TEST DRIVE MEME 004

[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: the universal test drive arrival prompt will not be repeated on the coming event log, but players are welcome to reuse the prompt.

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: spiders, animated skeletons, aphrodisiac effects, exhibitionism/voyeurism, bdsm, kink negotiation, knifeplay, potential dismemberment.

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.

You seem to be alone. 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 despite the growing chill.

wildlife encounters

The longer you hike, the more unsettling sights await you: animal remains, some partially stripped of their flesh or discarded entrails left exposed to the cold. As you continue on your way, you might even swear you catch a glimpse of what appears to be a fully-formed skeletal creature observing you from a distance. Surely, that’s just your mind playing tricks on you... These creatures may be unsettling, but they show no signs of aggression to folks who keep their distance.

In the forest, you may run into others with stories just like yours. Some may have already formed clumsy nudist groups, others may still be processing their confusion, with no memory of how they got here. Now is a good time to overcome any hang-ups you have about modesty; it's going to be a long hike, and the weather isn't quite amenable to your lack of.

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.

breaking and entering

If you intend to have your character break into someone's house or yard to steal some of their clean laundry, please review the info about game laws on the FAQ and give the mods a heads up HERE.

SETTING: CRIME

Fortunately, the people of the town are very generous! Anyone who ask the locals will be directed 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. It's already full of people who appeared in the village just as you did today.

Tonight, a few of the townspeople will help out with the new arrivals. They stock the kitchen and prepare a communal dinner of parsnips, pheasant, and squash. During dinner, they (and those outsiders who've already begun to settle) sit down at the enormous wooden dining room table and help orient the newcomers and answer their questions.

finding roommates

Don't spend too much time in the dining room going for seconds, 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.

Get a good night's rest. By the light of day, locals will help get the new arrivals set up on the coal stove with breakfast. You may notice they're dressed in a way you would almost call normal — at least, in a manner befitting 19th century Eastern Europe. As you find your way around town to get your bearings, folks are eager to help you find a place to apply your skills so you can contribute to your new home.

writer's block?

If you're struggling to pick a way to engage the prompts, try: naked hiking, acquiring clothing or other inventory items, asking questions at dinner/orientation, or staking your claim on a bedroom!

RECUMITA

The festival fills the streets with dancing locals and all the stuffs of a street market. Despite the challenges posed by the snow-in-summer, farmers are grateful to announce that the situation is not as dire as initially feared. As a result, the harvest festival of Recūmita becomes a celebration of unity and gratitude to their fellow townspeople for salvaging an almost-frozen harvest, the Duchess' magic for protecting and reviving it, and the 'Void-Touched' who braved the Void to strengthen her.

Over the weekend, all regular work is put on hold, except for the necessary festival preparations. The streets come alive with vibrant stalls and stands, offering a wide array of delectable treats and refreshing beverages. From barrels of beer and cups of kvas to mouthwatering roasted meats, delightful squash-based dishes like pumpkin latkes, honey-glazed brussel sprouts on skewers, hot borscht in both pork and vegetarian variations, and tantalizing mushrooms stuffed with leeks, cranberries, and bryndza cheese, there is an abundance of flavors to indulge in.

The first day of the festival transforms the streets into a bustling night market, where shopkeepers organize an assortment of carnival-style games. Test your strength in arm-wrestling contests or challenge your pain tolerance in contests where individuals whip each other to determine who yields first, whether to pain or pleasure. In one corner, Terry's Rubean student sets up an unsanctioned fighting tournament, while in another area, a path of hot coals awaits the daring souls who wish to traverse it. Instead of traditional pie-throwing stands, knife-throwing stands attract participants who willingly become targets.

Enthusiastic Rubeans, particularly those involved in integrating the Void-touched, take it upon themselves to enhance the festivities. They recruit local participants and willing Void-touched individuals to partake in an impromptu stage performance, with no need for rehearsals. Come as you are and join the spectacle! Once the performance begins, the passion and excitement behind their efforts become truly evident, as all the performances call for explicitly sexual or violent acts to be performed together.

writer's block?

