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avalonmods ([personal profile] avalonmods) wrote in [community profile] avalaughs2022-02-28 08:54 pm
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TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ 17

Isle of Avalon Test Drive Meme Banner - it's a pic of a moat with our logo on a smart phone

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⚔️️ Premise
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IMPORTANT NOTE 1: For the month of March, magic is acting unstable! Magic fuck-ups are at least twice as likely to happen, so new characters may find it harder to do basic magic. 

IMPORTANT NOTE 2:The sky is not normal anymore! The calamity is visible in the sky as of February's event.

prompt briefs

arrival banner

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. The water is cold, but not enough that you can't handle it on your own.

The Lady of the 
Lake is nearby, but seems to be focusing on coordinating a band of mossatees to help rescue any wayward new arrivals. Mossatees are a special Avalonian manatee that is green in color and has what appears to be a patches of grass or other short plant life growing on its back. While some are fully green, others sport small flower blossoms that haven't yet grown in or various types of mushrooms. Green mages will be able to note that the plants growing on its back seem to give off "surfer dude" personalities.

mossatees

If anyone tries to ask the Lady of the Lake for directions, she will direct you to Archimedes at the Rent-a-Ride. Those with animal magic may get their info from the mossatees, though may notice that they're really overly friendly and have zero concept of personal boundaries. Everyone may notice they have no concept of personal space, as they will happily run right into someone's belly for a snoot squishing. 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




person riding horseback and looking at phone

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 and a pair of ear buds and tell them to "Check the Shit Box." The "Shit Box" refers to wardrobe more formally known as the Wardrobe of Finding, a hammerspace-like wardrobe that opens to each person's items and pets when the person touches the handle. From there, Archimedes directs everyone to settle in groups into modernized carriages pulled by horses and gives them a basic explanation of why and how they've been brought to Avalon: The rest of 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 a special feature for warm winter drinks like hot apple toddy and butter beer. 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. Newcomers get free inn rooms for their one night stay on the way to Camelot, containing two twin beds, a bathroom, a mini-fridge and microwave, and a TV equipped with a couple of entertaining video games and movies.

Don't want to relax in the room? Take a dip in the communal hot spring. The waters have restorative properties that help horses and travelers recover quickly. 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, but... Hm....

hot springs covered in steam



Clean Crimes

When everyone arrives it seems like during the siege on Camelot the training grounds were absolutely trashed! 

A ⦿ gArBo HuNgErS

a garbage with a face

With everyone focusing on recovering Camelot main and the bulk of the resort facilities at the Red Springs, the training grounds at the Red Springs have gone a little neglected.. at least enough to be taken over by a band of local decay sprites.

Now, these fairies aren't what they sound- they're not dead, they're little garbage sprites. Perfectly harmless, they often go around picking up trash from n
atural habitats. They look like garbage bags and bins with googly eyes. 

However, the Red Springs's magical attributes combined with magic going a little haywire have caused them to go a little off. Right now, their googly eyes are flashing angry colors that should come with a seizure warning straight out of an old Disney cartoon. They're not just picking up trash, they're eating everything!
 

What's more, they grow in size each time they eat something new, so some of them are already big enough to swallow an orc! Don't worry, the trash goes into a hammerspace to decay over a long period of time, so if you get swallowed, there's still a chance for someone to get you out... which they can do by fighting the decay sprite. Decay sprites can suck things up similarly to Kirby, though they do not gain your powers, so finding a way to keep your feet on the ground with magic should be your first step. Beware though, defeated sprites will spin in a circle and fall over, and everything they've eaten will spill out onto the ground... so you're going to have to clean it up yourself.


B ⦿ Slightly Shabby

The state of Camelot isn't exactly great when everyone arrives. It's been ravaged by siege. Things are broken, scattered, and though many of the buildings are still standing, most people are focused on things like taking care of kids, rebuilding, or rerouting the new arrivals since the inn is not available right now. The castle rooms are already pretty full of people whose homes got trampled during the siege, so new arrivals are going to have to find their own place to live.

Thankfully, some tag-alongs who came down from Nicnevin with the Elphame traders have got the solution!
 It's the Wink-Wonk Dream-Donk: a ball you can press the button on and it will suck you inside for a state of stasis! Good dreams guaranteed!

Side effects that the mystery helper doesn't mention are that you can't get out on your own, someone else has to press the button, and you'll have warm, vaguely submissive, fuzzy, 

it's a pokeball but bootleg

kinda clingy feelings toward anyone who lets you out. Though acting on it can be fought with strong enough willpower, it's certainly going to get you and a stranger much closer than you planned a lot faster. It looks like you may have gotten caught up in some kind of dark web experimental product... oops.



Lapin It Up (Lapin is French for Rabbit, but sounds like lapping in English)

 

The start of the month begins with the usual March rituals like the Lesser Banishing of Frost Fairies before flowers start to bloom throughout Avalon. Once things start to get cleaned up, some Camelot citizens think of ways to get Camelot back to its normal glory.

