TEST DRIVE MEME 003

[rubimods]

⚰︎ ⍢ ⌲ ⍚ TEST DRIVE MEME:

Welcome to RUBILYKSKOYE — a dark, horror-smut game where player choices will drive a mod-run storyline about the world and its NPCs. This test drive meme provides a medley of prompts evoking the game's general tone.

THESE THREADS CAN BE GAME CANON if both players are accepted into the game and agree to it. However, if players who'd prefer to start fresh are welcome to reuse these prompts in their own personal logs upon acceptance into the communities. Note: characters arriving in September's application round will arrive in the midst of a two-part event that will continue through October. Players may date their character's arrival any time from September 8th onward.

CONTENT WARNINGS for this game include: monsters, body horror, dub-con, non-con, religion, blood/violence, and marking/branding, loss of autonomy/self, and mental influences. This log additionally has warnings for: disorientation, loss of direction, hallucinations, time distortion/lost time, aphrodisiacs, group sex, dubious consent, cannibalism and cannibalistic urges, spiders, bondage/restraint, loss of autonomy, body horror, sadism, torture, cult behavior, assault, arson, caging, free use, and public sex.

If you have QUESTIONS about the test drive prompts, please ask HERE. Questions about the game itself or the general setting should be directed to the FAQ.

FAQ ✧ SETTING ✧ CALENDAR ✧ RESERVES ✧ APPLICATIONS

IN THE WOODS SOMEWHERE

The chirping of partridges in the treetops rouses you. Light barely filters through the canopy, just enough to suggest daylight. By the time it reaches the forest floor, the light has taken on a sickly green. You lie amongst the frost-covered mosses and ferns, the frozen soil cold and just a little damp on your bare skin.

Wherever you were before this moment, whatever you were doing or wearing, when you awaken in this forest, you find yourself naked and helpless as the day you were born. As you sit up and get your bearings, aside from a brief wave of disoriented nausea, you seem to be no worse for wear than you last remember.

The gnarled oaks and moss suggest no sign of civilization or sentient life. Just flickers of movement from curious squirrels or brave lizards emerging from a temporary retreat from the wintry weather. With your feet under you, and you'll find the wood is filled with berry bushes and nut trees, though much of the fruit has been picked clean. The freshwater stream that runs north-south, populated by both poisonous toads and delicious crawdads, is running actively again as the weather warms back up from the recent snowstorm.

You may start out alone, or among others sharing stories just like yours, or you may run into others who are fully clothed and ready for a strange expedition ...

LOST WOODS:

The expedition party made their way into the woods on September 14th expecting a direct route to the Void. Instead, they've found themselves lost and disoriented.

Their navigational tools seem useless, leading them around in circles as ancient trees, caves, water sources, and other reliable landmarks do not align with the maps. Trees seem to move — didn't you see that exact deer drinking from the brook a quarter mile ago? The ever-changing and impenetrable maze of the woods may separate characters from one another, or get them so lost that they wind up back at the edge of the wood, staring at castle walls or farmlands.

With no easy measure of their progress, and the treetops obscuring the light, time feels dilated. Characters may feel they've been in the woods for hours when it has been days, or for weeks when it has been hours. The amount of time that passes in the woods will be individualized for each character, and will not match the full month that passes for characters back in town.

DON'T SMELL THE FLOWERS:

While some folx are being turned around and sent back to start, those that make it deeper are in perhaps worse shape. The dilated time and the circuitous nature of their efforts may stretch their week's worth of rations too thin, driving them to rely upon foraged mosses and fruits for sustenance. The woods are full of fungi and edible flora with aphrodisiac side effects like increased bloodflow, heightened arousal, and increased tactile sensitivity.

Much like the animals afflicted by the Void, the plant-life here grows strange. The deeper they go, the more troubling the side effects of their foraged sustenance becomes.

Deep in the forest they may find:

• A moss that makes them hallucinate an idealized sexual experience from deep in their repressed subconscious, which they will determinedly act out.


• The pulsing fruits that grow amongst this moss will render them desperate to orgasm as if they have been edged for hours, but they will find themselves physically incapable of doing so — unless they succumb to its secondary effect, the hunger for still-warm human flesh.