If you're struggling to pick a way to engage the prompts, try entering the fighting rings, watching or joining a live sex performance, or eating some aphro food (deliberately or otherwise)!

the fathomless dark

At the outer edges of the forest, shadows grow long and the air grows thick. Though the sun never grows warm red-gold with sunset, the wood darkens. Birdsong is replaced by the click of mandibles and the skitter of many legs. Anyone who ventures out this way will soon find it difficult to see before them, even in the middle of the day — eventually, even the brightest magical light source or darkvision cannot stretch further than a few inches.

In the void, the air feels heavy, as if it were not air at all but some more solid mass. Almost like liquid-smoke, it presses down upon you. Slowing your movements. Characters who push too far into the void may stop being able to move at all, and find themselves given over to insanity if they collapse, unable to draw themselves out. This is just one of many dangers.

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.

In addition to the spiders, you may come across the sharp-toothed furred yetis that emerged during the snowstorm, still looking for a meal. Each one hunts alone, a fifteen-foot-tall shambling creature that drips black ooze and super-chills the air around it until your skin feels tight and icy. If it gets the drop on you, you're likely to be its dinner. It has emerged from a long summer hibernation to enjoy the colder weather, and it's starving.

FAQ: DEATH RULES

Those who seem lucky enough not to run afoul of the monsters here are in for a worse fate. 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.

writer's block?

If you're struggling to pick a way to engage the prompts, try fighting a monster, hallucinating your worst nightmares, and/or attacking a friend or stranger!

HIDING INSIDE EACH OF US

Uh oh spaghetti-os.

The marks worn by all residents of Rubilykskoye aren't just cool body art, as it turns out. The town is full of rumors, whispered in shadows and over candles of a starving creature hiding in the dark corners of your chest. Feed your inner beast, they say, before it finds a way to feed itself.

FAQ: MONSTER CURSES & TIMELINES

Alas, its emergence is inevitable — sooner or later, the horrible things that happen here pile up and make someone repulsed by the idea of human contact. Someone holds themselves back, bites their tongue, or simply does not believe the stories. Today, for one reason or another, that creature is coming out. Someone hasn't been keeping it sated.

Symptoms escalate over weeks, from monstrous irritability to full-blown body horror transformation, where people physically shed their human forms and evolve into the monsters this place made them. Once a person becomes something more (or less) than human there's only one way to go back — sate the beast.

someone else transforms

Rubilykskoye's performance troupe is thrown into a state of panic as they make a shocking discovery: Vyanchaslav, their unofficial manager and conductor, has vanished without a trace! Vyanchaslav plays a crucial role in the troupe, overseeing small inter-troupe matters and having the final say on casting and rehearsal time. He is known for his reliability, making his sudden disappearance all the more perplexing, especially right before a major event.

The last time anyone saw Vyanchaslav was in their usual rehearsal space, just before a crucial run-through of their upcoming performance. His absence during that rehearsal was highly unusual, and it left the troupe members worried and confused. They are now frantically trying to piece together what might have happened to him.

As they search for Vyanchaslav, they notice a faint sound lingering in the air – the distant whine of a fiddle. However, there is something unsettling about it. As they follow the source of the sound, the room grows darker, and an eerie chill runs down their spines. Those who draw close enough to properly hear Vyanchaslav's song will feel inclined to dance themselves til their feet bleed, til their lungs give out. That is, provided they don't cut a devil's bargain with him first, selling something else to the devil in exchange for their freedom.

(There are other monsters lurking in every townsperson — feel free to invent your own npc monsters and scenarios!)

you waited too long

At first, as you hide yourself from your darker impulses, a subtle itch develops under your skin. An irritability that makes you snap at the person who bumps into you on the stairs because all those fleeting emotions that you've been repressing bubble to the surface. Every dark thought you've had about being here, all the fears of never getting home, of being surrounded by ticking time bombs, the anxiety of wondering who you might hurt or what relationships you might betray by doing what you have to do. The anger. Oh, the anger.

Maybe you shut yourself in your room or run into the woods to hide away, but there's only so much you can do to deny the itch that grows into hunger like a spark catching and growing to wildfire. Someone comes to check on you. That knock on the door or crunch of leaves in the wood that fills you with dread at what you might do and hope that you will be sated.

