Phantasmal Rift Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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phantasmemes2018-01-19 12:29 pm
phantasmods) wrote in phantasmemes2018-01-19 12:29 pm
Entry tags:
TEST DRIVE 001
Hello, and welcome to the first 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.
(In the future, characters who are in-game can also earn themselves an extra item of loot for tagging in to top levels on the test drive, to be distributed with the rest of their loot upon dungeon completion.)
This first test drive is based in the Fissure nearest to the Station, and comes with three potential options, all with a distinctly watery bent -
OPTION 1: MAROONED
Hey, uh... What's that maroon film distorting your vision? And how did you get on this beach, anyway?
So long as the sun is shining, there doesn't seem to be a problem out here on the beach, aside from the strange maroon tint to everything. But when clouds pass over, the tint grows darker, and darker, and the water grows redder, and redder...
That... can't be blood, can it?
Characters who remain beneath the patchy cloud cover will find themselves filled with increasing anxiety that the ocean is made of blood, until either the cloud passes or they check the water for themselves. The bad news is, that while it isn't actually an ocean of blood, contact with the red water will drain characters of energy very rapidly, causing sudden fits of exhaustion as though they were suffering from anemia. By itself, this isn't particularly dangerous...
...Except that the return of the sun doesn't mean the return of that lost energy, and if you've waded out too far, the shifting sand and pull of the waves underfoot can easily pull you down and under.
OPTION 2: LANDSHARK
You really hope that isn't a shark fin moving through the sand. That's just not possible, right?
(Yes, yes it is.)
Landsharks are amphibious, predatory creatures just as at home in the sand as below the waves, and always hungry. They track their prey via disturbances in the sand or water, but fortunately, you can track them the same way - they're large enough to be easily visible in the relatively clear waters near the beach, and their bulk causes a patch of shifting sand above them as they roam for more terrestrial prey.
As a result, they're most dangerous near the waterline, where the shifting sand is hard to see due to the motion of the waves (though they can, of course, pop up further up the beach). Fortunately, they're not large enough to swallow a person whole. Unfortunately, they're still between nine and twelve feet long depending on the individual and easily large enough to take a good chunk out of you.
Like any other shark, they're vulnerable to being sliced open with something sharp, kicked in the gills, or punched in the snout to establish dominance. On the magical end, they have a particular weakness to electricity.
On the bright side, if you're hungry enough, the landsharks are very edible once cooked (or, you know, if you like sushi). For some reason, the meat tastes faintly of chocolate...?
Drops: Meat, shark teeth, candygrams.
OPTION 3: JUST IN TIDE
A bit further down from the beach, the water comes up to the base of the rocky cliffs, leaving numerous nooks and crannies to climb over and explore. In fact, they're practically begging for it.
What might you find? Well, there's the usual beach refuse, for a start - sand, seaweed, shells and fragments of shells, and big barnacles and mussels tucked into the cracks. However, other debris finds its way into the cracks, ocean-going refuse from a thousand worlds... There's also a number of pointy blue-green crystals that tingle to the touch and remain wet no matter how characters attempt to dry them.
And finally, there's a bunch of bottle crabs - overlarge hermit crabs that look more at home in half-broken beer bottles or soda cans at their size than they do in shells (though they'll live in anything that seems protective enough - the largest seem prone to making their homes in rusty helmets). The crabs are not aggressive unless you harass them first, but they can give a nasty pinch if provoked.
...Did you lose track of time out there among the rocks, or did time lose track of you?
Either way, you're now stuck out as the tide comes in. If you can swim, good for you! You probably won't have too much of a problem, at least once you're far enough from the rocks that you aren't at risk of getting thrown against them and having some important swimming limb broken...
On second thought, maybe it's better to stay here and wait it out, whether you can swim or not. Hope you're ready for a couple hours stuck on a rock with some weird-looking, too-big hermit crabs and...
Who is this other person, anyway?
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.
(In the future, characters who are in-game can also earn themselves an extra item of loot for tagging in to top levels on the test drive, to be distributed with the rest of their loot upon dungeon completion.)
