TEST DRIVE MEME ⚔️️ 8

[avalonmods]

✨ Greet new players on the OOC intro while apps are processed HERE! ✨

{ QUICK NAV } Premise ⚔️️ Rules ⚔️️ FAQ ⚔️️ Taken ⚔️️ Reserves ⚔️️ Apply ⚔️️ Locations ⚔️️ Bestiary ⚔️️ Top-Levels Only ⚔️️ SUMMARY: New arrivals drop into the lake and have to climb up a cliff to the Rent a Ride, where they are given their device and some headphones and can retrieve their personal materials. They travel to Camelot, which is a multiple day journey, so they stop at the Red Springs along the way and stay at an inn there. 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. It's still chilly, but not enough that you can't manage on your own. The Lady of the Lake is swimming around under the water, helping to rescue any wayward travelers who look like they're struggling in the water. This month's helpers are giant pillow jellies, a species of jellyfish that is capable of ballooning itself at the surface to create bouncy pads for characters to hop across to the shore, should they choose or not be able to swim. They come in a variety of bioluminescent colors, but do not seem to be very talkative even to animal magic users. Those who try may find themselves being ignored, even if they hear the jellies talking amongst themselves about this and that. 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. (Though.. given how hot and muggy the weather is this first week, maybe you might want to ask him to toss you right back into the lake where the waters are still cool.) *Reminder: Your character's familiar may or may not be with your character in their initial plunge. If the familiar isn't partial to water, it may meet your character on the beach or sit atop their head while they swim. Or if they are, they might splash about and swim alongside your character. Familiars have different personalities and body specs and we leave those up to the players. 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 (the supplier was out of the regular ones) 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. It was recently enchanted by Merlin to prevent people from having to fish their waterlogged possessions and pets out of the water with them. 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. 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. 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. SUMMARY: Merlin has a Plan B in case Camelot failed the trials: raise a sunken ship and offer it to the Elphame Traders on their way out in exchange for permission to travel their waters. Characters prepare for ritual magic to raise a sunken ship and travel underwater at the empty Camelot docks to gather ritual ingredients for it. After they've done all they can, Merlin sets up a little beach party with a bit of master magic for anyone who came along for the trip. After arriving, people may have heard about recent events-- the people of Camelot voted against war and to instead accept the trials of the people of Celliwig. The trials are now concluded, and a good number of people are emotionally exhausted and taking time to recover. Word from Celliwig has not yet arrived, but across multiple social media platforms, including AOL, there are clips of Merlin's cryptic addendum to Arthur's announcement along with notes that the meeting date was delayed a couple of days due to the awful weather and a need to rest after how bleak the trials were to some people. With people down and out, it won't hurt to have the new arrivals pitch in and learn a thing or two. "Lucky me, we've got a decent group. Celliwig's out of our hands now, but what isn't is a back-up plan. Vote was close enough I figured we'd have enough people to get a head start. Celliwig is closer and much less dangerous to deal with, we'd be able to communicate much faster with the faeries' queendom. They're not big on internet. Big followers of the Old Ways. T-L-D-R, we can't just text the queen and ask if drop-bys are on the table. We'd never make it past the leviathans without permission, so here's the plan: There is a... fixer-upper of a vessel sunken about a hundred yards from shore tossed out from Bermuda. We tried to build docks here forever ago, but you can guess the Bermuda triangle spitting out stuff in the lake all the time didn't go great. We just keep it up for visitors now, but there's plenty to explore in the immediate area that we can magic back into business." A ⦿ Shipwreckers He goes on to explain that the fairies value items that were once lost and refound, so step one is exploring the shipwreck with fellow magic users to find what amounts to a scavenger hunt list of items from the ship. He sets everyone off with a quick spell that essentially transforms their clothing into swimsuits that best fit their preferences and personality-- that means no one's going to get a swimsuit that makes them horribly uncomfortable, he's not harassing anyone. After that, magicians will be directed to use their magic to get down to the ship. It's not as convenient as underwater breathing and not as easily sustainable, but there's definitely different ways to go about it. Light magic users will find they can create a forcefield above the surface of the water and go under the water, though they may run out of oxygen quickly. Elemental users can find they can create a similar bubble by pushing water out of the way, though may run into the same diminishing air without a more advanced elemental user already in the game who can pull oxygen out of the water or an alchemist who can create chemical reactions to generate oxygen. Animal mages may be able to convince local lake life to help push bubbles along, and healers will be instrumental in healing oxygen deprivation if anyone stays under too long! (Note: If two characters can't create a bubble, you can put in a third NPC to do the bubble while your characters handle other roles during the search.) No matter what, make sure you bring someone who can watch your back. Rumors have it that the Fuath are harassing anything that comes near the area. Fuath are intangible spirits that may present as giant humanoids at about 8-9 feet each, but with the mane and tail of a yellow horse, with no noses and keen eyes. They hold grudges against anyone who takes advantage of their surroundings, even if not their own, and will come to attempt to throw those who try to take from the ships and flying through the air to land somewhere else in the water. Be very cautious about using names around the Fuath, as though they do not speak in human tongue, they have a particular ability to draw people and animals in using names that makes them very difficult to escape once you've been found. They've been known to turn familiars against their partners. They can be deterred, dissipated through attack to buy you time, but they'll keep coming so get in and out of the ship as fast as you can and definitely stick to more combat-heavy magics like dark and cognitive mages! *Note: These magics are all examples of ways to use primary magic, but feel free to get creative with your character's magic if you think of something else! B ⦿ Hoist the Flags Once all the ingredients are gathered, the ritual is underway! With the mementos from the ship, swim to a protective circle formed at the top of the water by Merlin that will keep the Fuath out. There, you need to take whatever item you gathered from the ship and try to find someone with a similar item. This "sister" item will allow you to pull the essence of the item up from the ship. It takes a load of people to raise a whole ship, but pouring your magic into the item and chanting the spell will cause the ship to resurface and restore itself to its original state before the crash, using residual memories from all the different items on the ship. Of course, finding a partner with a matching item while swimming around could be a challenge, especially if you don't get along-- it may take a while for everyone to get on the same page. It certainly won't clean up all the algae and kelp and wayward flopping fish, it brings the ship back to a livable state.. and a much cooler, more explorable one. Get a quick exploration of the ship and help clean up some of the lake slime before Merlin flags over the traders. Or goof around until then, and learn a sick free spell called (Recipe) Cool Firework: create a rocket firework from your fingertips. Make sure you're aiming it into the sky when you cast this spell, or Merlin will set off a Camelot totem right beneath your feet. No sinking the ship when they just got it up. The fireworks will attract the Elphame Traders, who are leaving the day after they close up shop to head back to Elphame, before the set out to leave. Merlin negotiates offering the ship to them as an offering for Queen Elphame to give them permission to travel in the Elphame territory. At that point, the ship is pulled into the docks and Camelot citizens are ushered out for the fae traders to take over the ship. C ⦿ Beach Episode Once everything's said and done it.. really only took a couple of hours, so the whole group is done around 4pm. There's plenty of time left for dinner and a good time at the beach a short walk away from the docks and the sun doesn't go down until around 9pm. Before Merlin leaves everyone to themselves, he conjures up a buffet-style table with loads of fresh food and drink, watermelons and bats for smashing. The swimsuits provided earlier wear off at midnight, though you'll probably want to leave before then since it still gets chilly in the evening, especially if you're all wet from playing with the chest full of waterguns or the beach balls distributed around the beach. The docks are nearby, so feel free to call your friends over to come hang out with you, even if they didn't help. It's a beach party, enjoy it! SUMMARY: Unseelie faeries and unseemly humans have teamed up to kidnap a small number of otherworlders in the chaos of the trials to fight in an underground fight ring. Play as a victim or be part of the squad to put an end to it if you're more good-leaning, or villains can choose to participate as audience and pay for "gifts" to be given to their favorite fighters during matches. CW: These prompts contain kidnapping, illegal and forced fighting, and inhumane treatment of fighters. Just because people are tired doesn't mean that the world stops for them... crime certainly doesn't. Throughout the start of the month, people are going missing. Exactly what's happening.. well, finding the truth out about that is going to depend on your perspective. A ⦿ Cursed Kidnapees Kidnapping victims will find themselves suddenly blinded by a spell, and then chloroformed by a floating cloth pressed against their face. (Smart kidnappers don't touch their victims if they have magic, you know!) When they wake up, they'll find themselves in a dungeon with at least a dozen other people. There's definitely not room to lay down, and sitting down as you had been propped up immediately starts you with a potentially uncomfortable view. Don't worry, someone's peeks in from a window at the top of the room-- an extremely handsome-looking man with long, wavy hair and pupils slitted like a cat's. "Let's see.. You two, you'll be the first fight of the night. Winner gets dinner, gyahaha!" It's a fighting ring. You've been kidnapped into a fighting ring and there's no obvious escape! Fight against fellow captives and monsters for your dinner and to buy time to figure out what you're going to do... At least you start hand to hand, so there's nothing lethal... right? (See Audience for more details.) B ⦿ Audacious Audience Maybe you're a less scrupulous sort and saw an invitation to this event hidden on the dark web, or got invited by a particularly sketchy friend. Either way, you've got cage-side seats close enough to chat with either fellow audience members or interact with the cage fighters. As a bonus point, audience members can spend some of their G on betting or on purchasing "boons" for their favorite fighters, such as weapons or enhancement spells. They can also bid against other audience members for special sabotages that make it harder to fight-- foot weights, strange masks, roller skates, hinderance hexes.. get creative with it! It's the biggest fight show that you can interact with your wallet... newbies may find it's a very lucrative way to make a pretty penny very fast. (As always, remember to communicate with anyone you're helping/sabotaging so you don't go past anyone's OOC comfort level.) C ⦿ Roaring Rescuers Thankfully, the fae who want nothing more than to sow discord and the greedy humans who joined in their venture are a bit disorganized. Even the beginning-level heroes among us will be able to track them down and topple them with a little bar hopping to gather information from the locals. Eventually, one of them will give up having overheard some "scary looking fellows" talking about which of the patrons of the bar looked like they'd be good in a fight before getting extra hush-hush. Follow all the leads, and you'll find yourself at an outlying, smaller-scale castle with a dungeon tower and an underground fighting ring built beneath its floors. Sneak in and unlock individual fighter dungeon doors while the fights are providing a wealth of distraction. Maybe you'll find a grateful Fogueria who casts a temporary fire-immunity spell on you to allow you to do ride them into battle to bust up the fight going on right now. There's definitely gratitude going on, regardless of moral compass, and you may find gifts of food and drink (non-alcoholic if you're not old enough) placed at your door over the next week for your deeds. 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. • 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. • We are testing out formats for key points displays, to be voted on for player preference based on what seems to work best for the most people. The other options were used here (end of post summary format) and here (start of post preview format). The format featured on this post is the last option, which will provide small summaries under the banner of each prompt set. A poll will be put up before the next event to see which format will be used going forward, so please keep in the back of your mind which seems most comfortable/makes the content more easily accessible. •If nothing here tickles your fancy, try one of this month's Quests for your TDM prompt. • The first "Arrival" prompts are present on every TDM, but contain seasonal tweaks for flavor. 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

[fruitknife]

"The Phantom Thieves were in the middle of goddamn Tokyo. I think somebody must've been keepin' you out of it." Otherwise, it doesn't make sense that Mitsuru wouldn't lend a group of desperate teenagers whatever help she could with a Shadow situation.

(The thought of the kind of power it'd take to stonewall the Kirijo Group that hard is... kind of alarming, really.)

[kirijo]

"I've heard nothing about an incident in Tokyo, or about these 'Phantom Thieves'."

And that deeply alarms Mitsuru as well ...

The flicker of uncertainty is brief. Her eyes snap back up, meeting Shinji's.

"I need details, Aragaki-san. I want to know everything."

[fruitknife]

"Relax, Mitsuru, it's way after us. The Inaba thing was two years later and the older Phantom Thieves are Ken's age when we're not all squashed into the same place like this. You wouldn't've heard about it at home yet because it hasn't happened yet."

Now we're cooking with advanced Timeline Bullshit!

[kirijo]

...

Mitsuru just sighs, visibly frustrated.

"I'm beginning to see why you used such colorful language to describe this situation ..."

[fruitknife]

That's Shinji for you. He's never been one to tell a pretty lie when an ugly truth will do.

"It's a goddamn mess, yeah."

[kirijo]

She's always appreciated that honesty, and now is no exception.

"It certainly is."

She's beginning to get the timeline straight in her head, though. And that sort of foreknowledge ... it could prove useful down the line.

[fruitknife]

...Assuming they remember it after the fact. At least with Liminal Space there was reason to believe they could make that the case for themselves. Who knows what the local arguments on that front look like.

"Me and Kotone are goin' in on a house. I need a real kitchen and I need it last fucking month, and we already know we won't kill each other. She's pullin' Yukari in. Ken... I don't mind if he does, but I don't mind if he doesn't, either." They're working on it, but it's gonna take a while, and if Ken needs space while they figure each other out without his grudge in the way, that's completely understandable.

"You can get in on it too if you want."

(Shinji can't really see her saying no. But also he'd kind of like her to get in on it, and he's so used to not getting things he wants that he's half expecting the no anyway.)

[kirijo]

"Provided that the others are amenable to it, I'd be delighted."

Mitsuru would be a fool to turn down such an offer.

While she was sure that the pre-arranged living quarters in Camelot would be reasonably comfortable and secure, she'd feel better living among friends for a whole host of reasons -- not the least of which was the sense of familiarity that it would provide while she acclimated to the new world around her.

And that last thought does give her a moment's pause, and cause her smile to falter.

"That being said ... I may need some assistance in terms of finding out how to raise the funds to contribute."

She's ashamed to admit that, but it was the truth. Arriving in Avalon meant that she was effectively cut off from any of the Group's resources, or her own personal funds.

If she was going to avoid becoming a burden to her friends, she would need to figure out an income stream and she ... she didn't really know how to do that on an individual level. She'd never needed to.

[fruitknife]

It's still weird, being in a place where money matters again. (Liminal Space was both too unstable for currency and allowed people to just manifest what they needed out of thin air, and when they were doing a world-hop... well, then Shinji had Mitsuru levels of money available. It was weird. Thanks, Emperor Emperor.)

But he will definitely grant that it's gotta be weirder to be in a place where money matters and you suddenly can't access your usual stockpile of it.

He does smile briefly, there and gone in a flash, when she says she'd love to join them in going in on the house. That's the closest he's going to come to admitting he was at all worried she'd say no. Besides, the budget thing is a bigger concern.

"There's a quest app thing, do errands for people and get money. Just... make sure you're not on the dark-web version." They have very good reason to be wary of such a thing, after all (thanks a lot, Takaya).

"Otherwise... ask the network. It's what I did. You got some admin type skills in your corner. Somebody probably needs that kinda help."

[kirijo]

"That seems straightforward enough ..."

She's sure it will be more complicated in practice, but if enough people rely on the quest-giving app, it should be a viable source of income. And, while most of her knowledge regarding administration was at a corporate level, applying it to a smaller business ... it could prove to be an interesting challenge.

[fruitknife]

"Or they pay people to go to school. If that's any of our thing, it's yours."

No, Shinji is not bothering, nor will he.

[kirijo]

"A possibility, depending on the subjects covered."

She'd never made a secret of how important she considered her studies, but having already graduated and taken several courses containing college-level material, she'd want to make sure that it was a worthwhile use of her time before she made any kind of commitment.

[fruitknife]

"You'd have to ask somebody else. At this point I haven't been in a school in like six years and I'm sure as hell not gonna start now."

[kirijo]

"Six years ...?"

She knows that he attended classes infrequently despite her encouragement, even after re-joining S.E.E.S., but that didn't account for six years.

Has he been pulled from place to place for that long ...?

[fruitknife]

"Liminal Space's bullshit took up at least four."

And he basically stopped bothering after the Ken's Mom Incident. It adds up faster than you think.

[kirijo]

"Aragaki-san ..."

She trails off, briefly looking down as she attempts to put words to the question forming in the back of her mind.

"How long has it been since you returned home?"

When she looks up, the concern on her face is obvious. Unconcealed.

[fruitknife]

"Four-ish years and a couple months. Why?"

He knows why.

[kirijo]

"Why?"

She can't tell whether he's accepted it, or he's simply being flippant, but ...

The idea that her friend has been unable to return home for over four years, and that she and the others could experience the same thing is upsetting -- profoundly so.

[fruitknife]

"Not sayin' it's not a lot of bullshit, but you get used to it. Used to it enough to manage, anyway. And it's not all bullshit."

It's only mostly bullshit. When it's all bullshit, there's only one thing you can do.

[kirijo]

"Perhaps, but ..."

She sighs. Shakes her head.

"I'm glad that some of these experiences have been pleasant, at least ..."

She wants to say more, clearly. She finds this horrifying - something that you shouldn't have to grow accustomed to - but it's obvious that he's aware of that, and flatly rejecting the method that he's using to accept his circumstances seems ... wrong, to her.

[fruitknife]

It's not like he had anything in mind to do with himself at home anyway. Why not get dragged into world-hopping bullshit.

"Got my shit a little more together. Made more friends. Decided there are better ways to remind myself to do better than making myself sick. Even I can't call it all bullshit."

[kirijo]

That ...

That brings a smile to Mitsuru's face. It's small. Still tinged with her own discomfort at the idea of being forcibly isolated from her friends and her goals, but she hasn't seen Shinjiro so at peace with himself since before the accident.

"Then I'm glad for that as well."

And she does mean that.

After a second or two, though, her smile fades and her usual, more serious expression returns.

"Just know that I intend to do everything within my power to find my way home when our mission here is done ..."

She pauses for a moment, and her expression softens a bit.

"... and to provide you the option to do the same, if you wish to."

[fruitknife]

He hasn't been. He's still nothing like okay, but Shinji and 'okay' haven't really been acquainted since the orphanage fire. That's not a thing he really expects to be again.

But he can call the Ken's Mom Incident an accident now, and he stopped sacrificing his health. And he's more than doubled his friend count (it's Very Weird). That's not bad, considering.

He snorts. "Of course you do. Maybe don't try to do all the damn work by yourself this time."

[kirijo]

She responds in turn with a small snort of laughter of her own.

"I've learned that such an approach isn't the ideal path towards my goals."

A slight pause. A little touch of bashfulness creeps into her features.

"Though I may require a reminder from time to time."

Not an admission that she'd have been able to make so easily only a few months prior.

[fruitknife]

"I think we got that part under control."

Fuck, but he's glad Mitsuru's here.