Test Drive Meme #34

[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 July 25th, and apps are open August 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: OOZES GEOMETRICALLY
[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.

The only warning you may get is the squish slick sound of movement before a gelatinous cube is upon you. Leaving gross trails behind them and with their see-through bodies filled with the bones of those that they've dissolved in their jelly, these cubes have no real vulnerability other than their limited movement.

Gelatinous cubes are exactly what it says on the tin, giant translucent cubes of jelly whose main attack tactic seems to be cornering people in small hallways and just sort of absorbing them into its mass. They then digest all meat and flesh and leave only floating bones and various metals their victim may have been wearing stashed inside of their jiggling forms.

Maybe it's time to apologize for the last time you brought a jelly mold to a potluck.]

A L L

SCENARIO TWO: MY LOYAL SERVANTS
[Thanks for your service to the gods! In order to power each of them up, it's up to you to pick a deity you like most (or dislike least, as it were) and simply say their name in order to be influenced by them and encouraged to inspire their emotion in others!

What, you don't want to play? Too bad, accidental name calling works just as well, even if you didn't mean to incite them- you'll feel their presence pulling their chosen emotion out in you anyway. Hope you picked a good one!

This is a mini version of our In Need Of A Boat event this month.]

C O N F U S I O N

SCENARIO THREE: I MISS GPS
[Sure, you might be a little confused at being here at first, but that generally goes away within a few days. This time... well, this time, that feeling of befuddlement isn't quite going away. Roads that you take seem to disappear behind you when you turn around, your right turns are left turns on the map you're following, and you're pretty sure that everyone except for you put their shirt on backwards this morning.

Is everyone high? What they're saying makes absolutely no sense to you. You can't find your way out of a paper bag, let alone back to where you've been staying lately. Is that a dog or is it an eldritch horror coming up to lick at your calves?

During this prompt, everything will feel off and it can be very difficult to get your bearings at all. That's Confusion for you!]

Comments

Maevaris Tilani | Dragon Age

[lacessere]

fear

[The strangest thing about this being something meant to provoke fear is that Maevaris Tilani is most assuredly not afraid. What she is is annoyed, aggravated, and a little distressed that she just stepped up to her ankle into some kind of jelly-like substance and ruined one of her favourite shoes.]

Oh, for all the-- [The woman spits out, tossing her hair back from her face as she stares down at the gelatinous creature not too far ahead. She wrenches her foot free from the goop half-holding it in place and magic crackles at her fingers, electricity gathering between her hands and shooting forwards in a thick, shining arc to hit the thing and...

Well, it knocks a sizeable chunk off it, at least.]

... Venhedis. [She mutters, pursing her lips slightly before glancing over her shoulder to the closest person to her.] Have you had any more luck with these things?

((also open to scenarios 2 and 3 if you wanna toss something at me))

[nasvares]

( Kell's head tilts, the shift of red hair revealing an eye wholly black, as he watches the woman a few metres to his side summon lightning to her fingers. It isn't possible back home, but as they're not in London - any of them -, who knows what kind of magic she might possess.

It's unique to his eyes, and therefore a little bit novel. Rather like the creatures, but they don't bother him quite as much.

The lack of water? That's a little frustrating, as it would be much easier to use water rather than his blood, but nothing he can't handle. He slips a knife out from under his sleeve, drags it firmly and quickly - the kind of way that suggests he's done this many a time before - across his palm, and dives right for the gelatinous creature itself. )

As Isera.

( Freeze.

And it does. )

[lacessere]

[It's lucky, really, that Maevaris is a mage who hails from Tevinter and not anywhere else in Thedas, where the clear use of what is very obviously blood magic would have had this young man flash frozen or set on fire within moments.

There's still a certain, small distaste for it (she's never needed it, gaining the power she has on her own merit), but look how useful it turns out to be at this moment in time.]

Oh, how lovely. [She says, circling around the now frozen creature and looking it up and down. Her hands rub lightly together, then she lifts one to make a small, dainty flick motion with one finger. Nothing touches the beast, but a small clink rings out like a chime and - slowly at first, but quickly increasing in pace - thin cracks begin to appear.

In moments, it crumbles into pieces on the floor.]

[nasvares]

( They'd have to catch him first. Kell may not look like much, slight as the wind and with a definite slouch to his posture, as though he would rather not be noticed, but he's a rather adept magic user even without the blood magic. Each element bends to his whim as easily as the gelantinous monster crumbles to the practised flick of her fingers.

He pushes copper hair back in place, covering his eye, and looks around with the distinctly unsettled air of one who isn't where they intended to be. More than that, as Kell had experienced a lot of magic, had used magic to travel between worlds before, but never known a method of summoning one to another world. Otherwise what would be the crown's use for an Antari?

(Combat, most likely.)

Without hesitation, Kell plucks a handkerchief from the rather exquisite red coat he wears, wiping the blood from his hand. The cut would heal soon enough, as they always did. )

Is this yours?

( This said with a gesture to their surroundings, tone far more casual than the clutch of panic in his heart. This is not home, this isn't even a London-- Would an attempt to travel back even work? And if it did, where in the world would he appear?