• A nut that grows in bushes leaves those who eat it unable to feel satisfied by just a single partner, seeking out threesomes and moresomes with a lost hiker or another pair.

The more of these that an individual consumes, the more pronounced the effects as their secretions build up in the body over time. It may become a common sight to find a friend tucked behind a tree, stark naked and desperately masturbating.

REVENGE OF THE SPIDERS:

Monsters thrive this far out. Huge, blood-red spiders the size of hunting dogs drop from the treetops. In addition to their venomous bite, which contains a fast-acting paralytic, these creatures are clever: they attempt to use their webbing to entangle any trespassers, binding limbs together or to trees. If you're unfortunate to become fully cocooned, you don't have long before this forest will be the last thing you see.

However, some of the clothed expeditioners will be able to tell you that the Duchess of the nearby town has a special relationship to these spiders, and players should expect their treatment of the spiders to influence future events

BORDER CROSSING:

The void can play tricks on your senses. As madness sets in and you lose all sense of direction, you may also lose control of your body — what is that steers your hands to turn against your friends? Why does it sound like your own voice whispering?

In the fog, you may also hear the voices of those familiar to you — people you know from the town, or people whom you know with almost perfect certainty aren't here. these figments may recreate unhappy memories or force trespassers to hallucinate their worst nightmares. Nothing is as it seems in the void, and when you swing at these figments, desperate to silence them, it might not be a figment at all, but a friend in the flesh trying to help you. By the time you see their true face, it could be too late to stop yourself.

There are risks associated with Void proximity: increased aggression, paranoia, emotional instability, accelerated monster transformations, and hallucinations.

As the time dilation worsens, characters' monstrous transformations may happen in uneven stages. For instance, a character may manifest a physical aspect or supernatural ability or urge that suits their fully transformed state even if the other aspects of them remain human. These changes can happen totally unprompted, or as a result of their generalized Void proximity symptoms.

Even untransformed, the closer they get to the Void, the more intensely those on the expedition feel intrusive violent and sadistic urges — not just to lash out at others suddenly, but also a fascination with inflicting pain (emotional or physical) that may or may not be erotic in nature. This sadism seems especially potent in anyone with a Niez mark. Those who notice the pattern may be inclined to urge some of their friends to turn back now, before they reach the Void ...

writer's block?

If you're struggling to pick a way to engage the prompts, try: naked hiking, fighting or getting webbed up by spiders, acting out a hallucination, or grappling with aphrodisiac flower symptoms!

TOWNIE TROUBLES

Turn your back to the darker, shadowy parts of the forest and eventually the glow of manmade lights and the curve of a dirt road may come into view. At the edge of the wood, you'll find a town surrounded by a fifty-foot wall of beige stone. The only entrance is an iron gate positioned on the southern edge. When you arrive, the gate is already open, welcoming people inside.

This quaint, historic town of five-thousand has cobbled street and signs lit by gas lamp. Wooden shutters protect otherwise open-air windows on the buildings, which are all under three stories with gabled roofs. A number of businesses hug the main street — a clockmaker, a cobbler, a grocer — while residential homes sprawl outwards towards the wall. At the far end of the main street, visible about a mile to the north now that the trees and the enormous wall is out of the way, sits a castle with three towers.

When you enter, the streets are full of people, but despite any efforts on your part to hide or make excuses, they don't seem offended by your nakedness. Even families with children don't gawk or look twice. Those determined to find proper clothing regardless will find that modern clothing stores aren't available — the closest this town has is a tailor's shop and a stand in the central marketplace selling scarves and blankets.


BUNKING UP:

The locals may still direct newcomers to the boarding house for both clothes and a place to stay. Accessible through an embellished iron garden gate and obscured by hanging plants, trees, and vines, beyond an overgrown yard in the residential sprawl of the town is a bright-red door, which opens to a spacious cottage of several stories. Parts of the house still bear the dust of disuse, gathered on various furnishings — bedding, sofas, curtains, wooden tables. However, it's already full of people! Anyone who's already appeared in the village just as you did today lives here.

Don't spend too much time exploring, though. You'll want to claim a bedroom quickly because each one only has two full-size beds, and there aren't enough spaces for everyone. The last people upstairs will need to double up to squeeze in. Roommates will not be mod-assigned; players should coordinate directly with one another to determine their living arrangements.

