test drive — winter

[villagemod]

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: ♫ )

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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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Comments

[chuju]

[ Her jaw drops a bit at that, then eyebrows raise as amusement sets in. ]

Unhelpful Random Woman. Wow, have I fallen.

[ It still strikes her sometimes how many people here don't know her. There's only Coulson from her world, and even he doesn't know about all the things she's done. What an unfortunate way to get a clean slate in life.

Holding out a fabric-wrapped hand to him, she decides to offer a proper introduction. ]

Agent Daisy Johnson. I'm with SHIELD, which I'm going to guess you've probably never heard of before because most people here haven't.

[prevenance]

Apparently, you're going to have every opportunity to change my mind.

[ since there seemed to be no easy way for him to go back to new orleans. but, that's typical of his life, isn't it? everything has to be difficult so of course there is no conveniently located exit. ]

Agent? I haven't heard of this SHIELD but I'm going to guess it's some sort of law enforcement organization. [ he thinks it's a pretty good guess, though. ]

I thought the world had quite enough of those, though.

[chuju]

[ Apparently so. Some part of her wants to rise to the challenge, make sure she earns some other designation in his eyes, but another part of her is resigned to the fact that it will probably have something to do with her powers. They're part of who she is and she wouldn't change that for anything, but sometimes she misses being known primarily as a streetsmart, badass hacker. ]

We're kind of unique. [ That's an understatement. ] The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, but that's a long-winded way of saying we protect people. Mainly from all the weird stuff in the world that the normal population isn't equipped to deal with. Superpowered terrorists, alien invasions, technology that's too dangerous in the wrong hands...

[ It's a very simplistic way of summing up what they do, but in the end, maybe that's for the best. Ever since SHIELD fell, they've been trying to build it back up to what it was always supposed to be — a shield protecting all mankind. ]

[prevenance]

Of course.

[ he says it like yes, that's absolutely a normal thing to be a member of. but, he can't really talk can he, considering what he is and how long he's lived.

still, he can't help a measure of incredulity at what she lists. vampires, werewolves, and witches are all normal but alien invasions?

too far out. ]

I wasn't aware there was such a need for an organization like that. Do you keep busy?

[chuju]

[ Well, that answers that question. The construction of his suit and his lack of being stunned by modern amenities says he's probably from not too far out from her own time, but asking that clearly puts him in the same category as practically everyone else here. She can't help but tiredly sigh at the realization. ]

If you're asking that, then we're probably not from the same world. Which, if you didn't know — surprise, there are multiple universes in existence. Endless, probably, but I'm not up on the science side. But basically, in my world, SHIELD was founded shortly after World War II and the public learned aliens are real when they invaded New York in 2012.

[ You'd have to be living in an actual cave to have missed that. ]

[prevenance]

Aliens invaded New York in 2012. How odd. [ it's very much lacking in reaction because he comes from a strange enough world that knowing about aliens isn't all that surprising. while he might not have known about multiple worlds, it doesn't surprise him. it's a very big universe, he's learned.

multiple worlds, aliens, and the existence of some ominous 'he' with a flair for the dramatic. he's learning so much today. ]

And how does one get...connected to that sort of group? It doesn't seem like something that would be widely advertised.

[ if he's to be here for any length of time, he's going to learn everything he can about this place and the people that are here. the more he knows, the easier to use that knowledge to his advantage. ]