uploadedmeme | Test Drive

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

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I wouldn't say that. [he rubs the back of his head, kind of glad to be talking to someone about this] I woke up in this room, an' there was a weird robotic voice telling me to do things. Saying where I was, what year it was... [what role he is supposed to play] After that, I was in this church. I don't know how I got from there to here.

A church? [There were other places besides the mall? The video had mentioned a whole town--but with the mist, Izuku didn't think there would be anywhere else to go besides the mall...but if this guy had woken up in a church, maybe everyone was scattered around?] Is there mist at the church too? I'm at a mall currently, and there's a thick mist surrounding it...

Edited 2018-08-21 01:56 (UTC)

[whoa! a mall? Osomatsu wants to be at the mall! sounds a lot more fun than being stuck in a church]

Oh, yeah. The mist's so thick we can't see anything around us. I dunno what else is out there!

[Well, it was a bit of a long shot hoping that perhaps the church was a better place to scout where this town relatively was, but if the mist was also there, at least they were most likely in the same sphere.]

Yeah, it's hard to tell. I assume the church can't be too far from the mall, but it would be too dangerous to go out in the mist as it stands. It's probably better to stay inside.

[this guy seems to know what he's talking about. it's comforting]

Yeah, I guess so. I poked my head out there and it... It just didn't feel right, yanno?

[He's trying to piece together the pieces as much as he can.]

Yeah, it's definitely unnatural... [But if this guy wasn't at the mall, then he probably didn't see...] But it's also dangerous. Something is lurking out in it, so stay put until it subsides.

[If it subsides. He's trying not to alarm the guy, but a healthy dose of caution was good in this situation.]

[...???]

Something's out there? You mean, like, a monster?

Maybe...I don't think it's human. And it's not friendly.

[He's trying to be vague enough to keep the guy inside, but not specific with the gore-y details so they didn't panic.]

You'll be safe if you stay inside though, it seems to only travel in the mist. We're working on figuring out what it is and how to stop it now!

[Even if the we was only him and a few friends.]

[hn, Osomatsu is panicking a bit anyway]

Are you going out there?

[Well, it's not like he could even if he wanted to.]

No, I want to make some more observations and come up with a plan before I even think about heading out in it.

[relief washes over Osomatsu. he was worried this guy was going to try and be a hero, or something...]

Sounds like a good idea. You said there's somethin' out there, right? How do you know if you haven't gone outside?

[Err...]

Well, I uh... [How to say this without being too alarming...]

We saw something over here at the mall. Some people tried to leave, but they didn't survive...

[He'll leave out the how.]

[OH.

Osomatsu stares at the walkie-talkie, his eyes wide, color draining from his face. he doesn't think whoever is on the other end is joking]

...............??????????

[The silence was not reassuring. He tries to go for a more comforting route.]

We'll be fine if we stay inside! Whatever it is only lurks in the mist. [As far as he knows.] Stay inside for now! We'll figure it out.

[it takes Osomatsu a moment to find his voice again. he clears his throat]

S-stay inside, right. Ya don't have t'tell me twice...

[Ugh, so much for not causing a panic...Think, Izuku!]

Uh, but how is the church? Do you have supplies over there?

S-supplies? [ah, his voice cracked. he clears his throat] Ahem, I mean. I think we're okay so far? But what kind of supplies?

Things like food, water blankets, clothes...we don't know how long it will be until this mist clears up, so it would be good to be prepared to have to wait for a bit. [That was the lucky part of being at a mall--plenty of stores.]

[oh. food. that'd......... probably be a good thing to have! he's right]

O-okay, yeah. I'll look for some food. There's gotta be some sort of kitchen in here, right? [a pause as he looks behind him at some of the other people] I know we've got candles, but no electricity.

A kitchen would be good! [He thinks churches have kitchens, right?] It would be good to secure some matches or a lighter in a place that they couldn't get wet or ruined if something were to happen too.

[Izuku would make this guy a whole survival plan if he had to--it was reassuring to have something in place, so maybe it would alleviate some worries.]

[now Osomatsu's getting up to look for that kitchen. he's taking his walkie-talkie with him, because this guy he's been talking to is very knowledgeable, and pretty calm, so he's keeping Osomatsu calm]

Oh, right. I'll see if I can find a good place.

A waterproof box or bag that's up high should work! [That would protect it against flooding or a leak.]

[Ah, wait--] Oh! I never asked your name! Sorry! You can call me-- [His thought flashes to how angry Kacchan had been about codenames] --call me Deku! If you ever need something else, you can call for me again on the radio. I'll keep flipping through channels.

[Deku? what a weird name...]

I'm Osomatsu... Thanks a lot for your help, uh. Deku. I'll be in touch. [because he doesn't want to be left alone in this mess]

It's no problem! [This Osomatsu sounds like they're not panicking anymore, which was a relief.] wish I knew more about the church so I could be more specific in what you should look for...but I'll let you know if anything else comes up.

Yeah, thanks. You, uh. You take care... Okay? Don't do anything stupid.

(no subject)

mightyboy - 2018-08-24 01:49 (UTC) - Expand