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riverviewooc2017-04-20 11:42 am
riverview: april test drive meme
riverview test drive memeWelcome to Riverview's test drive meme! Feel free to dip your toes in on the test drive meme to try out your character in the setting, play out a mission, and get samples for your application at the same time!
● Reserves are currently OPEN.
● Applications open on May 1st.
● Providing all parties are amenable, threads on the test drive meme can count as game canon, as the plot in the prompts presented is game canon.
● TDM threads do not count for Activity Check, but they do count for Activity Bonus Points, so long as all characters involved are accepted into the game.
● Threading on the TDM is intended for prospective new characters, so top-levels should only be posted by players of these characters. Since the events in the TDM are considered game canon, characters currently in the game are free to use the TDM prompts logs and posts on the regular communities.
Feel free to use the prompts below or create your own scenario. The setting is built to be flexible, so feel free to make things up as you go.
information resources
premise ● arrival ● setting ● ask a question ● calendar ● navigation
Recently, a team of skilled explorers went out into the jungle to the Northwest of the city to follow up on several sightings of a giant lizardlike behemoth that's been skulking around outside the walls, a creature whose level of aggression (and therefore how dangerous it might be) was unknown. The team, while not exactly as stealthy as they were supposed to be, did manage to find the creature, which they found to have about the intelligence and temperament of a very, very, very large dog. And whom they named Liam.
Having established that the behemoth (which is around the size of a blue whale, snakelike in shape, but with four legs, brown striated scales, large claws and teeth, bad breath, and an affinity for face-licking) is not an intentional danger to the city, the authorities could not rule out the idea that it might cause accidental damage to the city, walls, or crops around the city. As a result, research has been done and a new mission has been drafted and recruited for - baiting the behemoth. The objective of this large-scale mission is for many small, quick-moving teams to take behemoth bait deep into the jungle for the purpose of luring the massive but mostly-harmless creature away from the city and hopefully to a new, less-inhabited feeding area. There is room for many different teams, and all of them should be heading deep into the jungle heading directly away from the city, going Northwest. The authorities in question have come up with a wide variety of food and pheromone scented lures that range from mild to truly stinky, so which type your team gets is up to you.
Each lure is small enough to fit in a cage-shaped canister that can be carried like a backpack by one person with average strength, and each lure-carrier will need to be accompanied by at least one or two fighters. Why, when the behemoth is peaceful? Well....
The behemoth might not be aggressive, but unfortunately it's picked up some unwelcome companions. After last month's near-disaster where a colony of lizardlike monsters had taken up residence in tunnels under the city, wreaking havoc in the power grid, and were subsequently either killed or flushed out of the underground, some of the local fauna has been bumped down the food chain.
The fauna in question is a very large pack of mammalian six-limbed creatures that usually live in the trees and hunt oversized insects in the underbrush. When the lizards escaped the underground into the surrounding jungle, and drastically reduced the population of the insects the mammals usually feed on, the predators became parasites, attacking the only thing left that is more docile than the insects they usually feed on - the behemoth. These creatures are quick-moving, well-camouflaged in the jungle with mottled brown-and-green fur, and sport massive teeth and long tongues that allow them to stick to whatever surface they land on.
Hungry as they are, they will make no distinction between the behemoth's juicy hide and the lure-carrying teams that are trying to help it. Hopefully, their ranks can be thinned enough that the behemoth survives the trip to its new home.
Not everyone is cut out for missions into the jungle or cleaning up angry predatory parasite monsters, but that doesn't mean that staying home means being safe from the weird things that come out of the portal. In the early morning of April 20th, drawn by the warmth of the rising sun, a massive swarm of rainbow-colored fireflies emerges from the portal into the quarantine. Unlike regular fireflies, though, they are bright enough to glow even during the day, and these bugs have bite! While generally harmless aside from stinging a little, the bite of the rainbow fireflies causes certain kinds of emotional response to become heightened, depending on the color of the firefly in question. While scientists have never run into these bugs before and have no idea how it works, they can cause this effect in any kind of sentient creature that is capable of emotion, including androids and characters that are usually unaffected by substances. The effects on emotions are as follows:
| ● RED: Lust/Anger ● ORANGE: Honesty/Openness ● YELLOW: Fear/Anxiety |
● GREEN: Jealousy/Envy ● BLUE: Sadness/Grief ● VIOLET: Love/Affection |
When a character is bitten, the effects on their emotions can last anywhere from an hour to a week, depending on the character's psychology and resistance to certain emotions - for example, if a character has a hard time dealing with their grief, the effect of a blue firefly may last longer than other colors. How the characters manifest the heightened emotional response or sensitivity is up to the individual player, as different body chemistry or other circumstances might change how characters are affected. Red firefly bites have a 50/50 chance of affecting a character with lust or anger, though characters who have not reached sexual maturity (underage characters) won't get get the lust effect.
