The Village Mod (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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villagememes2020-11-19 10:10 pm
villagemod) wrote in villagememes2020-11-19 10:10 pm
Entry tags:
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 wordshe 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.
no subject
As far as I know I'm not a hallucination. And that's a good conclusion. Maybe they did.
[It would certainly explain how they got here without any memory of being taken.]
But to what end and what purpose would anyone bring us here? Another clue--we've received no current threats or demands.
no subject
[If they've been kidnapped... His head is swimming with the sudden possibility of a ransom. Maybe gamma was receiving a note right now as they speak? But why drop him here in the middle of nowhere instead of just locking them in a basement somewhere? And why throw an FBI agent into the mix?
Carter leans forward, checking Cooper's pupils.]
All right, equally reactive...
no subject
[He sounds quite enthusiastic about this, pointing a finger at him even as the good doctor is checking his eyes.]
Can you think of any reason why anyone would want to do this to you? An enemy, perhaps? Any strange activity you've noticed the days leading up to this?
no subject
[It's like the guy just read his mind and he's feeling a little defensive.]
What about you? Even if I had an enemy, why would the bring you here? You're the agent. You probably know a lot more criminals than I do.
no subject
[It's not sarcastic at all, and quite earnest.]
I certainly do have...enemies. And you're right, it could be any one of them that brought me here. But we need to think of some common thread between us, for us both being here. The last thing I remember I was still in Washington state, and here you are, from Chicago. There is a thread between all this, we just have to figure out what it is.
no subject
[It's a reluctant admission.]
And I guess sometimes we make enemies of patients but I can't think of anyone who-- Did you just say Washington state? That's impossible.
[There's a trace of anger in his voice now and he starts pacing.]
Even if we were both drugged at the same time, even if they used something that I cannot detect and that doesn't leave us sluggish and disoriented [well, maybe a little disoriented], that's impossible.
no subject
[He notes the reluctant admission. It's interesting, him not saying he's rich, but that his parents are.
But what Carter is saying next about the impossible...he's right. It is impossible and this is making very little sense.
He sounds far less cheerful now, and genuinely troubled.]
I've seen the impossible before. Right now we have to accept that the impossible is currently possible and enter that into our calculations.
no subject
[Man, finally something else than that exasperating cheer. Not that Carter wants the guy to be pissed off but at least he's showing actual concern now.]
If the impossible's suddenly possible, what's there even to calculate? Where do we even start? How do we discount things?
no subject
[He gestures towards the windows.]
We weren't harmed by the figures in the windows, and no one's attacked us yet. There's something wrong with some of these books, it's like they're off, just a bit. We were brought here against our will, but again, unharmed.
We were given no further instructions or presented with any particular threats. You are from Chicago, I was in a little town called Twin Peaks in Washington State.
Conclusion? Science beyond our reckoning or the supernatural. What we need to be concerned about is if it's on purpose, or if it happened randomly or naturally.
no subject
[He just lets that hang there for a moment. Looks around. Is he on tv? Is this one of those... hidden camera shows?]
The supernatural. As in ghosts? Are you talking about ghosts?
[There's a pause and he glances uncomfortably at the window.]
Come on. That's-- that's ridiculous. Ghosts don't exist?
no subject
[Cooper follows his gaze towards the window.]
Ghosts, spirits, beings that we have no name for, things that are beyond us.
The world is stranger than you think, Dr. Carter. If we are indeed, even in the same world.
no subject
[He shakes his head.]
Look, I, I'm sorry, this is all too much for me. Maybe we should look at some of the other places. I'm sure there's a perfectly normal explanation for what has been happening to us.
no subject
[He looks sympathetic though, and his hand reaches out in an attempt to try to pat him on the shoulder.]
This is a lot to take in, in what's already a difficult situation. You're right, we need to explore and get more evidence before we start speculating.
no subject
[It feels good to have a plan. He feels more settled with a plan. And with not talking about crazy theories and the supernatural, even if the possibility is out there now, with a nagging persistence in the back of his head.]
Maybe there's a map somewhere around here, a phone book, better yet, a phone...
no subject
[Aaaaaaaaaaaand that enthusiasm is back. He clasps his hands together excitedly.]
People discount it but phone books are very telling about places. You can find out everything you want to know about a town by its phone book. Restaurants, plumbers, roof repair, department stores--it's all there, lives lived out and immortalized in those thin, yellow pages.
[He sighs happily.]
no subject
[This is his life now, isn't it.
Carter shoots him a sidelong glance as they make their way over to the door.]
You're actually having fun, aren't you.
no subject
[He's still grinning.]
Surely you take some happiness in your job, when the moment allows and there, for once, isn't something terrible happening?
no subject
You know, I can actually get behind that.
[He purses his lips.]
I think what's happening here definitely counts as 'terrible', though.
no subject
[It sounds like he lives his life by this philosophy, encouraged by Carter sort of...acquiescing to this.]
Well, we should take stock of things. We have our health, no injuries it seems, a few of our belongings, and we're not in current danger. So we have that going for us.
no subject
[Carter opens the door and curses, shielding his face against the incoming gust of wind and snow.]
Certainly don't have the weather going for us!
no subject
It's, well--it's rather brisk, sure! But look at all that beautiful snow!
[His teeth might be chattering but he still manages to sound cheerful.]
You don't get to see that every day!
no subject
[It's dry. Not unfriendly, but dry. He sees plenty of snow and most of it he associates with his car getting stuck in a bank, trying to figure out how the hell to get to work, getting snowed in an additional cursed day at the hospital or treating freak snow mobile accidents.]
Are you from the South?
[There's another sidelong glance at his cheerful exclaim.]
Man, you're unflappable, aren't you.
no subject
[Somehow Carter's dryness doesn't seem to deter his enthusiasm at all.]
I'm from Philadelphia. Don't think Philadelphia gets as much as Chicago, but a fair amount.
[He just smiles in that same way, taking a deep breath as if enjoying the brisk air. Well, he was enjoying it, in fact.]
At least when it comes to nature. Everything else, I'm afraid, has its ups and downs.
no subject
[You enjoy the weather, he'll just be here, absolutely miserable in his scrubs.]
And nature doesn't? 'cause I'm seeing a lot of downs right now, not gonna lie.
no subject
[He's absolutely serious, too. He takes a deep breath.]
And that air! Smell that cold, winter air.