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OCTOBER + NOVEMBER TDM.
● ● ● T D M . 0 4
… What are you willing to do to erase your regret from existence?
These are the words that ring in your ears, as a slowly growing red glow surrounds you in this dreamspace, filling you with an acute sense of dread — and whatever it is that you’ve just agreed to might have changed everything forever.
It is this sense of dream that startles you awake, and as it fades, and your heart begins to slow into something resembling your normal tempo, you'll notice something you should have picked up on immediately: you are not in your bed.
1.0 White walls, clinical yet clean, sparsely-furnished rooms. You may wake in one of three rooms: a room with only one bed, a room with two beds, or a room with four beds. Those waking up in rooms with more than one bed notice that they are not alone. Perhaps the other occupants of the room are still sleeping, dreaming the same dream as you just did, or a regular one after returning to the station just barely a week ago … or perhaps you wake up to the other person in the room watching you.
What you do is entirely up to you: yelping in surprise when you wake to someone staring at you is always an option. Or maybe you’ll try to sneak away before anyone notices you...
2.0 Those with life-threatening injuries will find themselves waking up in the infirmary, in a regular hospital bed. Most of their injuries have been treated, and any lingering illnesses or conditions will have designated medicine bottles on the table next to the bed.
White curtains surround the bed on both sides, providing an illusion of privacy. But is that a rustling sound you hear? A set of footsteps? Perhaps you’re not the only one in need of some medical attention.
In fact if you’re very badly off, you might want to hold out hope for some company - you can’t stay in the infirmary forever. You'll have to make your way through the hallways of the station to the living quarters, and claim a room and a bed there.
Once upright, you might notice something in your ear: an earpiece that, when you become aware of it, quickly runs you through the instructions for how to use the network, a recorded message by a female voice that explains exactly why you’re here… and leaves you with a map of the station.
So what else is there to do but to explore, right? Best get to know your way around your new home.
3.0 When trying to decide where you go, you might find your way to the armory, where you can make attempts to work the machine and create a weapon for yourself — maybe replace the one that didn’t come with you to the station ... or maybe you decide to prepare something for the future. Any recently-returned team members will surely recommend having a functional weapon with you.
And speaking of weapons: why not put them to the test and head over to the training room, where the entire purpose of this space is to provide you with opportunities to spar and train to your heart’s content!
4.0 After you’ve exhausted yourself from training, your stomach will prompt you for something to eat. For that you should head to the kitchens and the mess hall, which is equipped with all the basic appliances you might need, along with some more unusual ones (including an ... interesting-looking waffle maker and popcorn machine), as well as ingredients for most generic Earth-based dishes. For some reason, there are also some bags of now-cold popcorn left abandoned over the counters.
5.0 A welcome reprieve to the cold, dark space that surrounds you can be found in the sunlight room. A skillful illusion builds up around anyone who steps inside the room: you can hear the trilling of birds, feel a light breeze caress your skin as you walk through a grass field. The illusion has been programmed to reflect the seasons — the leaves in the trees are currently bright with all the colours of autumn: orange and red and yellow; and the air is crisp and clean. If you follow the path, you'll be led to a bridge rising over a sparkling, babbling brook, a few fallen leaves floating on the water and falling around you like very bright raindrops.
Here, it's easy to forget (for a moment, anyway) that you are in space at all. Maybe that gives you comfort, or maybe it just makes you miss the real thing all that much more.
6.0 If you’d rather choose tinkering with objects over wandering through nature, the lab is guaranteed to provide you with some entertainment. Glass vials and jars of chemicals sit on shelves in a surprisingly beautiful display of colour on one side of the room, while the other side of the room contains stacks of boxes filled with assorted equipment: cords, bolts, panels, buttons, gears, gadgets, gizmos, and thingamabobs. The downside is that the parts available seem to have no apparent method to their sorting. So get digging and you may just find exactly what you need to make what you’ve always wanted to!
7.0 Some time after your arrival, the earpiece alerts you to a new message. If it’s items you’re lacking, you may just be in luck.
Indeed, the platform located near the personal quarters is still whirring with power, and new items form neat piles on top of it. There are clothes, shoes, dishware, skincare, books ... and in one pile, a varied collection of what seems to be Halloween decorations and costumes. So, sort through the piles and grab what you want before someone else does! (But don't forget: sharing is caring.)
Whether you’re a quick study and you’ve become settled into life on the station, or you want to get the full lay of the land (in a manner of speaking) first, if you decide to explore the hall past the control room, you’ll eventually come across the simulation room. It’s been equipped with a new simulation to show you the drill where the missions are concerned, so step in and see what it has in store for you!
8.0 The moment the doors slide shut behind you, the space goes dark and then quickly lights up again, but instead of the blank empty walls you initially walked into, you’re surrounded by colour and lights, the sound of music and chatter, and the smells of deep-fried foods and overly sweet beverages. Someone calls, ‘Step right up, step right up!’ while another voice from somewhere starts to cheer as an electrical sound of a buzzer goes off, announcing its winner for prizes.