Firefly effects can be easily avoided simply by avoiding the fireflies. It won't take long for some of the geniuses in the Quarantine to start making and distributing firefly repellent, and characters can expect sales of mosquito tents to skyrocket.
These alien fireflies have a lifespan of around a month, and they are unable to procreate outside their native environment, which means the last of them will be dying off around May 20th.
CLARIFICATION: In response to a player question, the effects of the fireflies CAN layer, so they can be affected by more than one at the same time. Red fireflies with the lust effect don't make characters incapable of controlling themselves, just heighten feelings of arousal/desire.
Whether your character is posting up a silly word game to distract people from the dangerous mission going on, trying to get hold of a friend, or putting out feelers for people to go out into the fray with, the network is going strong.
Alternately, an offer for a free app is popping up on new arrivals' devices - Friendr is a friend-finder and/or dating app. If characters choose to install it, they will fill out a short bio and parameters for what they're looking for, upload a snap of themselves, and then proceed to browse for matches. This is a typical swipe-left-or-right type app.
Many thanks to
mistojen for coding this especially for Riverview!Choose your own adventure and do something else in the setting!
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[He's generally pretty friendly anyway, but the bonus of Magnus being magic makes him more inclined to be so.]
I'd probably call you a sorcerer, if I had to use a word from home. Their magic is usually internal rather than external, though they're kind of weird cause of it? I've never actually met a sorcerer, they're pretty rare.
[So it's almost the opposite, really. Learning magic is common, being born with it is rare.]
And yup. I started learning magic for my cooking show, so transmutation was a way to spice things up! I've expanded my repertoire since then. I'm kind of a mercenary now? I mean not really but work is hard to explain.
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[ Friendliness and curiosity about magic would be two further similarities then! ]
It's been my experience with traveling to multiple universes that terminology varies wildly from world to world, but you can usually find a thread of similarity! Thank you for taking the time to explain - it's something of an interest of mine, which means I'm prone to asking far too many questions, I'm sure.
Going by what you've said, I'd assume the nature of magic on our worlds is pretty different as well, not just the words we use to describe it. Mine was inherited thanks to one of my parents, for example. [ This is where we always start to get a bit cagey with the details. ]
I also have to imagine any path that starts with "cooking show" and ends most easily explained as "mercenary" would have to be a little bit complicated. Cooking though - would you say you're a culinary whiz then?
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Ask all the questions you want, my dude, I've gotten used to answering a bunch anyway and at least you'll get half of what I'm saying and not look at me like I'm crazy, even if our magic works pretty different. You're more than welcome to take a look at my spell book so long as you promise not to steal it.
[Even if it's in Elvish, there's work arounds for that.]
For sure, for sure. [He hopes that pun was on purpose.] I have my own little business here!
[Incoming link to his fake instagram, because there's nothing like a little self-promotion.]
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And, to be honest, I spent some time in a situation similar to this one, shortly before arriving here. I have to say, I've gotten accustomed to answering a lot of questions about how my world works as well. And I don't think I've ever been very shy of asking! It's fascinating, seeing how things that are so familiar to me manifest in other worlds. When can you ever have a chance to get answers to these kinds of questions otherwise?
Speaking of that, you use a spellbook? [ Oh yes, surely there are workarounds, hm? Not to mention, Magnus is quite a polyglot and if offered the chance to learn something new about a language he's never seen, he'd probably jump on the chance. Also, that pun was 100% intentional. 100%. ]
You run a bakery! [ He is delighted by this, lemme tell you. ] I'd love to stop by sometime. And bring my better half along, if that's all right.
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Seems like there's a few people around who've done this whole 'alternate dimension' thing before, though I gotta admit my own limit so far is planar travel, which isn't as exciting.
[This is kind of untrue, but he doesn't know it because #spoilers]
Spellbooks are pretty necessary for wizards! Unlike cooking I can't just make shit up on the fly and see if it works. Trying to use magic without a spell is gonna result in either nothing, or something very unpleasant :(
[Which is normal for him, and so far he hasn't met a lot of other magic users (he doesn't know about Loki or Stephen). Wanda's powers look like magic, but aren't quite right.]
