avalaughs | TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ I

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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 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. You'll definitely see other new arrivals plopping in. If you can't swim, a red-headed woman known only as the Lady of the Lake will drag you to the shore if she doesn't spot someone else near you helping so no one ends up drowning. She's a little busy casting directive magic to make sure everyone lands safely and playing lifeguard, so if anyone attempts to talk to her, she'll tell them to head up to 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.

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 earbuds 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.

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 ⦿ Get Fresh

Upon arrival in Camelot travelers are ushered to a large set of wash rooms where they can clean up and make themselves presentable for the Welcome Feast. They are informed that once the feast concludes there will be an announcement on where they can seek lodging and how to begin their magic studies.

B ⦿ Be Merry

After they freshen up, travelers are led into the main dining hall. The decorations range from simplistic to a little more grandiose, it is likely everyone will find something familiar. A modern mash up with a medieval flair. The jester makes his rounds, perhaps he has a joke or two to tell, go ahead, give him a listen or perhaps volunteer to participate in one of the jester's shows, like knife-throwing or hypnotism. Within the crowd of staff there are mummers, a juggler, here and there dabbled through small troupes perform mini skits, perhaps they’ll perform a well known verse from a traveler’s world or tell a tale of fancy from this realm.

C ⦿ Eat Well

A banquet is prepared with food that while all “rustic” in appearance are usually a version of modern dishes ranging from basic roast chicken and veggies to Korean-Mexican fusion and French patisserie. The drinks are much the same; while served in old fashioned goblets, they are drinks modern travelers will be familiar with.

Have a seat, meet a new neighbor, find a roommate, maybe a new or old friend? Talk to the person to your left, your right, across from you. Mingle, enjoy the food, the music, it shouldn’t be long before the information promised is provided. Till then take your fill and get to know your fellow travelers.

You've been here a few days now and have gotten a chance to settle in, find a place to stay, and Camelot's citizens have decided that you've been here long enough to start living your life again. Well, your new life.

A group of citizens have decided to give everyone their first quest.

"Hear ye, hear ye!" a man in chain mail with a tablet with his statement typed up on it declares to a crowd from atop a pedestal. There are two other citizens around him with phones to post the video to AOL later to make sure the word gets heard ye all around.

"Those with magic, we beseech thee! Findeth us a grail most holy hidden in the depths of the Brocéliande! This holy grail is known to grant thine wishes three, a most noble quest for noble souls! Great reward will come to those who find it and proclaim at least one of their wishes to find the great Excalibur for King Arthur!"

This is the first you've heard about King Arthur, and it seems curious that he hasn't yet shown his face around town. It also seems strange that this guy is speaking like he's stepped out of a bad period piece, and probably should be the clue that this is more or less an attempt to haze some of the newcomers by sending them into the forest... but no one is telling newcomers this. It's better to get them out there and start praciticing, after all.

A ⦿ Lost, and Lost, and Lost Again

The Brocéliande is well-known around Camelot for being a forest that's both bountiful and mysterious. Oddities are known to happen that may never happen again to the point that even if something weird happens and you can't prove it, most citizens will assume you're telling the truth.

Which is what makes it peculiar when you keep passing the exact same locations over and over again, as if you've been traveling in circles or reaching the end of the map in a video game and coming out the other end. You're stuck in a space loop. The only way out is to successfully find the one difference in each loop five times in a row and collect it. Maybe it's a strange frog, a crystal that wasn't there before, a small wooden step that doesn't lead anywhere, or some other singular item, you've got to find what stands out... pick the wrong item, and you'll have to start your five count over again, and again, and again...

B ⦿ Grail, and Grail, and Grail Again!?

If you either missed the space loop or managed to get out of it, eventually you'll come to find one of... quite a few copies of a grail with holes in the side placed throughout the forest. They look like they might be good for draining noodles, but that's about it. Though they're spread out, it's entirely possible you'll find more than one, but each of them are placed in situations where it's impossible to get to by normal means. You'll have to use magic! It may be hidden in a bird's nest at the top of the tallest tree, inside of a hole in a rock with bars that prevent you from reaching in (perhaps an animal friend could reach it), inside a boiling pond, or inside the body of a bear fir... there are a load of possibilities, and now's a chance for you to try out your brand new magics! Use one of those samples, find something from the bestiary, or come up with your own adventure to get your hands on that less-than-holy grail.

C ⦿ A Quest Completeish

Or it would be, if you could ever find the guy who announced it... The AOL posts have since been deleted. You may end up spending a lot of time trying to find the guy. At this point, citizens will start telling you that you shouldn't take quests unless they're on the quest board or else you're going to get scammed... that's definitely an olden times themed noodle strainer. If that doesn't make you give up, or perhaps motivates you to find the guy to kick his ass, you'll have to head out to the farmland and chase them through a cornfield. (Be careful not to get lost, it's a maize in there.) If one of the boys are caught, they'll explain they were just testing you-- and hey, you got a free addition to your kitchen! If pressed, they'll apologize and give you a bit of money for your trouble. It's not much, but it'll get you at least a meal.

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. This is the first one, ignore this note today!
• 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.
• For the first month only, there will not be a quest board. Starting in December, quests will be posted on the 1st of each month for current players. After that point, quests may be used as TDM prompts in addition to the presented TDM prompts. A link will be provided as a bonus prompt option at the end of the post.
• The first "Arrival" prompts are present on every TDM. 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Everybody got one of those where you come from?" He is just curious, though her smile is met by one of his own. To Lily, he is a nice person, just not always for everyone else. He is a very layered man.

He knows that can't be too great to here, he's not happy about it, and to be young like Lily would have to make it worse.

"Just for now, I'll get us out of here." Though, if he has his way, he may be trying to take Lily back to his world versus hers, after the way her parents did her, he thinks it may be best.

"Baskervilles do! We are the only ones that are supposed to have them but now normal people have been making illegal contracts." She frowned and played with a piece of candy. "We are...seen as bad guys now while the bad man is a hero." A clench of her jaw as the events of what happened before she arrived start to hit her again.

"One of them...killed Fang, The hatter."

"Tch, bad guys gotta way of making their noises seem squeaky clean." Illegal contracts huh? Sounds like the kind of thing back home he would have gotten Jyuto and Riou involved in to help stop.

He sees that clench and reaches into the small fridge pulling out a juice, chocolate milk, and a soda for her to pick from.

"Someone killed someone ya care about, ya just get stronger and pay 'em back." Yes, great influence here Samatoki.

"..." She was frustrated the Baskervilles weren't bad. Now people thought they were bad guys or monsters to scare kids to bed. That's how Lottie and them told her. It sucked.

Lily grabbed the soda a little curious about it before she started to feel the tears.

"Yeah...He protected me. We can't die but the Hatter has a chain that can kill us..."

"Thing is kid, just cause someone says someones bad don't mean shit. Take me, got folks back in my world that'd tell ya I'm the bad guy, 'cause they don't know shit, so fuck what they say."

Oh shit, he will rearrange this person's face, he is not okay with those tears.

The yakuza gets up, shifting over to sit next to Lily rather than across from her, he knows the pain of losing someone when you are still a kid and he wraps a comforting around the girl's shoulders.

"Well now ya got me, ain't no one gonna use no damn killin' chain or you and yours, they gotta get past me and mine. My team is unstoppable."

"...You're not a bad guy."

Lily meant that as the tear began to fall down her cheek. As she rubbed her eyes she continued to cry and lean against Samatoki.

"...you're team?"

"Neither are your friends from home, so don't let that get to ya kid."

He is surprisingly gentle, resting one hand over her head, giving the hair a little fuffle, Samatoki is going to let her cry right there all over his vintage shirt because somethings are more important.

"Yup, Jyuto and Riou, you'll like 'em. Riou's big as hell, ya can climb him like a jungle gym."

Edited 2021-01-28 00:22 (UTC)

"...I like you, Samatoki."

The tears did come out and she hiccupped a few times as she pressed her face against him.

"...I wanna meet them too? If you like them they have to be good people."

Lily rubbed her face a little more, the hair ruffles were nice. "I couldn't control...my anger and Fang got hurt."

"Ditto kid.."

And he means it, he does not take to many people but he is already feeling a bond to this kid and gods help anyone who gets in his way of keeping her safe and happy.

"You'll meet 'em, ain't found 'em yet but if I know 'em, they're around here somewhere, always got my back."

Maybe bonding with Lily will help him to open up and show his team just what he thinks of them, instead of maintaining that distance he does.

"S'alright, I bet ya if ya could ask him, he'd tell ya it's not your fault. Bad things happen sometimes, but ya gotta strap on and keep goin' for all the people ya lost and the ones ya still got."

A loud sniffle as she looked at him. "We have to...find them then."

Lily tried to calm herself down as the chain came over and rested his head on her lap.

"...uh-huh." That bad her tear up more before she nodded and tried to put on a good face.

"Don't worry, we will and your friends too, won't stop till we do."

And that means, every new set of arrivals, Samatoki will help her look through them and see if she finds anyone she knows who makes her happy. If they make her unhappy, well just better hope they don't see them.

He gives her hair another ruffle, reaching over grabbing a napkin, Samatoki just silently dries her eyes, and offers her a second one for her nose.

"Thank you..."

As she felt the napkin she closed her eyes and let him wipe her face before she took the napkin. After another sniffle she blew her nose.

"Sorry..."

"No problem kid."

As she settles herself he just gives her a little squeeze and sticks close to the young girl.

"For what? Ya got emotions, ain't nothin' wrong with that and anytime ya gotta talk about it, it's alright, I'll listen."

"...Yeah...I don't want to make Fang sad though too."

Another rub of her face.

"Ya won't, I bet ya if this crazy magic place somehow brings him, he's gonna be happy to see ya."

If not, Samatoki will rearrange his face until he decides he is..

TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ I

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