TEST DRIVE ※ 2

[wildermods]

TEST DRIVE ※ 2
The spirit of the Green needs defenders but the game of fate it must play makes it so that its plans are like a garden, always in need of careful pruning. Only certain individuals are capable of living a life of adventure -- and even many who are capable may not be the heroes the Wilderlands needs.

The only way for the Green to be sure is by providing a test -- and as far as tests go, this one's a doozy, because the situation is real. There are countless conflicts all over the Wilderlands that are in need of intervention, so the Green tosses you head first into one of them with no warning or explanation. During it, you may perhaps run into others like yourself, thrown in over their heads -- or into others that came to the Wilderlands before you. Either way, your only chance of getting through it is to work together with whatever other unfortunates you find.

Welcome to the wilds, hero. Good luck with that whole 'deadly peril' thing.

---

MICKEY, YOU HAD ONE JOB!
A powerful Sorcerer left his apprentice in charge of his lair, but the apprentice has made a mess of things. He enchanted a broom and animated it to do some of his chores, like filling a basin with buckets of water. After the broom went out of control and overfilled the basin, he was forced to destroy it, but the shards only turned into more anthropomorphic brooms.

Now, hundreds of brooms are pouring water into the Sorcerer's lair, the Sorcerer's apprentice has run away (and magically locked the door, because he's a coward) and you're stuck in the middle of it all as the brooms keep pouring more and more water down the stairs into the Sorcerers' stronghold.

This room is filled with the requisite wizarding accouterments (like a stuffed alligator hanging from the ceiling) and most of it is just replaceable magical tchotchkes, but some of the books here are priceless and one of a kind. The Sorcerer is a force for good and his careless apprentice has made it so important ancient books may be destroyed before he returns, ones that could help turn the tide against evil in the Wilderlands.

The Green whispers to you that the brooms must be stopped and the books must be saved. The voices tell you that the magic in them is needed to save lives.

Also, you kinda need to not drown. Because the water's up to your knees and drowning's definitely a thing that might be happening if this keeps carrying on. The door is magically locked and the windows are magically warded so that while water can be poured out through them, people can't travel in or out of them. You're trapped.

Time to start bailing water and working together. Things are starting to look a little damp.

---

STUFF YOU CAN DO
A. FIGHT A HOUSEHOLD CLEANING IMPLEMENT

The brooms can probably be destroyed permanently! Maybe. Possibly.

It's worth a shot, right? Aside from the destructive magic you might find yourself now possessing (or superpowers or magic weapons...) The Sorcerer seems to have been doing some experimentation with gunpowder, among other things. The lair has firewood, flint and other firemaking supplies. Also axes and other tools.

The brooms can potentially reproduce from the shards if destroyed but if burned to ash or if the pieces are fine enough it may be possible to stop them once and for all. But if you fail, well, you may find your problem multiplying.

B. MESS WITH MAGIC

The Sorcerer has a lot of interesting-looking books on magic. Maybe you can find something useful within one of them that can stop the brooms and help make some of the water disappear?

Or you may just accidentally curse yourself. Good luck with that.

(OOC: All magic within the books can potentially help somewhat but only a little. Otherwise, characters can god any kind of curse effects they like for their character that occur from reading the books or trying to cast magic: legs turning to jelly, their voices turning squeaky, characters shrinking, characters growing in height, etc. etc. Feel free to get creative!)

C. BAIL A BUDDY OUT

Sometimes the best thing to do is push up your sleeves, grab a bucket, and get to work. While you can't climb out the warded windows, the water can be poured out of them and there are plenty of buckets to use to bail water. Grab a new friend and try to form a bucket brigade for a very work-intensive and awkward first introduction.

D. THE FLOOR IS LAVA

Well, not necessarily lava, but as the room starts filling with water, the floating furniture might be the only thing keeping you and the people around you alive. Help the people around you perch on furniture and stay afloat. Save the important books if you can, too, but you may want to make not drowning and preventing others from drowning a priority until the crisis is over.

