Test Drive Meme #3

[hadrielmods]

Welcome to Hadriel's test drive, and thank you again for your interest in the game! As always, our reserves page is here, and our applications page is here! Reserves open November 24th, and apps are open December 1st.

Two quick points here as well:

1. Any thread made in Hadriel's test drive will be accepted as the sole Action Log sample in the application.
2. All threads made in the test drive can be considered game canon!

Test drives will be broken up into specific god mini-events, during which your characters can see how well they fare under the watchful eye of one of the gods. Choose wisely or just simply pick 'em all, and have fun!

F E A R

SCENARIO ONE: GIMME A HUG
[The Door brings in all that is chaotic and evil in the world. This may include you, may include the person next to you... and may include the monster behind you.

Watch out as you explore the streets of Hadriel, because you're not alone, and there's always something on the rooftops watching and waiting for the perfect opportunity to separate you from your group and tear you into pieces. This time, the Door has brought in a large slithering beast for you meet.

This Titanoboa is not the friendliest of snakes. Over fifty feet long, it requires quite a lot of meals in order to keep going, and it seems to be most interested in making you one of them. A giant anaconda, this is a constrictor rather than a venomous snake - but don't worry. It's got teeth, too, in case it needs to do a touch of nibbling. We're sure you'll get along just fine.]


SCENARIO TWO: THE DOCTOR IS IN
[You awaken on an operating table. How did you get here? What's going on? You don't remember checking into a hospital or seeing a doctor, and when you try to get up you quickly discover that your hands and legs are secured tightly to the table, the straps digging into your skin.

Next to the table is a tray of gleaming steel surgical instruments, their sharp blades glittering as the overhead light flickers. They seem to be the only clean thing in the room, as you begin to realize that the walls of this operating room are moldy and stained, and there's something dripping from the ceiling. This may not be a legitimate hospital at all.

There are footsteps outside the door. It could be a friend - or not. Will you call for help? Try to free yourself? Lay back and wait for the doctor to arrive?]


H O P E

SCENARIO THREE: HOPESGIVING
[You find yourself in a kitschy, brightly lit, utterly pleasant gift shop. Lining the shelves are all manner of stuffed animals, inspirational figurines, greeting cards, and delightful ornaments. Some even look familiar, like something you might have seen before.

The door isn't locked. You can just leave, if you want. But on a pedestal where the registers should be is a globe of glittering light, and within it, a picture of the person you care for most in the world. Carved on the pedestal are the words Bring someone hope, and you will bring them happiness.

Of course, you aren't alone in there. Will you find something on the shelves to show to your companion, something that might bring them hope? Or maybe you brought something from home. Or maybe you don't care at all, and just want to smash everything in there. It's all up to you.

This is a simplified version of this month's Hope event.]

Comments

[miscreant]

That same man told me I had brothers. I do not remember them.

[Her tone is indifferent -- she couldn't really be anything but that with no faces, no memories of their distance or her relationship with them. At least one of them was dead, but in reality it was most likely both of them.

But she can see the conversation pulling something out of Koltira, and she takes a moment to try and consider an alternative topic.]

Have you learned anything of this place, Commander?

[respired]

[She's deliberately changing the subject, but that's fine. He'll allow it.]

Not more than you, I imagine.

[He looks up at her, eyes narrowing slightly.]

Or perhaps less.

[miscreant]

Less is unlikely. What I've learned is laying in a pile beside you.

[She nods to the pile of Azerothian fauna.]

And what I've learned is that they clearly know plenty about Azeroth.

[respired]

Seems more that they know us.

[He mouth quirks at the stuffed animals.]

Our minds, that is.

ii ... tiny 100x100 pictures can wait

[cowed]

[ merodach slipped his restraints long ago, having gotten a set that were tightened with far less care. perhaps he was lucky in that regard; it almost makes up for the fact that he was pulled from a report to the citadel and thus is wandering the unknown in full cultist regalia. so far it hasn't done him ill-- most rooms have been empty or locked, without a soul in sight.

but this time, when he opens the door and sticks his head in, there's a surly death knight waiting for him. that's new. his ears twitch up at the sound of her voice. even better than new, there's familiar. ]

Sorry-- this is the torture room? Must've picked the wrong door.

