wildermemes | TEST DRIVE ※ 1

TEST DRIVE ※ 1
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 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 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.

THEY'RE TAKING THE PCS TO ISENGARD!
Once a force for good, the wizard Saruman has grown a little too big for his britches. Now he wants to be a major player in the Wilderlands and has poised himself against Sauron and the Unfinished Princess. To aid him in his aims of conquering the new world he's built an army of monsters, and through magic and sinister breeding practices he's engineered his orcs into fearsome super orcs known as Uruk-hai. From Saruman's tower fortress of Orthanc, his armies are setting out to conquer the world, plaguing the nearby lands of Gondor, Rohan, and Oz. Among Orthanc's neighbors, it is the Ents of Fangorn Forest, towering tree creatures, who have decided to descend on Orthanc itself to stop the menace once and for all.

This is where you come in. For you see, Saruman has sent out hunting parties to search for those who have been touched by the Green. For some unknown and sinister purpose, he wants you captured and brought to him. Armed with a charm that allows them to detect when they first appear in the Wilderlands, his Uruk-hai warriors are searching high and low for newcomers like yourself brought in by the Green's will. That's how some of you find yourselves captured almost as soon as you appear in the grasslands of nearby Rohan, dragged to Orthanc against your will, arriving there just in time for all hell to break loose.

Meanwhile, some of you avoid orcish capture, and are pulled in mid-battle, thrown head first into the deadly storming of Orthanc itself. Regardless of the circumstances you find yourself in when you arrive, it's certainly a wild entrance.

SCENARIOS
A. ESCAPE CAPTURE

The orcs capture you not long after you arrive in the grasslands of Rohan, surrounding you as if they were searching specifically for you. Before long your wrists are bound and they start marching you towards the fortress of their master, arguing about you the entire time.

"There's no time to kill them properly," says one. "No time for play on this trip."

"That can't be helped," says another.

"But why not kill them quick, kill them now? They’re a cursed nuisance, and we're in a hurry. Evening’s coming on, and we ought to get a move on."

"Boss's orders," say a third voice in a deep growl. "If any touched by the cursed Shikliss show up near our hunting parties, they are to be captured and brought back alive as quickly as possible."

They spend a lot of time arguing over whether to torture or kill you now (or later). Lovely. But at least you're not alone. There are other captives, like yourself, and in quiet moments, you may have a chance to talk to one another, comfort one another. And either because of infighting amongst themselves, or the chaos of battle (if you arrive at Orthanc in the middle of it being stormed), you may have a chance to break your bonds and help each other escape, too. There's a battle to be fought -- or you can make a run for the woods of Fangorn. Either way, any choice you make can't make things much worse.

B. FIGHT THE URUK-HAI

A few of the Ents, glad for potential allies, are willing to briefly stop their fighting and explain the conflict you've found yourself in, one against a wizard and his deadly forces who have brought death and destruction to the nearby forest and surrounding lands.

"Hrum, hoom, root and twig, very odd timing you have indeed," says Treebeard, leader of the Ents. "Arriving in the middle of a battle you barely have time to understand. Do not be hasty, that is my motto, but you have found yourselves with a hasty decision to make. We would be grateful for your aid, hasty though it may be!"

If you decide to aid them, you'll find yourself facing fearsome Uruk-hai orc warriors, dangerous siege weapons, and orcs riding terrifying, giant, wolf-like wargs. Some of you may find yourselves retaining powers from home. Others may find themselves with new magic or summoning magic weapons for the very first time. Yet others may find themselves still -- or newly -- powerless and will have to pick up what weapons they can find and hope for the best. Either way, you only have two choices: fight against Orthanc
or run for the trees. (And hope that those don't swat you, either.)

C. BE METAL

You can only see if them after you've seen your first death on the battlefield -- or if you've already seen someone die back home. Though intimidating, these skeletal, flying horses are not evil, but they are beings of death and that means they've flocked here because of the dying. At heart, they're noble creatures, though, willing to help those in need, and can seat two at a time.

If you and one of your new allies needs to try to make a run for it, they'll fly you away from the battlefield. Or if you want to look like you're something straight out of a heavy metal album cover, you and that same ally can ride a thestral and attack your enemies from the air.

D. SAVE SPROUTLINGS

Saruman hasn't only been experimenting on orcs. He's kidnapped some very young and innocent spirits of the Green to explore the Green's power through painful experimentation. In the chaos of battle, these sproutlings have managed to escape, but because they're not much more than children, they need help getting free of the battle before they're killed. Characters may find these tree spirits (mostly young leaf spirits known as koroks) running for their lives and struggling to get free of the battlefield. Someone needs to get them to safety in the arms of the Ents; your characters might be their only chance.

E. SURVIVE THE FLOOD

The Ents are going all out in this battle, and that means the nearby dam has seen its last days. As water comes rushing into the flat plains around Orthanc, you'll have to find a way to survive the flood. Fortunately, that's a lot easier to do with a new friend. Perhaps you'll find flotsam you can help each other cling to until the water dies down, or maybe you can help each other climb a friendly Ent and chill on its shoulders until the threat has passed. The more unlucky among you may have to help each other fight and climb your way up through the wood and metal walkways of the orcs' many war machines and battlements; only at the top are you guaranteed a way to keep above the deadly currents.

F. SMOKE SOME DANK KUSH

It's over. The battle has been won, most of the orcs are dead, and Orthanc has been swamped. The only way to stay dry now is to sit on top of abandoned war machines or buildings. There's a cluster of them around some kind of supply storehouse. Sitting up top on that storehouse are two strange, curly-haired young men - they look fully grown and yet are the size of children, have furry feet, and seem quite content where they are, sitting and eating and smoking their pipes. They're too far to have a conversation with, and those currents are still a little too dangerous for your character to risk trying to get over there, but at the very least, the two are trying to be helpful.

Rather than just keeping everything for themselves, in between eating and smoking their pipes they keep climbing down into the storehouse. Each time they do they come back up with sacks and small barrels, and toss them out to the other people in the buildings around them that are sitting on their various perches. (For such tiny people, they have surprisingly good throwing arms.)

In those sacks and barrels are small supplies of food and beer and wine -- and also small bags of some kind of tobacco and rolling papers. The leaf smells sweet and a little...herbal. Due to some interesting magical interbreeding of flora, Halfling pipeweed isn't just a form of Nicotiana like it once was. They now cultivate entirely new strains of "pipeweed" and mix it in with the old. As a result, if your character partakes they may find themselves, er... mellowing out a little bit. It's not enough to get them high but it is enough to make them relax and feel a little less high strung and a little more like themselves, after all that stress.

It also makes that food look extra appetizing. But hey, it's pretty appetizing on its own after that fight, even if your character decides not to smoke.

G. FREESTYLE

There are other things to do during all the chaos. Perhaps when things die down, you tromp through the swamped wreckage, scavenging for things that may help you in this brand new world. Or maybe you decide to fight alongside the dark forces and have to deal with the aftermath of choosing the losing side. The choice is yours!

OOC INFO
✦ This TDM is locked to beta round invitees only. The game will be open to everyone in April, but it's undergoing a beta test round with a short plot to test out the power systems. For this first round, the game is invite-only, locked to individuals who've had access to see an invite announcement from the head mod. This is because if the powers system needs tweaks to balance it better, the mods may have to ask players to revise and resubmit powers. So the mods are starting with a group they know will be comfortable with that. After this TDM, future TDMS will be open to everyone.

✦ Potential players can use this as a standard test drive and may use these 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.

✦ 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 for beta round invitees open: 3/1/18

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Phos' stumble goes unnoticed by Black, who has one thing on her mind right now, and that's getting this stupid job done so she can find out where the hell she is and how to get back. This is being accomplished in the moment by gathering up the uruk-hai's admittedly crude weapons she finds on the battlefield, and chucking them at the orcs with deadly velocity and precision. She does turn back to the strange...jewelry person? What the fuck are they, now that she has a good look, and sneers again.]

I'm not a courier, either. If you're so worried, do it yourself!

[What the fuck are they is the question that has been playing repeatedly in Phos' head for a few hours now in regard to literally everyone and everything they see here. They're trying to ignore it for now in favor of getting out of this mess intact.]

I can go back for more if you just take these guys!