ON THURSDAY WE HAVE ORGIES:

On Thursdays, religious ceremony spills into the streets as soon as the sun and the children are safely abed. Dancing locals paint their faces painted red and purple and black and yellow. They all wear revealing clothing that, to your sensibilities, may seem sexually suggestive. Some individuals openly expose their breasts and nipples, while some others may incidentally reveal when they turn around to tend to their errands that their dress is backless — entirely! Notably, the locals' choice of clothes reveal a mark on their bodies. An astute person will notice that there are four varieties — and a very astute (thirsty) person might notice that their fellow woodsfolk also have one of these somewhere on their body.

The folks dancing and selling their wares are all offering their energies to give thanks and ask for their god's patronage! The abstractions are all familiar — fertility, harvest, peace. Smalltalk makes them eager to chat and draw you into those festivities — including some ceremonial wax-dripping on the exposed parts of your body! In addition to dancing and the lighting of any number of candles, you may stumble upon fighting rings inspired by Terry Silver's basement club, where the locals brawl until they're bloody and unable to move.

CULT CONSCIOUSNESS:

Usually, the people of the town are very generous, but the atmosphere of the town this month is a little ... darker.

Word has spread around town that some of the void-touched chose to remain behind, and perceptions turn critical rather quickly. Even those who thought they might offer support in alternative ways, or who weren't quite up for making the trek for various valid reasons, will be seen as refusing to help the Duchess. The townspeople increasingly consider those who stayed behind to be a threat to their beloved matriarch.

This unpopularity has consequences, as the townspeople of Rubilykskoye not only see no problem with acting upon their everyday violent urges, but feel that it's their civic duty! Newcomers who are just settling in won't be spared either, as they're found guilty by association for emerging from the wood instead of staying within it to join up with the expedition team.

As a result, the void-touched who stay behind will be targeted for everyday acts of violence and intimidation: they may be attacked on their way to work, or at the tavern. One reckless individual tries to set the boarding house aflame. Players are welcome to invent and resolve their own conflicts here, but please make sure to reach out to a moderator if you feel it might be something that leads to meaningful consequences.

This behavior escalates over the course of the month, and by mid-month, the blacksmith has produced a number of stocks and human-sized cages to sit out in the town square. NPC townspeople will not hesitate to gang up on the void-touched, strip them, and throw them into these devices to 'learn a lesson' about being a part of this community. Similarly, the townspeople see no issue with sating their sexual urges with the folx who are caged, whether they're willing or not.

writer's block?

If you're struggling to pick a way to engage the prompts, try: acquiring clothing or other inventory items, staking your claim on a bedroom, or wrassling with a local who's trying to throw that character into a cage!

Comments

julie kostenko || dead by daylight || skala

[friendzied]

[ let's try this again without suddenly dying and retreating from rp eh ]

Lost Woods

[ there comes a point where, even if you were shy about your nudity initially and tried to be as stealthy as possible, you just can't do it anymore. somewhere around walking through the same clearing for the umpteenth time on sore and bloody feet, that's around when julie decides she's done. ]

[ she punches a tree in frustration. it doesn't help. ]

[ now cradling a set of bloody, swollen knuckles, julie walks until she sees a hint of anyone else — a face in the brush, feet in the distance, a butt — and lifts her good hand to wave in that direction. ]

Hey-- hey! Are you lost too?

Cult Consciousness

[ finally-- finally, she's got clothes. well. "clothes." in so far as she managed to convince a vendor to give her a teal sheet and some pins and she's got it pinned in the vague style of a chiton. not that she knows that's what it's called, she just remembers how to do it from a costume party. does it match the boots she's managed to get her hands on? a better question is does she care. way too traumatized by trekking through the forest not to protect her feet. ]

[ either way, that act of kindness in no way prepares her for when she wanders into the tavern, stomach grumbling up a storm after catching a whiff of something cooking, and she's greeted by one of the townspeople who seem to have come for a light ale and lunch tossing their food to the ground in their desire to rush her, yelling something about her not being welcome. the more perceptive observer might realise that the brief hesitation from her isn't panic, but julie quickly weighing her options before she shrieks and ducks under a table. but why else would a teenage girl scream when some guy rushes her in a bar? obviously she's scared. ]

[ so like. help? help would be nice? ]

Wildcard

[ whatever you like! i'm open to p much anything. hmu over plurk or pm if you wanna talk! also any other dbds are free to recognise her - julie was fastidious about making sure nobody saw her face except other legion, but it's not like she ever hid her voice. ]

cult consciousness

[pharmacy]

[ Most locals will agree that the void-touched aren't doing enough around here, but it's harder to get them to agree on how best to handle it. Certain parties would cage them all, given the opportunity. Others are honestly just trying to eat their lunch without incident. The bartender takes the latter stance, coming around the bar to stand down the unruly patron--but other patrons are quick to sound off with bickering approval or unhappiness or annoyance--

[ The tavern starts to sound like an over-crowded birdcage within seconds after that inciting shout. In the midst of the noise, there's a warning hiss over Julie's shoulder before a hand rests there--the other slipping around her waist to tug her up. ]

Hey--come on, come here. You should get outta here, let's go the back way.

[friendzied]

[ the voice is familiar in a way that makes hairs stand on the back of julie's neck — not panic, but alertness. a dim awareness that makes it easy to focus in on him over the noise, the patrons arguing over a situation julie doesn't even understand. ]

[ she doesn't fight the hand around her, moves with the momentum on quick feet to turn and move wherever this guy takes her while everyone's distracted. ]

The fuck is everyone's problem?

[ hushed, urgent. she doesn't mind being hated, but it'd be cool to know why. ]

[pharmacy]

There's been lots of--dialogue lately. [ Dialogue that he'll be better prepared to explain once they make their way behind the barrels in the kitchen and, his hand snared loosely around hers, out the stoop out back. His grip keeps steady until it's been quiet for a good thirty seconds. It's a chance to make sure no one is following--

[ And, with a onceover, that nothing is obviously wrong with her. His hand drops away as he comes back up to her eyes, all assuredness and relief. Imagine that. ] No one got to you, right?

You're not hurt?

[friendzied]

[ of all the fucking people-- a survivor? if she wasn't blissfully free of the entity latched on to the back of her mind, it'd make julie wonder all over again if this isn't a trick or some kind of new game. it makes her want to grab him by the throat, press the tip of a knife against his ribs, demand an explanation. ]

[ could be worse. smith's a dogged altruist, to the point one could argue it hinders as much as it helps, maybe he'll still extend that her way when he realizes who he's talking to here. ]

[ julie hides that hesitation with a glance back the way they came from, shaking her head at the question. ]

No-- no, I'm fine.

[pharmacy]

Good. Fuckin-- 

[ Big sigh, and he offers his hand again (the niez mark obvious on the inside of his arm), this time at her leisure and far less urgent. ] Welcome to Rubilykskoye. It's not always this aggressive here. 

I'm Quentin. 

[ And, at least for the moment, he's completely clueless. There's something about her voice that scratches at the inside of his skull, but it's a minor irritant, easily covered by the fact that his heart rate is still climbing back down. ]

[friendzied]

Thanks-- Thank you.

[ she takes his hand and smiles, but it's a little wide-eyed, still somewhat overwhelmed. ]

Should we move, or... Is anywhere safe around here?

[pharmacy]

Yeah. [ He lies, then grimaces lightly as his head tips side to side in thought. He waves her along to follow him, easy despite the fact that his pace is crisp. The implicit message: safe as long as they're moving and wary. ] The boarding house. It's where most of us live--void-touched. People who come in from all over the place, like--interdimensional. It's a little tight, but you need a room. And food. And company.

[friendzied]

[ despite herself, a light scoff slips out at 'company' because the only company she wants isn't here, not so far. and julie doesn't know if she even wants them here if they're just gonna land in some sex cult town beating up everyone and carting them off to cages to pay their dues. ]

But if that's where the-- the void-touched? [ more words that feel important and mean shit all to her. ] If that's where everyone's staying, and that's who the locals are mad at...

[ sounds like the least safe place possible to her. ]

[pharmacy]

[ His eyebrows jump. Yeah, he knows that argument--the same one Dwight uses to stay out in the woods. But Quentin knows better: ] It's strength in numbers. They're--targeting individuals. Pairs. Not going after us all together. The tighter we keep things, the safer we are--at least until you know the lay of the land and how to get around.

