Test Drive

[uploadedmods]

TEST DRIVE 001


-TDM threads can be considered game canon if players involved agree & if it suits any roles you may decide to choose for the current plot.
-Any reserving player that does not submit an app by Saturday morning will be subject to challenging applicants.
-Participation in the Test Drive is worth a flat 10 points per month rather than per thread, and you must have a minimum of 5 comments in that month to qualify for it.
-This TDM is good for the duration of the Mist setting. A new TDM will go up before the next setting.

The NETWORK for this setting is a voice-only walkie talkie system that can be used to communicate between all locations. The default channel will be open to all walkie talkies, but characters can change to an unused channel for private conversation.
of note: There seems to be something strange about these walkie talkies, in that there is no static. The quality is disturbingly crystal clear, like the person you're speaking to is right next to you instead of miles away.

CONTENT WARNING: Some prompts contain gore, character death, and substance abuse.

Reserves will open on Saturday, September 8 until Saturday, September 15
Applications will open Saturday, September 15 until Saturday, September 22

General Prompts


The lights above you are a blindingly, pristine white. The walls around you curve up into the ceiling like the inside of an MRI machine. Your hands, feet, and midsection are strapped to a clinical table, and minutes seem to tick by, with no clear course for escape presenting itself to you.

The curved white space above you flickers with color, and a perfect square like a television screen expands before your eyes. It pans over what appears to be a town, something small and simply populated.

“Hello, and welcome to your first setting,” a neutrally cadenced feminine sounding voice begins, riding the line between human and machine. As she speaks, captions of the text type themselves in neat and perfect Arial font. “The location is loosely based off Bridgton, Maine, United States of America, Earth. The year is 2007. You have been selected to participate. Obedience ensures an enjoyable and immersive experience for our audience. If you have been granted a role, instructions will follow. Do not talk about the role. Do not attempt disobedience. If you have not been granted a role, your objective for this round is simple: survive.”

After that, the shackles may release promptly and allow your character to roam free. Or perhaps not — perhaps they've been given a role to play, and if so, further instructions will play out upon the screen. Once suitably briefed, characters will be released to their own devices. Beware the mist.

CHECK OUT THE CURRENT SETTING PAGE FOR DETAILS ABOUT THE LOCATION.

learn from the mistakes of others

A pair of unperturbed mall inhabitants decide to chance the mist. They're the first of a handful to trickle out the front doors, and they seem to get by just fine. About a minute ticks by, and they disappear completely into the dense fog that presses in from every direction. It's so anticlimactic that for a moment it almost seems stupid to feel uncomfortable by the sight of it.

Until precisely one half of a body is hurled abruptly and with great force from an indeterminate point in the obscurity. It's not a top half or a bottom half; no, it's a cleanly sliced left half, head to toe as though a neat line were cut down the middle. It slams into the transparent glass doors and crumples before them, still and obviously unmoving, slowly leaking.

After a few seconds, a dark tendril of something reaches out, curls around the jutting left ankle, and drags it with painstaking slowness back into the fog.

At least the rest of them probably made it, right?

Right?

Hopefully you weren't one of the others to follow their lead. If you were, that dark shape seems to be closing in awfully quick.

eff this, let's bounce

A pair of car keys can be found discarded or perhaps dropped in their owners' haste. Braving the mist when it's at its lightest and pressing the key fob will cause a car to beep politely, flashing lights to indicate its location in the fog. Take anyone willing to go with you and pile in. Try to get the hell out of dodge!

An excellent idea....

Within five miles of the car's journey the battery will die and the engine will stall. Consider yourselves effectively stranded and with no one but yourselves to blame. Perhaps help will come if you wait long enough? Hours, surely no more than a few days... Maybe you should consider braving the fog to get back? Five miles can feel like a hundred in conditions like these.

Either way, it seems like you're trapped in the car for about as long as R. Kelly got trapped in the closet during that one unfortunate CD.

radio chatter

Characters in the library and the church will be able to communicate via walkie talkie radio chatter immediately! Characters in the mall will not have this ability until later in the month, so any network style threads with a mall character will take place during Week Two of the October plot or later, after most people have already been fully introduced to the setting and given time to adapt.