[Should they be focusing on saving themself first? Probably. But planes and their requisite "take care of yourself before helping others" safety pamplets don't exist where they come from so this bit of wisdom hasn't been embedded in them yet. So they scowl, almost thoughtlessly grabbing a third korok with another darting tendril before an orc can step on it, and charge after the unhelpful person.

(The temptation to just chuck a little plant person thing at this asshole is pretty intense. They won't, but they sure would like to.)]

[Black's head pulls back and tilts in a recoil, not unlike Phos is carrying some kind of infectious objects. She squints at Phos for several seconds, then holds her arms out to the side in a questioning gesture, before she raises one to make a knocking motion toward her own head.]

Are you dense? Did you catch anything I said?

[Look, they can't help it, phosphophyllite is roughly three times denser than the human body on its own, and their alloy is about twenty times denser. They're very dense.]

Why are you being so selfish? They barely even weigh anythi--

[They cut themself off abruptly, eyes widening at a sight up ahead over her shoulder while she's looking back at them.]

Get down!

[They dig their heels in, skidding to a rough stop with an upheaval of earth to avoid running headlong into the orc that had stepped into their path. Its arm was already raised to swing at them.]

[If Black were to find out about Phos' makeup, it...honestly wouldn't be too weird, compared to the fact that her and several coworkers are pumped full of fantasy magic oil...

She doesn't have time to answer, thanks to the intervening orc, which honestly pisses her off more than she already was. With a movement too fast for the average eye to pick up on, she's at the beast's side and throwing a heavy punch into its side, one that vents a considerable amount of steam from her arm, and would be enough to send the average human flying.

Can't even hold a conversation around here...]

[Shit, that's some Bortz-level maneuverability and power. They don't know what to make of her strange arms or the steam, but hey, it's no stranger than literally everything else going on right now. Those are questions for future Phos to deal with.

Present Phos instead has to deal with the giant grey monster, staggered by the heavy blow but not quite out yet thanks to its sheer bulk. The little plant things in the alloy's grip are panicky and wriggling, and it's all Phos can do to quickly transfer them all into the hold of one arm's writhing mass. Freed up, the other arm shoots forward to lash around the orc, dense as they can make it with their available alloy. They squeeze tight, planting themself firmly to try holding it still.]

Get it!

[Bortz is infinitely more nice than Black, which is honestly a little bit terrifying as a concept.

Annoyed as she is with Phos, she does have to admit that she's kind of impressed that they're working with her on this instead of cutting and running with the wiggly cabbages. Right now, she's more annoyed at the big ugly tough sucker. If Phos is going to restrain it, then she may as well not try to knock it away, so she reaches up, grabbing anything she can for purchase and climbing until she finds its head, and with a vicious yell, gives it the same treatment she just gave its ribs.]

[Even wearing a helmet, the orc can't handle a hit like that so directly and at such close range. It gives a guttural pained grunt and sags heavily within the alloy's grip before falling still. When no retaliation or attempt to break free comes, Phos tentatively retracts their alloy and the orc collpases with a heavy thud.

The following moment is far from silent in the middle of a battlefield like this, but the monster doesn't move. Phos frowns at it uncertainly, the gold reshaping into an ordinary arm shape.]

Is it broken...?

[It looks all in one piece, so it can't be incapacitated, right?]

[Black holds on, and rides the limp body down to the ground, stepping off once it stops moving - even now, she has a flair for the dramatic. She flexes the fingers of her hand she used for punching - far as she can tell, they're fine. Little bit dented and scuffed, but nothing to worry about.

Phos' question gets a puzzled expression from Black, and she looks down at the thing before looking at Phos once more.]

If the damn thing isn't dead, I'll be surprised. Wasn't exactly a love tap I threw at it...

Dead...

[The word sounds just faintly familiar, like they must have talked with someone about it once before. But when...? Something else Sensei taught them so long ago, maybe? They can't remember. Between their lost arms and legs, there's just been so many memories lost they can't even mourn yet another missing piece.

Still, it itches at the back of their mind for some reason. But this isn't the time or place to question that or anything else they've seen and heard since waking up here. They frown, but they wrap their alloy more securely around the trio of koroks, averting their eyes to the treeline.]

We should keep going.

TEST DRIVE ※ 1

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