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thecrossinglogs2025-05-16 05:09 pm
thecrossingmods) wrote in thecrossinglogs2025-05-16 05:09 pm
Entry tags:
TEST DRIVE #3
TDM #3
Welcome to The Marsh, wayward souls.
It's good to see you again.
The TDM is game canon and will be active MAY—JUL. For further details about the setting, please reference our current setting page. All the information there is fair game for this TDM.
It's good to see you again.
The TDM is game canon and will be active MAY—JUL. For further details about the setting, please reference our current setting page. All the information there is fair game for this TDM.
arrival
— TANGLED BELOW ( NEW CHARACTERS ONLY )
CW: trapped underwater, drowning
Your journey begins as it has for all of those before you: in The River.
The water is lukewarm, and murky with dirt and vegetation. The surface isn't far away— but it might be hard to tell what direction you need to go in to reach it. To make matters worse, you are tangled in the plantlife around you, and will need to break free in order to escape The River's grip. There are others here who may be able to help you... but they'll have to find you first.
It's not possible for you to drown here; you may or may not recognize that you don't need to breathe, even down here. But every moment you spend with your head below the surface, you will spend trapped in the memory of your death, as if by a flashback. Depending on what brought you here, it may exacerbate your panic and confusion: maybe it isn't reeds, holding you back - maybe it's an assailant's hands; maybe it's not water clouding your vision, maybe it's something else, claustrophobic, smothering you. Or, maybe it's the dreamy, floaty peace you were expecting when you closed your eyes.
Regardless, you'll need to push through — to even start your journey, let alone finish it.
— BALANCED ABOVE ( EXISTING CHARACTERS ONLY )
You've traveled a long way to get here. Finally, there is a reprieve from the heat and chaotic energy of the Desert: the environment emerging around you is cooler and calmer, if not quieter. There are quite a few creatures populating the Marsh, both fantastical and not. Frogs croak quietly from the reeds; fireflies float along the surface of the water.
Wading around and through the muddy shallows of The River isn't exactly comfortable, so it may be a relief when the group comes across a wooden walkway rising out of the water and leading deeper into the Marsh. The planks creak under your weight, but they hold firm, and draw something like a path through the dense same-ness of the environment.
That path is anything but straightforward, though. And in the seemingly-perpetual dusk around you, it might be easy to get turned around: whether you have to retrace your steps from a dead-end, or lose track of others in the gloom.
You must be tired. But surely it's only a little bit further... right?
a marsh less traveled by
— THE VILLAGE
However much further it is, eventually you reach it: a small village, mainly comprised of wooden, multifamily homes lifted above the water on stilts. (Be careful which ones you choose to rest in, though — some of them might wander off with you still inside!) As with the shelters in previous locations, the homes are decorated as if by many tenants before you, continuously building on top of what was there before, and you may happen upon small items you recognize from home.
Unlike previous shelters, these don't seem like they've been abandoned for long. The items you find might be in better condition than they would have been elsewhere, and there might be newer or more comfortable amenities. Beds with softer sheets and more numerous pillows; pantries stocked with shelf-stable foods; unbroken toys or even board games with all their pieces.
Given the nature of The River here, this is also the closest The Ferryman has kept their vigil to the group's living quarters so far. While they still remain on the outskirts of the village — seemingly as separated as they can manage while still casting the Lantern's light where it needs to be — it's not as much of a trek out to see them. You might even pass them more than once on your regular goings-on during the day.
If you continue following the walkways, out to the edges of the village, you'll find a small pier with a number of rowboats lashed against it. They're small, and maybe a bit dusty or mossy, but they're sturdy, and large enough to accommodate two people at a time. There's no one else here but you — presumably no one will mind if you take one out deeper into the Marsh?
mist of memories
— AND BEYOND
There's plenty to be found, if you venture out: from the burping firedamp, to curious reflections of familiar places, to the choking mists of the mangroves.
