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...
joyinastrangeplace: Jude Law as John Watson, holding a cane over his shoulder (Default)

[personal profile] joyinastrangeplace 2018-07-17 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh no...

He puts his hands up in a placating gesture.]


I assure you, I mean you no harm.

[She doesn't seem the type to abuse the recently deceased for her own amusement, and he doesn't really initiate violence with any other sort of person.]
ax_iom: (This hidden war)

[personal profile] ax_iom 2018-07-17 09:46 pm (UTC)(link)
Keep talking about the spirit.
joyinastrangeplace: Jude Law as John Watson, holding a cane over his shoulder (Default)

[personal profile] joyinastrangeplace 2018-07-17 09:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[This is concerning. Watson is very concerned.]

He is that which has died by the Black Plague long ago, a doctor turned victim.

[He takes a very careful step backwards.]

He found me, dying from my wounds, and granted me a second chance at life.

[Definitely NOT the time to mention how he has to occasionally sew bits of himself back on.]

redmeguca: (Default)

[personal profile] redmeguca 2018-07-17 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)
I last saw her over there.

[Pointing in whatever direction it is she came from.]

I'd better get back to looting this place now that you've calmed down a bit. See ya around.
nor_iron_bars: Enjoy such liberty (Default)

[personal profile] nor_iron_bars 2018-07-17 09:55 pm (UTC)(link)
I mean, the part of the population that's still out here instead of off in stasis has been pretty useful so far. You know, all six of 'em.

[She steps a little closer and pats Lily on the shoulder with her usual cheerfully blithe sympathy, not letting on how much that tiredness worries her.]

We don't gotta, the work's volunteer-only. But if you don't go exploring, you're gonna miss the chance to see how much interdimensional trash I can stuff in my pockets. Last time I brought back a soda machine.

Whaddya say? Wanna see if we can find something cool?
hotshot_momma: (Default)

Anna Lin | Bliss Stage | NGL She's Mostly Headcanon

[personal profile] hotshot_momma 2018-07-17 09:55 pm (UTC)(link)
1 - Day - Do you want to save your soul, take back all the things that you know?
[The woman - no. The tall young lady with the sharp features and the scar on her cheek and nose brushes a stray strand of hair back from her face, then shrugs into her bomber jacket. It's on top of a curious outfit - a wetsuit, white on black, made sexless with strategic application of biker's plastic armor sewn into the fabric where it can do the most good.

Oh, and there are brass oak leaves on her collar. Modern types would recognize that as a USMC Major. Yet she can't be more than college age. Curious.

Her first reaction to the unfamiliar skyline - and the moving pallets is to put two fingers to an invisible radio and speaking to the other end:]


Baker, this is Major Lin. Tell me this is a Dive.

...Baker? Nothing?

Shit.

[Nothing for it then but to scowl and explore - and hope the warehouse of moving pallets she's mentally mapping doesn't shift too aggressively on her. She's on the watch for strangers, or dangers, or both in one convenient package.]

2 - Dusk - Will someone come save us from this storyline of mass destruction?
[If you're caught slack-jawed and staring at the rising wall of flames, you're liable to get clotheslined by five feet, ten inches, and 165 pounds of muscular teenage girl dragging your ass to shelter.]

Into the subways, doubletime! Look alive or be dead, that fire's not stopping for anyone!

[She means well, honest.]

3 - Night - Waiting, we're waiting, for a superhero intervention
[Major Lin isn't waiting for the dogs to find her; she's looking for group if she hasn't found one, and is taking point, with a heavy pistol - a Glock 17, for those in the know - held at her hip, pointing at nothing that couldn't use a hole in it, and a flashlight clipped to her shoulder.

She gestures the people behind her - all clear. She moves up after the others have.]


No more dogs yet, but we're nowhere near in the clear. Think we can find a good place for a campfire down here?

[This role seems to come naturally to her, even if she doesn't look particularly happy about it.
Do the others fall in line?]
redmeguca: (The hell?)

Dusk

[personal profile] redmeguca 2018-07-17 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Ack!

[Kyoko's caught off guard by the tackle, but quickly recovers. She gets her legs moving quick enough to keep up with Anna.]

Uh, yes Ma'am! Right on it!

[...Where did that come from?]
hotshot_momma: (Anna  Lin)

Night

[personal profile] hotshot_momma 2018-07-17 10:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Save it. Got my own supplies. But I appreciate the foresight.

[The young woman here - deceptively tall and tough looking, much like Asch - smiles a bit. But only a bit.

Her outfit is just as strange; a bodysuit with armor over it, and a brown suede/white fake fur bomber jacket over that.]


Hand looks bad, though. Need any help with it?
ax_iom: (I have my own reasons)

[personal profile] ax_iom 2018-07-17 10:07 pm (UTC)(link)
That would make you... Undead? A zombie of some kind?

[she does not sound like that's a good thing!]
joyinastrangeplace: Jude Law as John Watson, holding a cane over his shoulder (Default)

[personal profile] joyinastrangeplace 2018-07-17 10:10 pm (UTC)(link)
[He's definitely not offended.]

I have my mind.

[He takes another step back.]

I do not wish to fight.
hotshot_momma: (Biggrin)

[personal profile] hotshot_momma 2018-07-17 10:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[Anna Just Be Like That Sometimes. It doesn't hurt that her advice is generally good, with something that might be experience when it grows up.]

Thattagirl. I'm taking point. Got a gun?

[Said as she draws her own. It takes some doing to march downstairs, but Anna manages.]
ax_iom: (You know me I can't be redeemed)

[personal profile] ax_iom 2018-07-17 10:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[She lets out a deep breath, letting her hammer fall to the ground.

