test drive 5.0
The world has shifted. Or maybe you’ve shifted? Either way, things have changed, and it’s going to be quite a while before you see them change back again. BASICSYou were going about your business as usual until the world went white around you, and when the fog cleared: Oska. You've arrived in a snag of reality between worlds, the full extent of which can be read about here. But in essence, you’ve arrived in a grand, magical, almost empty castle. Outside the castle is an empty, long-abandoned village, partially in ruin. Past that, the world simply fades out into white mist. Your best bet is probably to stick to the castle and its grounds.
Suits of armor patrol the quiet hallways, but good luck getting them to speak or answer any questions. There’s absolutely nothing inside them, they move under their own power. They don’t talk, but they also go out of their way not to hurt you. You can even attack one, it will just patiently wait for you to give up and leave. If, however, you ask one for directions, it will dutifully turn and lead the way to wherever you’ve requested.
Librarians lurk in the halls of the enormous, well-stocked library, in which you can find nearly any book from nearly any world. The librarians are tall, wide, and very muscular, but they’re also not out to hurt you. Provided you play nice, of course. The usual rules apply: be respectful of the books, keep your voice lowered, and never bring any source of flame into the library. That last one might make the librarians reconsider their nonviolent natures.
Outside, there's a greenhouse with every type of flora you can imagine (and more, since they're from all over the universe) — be careful, though, because not all of them are friendly. If you'd like to take a dip, you can check out the lake; just be friendly to the fish. You can catch sight of almost any animal you'd like in the stables, real-world or fantasy. Most of them have been tamed, and won't do any real harm. However, some of them can be a bit testy. Stay away from the unicorns unless you have perfect manners — they hate impoliteness.
Current characters in game can assume that the Timeline glitched and sent them temporarily back to Oska. You are welcome to take any threads that happen here as game canon, should both parties arrive in game. Threads done here by prospective players may be used as application samples, and threads done by current players may be used as Bonus AC.
PROMPTSONE ✗ THE KITCHEN
The kitchen is always stocked with food, freshly cooked and ready to be eaten — although there was no one to do the cooking, and it might just be you to do the eating. That doesn’t seem to discourage the kitchen in the slightest, which is constantly churning out new, fresh courses. Some of them are more innocent than others today.
That tart you just ate? It was harpfruit, native to Cendiares, and has a pesky side effect of making the eater blurt out everything that pops into their head. The completely average-looking salad actually has flakes of Raphian wildflowers, which cause a bit of dancing fever — it isn't contagious, but it does make the sufferer want to dance with everyone they can. The choices and effects are endless and up to you, and don't worry; ALASTAIR is working on getting the kitchen under control as we speak.
TWO ✗ THE TRAINING CENTER
Maybe you find your way into the Training Center. A lot of work went into setting this room up, and it can construct nearly any scenario that you can imagine. All it takes to activate this room, still and featureless until it comes to life, is the brush of a finger against one of the glowing pads on the wall. The magitek will take it from there.
Just envision the setting and any enemies you’d like to train against, and they’ll instantly materialize. Would you rather go sightseeing, without worrying about a fight? No problem! The room is eager to provide you with a sparring partner, but it can be convinced to hold off -- just don’t think of getting into any fights. The Training Center also offers any games you can think of: soccer, basketball, literal freeze tag, etc. Every supply you need will be simulated for you.
Additionally, the following scenarios are also preloaded into the system for user convenience, each coming with a small summary of mission objectives:
ANWICK: A ruined little village with a massive, dead dragon skewered in the center of it. The goal is to protect her young in a nearby cave. The terrain is treacherous, the wyrmlings are squirmy and unhelpful, and the townsfolk are furious. But for good reason -- it seems dragons have been plaguing them for decades. Even the simulation’s enemies are programmed to say as much, and will do their best to convince you to their side.
CHANTES: Chantes, Audentes' first mission, is a typical medieval town cloaked in darkness and surrounded by a winding forest. It comes in two default flavors and difficulty settings. Fairies are the easier enemy; the objective is to collect three jars of unpleasant, glowing sap from their nests without getting your eyes poked out. The fairy goop can also cause disturbances with magical powers, unwanted levitation, and unfortunate cosmetic effects.
