reddosmod: (Default)
Deer Country Mod ([personal profile] reddosmod) wrote in [community profile] countryclub2022-09-25 09:57 pm
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SEPTEMBER TEST DRIVE MEME!

SEPTEMBER 2022 TDM
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: Bread Cornucopia filled with fruits and veggies]
[Image Two: Creepy glass eye embedded in sand]

Prompt Two
[Image One: A Lone Lighthouse by night]
[Image Two: Ghost Ship in dilapidated condition]

Prompt Three
[Image One: Wasps, Wasp Nest made from human Mask screaming terror, swirling eddies in wasp Nest]
[Image Two: Horribly mutilated Cenobite in Latex gear with exposed teeth]

STANDARD ARRIVAL
WHEN: First Week of September
WHERE: The Farther Shores/The Boardwalk, Koz's Orphanage
CONTENT WARNINGS: Creepy Prosthetics buried in the sand


On some level, you are one of the fortunate ones. The storms of August are now a distant memory. It is the waning of the Blood Moon and the tempestuous state of the Beast Moon this year is fading finally while the harvest is being collected. Sleepers arriving find no particular difficulty in actually reaching the shores for the most part, and transformations back into their natural state of being are relatively easy. They are met by happy Trenchies and fellow Sleepers with robes of white and their bags as normal, and motioned towards the waiting tents set up along the

What is strange, however, is that when Sleepers arrive, they may find their eyes drawn to something disturbing amongst the sand. Water washes with the waves and tide, and reveals a body part! They are always prosthetics of some variety, and many are glass eyes that eerily stare at the person. They can be retrieved with some ease, though they're in bad need of cleaning. Perhaps they belong to someone in town? If not, however, asking around will get a suggestion to bring those to Koz's Orphange in Crenshaw. They have a Lost and Found there, and it is the season of finding what and who is lost. If they do, they might catch a glimpse of Koz floating mournfully through the area, and one of the children will gratefully take the item, saying that they will add it to the rest of the Lost and Found, before coming back with a photo in hand. "Here, I found this, and I think it might be yours?" The photo is, indeed, of the giver and someone from their past. Perhaps it is an actual photo taken, or one they cannot remember having been taken. Regardless, it is offered to them in a cheap wooden frame. How it got there, the orphan does not know. It was probably there when they arrived.

SEASONAL DETAILS ON THE BOARDWALK

The Boardwalk is quite the spectacle this time of year, and those who were here the prior year will remember many of the decorations and festivities. Pumpkins have been stacked on spikes lining the Boardwalk with grotesquely realistic carvings of faces decorated on them. Massive white linen has been hung in the air to look like ghosts floating back and forth against the ocean wind.

Delicious smells waft from the Boardwalk as fresh donuts, candied apples, and hot apple cider are sold at every other booth, along with complementary cornucopias given to each new Sleeper made out of bread that has fruits of all varieties but always seems to have a small jar of the favorite fruit, seed, vegetable (or even meat) of the person receiving it. If asked where it is from, the Sleepers shrug and say "The Orphans took up a collection to give a welcoming gift to new arrivals." If what is in the jar is eaten by the person given it, it will help to ease their mind and give them a calm that can last up to a week as they acclimate.

Preparations are in order for this year's Black Parade. An annual celebration, it is promoted among the excited locals as something that people can participate in. Face Painting booths and costumes are available to those who wish them, with the statement by the Trenchies, "We do it to disguise ourselves from roaming spirits and hungry beasts."
A FADED MEMORY
WHEN: Mid October
WHERE: In Swimming distance (Barely) of the Farther Shores
CONTENT WARNINGS: Ghostly Ship & Lighthouse, Threat of Corruption, Remains of Ghastly Murder and Dismembered Corpse


It is by accident that your eyes chance to look towards the Farther Shores. There, you happen to see a lighthouse, but you know for certain that it cannot be the lighthouse that is normally there and manned by the fishermen. You can't usually see that from this angle. The moment that you see it, a feeling of mounting dread falls upon you, and you realize that there is no light in the lighthouse. Though the compulsion to investigate can be resisted, there is an almost overwhelming urge to go, to investigate, to re-ignite the flame before it is too late!

