TEST DRIVE #3

[thecrossingmods]

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.

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

code

Comments

[blindluck]

[It takes Nagito a few moments before he looks around again. The water keeps his clothes or hair from catching fire, but he does pause to check them over once he's passed through the flames. In the back of his mind, he attributes it to his luck before remembering once again that he doesn't have that anymore. It's only after that when he notices Need's raised pole. He waves cheerily and calls out to her.]

Hello, Need-san! Are you investigating the area as well?

[hasapoint]

What does it look like I'm doing? Stay there, I'm coming over.

[Shouting back and forth is no way to hold an actual conversation. Need considers. The fire isn't a continuous wall, it comes and goes with however much flammable gas comes up, so she should be able to get through without burning up this little craft... but, also, if she wants to be sure that'd take a lot more study.

So she plants her pole with a sigh and anchors the little boat to it with a loop of shaggy rope, then steps down into knee deep muddy water and fetches a couple of spears with sharp, blackened tips from the bottom of the boat and dunks them. Then she just walks over, grimacing as she finds a deeper patch, barely blinking when a gout of flame washes over her. Need isn't wet or muddy above the thigh - she doesn't expect to be - and the fire doesn't seem to have any effect. Leather and wool are at least somewhat resistant.

Her spears, on the other hand, are smouldering despite having been wetted. Need runs her hands over those spots, smothering the incipient embers. She sounds amused when she says:]

How are you enjoying being fireproof?

[blindluck]

[Nagito stands where he is until Need can meet up with him. He watches her walk through the fire with curiosity; he hasn't seen it from an outside perspective until now.]

It's very convenient in a place like this! If we weren't, it would be much more difficult to investigate thoroughly.

[hasapoint]

There's that. I guess the fire only deters the people who expect it to do something. If it's a deterrent, anyway.

[Need brushes off her clothes - fine - and checks her kerchief and hair - also fine.]

Usually I'm the only one who can't be hurt. [She grins lopsidedly.] There's my value depreciating.

[blindluck]

There's something to be said for experience! [He knows a lot of the others do their best to avoid potential harm even while they have the Ferryman's protection.]

[hasapoint]

Yes, well.

[knowing how minimal the consequences would be is a lot of why she'd bothered taming one of the reptillian horses in the Desert. That and she's not used to having so little to do.]

So you're here on this side of the firedamp for any particular reason, or because it's here?

[blindluck]

Because it's here makes me sound kind of impulsive. [Nagito chuckles self-deprecatingly.] But if there's something important to be found, this is the place the fewest people would be willing to look. I don't mind a little fire.

[hasapoint]

Does it? I'm not sure about that.

As long as the important thing isn't going to be an even bigger slug-snake. I've had enough of those.

[she hefts the two spears, weighted for throwing. Need's not outright asking 'what are you looking for' but thinks this gambit will suggest it.]

When they start eating someone they figure out that we're not edible, but it takes a good minute. These will be a problem for someone at the next Crossing.

[blindluck]

[Nagito hums thoughtfully.] Do you think going around letting all the slug-snakes realize we're inedible would help us out later?

[This does not sound like a joke. Nagito sounds entirely sincere about letting himself get chewed on by giant slug-snakes.]

[hasapoint]

[Need considers this seriously.]

The one that tried eating my arm gagged it back out but then I moved and it tried again. That doesn't mean they can't learn, I suppose, but insisting on it might just make them think we aren't food.

And I'm not sure how many is 'all'. They can hide tolerably well underwater.

[blindluck]

So it wouldn't be as simple as offering myself up for a few days. [If they aren't clever enough to remember the lesson--and more importantly, to generalize it to people who aren't him--then it's really not worth bothering.] Well, not everything can be as easy to deal with as the fire.

[hasapoint]

Nah. Plus, you're skinny and might end up sucked all the way in.

[would he get spit out? or option 2? probably not helpful either way.]

They don't like being stabbed. Speared, I should say. It's got to go in almost a foot to actually drive them off. I'm not sure where the vitals are.

[blindluck]

Ah, that would probably be unpleasant... [Yeah, letting giant slugs chew on him is off the table until further notice.] If they're anything like regular slugs, maybe salt would work? Though we'd need a lot of it.

[hasapoint]

Hard to say. Salt draws water out. It works on slugs because they're so small and thin-skinned they dry easily. These things... they probably do have permeable skin, that's why it's got all the mucus, but there's more muscle and firm tissue underneath.

[she tilts her head towards a gout of flame close enough to make skin feel tight and uncomfortable.]

Wonder what they think of fire. I haven't seen any over here but, there's less for them to eat, too.

[blindluck]

It's rare for any animal to like fire. And if they spend so much time in water, drying them out would probably be unfortunate for them. [So kind of like regular slugs with salt, but on a larger scale and much more violent.] That may be worth investigating!

[hasapoint]

Could be. Keeping them away is a higher priority than killing them. More feasible, certainly. [after all, salt or fire would presumably just have them immerse again.]

Speaking of fire, you might be able to help me. [She reaches into one of her leather apron pockets and takes out a griffin lighter.] What is this?

[blindluck]

A lighter. [A nice-looking one, too.] This is the kind you can reuse. You just have to spin the little wheel--it's like a flint and steel. Did you find this, or does Ferryman-san give out these sorts of things?

[He would have thought a portable way to set fires would be on the no list along with the knives.]

[hasapoint]

Why's it called that? [She opens the lighter, which does make a satisfying click, and there's no real recognition in her eyes.]

I asked after a way to start a fire easily. I can just make a hand drill and a few other things but it's a pain in the ass, so, I wanted to see if they'd do it. They said 'Don't get into trouble."

[Her voice is very sardonic on that.]

[blindluck]

Because it lights fires, I assume. [Light-er. Not the most sophisticated naming scheme.] This is much more convenient. I can demonstrate, if you'd like.

[He isn't about to try to snatch a lighter out of Need's hands. That would end much more badly than walking into the fire.

He's also, of course, making a mental note to ask the Ferryman for a lighter of his own later.]

[hasapoint]

Your world really likes the suffix -er.

[Stick-er, light-er.

Merely grabbing would just get a raised eyebrow and a comment. Trying to keep it, now... Need holds it out, palm up.]

[blindluck]

[Nagito takes the lighter and flicks it on, holding it there so Need can see the flame.] This is the kind with fuel in it, so presumably it will run out eventually, but even if it's empty you can still create sparks.

[hasapoint]

[A flicker of surprise crosses her face.] That's a bigger flame than I was expecting. It would make a fire easier. And I assume closing the lid snuffs it out?

You'd better supervise as I try and operate it, I've not done all that much with clever mechanical devices.

[aka, give it back. Need presents her big, weathered hand again, palm up. She's not going to make a whole thing out of this unless it's required.]

[blindluck]

It should go off if you let go of it at all. [Nagito raises his thumb to demonstrate, then closes the lighter and gives it back.] Unless you modify it, anyway, but that can be a little dangerous.

[hasapoint]

I see... so that closes whatever channel there is to the fuel.

['not done that much with' doesn't mean 'has never touched'. Need clicks it back open and holds it under her nose, trying to smell whatever-it-is, but gives it up. The fiery area of the swamp isn't the best place to try and discern scents.]

This opens that channel, and the wheel's the striker. [she frowns at it, the set of her face making focus look like anger, as it always does. It's going to take a few tries before she gets it.]

[blindluck]

[Nagito nods.] Really, it's just a modification of an ancient method, when you think about it.