wildermemes | TEST DRIVE ※ 3

TEST DRIVE ※ 3
The spirits of the Green need defenders but the game of fate they must play makes it so that their 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. It's time to put on your ruby slippers, pick up your vorpal sword, and carry that ring into Mordor.

THE DEPARTMENT OF MYSTERIES
The ruling government of the Wizarding World is the Ministry of Magic, nestled away in the confines of Magical London. Most of the Ministry's departments are what one might expect of a typical government, filled with offices and cubicles and the usual trappings of government bureaucracy. Magical or not, a ruling government still needs a metric fuckton of paperwork, apparently.

But one department isn't like the rest. One department is an agency that handles the most secret and sensitive parts of the Wizarding World: The Department of Mysteries. This Department is filled with magical items and secrets from the world over, gathered by the department's mysterious agents, the Unspeakables. Here, alongside the deepest secrets of magic, the Unspeakables study the intangible mysteries of the universe, like love, space, thought, time, and death. With the Wizarding World now part of the Wilderlands, the agents have extended their secret-gathering to include secrets from the other worlds now attached to the Wilderlands, too.

You've been teleported to the Department of Mysteries for some unknown reason. It's after hours, so the Department is eerily empty and dimly lit only by blue-white torches. The spirits of the Green wants you here for a reason, but all you have are their enigmatic whispers...

See the secrets in the room full of stars. Destroy the spheres before the masked ones take them.

Whether those two ideas are meant to be related is difficult to tell, but with the many odd dangers of this place, one thing is clear:

To find out, you're going to have to survive all kinds of weird-ass magical bullshit first.

STUFF YOU CAN DO
A. WRANGLE MAGICAL CREATURES

Some of the most dangerous magical creatures in existence are kept in the Department of Mysteries for study, and even more are brought in every day so magizoologists can add more data to the Unspeakables' body of research. One section of the Department is filled with pens, cages, and magical indoor habitats that house creatures like brutish trolls, venomous acromantulas, screeching banshees, ravenous kappas, and shadowy and suffocating lethifolds. With the additional exposure to new lands caused by the formation of the Wilderlands, the Unspeakables have started to collect creatures that are native to other realms as well.

Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, but today isn't a normal day. Someone has gone through the section and opened latches, shattered glass enclosures, and broken open cages. Now the Zoology Office of the Department of Mysteries is...well, a zoo. A lethal one, at that.

You may find yourself facing dangerous creatures, including deceptive ones like the tentacle monster that disguises itself as a statue in a water fountain, then drags its victims in to try to drown and eat them if they get too close.

Or you might have to face a boggart, a creature that bursts out of the wardrobe it hides in, taking on the form of someone's greatest fear. This can even include taking on the image of dead loved ones. The boggart can only be banished back into its wardrobe if the person facing it wills themselves to work past their fear and attacks it with magic or force to scare it back in.

Maybe the creature you face will come as a total surprise.

Whether you wrangle creatures just enough to escape them, or plan to valiantly try to put them back in their cages, you're guaranteed to have your hands full.

[ooc: Feel free to use any magical creature from anything with this prompt, as creatures from more worlds than the Harry Potter universe are kept here. If you want more information on a creature or want a random creature thrown your way, comment here.]

B. AVOID OUT OF CONTROL MAGIC

Even if your character avoids the wild creatures running loose other dangers can be found here. The Unspeakables have an entire area devoted to experimental magic, the experimental wand and staff room. Due to its security spells being disrupted, the wands are blasting magic all over the place, making it so someone that has misfortune to wander in may find themselves cursed, hexed, jinxed, or otherwise altered by a random spell.

Any effect could be caused by a spell, ranging from your legs turning to jelly, to your face getting covered in boils, to your hair being turned to worms.

[ooc: Again, feel free to make up any effect you want. If you'd like a random effect chosen by the mods comment here.]

C. BEAN SOME BRAINS

In one empty room, there's an enormous glass tank of dark green liquid. In it, there are usually pearly white brains floating around -- usually -- but because the tank has been broken, the brains are on the loose, wandering the halls of the Department. Whenever they find people, they reach out and grab them with tendrils of glowing thought and memory that unravel like rolls of film.

If a brain captures you and someone else at the same time in its tentacles, you'll each see each a random memory from the other person's mind. The longer you're trapped, the more memories you'll both share, and the more intense they'll get.

It's possible to escape from the grip of one of the brains, but you'll have to fight your way free with the help of whoever you're ensnared with.

