𝔄 𝔐𝔦𝔡𝔴𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔑𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱'𝔰 𝔇𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔤 𑁍 [WINTER TDM]

[gorelord]

Welcome to the Test Drive!

The TDM is welcome to current players and anyone who wants to play in the setting and is encouraged to be used by prospective players. If you are interested in joining the game, you will need to obtain invite from the mod or through an existing member.

For information on the game premise, setting etc, please utilize the navigation pages below. Questions specific to the TDM prompts or the setting can go to the comment thread. Anything else relating to game mechanics can go in the FAQ.

Events in this TDM are considered game canon and occurs immediately after the Chapter II eclipse event between chapters II and III. Any threads in TDM are considered canon as long as both parties agree.

Please make sure to identify in your top levels as either current or new player/characters.

GAME PAGES

premise
setting
faq
rules
glossary

i.
rise:
A Dream's Beginning

(cw:nsfwl; ritual sex, mood altering substances )

It begins with a nightmare, the details of which have slipped through your fingers. Only the curling echo of its dread lingers in your chest. Something has snapped you out of a catatonic state: a gust of icy wind whistling through the crack of a window, the soft beating of drums under the melody of strings, the cold kiss of fat snowflakes catching on your eyelashes, the smell of spiced wine and evergreen.

A few things become clear: You are not where you were, and you are not alone.

Feast for Saints

Tonight is a night of celebration for the Lonely Fortress. The horrors have been set aside, replaced with the warm mirth and grace of being alive. Whether this is your first night in the Crucible or your fortieth, all are welcome to partake in this renewing fete under the silver light of a full buttery moon. Snow dances like flower petals in a lazy array, leaving a shallow blanket of white. The fire roars in the hearth of the Great Hall, spreading its warmth throughout its adjacent parlors. Despite murmurings of a recent catastrophic eclipse cleaving the castle twain, its halls and buildings show no sign of decay. The Egregore has been cleansed, balance has been restored. Spirits are high, people are at ease.

If you choose to partake, there are a few select locations where people have gathered to celebrate:

𑁍The Great Hall is open for feasting and dancing. The fortress stores have provided a wintertime feast of roasted meats & vegetables, pies, fresh and aged cheeses, dried fruits, candied nuts, and seeded cakes. The hall smells of spiced honey wine and mulled cider, both packed with a warm and buzzing inebriation that creeps on unexpectedly. A makeshift band of strings and drums plays lively music for people to dance to.

𑁍The Velvet Parlor is a smaller hall branched off of the main festivities for those looking for softer and more intimate comforts under the candlelight. Tonight, its guests pay tribute to celebrate the passion of life and to beckon the sun to rise in a ritualistic tangling of bodies. Here is the place to become a true eater of sin. All furniture has been nudged to line the walls, making way for a sea of cushions and pillows for celebrants to laze upon as they imbibe in strong, distilled spirits, as the air above them swirls with a sweet, toasty incense imbuing a mellow calm and stirs carnal appetites. A masked man plucks away a sultry tune on his lute in a corner as the night gradually gives way to passionate bodies tangled among the pillows.

𑁍The Courtyard brings a breath of fresh, brisk air as snow falls playfully overhead. Large braziers line the yard offer meager warmth from their roaring fires as exiles partake in snow fights and release wishing lanterns bearing your inner most desires into the sky. Steam rolls off the yard's central fountain, which has been fitted to disperse heated water to provide a makeshift heated pool, a perfect place to thaw chilly hands or feet (or just go all in if ye be bold enough.)

A Colder Path

If instead you choose to abstain, it becomes apparent every dream has its limits.

The castle beyond the festivities is cold, dim, and abandoned. Behind every door, a drab and empty room (if the handle isn't locked or broken). The keep's gates are closed, the sunken village beyond a frozen wasteland. The further one strays from the warmth and merriment, the colder and darker it becomes.

Isolation breeds madness, too much time spent away from others may lead to paranoia. Figures shift in the dark, a breath tickles the nape of your neck. You may see familiar faces, hear familiar voices, beckoning you to stray further from your path towards uncertain doom: a crooked nail sticking out of the floorboards, a hurried shove off the top of the stairs, a door that opens over the edge of a rocky cliff.

As determined as you may be, the only way out of this dream is through.

ii.
revel:
Trials of Merciful Holly

(cw:potential for dubcon/noncon, mood-altering.)

