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Well Mod ([personal profile] wellie) wrote in [community profile] wellcome2024-01-19 08:08 pm
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5.0 Test Drive Meme

5.0 Test Drive Meme

Welcome to Well! 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 February onward, and can happen concurrently with other events during February and March. This will be the only TDM for February, March, and April.

Applications are open January 27th until February 1st, and February 24th until March 1st. Invites are available for friends of current players.

Arrival: Six Feet Under
Content warnings: graves, being buried alive

You wake up in the ground. The hole you're in fits your body nicely. Just as you wake up, dirt spatters onto your face, into your eyes and mouth. Maybe that's what woke you up. Before you've had a chance to clear it, more dirt drops onto your body from above, again and again, in a grim rhythm. Until you get out of there it won't stop.

Unfortunately, you're six feet deep. You might want a hand.

More unfortunately, you won't get one from the person with the shovel. The gravedigger, silhouetted in black against the sky above you, will continue to shovel dirt onto you while you try to escape. Once you're out, she loses all interest and moves on to the next grave. She doesn't acknowledge you in any way.

Above the grave is a headstone: your own. It says your name and it might have your birthdate. The death date is unreadable. There may be an epitaph about your life. It doesn't look new. In fact, it looks as old and worn as the rest of the graveyard. Other open graves are scattered around in this graveyard, and other people are climbing up out of them, too. Maybe you want to lend them a hand, or maybe you want to get out of here as fast as possible.

A mossy wrought-iron gate leads out into greenery.

Now that you're out, you need to find your way... somewhere. Not here.

For current players, you're welcome to have your character wake up for the cycle like this.

tl;dr:
  • You wake up in your own grave! Someone's burying you alive! Better get out of there.

The only way out
Content warnings: being eaten alive, carnivorous flowers, intoxication

The graveyard is in the middle of the maze: a sprawling hedge maze on the outskirts of Wellstone town. The ground is soft with recent rain, and the hedges are just blooming green like it's early spring. Your shoes squelch in the muck.

It starts easily enough. As you make your way deeper, though, you'll start run into things that make the maze… harder. Gigantic flowers block the way down one path, and they titter together as you get close, swaying and moving in ways that flowers shouldn't. If you do get too close, a flower lurches forward and snaps its petals around you like jaws. Are those teeth?! They're like foot-long cactus spines, sharp and deadly. You might want to get out of there, and fast. The teeth hurt, and the inside of the flower isn't a cakewalk either. It hurts your skin, and if you're in there too long, your skin may start to burn off.

Down another path are more flowers. These are smaller, and oddly fleshy in color and scent. At the center of each flower is an eye. Some of them seem familiar, although you can't figure out why. As you pass, the eyes roll, following you closely. If you make eye contact and any of these flowers, you feel a chilling wave of fear that roots you to the spot. Your stuck in its gaze, staring back at it as it stares impassively at you. You have the horrible feeling that if you stay here, something awful will happen. It grows worse and worse, more acute, but no matter how strong that fear, you can't move your feet. Someone, or something, has to break your eye contact with the flower.

At a final turn in the maze, the sweet, soft scent of lilacs fills the air. You're sure that scent means you've found the end, and that you should follow it. Naturally, it doesn't. It leads to a dead end. Again. This one, at least, is beautiful: it's a little meadow surrounded by hedges, blooming in lilacs and lavender and little purple-headed poppies. The scent is heady and overwhelming. It fills you up. It settles into your head like a haze, making it hard to focus. It seems like an amazing idea to just… stay here. Lie down, maybe, among all those nice flowers. Just for a little while, you tell yourself.

Only, it may be more than a little while. The longer you sleep in this lovely little meadow, the more vines and flowers will grow over and around your body. Eventually, they'll make their way into your nose, your ears, your mouth and start to pull you down into the soft earth. Someone's going to have to wake you up and get those vines off unless you want to stay in this maze forever!

