TDM #1

[beautifuldreamermods]

TDM #1

Welcome one and all to the very first test drive meme for Beautiful Dreamer! If you're unfamiliar with the game, then you can check out the navigation to get yourself up to speed on all the relevant info pages then check out the AU Planning meme to see what juicy ideas your fellow players are cooking up!

In order to not spoil the opening of the game for players, the overall TDM is not canon to Beautiful Dreamer though players are free to treat individual CR/threads on this post as canon to their characters if both players are happy to do so.

Dreamers 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!

YUMEMIGAOKA

It's a busy day just like any other in a town as big and bustling as Yumemigaoka. With the last days of winter finally at everyone's backs, spring has begun blooming in earnest and the cheery seasonal energy is pretty infectious. A number of events are taking place around the city, so why not take the time to look around and have fun?



⧖ The Tsubaki Department Store is beginning to hype up their upcoming Golden Week extravaganza with a number of small sales and promotions. Maybe this year you'll finally be able to snag that air fryer you've been eyeing?!

⧖ It's cherry blossom viewing season! Hina Flower Gardens are holding a free event with a number of special seasonal goodies and some absolutely beautiful scenery to take in.

⧖ Moon Bunny Market are organising a stamp rally all around the neighborhood, with prizes on the line if you manage to collect them all. Just find the right stalls and speak to the right people and you could win a tasty prize!

Of course, life doesn't grind to a halt just because it's nice and sunny outside. Now the city is getting busier and more touristy, the folks who keep things running are starting to get some pressure put on them! And if you happen to be a student, end of term exams are starting to loom on the horizon, with particular pressure put on those just about to graduate their respective schools... Not to mention with spring coming around, allergies are running riot!

Let's just hope you're not feeling too stressed. After all, with all this energy running rampant and regular life starting to really push down on everyone, who knows what those negative feelings could spawn...?!

THE DREAM SPHERE

The Dream Sphere might be a very different kind of place to Yumemigaoka but that doesn't mean it's any less busy. Spring has sprung over on this side, too, with iridescent flowers and colorful trees growing right out of the streets and buildings all over the Slumbering City and the sky above turning a particularly pretty shade of pale pink to match.

That makes it especially bizarre that it appears to be snowing all over the Dream Sphere, no matter where you go but on closer inspection this snow is actually cherry blossom petals raining endlessly down from the sky. How pretty! Of course, for those of you with allergies, maybe it's just rubbing salt on the wound. Your nose isn't itching, is it? Achoo!

Pretty or not though, if you're on this side then you've got work to do! With the Waking World starting to gear back up after winter, some of the associated stress is starting to funnel into the Dream Sphere and cause no small manner of trouble. Torments and Nightmares won't hunt themselves so be sure to properly scout out all the available locations of the Dream Sphere you can access just in case - maybe you'll find a new teammate to work with while you're out there!

In particular, it looks like trouble can be found...


⧖ In the Vale of Sorrow, it's still raining and pouring despite the change of season and that combined with the dusting of petals across everything has turned navigating the place into a real task, even for a fully prepared Dreamer. The ground is even more of a wet and soggy mulch than before and to make matters worse, a group of particularly nasty Torments are gathering and seem to be made out of bristling vines and piercing brambles... they're unusually quick and vicious even for Torments so you better act fast and deal with them ASAP!

⧖ In the Reverie Necropolis, the season of spring hardly seems to have touched the place. If the sky has changed at all, it's hidden behind the bone white clouds that hang low and every single petal that touches the ground immediately shrivels and dies once it lands. Once you actually enter the labyrinth, frantic whispers can be heard and the scratching of disembodied pencils scribbling over papers can be heard echoing up and down all the halls. The vibes are absolutely rancid, is what I'm saying – made even worse by the fact that when you stumble into one of the open caverns, you come across a Nightmare just about to manifest?! Better hope you're not alone, because you'll need some good strong teamwork to keep things from escalating any further!

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Comments

[kninja]

It would help if we had bombs. Don't happen to have any bombs on you, do you?

[dullshooter]

Nope. Just this.

[He raises his weapon - it’s a gun, but more in the style of a toy than anything high-calibre.]

I’m not too sure shooting at it is gonna work. But, hey, maybe we’ll luck out and it’ll unlock some secret magical power that’s been hiding from me all this time.

