TDM I: The Silent Towns

[ourspace]

OPEN SPACE: TEST DRIVE MEME #1 welcome. This is the first test drive meme for openspace! We hope to be a plot-driven, space-fantasy, pan-fandom game, with a day-to-day focus on player-run plots and a metaplot about the nature of creative energy. arrival. You appear in a city square. The buildings around you are retro-futuristic, all chrome and curves. The dust beneath your feet is red, the sky is pink and dotted with pastel clouds, the sun is slightly smaller than normal, and two misshapen moons hang low in the sky. The air is breathable, the weather temperate. A moment later, there’s a strange sensation, like a pair of warm, slender arms settling over your shoulders in a draping hug. If you try to turn and look for the source of those arms, however, you'll find that you're momentarily unable to move. "I have five stories for you to tell. Finish them all, and I’ll grant you a wish." It sounds like a voice whispering in your ear, but it's still impossible to turn and look. A beat after that, you know what your five tasks are, even though some of them may sound preposterous. The warm arms on your shoulder vanish, and you can move again. And you’ll notice, for the first time, that there are other people in the square with you: other new arrivals. So, will you do as you’re told, or find your own way? tasks. Choose five tasks from this list for your character. (Or RNG, if you prefer.) These are the tasks your character was assigned by the unseen voice. Characters know which tasks they have, but no one has the complete list of tasks, and no one will know what tasks anyone else has unless a character chooses to share. It’s up to your character whether they complete their tasks by charm, bribery, trickery, force, wit, or a mix of all of these. Or whether they ignore them entirely. The overall goal of the tasks is just to prompt both cooperative and hostile interaction, like icebreaker bingo meets capture the flag meets Lord of the Flies. There will be no IC reward for completing any of the tasks-- though characters are free to assume that there is (the aforementioned "wish"). However there is an OOC a reward for participation. More on that below. The tasks are as follows: 1. Save the princess 2. Restore the rightful heir to the throne 3. Make a person with brown eyes ruler of the city 4. Make a person with green eyes ruler of the city 5. Make yourself ruler of the city 6. Become the first person to drink from the Holy Grail 7. Cast the Holy Grail into the fires of volcano before anyone can drink from it 8. Destroy the Dark Lord 9. Destroy the superweapon 10. Make peace between unlike peoples 11. Make a sacrifice and commit a betrayal 12. Protect books 13. Solve the mystery of the empty city 14. Shake hands with everyone born in February 15. Kiss two people with black hair 16. Prevent public displays of affection 17. Become the world’s greatest idol 18. Throw the Holy Grail through a basketball hoop 19. Throw the rightful heir to the throne through a basketball hoop 20. Throw a basketball into the volcano setting. As your character tries to fulfill tasks or thwart others (or do nothing...) they may end up exploring. Here’s what they’ll find. The City, Generally Most of the city resembles an idyllic 1960s urban center, though all done in curving chrome and brilliant bubbling glass. Oh, and it’s abandoned. There aren’t even any animals. The streets are deserted, and every interior surface is covered in a thick veil of red dust. There’s no evidence of a disaster, or a hurried evacuation, or even an instant disappearance. Clothes are hung, beds are made, dishes are stacked away. Really, it looks as though everyone tidied up, went on vacation en masse, and never came back. The city is bisected east to west by a large, placid canal spanned by several elegantly arching bridges. The city is densely built, but the local parks have started to overgrow their bounds, so the city is dotted with masses of red-tinged, unkempt vegetation. It must be summer or fall here, because the bushes and trees are heavy with edible fruits. The Palace At the north of the city is a palace, a graceful, shining cluster of four minarets. The palace had a low wall, once, but the wall has been swallowed up by an enormous bramble, with thorns as long as an arm and roses the same rusty color as the sky. The palace grounds are overgrown, but thankfully less thorny. The minarets are filled with the usual palace things: kitchens and ballrooms, stables and treasure rooms, bedrooms and war rooms. The library is filled with books in a language that no one will be able to read; the armories are stocked with everything from swords to crossbows to revolvers to rayguns, though, mysteriously, nothing more technologically advanced than modern-day technology is functioning, and none of the futuristic technology can be rehabilitated. The largest room, located in the northernmost minaret, is the throne room, a great arching room that draws the eye to the red-gold throne. The throne is empty, of course. The Temple To the very south of the city is the temple, a red-stone pyramid whose rustic materials and sharp lines stand in sharp contrast to the chrome-and-curves of the rest of the city. The temple, too, is filled with everything you’d expect from a temple: work spaces, spaces for worship, spaces for rest, even a weapons cache almost as well-stocked and diverse as the palace’s – although again, anything more futuristic than modern-day technology is dead and cannot be repaired. Parts of the temple are opulently decorated with gold and jewels, others are spartan. In a humble room at the very top of the pyramid is a single wooden altar, upon which rests a simple wooden chalice. Outside the City Walls Several miles east of the city lies a smoking volcano, belching a slender but constant ribbon of soot into the pink sky. The land to the north, east, and south of the city is reddish-brown. Most of it looks like it was farmland once; there are picket fences and empty farmhouses and barns, mostly clustered around the banks of the canal. But the fields and orchards are overgrown now, and the dirt roads are being overtaken by restless vegetation. It will go on forever like this, no matter how far you walk or run or fly. To the west, the canal flows into a salty indigo sea that stretches as far as you can see (or swim, or sail, if you manage to build a boat. It’s big). power nerfing. The arrival power nerfing is in place for all characters: all magical abilities are nerfed; any being larger than 20 meters is scaled down to 20 meters; the magical component of any magical weaponry is nerfed; any technology more advanced than 2015/2016 technology is nerfed. (Powers can be regained and weapons repowered in game! But for now, nerfed.) have fun! Reserves open on December 18 and applications open December 23rd (for reserved characters) and December 24th (for unreserved characters). We hope you'll come back to apply! Additionally, because of the game’s meta-premise, your characters will not remember this TDM when they arrive in the game. They may remember it several months into the game as part of a planned event, if you choose. However, you can convert activity in the TDM into "solar quartz," which allows characters to gain or regain abilities in-game. For every 500 words written by you or 15 comments posted by you, your character will receive one piece of quartz upon arrival in the game. (Maximum trade-in, three pieces per character.)

