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...
nojohnyouare: Ignoring Makoto being an idiot. (take me high and i'll sing)

[personal profile] nojohnyouare 2018-07-18 03:19 am (UTC)(link)
One large monster. Usually. The rest... Generally leave. Unless it's self-defence. Or hunting. But I don't see food animals yet. Other Fissures have things like crab-san. Or deer-san. ...Those also try to kill you.
bloodyashes: ([F] Sorry about him)

[personal profile] bloodyashes 2018-07-18 03:22 am (UTC)(link)
[That's about the shape of it. Asch sets his water canteen on the table with a sigh, and for a moment, he's quiet.]

...What good is a world that only ever lets you down?

[There's a subtle shift in accent and delivery, a rhythm to the speech that Ardyn will recognize as a quotation of his own even if the subtle bits of crossdimensional translation have rendered it into another language. Ten minutes of talking to him and it's easy to tell that Asch doesn't tend towards speech that smooth.

He runs a hand through his bangs.]


...I said I wouldn't. That I'd come back as many times as it takes, until he could believe that there were such people in the world again.
ax_iom: (My penance)

[personal profile] ax_iom 2018-07-18 03:25 am (UTC)(link)
... Thanks.

[She nods, hefting her own hammer.]

Your powers should make setting a campfire easy enough. All I can do is break things, though.
redmeguca: (The true me.)

[personal profile] redmeguca 2018-07-18 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
[Gulp]

Now that we're away from the fire, I'm going to try something.

[The skin glows red, and becomes significantly fancier. Red gold plating and Ruby insets. It's also magic now.]

This'll make it so it refills on it's own.

[It pulls and refines water from the air around it, but Kyoko doesn't know how it works.]
ax_iom: (What do you want from me?)

[personal profile] ax_iom 2018-07-18 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
If it's large, it should be easy to find.

Why are you calling them '-san'?
burninglight: (in a carousel of agony)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-07-18 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
[Ardyn visibly shuddered at the imitation, folding his arms across his chest as if to protect himself from something.]

That's...more than you should have had to deal with.
nojohnyouare: Looking out a window. ('cause it's so easy)

[personal profile] nojohnyouare 2018-07-18 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
...

[Mai's turning a little red, but she's not going to answer. Instead, she starts walking.]

You mentioned seeing others. Do you think everyone's down here already.
ax_iom: (My penance)

[personal profile] ax_iom 2018-07-18 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
[sorry kyouko this is how she does things]

Right... Seriously, though, quit it.
bloodyashes: (Default)

[personal profile] bloodyashes 2018-07-18 03:32 am (UTC)(link)
Maybe it is. But it's something I got to choose.

[And he doesn't think he needs to explain, to any version of Ardyn, what that means, why it has all the significance in the world.]
burninglight: (then i'll carry on too)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-07-18 03:33 am (UTC)(link)
Never said it wasn't.

[Sure enough, there wasn't the slightest argument.]
ax_iom: (My penance)

[personal profile] ax_iom 2018-07-18 03:34 am (UTC)(link)
... Right.

[how old are you, kid]

Probably. It's not like you'd miss the fire.
deicidii: (that once knew love)

[personal profile] deicidii 2018-07-18 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
[Well, that's all the invitation he needs to slip inside!]

... Man, I don't think I've seen this much fresh... anything before. It's incredible.

I'm pretty used to places being abandoned, but... never in this kind of condition.
bloodyashes: ([D] Hybrid)

[personal profile] bloodyashes 2018-07-18 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
[And there's no other real response to that, so Asch just.... lets the silence happen for a minute.

But, really, there's a question that Ardyn must know is coming.]


So how is it that you're -

[He just used a skewer to gesture at all of you.]
burninglight: (in a carousel of agony)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-07-18 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
Would you believe 'I got unwillingly kidnapped for intergalactic entertainment and shoved into a replicated human body'?

...Because I probably wouldn't, if I was the one being told that.
redmeguca: (B-baka...)

[personal profile] redmeguca 2018-07-18 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
I can't control it if we're a bit alike! How about you stop it, then!
nojohnyouare: Looking to the side. (to say it to you)

[personal profile] nojohnyouare 2018-07-18 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
...They can take care of themselves. But new people... Did you appear above ground? Or down here?
herolytical: (✎ 『 what shines the brightest 』)

[personal profile] herolytical 2018-07-18 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
Something about the idea of someone being able to use magic was absolutely fascinating to him but he couldn't focus on that. Even if his gaze did linger on the flames the other boy wielded. It was like watching a quirk in action, but consciously aware that's not what it was.

"Yeah. I have a friend who uses fire and it's pretty unpredictable and hard to control." Izuku murmured with a small nod of his head, unable to stop himself from jumping a little when that hammer was slammed down hard onto the ground. His senses were on edge so he wasn't going to let himself be caught by surprise by those things, but also paying attention to the other boy he was with.

When it came to his quirk it was a little hard to explain but perhaps he could keep it basic in it's overall explanation. "Ah... it's essentially something that allows me to have enhanced strength, speed and overall agility in battle. I can utilize larger feats of strength but that comes with a risk i'd rather not incur while i'm here and without the normal equipment i'd use."
bloodyashes: ([F] You saw NOTHIN)

[personal profile] bloodyashes 2018-07-18 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
...If I didn't come from a world where "the solution the ancients chose to avoid the toxic gas made out of hatred was just lifting the planet's entire crust ten miles into the sky" happened, I might have a leg to stand on not believing it.
burninglight: (and my heart starts vanishing)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-07-18 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
[That at least got a snort of laughter, bitter as it might have sounded.]

Surreal as the explanation is, I'm human now. Blood's red and everything.
foolishjustice: (This looks bad.)

[personal profile] foolishjustice 2018-07-18 03:44 am (UTC)(link)
I wanted to at first, but it's just...not really satisfying, if he thinks he deserves it.

[Among other reasons, but 'some other version of me apperently trusts you' only goes so far...and it's definitely not far enough to talk about vulnerable emotional details.]
ax_iom: (You gave me something)

[personal profile] ax_iom 2018-07-18 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
Me? I was above...
bloodyashes: ([D] Hybrid)

[personal profile] bloodyashes 2018-07-18 03:52 am (UTC)(link)
...Well, that's good, I guess.

[Sure, he'll take it.]
plentyfriendly: (phi$ make escape_plan)

[personal profile] plentyfriendly 2018-07-18 03:53 am (UTC)(link)
[The concern is appreciated - the heat is getting to her but she's careful despite the rush.]
burninglight: (and my heart starts vanishing)

[personal profile] burninglight 2018-07-18 03:57 am (UTC)(link)
[A shrug.]

It was a complex situation. I'm just content with the outcome.
nojohnyouare: Turning around. (you can't choose what stays)

[personal profile] nojohnyouare 2018-07-18 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
Then others might be up there too. [Which is probably why she's still walking, following the signs in the tunnels.] Unsafe.