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Entry tags:
TDM #4
✖ TEST DRIVE MEME
Ⅰ. ARRIVAL
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The island is a Winter Wonderland. Your boat docks alongside a wharf that leads you to a glimmering, snow covered land - good thing there’s a little wooden building right at the end of the wharf where you can grab some boots and a warm coat!
Beyond the icy beach among the snowy hills is nestled a little village that makes every postcard you’ve ever seen look like garbage. It’s so quaint! Strings of twinkling lights are strung up between scalloped roofs and fresh evergreen boughs and wreaths hang from doors and old fashioned lamposts.
There is a little outdoor market selling food and drinks - you can get some hot cocoa, or mulled wine. If you’re cold, you can stay in one of two cozy inns free of charge. How delightful!
Ⅱ. TOY STORY
The villagers are happy to lend you snowshoes and skis if you grow bored of their little village. They tell you that you can head north or east, but that you shouldn’t go west toward the mountains. That way is too dangerous! (South just takes you back to the ocean.) No matter what direction you choose, it’s best to go with a buddy. You wouldn’t want to get stranded all alone in the snow alone, would you?
If you choose to go to the east you’ll find that you are eventually surrounded by huge chunks of ice that glow a faint pinkish colour. Keep moving into this strange valley and you’ll find yourself surrounded by dozens and dozens of oversized gift boxes.
God, don’t you just love presents?
Whether it’s because you assume they’re all for you or because you’re almost positive you heard something moving inside one of those giant boxes, you untie a bow and take the lid off one of them.
The cheerfully decorated box shivers and shakes, and then out leaps a toy. Not just any toy, either: your toy. Your favourite from when you were a child. It’s almost as big as you are, with a gift tag around its neck that has your name on it and the motto “Introduce me!” Your old favourite toy has also gained the ability to move independently. And move it will, following you around like a shadow. It refuses to leave, actually.
The longer you ignore it the more aggressive it starts to become. Turns out a six foot teddy bear can clock you pretty good, and god forbid you’re being followed by a human sized GI Joe. Leave it long enough and your childhood friend will try to kill you.
Maybe if you explain what the hell this toy is to your companion it’ll leave you alone?
Ⅲ. LIGHTS IN THE SKY
Head north with your skis or snowshoes and you’ll find yourself moving easily over sparkling snow past towering evergreen trees. The air is redolent with their smell and the crisp, clear air. Birds sing and there is a general air of deep peacefulness.
The trees open up and you find yourself in an open area empty save for a cute little shack. Inside there’s a woodpile, matches, and a wood stove. Best to use the first two inside the latter, no? Unless arson is your jam. There are also some surprisingly comfortable wooden rockers. The perfect place to sit a while as the sun fades from the sky; night comes early here this time of year.
Stay even longer and you’ll see something even more beautiful: shifting waves of light dancing across the sky.
Aurora borealis. At this time of year at this time of day in this part of the country localized entirely within this part of the island?
Yes.
As you watch the northern lights, you will start to see figures up there, sketched in light. With a start you’ll also come to recognise at least one of them: it’s you. There’s no way your companion hasn’t also noticed the resemblance. This glowing facsimile of you is acting something out, and you’ll come to realise that it’s reenacting a time you took a lie way, WAY too far.
If you explain what the hell happened aloud, it will fade from the sky. Don’t? Well. It will just keep on repeating its little pantomime until dawn.
Ⅳ. ABOMINMAL
CW: monsters, possible violence.
You never were the type to follow the rules, or maybe your sense of direction is just terrible; you go west. The terrain grows rougher, and soon enough there are huge snow covered stones jutting from the ground. There are boulders, too, which have apparently rolled down from the mountain you are now at the base of. Some of these have landed so that they are tumbled together, creating pockets almost like caves in between and beneath them.
You continue up the mountain a bit, and you become aware of the fact that you cannot hear or see any animals. No birds sing or flit by low over the ground, no curious squirrels or foxes poke their noses out to see what you’re doing.
Everything is still.
You’re just starting to think maybe you ought to turn back when something roars. The sound is a deep, resonating bass sound full of fury and you feel the snow beneath your feet shiver with it.
A huge, hulking shape is rushing down the mountain toward you. Vaguely simian and covered in white fur, it has fangs and claws and seems all too eager to use both of them on you.
Looks like you only have a few seconds to decide on a course of action.
