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6.0 Test Drive Meme
6.0 Test Drive Meme
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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
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!
1. There Ain't Room
2. Glitter Bomb
3. Riddles Three
A. Cry For Me
B. Love Me
C. Hold Me
I. Blood
II. Sweat
III. Tears
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:
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.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.
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.
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:Once you answer correctly, the hour glass disappears, leaving a hole in the floor that you must jump through to exit.
- 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
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: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!
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 your room is green, when you open the final door, you've escaped! Welcome to Wellstone.
- 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 red, when you open the door, you find yourself back in the first room. Good luck!
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:
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.
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Not because of being a King, but because, ordinarily he has his other half—literally. This other half—a magical creation that indefatigably supports and fills in for what Barnabas otherwise lacks—is sorely missed, but he cannot remember him. Cannot know what is gone. So, unfortunately, this is falling squarely on Ademnet's shoulders at the moment.
Barnabas finally looks at him.]
What is the matter? Capable of asking me, yet you hesitate when it comes to asking him?
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[This is a comment that should, based on the world order he remembers, end very poorly for him. Yet here he is, stubbornly making it anyway. For whatever it's worth, he doesn't sound angry as much as resigned, as if he's already sure the answer will be--at best--a no.]
I get that you ain't much for talkin' in general, so I don't mind doin' it for you. All I'm askin' is that you ask, instead of just jerkin' my head around and expectin' me to go. That ain't so much to ask for, yeah? Might not be fancy folk, but I'm still folk. Not a corborn horse.
[Sorry. He doesn't know.]
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That's what happens when they fit a more... mythological space, than something more natural like a chocobo, for instance!]
Finished?
[He asks after a moment's beat once Ademnet stops talking. Then he looks to the receptionist.]
My capability is not in question, I but only offered an avenue in which your initial question may be answered. You need not complicate things.
[But then without further ado, he approaches the receptionist with that saunter of his. There's a compulsion to give his name, and he does, which then garners him a key. Holding it in his hand, he looks at it with a pinching of his brow, before attempting to inquire about where they are.
The answers are, of course, perfunctory. Wellstone, the Staywell, all of them meaningless names that do not explain where they are in any meaningful way. Perhaps Barnabas would find it infuriating, were his heart capable of such a feeling, intead he just looks to the key in his hand as if it would unlock more than the door that would prove to be the other half to their pair.]
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As Barnabas stares at his key, Ademnet sighs and approaches the receptionist himself. The answers he gets are equally pointless, and to Ademnet's bewilderment, he's handed his key without any discussion of payment. What sort of place is this?
He comes back over to Barnabas.]
That guy's useless as a bridle on a fish. Come on. I'll help you find whatever room you got.
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Not that he believes Ademnet much of a threat on his own, even without the fact that Barnabas is certain he cannot be killed. Even still, is it wise to allow him such information? Perhaps to a man scarred from the cruelties of mankind it would be unthinkable, but Barnabas has blissfully been spared those memories, and so...]
Very well.
[Clutching the key in hand, he takes but a moment to spot the stairs. Without a gesture or a word, he starts towards them.]
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He falls into step behind Barnabas, instinctively walking just behind and to the left where a bodyguard would stand. Masking his unease, he scratches his right wrist through his shirt.]
Wouldn't have gotten out of that maze without you. Figure I owe you one.
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It certainly feels natural to have someone trailing behind him like this. Idly he wonders about that, the trace sensation of something familiar yet unknown to him. Unfortunately it leads to a pulse of pain, and between that warning and Ademnet's words, he decides to abandon the endeavor.]
It required cooperation.
[Is this a downplay of his hand in their success? A humble assertion? Or a simple factual statement? His neutral and soft voice makes it hard to know for certain.]
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That last room didn't, yeah?
[A similar, nagging sense of familiarity plagues Ademnet as he walks, whispering indistinctly in the corners of his mind. Has he done this before, or something like it? Stubbornly, he tries to follow the thought, even as his his head throbs with the effort.]
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[He asks with a slight turn of his head, though not enough to actually look back at him. The answer could have simply been a matter of anyone with a vote being freed, but it could have just as likely punished those that might have voted only for themselves. It isn't something he cares to return to test.]
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[His voice sounds strained despite his best efforts, and it's all he can do not to stop walking and clutch his head. Why can't he remember what's so familiar about this situation? It hurts so much to think, but it's fine, he can take it, the memory's got to be in there somewhere--
Without warning, he crumples bonelessly to the staircase.]
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[He stops as he hears Ademnet collapse, swiftly turning to grab hold of him before he tumbles down the stairs. Pulling him close, he loops an arm under his legs, and one behind his back as he lifts him. Barnabas looks him over—his body, his face—trying to look for a source for what caused the collapse.]
Ademnet, what ails you so?
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Muttered:] Sorry. Didn't know it was goin' to do that.
[He didn't expect to be picked up, either, which is all kinds of embarrassing. A thin trickle of blood tickles his nose, and he hastily wipes it away.]
Felt like I was about to remember somethin' important, but thinkin' about it hurt. I, uh...I guess it's a bad idea to push.
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He makes no move to set Ademnet down, instead he continues to walk up the stairs, set on the third floor as his key seems to indicate.]
Robbed as we are of our memories, it would seem the thief would prefer it remain so.
[He will have to keep that in mind. The pain seemed like a warning, and so he heeded it until he could know more about it. Ademnet graciously provided such intel.]
For now we will have to make do with what scraps of evocation we yet have.
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Pound me bloody, I'm already doing it again.
Ademnet takes a steadying breath and forces himself to smile.]
Seems like it. The damage don't seem to be lastin', though. I feel fine.
[He does not.]
So, uh. What do you remember without strainin'? If that ain't too presumptuous of a question.
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I am King Barnabas Tharmr, my crown was one earned through conquest, not birthright. As if to embolden the legitimacy of such a memory, I do recall mastery over many armaments, though the blade and spear most of all. I favor beasts, and tame them besides, and as a natural conclusion I am a skilled cavalryman.
[The last thing he recalls, however, does seem rather personal. Not that his title and how he earned it weren't already, however...]
I recall a man. Cidolfus Telamon. I know not the nature of our relation, only that we shared a close familiarity.
[And that he's gone.
Whatever that means, but he does not voice that last bit. It oddly seems vulnerable, even for a man who cannot feel like normal people can. As he speaks of these things, he is not looking at Ademnet, focusing more on where he's going as he carries him. Having left the stairs, he's now walking down the corridor that will eventually lead to his room.]
What do you recall?
no subject
Not as much as you do. Bits of where I come from. A pond I used to play in, stuff the Tohsires taught me. I'm real handy with knives, I know that much. Don't know where I learned it, though.
[He could stop there, at the safe part, but he doubts Barnabas would believe that's all he knows. Royal bastard or not, Barnabas hasn't given Ademnet any other reason to distrust him. Maybe he's overthinking this. Maybe it'll be fine.]
I'm a serf. One of Lord Pelyar's. I don't remember a poxy thing about the man besides his name, but I'm certain he don't like me much. That's more of me puttin' pieces together than rememberin', but all the same.
[He scratches his branded wrist again, uneasy.]
Pretty corborn sure he tried to get me hanged.
no subject
Then he stares forward once again, stopping before a door. There's something that gently tugs at him, like a memory but not quite. The thought of a brand, of a serf... Something about it passes over him like a ghost of something once familiar, and it proves just as intangible.]
In a realm unknown to us both, free of the order and traditions which structured the lands we scarce remember, thus holding scant little sway with its meaningless ceremony—you are no more a serf than I a king.
[He then lowers Ademnet, putting him on his feet, but watching him to make sure he can stand without issue. Should he be fine, he will stand back to his full height, peering down at him.]
You shall not suffer for what past indiscretion which beckoned the noose about your neck.
[Which is just his way of saying he cannot care what that Lord's problem was with him, it's literally none of his concern. He doesn't exactly see eye to eye with the typical nobility, anyway.]
no subject
Probably harder on him, even if he don't show it. Going from thief to nobody ain't a bad move. King to nobody, that's a real step down.
Ademnet stands up without incident, smoothing his clothes nervously, and gives Barnabas a grateful nod.]
Glad to hear it. We've been gettin' along so far; I'd sure hate to ruin it now.
[Only now does it occur to him that they're standing outside the very door he was supposedly helping to find. He glances at the door, then back to Barnabas.
Ruefully:] Dal's tits. So much for me bein' any corborn help, huh?
no subject
Fortunately for him, and the others here, he is no more aware it than he is the name of the kingdom he founded.]
You have proven your character well enough. Oft the meritless nobility prove keenly unjust in their retribution.
[Though he does glance to the door, then to Ademnet.]
I suppose you were not. [There's no judgment in his tone, just simple fact.] Believe you fit to find your own? Or were you hoping for an invitation inside?
[Again no judgment. Simple and neutral curiosity.]
no subject
Hadn't thought that far ahead, to be honest. Probably should go find where I'm stayin', now that my head ain't tryin' to kill me.
[He examines the number on his key, comparing it to Barnabas's. His room is on a lower floor, most likely. Surely it won't be too hard to spot.]
Think I might go see what sort of food they got around here, too. I don't remember my last meal before we got here. At least that's one bit of not rememberin' I can fix.
no subject
He certainly doesn't feel tired.
With a momentary glance at the door, his attention returns to Ademnet.]
I am in scarce need of rest, and I similarly lack any recollection of eating. It would serve me well to learn where rations might be acquired.
[He looks beyond his companion, down the corridor they previous walked.]
Shall we?
no subject
I sure ain't goin' to say no to company. And food's always a good start in a new place, I say.
[Once again, he'll let Barnabas lead the way, waiting to fall into place beside him. His eyes still sweep the area around them for threats, but he sounds a lot more relaxed.]
Besides, anywhere they got food, there's usually knives of some kind. I'll feel better with some sort of weapon on me, even if it ain't ideal.
no subject
Yet the thought of arming oneself does stick in his mind, and to that he wonders how likely he could find himself a proper sword. Certainly he could make do with a knife, though that is far less sustainable depending on the threat. Knives would do very little to the hide of a dragon, for example.]
You would settle for unenduring cutlery? The town should have a blacksmith that may better suit our needs.
[Should, he says, because any respectable settlement would. The sore lack of something so crucial would be a horrific detriment to the upkeep of structures, of weapons, of armor... Doubtlessly they have one, right?]
no subject
Maybe watching him will teach me a thing or two. It couldn't hurt.
At the mention of a blacksmith, Ademnet shakes his head.]
Of course I'd prefer a proper weapon, but I don't got any coin in these clothes. Just 'cause the man who gave us the rooms ain't asking for payment don't mean other folk won't. Worst come to worst, slippin' cutlery up my sleeve's a lot less dauntin' than tryin' to walk off with a sword. [There's a brief, awkward pause.] Not that stealin's my first choice, yeah? Just sayin'.
no subject
If you wish to take what you desire, then earn it.
[He turns his attention forward once more. Does he mean to challenge the guy for it? Work off the cost of the weapon? Or is he strangely in support of clever thievery?]
It would be a fool's errand to make fast enemies with this settlement's inhabitants. Should we prove our worth, then all else shall fall into its proper place.
[Ah, definitely not the last one, then.]
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cw: blood
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