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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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INTO THE ENDLESS
Athena wakes up in the middle of the forest and bolts to her feet, looking around in a panic. There are no fucking forests between her house and Jeff's. There's no forests in their whole town and honestly, fuck forests anyway.

She chews on a bit of loose skin on her lower lip, hugging herself and trying to ignore the fear knotting in her gut. She's not dressed for this weather--and what the hell is that about, anyway? There's so much snow, and while she could accept a late-spring dusting, there's no way she would have slept through this much piling up.

"Okay, Thee. Let's figure this out," she says, and then starts humming She Keeps Me Warm, because apparently she feels like being ironic at the moment. Athena clears her throat and rubs her hoodie-clad arms.

"Right. Two ways to go here. Path number left, or path number right." She bites her lip, looks both ways--and picks the path that eventually leads to the gaping hole in the ground. She's been singing the entire way there, rotating through 80s rock ballads, goth, New Wave, and modern rock heavily laced with swear words.

When she reaches the chasm, she stops dead and stops singing as well, right in the middle the chorus of Sizzy Rocket's Bestie. "I WANNA FUCK, FUCK, FUCK MY BEST FRIEND--what the shit."

She stares down into the seemingly bottomless fissure, dumbfounded. There's definitely nothing like this in Virginia. At least not as far as she knows.

"That's one big-ass hole," she whispers, pauses, and gives a slightly hysterical giggle.

BODIES WITHOUT SOULS
This one's pretty simple. She's throwing rocks at the bookstore window, trying to break it. Yeah, she went inside. Yeah, she got spooked. She hefts one particularly large stone as the soft tapping emanates from the window.

"Knock knock, futhermuckers," she yells, and hefts the rock hard enough to actually crack the glass.

THE END APPROACHES
Athena glares at the bulletin board. She's skimmed over what's there (and very much appreciates the puns), but it makes about fuckall sense and she is not keen on the idea of just hanging out here, waiting to go home. She tacks up a sheet of white paper, writing large enough to cover the top half of it. It says:

Respectfully,

What the actual fuck.

- Athena, the jane-come-lately
(room for explanations left below, please and thank you.)

She stands back a moment, before her glare turns to the map in the middle of the bulletin board. There's no denying it creeps her out. This whole town creeps her out. She won't acknowledge the fact that it does a lot more than that. It's viscerally disturbing to walk the snowy streets and listen to the total silence, to go into empty houses full of dust and other people's belongings. She shivers, then scowls, annoyed with her own fear.

On impulse and with ignored anger, she writers That's what she said in big letters just under the stupid red warning.

Edited 2021-03-10 01:46 (UTC)

"Oh, nice. You got a hell of a throw on you, kid." He wanders a little bit closer, inspecting the glass curiously.

"You want some pointers on how to do it even better? Used to teach this kinda shit all the time." Maybe he should scold her for vandalizing shit, but... he doesn't actually give a fuck about any of that.

Athena goes abruptly quiet and wary as he approaches, a year of living with her aunt not nearly enough to erase the hypervigilance of living on the street. Negan's almost a full foot taller than her, and he's big. Comparatively speaking at least.

"That depends. Do those pointers involve you feeling me up to make sure my arm's angled right?"

"Jesus, kid." He holds his hands up. He can't blame her for being suspicious, but it's also fucked up whenever a kid jumps to that first thing.

"No, I promise I'll keep my hands to myself. You're way too fucking young for me, I can promise you that."

He motions towards the window. "I was a coach once upon a time, that's all. And I can damn sure respect the urge to want to tear this place to the ground."

She looks at him sidelong, still suspicious, but relaxing a little. "Were you a coach in Fucksville, Antarctica, or did you wake up here too?"

Athena levels a glare at the cracked window. It hasn't done anything to deter the... things moving inside. She hugs herself, glad that she at least helped herself to a coat from one of the empty houses.

"Virginia. As far as I know, no one currently in this town is actually from it. We all woke up here, same as you."

He idly crosses his arms and tilts his head, inspecting the window. "Relax your shoulders. Helps if you're aiming at something... like that crack right there. The deep one."

Edited 2021-03-10 03:27 (UTC)

Athena Carrigan || OC || I apologize for her in advance || CW FOR LOTS OF SWEARS

Bodies Without Souls

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The End Approaches

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Into the endless

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