As the midwinter evening persists, a visitor long awaited comes knocking at the Great Hall's doors. A tall man emerges with a body molded out of braided wood, bearing thorn-tarnished armor and a tattered crimson cloak. With every step forward, thorned vines that stitch across the walls and floors, blooming with plum purple leaves and small budding flowers.

"The Briar Lord," one exile gasps. "Gregor's returned," another praises tearfully. With a bow, he treats the celebrants of the Lonely Fortress with the innocence of a festive game.

"O' eaters of sin, indulge me in this friendly Midwinter game. Ye have survived a harrowing and for that ye shall be rewarded for purging of thy wickedness. I ask thee this final offering to purge this winter and beget a new spring. Give me thy blood and affection with honor and I shall see this cold vanquished. What I am given, I will return what was given me. Then, in trust and friendship, we shall part."

Bats and Lashes

The Lord's game is a simple marital task held out in the frost covered garden: a duel of branches. Each competitor will be given handful of briar as their weapon. The aim of the game is to whip each other until the thorns of the briar's branches draw blood. The first to draw blood from the opponent is the victor and the blood price paid.

Yet, not all these branches are created equal. A fortunate competitor may be given a Bewitching Branch. Those whipped by this branch will become utterly obsessed and infatuated to whom they've been struck by for a short period of time after, beholden to their branch master until the sting of thorns wane.

Tithe of the Mistle

If you choose not to partake in the Lord's game, the Lord warns that his winter's briar will collect a tithing of affection. The vines that bloomed with his arrival grow rampant behind seeing eyes. Buds turn into flowers, petals shed as they mature into plump white mistle berries that release the sweetest scent to draw you in.

Either you have accidentally stumbled upon the mistle, or it has decidedly grown itself above you without your noticing, but you become bewitched by its scent. As the tricksy bramble coils around your ankles, giving the gentlest of biting from its thorns, it becomes clear that you will be consumed if you do not pay the mistle its tithing. For some, it only takes a kiss, for others, the mistle will demand more. Give it something meaningful. Give it something real, and you will be released.

iii.
respite:
Midwinter Mourning

All good dreams must come to an end. The following morning paints a different picture of the Lonely Fortress witnessed in the night's collective dreaming. The Crucible sits under a thick blanket of snow, the waters surrounding the keep have frozen solid. None of the warmth of the night remains; it feels as though the world has died. The whole of the Crucible feels cold, quiet, abandoned.

Every hearth has burned out, every brazier snuffed under the snow, every candle smothered. It's quiet, empty, dark. Daylight may have come, but a thick layer of storm clouds casts a foreboding shadow. If the desire remains to leave, it quickly becomes apparent there is nowhere else to go.

Warm Winter's Kiss

With luck, you have woken in a bed under a pile of old furs to keep some semblance of warmth with you. With even better luck, you've woken next to company to keep each other warm throughout a cruel cold morning. Without proper protection, the cold is biting against exposed skin. Joints and limbs become stiff and numb, making it difficult to move around without constant tending if one lacks gloves.

While hearths can be re-lit and heated baths can be drawn, the true comfort from freezing can only be found in the close company of other living creatures. Exiles on this cruel morning keep each other warm through sharing heated breaths and pressing bodies. Expressions of passion and compassion help the warmth to linger just a bit longer for those who cultivate it together, granting brief autonomy of movement before finding another's heat is needed again.

Breakfast is served, but it's nothing remotely glamorous to the feasting offered by the Midwinter dream: simple porridge that leaves a stale taste that coats the tongue, nuts and fruits that are half rancid, boiled wine that's been watered down to detract from how far along it's turned into vinegar. Its only promise is to fill an empty stomach until more food can be found.

Outside, the snow begins to fall again. An omen that this winter is here to stay. Welcome to the real Martyr's Crucible.

Comments

[decorative]

[He hoped the Creature would ask about him, not their surroundings. He shrugs. Fine. He purses his lips slightly as he responds.]

We call it the Crucible. It is cold and dark most of the time. Monsters lurk in the shadows. One time I was swarmed by rats the size of a horse. [It was the size of a dog.] I almost died. But the wine is decent.

