TEST DRIVE MEME ( 011 )

[lifeaftr_mods]

Test Drive Meme #11

Hello, and welcome to LifeAftr! We’re pleased that you’re expressing an interest in the game. Here, you can test the waters, gauge how your character may fare in the world of LifeAftr, and even gain some in-game incentives, if you so choose.

Remember that Reserves will open on May 17th, and Applications on May 24th!

Two important notes:

1. LifeAftr's test drives take place on the island of Mu, which exists apart from the real world and possesses a dream-like quality that characters are innately aware of from the moment they appear on its shores. No need to panic or fret. Dreams are odd things, after all - and anything can happen in them. Why would anyone question where their mind chooses to wander in its sleep?

2. Due to the nature of Mu, threads in our test drive can not only be accepted as thread samples in your application, but can be accepted as game canon as well. In fact, certain choices your character makes in Mu have the potential to bear in-game consequences, largely in the form of test drive reward items.

Damn It, Todd
The island breeze is cool and pleasant, temperature-wise. The sun is beaming cheerfully overhead, and the waves lapping up against the beach are a crystalline aquamarine. The place may as well be a postcard, with how picturesque it is: from the thick copses of palm trees to the soft white sand, it's a truly gorgeous, becoming setting.

It makes up for the chaos of its inhabitants. Mu has adopted what promises to be a highly frustrating backdrop for its dreamers, this fine evening. The island looks normal enough, seems normal enough, but for whatever reason, the physics and general behavior seems oddly...glitched.

We don't just mean in the general sense, either. At random intervals, you may find yourself being launched several feet in the air by an invisible abuse of physics, or clipping through trees at breakneck speeds. Maybe you're walking around several feet above the ground, or your hands are much larger than the rest of you. Regardless, the possibilities are virtually endless and promise to be, for the most part, quite harmless for those afflicted - just very annoying. Whether you're swimming in the air, repeating the same lines of dialogue over and over again, or stuck halfway through the ground, it's not clear how one is meant to undo these glitches once they set in.

You could always try helping each other! Though that may simply make things worse; who can say if these glitches might bleed into one another and complicate things even further?

(Oh, and they do. They absolutely do.)

This is Dragonna Suck
When you wake in a lovely, tranquil woodland, it perhaps seems too good to be true. The trees are dense with canopies flowering overhead, and the grass has formed a thick, plush carpet on the forest floor. There's the sound of birds chattering happily in the branches, and the rustle of forest creatures in the undergrowth. That's around the time that a loud, angry roar splits the silence, and something very large and very green barrels into the clearing you occupy with large, barklike claws. This, dear adventurers, is a rootwyrm. While undeniably draconian in appearance, the effect is offset by the fact that the rootwyrm's skin is more akin to the texture of bark than it is scales. One can generally discern the age of these creatures by counting the number of rather stubby legs that support its ample middle - the youngest will only have two, while the oldest will have as many as twelve.

Rootwyrms move slowly, thanks to the turtle-like shell that sits astride their back in lieu of wings, but they make up for this by hitting quite hard in a fight. Instead of breathing fire, rootwyrms spit a caustic, stinging acid if they can't get close enough to their prey, though they'll be more than happy to try and dispatch you the old-fashioned way: with an extremely large set of reptilian jaws.

Did we mention they don't like trespassers? And that you're standing square in the middle of their territory?

You're Pollen My Leg!
The open spread of the grasslands allows for a clear view of the cloud-scudded sky. This particular setting is that of a meadow, vast and seemingly infinite, hosting a sweeping expanse of rolling hills. The wind's rippling over the fields of rich green and buff-colored grass lends itself to the impression that the hills are in constant motion, as if you're standing in the middle of a verdant ocean.

Naturally, such is not the case. As you roam the landscape, you'll probably notice the dollops of color sprinkled here and there: flowers growing in bright clumps amidst the tufts of grass. They're not ordinary flowers. Why would they be? They're in full bloom, meaning that thick spores of pollen have begun to waft freely into the air. Careful not to draw too close, because this pollen, when inhaled, ingested, or otherwise interacted with in any nonspecific capacity, will have a variety of...side effects, depending on which particular plant's spores you've just unwittingly imbibed.

There are five variants you may encounter in your dream-travels, each of which will have a different result, depending on the color.

[ ♆ ] Blue flowers will induce short-term amnesia and general confusion. Forgetting your sense of identity, difficulty discerning the difference between right and left, and an intense sensation of vertigo are all common side effects.

[ ♆ ] Red flowers will make you intensely and inconsolably angry at just about everything. You know that guy who chewed gum behind your ear that one time? Fuck that guy! That person over there, with the yellow shirt? Fuck their shirt! Yellow is a stupid color, and you're stupid for wearing it!

[ ♆ ] Green flowers will induce a loss of one important sense - sight, smell, taste, touch, or hearing - though loss of powers is also known to have occurred.

[ ♆ ] Purple flowers will induce silence. We hope you aren't very talkative by nature, or that you can communicate exclusively via rude hand gestures, because now you can't speak at all.

[ ♆ ] Orange flowers will fill you an indescribable terror regarding just about everything. The slightest motion, the most innocent hello, the most harmless small animal - all will tap directly into every primal fight-or-flight response to danger you have.

These status effects can and will stack, by the by. Maybe start up a little game of pollen bingo, and see how many fanfiction tropes you can rack up in one day.

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Comments

[altarwolf]

The Fade houses demons and spirits, not dragons, and I would see through any demon's illusion. Though 'tis not unlike the Fade.

[She had wondered the same thing herself when she first realized she was here, the dreamlike quality of her surroundings matching up with the typical mage experience of the Fade. But that was quickly ruled out after some exploring as a wolf.

She sighs, bringing a hand to her forehead. She's no fool, weaker for her love for the elf; she never expected a reunion with the Warden, had fully intended on staying out of her way for good once they both had what they needed. The archdemon slain, the dark ritual performed, and Morrigan gone without a trace, never to return.

It was supposed to be clean. Why are things never clean?

(Well, the answer to that is usually Flemeth, but Morrigan had hoped her death, if temporary, would buy her a little more time than this.)]

There are places beyond the world and beyond the Fade. Before you ask, I do not know how we would have arrived to one of them. Someone interrupted me while I was trying to gather answers.

[knifetornado]

[Sorry Morrigan, this Warden is just a little behind right now. She's busy worrying about the Archdemon eating everyone, not anything past that. While she's past the worst experience ever in the Fade, it's only one call, though she remembers that she shouldn't be able to figure out if it is the Fade without being a mage, so. It's still a little confusing. She continues to be not very smart.]

When were you doing that? Was that what was in your mom's book we got?

[She did need to follow up on that.]

Look, it's not my job to deal with freaky magic stuff, and anything that involves sleeping in one place and waking up nearly alone somewhere super different hits that for me. So if you don't know where we are, I'm not lovin' that. Do you have any ideas at least?

[altarwolf]

Among other things.

[Yeah, no. Morrigan's not letting on what's in her mother's grimoire, Amdir. Good fucking luck getting a straight answer from her.]

My thought is we may have stumbled across something that linked Thedas or the Fade to a world beyond. A world with qualities of the Fade, certainly, but still not the Fade. We'd have to find the artifact or being responsible before any questions are truly answered.

[A sigh. A truly beleaguered one.]

I suppose that means we must travel together again, if you've any hope of finding answers.

[knifetornado]

[Damn, just tell her a little bit. But the more she listens, the more she's getting a little bit behind. And as much as Amdir doesn't like to admit when she's wrong, she also likes to keep her story straight.]

Okay, okay, I'm behind on all of this- really I am- but hang on. What are you talking about travel together again? We were just-- doing that. We were in the, the dwarf underground whatever, dealing with Shemface Mcprinceman and leaving them with the old man in charge. You didn't go anywhere.

[She's already getting a little ahead of herself now, trying to figure this out.]

Did you disappear? Like just fuck out when I didn't notice or something, because I wouldn't blame you so much for not wanting to be in the Deep Roads more because forget it. But I'm pretty sure you were right there.

[altarwolf]

[Morrigan stares blankly at Amdir for a moment, takes a breath, and walks her Warden through it.]

We must be dealing with some form of time magic, then. Wonderful.

[She adjusts her hair and leaves her hand against her forehead.]

I remember differently. Orzammar is a thing of the distant past. We've defeated the Blight and gone our separate ways. You stayed in Denerim for a time, and I... traveled elsewhere. On my own.

[Possibly the vaguest way to explain it, but that should be enough information.]

[knifetornado]

Oh. Huh.

[Okay, weird magic, but not the Fade...? Sure. Maybe. Just as she's trying to accept that, though, the second part she actually cares about comes along.]

Wait! You left after the Blight? We killed the dragon and everybody's cool? Oh, shit.

[That's-- that's a lot to take in, uhhh, oh shit.]

Where'd you go? You thought this was that maybe? I mean, you're allowed to run around if you want, but you're coming back, yeah?