The question is getting out there. The fishermen, when the lighthouse is mentioned, will make warding gestures and look terrified. All will resolutely refuse to sail out, muttering incomprehensible curses and lashing their boats securely to the shore. There will be no fishing tonight. The lighthouse, from the docks and shores, is out in the water on a rocky outcrop that nobody remembers being there, though any Trenchy asked will pale at the mention. The only way to get out there is to swim. It is a hard, dangerous swim, but the tide is coming in, rather than going out, so the riptide is not pulling down. It can be done, or a raft can be hastily made. When clambering up the stone steps to the lone lighthouse, it is apparent its door is ajar. And within? Horror awaits.

The insides of the tower are caked in viscuous, green blood. The Lighthouse itself is barely standing. It looks as if a thunderous, colossal fist has battered it repeatedly, the building nearly collapsing at every step. It does not actually break apart, but those who ascend the steps find themselves fighting not to slip on old, caked and thick blood that smells of roses. The contact with the blood isn't doing anything good to the person's sanity and hallucinations of the screams of the dying can be heard, along with shrieks of "What is it?" at the top of someone's voice. An increase in corruption is possible here, though not required. The more one contacts the blood, the greater the risk is. In the top of the lighthouse, dismembered, skeletal remains lay in gobs of what may once have been flesh. One of them holds desperately a torch in their hand, and there is a lighter present. One look out into the night will see a great vessel approaching, broken, its sails tattered and ruined. there is little time, and hopefully the lighter works!

The moment the torch lights the lamp in the lighthouse, the ship veers away from a collision course that would have destroyed the lighthouse and likely the flimsy rock outcropping on which it stood. Shades of dead sailors stare in horror at those who man the lighthouse today, the ship sailing away into the night. All are pointing beyond, and if you look over your shoulder, you can barely see a collosal figure in shadow walking into the town beyond, seemingly confused and wailing. Nothing further happens, and when the people in the lighthouse reach shore again, they will find upon turning back that it is gone, as is the outcropping, though a close inspection does see the remains of a shallow of stone there where the island once stood.

Note: The Ghost ship cannot be interacted with. If someone has the ability to reach it, they will pass through it only to realize it is nothing more than a memory in the land. Fragments of rotted wood and broken masonry can be found in the water below, covered in countless barnacles. Nothing within them shows any proof of what once transpired. There is a risk of corruption from blood exposure, though this is very much up to the players if they wish to incorporate it.

No Trenchy will willingly speak of what transpired, though a careful investigation at the Pale Sanctuary may find a tome among the sacred texts associated with Cloverfield. Reading from it, one might find a forgotten marking that the first sighting of Cloverfield, long ago, saw the collapse of the original lighthouse. No Disciple recalls the incident, and none will speak of it.

FRIEND OR FOE
WHEN: Anytime in October
WHERE: At the frindges of the main districts
CONTENT WARNINGS: demonic bugs, Bug Horror, Grotesque death, Self mutilation, Bug Infestation


The first thing that alerts you to the danger is the screams. They are agonizing, gut-wrenching and full of naked horror. When traveling near the edge of any of the districts, particularly the Crenshaw district, it is possible at times to witness a truly horrifying sight. The screams, if investigated, come upon the grisly attack of a horde of not exactly wasps but closer to demonic insects swarming over a person. They shriek, their whole form shrouded by the terrible creatures as they're being stun and the things seem to be extruding some sort of substance to cocoon them while still alive to one of the trees. There is no cry for help, as the person is clearly unaware of who is there, but do you reach out to save them?

If you do not, the scene is horrific and grisly beyond reckoning. The wasps trap the hapless victim against a tree, grafting the extruded paper all over their screaming visage to form a new wasp nest before they ultimately begin crawling inside of them, devouring them from the inside out and implanting their eggs in the new 'home' created for them. It is at this time that the palpable danger may dawn upon you. The infernal bugs have not yet seen you, but they seem to be aware that there is other life around. Do you take this moment to try and beat a hasty retreat, or do you fight it out with the bugs? They can be destroyed, but only by means of abilities and powers that destroy multiples at once, such as great gouts of flame. Hopefully you have a coldblood present! Fleeing them is easier, but can you leave this person to their fate? Still, if instead you observe and take no action, eventually the bugs seem to notice you, and though they swarm near, as long as they are not attacked, they seem to do nothing.

Strange.