Greetings, prospective Travelers! Welcome to the POLYMYTHOS test drive meme and thank you for your interest in our game! Our next application round will run from October 22 - October 29, 2021. We invite you to use this TDM to explore but one of many, many islands within the Endless Isles; use it as an opportunity to introduce and familiarize yourself with the game, form connections with other characters, and just have some fun. (Perhaps while also getting some solid samples together for your application!)
Use the prompts provided below as-is or feel free to write your own set within the environment detailed in each. You're even welcome to access the network via your character's ScryWatch. While there will be some inevitable changes, TDMs may count as game canon and some islands may be revisited in the future. Be mindful of your surroundings -- you never know how you and your fellow Travelers might affect this place in the long run.
You can read all about your character's arrival in the game lore.
The island is a Winter Wonderland. Your boat docks alongside a wharf that leads you to a glimmering, snow covered land - good thing there’s a little wooden building right at the end of the wharf where you can grab some boots and a warm coat!Beyond the icy beach among the snowy hills is nestled a little village that makes every postcard you’ve ever seen look like garbage. It’s so quaint! Strings of twinkling lights are strung up between scalloped roofs and fresh evergreen boughs and wreaths hang from doors and old fashioned lamposts.
There is a little outdoor market selling food and drinks - you can get some hot cocoa, or mulled wine. If you’re cold, you can stay in one of two cozy inns free of charge. How delightful!
Notes:
1. Please remember to mark threads appropriately with Content Warnings when necessary.
2. These prompts are a jumping off point - how they affect your character and their development is up to you.
3. Any food is safe to eat, and is consumable by non-human entities.
4. These residents of the village are normal humans. Killing them is possible and will affect the colour grading of your Scrywatch depending on the situation.
5. Have fun!
Ⅱ. TOY STORY
The villagers are happy to lend you snowshoes and skis if you grow bored of their little village. They tell you that you can head north or east, but that you shouldn’t go west toward the mountains. That way is too dangerous! (South just takes you back to the ocean.) No matter what direction you choose, it’s best to go with a buddy. You wouldn’t want to get stranded all alone in the snow alone, would you?
If you choose to go to the east you’ll find that you are eventually surrounded by huge chunks of ice that glow a faint pinkish colour. Keep moving into this strange valley and you’ll find yourself surrounded by dozens and dozens of oversized gift boxes.
God, don’t you just love presents?
Whether it’s because you assume they’re all for you or because you’re almost positive you heard something moving inside one of those giant boxes, you untie a bow and take the lid off one of them.
The cheerfully decorated box shivers and shakes, and then out leaps a toy. Not just any toy, either: your toy. Your favourite from when you were a child. It’s almost as big as you are, with a gift tag around its neck that has your name on it and the motto “Introduce me!” Your old favourite toy has also gained the ability to move independently. And move it will, following you around like a shadow. It refuses to leave, actually.The longer you ignore it the more aggressive it starts to become. Turns out a six foot teddy bear can clock you pretty good, and god forbid you’re being followed by a human sized GI Joe. Leave it long enough and your childhood friend will try to kill you.
Maybe if you explain what the hell this toy is to your companion it’ll leave you alone?
Notes:
1. The toy will stop following or trying to fight your character once they explain to someone why it was important to them.
2. The ‘toy’ can be anything - if all your character ever had to play with was a block of wood, they will be tailed by a block of wood.
3. If your character was never a child, you can instead choose some sort of frivolous object they loved at any age. The idea is to share a moment of imagination or play from their past.
Ⅲ. LIGHTS IN THE SKY
Head north with your skis or snowshoes and you’ll find yourself moving easily over sparkling snow past towering evergreen trees. The air is redolent with their smell and the crisp, clear air. Birds sing and there is a general air of deep peacefulness.
The trees open up and you find yourself in an open area empty save for a cute little shack. Inside there’s a woodpile, matches, and a wood stove. Best to use the first two inside the latter, no? Unless arson is your jam. There are also some surprisingly comfortable wooden rockers. The perfect place to sit a while as the sun fades from the sky; night comes early here this time of year.
Stay even longer and you’ll see something even more beautiful: shifting waves of light dancing across the sky.
Aurora borealis. At this time of year at this time of day in this part of the country localized entirely within this part of the island?
Yes.
As you watch the northern lights, you will start to see figures up there, sketched in light. With a start you’ll also come to recognise at least one of them: it’s you. There’s no way your companion hasn’t also noticed the resemblance. This glowing facsimile of you is acting something out, and you’ll come to realise that it’s reenacting a time you took a lie way, WAY too far.
If you explain what the hell happened aloud, it will fade from the sky. Don’t? Well. It will just keep on repeating its little pantomime until dawn.
Notes:
1. The lie can be as serious or as stupid as you like.
Ⅳ. ABOMINMAL
CW: monsters, possible violence.
You never were the type to follow the rules, or maybe your sense of direction is just terrible; you go west. The terrain grows rougher, and soon enough there are huge snow covered stones jutting from the ground. There are boulders, too, which have apparently rolled down from the mountain you are now at the base of. Some of these have landed so that they are tumbled together, creating pockets almost like caves in between and beneath them.
You continue up the mountain a bit, and you become aware of the fact that you cannot hear or see any animals. No birds sing or flit by low over the ground, no curious squirrels or foxes poke their noses out to see what you’re doing.
Everything is still.
You’re just starting to think maybe you ought to turn back when something roars. The sound is a deep, resonating bass sound full of fury and you feel the snow beneath your feet shiver with it. A huge, hulking shape is rushing down the mountain toward you. Vaguely simian and covered in white fur, it has fangs and claws and seems all too eager to use both of them on you.
Looks like you only have a few seconds to decide on a course of action.
Notes:
1. The Yeti is very fast, but if your character is on skis they may be able to get ahead of it. Oh, they took the snowshoes? Uh oh...
2. The Yeti is a flesh and blood creature. It is superhumanly strong, but it can be fought and killed.
3. Hopefully there’s just one. And hopefully all that noise doesn’t cause an avalanche…
Greetings, prospective Travelers! Welcome to the POLYMYTHOS test drive meme and thank you for your interest in our game! Our next application round will run from October 22 - October 29, 2021. We invite you to use this TDM to explore but one of many, many islands within the Endless Isles; use it as an opportunity to introduce and familiarize yourself with the game, form connections with other characters, and just have some fun. (Perhaps while also getting some solid samples together for your application!)
Use the prompts provided below as-is or feel free to write your own set within the environment detailed in each. You're even welcome to access the network via your character's ScryWatch. While there will be some inevitable changes, TDMs may count as game canon and some islands may be revisited in the future. Be mindful of your surroundings -- you never know how you and your fellow Travelers might affect this place in the long run.
no subject
"A few times I've night hunt near Gusu in the winters, but both Er-ge and I had more than enough supplies. However, anything can be learned. We can watch how the locals do it and perhaps barter for knowledge as well. Sadly I'm more accustomed to warmer climates. Hejian was the coldest place I've lived and it was still too cold for me.
But between us, I think we will manage.
Are you hungry or thirsty? I would rather bring in some snow and put together our soup and drinking water now before I take things off and settle down for the night." his hands had warmed up quite a bit and the cabin was on its way to becoming warm.
He shifted on his coat once again, pulling the buttons on tight, and went to the satchel to bring out a pot.
"I'm going to fill this one up with snow, Er-ge once told me I mustn't boil it all at once or it will destroy the pot. Can you find yours? We can actually cook in that and add a bit at a time. We can use the second one to make drinking water." he straightened out his clothing, re-adjusting his soft woolen knit hat over his ears.
no subject
"I forgot it outside. My satchel should still be sitting beside my seat," he confesses, slightly embarrassed. "If you bring it in, I'll see what I have. I've been conserving my supplies."
It'd seemed the wisest cource of action wth so much uncertainty on the horizon. Now he simply needs to remember to keep track of things. Not that he'd expected to run into his dead nemesis here much less plot to make dnner with him in a shack in the middle of nowhere.
"I can start preparing the ingredients when you get back."
Soup is one of the few dishes a gentry man like him can make.
no subject
I have been conserving as well, it is best to when we do not really know where our next meal is coming from. Perhaps we would be wise to do an inventory of what we have as well while our food is cooking." this really was the type of odd circumstance one would find in a story, but what did he know? Perhaps this was a test on his journey towards betterment after all. Nie Huaisang was intrinsically tied to his own life and fate in a way not many were.
Jin Guangyao pulled the hood up over his head and stepped out the door. He found the satchel easily enough and peeked back in to drop it next to his own before he headed out.
He didn't have to do too far to find a large pile of pristine virginal snow. He got on his knees and began to scoop it into his pot, using his fingers to pack in as much as he was able to. They were cold again. He was going to have to invest in some nice gloves at some point.
Pot now filled with snow in his hands he headed back inside, setting it down on the floor to brush off the excess snow from his knees and his boots. "You had spent time in Gusu, was the threat of handstands and rule copying enough to keep the youngsters from tracking in the snow on a regular basis?"