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test drive — winter

WINTER TEST DRIVE
Welcome to the test drive and thank you for your interest in The Village. This test drive is not game canon but will allow players the opportunity to experiment with game mechanics, the setting, and the flexibility of choice allowed by this game. The following prompts are examples of typical situations characters might face in the game. At least one thread from the TDM is required as part of the game's application process.

The setting details and locations are still being unveiled in the game, so prospective players are welcome to play with established locations or create their own within the general setting of Mathias.

( Recommended listening: ♫ )

INTO THE ENDLESS
Winter has arrived in Mathias. Snow falls steadily, big puffy flakes that pile up quickly in drifts as the wind blows them around town. The trees in the forest are covered in it, the branches bending under the weight and shaking when the piles fall from them to the forest floor. The roofs of buildings become solid white and drifts form in doorways as the wind tries to rush inside anywhere it can.

New arrivals wake in the forest, with its winding paths twisting back on themselves as they branch in either direction. It isn't safe to stray from the path, there is a menacing fog that waits just a few yards inward in any direction, but for now, there is nothing impeding movement along those snow-covered paths that cut through the trees. Continue stumbling in one direction and you'll reach the small town, coming out near the mishmash of quaint houses that nestle beside crumbling ruins that used to be homes. But choose the other and you'll seem to stumble on forever, huddling against the wind until there seems to be a clearing up ahead—

And then nothing. The earth opens up before you in a ravine so deep that the bottom cannot be seen. The other side can be seen, tantalizingly out of reach, and there is the sense that safety is just beyond, if only you could get there. But with that sensation is also the knowledge that if you stay here, you will die. The edge seems unsteady, like getting too close would set it crumbling and send you tumbling into that dark endless nothing that waits below...

BODIES WITHOUT SOULS
Benedict Books is nestled quaintly on the square surrounding Mathias's Town Hall, a thick layer of dirt covering the front windows. Looking through those windows provides a much different view than looking directly into the shop through the doorway — vague shapes and forms of figures seem to be inside, though no details can be determined through the streaks of grime. Flickers that resemble flashlights can be seen passing along the windows from time to time, and on occasion there is even a muffled tapping sound that comes from behind the glass, as if someone is trying to get your attention. The same distorted figures can be seen looking through the windows from the inside outward, but moving from one side or the other reveals... nothing. There is nothing there, and perhaps it is all in your imagination.

A portrait hangs at the front of the store to illustrate the namesake of the little shop... that may, in fact, not be so little. Dust covers everything in sight and detritus litters the wooden floor, as if someone left the door open and allowed half the forest inside.

The books are mostly familiar titles from the 1990s and earlier, but close examination will reveal that key details seem to have been changed. They fill shelves in neat lines along the walls and rows in between, the building almost seeming to stretch on forever until, finally, a small office can be seen tucked away in the back. A glance back toward the front door gives the impression that the room isn't that big, after all. Strange that you previously thought so.

Prying the door open is the only way to get inside the small office; the hinges have rusted and are caked with dirt and grime. Search as you might, there are no interesting bits of information to be found here beyond a few inventory lists on the little desk. There is, however, a green and gold safe in the corner that, no matter how many times one turns the dial, simply clicks and clicks. Scratches around the safe indicate that someone tried to get in at one point, though there's no indication as to whether they succeeded.

THE END APPROACHES
Standing at the center of Mathias, the town hall is a modest two-story building that would be welcoming if not for the faded sign, chipped paint, and deafening silence within its empty halls. It's a typical government building, with a reception desk at the front and rows of identical offices within, the names half faded from each door. But what catches the attention is a large bulletin board on the main wall beside the reception desk, once meant to hold flyers or announcements for the community.

What it holds now is decidedly different. Tacked onto the board are scraps of paper covered in an assortment of handwriting styles — requests for supplies should anyone find them, pieces of information shared in the hopes of someone understanding the strange symbols and mathematical equations, notes about those missing or recently deceased. And over the center of the board, tacked on top of other papers, is a map discolored with age. Mathias Township can be read in the corner, a stretch of forest displayed beneath it, but everything else has been smeared to illegibility with red... ink? Upon close examination, a keen eye will realize that the ink is actually blood, though whether it is human is unknown. And scrawled across that forest, nearly covering the illustration of a clearing and a large house within, are the words

he is coming
A number of tarnished metal pushpins are scattered around the edges of the board, waiting for future messages to be shared, and a stack of pristine white paper and pile of cheap ballpoint pens rest on one of three chairs beside the board. The chairs are clearly meant for those waiting for meetings and are covered in the same layer of grime as everything else in the building — everything except the pens, paper, and bulletin board.

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i. into the endless

[It started snowing.

That's his first thought when he comes to, and honestly, Chicago had been expecting the flurries for at least a day, so the thick white coat doesn't come as a surprise to Carter. Next he thinks when did I go outside? That in itself isn't too strange either. He's been on since yesterday morning and he knows that with the 48 hour mark, sometimes your brain just switched to autopilot until you found yourself in the cafeteria or in the ambulance bay for some fresh air.

Speaking of which - man, it's cold. The snow and wind prickle on his skin and he shivers in his blue scrubs. Should have taken his jacket. He sighs, squeezes his eyes shut, rubs at his face, shakes his head with a puff of breath. Maybe they'd get snowed in, maybe it would slow things down in the ER and he'd be able to actually lie down for a couple of hours.

