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4.0 Test Drive Meme
4.0 Test Drive Meme
Premise & Arrival ֍ FAQ ֍ Apply ֍ Navigation
Welcome to Well! This cycle is a little different, if you've visited us before—this TDM takes place in Well's updated setting. See the first prompt for how your characters arrive in Well. Your character arrives with only a handful of memories, clad in a mix of Old Western clothes and clothes that might fit in at a renaissance fair, and no items from home.
Anyone is free to play on the TDM, but you need an invite to apply. Feel free to use these prompts, and interact with the arrival or locations. NPCs are around, but only say a certain set of phrases. TDMs can be considered game canon.
This TDM takes place from the first week of November onward, and can happen concurrently with other events during November and December. This will be the only TDM for November, December, and January.
Applications are open October 27th until November 1st, and November 27th until December 1st. Invites are available for friends of current players.
Into the Maze
Content warnings: deadly traps, aggressive foliage, vines, potential drowning, spikes
You wake up surrounded by green. Thick, dark hedges as tall as two adult humans stretch all around you. They're thick, nigh-impenetrable. You don’t quite know who you are, but you’re pretty sure that here, right here? Is not where you want to be.
You’re at a crossing: paths stretch out between the hedges on four sides of you. Which path do you take?
The sprawling hedge maze is vast and complex, especially if you’re not even sure where you should be going. Along your way, you hear giggling, shouts, excited screaming, low murmurs, and, sometimes, the sound of radio static. You might see the faint outline of someone slipping around a corner, and hear them giggling, a long, white dress or robe following them as they move. But you never find whoever, or whatever, is making these noises.
If you follow them, you instead come across:
Thankfully, at these obstacles, you might find another person, equally as lost as you. They may have been following the same person. Once you join forces with each other, the way out is easier to find. Not easy, but possible. If you continue to forge on on your own, the exit will never reveal itself to you.
When you do finally stumble out of the maze, you’re greeted with the site of Wellstone.
tl;dr:
You wake up surrounded by green. Thick, dark hedges as tall as two adult humans stretch all around you. They're thick, nigh-impenetrable. You don’t quite know who you are, but you’re pretty sure that here, right here? Is not where you want to be.
You’re at a crossing: paths stretch out between the hedges on four sides of you. Which path do you take?
The sprawling hedge maze is vast and complex, especially if you’re not even sure where you should be going. Along your way, you hear giggling, shouts, excited screaming, low murmurs, and, sometimes, the sound of radio static. You might see the faint outline of someone slipping around a corner, and hear them giggling, a long, white dress or robe following them as they move. But you never find whoever, or whatever, is making these noises.
If you follow them, you instead come across:
- Thorny vines laying on the ground, or hidden in the hedges, that slowly wrap themselves around your ankles or your wrists, pulling you back, trying to subsume you into the hedge.
- A dark pond stretching clear across the path, blocking your way. You can wade into it, but when you do those voices get louder, so much louder, screaming in your ears. The bottom drops away from your feet. Strange things brush your ankles, turning into hands pulling you down into the oily water. The more you panic, the more difficult it is to get to the other side. Staying calm keeps the water at about chest height.
- Pieces of the path fallen away, down into a pit full of spiny cacti. You might not want to test this one, and instead trust yourself to jump across. It’s just short enough a gap to be scalable by most, but it sure isn’t a comfortable distance to cross. If you do fall in, boy howdy do those things hurt. You’ll need some help getting out!
- The graveyard. There’s nothing getting in your way in the graveyard, but you may simply stumble upon it. The graves are overgrown and covered in moss. The ground is moist and springy. In the middle you may find an old mossy well filled with clear water.
Thankfully, at these obstacles, you might find another person, equally as lost as you. They may have been following the same person. Once you join forces with each other, the way out is easier to find. Not easy, but possible. If you continue to forge on on your own, the exit will never reveal itself to you.
When you do finally stumble out of the maze, you’re greeted with the site of Wellstone.
tl;dr:
- You wake up lost in a hedge maze! You hear strange voices around you, and a figure dressed in white runs away from you.
- You run into obstacles: spiky vines, a deadly pond, a pit full of cacti, or the graveyard. Work with another character (or not) to escape the maze!
Welcome home
Content warnings: disorientation, feelings of being lost
When you stumble your way into the run-down old town of Wellstone, the deadly peril of the maze seems to be over. It’s cold and damp, sure, but at least you’re not in danger, and you’re in luck: up a small hill beyond some gates, you can see an ornate house with golden windows, practically beaming warmth.
