TEST DRIVE 001

[phantasmods]

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?

Comments

Goro Akechi | Persona 5/15 Strangers CRAU

[foolishjustice]

[Option 2]

[To most, the strange environment might be a little disorienting, but nothing too bad. To someone with the extra senses Goro Akechi has gained...it's a confusing mess of jumbled reality. Too many different frequencies jumble together, until he's not even sure what his own vibe is set to. Trying to sort it out is quickly giving him a headache, leaving the young Composer standing in the sand with his hand pressed to his face.

He barely notices the fin lifting out of the shifting sand, before he has to throw himself to the side to avoid a shark leaping at his face. Is that...Noise? No, they look fully solid...a Shadow? He can't even tell if this is the Metaverse or not, and it's strange enough to be a Palace. Yes, that seems like the best bet. Which means...yes. As he calls on the power of his subconscious, a red mask appears on his face.]

Robin Hood!

[The mask vanishes as a figure appears, and the pillar of light it creates is enough to knock the shark out of the air. A pale gold pillar makes sure its dead as Robin Hood vanishes, the mask settling back onto Goro's face. He glances at the shark's corpse with a puzzled expression, slowly approaching to nudge it...and to pick up the piece of heart shaped candy lying next to it.]

Then it can't be a Shadow...or a Cognitive being. What's going on here?

[Option 3]

[Exploring, at least, helps to distract him from the headache he gets whenever he thinks about the frequency he's on. While he could fly up the cliff side, climbing is simply more fun. And he moves like he's used to it, scaling the cliffs with practiced ease until he finds a level shelf. There he looks around, examining interesting objects - particularly those always-damp crystals - and playing with the bottle crabs. He seems to find the creatures cute, as he picks up one of the smaller ones with a grin.

He's so busy exploring that he doesn't even notice the tide coming in. And...oh, it looks like someone else has joined him on the rock shelf. He waves, still holding one of the giant hermit crabs in his other hand.]

Ah, hello. I didn't mean to ignore you, are you alright?

and yet more option 3

[founderinglight]

[Goro probably noticed this guy a while ago, actually - he rather sticks out against the rocks, black on dark grey stone, and he's also been clambering over the rocks with maybe too much relish. And surprising amounts of agility, for a tall skinny guy in at least his mid-thirties.

Of course, now the tide's coming in, and even if there's something seriously off with the vibe the guy seems to exist at.

He waves back, fairly cheerfully, from the next rock over.]

I'm quite well, thank you! Do you have any idea where we are?

[foolishjustice]

[Well, he'd notice that more if he wasn't trying to ignore vibes in general due to the splitting headache the existential static is giving him.

He had noticed the other guy climbing over the rocks, but hadn't realized he'd joined him at first, distracted as he was. It's a bad habit of his, getting lost in whatever he's thinking about and not paying as much attention to what's around him as he should.]

No...I know something isn't quite right about wherever this is, but it's definitely outside the range of my GPS.

[founderinglight]

[Yeah that's probably not great, is it?

Izunia only has the vaguest idea what a GPS is but he does, you know, get the idea that that's not good.]

Not anywhere I'd recognize either. It's a bit concerning.

[He bends to pick up a crystal and tosses in his hand idly as he makes his way in the direction of not having to yell Goro's rock. There's about a three foot gap in between.]

[foolishjustice]

More than it seems at first, too...

[The frequency issue is Very Concerning.]

We probably aren't even in the same universe we started in.

[founderinglight]

[A hum of agreement.]

That's... incredibly likely. I shouldn't...

[Have a thirty-five year old body. Have a body at all. Be able to interact with people other than those donning the Ring of the Lucii. Exist anymore, now that the ring's power has burned out as Noctis took the Scourge with it.

Take your pick.]

option 2

[dualized]

[To look at it, that thing could pass for a mobile suit-- but it appears and fires off a completely unfamiliar type of particle attack that requires nearly no charge time. And when the shark is defeated, it's gone just as quick.

Robin Hood... its a name that would be good to remember for now.

She's confident enough to walk up now that it's over, while he's busy picking up his loot.]

I'm not very familiar with sharks myself, but they do seem different in some aspects. But that may be a matter of differences in this planet's make-up resulting in different mutations.

[foolishjustice]

[It feels a little strange, having someone who isn't familiar see him using his Persona. But, well...it's becoming increasingly obvious that this isn't his world, especially when she talks about planetary differences...it shouldn't be a problem.]

It might simply be a quality of this universe itself. I've never seen ordinary wildlife create objects on death before. I've never seen supernatural creatures that don't disappear when defeated either, but if this is a different world from what I'm used to, I can't guarantee that magical monsters not leaving behind corpses is some sort of multiversal law.

[dualized]

[She listens intently and nods.]

Neither have I. But short of obliterating them, I've never seem them disappear myself.

[But she has seen things completely obliterated before.]

There may be a few things very different about this place than those we're familiar with.

[foolishjustice]

[A few things, yeah...he really hopes this jumble of frequencies isn't how it always is here. He shakes his head and stands up from crouching over the shark, blue flame washing over him and changing his outfit to something far flashier.]

I suppose the only way to find out is to see more of how it works for ourselves.

Ah, out of curiosity...could you see both of those attacks I just used?

3

[bulletnews]

Perfectly fine, thank you. What's your take on all this so far?

[She's not quite sure yet what this is herself just yet, so the additional viewpoints are certainly going to help.]

[foolishjustice]

[He frowns, glancing around. Even trying not to focus on it, his head still aches from the frequency static screeching across his sixth sense.]

There's certainly something very wrong here. I'm not sure how to describe it, but this world itself is somehow distorted.

[bulletnews]

A world distortion incident... Anything that would be able to cause something like that is no doubt immensely powerful. Who would be prepared to deal with something like that, do you think?

[The only people she knows of that even could do something like that are... well, not likely to have for various reasons.]

[foolishjustice]

I'm not sure. This is beyond anything I've seen before, and I doubt it's the same cause as the distorted areas I'm used to.

[bulletnews]

I can't say I wasn't expecting that. Of course, someone is bound to try anyway.

["Blast it until it goes away" is something of a usual MO.]

Someone that's not me.

3 so this timeline doesn't give Kurama a bigger headache

[byanyother_name]

Better now.

[The voice is soft and amused and familiar as the other person comes into full view. Kurama's hair looks a little windblown from the trip up the rocks. He smiles at Goro, eyes warm and affectionate and...a little relieved.

Akira told him, yes, but it's still good to see with his own eyes that Goro is with them.]

Making friends already, I see.

[foolishjustice]

[Oh, he is very happy to see you. In fact, mind the bottle crab as he steps forward to give you a kiss hello...and then holds up his recent acquisition. It's about the size of a baseball, and is, in fact, wearing the broken top of a bottle for a shell.]

It's cute, isn't it? I'm considering taking it with me when we find our way out of here. I think I could fit a tank on top of my dresser...

[byanyother_name]

[He would brave worse than a bottle crab for Goro kisses. It does help remind him to keep it chaste, at least. Kurama laughs softly when the crab is presented, tilting his head a little in a pretense of consideration.]

Not as cute as you, but I admit that's stiff competition. We'd need to make sure what it eats. It might have the same diet as a hermit crab, but I wouldn't take anything for granted here.

[foolishjustice]

Ahh, that is a good point. I suppose we could observe them for some time, but I really would like to get out of here quickly. Upstairs would probably want to hear about this, too.

[Because...he's pretty sure no world should have all its frequencies squashed into horrible psychic screeching?]

[byanyother_name]

[Kurama sincerely hopes there is no such thing as a world that is meant to be this kind of headache-inducing mess.]

Agreed on all points, especially getting out of here soon. There is only so much to be done for this unending headache.

Option 2

[lost_my_watch]

[While the Composer is musing as to what the hell had attacked, there was a karate cry coming from a little further down the beach, followed by a very sentai-like explosion of fire. Walking from the explosion would be a green-suited hero, gold chest armor gleaming even as chunks of shark and candygrams fall around him. It would be that last item that causes the hero to pause, and turn his head catching one of the falling objects.]

Well.... I know Slippery Shark didn't used to be filled with these.

[He looks up, and notes the young man ahead of him.]

You OK over there?

[foolishjustice]

[The young man who is...currently staring, from behind his long-nosed mask. Is that...? No, the outfit is different, an the mask isn't bird themed. But it's very clearly some form of Sentai hero.

He opens his mouth, but all that comes out of it is a sound of surprised confusion. His face immediately turns red at the almost squeak he let out, before he clears his throat and tries again.]

I'm fine, yes. These sharks aren't even much of a challenge for me.

[lost_my_watch]

[Now that he was closer he could make out the unusual long nose mask on the young man before him. It wasn't a look he'd seen on anyone before, but he didn't sense the guy was an enemy.]

There's more of them?? Here I thought it was just Zedd giving one of his old monsters another shot at me.

[He was looking around and could see two more of them incoming, these with different fin designs, but clearly the same sort of creature.

Two more behind us. Care help me skin some future shark-skin boots from these guys?

[foolishjustice]

Ah, of course!

[That...might have been said a little TOO eagerly? Because look, what nerd wouldn't jump at the chance to team up with an actual Ranger?

Blue fire swirls around him as his outfit changes, then his mask shimmers blue as he does...something]

Queen Mab!

[His mask vanishes as another burst of blue fire signals the brief appearance of a figure that throws out two lightning bolts, one aimed at each fin.]

If they're amphibious, they shouldn't take well to electricity.

[lost_my_watch]

[Well THAT was new. He'd never seen a sort of personal summon servant like that. Yeah he'd seen Rita spam Putties like clay was going out of style, and the various evil aliens he'd dealt with having their monsters of the day, but this? This was a new experience for Tommy, even considering the Masked Rider he met AND fighting in the Legendary Ranger War. But he wasn't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.]

Alright, lets do this! Si-KIYA!

[And yes, at this moment Go Green Ranger Go begins as epic background combat music, even Goro can hear it. He launches himself at the tigershark creature, slashing into it several times with the Dragon Dagger that found it's way into his hand, sparks flying with every slash.]