(Knowing Kell's luck, probably the Isle.) )

[lacessere]

Mine? [She doesn't quite catch his meaning at first, then she looks around them and lets out a short, sharp scoffing sound.] Certainly not. Somewhere of my imaginings would have far more people waiting on me hand and foot, and far less vile creatures spraying their innards over my legs.

[No vile creatures, in fact. The very idea.

She isn't without her own unsettled feelings about this sudden relocation. One moment she had been on her way to the Magisterium, and the next she was here, with a seamless transition in between and nothing to suggest that any magic was used at all.]

And nothing to do with you, either?

[closerift]

Less than with magic, I think. They eat the arrows as if they're nothing.

As Maevaris will notice if she takes a closer look at the jelly-cube full of arrows.

The Inquisitor sighs, flexing her fingers between attacks, but the little curse draws her attention. Nothing too familiar, of course, but... ]

I don't suppose that could have been Tevene? [ She asks lightly, drawing her bow again in an effort to appear nonchalant. After all, a new face from Thedas hasn't appeared in... quite some time, and she does try to keep her hopes from rising too high. ]

[lacessere]

Then perhaps you should stop wasting your arrows on them.

[There could be something else here against which those arrows would be far more use. Maevaris decides to switch to a different tactic, an orange glow starting between cupped hands before she throws out a plume of fire towards one of the creatures. It seems to do a better job.

Ah, but this woman just said something curious. She glances over her shoulder, eyebrows arched.]

The accent, or the curse, darling? The answer to both would be a 'yes'. [Ah, but then...] And you sound like someone hailing from the Free Marches. Am I correct?

[closerift]

I had a few varieties to test before I abandoned the process, thank you.

[ She does try a different tactic, though. Cecily slips Taako's engraved bracelet off her wrist briefly enough for the anchor to flare, bursting from its restraints, lashing out enough that it explode some of the gelatinous enemies from within.

Breathing a bit more heavily, she replaces the bracelet, shaking out her hand again as if nothing had happened. Just another day with a cursed artifact in your palm! ]

Someone from Thedas, then. What a rarity. [ No one familiar, though? Perhaps. Or... ] Formerly of the Marches, much more fondly of Skyhold. [ She takes a breathless moment to offer a bit of a bow before moving out of the way of a hungry blob. ] - Ack. Inquisitor Trevelyan, at your service.

[lacessere]

[If one weapon doesn't work, try another variety of the same. That makes perfect sense, but Maevaris doesn't get the opportunity to deliver a tart response before she's being faced with something that she's only read about in Dorian's letters.

When Cecily gives her name, the woman laughs.]

Oh, my dear, you need no introduction!

[She steps smartly out of the way of the same blob in turn, setting a small firetrap beneath it with a gesture and sending it flying.]

Maevaris Tilani of Qarinus. Magister of the Imperial Senate. We've corresponded.

[closerift]

... Oh! [ Her brows raise in surprise - and then, delight - before she utters a laugh. ] Of course! Forgive my not having recognized you: you look so different in person than mere words on a page.

[ It's such a relief to be in the presence of someone from Thedas, though, and it shows. Her mood brightens considerably, her face positively alight. ]

We couldn't have stopped the Ventori's spread without your aid. I'll never forget how instrumental you've been in it all. [ There's a pause, and then a little, teasing tilt of the head. ] I hope you're taking good care of Dorian up there. I miss him terribly.

FUCK ITS MY GIRL!!

[restinglichface]

Maybe just a touch.

[Funny how over a year in this place and Lup runs into so few folks who can wield magic just as effortlessly as she can. She snaps her fingers - all for effect, the spell certainly doesn't trigger with that - and her whole hand bursts into fire, the sharp curve of her smile glinting in the dancing flame.]

Here's a Hadriel pro strat for you: Nine times out of ten, fire's gonna do the trick.

[It has yet to fail her in Hadriel so far. With the flames she's whipped into life from the air, Lup casts fireball at the nearest of the gelatinous creature, watching it explode with a grin, little bits of jelly flying through the air and splattering at the women's legs.]

[lacessere]

Hm, fire, is it? Not my usual choice.

[But she's adept in most forms of magic to be found in Thedas, and her posture changes as the fingers of one hand move in a quick, intricate pattern, a fiery orange sigil rising on the ground in front of one of the creatures. The moment enough of its bulk is atop the design, it erupts in an explosion of flame and heat.

Maevaris wrinkles her nose slightly, leaning down to delicately brush a few globs of goo from her legs and the skirt of her gown.]

It has the power, but lacks a certain finesse.

[restinglichface]

Lacks finesse!? [The elf huffs, shooting the other woman a feigned look of offense, both of her long ears twitching in amusement.]

Are you kidding? What's more stylish than gorgeous flames dancing up your hand before you friggin' set some dickhead on fire? Nothing! That's what! Also, it leaves a wicked impression. Trust me. I set this one guy on fire last year and he still pisses himself whenever I even so much as look at him. Now that's a statement.

[While Maevaris delicately brushes the goo from her skirt, Lup gives her long legs a shake, not nearly as graceful as the other woman.]