phantasmods: (Default)
Phantasmal Rift Mods ([personal profile] phantasmods) wrote in [community profile] phantasmemes2018-03-01 07:08 am
Entry tags:

TEST DRIVE 002

Hello, and welcome to the second test drive for Phantasmal Rift!

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 is based in the Fissure nearest to the Station, same as last time! But this time you're coming at the shoreline from a bit of a different angle...

If you really want, though, you can reuse prompts from the first test drive! In particular, there's still landsharks around the new area of beach. Otherwise, here's three new prompts!

OPTION ONE: OCEAN BREEZE

The cavern you find yourself in smells of the sea... And looks like it, too. Large crystal formations, usually in blue or a light yellow-green, glow along the walls and ceiling of the cavern, providing more than enough light to see by. The whole place is damp and a little chilly, and occasional pools of water rise and fall with gentle waves - some outside tide flowing in through underground passages.

More chilling, though, is the wind that flows through the caves, never ever quite going still but varying wildly in intensity. In fact, characters will discover that they have some control over the intensity of the wind - or perhaps some lack of control, depending on their exact response to waking up in an unexpected place. Strong emotions of any sort make the wind stronger in turn; while calm leaves the wind gentle, panic will send it whipping around corners and drive already-distressed characters to take whatever shelter they can, lest they get blown into some cavern wall.

Other than the wind and the crystals, the caverns seem mostly normal for a place that's clearly underwater at least part of the time. The lower reaches of the caverns are full of barnacles, mussels, and other shellfish that await the rising of the tide for their survival, as well as the occasional crab (some of them surprisingly large, up to about the same of a man's head), and bits of seaweed catch on rocky corners.

OPTION TWO: SAY NYA

What's that sound? Is it... a cat?

... No, it's not. It's a meowing seagull, for some reason.

Except for their strange vocalizations (all feline in nature), the seagulls found outside around the cliffs and beaches are all reasonably normal. (Specifically, anyone familiar with the Gulf Coast on Earth will find that they look much like Laughing Gulls in their black-headed plumage.) They're normal-sized and not at all afraid of people...

In fact, they're so unafraid of people, that they'll come right up close to you and nick your stuff! And not just food, mind. Anything they can carry that isn't attached is fair game to be taken and winged up the cliffs to their roosts. Magpies have nothing on these guys.

Good luck chasing them down for whatever it is they've taken, or climbing up the cliffs to get it back. It belongs to the seacats now.

OPTION THREE: ALL THAT GLITTERS

This gravel beach is absolutely splendid in the sunlight, looking like someone shattered a thousand stained glass windows and left the wreckage to sparkle. Protected from the worst of the waves by some rocky outcrops in the distance, the water here is gentle and doesn't disturb the beach much.

Luckily, the glitter does not, in fact, come from glass. Close examination will reveal that the gravel of the beach contains an impressive number of fragments of some kind of hard scale - about a third, if one's going by volume. They vary in size from a large thumb-nail down to nothing, and most transparent in every color imaginable. They're quite hard, and more likely to break into fragments than they are to be ground down by the sand.

But what is it that these scales come from? The answer can be found only at night, when the sun's light disappears. Then, large reptilian-looking creatures - somewhere between snakes and fish - make their way out of the crannies hidden in the rocks around and across from the small beach. In many different colors, they glow beneath the waves, some internal light filtered through their skin and scales to make each appear a different color.

The serpents aren't violent, at least for now, but given that the largest of them is at least twenty feet long... Perhaps it's best not to hassle them.
riderofcharlemagne: (sumanai)

[personal profile] riderofcharlemagne 2018-03-10 11:12 am (UTC)(link)
Do you not -[A little groan of pain- or nausea- or both.]-have a tongue?
matchmakes: (010)

[personal profile] matchmakes 2018-03-10 11:13 am (UTC)(link)
Haha, right...

[With that, he decides to hold onto the pouch with his teeth as he climbs down. Once he's down, he picks up the coat and shakes it, startling the seacat and sending it flapping away. Robin slips the coat back on, then drops the pouch back into his hands. He briefly opens it to ensure the contents are still inside, before pulling out an odd blue object.]

... Oh, right, I forgot I left that in there. [He puts it away, then glances to Aya.]

So, are you from around here, or...?
thoroff: (004)

[personal profile] thoroff 2018-03-10 11:15 am (UTC)(link)
...What?

[She... doesn't return the expression. At all. Her agitation causes the wind to intensify once more, prompting a distressed whinny from Catria.]

I don't remember "falling" into anything! And what do you mean, stuck?!
Edited 2018-03-10 11:16 (UTC)
photoshooter: (PATHETIC 📷 Or did I just Beta you?)

