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

[dead_tongue]

Boy are they.

[That squeaking noise? Iggy. He broke someone's arm? And he's smiling about it? What is this guy, an MMA fighter or something?

He's terrifying.

So Iggy makes himself scoot a little bit closer.]

Nope. Seems pretty nuts to me. Look, Mister...? You clearly know how to look after yourself, but I still think we should get away from here. And there's safety in numbers, right? We could help each other?

[Is he making sure to sound as persuasive as possible? Oh yes. But his heart is beating hard, because he can still hear fighting in the streets.]

[minuteofangle]

[ Well, this one's not a fighter. Or at least is putting on airs like he's not a fighter. But the way he's holding himself, the way he's moving, that's not filling Gabe with a whole lot of confidence.

Great. This is so much fun.

He exhales through his teeth, pinching the bridge of his nose. Careful, as before, not to let ye olde sunglasses slide down too far. ]

I am open to suggestions, man.

[dead_tongue]

[Gabe has had the misfortune of running into an art student, not a trained fighter.

It's clear that this guy is getting frustrated and that makes him even more frightened.]

I'm a lover, not a fighter. But I feel like getting away from the city centre might be smart. Maybe... we could sneak down the alleys, find an empty building to hide in? Is that stupid?

I've never had to escape an angry mob before. [He sounds genuinely a little irritated by this fact, like this was all a test he should have been told about ahead of time.]

[minuteofangle]

[ Higher ground would be better. Sadly, most of the places around here are occupied and he doesn't have blueprints to scan and upload into his tech. Gabe exhales through his teeth.

Adapt to survive, sniper. It's the simplest thing in the universe. ]

What, you've never run from an angry sex cult before? [ Gabe snorts. ] Whole lot of firsts for today, huh? Yeah, whatever. Might as well stay moving.

[dead_tongue]

No, all the fuck parties I've seen were friendly. The worst you had to dodge was clingy people.

['Might as well' isn't a no! He relaxes a little bit, slightly more confident in his ability to endear himself to Gabe. So he steps just a little bit closer, not anting to crowd the man but definitely planning to stay close.]

Right, yeah, good idea.

[He has no idea what direction anything is in, but he knows enough to not walk back to the mouth of the alley, so he continues heading down it.]

Are you a soldier or something?

[minuteofangle]

Clearly you're never been to the freak parties on Meridian, [ Gabe drawls. ] They make this shit look tame.

[ They don't, but he doesn't need this guy getting too cozy with him too fast. Strangers are a threat best handled from a distance and Gabe knows he hasn't got the higher ground, that he's unlikely to get it anytime soon. So.

In the meantime, he starts walking. This guy will follow or he won't. ]

Or something. What're you supposed to be, huh?

[dead_tongue]

...I don't know where that is. [He sounds both confused and vaguely affronted.

He follows after Gabe like a gangly puppy.]

I'm an artist, mostly. Sometimes sex worker. [At least he can keep up in spite of being completely unathletic since his legs are so long.]

I'm not from anyplace like here.

[minuteofangle]

Nowhere here, that's for sure.

[ Meridian's a trip on a good day, and this certainly doesn't count. But sometimes Gabe talks just for the noise of it, to direct people and how they see him. He's good at it now. And now this guy's trailing after him, so that's happening. Cool.

So far, the locals haven't come sniffing. Maybe their luck will hold.

Probably not, though. ]

Mhmm. Bad luck for you, [ Gabe observes. He knows sex workers, though the ones in his circles tend to be closer to operators than not. They certainly keep plenty of guns around. ] You got a name?

[dead_tongue]

Clearly.

[Every noise that sounds like it might be someone following them gets Iggy to turn around to look, but there are no other people in the narrow alley. They're going to have to leave its safety shortly, though.]

Isn't it just?

Ignatius. Iggy. What do I call you?

[minuteofangle]

[ He stills at the end of the alley, hanging back and running his scanning tech. Too many people out in the open. Doing whatever crazy ass shit passes for normal around here.

Mostly, that involves beating the shit out of people and stripping them naked. So, that's great. ]

Okay, Iggy. You can call me Fifty. Or Rodriguez if we're doing grownup names.

[ He clicks his teeth. ]

We're gonna hang tight for a bit til it cools down. Or you can take your chances, no skin off my back.

[dead_tongue]

Alright. Rodriguez. [Only because he doesn't want to have him think that Iggy is somehow not an adult.

He shakes his head, fluffy curls bouncing.]

Oh, no. No, no chances, I'll do whatever you say to do.

[Iggy's hands twist together nervously.]

I guesss is pretty obvious that if you ditch me I'm going into one of those cages they have in the middle of town.

So. I'll listen to you. Promise.

[minuteofangle]

[ Hmm. Gabe angles his head like he's watching Iggy, thinking about that. How easily he goes along with it. Adrenaline and bad situations make for fast friends and all that, but Gabe knows the figure he cuts: he's not exactly comforting to strangers.

Then again, he's not a sex cultist trying to beat the shit out of people, so that probably makes him something like friendly. On balance. ]

I tell you to move, you move. Got it?

[dead_tongue]

[When your choices are a deranged mob and one possible murderer? You take the murderer. At lest that's Iggy's logic. He's really riding on the hope that he can convince Gabe he's either really cute or will make a great nurse or something, thus ensuring his own safety.]

Yessir.