If, however, you try to save the victim, a very different scene plays out. The same rules apply to fight the swarm, and if you stop them short of killing their victim, you will see just who it is that you have saved. There, mutilated through self scarification and brutally altered in horrible ways that seem almost fetishistic, is one of the blood crazed zealots. Despite being weakened and badly injured, they lash out at you, their defender. The power that they wield with their blood is incredible, and they demonstrate an ability to wield it that is well documented. The only note is that no Cold-blooded Zealots are present, and so their powers are not represented this time. However, they are drained and though they pose a threat to your life, they can be killed here with a bit of care, can be resisted with great difficulty and certainly be escaped. Either way, there is no true reward for having killed them other than knowing that you have done so. Why are they here? Alone?

It is almost as if they were an advance scout, and the wasps were someone's defense against them, someone's early warning.

CODING
monsterwife: (fifth)

cws continue throughout

[personal profile] monsterwife 2022-09-30 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[ John has always been a terrible liar, and this is no exception. Alecto hates the smile and does not mind his eyes, and she reaches for them like someone wiping away nonexistent tears. ]

You hate it here. So she hates you back, and that is unfriendly?

[ Alecto is just trying to understand. There is something out of reach, a memory she can no longer access. It is sealed away, buried under the water, the salt, the glow-worms. She keeps leading them towards the water, hoping that there, it will be easier to speak, to listen. Alecto knows it will be more comfortable, at any rate.

When Alecto's feet reach the waves, she lets go of John's hand. She lowers one knee, and then the other, like a horse trying to sit. The joints are always the hardest. ]


Am I not-friendly?
faceblocks: (Default)

[personal profile] faceblocks 2022-09-30 10:28 pm (UTC)(link)
if someone were to collect glass eyes and return them, could they get different photographs, multiple copies of the same photograph, or would they be told there is only one per sleeper? (or something else?)
the_obedient_servant: (* No greater LOVE.)

[personal profile] the_obedient_servant 2022-09-30 10:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Fundamentally, we run into the same problem there. It's all right. If any monsters show up, I'll handle them.

[They glance at Nona, a little amused. Absentmindedly, Chara reaches for their chest, and as if pulling it from their own heart they summon a dagger. Red and black all over, glowing like a pulsing lava lamp.]

...Can you fight?
the_obedient_servant: (6S2Emqd)

[personal profile] the_obedient_servant 2022-09-30 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[John.

It's a common name. The single most common name on Earth. Every culture in the world has a version of the name John. Jaune. Jan. Ivan. Giovan. Jean. Jun. They say with complete and total certainty that they, the demon who comes when it's name is called, are named John as well.

But the eyes that stare back at them. Golden. Shining like the stars of DETERMINATION. So bright that they feel as if they might go blind.

It isn't a coincidence. This is her, then. The Necromancer's secret.

She's the most beautiful creature Chara has ever beheld. Looking at her makes them want to hurl in disgust. Her face is perfect, despite the way she's been left to gather rot and mold (there is no rot, there is no mold, but there should be), her hair is picturesque. She looks like a doll. They wish they didn't understand what it is to be loved like that.

They recall a conversation had with Paul Atreides down at the beach.

"If God exists, it's possible that we're all just dolls to Him."

Their mouth twists into a smile like a toy changing it's function, pleasant and amused and so full of hate and rage that could only belong to one who can't forget. And they respond.]


I LOVE humanity more than anything else in the wide expanses of existence.

[She doesn't need to understand to know.]

Did John hurt you? He does that a lot to the things he loves. Everyone does.
ekkoeffect: (058)

Ekko | Arcane | Paleblood

[personal profile] ekkoeffect 2022-10-01 12:09 am (UTC)(link)
I. ARRIVAL
[It was nice, to have people greet him and help him to the tents where he could dry off and change into warmer clothes. Everything else is crazy. But that's nice.

He decides to focus, to get himself in order. Turns his attention instead to the bag he was told belongs to him and everything inside it. He finds his hoverboard and takes time making sure it's still in working order because who knows what interdimensional travel and sand could have done to it. He goes back to the shore, wondering and hoping just a bit that he's not alone. That someone else would have come, too--would that be better? Maybe not. But he's never said he was completely selfless.

Then he ends up finding a hand sticking up out of the wet sand at the water's edge. And there's an eyeball in its palm. Not what he was expecting. He pauses, head tilted a bit as he assessed it, his brain not quite getting the fact that limbs just want up on shore. He turns to the nearest person, calm despite how weirded out he is.]


Is that normal around this place?

[But when he sees people collecting them, he's not going to stay back.]

