Entry tags:
6.0 Test Drive Meme
6.0 Test Drive Meme
Premise & Arrival ֍ FAQ ֍ Apply ֍ Navigation
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 May onward, and can happen concurrently with other events during May and June. This will be the only TDM for May, June, and July.
Applications are open April 26th until May 1st, and May 27th until June 1st. Invites are available for friends of current players.
Arrival: Escape!
Content warnings: forced captivity, blood, eating eyes, drowning in sand, forced intimacy
If you don't complete a task in five minutes, you will return to very first room and have to start again.
You can choose your own path, or comment below to have a random path set for you!
1. There Ain't Room
2. Glitter Bomb
3. Riddles Three
A. Cry For Me
B. Love Me
C. Hold Me
I. Blood
II. Sweat
III. Tears
The receptionist greets you as he always does, welcoming you home.
New characters arrive using this prompt. Characters can return from death from the previous cycle using this prompt. You can also just wake up and be in this prompt, so you can do this as many times as you like.
tl;dr:
The First Room
You wake up somewhere dark and damp. Maybe this is your first time waking up here, maybe it's your fourth, but the beginning is the same. You're in a small stone room. The only light comes from torches flicking on the walls. The room is bare except for a metal door. And you're not alone. You and someone (or someones) are here together, and you have to get out.After this, you find yourself in one of the following rooms. Choose one from the first set, then one from the second set, then one from the third set. You will always end in the final room. You must travel through five rooms to escape.
The door is locked, and to leave it you must just find one key. On the door is a note with a clue:
Freedom is hot!
The key is in fact in one of the torches! Depending on luck, you might find it on your first try, or your fourth. Find a way to extinguish the torches, and handle the hot, hot key to unlock the door.
If you don't complete a task in five minutes, you will return to very first room and have to start again.
You can choose your own path, or comment below to have a random path set for you!
The Second Room
You find yourself in one of the following rooms:1. There Ain't Room
2. Glitter Bomb
3. Riddles Three
1. There Ain't Room
In this room is a shooting game. There's a barrier with bebe guns attached to it, and at the far end are small cut outs of people. There's a sign on the far wall, in old-West style script, reading:
There Ain't Room
The cut outs look sort of familiar! There are cut outs of you and your compatriot(s), as well as some typical cowboy looking cut outs. Shoot your own cut out to escape! You each must shoot your own one, if you shoot each others', that person feels it as if they have been shot, and will start bleeding.
When you successfully hit all of your own cut outs, the floor under you opens up and you drop into the next room.
2. Glitter Bomb
As you walk through the doorway, you feel oddly.... sticky? Like your skin is covered in honey. Because it is! Yum.
In front of you is a room covered in glitter. There's so much glitter. You can't see a door, but you have to find a way out. Search the room to find the exit.
The exit is a trapped door in the floor. You'll need to make your way through the glitter, all the while it will stick to your very sticky skin. You'll need to dig a big enough path to get through, open the door and get into the next room! Too bad some glitter will come with you, and you'll still be sticky.
3. Riddles Three
A large hour glass in the middle of the room starts ticking down with sand as soon as you enter this room. One three of the walls are riddles engraved in the stone, and chalkboards in front of them. You must answer all three riddles correctly before the sand runs out to escape:Once you answer correctly, the hour glass disappears, leaving a hole in the floor that you must jump through to exit.
- Where waves kiss sand and breezes blow, where tropic dreams grow, I'm where you want to go. What am I? Answer: Kokomo
- With auburn locks and eyes of green, a rival, a threat, a beauty queen. Answer: Jolene
- With cowboy hats and boots that stride, no one told me where my horse I ride. Answer: Old Town Road
The Third Room
Next, you find yourself in one of the following rooms:A. Cry For Me
B. Love Me
C. Hold Me
A. Cry For Me
This room is beautiful and shiny, the walls made of crystals. In the middle of the room is a crystal plinth with a small crystal cup on it. In flowing script around the cup it reads:
Collect five tears
You must collect five tears in the cup to escape. Once you do, an entry way opens in the crystal in front of you.
B. Love Me
This room is very plain, and on a piece of paper dangling from a string in the middle of the room is the instructions for this room:
Exchange five sincere compliments each. Don't break eye contact.
You must do this within the alloted five minutes to escape. If the compliments are less than sincere, you may try again, but if you don't reach the five each by the end of the five minutes or if you break eye contact even once, you will be returned to the first room.
C. Hold Me
This room looks a lot like the pub in town. The walls are wood paneled and there's jangling piano music coming from--somewhere?
In the middle of the room is a mechanical bull, with a sign reading:
Stay on the bull together for 45 seconds.
If you succeed within the five minutes, you're free to continue on!
The Fourth Room
Next, you find yourself in one of the following rooms:I. Blood
II. Sweat
III. Tears
I. Blood
This room is very tall. There's a rope dangling down one wall. On the wall it reads:
Climb!
And that's what you have to do. The word "Climb" starts to bleed. And then the walls start to bleed. The room will fill up with blood within five minutes, so you better get climbing!
At the top of the room is a hatch that will let you escape through a hatch in the ceiling.
II. Sweat
When you enter this room, one of you finds that you are alone. You're standing at the edge of a pool, and that pool is full of sand. It's also searingly hot in here. On the wall, it reads:
Rescue your partner!
One person is chained at the bottom of a swimming pool full of sand. A counter on the wall counts down until they will suffocate. Better get swimming!
Once you've rescued your partner, a door on the other side of the pool will open up. Better move fast to get there!
III. Tears
This room is dark, very dark. You can just barely see, except for a glow-in-the-dark sign reading:
Eat some eyes!
And that's what you need to do! In the walls are eyes. They're watching you. You must each eat an eye to continue on. Once you do, a door cracks open in the far wall.
The Fifth Room
No matter the path you took to get here, the final room is the same:The last room you end up in, even though you enter through the same door, you find yourselves separated by a wall. There is a door for each of you at the far side of the room. You can hear each other, but you can't see each other. Each of you have a plinth in front of you, which reads:When you escape, you step into the lobby of the Staywell. It's bright and airy with beautiful white stone. When you look behind you, it seems that you've stepped out of a supply closet. Weird!
Who should escape?
In front of you are the names of yourself and your partner(s). You place the name of the person you believe should escape in a slot in the table.
Once everyone has made a selection, the names will light up:If your room is green, when you open the final door, you've escaped! Welcome to Wellstone.
- If you all chose each other, your room lights up green.
- If you all chose yourselves, your room lights up green.
- If someone chose themselves, and someone else chose another person, the room of the person with the most "votes" lights up green. The others light up red.
If your room is red, when you open the door, you find yourself back in the first room. Good luck!
The receptionist greets you as he always does, welcoming you home.
New characters arrive using this prompt. Characters can return from death from the previous cycle using this prompt. You can also just wake up and be in this prompt, so you can do this as many times as you like.
tl;dr:
- You wake up in an escape room! You must finish (at least) five rooms to escape. You have five minutes to finish each room. If you fail, you'll be taken back to the beginning of the dungeon.
It's alive!
Content warnings: public shaming
When you shake off the glitter and the sand, it might be time to head on down into Wellstone town. The air is full of a shimmering warmth that might be familiar to some. It's like the sun has been baked into the very stones and is radiating back up at you. Run-down buildings lean against each other for support, made out of mostly weathered stone with a few old boards here and there to keep structures up. Desiccated, skeletal fingers of dried-out ivy climb them, waving occasionally as you pass. Waving, and… whispering? For more information about how the town has changed, check out this month's Wellstone Post or read the Locations Page.
The town is alive with sneering, whispering voices. It's unclear where exactly they're coming from, but they're everywhere. Step into the Cactus Pad Tavern and you might hear a decisive no manners! spat sharply from the doorway. Make your way to the steaming bathhouse to wash off that honey, but be careful when you're undressing: you might just hear rude snickering from the air around you. Wow, the walls might say, your toes are so long. What weird feet!
The voices might interrupt a conversation at breakfast to make fun of something you said. Your mirror and your wardrobe might question your outfit choices. They're loud enough to be heard by everyone in a public space and seem to delight in saying cutting things at the worst possible moment. You don't recognize the voices, exactly, but they seem just familiar enough to really hurt, and the voices seem to know you well enough. They might even call you out when you tell a little white lie, or let everyone know exactly how loud you snore.
There's no way, seemingly, to get them to shut up, so... may as well get used to it?
tl;dr:
When you shake off the glitter and the sand, it might be time to head on down into Wellstone town. The air is full of a shimmering warmth that might be familiar to some. It's like the sun has been baked into the very stones and is radiating back up at you. Run-down buildings lean against each other for support, made out of mostly weathered stone with a few old boards here and there to keep structures up. Desiccated, skeletal fingers of dried-out ivy climb them, waving occasionally as you pass. Waving, and… whispering? For more information about how the town has changed, check out this month's Wellstone Post or read the Locations Page.
The town is alive with sneering, whispering voices. It's unclear where exactly they're coming from, but they're everywhere. Step into the Cactus Pad Tavern and you might hear a decisive no manners! spat sharply from the doorway. Make your way to the steaming bathhouse to wash off that honey, but be careful when you're undressing: you might just hear rude snickering from the air around you. Wow, the walls might say, your toes are so long. What weird feet!
The voices might interrupt a conversation at breakfast to make fun of something you said. Your mirror and your wardrobe might question your outfit choices. They're loud enough to be heard by everyone in a public space and seem to delight in saying cutting things at the worst possible moment. You don't recognize the voices, exactly, but they seem just familiar enough to really hurt, and the voices seem to know you well enough. They might even call you out when you tell a little white lie, or let everyone know exactly how loud you snore.
There's no way, seemingly, to get them to shut up, so... may as well get used to it?
tl;dr:
- The town is alive, and it is judging you. Your outfits, your words, your body, your habits: nothing is off-limits.
- The voices sound just familiar enough to feel like voices you know, but aren't able to be pinpointed to a single person.
1
[ Honestly, it's a surprise to hear anyone at all in here. Olympia has absolutely no idea where she has found herself, but the room felt so small and so dark that the girl was starting to assume she was alone in here.
It wasn't a great thing to assume, considering Olympia absolutely does not like being alone. Even less so after meeting a terrible end, and even less so after having spent most of the month before all by herself as well, trying to isolate herself from the infected.
It makes the sudden sound of his voice in the darkness startling, but it also feels like a relief. Like sinking down into a warm bath. Comfortable.
The relief quickly moves right into her voice as she speaks on. ]
Oh, Flynn, I'm so glad you're here..!
no subject
[ There's no mistaking that voice or the flicker of flame on bright hair, visible to Flynn's slowly-adjusting eyes. Those torches sure aren't burning very brightly, high up on the walls as they are, and their pitchy scent is stifling in this small space.
He barely feels like himself, and Olympia— sweet Olympia, with relief enough in her voice to assure him that it's really her— is a balm to his jangling nerves. Carefully, Flynn stretches out his hands until his fingertips bump into her in the darkness. ]
Thank goodness— have you been in here long? Do you know how we got here?
[ Because Flynn remembers very clearly the last thing that happened to him, and it freezes his blood to think of Olympia dying, too. ]
no subject
And though the pale girl needs a moment to calm down her heart after that moment of panic, she still doesn't fully take a pause before answering him, like she's too worried about the sort of impression she might give off if she'd leave him hanging for too long after that yelp in the dark. ]
I, um-- I think everything reset again.
[ It's the only likely explanation to her, though usually it doesn't start like this. Not that she can remember, anyway. Did that infection break something about this place..? ]
Though I don't know at all where we are right now.. I was only here for a little bit until I realised you were here too.
no subject
A whole month. The town reset, again. Yuri went through that alone. ]
I see. We're trying to get back, then, aren't we?
[ Steady, Flynn. You can do this. ]
I suppose that needs to be our first priority. Getting out of this room, and back to town, and then— if you made it, I'd like to hear... how things ended.
no subject
Not that she can refuse Flynn of all people though. Even now, he's being so brave. Promising to help him feels like the least the girl can do in return. ]
Okay. [ She says - wishing her voice didn't sound so worried and scared, but it's hard to summon a whole lot of bravery when last month still hangs so heavily over her, when now being stuck in a dark place she doesn't recognize feels just as terrifying. ]
There's-- I think there's a door over there.
