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hugtopiamods ([personal profile] hugtopiamods) wrote in [community profile] hugme_mes2020-04-18 09:12 pm
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♥ April (Lasai) Test Drive Meme

a bobble doll dancing on the dashboard of a car on the road
April (Lasai) Test Drive Meme
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Lasai is a beautiful month. The weather is warmer, the sky is a breathtaking blue again, and with the flowers from Ainir growing nicely, the entire city of Havenwell just feels more alive with every breath. It's a time of renewal, of rebirth, of Ainea's greatest strength as her adherents open the temple gates to invite people and robots from all walks of life to enter and share together. A recent expansion of the walls has left the outer limits of the city in a more devastated, apocalyptic appearance, and newcomers are warned to steer clear of the open areas due to the potential danger, but there are no walls to stop you if you choose to venture out...


PROMPT I: The Wild Wild West (East, South and North)
side view of a large wall surrounding a city

At the start of Lasai, the walls of the city had pushed outwards, shifting and spreading to create a new barrier further out, revealing ruined, broken sections of the city left out in the wild storms of the world for too long. The people of town are celebrating, happy to share the tale of how the walls suddenly moved and expanded their town, granting them access to new regions, perhaps even their old homes.

It's not all fun and games, however. Among the din of their celebration, other cries emerge from the newly incorporated ruins: cries that sound like howls and screeches, and certainly do not sound human. Grab your weapons (if you have any) and steel yourselves, off-worlders, as with the addition of this new space comes the need to clear it of anything potentially dangerous that got caught up in the expansion. Not all creatures you'll find are hostile, but some certainly are. Docile ones might just fetch a nice price from the Research Towers and the Conservatory if you can capture a mating pair.

OOC: These are the creatures you can encounter in the city as you go through to clear it. It's not an invasion level of infestation, as the majority of creatures will prefer to remain inside their known territory beyond the original barrier, but you will on occasion need to take up arms and fight. Next to their names are the frequency with which you can find them, ranging from common to extremely rare.
  • Inky Black Spiders (common - hostile): These relatively small, black spider-like creatures have very basic melee attacks, using their fangs and their sharp legs to bite and claw at people. Those who were around in October when the wall broke will recognize them as the most common enemy back then. Their exoskeletons are hard and when they die, they smash into a black goo. They tend to travel in packs, using sheer numbers to overwhelm their prey.
  • One-Eyed Lizard (uncommon - docile): An iridescent scaly purple and green lizard approximately 8 to 10cm in length from tip to tail. It has a single eye at the top of its head that can rotate to see 360 degrees around it. This creature's main defenses are its tough hide and a spine on the tip of its tail which it whips at predators to dissuade them from eating it. It's more likely to run than fight, however, and can usually be found sunbathing on exposed rock with its eye closed.
  • "Bone Giraffe" (extremely rare - hostile): A nearly 20-foot tall, long-necked skeleton of a four-legged creature long dead with a single curved horn protruding from its skull and a sharp snout. It's usually found lying in a heap, as if it laid down and died that way. A black seven-petaled flower sometimes (but not always) grows from the skull and beneath the skeleton is an oily black film. Touching the oil slick activates the creature, which draws the oil up into the skeletal cage. Its main attacks are brute force, using its bony legs and neck to kick and slam against its prey, and its acid breath. It breathes a black fume that sizzles and burns anything it touches.
  • Rive Talon (rare - hostile - medium): In the past these creatures may have been canines of some form, now they seem to have melded with the detritus of the fallen buildings and creatures of the landscape. Extra spikes, ridges, and protrusions extend from its body at odd angles. Many of them are metal or stone, rather than bone. And some of the bones clearly were not originally its own. (Suggested by Sierra!)
  • Outskirts Hare (uncommon - docile): A shy creature, roughly the size and shape of an earth hare, covered in fuzzy-looking, curly pink hair and cat-like whiskers. Normally quite timid, this creature's poor eyesight causes it to flee when it feels threatened, and relies largely on a sense of touch to navigate its surroundings. Contact with this creature's fur is markedly pleasant, but its skin discharges an oil that causes mild skin irritation on contact when it's nervous. Active mostly at night time. (Suggested by Mel!)
  • Ansaurini (rare - annoying): a bipedal feathered bird with sharp claws and teeth good for chomping; some possess flight capabilities, but the majority are prone to a lazy waddle. Mostly harmless and deceptively unassuming until you turn your back- and suddenly it's run off with something it stole off your person! They are excellent at escaping, though they can be traced back to their hoard, and if their collection is raided they will make a lot of noise in protest. Just watch your back- they will try again until you leave their territory. Truly, a horrible thing.


PROMPT II: Welcome to the (Urban) Jungle
Once the newly revealed area is deemed safe enough to venture into, the city council will put out a call for those willing and able to assist the natives with a clean-up effort. The city outside the walls is badly damaged, left to the ravages of the time and the ever-present storm, which means clearing dust, debris, and flotsam is a high priority before people can begin to repair the new districts and salvage material or live there. Thick brown vines cover large parts of the city, grime from the storm is caked onto windows, rocks and scattered rotted bones and twisted metal can be found in roads and crashed through buildings. The atmosphere in this part of the city seems to mirror the decrepit state of the land, too, feeling heavier and grayer and more depressing than it has any right to be. Going out with people and helping together, taking breaks to lean against one another tends to help clear away any negativity that this land seems to bring to your thoughts, however. Since it's dangerous to go alone, be sure to take a friend.

