//TESTDRIVE2.0.EXE

[reparator]

//TESTDRIVE2.0.EXE Welcome to the Castle-town of Valoria The prototype of ViViD's newest level has been complete. However, right now, only a single castle-town is open and available to be accessed with a mini-mission for all registered players. This castle-town is currently undergoing a terrible plague that causes those who drink the water to become strongly infected by the venom laced within. The venom creates a form of volatile madness known as The Maenas, and it is said to originate by a single flower growing in the center of the castle-town's lake. In order to purify it, everyone will have to work together to rescue the Priestess who is being held hostage in one of the castle-town's main towers, which is currently being guarded by a large dragon. Who that dragon is working for is currently unknown, but right now, it's preventing the priestess from helping the villagers. At the log in screen, players will be greeted by Vidia, giving them a friendly announcement and providing them with the mission details: "You're here at last! There's no time to delay, Player. The priestess mourns the more you hesitate. Come on, get equipped, and follow me! Are you ready? You simply have to follow my instructions. ✩ Get to the tower and defeat the dragon. ✩ Do not kill the townsfolk. They don't know any better! Knock them out, but do not let them die, or the imps will eat their corpses! ✩ Kill the imps, they're aggravating the madness! Each imp will release a soul orb on death. Grab it! It'll protect you from the madness, too. Each soul orb is worth ten credits! ✩ You have six hours. Please rescue the Priestess in that time, and she will be able to let you out. ✩ If you encounter people already from Tellus, you'll get a bonus orb for each soul orb you collect for all players. ✩ If you don't fight, you'll end up affected by the flower's curse... please, band together with someone and travel with them to slow the effects. ✩ The dragon will continue to re-spawn if it's fought alone. Please fight as a pair or group to bring it down if you can! ✩ Remember, you only have six hours... hurry, please!"

//SCENARIOS.EXE PHASE I [ xxxx ] You're standing right in the center of the entertainment district inside the main ViViD hub. The machines sit before you, beckoning to being worn so you can test out the newest level in ViViD. There are others around you, in similar positions. Researchers are on stand-by to document your every move and make sure there are no glitches at all. As you settle into your chair, you slowly put on the helmet and find yourself being immersed in a world that's so real, you can hardly tell whether or not you're in the game or still in reality. (Please don't attack the researchers, they're only doing their job and they won't hurt anyone!) PHASE II [ xxxx ] You're fully immersed in the game now, wandering around with the list of objectives Vidia gave you. It's your choice where you want to start first. You can talk to the NPCs, engage in a grueling battle, level up, or head straight to fight the boss in a daring suicide run. However, as you walk through the castle-town, you catch glimpses of shifting faces. The NPCs look familiar for a moment, maybe reminiscent of someone back home. The effect lasts too short for it to be noteworthy until it continues to occur. Feel free to explore, but remember, you have six hours, a holographic timer to the side of your screen will appear when you wish for it. PHASE III [ xxxx ] Another glitch appears. This one is more debilitating than the rest, leaving you hanging mid-attack. The game seems to freeze completely for a solid two minutes. In that time-span, the world shifts to your own. You're standing right in the middle of the one you remember, staring up into a sky painted red with fire while a blood-curling scream erupts from the back of your mind. You glance down around, and one by one, the people start to fall to the ground, shattering like glass. In the distance, the dragon looms, staring straight at you and roaring, though its voice seems equally agonized. Then the game resumes normally as though nothing happened. Your complete your attack and continue as normal. Then something else appears within the darkness for a moment, lost in a single blink. That one second passes so swiftly it's barely noticeable. It might throw you off, it might leave you facing a pair of imps or crazed hordes. Whoever is with you had better started fighting... And you'd better run if you're alone! PHASE IV [ xxxx ] You've reached the end. Victory is yours. The townspeople are cheering, and the Priestess is rewarding you with a kind smile and several credits to your name. The dragon lies on the ground defeated, though its eyes are open still, hollow and black. In the reflection, you can still see the traces of a world left behind. In that moment, you can also swear you see it blinking when it should be dead, but there's no time to dwell. You're being logged out and the researchers are shoving surveys in your face or asking you questions about your experience. BONUS [ whyo'clock ] Welcome to the Dressing Room. This is where you can dress up your character in ViViD in all kinds of costumes. Completing missions will open up new outfits that will be delivered in the real world to character's flats. As a prize for completing the above mission, characters will be rewarded with some special outfits (both are unisex). Characters will immediately be launched into the Dressing Room upon completion so they can see themselves modeling their brand new outfits to one another. [ You can choose to set your threads in the game or before/after if you'd like. Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with trigger-y or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ]

//RUN.EXE Welcome to CEREALIA's second Test Drive Meme. Please forgive our appearance as we are still going through the final stages of game completion… mostly fighting with table codes. While most pages are under development and/or hidden from the public eye, please don't feel discouraged, since knowing everything doesn't always make the experience. Your characters will know as little as you. For your convenience, we have compiled a post detailing everyone's arrival experience and a FAQ that should explain everything in more detail. Please read them thoroughly before playing. Thank you!

Comments

[abovedogs]

[ if she already knows the answer why bother asking at all? It's an exercise in fruitlessness and best left untouched. ]

If you have fear to doubt your own, I'll correct that notion immediately. I have no wish to deal with histrionics.

[ a slap to the check should do the trick. Or else he'll just sling Yukina over his shoulder and saunter off to kill a dragon. It's just a day in the life of Kazama Chikage after all. Turning, abruptly, he stared into Yukina's eyes. ]

You are sure of your senses, are you not, woman?

[ one day, one day, he'll actually ask for a name, but that's just someday. ]

[valkyrier]

It's unnecessary at this time.

[ does he even need to ask.

also, uhm, keep your hands to yourself she's not going over your shoulder, okay?? she's a bit surprised at the sudden turn towards her and that stare of his, but it fades rather quickly into a darkened confidence all over her features. normally she just decides to put herself on repeat about HOW SHE IS NOT A WOMAN... but, although she's dense she understands he's not going to change his words and address her by anything proper unless she forces him to via way of demonstration. ]

Yes, Chikage.

[abovedogs]

[ his gaze narrowed and if there could be hatred in his gaze, he might actually let it fester there, but, unfortunately, he's too damn lazy even for that. Yukina was hardly a match for Hijikata Toushizou after all. ]

Good, then stop dawdling. We'll never finish our task in time if you keep on wasting it.

[ because ahahahah... he ain't ever going to admit he doesn't know her name, oops? Someone should hit him over his head before he does real damage to something. Like his ego. ]

[valkyrier]

[ she doesn't mean it disrespectfully, he's just deciding to take it that way, okay.

she is quiet at his critique, giving a slight nod as she takes it into consideration as yet more of his valuable constructive criticism to be had!!

yukina will continue to let him lead the way and yes we can't have that ego bruised. ]

[abovedogs]

[ except that her quiet acquiesence is almost more grating on his nerves then her insistence on claiming she's not a woman and (more frequently then he'd like to admit), he turns often to ensure she's following along like a good, little demon princess should.

Except, well.

They are in a war zone and with a sharp intake of breath, he's suddenly reaching for his sword and unsheathing it at once, knowing off the head of an imp falling down from the heavens as he leaped out of the trees surrounding them.

Was it a vision induced by madness or is that silver orb rising from it's chest something of significance? It didn't matter though, not right now. Not when they were being ambushed on all sides by the sudden spawning of an imp horde. Curse this damn game and curse its fallacies! ]

[valkyrier]

[ why does he keep looking back at her, yukina wonders. Is she supposed to be doing something else now?

Regardless, none of that matters anymore as she's left stunned by his sudden movement and his sharp inhale as the imp tries to ambush him. She hadn't expected them to be that strategic but now with it dead, it seems as if it has friends. Or, the game decided to make it friends, might be more accurate.

She gets herself to push her surprise away as she draws her sword, but for the moment she makes no move to attack yet, well aware they're surrounded. For a moment she assess the situation as she remains in place, ever watchful in case one of them decides to try and attack, but her concern is about the aggressive madness they heighten and bring along.

It's no good for either of them to try and withstand the influence for long which means they will simply have to cut through them. She's willing to wait to see if Kazama simply starts killing or has some order or plan he feels he wants to snap at or if he has a strategy even.

She's not bothered by which one ends up happening just so long as this horde is taken care of swiftly. For now she'll defend his back. ]

[abovedogs]

[ He immediately lashed out with his sword, gripping it with one lazy hand as he used the other to shove aside an imp that crept too close. His concern was hardly for the woman behind him, but he did spare another glance to see that she (suprisingly) could hold her own against the horde.

Perhaps she wasn't quite as useless as others in his acquaintance had proven to be. ]

These fools...

[ But he snorted, kicking another imp out of the way before taking off a second one's head. ]

Take to the trees. If they can make use of them so can we.

[ and as much as he'd like to take the lead, he'll wait. It wouldn't do any good to "lose" his companion before the imp army runs her over just because he was a little lighter on his feet. They were short on time as it was, much as it irked him. They'd wasted too much of it early on in the game. ]