phantasmods: (Default)
Phantasmal Rift Mods ([personal profile] phantasmods) wrote in [community profile] phantasmemes2018-04-12 11:09 pm
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TEST DRIVE 003

Hello, and welcome to the third 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 takes place in the Fissure known as Amesta Forest - a forest filled with silver mist and shrouded in eternal twilight, where your dreams become real! For a certain limited definition of real. This is significantly less awesome than it sounds. On the bright side, anyone within the mists will find themselves with no need to sleep, as though trapped in the same spring evening as the rest of the forest.

OPTION ONE: DREAM A LITTLE DREAM

This first option might happen to you just about anywhere. From the swirls of silver mist comes a shape - or perhaps more than one shape? Who knows, it's your dream -

Well, probably. It could also be someone else's.

Those who stay too long in any one part of the mist will find their subconscious minds influencing it into shapes - the exact sort of things that appear in their dreams. As with their real dreams, the details are sometimes strange - too much detail, or not enough, depending on where your focus is. The character who 'created' the dream specter will instantly understand what it's supposed to be, but other viewers might have some difficulty with it.

Fortunately for those of you prone to violent nightmares, these dream figures are incapable of doing harm - any blows struck by them simply leave behind the dampness of walking through thick mist. A hard enough blow will similarly disperse them - or, in most cases, you can simply move quickly and leave them behind.

OPTION TWO: THE MOVEMENTS OF THE TREES


A forest filled with mist is honestly a kind of spooky place, isn't it?

Well, it's about to get spookier, when you notice that there's a tree... somewhere there wasn't a tree, before. Or maybe it's that you were looking around and realized that a tree wasn't there here there was one before, instead leaving behind only a round, torn-up patch of earth from where the roots were buried.

Either way, there's only one conclusion to be drawn - the trees are moving.

Those who pay close attention will soon realize that it's only one kind of tree that moves - an absolutely unfamiliar kind, with mist-silver bark and thin, almost translucent leaves in large handlike shapes. They aren't very tall, and their branches split low to the ground, the structure something like a less crooked Japanese maple. The Wanderwoods seem prone to following specific people, usually only moving when out of sight, though you might catch them shuffling along if you have quick reflexes for looking over your shoulder.

What do they want? Well, nothing, really. They're just attracted to sapient beings and, especially, the way the mist forms into their dreams. So while they won't do anything in particular to the characters themselves, anyone with a dream-form hanging around them might find that manifestation suddenly papered in thin, grabbing leaves... and swallowed up.

OPTION THREE: WHAT NOW IS FOUND?


Not all of the forest is trapped in eternal spring. One part of it is held in exactly the opposite - a brilliantly colored autumn morning, just before dawn, with the trees overhead colored in brilliant reds and oranges. Leaves drift down in a slow breeze, and pile up in random places among the trees (which never seem to run out of leaves to drop), and silver pools of water gather at the bases of the trees and in any other depressions, their surfaces perfectly still mirrors.

The mist is quite a bit thinner here, too, which allows you to see... What is that familiar shape in the distance, between the trees?

While dream manifestations are uncommon in the region of Fall's Heart, it's not only dreams that manifest here. Instead, characters will see the figures of those they've lost - instantly recognizable, but unreachable and nearly impossible to catch, running through the trees heedless of how you call after them. It's impossible to catch up to them by mundane means, and those who use supernatural means to do so -

- will find that, at their touch, the vision crumbles into silvery mist-water, forming another of those perfect, reflective pools at their feet.
burninglight: (ever on and on i continue)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-04-13 09:10 pm (UTC)(link)
What a terrible shame. And here he so has it coming.

[From the second one, quiet and hesitant before growing into something resolved:]

...I know. What I've done won't...simply disappear. And part of me--still is that spiteful monster, that isn't something I can escape. But it's my choice how to live, whether I've a right to or not.

And I'm not you anymore.

[A familiar metallic sound and swirl of magic cut through the air as thirteen Royal Arms spun around their master, the Blade of the Mystic flying out to cut through the apparition and slam into a tree behind it.]
promittere: (Default)

[personal profile] promittere 2018-04-13 10:07 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh.

Oh, goodness.

He's familiar with the power of the Royal Arms, has fought against and aside someone who could wield them, so while he cannot see them as they spin and glitter and destroy, he can picture it clearly in his mind.

And he wonders if they'll be turned to him.]


Ardyn.

[There's an unspoken question there, the urge to press for information. This is a strange world, he's been told. Things are not the same as they are on Eos.

But is a man who admits he's still a monster someone who can truly change or be trusted? Is he a man Ignis can let his guard down around?

He tries to think of what to say, but - but it seems cruel to demand something from a man who seems to have already pushed to the edge. Perhaps he's too soft, perhaps the strangeness of this place is getting to him.

Perhaps none of that matters, now, as much as figuring out how much of a threat Ardyn will be to him.]


Why are you here?
burninglight: (and the darkness overcome)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-04-13 10:19 pm (UTC)(link)
[His breath came shakily for a second or two, the power dissipating and swords vanishing in a second burst of crystal. What kind of question was that? He'd only just spoken to Ignis, unless-]

[...Stars above, he was sick of multiuniversal nonsense and too emotionally drained to even know where to start.]


I didn't...exactly plan to end up here. I don't even know where here is.
promittere: (Default)

[personal profile] promittere 2018-04-13 10:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[This is just how the turns table, Ardyn. Welcome to multiple universes becoming even more needlessly complicated!]

