TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ 21

[avalonmods]

	QUICK NAV: ⚔️️ Premise ⚔️️ Rules ⚔️️ FAQ ⚔️️ Taken ⚔️️ Reserves ⚔️️ Apply ⚔️️ Locations ⚔️️ Bestiary
⚔️️ View Top-Levels Only ⚔️ IMPORTANT NOTE: The calamity is visible in the north area of the sky from all locations as of February's event. There is currently no sun or moon visible, making the world in a persistent state of dusk for now.

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, and normally the mossatees would still be helping this time of year... but it seems like they haven't shown up. Instead, a very helpful band of octopi have joined the cause. They range in size, from large enough to scoop three characters out of the water with their plethora of wriggling tentacles... to a band of tiny,
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. If anyone tries to ask the Lady of the Lake for directions, she will direct you to Archimedes at the Rent-a-Ride. 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.

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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 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.

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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, 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.

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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.

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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
your brand new and unstable magics to accomplish what amounts to changing bodies with your familiar. Form a circle with another person and both of your familiars at equidistant points on the circle. Your familiar should be to your right. In the center of the circle, a bowl filled with a strong alcohol, enough to cover a chunk of malachite (a stone of transformation, associated with the heart and throat), vervain (to purify the spell of interfering spirits and offer protection, as well as assist in astral connection), purple coneflower (increases ritual powers by calling upon local deities), and violet (dedication and loyalty, to hold steady the bond between familiar and mage). Both mages in the circle should take the deepest breath they can and hold that breath, hold each other's palms up facing each other, and light the bowl on fire. It's important that you hold your breath for as long as you can, because malachite is toxic when exposed to liquid and will be released into the air during the spell. As the spell casts, a light will glow from your chest, up to your throat, and at the moment when you can no longer hold your breath and have to let it out, your soul will exit your body along with that breath. The protective qualities of the vervain will have kicked in by this point, and the fire of the bowl will go out. All four souls will swirl over the bowl slowly, like a turning galaxy, for a few moments, until they burst out and the souls find their way to their new host: yours in your familiar's body and your familiar's in yours. 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.

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• 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. • Both current members and potential new characters can post to this TDM log. Anyone may reply to any threads or start top-levels. Whichever you prefer! •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. This particular one is a little different. 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.

Comments

[itsmypower]

[And easy as that, another secondary wind slipping seamlessly through the other's, forming their new weightless air-globe. Whirling quietly. He watches twin currents gather, then, bit by bit, attempts still-gradual introduction, weaving small streams of water through. He lights when its magic holds, not unraveling immediately.]

So, it works with you too... [Just like flames.] I wouldn't normally try with someone else. I thought it might be a little unstable this way.

[He's clearly wrong, though.] This means you could borrow my Elements. Save your magic if you needed to. [Use his wind to "steal" what's offered.] ...Might be useful in a battle or two.

[phoenixwiz]

All things considered, at least we can get to mix our elements wheneve we want to.

(The last part Shoto mentions has reminded him of the Trow rescue quest he and Claire participated in where he had to teleport the kidnapped people from the Trowes’ cave. The amount of energy did managed to make him tired faster than he could have imagined.)

Sounds like a good piece of advice. I honestly learned that the hard way when I was trying to teleport plenty of people from the cave of Trowes over a year ago. The energy I needed to take them to safety basically was too much for me that I got exhausted pretty quickly. Since then I have to be more careful with how much magical energy I can use for my spells.

[itsmypower]

[What a "funny" conversation... It seems a bit strange to be floating still—themselves suspended, caught in magic, speaking as casually as if they were walking together; but here they are. Though neither's seemed to think twice about it. One boy drifting with thoughts in two places, eyes on his hands again.]

Does that mean you don't need a totem? [Blinking at him,] I thought Kinetics were only light on their feet...

[He's learning a lot this month!]

I never knew they could use a warping spell.

[phoenixwiz]

Sadly no, I still need totems to get to far away areas and places: they would normally require traveling to go to places that would be not accessed with teleportation, like from Camelot to Celliwig Ruins for example.

(As far as he is aware using totems is completely different from using teleportation. He had used some of the totems to reach other areas in Avalon such as Celliwig’s Ruins, so he has some idea of what it is like.)

I could only teleport anything and anyone into certain amounts of distance.

[itsmypower]

[Wishful thinking, then.]

So it has its limits too...? But warping's still pretty useful; I can't escort a range of people like that. I guess that explains our different magics, though. If we're not all working together here, then we really can't manage much. I might... be relying on you too, someday.

[phoenixwiz]

(Harry can’t help but agree with Shoto on working together to accomplish many things to help Avalon in its time of need. If he was brought into Avalon during his most emotionally vunerable state, he would have said no to anyone who wants to help him and try to do things on his own.

But now he is far away from that time and has gotten a bit wiser over time to not refuse help immediately.)

I wish that teleportation here can take me into larger distances as well. But yeah, I agree with that sentiment as well. Every magic has their strengths and weaknesses but I find that they’re all equal in how they can be utilized. There has been plenty of Quests where I did need other people’s help or have lent a hand to others and it is always rewarding to help each other no matter how hard the situation can be.

