TEST DRIVE 003

[phantasmods]

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.

Comments

[kingshaming]

[His ears pin back slightly, the only clue of his growing distress]

I have to return as quickly as possible, so even if you don't know how to go from there, even the smallest help would be appreciated.

[he bows slightly]

My name is Xander, and while I am not in the position currently to repay you, you would have my upmost gratitude.

[founderinglight]

Unfortunately, it's unlikely that you'll be able to return any time soon. This is a different reality from wherever you come from, and we're a bit stranded at the moment.

[None the less there is... Not exactly a bow in return, but some measure of respectful nod.]

Izunia. Please, there's no need for formality.

[kingshaming]

Stranded...

[He chews his lip, the sharp teeth visible for a moment before he composes himself.]

That... is bad. Very bad.

[founderinglight]

The androids responsible for housing us and researching the cause think that we'll be transported back to where and when we came from, but obviously, no one has been able to test the hypothesis yet.

[kingshaming]

I have duties I need to return to, but... if this Outrealm's time doesn't pass at the same rate, I suppose there's some hope for it.

[founderinglight]

[Outrealm... he vaguely recalls the term from some discussion with Wren. Perhaps they're from the same place.]

I can safely assure you that time here is fairly nonsensical in comparison to where you came from - I've met several people here from my own world who came from what is, to me, ten years in the past.

[kingshaming]

I wish I could say that is the strangest thing I've heard. And honestly I am not sure yet if this is actually happening or another strange nightmare.

[founderinglight]

Would you like a pinch?

[Cheerfully, and then - ]

I've been in this world some months. The dream effect is just in this area, so I assure you, you're actually here.

[kingshaming]

Perhaps if you want to lose the fingers.

[His tone is deadpan, but his eyes crinkle just enough to maybe be in jest]

[founderinglight]

Hmm. Tempting. Don't think I have quite enough to spare at the moment.

[Is he actually considering it...?]

[kingshaming]

Is any amount of fingers enough to spare?

[He huffs]

You could probably manage without a pinky at least.

[founderinglight]

Pinching with your pinky is exceptionally difficult.

[Also, honestly, if anyone gets to cut off his fingers it's Ardyn.]

[kingshaming]

But doable.

[He presses pinky to thumb in example]

[founderinglight]

If you can get any serious force that way, you have stronger hands than I.

[kingshaming]

Well, they certainly aren't weak.

[founderinglight]

Nor are mine, but I think this isn't any sort of suitable environment for a test of strength.

[kingshaming]

[He chuckles]

Probably not. And there'd be more practical means to do so if there were a serious need.

[founderinglight]

Perhaps some other time.

[Please look forward to it.]

If there's anything I can do to help, though... The magical effects here have been a bit hard on everyone, even those who aren't suddenly pulled from their worlds today.

[kingshaming]

Leading the way is more then enough. Even knowing they are fake, seeing these images is a bit... much.

[founderinglight]

Oh, trust me, I've had more than my fill of them.

[This has sure been a day! Or more like three days by this point, in all likelihood.]

It's easy to get separated in this fog, though, so just in case - our expedition group is planning to meet up at the massive willow tree you'll be able to see if you go high enough to see past these. It's somewhere to the west of here.

[kingshaming]

High enough you say? Well, that might be easy enough to pinpoint then.

[founderinglight]

Mmm. I've had to go up a time or two to get my bearings, myself. There's still quite a bit of the mist up there, but the tree is easy enough to see.

[kingshaming]

Then, if it wouldn't be too much of a bother to you to wait for a moment, I would like to see it for myself. I think centering myself would help.

[His hand goes to his belt and unclasps a lovely fist sized crystal from it]

[founderinglight]

Oh, not at all. I can get up there myself just as easily - it would just be a terribly tiring way to travel, trying to warp all that distance.

[kingshaming]

[He nods]

Very well. One moment please.

[The stone glows, and in between one blink and another he has wide scaled almost-black purple wings and a thick tail to balance them. Long dark talons clicking on the stone. But before he can be questioned on it he takes off. He can't get very high like this- his wings are just not proportioned for full fight with a mostly human body. But he can use the trees to get foot holds to launch again and again until he vanishes up into the canopy]