When at last you find your way out of the maze, past the treacherous flowers, you set your sights on Wellstone: a town in the first bloom of spring, a light mist making everything dewy and bright.

tl;dr:
  • After you leave the cemetery, you find yourself in the maze. There are flowers that are obstacles along your way.
  • There are large, flesh-eating flowers full of teeth that want to eat you.
  • There are fleshy flowers with eyes in the middle that, if you meet their gaze, hold you with fear.
  • There are lilacs that lull you and make you want to lie down and take a nap. If you do, vines will wrap you up, making it very difficult to get out.
  • Once you make it through all the obstacles, you can make it out of the maze into Wellstone.

Scent of death
Content warnings: bad smells, potential for body horror

It isn't just the maze blooming with the coming of spring: Wellstone itself has burst into bloom. It seems that everywhere you look, flowers have invaded the town. Sweet snowdrops poke their heads up between cobblestones. Violets wink from shadowed corners. Morning glories climb walls and line windows. They all smell wonderful, good enough to make you want to bend down and take a good, long sniff.

Except for one. Blooming in the courtyard of the Staywell, just in front of the door in a little garden circle, is a corpse flower. The flower is massive: over three meters tall, giant stamen thrusting up to the sky with frilly red leaves around its base.

It's hard to avoid the flower: any time anyone opens the door to the courtyard, the scent enters the lobby, the parlor, the cafeteria. It seems to permeate the Staywell at random times. And the scent is strange: if you try to talk to anyone about it, they don't agree with you on how it smells. And they won't agree on how it affects you.

Smelling the corpse flower makes you feel a little... strange. Its effects vary by person, and even when a person smells it more than once, the effect might change. At first you feel a rush of disgust, then nausea, then--well.

When you smell the corpse flower, you might smell:
  • The most delicious thing you can imagine. You're suddenly extremely hungry and feel compelled to eat as much as possible.
  • The most wonderful, nostalgic scent. You feel compelled to proclaim your loyalty and friendship to the next person you see.
  • The most relaxing thing. Your body feels loose and relaxed and you feel at peace. You want to spread the love and feel compelled to get everyone else around you to chill the fuck out.
  • Sugary sweetness. You feel an intense draw of affection toward the people around you and feel compelled to compliment them in increasingly over the top ways.
  • The scent of raw, rotting meat. Everything around you suddenly look strangely... meaty. Is that chair made of meat? That wall? You're very acutely aware that you are made of meat, and that everyone around you is made of meat.
  • The smell of death. You feel a horrible, creeping sense of guilt and feel compelled to confess something awful you do or do not remember doing to the next person you see.

Comment below if you'd like a random smell (or feel free to select for yourself). Effects last anywhere from half an hour to an hour. Characters can experience different effects throughout the TDM. The corpse flower will be in bloom the first week of February and the first week of March, and closed the rest of the time.

tl;dr:
  • There's a corpse flower blooming in the courtyard of the Staywell.
  • When you smell its scent, you'll smell a scent that makes you do--something! Select from the list what you'd like to happen, or comment below for a random effect.


snackin: (soft | look | sad | quiet)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-01-20 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
[ There's a hopeful, hero-like energy about this boy that's already tedious, but Astarion gives him a winning smile back and sweeps a hand ahead of him in a universal "after you" gesture. ]

Together, then.

[ The air nips at his exposed skin, and the silence is strange, having filled it with chatter when he was alone. He doesn't feel quite so chatty now, and feels a tug of envy that this boy has a sword and he himself is unarmed. Well, mostly unarmed. ]

I take it that being lost in a maze full of horrific flora isn't an unheard of occurrence to you.
thinkfirst: (listening | understood | oh)

[personal profile] thinkfirst 2024-01-20 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Unfortunately, even the being lost part is familiar. My best attempts to map this maze in the last few months led nowhere. It's like it changes every time you go in.

[ Which is frustrating, and that's clear enough from the tone of his voice as he skirts around another little patch of meaty-smelling flowers leaning into the grassy pathway. Mud squelches under his boots. ]

But, yes, the maze itself has been here for three months, and I've woken up in it before. Most of us have. These flowers are new. My name is Flynn, by the way. Flynn Scifo. You remember your name, correct?
snackin: (smile | tease | purr)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-01-20 09:34 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He hadn't even considered forgetting his name, and now he does, and doesn't like it one bit. ]

Astarion. [ He says it with a bite in the word, then smooths it out ] A pleasure, Flynn Scifo.

