riverview: test drive meme

[riverviewmod]

riverview test drive meme

Welcome 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 April 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.
● Since this particular TDM is plot-heavy, current players are welcome to do their own top-levels to interact with the plot. However, since it is still a TDM intended to help potential new players get involved, there will be a special additional +25 Activity Point bonus for any thread submitted by a current player that involves a potential new character rather than focusing on existing CR, for this TDM post.

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. Thanks to player-created plots, this month's Test Drive is set to effect the game setting for the next few months, so please enjoy!

information resources
premise ● arrival ● setting ● ask a question ● calendar ● navigation

plot overview

After just over a week of increasingly serious blackouts and brownouts around the city, the team in charge of the structural integrity and defense of the wall has found the source of the problem, and posted a network entry explaining that the issue is caused by a large quantity of lizard-like monsters that have compromised the underground infrastructure of the city, and requesting volunteers to help do a full-scale manual extermination of monsters and assess the damage and do urgent repairs.

prompt i: a call to arms

The most urgent request presented is for people to help clear out the monsters in the underground tunnels - and there are a lot of them! With estimated monster numbers in the area of 500-1000, ranging from adult to juvenile, there's a lot of work to be done to clear out the underground infrastructure of the city. The Perimeter Guard will have a steady stream of transport trucks going to escort any fight-capable residents who want to volunteer out to the tunnels. They will also provide weapons of various varieties as well as short training sessions on how to use them safely in a confined space for anyone who doesn't have their own.

Whether you fight with a weapon, your fists, magic, or poison darts, your help is more than welcome down in the tunnels. The only real request is to keep seismic or explosive abilities or attacks on the mild side, and to be careful not to poison the city's water supply! Other than that, go wild.

prompt ii: into the depths

Clearing out monsters is all well and good, but they have definitely done some damage to the city's infrastructure. So it isn't just the brawn that needs to step up to help the city, it's the brains. There's a call for anyone with any kind of special ability that would help with emergency repairs. Whether it's engineers, chemists, anyone with first aid, runners to distribute supplies, or any other special ability that would help out in the underground tunnels and fix some of the damage that's been done, anyone is welcome to help. And if you think it's just scientists who are needed, think again - magic is a well-known if not-well-understood facet of life in Riverview Quarantine, and some of this stuff works on a more arcane level than a mundane one.

And, of course, all of these brainiacs are going to need a little backup, so any bruisers to act as escort and protection are also welcome.

prompt iii: trapped in a...

Not everyone has the skills or desire to head out into the jungle and fight for the city, and that's perfectly fine. Inside the Quarantine walls, life is carrying on as normally as it can. That is, aside from the ongoing blackouts.

Wherever you might be in the city, you run a pretty decent risk of getting trapped somewhere for a short period of time. Whether it's trapped in an elevator, a tram car, a store, the housing you share with someone you barely know, or anywhere else in the city, it could happen to you. This could be the start of a beautiful friendship or a meet-cute to tell your grandkids about...at least, that is, if you get along with the person you're stuck with...

prompt iv: friendr/network

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 new, free app is popping up on people's 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.

Code to post your character's bio is in the textbox below, or you can just do a text version of the information in the app. An example of how it looks can be found here.

<center><blockquote style="width: 220px; margin: 0; padding: 0px; background-image: url('http://i42.tinypic.com/2uf53s4.jpg'); font-size: 12px; font-family: verdana; border-radius: 20px; text-align: center;"><div style="padding: 10px 0 0 0; text-align: center;font-size: 25px; font-weight: 900; font-style: italic; color: #528887; text-shadow: -2px 2px 2px rgba(150, 150, 150, 1);">F<span style="font-size: 16px;">RIENDR</span></div> <center><img src="ICON URL HERE" style="border-radius: 50%; width: 70px; height: 70px; box-shadow:-3px 3px 2px 0px rgba(82, 136, 135, .75);"></center> <center><div style="width: 210px; background-color: #528887; color: #fff; padding: 5px; font-size: 14px;">Name of Character</div></center> <center><div style="width: 210px; background-color: #528887; color: #fff; padding: 5px; font-size: 11px; text-align: left;"><b><small>AGE:</small></b> ## <b><small>INTERESTED IN:</small></b> Male/Female/Any <b><small>SEEKING:</small></b> Type(s) of Relationship(s) <b><small>ABOUT ME:</small></b> Blurb goes here, can be as long or short as you wish.</div></center><br> </blockquote></center>
Many thanks to mistojen for coding this especially for Riverview!

prompt v: wildcard

Choose your own adventure and do something else in the setting!

navigation

Comments

thomas nightingale | rivers of london

[ettersberg]