 

A ⦿ Running of the Moon Rabbits

Doing the Lesser Banishing of Frost Fairies often attracts Moon Rabbit kits. These friendly small rabbits do eat a lot though, and it's important right now that the youngin's are nourished without depleting Camelot's food stores. 

Thankfully, the Moon Rabbit Kits love to
play tag. So throughout Camelot, people have started playing a massive game of tag. The rabbits will chase you around, so the goal is to chase people and head out toward the Broceliande to get the Moon Rabbit kits out to nature where they're intended to be.

Per Camelot rules, if you're touched by someone's magic it is considered as being tagged-- so hands or spells will count as a tag.. just be careful, magic is a little unbalanced right now! Be careful not to step on any of the little rabbits while you run!

cat touching a blonde man's hair. text says "Tag! You're it!"

 


B ⦿ Eggxacting

moon flowers under the moon, high res

With the streets clearer and Camelot finally starting to look more like its former self (albeit a little sparser) a culinary wizard has taken to trying his hand at a kind of magic that should help to quickly decorate the city and encourage floral growth. Using a wild combination of animal magic and green magic, the wizard created a special brand of eggs he's calling Oeufs de fleurs. He's selling them for a low price (hey, he does need to bring in some income to afford his expenses) for everyone and new arrivals get half a dozen OdF eggs for free! Just make sure that you follow the directions and there won't be a problem!

The directions included with each pack of eggs states:

1. Blue eggs should only be thrown at night.
2. White eggs should only be thrown at day.
3. Do not eat them.

More information is available on the chef's Instagram page, of course, but that's all that's included. The further information lets you know that blue eggs are

 photosensitive and will turn into bear firs if thrown during the day, but if used correctly will blossom into moonflowers at night. The white eggs react to the moon and will grow into 60 foot tall trees if you throw them at night... but if you're throwing them during the day, they will become beautiful morning glories that only blossom during the light.

Lastly, foolishly eating a flower egg is known to result in latent hanahaki disease. If you don't love someone now, this may appear at any point in the future when it does happen. It can only be cured by a skilled green mage.

These eggs do expire, so make sure you use them by the end of the month!


• All test drive prompts are open to anyone in the game at any time to create your own logs with, as the events within are considered game canon.
• This post should have top-levels by potential new characters only. Current characters may reply to any threads and may start their own logs off-post, 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 usually present on every TDM, but 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.


pyrrhichope: (pic#15519026)

[personal profile] pyrrhichope 2022-03-12 06:23 am (UTC)(link)
'Marvel' is not the word I’d use.

[They'd survived, yes. But even though it had been something that he might call miraculous if he believed in it, there had been nothing enjoyable about. Not when even surviving had been a stroke of sheerest luck - and that survival had come at so dear a cost besides.

But then again... he's hardly about to get into the details of that with someone who's as good as a stranger, Garlean or no.]


Jullus pyr Norbanus.

[That much, at least, is easy to offer. And though the Empire might be dead and gone, it still feels... strange, somehow, to consider not offering his rank. Like he'd be betraying that part of himself in doing so.]

Were there not any in the box?

[The switch to Garlean is immediate; without even so much as a thought and there's a sort of relief in it. He has no trouble with the tongue more commonly spoken in Eorzea, of course. But it's nice to not have to bother, either.]
nerological: (V)

[personal profile] nerological 2022-03-12 06:29 am (UTC)(link)
[It wasn't a surprise at all, to hear the man give his rank. Well, the Empire hadn't been gone for very long, now had it? And, well... Nero still used his.]

No, I'm sure the term would be far darker, all things considered...

[But no, details weren't necessary. If nothing else, it was hinted at in the reply: he knew from word of mouth well enough the horrors that the Ist endured. He didn't need to know further about it, certainly not here nor now, and Jullus would more likely than not be better off not being questioned of it.]

Nero tol Scaeva.

[Offered casually and with a rather brisk air, not much room left behind for questions because-]

Of course not, that would be far too convenient.

[Cid barely slipped into Garlean, not unless it was a matter between himself and Nero, so it was actually a bit nice to be able to just use the mother tongue. He glanced sidelong at the other man, then towards his weapon.]

What of yours? What is the state of it?
pyrrhichope: (pic#15519031)

[personal profile] pyrrhichope 2022-03-15 05:11 am (UTC)(link)
[The term would absolutely be darker, had he the inclination to speak his mind about it. As it is, he doesn't - and, mercifully, is not asked to.]


The same as yours, more or less.

[He's found no cartridges to speak of, and the weapon itself will definitely need some looking after, just as soon as he has the time to do so. Though it is at least less of a monster than Nero's is, so he won't need to spend quite as much time on it.]

I heard the XIVth was gone, though. All dead, save for a handful of survivors from the lower ranks.

[And, he supposes, Gaius himself. But the less said about that, the better, as far as he's concerned.]
nerological: (XVI)

[personal profile] nerological 2022-03-15 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
The reports of our annihilation were somewhat exaggerated.

