test drive meme #17

[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 February 22nd, and apps are open March 1st. Please remember that there is an app cap of 20 apps.

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, either through handwaving or through a shared mental experience while coming through the Door!

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: SHOOTING HOOPS
[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.

There you are, calmly exploring this super cool cave city, when all of a sudden you see something roll toward you. What could that possibly be? Why, it seems the Door has brought in some hoop snakes, which are definitely real.

Hoop snakes are poisonous and aggressive reptiles, able to pursue fleeing prey by grasping their tail in their jaws and rolling after them like a wheel. Wow, so efficient! Hard to get away from, though, and kind of... terrifying? If you want to get away, you better be a fast runner. Or maybe you should climb something. Good luck!]

S O R R O W

SCENARIO TWO: YOU GOT THE BLUES
[You woke up this morning on the wrong side of the bed. Not the angry side - the sad side. Somehow, everything just seems to be going wrong, and you don't know why. You were out of milk for your cereal, the fruit you picked just yesterday is already going bad, and instead of getting frustrated all you want to do is feel sorry for yourself.

Even the good things aren't going too well. Maybe your friend just told you your hair looks nice today - doesn't that mean it looks bad the rest of the time? Probably. They've just been too nice to tell you. And your crush smiled at you - that probably means they know about your feelings and are getting ready to let you down easy. That's the only explanation.

No matter what happens, your mind is giving you the worst, most depressing interpretation. You can try to fight it and be aggressively upbeat - or maybe you just want to cry on somebody's shoulder. Yeah. That sounds good right about now.]

D E L I G H T

SCENARIO THREE: PUCKER UP
[For once, Hadriel looks rather lovely, all covered in snow and seasonal! Sure, it's not quite the right season anymore, but who really knows what month it is? Not the residents, and certainly not the gods. But for whatever reason, Delight has decided there should be snow on the ground and ugly sweaters in the shops.

And, of course, mistletoe. On your wanderings around the city, you may find yourself under the mistletoe with a friend or a stranger or even an enemy. Regardless of who they are and how you really feel about them, the mistletoe will give you a gentle compulsion to plant a kiss right on those appealing lips of theirs. You can resist if you want - it won't force you - but don't you kind of want to go for it?

This is a mini version of our Kissmas event this month!]

Comments

Dalboz of Gurth | Zork: Grand Inquisitor

[standardstuff]

01 FEAR

[Learning to stand again is an arduous process.

You can't expect to pick yourself back up immediately after 20 years without a body. It takes time to relearn all the right and wrongs ways to coordinate your physical being, to regain control of your flabby vessel before magic can lend a hand. You're forced to figure it out for yourself, not unlike an infant. All the involuntary processes you take for granted from your earliest memory are suddenly mysteries you helplessly grasp at remembering.

For the first few minutes, Dalboz feels almost as trapped in his own body as he did in the lantern. Confined. A heart beating incessantly in a ribcage, blood rushing through arteries. Thankfully becoming less overwhelmed by these sensations with each moment that passes.

He doesn't know how long he's spent staring, half-unseeing, at his surroundings. Time is of less import to one who's lived as long as he has. Eventually, he comes to his senses. He's standing alone in what looks to have once been an arena. He has the damn lantern in his hand; he woke up next to it. Probably doesn't work anymore. Not that he needs it right now, but he might later. He's not in a part of the Underground he recognizes, after all.

He closes his eyes.

We were at the top of the tower. MAXOV was cast. I said goodbye. Yannick fell.

Elation unlike any he's known rises from the core of his being.]

Oh, thank Yoruk.

[It exits him like a breath he's been holding for far too long. He could faint with relief. Everything is as it should be. Everyone who was totemized--person, creature, or otherwise--is free. The Empire is free. He's free. (He doesn't know how he landed back in his body, but there'll be time enough to work that out.)

The Grand Inquisitor is no more.

Dalboz takes a glance over his shoulder in search of a solid, crumbling piece of ruin on which he can sit and truly take in the indisputable knowledge that magic has been fully restored to the Empire. So absorbed is he that he doesn't notice the odd trail he leaves in his slow, careful footsteps, that of short blades of grass curling out from non-existent soil.

He's having trouble drawing on his powers. Usually they'd be at his fingertips, ready to spring forth. Clearly, something is awry, and he can't guess at what.

...Not immediately he doesn't. But as he sits there, his right hand fidgeting, it dawns on him why he's feeling naked. No, he's not actually naked--he thankfully retained his robe--but his staff is missing. So is the key to the Treasury and other artifacts that were on his person more often than not.

A slightly wry smile, then a nod of understanding. His reign as Dungeon Master has ended. But that doesn't explain his connection with the magic in the air, or the lack thereof; it's tenuous at best. He's in the process of adjusting to having a body again, though. He knows magic has been returned to Zork; don't ask him to explain it, he just knows, okay?

He detects something out of nowhere. A trusty sensation that has never failed him, to which he is very receptive because it's one he can't afford to ignore, for it warns him of something that can't be ignored: danger. He scrambles off the edge of the fallen pillar and tries to hurry toward higher ground; those stands ought to be safer. Once he's there, he reaches out again for magic, failing to make any meaningful contact with it.

Sure enough, there's movement nearby; a small, thin, circular-looking creature rolling this way. ...What is he looking at here? A snake?]

[ooc: For reference, Dalboz is a weird and wonderful hybrid of A and B, and has the appearance of a middle-aged man despite being 150 years old.]