A magic maze, lacking memories... and three months implies that you've been here for much longer.
thinkfirst: (unsure | wonder | bad plan)

[personal profile] thinkfirst 2024-01-20 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Twelve.

[ Flynn says the word softly to the wet grass and tries not to think about the way it feels on his tongue and in his body. A year in this place, and none of them any closer to leaving. A year since meeting Yuri. A year of struggling through the morass of himself.

Best to dwell on it later, though, when he's not in the middle of the maze and still pounding with the adrenaline of dying and waking up.
]

I'm sorry to say that it's... we haven't found a way to leave, that we know of, but the maze is really just a small part. We're aiming for town, and thankfully there's a place to sleep and plenty of food— goddess, I hope the bathhouse still works. When it's working, it's wonderful.
snackin: (sus | look | huh)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-01-20 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Twelve months. An entire year. Being trapped for an entire year makes him bristle, his hair standing on end, and he wants to snap, to hurt something, to carve his way out of this maze.

But instead he keeps his voice light
]

A bath would be a luxury. [ For him, right now. He isn't enjoying being filthy, despite what his squishing of the flowers might say ] The town is a prison, if one with amenities. Do you know anything of the jailers?
thinkfirst: (determined | ready to go | watching)

[personal profile] thinkfirst 2024-01-21 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
We have theories.

[ It's half an apology the way he says it, slipping out into the quiet grass. Mud squelches up over the toe of his boot. Flynn wrinkles his nose. ]

Nothing concrete. And no way out. I know it isn't the kindest welcome to this place.

[ Something ahead of them shifts, a half-sound that Flynn still stops for, holds out a hand to stop Astarion walking, too. His shoulders stiffen, and his voice drops. ]

Can you hear that?

[ It sounds like giggling, almost. Whispering? ]
snackin: (look | determined | annoyed | sus)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-01-21 04:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ That tickles something in his brain and Astarion frowns as he feels a sear of pain in his head. He sucks in a breath, but is at least distracted by Flynn's question.

He can hear it and his eyes narrow
]

Ah, are we to be mocked now? Mocking our predicament. Yes, add insult, of course. Why would they not.

Take out your sword. Give them a show of what happens when you mock Astarion and Flynn.
thinkfirst: (smile | taken aback | unsure)

[personal profile] thinkfirst 2024-01-25 01:29 am (UTC)(link)
[ Like a good soldier, Flynn draws his sword without question or hesitation. The slick sound of metal is almost soothing; its weight in his hand feels more natural than breathing, these days.

He holds it, careful and steady, slowing just a bit so Astarion is just behind his shoulder, and so he can flash a little bit of a smile back at him.
]

Let's see if they're a threat before we go putting on any shows. Stay behind me, to be safe.
snackin: (eyebrow | tease | intrigued)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-01-27 05:05 pm (UTC)(link)
[ How heroic of him. Astarion raises an eyebrow, and does as he says because what else should he do in the face of such a gesture? ]

Certainly. I would much rather leave any threats to the professional.

[ Not that he's defenseless, but why let on so soon? ]
thinkfirst: (side | sad | fight)

[personal profile] thinkfirst 2024-02-01 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ Huh. He really is a professional, isn't he? ]

I hadn't thought about it that way. That being a knight is a career, rather than something you're called to do. Either way— I'll protect you as best I can!

[ So far, those massive flowers aren't doing anything but laughing. Flynn edges closer, wary of their size and their voices— should flowers have voices? He feels like they shouldn't, but then, nothing here is normal. Probably he should be a little more careful, but the need to find Yuri is a drumbeat in his head.

