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Well Mod ([personal profile] wellie) wrote in [community profile] wellcome2024-04-19 04:40 pm
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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: (tease | fight | flirt | determined)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-04-26 02:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Me neither. [ Gods, he wishes he did. He stares this man down, not at all willing to be the one pain is inflicted upon.

He surges forward with the intent to take the man's wrist and twist it uncomfortably backward
]
cynomorpha: (pic#14865813)

[personal profile] cynomorpha 2024-04-26 06:55 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He neither flinches nor retaliates. Pain is familiar. There are certain doors that sacrifice will open. So he contributes, pushing into the joint manipulation. ]

Go ahead. Don't be wasteful.

[ If he's doing this, it had best count. ]
snackin: (tease | wave | smile)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-04-28 12:19 am (UTC)(link)
[ Oh, how delightful. Astarion's smile grows, cruel but genuine. He's enjoying this, enjoying this man leaning into it, reveling in the pain.

Twisting harder, he brings their faces closer together. It's a strange sort of intimacy, one he's finding he rather likes: being in control like this.

He keeps his voice light, teasing, as if they're having afternoon tea:
]

Any hint of a tear? Or is this too easy for you?
cynomorpha: (pic#14865335)

cw: weird masochist flirts with vampire

[personal profile] cynomorpha 2024-04-29 12:31 am (UTC)(link)
[ He huffs out a breath in discomfort, the line between sneer and smile unclear. It is too easy for him, and there is a question in that. One that he is not inclined to examine. ]

You'll need to put your foot in my back.

[ Maybe dislocate his shoulder. Slowly, preferably. ]
snackin: (smile | tease | purr)

cw: consensual joint dislocation

[personal profile] snackin 2024-04-29 12:48 am (UTC)(link)
[ Astarion's grin grows, thrilled by the prospect. Is it more fun because he wants it? He doesn't know, but he's enjoying himself. ]

Oh, I would be delighted.

[ He does it, twisting harder and pushing him down and pressing his boot into Sokta's back. He isn't actually all that strong--if Sokta wanted to get out of this, he certainly could. But if he doesn't, Astarion will keep pushing, the need for tears completely gone from his mind ]
cynomorpha: (pic#14865887)

Re: cw: consensual joint dislocation

[personal profile] cynomorpha 2024-04-29 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
[ The crystal is cool when his knees hit it. He exhales, and tries to relax his mind. It's not quite something to cry about, but certainly a sharp enough injury to bring a tear. The feat requires leverage more than it requires strength.

He remembers a little better that there is a goal in mind, but only a little. This game is better than the escape rooms; mind awake and bright. ]


Ha... ah...

[ The flash of nerve pain hits his sinuses, eyes watering. Heat crawls up his neck and starts to dampen the hair that falls there. A panting command, ]

Now.

[ He should have grabbed the cup first, but did not. ]
snackin: (smile | tease | flirt | determined)

cw: consensual joint dislocation

[personal profile] snackin 2024-04-29 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
Now? [ He forgot, too into what he's doing, into the pop of muscle and bone under his hands.

Then he realizes why they're doing this, and he steps on Sokta to get to the cup with his other hand, crouching down with one foot still on him to press the cup to his cheek.
]

Beautiful. Four more, dear. Is this doing it for you, or do you need something else? We could crack some ribs.
cynomorpha: (pic#14865783)

Re: cw: consensual joint dislocation

[personal profile] cynomorpha 2024-04-29 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ He wheezes a laugh, throat a little tight. He thinks it must be unusual to find someone more smug than himself. Affectionately, he hates it. He tosses dampened curls off his face with a jerk of his head. He wishes he had his knife, but can make do. ]

Just hold the cup.

[ And he will dig out the rest of those sharp little tears with fingers and knuckles, agitating the damaged nerve and muscle around the sagging shoulder. His chin dips with a faint hiss. ]
snackin: (sneer | angry | annoyed)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-04-29 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ Astarion lets him free, not quite wanting to let go of the crunching sinew, but he manages it, kneeling in front of him as this man hurts himself. He's enjoying it until he isn't, something flickering in his mind that makes his head hurt in a spike of pain. His hand holding the cup wavers, but he doesn't spill it, fingers knuckles white around the crystal glass.

No, he can't chase the thought. He grimaces and focused on the man in front of him
]

Get on with it already!
cynomorpha: (pic#14865861)

[personal profile] cynomorpha 2024-04-30 12:59 am (UTC)(link)
[ His laughter is a brief spasm. ]

Shut up.

[ It is not surprising how easily the rest of the tears come when he laughs. He sits panting, listening to the crystal door rumble open. A heavy exhale. ]

There you have it...

[ He wipes a mixture of sweat and tears from his face with the back of his hand. ]
Edited (I wasn't done) 2024-04-30 01:00 (UTC)
snackin: (sus | determined | look)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-05-01 08:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He's a bit impressed, but isn't going to let on. As soon as Sokta adds the last tear, the door in the back wall opens a crack. Astarion looks at it, then hesitates before offering Sokta a hand up ]

Very well. Only a few more, I believe.
cynomorpha: (pic#14865713)

[personal profile] cynomorpha 2024-05-03 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ He huffs an exhale and lets Astarion haul him up by his good arm. He's definitely learned something about himself. Recklessness and a sense that... emotion only exists when it's physical. ]

I certainly hope so.

[ Even if they get that arm back in the socket, it won't be much more use. So he just uses some of the fabric of his poncho to tie it in place. ]
snackin: (sus | look | huh)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-05-03 12:44 am (UTC)(link)
[ Astarion looks him over, wondering if Sokta will be a liability now, with his arm like that. He frowns, but, well, there's nothing for it. He'll continue on even if Sokta falls behind. ]

Alright. Let's see what else this horrid place has in store.

[ He turns on his heel and marches to the door, prying it open to find themselves in a room with the instruction of just: Climb! ]

Fuck. [ That certainly won't be easy with Sokta's injury. Maybe leaving him behind will be more imperative. Thinking about it, he doesn't feel guilty exactly, but it also doesn't sit quite right with him. Perhaps since Sokta hurt himself like that. He doesn't know. Now isn't the time to interrogate that ]
cynomorpha: (pic#14865724)

[personal profile] cynomorpha 2024-05-03 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
Hm.

[ He can't even pretend to be surprised by that turn of events. He watches the blood begin to pool. ]

Go. Open the hatch.
snackin: (huh | look | sus)

cw: drinking blood

[personal profile] snackin 2024-05-03 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
[ He says that like it's so easy. Astarion doesn't want to climb that rope. But he also doesn't want to drown in blood

Except the smell of it starts to fill his nostrils and he's suddenly aware that he hasn't eaten in who knows how long.

He doesn't follow Sokta's instruction, he finds where the blood is gushing from the letters and cups his hands under them, bringing it to his mouth to slurp as much down as he can, ravenous
]
cynomorpha: (pic#14865794)

Re: cw: drinking blood

[personal profile] cynomorpha 2024-05-03 01:27 am (UTC)(link)
[ Is he the bad luck token, or is it Astarion? He will have to ruminate on that. He is willing to try exactly once to regain the elf's attention, and goes to pull him away. ]

Keep it together, idiot.
snackin: (talk | tease | smile)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-05-03 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
[ Astarion growls in his throat, and gulps down more of the blood, which makes him feel a little queasy before he grins at Sokta with bloody lips ]

I am. Now I can climb.

[ As queasy as he is, he also feels stronger, more fortified, sharper, and he jumps at the rope, hauling himself up it vigorously ]
cynomorpha: (pic#14865826)

[personal profile] cynomorpha 2024-05-03 01:46 am (UTC)(link)
[ That's something at least. He brushes some spatters of blood off his cheek and wades over to the rope to grab hold. He can't climb it, but as long as he keeps track of its ascent to the hatch, he can probably make it. Just... hold on and don't let the blood suck him down. The smell is truly overpowering, and he closes his eyes to focus past it, and wait. Either Astarion pulls his weight, or he has to tread blood to the top. ]
snackin: (pout | sad | annoyed | why)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-05-03 02:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ Only when he's nearing the top does he realize what Sokta's plan probably is. He doesn't like it one bit, but also the man can't climb with one arm.

He climbs the last of the rope angrily, and his arms ache by the time he's at the top and he doesn't want to pull Sokta up on it, but he also owes the man and he doesn't want to owe the man.

Shoving open the hatch, he climbs through and debates leaving him behind again, but once again decides against it with a loud, dramatic groan. He drops to his knees and grabs the rope
]

Hold on tightly.
cynomorpha: (pic#14865876)

[personal profile] cynomorpha 2024-05-03 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
[ Well. He supposes that will do, although if Astarion drops him back into the blood, he may descend too far to buoy back to the surface... He calculates possibilities with a grim understanding that he has little agency in the matter. Which is insufferable. Maybe he should boot Astarion back into the blood and shut the hatch? That would be a perfectly measured response. Right?

Particulars of blood are making the air unpleasant, he coughs and spits as he's dragged up. These clothes are going to have to be burned.

He's getting there, and he finally opens his eyes to look up. ]


Steady, you've got it.
Edited (grim and grimy are not the same thing.....) 2024-05-03 20:32 (UTC)
snackin: (determined | huh | sus)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-05-04 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[ He's straining, his muscles aching and his teeth clenched and without the strength the blood gave him this would be much, much harder than it already is.

He hauls at the rope, getting up and using his entire body to pull. He's going to be so sore later, particularly if he can't find more blood to drink
]

Come-- on! [ Despite desperately wanting to let go, he doesn't. He pulls, and pulls, and Sokta is nearly at the top by the time his arms are giving out. ]

Can you climb? The last bit? [ He can't pull anymore, but he can hold on ]
cynomorpha: (pic#14865907)

[personal profile] cynomorpha 2024-05-06 12:24 am (UTC)(link)
[ He sputters a cough, but begins to churn over what possibilities are left to him. One arm is a waste, but he has both legs. So he needs to make better use of them. There are no knotted footholds in the rope, but he can make something with the push and pull of each foot. Stand up straight, and repeat.

It's an exhaustive and unpracticed motion, but a little easier with his back steadied against the wall. Still, blood weighs down his clothes, making this more arduous. He would prefer not to drown. His determination pulls him into black tunnel vision, finally losing all awareness of the rushing blood and its overwhelming scent. All he hears is the ringing of adrenaline.

His legs and his good arm are numb by the time he's near enough to scrabble his way out. Soaked, panting, misting with red particulate. ]


I'd like to see the maker of this place take their own tests.

[ Like condemning a demon to their own hell. Clearly that's the situation they're in, right? Which similarly raises a question of what he did to get into this situation... ]
snackin: (tired | sad | soft)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-05-08 03:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Astarion holds on as best he can. His arms are shaking and what strength the blood gave him isn't quite enough.

Thankfully, Sokta makes it up and over the edge just as his strength is failing him, and Astarion collapses, letting the rope go and lying there on the ground with blood flecking his face. If he needed to breathe, he would be panting, but the vibe is very much the same as the world swims in front of him.
]

Damn whoever or whatever it is to the Hells. When I meet them, they won't escape.
cynomorpha: (pic#14865763)

[personal profile] cynomorpha 2024-05-12 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
[ Incensed as he is, there is still a part of his mind that wonders if it is a punishment or a test. Is there something worthwhile in completion, or is he just going to drown in the next room instead? He crawls over to put his back to the wall of this little antechamber before the last door, leaving smears of red behind him. ]

Even supposing there is an end, where do you imagine we're going?

[ This is purely hypothetical small talk while he takes a minute to collect himself. ]
snackin: (sus | look | huh)

[personal profile] snackin 2024-05-13 08:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I imagine that we're going to fight our way out of this awful trial and find ourselves in a town that's as much a prison as this. [ He follows after Sokta, his legs not quite as exhausted as his arms. The blood soaking Sokta's clothes is tempting him, and his mouth is watering despite the way his stomach still aches from the blood he drank before. He glances back longingly at the blood room. So much blood, gone to waste ]

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