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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.

lord_daigonis: (shocked)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-04-29 08:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[One moment, she's right in front of him. Then he steps through the door, and all he can see are stone walls. He turns to look behind him, but the door--the door he just came through--is gone.

Pound me bloody.

Cecelia's voice comes through one of the walls, muffled but audible. Ademnet runs his hands over the stones, feeling for some kind of hidden door to where she is.]


Tohburn it--Cecelia? Where'd you go?
sighsheavily: (pic#16590725)

[personal profile] sighsheavily 2024-04-29 08:26 pm (UTC)(link)
[she can hear him, though it's very clear that they're separated by...something. this narrow wall? she can only assume so, laying a hand on it in consideration.

looking behind her, she hesitates, then gives the door a try.

...or she would, if she could find a handle.

trees and bees.]


I can't go back...I'm just going to have to move forward. Be careful, yes?
lord_daigonis: (thinking)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-04-29 08:35 pm (UTC)(link)
[He doesn't like this one bit, but what other choice does he have?]

You, too. I'll catch up to you once we're through, yeah?

[Reluctantly turning away from the wall between them, he goes to examine the plinth. This time, at least, the puzzle is simple: two names, and the instruction Who should escape?

He doesn't have to think about it. He puts Cecelia's name in the slot and settles in to wait.]


sighsheavily: (pic#16420024)

[personal profile] sighsheavily 2024-04-29 09:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[there'd be just as little time wasted on Cecelia's end, but the brevity of the ask gives her pause.

is this a trick? she wonders. will something befall the one named, despite the prospect of escape? will i be inadvertently condemn him to more of this nonsense despite intentions?

she sighs, rubbing at her forehead. this is exactly the kind of stuff this place does to mess with people! make them mistrust their own instincts...

with a scoff, she places Ademnet's name on the pillar, nodding to herself.]


What happens, happens...!
lord_daigonis: (suspicious)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-04-29 10:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[Ademnet's room lights up green, and the door at the far end of the room clicks. He grabs the handle warily, takes a deep breath...

...and steps through into the Staywell. He stops awkwardly just beyond the doorway, looking around for Cecelia.]
sighsheavily: (pic#16416827)

[personal profile] sighsheavily 2024-04-29 10:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[Cecelia's just a beat behind, passing through the threshold and--]

Mff-!!

[--into Ademnet's back, prompting a jolt.] Guh! What! Oh--! Oh, it's you! [beat. blink. she tilts herself to the side at the waist looking past him.]

A--the...the old hotel...?
lord_daigonis: (listening)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-04-29 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[Whoops. Sheepish, Ademnet steps out of her way.]

You know this place? That's a good sign, ain't it?

[He's still not entirely sure whether or not they're done with the puzzles.]
sighsheavily: (pic#16420021)

[personal profile] sighsheavily 2024-04-30 12:01 am (UTC)(link)
How... But, why...? [perplexed, she drifts ahead of him and up to the concierge, dressed up as she remembered him in the desert. all the trappings, too...

she barely processes the canned greeting, looking at and then past him and around the lobby, not even trying to hide her concern.]


I had thought...we left the desert behind... Have we regressed? [the notion gives her a chill and an impetus to clutch at her chest before double-taking at the young man who rescued him minutes ago.

keep it together, Ardenbury.

after a beat, she clears her throat, straightening her posture.]


To answer your question: Yes, I know this place. I would say familiarity is better than wandering adrift in the unknown, hm?
lord_daigonis: (avoidant)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-04-30 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
[...Okay. Not a good sign, then.]

Depends on why it's familiar, I'd say. But this place don't look so bad to me.

[As if on cue, a child's voice giggles behind him. He turns to look for the source, but there's no one there.

Huh.

Weird.]
sighsheavily: (pic#16590721)

[personal profile] sighsheavily 2024-05-02 10:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[her ear twitches and her eyes narrow to slits. children.................... descostang.

warily:]
...Yes...though, things must be different now. So I must-- [blink. her eyes go big.] ...The archive.

[all the changes she and Darin made NO!!] Trees and bees it's probably either all gone or in shambles!
lord_daigonis: (surprised)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-03 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
The what?

[The same voice echoes him, mocking: "The what? You dummy." This time, he doesn't turn around.]

I don't know what you're worried about, but if there's anythin' I can do to help...

[He sounds hopeful. Whatever he's forgotten about himself, following a take-charge woman around just feels right to him, somehow. Magic notwithstanding.]
sighsheavily: (pic#16590724)

[personal profile] sighsheavily 2024-05-03 10:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Well-- [she starts, then hesitates, patting herself around. sticky. glitter. sand. awful. she sighs, then looks to the butler, expression softening despite the stress. she plays through the routine with him in order to get the keys to the fourth floor room she knows as her own, quietly thanking him before looking back to the young man who had been lingering nearby with intention to help.]

You likely have a key to secure as well, if you wish to give him your name. Either way, this will be the key to the archive.
lord_daigonis: (happy)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-03 11:44 pm (UTC)(link)
[So it's like an inn, then. A really fancy inn. The concept is familiar, at least, though he can't recall ever staying in one himself.]

Key to the archive. Got it.

[He says this very confidently, as if he already knows what an archive is. He'll figure it out once he sees it, probably. It's fine.]

They, uh. They ain't goin' to expect payment for a room, right? I don't think I got anythin' on me.
sighsheavily: (pic#16420024)

[personal profile] sighsheavily 2024-05-04 11:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[she smiles wanly, her brow knitting a bit.]

If they do, they've yet to come calling for a cash-out. Not for a year or more so far.

None of us have had to exchange coin or...much of anything, really. Besides our time. And survival.
lord_daigonis: (listening)

[personal profile] lord_daigonis 2024-05-06 01:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[Up until she said survival, it wasn't sounding so bad. Pretty tohburned good, actually. But if hazards like that sandpit are normal here, that's a much less attractive deal--though still not a bad one, overall. Ademnet would rather die suddenly than hungry, given the choice,and dying old and peacefully has never felt like a possibility anyway.]

Think I can afford it, then.
sighsheavily: (pic#16590722)

/thread

[personal profile] sighsheavily 2024-05-08 12:42 pm (UTC)(link)
You can. [and he must, probably, if he means to be here with the rest of them. but those are existential questions for later. for now...time to go make sure all of the records survived.]