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...
motherfucking_ghost: (really shouldn't add to my confusion)

[personal profile] motherfucking_ghost 2018-07-13 06:44 pm (UTC)(link)
Well...I mean...my guess is magic because of course it would be, so try and predict that.
shipoutofluck: (007)

[personal profile] shipoutofluck 2018-07-13 06:47 pm (UTC)(link)
So we've got a capable lot, then? That does help the odds.

What about you?
founderinglight: ([my place plz])

[personal profile] founderinglight 2018-07-13 06:47 pm (UTC)(link)
Soon enough they'll be bringing down the house.

[This is definitely happening.

Also, Eizen, have you ever used an escalator before? Because there's escalators here, on the other side of a series of fare turnstyles that Izunia vaults over like it's not even a thing. (He doesn't even have to vault over them, he just does.)]
bloodyashes: ([F] Sorry about him)

[personal profile] bloodyashes 2018-07-13 06:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Almost unique.

[That's... probably agreement?

Asch sighs and pulls the pack onto his back properly.]


Do you live here, or...?
daughterofthemark: (09F. The unopened crimson jaws)

[personal profile] daughterofthemark 2018-07-13 06:48 pm (UTC)(link)
[Understandable!]

It is not truly magic, though I can understand how it would seem that way. It's an ability common to royalty in my world, known as an Order skill. Put simply, it is the power to inspire with words.
motherfucking_ghost: (ain't that something)

[personal profile] motherfucking_ghost 2018-07-13 06:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I count among the 'can fight and use magic' number, yeah. I might not be any good at the using magic part, but hey, I'm a noob.
motherfucking_ghost: (a: man my missions really suck)

[personal profile] motherfucking_ghost 2018-07-13 06:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Fuck no, I dropped into an ocean and was a mermaid for a while. And the city's abandoned.
theserpentsmiles: (Get back or just get out)

[personal profile] theserpentsmiles 2018-07-13 06:52 pm (UTC)(link)
Magic? [His particular version of Anime Nonsense is science-flavored, okay. Nagisa doesn't...dismiss the idea outright, but. Seriously? Magic?]
redmeguca: (Default)

[personal profile] redmeguca 2018-07-13 06:52 pm (UTC)(link)
So it's less making people do things, and more giving them a really stubborn suggestion?
comesaround: (▷ to work underneath me)

[personal profile] comesaround 2018-07-13 06:53 pm (UTC)(link)
[ There's just a moment in which he seems to let that sink in before he just starts laughing. Not in a bad way there, Nanashi. Just the way you speak so casually of things like that is just so entertaining. ]

Now that sounds like one hell of a world you've got there. Almost wish I could see it for myself now.
motherfucking_ghost: (a: man my missions really suck)

[personal profile] motherfucking_ghost 2018-07-13 06:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Seems like it. They're just fuckin' moving around on their own, not being pulled or like on moving platforms or anything. Fucking hate this magical bullshit everywhere. Makes a guy from somewhere with no magic at all feel out of place.

[Despite having magic, but that's beside the point.]
shipoutofluck: (012)

[personal profile] shipoutofluck 2018-07-13 06:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[He sure hasn't, so when they get there he stops and blinks, distracted from the punnery. That's new.]

...I can't say I've ever seen stairs such as these before.
shipoutofluck: (004)

[personal profile] shipoutofluck 2018-07-13 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Might want to stick to what you're already capable with for now.

But good. If we run into even more dogs than just now, I'd like to know you're prepared.
daughterofthemark: (04F. A soaring shadow above)

[personal profile] daughterofthemark 2018-07-13 06:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I would describe it as closer to an offer of support. If I gave you an Attack Order, and you then chose to attack an enemy, you would find that your spear struck with greater strength than normal.
founderinglight: ([sketchyplaceholder])

[personal profile] founderinglight 2018-07-13 07:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm surprised they're still running.

[Well, one of them is running, the side going up appears to be jammed.]

According to the natives, the city's been abandoned for some hundred years.
theserpentsmiles: (Who break their backs slaving every day)

[personal profile] theserpentsmiles 2018-07-13 07:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I...know what you mean.... [Magic. That's not something he'd ever expected to have to deal with. Sure, he's seen some miracles, but....science is science, and when it's advanced enough...] I'd thought it was some kind of mag-lev project, or experimenting with zero gravity, something like that.
bloodyashes: ([D] Hybrid)

[personal profile] bloodyashes 2018-07-13 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
[...Huh. Good to know.]

At least I'm not the only one just showing up here.
shipoutofluck: (001)

[personal profile] shipoutofluck 2018-07-13 07:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Can't imagine why they left.

[That dry observation aside...]

A city built to last. Even with the fire all but consuming it above ground. It's an interesting place. [He eyes the escalator again.] With interesting contraptions.
cyclicalconcept: (you are awesome...)

[personal profile] cyclicalconcept 2018-07-13 07:11 pm (UTC)(link)
...I was overthrown by a stronger concept, born from another magical girl's actions. Kaname Madoka was separated from me, and...

Like I said, it's complicated.

[Yeah she...she knows she will need to explain a little more.]
comesaround: (▷ doing the calculations)

[personal profile] comesaround 2018-07-13 07:11 pm (UTC)(link)
[ It's not immediately obvious but his expression seems to perk up a bit upon hearing that the other Akira's here, a soft chuckle escaping him afterward. ]

Engaged, huh? That sure didn't take long.

[ There's a bit of softness to his tone for a moment before he shook his head, seeming to mull over what he was told and humming a bit in thought. ]

An unstable crack in reality. That's not something I thought i'd hear but this certainly isn't the worst situation to be in.

[ A grin forms on his features then, hands in his pockets and 100% casual attitude about him as usual. ]

Karma Akabane. Hope we can get along as much as I do with your male counterpart.
redmeguca: (If you say so.)

[personal profile] redmeguca 2018-07-13 07:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, it's enhancement magic! What you were trying to do was enhance my willpower! That's fine, sorry about the death threat. Let's start over, my name's Sakura Kyoko.
theserpentsmiles: (Do you ever wish you weren't a prisoner?)

dusk but with more DRAMA because why not

[personal profile] theserpentsmiles 2018-07-13 07:14 pm (UTC)(link)
[He's only just retrieved his guidebook. Stashing it somewhere while exploring is all well and good until there's a chance that somewhere is about to be on fire. Books are notoriously susceptible to fire.

There's a familiar voice behind him. Sounds like Karma is here, too. At least there's that - together they can figure out what happened, once they're to safety-- but right as Nagisa turns, there's a minor explosion flaring out between them. There are still options, but Nagisa's most direct route is cut off.]

Karma?
redmeguca: (Default)

[personal profile] redmeguca 2018-07-13 07:15 pm (UTC)(link)
So, if you're just a part of Madoka, what should I call you?
founderinglight: ([hold])

[personal profile] founderinglight 2018-07-13 07:16 pm (UTC)(link)
The aboveground resets at dawn, but... Not so much down here, I suppose.

[Izunia for his art is going to step onto that auto stair without the slightest hesitation. Further down, presumably, it safer.]

It's called an escalator, by the way.
cyclicalconcept: (I think this is awesome)

[personal profile] cyclicalconcept 2018-07-13 07:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I've been going by Kana.

[She does smile, a little.]