wildestmods: (kodama)
wildestmods ([personal profile] wildestmods) wrote in [community profile] wildestlogs2021-10-01 09:11 pm

TEST DRIVE ※ 1


TEST DRIVE #1


These woods are lovely, dark, and deep, but being lost in them is pretty alarming to most people. Perhaps it's lucky you're hearing what sounds like... a party?

If you follow the sounds through thinning trees, a brick-paved road rises from the ground ahead. Keep going, and you'll find yourself approaching a bustling festival. Small, jaunty, colorful buildings line a way bedecked with flags, banners, and (of course) ever-present vendors.

Good morrow! Dost thou carest for a turkey leg? Some funnel cake? Modestly priced costume jewelry? Come right this way, dear visitor! The faire is here!

First, however, the faeries would like a moment of your time. At one of the entry gates, a spritely, brightly-dressed faerie tells you, "Tickets are long-since sold out, but joy is one currency we accept. So as long as you plan to enjoy yourselves, you may enter with a day pass. However, please read the sign. By entering, it means you agree to the terms."

The faerie points to a large wooden sign with words painted on it. The sign says something to the effect that the summer faeries are not responsible for anything that happens at the faire, and by entering you're agreeing to exempt them from indemnifying you for not offering the same magical protections they offer proper ticket holders in the unlikely event of surprise and disaster, etc etc.

Fortunately, it's actually not that different from a standard legal agreement for some kind of dangerous activity like go-cart racing. Of course faeries would be careful about any legal disclaimers for events.

USEFUL LINKS

Premise/Short Facts | Arrival/Welcome | Setting Background/FAQ


A FAIRE SHAKE

A renaissance faire is in full swing in the woods today, or so it would seem. But no one here is just playing a part: these outsize personalities, bright costumes, and pseudo-Elizabethan voices are perfectly real.

It's the only place you can go for food and appropriate clothing. Also there's magic at your feet, drawing you towards others bound by the Quest magic, making it so all paths seem to lead to the Faire. Even if you don't want to enter, it feels like you have to, like there's something important to find.

a) The Faerie Toll
Some of the faeries are lighthearted and cheerful, with round and heart shaped faces and brightly colored clothes. These summer faeries are willing to part with some faerie coin in exchange for certain actions. Anyone that watches others take them up on their deals can see that the actions are indeed harmless, and there is no catch. Apparently happiness and frivolity really can be exchanged with the faeries here. Ways to earn a small bit of coin: physical comedy, agreeing to a round in the dunk tank (yes they have one), telling the faeries a good joke (but it really has to be a good one, by faerie standards), letting oneself getting pied in the face, and pieing someone you're with in the face, among other things. Silly dances are also in high demand, especially ones with actual rules vs. ones that are made up on the spot, with a clear preference for moves like tiktok dances, the macarena, or the Hustle.

b) New and In Stock

You tried to steal from the faeries instead of paying their toll, or have otherwise misbehaved. The faeries like your moxie, though. They'll let you keep what you took (if you took something), but first you're gonna have to do some time in the stocks.

Will anyone take mercy on you and bust you loose? Does anyone have a tomato? Perhaps you meet someone else while they're suffering a similar punishment in the other stocks across from you. If you didn't actually steal, maybe you got framed. Or you're in the stocks with your "partner in crime" who you were falsely accused of being affiliated.

Fortunately, you won't be in there overly long. Even if you can't escape and no one busts you out, the faeries aren't particularly cruel and the absolute worst you'll get thrown your way by the crowd is a fruit.

If you push, the faeries might also let you out if someone else agrees to be responsible for your good behavior. This could, naturally, lead to both of you doing more time together.

c) I'm Just Here For the Turkey Leg
Wandering lost in the woods is hungry work. Maybe you know better than to eat food offered by faeries, but the humans of the faire should be safe enough, right? Where else are you going to find a whole turkey leg, a funnel cake, or a cold beer around here? The lines can get pretty long though, and sometimes orders get mixed up, or someone swipes what was yours! Maybe they bump into you and spill food down your front. Or perhaps you see someone with no money and decide to offer to share.