I don't have a shop front, sorry to say! I mostly do requests for custom shit, kinda more like a caterer than a traditional baker. But hey, so long as you two aren't secretly murderers or whatever, my door is always open.
[He's cagey as hell when it comes to emotions and shit, but trusting strangers to come into his house? Sure why not.]
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Now that you mention it, I have run into a few myself. And I arrived alongside someone from my world who had traveled with me to a different one previously. At first, I had to wonder if that's what we had in common, but I've since learned otherwise.
[ Those sound like some Interesting #Spoilers! ]
Interesting. I use spellbooks to keep track of magic I've created, but the magic I use on a day-to-day basis doesn't require any objects or spoken/written word to access. I've heard of it being so for other people though. Given what you've said, I can certainly see how the book would be invaluable to you!
[ There is quite a breadth of magical diversity here, isn't there? Magnus is just going to love it... ]
Well, I have to say, storefront or no, your work looks impeccable. And delicious! I can promise you neither Alexander nor I are in the habit of murdering anyone. You can think of us as a soldier and a, let's say diplomat, respectively. [ They're nice strangers, promise. Alec may look very serious, but he's... well, he actually is very serious, that's true.... ]
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I'm a little jealous, it sounds pretty exciting to travel between worlds. And to not need any spells to do magic! Sometimes I gotta use actual components along with the words and gestures, which is only half the reason I'm disappointed I haven't come into a wealth of diamonds.
[Thank god he doesn't follow full D&D rules, keeping track of components is a nightmare.]
Delicious and impeccable are my middle names. But don't tell me you're a politician, this blossoming friendship can only take so much :((
[No he's just kidding]
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Exciting is one word for it! I think we've been lucky to have found ourselves in places that were pleasant. [ Well, they don't seem unpleasant to him. Not that he's abundantly thrilled about communal living spaces - he's had one roommate in decades and decades and they're married. Still, that is a really minor thing when faced with the myriad unpleasant alternatives... ] Having the ability to travel like this at will would be fascinating!
Diamonds? That would be a very, very expensive spell in my world. Exceedingly so. Some work I do requires physical components, but only in the sense that a physical product is the outcome. Like cocktails!
[ Booze magic. That's his specialty. ]
Good middle names to have! And no, I'm decidedly not political if I can help it. I hold a title at home, but it's more like a civic responsibility than anything else.
[ It would be totally understandable if he were serious. :') Politics. :') :') No thanks. ]
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[Joking?? Not joking?? He's probably going to die honestly, he's not looking forward to it.]
If you're worried, the people here don't have ulterior motives, so this can count as one of those pleasant places, as long as you avoid the monsters in the forest. And I do know a dude who can cut his way through dimensions, but I haven't asked about the limits.
Magic cocktails aren't unfamiliar to me, either! Thank the gods those exist in more than one universe.
I'm absolutely relieved to hear there's no politics involved in your whole situation, that would be a fucking tragedy.
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[ Dying is significantly worse than the prospect of saving the world without dying. ]
I'm glad to hear someone say that the powers that be are to be trusted to one degree or another! Personally, I have no intention of tangling unnecessarily with any monsters. I'd love to explore a little though, if I'm being honest. And this mention of cutting through dimensions is certainly intriguing. We have a means of doing so as well, or at least traveling to very specific ones, but it's not available to me here.
How nice to know I'm not the only one with an interest! Until not long ago, I ran a club that had sort of a special emphasis on cocktails that were a little magical.
Yes, when I make these sorts of trips [ casually jaunting across universes ] I like to enjoy the fact that I've left my world's politics behind. For myriad reasons, most of which boil down to 'because they're very political.' And very disapproving of things that are quite important to me.
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[Technically returning home is voluntary here, but it still relies on the whims of the portal, so Taako isn't sure it counts in the same way.]
If you're happy to take my word and the word of the spirit of a long dead witch then yup, they check out! [Weird sentence, but there's probably been weirder.] Well, I say cutting since he's using a scythe, he's very committed to the whole grim reaper aesthetic.
[Taako loves it tbh]
A magical cocktail club sounds up my fucking alley. The last time I had a real alcoholic potion was a funeral, so you know, less than fun, even if I didn't like the guy. I'm not gonna feel sorry for someone who thought have a cigar was more important than not getting turned into crystal.
I'm constantly relieved the only politics I gotta deal with are office politics. One of the perks of working for a secret organisation.
[His world is so weird.]
