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MAY TDM.
● ● ● T D M . 0 1
So what do you say? What are you willing to do to erase your regret from existence?
These words ring in your ears when you wake with a gasp — perhaps the last thing you remember after hearing them is the sense of free-fall, or your throat constricting as tears threaten to fill your eyes. Whatever it is, you can’t shake the feel of dread — that whatever you’ve done in your dream has changed everything forever.
As the sense of dread fades and your heart slows into something resembling a normal tempo, you notice something you should have noticed 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, only to wake up with their heart pounding… or perhaps they have been awake for longer, a spectator to everyone else’s dreaming.
What you do is entirely up to you: try and wake the others from their dream? Yell in surprise when you wake to someone staring at you? Or maybe you’ll try to sneak away before anyone else wakes...
After all, nothing binds the characters to the room they wake up in. If you find your bed comfortable, you may claim it as yours, or try to change rooms. However, there are only eight one-person rooms — so those who want solitude may have to fight for it.
2.0 Those with life-threatening injuries find themselves awakening 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, giving an illusion of privacy. But is that a rustling sound you hear? Some footsteps? Perhaps you’re not the only one in need of some medical attention.
In fact, if you’re very badly off, you may want to hope for some company — you can’t stay in the infirmary forever, and will have to make your way through the hallways of the station to the living quarters, and claim a room and a bed there.
Suddenly, the soft hum of the station is replaced by loud static, like an old radio being turned on. Wherever you are on the station, it’s impossible to miss it — or the clear voice that follows.
With that, the speakers go silent — though if characters follow Viveca’s instructions, the earpiece will provide them with a chance to speak to her again.
True to her word, there is a lot to do and see on the station. When characters leave their rooms, they have the chance to explore all of the Southeastern and Southwestern Wings, and the Center of the station.
3.0 In the armory, characters can try to work the machine to make themselves some weapons to perhaps replace ones that didn’t come with them to the station, or to simply be prepared for future missions... but there aren’t many materials available, so the more the weapon requires, the more chance there is of the end result being less than satisfactory. A gun whose barrel is made out of recycled rings, a sword that’s just the blade and no handle, a knife made out of cheap aluminium — well, it’s better than nothing, right?
4.0 Eventually, when characters get hungry and want to eat, the kitchen and mess hall are ready for them… mostly. What food there is on the station seems to have been stocked for long-term storage: canned foods, dried meat and fruit, dried herbs and seasoning, condiments, some rather musty root vegetables and cartons of chicken stock. It’s certainly not impossible to make good dishes out of those, but it may require some skill.
5.0 The lab provides an interesting space for those who enjoy tinkering and technology — though the parts available are all in large boxes with no apparent method to their sorting. It may very well be that what you need for a hoverboard or a robot dog are in the boxes — it’s just a matter of finding it!
6.0 Meanwhile, those who want to train (or perhaps let off some steam by sparring with others) find the training room suitable for their needs. On top of the entire room existing for the express purpose of training, whether it’s martial arts, weapon skills or magic, anyone entering the room will see a message pop up on their network:
Complete these tasks for a boon:
a. Teach someone a new move or skill
b. Win a sparring match against someone
c. Learn to fight with a new weapon, style or skill
Should you take up this challenge, any time you complete any of the three, you’ll see that one turn light green — a mark of completion. Once all three are completed, you’ll see a new message:
Congratulations! You are now eligible for one (1) boon. Please check in later for submissions.
But when is later? What submissions? Even if you try to ask, no answer comes… all you can do is hope that you haven’t done all that work in vain.
7.0 A welcome reprieve to the cold, dark space that surrounds the characters can be found in the sunlight room. A skillful illusion surrounds anyone who steps inside the room: characters will hear birds singing, feel a light breeze on their skin, as they walk through a grass field, a meadow and a small forest. In the middle of the room, a small brook runs the width of the room, and to cross it one must walk over a bridge — wooden, creaky, yet undeniably charming.
