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
talk_radio: (Default)

J

[personal profile] talk_radio 2021-10-02 03:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Bumblebee, despite being 12 feet tall and painted bright yellow, can be surprisingly stealthy when he wants to be. It helps when the person he's trying sneak up on has their attention focused somewhere else.

Once he's behind the man haranguing Lug, Bee speaks up. Such as he can, anyways.

"A mighty robot, from uncharted regions of the universe. Does that answer your question?," he says, his apparent voice swapping from a deep one full of gravitas, to that of a teenager.

Bee looms over him just a bit. Not intentionally, but being twelve feet tall around people who only rarely top out 7 means looming happens whether he want to or not.
blacksmithed: (pic#15186583)

casually retcons Anode to be the same height as 'Bee

[personal profile] blacksmithed 2021-10-02 04:15 pm (UTC)(link)
"Oh thank God," Anode says with evident relief when she sights someone who's obviously also Cybertronian--or at least some other kind of mechanoid. She exhales through her vents as the old man, startled by the appearance of yet another large robotic interloper, turns to shake his cane at Bumblebee. He also realizes he's outnumbered and starts to beat a retreat, muttering about what the world is coming to these days.

Anode bends over, hands on knees, and takes another deep breath before she straightens out to look at Bumblebee.

"Thanks for the save, that guy was mad. I know the war wasn't popular but sheesh!" She shrugs, arms akimbo as if to ask 'what can you do?' Notably, Bumblebee might notice no sign of either an Autobot OR a Decepticon brand on the flyer's frame.

"I'm Anode--do you know what planet we're on? I'm supposed to be on a spaceship but we were about to make a quantum jump so maybe something went wrong?" A pause, then hurriedly:

"And have you seen any other Cybertronians? Especially a little one, about this tall--" she starts to gesture against her own frame, then seems to remember that she's shorter than before and adjusts.

"Okay maybe like as tall as I am now or a little taller? Grey and red plating, absolutely beautiful and gorgeous, turns into a backpack?"
talk_radio: (Ready)

Re: casually retcons Anode to be the same height as 'Bee

[personal profile] talk_radio 2021-10-02 10:07 pm (UTC)(link)
"I haven't." Bee answers, shaking his head.

The lack of faction symbol doesn't really register with him. They aren't always immediately obvious. Even his own is just a small raised decoration on his forehead, painted the same yellow as the rest of him.

That he couldn't immediately peg which side she was on would normally be slightly concerning, but she hadn't killed the guy. Hadn't even threatened to. Most Decepticons he was familiar with would have vaporized him without a second thought.

"I don't know where we are, either. I'm guessing you haven't seen Optimus?"

He doesn't bother with a description. It's not something that feels necessary.
blacksmithed: (pic#15187049)

Spoilers for Lost Light #25 and just the whole Unicron arc from IDW 2005.

[personal profile] blacksmithed 2021-10-02 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
"Optimus? Like... Optimus Prime? That Optimus?" Anode arches a brow.

"Never met the guy." She pauses, wonders if maybe this poor mech has just been out of the loop lately.

"I did, um... hear some stuff, though... When Prowl and his gang got in touch with his again. Over on the Functionist Cybertron. It's complicated, I don't even understand most of it, so don't ask me to explain, but there was another Cybertron from an alternate universe, ended up in our universe and... yeah. But, uh..." She clasps her hands together and frowns.

"I heard he's dead."
talk_radio: (Default)

Re: Spoilers for Lost Light #25 and just the whole Unicron arc from IDW 2005.

[personal profile] talk_radio 2021-10-02 11:34 pm (UTC)(link)
"Wait, what?" Bee says, emitting the sound of a record scratch.

"You need to explain. Because I just saw Optimus on Earth right before I got here."
blacksmithed: (pic#15186588)

[personal profile] blacksmithed 2021-10-02 11:47 pm (UTC)(link)
"Well, like, this Unicorn monster showed up and ate Cybertron? And then Optimus Prime and a bunch of other mechs got together to try and stop it and I guess he threw himself into the black hole at the center of Unicron," Anode says, her voice filled with uncertainty.

"That's what I heard, anyway," she says a moment

"Not sure when he was on uh, what did you call it? Earth? I don't keep up with Autobots and Decepticons and stuff, especially now that the war is over." Sorry Bumblebee, she got yoinked to the present day from 500 years ago. She's barely heard of Earth.
talk_radio: (Default)

[personal profile] talk_radio 2021-10-03 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
Bumblebee stares for a bit.

"The war isn't over." He'd had his throat ripped out by Blitzwing less than a week ago. It very definitely wasn't over.

"You said something about an alternate universe," he says, the speech through his radio briefly mimicking hers.

"I think that's what's goin' on here. Because none of that made sense."
blacksmithed: (pic#15187070)

[personal profile] blacksmithed 2021-10-03 12:16 am (UTC)(link)
"Pretty sure it is. There were former Decepticons and Autobots on the Lost Light crew," Anode insists, rubs at her chin in thought.

"It's the only thing that makese sense, though, since I don't think I've ever seen a mech quite like you," Anode admits as a hand settles at her waist.

"It makes perfect sense if you're from my universe, I promise.
talk_radio: (Default)

[personal profile] talk_radio 2021-10-03 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
"It's the voice isn't it?" Bee says when Anode mentions never meeting a mech quite like him. He taps his neck. While everything visible is still intact, there's enough cosmetic damage there to indicate someone did something very nasty to it recently.

"♫All we hear is radio ga ga, radio goo goo, radio ga ga♫"
blacksmithed: (pic#15186588)

[personal profile] blacksmithed 2021-10-03 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
"Ooh, someone fragged your vocal processor?" Anode leans forward to get a better look.

"That's rough. Too bad Lotty isn't here It does explain the voice, yeah. But no I was talking more like... general design? Aesthetically you look just, you know, different than most other Cybertronians I've run into."