wellie: (Default)
Well Mod ([personal profile] wellie) wrote in [community profile] wellcome2024-04-19 04:40 pm
Entry tags:

6.0 Test Drive Meme

6.0 Test Drive Meme

Welcome to Well! See the first prompt for how your characters arrive in Well. Your character arrives with only a handful of memories, clad in a mix of Old Western clothes and clothes that might fit in at a renaissance fair, and no items from home.

Anyone is free to play on the TDM, but you need an invite to apply. Feel free to use these prompts, and interact with the arrival or locations. NPCs are around, but only say a certain set of phrases. TDMs can be considered game canon.

This TDM takes place from the first week of May onward, and can happen concurrently with other events during May and June. This will be the only TDM for May, June, and July.

Applications are open April 26th until May 1st, and May 27th until June 1st. Invites are available for friends of current players.

Arrival: Escape!
Content warnings: forced captivity, blood, eating eyes, drowning in sand, forced intimacy

The First Room

You wake up somewhere dark and damp. Maybe this is your first time waking up here, maybe it's your fourth, but the beginning is the same. You're in a small stone room. The only light comes from torches flicking on the walls. The room is bare except for a metal door. And you're not alone. You and someone (or someones) are here together, and you have to get out.

The door is locked, and to leave it you must just find one key. On the door is a note with a clue:

Freedom is hot!

The key is in fact in one of the torches! Depending on luck, you might find it on your first try, or your fourth. Find a way to extinguish the torches, and handle the hot, hot key to unlock the door.
After this, you find yourself in one of the following rooms. Choose one from the first set, then one from the second set, then one from the third set. You will always end in the final room. You must travel through five rooms to escape.

If you don't complete a task in five minutes, you will return to very first room and have to start again.

You can choose your own path, or comment below to have a random path set for you!

The Second Room

You find yourself in one of the following rooms:
1. There Ain't Room
2. Glitter Bomb
3. Riddles Three
1. There Ain't Room
In this room is a shooting game. There's a barrier with bebe guns attached to it, and at the far end are small cut outs of people. There's a sign on the far wall, in old-West style script, reading:

There Ain't Room

The cut outs look sort of familiar! There are cut outs of you and your compatriot(s), as well as some typical cowboy looking cut outs. Shoot your own cut out to escape! You each must shoot your own one, if you shoot each others', that person feels it as if they have been shot, and will start bleeding.

When you successfully hit all of your own cut outs, the floor under you opens up and you drop into the next room.

2. Glitter Bomb
As you walk through the doorway, you feel oddly.... sticky? Like your skin is covered in honey. Because it is! Yum.

In front of you is a room covered in glitter. There's so much glitter. You can't see a door, but you have to find a way out. Search the room to find the exit.

The exit is a trapped door in the floor. You'll need to make your way through the glitter, all the while it will stick to your very sticky skin. You'll need to dig a big enough path to get through, open the door and get into the next room! Too bad some glitter will come with you, and you'll still be sticky.

3. Riddles Three
A large hour glass in the middle of the room starts ticking down with sand as soon as you enter this room. One three of the walls are riddles engraved in the stone, and chalkboards in front of them. You must answer all three riddles correctly before the sand runs out to escape:
  • Where waves kiss sand and breezes blow, where tropic dreams grow, I'm where you want to go. What am I? Answer: Kokomo
  • With auburn locks and eyes of green, a rival, a threat, a beauty queen. Answer: Jolene
  • With cowboy hats and boots that stride, no one told me where my horse I ride. Answer: Old Town Road
Once you answer correctly, the hour glass disappears, leaving a hole in the floor that you must jump through to exit.

The Third Room

Next, you find yourself in one of the following rooms:
A. Cry For Me
B. Love Me
C. Hold Me
A. Cry For Me
This room is beautiful and shiny, the walls made of crystals. In the middle of the room is a crystal plinth with a small crystal cup on it. In flowing script around the cup it reads:

Collect five tears

You must collect five tears in the cup to escape. Once you do, an entry way opens in the crystal in front of you.