So what--not into group projects?

[friendzied]

I just don't wanna jump out of the frying pan ten minutes after getting here.

[ she's also not keen on strangers, but fuck it. she'll take a bunch of assholes for safety in numbers. wait and see if there's strength to it though. ]

They'll probably be trying to grab people on the way there though, right?

[ it's what she'd do. ]

[pharmacy]

Short walk, and you're not busting into their space. Look, I've been here for a little longer than ten minutes. Just trust me--I'm gonna take care of you. [ He smiles loosely over his shoulder, stray dog sly as he waves her closer to his side. ] What'd you say your name was?

[friendzied]

[ julie nods, but she doesn't move closer at his gesture. expression a little sheepish, a little guilty when he asks for her name. ]

It's Julie.

[ maybe he won't figure it out. she doesn't think he's quite that stupid though. ]

cult consciousness

[unconscionable]

[ John has noticed the rising unease — hard fucking not to when it came on like a summer storm and has done just as much damage. Even those who stayed behind for good reason — disability, a work commitment — have been catching it. And now apparently the derision is extending even to barely-clothed new arrivals who couldn't have known about the expedition. It pisses John off.

He's had to try and ignore a lot of screams these last couple days, but not this one. ]

Oi! You dropped your food.

[ Could be a cool one-liner if it was paired with offensive action, maybe kicking the plate up into the man's face, but John has the body of a substitute history teacher and his instinctual move is just to get in the guy's way. So he catches the shove, the townsperson (Owain? Mykezslaw? John feels like he should know his name, recognize his crooked nose, but can't quite place him) shirtfronting him aggressively: What's this, another little coward, aren't you the one who offended Her Grace, think you would have learned — fuck!

This last because John's just broken half a dozen bones in his hand at once. His magic has a gravity to it, a citrus burn, a high note outside of even a dog's range of hearing but unpleasant nonetheless. He steps back as he's let go, ignoring the man clutching at his hand and the ominous attention of other patrons starting to rumble, to look at Julie with his awful black eyes. ]

Let's go, hey?

[friendzied]

[ something-- something makes her wince, it'd be easy to think it was the sound of bones breaking if not for how it was in the split second before. like the whine of a tv blinking on, couldn't hear it, but she sure as fuck felt it behind her eyeballs. ]

[ but that's not important. everything else can wait, even the void black eyes that look back at her — surprising, but what isn't right now? she knows gods and monsters, in many ways it's the most familiar thing she's come across so far. ]

Yeah-- [ a deep breath as though trying to compose herself, a glance back at the man clutching his hand and then back at john with a decisive nod. ] Yeah. Let's go.

[unconscionable]

((sorry for the slow here im the worst. lmk if you'd rather scrap this and do an oct au thing, otherwise im happy to backtag.))

[ John takes her hand, warm and firm, as a sign of visible solidarity between them as he walks them back out of the tavern. Nobody else steps up, thank fuck, even if there's a tension in the air and a few whispers that imply some of the men here are doing the mental math, their numbers versus John's magic. So he keeps his step quick. ]

Odds are high they're going to try and jump us on the way back to the boarding house, so leeeet's go a different route.

[ He'll drop her hand, but he also heads them in the other direction — she's probably new, or at least he's never seen her before, while he knows this area pretty well by now, knows a good alley to take to head them towards the farms. ]

[friendzied]

(( you're good!! i live in backtags. not me having to make the same apology to everyone else tho ))

[ even once he drops her hand, julie makes sure to stick close to her saviour here. she could probably find her way back to the boarding house, but apparently not without getting jumped and she'd really rather not. as much as it bugs her to be relying on someone else for her safety, julie really doesn't know her way around well enough. ]

[ she stays quiet for a little, just following, and after a bit she glances over her shoulder just to make sure there's no one immediately close to them before she pipes up with a question. ]

What did that guy mean? About you offending Her Grace.

[ 'her grace' gets a heavy note of derision. julie knows literally nothing about her but also fuck that. ]

[unconscionable]

[ John, too, checks their surroundings for signs of life, but it's late and there aren't really any. This part of town is mostly farmhand accommodations, and they sleep early so as to be up early. John lets his pace slow to something less urgent, falls into step with Julie so they can chat. ]

The Duchess. She's the ruler here — pretty much worshipped. Kept me a prisoner for a bit, so everyone assumed I must have done something to deserve it. My name's been mud ever since.

