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countryclub2021-10-25 04:09 pm
reddosmod) wrote in countryclub2021-10-25 04:09 pm
Entry tags:
October 2021 Test Drive Meme
OCTOBER 2021 TEST DRIVE MEME
STANDARD ARRIVAL
WHEN THEY WALK
WHAT THEY BROUGHT
CODING
Another month, another test drive meme! Our test drive memes are open to anyone interested - regardless of whether or not you join our game!
All Test Drive Memes are game canon. Players can choose to keep their TDM threads canon or not. TDM threads can be used for AC and can be used as your writing sample for your application.
Our TDMs serve as a way to build into the actual lore and worldbuilding of Deer Country and we strongly encourage everyone to enjoy and participate! Current players are always welcome to pull prompts from the TDM to reference on the Network or bring into logs as well as tag out to new characters top-leveling on the TDM itself.
Characters will always be able to actively die during TDMs as this is an extremely dangerous world. You can still have this be game canon! Check out how character death in Deer Country works here.
If you have any questions about the TDM, please ask down below!
IMAGE DESCRIPTORS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE
Prompt One
[Image One: Goths hissing at the camera on the beach surrounded by spooky decor.]
[Image Two: Kneading dough with flour.]
Prompt Two
[Image One: Gray tower along beach shores.]
[Image Two: Gray tower along beach shores standing up out of the water with spindly legs.]
Prompt Three
[Image One: Shark with centipede-like legs attached to stomach crashing into a wall.]
[Image Two: Various fish with centipede-like legs attached to their stomachs running in a frenzied herd among streets while people observe.]
All Test Drive Memes are game canon. Players can choose to keep their TDM threads canon or not. TDM threads can be used for AC and can be used as your writing sample for your application.
Our TDMs serve as a way to build into the actual lore and worldbuilding of Deer Country and we strongly encourage everyone to enjoy and participate! Current players are always welcome to pull prompts from the TDM to reference on the Network or bring into logs as well as tag out to new characters top-leveling on the TDM itself.
Characters will always be able to actively die during TDMs as this is an extremely dangerous world. You can still have this be game canon! Check out how character death in Deer Country works here.
If you have any questions about the TDM, please ask down below!
Prompt One
[Image One: Goths hissing at the camera on the beach surrounded by spooky decor.]
[Image Two: Kneading dough with flour.]
Prompt Two
[Image One: Gray tower along beach shores.]
[Image Two: Gray tower along beach shores standing up out of the water with spindly legs.]
Prompt Three
[Image One: Shark with centipede-like legs attached to stomach crashing into a wall.]
[Image Two: Various fish with centipede-like legs attached to their stomachs running in a frenzied herd among streets while people observe.]
WHEN: End of October to mid November
WHERE: The Farther Shores/The Boardwalk
CONTENT WARNINGS: Vague implication of food shortages.
WHERE: The Farther Shores/The Boardwalk
CONTENT WARNINGS: Vague implication of food shortages.
You're one of the lucky ones. Your journey is smooth sailing and you wind up exactly where you're supposed to: on the Farther Shores. You grow out of your squid body without a hitch, either with the help of another Sleeper or one of the Wakers, and you get to discover this new world. All new Sleepers might take some time to find their bearings. It might be tricky to remember how to use your body parts the way you're supposed to. You might stumble around the beach or forget how to talk - but don't worry! It'll come back to you sooner or later.
Hopefully, you've found something to wear, either in your Welcoming Bag or otherwise, and can start familiarizing yourself with your surroundings. Maybe you help some other squids out on the beach. Waking up sucks! You feel for the little guys. And hey, maybe you're hoping one of those squids is a good friend...Stranger things have happened.
SEASONAL DETAILS ON THE BOARDWALK
This is not the greatest month to wash up on the Farther Shores. It's November and you'll pretty much immediately hate it! The waters are frigid but not quite frozen yet, but that won't make your arrival any less uncomfortable. Thankfully the Boardwalk seems well-stocked with heavy blankets and furs to give to newly awakened Sleepers. Barrels of hot chocolate and hot alcoholic cider are readily available to warm people up. There are several stalls selling hearty soups willed with mushrooms, potatoes, beans, and other filling components.
