The Village Mod (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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villagememes2021-03-08 05:08 pm
villagemod) wrote in villagememes2021-03-08 05:08 pm
Entry tags:
test drive — spring
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.
no subject
Alina!
[ He's glad to see her, and it seems he's also a little relieved. The last he'd seen her had been at the Winter Fete, where her stunning power had inspired hope among the crowd before she went missing. Fedyor had heard of Marie's death in the attempted assassination of Alina. Like many others, he assumed that Alina had been stolen away from the palace rather than the truth of what actually happened.
He is, as they say, in a sort of blissful ignorance about everything that transpired soon after that. The General had sent him after Nina, which took Fedyor away from the events of the Fold. No news of it had been able to reach him between then and him ending up here. As far as Fedyor is concerned, seeing Alina alive and well is a happy occasion, regardless of where they might be. ]
It is good to see you. I was worried.
[ And he was, truthfully. Fedyor would be worried about any of his fellow Grisha that went missing following such drama, but Alina was, of course, special. He gives her arms a quick squeeze before dropping his hands. ]
no subject
Saints, this is not what she expected when trying to just have a quiet few hours. Alina returns the smile, though it doesn't quite reach her eyes. ]
Have you seen the General yet? He's here. I'm... I'm not sure how much he's told you of what transpired in the Fold.
[ If she's going to do this, it's got to be quick. Quiet and direct. And if Fedyor didn't hate her after, she'd need to swear him to secrecy for the sake of everyone else. It was eating her alive, the guilt-- the weight of the losses and the pain of the manipulation. Fedyor deserved to know it all, if only to keep himself safe from his General.
If he even believed her. ]
no subject
No, I - The Fold?
[ His brows knit together curiously. Had The General found Alina, then, while Fedyor was on his own assignment? Had they attempted to end the Fold at last? Fedyor had to admit that he was jealous, if that was the case, for he'd wanted to see it happen. Something about Alina's tone suggests things did not go well. ]
I am afraid I know nothing of it. I was carrying out an assignment that took me away following your disappearance, no news reached us.
no subject
[ She shouldn't tell him anything - should leave him in plausible ignorance and let him hate her after talking to Kirigan. Truthfully, that would be the safest option. But she'd never been great at holding her tongue. Ever. So it all just kind of tumbles out. ]
He doesn't want to destroy the Fold. He held me prisoner, tied me to the deck of a ship, expanded it. Novokribirsk--
[ The horror of her experience was easy to dismiss when dealing with him directly, until the villain started to peek through when she tested boundaries. She shakes her head, taking a step back. ]
I shouldn't be saying this.
no subject
He thinks back to his time knowing The General. A whole life of following him, being loyal, and he realizes he's never suspected Kirigan of lying once. Maybe that's the worst part. For all the things Kirigan says, he believes it all to be true, so it's never a lie. Fedyor presses his lips together. ]
If not to destroy the fold, then what did he want you for? What other use could a sun summoner have if not to free us from it?
no subject
[ It's terrifying and it should be. The Fold was his greatest weapon and he'd already proven he had no issues with destroying as many people as he could that stood in his way. her frown deepens, brows knitting as she continues. ]
He wasn't alone, Fedyor. There were other Grisha helping him see this through.
[ She doesn't know how to break the news about Ivan, about his possible death. About David. About Genya -- about everyone. The intricate lies that had been woven, the Grisha who followed secret orders. That there was a coup taking place. ]
no subject
You cannot be mad at them. The General's actions are horrible but to Grisha, he is all most of us know. He gave us a purpose and protection, and many would gladly have put themselves in your shoes if they could. You know this.
[ Fedyor can't believe that any of his fellow Grisha would be quite so cruel. Certainly it happens, but he has to think the best of them. ]
no subject
It was a decision she couldn't support.
Gathering her items close to her chest, she takes a step back and then another -- her gaze never breaking from Fedyor. ]
Go find the General, I'm sure he'll be pleased to have another Grisha to do his bidding with no questions asked. [ And with that, she leaves before she can make a further fool of herself or give Fedyor anything more to relay to the General. ]