restormania | TDM 001.2 SPRING

Entry tags:

!tdm

TDM 001.2 SPRING

TEST DRIVE MEME 001.2

What Will You Do Now, Traveler?

I. Greetings, Travelers.

You heard the voice, the song, the Call. You turned toward that voice and are falling, tripping through time and space, colors swirling all around you. You blinked.

You open your eyes to the great sprawling roots and unbending branches of the Tree of Harmony above you, looming across a twilight sky. You look around to find yourself in an open roof auditorium. And you are not alone. Others are there, waking up just as you are when figures step from around the tall stark columns circling the center of the room.

”Greetings, Travelers. The Sentinels of Restoria welcome you to our Greenhouse of Unity. The Devourer comes for us all and we must bond our worlds to save them. We cannot save your worlds without your help.”

Your guide will lead you down a long staircase to another area of the Greenhouse’s compound: the Hall of Travelers. There you will be told what to expect of your time in Restoria, of the impending cosmic threat of the Devourer and the corrupting influence of the Enders, and the importance of strengthening this world in order to save yours. If you accept, you will select a House: Stone or Cloud. Your House will provide benefits to you to help you in your new role, should you choose to accept it, including your choice of communication device and guidance in your spiritual training.

If you need additional time to consider, you will be given leave to rest there in the Hall itself on one of the many comfortable cots provided for your rest period. Simple vegetarian meals are on offer, and Travelers are allowed to wander the public areas of the Greenhouse, such as the Grand Hall and Conservatory, or to peruse the Shop and its small library. Maybe others will need time just as you do to think about the serious decision you are undertaking.

II. Fun and Games

Those that choose to stay will be led to common area of the Travelers' Dormitory for yet another orientation: this time, on how to use your brand-new communication devices! More specifically, how to play children's games on them. The mastery of Restorian magitech requires mental focus, and that takes practice. After an invigorating demonstration of a new-age holographically displayed twist on tic-tac-toe, Pictionary, marbles, Pong, or any other game one could complete indoors in relative safety, Restorians will leave Travelers to practice amongst themselves. Successful players will be able to graduate to increasingly more challenging games, like chess or shogi!

It might feel strange to play classic games on an alien device, but whatever you can imagine, your device can replicate it in gently glowing 3D. Perhaps you'd like to introduce a new acquaintance to a pastime of your childhood?

Those who suffer from wandering minds take heed, however. Instead of fun and games, amateur users of communication devices might find the darned thing broadcasting their innermost thoughts - no matter how deeply buried or fleeting - for all to hear and/or see. Hopefully you weren't thinking of anything embarrassing... or inappropriate. Or rude!

Especially if that happens to be your future roommate...

III. Can't We All Get Along?

Starlight help you if you do utter something rude or untoward that provokes a fellow Traveler, because any unpleasantness or fighting will be swiftly interrupted should any Sentinel overhear! Restorians will explain that discord and disunity is not welcome on this world, but they will not forgive Travelers for their ignorance. No, any sign of disagreement will be swiftly "corrected" in the traditional method...

Meaning that those witnessed instigating or participating in an altercation by a Sentinel will be tied together by the hands with magical bindings that cannot be undone until all involved parties either reach a genuine agreement, or offer their heartfelt apology for the offense - at which point the bindings will unravel, assuring all onlookers of peace at last.

In extreme cases, such punishments have been known to last for entire sun cycles.

IV. Test Quest!

Reward: 💎💎 Reore, roll for Ground Mount
Skills Required: Hunting/Tracking, Combat, Purifying Magics, Healers
Skills Gained: Combat, Native Fauna
Expires: Next TDM [ Fall ]

A full sun cycle has yet to pass before every Traveler's communication device suddenly beeps and vibrates in unison. A 3D projection, translucent and softly glowing, appears from each amulet or bracelet, showing the placid face of a Sentinel as he speaks. His words appear on a light blue hologram screen in real-time beside him. Although his expression is calm, his deep voice carries a hint of tension.

⚠ All Travelers

Greetings, Travelers. We have received word that a herd of Lost beasts have entered the compound from the Umbral Forests. These animals are aggressive and seek to destroy our operation here. These are unusual circumstances indeed and we are unprepared to counter their attacks.