The hammer's head makes a rather decent-sized crater where it impacts the ground.]


... Answer me honestly. If I find out you lied to me later, neither of us are going to enjoy what happens next.

Are you dangerous to anyone?
redmeguca: (Default)

[personal profile] redmeguca 2018-07-17 10:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I've got a spear, and I'm damn good with it too. It's got a chain running through it, so I can split it off at a bunch of different points for more range.
hotshot_momma: (:|)

Night

[personal profile] hotshot_momma 2018-07-17 10:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[There's a gun at his head for two seconds.

Then it's at this woman's - no, on closer inspection, young lady's - hip, not holstered but not pointing at anything living.]


Sure this is a safe place to rest, kid? I almost took you for one of the Drones, or whatever the flamedogs are.

[Although, as the girl in the bomber jacket and the armored jumpsuit looks around, she seems to come to the conclusion that she could do much worse, and slumps down to join him.]

Got any food? I can share mine.
Edited (bracketing) 2018-07-17 22:18 (UTC)
joyinastrangeplace: Jude Law as John Watson, holding a cane over his shoulder (Default)

[personal profile] joyinastrangeplace 2018-07-17 10:20 pm (UTC)(link)
[He lets out a breath.]

Yes.

[She asked for honesty, and he is dangerous. There are things he can do, if pressed, that can do harm.]

But so are you. You choose not to hit everyone you see with your hammer, and I choose the same.
hotshot_momma: (:disdain:)

Day

[personal profile] hotshot_momma 2018-07-17 10:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I might as well ask you, kid.

[You could be forgiven for thinking she's a woman, but her face isn't quite that sharp yet. But she does turn, snuffing a cigarette.

...is she seriously in a wetsuit with biker armor and a bomber jacket. More to the point, is the biker armor sewn to the wetsuit?]


It's a city. Abandoned. No one here but us fresh heads of cabbage in the fucking grocery stores, anyway.

I'm expecting to wake up any moment now.
hotshot_momma: (:disdain:)

Night

[personal profile] hotshot_momma 2018-07-17 10:29 pm (UTC)(link)
What were you expecting? A gazetteer of fuckin' - Inferno USA?

[Says the young lady - well, okay, teenager - with the bomber jacket/wetsuit/armor combo, busy shaving off thin slices of dried sausage for something she's cooking over a small wok.]

Unless you're one of the natives, I guess. Then that might be reasonable.

...how's your knifework? Or your dishwashing.
hotshot_momma: (:Off Balance:)

[personal profile] hotshot_momma 2018-07-17 10:33 pm (UTC)(link)
Holy shit. That works. [And Anna lets her pass, falling into step behind her as they go down.]

Right. You take point, I'll cover you. Keep anything that jumps us 21 feet away from me.

[Flashlight: on. And then, clipped to her armor.]

I'd ask where a teenage girl picked that up but -

[She gestures at herself with a do I look like I have room to fucking talk expression.]
redmeguca: (Default)

[personal profile] redmeguca 2018-07-17 10:39 pm (UTC)(link)
On it, if anything shows up I'll make sure you have line of fire while I'm fighting it.

...I'd ask why I'm even following your orders, but they make sense, so you probably have some combat experience. I'm Sakura Kyoko, Kyoko Sakura in Western order.
hotshot_momma: (:Off Balance:)

Dusk, sup tabletop friend

[personal profile] hotshot_momma 2018-07-17 10:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh good, someone who she doesn't need to strongarm. And yet.]

You look pretty fucking calm about this.

[The wom- young lady turns, points with one hand, and starts her march.]

...Subways. Heat and smoke rise. They're our best chance.
hotshot_momma: (:Off Balance:)

Day 2, this is Merry's canonmate

[personal profile] hotshot_momma 2018-07-17 10:43 pm (UTC)(link)
[There's some kind of spooky action at a distance happening here - directed by what, to Anna, is an old man.

...Well okay, not old. But still, a man, not a boy. That raises questions.

The perhaps college-aged woman in curious armor over a curious skin-tight bodystocking takes her cigarette out of her mouth and walks over.]


Okay. I'll bite, Magic Man. What are you looking for?
ax_iom: (What do you want from me?)

[personal profile] ax_iom 2018-07-17 10:45 pm (UTC)(link)
... Heh.

[She laughs, but it's... totally mirthless. She doesn't find it funny at all!]

You've got me there. Who are you, anyway?
ax_iom: (You know me I can't be redeemed)

[personal profile] ax_iom 2018-07-17 10:46 pm (UTC)(link)
... Heh.

[Calmed down, huh?

Her hammer dissipates into nothingness.]


See you around, then. Kyouko, right?
hotshot_momma: (:smile:)

[personal profile] hotshot_momma 2018-07-17 10:51 pm (UTC)(link)
[She barks a single laugh at some combat experience and manages to split the difference between greetings - bowing her head and shoulders, properly, but also extending a hand to shake.]

Lin Jie Bai, Anna Lin in the states. [A Mandarin Chinese name.] And yeah. "Some combat experience."

[She grabs her lapel and flashes it: a single brass oak leaf.]

These were more for base morale than anything, but on paper I'm a Major, and practically, I was the CAG at my base back home. You'd probably call that a wing commander. This isn't my first rodeo. This isn't even my first apocalypse.
Edited (shit I thought of a better line) 2018-07-17 22:52 (UTC)
redmeguca: (Default)

[personal profile] redmeguca 2018-07-17 10:55 pm (UTC)(link)
That's right. And remember, dwelling on the past doesn't help anyone, especially yourself. If you want things to change, you gotta go out and change them.