childrenofbajablast | Test Drive Meme #1

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Test Drive Meme #1

Arrival

Broken Palace by Jonathan Eng

0:07 / 1:13

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Click here to listen.

During 2014 Jonathan Eng composed the soundtrack for interactive narrative experience The Sailor’s Dream, consisting of a mix of instrumental tracks and a seven-part musical story told in folk song-form.

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Like all who come through summoning circle, your arrival is heralded by a dream. Waking up is a dizzying, disorienting thing... and possibly made worse by the fact that you aren't alone.

Right after you appear, so does someone else. If you're lucky*, they'll simply blink into existence by your side. If you're not, there's a chance they spawned below or above you. That's one way to make a memorable first impression. Best untangle yourselves and get things figured out.

If you're extremely unlucky*, instead of another person being brought through the summoning circle, it's a monster. The creature bobs, laughs maniacally, and immediately begins to spit flames your way.

Some welcome this is. If you aren't the fighting type, hopefully someone nearby is. Eventually, one of the local Town guards will slay the monster before it - and you - cause too much trouble or fire damage.

Town Tricks

After your unexpected introduction to either your fellow offworlder or monster, you'll be given a proper one from Charlie in Town. He sends you on your way shortly after to get settled in properly and deal with then next offworlder that walks in. Unfortunately, it's a bit of a revolving door right now so he doesn't have time for a more in-depth explanation or to answer too many questions.

Nor does he remember to warn you about The Fae.

Although native to Talahee Forest, which is currently off-limits to offworlders, the surge of magic from the summoning circle has piqued their interest. While the faefolk vary wildly in appearance, the ones scouting are pixies.

These tiny tricksters may be too shy to reveal themselves outright... but that won't stop them from playing pranks on all these fun, new victims. Some examples of what can happen are:

At night

Thankfully, these Fae mean you no harm. In fact, if you react with hostility they will give you a wide berth and simply find someone more fun to play with.

Rocky Talky

One of the things that was given to you in your welcome pack from Charlie was a summoning-stone. Although it looks like, well, an ordinary stone- It's actually magic! You can look through it and see someone else's face too if you're both viewing your stones at the same time. It can also record your speech and deliver that to someone else in a snap.

One of the other features is that you can scrawl on it. It will turn your writing into legible text that you can send others to read on their stones. Of course, you need to attune yourself to your stone first. To that end, it prompts a small questionnaire:

Name:
Age:
Race:
Favorite soup? Why?:
Is soup something you eat or drink?

The last couple of questions might seem... strange but, surely, it must have a reason for asking. Once you answer the questions and unlock your device, you might pocket it and forget. Unfortunately, your scrawled answers were sent to the entire summoning-stone network throughout Town. Everyone can see what you put and they might even have some thoughts about it.

Registration Questionnaire

Notes

⁂ Hello and welcome to Children of Bahamut! If you have any questions, suggestions, or feedback feel free to comment here!

⁂ For the Arrival prompt, feel free to roll a d20 to see how lucky or unlucky you are.

⁂ The Town Tricks example list for pranks isn't exhaustive. If you have other silly prank ideas in mind, feel free to roll with that and have fun with it! The Fae certainly are.

⁂ There is a correct choice of favorite soup and the moderators will remember your choice/opinions. (We're joking. Mostly.)

⁂ Full Navigation ⁂

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ This is not by far the first time Popp has been attacked unexpectedly and he is an expert at flipping out of the way of incoming magical flames with very little dignity and a whole lot of yelling. This isn't even on the top ten times he's been set on fire, he's fine. His sleeve is lightly toasted. ]

C'mon, I just woke up! Give me a break already! Kafrizz!

[ This kind of monster is not fire resistant - Popp's tendency to default to fire elements by default works out for him! It is, however, moderately spell resistant, so it's not down for the count entirely. ]

Edited 2024-09-29 22:57 (UTC)

Oh, very good!

[ Avan claps politely for the kafrizz. That's a pretty good spell! He would have picked an ice spell himself there, but he's not going to backseat fight this guy. Seems like he has it handled well enough. ]

Keep it up!

[ Mixed feelings?? On one hand he does like praise on the other hand he does feel like he's being talked down to a little bit when he is doing all the work?? Also there is something about that goofy, breezy manner that he can't get a good think on about at the moment because he's too busy paying attention to not being set on fire?? Okay okay he's pretty sure he can cancel it out by casting a similar level of fire spell before impact? Trial by fire, ha ha ha...]

You don't need to tell me twice, I've got this one!

[ Right about then the skull starts paying attention to the person clapping and spits a stream of flame that wayOH SHIT can he Zoom over there in time- ]

Whoa!

