TEST DRIVE 004

[phantasmods]

Hello and welcome to the fourth 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 Keystone Reef, a water-influenced Fissure to the northeast of the station. It is home to numerous fish and coral species, as well as a very interesting magical effect...

OPTION ONE: FINNY FUN

Under the water is where you woke up, and under the water is where you might be stuck for a while. The magic is lodged in you and has changed your form -- maybe a little, maybe a lot. Perhaps you only have gills, but you may also have a full set of changes, fins and no feet to speak of. Don't panic, you'll surely be fine if you just keep swimming...

Aside from the strange changes, it's a pretty cool place to be. If you've ever dreamed about scuba diving on a coral reef, the place that you've found yourself is perfect for that (minus the needing to scuba part). Curious fish swim up and then dart away into rock crevices, coral growths, and even down to bury themselves in the layer of sand at the bottom. The water is also fairly shallow, allowing you to surface if you so desire.

Even the sharks are friendly and just want to have as much a look at you as you want to look at them. Don't harass the glowing eels tucked into cracks between the rocks, though, they bite and don't particularly let go.

OPTION TWO: WORLD'S SMALLEST JUNGLE

This must certainly be an oceanside jungle - in spite of the humidity, the smell of salt on the air is strong. Brilliant greens and the occasional bright flowers, accompanied by island birdsong... It could be a nice place to spend an afternoon. There's not even that many bugs that want to drink your blood (though bugs in general are, well, quite plentiful).

Eventually, though, however far you go, you'll reach the beach and be met with the expanse of the ocean - blue, uncaring, and real big. While one side of the little island thankfully has land visible in the distance, the outer side just overlooks a near-endless expanse of blue. If you're a very good swimmer, you could probably make your way to land past the rocks of the reef itself... Otherwise, though, you might be just a bit stuck on your jungle island paradise.

At least until someone brings a boat.

OPTION THREE: SHIPWRECK

Both above and below the waterline are the remains of ships crashed upon the rocks, just waiting to be explored. Even though it has clearly been an incredibly long time, the chunks of wood and metal are still in fairly good condition, and the chance of finding something nice tucked in with them among the rocks is surely tempting to anyone with an adventurous spirit.

The wrecks beneath the waves also grow coral and seaweed, and provide havens for larger fish, dragon eels, and sharks. Those along the rocks above the waterline, on the other hand, provide a home for seabirds of all varieties. Most notable is the hulking shell of a shipping craft in the distance, looking very much modern if ruined by some centuries of exposure...

For right now, though, you'd best contend with the flotsam a bit closer to you, and the wildlife that might not take too kindly to your exploring. Below the waterline, the dragon eels found in a few places don't take kindly to being disturbed; above, you might run afoul of some overprotective seabirds protecting their nests. Maybe even an invisible seagull (normal sized) - how ridiculous would that be?

Comments

[shikosuki]

I... Is that even possible? That a mer can't change back on land?

[ Yes Choromatsu it's called normal ass non-Ryslig mers ]

[karappo]

I...I don't know?

[Honestly, even having known mermaids- having his own brother be one- Karamatsu doesn't know a whole lot about them, in or out of fiction. He shakes his head a little, starting to walk back towards the shore's edge proper with Choromatsu.]

Choromatsu, how did this happen? What do you remember? Did you ask Mana for something...?

[founderinglight]

[???]

I'm afraid I don't know what you mean.

[shikosuki]

I haven't talked to her at all! [ Also don't mind him he's just going to wrap his arms around your neck to hold on better ] The last time she helped me change was just that, the last time.

I just woke up like this underwater. I thought maybe someone else had asked her to change me or something...

[karappo]

...

[Karamatsu goes silent, staring hard at the water as he wades into the shallows up to his knees.]

That is strange. I woke up in a jungle...back a bit away from here. No place I recognize.

[fistsofchange]

Mars, like...the planet?

[Not ALL science was lost.]

[nonono7]

Right! The fourth planet. I am a certified Martian!

[shikosuki]

[ The water starts to hit his tail dangling over Karamatsu's arms and... shit, that feels nice. Karamatsu might be right that he needs water... ]

...Have you seen the others?

[fistsofchange]

That's so cool! They say the ancients walked on the moon, but there's nothing about people on OTHER planets!