G. FREESTYLE

The situation is pretty silly, with wild magic, gunpowder, anthropomorphic brooms, and flooding going on. Feel free to make something up! It's a big lair with a lot going on.

---

OOC INFO
✦ This TDM is open to everyone. However, top-levels should be made for potential new characters only. Characters currently in the game should only tag top-levels.

✦ Potential players may use test drive threads as their log samples. However, at least one post in their thread must fit the requirements for apps, both in length (200 words) and in quality. If you do plan on using a thread as a sample, please make sure the writing throughout your threads is a good example of your writing skills and has some solid examples of the character's voice.

✦ Current players can count TDMs towards AC. They can only count towards comment-based AC proofs.

✦ Potential players can opt to keep these threads as game canon when they app in, or start over fresh, based on preference. The magic bringing them to the game universe can fog their memories, if players don't want their character to remember TDM threads when introing into the game.

✦ Apps open: 4/1/18

✦ The game has limited slots. Please keep this in mind! We've had a lot of replurks in the announcement plurk, but the game is meant to be a very small game, with only 25 slots total, and many of these were already filled in the game's beta test round. There may be only around 10 or so open slots when apps open to everyone. The game will have a wait queue if the game hits cap during the app round but please be prepared for potential disappointment if we happen to hit cap you wind up not getting a player slot immediately. It's not personal; we'd love to accommodate everyone but the nature of the kind of campaign we're trying to run wouldn't work with a larger game.

Comments

[awfulcer]

[Dixon's not a great swimmer, but he does know how. But there's an additional factor now. Plus, there's no guarantee that there will be any way out or air on the other side.]

Can you hold your breath that long?

[The longer they stay here - and Dixon's now on his elbows and using the pressure of the ceiling against his back to keep the bookcase steady - the longer they'll have to be underwater to get out. The door is a ways away, down deep enough that it might break his eardrums, and he has no idea how a little mouse would fare.

There's a window, though, one much too small to relieve the water pressure or seriously impede the rising tide but more nearby than the door, but there are two locked bars across it, keeping the passage much too small for him. The windowpanes the bars supported have long busted out, and Dixon tried to get them open earlier with little success, but now there are two of them in this situation, and one with tiny hands.

The more important thing is that there's the promise of air on the other side. There's just also a steep drop into God-knows-where.]

How good are you at locks?

[mothermouse]

I've hardly any choice really. So if I can, I can.

[ She was scared but there was little else to be done so. She paused her thoughts on the matter as he spoke of locks. ]

Well...I can give it a try?

[awfulcer]

[He probably hesitates a little longer than is wise, until he's almost flat on his stomach on the bookcase. It no longer is at any risk of tipping, and makes it hard to take his deepest breath.

He tucks Mrs. Brisby into his collar and scoots out from between the bookcase and the ceiling, swimming as hard as he can to the window, where he fishes Mrs. Brisby out and all but shoves her at the lock.]

[mothermouse]

[ It's hard to see and it's hard to move but she has to try. She attached herself to the lock and went to work.

Shoving her arm into the lock hurt and she just needed...

Her lungs were burning and it was taking all her strength to move the mechanism and it was taking too long!

Thankfully, finally, it clicked open. Which was good, because she was about to drown. ]

[awfulcer]

[He's got a little more breath left than she does, if only because he's got bigger lungs, but he's starting to think that they're both about to drown when she finally gets the lock clicked. Before they both spill out the window he grabs her, not really thinking clearly but somehow certain that keeping her close will keep her safer. He gets a mouthful more of air before getting caught in the waterfall torrent.

The fall is pretty far, but it goes straight into more water. Dixon sinks about five or six feet down, then he swims up and breaks for more air, Mrs. Brisby still in hand. He shoves her onto the top of his head and doggy-paddles for a moment, coughing and catching his breath, trying to see if there's anything to get out of the water. At least they aren't about to be in an enclosed room. The sun seems almost violent in how it shines down and reflects off the water.

When he's caught his breath enough to speak, he gasps,] Are you alive? Mouse?

[mothermouse]

[ She's got a death grip on his hair and she will not be letting go anytime soon. She's shaking, exhausted and still a bit high with terror.