Need some help? More arms means more carrying.

[If it's all supposed to go to an orphanage...well, yeah, he wants to see what it looks like for himself.]


II. BOARDWALK
[He could smell the food before he saw the boardwalk itself. Hard to miss food that smells like food. So he walks up and down the strip, seeing the different treats and produce. It's bizarre something like this exists in a place like this...but that makes it feel a bit like home.]

The worst places manage to thrive somehow, huh.

[He was saying it more toward himself, but it wasn't so quiet another person wouldn't hear. One of those people might even come up and offer him food in welcome, including one of those jars of fruit. Real, edible fruit. Peaches. Wow. They weren't even half bruised. He might...have to take some of these.]


III. A FADED MEMORY
What is it about that place that has people so freaked out?

[When he sees the lighthouse, he doesn't get its significance yet. Not until he realizes that it is not the one someone else had already mentioned to him. That the Trenchies react very differently when he asks about this lighthouse. It draws his attention, his curiosity, and then a need. Something is out there and it's pulling at him.

It's not like he needs someone else to get out there, not once he's repaired his hoverboard. He can make it out there on his own. But he hasn't spent all these years fighting against corruption and things stronger than himself to think you should be heading out to a mysterious lighthouse no one wants to talk about on your own.

So does he trust someone enough to ask him to go with them, or will someone else see him debating with hoverboard in hand and make the offer themselves?]



IV. NETWORK | UN: FIRELIGHT
so.
how often do they turn us into squids or is that just the initiation hazing?



V. WILDCARD
{OOC: If none of these prompts work for you, throw something out and I'll roll with it! Or you can PP me at [plurk.com profile] chocolateisbrainfood and we can talk it out.}
faceblocks: (talk)

iv text un: vi

[personal profile] faceblocks 2022-10-01 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
got a few answers that may or may not be bullshit so buckle up

we are always squids (maybe bullshit idk)
when we die (hasnt happened personally but ive seen it)
define squid bc there was a weird plague couple months back and some people did turn into monster shit that didnt NOT look like squids
i saw it happen when someone panicked
we can choose to let it happen too (has kinda happened)
Edited 2022-10-01 00:22 (UTC)
necrolord: =- (the words fall flat)

[personal profile] necrolord 2022-10-01 12:25 am (UTC)(link)
[ He settles as she strokes his face, melting into the touch even as her nails whisper up along the curve of an eye socket. To the questions, he shuts his eyes, mouth drawn tight with unhappiness. He lets her lead him; he stands with the seawater swilling around his ankles, while she folds herself down to be closer to it. ]

You're different. [ She isn't anyone's jailer. There's an easier comparison, here, one he's skirting around. ] She keeps hurting us. She keeps me away from you, away from everything— [ His throat is tight. He fumbles, digs his fingers into the wet sand for something to do; brings it up in grainy black clumps, building an ugly castle. ] It's not just a one-and-done, not just that she dumped us here and wandered off. She won't stop.
ekkoeffect: (038)

[personal profile] ekkoeffect 2022-10-01 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
yeah that all sounds like a lot of bullshit.
some of it.
but now i know if i scare you, you'll turn into a squid.
faceblocks: (amusing)

[personal profile] faceblocks 2022-10-01 12:34 am (UTC)(link)
hahahaha not me
it was someone else
good luck scaring me
i mean hey try if u want

challenge accepted i guess ???

there is so much weird stuff but at least ur not asking me if we can come out of the omni
ekkoeffect: (004)

[personal profile] ekkoeffect 2022-10-01 12:37 am (UTC)(link)
we're in nightmare village. i'll get inspiration.

still learning the ins/outs of it. the omni.

fancier than anything the topsiders have come up with.
faceblocks: (ohhh)

1/3

[personal profile] faceblocks 2022-10-01 12:42 am (UTC)(link)
i like the sound of that. i bet you five bloodstones u
faceblocks: (wha)

2/3

[personal profile] faceblocks 2022-10-01 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
[t o p s i d e r.

that's specific.

re-reads the username.

okay that's--]
faceblocks: (in a new light)

3/3

[personal profile] faceblocks 2022-10-01 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
ekko??????
ekkoeffect: (026)

1/2

[personal profile] ekkoeffect 2022-10-01 12:46 am (UTC)(link)
yeah? what?
ekkoeffect: (078)