A flower leans around behind Astarion. It isn't making any noise at all.
]
snackin: (soft | look | scared)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-02-03 03:59 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Such a gentleman. Astarion follows leisurely after him, watching this man move with the form of a soldier. Strong, built, vital and alive. Good enough to eat, perhaps. But not yet. Not yet, not until he's out of his maze and understands his circumstance. Then he can eat. ]

Why, thank you. I'd take a guess from your demeanor that you often find yourself in this position.
thinkfirst: (smile | taken aback | unsure)

[personal profile] thinkfirst 2024-02-05 04:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ Another smile, small and sincere, and a little bit caught. ]

I put myself here, in fairness! It wouldn't be right to leave disoriented people trying to figure out what's happened to wander alone. Things were much easier when everyone woke up in the hotel. Then it was only questions and not hazards. If I can help, then it's my duty to do so.

[ Hazards like, for example, giant flowers that are leaning down just behind Astarion the moment Flynn turns back to hold his sword up to the ones in front. ]
snackin: (angry | look | fight)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-02-07 03:47 am (UTC)(link)
[ Gods, this speech. It's like he's a knight from a storybook, and it makes Astarion want to gag. He's nearly too distracted by that, but only nearly, as he feels the air move by his head and dodges out of the way as the giant flower tries to swallow him up ]

Hah! Not today. [ He wants a sword in his hand, which is raised on instinct to fight the flower, but there's nothing in it. He growls instead, and skips back several steps. ] Knight! Your sword.
thinkfirst: (skit | smile | sigh | warm)

[personal profile] thinkfirst 2024-02-14 08:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He barely even has to ask. There is something about a direct order, said in a voice like that, that pangs through Flynn's temples and throbs there, familiar. He has no time to dwell on it: there's a flower to subdue, and he does it with a soldier's methodical grace. There's no flare to his movements or flourish on the way he swings his sword. A clean cut, a backstep to dodge the lunging jaws, a jab forward straight through petal into teeth and pistil and stamen. The flower snaps, and Flynn snaps back harder, and in a few moments and a rain of petals it falls, beheaded, twitching.

Flynn tugs Astarion aside so few teeth miss landing on him, his blade stained sticky with sap.
]

You have excellent reflexes. Maybe you don't need me after all! Ugh—

[ There's a sticky bunch of sap on his hand and under his boot. Flynn grimaces. ]

I hope the baths are still working.
snackin: (soft | look | eyebrow | tease | determin)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-02-16 04:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[ A good swordsman is a marvel to watch, and Astarion does with appreciation in his eyes. This boy has good form, moves well, handles that big sword with ease.

He doesn't appreciate the bodily handling of himself, though, and pulls himself out of Flynn's grip to smooth down his clothing
]

If I had a sword or a bow, I wouldn't. Unfortunately, I have woken up with nothing but my own body and its few weapons.

[ And he truly doesn't think that biting a flower will do anything ]

Baths, you say?
thinkfirst: (smile | laugh | tease)

[personal profile] thinkfirst 2024-02-17 11:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Just like Yuri, Flynn thinks without any offense at all. He watches another flower waving like it's thinking about leaning down to try its luck, and narrows his eyes at it for a moment before flashing a smile back at Astarion. ]

An entire bathhouse. Just wait until you see it! The labels on the rooms don't make very much sense but it doesn't seem to matter, and the baths themselves— if they're still there, of course— are wonderful. You'll appreciate them.

[ The state you're in, he doesn't quite say, but the implication is there. ]
snackin: (annoyed | angry | talk)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-02-17 11:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Astarion raises his brows. He gets the insinuation, even if Flynn says it pleasantly ]

Ha-ha, young knight. Yes, I woke up in my own grave. I'm not exactly at my best. And neither are you.

[ A dig right back, seeing as he's splattered with dirt and flower bits himself. ]
thinkfirst: (smile | confident | prince charming)

[personal profile] thinkfirst 2024-02-21 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
[ Flynn just laughs, smiling ruefully down at the mess of himself. The sap is sticky on his skin, tacky on the hilt of his sword, and it's probably going to get worse. He's going to desperately need a bath by the time they reach town. ]

I wasn't the one stomping flowers. Stick close, please. I'm sure there's more where these came from and I'd be a poor knight if I let you get eaten on your first day!