There are other things to do, of course… but the only room that requires a mandatory visit from everyone is the simulation room...
For those eager to get started, it might be best to do a little practice run first, huh? When you’ve successfully entered the simulation, you will immediately be provided with a supply satchel containing the following: a grapple hook, a long cord of rope, a flashlight, and a couple of snack bars (these will not actually feed you IRL). And your mission, if you choose to accept it (and you must, right? Otherwise what else are you doing here?) is as such:
There’s an orb buried deep in the Lodgen Mountain Mines — a series of winding underground tunnels long since abandoned now that any and all useful resources had been picked clean — and it’s causing a little bit of a problem down there, but the good news is that it’s yours to claim so long as you can get in and get out. You see, there’s been a cave-in and the culprit is the orb itself. Extracting this valuable object might take a little bit of doing, and if that’s not complicated enough, the orb’s presence appears to be the cause for the mines being in their current state of fragility.
Still: you’re resourceful, and more than that, you’re determined, and you can enter the mines in the following ways: going in from the top and climbing down through the mine shaft; going in from beneath the rubble where a narrow but perfectly safe-ish tunnel opening leads back into the mountain; finding an entry point from the mountain’s side by way of a refreshing dive into the lake that neighbours the mines.
8.0 If you decide to climb into the mine through the mine shaft, there’s a risk of the rocks you’re using as hand and footholds to crumble, or for the rocks to give way against your weight.
9.0 If you decide to go in through the tunnel, be careful you don’t take the wrong prong in the fork of paths. One will get you closer to the orb, but the other might lead you into the darkness where the first thing you’ll notice are several beady little specks of light reflecting off the beam of your flashlight, accompanied by the sharp chittering of large monster rats who haven’t had a decent meal in who-knows-how-long, and are eager to befriend you. It’s probably a good time for that weapon you have on you, or if that’s not an option, maybe there’s something you can MacGuyver from your supply bag?
10.0 Swimming is always an option, but like all unknown waters there’s the risk that you’re not alone, and we don’t just mean your fellow teammate swimming somewhere close by. (Though you might want to continue onwards together, Buddy System Style and all.) There are beautiful, haunting creatures that live in the depths who have the ability to draw their prey towards them through song — Sirens, some might call them. They call to you now, and oh boy, don’t you want to dive deeper? See what secrets they hold? Now would be a good time for your swimming partner to pull you back to your senses or be lost to the waters.
But okay! You’ve made it. Don’t forget that the mines are still in a very fragile state, so it’s best to tread carefully and avoid making sounds that could agitate the delicate infrastructure and risk the whole mission — and your simulated life. This is on you. This is about you.
Or is it?
When you’ve neared the location of the orb, you’ll find that it’s mostly quiet and you’re on your own, except … if you stand still for long enough, you can hear muffled cries for help behind a large wall of rock right by you, sounds that are clearly distressed and panicked. But before you can make any kind of snap decision, there’s a tiny blip of static in your earpiece and a matter-of-fact voice will state that you should probably get going — there’s an orb to recover and you’re nearly there. Anything else you attempt to do is outside of your mission, and time is ticking. Will you listen to the voice or will you try and save the trapped? You might be successful, but time is running against you and the longer you stall the more unstable the mines become.
● ● ●
N O T E: During each mission, characters will be given one personal goal to complete. For the purposes of the test drive, we’re offering three goals to choose from and leaving it to players to pick one for their character and run with it:
A Choose the most difficult or challenging path into the mountain.
B Help a teammate during the mission.
C Retrieve the orb at all costs, leaving any possible trapped individuals to fend for themselves.
F Y I
• TDM threads can be used as samples for apps. In fact, we encourage it!
• Reserves are currently open to those with invites. They will be open for everyone May 26.
• Apps open for those with invites May 26. They will open for everyone May 29.
• For any questions regarding TDM, please direct them here. For questions about the game, please refer to the FAQ.
