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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?
1
[Charlie doesn't live by the ocean, but even she knows it's probably a bad idea to be sleeping when the tide comes in. The fact that the tide is apparently red doesn't help.
Red. Everywhere she looks, it's all red. That's not good.
Awkwardly, she kneels down and tries to shake the strange guy's shoulder.]
The tide's coming in. Wake up.
no subject
[He stirs himself, blinks blearily at her, and glances back, then whines and puts his head down again.]
'S bad... don't let it touch you, it'll suck out your energy. Like in comic books.
no subject
Either way, that sounds Bad. And if this guy knows from experience, then...]
I'm gonna try to drag you away from it. Is that all right?
[...she can't just let someone potentially die from it.]
no subject
[Sorry, he's gonna pick his head up to be skeptical for a second. Prompto should probably do this himself. He's a big boy.]
no subject
canon has not given her a height, with a noticeable scar cutting across her face. She looks happy...? Maybe? She doesn't sound happy or anything, though.]I think I can drag you backward well enough, if that's all right.
[The scar says a lot, don't it?]
no subject
Yeah, all right. Thanks. I'll really owe you.
[He manages to roll onto his back instead of his stomach so she won't be dragging his face through the sand. He looks kind of beat-up, actually. Must not have been having a very good day even before the whole blood ocean thing.]
Oh. Uh, my name's Prompto, by the way.
no subject
[Good on him for rolling over so his face isn't dragged through the sand. She doesn't want to injure him, that'd be counterproductive. That said, she's not the most skilled dragger of grown adults. The last person she dragged around was unconscious and also an asshole, and also not being dragged far. There were also no obstacles like little pebbles and God-knows-what-else in the sand, then.
So she's at least going to try to keep from hitting or rolling over random pebbles, but she might not be successful 100% of the time. There's a tiny grimace and a quick, muttered 'Sorry' whenever she fails, but hey - at least they're not in landshark territory. Small favors, right?]
You know anything about this place, by the way? Like - someplace for folks to go to?
[Since she's just arrived and is only working on 'red water bad, get floofy hair guy away from water' right now.]
no subject
At the question, he huffs a laugh, a little bitter and very tired.]
I don't even know where we are. Last I remember, I wasn't anywhere near the ocean. And the sun wasn't out. Or... I guess it was out.
[That's not cryptic.]
So you're lost here, too, then?
no subject
The cryptic statement, though, that she doesn't question. The ocean is literally red right now, after all. The sun not working, if she's hearing that right - sure, why not, nothing else makes sense anymore.]
Yeah, I am. Don't even live near the ocean.
no subject
[He trails off for a moment, then tugs gently on her hand.]
Hey. We far enough up yet? If we're gonna go much further, maybe I should. You know. Walk.
no subject
(Maybe now isn't the best time to think of it.)
At Prompto's statement, she pauses to take a look at the ocean and their distance from it. She's no expert, but unless there's some kind of freak tide...]
I guess we're away from where the waves come in, yeah.
no subject
[And he just flops back into a starfish position. Let this be the hill ("hill") he dies on, fam.]
Walking is way overrated. Lying down forever and never getting up is the hottest new thing, you heard it here first. Now you, too, can be... down with the trends.
no subject
Except for the landsharks. I haven't seen one yet, but they exist.
[According to Crow, anyway. And he seems generally reliable, even if he is wearing a mask 24/7 or something.]
no subject
[Well, that gets him to pick his head up.]
The what-sharks?