The biggest concern is the vines, so natives offer to lend machetes to the offworlders to help the hack them away. The vines look brown and dead, the leaves withered and curled up. When characters hack into them, the vines release a puff of yellowish dust. Inhale the dust or get it anywhere near your face and over time, you'll begin to get sleepy - very sleepy. It's hard to keep your eyes open, no matter your resistance to poisons or magic, and eventually you'll find yourself falling asleep wherever you are. And once you're asleep? The vines start moving, crawling toward you at a snail's pace. Hopefully you did bring a friend because you'll need their touch to wake up and stay awake long enough to get away from the vines before they pull you deep within their grasp.


PROMPT III: Take a Load Off
emergency supplies with a checklist

Not everyone can fight or clean or even wants to do it, so while those who are more suited to being on the front lines are off doing their thing, those who remain behind must begin the effort of preparing everything that people will need to live in these new areas. At the temples and in the main square, the priests have set up large rest areas with blankets and pillows, and are busily putting together repair kits for mechanics and explorers to use as they go through the ruins. Those who want a place to rest that doesn't require going all the way back to their homes might find these waystations more convenient.

At each, characters can find hot soups with chunks of hearty replicated breads and both hot and cold drinks available for any who wish it. They're trying to replicate pain medications and bandages for people who have been injured while exploring or fighting off the monsters who were unlucky enough to be left inside, and will ask you to try it if you're injured. Taking this medication might have some unintended side effects, however, like a feeling of euphoria or delusions of grandeur or even something as banal as turning your hair a shocking shade of chartreuse - the effect, if you want one, is up to you!

The rest areas also have robots "skilled" in giving massages that are looking to test their newly acquired skills and with four pairs of arms, they can work on two people at once! In fact, they're rather insistent about giving you a free massage if they hear even the slightest hint of fatigue in your voice and will usher people into their curtained off booths regardless of whether they know the other occupant or not. These robots are still learning though, so anyone curious enough to try may need to work with their partner to give these robots pointers. They're trying, but not having fragile little flesh bodies is a major obstacle in learning how to have a gentle touch.





Have fun however you like with the setting! Make a network post, make up other prompts based on the general setting, go wild. Havenwell is your oyster.

This TDM is for the May application round. If you have any questions, feel free to direct them to the FAQ or to the Mod Question thread below. The reservation round begins on April 29, 2020 at 10:00PM EST and our applications will run from May 2, 2020 to May 9, 2020 from 10:00PM EST to 10:00PM EST.

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intrap: (013)

[personal profile] intrap 2020-04-26 11:01 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Nice try. Evan looks at the vines creaking and cracking as they grow, then turns and grabs Zenitsu by the collar. Not knowing what else to do, he flings him over his shoulder and starts to walk toward the worst of the vines. ]
zapdope: (037)

[personal profile] zapdope 2020-04-30 05:53 am (UTC)(link)
Eeehhh?!?!?! Why are you carrying me?!!?!?!? Excuse me?!?!?! AND TOWARDS THE VINES!?!?

[ Shrieking into the oblivion. ]

Are you crazy?! We want to get away from them, not closer!!!
intrap: (014)

[personal profile] intrap 2020-04-30 06:14 am (UTC)(link)
[ Okay, little dude. They were told to clear these things out. Plus, if he had to think too hard about it, they reminded him of his last overlord and he wasn't a big fan. Not knowing how to be very gentle, He throws Zenitsu in front of a breathing batch, turning toward another clump to start smashing the shit out of it.

DO UR JOB, RUNT
]
zapdope: (302)

1/2

[personal profile] zapdope 2020-05-01 10:06 am (UTC)(link)
Are you effing serious!?!? You demon—!!!

[ Screeching so much that he loses his conscious even before the vines' sleep powers hit him. ]
zapdope: (181)

[personal profile] zapdope 2020-05-01 10:07 am (UTC)(link)
[ And does the dumb cool thing. Don't ask me how he does Thunderclap and Flash with a machete. He just does. ]
intrap: (003)

[personal profile] intrap 2020-05-01 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Evan finishes MURDERING the vines when he pauses at the sounds. Rain coming? He doesn't smell it. He turns back around to where he left Zenitsu to see if he died and finds the end result.

Why didn't you just do that sooner?

He just stands still and waits for him to finish, not wanting to be made a target of whatever the hell he's doing.

Can't argue with results, though.
]
zapdope: (168)

[personal profile] zapdope 2020-05-01 08:17 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Because this guy's a loser, what else. The moment they're done cleaning the vines out of the area, Zenitsu snaps back and immediately starts screaming again. ]

Nooo!!! I'm gonna di— [ more screaming, his hair standing on its ends ]

Wh-where did the vines go?!
intrap: (012)

[personal profile] intrap 2020-05-03 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
Dead.

[ Evan's favorite word. ]

Stop yelling.
zapdope: (064)

[personal profile] zapdope 2020-05-03 06:08 am (UTC)(link)
Dead...?!

[ Why's this guy sounding happy with that!? Actually with how he looks it's probably not surprising, maybe.

More importantly...
]

Th-Then let's get out of here?! I don't wanna be put to sleep and strangled to death by these plants!!