Comments

ahsoka tano | star wars | OTA

[resnipstance]

1. at the temple
[Ahsoka makes her way to the Temple first. That's the most obvious place to find a Holy Grail, right? She makes short work of the pyramid and goes straight for the wooden chalice. Picking it up, she hefts it from hand to hand, thinking.]

Ha. Got you.

... At least, I think, anyway. [She squints at the chalice and brings it up to eye level.] You're significantly "Holy Grail"-ish, right?

Well, guess there's only one way to find out. [She shrugs. Better get out of here before someone else comes and tries to steal her prize.]

2. the city square
[Well, this is creepy. An entire city with no inhabitants and no signs of disaster or decay? Ahsoka shudders. It feels wrong. By that logic, she guesses, the only way to complete a mission involving other people is to stay in the city square, where others like her seem to be arriving.

She leans on a wall with her arms crossed, scrutinizing every person who arrives closely, looking for... what? Something, that's for sure. She's totally lost in concentration, eyes roaming over every individual she can see. It would be easy to take her by surprise.

Alternatively, maybe you're someone she walks up to and approaches. If you are, you might find Ahsoka suddenly walking up to you, saying:] Excuse me.

3. the palace
[Solve the mystery of the empty city... huh? This one, she would want to know the answer to even if it hadn't been assigned to her. Her search takes her through the streets, through civilian homes, but so far she's found nothing. Eventually, she winds up at the palace. She looks up at the looming structure and shrugs. She's tried everywhere else. Why not here?

Easier said than done, however. She doesn't count on just how thick the brambles are. She gets out her lightsabers to cut through them, but for some reason they won't turn on. Visceral swearing in several languages can then be heard throughout the outer rim of the palace as Ahsoka makes her way through, shoving brambles this way and that.

