TEST DRIVE MEME.

[futurologists]

A PIRATE'S LIFE FOR ME Welcome to the Viridian Sea, a rolling body of water populated by a small number of islands and an even greater number of pirates and merchant ships. Sailing, rum, and high-seas adventure is the name of the game for this mission: after the freshly-recruited volunteers (that's you!) are welcomed into Hathaway, they are sent via controlled interdimensional rift to deal with a certain pirate ship that has been causing a certain amount of trouble. The crew of Red Scream, a murderous band of Mako pirates, has been reaving a path of destruction through the sea, scuttling ships of merchants, civilians, and other pirate bands alike. They have also kidnapped a governor's daughter, asking an exorbitant ransom to return her at all, let alone alive. If this wasn't enough of a reason for Hathaway to intervene, Red Scream's current goal is firmly pointed at a legendary treasure buried in a crater somewhere in the Viridian Sea. Hathaway analysts have studied the crater and found that it was definitely caused by a temporal shard cast off from the Merging. And if Red Scream gets its hands on the shard, it'll be bad news. The crew of Little Squid has reached out to Hathaway for help reaching the treasure. The ship and crew are both small, but they are an optimistic and hardworking bunch, and are willing to equally split the treasure with Hathaway as a reward -- they just have to reach it first. ▸ PROMPTS Your mission is simple: reach the treasure before the Mako pirates. If you have the time, you can try and save the governor's daughter -- it's not why Hathaway has been hired, but her father will likely be grateful enough to grant a reward. ONE ▸ GOING ROGUE. High-seas adventure not your cup of tea? The tropical islands dotting the Viridian Sea are flush with distractions, including pirate havens replete with gambling, food, and liquor. It's a hedonist's paradise -- if you can avoid displeasing the heavily-armed locals. TWO ▸ LITTLE SQUID. Ever been on a brig before? The crew of Little Squid are happy to show you the ropes -- literally -- and teach you how to be a master seafarer in no time. The only food on board unfortunately consists of salted meat and hard bread, but there's plenty of rum to go around. Life on the seas is tough, especially during rough weather; unfortunately, they have no cure for seasickness, so if you're afflicted, you might want to head below decks and wait it out. But the view during calm waters is unlike anything else. THREE ▸ RED SCREAM. It was bound to happen: Little Squid runs smack dab into Red Scream on the race to the treasure. Board the enemy ship or wait for them to come to you, but either way, you'd better be ready for some close-quarters combat. The Mako pirates of Red Scream are humanoid sharks with teeth to match, so in addition to their cutlasses and blunderbusses, you'll want to avoid being bitten. If fighting isn't your specialty, you could always hide below decks of Little Squid and hope you don't get noticed. Or, if you're feeling bold, you can board Red Scream and look for the governor's daughter, who is being kept in the captain's quarters -- she's about six years old and ready to fight, so get ready to have your hands full. FOUR ▸ THE TREASURE. Finally, Little Squid reaches the island where the treasure is. There are caves throughout the island where more standard pirate treasure is found -- gold doubloons in rotted old chests and the like -- but there's also a massive crater formed where the temporal shard plummeted to the surface. The crater is a wide hole with sheer walls, so you'd better find someone who can fly or brush up on your spelunking skills. The further down you go into the crater, the darker it gets, but somewhere on the bottom an eerie blue light is glowing. The source is the temporal shard: make your way through a winding tunnel system to find it and retrieve it. But beware -- the shard has attracted temporal insects, ravenous, time-eating bugs that can slow or hasten the flow of time just due to their appetite. Find yourself in their presence and you'll be moving in slow motion or you'll suddenly be aged 50 years. The only way to stop the effects are to kill the bugs and retrieve the shard. FIVE ▸ CHIT-CHAT. It's your standard network option. Maybe you've got a little downtime and you're bored. Or maybe you got lost in the caves and you think you saw a g-g-ghost pirate. Maybe you're just trying to figure out how the hell this magical jewelry thing works! No matter what, you get one username to identify you and one only -- if you don't enter one, it will default to your real name (for example, Voldemort's would be tomriddle.) Choose wisely... or make it assfarts69, if that's your thing. More information on the jewelcomms can be found on the devices guide. SIX ▸ WILDCARD. Do whatever the heck you want! Explore the jungles and waterfalls of the islands, have a party on the beach, try to befriend a dolphin. The world is your oyster. ▸ OOC NOTES Welcome to the first test drive meme of Futurology Season 2! Because the season hasn't started yet, this test drive is meant to be a mini-mission, similar in feel to the missions we have in-game but on a much smaller scale. Since no characters currently have official specializations, we also have no specialized prompts, but plan to in the future. However, feel free to play as if your character is level 1 of whichever specialization you would like to choose. Please be aware this test drive is game canon. Questions about the game can be directed to the FAQ. If you've been with us before, you might notice things look a little different around here. Make sure you check out the welcome page for the basic rundown of how your character joined up with Hathaway. For further information about the game, the full navigation has all the links you'll need. Apps will reopen to the public on 6 January, with early apps for returning characters opening on 4 January. Apps will close when we reach our 60-player cap or on 15 January, whichever happens first. We hope to see you then!

