forgottentales_ooc | Test Drive: September 2020

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Test Drive: September 2020

Test Drive: September 2020—

§ instructions.

Welcome to the Test Drive for Forgotten Tales! This is to help interested players test out their characters in the game's setting and see if the essence they have chosen will actually work in game play. There are a number of prompts that try to touch on the kinds of settings and scenarios the characters may encounter. So here are a few things to keep in mind while on the test drive:

Feel free to use the current Workshop for help if you need it! Both the Workshop and the Test Drive are required for Registration.
Participating on the Test Drive does not guarantee a spot on either Claims or Registration.
Check the Character Roster and Essence List to see if your choices are not already taken.
Include Character Name and Canon in the subject line, and note somewhere within the toplevel your character's essence. It can be in the subject line if you already know what it is (so ex; Character | Canon | Essence). Side note: You are free to try more than one essence if you're on the fence. Just make sure to note which one you're using for that particular prompt.
Players are free to assume their characters have been informed of the very basics so you can skip all that if you'd like.
Only the "In the Index" prompts of the Test Drive can be carried over in its entirety, but you can alter the story based ones as "stage play" settings within the Index if you wish to carry over that interaction as well.
Don't forget to refer to the Game Info for how the mechanics work.
Public Registration is currently closed until further notice, but anyone with an invite and current players can register at any time. Claims will open at a later date.

Most of all, have fun! Feel free to invite those you may think would be interested to participate in the test drive.

§ prompts.

¶ I. In the Index. When not out adventuring or playing character roles in stories, the Aspects will have some downtime within the Index, the central hub of the Realm of Stories. Here they can explore the city, read up on other stories, socialize with fellow would-be heroes, learn more about the essence, or even just do nothing at all. Any threads and CR made with "Index" prompts can be carried over into the game.

A. Out in the City. Life in the Index can range from the mundane to the extraordinary depending on which area one travels to. Because it is a hodgepodge of many different stories from numerous cultures, one can never be sure what they may encounter even on an average run for groceries. The Commission Board is also available to choose special jobs from. (This is basically the free for all "taste of normal life" prompt.)
B. Essence Practice. Suddenly inheriting the abilities of another person while losing most of your own at the same time can be quite jarring. Picking a place to test out these newfound powers or even going to the Library to read up on the essence's story may help glean some clues as to what they can do.
C. Try Out the Journal. The journals are unique to this world and the sole source of communication for everyone. Feel free to give it a try, either by sending a random message out or even a doodle.
D. Macy's, Eat Your Heart Out! To celebrate the arrival of the Aspects and all the work and help they've provided for the past two years, the local citizens are throwing a festival and are hard at work to prepare. This year they want to throw a parade and special floats are being made to reflect the five different stories that have been restored. However, things never go as planned. That's why they might desperately rope passersby- including newer Aspects- into making sure the floats don't go (completely) out of control and ruin the party before it even gets started.
1. Just Tricks no Treats. For Hollow Christmas Carol, the main feature of the float is a mechanical horse that a costumed "headless" rider will sit upon while throwing presents and candy to the crowds. The horse is also equipped to fire soft presents and candy through a special cannon equipped in its mouth. However, there is a problem—a lot of problems. For whatever reason, the mechanical horse will suddenly spring to "life" and become a buckin bronco, tossing whoever tries to sit on it. When testing the mouth cannon, it spins out of control while firing candy out like bullets. The float itself has mysterious pumpkins growing on it which need to be removed. There's also the matter of collecting enough candy and wrapping presents for the masses.
2. Fly Me to the Moon…? The Bamboo Cutter's float is decorated as a bamboo forest and there will be shows of skilled swordsmanship as they cut through designated patches to then toss out the small gems that are produced in the shoots. Volunteers for actors are needed, but what they desperately need are bakers. A giant moon cake is to be on display that will later be cut and shared among the populace at the festival. However, it's a massive endeavor and requires a lot of ingredients and several people to help prepare each section. To make things worse, someone or something keeps eating it!
3. Clammed Up. The Little Mermaid needs pearls. Lots of pearls. However, the clams they brought to help harvest them are being difficult and refuse to open. These clams are special in that they're similar to chickens—they can create a large pearl within a day or two, thus they are treated with care. But they have become spoiled and refuse to give up their goods until certain demands are met. They range from singing to them, bathing them with luxurious bath salts, and decorating their shells. Only once appeased will they hand over their beautiful pearls...only for the process needing to be repeated again.
4. Rose Parade. The fae are in charge of A Midsummer's Rose float, and a few pixies have decided to join in on the fun. Along with taking care of the living flowers and plants that form the float itself, those around the float must be wary of the pixie dust that is sometimes scattered about (on purpose). The dust can make the individual feel very giddy, as if drunk, and even have them float in the air a few feet. Waving some pollen from any flower on the float will negate the effects, but even that can be difficult given the flowers are affected too. Snapdragons and dandelions on this float act exactly as their namesakes and will get a bit "chompy" when hungry; pansies will start cowering and crying in fear; and love-lies-bleeding will lean too hard into the Shakespeare influence start wailing loud, stilted death speeches and trying to steal the show; and so on. Getting enough pollen to snap everyone out of it might require some creative thinking.
5. Shroom Magic. Although recent, those from Alice in Wonderland won't miss out! Their float is like a whimsical tapestry depicting key scenes of Alice's journey through Wonderland. They also have a little "play" zone formed with large, special bouncy mushrooms for kids to join in during the parade. However, the mushrooms are a bit too bouncy...and playful. They've suddenly sprouted legs (some are blaming the pixies) and are jumping about making a mess of things, even endangering the other floats still being built! Help wrangle the mushrooms and get them back in their place. A quick splash of a special brew will help return them to normal, but if any get on a person, then they will have some growth and shrinking problems. There are also warnings to not consume either the mushrooms or the drink as they can cause serious hallucinations and delusions. For some reason people are not heeding that warning, so taking care of the afflicted by bringing them to nearby healers is requested as well.