Staywell Manor is a grand place, with high ceilings and exposed, ornate beams, lush carpets and tapestries, beautifully upholstered furniture. A man dressed like a butler (the old hotel receptionist, for those who’ve met him) greets you with a bland smile:
“Welcome to Wellstone. We’re so glad you’re here with us! What’s the name on your reservation?”
You remember your name, and you give it to him, and he offers you a heavy brass key. No matter the number, your room does exist in the four-story manor, and is decked out with a four-poster bed, a nice settee, and a closet full of clothes that fit you like they were made for you. They’re a strange mixture, though, a mishmash of old American Western rhinestones and denim and medieval fabrics and silhouettes in bright colors. You might find a fringed tunic dyed bright red, or a pair of cowboy boots with the toes curled up like a jester’s slippers, bell-tipped and absurd. Are those pantaloons made of denim? Weird!
While the manor is lovely and inviting, and much warmer than the outdoors, it is also pretty big. Well, it must be, because you keep getting lost! It’s incredibly difficult to find your way to your room this month. You might find your way to the wrong floor, to the parlor, to someone else's room. Remember to knock!
tl;dr:
When you stumble your way into the run-down old town of Wellstone, the deadly peril of the maze seems to be over. It’s cold and damp, sure, but at least you’re not in danger, and you’re in luck: up a small hill beyond some gates, you can see an ornate house with golden windows, practically beaming warmth.
Staywell Manor is a grand place, with high ceilings and exposed, ornate beams, lush carpets and tapestries, beautifully upholstered furniture. A man dressed like a butler (the old hotel receptionist, for those who’ve met him) greets you with a bland smile:
“Welcome to Wellstone. We’re so glad you’re here with us! What’s the name on your reservation?”
You remember your name, and you give it to him, and he offers you a heavy brass key. No matter the number, your room does exist in the four-story manor, and is decked out with a four-poster bed, a nice settee, and a closet full of clothes that fit you like they were made for you. They’re a strange mixture, though, a mishmash of old American Western rhinestones and denim and medieval fabrics and silhouettes in bright colors. You might find a fringed tunic dyed bright red, or a pair of cowboy boots with the toes curled up like a jester’s slippers, bell-tipped and absurd. Are those pantaloons made of denim? Weird!
While the manor is lovely and inviting, and much warmer than the outdoors, it is also pretty big. Well, it must be, because you keep getting lost! It’s incredibly difficult to find your way to your room this month. You might find your way to the wrong floor, to the parlor, to someone else's room. Remember to knock!
tl;dr:
- You're in the town of Wellstone, where it's cold, damp, and rainy.
- Staywell Manor is warm and inviting, but hard to navigate, and you're prone to getting lost in its halls.
Warm Your Bones
Content warnings: alcohol, intoxication, accidental consumption of blood, hallucinations of demons and shadow people
The town of Wellstone has clearly seen better days and warmer seasons. Cobblestoned streets trace their way between crumbling buildings overgrown with moss and ivy. The early-fall nip in the air is enough to make your breath fog up in front of your face. Clouds hang low and sulky over the down, spitting out little bursts of rain here and there. Wind whistles between the close-crowded buildings, blowing a few leaves and the odd tumbleweed along the damp stone.
With the heavy chill in the air and fog drifting the streets at night, thick and cold enough to creep into even the warmest clothes, it’s tempting just to stay indoors.
Luckily for everyone tired of the damp, the golden light spilling from the Cactus Pad Pub beckons. Just walking inside hits you with a blast of warmth. A fire blazes at full strength in the hearth, snapping and crackling, but more than that, every single table is set resplendently with mismatched fancy china: cups, saucers, creamers, little pots of sugar, and of course, tea, steaming and hot.
It’ll be hard to resist the urge to sit down at one of these little tables, and the moment you do, you’re stuck there for at least an hour. Truly: your butt is glued to that chair. At least there's tea, and there are cards on the table with conversation starters on them. But these conversation starters are a little, ah... odd? Comment below to get a conversation starter for you and your tablemate!
May as well have some tea while you’re here, and hope that it is in fact tea. You have a one-in-three shot. The steaming liquid in that pot might be:
Each of these effects lasts from half an hour to an hour, and longer if you drink more of whatever is in your respective pot. Once you're free from the table, if you sit down at another one, you'll be trapped there, too.