Some of the food seems out of this world or is clearly made for a more alien palate (not always in an appetizing way). Most of the food has big enough portions if you're not the only one eating

d) Surely, You Joust
Whether you're just watching, betting on the outcome, or have convinced someone to armor you up and put you on a horse, the jousting tournament is a major event! Will anyone be able to unseat the intimidating Black Knight? Have you started a rivalry with a competitor you just met in a line twenty minutes ago? Are you helping another member of the squad by pumping them up for their match? Or are you just over here to see how many horses you can pet without anyone noticing?

Even those not interested in the competition might want to give it a whirl. There are different rewards for unseating certain levels of competitors like food supplies, flasks of boozeahol, small bags of silver or gold, and weapons of moderate quality, like swords, knives, or bows.

For those that don't own their own armor and lances, some light armor and lances are on loan but the armor is all dinged up and the lances are easily broken, putting someone using them at a disadvantage.

e) Everyone's a Comedian
You (and maybe your threadmate) are being teased by a pair of funnymen doing a bit, be they jesters, Punch and Judy style puppets, or a pair of washing well wenches. The audience is delighted, but are you? What are you both going to do?

f) Wares, If You Have Coin
You're here! You have some gold! Time to get yourself some "period appropriate" (for varying values of both words) gear. Have you found a shopping buddy? What if you resell some goods you just picked up at a slight markup? Are you suspicious of the quality of a vendor's goods? Maybe this item over here is the last of its kind, and you and this stranger want it!

g) Stop! Thief!
Someone picked your pocket or snatched something out of your hands! It might even be your thread partner. Do you give chase? If your threadmate isn't the thief, are they helping you chase the thief down or getting in your way?

h) Archery Range
Are you taking the chance to start learning a new skill on the practice targets? If it's any incentive, several fair maidens and handsome young fellows are hanging about, flirting with the best shots. If you're already good, you might be competing in the archery competition for a prize! The targets are close enough you can make conversation with the person one target over.

i) Fortune Told
A stubborn young blonde woman in a long purple robe with a pointed hat - one that looks more than a little bit witchy - is determined to read your fortune for you. Loudly. Whether you like it or not. She has to demonstrate her skills to drum up business, you see! Now please hold your hand still, she just needs to get a good look at your fate line...

(Note: Players will have to npc the fortuneteller says in their thread and can go absolutely wildly wrong. However, sometimes the fortuneteller suddenly gets more intense and guesses a few things closer to the truth...)

j) Out of Water
You draw attention to yourself with your behavior, or by how strange your manner of dress is (according to the faire folk, anyway.) Perhaps you have a still-functioning small electronic like a smartphone that's unlike anything they've ever seen. People are starting to give you the stink eye or ask you invasive questions. Will your threadmate help you out?

k) Bargaining With the Fae
There are some faeries here that are different from the sunny, cheerful summer faeries running the fair. These are the winter faeries, more ethereal and elegant, more immaculately dressed in finery that's a little too fancy for the event. Despite their beauty - or maybe because of it - these faeries are...colder. Many of them are busying themselves with maintaining magical lanterns around the edges of the faire. If asked, they tell your character they're handling security and to bug off.

But some of them maintain stands in shadier-looking areas of the faire. They're willing to offer more in exchange for greater payment. Warm, durable clothing to cut through the slight chill that comes at evening and night time. Swords made of much stronger metals than can be found elsewhere, of better make, with edges that take forever to dull. Bows with strings that rarely ever break.

Their deals are definitely backhanded though. For payment, they might say something like "we could really use your view on something, just a half hour of your time" and instead of having you participate in conversation where your insight is welcome, you lose your ability to see for a half hour.

These effects are unpleasant but usually temporary, lasting no longer than a half hour or so - but it's not like they'll tell you that. And if you try to go back to the stall afterwards to confront them, they'll have mysteriously disappeared. You'll at least get to keep whatever your bought and it will be of good quality, but the joke is definitely on you.

l) Wild Card!
You can make up anything your character might reasonably see at a normal Renaissance Faire, or place an encounter in the woods nearby! Go wild!


