test drive — spring

[villagemod]

SPRING 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.

Prospective players are welcome to play with any of the established locations within Mathias.

( Recommended listening: ♫ )

---

GHOSTS OF THE LIVING
The fog moves in quickly and without warning, not from the waterfront but the forest, cascading through every street in a thick wave of white. It is not a soft blanket enveloping the town, but a heavy weight pressing down, threatening to suffocate as the sky is blotted out and no one can see more than ten feet in any direction.

Those who are outside when it rolls in are left wandering blind, hoping that a randomly chosen direction will lead them to shelter or another living soul. There are perhaps even those who were lucky enough to already be inside when the fog descended, quickly closing doors and windows to keep it from creeping in. Wherever they are, the residents of Mathias will soon notice that they are not the only ones in the fog.

Anyone out in the fog is left disoriented, possibly losing their sense of time and place, and it is only after prolonged exposure that they will begin to feel off. A sense of being ill will cling to them if they are in the fog for too long, including dizziness, lightheadedness, or nausea — the time it takes to manifest varies from person to person, as does the duration it will last after leaving the fog.

With all of these elements at play, the first strange apparitions encountered may be assumed to be figments of addled minds, tricks played by psyches struggling to cope with the strange reality they've found themselves in. But before long, there will be no denying that the Others in the fog are real. Appearing almost wraithlike and startlingly recognizable, these figures even feel a bit like ghosts to those who can sense such things, though everyone will feel that there is something wrong about them. Truly, there are many things wrong that residents will begin to notice as they encounter more and more of the spectres that do not acknowledge their presence in any way. They simply exist, silent and subtly terrifying like so many things in this town.

Like misty ghosts of those who have been in the town at one point or another, the Others appear as those who have died or disappeared and even those currently within the town. The likeness is truly uncanny, to the point of being completely terrifying, made even more so when they realize there is no way to communicate with the Others. They do not acknowledge anyone's presence nor anything said to them. At times, they may be only one in an area, or there may be a dozen existing in the same space. There is no limit to how many people can see them — if they are there, they are seen by all.

The Others do not enter buildings and cannot be contained in any way. They can appear at one moment and be gone in the next, or they can exist in one place for hours on end. Whether standing stationary or slowly wandering throughout the town, there is no discernible purpose to them. There is something absent and distant in the way they hold themselves, the way they walk, and their expressions, as if even they cannot grasp what is happening.

A BIT OF EXPLORATION
There are plenty of places in which to get one's bearings and hide from the fog.

There are businesses on the square, nestled around and extending out from the Town Hall. There is a schoolhouse nestled by the southern treeline, not from the rather expansive makeshift cemetery at the end of Jackson Boulevard that is courtesy of a few kind residents in town. To the far north of the square is a sprawling garden, now covered in snow, and a greenhouse that once supplied the botanical shop. And to the east and west, beyond the business square, is are residential districts.

The eastern district sprawls all the way to the beach, with some houses in perfect condition and others beginning to show significant signs of age. The western district, however, is nothing but decay. From the beginnings of rot to completely collapsed and little more than a pile of proverbial bones, none of these homes are anything resembling livable. Well, as far as one can tell, at least. For between the streets of Hill Lane and Stine Road there is a crack in the earth. A dozen feet across and fifty feet down, there is no way across.

TO SEE AND BE SEEN
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. Covering the board are tacked-on 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 painted directly across the center of the board, visible in the gaps between the pieces of paper, is a symbol in dark red. While peering at that obscured symbol, a strange breeze ruffles the papers, revealing a little more, just enough to—

An eye. A strange, ornate eye with three lobes, painted in still-wet red. And upon close examination, a keen eye will realize that the paint is actually blood, perhaps even human.

The longer someone stands there, the more it will feel like they are being watched, even studied, with great interest. It's a sensation that lingers and stays with them even when they exit the building.

navigation | faq | locations | setting | mod contact

Comments

a bit of exploration

[technologique]

1305 Phillips Drive certainly looks lived in. Or perhaps more like a place that was once lived in but has since been abandoned, depending on one's definition of such things. The upkeep leaves a lot to be desired. To be fair though, its occupant is not terribly accustomed to such things. Scattered around the living room are things ranging from small collections of screws, to scraps of wire, to the inner workings of radios and VCRs. There are also holes in the walls between the living room and dining room, though what appears to be wanton destruction is actually calculated. A completely unnecessary renovation that's only partway finished.

