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]

They only listened when Senpai lost his temper at them himself. He's normally pretty much unflappable, so it was really surprising.

[foolishjustice]

I'm sure it also helped that they were Persona users, and so couldn't have had Palaces like Sae-san.

[maru_kyutie]

Palaces? What are those?

[foolishjustice]

The reflections of a distorted heart, manifested in the Metaverse. They're where we find Shadows, and the mechanism that allows for both Changes of Heart and mental shutdowns.

[maru_kyutie]

Uh, Metaverse? Is that like the TV World or the Dark Hour?

[foolishjustice]

I'm not directly familiar with the TV World, but it's a world built on the conscious beliefs of humanity, their perceptions and associations. When someoen's perceptions are significantly skewed away from the truth, it can create an area based on those distorted beliefs.

[maru_kyutie]

Then the TV World is kind of like a counterpart to the Metaverse. It runs off of subconscious thought, what you know or believe, but don't really realize. It's sort of like a collective unconscious.

[foolishjustice]

I wonder if there's a direct connection between them...does the TV World also allow you to take advantage of common beliefs to accomplish things that should be impossible?

[maru_kyutie]

Not as far as I know. If it did, it would have to be so ingrained that people think of it as fact.

[foolishjustice]

I'm sure there are some misconceptions that common, though I guess even if it did work on that principle, it would be hard to tell. It might be worth testing with commonly believed myths...

[...Nerd mode imminent.]

[maru_kyutie]

Well unless we can get to the TV World here, it's kind of a moot point, isn't it?

[foolishjustice]

We might be able to, we can access the Metaverse. Then again, we can only enter individuals' Palaces here, rather than the more general Mementos...is the entire TV world shared by the general public?

[maru_kyutie]

No, there are personal domains created by Shadows. If it does work like that, the only one that would be accessable here would be... Oh no.

[foolishjustice]

If it's too personal, I don't see why an experiment like this can't wait until we find a way to leave.

[maru_kyutie]

No, it's fine. I'm used to teammates seeing it by now. I just don't like being there.

Domains are related to what the Shadow that created them represents. I wanted people to see me fully, and my Shadow took that... literally.

[foolishjustice]

...

[Congrats, Rise, he's blushing again.]

I-I...think I'm glad I never wound up in the TV World. I can't imagine either of my innate Personas would have led to a domain I'd have been comfortable with others seeing.

[maru_kyutie]

Nobody was ever really comfortable with their Shadow's Domains. It's a source of bad memories even if it isn't crazy embarrassing.

[foolishjustice]

Mm...I imagine it must be worse to be confronted with your Shadow by surprise, rather than have it approach when you're already sick of holding yourself back.

[maru_kyutie]

From what you've told me, it's a world of difference. They confronted you with everything you wanted to deny about yourself, not offers of power when you needed it most.