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

[revvedup]

[ her eyebrows immediately raise at the nickname and her arms cross over her chest as she steps a bit closer to the board herself. the ominous warning and several notices she's already seen this week aside, he's right, there's not much interesting to be found, but she doesn't want to give any satisfaction to someone who's just called her 'sweetheart'. ]

Oh, I don't know, there's a few knock knock jokes that are good for a laugh.

[technologique]

[ the warnings were interesting enough, as well as the map and a few other things. all noted, both mentally and on a few slips of paper that he's shoved into his pocket. he does take a quick glance at the board to make sure he hasn't missed anything though.

he was right though. there's nothing else, and he doesn't need her to give him the satisfaction of confirming it. he's plenty good at satisfying himself ]

Please. My toaster can write better jokes than that. [ the toaster in question actually isn't a toaster at all, but actually a robot. that's currently at the bottom of the pacific ocean. he really shouldn't speak ill of the dead. and yet ] Well, he could if he was a little more dexterous. He could never quite get the hang of a pen though.

[ tony holds out his hand to her in introduction ] Anyway. And you are? [ since he assumes she already knows who he is, he opts to skip offering his own name ]

[revvedup]

[ the people here are generally pretty thorough when it comes to warnings, but she's not sure who's behind the one warning about whoever 'he' is. she's sure they'll find out soon enough; maybe they've already been given hints that won't make any sense until it's too late and they're left with half the people in town dead, again, until they come back. or they don't.

max eyes him up and down, pointedly not shaking the offered hand. ]

Max. And you are? [ not only does she really not know, she's sure that her not knowing will sting his pride, and that'll give her some satisfaction. ]

[technologique]

[ aside from the warning about the fog and its effects on the body, without any sort of consequences laid out, it's hard to really put any sort of weight on the other warnings. at least as a newcomer, it is. they're in the back of his mind, and written down on paper, but it's been filed away for later. something to look into. something to ask questions about. but that warning about 'he'... it gives him even less yet it drew tony's attention. it's the non-specificity of the vague warning of someone coming that made him really take notice of it. 'he is coming' is never good.

tony looks down at his rejected hand with his eyebrows raises and then lets it drop back to his side ]

Really? Never would've pegged you for a 'Max'. [ tony's brows furrow and his head tips to one side. it does actually sting his pride a little that she doesn't know his name. though once upon a time, he would have been downright offended if she didn't know him so, progress, really. he quickly changes his expression, given her a self-assured grin instead. see? it's fine. it doesn't actually bother him ]

I'm the man Mathias has been waiting for.

[ okay, serious answer though ]

Tony.