phantasmods: (Default)
Phantasmal Rift Mods ([personal profile] phantasmods) wrote in [community profile] phantasmemes2018-07-12 11:56 pm
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TEST DRIVE 005

Hello and welcome to the fifth 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 time, the Test Drive takes place in Incendia - a less-ruined-than-expected city that has been abandoned for over a century, due to the magical effects of the Fissure (unstable reality region) that have made it impossible to live in. What effects are these, you ask?

Well...

BY DAY

By day, the city is lovely, if oddly empty. The sun shines down, and magical lights along the sidewalk - the equivalent of power lines - flow energy throughout the city. It's possible to think that the little sparks you sometimes see at the corner of your vision are related. After all, there's a great deal of magic in the air...

But in spite of this, the city lies abandoned, for no immediately apparent reason. You might have found yourself in a wide-open shipping yard, where large metal containers levitate about, moving without any help or oversight from human hands. Be careful; these containers changing positions make it easy to get lost for quite a long time, since few of them have much in the way of identifying traits over than color. Didn't you already pass that arrangement of two red ones on top of a blue one before...?

Or perhaps you're in the massive park in the center of town, with its blatantly magical fountain (a half-dome of water just hanging in the air) and the tents of an abandoned festival. Two stages and a long line of street food booths stand empty - surely no one will mind if you use them for something, right?

Or perhaps you're just suddenly on the streets, among stalled-out taxis and cars that go nowhere and lack the familiar smell of gasoline. There's apartments and shops all around, with little gardens spilling out over balconies... Maybe if you go knock on some doors, you'll find people.

Wherever it is you are, surely there's got to be someone around who can tell you what's going on, right...?

BY DUSK

As night falls, rather than dropping the way you might expect, the temperature begins to rise. And then the sparks in the edges of your vision are very much more than simply at the edges of your vision. They catch first on the plants, the papers stuck to the now-lit magical streetlights, the trash cans... And then, increasingly so, on the buildings proper, the shops, the skyscrapers, the cars in the street.

Within half an hour, an inferno is starting to build, and it's clear that there's not going to be anywhere above ground safe from it. But fortunately, there's safety beneath the level of the streets - if you can make your way fast enough to an underground station.

BY NIGHT

In the remains of these subway tunnels, lit mostly by the dim glow of magical energy lines, you're at least safe from the inferno above. Unlike the aboveground parts of the city, however, the tunnels are in an obvious state of disrepair, with broken concrete, rot, and mildew. The stations might have once been clean, but they quite transparently are not now, and the tunnels themselves are as bad or worse.

Thankfully, no trains run anymore, so you're not at risk of being run down on the broken tracks. There's also not any full-on collapses blocking the way, and the tunnels seem well-enough made that there's probably not risk of a cave-in.

Less pleasantly, you aren't the only thing taking shelter in the tunnels from the firestorm above. And the magic of that flame has touched the feral dogs that rove the tunnels, turning them into barking, howling creatures of as much flame as flesh themselves. And then there's the occasional patch of mold, mildew, and slime in the darkest parts of the tunnels, where even the magical circuits have gone out, that moves to douse any light that comes near it...
misplacedxsheath: (Hmmm...I'll consider it.)

[personal profile] misplacedxsheath 2018-07-14 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
I see...is anything known about the purpose of our arrival, or the intentions of the being responsible?
einherjarista: (Default)

[personal profile] einherjarista 2018-07-14 01:32 am (UTC)(link)
[ Bye puppos.

Signe's rapier turns into... not her spear again, but a moving mass of silvery liquid. It then kind of fwoops into an open flask at her hip.

She sighs. Deeply. ]


Different universes.

...How many people are here, anyway? [ He mentions a brother and some others. ]
founderinglight: ([my place plz])

[personal profile] founderinglight 2018-07-14 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
[Honestly, Eizen, that's not even the weirdest people in residence.]

The station's large enough but it's starting to come close to capacity. Though a few people have vanished back through the rifts they came from - we were almost at sixty at one point.

...Mostly human, before you ask, though a large portion have some sort of magical or other supernatural talent. The rest are quite the odd assortment including another android of sorts, several demons, a spirit or two, and a talking cat.

[Really, it's a List.]

Izunia, by the way.
misplacedxsheath: (Am I supposed to be impressed?)

[personal profile] misplacedxsheath 2018-07-14 01:38 am (UTC)(link)
It's the first time I've heard of another version of myself, but one gets used to the idea when they spend enough time exposed to the multiverse and its whims.
hairpincurves: (we're knocking at your door)

[personal profile] hairpincurves 2018-07-14 01:40 am (UTC)(link)
At this point, there's just a bunch of speculation. The idea that something's pulling us here on purpose is new, even to the androids at the research station that've been housing us.
einherjarista: (why are you like this)

[personal profile] einherjarista 2018-07-14 01:41 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah. [ This is an alien, she definitely falls under the rules of "don't need to hide shit from." Not that that mean Signe is going to explain anything, though. ]

So, being the only two people left in this city (possibly,) let's get to know each other. Do you have a name?
shipoutofluck: (009)

[personal profile] shipoutofluck 2018-07-14 01:43 am (UTC)(link)
[See, most of those he barely even blinks at, but demons... Not that he's a stranger to living with daemons, but...]

And that... works?