2/2

[personal profile] ekkoeffect 2022-10-01 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
did you just now figure out who threatened to scare you into a squid
faceblocks: (yeah yeah)

[personal profile] faceblocks 2022-10-01 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
damn u got me
my username tip u off or was it something else

where u at kiddo?

ekkoeffect: (036)

[personal profile] ekkoeffect 2022-10-01 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
that and everything else about you.
how could i think you were anyone else.

i'm in some place called cellar door.
monsterwife: (sixth)

[personal profile] monsterwife 2022-10-01 01:04 am (UTC)(link)
[ John offers her the treat the same way he always does, wrong-side first. She takes it by the stick, then painstakingly rotates the concoction so that she is holding the bulbous, sticky part instead. ]

What is an android?

[ Alecto's hands are filled with the brown syrup, but she shakes anyway. The cool strength of metal pleases her; it is the feeling of someone who has come from the ground. ]

I am not human either.

[ This is going so well. Alecto is having a conversation and eating a snack, two things John is always urging her to try. And here she is, trying before John, and succeeding. ]
faceblocks: (parkour queen)

[personal profile] faceblocks 2022-10-01 01:07 am (UTC)(link)
haha no shit i live there
u on the street or inside
what statue is closest
ekkoeffect: (019)

[personal profile] ekkoeffect 2022-10-01 01:18 am (UTC)(link)
The one of the giant squid that looks like a flower and doubles as a fountain.

[It may have been way prompted his question. Because wow do they have a thing for squids.]
jedies: (Miles Ahead)

( i )

[personal profile] jedies 2022-10-01 01:20 am (UTC)(link)
[ surely that wasn't — ]

Ritsuka?
faceblocks: (tight hug)

[personal profile] faceblocks 2022-10-01 01:31 am (UTC)(link)
ahhh yyy
i got u
i spy
with my eye


[there's an audible *thunk* a bit behind him, and she steps out of the nearest alleyway, grinning as she walks, arms out. if she gets a little teary-eyed it's all good - and ...this would have been so much more dramatic had she not been assured that you're still alive, kid. sorry if her hug is too tight, though.]

Never thought I'd see you here, Little Man.

[she also can't say that at least once.]
melodyofsilence: (and I'll think of you each time)

II

[personal profile] melodyofsilence 2022-10-01 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
The Boardwalk generally appears to have something happening whenever new Sleepers arrive, this month is something known as the Black Parade. It's probably no surprise to her closest friends that Hotaru is intrigued by this particular celebration. So while she is going to enjoy the foods and activities offered, she's more interested by the reason people paint their faces and put on costumes.

Being distracted as she is, it takes her a moment to realize that her house key is no longer in her pocket and is floating next to her. "A spirit?"

As she's about to ask for it back politely, another voice comes from afar to chide the invisible being for the theft. Hotaru turns her gaze to the older boy who approaches for a moment before the ghost appears in front of her. So the two of them are friends, then. With the way he treats the ghost and becomes protective of it - her.

"That's okay, I got it back so no harm done." A smile comes easily to her lips. "What's her name?"
ekkoeffect: (021)

[personal profile] ekkoeffect 2022-10-01 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
[He hears the thud and suddenly he's being hugged because that's just what Vi does and all these years hasn't changed that. He rolls his eyes just a bit at being called "Little Man" again, but doesn't pull away. No, he very much leans into this hug. He's allowed to be selfish.]

I wasn't sure who else might be around so I didn't broadcast too much.
opheliac: ✖ malagraphic (Tell you you're the greatest)

II.

[personal profile] opheliac 2022-10-01 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
(jinx had her eyes on him for a good little while now. whenever he moved to a new spot, she darted right after in the shadows and maneuvering along the trenchies. the last time she saw him was during their "game" and while that was fun at the start, the ending of it went... in a direction she didn't predict.

the rage he had in his eyes struck her heart a certain way and she had yet to worked out why that was. instead, she just shoved it in the box in the back of her mind with the lock seal shut. and now here he is and in the first sight of him, the pinks of her eyes glisten. then instantly, she batted whatever that was away and dipped into the shadows.

and still in those shadows, jinx observes him eating until he speaks. there's no one else around him but her (but not seen), so she decides to call out in a tease:)


Be careful, Bug. Would reeeaallly hate for that pretty lil' mouth of yours to get so hot it'll blown off. And I'd be pretty bummed out if I wasn't the cause of it.

(what...he is eating isn't even a hot temperature.)

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