Test Drive Meme | August-September 2016

[wearethecrystalmods]

TEST DRIVE MEME

Welcome to the Cosmographia Test Drive Meme! This is a place for you to test out any characters you've been considering for the game or just to splash around in the waters and see what's right for you. Give our infopages a glance over and use the prompts below as a jumping off point! Threads from prompt A and B can be made canon for the game so long as both parties agree to it! Prompts C and D, unfortunately, cannot, as they take their cues from events and Excursions already run in Cosmographia. In short - pick a character, write up a starter and have a blast!

PROMPT A - ARRIVAL

You don't remember getting in this hole but you definitely remember falling out of it. You go tumbling out into the heart of a cavernous temple. Sparkling Gems suspended in bubbles float lazily about the ceiling, just a little out of reach. There's a greenish glow cast over the room by the huge crystal looming before you in the center. It's... curiously heart shaped, now you think to take a closer look at it. If you're curious enough to touch it, you'll get some basic answers about your situation... but then again, there's no guarantee you're just going to walk up to a giant weird thing in the middle of a giant weird room and touch it, right? Why not take a look around and see for yourself what kind of place this is? Perhaps you'll run into someone in the same predicament as you, or perhaps you'll run into someone who can help explain why there's a weird rock now affixed to your body?

PROMPT B - THE FARMER'S MARKET

It's Thursday in Waverly Bay, and that can mean only one thing: the weekly Farmer's Market is here again! The town plaza is all abuzz with activity today. Stalls not only from farmers on the outskirts of town but from crafty residents with interesting homemade items to sell, and businesses looking to attract the Market's crowd are all here! The weather's a little chilly but it's still an excellent place to spend the day, so long as you've got some money to spend. Are you shopping for a good deal on vegetables for dinner? Or perhaps you're getting a feel for the residents, having recently arrived? Or, perhaps, are you an industrious gem who's looking to set up shop? Either way, you're bound to run into somebody in this bustling, busy place.

PROMPT C - INVESTIGATION

Now that you're starting to get a hold of your powers, you've been sent through the warp pads on some kind of mission to the Gem Observatory. From the sounds of things, there's an ancient relic here somewhere that could serve useful for the Gems in the Temple and someone has to go out and find it. ... the only problem is that you're not exactly sure where you should start looking in this place. And on top of that, it's a complete mess. Junk and debris and books and papers everywhere with no clue where this relic could be. You're going to have to do some serious digging to find this thing. And on top of that, you might find that when you try to go back the warp pad you took here has managed to stop working in between your arrival and now. Maybe something went wrong back in the control room? Or the pad itself needs fixing? You'll have to poke around in the guts of the machine to try and figure this one out.

PROMPT D - COMBAT

Uh-oh! Looks like you've run into a monster! These critters can pop up anywhere around Waverly Bay so it doesn't really matter where you were before or what you were up to. All you know now is that you need to buckle down and beat this thing! Giant Mothwing - With broad wings that shed scales on the wind, this corrupted Gem bears a striking resemblance to a large moth or butterfly. The body between its wings is no beauty, though - it usually stays rolled into a wheel-like spiral to protect its flat, pinkish gem, but when it uncurls to attack it looks more like a worm with teeth. Yikes! Loud noises make it lash out in agitation. Even when it's not attacking, it flies around restlessly, shedding sharp, glasslike scales that can leave nasty cuts as they whiz past. It'll be hard to get close to it unless it's lured down out of the sky. Chameleoid - The shape of this monster's body is more like a tardigrade than a lizard, but its camouflage ability and long, sticky tongue are worth commemorating. The Chameleoid can flatten and expand its body, and change the color and texture of its outer hide to blend in seamlessly with its surroundings, and it uses this ability to duck in and out of battle. Keep an eye out for suspicious movement when it vanishes from view. The Chameleoid shoots out its 20-foot-long tongue to disarm, trip up, and gross out Gems, but it's not averse to eating any small objects it might grab. The inside of its mouth looks softer than the rest of it, so maybe you can turn that to your advantage...? Strawberry Spider - Though its long, spindly legs holding it off the ground make it look like a spider, this monster is actually mostly made up of plant material. Trees and strawberry plants are rooted in the corrupted Gem's featureless, geometric body, forming woody legs and blanketing the monster in foliage and strawberries. Its aroma may be sweet, but the Strawberry Spider is ruthless and very, very perturbed. It stands 15 feet tall and 25 feet wide, and its skittering feet move fast to stomp on attacking Gems. Thinking of cutting off a leg? Try it, and hundreds of strawberry runners will immediately sprout from the stump to ensnare you. The strawberries are hungry, and they've got a "taste for blood"... Damaging the plants living on it won't actually hurt the corrupted Gem, and they grow back fast. This will be a tough monster to defeat. Wildcard Option - Make your own! You know by now that you've got some special powers just from being a Gem. Apparently, from what little you've heard, you can shapeshift into things and pull a weapon from your gem, and you have some sort of unique special power. But maybe you don't know what it is yet, or you're still not used to using it? Guess you're going to have to learn on the job. Don't leave your fellow gems hanging if you see them fighting one of these little guys either! You're going to need each other to take 'em down!

PROMPT E - WILDCARD

Not into any of these prompts? Thought of something more fun? Go for it!