Until aid arrives from the Houses of Cloud and Stone, we are counting on you, Travelers. We seek combatants, trackers, healers, and those gifted in the purifying arts. Every effort helps.

The transmission cuts off, but written instructions follow: prepared volunteers are to assemble by the Pool of Reflection in the Greenhouse of Unity immediately, where they will be divided into pairs to track the rampaging beasts through the forests that surround the Greenhouse, trapping them without harm in the provided energy nets if able, but subduing them by force if necessary. The "Lost" beasts in question are known as Vine Elk. They stand as tall as an Earth elk and possess twice the sheer power in their hooves, and they blend perfectly into the greenery with their mossy fur and shaggy, leaf-like manes. They can be tracked by following their haunting bellows.

Close in near enough, and the Elk are not hard to find. They will fearlessly charge any Traveler on sight, luminous eyes wild, aiming to gore them with their foliage-covered antlers. While it may be difficult to cut through the vines and foliage to reach their skin, if felled, their bodies will dissipate into a foul ooze that may cause nausea upon being touched. If trapped, they will be collected by teams of Restorians upon your contact.

Whenever possible, a combatant Traveler will be paired with a support such as a healer, but these are urgent circumstances and some exceptions must be made. Those who are too injured to continue after facing off with a Vine Elk will wake up (perhaps in the company of other injured Travelers) beneath the Tree of Unity, with temporary dizziness and headache. Damage taken will be healed, but the aches will continue for a day or two.

🎲 Optional Roll
Are you brave enough to roll the dice? Rolls are not required to participate in a quest prompt, but some items are available only through a successful roll.

Characters with purifying magics or strong spiritual empathy may add +2.

Roll

Result

1 - 3

Uh oh. You've stumbled across the mother of all Vine Elk and you don't stand a chance. You'd better run - or else eliminate it before it eliminates you.

4 - 8

Success! You're able to subdue the beast without grievous harm to yourself or it. Try not to brag too much.

9 - 10

Oh? Once trapped, the previously raging Vine Elk seems calmed by your presence. After it is purified and restored by the powerful native magic of the Restorians, the creature seeks you out, refusing to leave your side!

Perhaps you'd like to make use of the stables?

[ art credit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ]

NAVIGATION

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I. Greetings, Travelers.

It wasn't much of a decision for Jay. If forces beyond his understanding pulled him into an alternate universe and told him that he was needed, what choice did he have but to trust them? Such reality-bending circumstances didn't happen by accident, surely.

And, well. Hadn't he been looking for an opportunity like this one? To make himself useful?

He takes the time to think anyway, but not because he has doubts. He's simply... squaring himself, he thinks. It's a big commitment, to be pulled from your own world for who knows how long. And he sees that others are struggling, too.

The Natives are handing out food, and Jay takes it upon himself to bring a tray to one such person that he spots contemplating their fate. He approaches with a soft smile, pointing to the tray and then gesturing to offer it up to them.

II. Fun and Games

[ Jay doesn't mind a break to play games, but there's something else about his communication device - an icy blue stone cuff on his left wrist - that he's anxious to figure out. He's been told that this thing can speak for him? It's an utter mystery to him as to how, but that isn't important.

Catch him off by himself in a corner of the room, signing to himself while the device speaks. ]

Hello

[ He holds the thing up to his ear, and tries again. ]

Hello

[ Finally, having determined that this isn't something he can figure out by himself, Jay grasps a nearby person by the shoulder for their attention. He looks exasperated as he points to the device again and signs one-handed. ]

Working?

Test Quest! (bad end)

[ Jay wakes up beneath an enormous tree, disoriented. A few seconds of 'what the hell happened' swim through his brain before he shoots upright with a gasp - of pain, as an ache lances through his right shoulder.

With a hiss, Jay rubs at the sore spot, looking around to see if anyone else is present. The tree is familiar - it's the same one he woke beneath when we arrived here - so perhaps there are other Travelers who were brought here by the same power. His brows are knit together in a mix of frustration and confusion. ]

[He's grasped, and turns to look at who needs his attention.]