[itsmypower]

[He's not the only one who's changed here. The way his own growth surprises; he'd been impossible to reach before, far too cold. He wouldn't have dreamed of sharing his strength in past. He's almost shy again, hesitant. It's nice to talk, sometimes.]

I'd always thought I could get along on my own. Though even if that were true for me, I wouldn't have found this sort of power myself. It's like I'm everyone else I'd learned from, before. I wouldn't own half the strength I do all alone. [His meeting the boy who "gave his ice back" being his absolute fortune.] Looking back on things, I wish I'd realized it all a lot sooner.

[And speaking of,]

How do you feel about your familiar? I wasn't so glad to be sharing its magic before.

[phoenixwiz]

Oh yes, my relationship with my familiar has been really amazing. Rose has been quite helpful ever since the beginning as we begin to bond together as a team. She often tries to help me out even when I am scared for her safety because she is very small compared to some of the other familiars as her species are naturally small in size.

But she nevertheless stands her ground and does her best to help anyone out, including myself.

(Rose squeaks up as she pokes her head from his coat pocket, she is so eager to meet new people along. Her big blue eyes widen in delight upon seeing Shoto and she is clearly making her presence to be known.)

Sorry to be so slow on this; I'm weeks behind this month...

[itsmypower]

[What is that?]

A mouse...?

[He starts, if only because she's much smaller, much less vicious than he's used to. Impossibly small and too-fragile, although he ought to know better, thinks of Kasha, his "cat's" appearance false image, demon disguised and masked convincingly harmless. This creature's so much warmer; clear blue eyes standing out at him, almost kind in how she peeks at him. And he thinks, with good reason, how she should never meet Kasha.]

I don't... think our familiars should meet then.

[He has a cat... sort of.]

Kasha doesn't exactly listen to me.

It’s okay

[phoenixwiz]

Actually, she is called a Pygmy Puff, they are creatures who are pretty small in size. But she is at the same size as the mouse and Pygmy Puffs could be consider as rodents, so it’s understandable to worry about Kasha being near Rose.

(Harry can see why some people could mistake Rose for a mouse sometimes. Some customers got her mixed up with mice sometimes, but Harry didn’t got mad at them for the mistake.)

Oh, she wouldn’t listen to you that often?

[itsmypower]

Pygmy Puff...

[Repeating it softly; two new words committed to memory now. Although he doesn't know where to start with things. His demon seemed threatening, a nuisance.]

He's... a guy, I think, sort of. But we've never gotten along from the start; like I was just his obligation. I didn't believe he could teach me anything, so it's not like I was that open to much. I didn't want powers I'd only borrowed; to be relying on some demon for that...

[But, well. He'd felt the same way at home, he thinks.]

So I guess I'm a little jealous.

[phoenixwiz]

Hey, there is nothing wrong with feeling a little jealous sometimes. I once got jealous of a friend when he and my ex used to date each other before when I still had a crush on her, and that was before we started dating.

(As for Kasha being so difficult with Shoto, well, he is sadly no cat or cat like familiar expert, there is no way he can read Crookshanks’s mind that easily too. But the way the younger teen described his relationship with him did in some way remind him a lot of during the time Snape tried to teach him how to resist Voldemort’s mind games and intrusions.)

Well, come to think of it. The way you describe your and Kasha’s relationship, it reminds me of my strained relations with a professor in my school. He was, un, strict and can be hard to understand to put it lightly and we didn’t get a long too well most of the time.

[itsmypower]

[An "ex"? ...Oh. Lucky (?) for Shoto, U.A. had always prohibited dating so long as one was still enrolled, of course. Add to the fact he'd been restrained since youth; wasn't allowed to pursue much else beyond an injurious sort of "training", and the rest could all explain itself. His wondering at others from lonesome vantage... looking at bonds beyond a window walling him off from all the world instead. Though he can truly only imagine, it's someone else he briefly thinks about, his having a chance to link his fingers with. But—well; he'd been grasping at the air to start. His friend is well and truly gone, it seems; and though he's survived this long without, he thinks, it's easier calling it all "distraction", ignoring the things he doesn't need just yet. He needs his strength, he feels: power.

He is soul and flames attached to this stupid, hellish demon cat.

He scratches his cheek a bit, lightly; looks embarrassed once he speaks again.]

I- I guess it's complicated, then? [Much as everything else...] But I'm honestly sorry to hear that. [Though, the rest, he understands quite well.]

Do you think— [still hesitant,] you'll understand each other at all someday?

[phoenixwiz]

Yeah, it was very complicated to say the least, Shoto.

(When asked about his relationship with Snape, he did think about it long and hard. Deep down, he still feels mixed towards the former Potion professor these days like with Dumbledore too, but he at least knows that Snape wasn’t as bad as his younger self would have thought of him years ago.)

I was able to understand some of his goals in the end. I saw some of his memories before he died through a memory portal like device and I got a better understanding of where he was coming from. After seeing things from his point of view, I came to the conclusion that he did try to make up for some of the things and mistakes he had done in his past.