TEST DRIVE #1

[collectedmods]

TEST DRIVE #1

Hi shoppers! Welcome to the first Test Drive Meme for COLLECTED. A few things before we get started:

» For the time being, our TDM’s are closed to those eligible to apply based on our invite system. This means that you must be on one of the mod’s plurklists, or invited as a +1 by someone on those lists. Thanks for understanding!

» TDM Threads will NOT be canon.

» Because of that, feel free to assume/handwave CR, and assume your character has been in the setting for a little bit.

» When the game opens, characters will be able to try their hand at going outside. But, during the TDM, all doors and windows to the outside will be locked, and characters will be unable to venture out there.

» These prompts are not exhaustive - feel free to make up your own within the setting of the mall! Anywhere on the Second Floor of the mall is free game. And if you have any questions about what you can and can’t do (or about anything else) reply to the QUESTIONS comment below, and we’ll get back to you soon.

Most importantly, have fun! And thank you so much for your interest in Collected; we’ve been so stoked over the turnout!! 🧡

PROMPTS

I.

There’s one big problem about getting around the Mall - and no, it’s not the bottom floor that’s flooded.

The other huge problem that the dilapidated infrastructure causes aside from making everything smell weird and leaving tons of crumbled debris around is that at some points in the mall, it’s impossible to get across large gaps in the flooring where it’s fallen through to the waters below. In fact, to access the side of the mall across from where you are right now, there are no paths that are safe for walking across. But there is one way.

One attraction of the mall has stayed (mildly) in tact - and that’s a Hi Wire Bicycle. The one way across to the other side of the Mall is this rusty, dusty bicycle attached to a thick wire, with signs around the attraction describing how much the fare used to be to ride across - if you were daring enough, that is! Obviously, no one’s ridden across this thing in years - much less for the overpriced payment required.

More than that, it seems a little… less than safe. The net that probably provided mall-goers with some degree of self-assurance has aged, sagging and unraveling at the junctures of some of the knots. If you were to fall onto it, would it still catch you…? The wire affixed to the bike doesn’t seem too steady, either, not to mention how hard you’ll have to push against the rusted pedals to get them to move. As it stands, though, it’s the only way across to get to the Second Floor’s other half of stores. Luckily (or maybe unluckily?) there’s a seat for you and a friend. So, at least you won’t go down alone.

To make it across, you’ll have to be brave, be creative, and most of all, be lucky!

II.

A.

Near the heart of the food court, decorations for what used to be Santa’s village are still laid about. How many Christmases ago were these left here? By the looks of things, a lot. A thick coating of dust has settled on the nooks and crannies of what is supposed to be the elves workshop, alongside the seat where Santa must have sat to take pictures with children.

In the Elves’ Workshop, you’ll find a massive amount of animatronic elves. They’re all positioned to be working on toys, putting up decorations, or singing from carol books - it looks like these little guys were put here to perform for kids, not unlike an interactive (and more Christmas-y) version of It’s a Small World. There’s even un-opened (and therefore okay-to-eat!) boxes of chocolate chip cookies that must have been for the Mall-goers around Christmastime stashed inside an open cabinet, which was most definitely only for employees to access.

The only problem is that once you enter and make your way inside the workshop… something strange happens. Is something grabbing onto your clothes? Your hair? Maybe a stray finger? It’s the little wooden hands of one of the elves. Your first thought is that you just brushed past it and got caught on it - but, on the second thought, it’s not letting go. In fact, it’s grip is getting tighter. Painful, even. All while it smiles blankly ahead, eerily still aside from it’s tiny hand squeezing you. Take your eyes off these cheery boys and girls for too long, and you’ll realize they’re not staying put like good little elves - they’re moving closer to you only when they’re out of sight.

If you’re unlucky enough for several to latch onto you, you’d better ho-ho-hope someone can break you free.

B.

Outside the Workshop, more towards where the line to meet Santa would be, there’s a big snow machine. Unluckily for you, the machine’s sensors, which would have known to start putting out snow whenever people walk by, seem to still be working despite the Mall’s run-down state. As soon as you get near the thing, it starts spewing out tons of fake snow. It’s completely unlike the delicate sprinkling you’d find in a shopping center: it’s plain blasting you with the stuff, more like a hose than anything else. Too bad that the part of the machine that broke was whatever controlled the volume and speed of the snow instead of the sensors, right?

The fake snow is sticky and old, and will stick to you and the floor the more you get caught in it - better hurry and stop that machine!

C.

There’s a huge, luxurious chair that was most certainly reserved for the Santa employee in the center of the village area - tall and wide enough for at least a few people to clamber onto. Even though the paint is chipping off parts of the throne, and the wood is decaying in places - it still doesn’t look too bad, all things considered. Even the camera is still sitting in front of the chair, balanced on a tripod as though there were kids coming to take pictures with Santa today.

You’ll find that walking into the frame of the camera with more than one person causes the camera to go off. The camera will even print your picture, and never seems to run out of film - no matter how many times it fires. Did it catch your bad side, the first time? Feel free to try again! Dress up, find props, take pictures with your newfound companions to your heart’s content!

The only thing to be wary of is that in every few photos, someone else is in the photo. It’s a smiling, bright-eyed child, despite their transparency compared to you and your companion in the image. Judging by the sitting pose, and the performative smile, the added kid is none other than a reflection of a child who had taken pictures here with Santa long, long ago.

III.

With the size of the mall, and the variety of the stores inside, it’s only natural to think to forage for items that might be of use - there’s got to be something left behind here that will help you, right? Or a portal home?