Comments

Market

[modelcivilian]

Megumin would find some strawberry-themed snacks (thanks Ichigo) being held out to her as she inched along.

If she looked, she would see a blonde boy holding the food out to her.

"Here."

Re: Market

[explosions_are_awesome]

"... your offering appeases the powerful Megumin."

Immediately, she took it and started wolfing down the strawberry snacks with gusto. For all about two seconds.

And then she GAAAASPED. "WHAT SORCERY IS THIS THAT FOOD IS FRUIT FLAVORED?!"

[modelcivilian]

A Megumin? He has no idea what that is, but just knelt next to her as she ate.

He looked surprised at her outburst. "Is there something wrong with it? The stall I got it from uses fresh strawberries as one of their key ingredients."

Did she not like it? Should he get something else?

[explosions_are_awesome]

Megumin stared hard at it, examining the food from all sides and angles. "Where I come from, the art of perfecting cooking with fruit of this scale is unheard of! Tavern food is all I know after all..."

And she took another cautious bite.

And sparkled in delight.

[modelcivilian]

"Oh."

Well, this was a good thing then. It really looked like she was enjoying it.

"They usually have food like this when the Market's set up. You recently arrived here though, right?"

[explosions_are_awesome]

"Fu fu fu... you want to know who I am?"

Popping the rest of the food into her mouth, she got up and posed dramatically. "Gaze upon me, and fear! I am the crimson demon sorceress, Megumin! Master of Explosion Magic! Even the most powerful of rampant enemies tremble at my might! I--"

*growl*

Megumin slumped to her knees. "I am really hungry..."

[modelcivilian]

That wasn't exactly what he said, but he stood up and watched her pose. She had this all worked out; she wondered how many times she's introduced herself this way. Megumin... that was an interesting name.

But she was down again.

"Hm... there's supposedly a stipend available for new arrivals, but I could buy some more food for you right now."

[explosions_are_awesome]

"A stipend? There are no quests at the quest board I take it? No guild to spend our points?" asked Megumin curiously from her prone position.

Her stomach growled loudly as she slumped over. "I need much food. If you don't mind."

[modelcivilian]

"No, there isn't. It's enough to help us get by until we can get work in town, or find some freelance work." A guild and a quest board would be pretty much for the gems themselves.

He smiled warmly and nodded, "I don't mind. Which stall do you want to go to?"

[explosions_are_awesome]

"Well, at least there's some kind of quest board," mumbled Megumin as she staggered to her feet.

She hadn't eaten in 3 days.

"Anything as long as it is filling." said Megumin. "I haven't eaten in 3 days."

[modelcivilian]

He heard that, but he doesn't comment.

Instead, his jaw almost dropped. "Three days? Since you arrived, or were you on a quest before getting here?"

[explosions_are_awesome]

"All our funds was going towards trying to get a friend out of prison," said Megumin despondently. "He got arrested after saving the Town from destruction, when Wiz teleported the core out of a giant boss monster over a nobleman's house by sheer accident."

[modelcivilian]

"Oh..."

How else was he supposed to really respond to that? "That doesn't seem fair. You saved a Town."

[explosions_are_awesome]

"They don't know that." Grumbled Megumin.

"They just think we dropped a AWESOME explosion over the house."

[modelcivilian]

"Yeah, that might complicate the issue."

Even he hasn't experienced that problem before. And here was the first stall with some food a little more substantial than fruity baked goods. He looked at Megumin, waiting for her to order.

[explosions_are_awesome]

Megumin's stomach growled as she looked over the food. For a stall, it smelled good too. "Can I get those things then?" she asked, pointing at the meat buns there.

Thank goodness for an international market so to speak.

[modelcivilian]

"The steamed buns? You can. How many do you want?"

And if she said all of them, he probably had enough. It just might make buying at later stalls difficult.

[explosions_are_awesome]

Nnnngh. Don't say that, she'd feel guilty. Counting on her fingers, Megumin said, "Five. Five should do. I think I can eat that many."

She had eaten a pile of lobster before. This should be just a snack.

[modelcivilian]

"Five? Okay."

A few coins, some change, and her snack has been obtained. "Careful. They're pretty hot."

[explosions_are_awesome]

Taking them, she picked one up gingerly before blowing on it. Sniffing the food, she broke it in half before taking a bite.

"... this is...! Really good!"

And she took another big bite, and another until she had wolfed down the first bun.

"Oh this is heavenly! This pleases me!"

[modelcivilian]

"Aren't they? I've never had them before coming here either."

She's pretty much having a similar reaction to the first time he ate one... minus burning her tongue. He still needs to figure out why that happened.

[explosions_are_awesome]

It could be her affinity to fire, being a Crimson Demon after all. But she continues eating, chewing quickly before coughing slightly. "Excuse me..."

[modelcivilian]

"We should probably get you something to drink too."

That would keep her from choking again as she finished off the other meat buns.

[explosions_are_awesome]

"What kind of drinks are there?" asked Megumin curiously as she slowed her frantic eating pace.

"Darkness never lets me have anything she and the others get."

[modelcivilian]

"Well, there's juice, smoothies, carbonated drinks..." Maybe she doesn't know what many of those are either.

He tilts his head. "Darkness? What kind of drinks does she order?"