Try not to get lost in those mists. It's a disorienting situation on its own, but certainly exacerbated by the wraiths that will follow you in great numbers, their misty forms often camouflaged within the mist itself. It's stressful. That must be why you might feel like you're seeing other ghosts in the mist as well, figurative or literal. Snatches of familiarity, just at the edges of your vision; maybe a face you never thought you'd see again.
It's not all dark and dreary, though. There are patches of brightly colored wildflowers growing throughout the Marsh as well, hidden among the leggy roots of trees and patches of reeds out on the water. In particular, the same bright orange marigolds that dotted the path you traveled in from the Desert also peek out in places throughout the Marsh, usually in clumps of three or four. They almost seem to follow you as you pass — maybe, even, smile knowingly at you. But surely that's a trick of the light?
Harder to ignore are the rarer, but unmistakable, bioluminescent blue flowers scattered among the others. If you touch one, it may have something to whisper to you — but if it's a voice, it's almost too soft to hear, and even if you could, the words themselves are unfamiliar.
But there's no one else here but you. Right?
Image credits: 1, 2 + stock imagery unless otherwise noted
Your journey begins as it has for all of those before you: in The River.
The water is lukewarm, and murky with dirt and vegetation. The surface isn't far away— but it might be hard to tell what direction you need to go in to reach it. To make matters worse, you are tangled in the plantlife around you, and will need to break free in order to escape The River's grip. There are others here who may be able to help you... but they'll have to find you first.
It's not possible for you to drown here; you may or may not recognize that you don't need to breathe, even down here. But every moment you spend with your head below the surface, you will spend trapped in the memory of your death, as if by a flashback. Depending on what brought you here, it may exacerbate your panic and confusion: maybe it isn't reeds, holding you back - maybe it's an assailant's hands; maybe it's not water clouding your vision, maybe it's something else, claustrophobic, smothering you. Or, maybe it's the dreamy, floaty peace you were expecting when you closed your eyes.
Regardless, you'll need to push through — to even start your journey, let alone finish it.
— BALANCED ABOVE ( EXISTING CHARACTERS ONLY )
You've traveled a long way to get here. Finally, there is a reprieve from the heat and chaotic energy of the Desert: the environment emerging around you is cooler and calmer, if not quieter. There are quite a few creatures populating the Marsh, both fantastical and not. Frogs croak quietly from the reeds; fireflies float along the surface of the water.
Wading around and through the muddy shallows of The River isn't exactly comfortable, so it may be a relief when the group comes across a wooden walkway rising out of the water and leading deeper into the Marsh. The planks creak under your weight, but they hold firm, and draw something like a path through the dense same-ness of the environment.
That path is anything but straightforward, though. And in the seemingly-perpetual dusk around you, it might be easy to get turned around: whether you have to retrace your steps from a dead-end, or lose track of others in the gloom.
You must be tired. But surely it's only a little bit further... right?
a marsh less traveled by
However much further it is, eventually you reach it: a small village, mainly comprised of wooden, multifamily homes lifted above the water on stilts. (Be careful which ones you choose to rest in, though — some of them might wander off with you still inside!) As with the shelters in previous locations, the homes are decorated as if by many tenants before you, continuously building on top of what was there before, and you may happen upon small items you recognize from home.
Unlike previous shelters, these don't seem like they've been abandoned for long. The items you find might be in better condition than they would have been elsewhere, and there might be newer or more comfortable amenities. Beds with softer sheets and more numerous pillows; pantries stocked with shelf-stable foods; unbroken toys or even board games with all their pieces.
Given the nature of The River here, this is also the closest The Ferryman has kept their vigil to the group's living quarters so far. While they still remain on the outskirts of the village — seemingly as separated as they can manage while still casting the Lantern's light where it needs to be — it's not as much of a trek out to see them. You might even pass them more than once on your regular goings-on during the day.
If you continue following the walkways, out to the edges of the village, you'll find a small pier with a number of rowboats lashed against it. They're small, and maybe a bit dusty or mossy, but they're sturdy, and large enough to accommodate two people at a time. There's no one else here but you — presumably no one will mind if you take one out deeper into the Marsh?
mist of memories
There's plenty to be found, if you venture out: from the burping firedamp, to curious reflections of familiar places, to the choking mists of the mangroves.
Try not to get lost in those mists. It's a disorienting situation on its own, but certainly exacerbated by the wraiths that will follow you in great numbers, their misty forms often camouflaged within the mist itself. It's stressful. That must be why you might feel like you're seeing other ghosts in the mist as well, figurative or literal. Snatches of familiarity, just at the edges of your vision; maybe a face you never thought you'd see again.
It's not all dark and dreary, though. There are patches of brightly colored wildflowers growing throughout the Marsh as well, hidden among the leggy roots of trees and patches of reeds out on the water. In particular, the same bright orange marigolds that dotted the path you traveled in from the Desert also peek out in places throughout the Marsh, usually in clumps of three or four. They almost seem to follow you as you pass — maybe, even, smile knowingly at you. But surely that's a trick of the light?
Harder to ignore are the rarer, but unmistakable, bioluminescent blue flowers scattered among the others. If you touch one, it may have something to whisper to you — but if it's a voice, it's almost too soft to hear, and even if you could, the words themselves are unfamiliar.
But there's no one else here but you. Right?
Image credits: 1, 2 + stock imagery unless otherwise noted
A Marsh Less Traveled By
[Mari was planning on looking for any herbs they might be able to use for cooking, after all this was the first place that had any sort of consumable food, and decided to finally wander a slight ways away from the village. She hadn't expected to encounter anyone else but was going to greet Freida when the girl made the exclamation.]
Those are some big spiders... better not let Sunny see them...
[She doesn't seem too bothered by them, carrying familiar picnic basket.
no subject
I've never seen animals like these before... have you?
[The desert's reptilian horses weren't familiar to any of them either, as far as she can tell, so it truly seems like this afterlife has its own ecosystem, independent their memories. Belatedly, she follows up:]
Is Sunny afraid of spiders?
[Granted, even someone who doesn't mind regular spiders might well balk at these ones!]
no subject
[Mari watches the creature move with slight trepidation. It really was huge!]
Nothing this big…. We have common house spiders back in my place but… nothing quite like this… How about you?
[Mari’s look changed almost instantly when Sunny was mentioned. Almost proud if one were to call it that.]
Him and Hero both actually! Although I hope to help them get over it someday… I’m not afraid of them… well at least ones that aren’t that big…
[She hadn’t known about etiher’s fear until she tried one day to show Hero a spider she had found on a tree. They both seemed like they were going to pass out at the sight of it so Mari returned it to where she found it and they all moved to another area. She let out a small laugh at the fond memory.]
no subject
We only have small ones in the Walls, too!
['Hero', though... this is at least the second time Mari's mentioned that person. From what little she can glean, she assumes that he's probably the oldest in her peer group alongside her.]
Who's Hero, say? A friend or a cousin of yours?
no subject
[Mari’s laughter faded slightly and a blush appeared on her face. It was different, talking about Hero with another girl… when she talked about him with Aubrey back home, it was a teasing sort of way. One in which the younger girl was captivated by the romance between her friends. It was also different when she talked with Sunny and Kel about Hero- whether the other boy remembered or not- while Sunny was mostly silent and added little thoughts now or then. But Freida was another girl similar to Mari’s age…]
Hero is… he’s… someone special…
[She wasn’t sure if her friend had ever felt a similar way to anyone back home.]
no subject
That doesn't mean that she isn't excited for Mari, though - even if death has separated her from the boy she likes, her fondness for him is still there, and even without personal experience, Frieda knows what love feels like, having experienced it second-hand through her interited memories.]
Would you like to tell me about him?