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

Alice | Alice Grove | Sloth, wrath, pride

[iserveeverybody]

-Arguing Spectres-

[The argument stopped very abruptly. Alice had tried to break it up, one of them had taken a swing at her, and now both spectres were in arm locks.]

Now you strike me as reasonable folk who just got a bit caught up in the moment, isn't that right? Say yes.

[The spectres nervously said yes.]

I'm sure that under normal circumstances you'd be the very best of friends and you'd never try to punch someone trying to break up an argument, isn't that right? Say yes.

[The spectres agreed again.]

See? We're all being perfectly polite to each other and all it took was just a bit of gentle encouragement. I'm going to let go of your arms now, and I'm sure you'll both be perfectly happy to discuss this like adults.

[She did, and spectres went back to their argument, but in much more reasonable tones of voice, while occasionally side-eyeing her nervously. The scary woman dusted her hands off as she walked away.]

-Underside-

Her executor form was garbed in a white and blue body suit, and armed with a spindly looking warhammer, which she wielded with gusto, smashing revenants to paste with a certain unholy zeal. If her suit didn't hide her face, you would be able to see that she was enjoying herself. Perhaps a bit more than was healthy.

A revenant that looked like a cross between a geode and a knight in shining armor managed to disarm her with a clever blow, but she didn't even hesitate, tackling it to the ground so she could start pounding its face (in so much as it even HAD a face) to a shattered ruin with her bare hands.

The revenant stopped moving a while ago, but she's not stopping.

underside

[emberserker]

You!

[A red-haired teenager with a halberd in her hands glares at Alice's rage moment before turning her attention to a flock of flying eyeballs.]

That one's going to disappear soon enough. Make yourself useful!

[iserveeverybody]

[Oh right. Big picture.]

...Sometimes you just have to make an example of someone.

[Not that revenants seemed like they were very easy to spook. She reclaimed her hammer and pointed it up. A few seconds later, a blue light shot back down from whatever passed for a sky around here, followed by a huge explosion of heat and fury.

The orbital strike honestly looked more impressive than it was, but it still did some decent damage to the eyeball swarm.]

[emberserker]

[She gapes for a second, then growls and tightens her grip on the axe.]

Don't make fun of me! Watch this!

[She swings it to take out a few, then sends out a few shots of fire at the rest.]

[iserveeverybody]

Well make up your mind! Do you want me to make myself useful or not?

[emberserker]

Ugh, don't you get it? Useful is fine, showing off is just patronizing.

[Anyone who has fought with this girl for more than 30 seconds will tell Alice that Anna's being a giant hypocrite, but that's neither here nor there. She cleaves another one with her axe.]

Besides, another one of the big ones is bound to show up.

[iserveeverybody]

It doesn’t matter who looks good or not as long as we win, so get your head out of your ass and focus.

[That almost sounded like reasonable adv-]

You can’t expect to keep up with someone like me anyway.

[Nope never mind she’s still an assholr.]

[emberserker]

Excuse me?

[She snaps, burying her halberd in another Revenant for good measure. As it starts to break apart, she turns to the other Executor.]

You don't know who you're talking to! I'll bet I'm twice as good as you could ever be! I was born for this!

[iserveeverybody]

You don't know what you were born for, sweetie. None of us do. But I'm older than you and I can feel it in my bones.

[She grabbed a revenant coming at her from the side by the neck without looking and flung it off a cliff.]

This is what I was made to do.

arguing spectres

[guffawsungraciously]

[...you know, he was tempted to get involved beforehand, but then he just kind of stepped back to watch Alice go to work and, um.

Hm. He'll approach as she's walking away...]

Well, I suppose that's one way to handle things.

[iserveeverybody]

They were making a scene before. Now they're not. Problem solved.

[guffawsungraciously]

Oh, I didn't mean to imply it wasn't an effective way of handling it. I would have attempted something with a bit more finesse, but if it works, it works, doesn't it?

[iserveeverybody]

If we can get the spectres to fear us just a little bit, I think everything will run a bit more smoothly around here.

[guffawsungraciously]

Just a bit, though. There's a point where it crosses a line and makes us far too intimidating.

...But I'm otherwise in agreement.

[iserveeverybody]

Right.

There's only so much I CAN do for them, since I have no idea where the thing they're arguing about is.

[guffawsungraciously]

Plus it really can't hurt to encourage a little self-reliance from the Spectres. They're presumably dead adults, they can figure out how to solve their problems in a civil way.

[iserveeverybody]

That's the hope. You have to admit though that they do seem a little confused, a lot of the time.

Arguing

[mementomoritz]

...so that's how it works? [A tiny blonde teenager is staring at the scene with an expression of awe.]

[She turns to Alice with a delighted smile.]

I didn't know that was how you stopped arguments at all! You're really good with people, can you teach me?

[There's not a trace of sarcasm. She's genuinely sincere.]

[God help us all.]

[iserveeverybody]

It's very simple. If people are slightly afraid of you, they will respect you and listen to what you say. If people listen to what you say, everything goes more smoothly because there's less arguing.

[mementomoritz]

Ohhh... [She pulls out a small pad of paper and a pen. She's just flat-out taking notes on this.]

But how do I tell what people are afraid of? A lot of the time people get scared by really normal stuff, like needles or preserved body parts. If I can't predict what will scare them, how can I consistently be scary?

[iserveeverybody]

I mean.

Don't go around terrorizing people. Just...make sure they know who the one with the power in the relationship is.

Underside

[pride_of_amarcia]

... Erm. Hey. Are you okay? I think that one's dead and then some...

[So speaketh a young woman in a slightly fancier Executor outfit. The way she carries herself, she probably doesn't normally wear something like this. Slung across one shoulder is a large staff with a weighted end.]

[iserveeverybody]

These are like bad guys in a video game. There's no spirit to them. I want a REAL opponent

[But Alice shook her hands out and got back up to reclaim her hammer.]

Nothing for it, I guess. Let's get this over with.

[pride_of_amarcia]

It just means it's a piece of cake for now. It might get crazier later!

I kinda hope not, though. I've gotta study how to get more out of this staff, too!

[iserveeverybody]

I'll take care of it. Just leave them to me, if you don't think you can keep up.