As claws and fangs and scales and spines and fur grow and your body transforms with a sickening crunch of bones and peeling of skin, so do your appetites. If you won't sate them, you'll lose yourself to your beastly impulses sooner or later, mauling friends and taking your fill. Is it better or worse if only your claws get inside of them?

RULES: CONTENT WARNINGS

Comments

[illicitly]

It's hard to wake up, his weariness pulled him down into a very deep sleep. He stirs when the covers are pulled off of him, drowsily groping forth to pull them back. Finding nothing there, he whimpers loudly, cracking open an eye to see where the blenkets. He'd been so warm and toasty and now he's cold again.

He sits up, rubbing his eyes and trying to clear the cobwebs out of his brain and he tries to process the other man's words. It takes way too long for him to realize just whose bed he'd unwittingly borrowed. Once it sinks in, Nie Huaisang's face turns pale with shock and he scrambles out of the bed immediately.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I was just so tired... Please, please don't kill me! I'll be more careful next time, promise!"

[xue_yang]

Amused he drops the blanket back onto the bed and turns to the other man. Huaisang is very lucky that Xue Yang is unarmed. Not that he is going to tell the other man about that. He is trusted even less in this place then he is back home. Apparently they don't appreciate it when you steal a corpse in this place.

"Oh? Next time? So you are intending to jump into other random beds?"

He shifts so that he can cut off Huaisang's exit options. He can't let his new prey have an easy escape and end the game too quickly.

[illicitly]

Smart of Xue Yang to cut off any possible escape routes. Nie Huaisang had been sneaking glances toward the door and trying to calculate the quickest and safest flight path but now that the other man's in the way now, he'll have to think of another way.

"N-No? Th-That's not what I meant at all! I was just going to make sure the room is empty first! I'm really, really sorry, Master Xue!"

The title tastes foul on Nie Huaisang's tongue, considering their difference in rank and how his brother had felt about this man but he'll do whatever to survive this place. He's come too far to die here now."Please, I'm begging you, let me go! It was an honest mistake!"

[xue_yang]

"How amusing. To be begged by the head of a clan to spare their life. How often have I listened to those pleas?" Quite often actually. It's amusing how often it happens. And now they are actually no longer so different in rank in this place. Titles here don't matter since they are all foreigners here.

Xue Yang takes a step closer to Huaisang. Not because he truly intends to do anything, but because he simply takes great pleasure in seeing people cower in fear. He knows that he can't actually kill the man, but that doesn't mean he can't tease him for a few moments longer.

[illicitly]

Nie Huaisang freezes in place, fingers twisting in the fabric of his borrowed tunic. It's a little plain for his tastes but it's better than nothing at all. He doesn't dare move, barely remembers to breathe as Xue Yang closes in, feeling more like a field mouse hiding from a predator in the wild than anything.

"If... If you want, I can recite poetry for you instead? Change things up for a little variety if you're bored with that?"

[xue_yang]

Xue Yang laughs and for a moment considers simply denying the man that kind of offer. But this is a new version of himself in a way. He might as well amuse himself with this new request.

"Alright. Recite some poetry. If I like it then I will let you life."

He will let him life either way but no reason to tell him that. It's obvious that Huaisang is new and that means he hasn't quite learned what the rules of this world are. Until he finds that out, Xue Yang might as well take advantage of the situation. He doesn't get to enjoy this moments very often.

[illicitly]

Nie Huaisang loves poetry and songs and knows many of them. But what kind of poetry could someone like Xue Yang possible like? Even if it'd been his suggestion, he's completely unprepared for this situation but he has to try his best, at least! Which one should he recite?

Nie Huaisang hugs himself, shifting nervously from one foot to another, before finally swallowing.

"All right, here's one by one of my favorite poets... I...I hope you'll like it."

Here goes nothin. He takes a deep breath to steady his nerves and starts to speak.

"'My idle dreams roam far,
To the southern land where spring is fragrant.
Wind and strings play on a boat on the river's clear surface,
The city is full of catkins flying like light dust.
People are occupied admiring the flowers.
My idle dreams roam far,
To the southern land where autumn is clear.
For a thousand li over rivers and hills cold colours stretch far,
Deep in flowering reeds, a solitary boat is moored.
Beneath the bright moon, a flute plays in the tower.'"