[Cool, formal and crisp, as if the legion had just gotten a bit turned around in Thanalan rather than utterly obliterated. Hey, they both knew the truth here, and he'd accepted what had happened. There wasn't any need to inject any drama into it at this point, not like he could go back in time and undo it.]

Let me see it then.

[No, wasn't going to ask questions about what had happened in Garlemald, wasn't going to speak of the Praetorium, wasn't going to bring up Gaius. He had priorities and priorities involved the immediate and workable issues, such as:]

An officer's weapon should be at least in operable order, even if it has no ammunition.

[An inspection and maybe a few on the fly repairs with whatever he had on him was the idea, the taller man casting that ice blue gaze down at Jullus's gunblade.]
pyrrhichope: (pic#15519031)

[personal profile] pyrrhichope 2022-03-16 04:57 am (UTC)(link)
[There's something like a choked laugh at Nero's assessment of the XIVth, half-bitter and almost devoid of mirth. He knows all too well the sort of losses that might prompt such a comment, especially given that the Ist hasn't exactly fared much better, for all that their losses have been less a decisive defeat and more a slow bleeding thing. Men lost to cold or injuries, in the desperate struggle to survive in a place that had already been hostile before Anima had wreaked havoc across the populace. Still, he doesn't ask for more information. He knows what's in the public record and that's enough for him. That and he's willing to offer a favor for a favor, and not drag either of them into a conversation they won't much like.

Instead, he leaves it be, turning instead to Nero's request.]


I know how to take care of it.

[It comes out sharp and still vaguely grumbly, but he holds it out for inspection all the same. Regardless of the fate of the XIVth, Nero does yet outrank him, and he's not gotten to where he is by not following orders. Or things that very nearly as good as, given that he owes no real allegiance to either Nero or the XIVth.

Still, the gunblade proves the truth of his words - it's obviously been well-cared for, despite having been put through significant use of late. It's been decently well-maintained too, though that hadn't always been easy or particularly feasible in the only mostly not-freezing temperatures of Tertium. And, of course, it hasn't taken the best to the suddenness of his arrival even despite having ended up in a strange box, but Jullus can't imagine that wouldn't also be the case for Nero's. If not worse, given how much larger - and presumably, more fiddly - it is than his own.]
Edited 2022-03-16 05:00 (UTC)
nerological: (XVIII)

[personal profile] nerological 2022-03-16 06:00 am (UTC)(link)
[It's a sound he's well familiar with at this point. One he'd certainly made himself at least once or twice, because sometimes what else could one even do, anyway? A bitter laugh, a morbid joke and then forge ever onwards. What better way to spit in the eye of fate, really?]

I wasn't asking if you did.

[Not really a chide, not really a correction, just a blunt and unyielding statement of facts as he just waited for the order to be obeyed. And obeyed it was, a thing worthy of note. Chaos definitely had not descended long enough to wear away well trained compliance, nor had the man before him broken too much to no longer see the point in harkening to the orders of a superior officer. The latter of which was well and good, honestly. As callous as Nero could be, he didn't necessarily enjoy seeing his countrymen shattered.

He took a moment to look over the weapon, inspecting the blade, the hilt and the various bolts that held it all in place, tested where they all met to ensure he heard no rattle nor felt anything loose. No ammunition just the same as his of course, but otherwise in fair state. Well used, but perfectly serviceable.
]

Good, it shouldn't need any maintenance for a while longer yet. It'll certainly come in handy later, and it's good to see someone who knows their way around their own tools. You wouldn't imagine how many officers let their weapons deteriorate.

[Not once, never once, did the crisp yet casual tone drop, like nothing at all here was strange nor wrong, turning his attention back to his own weapon with a grimace.]

Though it appears no amount of maintenance can stave off the clumsy ineptitude of backwater savages.

[They scuffed it up. It's fucky now.]
pyrrhichope: (pic#15519037)

[personal profile] pyrrhichope 2022-03-18 06:53 am (UTC)(link)
[For all that Jullus has - undeniably - been through the sort of hell no one should need to go through, and has been beset by both loss and suffering, he has certainly not broken. Not yet, and if being tempered and then awakening into the Final Days hadn't been enough to break him, there's very little else that could.

Not that he mentions any of it. Instead, he simply waits patiently (or at least, as patiently as he is capable of) while Nero looks his weapon over, and it's only when he pronounces his judgment that Jullus speaks up again.]


I would, actually. There wasn't a lot of leeway for that kind of thing after... well. You can guess, I'm sure.

[And there been no shortage of people who had suddenly had more reason to complain, when it had been very necessary, all of a sudden, to keep one's weapon in proper working order. But rather than speak more on that, he simply takes his own back, eyes flickering over to Nero's at his comment about it.]

I'm not surprised they wouldn't know how to handle something like that.

[He wouldn't know how to handle it, he's fairly sure. Though he might at least have a better idea of what not to do.]