penancememes | TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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TEST DRIVE MEME #1

ARRIVAL

You remember a dream.

Or maybe nightmare is more accurate.

It was full of hellfire nipping at your skin and a sensation of being pulled down no matter how much you struggle or cry for help. There's a voice that feels like it's coming from all around you at once. Contrasting with the nightmare unfolding around you, it's smooth as silk. It makes you want to listen with every bit of attention you can muster in the moment.

"Judgement has come upon you, but not to worry. It can still be undone."

The voice promises you redemption for your sins. It promises you a better life and everything you could ever want, if only you just stop struggling so much.

And so you do.

Everyone wakes up in the same room initially. The room is done up in red with a cushy bed, a window, an old TV in the corner on a desk, and a few Hieronymus Bosch paintings lining the wall. There's a bathroom to clean up in and any belongings will be sat around the room to be gathered later. There's a duffel bag provided for your convenience.

After feeling a sensation of falling or dropping onto the bed, characters wake up feeling like they've just slept for a week. Their body will feel heavy and stiff, they'll have a massive headache at first.

They'll quickly notice the list of their sins written with their blood on a bedside table on an old piece of parchment. This will mean the list is tied to them and can't be changed or tampered with. They'll also receive their device to connect with others and the network. It won't be anything terribly fancy. As a matter of fact, it looks like a very old Blackberry type phone.

Once characters are ready to leave the room, they'll head down long, winding halls. They're dimly lit and ominous feeling. They may encounter fellow sinners or demonic staff that will direct the newcomer down to the lobby to get their actual room key to settle in. They may be pushy, they may border on courteous. It really just depends on the mood of the staff at the time and how they're treated in return. Eventually, everyone comes to stairs that lead downward.

Once down to the lobby, you'll notice the front desk manned by a demon who looks bored out of its mind. To the side of him is the door to the kitchen where guests may help themselves. To the right is a small duty free shop that seems to have a surprisingly normal, expected stock of items. Look around a bit further, there will be a tiny bar tucked in through a corner door. It seems pretty well-stocked and best of all, self-serve if you want to get away from your demonic hosts for a bit. Of course there's some seating, bar games, and a jukebox tucked in the corner if you'd rather stay and socialize a bit.

Please note that all the songs on the jukebox are appropriately hell-themed. Hopefully Sympathy for the Devil is universally loved.

STAND YOUR GROUND

Prompt I

The hotel is undergoing some improvements already! Thanks to the new arrival of sinners, hell has a burst of energy and growth available to it. One demand of the demonic staff was the addition of elevators. It gets tiresome having to take the stairs all the time. They'll eagerly implore you to help them test out this new system, even going so far as shoving you right in the nearest available elevator with whoever else is in the vicinity.

Unfortunately, things aren't quite up to par just yet. Press a button and you'll find your elevator gets jammed between floors with very little chance of escape. Oh, oops. This is entirely the hotel's fault and will be fixed as soon as possible. In the meantime, enjoy your company and try to relax a bit.

It's definitely a high priority repair for staff, promise.

Prompt II

Maybe you were looking for the hotel gym to work off some stress or maybe you just took a wrong left somewhere, but instead of what you were expecting, you stumble across what appears to be a very well stocked torture room. There are tables with straps to hold down victims, chains falling from the walls and ceilings to bind them upright, and absolutely every possible torture device you can think of. There's even an iron maiden proudly displayed in the corner. Besides that, there's the normal supply of whips, knives, and any other equipment someone could want to inflict the most delicious pain available.

You're free to check it out or give it a go. You're also free to back out of the room very slowly, but with the knowledge this space will probably come into play at some point.

Oh, and a tip: the gym is to the right of this room.

REACH UP HIGH

Prompt I
Warnings: cutting, blood, torture.

After settling in, it really is only a matter of time until your demonic hosts expect some participation. You can try and shirk the responsibility, of course. But eventually, you may find yourself trapped in a room just off the kitchen that's curiously full of knives. You can try the door, but even with super human strength or every lock picking skill in the book, you won't be able to open it.

