makes everything all blurry.]

( TDM | #1 )

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