doingtheuglycry | CAN CRY: FIRST TEST DRIVE

CAN CRY: FIRST TEST DRIVE

CAN CRY: INITIAL TDM
Welcome one and all to the very first test drive meme for Can Cry! If you're unfamiliar with the game, then you can check out the interest check, FAQ, world & setting info page and the powers and abilities page to get up to speed! Since the game is still very much under construction, this is just an initial test drive for people to dip their toes into the water and see which characters they'd like to consider for the game. In order to not spoil the opening of the game for players, the TDM is not canon to Can Cry and will take place in a slightly wonky little AU just over to the left. Characters have awoken in Purgatory after their deaths and been conscripted as Executors by Rei, the sole other Executor in Purgatory. The population of dangerous spirits has gotten out of control and she needs some allies to help her keep things under control. Characters on the TDM will have access to all of their starter powers as outlined on the powers page as well as two unique abiliites to play around with as you please. Some prompts and location details have been provided below for you to play around with but please feel free to go hog wild and have fun!
LIMBO
Limbo is the Executor's main base of operations as it is the top level of Purgatory and the one most populated by non-violent spirits. Distorted by the cognition of all the human souls here, Limbo has taken on the form of a hazy, dream-like recollection of a town. It's full of winding paths that go up, down and all around and the geometries of the town and its surroundings don't always make much sense. Stairs might lead loop back around on themselves or a door to the outside might end up leading right back indoors. It's a bit of a headache, so it's usually best not to think about it too hard. The town is mostly functional, mostly thanks to all the human souls here. Players are free to invent any additions to the town that they would like for their threads, but here are some to get you started: ⚝ Conbini: A seemingly normal Japanese convenience store, full of the sort of fare you'd expect from a cheap 24-7 convenience store. There's only four aisles and everything's a bit clustered together, but it's not overly claustrophobic. Things start getting a bit weird when you try and go to the back of the store, though – no matter how long you look, there is always just one more aisle for you to browse and the further back you go, the stranger and more abstract the items on the shelf will look. If you walk too far or turn around you will suddenly find yourself back at the first aisle in the blink of an eye as if you were rubberbanded back there. ⚝ Hotel: A so-called luxury hotel that towers over the rest of the buildings in the area. Even if you don't have a reservation, all you have to do is approach the desk and the Spectre there will apparently recognize you and hand over a key to one of the rooms. Except... you can't quite read the number? It seems to fluctuate whenever you try. Not that it matters, because the key will open any of the hundreds of doors in the building, though no one door will ever open onto the same room twice. The layout of each room is subtly off in a number of ways, with the dimensions of the room not seeming quite right no matter how you try to work it out. The decor is luxurious through and the extravagant room service is free, so it's a nice place to relax. Be warned, though – if you misplace your key, you'll find yourself lost in the mazelike halls until you eventually stumble out into the reception with no way of knowing how you got there. ⚝ Bathhouse: An enormous Grecio-Roman styled bathhouse for you to relax in after a hard day's work of dealing with Revenants. There don't seem to be any workers here that you can see, so feel free to let yourself in and make yourself at home. Interestingly, even without anyone around, you'll find the water is always adjusted to a temperature and a fragrance that's most appealing to you and drinks, towels and anything else you need will appear within reach by the side of the baths whenever it occurs to you that you might need it. When in doubt: Just get weird with it!
QUESTS
Since it's up to Executors to maintain order in Purgatory, this also means they need to resolve any issues that crop up for the Spectres occupying it. You can come up with any sort of quest you like, but here are some ideas to get you started: ⚝ A lost child will request your help in reuniting with their mother. It's a bit of a struggle for them to communicate with you as they are a freshly-awakened Spectre and it's also not entirely clear if their mother is, in fact, in Purgatory with them. Eventually, careful questioning of the child Spectre and some of the other Spectres around Limbo will lead you to a bookshop where mother and child will be reunited. Happy end! ⚝ Two Spectres are causing a ruckus in town with a screaming-in-each-other's-face tier argument. Calming them both down is going to be a task all on its own, but if you manage to, it turns out the first Spectre is missing a precious object and has accused the other of stealing it. The second Spectre insists the precious object never existed in the first place. Uh... good luck with this. ⚝ A uncommunicative and kind of creepy Spectre is accused by others in the town of being a Revenant in disguise after some of their neighbors disappear in the night. Investigate and uncover the truth! Feel free to NPC Spectres as you need for this TDM!
THE UNDERSIDE OF LIMBO
Though it's the most peaceful level of Purgatory, Limbo is not without its dangers. Directly below Limbo is what's known as the Underside, a darkness cast by the city above where Revenants and malicious spirits linger. It appears as a dark, mirror-reversed version of Limbo, though the geography is much more twisted and confusing. If left unchecked, Revenents from the Underside would attack the town and consume any number of Spectres. It's up to the Executors to head down there and see to them! This is a general prompt for combat-oriented testing, to allow characters to experiment with their new powers as Executors! Because of that, and because combat will function slightly differently in-game, this section is pretty loosey goosey. Like previous posts, you are free to invent locations and NPC Revenants to make things more fun and exciting! Because Revenants will function in a unique way in-game, players are encouraged to invent their own Revenants to fight for this TDM. If you would like some ideas for what sort of Revenants to battle, you can check out this video to see what sort of enemies exist in the original game, but beware that it does contain spoilers for Crystar.

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[That doesn't matter. Their Executor form cracks into being with a sharp snap of reddish light - triple-winged and seraphic, allowing them the significant illusion of height when they are, in fact, exactly the same size as before aside from their new wingspan.]

[With a powerful beat of those wings, they launch themself halfway up into the air and start to shower yet more knives down upon the Bernardus.]

