▶ TDM .011

[prismods]

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You awaken amidst the darkness with only a faint light to greet you. Your body is hemmed in by shards of crystals, gently sparkling and possibly pricking your skin. The surrounding landscape is dyed in the pinks and purples of the dusk filled with crystals protruding from the ground, some as large as a skyscraper. After an hour or two of wandering through the crystal wilderness, a group of people find you worse for wear. They are the gallant Moon Knights from the planet of Prismatica. Because of the strange phenomena during the past months when scientists observed the sudden appearance of rainbow crystals in the sky, the government has been feverishly combing through the moon for more Moonblessed to be rescued. You’ll eventually be brought into Iris’s moon government center.

You all may have your usual inquiries — Where are we? Who are you? What's going on? — and the Prismals are almost too eager to answer. They tell you about their world and about the first appearance of the Moonblessed as the medical staff give you an examination to make sure you’re not carrying any viruses or biological hazards. If you react violently, you may be restrained and nerfed with a specialized neurotransmitting gun that releases a numbing agent through the top of your spine. Once the examinations are over, you’re informed that you will be provided accommodations on their planet during your stay. You will then be escorted to the docks, and led onto a large transport vessel that makes frequent trips back and forth between the Iris moon and the planet. Faces onboard vary from both old and new Moonblessed as well as the local Prismals.

The next destination: Prismatica.

▶ There and Back Again
Iris Moon, Government Center (Arrival) and Planet Prismatica, City of Lunatia | top

Welcome to Prismatica’s hub, Lunatia, the city of your dreams! A bustling metropolis lush with bright lights, vibrant colors, luxuriant plant life, and all the conveniences of technology absent from your own world… It seems like paradise to all the uninitiated. After a quick tour of the city, new arrivals can find themselves getting cozy in their new homes.

 A  Settle in your new home at Level 2 to find new roommates and say hello to your neighbors! City officials will give you directions to the designated districts across Level 2 and instruct you to pick out a unit. Each apartment complex has a different aesthetic, some may look cozy, some stylish, and some bizarre. The free accommodations have a basic living space that can only fit two or three people at most in one unit.

Starter Chromaspace furnishings are provided which can be controlled with the touch of a built-in panel. Examples are color-changing curtains, transforming sofa beds, cabinets turning into tables, etc. Customizing your apartment or moving out will have to wait until you earn more chroma. Until then, why don’t you check out your new neighborhood or explore the city levels? Maybe your new roommates or neighbors can give you a “hand” with allowance for dinner.

 B  As a Remooning gift from the Lunar Scientia Headquarters, the dedicated team from the Amphoria Room has released their latest perfected technology: Amphoria Pods. These VR Pods, which can fit up to four people at a time, have been set up in the gaming hub within Level 1’s PrismaPlace. They allow users to upload sceneries of their world in order to create a realistic holographic landscape of their homes that others can access and play around with, granting everyone the means to relive past memories with their loved ones as well as interact with the bestiary of other worlds. The pods also use the same technology that enhanced the popular virtual game, League Match Action Online (LmaO), which means you’re liable to feel the chill of cold environments, the burning heat from boiling water, the hard slap of your ex-lover, or the biting sting of a stray wasp. All who use the Amphoria Pods for the first time this year will also receive a small amount of Chroma in case things get too real.

▶ God Save Us from the Queen
Level 1, PrismaPlace and Level 2, Greatmoon Groves | top

The first month of the year is packed with two of the most important winter events this season: Queen Elara’s birthday and the League Match Action Online (LmaO) PVP semi-finals. It just so happens that the Queen of Lunatia is also a huge LmaO fan. Coincidence? Definitely not! LmaO players and royal family fans alike can meet her at PrismaPlace, where she will be appearing in cosplay of her favorite hero, Ah-Kari, while holding a body pillow of Commander GareBear. You, too, can get an autograph or selfie with the birthday girl if you’re willing to fall in line! Her bodyguards will also be in LmaO cosplay, keeping the crowd under control during the long wait.

Queen Elara

Good day to you all! This may come as a surprise to our guests the Moonblessed, but I am a normal person despite my exalted position. Please do not think of me today as Queen Elara. Instead... my name is Ah-Kari, sorceress of the crystal! With my soul fan blades, through the darkness, I shall slice all who dare hurt my commander in twain!

But when she is not meeting and greeting...

Queen Elara

My comrades, we're going to make history today. We're going for a new record. Perhaps the highest kill counts or the fastest clear for this map — it matters not. We’ve practiced day and night for this tournament, so let us show everyone that we’re not to be taken lightly! Also, the livestream is going in the royal archive, so make your successors proud!!

... she will be furiously grinding her character and training her skills in LmaO in the hopes of qualifying for the finals. Spectators will see her bring her own team full of hapless palace attendants who are there to either serve as her practice match partners or provide support to the one-woman army that is Queen Elara.