Eventually, though, she makes her way through-- not that she has it much easier there, either. First she pilfers a sword from the treasury and hangs it on her waist. But then, making her way through the upper levels, she accidentally steps on a rotten floorboard and CRACK, the whole thing gives way beneath her.

Ahsoka's yell of surprise can be heard echoing throughout the palace many rooms away, then a THUD as she lands on the floor of the room beneath. To add insult to injury, another load of debris falls and lands on top of her.

Oh god. Her everything hurts. More swearing ensues.]

2.

[bokator]

Save the princess? You're fucking kidding me.

​[ Rose has a memo note with her, because why the hell not. This bullshit unseen voice with its list of damn stupid things — but there's something at the end of it, there's always a dumb prize at the end. She stalks through the square, radiating don't screw with me. Ahsoka is somehow either resistant or unconcerned. ]

Yeah, what do you want?

[resnipstance]

[Both? Ahsoka is probably both. She's seen scarier.]

You're stuck in the same boat as me, right? You got some weird... mission-type-thing?

[bokator]

Yeah, that — whatever it was gave me a list.

​[ She narrows her eye. ]

If this is a cue for a team-up, forget it. I work alone.

​[ She is vengeance and the night, Ahsoka. It's tragic. ]

[resnipstance]

But-- you have to rescue the princess, right? I overheard you.

[She doesn't look even a bit apologetic.]

Well, I have to restore the rightful heir to the throne! If the princess isn't the rightful heir... at least she'll know who is, right?

[bokator]

​[ Give her a second to process this. ]

​[ Three seconds, actually. ]

I'm not gonna pick up your slack. Do you fight?

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka just folds her arms across her chest like "PLEASE." Notably though, they do have muscle in them.]

... I'm a Jedi.

[Like that explains everything. Thanks for nothing, Ahsoka.]

[bokator]

​[ Okay look she's watched Star Wars, she gets this cosplay bullshit. The girl looks alien enough, but so does everybody with good makeup. ]

Prove it.

1/2

[resnipstance]

[Really. REALLY???

Ahsoka gives her the world's most exasperated look and a put upon sigh, before she unclips a lightsaber from her belt and turns it on.

... Or at least, attempts to turn it on.]

2/2

[resnipstance]

[JOKE'S ON AHSOKA BECAUSE LIGHTSABERS ARE NERFED.

The lightsaber does not turn on.]

What the-- [Click. Click click click. Clickity click.]

[She picks up her other lightsaber on her belt and tries that one too. No juice.]

... This ... usually works.

[bokator]

Wow. Your battery ran low.

​[ She'd cross her arms, but swords, and jeez, they're a little heavier than usual. Rose shrugs, and sheaths them. ]

Hand to hand. Let's do this.

[resnipstance]

What-- lightsabers aren't powered by batteries. They're powered by self-sustaining power cells. The energy the blade generates folds back in on itself inside the hilt which is then converted into more energy. They basically last forever! Ugh... whatever.

[Whatever. Ahsoka settles into a ready stance, firsts out in front ready to guard or attack.]

Bring it.

1.

[falsesmile]

[ Vestara might not be able to touch the Force on this world, but she's still a Sith of the Lost Tribe. She thinks rationally and with utter self-interest. First, finding a way off this rock -- the silly tasks are secondary, really -- means figuring out why she's here. Answers like that are found in places of power, which means the palace to the north or the temple to the south. She opts for the temple over the palace, because in her experience mystic power usually ends up trumping, if not dominating, political power.

She wends her way through the temple, accumulating a few small blades to compliment the parang at her belt, until she makes it to the very top of the structure --

And someone is already there. Vestara doesn't recognize the species, but she'd bet that this is a girl a few years younger than herself... and holding a cup. A grail. A grail at the highest point of this city's highest point. Vestara hadn't planned on completing any tasks, but since throw the Grail into the volcano fell into her lap like this... ]

Going somewhere with that? [ she asks smoothly. ]

[resnipstance]

[A CHALLENGER APPEARS. Surely, surely this means she's on the right track.

