avalaughs | TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ I

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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

"He is a chain! They can all look different. You make contracts with them but only Baskervilles are supposed to! Otherwise people make contracts and they are dragged into the abyss when the clock times out." A little rambling as she got closer to the water and started to splash at it curious to see what the creature was. All the while Bandersnatch kept an eye on Gokudera.

"They can have lots of different powers."

"What... I don't understand." Gokudera says and stares at the strange creature that's staring at him.

"What's a baskerville?" He looks the girl over and steps towards her cautiously.

"It looked dangerous. I wouldn't try to draw it closer." Except he would, because he wants to see it again.

She just didn't explain things well most times. Still she shook her head, the red tattoo on her face more visible.

"I'm a Baskerville! My name's Lily!" As she smiled brightly she went a little more into the water. "I'll be okay, I can't die!"

She's a cute girl with a face tattoo! So what?! Who let her get a fucking face tattoo?

"What is a Baskerville? You look like a girl. JUST a girl." With a weird animal companion or whatever.

"That doesn't mean it won't try to hurt you!" Gokudera exclaims and moves to grab her arm to try and tug her out of the water (although not in a violent or hard manner, because that weird dog that she has with her looks like it could bite him badly if it wanted to).

There is so much to unpack with that question Gokudera.

"I am, we are those closest to the abyss! I am a girl!" She pouted and wiggled in his hold as she tried to get free. Bandersnatch does growl but behaves and sits there waiting. "Then why don't you find the monster?"

"What makes you a Baskerville? Is it a religion?"

Gokudera keeps his hold firm and takes a step back to somewhat drag her along with him, closer to the strange animal she approached him with.

"Because it can swim better than me! It'll be easier to just make sure the no one in the lake gets bitten! Whether or not they can die!" Because while he's an asshole, he's not interested in innocent people becoming lake-monster food.

"No? You are...um...chosen by the abyss? Like you have a close relation to it? That's why I caused bad luck for everyone around me"

Still pouting she let the other drag her away though she wanted to prove it was a chain still. If it wasn't a chain...then what was it?

"People are gonna keep falling into you know?" Lily looked up at him with those bright blue eyes. It was the truth even she came crashing into the water.

"And that's where your uh... Chain came from?" He asks, nodding his head towards the creature that he's dragging her towards, or leading, if she's letting him take her there.

Gokudera stops and stares out at the water.

"There's no way I can find that thing and stop it..." But he doesn't want anyone to get hurt. "How do you think I could?" What was she planning on doing?

"Yeah all chains come from the abyss!" She smiled up at him, glad he seemed to be finally understanding what she was saying to him.

More than happily she darts to the dog creature and hugs it then patting it's head. The creature obviously had a very close bond to the little Baskerville.

"Hmmm, oh! Bandersnatch could maybe kill it! He can move through shadows!"

“The water is murky... would he be able to swim through fast enough to catch it?” Gokudera isn’t interested in killing the beast, but finding out more about it. Maybe it just really likes soba pan...

“It doesn’t have to die. It hasn’t attacked anyone yet.” No one is screaming.

"I'm not sure...Bandersnatch can bite hard but the water is hard to see through." That could make it tricky...maybe she would need a different idea.

"You want it alive? Hmmm...maybe throw it more food?"

"Well, we don't know if it's actually going to hurt anyone!" He's just a worry-wart. "Okay." Gokudera reaches into his bag and grabs another loaf of soba bread, opens it, and tears it into pieces before wading back into the water and throwing it out.

It floats, and it looks like he's trying to feed... nothing. Gokudera looks around, wondering if the creature needs to come up for air, or if it has gills and needs to stay in the water. It followed him out of the water, though. Looking back at the girl, "Lily! Do you see anything?"

The water is still, but when he looks back down, the bread pieces are gone. He tosses out a few more, frowns, then stays focused on them. Maybe a fish nibbled them up?

Lily sniffed at the air when he opened the bread. What was that? It did smell good. Though she them bend down and hugged her knees as she watched the bread thrown in the water and floating. Eyes glued to the surface, Bandersnatch close and ready to pounce if needed.

In a blink she did notice the bread was gone before she frowned. She didn't feel...anything like a chain and that frustrated her.

"For a second...something grabbed it." There was a calm to her from her focus.

Gokudera is focused on the bread as well, but off in the distance, there's a swell to the water's surface, almost as if a moose were swimming, or a whale is just under and close to breaching. Whatever it is doesn't break the surface, and the swell suggests that it is quite large.

Nothing is coming after the bread, though.

Gokudera feels like he's being watched and glances sideways just as the swell subsides and it's little more than a gentle wave that rocks the soggying food.

Her eyes go big as she watched...this was really big. Lily stood up and moved back a little. It wasn't a chain, at least not one she knows of. As she reached over to grab lightly at Gokudera's shirt.

"See what it?"

"Hm?"

He gets up and moves when his shirt is tugged, then looks in the direction she's looking and sees...

absolutely nothing.

Just people falling into the lake from absolutely nowhere.

Anyways, the bread is gone again. There's a strange reptilian face just under the surface of the water, staring up at them and waiting to sink back under the murky shallows. There doesn't look to be a neck attached to that head, either, or maybe it's just really long. The water is too dark to make out details if they even notice it's there staring at them as they look off in the direction of the swell.

"The water it's big!"

Lily started to cling to his shirt a little tighter as she watched the water. The desire to run in to see what it was gone. Her fear of it caused Bandersnatch to start barking at the water.

Then she saw the face and screamed, as she climbed onto Gokudera.

"What?"

His eyes narrow, thinking she's being a smartass, or maybe she's just dumb. Lily has been coming across as a childish sort of girl. "Yeah, there's a lot of it. Wait-! Get off of me!" And he wobbles as she climbs on him, blushing and aggravated and taking a step forward where the creature's face had been. He falls right into the water, not even seeing what had frightened her, but moving to get her off so he doesn't drown or make her strange chain/animal/dog/monster/whatever the hell angry enough to attack him.

Nope. She is clinging onto Gokudera. Honestly, she forgets that not everyone can carry her like Fang used to. So she is just being a dumb little koala as she hugged him. Lily let out a sharp yell when he fell and she scrambled back. "Are you okay?!"

Lily was a little in a panic.

At least with her scrambling back, he can get his head out from under the water. He coughs and wipes at his face and gets up, moving back to the water's edge. "What the hell was that for?!"

She grabbed at the hem of her shorts and pouted at Gokudera. "You didn't hold me and then you fell into the water!" Lily was glad he was okay but her voice sounded upset that he fell.

He waves a dismissive hand at her. "I was never going to hold you! I fell in because I didn't expect you to climb on me, stupid!" Gokudera looks around. "Why did you climb on me!?"

"You don't have to be mean!" Lily pouts more as her chain growls at Gokudera. "Cause there was a monster face in the water!"

"You didn't have to climb on me!" He retorts. The chain can growl at him all it wants, he's not happy about the sudden contact... doesn't like being touched.

"Oh yeah? I don't see one." He looks around. Nothing, then bends forward to look closely at the water surface. Lily may be able to see a large dark shape shift to stay behind him as he turns to check around him.

Lily was reminded she didn't have Fang or Doug here, she was rather used to people carrying her so when Gokudera fussed at her. It only got her to tear up. "Fine."

A little pouty she still nodded. "Yeah...." She watched. "It's playing?"

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