D. SEE THE DANCING OF THE SPHERES

The Space Room is what the Unspeakables use to try to uncover the physical nature of the universe. This is the room full of stars that the Green wanted you to see. Here, the entire multiverse is visible, little universes floating in the starry void. The images swirl and zoom in on little worlds within those universes and show worlds getting...dismantled? Strips of land are shown getting ripped off and transplanted on to a shimmering, shifting impossible Frankenstein of a world that keeps expanding in size.

The dimensionally strip-mined planets that are left behind? Apparently, they cave in on themselves and crumble in a mess of fiery molten lava and earthquakes that burn away what's left of the surface, making it uninhabitable. The peoples whose lands have been transplanted to the Wilderlands have long had questions about the parts of their worlds that have been left behind and apparently the answers aren't pretty.

Even worse? Your world is visible here, too. When you think of it or wonder about it, it suddenly appears and the Frankenstein planet that is the Wilderlands is shown next to it, its magic tugging at your homeworld's skin, which is slowly starting to unravel and reach ever so slightly towards it.

The magic creating the Wilderlands is strong and before long, it won't just be fantasy worlds that un-spool and become a part of it - if the Unspeakables' projections are right, perhaps it's just a matter of time before all worlds have chunks pulled into the Wilderlands - with only disasters, calamity, and mass extinction events happening to the chunks that are left behind.

E. DODGE DEATH EATERS

This is the other place you're needed, a massive hall filled with racks upon racks of blue globes. These globes have shimmering, moving images inside them, recorded memories of prophets and oracles relating their prophecies.

You must destroy some of these prophecies, because the "masked ones" have come. Death Eaters - once servants of the Dark Lord Voldemort, now servants of the Unfinished Princess - have descended on the Department of Mysteries. In fact, they're the source of all the security breaches and magical creatures being sprung loose. These robed and masked wizards start flinging colorful spells and curses your way, cackling sadistically, as they chase you between the different racks of prophecies.

The Green whispers its reminder: Destroy the spheres before the masked ones take them.

The Green has enchanted you with several gifts. One is a special vision that lets you see what you need to see; the spheres they want you to destroy glow with a gentle light the same color as new plant shoots so that you can find them. The other gift is an immunity to the enchantment around the spheres. Normally, people who try to take a prophecy that isn't labeled with their name are cursed to go insane. But the Green has made it so you can pick up any prophecy you want.

Some of the ones they want you to destroy are labeled with the names of people that are leaders and people of influence in this universe: Tiffany Aching, Aragorn, Harry Potter, Aang, and others. Some of the globes may perhaps be labeled with your name or the names of those you just met in the Department of Mysteries who have been in the Wilderlands longer. Unfortunately, even if your name is labeled on a globe, you don't have time to view the prophecy within and if you hesitate the Green reassures you there are other ways to find out what's prophesied:

There are other prophets, other ways to see.

You cannot hesitate. The Death Eaters have found an immunity to the curse that protects the globes, too. You must fight the Death Eaters and destroy them first, before they fall into the wrong hands.

F. FREESTYLE

The Department can hold all kinds of weirdness and secrets. Feel free to make up a strange scenario or an entire section whole-cloth if you want!

OOC INFO
✦ Feel free to play around with powers. If your character has powers from canon you want to play around, go for it. If you'd like to test out possibilities for game powers, also go for it.

✦ All the technology is broke. The magic of the Wilderlands messes up technology so that it doesn't work. Any weapons beyond the level of a crossbow will suddenly cease to function, including guns. Repair is impossible, as they'll seem to be in functional condition and still not work.

✦ 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.

✦ The game has limited slots. Please keep this in mind! As of this post 23 of 30 player slots have been filled, with one app still pending. This means 6 player slots are currently open.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This, [ he beings with his fingers curled under his chin right about the time people on the street start screaming. ] is either an illusion, a mish-mash of our memories, or some unholy alliance of the two.

This Spirit of the Abyss thing, what does it look for? What does it hunt? [ There's an idea in the back of his mind, but he will not voice it juuuuuust yet. ]

[She takes two steps toward the screaming people before she remembers she can't help them.] Everything. [But that isn't helpful and she sighs.] It hates nature and life. Mostly it hunts... people.

[Of which there are plenty around here. The pounding is getting louder, too, accompanied by a guttural chanting. Trance retreats back to Urahara's side.]

[ Nature, life, and people. The hollows don't precisely fall under those headings, but maybe it'll be enough. Besides he has an idea. May it work. ]

All right, here's what I'm thinking. You know that thing - [ He points to the spirit.] I know those things -[ With a flip of the fan in the other hand, Kisuke gestures at the hollows. ] So you picture mine as people and I'm going to think of yours as a very large, very tasty looking hollow.