Ahsoka grins.]

Yeah, as a matter of fact I am. You got a problem with that?

[falsesmile]

[ For a moment, Vestara considered telling the truth. If they had the same task, it might be easier to let this girl do most of the work.

And then she saw the lightsaber hilts.

For a split second, her eyes widened. She instinctively reached within to tamper down on her emotions in the Force before realizing that if she couldn't touch the Force, this Jedi probably couldn't either. She kept her face in the same expression of casual challenge, letting the small scar at the corner of her lips create the illusion of a half-smile.

Hell. If there was a young Jedi here, she probably had a master hiding around a corner. Should she kill the young one now for an advantage against the master, later? Or hope that the young one didn't recognize her and slip out into the city--? What she needed was time to think, and that meant talking. The easiest and most convincing thing to do while her brain was elsewhere was, to bring things full circle, tell the truth. ]

I'm supposed to destroy it, [ she said, putting a hand on her hip in the universal teenage sign of cocky chest-puffing. More importantly, it also put her hand closer to her parang, just in case she chose option one. ]

[resnipstance]

... Can it wait? I have to throw it through a ... "basketball hoop."

Whatever that is.

[falsesmile]

[ Yes good, kill the Jedi while she's distracted looking for a basketball hoop.

She purses her lips thoughtfully, as though thinking about cups and hoops rather than murder, then nods. ]

So long as no one drinks from it before I destroy it.

[resnipstance]

I think I can manage that.

You help me look for a basketball hoop, and I'll fend off any wayward would-be drinkers. Sound good?

[falsesmile]

[ Ugh. Working with a Jedi -- even pretending to work with a Jedi -- again? How is it that Vestara can't shake these people off? Still, a short period of cooperation will let Ves pump this girl for information on the rest of the Jedi in the area... ]

Good, [ she says, the bright confidence in her voice betraying none of the it's murder-scheming o'clock of her inner narrative, ] though I can't say I know what I'm looking for.

[resnipstance]

[Ahsoka shrugs and then drops down to Ves's level from where she was standing with the cup in one smooth movement.]

Beats me. Vaguely hoop-shaped objects?

It sounds like some kind of sport.

[falsesmile]

[ It's stupid, but she's relieved that the Jedi doesn't know, either. That means it's not one of those things Ves doesn't know just because she grew up in isolation on Kesh. ]

If it's a sport, there should be a stadium for it. Did you see anything like that on your way over here?

[ Be appropriately helpful, be appropriately helpful, be appropriately helpful... ]

[sandhate]

[ As one of the most Force sensitive people back home, not having it, not feeling it is really irritating. Like reaching with limbs that aren't there. He could have caught her, he could have caught the debris that comes following her down, but his outstretched hand summons no magic and his long legs doesn't get there in time either.

All he can do is dig through the pile and fish her out.

Surprise, it's the one person that would understand how this feels. ] Ahsoka? [ Anakin blinks back his surprise and gives her a hand to pull on. ] What are y- How did you? Never mind. Are you okay?

[resnipstance]

[As she moves the debris off and dusts herself down, Ahsoka grumbles some choice words in Huttese that she can only have learned from Anakin himself. Then and only then does she take his hand and let him pull her up. She tries not to wince.]

I'm fine. I'm going to be feeling that one for a while, though. This place is driving me nuts.

[sandhate]

[ His eyes flickering to her for a moment, a slight brow raise at her way too smooth Huttese, then makes a disgruntled noise of agreement. ]

Tell me about it.

[ He grips her shoulder for a moment to feel her there, in a way he can't in the Force right now. ]

What are you here for?

[resnipstance]

I was trying to find out the mystery behind why all these people vanished. I've been all over the city. High town, low town, the temple, the outskirts. Nothing! No traces of an evacuation, or an emergency, a plague, a disaster of any description. It's... creepy.