Comments

red scream

[grunehexe]

[Had they better warning of the enemy ship's approach, Sieglinde is sure she would have taken herself below deck. After all, despite all the spells she has studied, all the reading she has done, and all the effort she's put in... she knows she does not, and may never, belong on a battlefield.

But if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride, and Sieglinde is forced to sneak and dodge and try to make her way to the hold in the chaos of it all, at least thankfully small but also regretfully unbalanced even at times on dry land, let alone a heaving ship.

She might have made it, if she hadn't tripped over rope spilled by a pirate on his way over the side of the ship, and skidded to the feet of a mako pirate. Aghast, she looks up to see the fishman rounding on her with cutlass raised... and Loki, which takes her open mouthed gasp of horror and turns the corners up into a relieved smirk.

The Green Witch has a certain faith that the one in trouble isn't her any longer.]

[selfimage]

[ perception is a funny thing, and it only takes the barest amount of effort to mess with it. Loki's sorcery, while powerful, could be used in more subtle ways. Loki preferred pulling strings to outright brute force any day.

the mako pirate brings down the cutlass as quickly as it went up. it misses her by a mile. confused, the pirate jerks it from the floorboards of the deck and slams it down again, and again. it misses each and every time. as long as Sieglinde remains, no matter how much she moves, the shark beast can't pin her down. the movements begin to get frantic, and Loki ducks in suddenly, catching the blade on the hilt of a dagger that he most likely stole off of someone's unsuspecting belt. ]

Is this fellow bothering you?

[ he says casually, as if they were somewhere that a few stabs with a cutlass were just a bother. ]

[grunehexe]

[Sieglinde would certainly like to be in that place. It would make healing up crew members after much easier on her if these blades weren't as rusty, for one thing.

As it is, she stills as Loki's magic works its wonders with the mako pirate's senses, frozen in place until critical eye determines the nature of the manipulation and she judges it safe to move. Only then does she pick herself up from scraped palms and knees, untangles her slim ankles from the rope she'd tripped over, and let's her hands hover at the pouch at her waist.

She has potions that explode upon contact with air, vials of gas that would bring tears and burning, runestones...

But if Loki had it covered... even if it was an ounce of magic, she ought to save it for the injured.]

Verily so. If I could not trouble you...

[She has seen enough of violence at this point to be able to request it without flinching... though she isn't sure that was a good thing.]

[selfimage]

[ as if a shark person is a completely normal thing, Loki shoves the beast back at knifepoint. if a shark could sweat, a shark would be sweating now. there's beads of moisture in the air, a tense cloud of humidity around them as the pirate staggers back. Loki swaggers forward, allowing enough room for Sieglinde to rise and hide beneath the swing of his jacket. ]

If I were you, I would leave.

[ he catches the gaze of twin beady eyes, and there's one more step back before the cutlass starts swinging wildly again, the shark-faced pirate chomping forward in a frenzy.

Loki hisses a curse beneath his breath. ]

[grunehexe]

[The protected cover of that jacket does seem very tempting, and its where Sieglinde flees to, hovering anxiously behind Loki with a hand carefully curled in the hem of said jacket, only tight enough for presence and loose enough to release the instant he might need move unfettered.

She might be more used to battles now, but that doesn't stop her breath from catching, holding, while the pirate and god stare each other down, nor flinching away slightly as it summons up its anger and the cutlass and teeth rage forward.

Maybe Loki doesn't need her help, but she can't help herself in the end despite her decision to refrain, emerald eyes darting back to the rope she herself had tripped over... and whispering a word Merlin had taught her, once upon a time, that sends the thick, ocean slick coil straight into the pirate's footpath along the gesture of her hand.]

[selfimage]

[ it's not an accident, he knows that. so when rope flips out in the chaos, nudging itself into a very calculated spot. it works just as she plans, the shark-fellow trips forward, and knife clashes against cutlass. Loki twists in place, elbowing the beast in the forehead before they fall to the ground.

not before they catch the attention of others. ]

Come on, your friend was being kind of a prick.

[ he catches eyes with Sieglinde, tipping his head and beckoning her back to the sanctuary of his jacket. ]

[grunehexe]

[That would be their cue.

Sieglinde may have killed her first person aboard the Zymandis mothership, (at least, the first person directly, she wasn't naive enough to discount those she'd helped murder along the way), but she still much preferred to avoid it, even the possibility, and her heart hammers in her throat at the clash of blades, dies down in mild relief as the pirate topples... and flees to the safety of Loki's invisible coat.

Though not more calling out,]

Quite prickish!

[on the way there.]