Test Drive: April 2019

[faetan]

Test Drive Meme

Winter

Want to see if your character is a good fit for the setting? Not sure which character concept you want to go for? Or maybe you just want to play around in a meme with no commitment? It's all good! Feel free to use one of the winter-themed prompts below, or write up one of your own with no restrictions!

Blizzard!
The winter storm is a bad one, where it's not safe to be outside for more than a few minutes. The winds are fierce and destructive, the snow is blinding, and it's easy to get lost when everything around you looks exactly the same. Will you stay inside where it's warm and keep your friend company? Or are there too many tasks that can't be ignored just because the weather's a little chilly?

Fun in the Snow
The countryside looks beautiful in winter, with every house and fence and tree cloaked in glittering white snow. It's the perfect kind of day for a real honest-to-goodness sleigh ride. Or maybe you'd prefer to build a snowman. Or maybe that dude over there needs a snowball glued to his face right now and only you can make that happen.

Food Storage Looters
Fall is the season to gather food and prepare for winter. Winter is the season for rest and bonding with friends and family. But not everyone has that kind of foresight. Goblins, for example, get their food by raiding farms and orchards and stealing chickens. The fields are barren and the coops are locked up to keep the chickens nice and warm, so is it really any surprise that the lock to the town food stores is broken, and there's sounds of squabbling and munching and belching coming up from the cellar?

Starry Night
The holiest of all Vallaress holidays. It's a time of feasting and exchanging gifts as anticipation for spring begins to escalate. It's also the most popular time for marriage proposals and weddings! Are you planning to get hitched? Or maybe you're attending the ceremony between two villagers just about to be wed when something interrupts? This is also the one day of the year where monsters are pretty much guaranteed not to attack anyone as they're all struck with a terrible weakness and apathy.

Blighted Snowmen!
Yesterday everyone competed to build the best snow creations. Along with the traditional snowmen, people also made snow bunnies, snow buffalos, and even a snow castle. But a blight sorcerer can't stand the sight of fun, and cast a terrible enchantment that animated each and every one of those snow creatures to come to life! Watch out! Rabid snow castle is lumbering your way!

Magic Lessons: Fire
Almost everyone wants to learn some sort of fire magic during the winter season, whether it's because they ran out of firewood, or because they need a magic flame that won't dim or sputter out when setting up camp during a long journey. Are you a student? A teacher? Or maybe you're just trying to figure out how to cast a self-taught fireball, because there's no way that could end poorly.

Comments

[by_the_good]

[Adriel is a newly minted member of the Holy Order of the Sun, with a bright boyish face, skin like rich earth, and deep golden eyes. It wouldn't have taken more than half a bat of Daphne's eyelashes to get him to play along, seeing as how he was likely half a polite bow away from asking Her Highness's permission to join in the fray. His brave soldiers- a couple of sturdy urchins nearly school aged and a rather distracted toddler- had somehow managed to pin the princess's retinue on the other side of the hill, so Adriel hurriedly piled up some snow to make their own cover and waved them over. He kept lobbing the occasional snowball to make sure they didn't lose their advantage, but it would be clear that for the moment, attention had shifted elsewhere.]

Alright, men!

[The toddler and one of the urchins were girls, but both of the older children immediately straightened up with pride at being addressed in such a way, while the toddler grabbed a dubious handful of snow and shoved it in her mouth.]

We've got them cornered! You've all fought bravely and proven your strength! Now it's time for tactics. Each of you take two snowballs, then sneak around their hill on either side. I'll keep tossing snowballs so they won't dare move. Go quickly, and we'll rout them out and save the Princess in one fell swoop! Ready? Go!

[The kids, hands full of ammunition, dart to each side of the field while Adriel tosses a few better aimed snowballs at the other shelter, making sure to toss them just above head height. But then the toddler finds a stick to chew on and Adriel thinks it might be wise to pry it away, which takes longer than he expects and takes his focus away from the battlefield. If ever there was going to be a chance for the Princess's forces to gain the upper hand, this would be it.]