B. Love Me
This room is very plain, and on a piece of paper dangling from a string in the middle of the room is the instructions for this room:

Exchange five sincere compliments each. Don't break eye contact.

You must do this within the alloted five minutes to escape. If the compliments are less than sincere, you may try again, but if you don't reach the five each by the end of the five minutes or if you break eye contact even once, you will be returned to the first room.

C. Hold Me
This room looks a lot like the pub in town. The walls are wood paneled and there's jangling piano music coming from--somewhere?

In the middle of the room is a mechanical bull, with a sign reading:

Stay on the bull together for 45 seconds.

If you succeed within the five minutes, you're free to continue on!

The Fourth Room

Next, you find yourself in one of the following rooms:
I. Blood
II. Sweat
III. Tears
I. Blood
This room is very tall. There's a rope dangling down one wall. On the wall it reads:

Climb!

And that's what you have to do. The word "Climb" starts to bleed. And then the walls start to bleed. The room will fill up with blood within five minutes, so you better get climbing!

At the top of the room is a hatch that will let you escape through a hatch in the ceiling.

II. Sweat
When you enter this room, one of you finds that you are alone. You're standing at the edge of a pool, and that pool is full of sand. It's also searingly hot in here. On the wall, it reads:

Rescue your partner!

One person is chained at the bottom of a swimming pool full of sand. A counter on the wall counts down until they will suffocate. Better get swimming!

Once you've rescued your partner, a door on the other side of the pool will open up. Better move fast to get there!

III. Tears
This room is dark, very dark. You can just barely see, except for a glow-in-the-dark sign reading:

Eat some eyes!

And that's what you need to do! In the walls are eyes. They're watching you. You must each eat an eye to continue on. Once you do, a door cracks open in the far wall.

The Fifth Room

No matter the path you took to get here, the final room is the same:
The last room you end up in, even though you enter through the same door, you find yourselves separated by a wall. There is a door for each of you at the far side of the room. You can hear each other, but you can't see each other. Each of you have a plinth in front of you, which reads:

Who should escape?

In front of you are the names of yourself and your partner(s). You place the name of the person you believe should escape in a slot in the table.

Once everyone has made a selection, the names will light up:
  • If you all chose each other, your room lights up green.
  • If you all chose yourselves, your room lights up green.
  • If someone chose themselves, and someone else chose another person, the room of the person with the most "votes" lights up green. The others light up red.
If your room is green, when you open the final door, you've escaped! Welcome to Wellstone.

If your room is red, when you open the door, you find yourself back in the first room. Good luck!
When you escape, you step into the lobby of the Staywell. It's bright and airy with beautiful white stone. When you look behind you, it seems that you've stepped out of a supply closet. Weird!

The receptionist greets you as he always does, welcoming you home.

New characters arrive using this prompt. Characters can return from death from the previous cycle using this prompt. You can also just wake up and be in this prompt, so you can do this as many times as you like.

tl;dr:
  • You wake up in an escape room! You must finish (at least) five rooms to escape. You have five minutes to finish each room. If you fail, you'll be taken back to the beginning of the dungeon.

It's alive!
Content warnings: public shaming

When you shake off the glitter and the sand, it might be time to head on down into Wellstone town. The air is full of a shimmering warmth that might be familiar to some. It's like the sun has been baked into the very stones and is radiating back up at you. Run-down buildings lean against each other for support, made out of mostly weathered stone with a few old boards here and there to keep structures up. Desiccated, skeletal fingers of dried-out ivy climb them, waving occasionally as you pass. Waving, and… whispering? For more information about how the town has changed, check out this month's Wellstone Post or read the Locations Page.

The town is alive with sneering, whispering voices. It's unclear where exactly they're coming from, but they're everywhere. Step into the Cactus Pad Tavern and you might hear a decisive no manners! spat sharply from the doorway. Make your way to the steaming bathhouse to wash off that honey, but be careful when you're undressing: you might just hear rude snickering from the air around you. Wow, the walls might say, your toes are so long. What weird feet!

