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Entry tags:
TEST DRIVE MEME 001
⚰︎ ⍢ ⌲ ⍚ TEST DRIVE MEME:
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: nudity, spiders, waxplay, character death, and references to children in proximity to sexual situations.
✧ ✧ ✧
Welcome to RUBILYKSKOYE — a dark, horror-smut game where player choices will drive a mod-run storyline about the world and its NPCs. For the first round, this test drive serves as characters' arrival into game.
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.
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
This log additionally has warnings for: nudity, spiders, waxplay, character death, and references to children in proximity to sexual situations.
Welcome to RUBILYKSKOYE — a dark, horror-smut game where player choices will drive a mod-run storyline about the world and its NPCs. For the first round, this test drive serves as characters' arrival into game.
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.
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.
AWAKENING IN PAJAK WOOD
The chirping of partridges in the treetops rouses you. Light barely filters through the canopy, just enough to suggest warmth of the sun. By the time it reaches the forest floor, the daylight has taken on a sickly green tinge. You lie amongst the mosses and ferns, the 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.Fortunately, you seem to be alone. The birdsong continues 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. Amongst gnarled oaks and moss, you see nothing around. No sign of civilization or sentient life. Movement flickers at the corner of your eye, but it's just a curious animal — brave squirrels or lizards who have come to see what stirs in their home.
Then, like the rippling of the horizon at noontime, the ash-gray soil around you undulates. Sea, not earth. Something else has come to greet you — their grey bodies blended in so easily with the floor, but as you stagger to your feet, you see them. Thousands of spiders roll like waves underfoot. They crawl towards you from the darker edge of the forest.
attack
Individuals who attack the spiders will find the small spiders are easy to kill, but the pheromones released by their corpses draw larger spiders in their place. 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 will attempt to use their webbing to handicap 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.
hunt
Any aspiring monster-hunters enterprising enough to try to follow the spiders to their nest will move eastward. This way, the forest grows darker and darker — though the sun never grows warm red-gold with sunset.
In the void, the birdsong is replaced by the click of mandibles and the skitter of many legs, but soon it is impossible to see. Even with the brightest magical light does not reach further than a few inches. The air grows heavy and thick, 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. Soon, you cannot move at all.
Turn back while you still can — collapsing out here is dangerous. The void can play tricks on your senses. You may find yourself reliving unhappy memories or hallucinating your worst nightmares.
In the void, the birdsong is replaced by the click of mandibles and the skitter of many legs, but soon it is impossible to see. Even with the brightest magical light does not reach further than a few inches. The air grows heavy and thick, 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. Soon, you cannot move at all.
Turn back while you still can — collapsing out here is dangerous. The void can play tricks on your senses. You may find yourself reliving unhappy memories or hallucinating your worst nightmares.
But flee the spiders westward and you will discover that the wood is well-populated with the survival resources that someone might seek — berries bushes and trees bearing stone fruits; sticks and dry leaves to aid in the building of a fire; rocks big enough to fashion into crude weapons; small animals that can be hunted or caught; hike long enough, and you might just find the freshwater stream that runs north-to-south, populated by both poisonous toads and delicious crawdads.
What's more, you may run into others with stories just like yours. Some may have already formed clumsy nudist hiking parties, others may still be naked and confused and processing how they have no memory of how they got here. They all stagger vaguely, as you do, with only the sun for a waymarker — and even that won't last long.
Now is a good time to overcome any hang-ups you have about modesty, as it's going to be a long hike. If you sneak a good look at your new companions, you may four varietals of marks on their bodies. Maybe someone will even point out that you have one, too.
EVERY DAY LIKE THE ONE BEFORE
Hike far enough — or long enough that the sun does go down — and signs of life come into view. The glow of fires and lights, the smooth curve of a stone wall. A town sits at the edge of this wood, a reward to the survivors.The fifty-foot wall of beige stone protecting the town's perimeter has only a single entrance — an iron gate positioned on the southern edge. When you arrive, the gate is already open, welcoming people into town from the winding dirt road. Attentive eyes may note that the road itself bears the mark of many wagon wheels and horse hoofs, but not cars.
guards
The guards grant entry to anyone who attempts a conversation with them. However, if your character is more likely to attempt to sneak in, overcome the guards, or attack them, please reach out HERE.
Inside the wall lies a quaint, historic town with a population around five thousand. The streets are cobbled, and their signs are 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 bank — 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.
No matter what time you pass through the gate, the streets are full of people. The climate of the bustle befits a night market or a busy friday downtown — plenty of people to ogle at your exposed body. But despite any efforts on your part to hide or make excuses, the locals don't seem offended by your nakedness. Even families with children don't gawk or look twice. In fact, the further into town you go, the more you may notice that 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! If anything, they seem to be under the impression that you're naked to participate in the evening's events with the rest of them.