[ If he can see where she's pointing through this half-darkness, anyway. It's hard to see everything with only the torchlight going for them. ]
no subject
But that comes later. First they need to get out, and there, at least, he can take the lead and let Olympia lean on him after the month it sounds like she's had.
For the first time, Flynn squints at the sign over it just visible in the orange. He takes a few steps closer, mouthing the words first silently and then aloud for Olympia's benefit, ]
"Freedom is—" does that say "hot"? It must mean those torches, then, right? It's a good idea to get one down to light our way, anyway. Cecelia's lights would be useful.
no subject
[ Maybe she's saying it a little too quickly. It's partially the desire to not linger too long on what happened during the last month, let alone during the end of it all. But it's also partially that last part that Flynn says. Even if Olympia knows that he doesn't mean anything by it, her own brain can't help but be hard on herself over it.
See? It would have been better for him to have someone else here.
Someone more useful.
It's why the girl is already moving across the torchlit room towards one of said torches, like she's determined to be helpful to Flynn one way or another. Especially when she couldn't do a thing for him or the other infected people last month.
But as Olympia tries to grab for one of the torches, she lets out a slight groan. ]
It's-- I think they may be stuck..?
[ Maybe the solution isn't just to take one of the torches and bring it up to the door then.
.. or maybe she's just too short or too weak to get a proper hold on one, but Olympia would rather not consider that possibility right when she's trying her best to be helpful. ]
no subject
[ It doesn't even occur to him that maybe she's not strong enough to pull it down: Olympia, he is sure, knows the difference between something stuck and something that's too heavy for her. She wouldn't have said stuck if it wasn't truly stuck.
It's very possible his theory is wrong, after all. Flynn frowns up at the one in front of him, stepping closer to try and tug, and... sure enough, it stays stuck. He shoves a hand against his hip in a move very reminiscent of Yuri. ]
In that case, it must be something else. Could one of the torches be a lever? I...
[ Flynn pauses. Tilts his head the other way, and then huffs out something like a rueful laugh. ]
I wish I were better at puzzles. If it's a riddle, what could it mean?
no subject
So it means the answer is something else, but.. he seems to be struggling with it. Olympia isn't too sure whether she could possibly think up the answer if he can't, but she's trying all the same. She stares at the torches, frowning a little. Freedom is hot. Freedom is.. hot..?
It does make an idea rise within her, but it's not one she really likes - for soon to be obvious reasons - so she sounds rather reluctant about it as she speaks up. ]
Do we have to.. um.. reach into the fire..?
[ Which would be bad! They'd burn themselves!! It feels like a bad solution and an even worse idea, and Olympia visibly winces a little bit as she's saying it, like she regrets the words as soon as they leave her mouth. ]
no subject
Flynn's lips part, silent and surprised, because— well, of course that would be it, wouldn't it? They're still in Wellstone, or close enough to it. If there's one thing they should have been able to count on, it's that no solution is going to be easy or pleasant and— ]
Of course!
[ That is, arguably, the wrong tone. Flynn presses down on his own enthusiasm, keenly aware that now it seems like it's excited about one of them potentially hurting themselves. ]
I mean— well, of course it would be something like that, wouldn't it? This town wouldn't make it easy, so we have to think about the thing we wouldn't want to do. That's an excellent idea. We'll just need something to protect my fingers, or else I'll need to be very quick about it.
[ It does not even cross his mind that Olympia will be doing this: if there's something dangerous at hand, in Flynn's mind, it falls to him, for better or worse. That knight's code sure does get stifling. ]
no subject
Thankfully he does suppress it after a moment, but at the initial hint of it Olympia looks baffled. She isn't sure if she should be worried about Flynn that he can express that level of excitement in the face of potentially burning himself or if she should admire him for being so brave that it doesn't scare him at all..