[ and yet he slips into the room proper, shutting the door behind him and leaning against it. the fact that she's still laying there means she's either properly restrained, or ready to snap them the instant he gets too close. he declines to take his chances for now. ] Having some problems?

[closerift]

They might find a way.

[ Still, she extends a hand, stripping the shooting glove from it, turning it palm-side up for him to examine. ]

I'm afraid to say I can't make it spark at will, but the odds are that it'll happen sooner, rather than later.

[ And the actual mark is still there, the crescent shape of the anchor embedded within. ]

It'd make for a brilliant party trick, though, if I can manage it.

[miscreant]

Our minds.

[A snort of disgust comes from her, chased by a cloud of frost. Their minds. As if such a thing were desirable.]

I'm certain they throw excellent parties.

[miscreant]

[There's a distinct pause when she recognizes the voice that enters the room, a long pause as she tries to pinpoint the memory it triggers. There isn't much to swim through, but what is there is still sludge.

The cultist garb is what has her sneering in his direction.]

Not as many as you will have if you don't take the opportunity to correct this.

[She doesn't remember clearly enough to recall a name -- or a title. But his face is familiar. The hair. The rail-thin body under all of those robes.]

[cowed]

Last I checked, you weren't supposed to threaten the help.

[ surely that's a word even she is familiar with. mero skirts around the edge of the room as he appraises the situation. the surgical tools are particularly eyecatching; he draws close enough to drag the tray outside of seviilia's theoretical reach, then pauses there. ]

You really can't break these? [ he steps closer still, running a finger along the width of a strap for emphasis. ] That's surprising.

[miscreant]

[If she tugged hard enough, she's almost certain she could snap the metal holding the restraints with a little bit of frost to weaken them. But that's not the point of the exercise here -- whoever tied her down in the first place had a bone to pick with her.

So. Let them pick. Her fingers unroll, and she lets her head sway to the side to watch his finger move.]

A corpse like me? Surely not.

[Her fingers curl in again and she exhales with something that sounds vaguely like boredom.]

I do not suppose you saw the idiot who first attempted this errand?

[cowed]

If I had, I think we would've stopped to chat.

[ his hand keeps moving past the edge of the band, pausing to hover over her own. nothing comes of it, though-- he only goes back to fiddle with the fastenings on the restraint instead, tugging the strap out of the buckle halfway.

he gives her a sly glance then, eyebrows raised. ] But maybe I should leave you so the two of you can, whenever they return?

[miscreant]

Well, considering I have no recollection of events leading to this moment, I could hardly say otherwise.

[She flicks her eyes up and squints at him, but makes no move to try and force the buckle open now that he's undone half of it for her. There's no point in it, not when she's trying to figure out what this man is doing here with her.]

I would think you have more pressing matters to attend to than whatever it is you're doing here.

[Seviilia makes a point of sweeping the garb he's chosen in order to look back up to his face.]

[cowed]

[ he follows her gaze down with a frown. yes, the robes are conspicuous. he spent every step here keenly aware of this fact. his ears sink some, but otherwise he doesn't take the bait.

instead, he finishes pulling the strap free. the instant the restraint is loose, he steps back, hands raised to indicate the end of his involvement. ] You can handle things from there, can't you?

[miscreant]

I could have handled things when I woke up, actually.

[She stays where she is, but smirks when he opts to step back. Well, at least she had made a lasting impression, once upon a time. That bodes well.

After a moment of silence, she lifts her hand and inspects it, rubbing her fingers together until a bit of frost forms. Good, they had not done anything to her that might inhibit her magic.

In response, she sits up and moves to freeze off the metal holding the restraint, just to make her point. The leather binding stays tight around her wrist once she pulls it from the bed frame.]

Haven't found alternative dress as of yet?

[Surely whoever this man was, he wasn't actively a member of the Cult. That would be foolish of him.]

[cowed]

[ he clicks his tongue, but also holds it. of course she could've. she's also the one that decided to wait there for someone else to happen by...

whatever. he folds his arms, keeping his expression decidedly neutral as she takes the time to show off. it's hard not to be nervous with a loose death knight in the same room as you, but like hell he's going to go out of his way to show it. ]

You think I'm dressed like this for the fun of it? [ god. his face slips into a half-sneer, half-incredulous grin at the mere thought, though not for long. he turns his face away, picking at one of the runed ribbons of his pauldron as a pretense to hide his brief lapse. ] Unless you happen to have a spare set of clothing hidden away in here-- well.