¶ II. It's Getting a Little Mad Here. Things to get a little weird once the autumn season rolls in and everyone starts getting ready for the spooky season, but things have gotten downright crazy and even dangerous. Normally tame creatures are behaving erratically and inanimate objects are suddenly coming to life. There are also reports of strange lightning appearing somewhere deep in the dark forests outside the Index. Help handle and investigate these strange incidents!

A. Hog Wild. Although not the original "Three Little Pigs," pig triplets are not uncommon in town and many have followed their "role models" and turned to construction. However, for some reason all of these construction pig workers have taken on a more destructive route and have started to demolish everything! With various tools including jackhammers and even a wrecking ball, these pigs mean business. Stop them before they destroy more of the city!
B. Gobble Gobble . The dreadful Swan Princess has returned! And this time she has an army of birds to aid in her wreaking havoc across the Index! Ducks locking people in their outhouses, chickens gobbling up all the corn in the fields, loons untying boats so they drift off docks, chaos everywhere! Worst of all is the princess's steed, a massive turkey the size of a horse, running through the streets and frightening all with its gobble! Those facing the giant turkey must either dress up as something enticing to try and "woo" it away (an attractive turkey, a big ear of corn, a giant moth for some reason…) OR ditch the costumes and hunt it down to add to the anniversary feast.
C. Stoned. Late at night, strange creaking sounds can be heard along the rooftops and strange shadows cover the night sky. It's on the second night that the source is revealed to be strange, large stone gargoyles that have perched atop random buildings. Some partake in late night revelry, drinking and carousing until right before dawn. Others take to the streets and behave like thugs, harassing and threatening hapless late night workers. Fortunately none have grown violent, but concerns are there. They only appear at night, arriving once the sun sets and leaving before the sun rises. It has been found that those caught in the sun will harden and are unable to move, making it easier to capture and, in some cases, destroy. It's uncertain as to whether the gargoyles are "living" creatures or inanimate stone structures magicked to "life."
D. Wayward Woods. Those who follow the departing gargoyles will discover them heading deep into the dark woods, known for the dangerous beasts that lurk within. Those strong enough will spot a castle in the distance, but no matter how hard they try they cannot seem to reach it, thwarted by a magical fog and moving trees that disorient all who approach by ground or air. But lightning is constantly seen striking in the vicinity and the occasional maniacal laugh.

¶ III. Scene Snippets. The following prompts are various scenes styled similarly to those designed for the campaigns. Two characters are randomly assigned a role and must "act out" the scene. It can be assumed they are given the basics, but they are free to act however they wish. There is no real script or set direction, and they will have full access to their Essence abilities. Roles are not gender limited, so go wild. You are also free to create your own scenes or play within the general setting of the provided stories, even if they are not specified. Everything here is just a "guideline" and characters can act and behave however they would if dumped into the setting.

A. The Princess and the Frog. A classic tale of a prince saved by the kiss of the beautiful princess. Or thrown into a wall. Or just has to sleep on a pillow. Obviously this story has a loooot of versions, one more can't hurt, right?
1. A Frog's Life For Me. Somehow things got a little mixed up—it seems that everyone has been turned into a frog of various species and are stuck in a random castle. Fortunately, there is a cure! —Aside from finding a princess to give a kiss (or try kissing each other, who knows it could work), a special potion bottle rests on a shelf in the adjacent room, so it shouldn't be too difficult to recover, right? Well, maybe if there wasn't a weird spiny half-goblin-half-hedgehog resting in the room. Sneak past it to get the potion!
2. Just a Little Smooch? All right, things have been properly sorted and the main characters, the Frog Prince and the Princess have been cast. Of course, the Frog Prince is really a frog, not in a costume. Although a "true love's kiss" is the traditional means to break the curse, there are some other options: 1) creating a potion using less than flavorful ingredients based on a frog's natural diet (mmm flies); 2) traversing through the nearby swamps to find special moss illuminated by a firefly's bulb for the frog to roll through (beware the wildlife, both native and Eraser form); 3) defeating the giant snake lurking in the swamp's waters and smearing its venom all over the frog's hide (but the Princess should not touch it or they will be paralyzed); or 4) try some of the other story methods, such as chucking the frog into a wall.
3. I Object! Somehow, the curse has been broken, and the prince and princess are set to wed! But before that can happen, the Aspects have to deal with the Blot of Iron Henry, the Frog Prince's most faithful servant. The Story Eater's corrupted him into a raving fanboy who refuses to let his Prince-sempai marry anyone but him! It's up to the Aspects (dressed either as the happy couple or as part of the wedding parties) to subdue the wedding crasher so the party can continue! Be warned, though, Iron Henry will try to fight back by throwing magical iron bands from his heart.
  - Scene Revisit. On future revisits, instead of a Blot Iron Henry, Aspects are cast into the role alongside a Frog Prince or the Princess. Iron Henry's goal is "win back" his prince, thus Iron Henry must either convince the Frog Prince to let him remain at his side (however that is interpreted) or must face off the Princess who won't let her Prince go so easily (or will she?). Of course...everyone has two hands.
B. Create Your Own! No need to limit to what we provide. If there's a particular story, scene, or even setting that you think would be fun, go for it! You can even use the story your character's essence is from. Other options are any of the scenes and settings from our previous campaigns and side stories.

¶ IV. Mix it up. This is the "wildcard" prompt. Feel free to take any of these prompts and make them more of your own, or pull from an entirely different story. As mentioned you're free to use any of our previous stories or other events. Just have fun with it!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh god what's with the dress? Well no wait, it makes sense, now he's the goddamn princess to his prince. Can he request a divorce already? Damn you Ren how do you even manage to walk so well with those heels?!

"Let's never, ever talk about this again."

But wouldn't he miss Ren saying 'welcome home honey'? Lots of practice and maxed stats.

"Sure." Judging by his tone and expression through, he doesn't mean it. And will totally never let Akechi live this down.

That was a fluke that was never going to happen again. But speaking of 'honey' he realized what was going to happen next as he heard some trumpeters going off, and knights starting to congregate towards them saying 'your majesty is back'.

"Shit, we need to hide!"

Because this was going to lead them to happily ever after and Akechi drew the line at the frog kissing, never mind goddamn marriage.

Ren looked around their surroundings quickly. There aren't exactly really any real good places to hide, if there isn any. Plus Ren's dress might make it difficult to almost impossible for Ren to not get spotted.

Time for Plan B.

"You hide, I'll distract."

He'll just have to wing it on the fly. Especially since they are almost here.

Where is his access to a firearm when he really needs it.

"I'm not letting you try to play martyr." Or Akechi's excuse for not letting Ren trying to play the hero while he runs. Instead he violently grabs his rival's (wife's?) arm and begins to runs away from the commotion.

"Don't you get it?! They want to find us to congratulate us on our engagement."

It's the next part of the story. He does not want to be part of it. He'll run away kicking and screaming until it's forced into him.

Ren was just trying to do you a favor, Akechi. Worst husband ever.

He hadn't expected to get grabbed by the arm, but thankfully he doesn't fall and runs with him. Knowing it would be best not to fight him. At least until he can get these damn heels off.

He tries to look for something they could climb or hide behind.

What are you talking about, Akechi is quite a catch. Admit it, Ren. You like something that gives you a thrill.

It's good that Ren somehow manages to following him, but in the end, even if they did find a little alcove where they could hide for all of five minutes, the men on horses are a lot faster and the poor soldiers, just continuing the story as it should go, surround them. The cacophony of the trumpets around them makes Akechi look like he's about to just start screaming into one of them and hit the others with their instruments. Thankfully he does not.

"Sire! You are back to your truthful form! It is a great day today!"

"..."

"Oh sire, have you still lost your ability to talk?"

Help him out, or make the situation worse Ren? The choice is yours.

Okay maybe he likes his rival a little, but like hell you can get Ren to admit that easily.

Welp, looks like they have no choice after all. "Perhaps not all of the spell has worn off yet. I'll take him back to my own castle to give him some rest first."

Another one of the knights speaks up. "Oh that's not necessary, princess. The both of you can rest at Sire's castle before the wedding."

Crap. It's Ren's turn to grab Akechi. "No I insist! Just let us--"

And then yet another knight grabs Ren and picks him up, causing Ren to let go of Akechi's arm. Ren tries to struggle but gets put on the horse in the front.

