TEST DRIVE - BELLMARE MOUNTAINS

[phantasmods]

Hello and welcome to Phantasmal Rift's Test Drive Meme!

Test drive threads are assumed to be game canon for accepted characters unless otherwise noted, so don't feel like you'll have to introduce yourself a second time to everyone you meet! As an added bonus, participation in the test drive comes with the chance to earn up to two items of loot for your trouble! Characters who are accepted can earn one item for having a top level, and one for tagging out to someone else's top level! Your SWEET LOOT will be included with your acceptance notice.

Additionally, characters currently in game can earn themselves a piece of bonus loot for the dungeon by tagging people's top-levels on the test drive! Existing characters get their bonus loot along with the rest of their loot at the conclusion of the dungeon.

This test drive takes place in the Bellmare Mountain range, a chilly environment even when it's not locked in the dead of winter. Considering that November is just starting to bite - or is it, with the Fissure's time-displacement effect in place? - that makes for an extremely chilly reception for all of the new arrivals. If you're a person at risk of frostbite, you'd better hunker down in one of the scattered mountain cabins or find someone with extra snow gear, and quick.

Once you're a bit more warmed up, exploration of the area will reveal that it's largely abandoned, but there's still some evidence of past human habitation. Old chair lifts stand guard over untouched ski slopes, the remains of what was once a resort, and a handful of hiking paths twist back and forth through the mountain forests, the snow melting off them due to the magical crystals in the gravel that lines the paths.

LET IT SNOW

Chances are that, upon arriving, you find yourself outside in the snowfall. Hopefully you weren't from somewhere too terribly warm, but chances are that unless you were specifically in a cold environment before, you're going to be feeling the chill now. (Unless, of course, you're not human and don't get bothered by the cold. That happens.)

Fortunately, there are plenty of paths scattered around that are warm enough to keep the snow melted off of them - it shouldn't be that hard to stumble across one. The question then becomes, which way to shelter and civilization? You'll have to take a bit of a gamble, but it's almost certainly better than staying where you are and freezing.

LOCKED IN

How fortunate, then, that you were able to find shelter against the cold - at least for the time being. The wooden cabin is the exact opposite of luxury, but there's a bed and wood to make a fire in the fireplace, so you can't ask for terribly much else. Especially once night falls - or when the snow outside begins to fall in more than flurries - it's far better to be outside than in. Even if you can't figure out how to start the fire, the dimly glowing crystals that serve as fire starter will at least keep your hands warm.

Of course, with only a limited amount of shelter to go around in these mountain trails, it's fairly inevitable that you would have to share with someone... Hope they're friendly, otherwise this place is going to get awkward fast.

FROSTY THE - OH, MAN!

And if you're still running around outside, sooner or later you're almost certain to run into a deep patch of snow that rises up to meet you. These giant snowmen, ten feet tall and aggressive, stand up in response to anything that isn't the local wildlife approaching - and their goal is quite simple. Better watch out, because these guys are your own personal avalanche, seeking to bury you under themselves until either the cold or the weight saps the life out of you.

One's dangerous, but it's not uncommon to find them in groups of 3-5, either, which is where things start getting to be a problem. Luckily, it's possible to melt them down to nothing, or just blast them apart with pure force - the scattered snow won't rise again, at least not any time soon.

Comments

[maru_kyutie]

[She'll gladly take it!]

Most people wouldn't, there aren't a lot of Persona users out there to begin with. Speaking of surprises, I wasn't expecting to see you here after you've been missing for weeks.

[Sip.]

Whoa, this is good coffee.

[foolishjustice]

It's the best coffee I've ever had.

[...Missing for weeks, huh. Well, that tells her when Kujikawa is from.]

We're from different timelines. You must be from one of the ones where I never earnestly joined the Phantom Thieves.

[maru_kyutie]

I don't think I saw you fighting that Yaldabaoth guy, so it's definitely possible.

[Siiiiiip.]

[foolishjustice]

There is the possibility that you just didn't recognize me, but if you remember me having gone missing and not having reappeared by then...either something happens to change my plans, or you're from a timeline where Goro Akechi died in an ill-advised effort to stop the Phantom Thieves from getting to Shido before he could.

[He'll just conjure a cup of his own and sip from it.]

I was rather stupid about some things, before I had some sense shoved into my face.

[maru_kyutie]

Shido? The guy who was running for Prime Minister? ...I see, he was Yaldabaoth's cat's paw, wasn't he?

