avalaughs | TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ 2

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TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ 2

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A ⦿ Soaking in Your Arrival

KERPLUNK, SPLASH!

Regardless of what you were in the middle of, you and your familiar have been magically pulled into the world of Avalon just above the Bay's chilly waters. After a brief plunge into the Bay, the rush of water filling your ears and soaking up into every creak and crevice of your body, you may need to cough to clear your airways when you rise above the surface. It's paralyzingly cold for a few seconds before you're approached by the Lady of the Lake beneath the water's surface. She puts a vial of a vibrant, glowing red Everwarm* potion to your character's lips. The icy water doesn't feel so icy once consumed and you'll be able to move your limbs enough to swim to shore on your own. She can't stick around to explain, she's got to get this to all the new arrivals! Many of which you'll see plopping in around you.

If you can't swim, a handful of helpful ice turtles will scoop you up from beneath and drop you off at the shore. When not helping people, the turtles are going around and hitting the ice that keeps forming on the surface with their shells to keep the surface open for the falling arrivals or pushing personal items to the beach near the new arrivals they smell like (belong to). If anyone tries to ask the Lady of the Lake for directions, she will direct you to Archimedes at the Rent-a-Ride. If anyone with Animal Magic asks the turtles, they will give the full spiel, but very slowly, and they like to get off topic and gossip about other turtles you've never heard of. The shores themselves are littered with new arrivals complaining their way up a staircase carved into the walls of the White Cliffs. There is no railing, so be careful, but if you do fall, be prepared for a mysterious sand hand to reach out of the side of the cliffs to catch you. The hand will pat you atop the head twice before retreating back into the wall. This is the Cliff Beast; despite the name, he is quite friendly.

B ⦿ The Caravan to Camelot

Once everyone is wrangled up to the top of the White Cliffs, the handsome owner of the Rent-a-Ride, Archimedes, will distribute smart phones, a pair of earbuds, and a winter cloak** to everyone before getting them settled in groups into modernized carriages pulled by horses and give them a basic explanation of why and how they've been brought to Avalon: The universe is frozen in time and your character has been brought here by a familiar that was able to bond with them. They'll have to learn magic to help save their own world from destruction, but first they've got to get them to Camelot. It is here that you have the first opportunity to decide who they will be in their new home. You'll have about an hour to wander around here, meet and greet, and pet the horses before it's time to go.

These carriages use fae technology that combats weight, so your character will be able to get in regardless of whether they're light as a feather or weigh two tons. The carts have air conditioning when it's hot, heating when it's cold, and a mystical shield to protect from bugs. There is also a mini-bar that pops out of the console with nip bottles. Characters can use their smartphones to connect to Camelot's internet service,

avalononline (AOL), to chat with other characters, watch dumb videos, learn about the world, contact Camelot Support (they'll answer any questions they can for you, from how to use a smart phone to where to find quests and resources to learn more about your magic). Be careful if you decide to use your phones while in the caravan-- if you don't use those earbuds and start forcing everyone to listen to your nonsense, Archimedes may make you walk.

C ⦿ The Red Spring

The journey from the White Cliffs to the City of Camelot is a long one, and the first evening you arrive you'll end up spending at the Red Spring, a booming resort town. Because of the volume of new arrivals and vacationers, inn rooms are assigned two-to-a-room. The rooms have two twin beds, a bathroom, a mini-fridge and microwave, and a TV equipped with a couple of entertaining video games and a few free movies.

If you don't want to relax in the room, try taking a dip in the spring for another chance to meet your fellow travelers. The waters have restorative properties that help horses and travelers recover quickly when drunk. It is known to relieve stress, improve energy levels, and mildly accelerate healing. It may be a little chilly when you get out though, so make sure you don't slip rushing back indoors when you get out!

The springs are also home to a large training grounds just outside town limits, where there are teachers who will teach basic magic safety and help you discover what kind of magic you have together with other new arrivals. Try target practice, obstacle courses, meditation circles, and other ways to try to figure out just what you can do... if you didn't already have an accidental discovery on the ride there.

A ⦿ Trial and Icy Errors

Winter has arrived in Avalon, and with it has come to a change in the weather. Puffs of breath precede sentences when outside, small fires fill braziers to allow people to stop and get warm for a moment between where they come from and where they are going. Snow has begun to fall; at first, it is the same, fluffy, white flakes many adventurers will have seen. However, as the day progresses, the snow begins to shimmer; it’s like a prismatic effect, a magical light catching against every little crystal and illuminating sparkling flakes, so vibrant it’s clear someone has enchanted the snow.

