TEST DRIVE.

[futurologists]

test drive Firstly, thank you for your interest! Secondly, since the game hasn't begun and therefore characters haven't actually gone to a world yet, this test drive is going to be a little different. It's intended to be presented as a mini-mission of sorts, on a much smaller scale and timeframe than a real mission in-game but with a somewhat similar feel. Because of this, if you join the game, you're allowed to count this as game canon, so make sure you make choices you want to follow your character into the game! You know how this works, so go forth and have fun, and don't forget to reserve! BASICS Anwick might have been a beautiful town once. It's hard to tell now, since most of the buildings are scorched and crumbling, but they do resemble some rural modern-day buildings. Likewise, the people don't appear to be living too much in the past; several are carrying intimidating guns. For years, Anwick has been terrorized by dragons, living in fear of the next attack. Not anymore. The people have just ended a bloody battle. Several people limp towards the outskirts of town, holding their bleeding wounds or new burns. In the center of town lies a slain dragon, the last full-grown one left in the world. To be honest, it looks like they've already taken care of their own problem. A monotonous voice comes through your communication device to explain. You aren't here to help the townspeople; you're here for the dragons. The one motionless on the ground may have been the last adult, but it certainly wasn't the last dragon. Her children are located in a nearby cave, alone and orphaned. They're the ones you need to protect. WYRMLINGS The wyrmlings are still growing up, only the size of a small dog. Each has a slightly different appearance, but all of them have at least a few bright copper scales. They're beautiful, and they look a little bit harmless... at least, until they notice you. These dragons have never been exposed to humans before. Or anyone outside of their family, for that matter. They're small and scared, and they don't know any other way to protect themselves than to attack. Luckily, because of their tiny size, they can't do much more than small burns at a time — but make no mistake, it still hurts like hell. The cave they're located in is pitch-black and labyrinthine. Every footstep echoes throughout it if you aren't light enough on your feet. It'll be difficult to navigate if you don't MacGyver yourself a torch or other form of lighting. Cell phones will work decently, at least until their battery dies, but you don't want to get stuck deep within the cave with no light. If you do manage to get through the cave and rescue some without getting burned to a crisp, the trouble's not over yet. You'll have to find a safe place to stash them until they can be relocated; the townspeople aren't done with their dragon-slaying yet, after all. Walk into town with one in tow, and you're putting a target on your back. (Of course, this doesn't mean you can't do it.) PROMPTS ONE ✗ GOING ROGUE Not feeling too obedient? Maybe you're ignoring the orders and helping the wounded people in town instead... or just coming to gawk. Maybe you're coming to slay the wyrmlings yourself. Whatever it is, at least try to be sneaky about it. TWO ✗ THE DRAGON'S CAVE Try to navigate the cave, fail to navigate the cave and get lost, or try to take the wyrmlings without getting barbecued. Somehow, you get the feeling that you aren't alone. Those footsteps are probably just your imagination... or they could be townspeople coming to kill you and the dragons. Of course, they could also be an ally, but you'd better hope you don't find out. THREE ✗ HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON You've gotten the dragon(s) to a secure campsite out of town, but the fun's not over yet. They're kind of freaking out a little. Some of them are still spitting fire. Even the less aggressive ones are crying shrilly, bound to attract townspeople or at least annoy everyone nearby. It can't be too hard to calm them down; they're basically scaly, fire-breathing babies, right? FOUR ✗ NIGHT TIME It's been a long day, and now it's time for the crew to sleep. Get to know your tentmates, try to ignore them, pray that they don't want to bring along a wyrmling to cuddle... or maybe you've been put on night watch with a few others, in which case you'd better find a way to pass the time until your shift's over. FIVE ✗ CHIT CHAT Network option! Maybe you've got a little downtime and you're bored. Or maybe you're frantically asking the rest of the team how bad a dragon bite is. 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 network is here! SIX ✗ WILDCARD Do whatever the hell you want. Explore the ashes of the burned city, try to run as far away from this crap as possible, or try to teach a wyrmling tricks. The world is your oyster.

Comments

[unsuppress]

Sad... yeah, maybe. It's not always that easy to conquer that sort of fear though.

[riku knows because of how difficult that road has been for him. it's not something he's proud of, that he gave in too much when he shouldn't have. even if he's better for it now and living with too many regrets over it isn't helping anything. but it means he can see both sides of the coin fairly well about certain things.]

It's a tough question to answer, if it can be answered at all. I'm not sure it's even a matter of one being worth more than the other—but even that would open up another set of questions to raise. [there is a 100% chance riku's considered things like this before. it's something he's thought about a lot, really, so that makes discussing it with someone else a chance to gain a little more perspective.]

[composingdreams]

It's the kind of fear that takes a lot of courage and strength of character to face. On the other hand, once you know how to recognize it and not let it rule you, it won't be as strong the next time it shows up.

[While Joshua hasn't experienced that fear himself, he has been on the receiving end of it. It's not something he'll ever forget, even after so much time has past since then.]

Moral questions have always been the hardest ones to handle, especially as the answer can change depending on the situation. A lot of the time, the answer isn't about what's right or wrong. It's about what's best for the long haul. [Joshua brushes ash blond hair from his face.] Just to make things more complicated, even if that decision was the best one you could possibly make, others may view it as the worst and make a villain out of you because of that decision.

[That is something he's intimately familiar with. Joshua's done a lot of morally ambiguous things, and a lot of them can be seen in the worst light possible. It doesn't help that he never explains his reasons behind the decisions and simply lets them think what they want to think.]

[unsuppress]

[those words resonate with riku well enough—it's a pretty accurate descriptor of his own journey of overcoming his own darkness and coming to accept it for it really is. he can only nod in response, giving a hum of agreement before letting the conversation fully shift to that of morality.]

I think sometimes, even when you know it's the best choice, you may even see the problems that come along with it. [which again, comes back to riku's own struggle with giving in to the darkness. he made some really harmful decisions to himself in the past for the greater good of the people around him—for sora, especially.] It's tough, but it's tougher to let the better thing go to try and appease the people who won't like it.

[which doesn't mean it's any better or more correct in practice. at least, that's how riku tends to see it based on his own experiences. he doesn't really doubt that joshua bears some similarity, even if he's endlessly vague about a lot of things.]

We didn't exactly get a lot of context for how this all started. I wonder where the moral high ground even is with this world. [the dragons may be a threat to the people, but was it because their fear caused them to instigate and eradicate them years ago to begin with? it probably isn't necessary for what they're tasked with, but he finds himself wondering anyway. maybe because he can't always look at good and evil (or light and dark) with the same black-and-white mentality others do.]

[composingdreams]

They're the moments where you have to think further than, 'I'll do this.' It's when you have to think, 'If I do this, how will this affect everything else?' Even then, that can be difficult to predict.

[Joshua crosses his arms, thinking about that. It's true that they haven't been given a whole lot of context for this mission. He also isn't totally sure that the motivations behind the people assigning these missions are good. Not that there's much choice in the matter but to do what they ask.]

My guess is there isn't one, really. Perhaps the dragons had been forced to expand their territory, which would put this settlement in the middle of that. Maybe when they first settled here, the dragons had already claimed it as theirs. There may have even been fights over livestock and other sources of food. There was conflict, that much is plain, but things went too far. It went from defense of the village to an attempt to wipe out an entire species.

[He shakes his head.]

Whether you ask the villagers or the dragons, the answer will always be biased against the other side. Whoever's outside of these two groups may well have the truth, since they won't be immediately set against one of the groups.