[He controls the urge to get closer yet, realizing that that probably won't help either of them.

He listens as carefully as he can.]

It sounds like they're fucking everywhere.

[Which they are. A small group are, in fact, headed in their direction, although they've not been spotted yet.]

[minuteofangle]

They are.

[ Why wouldn't they be? This is home to them and all their psycho sex cult bullshit. The locals know the rules, accept them, get pissy when the outsiders don't fall immediately in line and say thank you, folks, for the lesson. Praise the Duchess or whatever. Gabe tilts his head, toggling his tech again. There's going to be a hole soon when they can bolt. Or he can bolt, and ditch Iggy. Kinda depends how it all shakes out. ]

What, you've never run into a cult before? They all pull this shit. Variations on the theme. Only these fuckers really commit, so I'll give them that. Kudos for swallowing that psycho shit down.

[dead_tongue]

Depending on your definition, yes, I have. And I've never seen one put people in literal cages before, no.

[He sounds a little annoyed. How is he supposed to understand anything when he's barely gotten over being nude and fucked up in the woods?

He's still trying to be as endearing as possible, but really his essential nature as a brat is going to betray him at some point.

He keeps as close to Gabe as he deems safe. He has no idea how many people are approaching, if there are gaps in the group, which way he ought to be best to run.

He's not truly ready when a group of locals come swarming around the corner.]

[minuteofangle]

[ Gabe snorts. He almost asks. He keeps his stance casual even as he toggles his tech. Panic isn't useful here so he stays calm because civilians do better when they've got something to mirror, another person standing steady, so he does. But this shit could turn on a dime. It tends to.

A moment later, it does.

Gabe doesn't hesitate. He just bolts. ]

Now, motherfucker!

[ Time to run. ]

[dead_tongue]

[And Iggy... yelps. Loudly. He's frozen in place for a moment, but luckily he has enough survival instincts that it's only a moment.

He runs after Gabe, starting off well enough but flagging badly far too soon. He risks a look behind him and is almost immediately hit with a rock thrown by one of their pursuers - it bounces off of his shoulder and he cries out in pain and surprise.]

Rodriguez?!

[minuteofangle]

[ Oh, motherfucker. The kid freezes. Of course he fucking freezes. He recovers but it takes a second and a second's enough with shit like this. Gabe dodges the rock that goes by his own head, impacting off the wall, but it sounds like Iggy takes on straight on. Not enough to knock him flat but enough to get him shook.

It'd be easy just to dump his ass. Leave him behind. Natural consequences and what not.

Gabe grits his teeth, hauls back, and grabs the motherfucker by the collar. ]

I said fucking run.

[ Before they get cornered, and shit gets really bad. ]

[dead_tongue]

[Iggy screams, not at first registering that it's Gabe who has a hold of him. But then he's being propelled forward, more stones falling around them, and so he just focuses on running again. He can feel a stitch forming in his side.]

I'm running!

[As best as he can, anyway. Somehow he manages to find a little more energy in him and he stays a few steps behind Gabe as he leads them hopefully somewhere safer.]

[minuteofangle]

[ Thing is, all the buildings in town are under enemy control. No dark corners to hide in until shit blows over. That's just how it is.

So, Gabe books it to the woods. He'll take his chances out in the wilderness creep show, thanks. Iggy will either follow or he won't. ]

[dead_tongue]

[Great, they're escaping the townsfolk!

To the... creepy, creepy woods.

Greeeeeaaaaaat.

Iggy practically collapses when they are safely under tree cover - the locals don't seem particularly interested in pursuing them further. Iggy falls to his knees, panting and very close to tears.]

Please... I can't... oh my god.

[He's so very obviously a liability here.]

They're not following us. Can we stop, just for a minute? The woods are all fucked up.

[minuteofangle]

[ Nothing tries to kill them past the treelined - yet - so Gabe slows and puts his back to a tree, toggling his tech furiously. He won't be able to keep it synched up like this for much longer, he knows, not without Jackie's team and their receivers. Sooner than later, it's going to bitch out on him and leave him in the more than proverbial dark with an ally who clearly doesn't know how to fight and a mob of angry locals. The locals might not be operators but that doesn't matter too much when they've got the numbers.

It's not good. Not good at all.

Gabe exhales through his teeth, slowing his breathing down deliberately. Think, motherfucker. What's your next move? ]

You got a better idea, I'm all fucking ears.

[dead_tongue]

Oh my god, I didn't say I did!

[He should be as pleasant as possible to the guy who has saved his ass, but he's exhausted and overwhelmed. So he just sounds incredibly bitchy.]

I just said it's all messed up. I woke up out here, fucking naked, and there were fucked up fruits and bugs or some shit... I'm warning you, that's all. You already got hit, I don't want you to get eaten or something.

[minuteofangle]

Well, it's out here or it's back there with the locals and, newsflash, they'll do more than lay hands if they get half the chance.

[ It comes out flat. Gabe's not in a mood to mince words, or be nice about this part. It just is what it is. ]

Adapt, motherfucker. Or go back to town.

[dead_tongue]

Oh my god, why are you being mean to me?!

[It is the stupidest possible thing he could say, but at least he's honest with his feelings?

Iggy forces himself to stand. He looks around at the trees helplessly.]

I'm adapting, I'm adapting. So I guess... I'm just your wife until we get rescued?

[Oh sweet lord.]