( i ) this is a call to arms

[ one might think that wearing a bespoke suit, handmade leather shoes and a white burberry coat is perhaps not the wisest choice when heading out to battle monsters in the underground beneath a city, and yet that is precisely what thomas nightingale is wearing, despite his knowledge where he is going and with what goal in mind. in one hand, he carries what might pass for a walking stick. everything about him screams upper class and british, including his accent when he opens his mouth once underground. ]

If you wouldn't mind stepping behind me for a moment? [ it's clearly more of a request than a question. it might not be perfectly visible, but the moment whoever he was addressing complies, a shield of what appears to be pure energy rises up before nightingale at a command muttered under his breath. ] How were you planning on dispatching these monsters, if I may ask?

( iv ) id: NIGHTINGALE

How many of you are familiar with the notion of magic, or with supernatural entities? If you're aware of the existence of either in your world, how are breaches of the peace by magical means investigated and sanctioned in your world? Magical crimes, if you will.

nightingale!!!

[spellslots]

[At least Thomas is wearing pants, which is to say that Taako's outfit today consists of a knee length skirt, a blouse, (mostly) sensible boots, a black cape, and his wizard hat atop his head to complete the look. It's very cute, just not entirely practical. And unlike Thomas' nice walking stick, Taako has a gaudy umbrella at hand, which he's leaning on as he watches the shield flicker into view.]

Love that, love the look, too, you got a good thing going on here.

[He seems exceptionally relaxed for someone waiting for monsters to come barreling down a tunnel.]

I was gonna fuck 'em up real bad with magic! [To answer Thomas' question.] What about you, my man? The shield is great and all, what else you got?

oh hello i didn't think anyone even knew who he is /o\

[ettersberg]

[ thomas' outfit fits a particular time, place and social group—none of which are still around, not really, or at least not in the form he has experienced them in his formative years and beyond. he can only assume that the ensemble taako is wearing similarly fits a particular context. it just isn't a context thomas is at all familiar with. ]

What kind of magic? [ is the prompt reply. that it ignores both the compliment and taako's question, asking another one of his own instead, is no accident. thomas hasn't always been a police officer, but he has been one for more than long enough to pick up certain habits.

such as preferring interrogating people to being interrogated, even if taako's question was hardly an interrogation and more polite conversation. the principle is the same. ]

i read the books like a million years ago and thomas is a dear

[spellslots]

[Well he's not entirely wrong with that guess, so good job Thomas.]

Transmutation is my speciality. [Taako puts a hand on his chest with a little bit of flair and a little bit of ego, because he's just like that.] But I got a whole range of shit, little bit of evocation, little bit of necromancy, you know how it is.

[Does he though.]

he is isn't he i love him very much

[ettersberg]

Ah. [ that one syllable is mostly acknowledgement of the fact that taako has been talking and words came out of his mouth in a grammatically correct order that made sense.

after a moment, thomas adds: ] I'm not particularly familiar with necromancy, nor do I wish to be.

[ that's black ethically questionable magic, in his book. ]

i wish i was as fancy as him

[spellslots]

There's nothing wrong with some good old fashioned necromancy, as long as you're not messing around with souls and shit.

[He mostly just uses necromancy to kill monsters, rather than extending life or all the other unpleasant things that can be done with it.

More importantly, though:]

But you never answered my question, pumpkin, and I asked first!

don't we all

[ettersberg]

[ one of the monsters comes around the corner and in complete silence, nightingale casts a spell, a flick of his wrist and the forma in his mind and a firewall hurdles toward the monster at high speed. it dies an agonising but near-immediate death and nightingale turns to taako again. it's all the answer he's willing to provide to the initial question of what else he's got.

lips pressing briefly together with a hint of displeasure, he comments: ] I'd prefer it if you could abstain from nicknames. [ pumpkin, really? ]

aaahhh

[wingedman]

[ This guy isn't exactly dressed for killing monsters in underground tunnels, but, hell, Sam's had his ass kicked by a kid in a onesie before, he can't judge what people wear. And when the shield pops up around them, he just kind of shrugs. Thankfully, he's spent enough time around Wanda to be used to that sort of thing. ]

Well, I've got these- [ He indicates a pair of semi-automatic guns on each hip, clearly from home. ] And if they don't work, then I'll get experimental. [ With the more unfamiliar - and distinctly larger - weapon slung across his back, courtesy of the Perimeter Guard. ] But I'm open to suggestions.

