Phantasmal Rift Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
phantasmods) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
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?
no subject
You know, it's funny how only people who at least used to have the power to do things think "oh, there's nothing you could've done, it's not your fault you're useless" is comforting.
[Only he really doesn't think it's funny at all.]
no subject
[Hey Prompto you're getting... a Dad Look?
Well, I mean, he is a Dad, however far removed from Noctis. So it's not unreasonable for him to give Dad Looks.]
You're far from useless. Even putting aside your sharp eye - and my hat won't soon be forgetting that - you have long provided Noctis with steadfast emotional support. To pull someone from the depths of their own darkness is not a skill to be belittled or neglected.
[Yeah that's definitely Dad Talk. Except there's a beat - ]
I mean, as you can see, I don't possess much of it.
no subject
Prompto doesn't move, but he doesn't get angry again, either.]
...Your hat deserved it. It's an awful hat.
no subject
It's a wonderful hat and you should be lucky it wasn't my best. I'm not sure I could forgive that.
no subject
no subject
[Is he really offended or just mock offended? Who can tell.]
no subject
...Noct says the same thing. That it looks like a chocobo butt.
[And he returns to being quiet. For a second, anyway. Maybe a handful.]
Are you... waiting for me?
no subject
[Though like as not that would just unsettle Prompto further. People a hundred and more generations apart should not look so very alike. For his part, Izunia suspects the hand of the divine at work.]
... I wouldn't want to leave anyone in such a distressed state alone. That goes doubly for a dear friend of my favorite descendant.
no subject
But anyway.]
...Unless you've got an entire bed and Iggy's home cooking stashed in with your hats, I'm probably not gonna get any less distressed anytime soon. It's been a really... really. Long few days.
no subject
[IT'S A START?]
no subject
What kind of sandwich?
no subject
[Close enough he ain't modern. Look he'll just pull the sandwich and let prompto judge for himself.]
no subject
Uh, where'd you get a turkey sub if you've been inside a ring for a couple thousand years?
no subject
[IT'S BEEN IN THERE A COUPLE THOUSAND YEARS.]
no subject
no subject
[He's tested this thoroughly!]
no subject
[He and Noct have also tested this thoroughly.]
Thanks.
and thus the half sandwich is explained
No thanks required.
Pffhaha I didn't even
[He accepts the sandwich meekly enough, stares at it for a while, and then nibbles slowly at one end. His eyes are a little wet, despite everything. Who knows when was the last time he ate?]
METHOD ACTING
[Wrap your sad chocobo up.]
no subject
no subject
It also still has a little yellow feather poking out of it.]
no subject
H-hey. Good luck sign, huh?
no subject
[Birds were never exactly his thing.]
Though black might be luckier for a couple of Lucians, no matter how far apart in era.