The voices might interrupt a conversation at breakfast to make fun of something you said. Your mirror and your wardrobe might question your outfit choices. They're loud enough to be heard by everyone in a public space and seem to delight in saying cutting things at the worst possible moment. You don't recognize the voices, exactly, but they seem just familiar enough to really hurt, and the voices seem to know you well enough. They might even call you out when you tell a little white lie, or let everyone know exactly how loud you snore.

There's no way, seemingly, to get them to shut up, so... may as well get used to it?

tl;dr:
  • The town is alive, and it is judging you. Your outfits, your words, your body, your habits: nothing is off-limits.
  • The voices sound just familiar enough to feel like voices you know, but aren't able to be pinpointed to a single person.

snackin: (soft | neutral | wave | move)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-04-21 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Perhaps.

[ Aren't they? It doesn't mean he wants to touch anyone anyway, particularly Light. So he waits. Light can unlock the door by himself, and Astarion will do the bare minimum he has to to get out of this place again. ]

Well, get on with it.
pereatmundus: (smirk 6)

[personal profile] pereatmundus 2024-04-21 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Says the guy doing none of the work.

[Astarion's not denying that we. Light's lips twitch upward as he strips off his vest, wrapping it around his hand as a makeshift oven mitt.]

Somebody got you last month, huh? I have to say, I'm a little surprised. I really thought someone as suspicious as you would stand a chance.
snackin: (wave | tease | talk)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-04-22 04:09 pm (UTC)(link)
While I appreciate the vote of confidence, I'm quite sure it was...

[ He falters there, not wanting to relive it, relive the desperation in Diluc's eyes when he asked to be killed, begged for it. It's a mercy Astarion wouldn't be so willing to give if Diluc hadn't done it for him. He helped Astarion come back to himself, and Astarion did the same for him. ]

An unfortunate accident.
pereatmundus: (neutral 2)

Feel free to choose the next room!

[personal profile] pereatmundus 2024-04-22 04:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[Pity. Knowing that Diluc had begged for release from what Light had resolutely endured would go a long way in improving Light's mood.]

Very unfortunate. Last month was rough.

[Carefully, he picks up the key and unlocks the door.]

After you.
snackin: (smile | talk | idea)

ain't no room next!

[personal profile] snackin 2024-04-22 04:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, how chivalrous. [ Astarion nods to him in a way that's intended to piss him off, very much like Light should be holding the door for him, as they enter another room, this one with guns set up and little figures at the far side. ]

What a fun little game.

[ He spots a figure that looks like Light and he is very tempted to take up the weapon to shoot him. He glances at Light with a smile ]

Please, after you.
pereatmundus: (nervous 3)

[personal profile] pereatmundus 2024-04-22 05:03 pm (UTC)(link)
[Right. This room. What luck to be back here with the one person in Wellstone who would happily shoot Light on purpose.

His eyes narrow at Astarion's smile, and he walks stiffly over to the BB guns.]


What a gentleman. You know how to use these, I hope?

[His voice is flat and humorless, and his finger rests lightly on the trigger as he talks. It's a quiet, makeshift aposematism: try it, and you'll bleed, too.]
snackin: (soft | look | sad | quiet)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-04-25 03:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Astarion has never shot a gun. However, he's quite the marksman, and when he takes up the other BB gun and sights down its length, he feels that he knows exactly what to do. ]

Of course. [ He aims the gun at Light's little figure, wondering what would happen there, but doesn't pull the trigger ]
pereatmundus: (angry 3)

[personal profile] pereatmundus 2024-04-25 04:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Good.

[Light can't deny the temptation to fire off a warning shot into an Astarion cutout's chest, but the momentary satisfaction wouldn't be worth the aftermath. Clenching his jaw, he takes aim and fires a clean shot through the Light figure closest to him.]