:>

[ettersberg]

[ nightingale isn't entirely certain whether to be pleased by the lack of reaction or worried by it. in his own world, he'd be more worried because someone not reacting in some way surprised at a display of magic means that person is familiar with magic and given that nightingale is currently the last sanctioned wizard in the country, his apprentice notwithstanding, that suggests hedge magic, if not something more sinister.

here, of course, matters are somewhat different. ]

If you are willing to take care of any stragglers to the back, I could handle the ones in front of us.

[wingedman]

Not a problem. Just give me a heads up before you start.

[ Sam pulls one gun and clicks the safety off, sighting down the barrel at the creatures. Thankfully, they've got standard ammunition here, so he doesn't have to worry about conserving what he had when he came through the portal. ]

Ready whenever you are.

[ettersberg]

Consider this is.

[ the heads-up, that is. nightingale is not particularly keen to call out his shots before he takes them. it likely wouldn't make a difference with regard to the monsters, but the spell he intends to use is one that is cast in silence from the very beginning and doing anything else would not feel right, though he can understand the rationale of the request.

and so, a moment later, the forma in his mind and in silence, nightingale shoots off several fireballs in quick succession, each hitting one of the advancing monsters. ]

(i)

[signifies]

Hitting them seems to work.

[ One might think that suit is about as appropriate as this red and blue outfit, complete with cape, that Clark's wearing. No judgement. Clark steps behind him, expecting the demonstration. ]

What did you have in mind?

[ettersberg]

Hitting them. With magic, that is.

[ nightingale is not so closed off from popular culture that the costume does not make him think of superheroes. they are the ones who wear capes, are they not? and superheroes are not a particularly modern invention, either. it is, strangely enough, an invention that has survived the test of time when so much hasn't.

but now is hardly the time to think of death and loss. ]

[signifies]

[ This mysterious magic is cropping up too often for it to be made up. It's hilarious coming from an alien, but aliens are something Clark understands. Not magic.

He's not averse to finding out more. This stranger looks the no-nonsense kind. ]

There's three ahead of us. You're welcome to them.

[ettersberg]

[ thomas has all but grown up with magic. anyone can learn it, but it does take a good ten years and a great amount of dedication and time. it is also the equivalent of arming individuals with guns, which might not be all that unusual in the usa, but in england, it is still the exception rather than the norm. most police officers don't carry a gun; thomas doesn't either, but he is always considered armed in a way as though he did.

at least by those high enough in the chain of command to know about the folly, about magic. ]

Much obliged. [ he responds, dryly, and in complete silence gestures three times. three fireballs shoot toward the three monsters, exploding upon impact.

he did take out a tank with one of those fireballs, once, but that was a lucky shot. ]

[signifies]

[ It's very elegant. ]

Nicely done.

[ Clark listens in the tunnel. They're clear for a while, the nearest one is much further down. ]

Are you planning to keep going?

[ettersberg]

[ it's elegant, and there's a certain economy to it, to nightingale's movements now. he hasn't always been a soldier, but he did fight in wwii and his use of magic does not negate his inclination to be pragmatic. ]

I was intending to, yes. Unless there's any reason I shouldn't?

id: a.herveaux

[rouxgaroux]

Where I'm from like polices like. Humans are still working on catching up with the fact that others actually exist. They think they have a say with the others, but they really don't yet. Each kind has their own way of putting down justice on their own though. Each has their own traditions as far as that goes.

[ettersberg]

And would you say that this is effective?

[rouxgaroux]

Yeah, I'd say so. It only really gets messy when outsiders try to interfere in the politics of a certain kind of other.

[ettersberg]

And this keeps people from getting hurt?

[rouxgaroux]

Not always. But I think it minimizes it to an extent. Why're you so curious?

[whattingawhat]

[ Oh she knows his kind. Or she thinks she knows his kind. This guy screams watcher to Buffy. Actually, it's kind of endearing. She's got little Giles back home, but she sort of misses the days of the Watchers council showing up and insult--no, no she doesn't. She particularly doesn't miss it when he wants her to step aside for him and asks a question that she perceives as condescending, but he did put up that nifty energy shield so she won't write him off just yet. ]

Uhm...stake. Heart. It usually works.

[ettersberg]

[ he isn't a watcher and he is no longer the member of anything remotely comparable to a council, being the only remaining member of the folly after the war decimated its numbers in a myriad of ways—and there is peter now, his apprentice, who is never afraid to challenge his word views. nightingale has learned a great deal in teaching peter, too. ]

I think I'll prefer remaining at a distance, personally.

[ it's still quite the impressive answer. ]

[whattingawhat]

[ isn't that the nature of any good student-teacher relationship? Invariably they learn from each other. She shrugs a little at his answer. ]

I was never good at the distance. I guess I'm an up close kind of girl.

[ since they're talking...]

Hi, I'm Buffy.