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expiationmeme2023-02-27 01:04 am
TEST DRIVE MEME #2
Welcome to the TDM for Expiation, a pan-fandom adventure game with fantasy, science fiction, and sometimes subtle horror elements. We ask that top-level comments are reserved for new characters and players looking to experience a taste of the world and overarching storyline. Characters already in the game, however, are free to use TDM prompts in their own catch-alls and logs. Feel free to submit any TDM / prompt-related questions to the corresponding comment below.
New players / characters looking to app are free to use TDM threads as samples in their application. Preexisting players / characters may use TDM threads as part of their AC proofs (with the stated limitations).
You may find the below links helpful in getting to know themes of the world, locations, the people, and so on.
BE OUR GUEST
You may possess any number of questioning thoughts as you traverse the blindingly white room and are dropped into a darkness beneath your feet, but perhaps those same thoughts will be replaced with an awe and curiosity as you come to. Expiation has you now and you have joined the ranks of the Chosen, a seemingly select number of individuals who have arrived with parchment either in-hand or near them, detailing physical and mental statistics in addition to a particular crime to which you have been accused.
How you choose to spend your time here is largely up to you...
IT'S A WINDMILL, NOT A GIANT
As you begin to acquaint yourself with the lay of the land about you, you'll find that not too far from where you've woken there's a rather grandiose tower windmill. Its blades rotate at a casual pace as it faces the ocean and its accompanying shoreline. It appears to be in relatively pristine condition, implying that it is cared for well and often, likely by the locals of the town of Aldrip, which can be easily spied from the elevated level of land upon which the windmill sits.
Outside of the main structure is a collection of wooden crates in various display. Some of these are closed. Some are open. If you observe for long enough, you'll eventually find that a few relatively muscular sorts arrive on the scene to retrieve some of these crates and take them back the distance toward the town that lingers at the base of the mountains. If you choose to inspect the crates, you'll find some of them filled with heavy canvas sacks that contain flour. If you choose to ask the town locals retrieving them about this, they will explain that the windmill companion you have woken near is just one of the many implements that the locals use to provide sustenance to dining tables, festivities, and more.
You have the option to help the locals carry crates back, potentially to curry some favour with them, or simply take some sacks of flour yourself. Crates require more than one person to carry due to the weight, but two able-bodied adults should be able to handle the job quite well. A sack of flour can generally be carried by one, but perhaps you'll find yourself needing some assistance anyway. Maybe ask one of the others who've woken up near you. It certainly seems you're not alone in this new endeavour.
WHERE ONLY THE BRAVE MAY GO
If windmills and manual labour aren't your thing, you may find yourself drawn to the seemingly mysterious cave at the foot of the mountains, not far from the windmill in question.
The locals refer to this cave as Lorentia. Jagged rocks poke out around the entrance and have been sculpted and shaped to resemble what appears to be the massive sharp-toothed mouth of a dragon. It is possible you may be momentarily stopped by one of said locals who will explain that the Lorentia Cave is a passage system that leads through the interior of the mountains, though due to some collapse of the inside, the passageway does not go in far and is currently blocked off for the safety of local citizenry. In other words, proceed with caution.
If you're still feeling brave and care to take a peek inside, by all means. No one's going to stop you.
The interior of Lorentia Cave consists of both narrow passageways and some larger, more cavernous like rooms. There are assorted mining implements scattered along the ground, propped up against the walls, and carts that are filled with various ores, rocks, crystals, and more. The locals of Aldrip use Lorentia Cave for largely mining purposes and many of the things that are retrieved can be used for the smithing forges, the crafting of weaponry, or fashioning into jewellery and other accessories that are sold locally and taken to other towns on the continent.
There are some crudely designed signs that note to take care and depict simple skull drawings, indicating that certain paths may be a little more dangerous to traverse than others. If you are especially lucky (or unlucky, as the case may be), you may even spot some skeletal remains from some less-than-fortunate souls who got caught in a dead-end path and simply never made it out again.
If you listen closely, sometimes you hear the flutter of wings and a distant roar. Maybe it's best not to linger...
NO SOMETHING FOR NOTHING
MAXWELL'S SILVER ROCK-HAMMER
The townsfolk are welcoming to newly-arrived, something that has largely been met with a fair amount of scepticism and wariness from prior arrivals. That said, they continue to be hospitable, eager to share stories and songs about their land, their people, and their traditions.
A jewelcrafter is displaying their work today, putting their various wares out for locals and members of the Chosen to admire, or perhaps to purchase. Part of their demonstration is opening geodes with rock-hammers and showing off the impressive inside of colour and masterful natural works of art gifted to them by the land's bounty. They may choose to speak a little on how they revere the land, the resources they've been given, and how all of this has been bestowed upon them by the very gracious Those Who Were There, a mysterious and seemingly celestial higher power.