Hm? Yes, it's working, I can hear it. Oh, maybe you can't hear me. One moment.

[He holds up a finger, and begins to get his own device out, trying to type. With one finger, hunt and peck style.]

Dias was exactly the sort who looked like he'd forget to eat in the course of overthinking his current position. The frown on his face might have belonged to a person twice his age, and a very slight hunch over a table hinted at just how uncomfortable he was underneath his controlled outer mien.

But nothing was wrong with his senses; as the other approached, Dias straightened up, looking his way. "Certainly you may sit here if you wish," he said, interpreting the gestures as a desire to sit and eat.

[There were others--though Azami had not precisely been defeated and brought here herself. It was fairly clear that though some of the Sentinels were inclined to take care of those brought low by the elk, the greater number were not. Azami did not have healing powers--Knight Errants such as she were not so gifted--but Azami had never needed magic to try to dress a wound or feed someone who couldn't use their own two feet to get themselves to nourishment.]

You are awake! How do you feel?

[She could tell that 'bad' was likely high on the list, but this was the one whose device spoke for him. Rushing her words was bad, thus, and rushing him would do no good either. Azami could be patient.]

[ Shigeru is really just getting his bearings as he slowly comes to terms with this place and how everything works. Shigeru is also tinkering with his own amulet that he received from the House of Clouds and he might jump slightly when grabbed like that.

There's a soft gasp from him as he pulls away, not intentionally of course, but more so out of habit. He'll look at the other man signing and he blinks. He knows...sign language?! ]

I can hear you just fine. But...you know how to sign?

[ Shigeru will sign as he idly clasps his own vial of strange liquid in a gloved hand. ]|

I'm still getting used to using these things...they're kind of strange, right?

I Greetings, Travelers!
[Barbara's been confined to a castle and its surrounding grounds for most of her life, so the sudden jump from familiar to unfamiliar is strange to say the least. That isn't to say she's wary though; as she's lead one way or left to wander another, she meets everything with a simple curiosity and isn't afraid to approach anything that catches her eye.

Though being in a new world, food remains a priority. She's taken a meal...or two...no, that's definitely her third. She won't pass it up, but it doesn't seem to be very substantial for her.]

Excuse me.

[Her voice isn't anything out of the ordinary. Somewhat deep but recognizably a woman's...it's just that unless you're unusually large, you might find yourself face to face with her lower half, as the woman addressing you is roughly ten feet tall. Despite this, she carries herself with far more reserved body language that you might expect.]

If you don't mind me asking, are you going to eat that?

[The meal. In your hands. "Yes" is a safe bet but you can't blame her for trying.]

II Fun and games

[It's not that she doesn't have her own culture's games to play, it's just...she's a lot more interested in new ones. For a time Barbara can only be seen observing, but eventually she approaches once she's had her fill of just watching.]

Would you be so kind as to show me the ropes, so to speak? I'm unfamiliar with this game.

[Whaddya playin, stranger]

III Test Quest!: Rolled a 6

[Barbara's chosen weapon is a Kanabo, an enormous iron rod with a spiked surface on the bludgeoning end. She carries it rested across her shoulder, both eyes and ears wide open for their targets.]

Are you capable of fighting?

Uh.

[He's not exactly tall, and while he's not thin, he's not the level of brawn that Barbara is by any means.]

Only if I must. I'm much more comfortable in a... support role.

Quite alright, then. I believe that makes our pair more balanced than it would be otherwise.

[She can support by...shielding people with her super tough body. That's about the extent of it. Better to have someone actually capable of providing for that role so she can be the DPS she was made to be.]

Although I've never been hunting before, I must confess.

[Past the formal speech, is that a slight hint of excitement? It just might be.]

QUESTIONS

Jadon "Jay" Mistral | House of Stone

2

I

Test Quest

Fun and Games

Barbara | House of Stone

3

no subject

1

1

Ulari Orakos | House of Cloud

II

III

3

calanthe × stone

guns and fame

fun and games

Clementine Graves | House of Clouds

Questing Country

Azami su Miyabi | House of Clouds

IV

calista avison | stone | cw allusions to drug use

1

iv. test quest - rolled a 9! (healer)