Shortly after the change, there will be a text alert to all devices:

Tired of the same old routine with your magic? Ready for a little something new? Come on out and have an old fashioned snowball fight with a magical twist. Be sure to practice your new powers and have fun! 😉 -Merlin

Those who come outside to find the rainbow snow already being packed into neat balls by Camelot's citizens; go ahead and grab a basket full but remember, don’t just toss them. Let’s get magic with it!

Different types of magic will have different effects on the enchanted snow:

Use kinetic magic to toss three at once. Nevermind if they suddenly balloon inside and burst into a snow shower over your opponent, throw a couple more; some are bound to hit, right?

Throw a little animal magic in there and morph a few into a bear or some other animal of your intent; sorry about his random dance attack, at least your opponent will be laughing too hard to throw a snowball at you.

Try hiding them in a shield or cast an illusion with some light magic; better apologize when that goes sideways and the snow hardens, bursting into rainbow crystals at your opponent's feet.

Team up with someone who has cognitive magic; they can telegraph you the plan without your opponents being any the wiser... except the snow seems to be picking up on it and sending those thoughts right to your opponent! Perhaps use this as an opportunity to learn control!

Maybe you want to try using a little wind magic if you’re of the elemental class; watch out for the rainbow snow squall your perfectly lobbed snowballs will become.

Healing magic is one you might not see coming-- enchanting a snowball with healing magic can result in positive mood enhancements. Give your enemies a blast of zen to lower their guard and make them an easy target!

A dark magic user might think to add a little hex to their snowball; give themselves an edge... too bad, without practice, that hex might be a little too heavy and burst over the maker before it even leaves their hand! Hope you know how to fix it.

Alchemists are welcome to change the shape of those snowballs. Maybe try and craft them into something a little more stealthy or projectile. Too bad that snow seems to want to turn into a batch of butterflies and be free... magic sure is tricky! But hey, they sure are pretty.

In the end, it seems while adventurers will be able to get plenty of practice in, some of that practice is going to come from trying to stop the side effects of mixing their powers with the magic snow; welcome to your first lesson in control. If one is going to use magic in conjunction with already magically imbued things, they ought to know the right amount, seems Merlin wants you all to learn in a trial by snowball error.

Those who practice their magic and participate in the snowball fight will be given hot chocolate, warm soup, fresh baked goods, or other treats to warm them up after their training is done. But don’t slack off! You’re like to find your hot chocolate spiced with pickle flavor, that warm treat suddenly turns to ice cream in your mouth. Avalonians want that practice to happen, and are willing to add some incentive... whether that means the carrot or the icicle.

All throughout the City of Camelot is a buzz of excitement about the oncoming winter solstice on the 21st. Citizens will tell you of the winter solstice's importance in cleansing the flow of Avalon's magic each year and absorbing sunlight to increase its potency. In other words, the winter solstice generates a significant amount of magic if the proper ritual is followed, so the visitors from other worlds really should head on over to Albion's White Cliffs.

A ⦿ The Darkness in the White Cliffs

The first task that you'll experience during the ritual is asking the Cliff Beast's permission to enter the cliffs. Though they look wholly solid on the outside, these cliffs contain a veritable labyrinth of magical caves that weave in and out of the chalky cliffs. As there is danger within these walls, it is recommended no one go alone. The Cliff Beast will only open a door to the caves for parties of two or more who present him with a gift. The gift doesn't need to be something significant, just a show of courtesy-- a lovely rock or a seashell will do, placed at the base of the cliff. The only gifts he will outright reject are precious gems and metals. Honestly, they make him a little nauseous-- and you don't want to see a cliff beast nauseous. In fact, if you try it, the Cliff Beast will suddenly burst into a rockslide right near where the gem was left. Watch out!

Once you gain entrance, you will find there is no light within the caves and the door seems to close behind you. Non-magical lights won't illuminate anything within these caves, so you will need to either navigate through the darkness or find a magical means to light your path. Be wary-- traveling in the dark will be a much safer journey if you can find your way through the caves and keep track of your companions. The reason there is no light are the bat-like creatures that eat energy like fire and electricity. With the magical light attracting them and nothing to consume, they'll be very aggressive and swarm anything emitting heat.. like an unsuspecting traveler. Make too much noise, and the Cliff Beast will spit you out back onto the sand and you'll have to start over.