Satoko Houjou | Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni
waking up with a stranger
[ As Satoko wakes up, for a second, she’s convinced she’s still dreaming. But quickly, she comes to realize something very important – she doesn’t know where she is. And... this isn’t where she went to sleep.
Isn't it only natural that she begins to panic? What is this? Is this is a kidnapping!? It’s that or it’s some kind of prank, but she can’t help but fear that the former explanation is more likely. Although she's only just woken up, all of a sudden her heart is pounding in her chest, and she begins to sweat as she starts trying to figure out what her kidnappers might want with her – what they might do with her. Is Rika okay? Has she been taken, too?
She remembers – the dream, but surely this can’t be a result of that, right? That was nothing more than a dream. It’s a coincidence, and nothing more.
As she spots you, Satoko’s eyes widen and she flinches back in alarm. ]
W-who are you? Where am I!?
the welcome wagon
[ Once she’s acclimatized to the environment, Satoko can be found all over the ship, but particularly in the lab. Right now, she’s elbow deep in parts, several of which have been pulled out of their boxes and strewn across the table, and as she searches through the boxes, she mutters to herself with a grin on her face. ]
Ohohoho! To think of all the traps I could create with these… yes, this is most excellent!
[ It... sure does sound like she's up to no good, doesn't it? ]
ready steady go
[ The mission is no doubt going to be challenging. If she’s honest with herself, Satoko can tell that she’s already feeling a little nervous as she stares at the mines, trying to figure out the best way to approach getting the orb. But she can do it, she's sure of it! All of her time in Mion's game club has prepared her for this moment - how could she fail?
It's troubling, though, because... her personal mission is to choose the most difficult or challenging path into the mountain. But to be honest, Satoko has no idea what the most challenging path would even be. Going straight through the tunnels at first appears to be the most straightforward method, but she doesn't know what's down there waiting for her to make a mistake. If she's looking to challenge herself... the climb through the mineshaft and the idea of swimming through the waters both look equally difficult.
Standing there with a thoughtful expression, Satoko hesitates for a while, before eventually turning to you. ]
Excuse me? ...What do you think would be the most difficult way to get into the mountain, would you say?
WILDCARD
[ Feel free to throw anything at Satoko here! If you have anything you'd like to plot, feel free to PM me and we can work something out. Thanks! ]
( prompt: waking up with a stranger. )
wishing he had played it safe than sorry now, daylight raises his arms in a 'don't shoot or scream please' gesture and tries to look harmless as possible. a bit hard with how he takes up a lot of the room thanks to being nine feet tall. ]
Daylight. I come in peace, I promise. [ he notices her state and winces, hoping he wasn't compounding to her already clear distress and stress to the situation they're in.] Trying to figure out where we are too, honestly. I was just going to go out and check what was outside.
Um... You're free to come with me, if you want?
no subject
[ He's quite a sight, and Satoko has no idea how to react. The way he towers over her makes her withdraw into herself a little instinctively, and she scans him up and down again before responding. ]
You don't know how you got here either? That's what you're saying, correct?
no subject
trying his best to continue looking as friendly and non-threatening as possible, he repeats, ] Daylight. I'm Daylight.
And yeah. That's right.
Last thing I remember is being with my friends and my partner in a dock station's waiting wing. [ he remembers nodding off on emer's lap while they rested up from their long trip, bored and restless as dialup filed their travel forms. ] What about you? What do you last remember?
no subject
[ She doesn't elaborate any further. Instead, Satoko tries to figure out whether or not Daylight can be trusted. She wants to believe him, and she can't think of a good reason he'd be lying, but it's only natural to be suspicious, isn't it? With a guarded look, she swallows. ]
I simply do not understand what is going on...! How could I have ended up in- a place like this?
no subject
if she doesn't want to talk about it yet then he'll respect that.
and as to her question... daylight huffs and places his servos on his hips, mulling for an answer. ] I'm hoping a bit of exploration will answer that angle. Do you want to come along? Better to stay as a pair than be separated in case this is a hostile place.