But she is in fact alive, which had been in question there for a moment.... ]

Y-yes, Thank you... Are you alright?

[awfulcer]

I'm wet. [It's the only thing that can come to mind, and that's because he's too stunned and by now, numb from the cold water to think of anything else or take real stock of his situation. A silent duh punctuates his thought, like there's some voice in his head chastising him for being an idiot. He realizes he's very tired, that this whole ordeal has just taken it out of him body and mind.]

Can you see anything? A tree or...a rock or something? I can't swim forever.

[mothermouse]

I can't see very far... b-but i think i see shapes over there.

[ She carefully taps the top of his head in the direction of the blur she can see a bit away from them. She hopes the poor Human will be alright. They're both soaked and cold and she can barely move through her own trembling.]

[awfulcer]

[Well, if he's going down she's going down with him, he thinks. And for a moment that seems kind of nice, the idea of just stopping and letting the cold do its work. The native instinct to survive that was so strong moments ago seems blunted by the sudden onset of exhaustion and chill.

But it seems like a dick move to let a mouse die just because you're tired, so he starts swimming.]

Hold on.

[He tries his best to keep his head above water to keep her dry, but it's a futile effort. As they get closer to the shapes, they turn out to be trees, and thankfully tall and thick enough ones that the branches are sturdy respites from the water. Dixon has to work to lift himself up onto a bough, but once there the sun promises they'll both be warm and dry soon. He sits there, breathing heavily, thinking he can't really demand the mouse thank him when she's the only reason he got out through that window.

How much water had to rise to get a full-blown lake out here is a mystery of magic.]

[mothermouse]

[The moment he's safe and stable she slowly slips down onto his collar and pat his face. ]

Thank you, I could have never have made it so far myself. It was very kind of you to save me, I know Humans don't much like mice.

[ Her voice is tired and shy but very sincere. ]

[awfulcer]

I don't mind 'em. [Especially if they're almost disarmingly polite, like this one. He lays down on the bough.] You saved my ass too, from that fucking window.

[In the distance, the castle rampart pokes up out of the water like a groundhog. Dixon instinctively reaches for his pocket and then is met with the tragic realization that all his cigarettes are soaked. He withdraws his hand with a woeful expression.]

Let's not do that again.

[mothermouse]

No, i should not like to.

[ She very much agreed. However...]

You really shouldn't curse so, it makes you sound far ruder then you actually seem to me.

[ She looks at him curiously for a moment and decides she had better stay with him for a while. ]

I am Mrs. Brisby and it very nice to meet you Mr...?

[awfulcer]

I'll curse as much as I fucking want. [There's a deadpan there where it's not even like he's being rude, just stating a fact, as if commenting on the weather.]

Dixon. Didn't know mice had names. You someone's pet?

[He closes his eyes, not quite basking so much as dethawing.]

[mothermouse]

I should hope not! One night in a cage was quite enough, thank you. And of course we have names why on earth wouldn't we? In any case it's very nice to meet you Mr. Dixon. I am very grateful.

[ Well, he was an adult. If he wished to sound like a hooligan it was his business she supposed. ]

[awfulcer]

[It still stings to be called Mr. Dixon - to have to introduce himself as such, really - and he wonders if that'll ever really go away. He misses being "Officer". It was such a strong stake to tether himself to. He didn't even have to consider for a second where he fit into the world.]

I don't know. I don't know how mouse... [he waves a hand, looking for a word,] mouse lives are like.

You can stop thanking me whenever.

[mothermouse]

If you like.

[She settled on his shoulder curling up a bit.]

You wouldn't happen to know where we are?

[awfulcer]

[He could fall asleep here, resting in the sun with a mouse on his shoulder and that bone-deep exhaustion that a near-death experience creates. Perhaps it's the body's natural defense against reckoning with mortality, this sort of hazy shutdown that deadens all complex thought.]

No idea. I thought we were in Kansas, but then people told me it wasn't, so I don't got a goddamn clue.

Guess they don't have castles in Kansas anyway.