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...
thecompletionofthings: Head-and-shoulders shot of actress Q'orianka Kilcher from 2005 (Default)

[personal profile] thecompletionofthings 2018-07-22 10:08 am (UTC)(link)
"Um." Harriet frowns. "I wish I had a backpack. Is there an empty store with backpacks? Anyway, yeah, the Gate, the Princes Beyond the Gate…you know, I don't understand half of what I used to, or what Nirv did anyway…" She shakes her head. "Sorry, forgive my rambling. I'm suffering a bit of reality shock, I guess. Uh, the Gateway of Sundraprisha is an aspect of shinma Nirakara, it divides form from non-form. The Princes Beyond the Gate are formless beings. They're assholes. Massive assholes. I helped beat one up today. Skipped lunch to do it. Thanks again for the kebab, mind if I take another?"
class_struggle: (Default)

[personal profile] class_struggle 2018-07-22 10:08 am (UTC)(link)
"Someone explained the basics to me, one of the ones who had weeks rather than hours to adapt," he says. "No thaumaturge by her own admission - she was a physician - but magic from my world is similar enough."

As long as he's down here, he puts his goggles on his scalp then puts his hand over his mouth, thinking.

"Folded and mutilated is more or less right," he says. "There are cracks in the fundament here - Fissures to other worlds. Some welcoming to Namers, which is where we came from; some not so much, such as the one that engulfs the city in elemental phoenix-fire every dusk."
fifthreplacement: (Standing)

[personal profile] fifthreplacement 2018-07-22 10:08 am (UTC)(link)
Heh. It was only an fonic arte, though admittedly one of my preferred ones. Not much can outrun lightning.

[Sync might heavily lean on his wind artes. Which includes the lightning ones thanks to Auldrant's odd elemental system]
thecompletionofthings: Head-and-shoulders shot of actress Q'orianka Kilcher from 2005 (Default)

[personal profile] thecompletionofthings 2018-07-22 10:16 am (UTC)(link)
"Huh." Harriet thinks about that. "Fuck. And me without a friendly possessing metaphysical principle to do the math and fix everything up. Fuck. Well, we play the cards we're dealt. At least I have some idea how I wound up here now." She holds up a hand. "Which I am not going to explain at the moment, because I don't think the puppies are friendly. Check your six."

There are in fact three hellhounds slinking out of the tunnel behind Alex.
hairpincurves: (are you in the shadows?)

[personal profile] hairpincurves 2018-07-22 10:25 am (UTC)(link)
Fonic arte, huh... that's a new one. Still pretty cool, though.

[All these different magic systems... how exciting.]

Don't I know it about lightning though...

[Thank goodness for Metaverse-induced sturdiness, she has probably taken the brunt of a number of electric skills that would leave a lot of regular people badly hurt.]
fifthreplacement: (Watching)

[personal profile] fifthreplacement 2018-07-22 10:31 am (UTC)(link)
Artes use fonons, elementally aligned energy particles. There's a couple of types of artes.

[The basics of them. Maybe fonons are unique to Auldrant, with how the planet was formed. Wouldn't surprise him, at this point. Things are too weird, Sync is already starting to reform his ideas of what should and shouldn't be]

Had a lot of unfortunate experience with it?

[Don't mind him, he's going to examine the dogs while they talk. He's curious to see if there's any real change to them or if their mutations were entirely magic instability]
hairpincurves: (surrender the throne)

[personal profile] hairpincurves 2018-07-22 10:55 am (UTC)(link)
What's the other type, then?

[She's going to pull out her water bottle from earlier to take another drink from it in the meantime.

The sparks running down their fur are still there, even though the dogs themselves are dead... the mutation is seemingly permanent.]


Enough to know I prefer not being on the receiving end of it. Shift around your elemental weaknesses constantly and something's gonna nail you in one eventually. I'm just lucky that I can take that kind of punishment better as a Persona-user than an ordinary human would...
fifthreplacement: (Watching)

[personal profile] fifthreplacement 2018-07-22 11:01 am (UTC)(link)
Fonic artes are the larger spells, with a couple of levels to them from basic to advanced. Strike artes channel fonons into the user's weapon, or body, letting it direct the fonons in the attack. Mystic artes are the largest of the spells, designed to do massive amounts of damage in a small time frame.

[The words come easily to him, and it's almost relaxing to remember the training he did to understand artes and how to use them. As he finishes looking over the dogs, he stands up again and stretches briefly]

Ouch. [He can sympathise. Sync might as well be considered wind-aligned as far as elements go, but he's been hit by a few lightning artes before. None of them were fun] What's a Persona?
hairpincurves: ('cuz for every broken promise)

[personal profile] hairpincurves 2018-07-22 11:23 am (UTC)(link)
I see...

[It's easy enough to understand, and she files that information away for reference.]

Versatility comes at a cost... [She shrugs.] Those things I summoned are called Personas. They're kind of like... well, I guess they're best described as aspects of one's self given form, a name, and power. Most Persona-users only have one at a time, but a Wildcard--that's what I am--can switch between several.
fifthreplacement: (Standing)

[personal profile] fifthreplacement 2018-07-22 11:28 am (UTC)(link)
Huh. Interesting.

[Also somewhat unnerving. Aspects of the user's self? Sync has no doubt in what one from him would be like. Hatred given form.

Despite that, he's still curious. It makes Akira, as she says, versatile. A versatile ally is a powerful one, as Sync himself knows]
You end up a Wildcard by chance, or was it something you learned?
thecompletionofthings: Head-and-shoulders shot of actress Q'orianka Kilcher from 2005 (Default)

Day

[personal profile] thecompletionofthings 2018-07-22 11:35 am (UTC)(link)
"Good question…"

The speaker is a teenage girl a little over five feet tall, tan-complected, clad in a black cap-sleeve T-shirt and blue jeans, who has just emerged from an alley not far in front of where Amethyst is standing. She eyes Amethyst's unusual choice of junk food dubiously, but doesn't comment on it.

"I gather you haven't been here any longer than I have? I'm Harriet."
hairpincurves: (surrender the throne)

[personal profile] hairpincurves 2018-07-22 11:38 am (UTC)(link)
[She fiddles with her gloves as she mulls over how exactly to answer the question.]

Chance as far as I know. It's not like anyone really goes in looking to become a Persona-user either, it just kinda... happens under the right circumstances. I still remember my awakening like it was just yesterday...

[Parts of her wishes she didn't--she doesn't like remembering Kamoshida's Palace at all if she can help it. But... the rush of power when she first summoned Arsene... for the first time in a long while, she didn't feel helpless... the thought's still just as exhilarating as it was back then.]
Edited 2018-07-22 11:39 (UTC)
fifthreplacement: (Watching)

[personal profile] fifthreplacement 2018-07-22 11:42 am (UTC)(link)
Heh. Lucky you. Or not so, depending, I suppose.

[He shakes his head, since he doesn't have enough of a frame of reference to say for certain and recognises that]

A good memory?

[That question is more curious than it ought to be. Sync doesn't have much experience with good memories. He has neutral ones at best. It makes him wonder, what it'd be like to have actual good memories, to think back on and not regret or wonder over in some way]
thecompletionofthings: Head-and-shoulders shot of actress Q'orianka Kilcher from 2005 (Default)

Day 2

[personal profile] thecompletionofthings 2018-07-22 11:48 am (UTC)(link)
"Any what?" Harriet says as she emerges from an alley leading into the plaza in front of the hospital.

She's—a teenage girl? Tan-complected, dressed with scandalous, almost frightening immodesty, all sorts of things visible that a young woman of gentle upbringing would never display, ankles and toes and arms bare to the shoulder for Heaven's sake. Pantaloons that hug every part of her physique. Heavily made up. Speaking English, but with a terribly provincial accent.

[OOC: She's wearing a black cap-sleeve T-shirt and blue jeans, open-toed sandals, and perfectly ordinary makeup for a 16-year-old girl of the early 21st Century. As for her accent, she's from California.]