[kninja]

[Ahead of them, the Nightmare is gathering mass, power, and cohesion, turning from a multitude of little Torments into a serious threat. Someone must have a math final coming up, because a couple limbs appear to be coalescing into large-scale geometry tools. Terrifying.]

...Or-- [And this is the prelude to a truly awful idea, isn't it? Dreamer Errant grins.] --we could make it do most of the work for us.

[dullshooter]

[Oh no, Maths. His greatest enemy, alongside meaningful employment and accurate targeting.

He nods along with what Errant says, slow and (presumably) thoughtful.]

Now we’re talking. [It sounds like a bare minimum effort plan, and so, his favourite.] Looks to me like all those math tools are pretty unwieldy. Bet you if we rile this thing up enough it’s gonna end up knocking something loose.

[kninja]

Uh-huh! My thoughts exactly.

[He gives Flyhigh's shoulder a friendly clap and creeps closer to the tunnel mouth.]

At that size, it's only gonna fit through so many of these exits. That one, that one... [He leans in a bit to better make out Flyhigh's line of sight and points out the openings he means.] ...And this one. We could split up and take one each, or run around the cavern like a couple of bozos together. Whatcha think?

[dullshooter]

[Flyhigh gives it Some Thought, with an accompanying rub of his chin.]

Personally? I’m feeling bozos. You?

[kninja]

Would I get to ride on your shoulders?

[WHAT POSSIBLE TACTICAL ADVANTAGE--]

[dullshooter]

[…]

Only if you promise to pull off some super cool ninja moves.

[HE’S ALREADY CROUCHING DOWN…]

[kninja]

Are there any other kind?

[Up he clambers!]

To the left, then! Hyah, O fleet and mighty steed!

[dullshooter]

[Flyhigh heaves Errant up, grateful for that enhanced Dreamer strength meaning this doesn't end in catastrophe.]

Forsooth!

[What did forsooth even mean? Forsooth. He thinks its something that makes sense to say - it does just feel right...

Ah. He's just standing there now, staring into space, deep in "thought".]

[kninja]

[…

…

Errant nudges him lightly with his heels.]

Hey? Heigh ho, Silver?

[dullshooter]

[That nudge brings him back in.]

…Silver? Where’d that come from?

[Well - only partially.]

[kninja]

Old TV show, I think. But we're getting distracted.

[Now fully formed, the Nightmare keens the anxious, dread-filled whine of all students nearing the end of term and begins to Kaiju Stomp towards one of the exits.]

[dullshooter]

Right, yeah. Big bad nightmare. ‘Course.

[Flyhigh snaps himself out of it and promptly steels himself for the ordeal ahead of them.]

Alright Dreamers, look alive!

[With that announcement; he makes a start towards the thing, heading leftwards as instructed.]

Hey, Nightmare! Got a double assignment for ya!

[kninja]

Haha, full marks for that!

[Startled by the suddenly raised noise of two puny, squishable Dreamers, the Nightmare lurches around with a grinding rumble like a pencil sharpener. Errant waves both hands over his head to further draw its attention.]

Yeah, over here! Lucky you, it's multiple choice!

[It skrees its grinding noise again and starts lumbering after them instead. Errant braces his hand on Flyhigh's shoulder.]

Get ready.

[dullshooter]

For my untimely and premature demise? Been preparing for that my whole career.

[He exhales a laugh, still able to even in the face of the nightmare lumbering towards them.]

How 'bout a countdown? Love a good countdown.

[kninja]

Yeah? You got it.

[His body tenses, timing the Nightmare's approach, readying himself to leap. Since he's not putting in any legwork, here, he leads the count:]

Three... Two...

One.

[Errant kicks off Flyhigh's shoulders and, as he twists in midair, flings a handful of kunai that crash against the Nightmare's giant face like little crystalline missiles. They have about as much effect as the generic army planes do against Godzilla in the movies, startling and distracting the monster, but that distraction matters. It flinches and snarls, whips its head around, and then swipes a protractor-arm directly at the falling Dreamer--

--who is suddenly a few feet below the blow's path instead of in it, laughing. He lands, rolls, and bounces back up ready to run.]

Check your math next time, eh?