Those still determined to find proper clothing will find that modern clothing stores aren't a thing here. The closest this town has is a tailor's shop, which is closed for religious observance, and a stand in the central marketplace selling scarves and blankets.
Fortunately, the people of the town are very generous! The locals will gladly share what they have with those who ask politely — but those items are as revealing as what they're wearing. You might get a mesh bodysuit or drape outfit. Remember not to be ungracious! it's only appropriate for the occasion.
steal clothing
Anyone unwilling to ask nicely for help could break into someone's house or yard to steal some of their clean laundry. Notably, inside their homes, the people of the town also appear to own some more modest apparel. Be sure to alert us HERE if your character pursues this option.
And what is the occasion? The locals are excited and flattered by any interest in their ordinary weekly prayer: 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!
Anyone who chats at length with the townspeople will gather that the locals feel it's better for the newcomers to dive into the deep-end because, since you'll be settling in here, they expect you'll want to participate down the line. They seem to be under the impression that the new arrivals are a boon from their god.
In addition, many of the locals' choice of clothes reveal the same four types of marks on their bodies as the folx who were wandering out in the wood!
ROOM AND BOARD
Once you're tired out, the locals will help you find a place to stay. The boarding house is several stories tall and spacious, accessible through an embellished iron garden gate and obscured by hanging plants, trees, and vines. 
Beyond the overgrown yard is a bright red door, which opens into a spacious cottage.
The house has clearly been empty for some time — dust has gathered on various furnishings — bedding, sofas, curtains, wooden tables. According to the locals, it has remained empty since its last occupant passed away, and that's all they'll say about that!
Each floor of the house has a shared sitting room, but only the first floor has a kitchen — large enough to support feeding the entire household. Here, a few of the townspeople will help out — they stock the kitchen and help make dinner for the new arrivals.
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.
Beyond the overgrown yard is a bright red door, which opens into a spacious cottage. The house has clearly been empty for some time — dust has gathered on various furnishings — bedding, sofas, curtains, wooden tables. According to the locals, it has remained empty since its last occupant passed away, and that's all they'll say about that!
Each floor of the house has a shared sitting room, but only the first floor has a kitchen — large enough to support feeding the entire household. Here, a few of the townspeople will help out — they stock the kitchen and help make dinner for the new arrivals.
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.
no subject
You didn't do that much damage. I couldn't walk even before you bumped into me.
[Look, it was either use sarcasm as a defense mechanism or feel sorry all the time for his lot in life. Ivar chose the former so as not to go crazy with rage.]
no subject
[ That makes sense, sort of. At least, it explains what he's doing on the ground, why he hadn't accepted Jesse's offer of a hand up.
But he hasn't met many disabled people in his life, especially any close to his own age. So if anything, he's even more awkward than before. ]
You need...like, help, or anything? Maybe I can find you a wheelchair or something?
[ But even as he says it, he sounds doubtful. Whatever this place is, it feels more like a medieval village than anything else. No technology, nothing modern. He can't exactly imagine someone rolling a wheelchair out for this guy to use. ]
no subject
Wheelchair?
[Ivar sounded so bewildered as he echoed the word that it was clear he wasn't faking his unfamiliarity with it. Look, it wasn't as if there had been a lot of thought put into making things easier for the disabled teen, given most people with his condition were left to die in the wilderness as infants. So few grew up to adulthood that no one really considered tools to help their mobility.]
no subject
Yeah, y'know...a wheelchair? [ He bends his elbows and pulls his arms back at his sides a few times, miming pulling himself along in a gesture that he quickly realizes will mean less than nothing to someone who doesn't know what a wheelchair is. Embarrassed, he drops his hands again. ] Helps people get around when they can't walk and stuff? I dunno if they'd have one here, though. This place seems pretty...uh, primitive.
[ As usual, his brain catches up with his mouth a second too late, and he stops, looking stricken. There's no way to tell anything about anyone from the clothes - everyone's wearing whatever they could scrounge up, if they're wearing anything at all - but if this guy doesn't even know what a wheelchair is, maybe wherever he's from doesn't look so different than this. Or maybe he's from right here, in the village. He hastens to do damage control. ]
Not that that's, uhhhh, a bad thing, or whatever.
cw: infanticide, mercy killing mentions
Now that the idea had been put into his head, he'd start thinking more about it. Such a device would make getting around much smoother.]
I don't know where you're from but this place seems pretty modern to me.
[That might have sounded a bit laughable to some from the twenty-first century, but for Ivar, things like gas lamps and clocks were cutting edge technology.]
no subject
Oh, yeah, no, it's cool. It's really cool.
[ Modern? No, not by a long shot, but he's not about to say so. He looks around, at the distinct lack of cars, electricity, and anything else familiar. ]
So...where're you from?
no subject
It is a little but it might feel a bit warmer once we all get proper clothes.
[At the question of where he was from, Ivar had a ready answer.]
Kattegat. It's in Norway.
[He felt the clarification might have been needed given the two of them seemed to be coming from very different places before they'd ended up here.]