.. in the end the girl seems to settle somewhere in the middle, giving him a half-worried glance. ]
What can even protect your fingers from fire? [ Olympia certainly isn't from a modern enough place to know. Or at least - she doesn't seem to have any instinctive knowledge despite her lack of memories, since that sounds like a very genuinely clueless question. ] Maybe we could just-- just stop the fire first? If we blow on it really hard?
[ Even though the fire is clearly too big for that. It's not a birthday cake.. ]
I don't want you to get hurt. E-Especially not if we're stuck here, and there's no one else to help you.. [ It's just Olympia. And what is she supposed to do? She's not a doctor! ]
no subject
If anything goes wrong, I'll be able to heal us at least a little. The goddess answers at least those prayers.
[ He isn't sure how, even now, but that's what his magic feels like: a call for help from a deity he barely knows and who listens all the same. They may be out of reach of all other help but here, at least, he's sure she'll answer.
Even so, Olympia is right about one thing: they haven't any gloves, and if anything is in there, it's bound to be incredibly hot. ]
If we can do it without getting hurt, though... perhaps if we layered enough fabric, and then one of us blew as hard as we could to minimize the flames...
[ You're doing great, you two. ]
no subject
It feels almost wrong to suggest this, but.. it does feel a little more possible than Flynn's own suggestion, especially when they're working with practically nothing here, as far as Olympia can tell. It's hard since the room is so dark outside of the light of the torches, but she's pretty sure there's nothing else here, so-- ]
Flynn.. can you grab it? You don't have to put out the torches first. If you're quick enough about it, then maybe you could be fine, since I can-- [ She doesn't look happy about saying this, but considering it's literally their only shot at not being stuck forever in here, and since she doesn't even know whether anyone is aware they're stuck in here to come help them in the first place.. ] --I can turn off your senses in that hand for a moment. Um. If I'm careful.
[ Because if she isn't careful, she'd outright paralyze his hand. But if it's just a moment, then she thinks that maybe she can control her power enough for it to be relatively safe. ]
no subject
He has to do so in several steps, because this is so entirely out of his depth. Olympia can... turn off his senses? He thinks about John, feeling his heart, and the spangle of something foreign and other along his own skin and bones. He thinks about the way he'd been trapped there, kept behind his own eyes, watching himself do something he hadn't wanted to do, and pushes through the rising fear with the bullishness that's kept him alive this long. It's better than healing himself. He hadn't known Olympia could do anything like that, but then, so many people here can do so much.
He flexes his own fingers, like a test, and looks at her through the flames. ]
Just for a moment?
no subject
[ The girl still clearly seems uncomfortable. On the other hand, she knows it''s not like she can walk it back now. She already said it. ]
Yes. I-- I will have to be very careful about it, but I'm pretty sure I can do that with you. [ Because Flynn registers so very little as a threat in her mind. Surely even her overly active power will be able to tell that, not going all out right away. ] But if you take too long, it could-- it could do more damage.
[ Though Olympia doesn't specify, the implication of permanent paralysing is likely very obvious, given what she's offering here. ]
So I don't want to do it unless you're really sure. I understand it must sound like a scary power. [ Because she knows it is.
And she also knows she'd never forgive herself if she hurt someone as kind as Flynn. ]
no subject
[ The problem is maybe that Flynn is used to scary-sounding powers now. He remembers, fuzzily and with a certain embarrassed tinge, leaning back against John with something warm buzzing through his veins, asking if John could feel his heart and delighting in the fact that, apparently, he could.
The thing that had taken him over— that was an alien thing altogether. Something else, something untrustworthy, wrenching and grasping without care or empathy. It was, in fact, nearly the opposite of Olympia herself, and so maybe it's those two things (trust and godhood, or something like it) that put Flynn's racing heart at ease.
He holds out his hand with a soft, determined smile. ]
I'll be very quick. If it will help, you should do it. I trust you.
no subject
Not necessarily in a bad way, but.. not necessarily in a good way either. Olympia isn't sure how to deal with it, after all. A part of her is so infinitely grateful that someone as kind and amazing as Flynn is willing to put his trust into her in the first place, but another part of her is just as terrified of accidentally betraying it. She doesn't want to. She'd never want to.