Demons are the more difficult setting. The task is to clear ominous runes off of various town structures, but when approached, each one releases a red, misty spirit. It will fight tooth and nail to protect its ‘home,’ but is largely invulnerable short of destroying its rune. To prevent this, it may resort to spells, violence, and possessing someone else in the simulation -- consider this a lesson in PvP. (NOTE: You’re also welcome to use anything from the previous events from Chantes as well.)
OSKA TRAINING: The goal in this simulation is simple: outlast the timer. It’s exactly the same castle, but after it’s been pelted by a firestorm, architecture ruined to rubble and ash. Navigating the half-destroyed castle is hard enough, and the earthquakes and fireballs raining from the sky will continue until characters survive for a certain amount of time (from an hour to a day) or find a full bushel’s worth of food. And just to rub salt in the wound, all the dirt, grime, and mud in this simulation will last outside of it, so you might need a shower after.
NALAWI: An island nation populated by diminutive deer people. The first setting is a mini version of the Gilligan's Island event -- it's less action-packed and more focused on survival. Marooned on the drowned island of Dakal, it's up to you to figure out where to find food and shelter. You might also want to avoid the hungry sea creatures that have made their way up on the island, too.
The second setting involves lava monsters erupting out of Nalalona, the largest volcano on the Nalawi islands. Lava imps will do their best to hypnotize recruits into following them back into the volcano, and can be defeated the normal way or non-violently lured into the water. Next comes the fire golems, hulking but fast. Their weak spot is their glowing core, but it will require some cleverness to reach. (NOTE: You're welcome to use any scenarios based on other Nalawi events as well!)
ZETA-12: Oh boy, a whole planet to explore! The objective here is simple: protect your delicate goo baby at all costs. Luckily for you, the simulation has seen fit to skip over the frozen wastes! Your first challenge is crossing the deep forest: carnivorous plants try to get a bite out of you, but that isn't the worst part. Eventually, you come to a deep chasm, and have to choose between forcing your wailing, distressed squidge across, or soothing it for several hours until it's willing to go with you.
Scenario two is a thick bog inhabited by an aggressive plant monster. It spits a crippling neurotoxin, so anyone attempting to fight it should be wary. Outsmarting or avoiding it would be best for the squidges' well-being, but some people are too hot-blooded for that. What will you do?
Finally, there's the desert; it's picturesque, but only if you can ignore the dehydration and punishing heat. There's a cave network for you to seek shelter in, but make no mistake: pretty soon a freak meteor shower causes a cave-in and leaves you trapped inside with an increasingly aggressive squidge. Are you out there dodging meteors or navigating caverns? THREE ✗ HOT SPRINGS EPISODEOne of ALASTAIR's teams extracted an enormous, very hot core from a sentient and murderous AI. What better way to put it to use than to heat up the springs? It's a nice place to get some much needed R&R or just hang out. Some enterprising recruits have built wooden decks and stairs around and through the whole affair. It's a little bit of a hike to get there from the castle, but anyone who has visited can agree: it's worth it. FOUR ✗ THE NETWORKThere is some good news, along with all these bizarre and fantastical new sights: you’ve arrived with a new piece of jewelry which, if examined, gives you access to anyone else that might be currently inhabiting Oska. You can speak into the jewelry and be heard, you can get it to project moving images of yourself and others, you can even think a message into it and have it arrive as written word to whoever you’re communicating with. It’s a useful little trinket, provided you can get it to work. FIVE ✗ CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTUREYou are free to use any of these settings, or anything from the Settings Page. You may use any virtually created setting you can think of in the Training Center, even scenes from your character’s world (although they’ll be devoid of people, unless they’re brought in as opponents). |
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
futurologists) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
thirstology2016-09-24 10:21 pm
no subject
Chise nodded at the kitchen once, then turned slowly back on her heel. The loosely bound notes she had stuffed into the pocket of her chunky knit cardigan tipped out as she moved. Not wanting to loose what little she gleaned from observation and the terse conversation with ALASTAIR regulars, she stopped. Balancing her plate on one hand, she adjusted the front of her cardigan until the notes fell back into the deep pocket. All in the span of a few seconds before looking up, seeing what could only be described as a smile tugging at the static mandibles of an animal skull.