It becomes apparently what you're supposed to do soon enough when someone else is eventually shoved in with you. Both of your lists of in will appear in the room on a nearby table with two handy knives. You can choose to guard these or not care at all that they're on display.

"Know that honesty is a good place to start on your road to redemption. Sure, it can be terrifying at first, but that's why you've been given a partner in this journey. Pick up your knives and carve one of your sins into the other's flesh. Help them in their journey to be candid with everyone they should meet here!"

The voice echoes all around you again, just like in the nightmare, and once again there's the pull to give in. This voice really does seem like it has your best interests at heart.

"If you need a bit of encouragement, we'll be giving it shortly."

It isn't a lie or idle threat either. The longer you wait to do what's been requested of you, the more shallow cuts that will appear on both of your bodies. Are you really prepared to endure this pain when giving in would be so much easier?

And more than that, are you willing to let another suffer along with you?

Eventually, the cuts will stop if you suffer them long enough, but you'll have failed this challenge and sustained more damage than if you'd just gone along with it. Satan will also be very disappointed in you.

Prompt II

Well, that last punishment was a bit heavy, wasn't it? Or maybe you somehow skipped out on it all together. Fortunately for you, there's a less horrible one to get potentially wrapped up in along the way. You'll hear that all too familiar voice ringing in your ears as you explore the halls of the hotel or poke your head outside.

"Do one genuinely kind deed for someone and we'll consider it a step in the right direction for you."

This can be helping one of your fellow sinners out with a task or helping them find something. It can be a shoulder or a listening ear towards someone who needs it. You can even offer to help the staff clean up a bit around the hotel, or help a poor hell beast pup out of the hellfire around Penance. Careful though, even they have pretty sharp teeth and an aggressive attitude. It doesn't matter what you do as long as it helps someone else out.

Oh, and one more thing! The longer you resist, the more aches you'll notice. It'll start with a mild headache and escalate from there. You can wait it out, of course, and pills may help you cope with the pain if you really can't be bothered to do one nice deed. Although Satan is still very disappointed in you.

FOLLOW ME DOWN

Prompt I
Warnings: Alcohol and drug abuse, potential non-con/dub-con.

With all the new sinners arriving, this feels like a call for celebration! The bar will be lit up with activity. Food and drinks will be readily available and provided by hotel staff (although they might not always know what humans eat. What do you mean you don't like fried kitten?), music will be blaring, and overall, there will be an energy to the atmosphere that's absolutely contagious. Even if you aren't typically inclined to linger at these sorts of events, there will be a certain pull.

One drink won't hurt, right? Nor will one more after that.

There will also be every sort of party drug available that might tickle your fancy. There's no harm in experimenting, is there? You're already in hell.

And you've presumably done your atonement for the day, yes? So cut back a bit.

Ask the staff demons very nicely and you may even get less scrupulous drugs. Things that will convince your fellow damned souls to tell the truth or perhaps even things that will make someone so enamored with you, they won't take their eyes off you. How dare they give you the cold shoulder earlier, right?

There are also tables set up for all sorts of gambling and various bar games to entertain yourself with.

Relax and enjoy your first night in hell. Coming here and facing your sins is the hard part, so surely you deserve to have a little fun, right?

Prompt II
Warnings: sex, aphrodisiacs, potential kinks.

Much like the hotel improvements inside, all these new sinners seem to have given hell the ability to open a new building just outside the hotel. It happens to be quite a happening sex club from the looks of it. Everything is bathed in obnoxious neon lights when you first enter the establishment. There's plenty of space for dancing, and poles for those so inclined. Mood music fills the air, along with something a little too sweet.

As tacky as it is, something may pull you to stay.

Whether experienced lover or total virgin, once pulled in, you may not want to leave for a while.

There are back rooms people can go for a bit of private fun, full of every type of toy and restraint that you could possibly desire to play with. There's also a rather large room with a massive bed that seems to be fit for any orgies you may want to try to arrange. Hell's not judging and may be encouraging a bit.

There are aphrodisiac laced food and drinks available around the club as well, but these will most likely be marked. If one slips through, ah well. Why else are you here if not for a bit of fun? The drugs will only help that out.

