phantasmemes | TEST DRIVE 004

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!test drive

TEST DRIVE 004

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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

i
[No.

Whatever this is, he's already done with it, like, before he even opens his eyes. It's actually worse when he opens his eyes.

Oh, the sight at first is fine, really! A coral reef? Clear beautiful water and sandy beaches? Reminds him of Alola. It's gorgeous, really. But he shouldn't be here. Unexpectedly. Out of the blue. Suddenly. When he thrashes for the surface, something holds him back, and it's the fact that his legs are no longer legs, just a long fishy tail, blue as his armor ever was, with pretty trailing ends he does. not. want. Swimming as a human is fine! He'd been in enough pools and oceans to get swimming. What is this fin bullshit???

He is, also, seemingly alone at first. Which also isn't right. By any means. He hurls himself at the surface, pulling himself along with drags of his arms, letting his tail dangle uselessly except for a few abortive twitches where he's got that urge to kick his legs. He'd been holding his breath since the feeling of water hit his face, and it hasn't hit him yet that he doesn't feel the burning need to breathe as he moves. All he knows is that his lungs need air and he does not have air.

When he breaches the surface, he gasps and heaves, despite, again, not actually needing to, arms flailing, tail also flailing up and out of the water in unglamorous splashes.

When he finally calms down--oh, let's be honest, he's not going to calm down, but when he's calmer anyway, he'll try to flag down any boats or other persons who may or may not be fish-like, because he needs information, and the question at the forefront is 'what the fuck'.]

ii
[There's little sadder than a beached sea critter. Unless it's a mermaid. Mermaids sitting on rocks and piers and beaches are hot, right? Like old sailor tales. (Heh. Tails.) Church managed to work his way to the island and hauled himself up onto the beach with his arms. They're nice arms. If anyone cares.

He's realized though that he can't just exist by dragging himself around on his arms. What if his tail dries out? What about stairs? Does this place have stairs? Is this just a tropical paradise? He's pretty sure he sees an old-ass shipwreck in the distance, so this place must have stairs in this world, just not here.

Despite being covered in sand, if anyone who stumbles on him wants to look, his back has an expansive design in black, and his chest has a bird with wings outstretched in blue, and down the inside of his right arm? Handwriting in black, some sort of Latin phrase.]

Fuck, I could use a bite to eat. How the fuck am I gonna get a coconut down? Maybe there's a crab I can crack open...

[Or you could, y'know, catch some fish, you mermaid fuck. At one point, before he ends up back in the ocean, because drying out actually really starts hurting his legs/tail, he looks contemplative at the offending fishiness. Rock in hand. I'm sure this is Fine.]

iii
[After being spooked by sharks that don't seem to want to eat him, and trying to get used to the idea that he doesn't need to breathe underwater--or really that he can breathe underwater--then it's time to explore, because fuck if he's gonna sit around and wait for answers to come to him. For long.

So shipwreck it is! Maybe it'll give him some clues. So long as he doesn't get eaten by eels. Fuck those guys. What if there's treasure, guys? Some Spanish galleons or something!!! Time to try and get into whatever's left of the cargo hold.]

[So, here's a familiar figure!

...Sort of. The hair is more Fantasy-Sweet length, and that tattoo certainly wasn't there before? (Also there's the whole half-octopus thing, that's definitely new, but, you know.)

Probably the most telling thing, though, is that the eyes of the man watching Church with a slowly growing expression of realization are bright Noctis-level blue, about the furthest thing from Ardyn's gold you can get.

...Of course, some people here might not be in a state to notice details such as that.]

[He can swim, and at some point, out in the middle of the water, you gotta swim. He has to try and figure out this tail bullshit. He's used to kicking his legs, not...fuckin...undulating his entire body, so it's still, uh. A work in progress.

So seeing a familiar figure is really quite nice thank god Ardyn's here with him!!! Nyoom, awkward undulation swimming as fast as he can straight into are you sure that's Ardyn?

The thought hits him mere moments before he collides with the tentacled figure. Hm. Tentacles. He was too tunnel vision to notice that before.]

[Yeah okay so he's getting tackled and - ]

Wrong twin!

[The response is basically automatic because god damn it he's trying to untangle immediately but tentacles have enough of a nervous system that they kinda? Have a mind of their own? And they wanna Hold Things.]

Leonard Lucis Caelum | Red vs Blue | it's another airlocked crau folks

take your fucking pick honestly

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