PrismaPlace is packed with giant crowds, many of them also in cosplay. While the semi-finals are taking place, new and old LmaO players alike can participate in the game’s current campaign: players who form teams get an improved chance of spawning unique monsters as well as winning rare items and skins in those prized lootboxes! Teams can also try to clear the event’s story together, featuring an aerial battle fought on griffin-back, which is heavily inspired by the popular Lunatian epic, The Battle of Abraxas, a colorful and complex story about the conflict between two families fighting over the fictional land of griffins, Abraxas.

 A  Progression in the event requires acquiring a griffin mount and getting it ready for battle. You can lure a wild one to yourself with a special veggie pie on a fishing pole. Should the griffin reject the lure, your character will be caught in a wind gaol and can only break out with the help of other players. Should you succeed, raising the griffin is a tedious task that involves players training alongside their respective griffins, running laps with them, taking them to hunt monsters, and feeding them properly. Depending on their diet, the food you give them will affect the color of its plumage and their battle stats.

Or you can skip the hard work and simply moonlace with your teammates through all the progression bars and required materials to save time. Once finished, you’ll be able to battle one another through the thunderous aerial domain of Abraxas. Clearing the event will net you an event-exclusive skin inspired by the royal family’s shining celestial robes and a weapon skin of a body pillow with your favorite character, so do your best!

 B  In celebration of Queen Elara’s birthday, the office of the royal household is hosting a modest tea party in the Greatmoon Groves. Swiffy bots that are normally programmed to remind visitors to keep the groves clean are now playing a birthday jingle on repeat. For people who prefer to be away from the blinding neon lights and the thumping techno music of PrismaPlace, this is the ideal escape. Unlimited tea and cookies are being served!

The tea is a soft-colored lilac concoction made from Ehrysian tea leaves that are known to cause a huge spike of alertness and is popular to Moon Knights and office workers with long night shifts as well as gamers for those all-night grinding sessions. The assorted cookies have either Ah-Kari or Commander GareBear printed on them. In case it isn't obvious yet, both are the birthday girl’s favorite LmaO characters.

Any Moonblessed looking for extra income is welcome to be royal attendants for the day; the hours are paid by Demichroma. They must be properly dressed up as maids or butlers (outfits provided by the royal household) as they serve tables.

▶ Say Cheese
Level 3, Caihong | top

Meanwhile, Caihong is in the midst of Remooning festivities in celebration of the new year, and merriment usually lasts a fortnight, filled with fireworks in the sky. Upon entering the district, beautiful Prismals with rat ears and tails greet you with a Happy Remooning and eagerly tug you along to join in.

Those welcomed will receive a pack of multi-colored sparklers, mooncakes topped with cheese, and a glowing drink called Champagne Supernova, poured in a thin glass in your hand. If you are over eighteen, the rat Prismals will ask if you prefer your drink with a kick. If you say yes, then they will add flavorful ice that causes extreme intoxication and might leave you to be susceptible to all levels of suggestion. Saying no (or if you’re under 18) will simply leave it as a sweet drink.

 A  One of the party games being played by the locals is called Lucky Tail, which is basically pinning the tail on the holographic rat stand-in — with a twist, it must be played with a partner! Another participant will blindfold you, spin you around, then push you forward. The stand-in is located at the end of unsteady elevated platforms forming a maze, filled to the brim with distracting objects underneath. They’re long, they’re thick, and they’re vibrating furiously in an attempt to knock you off the platforms.

Your partner must guide you by voice to successfully navigate through the maze! The game is rigged with various mechanisms, so stepping on specific platforms will activate a number of traps against you or your partner: machines that may tickle, drop colorful slime, or cause the platform to repetitively spin, and who knows what else?

Should you manage to get through the obstacle course and pin the tail successfully, you and your partner will win copious amounts of Demichroma, courtesy of Buwan from Buwan’s Stop.

 B  Another attraction is a fun magic glamour booth known for its face or body swap features. The booth staff, clad in their festive rat paraphernalia, will encourage you and your friends to take aesthetic shots using an illusion generator. The effects last an hour. Photographed images can be instantly uploaded and shared in Prismagram. New year, new you! Why not take the chance to celebrate this momentous occasion in a unique fashion? It’s all in good humor.

There are two buttons to press: (A) CUSTOM or (B) RANDOM. Pressing A will allow participants to customize their desired effects. Pressing B will cause the illusion magic to randomly rearrange participants in questionable positions, new outfits (or lack thereof), and you may even come out of the booth looking like your best friend or your worst rival. The possibilities are endless!

▶ Questions
If you have any questions regarding this test drive meme, please ask them in the Questions thread below.

▶ As a reminder, test drive memes are for new characters only. However, current players are more than welcome to use these prompts for their own posts in the IC communities, personal inboxes, catch-all posts, etc.!
▶ As our test drive memes are game canon, feel free to keep any threads that happen here as canon for your character should they be accepted.

Comments

[sanzohoshi]

[Sanzang hums as if in thought to that, glancing from the blindfold in her covered hands and then back up at him. Her smile is still warm though despite her next, blunt words]

Are you planning on doing anything bad to me?

[chifengzun]

No. [ Equally blunt, much less warm. ] But all you have on that is my word.

[ Kind of feeling like he was about to get roped into this, Mingjue glanced out at the game again to decide if he actually wanted to. Well, he wouldn't be the one blindfolded... ]

[sanzohoshi]

Is your word not enough?

[Her smile is warm and she reaches up to tie the blindfold over her eyes immediately; somehow the watersleeves don't get in the way. It doesn't quite matter anyway--her spiritual power is high enough that she doesn't need the instruction to fight or guide her, but it does make things more interesting to pretend.]

I'm in your hands, my lord!

[She pushes the blindfold up so she can see, grinning more broadly, clearly finding it fun as she turns to the be led off to the starting point. Nie Mingjue is also (more nervously) led away to his position to watch and guide her.

She sways from side to side, moving her weight from one foot to another eagerly]

Ready when you are! There's a platform over here, right? [She already hops from her starting one to one right in front of her, yelping in surprise when the platforms begin to shake violently.]

[chifengzun]

[ Wow. He puts his hands on his hips. ] If you were going to do this by yourself, you hardly needed me. [ Grump, grump. ]

There's a safe one on your left.

[sanzohoshi]

[She doesn’t answer that and jumps to the platform, arms out for balance as it tops dangerously before righting itself under her weight.]

But I’ll still go where you tell me to go, you know! But I can’t really turn it off... it’s not too late for us to switch, I think!

[But her tone is teasing, fully expecting him to refuse.]

[chifengzun]

Absolutely not. [ Refused. He can see what kind of mess awaits her and wants no part of it.

Or well, only this much of a part of it. ]

Moved forward three tiles. If there are traps, I can't sense them.

[sanzohoshi]

You know, in order to gain trust, you must learn to give some first!

[She can’t sense anything off about the tiles either, but on the third platform sinks in a little as her foot lands on it. She has about a moments pause to acknowledge it before out pops a thin tube that grows to about Sanzang’s height.]

Um...? [It doesnt appear to be doing anything at first but then it suddenly sprays Sanzang with. Water. Hm.

She yelps and ducks away, but there’s laughter ringing through the air even if it’s freezing outside and she’s wet and cold now.]

How much further to go? I’m going to turn into an ice sculpture at this rate!

[chifengzun]

[ Ah, damn. He's not doing too great at this. ]

Not far. You're halfway. [ Hmm... ]

Move to your right, then quickly step one tile forward.

[sanzohoshi]

[Nonsense, who could've sense that one!

Sanzang does as told and, thankfully, nothing happens, though being wet makes the platforms a little slippery. She throws her hands up in triumph]

Almost there! Oop-- [She almost slips in a puddle but remains upright, her bright smile and tone never wavering despite the absurdity of it all.]

[chifengzun]

That one was your fault. [ Grump, grump. ]

Two forward and you're there. [ Again, he doesn't sense any traps, but there's still the problem of pinning the tail on the rat. ] Your target is near the height of your right elbow, beside your hip.

[ ... What? That's just good instructions. ]

[sanzohoshi]

[She giggles, stepping onto the last platform and turning to try and find the rat picture.]

Have you been watching my hips, my lord?

[She giggles and adjusts her arm, humming thoughtfully before she reaches forward and pins the tail on. There's a ringing noise of triumph and Sanzang pushes the blindfold up with a cheer herself.

When she bounds over to him, she throws her arms around him with a bright laugh] We did it!

[chifengzun]

[ He's already frowning when she makes the jabs about her hips. Even though it vanishes for a brief moment when he realizes they won, it comes back with a force when she starts hugging him. ]

We did.

Remove.

Your arms.

[ This man is not going to survive in a cuddle game. ]

[sanzohoshi]

[She laughs but lets him go, stepping back to bow properly]

I am Chen Xuan'niang. But you can just call me ‘Sanzang’!

[chifengzun]

[ Hmm. He also does his own version of a proper bow, cupping his hands in front of him and bowing from the hip. It's not too terribly often he does this, but they have only just met-

Wait. ] Journey to the West. [ He stands straight again, not even once considering that she actually is the character. ]

It's an honor to meet you, Sanzang. I am Nie Mingjue, leader of the Qinghe Nie Sect.

[sanzohoshi]

[She brightens (as if such a thing was possible, she practically beams like the sun itself), looking pleased] Yes! You know of it? I'm so glad my book is getting around!

['my book.']

That sounds awfully important. Is there a certain title I should call you by? I don't want to be rude! [...Ruder, she supposes, since she's already thrown propriety out the window several times already.]

[chifengzun]

[ Her book...? He blinks. ] Clan Leader Nie.

What do you mean by your book? [ The book she was named for, of course. ]

[sanzohoshi]

My book! That I wrote! The story of me and my disciples wandering to India and back. Me, Wukong, Zhu Bajie, and Sha Wujing! [She laughs a little. It had been more like a diary turned into a book, but whatever.]

I think when people were copying it, they translated some things wrong or added things though... The story's gotten a little out of hand now.

[chifengzun]

[ ... ]

You're... not-...

... That's quite the bold claim to make.