expiationlogs | TEST DRIVE MEME #11

Entry tags:

TEST DRIVE MEME #11

Test Drive Meme #11

Welcome to Expiation, a pan-fandom adventure game with elements of fantasy, science fiction, and some subtle horror.

THE STORY SO FAR (click to expand!)

Characters have arrived in Expiation, a seemingly idyllic fantasy world where they have been told they will be judged and sentenced for crimes they were charged with upon arrival.

Every two months, several characters are chosen for sentencing, where they’re brought to City Hall and told to perform a task related to their assigned crime.

Their only contact at City Hall is a mysterious and long-suffering man called Jerry.

Over time, characters have begun to realize that not all is as it seems in Expiation: as it turns out, the entire world is a simulation that seems to be run by an artificial intelligence.
This AI claims that its purpose, and thus the purpose of Expiation, is rehabilitating the Chosen after their crimes.

In March 2024, after the destruction of City Hall, the city of Aldrip was forced into an upgrade status. While this upgrade was being implemented, characters were pulled into a false reality where they believed they were natives to the city of Aldrip.

Aldrip has been a bit of a glitchy place for many, many months. However, in Summer 2024, these glitches became difficult to ignore, and pointed at evidence of a catastrophic systems failure. For several months, characters experienced chaotic effects as elements from their worlds and many others were thrown into the setting without warning, even going so far as to import a Gnosia infection.

The AI in charge of Expiation believed that performing a system reset might be the only way to stop the glitches before they could impact the world as a whole.

In September 2024, characters complied with the AI’s request and performed a reset. Although this set the AI back to a default state where it felt more neutral–rather than affectionate–toward the Chosen, several people created a system backup that they hope will return some of the data that has made the AI more sympathetic toward the Chosen.

When Aldrip was reset, City Hall became a Courthouse, and this is the new building where Chosen are now sent for sentencing.

TDM top-levels are open to all, whether you are already in-game or not. New characters, please put TDM in your subject header so we’ll know you’re trying things out! You can also put your top-level in the TDM DIRECTORY at the bottom of the post. New folks are welcome and encouraged to use TDM threads as samples in their application. Current players may use TDM threads as part of their AC proofs.

October's TDM takes place on October 21st.

You can view our CALENDAR to keep important dates in mind. RESERVES open on October 21 and APPLICATIONS will open on October 24. After this, applications will next open in December 2024.

Full Navigation

Arrival

Spooky season has come to Aldrip in full force! City and outskirts gardens are full of pumpkins to harvest, trees begin turning red and orange, and there’s a chill in the air that’d have anyone reaching for a cozy sweater. The wind picks up occasionally, howling through the trees, especially near the forest… While the seasonal weather is welcoming, the locals are anything but: they send disapproving glances and keep a wide distance. Unfortunately, this may only be heightened by the new arrivals to the city…

Newcomers to Aldrip face a rude awakening this month. Strange iron cages have appeared on surfaces all over town, short and tall alike, and this is where new Chosen find themselves upon arrival. The cages themselves aren’t terribly hard to open, honestly; the latch is on the outside, and it’s a bit finicky, but it’s not locked or anything. That said, some of these cages are quite high up. They’re sometimes near ledges and windows, but not always, and some new Chosen might need a helping hand to get down.

Yeah. The optics aren’t great. No wonder the locals are a little nervous!

The fall carnival

On the morning of October 21st, a Fall carnival pops up, seemingly out of nowhere. It hasn’t been well-advertised–maybe a flyer or two around town–but luckily for the Chosen, those who work there don’t seem to have the same opinion of them as the locals do. Costumes are not required for the carnival, but they’re definitely encouraged! There is a large tent near the entrance with lots of costumes to choose from, and changing rooms as well, should the Chosen decide they’d like to give it a try. The tent workers will be so excited to help with this process–but they might find some very unexpected choices for the Chosen!

There are plenty of rides, games, and food stalls, so come on down! Some special attractions the Chosen may take note of include:

The Funhouse
Billed as a standard house of mirrors, the Chosen are encouraged to try to get through the maze as quickly as they can. Push your limits! Test yourself!

Inside the mirror maze, the Chosen will find more of a test than they might have expected, at first. As they go deeper into the maze, the mirror reflections seem to change. At first, it’s just little things: your reflection might look in a different direction, or move when you stand still. But deeper within the maze, these mirrors begin to show things about the Chosen that they might not be ready to admit just yet. Some reflections may try to confess to the character’s crime to anyone who may be in the funhouse, even going into detail about it. Some may even show the crime as it happened, or a warped version of that crime. Anyone present can see and hear these reflections.

The reflections will follow Chosen until they find their way out of the funhouse. Unfortunately, that could take quite a bit longer, since those reflections are so very vocal and distracting.

Pumpkin Pick-up
You know those duck games at a fair where you pick up a rubber duck and the bottom of the toy has a prize written on it? Well, we know better than to pick up a duck in a ~~dungeon~~ carnival here in Expiation, so for extra spooky flair, these are small pumpkins instead, with painted jack-o-lantern faces! Picking up a pumpkin should reveal a prize…but what’s this? It’s a challenge instead? Interesting.