Of course outside, this club is clearly marked for what it is and anyone who would rather avoid it are free to do so.

MISC.

Thank you for checking out

penancerp's first TDM! Please note that all prompts are opt-out and players are more than welcome to come up with their own ideas while exploring the hotel and hell outside.

All that we ask is that you remember to put clear warnings on any potentially triggering content! Warn for sex, including underage or incest, violence, abuse, non-con, etc. Please put these warning in a visible place, either by the prompt itself or in the subject line. This isn't just a suggestion but a requirement to participate in the game.

Now that all that's out of the way, we hope you have fun! Feel free to ask questions under the appropriate comment before or on the FAQ page. Since this is the game's first TDM, we are also very interested in hearing any suggestions you have or ways to improve the game experience.

Since this is a big event, Lucifer himself will be taking a few questions via his device for anyone so inclined down below.

As a final note, don't forget that reserves are open now until May 1st as well!

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His grin was so mischievous there was no way the man couldn't tell what was on his mind. Steve didn't do it, but he sure wanted to! He squatted down again, back to Styx, and smirked over his shoulder. He did not pick the man up and toss him into the air like he was tempted to.

"Hop on then. And hold tight. I wasn't kidding about the speed, or the strength. I'm as good as a battering ram if we need it. Let me know if you spot anything we should investigate. Mostly I'm gonna look for my friends. Deal?"

"Hey, now, I will stab you if you try it." When he got a knife anyway. Steve could have easily tossed him into the air, but instead the man bends down and Styx grabs a tight hold.

"Sure. I didn't mention it, but I'm looking for a big orc in armor too fancy for him. Arkhai. Probably he's yelling about his honor. If he's fighting better steer clear though."

"It was just a passing thought, I promise."

Steve stood up slowly, letting Styx get comfortable in his position and hold. As long as the guy didn't try to strangle him, they'd be good. He glanced back over his shoulder, lifting a brow. Steve had read enough fantasy to have a rough idea of what an orc might be, but he'd never actually seen one. Up until Styx mentioned fantasy creatures, he'd really been hoping the guy came from Mars. That old old saying about little green men would have been pretty fun to prove true . . .

"An orc? We're looking for an orc? So, what are you then Styx? I mean, you don't happen to come from Mars, do you?" Still worth a shot?

"Hm."

No strangling. Yet. Styx considers it to be an option.

"Yes, an orc. What's so weird about that? You humans see them around in your cities. Usually as slaves, but..." he sounds dismissive. Or a little disgusted.

"Goblin. Very much not from Mars. Most people are just surprised I can talk." Was that hope in Steve's voice when he asked about Mars?

"Next you're going to tell me you're from Mars."

"I'm gonna start moving now Styx, but I can still talk. Hold on."

Steve started slow, but in a few steps he was going at a jog, which was at least as fast as most people sprinting. Considering he could catch a car when he was going flat out, he really was doing barely anything, but Styx would have to get used to the speed. He glanced back, reaching up to pat a little green arm lightly.

"Lemme know if you need a break, huh? And there's no orcs where I come from, or goblins, not unless you count the ones in books. And I'm from New York. Brooklyn. The United States of America, if you've ever heard of it." Which sadly, Steve doubted. He chuckled a little at the Mars comment though, ducking his head as he rounded a corner, scaring the hell out of some demon workers as he barreled past.

"Ah the Mars thing was a longshot. You can forget I asked."

"Urg." The ride isn't as bad as he makes it sound though. He's used to all kinds of jumping, heights and so on but it's fast.

As Steve ducks the corner, Styx does too, clinging like a slightly smelly koala. "Fuckin' what were those?" He means the demons. "They're not goblins. I've never seen anyone like that."

He honestly didn't care. He'd noted and passed the creatures without really thinking about it. His instincts assessed the possible threat, classified them as negligible, and so he'd just ignored them. Running at that speed without causing further damage to the building, or his passenger, took a fair amount of his concentration and he relied on his honed senses to tell him anything else necessary. Of course, when he brought up a mental snapshot of the things he'd just run past, he had to agree with Styx.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say they were demons. But I dunno what the hell . . . hell . . . sins. Demons. Hell . . ." It had taken him a little time, but Steve put it together and he stopped dead, "Styx. I think . . . I think this place is supposed to be Hell . . ."