It seems to be a forest. [His voice is dry, with maybe a smidge of sarcasm dripping from his words. Just a smidge.] I'm afraid I haven't been able to take in any signs that might be around.

[This is...This is weird.

But he can't let his guard down. Not yet. Even if the way Ardyn is carrying himself just screams wrong. He's tricked them before. He could - would - again.]
burninglight: (with no hope of release)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-04-13 11:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Well,yes, but past that I don't know where or what universe this is.

[Ardyn ran a hand through his hair, sighing heavily and looking around.]

I'm not-...I'm not going to hurt you.
promittere: (Default)

[personal profile] promittere 2018-04-13 11:07 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm not sure there's an answer to that.

[A Fissure, it was called. Just a crack between, maybe not even enough to be considered a world of its own. Why he's willing to divulge this much is beyond him, but.

They're all lost and confused.]


And forgive me if I don't believe you.

[Mostly because he doesn't want to believe you.]
burninglight: (ever on and on i continue)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-04-13 11:08 pm (UTC)(link)
I know that you don't. Just...don't start a fight. Please, not now.
promittere: (Default)

[personal profile] promittere 2018-04-13 11:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[But he waaaaants to.

But he can also see there's nothing to be gained striking a man when he's already down.]


I won't. [He sighs, a small, soft thing, but it's enough to take all of the anger still simmering inside of him and release it.] I give you my word.

[But if you try anything...]
burninglight: (then i'll carry on too)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-04-13 11:18 pm (UTC)(link)
And you have mine that I'll not raise a hand to you, worthless as you'll assume my promises are.

I'm sorry you had to encounter something like that.This place is...manifesting things it shouldn't.
promittere: (Default)

[personal profile] promittere 2018-04-13 11:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I will hold you to it nonetheless.

Dreams and nightmares, it seems. Something is giving them form, even if it's not clear what the reason for them is, if there's one at all.
burninglight: (if the oracle can heal)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-04-13 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
My estimate is that there isn't one, or at least not one we'll find a satisfactory explanation. Are you hurt?
promittere: (Default)

[personal profile] promittere 2018-04-13 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
The answer might lie in the trees that follow us when we aren't looking.

And no. Any wounds I've suffered are a minor inconvenience at best.
burninglight: (can i bear to seek the truth)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-04-13 11:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Good. I'm glad to hear it.

[He cast a glare at the nearest trees, scowling--no, of course Nina wouldn't be among them. That was ridiculous.]
promittere: (Default)

[personal profile] promittere 2018-04-14 12:00 am (UTC)(link)
[He almost, almost asks "You are?" but he catches himself before the words can come out.]


Have you had any troubles beyond the apparition?

[Is he actually, truly, honest to Astrals concerned? For Ardyn?

Yikes.]
burninglight: (and the darkness overcome)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-04-14 12:18 am (UTC)(link)
Besides that, no. I just-...

[Ardyn trailed off, sounding uncertain as he cast another glance around.]

I'm looking for someone. You would know if you came across him; his name is Leonard Church, he's terribly loudmouthed and certain to be searching for me if he's here.
Edited (missed a space) 2018-04-14 00:22 (UTC)
promittere: (Default)

[personal profile] promittere 2018-04-14 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
I can't say I've run into anyone like that, no. [The shock of someone searching for Ardyn would've stuck with him, after all. And from the way Ardyn is acting, it seems this Leonard Church is...important, somehow.] I'm sorry.

[Jot that down as "something he never thought he'd say".]
burninglight: (then i'll carry on too)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-04-14 12:56 am (UTC)(link)
...I hate to say I expected that, but he's terribly hard to miss. That's...fine. He'll be likely to follow shortly, I'm sure.
promittere: (Default)

[personal profile] promittere 2018-04-14 12:57 am (UTC)(link)
[Two months alone, one month with Noctis, and then he arrived...

Hm.]


Is that something that happens, often? People following you to odd places like this.
burninglight: (with no hope of release)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-04-14 12:59 am (UTC)(link)
I can't say this is the first I've wound up somewhere across worlds with no warning. And from what I've seen today, it would seem a few managed to follow me from where we only just were.

...Quite a lot has happened, since whenever it was you last crossed paths with me.
promittere: (Default)

[personal profile] promittere 2018-04-14 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
I've gathered as much - you're almost unrecognizable.

But perhaps that's a conversation best left for another day. One in a place that's not showing us things we'd rather not.
burninglight: (into the darkness we will fly)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-04-14 01:05 am (UTC)(link)
Right--of course.

If you're willing to accompany me, I can assure your safety until we either get out of here or determine what's going on.
promittere: (Default)

[personal profile] promittere 2018-04-14 01:21 am (UTC)(link)
As long as you don't mind leading the way. Wouldn't want to lead us into any more trouble.

[In for a penny, in for a pound.

And it is such a gentlemanly offer.]
burninglight: (and my heart starts vanishing)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-04-14 01:22 am (UTC)(link)
...I think I can manage that. Shall we, then?
promittere: (Default)

[personal profile] promittere 2018-04-14 01:34 am (UTC)(link)
We shall. Best get going before it gets late.
burninglight: (was i born to simply die)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-04-14 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
Right.

[He'd walked only a few steps before a thought occurred to him, and he tossed a remark over his shoulder:]

...Try not to be too alarmed, if we should come across someone actually happy to see me. That tends to happen once in a while.

(no subject)

[personal profile] promittere - 2018-04-14 01:42 (UTC) - Expand