[Usually people have Problems with that.]

...Eizen.
hairpincurves: (we're knocking at your door)

Night

[personal profile] hairpincurves 2018-07-14 01:45 am (UTC)(link)
[She is.... definitely raising her eyebrows at the size of that book. Holy fuck, dude.

... She's not about to interrupt though, so she'll quietly sit down nearby. And maybe... just set a can of 1Up near this kid's elbow.]


I'm not sure anything could account for being yanked to another world or whatever.
misplacedxsheath: (Hmmm...I'll consider it.)

[personal profile] misplacedxsheath 2018-07-14 01:48 am (UTC)(link)
I take it they're natives of this world, then?
founderinglight: ([hold])

[personal profile] founderinglight 2018-07-14 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
Pleasure.

[You should always know someone's name when you settle in to drink with them, right?

And oh hey look a bench, let's sit on the bench rather than trying to drink standing up. It's kinda rusty but hey, beggars can't be choosers.]


It works well enough. Once people adjust to the idea of other worlds, I think most everyone understands that people from other worlds won't be the same as them. There's been a few kerfuffles, but nothing major and it's mostly due to someone pushing on some unknown element of another's history that goes badly. I wouldn't even say most of them are intentional.
einherjarista: (walking disaster)

[personal profile] einherjarista 2018-07-14 01:50 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, it's one of those. [ Death and slaughter and then everything back to normal the next day, she's used to that. She's got that down pat. ]

Well, a hundred years isn't much to go on, but I guess I'll put my trust in it for now.
nojohnyouare: About to collapse. (tell me what you want me to say)

day

[personal profile] nojohnyouare 2018-07-14 01:55 am (UTC)(link)
[Mai freezes in the street. She walks over to him cautiously.]

Hello.
hairpincurves: (surrender the throne)

[personal profile] hairpincurves 2018-07-14 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
They are. Three of them came along to this Fissure, but I'm not sure where in the city they went off to...
einherjarista: (distracted by nothing)

[personal profile] einherjarista 2018-07-14 02:01 am (UTC)(link)
I hope I'd be pretty good at brewing coffee by now. Good to know I haven't lost my touch.

Signe Vågsnes.

What station are you staying at, by the way? Are there more people there?
misplacedxsheath: (Am I supposed to be impressed?)

[personal profile] misplacedxsheath 2018-07-14 02:10 am (UTC)(link)
I'll make a note to save my questions regarding the world in general for them, then. Are they obviously mechanical, or able to pass for biological beings?
blackestwitch: (let me talk at you)

[personal profile] blackestwitch 2018-07-14 02:12 am (UTC)(link)
I certainly hope I am. Otherwise things would be very awkward.

You look rough. [ Zel, being the sighted one here, has to state the obvious. ]

...Uh, you okay?
hairpincurves: ('cuz for every broken promise)

[personal profile] hairpincurves 2018-07-14 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
Said it right over the network in front of everyone, too.

[Maybe she'll dig up the post sometime to show him.]

Yeah, I don't think it's something anyone thinks they'd hear.

[She can't help but snort, rubbing the back of her neck.]

Nice to meet you. I'm sure we'll get along just fine.
thinkingwithmahous: (This is stupid)

[personal profile] thinkingwithmahous 2018-07-14 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
Oh I'm fine. Just need a minute.

Working on building up enough energy to care about moving.
misplacedxsheath: (You've begun wearing on my nerves.)

[personal profile] misplacedxsheath 2018-07-14 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
[He gives a not, just slightly curt...more professional than personal. His tone, though, is noticeably softer.]

Relax, I'm not looking to cause a scene.
nojohnyouare: Disaffected expression. (you are the space in my bed)

day

[personal profile] nojohnyouare 2018-07-14 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
[Mai appears behind him, looking in the window before shaking her head.]

New?
shipoutofluck: (010)

[personal profile] shipoutofluck 2018-07-14 02:20 am (UTC)(link)
It's still a strange assortment of people to live together. I'm surprised it's working out so well. Guess when you've got everyone united in some way...

[Like a crew.]

Fifty people or so. [He leans back. Then he pulls out his coin and starts flipping it.] That's an awful lot of potential for trouble.
nojohnyouare: Leaning against a swing set. (and what fades away)

night

[personal profile] nojohnyouare 2018-07-14 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
[Mai stands a few paces back, staring. Slowly, she claps.]

Good job. Dog-san... Strange. Upset.
blackestwitch: (thanks for coming to me ted talk)

[personal profile] blackestwitch 2018-07-14 02:21 am (UTC)(link)
....The entire city will be set on fire at nightfall.
hairpincurves: (surrender the throne)

[personal profile] hairpincurves 2018-07-14 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
Obviously mechanical. They're identical except for their scarves, same voice bank... Strange wears a light purple scarf, Up has a dark blue one, and Charm has a red one.
founderinglight: ([hold])

[personal profile] founderinglight 2018-07-14 02:30 am (UTC)(link)
It is. But even the most disruptive don't want to be the start of serious trouble - there's enough tensions alone between myself and my brother's family to start a full feud otherwise, nevermind the rest of the group.

[He takes a drink, and it won't be long before Eizen notices him fidgeting with something in turn - it seems to be a deck of thin metal cards?

Look, it seemed fitting. Now they just need someone with dice.]