But when he opens them again, he's slowly becoming aware that this isn't the ambulance bay. It's so quiet. No honking cars, no rattle from the L, nothing of the usual humming and drumming of the city. In fact, it's some kind of park or forest and he turns in a confused circle, looking around.]

What the...? No. No, no, nonono...

[There's something viscerally terrifying in the disorientation and his eyes widen with a sudden flash of adrenaline. Did he fall asleep? Is he dreaming? Is he having a nervous breakdown from the stress? He so does not have time for any of these right now. There are rounds at seven and he still needs to finish a pile of charts and prepare Dr. Benton's slides for the presentation and if he doesn't get it done the surgeon is going to rip his head clean off--]

... Okay. Don't panic, there's no reason to, to panic. It's just sleep deprivation, I'm asleep. Of course I'm asleep which means I'm on to me which means I can wake up now.

[He starts slapping his face with his open palms while he makes his way through the snow.]

Any moment now. Any moment.

ii. bodies without souls

[Houses! Other people! Figures behind the windows! Finally!

After a brief (so, so brief) moment of relief and excitement, Carter quickly makes his way inside only to find the store empty. Oh, come on! He actually ends up doing a bit of a silly dance, running back and forth and trying to catch whoever is out there - in there? - out there? - in action but of course, nothing comes of it.

Eventually he stares through the window and the very unhelpful apparitions outside. Then he leans back, a strangled noise of annoyance emerging from the back of his throat, the back of his head hitting the wall behind him. Thud. Thud. THUD.]

Great. Losing my mind. That's just, sure. That's fantastic.

[He wanders the shelves, rubbing his arms and puffing in an attempt to warm up. He inspects some of the books - but coming in straight from 1996, the selection doesn't strike him as odd. Instead, he keeps muttering under his breath.]

Ohh, I'm a dead man. Probably wandered off. Yep, wandered right off, out the door, just like that, all the way to the outskirts. Psych evaluation, termination of internship, unfit for the high stress environment of the job, that's, that's a career down the drain. ... And now I'm talking. Talking to myself. Out loud.

[In a fit of exasperation he stops and spreads his arms wide, yelling at the ceiling.]

Can I at least hallucinate another person!

iii. the end approaches

[Bulletin board. That's a familiar sight and some of the notes look recent. Carter laughs, a little high-strung, relieved that he isn't alone but also thoroughly freaked out at this point. And the ominous red writing isn't helping. At all?

He scratches the back of his head, then he picks up a piece of paper and scribbles a small, almost shy WHO? that he tacks next to the red writing. Maybe whoever put up the warning cares to elaborate?

Then he takes another piece of paper.]

~~are there~~ I am a doctor.

[Wow. That's so stupid. He stares at it, crumples it up, tries again.]

My name is John Carter. I am a doctor. Are there other doctors here? I want to help.

Edited 2020-12-21 16:09 (UTC)

[ Neal was about to make himself known when John starts yelling at the ceiling. He rounds the corner of one of the stacks, finally spotting the source of all the noise. ]

We use our indoor voices to question the reality of our surroundings.

[ Hello, John, have a New Yorker in a crisp black sweater and a trench coat, a fedora perched at a rakish angle on his head and somehow managing to look good instead of ridiculous. He's wearing incongruously big stompy boots. The only other sign that these aren't his clothes is the fact that his jeans are a little too short.

In his arms, a photography book titled The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Howard Hibbard, and another art book, something about Neo-Expressionism. ~~I can't be arsed to look up every book this pretentious nerd would read~~ ]

Let me guess. You're new.

[Whoa! Carter jumps with a yelp when he gets an actual answer, his shoulder bumping into one of the shelves.

Some of the books flip and tumble to the ground. He tries to catch them. He makes it worse.

Eventually he just pulls his hands back and waits for the dust to settle.]

Ah. Hi!

[His shoulders slump with visible relief. A person. An oddly dressed person with ~~pretentious~~ eclectic book taste but hey, he's seen worse during a graveyard shift.]

Oh, thank God!

[He suddenly laughs, embarrassed. Finally. Now all of this would just stop and he'd get an explanation and now that there's an actual person with him he's sure that it's all just some... really dumb thing.]

For a moment there I thought I was the only person left in the world? How crazy is that!

[Super crazy, and he laughs again before he trails off. Wait.]

Uh. What do you mean, 'new'?

[ Oh lord. This one is twitchy.

He can pretend he wasn't just as panicky when he landed on his ass in the snow at the edge of town. He's paid his obviously-freaked-out dues, thanks very much. ]

Not as crazy as you might think. [ He tries to figure out where the hell to begin. ]

You're not in Kansas any more, Toto. And it's a lot more Return to Oz than any of us like.

[ A pause as he realizes the reference might not actually be helpful, given the... time difference. Of some of the people here. Neal sighs. ] You need a coat. Follow me. I'll... explain as much as I can.

John Carter | ER

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III - it's you!!!

it's me!!! and i blame you <3

I'll happily take the blame!

iii. the end approaches

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ii. bodies without souls

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ii;

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iii;

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iii. the end approaches | did someone say doctor friends?

doctor friends! \o/

high fiiiive just don't mind the lovely accent