Not too far from the department store you’d wandered in from, there’s a clothing store with an… interesting problem, for lack of a better word. The store has been overrun with rats. Big ones, too, scurrying about the floors and what’s left of the shelves, gnawing on what remains of the carpet and the remnants of cardboard packaging. Anyone sane would steer clear of this mess!

But, there’s something off about this store. Not only do all the rats somehow stay mysteriously contained within the walls of the store, never scurrying out of it, and with no signs of other stores being infested at all, but there’s also something that’s very familiar to you in this store. It could be a weapon, an item of clothing, or something as simple as your most favorite phone charm - point of the matter is, the rats have a hoard akin to a dragon’s behind the cashier’s counter, full of trinkets and belongings to all who have come through this place. They’ll work to keep their paws on what they have, too.

If you want your special something back, you’ll have to brave the vermin.



NAVIGATION

Comments

[takeroot]

[Ah, don't handle his hat like that, what the fuck sir!]

Is this not— [He's cut off by a rat leaping for his face, which he bludgeons back down with a yelp. Gross!!] Is this not also time-consuming? Indelicate, too!

[Like, was he totally on board to smash rats with essentially a pipe? Yes, it's going pretty well, but the whip?

Well, whatever— don't mind as he reaches over in between rat batting to yank his crushed hat away, which might have been to give Jiang Cheng two hands to hold sword and pipe in, but honestly it's just because he needs his hat to survive this. Thank you, great teamwork!]

[pierless]

[The whip is a very precise weapon! It is not suited for fifty rats! Go with the plan, Constantin, except now they're already rushing out, so there's no point in arguing.]

You can't wield Zidian. And I needed a second pair of hands.

[Just kidding, it's Jiang Cheng, there's always a point to arguing. Ah, but you know what's better than a pipe? A sword, that's what; for one, the little bastards stay down, and for two, the other rats are distracted by the sudden blood and gore.]

Is there something significant about that hat?

[takeroot]

You named your whip?

[This isn't judgmental, actually, that's very cool guy from an adventure novel of him, little as Jiang Cheng fits the rest of the criteria... Tell him the weapon facts, but maybe later.

He shakes the hat back into shape and sticks it on his head, very jaunty and dashing, or maybe he's just in a hurry because he's doing hat things with one hand and swatting rats with the other. He has to pause to shake one off the end of his pipe as it squeals some unholy rat noise at him, then he can explain--]

It is my cousin's, actually! While I am just about entirely certain I alone wander these rat-plagued wastes between the two of us— [swat, swat, swat.....] It would be even worse, then, for my cousin's hat to meet an unfortunate end in a pile of rats!

[This hat is his cousin now. But there, they've crossed the threshold out, and he pivots on his heel to brandish the pipe one last time before he slumps forward some to catch his breath. Rattes...]

What else did you get your hands on in there?

[pierless]

Useless things.

[Gacha phone charms, a Pokemon card . . . and a screwdriver, which might come in use at some point, but it's a disappointing haul. He lets all but the screwdriver fall to the ground, where presumably someone will clean them. Or not! He really doesn't care.

But oh, right-- and he's admittedly vaguely curious, so:]

Do you not name your weapons?

[takeroot]

[Wait hold on, what is this plastic cute thing... He'll get to this other thing in a second, but he does duck down to pick up the phone charm. Ooh!! He has no idea what this is.]

I don't, no. I don't usually carry any. [Has dear cousin named his sword and/or guns, he wonders... mm, probably not. But when it comes to meathead weapon jocks he knows,] My master of arms likely has, if I had to guess! I imagine they were all given pretty ladies' names.

[@ Kurt wherever you are: this is his headcanon, sorry.]

[pierless]

[He pulls a face. Who names a sword after a girl?]

Zidian is named for the lightning it wields. Sandu is named for the evils it eradicates.

[So there you have it: two arguably cool weapon names, and far better than naming them after a girl he fancies. But ah . . .]

You might want to arm yourself. Those rats are likely the least of what we may face here.

[takeroot]

[Who names a whip after its one magic power! Don't throw stones, Jiang Cheng.]

So you're recommending that I keep this.

[The pipe, which he is presently attempting to loop the phone charm's strap around, to little success. Sigh... fine, into his pocket that thing goes.]

I've been all up and down this hallway, actually, and I've yet to see anything nearly as active as these rats. What beast do you suppose lies in wait for us?

[pierless]

[He watches him fuss with that little phone charm with a sort of detached fascination, like how you might watch a cat try and free itself from a pringles can.]

People, to begin with. Supplies are limited; it takes little for people to break out into fights anyway. And killing others for what they might or might not have is easy, never mind when people get desperate.

[takeroot]

[Wow, that burn is so harsh he can almost feel it in that bored gaze. Thanks, very flattering.]

Ah.

[Ah, yes, people. He looks aside at nothing at all for a moment, mind elsewhere, grip tightening minutely on the pipe before he sighs shortly and looks at Jiang Cheng again. Yes, yes, people are all traitors, he's familiar with the concept and he is electing not to think about it very much at this precise moment, thanks.]

You wouldn't kill me for my bit of scrap here, would you?

[pierless]

No.

[He's too honorable for that. And--]

If someone was going to kill you, they likely wouldn't have warned you.

[Just saying . . . he leans back against a wall, surveying the mall. It's . . . pretty bleak, frankly.]

Have you ever seen a place like this?

[takeroot]

You never know; some people love their dramatics.

[But never mind! He raises an eyebrow, looking down the length of this particular hallway. Hmm...]

I've never seen anything like it, no.

[Having every shop in one place is a fascinating concept and he'll have to write it down, however. Imagine the commerce, if this place wasn't a hellhole? Amazing.]

That aside, what are you doing? Are you going to stay here and rest beside the rat kingdom? Let us be off!