The Village Mod (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
villagemod) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
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.
Bodies Without Souls - May be the shortest thread in history??
Looking for a couple of books.
Being a functioning adult he absolutely had not hid when she first came in.
He had ... simply wanted to check out the books in the far back corner kinda behind a couple of displays that happened to provide cover.
Having heard her leave and thinking the coast was clear, Will had his books and was taking his own leave. At about the time the rock went hurtling towards the window and the person bellowed out such a delightful choice of words.
"Charming," Hannibal remarked in a tone that suggested the Ripper was debating if the youngster were of interest or just rude. "She looks younger than Abigail. Shouldn't you go and inquire after her well being?"
"No." Will responded to thin air before angling himself in such a way as to walk past her on the widest berth possible.
F in the chat for Will
She pivots, following him without hesitation--but very carefully staying out of his reach. "Do you have a moral objection to knock knock jokes or something?"
no subject
Turning towards her but almost taking a step to encourage distance he stared at her for a minute as if trying to process her words. Actually he was trying to remember the question.
"Your moral opinion on knock knock jokes," Hannibal supplied, sounding amused and now less likely to be considering the girl as 'free range rude'.
"Would not say I give them that much thought," he answered in quiet tones, to both of them, before turning once again to make an escape.
no subject
"I'm Athena. Kind of not from around here. Are you local?"
no subject
Still her voice behind him, offering her name and the question caused him to stop. He was twitchy and rude but when give direct reason to be neither of those things, Will did at least make an effort. He paused and half turned his eyes aimed somewhere towards her feet as he spoke.
"Will," he replied. "At this time, near as I can tell, none of us are local." He paused and looked up, still not at her face but out towards the woods and the fog beyond. "If someone or something is trying to kill you? Then you've found someone or something 'local'."
no subject
"Good to know. So are we vibing more with The Hills Have Eyes or Silent Hill around here?" A pause, and she frowns. "The fuck is with all the hills in horror movies, anyway."
no subject
From the outside it might appear as if he's briefly agitated and ready to snap at something definitely not her. But in the next breath he seems to pull himself together, shifting the books in his arms and directs his focus back to Athena. Not her face or her eyes, not for more than a breath second but his attention is on her.
"It physically pains me to admit that I am familiar with those two references," Will said in a tone that was almost dark humor. It slips away as he addresses her question. "Hills, mountains, an island. It plays upon our primal fear of being unable to escape an enclosed, dangerous location. Being trapped by something larger than ourselves and unmoved by our plight."
Wait. Had her question been rhetorical? Errr.
no subject
She sobers again as he talks. It fits with everything else she's been told. The more she learns, the more unhappy she is that Jeff is here, and the happier she is for it at the same time. She wants the comfort. She doesn't want to risk him getting hurt.
"Okay, so we're more cosmic horror, Stephen King kind of thing." She tilts her head as she watches him. "Were you a philosophy teacher or something before you went nuts?"
She frowns. "Though I guess the whole 'playing upon primal fear' is more psychology."
A shrug. "Also, sorry if the nuts part is a touchy subject, but you seem like the sort of person who knows they're kinda out there."
no subject
"My crazy is well documented," he admitted in a dry tone and without any hint of rancor at her calling him nuts. "There are over a dozen psychologists salivating for the day I die and they can publish."
"You are a recent arrival," a statement not a question. "How long have you been here?"
no subject
She shrugs again. "Yeah. I got here this morning. Me and another guy from my world, Jeff."
Athena scrunches her face up. "Jesus, saying 'my world' is fucking weird."
no subject
"It takes a few days," he agreed and in a tone that was intended to be one of commiseration. The small smile fell away and a genuine hint of concern brushed his expression as he looked up at the sky and then around the town.
"First thing you and your friend should do is secure shelter. Find a house that doesn't have any current occupants and set up shop. If you'd rather have other people around there is also a boarding house that some share. Regardless, make sure you have shelter before dark."
no subject