CAN CRY: FIRST TEST DRIVE

[cancrymods]

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.

Comments

Jasper | Dragon Quest XI | envy, with a touch of pride perhaps | act 2 spoilers

[guffawsungraciously]

Conbini

[For one particular newly-minted Executor, the fact that the conbini doesn't exactly follow the laws of physics doesn't seem particularly strange, because he's pretty sure he's never seen one of these anyway. Of course, there's plenty he can't remember to begin with, but it feels unfamiliar in the way some other locations around Limbo that he's visited don't, and the reason why probably has to do with the fact that he's clanking around in armor instead of more modern apparel. As far as Jasper is concerned, all convenience stores may as well be infinite hallways of increasingly strange products, and while he feels a measure of curiosity, his attention is caught fairly early on in the investigation by the fact that they have fruit sandwiches on sale.

Hell yes. Hell yes, he is absolutely going to get himself a fruit sandwich. How does he pay for it? Who knows, nobody seems to care about currency here, he'll just take it and head outside, where he'll sit down on a bench and take a bite into it.

His brows furrow as he chews it... and then he looks between the slices. There is the barest hint of cream and a tiny sliver of strawberry... even if it looked positively luxurious in the packaging...]

...is this a joke.

ace tactician investigations

[Well, he's been given a sidequest, and there's probably going to be some sort of reward from it, so Jasper is on the case! He's going here and there, interviewing the Specters who made the reports and investigating the last known locations of the individuals who have disappeared. You can find him going through notes in the lobby of the hotel, and keeping an eye out for potential other Executors that he can wave down...]

You, there- make yourself useful and follow up on this.

[He holds out a report, without really bothering to listen for an answer.]

This needs to be dealt with quickly, so I'd like to cover as much ground as possible.

HELLO FROM THE UNDERSIDE. AT LEAST I COULD SAY THAT I TRIED-

[So you've got some kinda prettyboy white knight and you really expect something more noble for his magical boy transformation than some kind of flamboyant medieval Sith Lord thing. Or maybe you didn't. Regardless, he seems to be having a grand old time zipping around and darkness nuking the everloving shit out of a Revenant. Stop, stop, it's already dead!

...well okay you know we're all dead here but. You know what I mean. He is clearly having far too good a time of this, though it's kind of hard to tell if it's from the UNLIMITED POWEEEEER or if it's from just how thoroughly he beat that thing down!!]

sandwich

[emberserker]

That looks ridiculous. Is this really what the people here eat?

[guffawsungraciously]

I sincerely hope this is an aberration rather than the standard construction of a fruit sandwich...

[or he's going to go sith lord on this damn place. he could be a revenant. a sexy revenant.]

[emberserker]

I can't see why it would be unless they intend to torture us.

[guffawsungraciously]

It could be incompetence rather than malice, I suppose. That tends to be the explanation more often than not.

[emberserker]

Well, they're not the most sensible sort anyway, from what I can see. After all, they live here. Nothing in this place makes a shred of sense. Have you seen the doors?

[guffawsungraciously]

Ugh, don’t talk to me about it. If someone had told me the afterlife was going to be some incomprehensible warp maze I am certain I would have tried harder to avoid dying.

[emberserker]

If it's even possible not to eventually. Obviously it isn't, but in our position, we wouldn't know.

[guffawsungraciously]

Well, obviously death comes for us all at some point or another, but it would've been nice to avoid all [VAGUE HAND GESTURE] this.

[emberserker]

Let's hope we aren't stuck here for long. This whole "trapped forever unless we find out what's going on down there" business would drive anyone to madness. No wonder there are so many Revenants.

[guffawsungraciously]

Well, I will say I'm not terribly envious of the run of the mill spectres. Even if it is something of a hassle, I'd rather be personally involved in doing something about all this than sitting around waiting for someone else to take care of it for me.

[emberserker]

That's true enough, especially since there are more and more of them. Ugh, I can't believe we all used to be like that. I certainly can't see myself as one of these things.

[She indicates a butterfly fluttering past, which gets distracted and bumps into a wall.]

[guffawsungraciously]

That's one thing I'm glad I don't particularly remember.

...

Hopefully I had more situational awareness than that one.

[emberserker]

One can only hope. How many Revenants do you suppose we'll have to clear out before something happens?

[guffawsungraciously]

However many are in our way to whatever the problem is, I would imagine. It's a bit hard to estimate right out the gate.

Underside

[phantasmagorial]

[ Rei came down here to check on him and now she's kind of regretting it. Holy shit. ]

Um... isn't that a little overkill?

[guffawsungraciously]

[GUFFAWS UNGRACIOUSLY- oh, wait, somebody's there.

...

just kind of cough into your hand so you stop laughing like the evil wizard you are, My Name Might Be Jasper But Who The Fuck Knows, I Sure Don't. there we go. that's a good lad.]

Ah, it seems as though I got a bit carried away there. I presume it's always something of an... adjustment period.

[phantasmagorial]

[ do you ever just have regrets about the people you've accidentally recruited into your dead cabal of underworld rabble rousers? quite the mood. Rei's polite enough to not look too disconcerted at least. ]

I, um... wouldn't know. I've been an Executor for as long as I remember but that's definitely not saying much.

[ lol! memory problems! ]

[guffawsungraciously]

[you rolled some pretty unfortunate dice, Rei...]

Well, it's not too different for our crew, is it? Though, I suppose if you don't remember being new, that doesn't really bode well for the rest of us, does it.

[phantasmagorial]

I–I've lasted long enough to be able to help everyone out, haven't I? So I'm sure I must be, um... at least a little experienced.

[ "I'm sure" she says, while sounding completely unsure of herself. Please be reassured. ]

[guffawsungraciously]

[...sigh. okay. we're going to need an intervention here.]

Right you are, so let me give you a little advice. Repeat after me.

[He brings a hand to his chest, as though addressing a superior officer...]

"I'm trying, and therefore, no one can criticize me."

[phantasmagorial]

[ Rei gives him a look that I can only describe as complete and utter bafflement. ]

Is... is that really going to help anything?

[guffawsungraciously]

It may take a few tries before you start feeling it, but yes, it does.

[phantasmagorial]

... If you say so, I guess...

[ Finally, sounding extremely resigned: ]

I'm trying, and therefore... no one can criticize me...?

[ It.............. needs work. ]

[guffawsungraciously]

[...

He sighs.]

It’s a start. Perhaps you should repeat it in a mirror when you’re feeling down or something.