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.
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She tries not to shiver, but goosebumps crawl up the back of her neck just the same. "This place is fuckin... creepy as hell."
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"I thought it was just me," he admits, Athena being one of the few people in the world who would catch the significance of that. "Let's, ah... find somewhere a little less haunted to catch up."
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"Definitely not just you," she says softly. "Here, this way--there's a record store. Legit records and cassette tapes, and not in a millennial collector kind of way, either, they're old. It'll be homey. Because you're also old, get it?"
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"Ohhhh, funny! I'm glad you explained it, because otherwise, it would've gone right over my head. Much like the high shelves you're gonna need me to reach sometime." Jeff shoots her a playful grin, and a gentle nudge with his elbow. "Because you're short. Get it?"
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Once she's satisfied there's no one waiting, she shoves the door open and marches inside, leaving Jeff to catch said door or let it hit him in the face. "I'm moving in here until we go home."
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Okay, he doesn't. But he does catch the door before it swings shut on him. Jeff looks around for any sign of... well, anything that might go bump in the night, as if they're so easy to spot, before making a beeline for the new releases, like that'll give him some extra hint about their new surroundings.
"You wouldn't feel like that Greek dude with the food and water?" He gestures vaguely with a cassette tape. "The one with that shitty punishment in the Underworld. Music music everywhere, but none of it in digital!"
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She holds up an album, squinting at the cover. "Have you ever heard of Steel Mädchen? Is this a joke band or something?"
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Jeff looks up from the albums he's thumbing through, a lot of which he doesn't recognize. And the ones he does... there's always something slightly off about them. Familiar artwork, with a detail changed and a band name he doesn't recognize.
Case in point...
"Steel Mädchen?" He furrows his brow, thinking on it for a moment, then lets out an amused huff. "Sounds like something out of Mad Magazine. I haven't... heard of a lot of these artists. Which-- hey! Means it's like a whole new musical frontier in here!"
Hey, he's got to look for the silver linings where he can. Jeff sighs, backing away from the New Release section.
"I'm going to find a way to get you home, kid. We're going to..."
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She grins at him, slotting the record back into place. Yes, she had an obsessive Greek mythology phase. Can you blame her?
Athena abandons her own bin and walks over to hug him again. "Of course we will. And it's not like we'll be the only people looking. No one wants to be here, that I've met anyway."
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(It's okay if Athena finds it dorky and embarrassing. Mel sure does sometimes!)
Jeff gives her a gentle squeeze, nodding. "You're right. We don't have to go at this alone. And if I ever start to doubt too much, I'll just picture your aunt giving me that terrifying DGA agent look."
He pulls back so Athena can see him pulling a very stern face, his best Lenore Carrigan impression.
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"First of all, I was repeating memorized facts, and secondly, your face is going to stick like that just because of how weird it looks on you."