It seems that you’ve entered the Carnival simulation, so come on in and have a little fun.
There are booths spread out across these simulated grounds, each one offering food, drink or games. As you wander past you’ll notice that there is a touch of macabre to everything — the colours are black and orange and violet and red, the drinks offered have strange names, some you recognize like ‘Witch’s Brew’ and ‘Eye of Newt’, and some you might not, like ‘Viole(n)t Breeze’ and ‘Undead Essence’. It’s as though all of the things strange and wonderful find themselves spread across the entire universe to unite here.
Once you’ve had your fill of food and games, you can make your way past the little market area to a brightly glittering ferris wheel with carts rotating in a cycle, enticing you to try it out. Or if you’d rather be spooked, there is a hokey little ‘haunted mansion’ to your left that won’t take more than a handful of minutes to move through. Creatures and ghosts will pop out at you when you least expect it, their masked faces exaggerated with paint and some fairly realistic prosthetics to get the adrenaline pumping. Take a friend with you, or go it alone — just try to keep your cool through it all.
9.0 Eventually, once you’ve had your fill of the festivities, you may notice a wooden sign pointing you past the haunted mansion. Pressed on it is a round mark, and you remember that this is simulating a mission — you’re not here to just have fun, but to try and retrieve a simulated orb.
As you follow the path, you’ll find the hustle and bustle of the carnival growing quieter. All around you, there is nothing but woods — and hold on, where did all that mist come from? It surrounds you slowly, the ground seeming slightly damp as you keep walking… and arrive at a graveyard.
So the orb… it’s there, hidden in one of the graves? There’s nothing else to do but to start walking and looking at the gravestones — but when you do, you’ll be shocked to find some of the names are terribly, terribly familiar.
They might be names of your loved ones, people who were still in perfect health back home; and yet here those stones bear their names, along with an epitaph that brings tears to your eyes. And if you move closer… you may experience a flash of colour and light, and a memory suddenly plays out in front of you: the death of your loved one, whoever that may be.
Or perhaps the name you see on a gravestone is something else even more familiar to you: your own. But ... how, right? Reluctantly, your heart pounding, you approach with tentative steps, and yes — the name does not change. It's yours right there ... and it's your own death that you witness when the grave’s spell binds you.
● ● ●
N O T E: The deaths witnessed are intended to be non-canon deaths, so feel free to go wild inventing them -- this also goes for characters who are canonically dead. These are “alternate universe deaths”, not canon.
Additionally, there are three personal tasks provided to each character as they enter the simulation. In-game, each character will be given one task. For the purposes of the test drive, we’re leaving it to players to pick a task for their character and run with it.
A Find the grave of a teammate and witness their death.
B Team up with a fellow Orber win in one of the Carnival games.
C Scare a teammate in the haunted house.
F Y I
• This TDM covers both October and November, so there will be no new TDM for November.
• TDM threads can be used as samples for apps. In fact, we encourage it!
• Reserves are currently open!
• Apps open October 27 and will remain open until November 30.
• For any questions regarding TDM, please direct them here. For questions about the game, please refer to the FAQ.
FOR SOME FUN:
Have a clue for your upcoming mission:
“I’m going to bed, where I may die.”
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How are you meant to avoid the orb if you don't know which grave the orb is buried in? How exactly do you propose to do this act of precise destruction??
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I was gonna shoot the top layers off! If it's buried, we'd be able to see it once all the soil's gone.
no subject
[ Sure, if the orb is meant to be truly hidden, it's unlikely that it'll be buried somewhere shallow, because that would hardly be a challenge at all. But she's arguing more to prove a point than anything. ]
How precise are your thermal detonators? And how many of them do you have? There are a lot of graves here.
no subject
[His retort is reflexive, as if he's used to arguing. For all he knows, there could be a bunch of fake bodies buried in the graves and they were expected to...retrieve it.
The question seems to boost his mood, even if that's not what he'd call his quirk. He flashes Elthree a smug grin, flexing his palms a little.]
They're as precise as I need 'em to be. And I've got enough to handle this shitty graveyard.
[To prove his point (and show off), he cups one hand over his palm. There's a bright light and ear-piercing boom! as he aims the explosion that emanates from his hands in a perfectly straight light at one of the graves, sending a cloud of soil and dust into the air.]
no subject
What in the Maker's name was that?!
no subject
[Bakugou groans, shooting her an exasperated scowl as the dust settles on his shoulders...and hair. Maybe he should have aimed for a grave further out.]
Are you capable of zoning out? That was me. Do I gotta do it again?
[Because he will.]
no subject
[ Please do not give her another demonstration. ]
I saw... I saw the explosion come from your hands. What I'm not picking up on is the how.
no subject
[He says it like he's talking about the weather. But then, with a more pride:]
I'm a hero in training.
no subject
Am I supposed to be impressed by that?