[foolishjustice]

One of them, yes. Yaldabaoth manipulated him and encouraged his delusions from behind the scenes, planning to use him as a focal point for public fervor. I haven't seen the full extent of it yet, myself. It was still early December the last time I was home...but Akira-kun is from after everything.

[maru_kyutie]

I thought so. When he confessed, nobody even reacted. Of course everyone was being manipulated by yet another god.

[foolishjustice]

[Her hands tighten on her cup at the mention of nobody reacting. That has to be the part she hates most about all of this...that it had people acting like Shido's heinous behavior was perfectly acceptable.]

I think that's what clued Akira-kun in about something else being wrong. Every other target who's confessed has faced an appropriate public backlash.

'Yet another', though? I hadn't heard about any other gods in our world...unless that's what was causing the strange moon during the last Dark Hour.

[maru_kyutie]

Yeah, there was Izanami-no-Okami, Hi-no-Kagutsuchi, and Mikuratana-no-Kami. And those are just the ones I've had personal experience with.

[foolishjustice]

[She's quiet for a moment, then slowly reaches up with her free hand to pinch the bridge of her nose.]

And here I was thinking it was disturbingly common across multiple worlds. I'm not going to get a vacation when I finish with my current to-do list, am I?

[maru_kyutie]

Hey, the last time I actually had to deal with a god myself was four years ago. Granted the first time was five years ago, but I've still had four years of peace. And the Shadow Operatives helped my group with Hi-no-Kagutsuchi.

[foolishjustice]

...The first evidence of Yaldabaoth appeared three years before his downfall. That's when I got access to the Metaverse, and gained a Persona.

[maru_kyutie]

...So what, if there's an opening there's at least one god a year?! That's completely unfair! ...Wait, the Shadow Operatives did have a full year after Nyx before Izanami showed up... But Izanami had been setting things up in Inaba for a while... Can there be a time where the world isn't being menaced by some god or another please?!

[foolishjustice]

And Yaldabaoth can't have been new at that time, he must have already influenced the Velvet Room for me to have gone entirely without instruction as a Wildcard. Unless it was part of his bet with Igor...I only know about him secondhand, so I don't know if that's something he would be willing to agree to.

[maru_kyutie]

You're a Wild Card?!

[Suddenly, Rise stiffens.]

Let's talk more about this later. There's an incoming enemy reading from over by the slope.

[foolishjustice]

Ah...a Navigator?

[Blue fire leaps up over her face, resolving into a red mask. A moment later, the rest of her clothing erupts in similar flame for a brief second, leaving her standing in her Crow outfit...and making the female figure much more visible.]

Don't worry, I have two Personas that make me immune to ice. King Frost turns those aggressive snowmen I've been seeing into jokes.

[maru_kyutie]

Yeah, Himiko's mostly a navigational type. But jeez, I wish I nulled ice right about now.

[foolishjustice]

I'd cast Blue Wall on you if I had it, but King Frost is a little too offensively oriented. If we can find shelter, I do have magic I can use to start a fire.

[maru_kyutie]

Even if you do null ice, be on guard. It's almost here.

[The snowman comes bursting through the trees. It launches itself at: Rise.

But before the strike connects, Himiko appears between them and blocks the attack.]

Alright, if that's how you want to play it. Do I even need to say it? They're weak to fire. Light 'em up!

[Analysis complete, Himiko begins to change. Soon enough, she floats above the snow in her combat form.]

Let's go, Himiko!

[foolishjustice]

[Well that's. Huh. She stares for a moment at the change, before conjuring a ball of regular looking fire in one hand and flinging it at the snowman. Her aim is on point, sending the mass of heat directly into its targets midsection.]

This is barely even a warmup.

[maru_kyutie]

[The fireball melts a good chunk of the snowman, obviously. It slumps down, trying to keep itself together.]

It's down! Time to start the show?

[foolishjustice]

I don't think there's any point in trying to negotiate.

[She draws her laser sword, moving into position for a physical attack.]

Let's finish it off.

[maru_kyutie]

Alright, I always wanted to be part of an all out attack!

[Himiko's satellites surround the snowman and start rapid firing lasers at it for her part.]

[foolishjustice]

[While Crow darts forward in a blur of motion, kicking snow up as she rapidly turns for more passes with her blade, finishing in an upward strike that scatters the remains of the snowman with a jump that segues into a short victory dance.]

[maru_kyutie]

Pfft, what was that? All that flair for one snowman?