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I don't have any special aversion to either, honestly. You've been very forthright with me and unless I see a reason to feel otherwise, it's really more beneficial for me to believe, isn't it? [ He is chill, basically. Thrashing about angrily would only waste energy at this particular juncture, as he sees it. ] And a scythe? Well, that's certainly dramatic. I can't say I disapprove! In our case, it's jewelry, not weaponry.
You're describing some very interesting priorities there! Maybe it depends on the cigar, but I don't smoke much, so I couldn't say I'm an authority on the matter. [ Are there cigars worth dying for? We just don't know. ] I am sorry for the loss, regardless of the manner it occurred in.
Maybe as I settle in, there'll be time for some magical cocktail creation.
A secret organization you can mention without too much worry here, hm? This is what I like about all this traveling! I've never been too excited about hiding things from people, even if it is for their own good from time to time.
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[Or maybe it was, if he wanted to take a break before the apocalypse.]
A lot of people here seem to prefer thinking that everyone's out to get them, and listen, I can totally understand the paranoia, but it must get fucking boring.
[Between what the witch said and the fact that so far, no one in charge here has been difficult or reluctant to help, he's willing to have a little faith.]
Jewlery seems more convenient than a scythe. That said, my weapon of choice looks like an umbrella, so I don't think I'm allowed to have opinions about weaponry.
Apparently the voidfish (long story) doesn't work on people from other universes, so I can talk about work without all of you hearing a bunch of gibberish and static, it's kind of nice! No need to keep that shit to myself here, even if I'm sure my boss would be having a conniption about it if she knew.
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I would assume it's exhausting as well. Still, I know that vigilance, or hyper-vigilance, is a hard thing for some people to shed. I wonder if it would be worse or better if this place truly were harmless though.
[ He has an inkling one way or another, by virtue of having experienced this alongside that soldier he mentioned previously. But this world is... different. ]
The jewelry in question is only for traveling, not for fighting. If we're talking about weapons, that's a whole other story. [ Talking about weird, he comes from a world where people Mark themselves with magical, combat and power enhancing tattoos. ] Looks like an umbrella or is an umbrella?
You're literally prevented from talking about your work? [ That... is both horrifying and also sort of helpful-sounding in a weird way. Hm. Gonna have to noodle that one over. ] We have laws in place that impose punishment for talking about our community to those who aren't aware of its existence, but nothing quite like what you're saying.
Going by what you're saying, I'm going to assume your boss is nowhere in the vicinity?
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but that's kinda what my job is, making sure it doesn't happen again.
[It's a very important job that got given to three complete idiots. It's surprising they haven't destroyed the place yet.]
If you can't trust the people who accidentally sucked you into their world through some kinda almost alive portal, who can you trust, really?
[That one is definitely a joke.]
Both, kinda? I'm not sure I'd let anyone else get under it,
especially not something with magic, unless they wanna end up umbrella food. But it's also what I use to cast my offensive spells.
Oh, I could talk about it all I want, but back home anyone not from the Bureau would've just heard static instead of words. Pretty handy when you're trying to avoid spilling secrets, less useful when you wanna explain the situation to potential help.
And yup, I'm the only lucky bastard from my world here.
[Which sucks, honestly.]
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[ Oh dear. Godspeed to you all then... ]
I know there's certainly no one I'd rank higher on the list for trustworthiness! [ Also definitely a joke. But in good humor, really. Again, it just uses too much energy being really, really angry over what's out of your control. ]
Umbrella food. That's a piece of terminology I never expected to hear! Does it consume magic?
That's definitely a creative form of secrecy. Handy, as you said, but I can see it becoming very inconvenient for you as well! I'm guessing there aren't many ways to subvert or counteract it?
If it's a subject you'd rather not discuss, I'm happy to talk about baked goods or alcoholic beverages again! [ He has to imagine it does suck. It makes him more grateful he's never had to do this alone. ]
no subject
It eats magic users I defeat! Or, well, it's eats their wands or whatever's left of their magical energy, depending on what kinda magical being they are. It might be cursed, jury's still out on that one.
[He's very casual for someone carrying around a possibly cursed vore umbrella.]
Only way to get around is to die, or drink voidfish ichor. I've got something with me that was wiped from my own damn head, it's kinda like one of those trick images you have to squint at to see properly, except you can't ever fucking get it.
[The voidfish probably needs an explanation soon, he'll get there.]
Nah, my man, it's cool. I give no shits, if anything it's been nice to get a break from the boner squad.