For those who are interested, they have the opportunity to offer some assistance to the jewelcrafter by opening some geodes as well. There's plenty of rock-hammers to go around and the most recent retrieval from Lorentia Cave's mining appears to have been very successful. The jewelcrafter is so moved by the offer of help that he's more than happy to let those who aid him keep one opened geode for themselves at no cost.
Congratulations on your new piece of decor!
FORGING BONDS IN THE FIRES OF PASSION
If you were a brave soul who made visit to the Lorentia Cave and came back with some weapon or armour crafting materials (including skeletal remains), you'll find that the smithies of Aldrip are eager to do business and many of them enjoy their craft for the sake of being passionate about what they do.
They'll waste no time in starting the forge and should you have a specific piece in mind you are requesting, as long as they have the materials on hand, they'll even be willing to show you the general process from start to finish on a rough draft of the piece in question. If you're feeling especially keen to help, they may offer to let you work directly on your project, though they will express apprehension and a wary eye for those who fail to have prior experience with such gruelling tasks.
Once your piece is finished, you can either wear it immediately, learn the best way to maintain and keep your equipment, or put it out on public display to show the rest of Aldrip and its residents, new and old alike. If you choose to let the smithies keep your piece, they'll pay you the cost of the materials you've brought them, plus a small percentage markup depending on how much personal effort you put into the craftsmanship personally.
Better yet, you may have just come out of the situation with a permanent bond. The smithies have an appreciation for those who share similar interests and may be willing to provide future discounts to those who purchase their wares.
FEEDING THE MASSES
YOU'RE A REEL CATCH
Aldrip locals always have a need for food and with many Chosen having recently arrived, that need has increased exponentially, for now they have a larger number of mouths to keep fed and stomachs to keep happy. To help inspire this retrieval of food, Aldrip is hosting a fishing competition and anyone who's interested in participating may do so, provided that they follow the guidelines set in place.
All participants must use local fishing equipment and this will be provided by the various merchants in town free of charge, save for those who wish to keep their fishing tackle. All fish caught within the local rivers, ponds, and the nearby ocean are acceptable for submission. Citizens (local or Chosen) are forbidden from using magic or technology as a means to catch their quarry. Anyone found breaking these rules will be disqualified and will be fish'd (that is, they will have raw flopping fish thrown at them).
The winner of the competition is chosen by having caught the largest fish (determined by size and weight) and will be announced at the end of the competition. The applicable winner may keep their fishing tackle free of charge and have their winning fish cooked in the style of their choice by the locals, which can then be shared amongst the people if they so choose (a fantastic way to make friends). The winner will also have a mediocre fish sculpture awarded to them with their name chiselled into the details in honour of their glorious victory.
OOC Notes:
Both TDM participants and characters already in the game may participate in the fishing competition. Please use the designated comment if you wish to partake. On the 13th of March (after applications have closed for the cycle), the winner will be announced and drawn by RNG. We will announce who the winner is on this TDM post (in these notes), the moderator plurk, and the OOC community.
I'M A [X], NOT A FISHER
If you're not a fishing kind of individual yourself, there's still plenty for you to get involved with.
Aldrip has need of people who are capable of preparing meals, especially seafood. It is probable that many participants of the fishing competition will end up fishing up things that are not fish or eligible for submission, but still edible. These include crabs, lobsters, jellyfish, octopuses, clams, and other related sea life. If you have experience with cooking or simply want to help out, the Aldrip locals will welcome you with open arms and may even pay you for your assistance.
If cooking isn't your forte, you'll find that some of the Aldrip citizens enjoy a betting pool from time to time. If you have some coins or something else you don't mind putting up for gamble, you might just come out with the whole pot if you put your currency on the winning fisher. Anyone found to be attempting to rig the betting pool and competition, however, will be returned their bet. We don't take kindly to cheaters here.
At least not openly.
Fishing can be a sometimes dangerous pastime. You may find a fisher who has gotten themselves accidentally hooked on their line or perhaps when they were freeing a fish, the hook got lodged into their thumb. Aldrip welcomes those who have healing abilities to help assist those more unfortunate situations, so fishers can go back to casting out their lines to make the most of the competition. That said, there's nothing in it for potential healers, just the notion that you've done a good deed.
no subject
Thanks. I'll get the next one.
[ Once they've received the food, Claude ushers them over to a little table out of the way of the foot traffic, little more than a couple of stools and a turned over crate. He takes off his jacket, hoping to blend in a little more in just the loose white shirt he wears underneath it; he doubts they'll be discussing any matters of great secrecy, but he'd prefer their conversation remain private nonetheless. ]
I've got a lot of questions. [ But first... ] Two moons, you said? But we would have heard of your disappearance by now. We would have known if you'd been... [ His brow furrows as he glances surreptitiously around them, at the cheerful marketplace, the people here thriving without giving the newcomers a second glance. ] ...kidnapped?
[ This doesn't feel much like a hostage situation. ]
no subject
I'm not sure how that's possible...but it's good that my absence didn't cause a fuss.
[ Perhaps another Marianne remained in her place, or perhaps this is a dream they're sharing. Whatever the truth, she's relieved she hadn't vanished suddenly. She can't see her adoptive father stand for his heir to be kidnapped. It would be a serious affront to Edmund, and perhaps even the Alliance. If she had to go, she would rather disappear quietly. No need to cause anyone trouble or worry. ]
It doesn't feel like a kidnapping. I've been allowed to do as I please and live a normal life here.
no subject
[ There's probably something to unpack that Marianne's glad that her ostensible kidnapping didn't cause any uproar instead of wanting people to immediately jump to her rescue, but that's just going to have to wait. He hasn't seen Marianne for longer than he cares to admit, more frequently in contact with her adoptive father than he is her, but she's still the same old Marianne, isn't she?
He sighs, wrapping his hands around his own mug, feeling the warmth radiate into his palms. ]
So they just let you... do whatever you like? What have you been doing?
no subject
[ How much time has passed since then? Marianne fiddles with the cup in her hands. Claude's probably right that her disappearance should have raised a fuss, but it's better this way. She wouldn't know what to do with all the concern, and she ducks away from it now to tear a piece of bread from her plate to slip to the nearby pigeons. ]
I've been helping to look after the animals on the farm. The townspeople have been welcoming to me, it's the least I can do.
[ It's been surprisingly pleasant here. Well, save the mishaps with the refrigeration units, but that was just an unfortunate accident. Right? Nothing Marianne found suspicious, anyway. ]
no subject
But they can't. ]
What are you talking about? We're not at war. [ Were forces mobilized without him knowing it? No. No, that couldn't be. He has eyes and ears everywhere. And Marianne wouldn't do that, not unless she had to, pacifist that she he knows her to be. ]
...Marianne, this is the first time I've seen you in years. I've barely seen the others either, save for Hilda and Lorenz. Everyone's just been too busy. You included. And -- you'd tell us if you went marching off to war.
[ Maybe they're not as friendly as they were in their school years, but they're still friends, after all. To do such a thing without any notice whatsoever simply isn't like her. ]
no subject
[ Her eyebrows furrow in confusion. It's been two years since Garreg Mach shut its doors. In that time, they'd gone their separate ways, but then Claude himself...]
You called us together. Hilda, Lorenz, and the others, too. Edmund couldn't provide troops, so my father sent me in their stead.
[ Marianne hadn't protested. It would be selfish to when everyone else was risking their lives to protect Leicester. She didn't fear dying but burdening everyone else. Her absence probably wouldn't affect the course of the war either way; she was just a small actor in the grand scheme of things. Claude, however... what would become of the Alliance without him? ]
no subject
[ Claude blinks hard, bewildered. ] That can't be right. If you didn't say that Hilda and Lorenz were there, I'd think that you got stuck with some imposter, but... I was just with them, arranging more of those awful meetings.
[ Rather, Claude was the one arranging the meetings, Hilda had been sitting on his desk and complaining, and Lorenz was complaining loudly about how much he deserved to be in the chair that Claude had been occupying. If not for the earnestness in Marianne's expression, he'd think that she's trying to get one over him.
He can't deny that he's been preparing for war. That he would be asking Edmund for troops, if he could muster it. But nothing's happened yet. ]
We haven't been in the war. We've just been watching the Kingdom and the Empire go at each other's necks.
no subject
I can't explain it, but it's what I remember. I'm sorry.
no subject
[ And boy, when he finds whoever is doing this to them, he'll... he'll... probably give them a very strong talking to. For all that he's been preparing for war, Claude doesn't consider himself to be a naturally violent person. He sighs, dragging a hand across the back of his neck as he tries to figure out what could possibly be happening. He had an odd conversation with another woman earlier today, discussing different worlds, a concept that perplexes him more than he should like. But if they're talking about impossibilities here... ]
It shouldn't be possible. But if being teleported here is possible, if being from other worlds is evidently possible -- could time travel be possible too? [ He hasn't admitted this out loud to anyone besides Hilda. But he can trust Marianne. Even if he couldn't, who would she even tell? ] We may not be at war now, but I've been preparing for it. I've just needed to get all of the Alliance's affairs in order before I could. So maybe you're from a time when I've finally managed to make it happen?
no subject
That would explain the differences in our memory.
