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

[divaricate]

She offers him a slight smile when he stops next to her. "I didn't picture you as the ominous messages with-probably-blood type, but I've been surprised before. Though it's the less insanity inducing result, so, there's that." She's probably going to lose the last scrap of her sanity if she doesn't try to make a light joke. At least the familiar presence helps, much as she'd rather them be anywhere else.

"Also, hi. I didn't know you were here too; weird place, huh?"

Understatement, she knows.

[starsstripesandptsd]

"It's about time I tried something new," he says lightly, appreciating her efforts to keep everything calm. "Though first off I should probably go with something a little more minor, like new shoes."

He's accustomed to new or alien technology these days - well, as accustomed as one can get - but supernatural matters can be far more unnerving. He got dragged to too many creepy movies by Bucky back in the day, and to be fair he dragged Bucky to a few, as well, while trying to prove something. He doesn't know who he was trying to prove something to. That would be far too intelligent.

One thing making him feel more comfortable, though, is the supernatural knowledge and strength of the woman next to him.

"It sure is. I only got here earlier today. Haven't been able to figure out how. You had any luck?"

[divaricate]

"What, you don't want a free vacation to creepy-town instead of shoes? Our hosts are clearly very generous." Sarcasm dialed up to one thousand percent, here.

"I've had absolutely zero luck whatsoever. This—" She motions with her head to the board. "—is just the latest in my confusion. What do you last remember from home?" She figures maybe that's a place to start. If they were taken from the same time, might start to connect some dots (or might not).

[starsstripesandptsd]

"I do like the way the wind howls through the trees," he agrees, folding his arms and bumping shoulders with her gently.

He freezes at that. The last thing he remembers is seeing most of his friends fall apart into dust. Including Wanda. It'd been so good to see her that he'd just pushed the illogic of it into the back of his head along with all the rest of the illogic from this place.

"Thanos," he says eventually, not wanting to mess with the timeline if she's from earlier.

[divaricate]

She nods slightly. "That's somewhere around where I left off there too." It was 2023 for her, technically. She'd been dusted and then back. "I'll give this place credit for being somehow less creepy than Thanos. First sign of any cosmic gems, though, and I'm going the other way and not touching it."

There'd been enough of those for multiple lifetimes, after all.

[starsstripesandptsd]

So if she's after Thanos, then... then they found a solution. Or she's from another universe entirely. He pinches the bridge of his nose between forefinger and thumb for a moment, acknowledging the incipient headache, then nods at her.

"It's a low bar, isn't it. Being less creepy than Thanos," he says wryly. "Have you been attacked or anything since you've been here?"

[divaricate]

"The bar is so low that it's part of the floor." Which, even that feels like an understatement to her. "But no, I haven't, which is probably lucky all things considered. I'm sure it's a matter of time until something creepy and intangible comes at me. You?"