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.
no subject
He looked over sidelong at the question, lips curling at the edges with a passing faint pull. "Little ways down the road. One of the streets nearest the beach - 1306 Phillips Drive. Livin' there with a few other guys that are stuck here but you're welcome to drop in if you want to." Fair warning and all. "That's somethin' about this place you oughta know. You don't want to be by yourself, alone in a house at night. Or outside - the point bein'.." He let out a breath as he looked forward again. "Nights can be a little unnervin' sometimes."
no subject
She listens to his warning, briefly silent afterward. "What... does that mean? Like, seriously, that's fucking vague as fuck. Don't be alone, don't go outside, night are unnerving--specifics, man!"
The 'man' is said with the air of a 50s TV hero telling someone to get their shit together.
no subject
"I'd rather be against somethin' I've got a chance in than backed up against the fogbearin' forest." But the faint cast of humor didn't stand up long to the demand of specifics. "It's dangerous, Athena. We've already had a third of our number die from gettin' caught outside in the Fog, though some of them came back. We just lost another third to some.... fucked up invisible monster. People inside were spared."
And she needed to be spared - Athena was spunky and full of the fire of youth. He didn't want to see what would happen to that fire with all the trauma this place could inflict upon her. Better that broader shoulders bore it.
no subject
She bites her lips together, looking straight ahead instead of at him. She's seen people dead. She's never seen the actual dying, but she's seen the aftermath. She's a lot more willing to believe what he's saying than she might have been before the realization that he had no idea what the Gift was. Even the idea of people coming back doesn't shock her as thoroughly as it might have ten minutes ago.
"Well that's fucked up," is what she finally says, voice quiet. "The ones killed by the... monster, thing. Did they come back?"
no subject
"Yeah. We came back. Some of us. Not enough of us," he answered with a soft evenness and fighting the urge to reach up and scratch the faint lines across the left side of his face. "So don't go roamin' around after nightfall and don't forget the buddy system. It might save your ass. There's no.. no normal livin' here, but there's some kind of livin' regardless. It's somethin', in between everything else."
He'd found more than he could have ever hoped for, considering the situation but it was nothing like he'd ever experienced.
no subject
She huddles into his jacket a little more, like somehow having something of his around her shoulders will ward off the fact that he's someone back from the dead. "I mean," she stops for a second, then smiles a little, lifting one shoulder in a shrug. "That's kind of life anyway, right? Sounds a hell of a lot weirder here, but. Something between everything else is just kind of. You know, how it goes."
no subject
"Twice." He didn't exactly want to detail it out but if faced with the question, he doesn't know that he'd be able to tell Athena no outright. All his instincts told him to prepare her as best he could for what was coming. Honestly was a demand of it.
"It is. The good things to focus on. You'll do alright here with that kinda attitude. It's a good one to have. If you come across anyone saying they come from 1306 Phillips Drive, you can trust them too. My housemates. They're good guys." She'd be okay, as okay as any of them were. She'd be able to handle it. The young always weathered things better.
no subject
A pause, then, with a cheerful air, "You know what comes after death?"
She pauses again, not long enough that he has time to answer seriously. "A necrophiliac."
no subject
The joke was more than unexpected and before Raylan could stop himself, he found himself laughing. The laughter spilt until he had to stop to pinch his brow and he ended it all with a sigh as he stuffed his hand back into his pocket.
"I'mma keep that one if you don't have any objections." God if only that was the only thing he'd had to worry about.
no subject
He's got a nice laugh, and she's pleased with herself for getting it out of him. He doesn't seem like the kind of person who laughs out loud that often. He's the opposite of Jeff in a lot of ways, it's not hard to see.
She sees buildings through the trees and can't decide if she wants to speed up or slow down. "Man, I already miss Virginia, and I don't even like it."
Wanna wrap that there or do you want moar hat?
Athena was right. He didn't laugh much or as often as he wanted to but life had done a good job of not giving him much to laugh over. It both made him look and feel a little younger than he was. If he knew Jeff, there would be some reflection - Raylan didn't know his face could be anything other than what it was. A little too stern, a little too offhanded casual and a little warm, when he wanted it to be. But happy? Freely allowed to show emotion? Never.
"We're gonna figure out a way to get you back Athena, I promise. We're gonna get all of us back." Somehow.