"Can't be" he snaps. "That's something humans invented. Besides, I think there would be a little more, I don't know actual torture? I'd recognize if I was dead, besides."

"No, what I meant was that whoever made this place based it off the human concept of Hell. I don't think the actual Hell would be so . . . tacky. I think we'd all be suffering, not chatting, if it was the real thing." Steve didn't deny the fact he might not deserve to be in Hell, mostly because he expected that was where he'd end up. You didn't commit that many murders and atrocities, no matter what the circumstances, and get away scott free. It was something Steve had always known could happen, and he wasn't worried about it as a rule. The fact he was apparently standing in someone's version of Hell when he wasn't really dead was the real issue.

"I don't feel terribly dead either, but I think this is Hell Styx. Somebody's idea of it anyway. Why give us a list of sins to perform penance for otherwise?"

"It makes sense that it's hell themed, Steve. That's the standard Inquisition way of doing things. It's just that usually their places of penance are a lot less comfortable. More hell-like. And I don't see anyone screaming or broken yet. Maybe it gets worse as you go down."

Steve gave a shrug and started to run again. Arguing over what literal or figural Hell they were now in seemed silly. It mattered more to confirm whether his people had come along, or if he was alone. Mostly he hoped he was alone. No need for anyone he loved to be trapped in Hell too.

"Like I said, I've never heard of these Inquisitions, so I really have no clue what one of their places would or wouldn't look like, but you could be right about other levels being worse. Tell me Styx, aside from this orc, is there anyone else you're looking for?"

"Makes sense. And maybe? Anyone in the Black Hand or the Resistance might help us, but I have a hunch no one I know is here."

"You know, I'm beginning to think I really wouldn't like the place you come from Styx. Believe it or not, but inter-dimensional aliens all of a sudden sound easy as pie. So what would these Black Hand people look like? More orcs? The Resistance? Any clues for what I'm on the lookout for?"

To be honest, now that he was paying attention, Styx sounded a lot like a fantasy book. It was . . . weird. To think elves and orcs and goblins and who knew what else were real somewhere. Like real real. Even the oddballs on the island hadn't seemed so unbelievable somehow, but elves? Steve wasn't sure he could buy that without seeing one. Or twelve . . .

"Yeah, it's a real dungheap" Styx comments dryly, just riding along. "Black Hands are mages. You can tell them because they don't have dirt on them and they haven't missed too many meals...but then you could say the same for the Inquisition. Orcs are probably safe, as long as you don't see them wearing slave collars."

"How do you know if it's a collar and not a necklace? And you just described most of the people we're likely to meet in this place. Humans generally bathe and eat regularly, as a rule, in any world I've ever heard about. They would be humans, right? These Black Hands and Resistance people?"

Definitely like a fantasy novel. Of course, Steve could remember going hungry and dirty in his childhood, but that was the Depression. Everyone suffered back then. In modern times, it wasn't usually that hard to get a meal and a shower. Well, for most people anyway . . .

"You'll know it's a collar. It'll be a fucking huge iron hammered thing." Styx sounds exasperated by the questions.

"I can tell you've never visited lovely Thoben" he says dryly. Really, the place was a slum even by medieval city standards. "It's got a river you could walk on. But anyway, the Black Hands and most of the resistance are humans. The mages, at least, get well fed.

He snorted and reached up to pat one of Styx's arms briefly, shaking his head a little, "You know, you might make friends a little faster if you weren't such an ass. Fortunately for you, I have a high tolerance for that kind of behavior. What do you think the odds are of finding anyone else from your world here Styx? Aside from your orc friend I mean?"

Steve didn't want to depress the guy too much. As someone who'd gone through the whole taken-from-your-world-and-left-alone thing before, the Hell hotel wasn't as big a deal to him as it would be for other people. That, and he didn't for a moment think he was really in hell. It gave him a certain confidence, knowing he was neither dead nor irrevocably stuck in the tacky place. Steve didn't expect it to be easy, but as long as he was alive there was a chance he could get back to the island, if not his real home, one day.

