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

Uhh, where I come from if you ask someone to knife fight, it usually results in murder, theft and maybe cannibalism. Sorry that kinda weirds me out a little.

Thanks for the offer? [Sincerely, even if you're fighty little rascal.] Fighting's just not a fun pastime to me. That's what stress eating's for.

Hn. I've never had a knife fight before. But that stuff doesn't really...happen, either. Not to me.

[Maybe he won't make the same offer to other people, though... Thank you for this lesson, mysterious magic lady. Have a chunk of jerky tossed your way.]

I don't do that. There's too much gross food.

[Hello jerky, my old friend. It's the thought that counts since she's got three dead pig flanks drying and salting in an undisclosed location as they speak.]

Not every world is fucked up like that, it's okay. I'm sure there's some knife fight world where you have to duel to pay for movie tickets or something else benign, but that's fucked up in a different kind of way.

Also, you don't stress eat gross food. [Biting into the alien boar meat she has indeed stress binged many a time before.] Just the good shit. If you have it, anyway.

[What's a movie ticket... He squints over at her like a thorough enough study is going to answer all these weird mysteries she's brought up. No dice.]

Ah. Like...cookies. Or good bread.

Good bread? I guess if you like plain stuff. Cookies, though, that's the good shit.

[She's excited she can finally share a Junk Food Conquest.]

One time I was in this one world, right? It was pretty boring, except they have these huge open air markets where they sell all kinds of food and shit. They were on water boats; it's weird.

This one lady made these cookies out of some spice or something with a fruit frosting...I stole like 10 baskets of those. I wanted to take more but it's one of those cities where they try to hack off your limbs for stealing or fighting, you know? This lady started getting really suspicious, and I wasn't about lose an arm for something like that.

[It would have maybe been worth it in the end though...damn, she wants food that isn't crab or boar.] I would knife fight anybody for a cookie right now.

[Wow, that was...a switch flipped. He's pretty sure she shouldn't be bragging about any of this, but it wasn't his job to reprimand or arrest her or anything, so he just makes a soft humming sound while he abandons that line of thinking.]

...They don't have them in this...world?

[He's trying to keep up... It's tough when so far the world around him had only given him a headache, some weird thing in his chest, and some jerky.]

Nope, just boar. And then the crabs, but that was an accident.

You have to go off-rock for anything good. I try to bring back as much foodstuffs as I can find when we go exploring but I'm just one person, y'know?

[Now that there are more people, she can establish a Food Hoarding Brigade.]

[Just...boar... Well, it's better than just soup. This jerky was fine. He shifts uncomfortably, counting out the remaining jerky he has in an absent sort of way.]

Will we get to do that soon? Go to someplace else...?

[For food or...maybe his home. That might be too convenient. There's no way it would happen for him.]

Maybe? I don't get a say in how fast or soon I get to leave, ever. Sometimes there's a week between trips, sometimes more. And then the time spent places fluctuates too.

[Sorry she can't be of more help, knife dude.]

...Oh.

[This is not at all what he wanted to hear, and he'd even lowered his standards quite a bit. How crushing...]

Do you have anything useful to tell me? Who are you?

[BECAUSE OOPS]

[Oops, sorry again dude.]

I'm Brie. I'm kind of like...your boss? [Yes, that's what she'll tell people.] Your boss-slash-babysitter.

I think I've been pretty useful, thus far. If you want the meat of the info, you have to wait until nightfall. I think I wanna know some of the same shit you wanna know, anyway.

Boss. I don't need a babysitter.

[So just shut up and be superior all the time, apparently.]

Mrrrh... Why? Do you have a scout coming back then?

You don't get to pick and choose. As your boss, I demand to be your babysitter.

[Is that a loophole that works??]

Definitely not a scout. She's more like a healer -- oh, you know how you could "talk to the gods?" [There's air quotes there because fuck if she knows what that really means] She can kiiiiind of do that too.

No. Just boss.

[You can't boss him around!!! Like...a babysitter!]

Ah. A mage. [just...go with it...] I've only met one foreign mage and he was really stupid and annoying. What's yours supposed to be like?

[Fine. You win this round, knife boy...]

Uh...I don't know about mage. [She's not going with it.] But she's certainly foreign and kind of stupid, so I guess the same thing? We don't see eye to eye on a lot of stuff.

[You win some, you lose some.]

Pfh.

[Well... He's not looking forward to meeting this not-mage person, even if Brie isn't exactly his best best friend. He could probably trust her opinion when it came to idiots.]

...This is stupid.

Yeah, kinda.

[Some stuff is definitely stupid, but her opinion is skewed a little.] I guess it depends on where you come from. If anything, I think she's more likely to see eye-to-eye with you on how shitty the situation is.

[His brows furrow at that, like maybe he's heard her wrong...? But he'd had no trouble understanding the words coming out of anyone's mouth all day, so it would be weird for that to start now.]

Do you like it here? But it's gross, and ugly, and scary.

[Like it...? Hmm. That's a good question.]

I wouldn't go that far. Let's just say it's preferable. Magic's advantageous, and everything. There's a consistent food source. I could be worse places, I guess that's what I'm trying to say.

Mrrmn. I guess.

[It's much too early for him to be seeing any positives about this situation.]

She better know something. I want to go home. Bad or not, I have people I need to be with.

( TDM | #1 )

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject