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countryclub2022-12-25 08:15 pm
reddosmod) wrote in countryclub2022-12-25 08:15 pm
Entry tags:
DECEMBER TEST DRIVE MEME!
DECEMBER 2022 TDM
UNFORTUNATELY ALL TOO STANDARD ARRIVAL
THE MISDIRECTED
FROSTQUAKE
CODING
Another month, another test drive meme! Our test drive memes are open to anyone interested - regardless of whether or not you join our game!
All Test Drive Memes are game canon. Players can choose to keep their TDM threads canon or not. TDM threads can be used for AC and can be used as your writing sample for your application.
Our TDMs serve as a way to build into the actual lore and worldbuilding of Deer Country and we strongly encourage everyone to enjoy and participate! Current players are always welcome to pull prompts from the TDM to reference on the Network or bring into logs as well as tag out to new characters top-leveling on the TDM itself.
Characters will always be able to actively die during TDMs as this is an extremely dangerous world. You can still have this be game canon! Check out how character death in Deer Country works here.
If you have any questions about the TDM, please ask down below!
IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Prompt One
[Image One: Man in front of broken glacial ice]
[Image Two: Human face and shoulders, dripping blood with flaking skin]
Prompt Two
[Image One: Monstrous Human with sideways mouth and eyes]
[Image Two: Solitary Snowy Forest]
Prompt Three
[Image One: Frozen Zombie]
[Image Two: Icequake!]
All Test Drive Memes are game canon. Players can choose to keep their TDM threads canon or not. TDM threads can be used for AC and can be used as your writing sample for your application.
Our TDMs serve as a way to build into the actual lore and worldbuilding of Deer Country and we strongly encourage everyone to enjoy and participate! Current players are always welcome to pull prompts from the TDM to reference on the Network or bring into logs as well as tag out to new characters top-leveling on the TDM itself.
Characters will always be able to actively die during TDMs as this is an extremely dangerous world. You can still have this be game canon! Check out how character death in Deer Country works here.
If you have any questions about the TDM, please ask down below!
Prompt One
[Image One: Man in front of broken glacial ice]
[Image Two: Human face and shoulders, dripping blood with flaking skin]
Prompt Two
[Image One: Monstrous Human with sideways mouth and eyes]
[Image Two: Solitary Snowy Forest]
Prompt Three
[Image One: Frozen Zombie]
[Image Two: Icequake!]
WHEN: Last Week of November/First Week of December
WHERE: The Farther Shores
CONTENT WARNINGS: Body Horror, Frozen Wastes, Possible Transformations, Extreme Cold, weird offers of juice under suspicious circumstances?
WHERE: The Farther Shores
CONTENT WARNINGS: Body Horror, Frozen Wastes, Possible Transformations, Extreme Cold, weird offers of juice under suspicious circumstances?
The Heart of Winter in Trench is no time to enter the city as a sleeper. The entire beach is fully iced over with a glacially thick sheet of ice. Numerous patches of thick ice and heavy snowfall can be found around town, though they are shoveled to leave the paths accessible. Where the previous year, skates were rented and offered to those who wish to skate, the ice flows are far too craggy and irregular to be safe. Instead, cleats are given to those who greet and bring the sleepers to shore. Holes are bored at regular intervals deep into the ice flows and lights are lowered down into the holes to give guidance to sleepers' approach. When Sleepers rise from the depths, they find themselves in small wooden enclosures to protect from howling winds and bitter cold, able to form their bodies there in relative comfort in front of a censor with rocks heated by coldblood-infused stones especially for the purpose.
Outside of the bitter, and vicious cold, arrival to the city is a muted, quiet and otherwise uneventful occurrence. There are no tides of monsters. There are no horrific things waiting for people who arrive. There is simply a bone-chilling cold that numbs the soul a little. To help the people as they arrive, not only are they given their backpacks but they are also offered thick mugs of cocoa to help them cope with the cold. It seems to be helping quite a bit, actually. Yet, something about all of this seems off. The people of Trench are nervous, and there is an air of uncertainty in everything.
SEASONAL DETAILS ON THE BOARDWALK
Where normally there would be large food stalls set up and games, displays of beauty such as ice sculptures, the cold is bad enough that the people of Trench want not to be out as much as possible, and doubtless neither do the Sleepers. They are hustled and bundled from one small structure to another. Heavy winter furs that look reminiscent of great wolf pelts are given to everyone, especially those who have no clothing. But it is otherwise a strangely muted affair, though the people whisper of hope that the Shedding Ceremony is about to begin, and with it is the hope of new life and new birth in the City of Trench. In time, many will find that the symptoms associated with Madame Generosity's ceremony of shedding one's older self are in full swing throughout the month of January, complete with possible transformations and itchy, scaley skin conditions. Lovely.
Before every new sleeper leaves, however, a final gift is given. It is a small box, which contains a hand written note in scrawled black ink that is alarmingly similar to squid ink. This same box appears the morning of January 1st on the doorstep of every single home of a sleeper in Trench, without fail. If a person in Trench has strange accommodations, they nevertheless find this box where they would normally wake, or around a corner in the early morning with their name on it and no explanation. Inside the box are always the same items: 1 gallon of orange juice, 6 cans of chicken noodle soup, 4 boxes of tissues and what looks like an old world-war I era gas mask. The hand written note reads clearly 'DRINK THE JUICE!' Nobody in Trench seems to know why or who gave them.
Outside of the bitter, and vicious cold, arrival to the city is a muted, quiet and otherwise uneventful occurrence. There are no tides of monsters. There are no horrific things waiting for people who arrive. There is simply a bone-chilling cold that numbs the soul a little. To help the people as they arrive, not only are they given their backpacks but they are also offered thick mugs of cocoa to help them cope with the cold. It seems to be helping quite a bit, actually. Yet, something about all of this seems off. The people of Trench are nervous, and there is an air of uncertainty in everything.
Where normally there would be large food stalls set up and games, displays of beauty such as ice sculptures, the cold is bad enough that the people of Trench want not to be out as much as possible, and doubtless neither do the Sleepers. They are hustled and bundled from one small structure to another. Heavy winter furs that look reminiscent of great wolf pelts are given to everyone, especially those who have no clothing. But it is otherwise a strangely muted affair, though the people whisper of hope that the Shedding Ceremony is about to begin, and with it is the hope of new life and new birth in the City of Trench. In time, many will find that the symptoms associated with Madame Generosity's ceremony of shedding one's older self are in full swing throughout the month of January, complete with possible transformations and itchy, scaley skin conditions. Lovely.
Before every new sleeper leaves, however, a final gift is given. It is a small box, which contains a hand written note in scrawled black ink that is alarmingly similar to squid ink. This same box appears the morning of January 1st on the doorstep of every single home of a sleeper in Trench, without fail. If a person in Trench has strange accommodations, they nevertheless find this box where they would normally wake, or around a corner in the early morning with their name on it and no explanation. Inside the box are always the same items: 1 gallon of orange juice, 6 cans of chicken noodle soup, 4 boxes of tissues and what looks like an old world-war I era gas mask. The hand written note reads clearly 'DRINK THE JUICE!' Nobody in Trench seems to know why or who gave them.
WHEN: Last Week of December through End of January
WHERE: Outside of the Main Districts of Trench, the Wilderness
CONTENT WARNINGS: Horrifying Monster, Body Horror, Being Lost, Severe Disorientation, Hypothermia, Possible Death
WHERE: Outside of the Main Districts of Trench, the Wilderness
CONTENT WARNINGS: Horrifying Monster, Body Horror, Being Lost, Severe Disorientation, Hypothermia, Possible Death
There is no real warning about what comes. Somewhere in the last week of December, people just occasionally turn up missing. The numbers are never alarming, but they're greater than should have been expected in the month of January. Trenchies seem clueless to this, and the Hunters are left scratching their heads. They do not know what is causing the added disappearances, as none of the usual signs and warnings attend the recent uptick. This alone has them unsettled, and Trenchies begin to travel resolutely in pairs and trios everywhere that they go. The reason why becomes all too clear if one strays outside of Trench's main districts and wanders the roads between the districts or anywhere near the farms during this month and a half.
There is something out there. It can never be seen directly, but the sense that you are being watched is inescapable. Hints of a figure in the shadows of the trees are nothing new in Trench, but there is a definite air of malevolence to it, one that is obvious and pointed at your person the moment that you recognize that it is present and acknowledge its existence in any fashion or form. The creature is never there if you look directly at it, but if you happen to catch it more closely out of the corner of your eye, the horrifyingly twisted form of a human being whose eyes and mouth are turned sideways is barely visible, pointing at you!
This would be the time that many good hunters would attack, yet the creature is a slippery one. It never actually attacks directly and any time a person tries to turn to it, it is simply gone. Indirect attacks can cause it to flee, but it always comes back at some point, seemingly invulnerable to attack. What it does, rather than attack, is far more nefarious as its mere presence can be disorienting to anyone who encounters it. All sense of direction becomes lost, and the person can find themselves wandering further and further out into the wilderness, even if they were originally within sight of their destination. The more lost they become, the more that their mind descends into a fugue, one where concentration becomes worse and worse, and memory seems to slip away until they lose all sense of identity. The further out, the colder it gets, and the more the smell of rotten eggs lingers, fetid in the air.
The spirit is eventually identified by some of the Arcane Scholars as not being native to Trench, and they believe it is from somewhere much further in the north, from places far removed from this town. There are only snippets about one of their kind ever being encountered in Trench before, and the reports said it eventually became lost and left again, as will this spirit. It is indestructible and unkillable, as it is already dead. The only true defense is to, when the smell of rotten eggs comes along, to cover the mouth and nose completely. The burning of incense also helps, anything to block out the foul odor, which turns out to be the likely vector of its disorienting effect. If they happen to have a compass that unerringly shows direction from prior events, those too can be a protection of sorts finding their way back. If one travels too long out in the wilderness, though, there are fears that one might become as lost as the spirit and die in the wilderness, ultimately sharing the fate that brought it into existence. Even those who escape the spirit's wrath may have lingering memory issues, though those should pass over the next week.
There is something out there. It can never be seen directly, but the sense that you are being watched is inescapable. Hints of a figure in the shadows of the trees are nothing new in Trench, but there is a definite air of malevolence to it, one that is obvious and pointed at your person the moment that you recognize that it is present and acknowledge its existence in any fashion or form. The creature is never there if you look directly at it, but if you happen to catch it more closely out of the corner of your eye, the horrifyingly twisted form of a human being whose eyes and mouth are turned sideways is barely visible, pointing at you!
This would be the time that many good hunters would attack, yet the creature is a slippery one. It never actually attacks directly and any time a person tries to turn to it, it is simply gone. Indirect attacks can cause it to flee, but it always comes back at some point, seemingly invulnerable to attack. What it does, rather than attack, is far more nefarious as its mere presence can be disorienting to anyone who encounters it. All sense of direction becomes lost, and the person can find themselves wandering further and further out into the wilderness, even if they were originally within sight of their destination. The more lost they become, the more that their mind descends into a fugue, one where concentration becomes worse and worse, and memory seems to slip away until they lose all sense of identity. The further out, the colder it gets, and the more the smell of rotten eggs lingers, fetid in the air.
The spirit is eventually identified by some of the Arcane Scholars as not being native to Trench, and they believe it is from somewhere much further in the north, from places far removed from this town. There are only snippets about one of their kind ever being encountered in Trench before, and the reports said it eventually became lost and left again, as will this spirit. It is indestructible and unkillable, as it is already dead. The only true defense is to, when the smell of rotten eggs comes along, to cover the mouth and nose completely. The burning of incense also helps, anything to block out the foul odor, which turns out to be the likely vector of its disorienting effect. If they happen to have a compass that unerringly shows direction from prior events, those too can be a protection of sorts finding their way back. If one travels too long out in the wilderness, though, there are fears that one might become as lost as the spirit and die in the wilderness, ultimately sharing the fate that brought it into existence. Even those who escape the spirit's wrath may have lingering memory issues, though those should pass over the next week.
WHEN: First week of January
WHERE: Anywhere around Trench
CONTENT WARNINGS: Natural Disaster Horror, Frostquakes, Falling Peril, Sinkholes, Fear of the Dark, Frozen Zombies!
WHERE: Anywhere around Trench
CONTENT WARNINGS: Natural Disaster Horror, Frostquakes, Falling Peril, Sinkholes, Fear of the Dark, Frozen Zombies!
At first you think you're being treated to something spectacular! There's a small scale aurora that shows itself in the sky over your head. It's breathtaking and quite stunning to behold. The truth of the matter is all too real almost immediately afterwards however. There is a dull, booming crack as the frozen ground underneath your feet breaks and shudders, giving way! It's an earthquake, or more accurately a frostquake. In and around the city of Trench, as the temperatures shift in the dead of the cold of the Bone Moon, ice flows and patches of snow shift and compress against the ground, causing localized earthquakes to occur.
These frostquakes can damage buildings, causing items to fall, breaking plaster and the like. They are not, however, strong enough to do permanent harm to the buildings unless they are themselves structurally unsound. Each of them is localized, their experience not traveling more than two city blocks way each time one strikes. However, if you are unfortunate enough to be outside when it happens, they have an alarming habit of striking under the feet of unwary sleepers. Every time one of these frostquakes occurs, a patch of ground opens up temporarily into a deep sinkhole!
Falling into the hole can be an unpleasant sequence of events, but the ground beneath is littered with snow and something soft. Though banged up, the sleeper should be able to survive the fall intact. It's getting back out that is the problem. The walls aren't sheer, but it's a difficult climb. A rope can be thrown down, but it's very dark and cold in the space, making it hard to see much of anything. The real danger lies in the fact that they find that they are not alone! The 'softness' that they landed upon turns out to be a small number of other unfortunate souls who once fell in a prior frostquake, their bodies freezing to death long ago and rising as undead, waiting for an opening to escape. They attack blindly and though they can be defeated, they are still quite strong. Unlike some zombies, they do not hunger for flesh, but for the escape from their icy tomb and will do anything to crawl their way out, where they can wreck havoc finally on the living! Better deal with them quickly!
These frostquakes can damage buildings, causing items to fall, breaking plaster and the like. They are not, however, strong enough to do permanent harm to the buildings unless they are themselves structurally unsound. Each of them is localized, their experience not traveling more than two city blocks way each time one strikes. However, if you are unfortunate enough to be outside when it happens, they have an alarming habit of striking under the feet of unwary sleepers. Every time one of these frostquakes occurs, a patch of ground opens up temporarily into a deep sinkhole!
Falling into the hole can be an unpleasant sequence of events, but the ground beneath is littered with snow and something soft. Though banged up, the sleeper should be able to survive the fall intact. It's getting back out that is the problem. The walls aren't sheer, but it's a difficult climb. A rope can be thrown down, but it's very dark and cold in the space, making it hard to see much of anything. The real danger lies in the fact that they find that they are not alone! The 'softness' that they landed upon turns out to be a small number of other unfortunate souls who once fell in a prior frostquake, their bodies freezing to death long ago and rising as undead, waiting for an opening to escape. They attack blindly and though they can be defeated, they are still quite strong. Unlike some zombies, they do not hunger for flesh, but for the escape from their icy tomb and will do anything to crawl their way out, where they can wreck havoc finally on the living! Better deal with them quickly!
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It's okay, I don't mind. [boy does he get being confused about things. corruption though, he glances down when he speaks this time.] I guess it's... magical, or like a disease? It builds up in people and they lose control.
They turn to monsters. Beasts, is the name they use.
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Oh. Can... someone be helped if that happens? Changed back?
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[he pokes at his food with his fork idly as he speaks, only vaguely remembering some talk about all that.] That's what hunters do though, fight beasts.
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How do you get corrupted? [His voice is lower than normal, which is saying a lot. He doesn't comment on the hunters yet. While it would be normally cool to fight monsters this seemed... kind of rough. Everyone he'd met so far really had been very kind. The idea of any of them becoming monsters whose only fate was to be killed didn't sit well with him.]
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[he's not sure how to explain that, it's clear from the very faint furrow in his brow.] It's dangerous.
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He swallows thickly, taking a breath to try to keep himself calm.]
Mm. ...Can't really avoid that.
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he sets down his fork, thinking of robby, and sensei larusso. what sensei said, which he raises his head to repeat.] We're not alone though. There's people who will help if you ask, because... people here are kind. And we're in this together.
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You're right. People don't have to deal with things all by themselves. [A very long pause, before he looks seriously back up at Mob.] You can ask me for help whenever.
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We’re home. [ she calls out, taking a prepped wipe from before she left to wipe the debris off their paws and keep them from dirtying the house too much. ] It smells good in here, Mob. What’re you making?
[ she pretends there is no one else but them, but the huskies are already piqued and interested. sniffing in the kitchen’s direction with triangle ears pricked forward. it’s not the food. they’re attentive and curious. ]
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Miss Makima. [that's said as a greeting as much as it is to explain their guest to sunny, mob standing so he can move towards the kitchen entrance.] I met someone who just woke up from the ocean. He helped me make stir-fry, I hope that's okay. There's some for you [he's about to say more when-
oh. he didn't even ask sunny's name, did he? or give his own. whoops. it hadn't even crossed his mind. he turns back to sunny.] I'm Mob. [nailed it. he'll give the full name spiel later, he finds mob is easier because he doesn't have to explain cultural difference stuff.]
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Though maybe Makima wouldn't take kindly to him making himself so at home like he'd been doing and would kick him out before he had the chance. Considering possibilities, his attention stays at the doorway until Mob introduces himself. Sunny blinks and slowly turns his head back towards the other teen.]
Ah. [Sunny hadn't even introduced himself. It was a skill he was unused to, not having done it in a long time. The last few days in Faraway had Kel introducing him to people.] I'm Sunny.
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[ the pup has brought another pup to play. someone his age, someone he can relate with more than he would a guardian—
she’d been considering it anyway, and the luck of leaving mob to day-to-day chance has paid off. it’s quite perfect, and she didn’t have to do much to get there.
she only left the doggy door open to the backyard.
once each of her dog’s paws are cleaned, all calmed and awaiting release, makima unclips their leashes off of their colorful collars, and off they go to greet the boys, known and unknown. they give their usual greetings to mob, but most of sunny’s everything has stolen the spotlight for a few extra moments. they are sniffing all over him, hello new friend.
makima comes over to them from the living room to the kitchen, fixing her smile to greet him warmly— he is welcomed here. stay here! it’s so perfect. ]
Hello, Sunny. I’m Makima. [ she keeps her smile as she glances to both mob and the stir fry. how absolutely adorable. ] Do you like sweets after your stir fry?
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he then of course moves to get makima a plate, because it's only polite. giving her a questioning look with the plate, would you like some makima?]
Oh. [he looks to sunny for the answer to that, since he's the guest here.]
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Can I pet you? [Remembering that Mob's Shibe had to be asked, it was only polite. The dogs seemed very enthusiastic, though, so he takes it as a go ahead and begins petting all three of them in turn. While doing so he looks up to see Makima walk in. So this was the owner of the house. Honestly he's a little nervous, having just barged into someone's house and using their food to make a meal. But she doesn't seem upset at least and he gives her a little nod.]
Nice to meet both of you. [The question of sweets is unexpected and he glances between Mob and Makima.] Yeah, sweets are nice.
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makima herself give a small incline of her head in affirmation to mob, and then with her attention back on sunny: ]
Well, then. [ from her crouch to his eye level, she rises with her smile small and sweet. ] Let's get you boys some cake.
[ she will perhaps make the table a little more to her liking— placemats, plates, glasses for drinks and the dessert she's left semi-done in the fridge vault. ]
Please, make yourself at home.
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speaking of now that makima's here there's someone with a lot more of that around, making mob glance over from where he's nearly distracted again by dog pats.]
Miss Makima's been here longer than me too, she'd know more about stuff like paleblood. [and just the trench in general.]
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Plus there were the dogs. He happily obliges their head butts and gives them pets, scratching gently behind their ears.]
Thank you. [For the welcome and for the cake. Much more than he was expecting. (Or deserved.) He regards both cakes for a long moment, before moving in to get a slice of the cheesecake. When he does and settles down properly into his seat again, he admires how clearly well made it was. Hero quality.]
Ah. Yeah. I'm curious about blood. Mob says he thinks I have paleblood. [But honestly he didn't know what that meant, exactly?
Anyway, he takes a bite of the cheesecake, and his eyes go a little wide.] This is delicious. [Not that he'd been expecting otherwise but, you know, all compliments to the chef.]
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brownie quite likes mob, doesn’t he? ]
Yes, not to be confused with, [ she gestures to the two dogs following sunny, ] them.
[ she’ll go to the sink to wash her hands before joining them at the table! ]
Is there a reason why you think Paleblood, Mob?
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When I got mine tested they said red means warmblood or paleblood. They put it under one of the moon lamps and said since it stayed red it was warmblood.
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He takes a few more bites of the cake as he listens to Mob explain, nodding.]
And Mob says I had an aura, but I never had any powers before.
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[ without actually saying anything about his telekenises. now, back to sunny: ]
Do you feel anything different about yourself? I know it might take some time if you've just arrived recently, so take your time if you haven't.
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It was blue and felt heavy. [his helpful aside, looking to sunny. curious to his answer too.]
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His brow furrows lightly as he glances between the two. Blue and heavy.]
Most of the time I don't feel different. The aura happened when I was- [Devastatingly, overwhelmingly sad.] Upset. I didn't notice it, but I was distracted.
(1/2)
[ she puts on her thinking face, ]
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[ would he like a playmate? ]
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