phantasmods: (Default)
Phantasmal Rift Mods ([personal profile] phantasmods) wrote in [community profile] phantasmemes2018-12-07 12:25 am
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TEST DRIVE - BELLMARE MOUNTAINS

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.
familiaridol: (familiar)

[personal profile] familiaridol 2018-12-09 02:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks very much! I was going to do it myself, but now I can just stay comfy under here.

[But she does peek out, revealing the head of a rather strange looking rabbit-like creature.]

Name's Clover. Ex-familiar, now professional musician. And self-styled renegade idol.
theosophomoric: (were we erased like common thieves?)

[personal profile] theosophomoric 2018-12-10 03:43 am (UTC)(link)
Pleasure to meet you, Clover. [She does cast a curious glance at the ersatz rabbit, but she's got the grace not to stare. Anyway, she's seen plenty of odd things in her time, both back in the Neath and here in this strange fractured world.

She busies herself building up the fire, and her introduction in return is a little distracted as she carefully nudges a log into position without singeing her fingers.]


I'm Sonja Klee - theosophist, cryptopalaeontologist, and advocate.
familiaridol: (excited)

[personal profile] familiaridol 2018-12-12 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
That's some interesting descriptors!

[At that, she exits from under the bed, briefly revealing a tail that trails off into mist, before she expands into mist that becomes a human in rabbit print winter wear. She sits on the bed.]

You a kidnapee too?

[At least that's what she assumed happened.]
theosophomoric: (were we erased like common thieves?)

[personal profile] theosophomoric 2018-12-12 07:24 am (UTC)(link)
[The transformation draws a double take, but Sonja doesn't comment, unless a delicately lifted brow counts as a comment. She's curious, but she's not overly concerned, and it seems indelicate to interrupt their conversation to demand an explanation. She can ask invasive questions later; right now she's been asked a question of her own.]

A few months ago now, yes. [She sounds... less than concerned.] I'm assuming no one's had a chance to explain the situation to you, yet?
familiaridol: (huh)

[personal profile] familiaridol 2018-12-12 09:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[Clovers takes note of that reaction. Apparently this woman's hard to faze, unlike some of the people she's talked to here. That should make her easier to talk to.]

Nah, only ones I've run into is others as confused as me. And those snowmen, but that wasn't a real problem for me.
theosophomoric: (all because we never had written a word?)

[personal profile] theosophomoric 2018-12-12 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, well, the short version is that the world's broken, and what few locals didn't put themselves in a magical sleep to wait it out have been trying to find a remedy for the last century, but the situation's escalated in the past few years and now we poor bastards are stuck here.
familiaridol: (huh)

[personal profile] familiaridol 2018-12-13 08:56 pm (UTC)(link)
In other words, we're here by accident because this world's messed up. I got that right? So it isn't as simple as finding the ones responsible and forcing them to send us back.