[ Avan rolls out of the way of the fire in, of course, a completely graceless and undignified manner that was definitely not carefully calculated to make it look like he only barely escaped getting scorched. He's in so much danger, Popp, saaaave him~ ]

Aaaah, watch ouuuut-

[ Oh no he's relatable. You know what's worse than being hit by a fireball is watching someone else get hit by a fireball. Either fate or Popp's subconscious is prodding real hard at some particular Megante-flavored trauma to that effect, and instead of finishing the fight quick he Levizooms right in there and picks the guy up princess-style so he can keep him out of peril and fight defensively-

...He can't cast attack spells with both hands occupied huh. Thanks, Popp from two seconds ago, real smart move there! ]

[ Ohhh, princess-style! Usually when Roka's bailing him out of this kind of thing, he just throws him over his shoulder, so this is novel! As is the flight part, Roka definitely doesn't do that. ]

Oh, are we running away now? I thought you had it handled.

[ Popp is too polite to potato sack someone! And also he does not have the shoulders for it let us be real. ]

Shut it! I'll handle that thing once I find a safe place to ditch you-

[ He takes a brief moment to look down and yell at Mr. Idiot here face to face-

U M ]

Master Avan?!

[ There are some incongruities here like, you know, size, and also Master Avan is dead, but Popp is not thinking of those in the moment he's just boggling ]

[ And then he crashes them into a tree, Charlie Brown's kite style ]

[ Master Avan? That doesn't make sense, no matter how he looks at it. He doesn't recognize this guy at all.

And now they're in a tree. That's not good; trees are pretty flammable, and his would-be savior here is all distracted. If it were a different type of monster, he could put his weight on a branch to break it and drop onto it, but, again, fire. The best option here is to get the mage focused back up before he's forced to take care of it himself. ]

Ouuuch. Even if it was ungraceful, I've been safely ditched here, so you better get back to Mr. Skull before he gets even angrier.

[ He waves Popp off from the branch he's ended up draped over, just for emphasis. ]

Yeah, yeah... It would be bad to let that thing whoop it up around the forest, huh?

[ He zips out of the tree and hits it with a Crackle as it chitters its angry angry bony way through the forest. This does put out the surrounding flames, but does nothing to the skull. This is now valuable data Avan has learned without having to look like an idiot who doesn't know which monsters have what damage immunities.

In Popp's defense he has not encountered this skull type creature before and also he's very distracted. He's trying real hard not to look over his shoulder right now. Who is this. The skull is more important so he has to beat it to bone dust so he can grill this Avan lookalike! ]

It's not reflecting it, it's just immune. No problem!

[ Popp has two hands! He uses them to chuck alternate blasts of fire and ice one after the other, to contain the fire damage. He does have a natural tendency to go harder on the fire, so there's some smoldering around the edges of what is now a small clearing. It has been just so super cleared. ]

[ Avan is honestly impressed--rapid-firing different spells like that is nothing to sneeze at, especially for someone who looks to be around his own age. Shame that the actual damage looks a little lacking, but that does seem to be the fault of the skull more than the mage. At least the skull isn't too tough, overall.

Once the skull is dealt with once and for all, he lets himself drop out of the tree, some stray leaves and twigs stuck in his hair, and lets out a carefree laugh. ]

Hahaha, thanks for helping me out!

[ okay now he can devote everything to having an emotional crisis ]

I would have done it even if you didn't look exactly like a shortstack Master Avan - are you- is he - your dad or your uncle or something?

[ Popp's tone goes on a real journey here, from casual to fond to panic. There is approximately zero lag time between the words coming out of his mouth and the realization that if this is Avan's family member then he does! Not! Know! He sounds so happy and carefreeeee Popp doesn't want to explain the whole everything again and just ruin Avan Junior's entire day. So of course he's going to do what he does best and run away, emotionally. ]

Hey! Shouldn't you know Avan Strash or some flashy move that could have taken that skull out in one hit?

[ It takes a lot to leave Avan at a genuine, actual loss, but no matter how he looks at it, what Popp's saying just doesn't make sense? A case of mistaken identity would be the simplest answer, but the name combined with an allegedly strong resemblance makes that seem unlikely. He needs more information. ]

I really have no idea what you're talking about. I can't do anything like that.

[ He holds his hands up disarmingly, and while it's true that he's wearing the armor of a knight of Carl, there's not even a scabbard hanging from his belt, much less an actual sword. ]

I don't know your Master Avan, either. That was my father's name, but he died many years ago and neither of my parents had any siblings. [ And he can't imagine any circumstances in which a kid his own age would know his grandfather without him ever learning anything about it. ]

But we should introduce ourselves properly before we get any further into it! I am Avan de Zinuar III. What's your name?

[ Popp has another whole face journey across the point where Avan says "but he died" and then "many years ago". ]

Oh, right - [ introductions, the thing you do when you're out of crisis mode ] I'm Popp.

[ Grabs at Avan's(?) shirt collar to really get in his face about this! He's upset! He's definitely gonna be shaking him back and forth during the ensuing rant if he gets the hold in, and chasing him around indignantly if he does not. ]

But there's no way you can be Avan de Zinuar the third! I spent a year training with him and traveling the world, and I know him well enough to know that he's not my age, that's for sure! Fake heroes are one thing, but I won't put up with a fake Master Avan!

Waaa-aaa-aaahhhh!

[ Avan does not avoid getting grabbed and shaken--by his read on Popp's personality so far, he's not expecting that he'll get earnestly violent about it, and even if he did, it's not like he could do serious damage. If he had enough physical power to hurt Avan, he'd have used it on the skull instead of grinding a magic-resistant monster down with spells. ]

I'm not- faking- anythiiii-iiiing!

Then why do you look like that?! If you were Zaboera using a Morph spell, you'd look just like the actual guy! What are you, some kid playing dressup?!

[ He'd honestly be less upset if Avan't didn't act almost exactly like the Avan he knew? Minus being able to do more damage with a stick than most people can do with a magic sword, anyway. ]

If you're the real Avan, then why don't you prove it?!

[ That's-- pretty easy to do, actually. Avan reaches into his shirt and pulls out a small pendant he's wearing. Popp will of course recognize it as an Insignia of Avan, but that's not what Avan calls it. ]

The stone on this pendant is made of a material called mysticite. It's an artificially created gemstone, and the process of crafting it is a closely guarded secret of the Zinuar family. I'm the only one who knows how to make one of these.

I don't have any embarrassing birthmarks to show you, so this will have to do!

[ Yeah, he... knows what that is. Wide eyed, he drops Avan (real Avan?) (no that's still impossible) and fishes a matching pendant from under his tabard. ]

He only gives those out to students when they graduate.

[ And also to Popp, but he doesn't feel like talking about the extenuating circumstances. ]

If you're from one of his cooking classes and he also showed you how to curl your hair like that you need to fess up right now.

[ Hold onto that thought, Popp, Avan needs to take a closer look at your Insignia. Yeah, that's... that's actually real mysticite, alright. And mysticite pendants certainly would make sense to give as a graduation gift if he were to ever take on non-cooking students.... But it's hard to imagine ever doing that. A lot of things would have to change in his life before that would be feasible.

And yet, how else could Popp have such a thing? As impossible as it may seem, the only possible explanation seems to be that whatever summoned them here disturbed the flow of time in the process. ]

Mr. Popp, instead of wondering about my hair, you should probably look more at that magic circle that we appeared in. I didn't recognize it, but maybe a learned mage like you will know more about it.

[ There was a circle?! He had other things on his mind, he doesn't remember a circle! He does remember it being bright and shining in the area right before a skull happened. ]

I'm not really a summons guy, but I guess I can take a look at it?

[ Slaps a hand on Avan's shoulder and Zooms them back to the more natural clearing with his usual learnèd and elite magical grace. ]

[ Luckily for Popp, at this stage in his life, Avan does not yet have Matoriv's Zoom to compare it to. Unfortunately, he can still guess that he's not supposed to end up body slammed into the dirt, so Popp is not spared judgment. ]

Oooouuuuch.... Couldn't we have walked?

Hey now, we got here, didn't we?

[ The circle is still present as a landmark, but rapidly fading away. There's enough left to tell him one thing for certain... ]

I have no idea what that is.

[ Wow, helpful. But in Popp's defense, that is also roughly how much Avan knows about it. He doesn't remember ever seeing anything even kind of like this in his grandfather's library. So there's that potential avenue of information exhausted. Next step is to look more around the area and-- ]

Oh, look! There's a helpful sign!

[ The fact that it doesn't bother to name the town it's pointing to is honestly kind of suspicious, but there's no better way to get info than to jump right in, right? ]

That feels a little too helpful and way too vague to boot! Doesn't that town have a name?

[ He's going because he doesn't want someone with Avan's face to think he is a weenie or to wander into a trap alone but he does strongly consider leaving on the spot, out of general spite for whatever dragon shenanigans are involved this time. Speaking of which, there's some weird dragon stuff going on!

Dragon stuff isn't even his job. The party already has a guy for that. ]

Hey, did you have a weird dream before you showed up here?

Arrival

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