Feel free to ask the mods to roll for you to decide which teapot your character gets, and for a conversation starter, just for you!
tl;dr:
The town of Wellstone has clearly seen better days and warmer seasons. Cobblestoned streets trace their way between crumbling buildings overgrown with moss and ivy. The early-fall nip in the air is enough to make your breath fog up in front of your face. Clouds hang low and sulky over the down, spitting out little bursts of rain here and there. Wind whistles between the close-crowded buildings, blowing a few leaves and the odd tumbleweed along the damp stone.
With the heavy chill in the air and fog drifting the streets at night, thick and cold enough to creep into even the warmest clothes, it’s tempting just to stay indoors.
Luckily for everyone tired of the damp, the golden light spilling from the Cactus Pad Pub beckons. Just walking inside hits you with a blast of warmth. A fire blazes at full strength in the hearth, snapping and crackling, but more than that, every single table is set resplendently with mismatched fancy china: cups, saucers, creamers, little pots of sugar, and of course, tea, steaming and hot.
It’ll be hard to resist the urge to sit down at one of these little tables, and the moment you do, you’re stuck there for at least an hour. Truly: your butt is glued to that chair. At least there's tea, and there are cards on the table with conversation starters on them. But these conversation starters are a little, ah... odd? Comment below to get a conversation starter for you and your tablemate!
May as well have some tea while you’re here, and hope that it is in fact tea. You have a one-in-three shot. The steaming liquid in that pot might be:
- Piping hot black tea, caffeinated and bracing. Drinking it makes you energetic and exciteable and very eager to talk to your neighbors. It also makes you feel extremely fancy! Put that pinky up and use the biggest words you know to impress everyone around you.
- Dark mulled wine, spiced with ginger and cloves. Drinking it fills you with unbridled confidence bordering on arrogance. You'll feel lordly in whatever way makes sense: condescending and snotty, benevolent and patrician, whatever you might be prone to.
- Something… else. It’s dark, hot, and sweet, but there’s an odd metallic tang that sits strangely on your tongue. Whatever it is, it’s addictive. The more you drink, the stranger the world around you becomes: you’ll see faces in the shadows and glowing red in the eyes of your companions. Shadowy figures seem to haunt the walls of the pub, moving toward you. You’re filled with fear and paranoia but rooted to the spot.
Each of these effects lasts from half an hour to an hour, and longer if you drink more of whatever is in your respective pot. Once you're free from the table, if you sit down at another one, you'll be trapped there, too.
Feel free to ask the mods to roll for you to decide which teapot your character gets, and for a conversation starter, just for you!
tl;dr:
- There's a fancy tea party happening in the Cactus Pad Pub. It's sort of mandatory.
- Sitting at a table traps you at the tea party for an hour, and you'll be drinking one of three random drinks, each with different effects.
- There are conversation starters on the tables to help you get to know your fellow tea partiers!
- Tea makes you social and fancy, mulled wine makes you lordly and a bit drunk, and the last hot, sweet liquid tastes weird and makes you see demons.
- Ask the mods to roll a random teapot type for you if you'd like!
no subject
[She brings a finger to her chin as she thinks.]
Say, are you a good cook? I imagine if you were a swordsman, you must be skilled in the art of food preparation as well.
no subject
I am, but that's not because of my training as a knight. My family has been winemakers for...as long as I can recall. Part of my education from Father was about cooking. I suppose he wanted me to think of the business from all angles.
no subject
[Hmm...she still thinks those aspects could very well be intertwined, but more importantly...]
Wow, you remember so much about your past!
[She's impressed, and a little envious, admittedly.]
Oh--I'm sorry, where are my manners? I haven't even told you my name yet. I'm Estellise, but you can call me Estelle.
no subject
…I remember pieces of the past. Mostly skills I had. Memories come back the longer you’re here. Sometimes around things happening. Sometimes on their own.
[He pauses and thinks about and says,] We were in a desert before. This is new territory for all of us. But we’re all here together.
no subject
[Like, the circumstances are far less important than introductions to her! But his affirmation that they're in this together, that makes her smile broader, and she holds out a hand for a handshake.]
Yes, I heard about the desert. That must have been difficult, but here's to working together to overcome whatever happens.
no subject
It’s a little unnerving to find this place so changed. Everything in it was themed around the desert before. [And how it reflects this area. He shakes his head.] It could be worse.
no subject
[It must seem so strange to the people like Diluc who've experienced the change. Now that she thinks about it, though...]
