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avalaughs2022-07-01 02:04 am
TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ 21
| QUICK NAV: |
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A ⦿ Soaking in Your Arrival
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palm-sized baby octopi working together to try to heave a single person out of the water. No matter which you get, they all seem to have unique personalities, but animal mages may note that as a species, they all seem to think of the otherworlders as fun little playthings. These little otherworlders are so funny. | |
B ⦿ The Caravan to Camelot
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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 and rain. There is also a mini-bar that pops out of the console. 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! |
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D ⦿ Light it Up | |
| With the sun and moon temporarily gone, some fae have put forward a solution to fight the dusk off for a little while. They have made special lanterns holding a spell which, when powered up with any kind of magic, activates a small energy field large enough to comfortably fit up to five people. This field takes its form straight from the magic-providing person’s mind - so whether they're feeling homesick or just really want to be stuck in a deserted island for a while, the lantern will make it happen! Naturally, all of it is an illusion so nothing is actually real... but it feels very real, especially to the person providing the magic. The lantern will not make illusions of other humans or animals - just places, buildings, and flora - and those taking part will be able to move around and explore… but be careful not to get too excited, or you might just end up moving your real body and knocking another person out of the illusion, or falling out of it yourself to a very disorienting awakening. |
If you don’t mind being crowded together, the energy field could squeeze in up to ten people, but the risks of someone being nudged out accidentally go up as more people enter. After that, anyone else who tries to step in - invited or not - will find themselves repelled by an invisible wall around the outside of the illusion. There is, however, a time limit on this. While the spell can last up to twelve hours, it's advised that the lantern isn't used for more than a few hours at a time. If this guidance isn’t followed, it’s possible that after the lantern is deactivated the people who took part will keep seeing the illusory scenery around them for some time afterwards. If a person uses the lantern for the whole twelve hours, the illusion will continue for up to three days in the form of intrusive, imaginary objects and buildings that only they can see, or even faint shades of people from their own worlds. | |
E ⦿ Getting More Familiar | |
With Elphame and Camelot in better relations than ever thanks to the efforts of Otherworlders, Queen Elphame and King Arthur are working closely together to accomplish the next step of her plan, despite some tension about her not sharing what she intended to do with the Fisher King from the get-go. But they're talking now, and the place that everyone needs to go next is a place only familiars can reach. The first thing that needs doing is a little bit of magic practice before anyone can go on the full mission. This will be much easier for those who have been here longer, bonded with their familiars longer, but will certainly not be impossible for those who have just arrived. Team up with another person to help balance |
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your brand new and unstable magics to accomplish what amounts to changing bodies with your familiar. Result can be unpredictable if you step outside of the lines with this spell, depending on which part you mess up, so players should feel free to come up with their own mishaps based on what each of the above ingredients for the spell are should they wish to go that route. Once you've managed to become your familiar (and your familiar you... good luck with that), you need to practice being your familiar. Get the hang of moving, the hang of your familiar's characteristics, voice (or lack thereof), and how to function as them. Exactly how to do that will be a personalized experience based on what your familiar is, so there's no clear means to practice... which means it's a good time to send you on a softball, but useful quest to practice before the real thing! Each of you who have done this should head into the Brocéliande and look for silver flowers that look like daffodils. Within them are drops of what appear to be water, but those drops are actually enchanted glass spheres only visible to familiars. Be careful- the silver daffodils are guarded by skunk-like spirits that spray knock-out gas, then they will drag you to a random location in the forest. You really could get lost very easily, but don't come back without your sphere! Those will be super important for bringing back the sun and moon soon. | |
• 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 as long as the characters are currently in or join the game during the application period. If new players do not want their TDM to be considered canon, they should state as much on the OOC intro once accepted. |
1a - Still Voicetesting
Garlemald. Prior to his own chaotic reign. The towering metal and glass monoliths against the cold Ilsabard skyline, glowing almost pale, almost beautiful, in a clouded light. One could compare it to something akin to a dream, were his own dreams not filled with shadowy figures screaming as their own strange city burned.
The chill of the air fogs his breath as he realizes exactly where they are- some balcony at the palace, standing over the city, as he steps to stand beside the smaller man.
"Garlemald was never quite so peaceful, great grandfather.." There is almost spite in his voice, barely restrained contempt as a hand moves to the sword he keeps at his hip.
"Or should I call you most Eminent Emet-Selch?"
no subject
"Don't you start calling me that as well," he says with a scowl, turning back to gaze upon the city. "For that matter, when did you wash up? I would have noticed a giant like you traipsing about the city."
no subject
A shame his father hadn't the stomach to fight rather than deciding to turn his hands to petty weapons of war such as his Black Rose.
There's a soft pull of a scowl upon his lips as the blonde looks out upon the glistening landscape, the barest bits of sun shimmering across the scape.
"The circumstances of which I arrived hardly matter, only that I did. Stranger things have happened. Would you not agree, your radiance?" The barely restrained contempt escapes as he looks at the smaller man.
Fandaniel had told him much in his prattling, about this... Emet-Selch. Head of some convocation of fourteen ancient souls, the likes of which had possessed his body, who had fled like a coward rather than cross swords with him in a borrowed host.
"You are looking well for a man long dead."
no subject
"'Emet-Selch' alone is fine," he says tiredly, stalling for time to collect his thoughts. "And I suppose if you know that title, I needn't explain that this body is another's, re-purposed for my own ends - although it may as well be my own now."
His hair is much longer, that said. It would hang past his shoulders if not currently tied back into a single ponytail, but that visage is likely more familiar to Zenos anyway than when it was kept short for Solus' military tenure.
His gaze shifts and drops to the sword his great-grandson is casually resting their hand on. "Garlemald had its peaceful moments. You may have never known a day without conflict, but in the weeks after this citadel was completed there would be quiet nights like this and I would find a high vantage point from which to admire the city."
A pause to let the silece sit, then:
"Do you plan to test your sword against mine?" There is a touch of dry hunour to the question.
no subject
All the same, cold blue eyes, so different from Solus and Varis both, gaze across the peaceful landscape. He had never known this kind of peace. The beauty of Garlemald long vanished before his birth. Disappeared in the flames of a slowly kindled civil war between his father and his grand-uncle.
In truth he had never really known the man standing before him. A distant ruler, always at arm's length. Emperor, rather than familial figure. There is so much he could say to the man- mock him, for the fact that his legacy lays in tatters. That this peaceful facade has been twisted and warped and made into a living thing. That his grandson became an Eikon. That his god lays dead at the hands of the Warrior of Light. That Garlemald burned in the final days. That his last living heir is called "viator", a traitor to his empire's people. That he had become the monster that had devoured their nation and gorged upon its anguish to set the final scene.
And all the same, does any of it really matter? The past is the past, and there is only the present, even if they are stuck here in this distant dream by some summoned magics.
Were it his own dream, it would be of fire, and screaming, and death, much as it had been in the final days of Garlemald.
no subject
"Fine. But I've no wish to mar this memory with bloodied steel. I need to fetch my weapon in any case."
Sorry for the delay!
"Your associate, Fandaniel, was most illuminating about you." He stays his blade for now, but he will not sheath his barbs.
"No wonder father always seemed to despise you so, convinced he was that man could conquer its own destiny."
no worries! same here
Emet-Selch feels a twinge of wistfulness as he they approach the room he used to occupy as emperor. At Zenos' words, he sniffs. "Fandaniel - or Amon, rather - spoke much but said little, and what little he did say was oft insincere. I'm surprised you bothered to take anything he said at face value."
6.2 captured me oops
"Despite his prattling and the mummer's farce of the playing court jester, he certainly was more than happy to share the information of his former masters. He was particularly joyful that you could not hold his leash when it came to Zodiark. To think, the very will of the star was simply a primal... no wonder you feared them. When you summoned the first."
Coward. He had called his great-grandsire once a coward for outlawing all primals. For seeming to fear them when he could very well bend them to his own will, if one was strong enough. Or had it just been a farce, to give his country purpose? To give them a reason to build their empire and throw the star in chaos?
"A shame he is no more."
ME TOO....
He cannot help but sound slightly incredulous. He hadn't known Zenos to be particularly fond of...well, anything. Besides battle, that is. Even if Emet-Selch did largely keep himself distant from his mortal bloodline, he had made sure he knew enough about their temperaments and interests such that he could orchestrate Garlemald's downfall properly.
Zenos gets a considering look before he turns away and fetches a Garlean-make greatsword from its resting place. Though it looks ill-suited to Emet-Selch's slighter frame, he wields it with ease and familiarity. He takes few careful turns and swings to limber his wrist and arms before nodding in satisfaction.
"Where to then, o great-grandson?" he drawls.
Love getting to meet Zenos's avatar. Can't wait to learn more.
The comment gets a look of subtle befuddlement- why would he ever miss a Primal that he had no attachment to? His great-grandsire certainly was taking the news of his god’s death well-
Oh.
No, he apparently thought he missed Fandaniel. No. Not at all. As if he could stand the incessant prattling of the man, doing his best to hide the mask of his true intentions. And he had. As much as he played the part of court Jester, in the end, the grand battle he had promised... it had been snatched before his very eyes with a single step over the edge.
“I did not mean your associate. Your god. Zodiark. He is no more, killed by the Eikon slayer of Eorzea.” He almost sounds disappointed. After all, it was he who was supposed to merge with the primal, to take it over much like he had Shinryu, to ignite the Warrior of Light to take Hydaelyn into their breast and scorch the stars with their combined might.
Carefully, he slides his hand back to the borrowed sword, and waits for how the news will affect him.
same! loving the Vampire Hunter D vibes she gives off
He sighs at the reminder. Indeed, had he been told this a year or more ago when he had still been in thrall to his god, he would have taken the news rather less well than he is now.
He lets his sword balance on its tip in front of him, his hands resting on its hilt. "I'm aware that Zodiark is no more. And of Fandaniel's desire to bring about the end of our star. Were you hoping to provoke me with that information?"
Re: same! loving the Vampire Hunter D vibes she gives off
(( Phone tagging so my apologies. ))
Yes, he wants to say. He wants his hatred and anger. Wants his great-grandsire’s rage. Wants him to fall upon him with the desire to kill him. Had it not been the same with his dear friend? He wants him to fight him like it’s their last.
There is no greater joy than that for him.
“Then I suppose you know that I assisted Fandaniel in his fool’s errand. That I killed your grandson and brought civil war in its wake. That your empire fell because of me. I brought the final days to bear upon Garlemald and the star, and enslaved your nation to a Primal.” He lists his every sin as if it will make Solus- what? Notice him? Fight him with all of his wrath? Treat him as something more than an annoyance? As his father had revered him a monster?
Some small part of him is aware that he sounds much the petulant child throwing a tantrum. Acting of his own desire to fight the man who clearly wants nothing to do with him. Who hardly ever did.
“Your empire fell with me.”
no subject
"I see Fandaniel wasn't quite as frank with you as he seemed. Garlemald was always destined to be consumed in civil war. He took advantage of the foundation I laid to further his own agenda. Had I not built the empire, enforced its strict hierarchy, and fostered a culture of privilege and discrimination, he would have had a far more difficult time enslaving the people or finding any sort of faith to exploit."
He leans a little on his sword, arms now lazily crossed over the guard, watching Zenos steadily. "I was watching that whole drama unfold, you know. From the aetherial sea. Now, if you truly wanted to find something to anger me...you ought to threaten my friend, Hythlodaeus. But I assure you that I do not need threats of his death to motivate me to fight you with every fibre of my being. After all, I can hardly return home with him if I am dead."