[ He's a little salty about it, that's clear from his tone and the way his fingers idly flex as he speaks about it. He'd worked hard to build popularity among the little cult, and they turned on him - on all the void touched, really. ]

Also why I'm not off trying to find that bitch her All Sight. Which doesn't make them think any better of me.

[ Keeping his tone light, friendly, like it's a fond nickname rather than bitter vitriol. ]

[friendzied]

[ huh. julie frowns at that, unsure which part to even latch on to. does she ask about this all sight, or-- no. that's not gonna tell her anything about her mystery man here, is it. ]

She kept you prisoner? [ concerned, curious. ] What for?

[unconscionable]

[ What a great question! ]

I didn't mind my manners at her dinner.

[ Oh, the sharp bitterness in that. He offers a touch more explanation. ]

Truth is, I volunteered to take double the punishment to let someone else go free. I think if she could have killed me like she did Danny and Dwight, that would have been it. But I'm not very good at staying dead. So then she kept me a little longer, to find out why.

[ To some degree, he gets it. It's reasonable. He would have done the same, in her position. But oh, the lack of control and the humiliation of it all had chafed. That the townsfolk seem aware he missed three weeks of work due to misbehaviour is only the cherry on top of a shit sundae. ]

So. Yeah. That's what this place is like.

[friendzied]

[ her eyebrow jumps at the names, that's an interesting pair of ds, but neither is rare. well, she's not sure she ever met or heard of a dwight in her life before fairfield, but danny's as common as they come. ]

[ that's not as interesting as the other shit he's talking about anyway, and julie's frown deepens when she looks up at him. ]

So she just kills people and locks them up for pissing her off like we're in medieval Britain or something?

cw: mention of assault/rape

[unconscionable]

[ Rounding someone else's barn - they're on the home stretch now, out of the narrow maze of streets. More in the open, but to John that only means he'll see people coming, they won't get jumped. And it's a straight shot to the boarding house. ]

That's right. Experimented on, tossed in dungeons, fed to spiders... or she uses the spider venom to make living statues, and then she and the rest of the castle staff treat them like their personal sex dolls. Probably got some other nasty tricks up her sleeve. Her Grace fuckin' loves rape and torture.

[friendzied]

[ wow that is... that is worse than she imagined. julie shakes her head, appropriately disgusted and all, folds her arms over her chest. ]

Her Royal Highness the Great Rapist. [ yes okay a duchess isn't a hrh but close enough ] No wonder the fucking townsfolk think it's fine to just round people up and put them to "work".

[ the most derisive fingerquotes this side of the void. ]

[unconscionable]

[ Her anger matches his own, and he nods grimly. ]

Shit runs downhill. The people here do whatever they want in her name.

[ Which is why they're being careful, taking the long way home. ]

It's worth keeping your head down. Find people at the boarding house, move as a group. Or go camping for a while if you know how. They aren't accepting any excuses for why people stayed behind. Once the expedition's back, they might calm down a bit, and you can get a job, build up some goodwill and supplies.

cult consciousness

[miyagimagic]

[ The sheer hostility hanging in the air everywhere has gotten Daniel on edge enough already that the sound of someone shrieking immediately sticks with him, echoing in the man's ears. And with how bad he is at leaving people in trouble alone, he's immediately turning his head to look at the source of the sound, realising it's coming from the tavern he was just passing, and immediately running inside.

Only to find.. well, chaos. There's multiple people looking very displeased, obviously more of the hostile locals, and then one shape looking very much like a teenage girl seeming to cower underneath a table - making it not too hard to figure out what's going on here.

The man quickly dashes forward, trying to reach the girl before the other people can move in, holding out a hand towards her. She seems so young - which makes Daniel only look more worried, something in his heart aching. She doesn't look all that much older than his own daughter, after all. ]

Let me help you. [ He says - almost pleads, since he can figure she might not be too eager to trust anyone at all here.

But they're working on very limited time here if he wants to help her get out of here with how quickly the locals are moving in, and he knows it. ]