Fresh baked bread and pastries are sold on wax paper. Enjoy a steaming cinnamon roll or croissant or just your standard bread and butter. Many bakers have set up temporary stoves and seem to invite teaching Sleepers how to cook and prepare bread and pastries. Maybe knead some dough, learn some tricks of the trade. If you help out ab baker, they might even thank you with a sack of flour or other ingredients for bread!
The beach is filled with long tables with benches to seat large groups of people. Food has been gathered on the tables and it doesn't take much to be welcome to one of these groups. You will begin to hear some of the locals talk about The Tower:
"They say all of Trench is his body."
"That's absurd. We'd know if we're living in a Pthumerian."
"I'm just telling you what I've heard. Don't you think it's suspicious that sometimes we open one door and wind up on the other side of town? It's like he's playing with us all of the time..."
"Shh. He might hear you."
The locals don't seem to want to expand too much on the subject, instead looking uncomfortable to have been caught talking about it at all.
Locals will focus instead on warning you to keep your food well-stocked for the upcoming months. "Don't worry...You'll have plenty of time. The Forager's Festival is coming up, after all!"
Hopefully, you've found something to wear, either in your Welcoming Bag or otherwise, and can start familiarizing yourself with your surroundings. Maybe you help some other squids out on the beach. Waking up sucks! You feel for the little guys. And hey, maybe you're hoping one of those squids is a good friend...Stranger things have happened.
This is not the greatest month to wash up on the Farther Shores. It's November and you'll pretty much immediately hate it! The waters are frigid but not quite frozen yet, but that won't make your arrival any less uncomfortable. Thankfully the Boardwalk seems well-stocked with heavy blankets and furs to give to newly awakened Sleepers. Barrels of hot chocolate and hot alcoholic cider are readily available to warm people up. There are several stalls selling hearty soups willed with mushrooms, potatoes, beans, and other filling components.
Fresh baked bread and pastries are sold on wax paper. Enjoy a steaming cinnamon roll or croissant or just your standard bread and butter. Many bakers have set up temporary stoves and seem to invite teaching Sleepers how to cook and prepare bread and pastries. Maybe knead some dough, learn some tricks of the trade. If you help out ab baker, they might even thank you with a sack of flour or other ingredients for bread!
The beach is filled with long tables with benches to seat large groups of people. Food has been gathered on the tables and it doesn't take much to be welcome to one of these groups. You will begin to hear some of the locals talk about The Tower:
"They say all of Trench is his body."
"That's absurd. We'd know if we're living in a Pthumerian."
"I'm just telling you what I've heard. Don't you think it's suspicious that sometimes we open one door and wind up on the other side of town? It's like he's playing with us all of the time..."
"Shh. He might hear you."
The locals don't seem to want to expand too much on the subject, instead looking uncomfortable to have been caught talking about it at all.
Locals will focus instead on warning you to keep your food well-stocked for the upcoming months. "Don't worry...You'll have plenty of time. The Forager's Festival is coming up, after all!"
WHEN: These Towers will randomly appear on the beach sporadically year round. Sometimes they are easy to find, but there will be weeks or even months where they might not appear at all.
WHERE: UNKNOWN
CONTENT WARNINGS: Forced dimensional warping, Lovecraftian horror, existential dread
WHERE: UNKNOWN
CONTENT WARNINGS: Forced dimensional warping, Lovecraftian horror, existential dread
You hear and feel them before you really see them. There are tremors on the beach, making the sand quiver. You hear some low, deep moaning that makes you wonder if something is about to fall. When you start to investigate, you will find massive stone structures towards the further ends of the beach, away from the Boardwalk. Had these always been here? Surely you couldn't have missed seeing them before. They're huge and looked more ancient than most of Trench.
The Towers are covered in ancient and indecipherable runes. As you approach, you get the distinct feeling of being watched, observed. But you see no windows on these stone Towers. It's impossible to look away from them once you've started. You find yourself rooted to the spot, and more appear, slowly, but you don't remember seeing them before either. Look back towards the Boardwalk, and it's no longer there. Trench is no longer there. You're on an infinite beach. Black sands for endless miles, and the Towers sitting among the waves, watching, waiting.
Then there is another. Another Sleeper washed up on the shores just like you, or perhaps a Sleeper who happened to wander into the Tower's gaze around the same time. It's not until you start actually interacting with the other Sleeper that the Towers begin to react. You can see some of the further Towers begin to move through the water, though you can't imagine how that's possible, but the Towers respond directly to Sleepers interacting with one another. The more you communicate (with words or otherwise), the more they may move.
It isn't until the stakes are raised in your conversation that they really begin to react. Meaning, you wind up on a more serious subject, a more honest conversation, or something close to vulnerability even if you lie about it. As soon as the conversation hits an emotional stride, the Towers begin to migrate out of the water. Massive spindly legs swing slowly through the air, bringing the Towers up above waves and show that maybe they aren't just Towers at all. They may look like stone towers, but their legs are flesh and blood, glistening with scales. As they walk onto the beach, the earth quakes beneath you. You see bizarre creatures scuttling along their bellies before dropping off in to the ocean - was that a shark with legs? No, no, what's happening?
If you try fighting these behemoths, you will find that they are completely impenetrable, no matter what blood type you have or the abilities you possess. These are true immortals, but they do not seem interested in hurting you. They don't even seem to be aware of you beyond whatever energy your emotions are giving off. Eventually, you will realize that controlling your emotions, your conversation is as good as controlling the Towers. More positive conversations will push them back into the ocean and slowly bring you back to Trench's regular beach. But a negative conversation will draw the Towers to the beach, and if you're really unlucky, they might just accidentally trample you to death or you may be lost to this bizarre beach void indefinitely.
The Towers are covered in ancient and indecipherable runes. As you approach, you get the distinct feeling of being watched, observed. But you see no windows on these stone Towers. It's impossible to look away from them once you've started. You find yourself rooted to the spot, and more appear, slowly, but you don't remember seeing them before either. Look back towards the Boardwalk, and it's no longer there. Trench is no longer there. You're on an infinite beach. Black sands for endless miles, and the Towers sitting among the waves, watching, waiting.
Then there is another. Another Sleeper washed up on the shores just like you, or perhaps a Sleeper who happened to wander into the Tower's gaze around the same time. It's not until you start actually interacting with the other Sleeper that the Towers begin to react. You can see some of the further Towers begin to move through the water, though you can't imagine how that's possible, but the Towers respond directly to Sleepers interacting with one another. The more you communicate (with words or otherwise), the more they may move.
It isn't until the stakes are raised in your conversation that they really begin to react. Meaning, you wind up on a more serious subject, a more honest conversation, or something close to vulnerability even if you lie about it. As soon as the conversation hits an emotional stride, the Towers begin to migrate out of the water. Massive spindly legs swing slowly through the air, bringing the Towers up above waves and show that maybe they aren't just Towers at all. They may look like stone towers, but their legs are flesh and blood, glistening with scales. As they walk onto the beach, the earth quakes beneath you. You see bizarre creatures scuttling along their bellies before dropping off in to the ocean - was that a shark with legs? No, no, what's happening?
If you try fighting these behemoths, you will find that they are completely impenetrable, no matter what blood type you have or the abilities you possess. These are true immortals, but they do not seem interested in hurting you. They don't even seem to be aware of you beyond whatever energy your emotions are giving off. Eventually, you will realize that controlling your emotions, your conversation is as good as controlling the Towers. More positive conversations will push them back into the ocean and slowly bring you back to Trench's regular beach. But a negative conversation will draw the Towers to the beach, and if you're really unlucky, they might just accidentally trample you to death or you may be lost to this bizarre beach void indefinitely.
WHEN: Usually happens between seasonal shifts in Trench
WHERE: Everywhere
CONTENT WARNINGS: Parasitic horror, rotting bodies, animated corpses (mostly sea creatures), holes in skin.
WHERE: Everywhere
CONTENT WARNINGS: Parasitic horror, rotting bodies, animated corpses (mostly sea creatures), holes in skin.
You smell them long before you see them. A foul stench falls across Trench as the seasons begin to change from Blood to Bone. The putrid odor of corpses fills the streets, the odor stronger in some areas than others. You eventually see the source: fish.
Or what used to be fish, anyway. An unusual parasite native to Trench will bury itself into fish in the ocean and grow across their stomaches, eventually sprouting legs and taking the life energy of its host to generate movement. These parasitic corpses will then flee the ocean and rush inland so that the parasite can find bigger, juicier hosts. The parasites cling to small fish at first but don't be shocked if you see massive sharks crawling through the streets. Although the fish are already dead, the parasite generates movement to replicate how the fish might have behaved when it was alive. For a tuna, that's pretty harmless. But for a shark? Yeah, watch out.
The trick to killing these parasites is completely ripping them off their current host and destroying them. It's foul work since most of the corpses the parasites cling to are ready to burst with rot. This only attracts more parasites to the area. If you're extremely unlucky, these parasites might cling to you. You don't die immediately. They burrow into your skin and slowly begin to take over the motions of your own body. You can be saved from this, but you'll be left with some pretty gruesome holes in your body from their entry point.
The parasite exists as all parasites exist - it simply wants to feed off the energy of others. They seem to hunt down Sleepers above all else and the reason's obvious: the blood is far richer in nutrients than the blood of a common sea sponge. No wonder they rush out of the ocean. These sea parasites become weakest during the shift of seasons which is exactly why you're more likely to see them in the streets during those times of the year. Thankfully, once they have found enough hosts, they usually go back to the ocean and leave Trench alone for a few months. Many of them never find new hosts and will die in the streets of Trench. Which creates some really foul blood pollution that's best cleaned up by burning the bodies.
The sea parasites will only attempt to attach to any living host. While they do aim for Sleepers, they will also attach themselves to other animals and humans. Some might even attach themselves to beasts - and that's when you're really screwed. Let's just pray it doesn't come to that.
Or what used to be fish, anyway. An unusual parasite native to Trench will bury itself into fish in the ocean and grow across their stomaches, eventually sprouting legs and taking the life energy of its host to generate movement. These parasitic corpses will then flee the ocean and rush inland so that the parasite can find bigger, juicier hosts. The parasites cling to small fish at first but don't be shocked if you see massive sharks crawling through the streets. Although the fish are already dead, the parasite generates movement to replicate how the fish might have behaved when it was alive. For a tuna, that's pretty harmless. But for a shark? Yeah, watch out.
The trick to killing these parasites is completely ripping them off their current host and destroying them. It's foul work since most of the corpses the parasites cling to are ready to burst with rot. This only attracts more parasites to the area. If you're extremely unlucky, these parasites might cling to you. You don't die immediately. They burrow into your skin and slowly begin to take over the motions of your own body. You can be saved from this, but you'll be left with some pretty gruesome holes in your body from their entry point.
The parasite exists as all parasites exist - it simply wants to feed off the energy of others. They seem to hunt down Sleepers above all else and the reason's obvious: the blood is far richer in nutrients than the blood of a common sea sponge. No wonder they rush out of the ocean. These sea parasites become weakest during the shift of seasons which is exactly why you're more likely to see them in the streets during those times of the year. Thankfully, once they have found enough hosts, they usually go back to the ocean and leave Trench alone for a few months. Many of them never find new hosts and will die in the streets of Trench. Which creates some really foul blood pollution that's best cleaned up by burning the bodies.
The sea parasites will only attempt to attach to any living host. While they do aim for Sleepers, they will also attach themselves to other animals and humans. Some might even attach themselves to beasts - and that's when you're really screwed. Let's just pray it doesn't come to that.
i.