Roles

Employee of the Month (Multiple)

Some characters will be printed wearing a designated kiosk uniform, their name sloppily stickered in slightly crooked letters onto a Dippin' Dots badge, or whatever store they may happen to be assigned to. The cool voice that introduces them to the mist will carry on to tell them that they'll be playing employee # _____ in this month's immersive experience. Their motivations and objectives are simple: go to work.

Except the role seems to be bugged, because they can never not go to work. If they leave the five or six foot radius of their designated post they'll begin to experience consequences, which worsen in severity based on distance and duration. The role doesn't end at mall closing, it doesn't end on Saturdays, it simply doesn't end. Hopefully next month's code push will have a bug fix; we apologize for the inconvenience.

(If choosing to keep these threads as game canon, the role will wear off within the first in-game week)

Aggravated Assault

Congratulations, participant! You will be playing the role of a CONVICTED FELON having recently been released on parole. Your motivation for this month's immersive experience is frustration. Having undergone hard time, you'll find that we have increased your aggression and temper characteristics, and lowered your inhibitions. Your objective is to find and begin an altercation with Snuff the Rooster, who will be playing the role of the person who turned you in, NARK. Your altercation must take place in a public space with witnesses, and may not stop until Snuff the Rooster is unconscious, evicted from the mall, or someone intervenes.

Thank you for your participation!

Consequences for not completing the objective in this role can be moderate to severe.

Snuff the Rooster

Congratulations, participant! You will be playing the role of NARK. Formerly a close friend and ally of CONVICTED FELON from Aggravated Assault, you were quick to roll on them during police questioning in exchange for your freedom. Your motivation is to turn over a new leaf, and get your shit together. Your objective is to survive the altercation.

Thank you for your participation!

The Lovers (Duo Role)

Congratulations, participant! You will be playing one half of a partnership role! Please seek out (character 2). Your motivation this round is love, and the need to protect your partner from threats both inside and outside of the mall. Your objectives is to greet your lover with a kiss and place them above all others. Do not act like strangers.
Consequences for not completing the objective in this role or failing to present a convincing couple can be mild to moderate.

Pathological

Congratulations, participant! You will be playing a background character in our current setting. Your motivation is to tell lies; at least one third of what you say must be unarguably untrue. Your objective is to keep these lies from being discovered as false.
Consequences for not complying with this role can vary from mild to severe, with the compulsion to tell larger and larger lies growing as time goes on.

Scared Speechless

Congratulations, participant! You will be playing a background character in our current setting. You may choose one person, stranger or otherwise. This is the only person you may communicate with, either verbally or through writing.
Consequences for not complying with this role are severe.

Glitches

potency error

Someone seems to have miscalculated the relative strength of intoxicants; all inhibition-altering substances seem to have been cranked up to eleven. One shot has the strength of three, though the taste seems to stay exactly the same. One or two drinks will quickly creep up on you. One of the joints found discarded in the bathroom trashcans will easily green you out. God forbid you've got anything stronger.

greatest movie of all time

Settling in to the relatively nice theater found at the far end of the mall is a decent way to make the time go by. The projectors are automated, and there are six different theaters that show flicks at scheduled times.

Except that every single one of them is showing Spider-Man 3. Every single one, every single showing, no matter what is advertised, becomes Spider-Man 3. That's how you know this is a horror game. Hope you didn't wander in by mistake because the doors will shut behind you and leave you to watch the entire showing. Please keep your feet off of the seats.

please replace toner cartridge

It seems there was an error in printing someone this first time around; everything came through but the visuals somehow. Your character is flesh and blood, fully formed, wearing tangible clothes even, but are completely invisible. Donning additional clothing causes it to clip out and then promptly disappear. Taking clothes off will cause them to reappear. Hopefully this gets fixed in the next lite patch.

(If choosing to keep these threads as game canon, the glitch will wear off within the first in-game week)

code bases by tricklet

Comments

[outwear]

[ In his case, "real" means an aching back because he's too tall for most furniture. It means hair that's too long because he hasn't bothered to stop and get it cut (or maybe he likes it that way). It means scuffed boots — real, heavy boots — and an otherwise practical sense of the world. It's very different from LA. ]

Yeah, that's me.

[ He smiles in return and offers out his hand in greeting. Winchester recognizes her voice and he thinks it matches up fine with the person, although he's surprised her hair is so dark. Way to make assumptions, Sam. ]

Nice to meet you. Um. Again. In person.