And if I'm not crazy or completely offbase, they should turn on each other. If not? We start running. Sound good?

[For a second, she stares at them, but then she slowly nods. If anyone can believe in the power of positive thinking, it's her.] Right. Okay. Picturing them as people. Just. Big people. In creepy masks. Okay.

[And really, they could be people. They're people shaped, and people come in lots of different shapes in the known galaxies. The Abyss hates all of them pretty equally. It's not too much of a stretch to think that it would hate giant, masked people, too. She's not sure if it's her imagination or not when the Abyss flickers, its tentacle arms whipping more erratically.]

But just in case, totally ready to run.

[ In a sense, Trance isn't wrong. They are people (sort of) in creepy masks (definitely correct).

As she turns her attention to the Spirit, Urahara focuses on the hollows. In theory, something called the 'Spirit of the Abyss' should have more than enough spiritual energy to attract the attention of hollows. At least, that's his theory and until it's proven wrong, Urahara is sticking to it.

They make no sound, but the massive, cloaked bodies of the Menos turn slowly. None of them give a direct clue until one of them opens its mouth. A giant ball of energy forms inside it's gaping maw. The power builds over the course of several seconds before it launches the missle at the Spirit. ]

Not willing to say that's a win just yet, but it's something.

[The Abyss, on the other hand, makes enough sound for all of them when the ball of energy hits it, screeching loud enough to crack the glass of some of the buildings. Trance yelps and covers her ears, for as much as that helps.]

They're definitely paying attention to each other now.

[She's forgotten to keep picturing the hollows as anything at all, but the Abyss hates things that attack it just as much as it hates everything else, so that seems unlikely to matter at this point. It shrieks again, absorbing the remaining energy and twisting ever faster, limbs whipping out at its attackers.]

Maybe... Maybe we should run anyway?

That's step one; let's hope the rest of my theory proves true.

[ Or they'd just created a fight for no reason and will still need to find a way out of this. Kisuke reminds himself this isn't real. It's a function of memory - his and hers - and their manipulations. ]

Getting to a safer distance couldn't hurt. [ Urahara finally cedes. Adjusting the hat on his head, he looks around, finally gesturing at a building down the road. ] If we get too far away, they might stop. I'm not exactly sure how this works.

Haven't been trapped in a horrible, awful memory before? I guess that makes two of us.

[She takes off at a jog toward the building he'd pointed out. Conserving strength while running for your life is important. She opens the door... except she's pretty sure the real version of this building looks nothing like this inside. It looks old and worn but well cared for and is obviously some sort of hall of worship. Statues line the walls and at the head of the chamber is one large, purple statue.

Trance quickly closes the door again. If she were capable of blushing...] Not this one.

Nope. Don't get me wrong, I've been trapped in some weird places that probably qualify as horrific, but not quite like this.

[ Following along behind Trance, Urahara draws up as fast he can when she shuts the door. There'd been a fleeting glimpse of the statue and a brief impression of the interior. One brow cocks high; too bad the hat hides it. ]

Y'know, I dunno how picky we can actually get here. Who knows what might be behind door number two. [ But now he wants to know what might be behind door number two. Nevermind the titans battling overhead and the weirdo sound of drums.

Finger tapping on his chin, Kisuke crosses to another building and nudges the door open with his cane. Beyond it lies a scarred, gray wasteland, empty of all life. ] Yeah not sure we want to go through there either.

[No, that one looks even less fun than where they currently are.

She turns back the way they came, going to the door before her... unfortunate discovery. It opens into a rusted metal corridor that is much less scary despite looking no more cheerful than the wasteland.]

This one might be okay. Maybe. Do you think they'll follow us if we go... what, into a different memory?

Doubtful, but that still leaves us with our original problem: how to get out of here.

[ And by 'here' he means memory altogether.

Powerful beams of spiritual energy light up a darkening sky as the hollows unleash another series of ceros at the Abyss. Perhaps, for now, they should leave and come up with a different approach. Kisuke nods the door, twirling his cane before finally stepping through into wherever they are going next. ]

I have a feeling we literally need to think our way out of this issue.

[She hurries to follow him through, although the door that closes behind them once they're both through the opening isn't the door they opened. A sliding bulkhead door, the standard on the Andromeda, slides closed with a quiet whir, shutting out the screaming and explosions from the scene they'd just left.

The ship is quiet. For now.]

Maybe it's like a dream? How do you wake yourself up from a nightmare?

[No, really. How. She doesn't really dream, herself, so she's a little lost on this count.]

Wait! Aren't you supposed to wake up if you die in a dream?

[This is a terrible idea.]

TEST DRIVE ※ 3

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