.. It just means she has to do this right, doesn't it? She has to hold back her power, keep it from doing worse. She has to. It's Flynn.
The girl sucks in a deep breath, and then does move to grasp his hand with both of hers. It's somewhat gingerly, like she's scared. Worried. ]
Okay. When I tell you to do it, you have to do it really quick, okay? Don't hesitate. Because I'll have to release it soon after, and if your hand is still in the fire then, you'll have a problem.. [ Because having a hand in the fire with your senses returned to you sucks, obviously.
She takes in another breath, and then forces a memory into her brain. Like she isn't touching Flynn right now. That it's instead someone's hands from back in one of the few memories she has. When all those people crowded upon her, way too many, and she was terrified, and they expected so much from her, and someone touched her and begged her to kill him-- ]
N-Now!
[ The panic instantly activates her power. If Flynn moves to grab the key out of the fire with his other hand, he won't feel the flames at all. There's no sensation in general. Being in the flames feels the same way as being in the air, as if his hand is detached from his body. It's a strange feeling, maybe even a little off-putting--
But like Olympia promised, she drops it after a moment, quickly releasing her hold on Flynn's free hand, instantly returning all sensation to his body. ]
no subject
Flynn drops it all at once with a tiny yelp, already shaking his fingers off to dismiss the sting of hot metal. A little silver key goes pinging around his feet. ]
no subject
And that thought is terrifying. ]
Flynn?
[ It's why her voice suddenly sounds so vulnerable and scared, shaking a little. How could she ever forgive herself if she hurt him? ]
A-- Are you alright? Is your hand back to normal now..?
no subject
[ Flynn says, a little too quickly, as he drops to the floor in a very practiced kneel to look for the thing. He looks up after a second, his eyes bright in the darkness. ]
The key itself was hot. That's what it was— there's a key. You figured it out.
no subject
[ There's a second she's quiet, like she doesn't know how to take the compliment. (It feels like one, after all. Or maybe it's just the way Flynn says it, going out of his way to give credit to her contribution in this entire matter.)
Olympia ends up not really looking like she's sure what to say to it though. Instead the girl also drops to her knees, blindly feeling along the floor for the key. It feels more productive than getting all flustered about getting a compliment and doing nothing to help.. ]
But you were brave about grabbing it. [ She finally says, especially as she realises she's not finding the key right away by just feeling around. ] That's-- That's really important too. We need brave people in this place. Especially when things get kind of scary and confusing, like the way they are now..
[ What else would you call dying and then reappearing in some dark room you can't escape from? That's pretty scary and confusing to her. ]
no subject
[ He pulls the shining thing from a dark crack in the floor with a smile and shifts up with it, offering Olympia a hand. ]
Let's get out of here.
no subject
For a moment it almost seems like she might not say anything at all, but then the words slowly - and a little uncertainly - leave her mouth anyway. ]
But.. couldn't you do things by yourself if you tried? You're-- um, you're Flynn.
[ She says that word like it's somehow a synonym for 'amazing.'
Someone who - in Olympia's eyes - seems like he can do anything. ]
You're like one of those knightly princes from stories.
this would be a good endtag if we want to move onto newer stuff!! I loved this thread......
Well, you've grown up to be a model knight, Yuri had hissed at him in the blazing desert sun, his eyes full of anger too deep to root out or smooth over. Flynn remembers feeling out of his body then, watching everything happen with muted horror from three feet to the left of himself. Two deaths on his head, and he hasn't even told Yuri about those, he thinks, because shame clouds his tongue when he tries, and Olympia is looking at him like a savior in the darkness.
Flynn swallows back his protest. If she needs him to be a knightly prince from a story, then that's what he'll have to be, no matter how often he feels like a child wearing his father's armor and barely fitting into the cracks.
He smiles. In the darkness, it's a brittle thing. ]
I'm trying to be. That's all.
[ She can't see his face when he turns to pull the door open, all chivalry, and that's probably for the best, because Flynn doesn't feel at all in control of himself. He'll have to do better if they're going to get out of here in one piece. ]
yes, let's end it on that one! <3 thank you for the thread!