Tony is currently in the dining room, leaning over the table and, more to the point, his current project. Two sets of walkie talkies for Doc and Ellie. A small bit of normalcy for him here in Mathias. Something to keep his mind off of everything he doesn't want to think about it. Something to keep him busy at night when he simply doesn't want to sleep. At least they're useful and not just a make-work project (which is how the renovation started).

"Doc, I really don't appreciate-" Tony stops mid-sentence as he steps out of the dining room to see who's come into his house. No, he still doesn't like that. The house. Tony's eyes narrow and his brows furrow as he points toward the woman. "You're not Doc. Who are you?"

[trigeminalheadache]

Shelter is all she can think about. When she can think. The dizziness has hit a fevered pitch; she moves slowly, carefully, and looks like a house of cards on the verge of being blown down. There's a buzzing in the back of her head, making everything fuzzy and slightly out of focus. What is this? Is it the fog? Is it some remnant of whatever she might have been drugged with before being dumped on the beach? She can't think. She needs to get inside somewhere, get warm. Get out of this.

The place looks a wreck, something that would normally make her balk. Normal Caitlin wouldn't stick around, not unless she was looking for something this mess might provide. But freezing cold, wet, feeling ill Caitlin? This could be her port in the storm.

The unfamiliar voice brings her to a halt, though, even standing still, she's shivering hard enough for it to be visible and wobbling unsteadily. She's not supposed to be cold. This is wrong. She braces a hand against the wall beside one of the holes. Doc. Who goes by 'Doc'? Her head wavers as she looks at him. "Caitlin Snow. I-I'm sorry for intruding."

[technologique]

Tony lets his hand drop back to his side as he takes in the state of the woman standing in his living room. Caitlin Snow. He should probably try to remember that, right? Not that there's even enough people here to make it difficult to remember everyone's names, yet there's still far too many. And by the look of Caitlin, here, it seems that their numbers have increased by at least one. Their numbers are going in the wrong damn direction.

Keeping an eye on the unsteady woman, Tony steps back into the dining room for a moment and grabs one of the chairs that he'd pushed up against the wall, out of his way. It's an offering for Caitlin that also means he doesn't have to clear off any of the surfaces in the living room for her to sit. Without JARVIS here to keep tabs on everything for him, while also being in an unfamiliar house, Tony's been finding it easier to keep track of what he has and what he doesn't by having things all laid out. When he has some downtime, he'll come up with a better system.

So for now, he sets down one of the dining room chairs in front of Caitlin and gestures for her to take a seat.

"I'd probably be upset about the intrusion if I wasn't already intruding. Not my house, so probably can't really say much, right?" Though if it were anyone else, he probably would have had something to say about it. As it stands, he's not about to turn Caitlin away, given the state she's in.

"Tony." He gestures toward her. "Run-in with our lovely beach?"

[trigeminalheadache]

She’d be just as happy to collapse on the floor, let herself slide down the wall until her ass hits the ground. That would pose the question of how she’d get up again. The world would have to stop tilting first, for sure. And she couldn’t—wouldn’t—rely on the stranger whose home she’d just waltzed into. His hands are empty, but he knows this place and what’s in it. He isn’t the one about to fall over. So, no. Maybe the floor isn’t a great idea.

Caitlin looks relieved when he brings over the chair, like someone who’s been crawling in the desert spotting water. It’s quicker than him clearing off something in the living room, she can tell that much. A better option than the floor. Less trouble getting up from it. She hopes, at least. She grips the back of the chair with her free hand, uses it and her hand on the wall to step to the side of the seat. When she lets go of the wall, she wavers a moment, unsteady, before she drops into place. A very small, practically imperceptible “Thank you” escapes her as she shifts and pulls her legs in front of her.

She probably looks every bit as fragile and frail as she feels. Sure, there’s a chance she might fall out of the chair, but it’s less likely than her keeling over on her feet.

She listens to Tony with her eyes shut, willing the world to stop spinning. Not intruding. Not his house. Then whose house is this? Is this all the owner’s junk? Not the point right now, Caitlin, she tells herself. She breathes out an amused huff at his question.

“I’d say the beach ran me over, not into me. I didn’t fall asleep on the beach. I don’t live anywhere near a beach.” Carefully, she cracks open one eye to look at him. “Where are we, and how do I get home?”