TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ 21

[avalonmods]

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⚔️️ 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

[mayoninofukucho]

[Overwhelming support from many. That makes Hijikata glad to hear. Emet-Selch can be quite the severe person, abrasive even, if one is easily intimidated, but it's no wonder given everything he's been through. Hijikata can still hardly imagine how he himself would cope with the survivor's guilt alone (and he feels that neither of them are people who naturally load guilt unto themselves unduly). He turns from the exhibit he was studying to look at the other man.]

You were really well regarded among everyone here, weren't you?

[It only makes the loss yet more painful, but isn't it meaningful that he was cherished and respected by so many people?]

I think any city would benefit from being run like Amaurot, but... well, most societies are just struggling along compared to what you could do.

[The citizens of Edo would never be able to handle such orderly proceedings, even if the Amanto in power were able to make anything they wanted out of aether, he's sure of that.]

[emet_sulk]

[ He looks away uncomfortably. He knows he's a difficult person to get along with. Even back then he was known for his sharp tongue and harsh demeanour. That had only worsened after the departure of his only two close friends... ]

I tried to instil such values on occasion. Yet man's perversion would eventually lead to the abuse of power, subjugation, war, and revolution...

[ Although, well, he and his surviving brethren did end up helping such agendas along ultimately. He falls silent for a short while before continuing: ]

...I wonder why peace is so difficult for mortalkind.

[ It's a rhetorical question; Emet-Selch gazes distantly at the rows of crystal concepts. If he hadn't encouraged strife, would lasting peace ever have been possible? Or would it simply be more pointless yearning? ]

[mayoninofukucho]

I wonder, too.

[It's always the same, isn't it? People just can't seem to live in harmony for long. He and his comrades back home certainly romaticised the warrior lifestyle in their poor countryside doujou, and while he doesn't regret following that path it doesn't seem like they'll ever be able to stop the cycle of conflict on their world. Even if the Amanto had never come, he's sure the humans would just have fought among themselves instead, as they did in prior centuries.]

Thank you for showing me all this. I'm glad I could see Amaurot as it was.

[emet_sulk]

[ There is a fair touch of melancholy in his voice as he casts one last look at his surroundings. ]

...I am glad I could see it too.

[ And then he sighs. ] I had forgotten what it looked like before, you know. I knew the shape of it, and the broader details, but this... This surpasses anything I could have imagined. Even the recreation I made out of its skeletal remains could never do it justice.

[ His voice breaks a little near the end and he clears his throat, continuing as though it never happened. ]

I should end the spell, lest I be tempted to remain here indefinitely...

[mayoninofukucho]

[Hijikata understands. Memories fade with time, details get washed out and lost... it may be even harder to retain everything during a lifespan that's much, much longer than a human's. For a brief moment he considers putting a hand on the other man's shoulder, but between both their natural dispositions it might end up feeling awkward - so he simply stands closer to him.]

We can keep the lanterns, right? Maybe the next time you can visit here with Hythlodaeus.

[Would that make it less painful? He's not sure, but he hopes so. He looks around for the lantern, wondering if it's been nearby all this time as they wandered through a far smaller illusion than the cityscape felt like.]

[emet_sulk]

[ The next breath he draws hitches tellingly. Without question, he is going to show Hythlodaeus this wondrous lantern. As he turns, he spots it sitting a stone railing. Somehow, it has followed them. Or perhaps they never really left it behind. ]

There it is.

[ His feet drag as he walks over. He doesn't want this dream to end. But it must.

...

For a few moments he hesitates in front of the lantern. As if he wants to say something. But in the end he presses his lips together and ends the spell. Their surroundings ripple and then melt away, leaving them back in the cramped stables behind Emet-Selch's shop. ]

[mayoninofukucho]

[It feels oddly similar to waking up from a dream - a really immersive one, like the ones they all experienced during last year's spring equinox. Hijikata needs a moment to reorient himself. Emet-Selch's feelings are almost palpable in the air, and once again he's torn between extending a gesture of comfort to the other man and respecting his personal space... and once more the latter wins out, just barely, because he just isn't good at comfort. There's warmth in his voice when he speaks, though, after a look at the time on his phone (the unchanging darkness makes it impossible to tell how long they were in the illusionary Amaurot).]

We sure got swallowed up in there! I'd actually come to give you these.

[He takes a couple of pouches from his sling bag. Emet-Selch will find that they contain some large purple bulbs, respectively a mix of amethysts, moontone, and pure iron, all in small sizes.]

Have them as a favour. You've done enough for us in turn.

["Us" being the Yuureisengumi. His subordinates told him that the alchemist has been an invaluable source of knowledge and advice for them on the few occasions they got stuck in their investigations.]

[emet_sulk]

[ He looks surprised. As far as he had been concerned, his advice and help had simply been part of the arrangement they had. Nothing deserving of such thoughtful gifts. The dead are his area of expertise, no more and no less. ]

There was no need for this... But thank you.

[ It would be churlish to turn down gratitude. He takes a deep breath and raises his head. ]

And to think you feared spirits at first. How far you've come.

[mayoninofukucho]

If it hadn't been for you I might just have thrown in the towel early.

[He grins a little, remembering what an undignified performance as a new death mage he showed in the presence of the poltergeist... Emet-Selch's coolheadedness really helped him calm down back then, much as his fear strained the other man's patience!]

I'll keep on improving. There'll be nothing I can't exorcise in the end!