thirstology | TEST DRIVE MEME.

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She is a child now, but if the war is to come to her world, she will be more of an adult than Tommy was when he left for the war; it seems possible, if not likely that she will lose a husband or, more likely, sons before the war's end. Despite their countries standing on opposite sides of the conflict, he feels sorry for her in the distant and vague way that he feels sorry for all the mothers and who received the bodies or shells of their men and boys. He wouldn't wish that grief on a child's future regardless of her nationality.]

[At the same time, however, he can't exactly instill false hope in her that her world may never experience the same as his did. If there are rising tensions, it may still be only a matter of time for her.]

I wouldn't worry yourself about it now.

[It's the best thing he can say. It's out of her control and still a ways yet in the future for her. Even if the knowledge or the possibility is a burden, she doesn't need to bear it now.]

[Of course.

Now.. she can do nothing. She is here, with Hathaway, and if the flow of time was kind... she would be back in her world eventually. If she didn't die on these missions, if she didn't lose her way in the process of following curiosity down a cosmic rabbithole... she would go back, and take with it the medicine she had developed over her two years in ALASTAIR. The medicine that could ease the breathing and soothe the boils of those unfortunate enough to inhale the gas she'd been conned into creating where her parents had failed.

But it's been some time since she's allowed herself to think about SuLIN. About what she had done. About the truth of the world she lied almost constantly about to her fellow recruits because the falsehood came out easier and was questioned less. It was easier to just be the Green Witch, but-

It seems so very real and full of consequences, speaking with this man, in a way she had not prepared for.]

Of course... there is- There is little point to it in a place like this...

[But there's no changing that she is surely more shaken by his words than a child ought to be by the idea of a war in a distant future on a distant world, and she doesn't know how to recover from that, anxiously staring down at her feet for a moment, the item in her hand she had brought forgotten.]

Thank you again, for the escort.

[With a hasty curtsy... she beats an awkward retreat back into the bowels of the ship.]

TEST DRIVE MEME.

no subject

wraps this up so in favor of potential new things?!