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It eats the magical energy of those you defeat. Yes, that sounds truly unique. I've never heard of anything remotely similar, not at home, nor on any other world. [ Congrats, you and your magical vore umbrella have really surprised him! It takes something significant, really. And here it is. People-eating umbrellas. Honestly, aside from the people-eating part (or people's-energy-eating?), which sounds unpleasant for the one having their energy eaten, he's delighted! ]
Neither of those options sound pleasant, if I'm being perfectly honest. Is it your assumption that it doesn't work here simply because you're not at home or are you saying something was done to it? You don't have to answer that either, naturally.
It does seem like there would be two basic reactions to being away from home, one positive and one negative. Better if it's positive!
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I'd offer to let you take a look, but it also tends to electrocute people who aren't me! So, well, I suppose you could look but not touch, for safety's sake.
[There are explanations for why the umbra staff is the way it is, but he doesn't remember them.]
If I had to guess, I'd say it's cause the voidfish works on memories. Like, alright, lemme give you shortest version possible.
A voidfish eats memories, you write something down, put it in the tank and then that shit's just gone, from the memory of everyone who ever knew it. Unless you drink the water (pee??) from its tank. It also stops you from being able to comprehend anything its eaten, even if you didn't know it before. But the effects might be limited to the universe the voidfish, and the original information, existed in.
I've got an example, here!
[He sends a picture of an iron-on badge, dark blue, with 12 circles, each a different colour embroided on it. The letters IPRE are in the middle. The note said "for your eyes only" when he got it, but that doesn't seem very important here.]
I can't read that, no matter how hard I try, but you can, right?
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I'd be curious to see it! At a safe distance, that is. It would be very unfortunate if my magical essence were to be consumed. I think possibly for your umbrella, too. [ Does it eat demonic energy... ]
That's very unfortunate for you, but I can't lie and say there's not something a little bit morbidly fascinating about it. [ Maybe not the part that involves drinking pee, but... ] I don't know what it means, but I can read it, yes. Would I be able to tell you what it said?
[ It's hard to tell via text, but he is... pretty deeply curious. ]
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[He's happy to give Magnus an out to say "maybe later" even if that later never happens.]
A safe distance it is, then! If it doesn't like the taste of warlock it'd probably spit you out, that's what happened when it ate a lich.
[Which is probably close to demonic energy, although liches don't have a physical body, so that makes a difference.]
It's not like, the worst thing to ever happen to me, but it's pretty fucking annoying. You could try telling me, but I'd just see gibberish, or hear static.
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[ He really isn't reluctant, that's a promise. Let him talk about it and he will talk and talk... ]
I doubt I'd look as nice after being chewed up and spit out. Just a guess! Is a lich a demon?
[ Since that would presumably be the general consensus in his world. Probably. ]
Even if it's no more than "annoying," that's still quite an outcome! What if I wrote it down and gave it to you? [ Now we're just exercising all the curiosity. ]
You know, it occurs to me that I never introduced myself. I'm Magnus.
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[Literally every god from Taako's canon: bitch shut up]
I'll admit I'm curious, even if it will require charts and a history lesson.
A lich is what happens when someone binds their soul to magic, losing their body annnnd usually their sanity! I'm not a fan, even if one helped save our asses a couple times.
If you just wrote it out I still couldn't read it, although... It's not a long word, is it? Maybe if you sent the individual letters?
[He's from about 24 hours too early to know that won't work.]
It's pleasure, Magnus! [His best bud is named Magnus this is gonna get confusing] I'm Taako :)
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[ He is the son of a demon, so a lot of people would probably say his opinions don't count, but they would... be wrong! ]
In that case, meeting for coffee sounds like a superb plan!
A lich is decidedly not a demon then. And it doesn't sound good at all, no. I'd hope that doesn't happen often.
No, it's not long at all! Only four letters. And it doesn't look like a word to me. It looks like initials of some kind, but it could simply be a language I don't speak. The first letter is I. [ Is that going to go all fuzzy? ]
The pleasure's all mine, Taako! I'm very pleased you responded to my question! It's been extremely enlightening.
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Coffee it is, once you're all settled in let me know and I'll pick an appropriate place for history lessons.
It isn't easy to become a lich and they gotta spend their undeath hiding from the grim reaper, otherwise he'll take them to the astral plane where they oughta be! Turns out the goddess of death (if she is a real god!) isn't a fan of people trying to cheat death.
"Initials" is more than I had before, and yeah, I can read that. The letter I, right?
Trust me, dramatics aside it's pretty great to talk to someone else who knows their magic shit. No offense to the regular humans here, but it gets a little boring.
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sorry for being hideously slow
no, no, not at all! c: