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The Crossing Mods ([personal profile] thecrossingmods) wrote in [community profile] thecrossinglogs2025-02-05 04:26 pm

TEST DRIVE #2

TDM #2
Welcome to The Desert, wayward souls.
It's good to see you again.

The TDM is game canon and will be active FEB—APR. For further details about the setting, please reference our current setting page. All the information there is fair game for this TDM.
arrival
— BENEATH THE RIVER ( NEW CHARACTERS ONLY )
CW: claustrophobia, being buried alive

If your journey is starting here, you begin as all others have, and all others will: in The River.

You awake in the dark and the damp, with pressure all around you. In this case, however, it isn't water that surrounds you— but earth. Specifically, it is mud made from the sand of the desert and the standing water of the sparkling white salt flat that The River has become, and it behaves like quicksand. It has you here, and it doesn't want to let go.

You aren't in any direct danger; you may or may not notice that you don't need to breathe down here (or at all). But that may be difficult to appreciate in the moment: immediately on waking, you are seized by what was perhaps your last memory— or, at least, the somatic feeling of it. Panic, terror, pain; or (depending on the circumstances) maybe peace, or relief. It is the moment of your death as told by your body's visceral, emotional response, and it won't stop until you pull yourself out of the mud.

You are close to the surface. Even a bit of lucky thrashing might be enough for you to break through the sludge, and crack the shell of salt above. But The River will not release you easily; it will continue to suck you back down until you are able to fully pry yourself free— or someone else is able to lend you a hand.

— BEYOND THE RIVER ( EXISTING CHARACTERS ONLY )
If you arrived here from the Cavern, you'll find that the cave you came from opens up onto a rocky cliff face, not unlike the one you may have found yourself settled in before The Crossing. From here you can see the sprawl of the Desert ahead of you: the Oasis tucked against the base of the cliffs, the endless dunes, and the wide, white expanse of The River — though it hardly looks like one now.

There is no city to be found among these cliffs, though. They are steep and rocky, with dry, loose sand making finding and keeping traction difficult. There is a narrow, winding path to the Oasis below, but it will take time to hike, and the sun is already hot and oppressive above you.

Theoretically, there's a more direct route... if you're feeling bold. The cliffs are covered in jutting striations (as if, say, carved by a massive river, or maybe a River) that make halfway decent handholds and footholds for anyone hoping to climb their way down instead.

Just don't change your mind too much. If you turn back, you may find that the path behind has become impassable or now leads somewhere else entirely. You don't ever see it happening, but it's almost as if the cliffs are rearranging themselves whenever your back is turned.

shelter from the storm
— THE OASIS
The Oasis, as well as the rest of the surrounding Desert, is bustling with life. (Or do plants and animals have a Journey they need to complete, too?) It's a green, if not lush, patch surrounding a small lake of fresh water, partially shielded by the arms of the cliffs from the winds blowing across the dunes.

There are creatures besides you making their homes here: from small, skittering mammals to circling scavengers. If you look closely, though, you'll find it's a bit of a mishmash, as if an ecosystem appeared rather than developed... and, depending on where you're from, some of it might even be recognizable to you.

Those of you that came from the Cavern might appreciate the return of natural light, though you might be disappointed to discover that day and night don't always arrive at the cadences you might expect them to... In fact, they don't seem to follow any recognizable or even trackable pattern at all. Some noon suns stretch on forever; some sunsets speed run straight into dry, cold night.

If that were all the unpredictability the Desert had to offer, it might be tolerable enough... but the weather proves to be just as erratic. One day is clear and bright, with wide-open skies; the next brings dust clouds and lightning storms rolling in from the dunes. (And when today might be half as long as yesterday, those swings add up.)

Luckily for all of you, there have evidently been others here before you, just like in the Cavern. There is a collection of shelters lining the Oasis, no more than huts designed to keep everyone within as cool as possible. There's less space than there was in the Subterranean City, but that means some things are easier to find... The huts are decorated just like the city was before it, as if in layers with the odd familiar trinket from your home stashed in a drawer or under a mattress.

shifting sands
— THE DUNES
The Ferryman is holding vigil at The River, as they always are. They have positioned themselves (and their Lantern) so that their Light casts over the Oasis— but that aura can only cast so far.

The Lantern's Light might not be quite so obvious here as it was down in the Cavern, drowned out as it is by the desert sun, but you can still feel when you approach the edge of its protection, the way the sense of comfort and safety wanes. Beyond it are the rolling dunes of the Desert, where wraiths gather in great numbers.

Those who have been paying close attention will recognize that these are not the same wraiths you encountered in the Cavern. Or, at least, none of the wraiths you encountered in the Cavern are represented here.

These wraiths are not the violent, wailing beasts encountered by some during The Crossing. They are just the same as the wraiths originally found in the Cavern: silent, insubstantial, and always watching. The ones who have found the Oasis prowl the edge of the boundary; the others wander the dunes as if lost. Or, perhaps, searching.

If you, yourself, wander the dunes, you'll find them at best difficult to navigate— or, at worst, impossible. You may be swallowed by a sand storm, or lose sight of your landmarks when descending into a valley between the dunes. You might find yourself somewhere you never expected to be... Or, you might just need to send a message out to the others for help finding your way home.
ourlastadventure: (SIR I SAID TO YOU BRUH)

[personal profile] ourlastadventure 2025-02-21 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
Danny my man, have you ever been aggressively threatened by a doll? You have now. Arche gets in the injured man's face, hell of a trick when she doesn't even come up to his chin, and points right at him. "I am speaking in good faith, Elder," Arche snaps, and something inside her unravels. Her death sucked, her arrival was worse, she's recently realized no one is going to be there to protect her sisters from her parents, and then she had to meet this man. "I have grasped that we come from many different places! I am attempting to offer you understanding and respect and you dare call me a liar? Refer to the life-saving work of my home's alchemists as primitive? You must be twenty-nine centuries old if this is how you treat people!"
marblenest: (pic#17651098)

[personal profile] marblenest 2025-02-24 02:48 am (UTC)(link)
Dankovsky looks so SO offended. He crosses his arms, and even gives a bit of a 'hmph' as he does.

"As I said, I refuse to be made a fool of." He states, doubling down, "What different places would you even be speaking of? Alternate universes? How did you even come to such a conclusion?"

Being as isolated as the Soviet Union is, even in it's early days, Dankovsky has just assumed strange manners of dress and speech patterns just indicated different part of the globe. Yes, he is that stubborn.
ourlastadventure: (Bruh)

[personal profile] ourlastadventure 2025-02-24 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
"My globe, sir, is quite mapped. And while not every centimeter is known to the noble art of cartography, I think I should have noticed during my own education if some of all of this had come up! That -" Arche points to a nearby hamster which, obligingly, freezes in place, "- is the closest thing to a familiar sight I've experienced since I got here, and the version of it that I am used to is a multi-ton apex predator! Which should, I believe, imply that at a bare minimum our experiences are displaced in time, if not in space, and that our contexts diverge greatly. I should have thought a man of reason might be open to the direct explanation, elder."
marblenest: (pic#17593250)

[personal profile] marblenest 2025-02-24 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
His face loses the edge of anger as it's slowly replaced with anxiety. Arche is simply too insistent to be lying on purpose. Maybe she's insane? Or maybe...

The alternative, the idea that she could be right, makes his face actively grow pale.

"No, no, that cannot be so..." He says, his voice trailing off. It sounds like he's genuinely trying to convince himself now, rather than the confidence he had before, "I think I need to have a lie down." The genuine distress is kicking in, boy does he wish he had a glass of wine right about now.
ourlastadventure: (Bonk)

[personal profile] ourlastadventure 2025-02-24 05:26 am (UTC)(link)
"By all means, don't let me detain you!" Arche makes a big show of stepping aside and lifting one arm in a 'go on then' sort of gesture. "Rest well. I will be expecting an apology for your rudeness when you've regained your strength."
marblenest: (pic#17593253)

[personal profile] marblenest 2025-02-24 11:49 pm (UTC)(link)
"You can't simply just assert nonsense as if it was fact and expect people to just agree!" He protests, and yes, he's still arguing, even though he feels faint from the mere idea that she could be right, "How am I supposed to fathom this? This other universes thing! Do you not see how outrageous it is?"
ourlastadventure: (Peek)

Damn Canon Characters And Their One-Liners

[personal profile] ourlastadventure 2025-03-01 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
"How is it any more, or less, absurd than any universe? I've yet to hear a compelling argument for why there is something rather than nothing; not even the priests dare to make such claims."
marblenest: (pic#17651098)

go off girl

[personal profile] marblenest 2025-03-02 12:02 am (UTC)(link)
"Because some things are simply common sense!" He asserts, "Where would we be without things like common sense, order, and reason! Nowhere, that's where! Did you hit your head upon arrival? Perhaps you simply are suffering from some sort of contusion."
ourlastadventure: (SIR I SAID TO YOU BRUH)

Wrap?

[personal profile] ourlastadventure 2025-03-02 12:13 am (UTC)(link)
"Common sense. Academia by populism - you disgrace your teachers and their institutions, Elder. Don't let me detain you."

Arche turns back around, pointedly, and sits back down in a huff to stare at the wraiths.

She was just a girl, once.
marblenest: (pic#17593253)

we wrappin

[personal profile] marblenest 2025-03-02 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
Dankovsky huffs right back at her, and turns to leave. He cannot believe how rude some young people are! Really, it's entirely beyond him. Not only insulting himself, but his teachers? His laboratory?

He wouldn't forget the insult.