Ren gives Akechi a look that says 'don't say a word'.

Edited 2020-09-18 22:26 (UTC)

Can either of them ride ~~each other~~ horses? Now that's a true mystery.

There's a small part of schadenfreude that he gets to see Ren not get what he wants. Just enough to make him smile briefly, even when presented with his own horse (okay he's going to imagine this is a ridable bike). Of course that's quickly changed to why the hell does his horse look so ridiculous? And the bunch of feathers in front and my gods, everything about his supposed kingdom is the type of place that would get looted in the real world.

He manages to get his trotting horse next to Ren's (god his ass was going to hurt the next day) before saying in a rather loud voice;

"If ye would let my..." oh gods, "wife and I go on ahead, we will meet thee all at the castle."

That seems to work better than Ren's insistence. He supposes because these are his to command. Which admittedly, there's a bit of fun to that. He grabs the reins of his horse and looks over to see if Ren will do the same. Time to make a medieval break for it.

At least the knights can help them out if not.

Urg, of course Akechi enjoyed that. At least that didn't last, with the silly looking horse and all.

Though Akechi doesn't have to tell him twice and he grabs onto the reins of Akechi's horse and moves over to get onto the other horse. He puts his other hand on one of Akechi's upper sides for balance. As tempting as it would to make it lower, they really needed to escape. He can tease him more later.

Oh what a goddamn idiot. Akechi's plan had been for the both of them to leave with their horses, rather than Ren scooting over in the horse's saddle. Well at least his arms are lower, he concludes and he has half a mind to just push him off and do this himself, but after a few seconds of stunned, mute and (clearly angry) silence, he snaps the reins forward and the horse starts to make a break for it...well to the castle for now. He has to make them think this is all normal, of course.

"Where's the part of this story where the prince massacres all of his enemies?"

Seems Ren misunderstood Akechi's intentions. Plus he didn't exactly trust the knight that had forced him onto his horse.

"I don't think that's part of this story." If it comes down to it though, he'll have to use his arrows to help them out.

Akechi would agree if it was not for the part where Ren was way too close for him and the dress did not leave much to the imagination in it's own, twisted way.

"Can't we just make up ours instead?"

Urgh. The galloping horse is just as much as a pain as Ren's body heat.

"Maybe we can escape the 'ever after' part."

Ren wouldn't blame him. He is attractive and can pull off nearly anything. Plus Max Charm also helps.

"We already broke script, so we might as well try to make our own ending."

At one point in the ride, there's a bump on the road which causes Ren to nearly fall off, but he manages to catch himself, hugging his arms around Akechi purely by instinct.

"They don't make roads like they used to."

~~Damn protags with their sexy everything.~~

"Running off into the sunset to create our own kingdom." There, good enough, he thinks, even as they hit the bump on the road and gets an armful of Amamiya around his body. It's for the story , he tells himself. If he pushes Ren off they might get into worse trouble.

"..."

He doesn't answer him, making the horse go faster until their outfits suddenly disappear off, the horse becoming nothing more than a little mouse, the both of them placed gently on the ground, back into the essence forms. Which is for the best, considering Akechi's cape most certainly would have been caught in something.

"Remove your hands from me now."

He's so happy they finished their part in the story :)

As much as Ren liked the dress, he is relieved when his clothes change back into his usual Robin Hood outfit. Mainly so that he doesn't have to continue to walk in heels. Thank god for boots.

The moment he hears that, he lets Akechi go and steps back to give him space.

"Well that was fun. I wonder what we'll have to do next time." Honestly he can't wait for the next scene he'll have to do.

Edited 2020-09-19 20:48 (UTC)

Sorry, give Akechi a minute or two to laugh at that outfit again because, sure as much as he's' butthurt that he didn't get Robin Hood, that outfit is ridiculous.

"Well, at least you fit into the decor nicely." An insult...or a compliment?

Ren just rolls his eyes and waits for him to finish. It's not like Akechi has much room to talk considering that cape and hat.

Regardless if it's meant to be an insult or a compliment, he'll take it as the latter as he doesn't want to give him the satisfaction of managing to upset him.

"Thanks."

He tightens one of this gloves out of habit despite not being Joker anymore. "We should get going."

Damn you Ren and your good nature and all that other lovey-dewy-shit.

Habits are hard to break. Akechi idly wonders how much chaos would using his guns here would cause but thankfully keeps that part to himself before he moves in to take the front lead.

"How do we exit a world, exactly?"

Aww Akechi you totally secretly love him for it.

Ren pauses at the question, trying to recall if he asked how they were supposed to leave. He then realizes that nope, he forgot and now they might be in trouble.

"...Good question."

Crap.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Test Drive: September 2020

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