I wonder who it was that changed it. Did all of this really just spring up overnight?
no subject
Who or what. It could all be controlled by conditions we don’t yet know. I still believe our being here might be straining whatever is at work. But that too could be incorrect.
no subject
[She follows his glance around, as if that might give her some answers, but...she can only look at Diluc questioningly in the end.]
no subject
[He collects a notebook and a pen that looks like someone painted vines around the sides.] But everything else it’s all guess work. I thought it would always be the desert and I was wrong.
no subject
[It's all very vague though, since she's neither experienced it herself nor been given any specific examples. Diluc's words about the desert and what may have caused the change make her thinking of the way the plants in the hedge maze responded to...whatever it was that she did, growing thick and tall and wild. But other things in town are different, and surely she had nothing to do with those, right?
She ponders for a moment. New plants, and different buildings...]
I'm not sure about the time loop aspect, but... There must be some very skilled gardeners and masons hiding somewhere to make such drastic changes so quickly, don't you think?
no subject
After a moment he says,] That is…one possibility. I could be channeled magic. Or a number of other possible answers.
[He keeps trying to figure out how she came to that conclusion and he can’t figure it out. Finally he says,] But if that was the answer. How do you think they achieved that?
no subject
[In turn, she blinks right back at him, before quite sincerely continuing.]
With great skill and hard work, wouldn't you agree? It's unfortunate nobody saw them in action...I'd like to see how they work, myself. Oh, but maybe they're a little shy.
no subject
At the start, we always get to move about and look around. Then things become strange.
no subject
Strange? In what way?
no subject
I don’t know where to even begin without it sounding insane. People saw eyes in the walls once, and they were seeming the eyes people that seemed familiar. They weren’t really there and yet there was the feeling that they were.
And that is…the least of the strange things to happen. There is always a storm that tries to tear everything apart.
no subject
And if she hadn't already realized it, Estelle is immediately learning that she has a very vivid imagination. She's only partially successful in suppressing the shudder that runs down her frame as she pictures eyes in the walls.]
Ah...th-that's...
[A storm, too. She can only imagine, from the way he talks, that it must be a terrible one.]
That's awful...I hadn't expected anything so dangerous.
no subject
Doubtless other kind souls will be there as I. Please remember, you won’t be alone if any of us can help it. Cecelia has made many notes about what has happened, if reading about it is easier on you. I have been here since the beginning, as has Flynn and Yuri. Cecelia. Ryan. There are others but I confess to being a little tired so some names slip my mind.
I wish I had better news for you. I can only tell you we’re in the rest period before we have to guard ourselves.
no subject
She looks down a moment, running her fingertips over a display of intricately-carved pewter rings, stopping over one that shows a pair of knight helmets, then turns a faint but appreciative smile towards Diluc.]
No, I would rather know now than find out when it's too late. Thank you, Diluc, for telling me. [She makes a mental note about Cecelia's notes. It would never hurt to be as prepared as possible.] You've been such a tremendous help already... I hope I can repay the favour someday.
no subject
[He pauses and adds,] And better to be prepared because this place throws in our face what we don’t remember. As soon as it can.
no subject
Her curiosity is tempered by his warning, though, and her lips thin into a concerned line as she leans in a little closer to check his face.]
Really? And I haven't seen any helmets to properly protect ourselves... Are you alright? You haven't been injured from being hit in the face, have you?
no subject
When the ghostly images of things we’ve forgotten surface…it isn’t subtle. The first thing shown to us were ghosts that looked like people that we’d forgotten. People that felt important. Memory and guilt seem to be part of the patterns when the world seems to feel wrong to warn of us that whatever is out there is reaching out to do us harm.
…it isn’t elemental. I can’t track it by my senses. Even the ghosts of mages like myself leave no trace. [He pauses, then adds,] For myself, that is strange. I keep getting the vague sense that magic and memory are interconnected. The land carries magic and memory. But here it does not.
no subject
In any case, she understands now that he's speaking in a figurative sense, and she pulls back from his personal space.]
I...I see. We're shown...illusions? You don't suppose they're actual ghosts, do you?
no subject
I don't think so. I know for sure one of the people I saw is very much alive. ...and it has been years since the passing of the other. I can't speak for everyone. But, I think...
[He entrusted the world to him, he can recall it. So clearly that- He shakes his head again.]
I think they are illusions crafted to look like the memories that were stolen. But, again. That's a thought. It could be inaccurate.
no subject
[Doubting Diluc doesn't even cross her mind--he seems intelligent and trustworthy (regardless of whether or not she's even the trusting sort). Illusions of the dead and the living... For those that remember, it must be so painful... She wonders if she'd even recognize an illusion...]
Anyway...I'll try to be careful. Thank you for telling me so much--I really appreciate your help!
[She gives him a polite little bow, too. It seems only right.]