He glances at Steve's hand on his arm.

"Good thing I'm not looking to make friends here, huh?" But he stops to seriously consider the man's question. When he answers he's a bit more quiet, less abrasive.

"...I'd have to say the odds aren't good. This place is...it's different. Arkhail might be here or might not and I'm not sure which would be worse."

He thinks about the orc's stupidly noble looking face either mourning him or stoically accepting his desertion. Then he thinks about Arkhail chained to a post somewhere in this weird inn.

"But if you'll look for him, I can try to track down your people."

Steve was quiet, having an internal debate. Was it more of a risk to tell the guy who he was looking for, or a good idea? Just because he hadn't seen any overt threats didn't mean they didn't exist, and the second he fingered someone as being important, they became a potential hostage. It was the fate he'd always faced being who and what he was. At the moment, he didn't think being Captain America was what would put people at risk, it was just that they could be used against him period. Still, more eyes . . .

He couldn't protect people if he couldn't find them.

"It's both Styx. Nice because you can see 'em and hopefully protect 'em, but terrible because they can be used against you. Watching someone suffer just because they know you, or to convince you to do something worse . . . It's a special kind of hell having someone you care about nearby in places like this." He should know.

"See, that? All that stuff you just said? That is why having friends is a bad idea." He groaned in frustration.

"I wouldn't even be looking for Arkhail if I thought he could make it without me. Stupid giant berserker orc who can't even make it through a city without a babysitter to do his diplomacy for him. Really.

First time I meet him, I say 'I'm old enough to be your grandfather' and he bursts out with 'how dare you speak of my ancestors, Rakash filth!?' That's how good he is with people. Not to mention the gullibility. No, I wouldn't even be looking for him if he didn't need help."

"Life isn't meant to be lived alone Styx. Yeah, you risk a lot to have friends and family, but you get a lot back too. It's . . . it's better to risk it. Otherwise you turn into something . . . not so great."

You turn into Steve, that's what you turn into. A man so conflicted he can't even tell what he feels when he feels it, let alone act on anything. It had taken a lot of time, and a lot of patience on Lucas' part, but he was finally doing better. And then he woke up in Hell. Steve reached up to pat the guy's arm again, something that was already becoming a habit.

"Look, if your orc's here, we'll find him, and if my people are here, we'll fine them. If not, I'm going to assume they're exactly where I left 'em, hopefully not too broken up over me disappearing. Again." At least Peggy had practice with that, and while Lucas might miss him, he didn't think the man would be heartbroken, mores the pity in some respects. All in all, he thought people would be able to function just fine until he could get back. Hopefully.

"Life isn't meant to be any way" he snaps. Maybe his tone is a little harsh, but Steve's reminding him of his own abandonment of his tribe. He believes he had no option.

"But no, I certainly wouldn't want to turn into something not so great." Sarcasm.

He snaps out of the bitter tone quickly though. "Right! We've got to learn our way around the place first."

He sighed and just kept jogging. He could go for days at that pace, even hauling Styx along. The guy barely registered.

"We need to find food eventually. My metabolism runs on overdrive and even though my muscles wanna do the work, if there's no fuel for the fire I'm gonna fall down at some point. You do eat, don't you Styx? I don't have to ask whether you shower."

"So the faster we go the sooner we find the kitchen" he suggests. "Doesn't matter to me, if the cook turns out to be a tightfisted bastard then you create a diversion and I'll sneak you something. And I'm not hungry yet."

"You want me to run faster so we find the kitchen sooner, then you want me to hope you manage to steal me something I can eat while I make an ass of myself?" To say his tone was incredulous would be an understatement, but Steve ended up laughing instead of spitting mad. There just wasn't any reason to get mad at such outrageous assumptions, they were too hilarious.

"Did it ever occur to you they'd want us well fed? I mean, how can we play their games if we're all starving? And someone like me eats a lot. A lot. I can't imagine they'd bring me here not knowing that and equipped to handle it."

TEST DRIVE MEME #1

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