spellgrinders | ( TDM

Entry tags:

!tdm,
npc: brie

( TDM | #1 )

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

What were you doing in space?

[He has to ask ok.]

[Uh]

Trying to get back on a planet.

[And then. Dying? Or something?]

So the result was correct, but you ended up on the wrong planet. Maybe?

[Making a little face at the word "planet"; he can't fully wrap his head around that part just yet and he's still assuming this is somewhere on Glenwood until proven otherwise. But if Dirk was in space then hey, anything is possible.]

The means of arrival are ambiguous as fuck, but the wrongness is a certainty. None of our planets had trees.

[Also they were all smashed together, so there's that too]

[Dirk I hate to say this but maybe you should find some better planets]

Definitely not where I'm from then. Still, if there's a way here then there's got to be a way back too. We just have to look for it.

[MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE LESS ELITIST ABOUT PLANETS!]

Not necessarily. You can enter a black hole but you can't exit it. You can die, but it is about as difficult as you expect to come back from an afterlife.

[....actually it's slightly less difficult but he doesn't want to talk about that]

[you can't tell an anime protagonist that he can't do something!!1 he sighs]

I was trying for optimism. What's the point of bringing us here with no way of sending us back? And even if it was a one-way trip, then there should still be a way to recreate that one-way trip in order to get back. It'll just take a little more time.

[Dirk doesn't want to go back? Everyone is dead there.]

There isn't really any point to speculating until we understand more about the situation. Whether we can get home or not, that's worth our time.

I don't think we'll find anything with answers in the forest. I was looking for a...

[pausing, because he doesn't know what he was looking for beyond "not forest"]

A village, or somebody from here who might have answers. Has anyone else come by here?

Not that I've seen.

[Uh. Stories. What do people do in stories. Or what does Jake talk about, either works.]

I could climb a tree and scout.

Hmm.

That's actually not a bad idea. I'll try too--two pairs of eyes looking is better than one.

[and without any further prompting he looks up for a few seconds, spots the tallest tree, and starts to climb it.]

[DIRK GUESSES HE WILL TOO. He's acrobatic enough to have climbed the empty metal structure of a building as a BABY I guess so sure why not. When he makes it to near the tree top and starts looking around, he also says,]

Tell me what your elf eyes see.

[he makes a mental note to ask what an elf is later]

Not much...Oh, it looks like there's a lake that way?

[but that trails off into uncertainty; it looks like there are stars in the water? hmm]

That might be the best way to go though, I see some houses in that direction.

[Yeah, that IS weird. He isn't sure if that's a lake.]

Then let's go.

[He drops down from the tree quick and waits for Sorey to join him.]

On it!

[Sorey drops down right after him and without any further prompting makes a beeline for the fake lake. It's not exactly a straight path, given how forests are, but his natural anime parkour skills mean he can keep up a decent pace.]

[PARKOUR MONTAGE! TWO DUDES PARKOURING THROUGH A FOREST, YEAH!

Dirk starts to see something odd as he comes close, and he slows a little, extending a hand in the universal signal to 'hold up'. He moves more carefully, glancing at Sorey and closing the distance so he's in a better position to protect him, on instinct. Something is really, really weird.

Namely, space is weird. ]

[He obligingly stops, his hand going to the sword at his side, but without his powers he doesn't sense...well, anything. After a second he raises a quizzical eyebrow at Dirk in a silent question.]

The water isn't right.

[He's being careful as he comes over the edge, but there is no denying what they see. It is not water. It is goddamned SPACE]

[At first Sorey peers too far over the edge, crouching down with his face dipping out precariously into the empty space as he tries to wrap his head around SPACE OCEAN. There's a mix of awe and frustration on his face as he finally pulls back and looks up at Dirk.]

I think this means we're stranded. Unless you know of a way to get across this.

Unfortunately, I have come down with a sudden case of being unable to fly.

[that may sound ironic but it is Not]

[he's from space, Sorey believes him]

How were you able to fly before? Was it a skill you picked up, or a power that you need to draw energy for? Or something else? Maybe we can find a way for you to regain the ability.

[Oh good question.]

It was a power granted to me by Sburb. If we're out of its influence, then that might be the problem. I lost all of my other powers from Sburb too.

I also lost my flashstepping and my sylladex, which is fuckin' incomprehensible to me. I was born with that crap. [He has to hold things??? in his hands??? and move like a normal person???? WHAT IS THIS]

I see. It's kind of similar for me. I think.

[While he wasn't born a Shepherd, he did possess high resonance for most of his life which enabled him to become the Shepherd. Now he couldn't sense malevolence even if it set itself on fire in front of him.]

The powers that were obtained disappearing would at least kind of make sense, but not the things we were born with. For the ones you were granted, does it feel like it's because you're out of range of the...Sburb, or is it like trying to tap into a pool of power that's dried up?

[No pyroselfies until he gets a reliable camera.]

I'm not entirely sure. Maybe out of reach, it's hard to say.

What about you?

[Sorey said it was similar so.]

I've had a high resonance for as long as I can remember, but I can't sense anything right now. I also have some abilities that I'm able to use thanks to a pact; normally those work no matter what, but right now it's like there's nothing there.

(no subject)

splinten - 2017-06-27 02:57 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

imsorey - 2017-07-01 02:56 (UTC) - Expand

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only