-And then she really did drop her plate.
"Elias!" The thick heels of her leather oxfords crunched over shards of porcelain when she stepped back, shocked, then lunged forward again in delight.
"How- ?" Chise had a handful of his long robe sleeves in either hand by the time she reasoned When might be the better question.
no subject
She appears to be fine, however, and with the moment's concern passed he resumes smiling, expression warm (or as warm as it could get, with a face like his). "It's nice to see you, Chise. Though I didn't intend to cost you your meal."
He regards the food which joined the broken plate on the floor. Though... now that he looked at it, it might be best that she hadn't eaten any of it. There was something odd about it surely, though, like all of the other magic he could sense in this place, it wasn't something he could clearly discern. Hm. Regardless, that was what he had sensed in passing—or perhaps the very powerful magical being in her own right standing before him.
He takes the slightest step forward as she gathers a handful of the loose fabric at both of his sleeves; to an external eye the way he towered over her might've seemed intimidating, but in truth it was an action of affection (for there were very few he grew so close to willingly). "How am I here? The same way you arrived, I imagine, though perhaps through different doors."
"How have you been finding the castle? Interesting, isn't it?" There's something leading to his words, prompting. It seems a little silly to quiz her over something he himself didn't fully understand, but she was his apprentice, after all. Perhaps they could work together to unravel the strange magic of this world.
no subject
All these surmounting worries abated because her teacher had appeared quick as the shadow beneath her feet. If anyone would know how to handle this situation, Elias would.
"Cost me my- ?" Chise took a step back and heard the tinkling of porcelain cracking underfoot. The tips of her ears reddened and she looked over her shoulder expecting to see some imagined kitchen worker to jump out. Infuriated or bothered enough by her antics to worsen her embarrassment. When no one did she turned her attention back on Elias.
"It's amazing," She said a bit breathlessly before digging into her cardigan for the little leather bound note book, "I managed to take some notes."
Idly flipping through pages sketched with notes on the library and some of the sights but nothing in depth. Chise kept the book close; a bit embarrassed and doubtful her scribbling were up to par with how Elias might have conducted his own research.
"Have you seen anything like this before?"
no subject
Fortunately enough for the both of them, the kitchen remained just as unattended now as it had when she had called out her thanks a moment ago. Still, it did raise a question on what they should do about the broken plate and spilled food. It seemed very rude for a guest to leave a mess in the hallway of their hosts—and it wouldn't normally be an issue to solve it rather quickly with magic, but there was something that nagged at him, preventing him from being so cavalier with spells at the moment. It would be a problem they would solve before leaving, but maybe not at this exact moment.
They would have to see to getting her a replacement meal as well. Maybe one that didn't have a faint aura of enchantment to it.
"Oh?" He leans forward, the bright lights of his eyes seeming more intent than normal as he looked over the pages of written notes and quickly-sketched diagrams and pictures. He felt... odd—it was a sensation like satisfaction yet not inwardly-directed. Pride, perhaps? Strange, very strange. "How astute of you. We shall have to compare notes together later."
He tilts his head to the side slightly as he considers the last question. Well... yes, in different ways, shapes and forms. You don't exist as long as Elias has without seeing a lot of different forms of magic. But that wasn't the odd thing about it. "In a way, yes... but it's strange. It's as if..." he falls quiet, as if searching for a way to put it before settling on something. "Ah. It's like a sentence with the same meaning written in a different language I'm not familiar with. I know how it might be written in my own, but in this other way, it's very strange."
"But," he says, raising one finger to make his point, "If that holds true, we merely need to find the cipher, and it will all make sense."
How long that might take, however, is a different matter...