[ It's obvious, though. This kid has all the bluster and brains of Han Solo (which is to say, too much of the former and not enough of the latter). Of course he's running around calling himself a hero. ]
Explosive sweat, though? That just sounds gross.
no subject
I don't give a shit whether or not you're impressed. I could blow up this whole station if I wanted.
[But he doesn't want to, because he can't breathe in space, so he's not about to try it.
He opens his mouth to complain over the lack of any better suggestions, but he doesn't get the opportunity to. He just gapes at her, mouthing the last word silently a few times.
Did she really just...]
GROSS?!
I'M PRACTICALLY A LIVING BOMB AND I CAN KILL EVERYONE HERE, HOW THE HELL AM I GROSS?!
[He gestures around him, his voice becoming more hoarse as he shouts, as if he's used to yelling and his vocal chords have suffered for it.]
no subject
Only, given his reckless attitude and the (actually quite impressive) nature of this explosive sweat ability, she is now somewhat worried that, if he got angry enough, he actually would try to blow up the station. ]
Great plan, genius. Which one of us can survive in the cold vacuum of space unaided? Exploding sweat can't help you when your body decompresses so fast your eyeballs boil out of your skull.
[ Right. Arguing with him is the logical response to her worry, right? ]
no subject
I said I could blow it up, not that I would! What am I gonna do in space?! And why do you care? You'd live.
[By now, he's just arguing to argue (and win), but as he glances to the side his expression sours even more because those stupid gravestones are still there.]
Enough talking. These graves are pissing me off.
[And without any other warning, he almost does the same thing again, instead releasing his explosions to be aimed at several of the graves in a deafening cacophony.]
no subject
Aaaaaaaand, he's off exploding dirt again. Wonderful.
She raises a fist in a mock cheer, staying put while he takes out his frustrations on some simulated turf. ]
That's it! You show that ground who's boss. This is the most heroic thing I've ever seen!
no subject
Still don't hear you coming up with any better ideas! You're a robot, ain't ya supposed to be smart?
[He growls, tilting his head to just barely avoid a flying chunk of gravestone that lands somewhere behind him.]
no subject
If I can find a way to access the simulation room's controls, I can make it generate something for us to scan for energy signatures below ground.
...Or at least give us some shovels.
no subject
WHY WAIT UNTIL NOW TO SUGGEST THAT?! I've been wasting my quirk this whole time!
[He's going to blow this whole station up. He pinches the bridge of his nose, trying to refrain from doing that at this time.]
What do you need to find it?
no subject
Maybe you were being so quirky I didn't have a chance to come up with the idea.
[ Elthree looks around, her dome swiveling a full 360 degrees to get a good look at the area around them. The graveyard, the carnival lights on the horizon. ]
It's hard to say... My guess is that the controls would be somewhere near the entrance, but the illusion is so all-encompassing, it's difficult to pinpoint where the entrance is, exactly.
no subject
[Bakugou snarls just to be petty, putting his hands on his hips as he tries to follow her gaze, or as much as he can without turning.]
Shouldn't the entrance be back in the area we arrived at?
no subject
[ She's not about to let him forget how futile his tantrum had been. ]
That's at least a good place to start.
[ And off she goes, turning and heading for their arrival point. ]
no subject
[He'll never live that down. Bakugou glances away, looking for anything suspicious, but when he looks back at Elthree she's already walking away.]
Tch...
[He blows up one last gravestone, just because he can, and begins following her.]
Get outta my way and stay behind me!
no subject
She just keeps walking, allowing himself to bully his way into the lead. She's not in any huge rush-- she doesn't think this simulation is timed-- so it doesn't matter to her if he wants to get there first. ]
Right. Lead on, hero man.
no subject
It wouldn't surprise me if there's some kinda retaliation since we're basically breaking their rules. How good's your defense?
no subject
You think the simulation will turn hostile?
[ It does make sense, though. Whoever programmed this fake mission will want it to be difficult. If they just let anyone who had the means to manipulate the simulation do as they pleased, it wouldn't be as valuable a training tool. ]
Perhaps I'd better call myself up a working blaster while I'm at it.
no subject
[Bakugou stops at one of the stalls, scowling at the prizes and pretending to consider them. They probably already stand out, so as much as he wants to blow up the walls until they find something, rushing to the entrance would probably draw more attention to them both.]
Is a blaster a type of bomb? Explosives are my thing.
no subject
[ She wonders just how many simulations this young "hero" has been party to. Though, as he stops at the stall, so too does Elthree, reaching up to tap one of the hanging prizes-- a pink stuffed pegasus-- with her metal finger. ]
To answer your first question, I have no innate capability of distinguishing between simulated and non-simulated objects. From context and observation I can theorize that the food is real, and so would be anything that can leave the simulation along with us. If we try to walk out with it and it disappears, then it was illusory.
And to answer your second question, a blaster is a gun that shoots plasma bolts. If I wanted a bomb I would ask for a thermal detonator.
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