After he's done, he stops to catch his breath.

[OOC: Poem is "My Idle Dreams Roam Far (Gazing at South)" by Li Yu.]

[xue_yang]

Xue Yang will listen. Much like he does with the daozhang tells his stories. Even if he doesn't particularly care for the art of poetry that doesn't mean he can't be a well behaved listener. Xue Yang has his moments of calmness. He allows this to be one of those times, allowing the man to finish. The only line that happens to catch him slightly is the last one.

He folds his arms in front of his chest as he tilts his head slightly, "So they are locked up and dream to be free or are they simply alone and wish for more?" At least that is what he can kind of grasp from the words. Even if he doesn't play a flute himself he can run a parallel line with someone who does and leads what seems like a similarly forsaken life. A man that Xue Yang would almost say he idolizes. But also the line of the bright moon draws in a different figure. One that he imagines waits back in a run down coffin house for the companion that suddenly disappeared. One who leads a similar solitary life as he walks his own path of guilt.

"Why do you like this poem?"

[illicitly]

"Well, it's relatable. Haven't you ever wished to be anywhere but where you are? Somewhere beautiful and warm where you're free to live the way you want?"

This particular poem has spoke to Nie Huaisang from a very young age, in both a literal and philosophical sense. Qinghe's cold and dreary, the landscape beautiful in its own way though he tires of seeing it. In the years before and after his brother's death, he's managed to make his quarters a little more comfortable and reflective of his true self but still, his freedom has been restricted by the heavy restrictions and responsibily placed on his shoulders.

"It's a nice reminder that no matter what cages we live in, our minds can still roam free from imprisonment."

[xue_yang]

"Does right now count?" Because he would much rather be on his home world then in this weirdly sexual one. Xue Yang isn't embarrassed by the strange traditions of this place but that doesn't mean he can't desire to leave and be back amongst what is more familiar to him.

"It's interesting to hear you speak of imprisonment." Do sect leaders truly know what it is like to be truly imprisoned? Their versions of imprisonment seems a lot more relaxed then that which he has experienced before. "How would you like to experience actual imprisonment?" He smirks in that evil way that shows one very sharp canine tooth.

Xue Yang believes he has lived the way he wants and has experienced more freedom in that case then Nie Huiasang probably has. But he also knows what it is like to be trapped. So he understands the poem enough.

[illicitly]

"Well, I've always liked the idea of being locked up in a bird cage with feather pillows and wine and somebody feeding me through the bars. Does that count?"

Is he trying to distract Xue Yang with too much information about a sexual fantasy to get him to lower his guard or did his mind just go down a weird tangent. The world may never know.

"But if it's the kind that involves cold, dark places without sunlight or good food, I'll pass on that."

He keeps his tone carefully light and conversational, as if speaking to a volatile beast.

[xue_yang]

Xue Yang rolls his eyes at the dream that is a little more information then he would care to want from the sect leader. "You could probably find someone to fulfill that desire in this place. It loves its strange sexual quirks."

He has definitely seen his fair share of cold dark places without sunlight or good food. One such place was in the realm where this one lived. Even though his time there was brief before he was moved on to a different place.

[illicitly]

"Really? What do you know about this place?"

Because he knows nothing. Any orientation he may have gotten likely went in one ear and out the others as lectures usually do.

"Or the people here?"

He doesn't expect to get much useful information out Xue Yang, given his personality, but he might as well try to squeeze out what he can so long he not having to fend off an attempt on his life.

[xue_yang]

"I'll let you figure that out the same way I did. Very abruptly when you least expect it." He smirks and starts to step towards Huiasang. But he is clearly leaving a small opening for the man to squeeze through. His own introduction to this world had been a monster rampage, a temple full of dead bodies and his own transformation. It was a wild ride.

He really isn't going to give the other man anything useful. It's far more interesting when they learn the hard way.

[illicitly]

And here's his chance. Whether Xue Yang is baiting him into a trap or not, Nie Huaisang's willing to risk it, beelining for that opening with astonishing speed. If he has to use his cultivation to shove past him to make his escape, he'll risk that, too, if need be. A little time and space will give him time to gather information and regroup.

"I'll be going now, then. Have a good sleep, Master Xue."