[creatura]

( monsters lurk in the shadows, and assault men with overly large snowballs too. it brings a queer hope to the creatures heart. perhaps he might find more like himself here. none perfectly alike; Victor had been voracious in his claim that he would ever be the only one of his particular make.

but a monster could surely accept another monster.

the Crucible. the very name portends trial and strife. he had hoped for more than a name and a wine review, but it is more than he knew before all the same. ) Nearly died to rats? ( curious indeed. a rat trying for living, fighting flesh must have been starved or feral. it makes the monster feel sorry for the rats, though he has the sense to keep such thoughts to himself in the party of someone recently assailed by them. ) I do not recall much of my arrival. ( is that normal, man with extraordinary curls? )

[decorative]

Giant rats. [The Chevalier corrects quickly. It would be embarrassing if he was nearly murdered by mere rodents. No, these ones were huge.

He sighs and shrugs, waving a dismissive hand at the Creature's mention of his arrival. It makes little sense to the Chevalier, so he chooses not to dwell on it.]

We all travel from far and wide and yet we remember very little. Some claim to be from other worlds, some from other times that they insist are the same world, though I am not so sure that they are correct.

[He reaches for the Creature, linking their arms, and leans in towards him with a smile.] I will have you know that my world has no magic or monsters. Beasts, yes, but nothing fantastical. And tall men like you are considered special and rare. And very handsome.

[creatura]

( interesting. the idea of worlds seeming alike and converging in some way. parallel and yet distinct. perhaps the man is right. they could be from a similar existence, if only for the fact that his world is bereft of the monstrous. then again... perhaps the stranger is simply lucky enough to have never beheld such hideous things before he arrived in this mysterious castle.

the creature does not have much cause to laugh in his limited life. the first time it happened, he surprised himself back into silence. with de lacey, he had learned somewhat of good humor. had been coached through the comedy in passages of his friend's favorite books. some passages took more coaching than others. he isn't what anyone could call a jovial sort. so it's saying something that the idea his height immediately makes him handsome drags a ragged laugh from his deadened lungs. hopefully the wine drunk stranger will take the sound to be humble acceptance of his remarks, and they won't have to discuss the matter further. )

I take it you have no fondness for the monstrous. ( the creature keeps his tone mild. companionable. as if this interpretation is entirely reasonable. to be fair, it kinda is! )

[decorative]

[The Chevalier shrugs and sighs as he saunters through the snow. He's the contrarian sort and hates to be pinned down by any assumptions. It is always safer to keep a person guessing. Besides, he hasn't thought much of it.]

I do not yet know, I suppose. I have not yet encountered it. Why? Do you wish to frighten me? [He leans in toward the tall man, half nudge, half playful stumble, and flashes a smile up at him.]

[creatura]

No. ( he does not wish to frighten him. the monster wishes for a world where he could drop his cowl. that this handsome charming stranger could see him, really see him, and not immediately balk in fear and revulsion. they walk through a new world, strange to both of them, and yet it is not so different that a monster should find a place with man. there is not a level of drunk that would make him handsome, his company welcome. it is wiser to leave now, while he's the only one to realize it.

the Chevalier may have been dazed, but he's certainly well enough to walk, talk, and flirt. so the door leading back to the keep is likely all the escort he requires. )

I must take my leave now. ( it is not a flirty debate, and there is no airy opening hinting he'd like to be convinced to stay. it is cold and certain. all the same, the creature does not pull his arm free. he can't quite make himself, enjoying the heat of skin contact until Chev does it on his own. )

[decorative]

[...oh. The Chevalier's nose wrinkles at the apparent rejection. His ego wilts. He holds on to the Creature's hand, equally disinterested in them parting just yet.]

When will I next see you? [How is the Chevalier supposed to sink his teeth into this tall, handsome man if they do not spend time together?]

🎀

[creatura]

( the monster is a bit of a sucker for humans that are cute and nonviolent. and by all intents and purposes, Chev is just a flirty drunk. entirely harmless. well, at least in the ways that matters to a beast such as he. so while he could simply walk away, instead he carefully returns the Chevalier's hand, like it was something he was simply borrowing for a little while. he presses it to the mans own heart. the creature lets his touch linger, just long enough that it might be notably cold against the warmth of living tissue.

his hand drops away. he turns, and pauses. when will i next see you? no offense, but hopefully never. he's ready to get the hell out of this haunted castle. there are too many humans here. it hurts to be so close to them and yet so apart. it would be easier to be alone.

it is kinder not to say. it is easier just to leave. so that is what he does. )