The Powers That Be ([personal profile] powersthatbe) wrote in [community profile] synodiporia_ooc2017-09-13 12:52 pm
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Test Drive #21

Welcome to the Synodiporia Test Drive Meme! Below the cuts there are two new prompts, and here are the prompts from previous test-drives, which you’re still welcome to use in this post. When you comment, be sure you specify what prompt you want to play with, and please put up your own threadstarter—it makes for a much more friendly environment than a forest of bare toplevels! OCs are especially welcome! Please take a quick look at our Directory & familiarize yourself with the concept and setting of the game before you jump in.

Our upcoming app round runs September 16th–26th. Our next Jaunt will be Night Falls on Yensid, a fantasy Jaunt taking place in a formerly magic kingdom whose history went awry when other Travelers failed to properly complete a previous Jaunt there, one of the many forgotten Jaunts from before Synodiporia properly began as a Dreamwidth game. There will be no Walkabout run alongside this Jaunt.

Prompt #55 takes place in a punishment Liminal Space for a Jaunt that the Travelers failed to solve.
Prompt #56 takes place during the first Jaunt the Travelers made to the Kingdom of Yensid, during its Golden Age.

#55

It’s difficult to make out the shape of this Liminal Space, at first, thanks to the decor; it’s somehow both pitch black and eye-searingly bright at the same time, the pulsing rainbow patterns cutting through the darkness making it all but impossible to properly judge distance. The truly persistent, or those who manage to abuse Liminal ‘down is relative’ gravity without hitting a pitfall for long enough, may eventually determine that it seems to be a giant egg. More so than many iterations of Liminal Space, it’s completely closed off.

Unfortunately, that’s going to be very difficult indeed to figure out. It’s not just the impossible coloration that makes navigation difficult; there’s a terrible storm raging, and the whipping winds and cracking thunder make it all too easy to stumble into a pitfall by accident. And those pitfalls don’t exactly want to let go of anyone they ensnare, either. Errant Travelers may find themselves supporting an impossibly heavy overhead weight, or pushing a boulder eternally uphill, or trying to catch an ever-lowering drink of water, or pouring water into a tub riddled with gaping cracks, or any number of other seemingly endless, pointless tasks. They can be escaped with help from another Traveler, or one person can be released from the task when another stumbles in.

The only respite from this - the colors, the storm, the punishments - is in the form of Travelers’ created spaces, but those are as difficult to get to right now as everything else. Good luck.

#56

It's a chaotic time for the Kingdom of Yensid. The Amulet of Yensid, that fabled magical artifact that must be rejoined each lunar year so that the kingdom's three races can continue their peaceful magical coexistence, has gone missing. Two-thirds of it, the humans' fragment and the Forest Folk's fragment, are nowhere to be found. The capital city is just as bustling as ever despite this, with reptilian Stonefolk flitting from place to place in their usual parkour-like fashion, small animal-like Forest Folk hawking various potions and crafts, and humans making all sorts of deals.

There's an undercurrent of urgency to the day's business. Small groups of three or four of various species move through the city with enchanted mirrors, dowsing rods, fishing lures, and all other manner of magical items designed to aid in the act of finding something, but so far, no one's turned up anything solid yet. A few of the stronger magicked items are leading their owners out towards the foreboding Birdlime Mountains, but that's the most promising lead anyone has.
otomechapilot: (:disgust)

55

[personal profile] otomechapilot 2017-09-17 10:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"Chariot AND Tower," Sara grumbles from her perch counting grains of rice by hand. "Two of the three that wouldn't know the meaning of the word 'relax' if they were forced to."

She's very not happy and showed up battle-scarred from the last Jaunt. "Stupid Greece. Stupid Spartan overlay."
razorblade_empress: (Surprised)

[personal profile] razorblade_empress 2017-09-18 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
Yukino grimaces. "My condolences."
otomechapilot: (:\)

[personal profile] otomechapilot 2017-09-18 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah. Seriously. Just my luck that my first time is what everyone agrees was The Worst Jaunt," she says.

She shakes her head then looks up at Yukino. "Huh. You weren't working with the Titans last Jaunt, were you? I didn't see you around and there wasn't a walkabout."
razorblade_empress: (At rest)

[personal profile] razorblade_empress 2017-09-18 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
Yukino would take issue with that assessment, but she wasn't here for this Jaunt, so for all she knows it could have overtaken Moebius for that title. "I actually just got back from... somewhere." The details have mostly slipped away from her by now. "And so far I don't recognize anyone here, so either there's been an extreme amount of turnover in a very short time or I've been gone a while."
otomechapilot: (:doubt)

[personal profile] otomechapilot 2017-09-18 07:38 am (UTC)(link)
The worst since Moebius, then - this is more marking her as a newbie than it taking the crown.

"...it's probably been a while. The Arcana are actually doing knock-out rounds now, if you didn't know."
razorblade_empress: (Surprised)

[personal profile] razorblade_empress 2017-09-19 02:03 am (UTC)(link)
"I didn't, actually. I guess that explains it." She gives Liminal Space another cursory glance, but really, at this point it's probably more productive to look at the ground to make sure they don't misstep. "So is this the result of a mutual knock-out or did one of them win on points?" Which assumes that they bothered to explain in the first place, which is not nearly enough of a sure bet.
otomechapilot: (:angry:)

[personal profile] otomechapilot 2017-09-19 02:11 am (UTC)(link)
"The only good thing is that it was probably a double KO, or else one of them would at least leave us alone," she says. "Unless they just DQ the round and put them back in the running."

She makes a face with a lolling tongue. Sara really doesn't think much of the idea.
razorblade_empress: (At rest)

[personal profile] razorblade_empress 2017-09-19 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
"There's a comforting thought," Yukino replies wryly. Then, more soberly: "How bad was the Jaunt?"
otomechapilot: (:c)

[personal profile] otomechapilot 2017-09-19 02:15 am (UTC)(link)
"Ancient Greece got destroyed," she said, hanging her head. "I - my overlay was part of the reason why. Fought a bunch of Titans and then it was a war between the Gods and the Titans and the humans lost."

She sighs.

"For a moment we thought that was a Tower win, but apparently there's such a thing as too bloody for Tower."
razorblade_empress: (Sad)

[personal profile] razorblade_empress 2017-09-19 02:17 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm sorry." There aren't any other words that really suffice.
otomechapilot: (:doubt)

[personal profile] otomechapilot 2017-09-19 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm just glad you missed it," she says. "I didn't realize people here could... you know..." She's struggling for the word. "Flicker."
otomechapilot: (:fear)

[personal profile] otomechapilot 2017-09-19 02:23 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't know what else to call it," she said. "If you weren't on the Jaunt and there wasn't another one, where were you? Back here?"
Edited 2017-09-19 02:24 (UTC)
razorblade_empress: (At rest)

[personal profile] razorblade_empress 2017-09-19 02:27 am (UTC)(link)
"I don't know," she replies, shaking her head. "It was like an extended solo walkabout, but now that I'm back the details are hazy."