[mightyboy]

[That is a very depressing and real thought--that there was no choice but to suffer in this game.

However, the why didn't change his goals. Izuku was determined to struggle against it no matter the reason.]

That seems like a big production, when they could've just put on a show with these AI they've created. All that power to bring all these people here, just for a show?

[middlechilde]

Yeah...

[Snap out of it, Abel. This is no time to flirt. But she can't help it. Her lavender eyes scan the planes of his face, the way his shoulders sit on his frame.

Oh, God. She blinks a little, shaking her head at her own folly.]

I mean, under the circumstances.

[She offers him a hand.]

Diana.

[outwear]

[ He laughs. Is she nervous or something? ]

Yeah, we met on the— [ Another shake of his walkie talkie. ] And you've been here this whole time?

[middlechilde]

The mall? Pretty much.

[She glances around. LA girl or not, this place has gotten pretty tacky after a few days. All the neon and the bad smells.]

All things considered, I kinda wish I'd been stuck in the library.

[officerzeppelin]

“But it could have been a second run theater,” Dean completed the thought, having had the same inkling himself earlier. How he loved second runs - they were usually cheap and they were a great way to kill time during the day. When he and Sam had been really young, sometimes John had dropped them off at a run down theater, and had basically used it as a babysitter. But this... whatever this was, wasn’t just an average theater. Dean sighed softly; having good things ruined by supernatural forces and regular assholes alike was essentially the story of his life.

But at least these horrible events sometimes led him to an interesting and beautiful girl who needed his help.

“We’ll figure it out, though.” He gave her his most reassuring smile, visible for a moment as the bright final scene in the movie gave way to the dim credits.

[mightyboy]

[There's a chuckle from Izuku when he's reminded of Shinsou's job--at least the dry humor was keeping both of their spirits up.]

Well, we need to factor in- [He's holding up fingers now, even though the other can't seem them] --the information we want to know, how willing a person would be to give up that information without any strong mental suggestion, and how innocuously we could phrase it so a person would be less on guard talking about it.

[Izuku has scratched these three points on a receipt, humming as he thinks.]

The most important bits of information that could be of use to us are...the nature of the fog and whatever lurks within it, right? Since we can't investigate that directly ourselves. What else...

[officerzeppelin]

Dean immediately wondered if the money had been counterfeit. He frowned, puzzling it over. Was this little erudite weirdo a white-collar criminal of some sort? And could he be so bold and carefree to just disclose his crime to random strangers at a viewing of Spider-Man 3?

No, Dean figured he’d just misunderstood. And if by some slim chance he was right, he didn’t want to get pulled into anything. So he just nodded, and said, “Yeah, well, enjoy the movie, huh?”

[symbioticbeat]

A mouse, huh? You sound a little too British to be Iron Mouse, but I guess you could still be from Earth-8311... [The best part of talking about weird otherworldly dimensions is that none of this is a lie, but it would be easy to work lies in and no one would even be able to tell eventually.] Though so far you haven't used nearly enough puns, so that's probably wrong. Unless British super heroes from 8311 are just a lot more serious. You're not like... Captain Brit-Mouse or something, are you?

Anyway... symbiote. You know, like a symbiotic organism. I honestly couldn't tell you much about the aliens involved except that they were, well, alien. They were being studied as a cure for certain... afflictions. [Namely a serum that could turn you into a lizard monster.] You'd have to ask the scientists involved. I'm just saying another off-world species might be interested in it.

And I'm just from Earth, as weird as everything else I said is. [Earth-65, to be exact, but that probably wouldn't mean anything to him anyway.]

[mightyboy]

Do you think the reason our powers and our abilities to group together have been blocked is because they know this simulation wouldn't be as threatening to us if we had full control over them? [Were they a threat to the very people who put them here with their powers?

An interesting tidbit to keep in mind if they had an opportunity to regain control in the future.]

It does make for a more compelling horror story with all these limiters. Ugh, frustrating... [Izuku is mumbling more to himself, pressing the scribbled notes to his forehead.]

Whoever had set us up in this place knew exactly how to create a panic situation where people would feel desperate and more likely to make rash decisions. A recipe for disaster...Even without the threat of the monster in the mist, we would probably destroy ourselves...would it be better if we behaved in the opposite way of what they wanted us to? To rebel against the simulation by not giving into panic? But that doesn't put into account that we don't know what their true objective for us is...if they're just studying us in general rather than wanting us to succumb to some horror movie tropes, then acting outside of the norm wouldn't be as effective...but it could cause them to be more lax with the simulation because they don't know what our motives are...

[He loses himself in his thoughts, completely forgetting that Kacchan is there. Mumbling out loud does give him more direction, mood improving as he sorts out his ideas.]

ice crem

[whoracle]

[Always the same flavors, and none he likes. Not that the flavors are too full, so to speak. It's as if everything is muted here, cast in a shadow, not quite complete. For what one finds lacking, Ardyn sustains himself with the more vibrant people rather than environment which they reside in.

Such as Noctis. Ardyn is here again at the ice cream shop, and as always he has a large smile for the young man.]

Good afternoon! My what weather we are having, mm? So unpredictable.

[Which is a macabre joke, because the weather is always the same outside the mall.]

[symbioticbeat]

Sporting goods. Yeah, a baseball bat will work great against an enemy that can slice a man in two.

[It's easy to forget she has a quota to meet, and she quickly begins spinning a lie. She just needs to keep them relatively harmless.] If only they had laser guns. I'm an excellent shot with a laser gun. [She never uses guns at all, of course. Web shooters all the way.]

We can't even see what's out there in all this fog. My super-vision is gone. [Another lie. She's never had any special sight capabilities, just a sixth sense.] It's too dangerous to send anyone out until we know what we're dealing with.

[officerzeppelin]

Dean appeared slightly crestfallen, but he gave over quickly to a large, fake smile as another employee approached. The man was looking pointedly at Dean, Sam, and the sole box of tea Sam had acquired on their personal shopping experience.

Dean picked up a large red cabbage and handed it to Sam. “That should be the one you’re looking for, then.”

The employee stopped, addressing Sam. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

Dean scoffed, “Nah, pal, I got this.”

The man smiled at the both of them, and moved on, cheery as ever. “Have a nice day!”

Dean looked to his brother, mouthing what the fuck?

[noblebeast]

Don't be an idiot.

[ He sets down a plastic bottle. A makeshift molotov.]

We're making bombs. You mix them and retreat.

[ They'll mix them when they're ready to be used. Not before. Bakugou's quirk lies in his nitroglycerin-like sweat. Does it really surprise you that he wouldn't know how to make other bombs? He's not just brute strength. ]

you can get the hell out, sir, ba-bye, ❤ jk, ilu bb

[noctyourking]

[ His whole body tensed as soon as he saw that familiar swagger. If there was a good time to break his role, it would be now, and the thought of reaching over the counter to throttle the other sent him mixed signals of both pleasure and pain. Pain, for various reasons but at the foremost the reason was because he had broke character before and had been punished with an incredibly violent physical response. The other reasons for pain was just what Ardyn had meant to him, what he had done in his messed up orchestra of tragedy.

It left a grimace on his face. ]

Get away from me. [ Wrong response, the pain originated at his head and it felt like his brain swelled instantly and shot throbbing discomfort down his face and made his body curl into the cash register. ] What can I get you… [ He managed through clenched teeth and just like that, the pain dissipated and he could breathe. ]

[156]

Dean might have been surprised to find that Niles was quite the criminal, although in comparison, nothing like Winchester. But he'd managed a few B&Es, attempted to steal at least one street sign, purchased black market caviar with his brother — he wasn't beyond committing a crime, it seemed.

He turned to look at the screen and then back to Dean. "I thought I might wait until it begins again." And he'd assumed, based on Dean's earlier explanations, that he'd already seen the film. "But—" he said, nodding his head, "I should leave you to it, of course. It was good meeting you, Dean."

8]

[whoracle]

[Ardyn keeps his gracious smile, watching with interest as the former prince is brought so low so easily with pain. Ardyn lifts his brows and his smile grows larger, warmer, as Noctis decides to slip back into his role. Well done, you, he thinks with a mix of patronizing pride and disdain.]

Oh dear me, bit of a stomach flu, is it? Perhaps your boss will let you off a bit early if you give him puppy dog eyes with those big blues of yours.

[He leans one hand on the counter, pretending to look over the menu of ice cream treats overhead. Ardyn has now been here so many times he knows it by heart of course but he's had practicing living in normalcy for so long, well, it sort of comes naturally to him even in this place.]

