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TEST DRIVE MEME 003
⚰︎ ⍢ ⌲ ⍚ 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
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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
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 ...
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.
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.
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.
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!
no subject
[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.
no subject
[ 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.
no subject
[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.]
no subject
[ Gabe pinches the bridge of his nose hard. His head is throbbing in a way that says a migraine isn't far off on the horizon and if he keeps cycling his tech like this, whipping between settings on the fly, it's going to glitch out completely and leave him worse than useless. He cycles it down to a lower setting and sends a prayer to Santa Muerte or whoever the fuck might be listening out here that it doesn't fuck him over worse than this conversation already has. ]
How are you still fucking alive? [ he demands. ] I don't babysit, motherfucker.
no subject
[He brushes absently at his hair.]
Is every other person who isn't a local like you? Some military badass type person? Were you all abducted for your fighting prowess and they just needed to pad their numbers and were like "yeah, grab that random twink, fuck it"?
no subject
[ This whole moment is ridiculous. And of course - of fucking course - that's when his tech decides to glitch out. One moment he's running through a lower setting, running environmental and movement scans, and then he's got nothing. Absolutely nothing but a king's ransom of combat tech drilled into his skull and his jacket up not-eyes, all of them equally useless.
Gabe exhales from between clenched teeth. This is great. ]
I'm only going to say this once. You know how people tell you life is sink or swim? Well, now it fucking is. You let those people corner you, they'll do whatever they fucking want. So step the fuck up or get ready to shield your head, because they'll start by kicking the shit out of you. You get it now?
no subject
Okay, well, nobody ever told me that about life, but I understand your point.
[He's quiet a moment. The woods are not as immediately terrifying as the town - it's quiet, at least. Almost peaceful aside from the looming sense of impending doom and everything. When he speaks his soft voice is less arch.]
It's not that I don't get it. It's that I don't know what to do about it.
Do you need medical attention or anything? You were fighting before you saved me.
no subject
Yeah. They're in trouble. But what does it get him to point that out? ]
You can't fight, you run. You can't run anymore, then you hide. It's that simple - they made it that simple.
[ Some shit you just survive. It can't be changed, only accepted. He scrubs at his face again, careful to make sure the glasses don't slide too far down his nose. Again, he prays for his tech to come the fuck back. Again, it doesn't. ]
I'm fine. I'll shake it. You get hit?
no subject
[Iggy leans in slightly, brows knitting together.]
...alright. Because if you're hurt I can like... bandage it or whatever people do.
Yeah. It's gonna bruise ugly but it's okay.
no subject
[ Unless Iggy's been hiding a medkit the whole time, in which case Gabe might need to reevaluate a few assumptions he's been running with.
Gabe tips his head back, exhaling through his teeth. He's got no tech now. In a minute, that'll stop being something he can hide. ]
Good. You're gonna feel real tired in a bit. Everything's going to hurt. You might puke. That's fine, that's just the adrenaline drop. So don't freak.
no subject
[Okay, no matter what he does he seems to annoy this guy.]
Okay. I won't freak. I'm used to drops.
Are you okay for real? You keep like... making angry noises.
no subject
I have a fucking migraine. Or I will in about ten minutes. I don't need your pity bandages.
no subject
[Okay, first aid he knows almost nothing about, but migraines he understands.]
I can help with that! I mean, it probably won't stop it from happening completely, but I know where to massage to make it less debilitating. It sounds dumb but it helps if you catch it early, unless you've got wicked touch sensitivity.
no subject
[ What is it with everyone around here getting touchy-feely? Jesus Christ. Gabe pinches the bridge of his nose again, controlling his breathing. He can already feel the pain throbbing in his skull; it's going to suck in a bit whether or not his tech cycles back on. But that's just the way of it. Shit happens.
He drops his hand. Refocuses. His tech cycles on and goddamn, that hurts, but he doesn't let it show on his face. At least he can navigate now. Figure out where the fuck he is, where Iggy's standing. If he keeps everything on a lower setting, it'll probably hold. ]
I'm going to chill here until it calms down. You wanna head back to civilization, be my fucking guest.
no subject
Fuck you, macho city, I was just offering to help. It's not like I was gonna grab for your dick or something.
[He sits on the ground, long legs drawn up so he can rest his chin on his knees.]
You saved my ass - of course I'm going to offer to help you the only way I actually can. You don't have to be a colossal dick about it. But fine, just have your migraine.
...Motherfucker.
no subject
In the meantime, Gabe puts his back to the nearest tree. He’s practical like that. ]
Just chill the fuck out.
no subject
He stays where he is, putting his forehead on his knees. The urge to cry is very strong, but he doesn't want to in front of this guy, who'll probably call him a pussy. Maybe rub his face in the dirt or make him do pushups.
He stays that way for a few minutes, finally looking up and sniffling only a little.]
I'm chill.
[Or at least not on the verge of hysterics.]
How's your head? ...no complaints?
no subject
It’d beg too many goddamn questions. ]
About how you’d think, [ he replies flatly. ] Where’d you come from, anyway? Before you got tossed in here.
no subject
Canada. I mean, more specifically I was just coming home from the club. Then I woke up in the woods.
[He chews on the side of his thumb, watching Gabe carefully.]
I swear I'm not trying to be difficult, for the record.
no subject
You remember getting grabbed?
[ He grinds his head back against the tree, breathing out nice and slow. ]
Look, I get this isn't your life, or whatever. But this is where you are. Faster you accept that part, the easier it'll go.
no subject
[He really wishes he had his bag with him. He'd at least have some Tylenol or something to give Gabe.]
I'm accepting. Doesn't mean I know what the hell I'm doing.
[He tries a timid smile, unaware it can't be seen.] I mean, run and hide, I got that part thanks to some guy.
no subject
[ Unfortunately, that doesn't narrow things down much. Gabe remembers hanging with his kids, remembers curling up on the couch in the safe house, and then he remembers waking up bare ass naked in the woods. There are implications to that he doesn't care to play out just yet.
He frowns, trying to think past the ache in his skull. ]
You can call me Rodriguez.
no subject
[He nods.]
Rodriguez, right.
[He looks around when he hears branches snap amongst the trees. Nothing emerges - it must just be squirrels or whatever the hell they have in this world. Iggy gets up and hunts around though, looking for a branch he could at least hit something with.]
no subject
Fucked up on what, exactly?
cw: drugs
Oh, molly. Or, uhm, MDMA? I get the impression that we're not from the same place so I don't know if you know what that is. It's a club drug. So I mean, I was fucked up but not like... so out of it I shouldn't remember how I got here.
Why?
cw: drugs
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