This first test drive is based in the Fissure nearest to the Station, and comes with three potential options, all with a distinctly watery bent -
OPTION 1: MAROONED
Hey, uh... What's that maroon film distorting your vision? And how did you get on this beach, anyway?
So long as the sun is shining, there doesn't seem to be a problem out here on the beach, aside from the strange maroon tint to everything. But when clouds pass over, the tint grows darker, and darker, and the water grows redder, and redder...
That... can't be blood, can it?
Characters who remain beneath the patchy cloud cover will find themselves filled with increasing anxiety that the ocean is made of blood, until either the cloud passes or they check the water for themselves. The bad news is, that while it isn't actually an ocean of blood, contact with the red water will drain characters of energy very rapidly, causing sudden fits of exhaustion as though they were suffering from anemia. By itself, this isn't particularly dangerous...
...Except that the return of the sun doesn't mean the return of that lost energy, and if you've waded out too far, the shifting sand and pull of the waves underfoot can easily pull you down and under.
OPTION 2: LANDSHARK
You really hope that isn't a shark fin moving through the sand. That's just not possible, right?
(Yes, yes it is.)
Landsharks are amphibious, predatory creatures just as at home in the sand as below the waves, and always hungry. They track their prey via disturbances in the sand or water, but fortunately, you can track them the same way - they're large enough to be easily visible in the relatively clear waters near the beach, and their bulk causes a patch of shifting sand above them as they roam for more terrestrial prey.
As a result, they're most dangerous near the waterline, where the shifting sand is hard to see due to the motion of the waves (though they can, of course, pop up further up the beach). Fortunately, they're not large enough to swallow a person whole. Unfortunately, they're still between nine and twelve feet long depending on the individual and easily large enough to take a good chunk out of you.
Like any other shark, they're vulnerable to being sliced open with something sharp, kicked in the gills, or punched in the snout to establish dominance. On the magical end, they have a particular weakness to electricity.
On the bright side, if you're hungry enough, the landsharks are very edible once cooked (or, you know, if you like sushi). For some reason, the meat tastes faintly of chocolate...?
Drops: Meat, shark teeth, candygrams.
OPTION 3: JUST IN TIDE
A bit further down from the beach, the water comes up to the base of the rocky cliffs, leaving numerous nooks and crannies to climb over and explore. In fact, they're practically begging for it.
What might you find? Well, there's the usual beach refuse, for a start - sand, seaweed, shells and fragments of shells, and big barnacles and mussels tucked into the cracks. However, other debris finds its way into the cracks, ocean-going refuse from a thousand worlds... There's also a number of pointy blue-green crystals that tingle to the touch and remain wet no matter how characters attempt to dry them.
And finally, there's a bunch of bottle crabs - overlarge hermit crabs that look more at home in half-broken beer bottles or soda cans at their size than they do in shells (though they'll live in anything that seems protective enough - the largest seem prone to making their homes in rusty helmets). The crabs are not aggressive unless you harass them first, but they can give a nasty pinch if provoked.
...Did you lose track of time out there among the rocks, or did time lose track of you?
Either way, you're now stuck out as the tide comes in. If you can swim, good for you! You probably won't have too much of a problem, at least once you're far enough from the rocks that you aren't at risk of getting thrown against them and having some important swimming limb broken...
On second thought, maybe it's better to stay here and wait it out, whether you can swim or not. Hope you're ready for a couple hours stuck on a rock with some weird-looking, too-big hermit crabs and...
Who is this other person, anyway?
2 - there's not actually trees but we'll say he found some appropriate driftwood c: hiya
Or will be, after a flash of blue light deposits a rapier in his hand. The shark doesn't seem to have noticed him yet, or perhaps it just thinks Dib is the easier prey, even with the log he's climbed onto too large and hefty to bite through.
Izunia sighs, seeming very put-upon, and clicks his tongue in the direction of the circling fin, before conjuring a set of glowing swords that whizz through the air almost too quick to see before they impale the sand and vanish. "Come now - 'pick on someone your own size,' isn't that the line?"