[Their focus on their foe is singular and all-consuming; they barely pay Madotsuki any heed, at this point.]

[And Madotsuki is perfectly fine for things to stay that way. She's content to let Chara handle most of the work here even though she probably should be helping more than just stepping back and making sure to stay out of Chara's way.

Bernardus does seem to figure out that while Chara is the bigger threat, the other kid isn't really doing anything, so after taking the brunt of some more knives, they decide to go for Madotsuki instead. That at least does cause the girl's eyes to widen again, momentarily startled...

... before she suddenly seems to vanish into thin air. The Revenant stops in apparent confusion. She didn't teleport though--in actuality, she seems to have shrunk somehow for a few seconds, long enough to run out of the way as Chara will see if he looks down and sees the tiny girl run by.

But now the enemy's back is exposed. Perfect opportunity for it to be struck down if there ever was one, right?]

[...interesting.]

[But useful.]

[The Revenant has its back to them, and Chara drops down with their scythe up and whirling for the creature's unprotected back. A stabbing would be more viscerally satisfying, but their weapon is much more useful for slicing, so why not do a little of both?]

[They spin it up and slam the blade point-first into the meat of the Bernardus's back, aiming to impale it like a fish on a hook.]

[It works: the strike hits home and impales them on the blade of Chara's scythe as it makes an unholy sort of noise in response. It looks like it may be a killing blow too: it stops squirming and halts all movement after a few moments.

Madotsuki pops back to regular size after a few more seconds, and finally speaks for the first time since the Revenant first showed up.]

... Good job.

[They know Chara deserves all the credit here for taking it down, so it feels appropriate to say.]

[They slide their scythe free from the creature and let it drop, as it gradually begins to dissolve and break down ~~presumably this is what they do~~]

[Their expression is closed and cold when their eyes flick up to regard the girl warily.]

You left yourself wide open.

[Way to swing things around into being needlessly accusatory, Chara.]

... I did. Sorry.

[She can admit that she should have defended herself a little better, but she does also end up adding, after a moment--]

I would have helped you more, but... I didn't think you would want my help here.

Your "help" could very well have gotten yourself...whatever passes for "killed" here.

[Not that they CARE or anything. God.]

One can only wonder what you might be doing down here, if you've next to no grasp on how to handle yourself in the midst of combat.

... I don't know.

[That is a good question, honestly. Why did she come down here, when even talking seems to exhaust her, let alone getting involved in combat?

She looks at her knife in her hands for a moment, trying to understand the answer here for herself. Despite the feel of knife of her hand somehow sparking a strange thought of familiarity, she just can't recall when or why she would have ever used it for combat before.]

I... just had a feeling that I should look around here for a moment.

[That's all she can come up with for now to explain herself.]

You had a feeling.

[Dry. Cold. Utterly scathing. Like everything else about Chara, honestly. This girl doesn't seem very much like she understands what she's doing here, and they're not terribly inclined to help with that.]

Perhaps you ought to trust common sense, instead. Assuming you have access to such a thing, of course.

Okay.

[She nods, as if she agrees with Chara's statement about trusting common sense instead.

... And then she suddenly turns around, and starts walking away from them. Where is she even going?]

Leaving so soon, are we?

[Not terribly polite, is she? If she wants to take the first step to depart, that's more than fine with them; they're not the sort to turn their back on someone they don't know.]

[She pauses at Chara's words, turning the upper half of her body back momentarily to address them.]

You said that I should trust common sense instead... and I think mine is telling me now that I should leave and go somewhere else.

It's also telling you to turn your back on a complete stranger, is it?

[Not altogether that wise, in their opinion. Especially since said stranger is...well, Chara.]

[That does get her to pause, considering.]

... Are you planning on attacking me, if I turn my back on you?

What do you think?

[It's paired with a smile, sharp as any knife. Go on, miss. Make your judgment call. They're not going to make it for you.]

[She considers, judging their smile. It's not a friendly one, she can definitely tell that at least.]

I'd prefer if you didn't... it would make dealing with threats more difficult if there's fewer of us here.

[Or at least, this is the pragmatic option that she offers here, but then after a moment of thought, she adds...]

And... I don't want to have to fight you, if you try to attack me.

[Just because she lacks the desire for violence doesn't mean she won't do it if she has to.]

You'd prefer as such. You realize that what you prefer has little to no bearing on what actually happens, yes?

[Their smile is a lazy one, further highlighting their already rosy cheeks.]

Is this to be your tactic upon confronting an enemy? Politely requesting that they step aside?

... If they are capable of listening, then yes.

[If not... well. That's what her weapon is for.]

[Their tone abruptly turns scathing:]

Then it's a wonder that you expect to last very long at all, Particularly down here.

Maybe I...

["--don't expect myself to last at all down here" rises to the front of her mind, but then she shakes her head, trying to dislodge that sudden and intrusive thought.

Why did she suddenly think something like that? Shouldn't she feel more concerned by the prospect of a second death, of potential non-existence? What a scary feeling to suddenly have, she preferred the apathy more.]

... never mind. It doesn't matter.

[Well, they're hardly about to encourage her to bare her soul to them. What does it matter? She's hardly of any consequence to them. The most notable thing she's done thus far is meow at them, and then hem and haw and refuse to be of much use at all.]

Well, I suppose it doesn't.

On your way, then.

[Madotsuki nods, and turns to go, before she momentarily stops, turns her head back around to face them and... holds up her hand and moves it in the same cat-paw like gesture.]

Bye-bye.

[... Well, at least she didn't meow at you this time when she did the cat-gesture? But she's finally going to walk away now once she's said goodbye.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

CAN CRY: FIRST TEST DRIVE

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