[personal profile] photoshooter 2018-03-10 11:21 am (UTC)(link)
[Oops. The rising wind startles Prompto, too, making it bluster even worse for a second, but he lifts his hands to try to calm Wren and Catria down, and he can't do that without finding some calm himself.]

H-hey, don't shoot the messenger! I'm not happy about it, either. But those of us that are here, we've been here for a few weeks already, and no luck so far...
thoroff: (002)

[personal profile] thoroff 2018-03-10 11:42 am (UTC)(link)
[Prompto's words aren't exactly doing much to pacify Wren. She could be cut off from the army for weeks, at minimum? Of all the times for something like this to happen, this is the worst! She's needed, she's—

...No. There's still her brother. Sure, this... isn't exactly ideal... but he's fully capable of seeing things through on his own. There's no need for her to worry. The wind begins to die back down as she regains her calm, and she moves to Catria's side, petting her softly in an attempt to ease her distress as well.]


Sorry, girl. Didn't mean to frighten you...

[She then turns back to Prompto.]

You're right. Forgive me. But "those of us that are here"? Just how many people would that be?
newlawtolight: (Default)

[personal profile] newlawtolight 2018-03-10 08:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I do, but I did warn you it wasn't a drink for humans, didn't I?
bulletnews: (interview prep)

[personal profile] bulletnews 2018-03-11 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
No, I was spirited here through a Fissure like I presume you were. Aya Shameimaru, manager, reporter, and editor of the Bunbunmaru Newsletter, pleasure to meet you.

[If this were Touhou itself her title card would be here with "Traditional Reporter of Fantasy" or something like that.]
byanyother_name: (Hurts to think of.)

[personal profile] byanyother_name 2018-03-11 04:47 am (UTC)(link)
I can see where it would be. I find vowels over-complicated in English since each one has at least two pronunciations.

[The woes of non-native speakers. And granted, yes, that name is a bit of a mouthful. The important thing is that he's happy with the name he has, though.]

You'll be amazed by how quickly your bar for what is 'strange' rises once you're dealing with more worlds than your own.

[It's up in the air whether it was mercy for the soul of a child or a simple lack of even that much strength at the time. But it would certainly be the former as he is now.

Kurama's face falls at Julian's question, and he glances away, eyes distant.]

No... No, my family has no idea. At first, I was deeply in hiding and couldn't risk anyone knowing. By the time I was strong enough to defend myself... I just wanted to give my mother the happy, peaceful life she deserves.

[personal profile] part_time_person 2018-03-11 05:33 am (UTC)(link)
Vowels weren't so bad for me because I lived in an area of Serbia with a considerable Albanian population. I was used to vowels doing weird things in their words, so English seemed like a continuation of that same idea.

[It helped that Albanian wasn't in the same language family as Serbian, and that everyone in Serbia was already fluent in both the Cyrllic and Roman alphabets. That kept him from being totally lost when he started trying to parse out English, but a 'normal' sounding name for the United States had done a lot to make him seem more approachable to the other kids, which he was grateful for. He was offputting on every other level, there was no need to add anything else to that.]

I have a fairly high bar for strange already, I think. Or at least, I do compared to most people I know back home.

[He tilts his head, trying to envision that family dynamic. His birth mother was the first person aware of what he was, and his adopted mother had been the first human he'd revealed himself as non-human to. Julian is still closer to his adopted mother than his father, more comfortable with letting her see his non-human habits and form than anyone else. She loves him unconditionally... but it's also true that knowing what he is has made her life much more stressful on a daily basis. She's always worried about him. Lately her hair's been coming in gray.]

I understand that, at least in theory. If I could give my parents peace of mind and happiness, I would.
founderinglight: ([my place plz])

[personal profile] founderinglight 2018-03-11 06:52 am (UTC)(link)
[I mean he's talking to a man who uses his hammerspace to always have a cat toy at hand, he's probably fine.]

They're only cooperative when they want to be, in my experience. Much more independent than dogs, though chocobos aren't completely dissimilar in temperment.

[personal profile] part_time_person 2018-03-11 07:19 am (UTC)(link)
What's a chocobo?

[He can't comment on the rest of that. Cats are much less likely to dislike him for tripping whatever radar for 'unnatural' that he trips in dogs.]
shiritai: (vi028)

[personal profile] shiritai 2018-03-11 11:39 am (UTC)(link)
[ She's not sure what he feels he needs to apologize for. By the sounds of things, Prompto is just as much a victim of circumstance here as Violet. It's hardly as though he dragged her here himself.

(And if he did, then that's a very different matter altogether.

There's a beat of silence where, instead of responding, Violet fidgets with the brooch at her neck. She feels unmoored and unrestrained and like she might go bobbing queasily out to sea without something to anchor her.