And you?
no subject
Yeah. Yeah, totally.
[ His outfit isn't doing much to keep him warm, that's for sure. He's just glad his dick is finally covered up.
He doesn't get a whole lot out of Ivar's answer. He knows Norway exists, and that's about it. Maybe they do have places still stuck in the dark ages or whatever, with no cars or anything else. So...yeah. Maybe it does explain things. ]
Uh, Albuquerque. New Mexico. That's - it's in America.
[ The last is tacked on belatedly, as he realizes too late that someone from Nowheresville, Norway, probably with no phone and no internet, might not immediately recognize the state. ]
Pretty far away.
[ Which begs the question...where the hell are they now, and how exactly did they end up here? ]
no subject
Must be. I've never heard of it before.
[The Norsemen were still a few years off from discovering the Americas in Ivar's time and it wouldn't even get the familiar modern name until 700 years later.
As if picking up on the vibe of Jesse's thoughts, Ivar glanced around them.]
We're both far from home now. I've never seen anything like this place before.
[He was from a culture that would've been a lot more relaxed about nudity if it wasn't so damn cold where they lived but this place still took the cake for weirdness, with their strange style of clothes and how they seemed to view the naked individuals coming .]
no subject
Yeah.
[ Not just the town, the old buildings and cobbled streets. The people. He's never met anyone that just...okay with nudity, let alone a whole town. He lowers his voice a little, though there's no one else close enough to hear. ]
What do you think? Some kinda sex cult or something?
no subject
[And the Norse were weirdly casual about nudity as it was, given how often people tended to strip down for pragmatic reasons or when the berserkrs went stark-naked into battle. They probably would have walked around in close to nothing if it wasn't so damn cold where they made their homes most of the time.]
The real question is why we were all brought here. Clearly it was for a purpose.
no subject
Shit, for real?
That's...fucked up, man.
[ And more than a little unnerving. If it is some kind of sex cult, or any kind of cult, their intentions can't be good. ]
no subject
[He still wasn't sure how being forced to find their way out of a forest filled with thousands of spiders and ending up in a town run by a sex cult served any purpose but maybe it would be revealed to them as they went along.]
no subject
[ If they'd been kidnapped, they would've been brought right to the village or something, right? Not woken up naked in the woods? Jesse shakes his head, desperate not to accept what Ivar's suggesting. ]
Maybe it was just, like...a mistake. Y'know?
no subject
There’s a purpose for everything in life, even if you don’t see it right away.
[Sorry, Jesse, the Norse believed a lot in the concept of fate and how it could rule someone’s life.]
no subject
No. No.
[ Everything? Being held captive and tortured by Jack's gang? Andrea's death? Jane's? No. He's seen too much bad shit happen to people who don't deserve it. Seen too many people just get away with hurting others, again and again. He shakes his head again, fierce and determined. ]
Not everything.
no subject
Fate is a powerful force. You can either work with it-- [He held up one hand with the palm up and the other with the palm down.] --or against it. [Then he flipped the positions of the two hands so they were now the opposite of what they'd been before.] Your choice.
no subject
Jesse doesn't know if the thought makes things better or worse. He shakes his head, watching as Ivar illustrates with his hands. ]
How do you...work with it?
no subject
Well, first you must figure out what your fate is to begin with. Have you done that yet?
[He gave Jesse a very penetrating gaze that was emphasized all the more by his ice-blue eyes.]
no subject
Yeah, uh.
[ He speaks slowly, serious despite the crude words. ]
I think my fate is to have life shit all over me.
Fuck everything up forever. Y'know?
no subject
.............Well shit.
[Still, he had a ready explanation for Jesse.]
Alright, speaking as someone who the gods also dealt a bad hand to-- [He gestured to his legs.] --rather than feel sorry for yourself and give into fate you should work against it. Prove that you're tougher and smarter than the life you were destined for.
no subject
He thinks about it, shaking his head slowly. He doesn't feel tough or smart. Mostly, when he thinks about everything he's been through, thinks about it maybe being his destiny...he just feels tired. Worn down.
He just wants to rest. Why is that so impossible? ]
What if you're not that tough?
What if you're just not?
no subject
[Ivar had no sympathy for what he saw as whining. It was time for a reality check.]
Dying is easy. I've killed often enough to know that. Living, on the other hand, is much harder.
[It was cold and harsh logic, the kind that came from a time period where men killed each other over the smallest of things in an attempt to improve their lives just a little bit.]
no subject
When Ivar just admits to killing multiple people like it's nothing, though, Jesse looks at him, startled. Not scared or judgemental. He can't afford to be that anymore. Mostly just surprised at the ease with which he'd said it. ]
You've killed people?
no subject
[Ivar said this in a very nonchalant, matter-of-fact tone as if everyone had killed at some point in their life. He might as well as been talking about what he had just eaten for lunch.]
I'm Norse.