Written on the underside of each pumpkin is a truth-or-dare style directive. Players are free to make up any challenge they want, here! If you’re looking for some ideas, we’ve provided some examples in the details cut below.

Click here for a list of example challenges!

Tell someone your biggest regret
Tell someone about the scariest moment you’ve ever had
Confess your deepest shame to a stranger
Take someone’s shoes
Attempt to pickpocket someone without them noticing
Find a stranger and show off a secret talent
Tell someone about the thing you hate most, deep down
Kiss or hug a stranger
Eat something that doesn’t look like food
Tell someone about the cruelest thing you have ever done
Start dancing in the middle of a crowd, but only if there’s no music playing
Tell a stranger about the worst lie you ever told
Ask a stranger out on a date
Set off a small firework without warning
Give away your shirt and do not replace it
Confess your greatest weakness
Put on an extra silly costume
Exchange clothes with a stranger

You get the idea! Feel free to use these as a jumping off point and make up your own–there are no limits to what the pumpkins might say. Once the task has been completed, Chosen may turn the pumpkins in at one of the prize booths for whatever prize they would like. There’s no visible indication on the pumpkin as to whether the task is done or not, so you’re welcome to try bluffing, if you don’t want to complete it…but somehow, the booth worker always seems to know.

Dueling Potions
One of the stalls is a game of chance: two identical potions sit before you on a table. The carnie claims that one is a luck potion, and that choosing that potion will give you excellent luck for the whole day…but how do you tell which is which? By drinking the potion, of course!

There’s a 50% chance of victory, here. One vial does indeed contain a good luck potion, and if you choose that vial, your luck will be incredible for the next 24 hours. Unfortunately, the other bottle contains a bad luck potion, and that will have the opposite effect: for 24 hours, you’ll be plagued by disaster, bad happenstance, and maybe even some extra clumsiness. Does it seem a bit like you need to have good luck to get good luck, here? What, is this a commentary on something? Hmm.

Fortune Teller
Want some woo in your spooky season? A midnight-blue tent covered in stars seems to invite you in. You’ll find a bonafide fortune teller within, complete with crystal ball and heady incense. How fun! They’ll give you a cursory reading, either by palm or with strange-looking cards. You get the feeling that this reading is fairly accurate, but strangely…it’s hard to recite details later, if you try to tell someone else about what they told you. How odd. Maybe it was the incense.

It’s not just a hazy fortune and a nose full of frankincense that Chosen leave this booth with: they also feel a compulsion to speak their minds more than they might otherwise. Whether this is telling secrets usually kept close to the vest, expressing their opinions more readily, readily admitting to crimes they’ve been charged with or other wrongdoings, or some other manifestation of this effect is up to players!

There are plenty of other games, rides, and booths to explore, many of which have perfectly standard fare for events like these. Characters can use these booths to win tickets and get prizes: many booths offer cute stuffies and kitschy toys, of course, but Chosen can also find useful items like weapons, food, clothing, accessories, and things like that.

Witch hunt

Last year’s Witch Hunt was metaphorical in nature–this year, it’s much more literal. A limited number of witch hats are placed on a table in front of the carnival. As soon as the clock strikes noon, the Chosen may grab one and try to keep it out of the hands of fellow competitors. These hats are first-come, first-served, but it really doesn’t matter who starts out with one–it’s who ends the hunt with one that counts!

It seems to be like a city-wide game of tag. The Chosen’s job is simple: obtain and keep a witch hat on their head until the clock strikes midnight. If a “witch” is caught by another Chosen (by way of being tagged), they must hand over their hat, or they’ll be disqualified.

There’s no official sign-up for the hunt, so characters can join in whenever they’d like, or may decide not to join at all. So, what’s this all for? Anyone who manages to have a witch hat on by the time the clock strikes midnight is guaranteed a prize! OOCly, this prize is any small non-magical item from home, either personal or not; ICly, Chosen will not know what this prize is before entering. How do you obtain this prize? There’s an RNG for those who would like a chance to sign up to win an item. Sign-up is optional, and TDMers are welcome to join in! New items will be delivered at the start of November, so any new applicants who win the hunt will be able to obtain their items as well.

Wildcard Make your own fun! Just because it’s not in the prompts doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Have at it! Go crazy! Try not to break anything (too much)!

♡

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Well... what he's seen of Aldrip so far he wouldn't call put together, but it seems stable enough. He glances towards the buildings outside of the carnival, then back to Fauna.]

Falling apart how?

[She's far from the only one who seems to be taking all of this calmly. It seems to be a trend in this place, for whatever reason.]

Stuff kept appearing and disappearing. People called it "glitches". Said this whole place is a "simulation".

[The air quotes are palpable, if not actually performed.]