OOC DETAILS

This counts as a plot and is part of game canon! This means that new players aren't the only ones that can make top-levels. Current characters can be thrown in like it's any other plot or event. The default for threads is that they're game canon if all characters involved are apped in or already in game, but prospective players may opt out and consider a thread non-canon if they're not happy with it.

Feel free to play around with powers. If your character has powers from canon you want to play around with, go for it. If you'd like to test out possibilities for game powers, also go for it. Feel free to change it up from thread to thread if you need to. If you want to keep a thread as canon this can be handwaved as the magic making characters' powers shift a few times before settling.

Potential players may use test drive threads as their log samples. However, at least one post in their thread must fit the requirements for apps, and in quality and length (200 words). If you do plan on using a thread as a sample, please make sure the writing throughout your threads is a good example of your writing skills and has some solid examples of the character's voice.

Players can count TDMs towards AC, with the same AC rules as any other threads.

The game is invite-only. Players without invites are allowed to tdm since some of them may know someone in game to ask for one, and since some people enjoy TDMs just for fun in games they don't plan to app into. But an invite is required during the apping process.

The game is at a starting cap at 30 players. Right now the current number of invitees is likely to not exceed the game's 30 slots, but if we go a few over they will still be allowed to app during this first round. Future apps will be rolling apps and will have a wait queue if the cap has been exceeded.

Invites at game start are limited to current and former players of the mods' previous game Piper90 ([community profile] piper90), former players of the first incarnation of Wilderlands ([community profile] wilderlands, and people friended to the main mod's plurk. If any of those individuals want to invite someone outside those pools in the first app round, they can request it when the mods make a headcount of potential appers. If the game will be under (or only slightly over) 30 players to start, some extra players may also be invited, but the mods want to limit it to exceed the player cap too much.

The first game round will be apps only, no reserves. Apps open: 10/15/21. Game start: 11/01/21
furtitude: (102)

[personal profile] furtitude 2021-10-03 04:06 am (UTC)(link)
[Well that's an interesting similarity to discover from the word go: parent issues. He doesn't say "you might be better off" because he doesn't know her whole situation.]

Sorry about the whole...the pouncing thing. The situation I came from was...bad. And I don't know where the rest of my crew is. And I don't -

[Okay, yes, he is perilously close to tears, but he manages to just wipe at his eyes a little to keep them from falling, and stays on task.]

I haven't even had a minute to catch my breath.

Have you seen anyone else here yet? If those weird voice...people yanked the both of us from somewhere, they might be doing it to other people.
heterochrocatic: (121 » No day)

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2021-10-03 04:20 am (UTC)(link)
No, it's okay. Really.

[ Catra smiles, or tries to. It's supposed to be reassuring and she's still trying to get her heart to chill the fuck out. ]

I... I get it. I used to be in some pretty messed up situations myself. Sometimes pouncing is all you can do.

[ Carefully, Catra takes a few steps closer. They're slow and measured, meant to make sure Cato knows she's approaching so that he can take the space back if he wants it. ]

I haven't met anyone else yet. Unfortunately this isn't my first time getting pulled somewhere weird against my will, so we'll probably find some others once we start looking.
furtitude: (013)

[personal profile] furtitude 2021-10-03 06:35 am (UTC)(link)
[He does take a step back. He's clearly someone used to being on the defensive in a strange situation, to such a degree that movement during a time he's not relaxed causes a reflexive reaction.]

[But then it's clear she's not making sudden movements. No lunges or pounces, so he steps back towards her again and doesn't retreat.]

[He looks her over carefully, tries to see if there are any possibly concealed weapons other than the claws. But it looks like he's more armed than she is, with teeth and claws to match, and the mysterious swords he found near him when he woke up, strapped to his back.]

Okay. I guess, uh, I guess it's better to look around with someone, than doing it alone.

[He points at her. Serious face, Catra.]

But you better not be messing around and secretly who brought me here. Or we will have problems.

[He relaxes slightly again.]

[The "don't mess with me, look I can be big and scary" instincts are possibly familiar.]
heterochrocatic: (267 » We are made of the smallest stars)

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2021-10-03 03:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Catra looks very serious. She actually crouches down a little, putting herself at eye-level with Cato. She recognizes this instantly--the need to prove you're tough and big and that no one can get away with messing with you. ]

I'm not. I promise.

[ Her hands open. Close. Clench. ]

I don't lie to people.

[ Not anymore. ]
furtitude: (115)

[personal profile] furtitude 2021-10-04 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
[He believes her. Maybe other innocent people go grabbed like this. Maybe some of them are nice enough to try to help someone else.]

[He gives her a little nod.]

I'm hoping I can find the rest of my crew. We were facing something terrible. I need to either find them here or find a way home.

I hate the idea that they might be facing it without me.
heterochrocatic: (255 » Can you tell me what to have)

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2021-10-04 10:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, I'll do my best to help you find them. No guarantees, though. I have no idea where we are. I'm supposed to be on Etheria...

[ Sigh. Catra straightens up and smiles, just a little. ]

I know how you feel, though. You can't stand to be left behind.
furtitude: (090)

[personal profile] furtitude 2021-10-05 06:25 am (UTC)(link)
No. I...

Things have been bad enough even when I was there to help. They'll only be worse if I'm not.

[He shrugs one shoulder, but looks a little more hopeful now that he's found someone who wants to help him. Someone that seems at least partly-Ventrexian, even down to her name - or at least something similar.]

Do you want to look around with me? And see if we can find some answers?
heterochrocatic: (114 » I screamed aloud)

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2021-10-05 03:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah. Let's see what we can find.

I can hear something. Sounds like a party or whatever...

[ Her ears twitch, and she gestures in the direction of the faire. ]

That way, I think.
furtitude: (074)

[personal profile] furtitude 2021-10-06 05:52 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I hear it too.

[His ears twitch and scan in the direction of the noise like little radar detectors.]

[He sticks close to her as they walk closer.]

Is Etheria your home planet? You mentioned it earlier. I've never heard of it. And I get around. I've been to lots of worlds.
heterochrocatic: (205 » We could not be more far apart)

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2021-10-06 04:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, yeah. It's my home planet as far as I know. Never knew my family, plus we were kind of cut off from the rest of the universe for one thousand years.

[ She snorts softly. ]

Not that that stopped Adora, somehow.

[ As she walks, she crosses her arms across her front. ]

We were gonna go on a trip in space after all the stuff at home was dealt with and then... all this other crap happened.
furtitude: (074)

[personal profile] furtitude 2021-10-15 04:47 am (UTC)(link)
How was your world cut off? I'd think that sounded like the worlds in Final Space but I think they were cut off from the rest of the universe way longer than 1000 years.

[Which had made them weird as hell.]
Edited 2021-10-15 04:48 (UTC)
heterochrocatic: (204 » she's next to me)

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2021-10-16 05:10 am (UTC)(link)
It's complicated and it's not like I know the details, but from what I heard magic shoved it into it's own dimension to hide it because people wanted to use its magic as a weapon to hurt a bunch of other people. Messed up, honestly.

[ And look where that had gotten them. ]

If Adora was here she could probably fill you in.
furtitude: (077)

[personal profile] furtitude 2021-10-16 06:36 am (UTC)(link)
Okay, yeah, that's definitely different than a part of space getting closed off so it's where spacetime goes to die. Annnd where just about every part of it is inhospitable to organic life.

[He rattles that off very casually like the crew didn't just spend the last few months in a desperate bid to stop the Titans and evade a cosmic horror to get home alive.]

Even if we're from the same universe it's probably from different places in it. And we might be from different ones. There are a lot of different universes and timelines.

[He peers around the wild woods.] Including this one. What'd they call it, the Wilderlands?

What do you think "the Green" is? You know, besides a color?
heterochrocatic: (232 » Look what you made me do)

[personal profile] heterochrocatic 2021-10-18 06:06 pm (UTC)(link)
That sounds... not so good, honestly.

[ Why is it that everyone she meets sounds like they're just having the worst time of it? ]

Yeah, the Wilderlands. The Green might be the forest? Or some kind of like... I dunno...

[ Catra waves her hands vaguely. ]

Magic. Thing.