Test Drive Meme #8

[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 April 24th, and apps are open May 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, 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: DEAD FLESH BUFFET
[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 lurking in the shadows, waiting for the perfect chance to swarm around you and chow down. This time, the Door has brought in a group of rotfiends, from the video game The Witcher.

These unpleasant-looking creatures are necrophages, meaning they feed on the flesh of the dead, and if that flesh is in short supply they are happy to add to it. Normally found in groups, they are fast and difficult to corner. What's more, when on the verge of death, they have an annoying tendency to explode into a flammable cloud of poisonous toxins. You left your torch at home, right?]

R A G E
SCENARIO TWO: MMM WHATCHA SAY
[There you were, just walking along the street, minding your own business like a good underground hell-city citizen, when all of a sudden you saw someone. It was like love at first sight - if by 'love' you mean 'deep burning hatred'. You've never wanted to kill someone so much, and why? Well, you're not really sure, but there's probably a reason! You'll just have to figure it out. Or not. Who needs a reason for murder, anyway?

Or maybe you're the one someone else has targeted. Maybe you know they're after you and you're desperately trying to watch your back. Why do they hate you? You don't even know them. Or maybe you do, maybe they're your best friend. Either way, this is a super awkward situation, and someone might end up dead. Hopefully not you!

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


H O P E

SCENARIO THREE: SCRATCH OFF
[This morning, you received a scratch ticket in the mail (who knew Hadriel even had mail?), addressed to you. The instructions are clear enough - scratch off three matching icons, and you win a prize! Sure, okay. But here's the grand prize: a one-way ticket home.

Unfortunately, try as you might, you aren't gonna win that one, but keep hoping! And hey, just think of all the other GREAT PRIZES you could win: an inflatable duck, a plastic ring to give your sweetheart, an empty can of Red Bull, a cell phone charm shaped like a strange green creature with a boner.

So what if you didn't win that ticket home? You got something almost as good: a shitty prize! Thanks, Hope!]

Comments

lingering ravens - i am sorry - rage

[ampliat]

Blue wasn't born a scavenger, but she has made herself resourceful. Her clothes are the most obvious example of her resourceful mind. All the ways she can make something old new again. It was better for the world that way, and it was more unique to her.

This was a talent that came in handy when Blue taught herself to scavenge. Because that was what was needed in a city that was sparse yet full all at the same time. You just had to know where to look. And hope with just enough hoping that some pieces would fall into all the right places. Self-designated as one of the gatherers for the motley crew of ravens, Blue was out scavenging the city today. Not the caves, she wasn't ready for cave exploration, but the city was safe enough on a usual day. Ish.

It worked itself out.

Her bag was slung across her chest, carrying the same things she always carried with her: her mirror and her phone. In her pocket was her switchblade, and in her hand was a short sword she'd not perfected the use of but if she found a switchblade safe she found a short sword even safer. It was like this that Blue found Mr. Gray, having only just realized she'd brought a knife to a gun fight.

"Mr. Gray?" Her eyes held the question, locked on the weapon pointed at her as she froze in front of him.

[wasntpersonal]

How had he not recognized Blue of all people? The feeling had come over him so quickly, he didn't have a chance to process the figure before him until he heard his name. She was one of the last people in the universe that he'd wanted to hurt. He'd gone to great lengths to ensure she wasn't hurt. He was a monster turned hero for her benefit. Why then was he pointing a gun at her with that absolutely certainty that he would kill her? That terrified him almost as much as the existence of his brother had.

With obvious effort, he lowered the gun, aiming it at her feet instead of her head. But the feeling wouldn't leave him. It was likely something inside him had fractured and the wrong things were leaking everywhere. With Blue, he'd only ever really been Mr. Gray. By the time they met, her mother had worked her magic, eroding the hard shell that was The Gray Man to expose the new thing beneath. This feeling, however, was so completely who he had been before he'd set foot in Henrietta that he found it unnerving to feel it when he looked at Blue.

"I don't think it's safe for you to be here," he said, sounding strangely calm. It reminded him of that cave where they'd found Maura. Like someone else had their fingers in his head. A seductive whisper that urged him to do something that he would have never considered of his own accord but made it feel like his own idea all along. "You should go." He didn't have the words to explain it beyond that.

[ampliat]

It doesn't register in Blue's mind that Mr. Gray's warning refers to himself as the threat and not some other outside force. In this place, it could be anything really. To her, she imagines that as a newcomer he's concerned about her general safety in this place. And already she's dismissing that concern.

"It's not so bad out here on an average day," she already speaks up without asking for clarification.

Instead she steps closer to him. He's lowered the gun, so in her head everything is as normal as a cave full of murder really gets. What's one extra murderer among this crowd after all.

"You just got here, right?" She continues instead. She's looking around for any monsters. That's typically what they associate with the newcomers. Monsters always arriving in batches to terrorize those that have just arrived. It's odd not to see any, but not unheard of. Her grip on her sword loosens slightly.

"How are you doing?" She looks back to him, the concern clear on her face.

[wasntpersonal]

As Blue moves closer, he tightened the grip on his gun, veins standing out in his arms with the effort. Why didn't she understand? Why wasn't she leaving? It would destroy Maura if anything happened to Blue. He'd promised, long ago it seemed, that he was not a threat to Maura's daughter. And yet here he stood. That promise alone was what kept his weapon aimed at the ground, though it took a great amount of effort. The emotion, the cold sort of rage that was unlike anything he'd felt before, was somehow outside of himself, yet he couldn't get rid of it. The thing in the cave before could be fought, resisted. This snuck below his defenses in ways he couldn't fight.

"I don't know what's happening." It was strange to hear such tension in a voice that was so usually calm. A tone that showed the strain of his efforts to fight this thing. "But if you don't leave, I can't promise I won't shoot you." He didn't know how else to explain it. A driving urge to end the life of someone so dear to him. It frightened him in ways only his brother had ever achieved.