Phi | Zero Escape & Trustfell 4 CRAU

[plentyfriendly]

Clear your mind before you swim

[At this point, Phi has long since accepted that returning to awareness at an unknown place and time is just a thing that happens to her, no thanks to some people.

That doesn't mean that suddenly being blue, gilled, and legless is something she's going to welcome with it; the scaled, finned tail she's stuck with is a lot more flexible than she'd expected it might be and she's struggling to move without flipping around uncontrollably. At least she's... well, she can't really call it breathing, now, can she?]

downed but not even close to out

[The shipwreck is interesting, but she's from both of the wrong Zero Escapes to have any connection to one on a personal level. This one is intact enough that she can rest her arms and get her head above water, though. She'd expected her lungs to still work, at any rate, and she's not wrong.]

Ow.

[Wait. Huh?]

What was tha-

[There it is again. She flinches.]

Hey! Cut it out!

[Is... she pinning this on you, you bet she is.]

[karappo]

...I have not.

[He exhales, slowly sinking to sit in the water with Choromatsu laying across his lap.]

You are the first I have come across. I am hoping that if we somehow wandered far from Bavan and ended up here, they are still back at the house.

[Well...those that remain, anyway.]

[nonono7]

[ She zooms away like. A hundred feet, in half a second or so.

The birds flock around confused for a moment, then converge on Pidonus. ]

[shikosuki]

I... see...

[ He lets himself relax in the water, not let moving to leave Karamatsu's lap and swim off. It's nice... it feels like when you finally get to drink water after having a parched throat or taking a nap after crankily trying to deny yourself one for hours. ]

...I thought if I swam to shore I'd be back on the peninsula and could just head back to Bavan on my own. Catch a bus or something. But showing up here, I...

I can't even see it on the horizon. I can't see anything but this island.

[karappo]

No, I...you are right.

[...but that can't be, can it? As crazy as things have gotten, if they're still...well. Monsters like this, then they have to be in Ryslig still, somewhere.

Right?]

Perhaps this is...some sort of illusion cast upon us by the gods. To make it seem like we are isolated on an island, non?

Jailbreak | OC

[nor_iron_bars]

I.
[Some people might be worried to realize that they've woken up very far from home, on a tiny chunk of a wrecked ship still floating along the waterline, with no idea how they got there.]

[Some people might be worried about public indecency, and not respond to a lack of a bathing suit in this situation by stripping down to a gas mask and nothing else.]

[Some people might be extremely worried once they stripped down, got into the water to try swimming around and exploring the submerged parts of the wreck, and found themselves suddenly swapping legs for the back half of a fifteen-foot-long sea snake tail, along with growing webs between their fingers on their still-otherwise-human upper half.]

Ahahaha oh my God, I'm a fish! This is fucking hilarious!

[Aaaand then there's Jailbreak.]

Hey, hey asshole, I'm a fucking mermaid now, check it out! Wanna see me do a flip?

[To her credit, she does do a pretty impressive flip out of the water as she launches herself up and dives back in, regardless of whether whichever unfortunate bystander she just asked actually wanted to see her do a flip or not, laughing delightedly the whole time.]

[At least someone's having fun.]

II.
[If you meet her later, inside the depths of the wrecked ships, she seems... at least marginally more focused, cautiously examining everything with a curious eye, muttering to herself.]

[If she spots you, she'll give a reasonably friendly wave and ask:]

Hey there, find anything good?

III.
[Got any other prompts? Put them here, I'd love to try them.]

1.

[nor_iron_bars]

Well, my first guess was that I was drunk as balls today, but if you're seeing this too I'm guessing that was wrong.

[Here's a familiar face, Faith- with a much less familiar tail trailing off behind here.]

[Jail appears to be taking the whole thing pretty cheerfully, although she is blatantly keeping an eye on the surroundings in case something tries to attack them.]

Clear your mind

[nor_iron_bars]

Uh, hey, want a hand?

[If Phi looks to her left, she'll come face to... face-half-covered-by-a-gasmask with a woman who appears to be part sea krait, although she looks pretty relaxed about it at the moment.]

Legs look like they've fucked off for the day, but I can definitely still offer hands right now.