Try and focus. Try to shut out the strange, swooping sensation in your stomach. There's no point in handing the reins over to something as useless as fear. ]


Then. If that truly is the case, I must locate Miss Iris as soon as possible. If I am here, she must be, also. Is it possible for her to have made her way to the station already?
shiritai: (vi03012)

[personal profile] shiritai 2018-03-11 11:45 am (UTC)(link)
It was given to me by the Major.

[ She says it quite placidly, as if this somehow explains everything. But her eyes narrow and something in her posture changes a bit. She was more relaxed a moment ago but now she gives the impression of a coiled spring.

Why is this woman suddenly asking so many questions about the brooch? Does she want it for herself? Is that why she grabbed it from the seagull in the first place? ]


Why are you so curious?
shiritai: (vi03035)

[personal profile] shiritai 2018-03-11 11:48 am (UTC)(link)
It's possible. However, I doubt that I was dreaming or even asleep at the point I was taken.

[ It may have been a long train ride, but there's no situation Violet can imagine in which she'd feel comfortable being so vulnerable in such an obvious and easily accessible place. Iris was the only other occupant of their car, yes, but that wouldn't be much trouble should a passenger walk by, see Violet vulnerable and take it upon themselves to slit her throat while they had the chance. ]

Our first and foremost priority should be to contact whoever brought us here and find out how this was done, so we might reverse it.
riderofcharlemagne: (regrettably)

[personal profile] riderofcharlemagne 2018-03-11 09:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[He whines.]

I'm not human, though.

[personal profile] part_time_person 2018-03-11 09:20 pm (UTC)(link)
If they could get to us in those kind of places, knocking us out doesn't seem like a stretch, [he pointed out, much as he disliked the implications of that. He's oddly alright, relatively speaking, with the idea of himself being taken - being not fully human, he was always the sort of non-person that ended up being experimented on in horror movies and the like. On the other hand, being the son of a college professor means he could only view someone knocking a woman out and taking her through a much more unsettling lens.]

Agreed. We should try to find a road or a house, some sign of life - I don't really know how to navigate beaches or wilderness in general anymore.
newlawtolight: (touched by god)

[personal profile] newlawtolight 2018-03-11 09:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[She figured that out, considering you're not dead yet...]

You're not a devil, either.
riderofcharlemagne: (guh)

[personal profile] riderofcharlemagne 2018-03-11 09:27 pm (UTC)(link)
I didn't think it'd make such a difference.

[He generally doesn't do much thinking.]
letsplayer: (nanananananana)

Marla Sanzashi | Pokemon OC, Cosmographia CRAU

[personal profile] letsplayer 2018-03-11 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
[ She wakes up on the beach.

That's not too surprising; she's woken up on the beach plenty of times in Waverly Bay, only to feel sand in her underwear and a creeping sense of disappointment. Today's not shaping up to be much different, except for the fact that she doesn't recognize this particular beach at all, and the gulls pecking at the gem in her chest make her jolt upward like someone playing a hilarious coffin prank at their own funeral, screaming to a crowd of onlookers that they're still alive. ]


FUCKING BAGELS-

[ Um. How graceful? ]
newlawtolight: (Default)

[personal profile] newlawtolight 2018-03-11 11:40 pm (UTC)(link)
It does, believe me. As you no doubt are figuring out!
founderinglight: ([my place plz])

[personal profile] founderinglight 2018-03-11 11:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Large flightless birds, generally domesticated as mounts or beasts of burden. My brother had more affinity for them than I did.

[It is perhaps the first time he's managed to think of Ardyn without flinching, but it's... getting better.]
founderinglight: ([my place plz])

[personal profile] founderinglight 2018-03-12 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
Please, no need for formalities. Wren it is.

[He heard the hitch, but doesn't give it any more acknowledgement than that. Whatever her reasons for changing her name, if that's what she's done - they're her own business.]
thoroff: (002)

[personal profile] thoroff 2018-03-12 01:05 am (UTC)(link)
Very well, Izunia.

[She smiles for a moment longer before her face returns to a neutral, though slightly questioning, aspect.]

You seem to have a far better grasp on what's going on here than I do... and where "here" is, for that matter. May I trouble you for an explanation?
have_hat_will_travel: (Wistful)

[personal profile] have_hat_will_travel 2018-03-12 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
Partially out of a sense of worry. Your behavior from what I've seen so far is... A bit concerning.

[The Succubus does catch her posture shift, though, enough to continue...]

And you don't need to worry about me going for it; it isn't of value to me.

Welcome to a stranger region, though. We should get you towards the Station for now, until we can find some clothes more suited to adventuring for you. If you're up for that, that is.

[personal profile] part_time_person 2018-03-12 09:01 am (UTC)(link)
They sound like giant chickens. Are there any here?

[He kind of wants to see one, even if he's not a big animal lover for the most part.]

Page 22 of 24