[... Zekarion still doesn't know how he feels about the idea, having gotten the idea of it in his earlier attempts to get information. Perhaps the thought that none of this is real is one of the few things keeping him together at the moment.

He doesn't bother trying to hide the troubled furrow in his brow as his gaze moves away.]

I see. [His voice is equally unhappy.] I suppose I'm grateful I haven't seen any glitches, myself.

Yeah, all the idiots here went and fixed them all. Like they don't want to break this place.

[She sounds... remarkably irritated about all this...]

[If nothing else, her reaction draws his attention away from his own unpleasant thoughts. ... what a curious way of thinking.]

You'd prefer to have it crashing down on everyone's heads?

[There's no judgment in his tone, only curiosity.]

You can't escape from a cage while the cage is still intact.

[She says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world.]

[He cants his head at her, now clearly interested. Picking at this is almost refreshingly simplistic. ... Almost.]

And what of those crushed by the wreckage?

No one ever proved there would be any.

[It was all just assumptions versus assumptions... and she lost.]

[Hum. He's a little incredulous:]

You require proof to believe that destroying a building housing dozens of people would kill at least some of those inside it?

When the building's in a weird computer thing? Yeah, I do.

[girl does not know computers. at all.]

[So she's an idiot. Interesting. Dangerous. Potentially useful.]

Let me take a few steps back, then, and tell you that I myself escaped from an intact cage earlier today. How do you think I managed?

[correct! ten points.]

One of those shitty hanging cages? You probably just opened it up.

Yes; I opened the door. If I'd tried to tear it apart, I would have ended up in a bloody heap forty feet below at best.

[He wouldn't have let that happen, but that's besides the point.]

All cages have an opening of some sort, and this one is no exception. It's just a matter of finding the way through it.

And you think it's smart to just let this place play out while it's holding us captive in the meantime?

[His tone is plain, but patient.]

Actively searching for the exit while avoiding attention, you mean? Aggression only brings further scrutiny and punishment, which would make it even more difficult to make a difference. I have no intention of "letting" this place do anything without judging the risks for myself.

[He's spent the past fifteen years mired in a world where subtlety and compromise are paramount. Add in all the secrecy of his more supernatural affairs, and this is not a man who likes to be overt in his movements.]

If we're captive, that means something wants us alive. As long as you're alive, you can do something. If you become too much of a liability...

[He doesn't think he needs to finish that sentence, even for her.]

If they want us alive, that means they can't kill us.

[She folds her arms.]

And if we break the place, the one in charge has to come out. And if I can find the person in charge, I can beat them.

[The way she's talking, it doesn't sound like arrogance. It's confidence- Earned, easy confidence. She can win in a fight.]

[Apparently he did need to finish the sentence. He'll know better from now on...]

... if we become too much of a liability, they could easily change their mind and kill us.

[—yep, he just ignores her proclamation. It's unimportant, born out of several false assumptions.]

I'm not interested in testing the limits of their patience.

Ugh, you're one of those types.

[She sighs.]

I don't think they can just 'change their mind and kill us'. People keep saying death doesn't stick here. And even if it did, that would be a waste. To drag people to another world, or even just to run this simulation, must need insane amounts of power. Each person they bring has to be a big use of energy, and that means if they kill us, it's just a waste.

The fact that this simulation is a big world like this means it needs to be a big world like this. Otherwise, it'd just be wasting resources. If they had the power to just modify it and kill us whenever they wanted, they'd've used it already when I was trying to blow up the terminals.

I see.

[She's the sort to underestimate the complexity of what greater powers are capable of, both in scope of power and what they value. That adds up; people with simple mindsets struggle to imagine others having anything deeper themselves. Plus the idea of thinking of her—of humans'—importance as greater than it is to something so willing to play with them...

He chuckles to himself, just a little. Almost fondly?]

You're the sort who refuses to take no for an answer, aren't you?

[... She squints. What's this old man talking about? She doesn't get it.]

Depends on what the no is about? Duh.

I used to have a friend who was just as hardheaded...

[He was always having to rein in Petra and her aggressive schemes. For a brief moment he gets caught in the nostalgia with a distant look in his eye, but it fades and he turns back to the fox girl with only the faint traces of a smile remaining.]

Ah, in any case. What's your name?

A friend, huh...

I'm Fauna.

[... considering she's Japanese, it's pretty obviously a fake name. But it's the only one she's giving for now.]

You?

[Well, that's fine. It's not like he gives out his first name, either, though that's more out of preference. Aliases are perfectly reasonable, especially in a world where they're all accused of crimes.]

Call me Altius, Fauna. You're a fighter of some sort?

A... Alt... Altius.

[She's kind of having trouble pronouncing it, but she's doing her best.]

Yeah. There's only one person stronger than me.

[She says it with absolute certainty.

... She lost to the X-Men, but that wasn't the same thing. It was a fight where winning and losing meant something else than just the fight.]

[He doesn't seem bothered. Her best is her best. If she mispronounces it in the future, he'll simply remind her.]

Only one? And who's that?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject