notasstrange | TDM: ROUND 3

15 STRANGERS ROUND 3
TEST DRIVE

There are 15 strangers in this place. Someone knows why. And its clear the odds are stacked against you.

1. ARRIVAL
Oh god, you're inside a Base. Why are you here? What happened to your powers? Your memories? Who else has been so unlucky as to be brought in with you? What are you wearing? What are these strange rules? And...why do you feel like the person who wrote them is going to like yelling at you?

2. POWER
You have been, er, "blessed" with a power. Its not a power you want or care for, but its yours now. You might want to try an control it, lest you hurt someone else. That is...unless you want to. Or if you want to try and see if you can break out of your new domicile. Or, hey, go ahead and blow things up - there's no rule against property damage aside from the camerabots, after all...

3. HOME
So now you live in a Base of some kind. Whee. Maybe living here forever won't be so bad, since there are things to do with your free time. Unless you're looking for a way out, but surely, you wouldn't do that, right?

4. MINIGAME
The Commander has decided to do...erm, 'games'. Those who win the games will get prizes, the Commander has promised. This Test Drive Meme's minigame: a laundry folding contest! The most items folded in one hour wins! Work alone, or in teams - either way, you get the feeling there's an ulterior motive to the Commander making you do this while they watch and laugh...
5. MOTIVE
The Commander has (somewhat too gleefully) announced the motive for the week. Clearly someone out there really wants to give you a reason to kill someone else. How will you react? Will you stand against such an insult and help others to fight the temptation? Or perhaps, you yourself are tempted...?

6. DEATH
One of your own has died - no, been killed. The Inquisition has started. The body lies before you, and now you must discern the truth from the clues before you. But can you when you mourn? Or, perhaps you don't mourn the dead. Perhaps you're only playing along because you know more than you let on.

7. TRIAL
Well, it looks like the Commander wasn't kidding when they said there would be a trial if someone was murdered. So now you're here, looking to condemn the responsible killer. If you do, they die. If you don't, well, you'll end up killing an innocent person, as the Commander has announced what would happen if the majority votes incorrectly. Whatever happens, you have to figure out what happened. Can you?

8. SCAPEGOAT
Oh dear...the Commander has just announced that the person everyone just voted for...was actually completely innocent! Not only that, but they've revealed who the real culprit was! Maybe you're that innocent person, trying to say your goodbyes or beg for your life. Maybe you're one of the ones who voted for the innocent person, trying to cope with the horrible act you've just committed. Or maybe you're the true culprit, who now has to not only deal with an innocent dying for your actions, but also the fact that you can now be killed without repercussion!...

9. WILDCARD
Anything not mentioned above. Go wild!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Artificial horn from plants? And what's a... quantum barrier? Some sort of protective magic?

[Yurick shakes his head, perplexed. Either Jonathan is a raving madman or he's from a land vastly different than the ones the mage knows.]

I've studied for most of my life and I've never heard of such things. Are you sure you're not mad?

Pretty sure, yeah. I mean, I really think I must have hit my head, there's... I feel like I've forgotten a lot more than my friend's name, but I couldn't even tell you what. But that's not being crazy.

[He pauses, frowning, and sighs.]

It is what it is. Yeah, it's protective magic. The place I was... well, it isn't usually sealed over the way it is right now. The... current tenant decided he wanted to run things a little differently than the old landlord, so he used paintings linked to that kind of barrier to hold the power built into the castle in the places he wanted it... at least, I think that's what she meant. I really couldn't tell you.

[Yurick studies Jonathan for a long time, folding his arms across his chest. Despite the pale youth's small stature, his gaze is rather intimidating, with all the sternness of a school headmaster much older than he actually is.]

Either you're being purposely vague or you have no bloody clue what you're saying. And I doubt you'll be honest if I ask which it is.

[There's something really, really familiar about that glare, and it's enough to make Jonathan look hurt even as he bristles.]

Okay, okay, so I wasn't really listening that hard when she explained it! We were investigating a castle that's only supposed to show up every hundred years, but there's a war going on that seems to have called it up ahead of schedule, and the master of the place isn't even really there, it's this... painter, who keeps feeding his power into the place through his work... I know it sounds really stupid, but I swear that's where I've been. And I'm worried my best friend is still there, okay?!

A painter using magic... interesting.

[Yurick seems unruffled by Jonathan's bristling. He still looks a bit frosty but at least the condescending glare softens somewhat.]

Is your friend capable in a fight? If so, that should give you some reassurance. Or perhaps they're here as well, somewhere.

She's more than capable, she's got a reputation that scares people we've never even met before!

[He looks awfully proud, for a moment there. He doesn't keep up the angry posture, not after a question like that, and a total nonresponse.]

I've been looking. Haven't been to any other floor just yet, but she's definitely not on this one, I'm pretty sure now. You haven't tried the elevators yet, have you?

Elevators? Another unfamiliar word. No, I don't know what they are, much less where they are.

[Yurick frowns, shifting restlessly. He doesn't like not knowing so much about where he is. It puts him at a disadvantage, and any good mercenary knows being at a disadvantage means far more risk. He doesn't have his team to back him up, his weapon is missing, and....

No. He won't think about it. He's already doing everything he can not to show how panicked he really is.]

Judging by the word itself, I assume it's something meant to raise other objects? Perhaps like bringing a bucket up from a well?

Yeah, pretty much. Usually they're like a big box you can walk into, with a bunch of counterweights that balance it so it can go up and down a building. The ones here are around that way, and they don't look quite like they've got cables or weights anywhere, but....

[He shrugs expansively.]

If they get us where we need to go, it doesn't really matter, does it?

Mm. Considering we've been stolen away from our homes and our friends, I'm not inclined to trust much about this place. There could be traps laid everywhere.

[That's right, think of this like another dungeon or ruin. Find what you need and locate the exit, simple as that. Only nothing is really simple when nothing is familiar and you're basically alone.

The one time Yurick doesn't want to be alone, of course.]

Still, our best bet is to explore.

Yeah. I mean, at least there don't seem to be monsters, right?

[It's a shot in the dark, but who knows, this guy could be a hunter. He knows magical theory, at least.]

I'll take point, I'll go up first and then come right back down. If the elevator eats me or something and I don't, you know not to get in!

So you have monsters where you come from. Or at least in this castle you mentioned. I don't suppose you've heard of Reptids?

[And why is Jonathan volunteering to potentially be eaten, especially on behalf of someone he only just met?

... oh. He's just like... like...

Who?

Why is the face a blur, the voice grainy and distorted? And there's no name coming to mind when Yurick tries to concentrate on the person.

What... what's wrong with his memory?

Jonathan might notice Yurick has gone still, his expression far away and yet deeply disturbed.]

Can't say I have, sorry... but yeah, we do. They tend to concentrate around places like that castle, but they're pretty widespread, even though most people think they're just myths.

[He's exactly 1/64 of a Belmont, that's why he's volunteering. All of the heroism, none of the sense.

Really, he doesn't think there's much of a risk, and it was kind of a deadpan gallows humor joke. Either way, he'd just started to walk towards the elevators and then realized he wasn't being followed, and upon turning back -

Oh. Oh, crap, he knows that look. He was making that face not too long ago.]

Hey. You okay?

TDM: ROUND 3

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