B ⦿ "For a greedy man, even his tomb is too small."

Those who persist within the caves will eventually come upon a room whose ceiling glistens with bioluminiscent microbes that are too small for the bats to eat. These little glowing creatures create reflections in the room that show just what it contains-- glimmerings of precious gems, gold, and other treasure cover the walls and floor, save for a large flat stone altar in the center. There are many hand-crafted clay cups filled with what appears to be water. The side of the alter has a very simple message: "TAKE ONE CUP TO THE SPRING, LEAVE THE REST. SPILL NO DROP." Sure enough, this matches with the instructions you were given about the ritual: Take a cup of waters harvested by the Asrai, a fairy that lives within the walls of the cliffs that cultivates it every year to bring to the Red Springs for the Winter Solstice.

There is no clear warning about what will happen if you take anything besides your one cup. However, characters who disobey this instruction and take any of the riches within the cave will initially experience severe symptoms such as magical blockage, an endless common cold, and food turning to ash in their mouth. They will experience dreams in which they are urged to return the treasure and a day later, advanced symptoms if it goes on for too long have been known to result in vomiting frogs and snakes, insomnia, speaking in tongues despite the translation spell, bleeding from the ears, and eventually death.

C ⦿ Drink Up

Those who listen and take the Asrai's cups to the Red Springs will notice while carrying the cups, all creatures and threats will leave you in peace. Neither rain nor snow will touch you, parting from your path in both the sky and on the ground. The effects will only last as long as you don't spill a single drop. The ritual can still be completed, but the protections only work if you don't spill-- otherwise you'll be fighting off weather, creatures, other people, and whatever else you encounter as the effects of a spilled cup will cause those around you to try to steal your cup without thought for your safety, even if they might not even think to do normally.

Upon arriving at the Red Springs, a party of people there to guide those who have made the ritual's journey to a particular pool within the vicinity of the springs. Characters will be directed to take a sip, then pour the rest into the Spring alongside your peers, finally throwing the clay cup itself into the spring. Throughout the day, you will begin to feel strangely giddy, but it will pass. Nothing much will seem like it happens otherwise, but the guides assure you that you will understand on the night of the winter solstice when the ritual is complete and your body becomes a conduit to purify and rejuvenate Avalon's magic.

For now, as thanks, the guides offer you one of the celebratory gifts they have to offer-- free drinks (this time of the age-appropriate alcoholic or sugary variety), a free night's stay at the Red Springs, a yule log, an escort, a Recipe: Snow Dance. (Effect: Snow Dance will cause small flurries to pick up where the spell is cast, resulting in decreased visibility. Only works if snow is already present, as it cannot generate elements.) The choice is yours. Pick one.

MOD NOTES:
• All test drive prompts are open to anyone in the game at any time to create your own logs with, but this post should have top-levels by potential new characters only. Current characters may reply to any threads, but should not top-level comment on this post.
• If your application is accepted, you may accept TDM threads as game canon as long as both players consent. Characters may begin threading as soon as their journal is accepted to the communities.
• If nothing here tickles your fancy, try one of this month's Quests for your TDM prompt.
• The first "Arrival" prompts are present on every TDM, but may contain seasonal tweaks for flavor. All other prompts will change monthly.
• Questions about this TDM's content? Comment here! If you have a question about the game at-large, please head over to the FAQ.

*This Everwarm does not count toward your potion collection for those who wish to take up potion brewing. You must obtain Everwarm from the Elphame Trader's to count.
**Jackets come in a variety of neutral colors, enchanted with a fit-adjustment spell that will adjust to your character's size.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

She nodded once, finding the way the horse spoke interesting, but she could make friends later. She flexed her wings and shot up, but then she leveled out once she was clear and flew alongside, close enough to catch the rider if need be. He reminded her a bit of her brother, so... so long as no one got hurt, it could be fun to watch how this played out. She just had to trust the berries.

"Wait! Why are you leav--..."

Crowley's yelp was cut off as the Pooka took to the sand, flying over the dunes as quickly as anyone could fly. The demon might have found the speed fun if he were sitting on the animal properly and not eating the sand he kicked up.
It was fun for the Pooka! There was nothing a Pooka enjoyed more than tempting some unwary traveler onto their back and tearing around the countryside. Eventually though, and after running over every hill and dale he could find, the Pooka came back to where they started and stopped long enough for Crowley to slip to the ground.

"Bloody hell... Is this how you greet every new arrival??"

"Because you were fine," she said, landing beside him in the sand and offering a hand up. "Your horse reminds me of my brother's shadow," she said with a gentle laugh like the branches in the breeze.

"It's not my horse. I go for horse power not saddle sores...."

So he thought as the Pooka snorted. In the horse's estimation the silly fool needed another ride for that comment.

"Your brother's shadow kidnaps people and runs around the countryside with them?"

"Pretty sure it isn't your saddle that's sore," she teased, reaching into a vine draped pouch to fetch a few berries, offering them to the horse. "My brother's shadow is a seeming trickster who doesn't listen and does what it feels is best, or perhaps simply the most amusing. But like my brother, his shadow comes through when it truly counts."

She smiled at them both. "I'm Rhia," she said, stretching her wings, just for the joy of being able to.

It wasn't his saddle that was sore! What was sore was his middle where his stylish snake-headed belt had been digging into his ribs. How perceptive she was to have noticed.

"Crowley."

He glanced between Pooka and the girl, thinking he ought to introduce them to each other but realizing he couldn't. It wasn't like he knew the horse's name or anything. Likewise he couldn't extend his wings as elegantly as she had. He appeared to be stuck in a very human sort of form for the moment. That suited him fine... At least he wasn't trapped as a snake.

"Anthony. J. Crowley. You an angel?"

"Nice to meet you, Crowley. My mother told me stories about angels, but I'm not one. I'm more like a fruit that has bounced a long way from her tree," she said with a smile. She dug out another berry and popped it in her mouth, smiling warmly. "Sweet," she said pleased, then her blue grey eyes blinked. "Oh! Your ears are rounded, like mother's! Are you from Earth?"

The Pooka took a step closer and bounced his nose against the pocket now identified as being full of those berries. Maybe he would get a second one.

"Right so... fruit fly."

Which might very well end up being her new nickname.

"You act like this isn't Earth?"

Crowley dug his heels in the sand and paced around, looking at everything like it might suddenly appear more like an alien world construct after a closer inspection.

"But, you're right. I've been on Earth from the very beginning. That mean something to you?"

She fished out a few more berries and offered them to the pooka. "You just have to ask," she said with a giggle.

"This isn't Earth," she confirmed to Crowley. "This is Avalon. The new space between." She tilted her head, brown curls rumbling over one vine draped shoulder. "Since the very beginning of what?"

The Pooka nickered and ate as many of the berries as as she was willing to offer him.

"The beginning of the Earth."

Crowley spoke like this was the most natural answer of all but obliviously some one not from Earth wouldn't have heard the stories of how it was all brought into being or how he had mucked everything up. And even if she had been its not like many would have believed he had played in part in that.

"You a local then fruit fly, someone born on Avalon?"

She was always willing to share her berries, though she ate a bunch of the next handful herself as well.

The beginning of Earth? She'd have to introduce him to her mother and Cairpré. He must have so many stories they would love to hear!

She shook her head at his question, sending her curls bouncing every which way. "I don't think anyone is yet. Until just recently, it was lost, a land no one could reach. It was where we lost our wings in ancient times. I was born on Fincayra." Which was part of the problem that had given Rhita Gwar a foothold.

If the family didn't mind bragging then he had many a story to tell them! There would only be a few embellishments here and there, daring additions of battling the powerful angelic guardian of the Earth as those always made a story more exciting even if the deadliest battle he an Aziraphale had ever had was arguing over the last drop of wine in the bottle.

"I never lost my wings..."

He glanced over a shoulder to where his black feathered wings would have been if he had still been able to summon them.

"Until recently. And you still seem to have a pair?"

She stretched her wings happily, nodding. "I think my brother is glad I have my own wings now, given how he reacted to the last pair that I tried to make for myself," she said with a laugh. She hadn't broken any bones, and even if she had, he had been there to heal her, so it wasn't a big deal.

"I wonder why you lost yours though. Maybe we can find a way to ask Dagda?" she asked. She wasn't her brother or Grandfather, the idea of going to bother the great spirit wasn't exactly safe or comforting, but if someone needed help, she'd help. She knew what it was like to want so desperately to fly.

"Dagda isn't that strange lady floating around in the water is it? She wasn't very talkative."

He was curious about the wing situation of course. One doesn't live centuries with the ability to call these things into being without wondering where they might have made off to, but then he didn't really need them right now. Besides demons were more known for falling with wings rather than flying with them, so he wasn't too panicked by it either. On Earth he had lived as human as possible.

"Think its the magic of this place. Maybe it's incompatible with demons."

"What? No. Dagda is a great spirit. He's been at war with Rhita Gwar probably since he first created the worlds..." she shrugged. "Mother would know more. She loves those kinds of stories." but she blinked and studied him. "Demons?" she asked, brows knitting, her smile vanishing for the first time, to be replaced with a thoughtful frown.

"Huh, Never knew God's name was Dagda. Makes sense. Eternal punishment, banished to some far off planet no one has ever heard of before."

Quietly his heart twisted in his chest, seized by the thought that Aziraphale might have caught Hell for... whatever was going on now some how too.

"Don't tell me you don't know what a demon is."

"Oh no, I've heard the term, it's just..." she considered, and poppedd a berry in her mouth. She sat down on a stone as she tried to figure out exactly what it was she wanted to say.

"Well, all the stories say that demons are all in league with Rhita Gwar and want to destroy all living things and are beings of pure evil. However you remind me of a berry at the very start of spring. And I was remembering that everyone knew, also, that the marsh ghouls were pure evil and only existed to torment people who wandered into the Haunted Marsh. and yet when the time came to fight for our homeland, to keep the world safe... they came along with the other races to fight against the end of the world. So maybe our stories and our history don't know as much as we think they do," she said, smiling up at him slightly.

"Never heard of Rhita Gwar..."

Which at least meant he wasn't in league with them, though his nose scrunched at the insinuation that he was a springtime berry and he thought to protest how very evil he was while carefully keeping to himself the whole not really wanting to see the end of the world. Demons were meant to be working towards that not having second thoughts and teaming up with an angel to prevent it.

"The rest sounds similar. We are pure evil and we are working to bring about Armageddon. It's... what demons do. Along with tempting people to be terrible to each other, not that they need much prompting."

And you can tell how very wicked he is by the very civil conversation they were having! Clearly he was a being out to destroy everything.

"So maybe there is a lot of truth in stories too."

"Hmmmm, maybe. Except if you were really evil, like a ghouliant or a warrior goblin, you wouldn't be talking with me and you wouldn't have accepted that ride," she pointed out. She considered him then nodded. "A spring berry for sure. You just haven't found your own sweetness yet." A warm smile.

What a stomach churning smile! It reminded him of a certain angel and the way Aziraphale would look at him with that foolish level of trust he had never really thought to betray.

"I don't have any sweetness. None. I am sweetness free."

One did have an image to maintain after all! He couldn't have it getting out that he was a closet softy!

"And I didn't accept that ride! The whatever it was just fished me out of the water first. It was more of a kidnapping..."

"But you hung on rather than hurting your new friend," she said. "And have not attacked the horse, or me, this whole time. If you were evil, you would have," she said, simply. She fished out some more berries and offered them up to him.

"We aren't friends. I don't even like him!"

If only he could have heard himself. He sounded just like a friend of his and about as sincere. Really he had nothing against the Pooka or the girl and he snatched at the berries when they were offered, not as a sign of friendship he told himself, but because they were there.

She smiled and ate some more herself. He would find the berries terribly sweet, perhaps. She had a love for natural sweetness, and between berries and honey, could often find it.

"And that is how my brother sounds speaking of his shadow," she said, amused. She looked to the pooka. "My familiar allowed me to choose the name by which she will be called whilst we both live. Do you have a name you wish us to call you?" If not, Shadow would do nicely, she suspected.

One of them did eventually land in his mouth but not before being sniffed, turned about in the palm of his hands several times, and thoroughly inspected just to see what sort of berry it even was but he didn't mind the sweetness of it. Over the years he had grown quite fond of sweet things. It came from having a rival and friend who often liked to hold their meetings in cute little cafes with fine desserts.

"How about pain in the...--"

Crowley laughed as the Pooka snorted and stamped a hoof. If he were to take a more human name, something that would be pronounceable to these two legged creatures, then he preferred Shadow.

She grinned. "Shadow it is then," she said warmly. "I'm sure the two of you will be very good for each other. You remind me of two clouds, dancing around each other."

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