The shark makes a fairly horrifying shriek of a noise, not dead yet from the brief magical assault, and adjusts its focus to its attacker.
d'oh! thanks
Once the focus is taken off of him, that nice, cold (well, more like lukewarm) logic kicks in and he follows the trajectory of the swords, finally noticing his savior.
And his mouth just kind of drops open a little bit and he raises a hand to just point questioningly. Sorry, that's about all the help you're getting right now.
no problemo
When those heels are on the ground, anyway, because he throws a dagger high into the air and teleports to it in a trail of blue light, the rapier in his hand changing out to a greatsword that's got to be at least five feet long -
And it comes down with all his weight behind it, impaling the shark just below the sand. There's another awful sound as the shark tries to rear up, but Izunia calls the dagger to hand again and puts it through the flailing shark's eye and then it's definitely, definitely dead.
"That ought to do it." His hands drop away from the weapons, which vanish in blue light and crystalline shards, glittering in the beach sunlight. That done, he looks back over at the log. "Are you alright?"
no subject
"That was incredible! And I didn't even see you using a spelldrive! Unless they added hands-free capabilities to it. And portable, I guess?"
He closes the distance to examine Izunia quickly, trying to spot any kind of machinery on him that might explain anything better.
no subject
... Really, except for the scarf, he looks like he walked out of some kind of incredibly goth period drama.
"Is that some sort of magitek?" It sounds close enough - spell-drive, he vaguely knows what a hard drive is. "I don't need anything of the sort."
no subject
Dib backs up for a second turning around to quietly monologue to himself. Just in case you had any doubts about saving this weird, trenchcoat-wearing child.
"But that would suggest the human race is actually capable of non-manufactured magical abilities? But there's so much proof of anything besides spelldrives being fake!"
He swings back around, flailing a little bit in a mixture of confusion and excitement. "This changes everything!"
no subject
Go ahead and turn around to do the excited monologue thing, kid, he's the last person who is going to judge you for indulging on some dramatic revelation-having. Hell, in that trenchcoat you could even pass for Lucian. "At least, on Eos. I've encountered evidence enough today that this world is not exactly the one I come from. This place itself seems to be magical to some extent."
no subject
Of course, he was so caught up in watching someone literally save his life with magic swords that he forgot the obvious thing. He turns back around to look a little more professional.
"Right. I mean, I suspected that weird things might have been a carryover from some kind of dimensional stream-crossing... thing. Granted, the first time I tried to prove it, nightmare demons tried crawling out of my head, but this seems to... not. Have that."
He looks up and blinks. "Oh. Thanks, by the way."
no subject
Please let there be no daemons, Starscourge, or other related monsters of the night. Iunia refocuses and smiles gently.
"You're quite welcome. It isn't as though I could just leave you there."
no subject
People going out of their way to be nice? What is this weird alternate dimension?
"Anyway. Cryptids do tend to be more active at night, so that sounds about right. Oh!" He sticks out his hand. "Dib Membrane. Of, uh. Earth."
no subject
Cryptid, that's like cryptic, which Izunia habitually is. He has to bend down a little to take Dib's hand, because one person in this conversation is short and the other is almost obscenely tall, but it works.
"Izunia Lucis Caelum, of Eos. More specifically, the eastern regions of Solheim now called Lucis."
Yes, there is something going on there in that name.
no subject
no subject
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He contemplates that for a long moment, looking out towards the water and taking a step back as he sees another fin pop up in the distance.
"Hm. Well, at least I haven't seen any moose around. Mooses? Meese? Whatever. Anything's better than that."
no subject
...Either of them, actually, but he can get some idea that a moose is some kind of dangerous creature from context.
no subject
"It's like a warp that connects two different parts of space. You could step through one end somewhere around here and end up light years away. Granted, no one's ever seen one, but no one's ever 'seen' -" He does air-quotes here. "Bigfoot either, so."
no subject
Well, most of it. He's not even getting into the subject of cryptids here, his brother is literally the boogeyman.