It's unfortunate, but... [ he spreads his arms in the world's laziest shrug. sometimes sacrifices have to be made, etc. ]

[miscreant]

[She doesn't answer his rhetorical, opting to try and close the distance between them. Her axes aren't far, but she doesn't need them. His demeanor said enough, even if he was trying to hide his discomfort.]

You...are familiar to me.

[Seviilia offers a squint of her frosty eyes in an attempt to focus.]

That has yet to bode well for almost everyone I've managed to encounter.

[cowed]

[ he responds to her aggression the best way he knows, by trying to salvage some of the distance between them. he slides further along the wall, back the way he came. ] Only familiar? [ seviilia's movements had been cause for alarm, but her words provoke a surge of bitterness so strong he can taste it. ] -- That figures.

[ ah, but that's probably not a very reassuring response. merodach tilts his head, inclining it ever-so-slightly in her direction. ] We aren't enemies.

[howlingblast]

[He is not interested in people but he can read their body language, detect the surge in her veins. Though that's a matter of his excellent hearing as well as his weird blood magic thing. It's complicated.

He tries the bonds again. Not even a bit of give, and this little girl is taunting him with her closeness. It's damned infuriating. His efforts make the table shake, but he remains.]

Blasted-- [He roars again, and this time tunes into some of his other abilities. Ice begins to crust along the outside of his armor, creeping in fernlike patterns before thickening.

He scowls at Shiki.] Leave me unless you desire death, human. My patience runs short and my hunger never ceases. I cannot promise to be kind.

[howlingblast]

[He snarls and spins, expecting a fight, but it's an... acquaintance. Not quite an ally, but sort of? Death knights were not all cut from the same cloth, yet he has more in common with this fallen magistrix than most people in Orgrimmar. Funny thing, that.

He flicks away a few splinters of wood and responds to her in his somewhat accented Common.]

This place infuriates me. [Yes, we gathered that.] Such a place of sentimentality and morbid hope should be razed to the ground. [He catches his lip ring in his teeth as he casts a baleful look around.] ... Preferably with several people inside of it.

[howlingblast]

[Rag'kar is honestly about to bite someone's face off, but then he realizes who that is. His uh, commanding officer. Technically. Shit. He's a lieutenant who would like to consider himself retired, but one does not simply retire from being undead. There's still the constant pain, the hunger, the nightmares. The looks he gets when he's around the living.

Anyway, he snaps his jaws shut when he sees Koltira casting a shadow over him. He's not very happy though, evident by his rather rude snarling.]

I see they went easy on the elf.

[miscreant]

No? You dress as one of them.

[This time, she doesn't follow him. Instead, she stops in front of the gurney and leans against it, supporting her weight on her hands. Ultimately, one cultist isn't a threat to her. At least not one this small.

She taps one nail noisily against her plated arm. She paints the picture of someone attempting to recall a very deep memory.]

The Citadel, wasn't it?

[respired]

[Koltira's already dour expression somehow manages to take another turn for the bitter. He grabs one of the straps at Rag'kar's wrist and yanks, straight up tearing it off of him.]

I managed to evade capture.

['Unlike you' being the implied subtext.]

[respired]

Hmmm.

[He glances 'round the shop. It's peaceful, well-lit, warm. There's something inviting about the whole space; the items lining the shelves are comforting kitsch, brightly colored and pleasant. He's not repulsed by these things, though he feels no especial attachment to them, either. Still, the atmosphere is lulling.]

This one doesn't seem like much of a trial.

[miscreant]

[The notion Furykill proposes earns him a light chuckle of amusement.]

I would not mind being a witness to that. Though I may council caution, if you have not yet met our...company.

[Which is to say that they are joined by Koltira Deathweaver, who would no doubt be resistant to any forgiveness in the slaughter of innocent lives. Pity, really.]

[casperdisaster]

Um, it's water and glitter, but I'm pretty sure it's sealed.

[Noah turns his over, very gently, to show that there's no obvious opening.]

If you open it the glitter and water get out and you can't shake it up anymore.