You aim for your doubles; I'll deal with mine. I can't do this one for you, I'm afraid.
snackin: (smile | tease | flirt | determined)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-04-26 03:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[ The jab would be more insulting if Astarion didn't also make a clean shot a second later, right through where his own heart would be on his little cut out. It's oddly satisfying, and he stands up straight again with a little smile ]

Easy. Lead on. This isn't all that difficult of a task.
pereatmundus: (concerned 4)

[personal profile] pereatmundus 2024-04-26 04:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Huh.

[Light raises his eyebrows, impressed despite himself. Credit where credit is due; the local nuisance has killer aim.]

Nice shot.
snackin: (huh | sus | look)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-04-26 06:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Astarion smiles a cocky smile just as the floor beneath their feet opens up and any sassy thing he has to say is cut off by a sharp yelp as they tumble into a room featuring a mechanical bull.

Astarion lands on his feet, even as the impact ricochets through his bones.

There's tinny music in the room and he looks around.

Stay on the bull together for 45 seconds, he reads
]

Together?!
pereatmundus: (outraged)

[personal profile] pereatmundus 2024-04-27 12:40 am (UTC)(link)
[Light lands far less gracefully, but the only thing he bruises is his dignity. He's back on his feet quickly, reading the sign in outraged disbelief.]

You've got to be kidding.

[He eyes the bull, then looks at Astarion.]

You're going in front.
snackin: (talk | snark | tease)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-04-28 12:21 am (UTC)(link)
Me? [ He's affronted by the assumption, and it ticks through his mind that Light wants to see where his hands are, supposedly. His eyes narrow, but, well, he doesn't see Light as a threat. What could he do, play tennis at him?

With a light huff, he saunters to the bull and pulls himself up with as much grace as he can muster.
]

Fine. I can see the appeal. [ He preens a bit, arching his back as he holds onto the pummel ]
pereatmundus: (irritated 6)

[personal profile] pereatmundus 2024-04-28 04:38 am (UTC)(link)
[The thought of strangling Astarion has crossed Light's mind before, and it certainly crosses it now. With as much icy dignity as he can muster, he climbs onto the bull behind Astarion.]

Great. Now how the hell do we--?

[As if in answer, the bull lurches to life, and Light grabs onto Astarion's waist for dear life. He's got decent balance, but he's never ridden a real animal, let alone a mechanical version determined to throw him off. Within ten seconds, a humiliated Light goes tumbling to the floor.

Goddamn it.]
snackin: (sneer | annoyed | angry)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-04-28 03:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Astarion doesn't last much longer, even if he does manage to land on his feet again when he hits the ground. ]

What a horrible device. [ He glares at it, not offering to help Light up at all, but instead looking over the thing as it slows down on its own. ]

I wonder... is it powered by magic? You're not a wizard, are you? A hold spell could do it.
pereatmundus: (irritated 5)

[personal profile] pereatmundus 2024-04-29 02:55 am (UTC)(link)
If I could do that, I would have already tried it. Let me take a look.

[He pushes himself off the floor and comes over to take a closer look at the bull. He can't see any obvious power cord to disconnect, nor any on-off switch to flick or joints to pry apart. Whatever is powering the thing, it's not obvious--or accessible--from the outside.

Damn it to hell.]


If we can't slow it down, maybe we can tie ourselves onto it. The sign just says we have to stay on. It doesn't say how.
snackin: (soft | look | neutral | ready)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-05-01 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Astarion considers his idea, then shakes his head ]

Perhaps, but we've only tried once. Up!

[ He waves Light onto the bull, and mounts back up himself, swinging a leg over and holding onto the pummel. ]

As loathed as I am to say it, hold onto me, and do what I do.

[ He's decently confident that he knows how to ride. It just seems right ]
pereatmundus: (irritated 1)

[personal profile] pereatmundus 2024-05-03 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
[Light lets out a long, slow sigh.]

Well, if you insist.

[Grumpily, he gets back on the bull. This time, he throws dignity to the wind and slides up firmly behind Astarion, holding on for dear life from the start.]
snackin: (soft | neutral | wave | move)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-05-04 03:07 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It's uncomfortable in a way that makes his skin itch, but he also wants to get out of here so he grits his teeth and bears it as the bull starts up again.

He moves his hips with the bull. It's not so hard at first, but as it speeds up, it's more difficult, and his hands are knuckle white on the pommel. He hopes Light moves with him, because they both have to get out of here, and while his own movements aren't perfect, they seem to be enough, enough to last this.

He hopes.
]
pereatmundus: (stressed)

[personal profile] pereatmundus 2024-05-04 06:30 pm (UTC)(link)
[Fortunately, for all his flaws, Light's both coordinated and a very fast learner. He mimics the way Astarion shifts his weight, gradually spotting the pattern to it. Between that and the death-grip he maintains on Astarion's waist, he sways dangerously a few times but never goes flying.

Gritting his teeth, he counts the seconds in his head: thirty-eight, thirty-nine, forty...]
snackin: (angry | talk | look | annoyed)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-05-05 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
[ They're so close. They're so close and Astarion can hold on, he can move, he can deal with Light touching him.

At last, at long last, the door clicks and the bull slows down. Astarion, without thinking about it he relaxes against Light.
]

What devil created this challenge?

[ He pulls himself away from Light when he realizes what he's doing, and forces his way off the bull, dropping to the ground on wobbly legs ]
pereatmundus: (side eye 3)

[personal profile] pereatmundus 2024-05-06 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
[Well, that's interesting. Light's not sure what to make of Astarion's inconsistent touch-aversion, but he can analyze that once he's free. For now, he peels himself off the bull, grimacing at his sudden bow-leggedness.]

I wish I knew. Whoever it is deserves to die.
snackin: (huh | scared | look)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-05-08 04:03 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Astarion agrees wholeheartedly with that, but doesn't want to give Light the satisfaction of his agreement, so he just wobbles toward the door, slowly regaining his footing.

Except as soon as he steps into the next room, he finds himself chained up, held in place and buried in sand. It's a good thing he doesn't need to breathe, but it doesn't mean he likes his predicament at all.

He tries to move, but doesn't get very far with how heavy the sand is on top of him.
]
pereatmundus: (concerned 3)

[personal profile] pereatmundus 2024-05-08 07:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[One moment, Light is following Astarion through the door. The next, he's on his own. Which would be an improvement, normally, but for the ominous timer ticking down seconds on the wall.

Shit.

Sweating in the heat, Light looks down into the pool of sand and weighs his options. Astarion would walk away if the roles were reversed; he'd proven as much already. Morally, Light's under no obligation to help. Practically, though, walking away would prolong his own time in these cursed puzzle rooms. Would that would be better or worse than diving into hot, suffocating sand to retrieve an asshole who deserves it? This round, at least, he's the one in control. Next round, Light might be the one beneath the sand.

The timer continues to tick down.

Perhaps he's thinking about this all wrong. The worst outcome here would be to jump in but fail to pull Astarion out in time. Is it even possible for him to succeed in this? That's the first thing he should verify before he fully commits.

Light crouches at the edge and watches the surface for movement, trying to pinpoint where Astarion is. Once he's fairly sure of where to look, he reluctantly climbs into the pool and starts digging.]
snackin: (huh | scared | angry)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-05-10 04:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Astarion struggles as much as he can, tied up as he is under tons of sand. He squirms and fights against it, the panic setting in. He doesn't like being chained up, not at all, and even if he doesn't remember why (other than the obvious), it triggers something visceral in him.

The sand shifts over him, not enough to free him, but enough to show where he is, enough for him to loosen the sand, to move a little closer to the surface
]

(no subject)

[personal profile] pereatmundus - 2024-05-13 02:55 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] snackin - 2024-05-18 18:58 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] pereatmundus - 2024-05-18 23:04 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] snackin - 2024-05-21 16:30 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] pereatmundus - 2024-05-22 13:00 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] snackin - 2024-05-28 22:09 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[personal profile] pereatmundus - 2024-05-29 01:35 (UTC) - Expand