[ At the time, she never realized Claude had been making preparations for war, but in retrospect, a move like that would have had to be carefully planned. There's still a lot she has to learn, it seems, if she's to support the Alliance one day as the Margrave's heir. Marianne grips her cup, looking at the sky reflected in the tea. ]
I used to think it was the goddess at work, but now I don't really know.
no subject
One goddess, for all of these people from all these different places? I don't know about that. These people seem pretty insistent that it's their gods doing it too.
[ If it's a god, they've got a mean sense of humour, Claude privately thinks. ]
But I have no non-mystical explanation for all this either. [ That it's by chance alone is just as comforting as the idea that it's the goddess. Which is to say, not comforting at all. ]
Ugh. So if you are from the future... how's the war going? Are we holding our own?
no subject
We defended Myrddin and pushed back against the Empire. We're okay.
[ There's relief in her voice. Her classmates were alive and well, or as well as they could be in the middle of a war. Not everyone had made it through, casualties were inevitable and they'd buried good soldiers, brave men and women. She hasn't had to bury a friend, and she's grateful to the goddess for this small mercy. ]
General Holst and Judith the Hero are with us. The other lords are in support as well. It's hasn't been easy [ She's seen Claude sit through long roundtable discussions. She's sat through them herself. ] but the Alliance has come together.
no subject
Even Holst and Judith are backing us up? [ And they defended Myrddin too? A slow smile spreads across Claude's face. ] Well, how about that. I never had any doubt that we could do it, of course! I wouldn't be planning on it otherwise!
[ But he expected it to be a long, hard fight. It probably still was a long, hard fight, and Marianne has seen the sort of horrors that Claude himself has been spared thus far, but to have the Alliance rallying around him? It's hard to make himself focus on that. ]
Still, I can't believe all those stubborn old men were finally willing to take a stand. [ Ah, maybe he shouldn't be insulting them then. ] That cinches it. We're gonna win this thing. Thank you, Marianne. I don't think you could have given me better news.
no subject
[ The war isn't won yet. She debates whether to tell him about how their latest victory was dampered by the news of an army being amassed east of Fódlan's Throat. About how they faced impending invasion on more than one side. The Alliance may have pulled together, but their enemies, too, grow more powerful. Upon seeing his reaction though, Marianne hesitates to bring down the mood. ]
No. I'm sure you're right.
[ She's probably worrying too much. After all, Claude has led them to victory several times. He'd even enlisted Count Gloucester to pull one over the Empire. They're going to be okay. She wants to think it'll go as well as he believes. ]
We might not be in Fódlan now, but you have my support here as well.
[ The Alliance has come together, with incredible warriors like Holst and Judith. She must pull her weight as well. ]
no subject
I know it must be hard fighting in the war. It can't be easy on anyone. [ Taking another's life isn't something to be done lightly. He's killed his fair share of people by now, as have all of his classmates, but it's never been something that he's thought as being pointless. You can kill, but it has to be worth it. It's a shame; in a war, you're not only killing bandits who put themselves in the line of fire. You're fighting soldiers who have signed up or have been conscripted without full awareness of the situation they're in.
Tragic, but necessary. He's not sure what Marianne's Goddess has to say about the whole ordeal. ]
But I'm glad we're doing it. The sooner the war is won, the sooner there will be peace. And while I appreciate the support - and I'm gonna need it - that goes both ways. I think you're the one who's going to have to give me a little guidance around here. I don't even know where I'm going to live!
[ He's not even going to have a cook here! How's he going to survive? ]
no subject
[ As she says so, her hands clasp together as if in prayer. It pains her to see the lives lost every day. To fight against familiar faces on the battlefield. Marianne knows they can't return to their untroubled monastery days, but one day, perhaps, they will be able to bring an end to the war in Fódlan. She hopes with all her heart that day will come sooner than later.
For now, they're here in Aldrip, with a different kind of challenge ahead of them. Though she doesn't have the answers to this world's mysteries, she at least has an answer to Claude's dilemma. ]
You don't have to worry. The locals are offering up rooms at the inn. I would be happy to show you around.
[ After being the only one here for some time, it's truly good to see Claude again. ]
no subject
[ That's the repeated refrain here. That the locals are generous. Claude hasn't seen any evidence to the contrary - he's certainly been well taken care of since his arrival - but it's still odd. Fodlan's not like this. Almyra either. Who's to say, though, that this isn't what the rest of the world is like? He knows but a sliver of it. He rises to his feet, dusting his hands off on his trousers. ]
That sounds nice, Marianne, thank you. And you can tell me all about what you've been doing in detail on the way over. Who knows? Maybe I'll get some ideas. I hardly know what I'll do with myself stuck here. It's been a long time since I'd just nap the afternoon away.
[ In truth, he'll spend his time here plotting about how to get back. But right now? There's nothing he can do without a lead. ]