That's the question Ahiru hears from the other side of her squidly tomb. For any Sleepers nearby, it absolutely sounds like a bunch of quacking. But for a duck, it sounds more like:]
Can you hear me? Are you hurt?
no subject
she stills for a moment, surprised. only drosselmeyer ever understood her and that's why she seems wary.
finally she speaks up. ]
Quack quack? (Who are you?)
no subject
Quack, Vyng quack. Quack. Quack. Quack quack. Quack. (I am Vyng, a Druid. And I'm here to help you.)
[Translated into Duck, "a druid" might be understood as "someone who reveres and serves nature".]
no subject
Quack quack quack? (Can you help get out?)
no subject
[Quacked in a calm, even manner. This is starting to get kind of philosophical...]
Quack. Quack quack quack. (But there's beauty here, too. Connection. Community. Family. If you choose to seek them out, you'll find all of these things.)
[A pause, and then:]
Quack quack?
(Are you still ready to come out?)
[There's no urgency behind the question, giving Ahiru the space to consider her choice.]
no subject
a new world. a new story. she's left things unfinished and a part of her wants to bury herself back in the shell. but she couldn't. she can't leave the story hanging.
"A story that never ends is a sad fate."
miss edel.
no she couldn't stay. no matter what. ]
Quack! (I'm ready!)
1/2
Quack quack. (Then it shall be done, my child.)
no subject
Quaaa...quack quack? Quack quack quack. (So, uh...which end? Do you want to, like, come out of.)
no subject
[ she can't really tell what is front or back inside the squid. ]
Quaa Quack (Any will do)
no subject
He doesn't tear at anything yet — instead, he peers down into the opening, sending his own gray hair spilling around his face as he bends at an awkward angle. It'd be nice to know where the little bird actually is, before potentially bringing any sharp objects into the mix.]
no subject
[ a beak peeks out as she does her best to make it through the opening. ]
no subject
Quack, quack quack. (Oh, there you are.)
[He's a bit concerned about the bird wriggling out that way, though. Squid beaks are sharp.]
Quack quack quack? (Could you hold still for a second, please?)
no subject
[ she stills, waiting. ]
no subject
Quack quack. (Try this way.)
no subject
then she glances at her savior. ]
Quack quack. (Thank you)
no subject
Quack! Quack quack quack. Quaaack quack. (No need to thank me. You did well. Good job, young one.)
no subject
Quack . . . (Thank you . . . )
no subject
Still sitting on the sand, Vyng folds his lanky legs beneath himself and regards her with a curious expression.]
Quack quack quack. Quack quack? Quack? (You must be tired. Would you like some food? Rest?)
no subject
Quack quack. (I'm all right)
no subject
Then again, she might be skittish and shy. For a little duck, the world can be a big, scary place. With that in mind, Vyng studies the duck's movements and body language for any sign of illness or injury.]
Quack quack quack? (Are you sure?)
[He withdraws a small mason jar from his bag. While shaking the green contents in an enticing manner, he brightly adds:]
Qua quack quaaaack... ♪
(I've got some seaweed... ♪)
no subject
Quack! Quack, quack, quack! (No, thank you! I will take care of myself)
no subject
Quack quack, quack quack quack. Quack quack? (I know this is a strange request, but do you mind standing on top of my head for, like, ten seconds?)
[In this case, "ten seconds" in Duck can be understood as "the amount of time it would take for you to destroy a bowl of peas".]
no subject
Quack. (I guess)
no subject
Quack? Quack quack. (Really? Thank you.)
[Gently and carefully, he scoops the duck up from the sand and places her on top of his hair — thick and wavy with some stray twigs near his scalp from an earlier misadventure, though surprisingly smooth and combed otherwise.
Once she's settled, he pulls out his crystal Omni and holds it up at an angle.]
Say peas!
[He snaps a selfie.]
no subject
[ huh. what happened there? she had never seen anything quite like it. ]
Quack quack? (What did you do?)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)