Something chocolately today, I think.

[symbioticbeat]

[She groans in frustration. Not only is she trapped in here without her powers, but she's being forced to take on some kind of role like she's an NPC in a video game or a round of D&D. For now, that means she can't even tell the truth at least a third of the time, which is going to make organizing anyone difficult.]

Ugh, we can't go out there without a plan, and we can't just stay in here.

[Gwen's voice takes on an edge, momentarily, as something otherwordly joins in her complaining. The Venom might not be able to offer her the full range of her spider-like capabilities, but it's still there to mirror her anger.

Are they or are they not heroes? They can't just stay in here and huddle in a corner.]

We need weapons. I'm an expert in all kinds. [The last line is added half-heartedly, a lie to put toward her quota.]

[noblebeast]

[ Bakugou picks up his pack and leaves him to it. He's got better shit to do than wait for the nerd to resurface. He's got his own ideas, his own contingency plans and truth be told he rather work with anyone else but Deku. He was still trying to consolidate the Deku he had come to know with the one from his past. The one he thought was constantly looking down on him, the one who gave him compliments Bakugou was certain were nothing but false pretense.

His mouth thins into a grim line. It was hard reworking your view of someone you'd written off long ago. ]

[noctyourking]

[ Every fiber of his being feels ignited in flames; then Noct even scolds himself with the thought because of how dramatic and ridiculous did that sound? He hated how Ardyn made him feel, that was the worst. Ardyn had this gross ability to bring such doubt to Noctis and with his insecurities already well in place the prince could hardly stand it.

Even here, at this stupid ice cream vendor, Ardyn challenged him in ways he was not eqquiped to handle. It was like Ardyn always knew what Noct’s limitations were and played off of them! ]

Fine, how much.

[whoracle]

How much? Odd question. Should I think that you're suggesting I lay off the ice cream, young man? Tsk. Then you might be out of a job.

[Ardyn stands up straight again and slides both hands down his front, from sternum to navel, then gives his belly a pat.]

Mm. Still, you may have a point. Just one scoop for me today then.

[He looks down from the menu and to Noctis, and his smile is no less devilish for its subtlety.]

One scoop of chocolate mousse royale.

[myorders]

Quite all right. We all have to start somewhere, and it just so happens that your starting point is here.

[ She smiles at him in what she hopes is an encouraging way, but at least they're beginning to get somewhere. ]

You're lucky I don't often get carsick.

[myorders]

Similarly, Peggy had been trained how to investigate, how to question, and how to gain information without it being obvious that was what she was doing. She was rather good at her job too, but in this situation, despite her attempts to appear unruffled, she found herself not quite knowing how best to proceed.

"Someone powerful, I imagine. I admit, I'm not the most well-versed in the area of time travel, if that is indeed what we are dealing with here, but it stands to reason that it takes considerable skill to pull off something along those lines."

The organization Leviathan, with whom she'd crossed paths before, came to mind, but then again, Peggy doubted their skills went this far. "I can't say that any group or individual that I've encountered could do this. And that implies that whoever we're dealing with here is very much an unknown. Unless you have any other theories?"

[noctyourking]

[ He was unbelievable. If Ardyn’s only existence in this nonsensical world was to be a thorn in his side then he’s absolutely fulfilling the requirements of his existence. Perhaps Ardyn’s role was to be the constant antagonist in his life here, as much as he was back at home.

He pulled in a breath and closed his eyes as he exhaled with a steady count to six seconds. He then opened his eyes and turned toward the freezer to retrieve the requested amount. He should probably just be lucky Ardyn didn’t take up his time by requesting tasters of all the flavors they had available. Hopefully this scoop would be enough to send the other away.

Noctis closes the freezer door and moves back to the counter to ring the other up and waits for Ardyn’s payment. ]

[middlechilde]

Time travel. To Diana's mind, time travel was all flying cars and Christopher Lloyd's hair. Science stuff. Movie stuff.

Fictional stuff.

She chewed on her lower lip for a second. Science was about as far from her wheelhouse as she could get. But magic? That was a little more...well, to her mind at least...real. But, once again, there was the Masquerade question to consider. Then again, could the Masquerade really still stand in the face of this blatant breach? If that's what it eve was?

Well, she'd already come this far...

"The supernatural," she said, very tentative, like she was afraid of how Peggy would reply.