1

[fistsofchange]

[Lin was somewhere inbetween a mermaid and a human. A fish girl of sorts.]

Plenty of schools of fish!

[A weak laugh at her own weak joke reveals a mouth full of razor sharp shark teeth]

But, uh, no schools for people, no.

I.

[herolytical]

[ Izuku was just starting to get used to having fins and swimming around, trying to explore around when a loud voice called out nearby and he looked over to see someone actually go out of the water amidst a rather decent flip before coming back down. All while she was still laughing.

Well. At least someone was enjoying this, right?

Her attitude reminded him vaguely of Bakugou, but with a mix of something akin to Kaminari at the same time. He opened his mouth to respond but immediately realized this woman wasn't wearing anything beyond that gas mask which had this particularly awkward teenage boy turning a nice shade of red as he tried not to stare at her too much. ]

I-I uh... that... um... flip was.. nice. I don't think... I-I could do that... no...

[ Oh god he could die of embarrassment right now. ]

Tiernan | Eberron OC

[character_box]

Option 1: Not this again...

[Is this the Plane of Shadows again? Last time he was dumped into the ocean, though, it wasn't kind enough to polymorph him to suit. On the other hand, last time, he wasn't alone.

How had something caught him and left the rest of his group behind?

The slim, white and black striped tentacles replacing the half-elf's legs go entirely black for a few moments in response to his wary caution before he notices and forces back the excessively threatening camouflage reaction. Interesting, though... Suitable, he can't argue that.

Tiernan turns some attention to his telepathy as he begins to make his way carefully through the water, seeking any other sapient minds nearby. Even if he doesn't find a potential ally, he will hopefully at least find a source of information.]

I swear, if this is the Plane of Shadows again...



Option 3: He's an adventurer by trade, okay?

[Tiernan gets the hang of the odd properties of his new form fairly quickly. Mostly, he's taken to the lionfish imitation or blending his colors into the sea floor. It makes it nearly as easy to get around undisturbed as an Invisibility spell and it doesn't have a limited duration.

He very much wants to go check out that larger, curiously constructed craft out there, but he's adventurous, not stupid. The chances of there being something there he can't handle alone are a little too high.

So instead he is combing through the smaller, closer wrecks and their debris.

Of course he manages to piss off one of the dragon eels. At least it's a relatively small one? Tiernan throws himself backwards through the water as it snaps at him, and suddenly there are three of him there. They all mumble something and throw an icy javelin, though only one of the spell weapons seems to still be there when they hit the creature.]

Ah... I can most likely handle this, but a little help would not go unappreciated?



Wildcard

[Feel free to just run into him! His telepathy is limited; he can't actually read your thoughts unless you're pushing them at him, he can just sense minds within a hundred feet of him.]

[herolytical]

Y-Yeah. Something must have caused it that I don't know about, but if that's the case...

[ Now it's really clicking that she's here with him. Underwater AND speaking to him as if it was nothing at all. ]

How are YOU able to breathe down here? O-Or even talk to me without drowning?!

[nor_iron_bars]

[This poor kid. As if the teenage years weren't hard enough already.]

[Mercifully, her body from the waist down appears to be entirely snake-like. If there's anything objectionable by human decency standards down there, it doesn't seem to be showing up under all those pretty black and silver scales. But back up on the top half, those sure are some boobs, all right. A decent amount of muscle, too, she's pretty well-built for a ridiculous disaster of a woman.]

Aw, I'm sure you'd figure it out with a little practice. All this mermaid crap takes some getting used to, but it's not bad.

[Jail shrugs casually, apparently equally unbothered by the situation and his embarrassment.]

Probably gonna want legs back eventually, though, so I should start trying to figure this shit out. Don't suppose you got any clue about all this?

[motherfucking_ghost]

We can practice once we're home. [Affection he shall have, arm around him, other hand lifting to brush back wet and wild violet hair.] If we're sure magic brought us here, then magic can bring us back. Right?

[motherfucking_ghost]

I just wanna find sunken treasure. That is like the only positive thing I feel like I can get out of this. Other than meeting back up with you guys, I mean, obviously.

[motherfucking_ghost]

And I'm not really a mermaid, but here we are, manatee and merman. You're adorable.