"People?" she continues. "I can sense a few. Not many. You were the closest to where I arrived. Have you been here long?"
hairpincurves: ('cuz for every broken promise)

[personal profile] hairpincurves 2018-07-22 11:53 am (UTC)(link)
The lead-up was terrifying, to tell you the truth. [If it weren't for someone she'd met in this world, she'd still be seeing Shadow Kamoshida leering at her in her nightmares...] And I had a splitting headache immediately before... But afterward? It was amazing. Like... the biggest, most intense adrenaline rush I ever felt in my life, and feeling like I could do anything and nobody could stand in my way.

['Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all on thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself'...]

... Would you like to see my very first Persona?
fifthreplacement: (Lost in thought)

[personal profile] fifthreplacement 2018-07-22 11:56 am (UTC)(link)
...heh. That does sound good.

[For a moment, Sync almost seems wistful. That does sound like a good memory. It makes him think of the times he first got artes working, but even then that memory was tempered by Van constantly telling him to do better, learn more. He had no time to celebrate what he'd learned.

He shakes the memory off, before considering the question and nodding. His curiosity makes him want to. A little bit of it could almost be considered child-like]
Sure.
riderofcharlemagne: (i eat stickers all the time dude)

[personal profile] riderofcharlemagne 2018-07-22 11:59 am (UTC)(link)
[He takes a good few bites before giving an approving nod.]

You're not half bad.

[He's contractually obligated to think Izunia the best cook, though.]
hairpincurves: (and tell me what you see)

[personal profile] hairpincurves 2018-07-22 12:04 pm (UTC)(link)
[She nods and smiles fondly, pulling her mask back down over her eyes.

She closes her eyes as the mask shimmers with--and then disappears into--that blue fire, swirling as it coalesces into a figure behind her. Arsene unfurls and stretches his wings, his devious grin blazing more intensely for a few moments.]


This is Arsene.
fifthreplacement: (Watching)

[personal profile] fifthreplacement 2018-07-22 12:08 pm (UTC)(link)
[Sync watches, unafraid of the flames or the figure as it forms into the Persona. Only the curiosity shows, watching the figure evenly]

Arsene, huh. That's quite the Persona.

[Even not knowing what this particular one could do (though from the name he wanted to think of fire, but wasn't going to assume), it was still impressive to be able to call a being forth like that]
bloodyashes: ([D] Hybrid)

[personal profile] bloodyashes 2018-07-22 12:13 pm (UTC)(link)
[Asch just nods, and for a minute he's quiet.]

...Ran into someone who told me that there's a base camp a little further along in the tunnels. Probably where everyone is sleeping through the fire, but it might be a better source of information.
fifthreplacement: (Glance away)

[personal profile] fifthreplacement 2018-07-22 12:16 pm (UTC)(link)
If there is, then probably.

[Sync doesn't make a move though. The last thing he wants right now is to be near people, considering his mood is starting to spiral back into the "why bother" frame of mind]
hairpincurves: (so look inside the mirror)

[personal profile] hairpincurves 2018-07-22 12:18 pm (UTC)(link)
He's been with me the longest out of any of the ones I've had.

[God, had it really just been five months, including her time here? It felt even longer.]

When it comes to elements, his specialty... well, the actual name is Curse, but it's basically darkness...
founderinglight: ([sketchyplaceholder])

[personal profile] founderinglight 2018-07-22 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
[He just tilts his head at her slightly.]

Nearly everyone in the family has had a unique color to their magic, yes.

[Well if she wants to come out with it she will.]
fifthreplacement: (Watching)

[personal profile] fifthreplacement 2018-07-22 12:23 pm (UTC)(link)
I was guessing fire, but I can see darkness. Curse sounds like an odd name for an element, I would've thought that would be more causing weaknesses in an enemy.

[Status ailments, and the like. But still, he's all the more impressed. Sync doesn't do much with the dark element, he's better with the four main elements]
bloodyashes: ([F] Sorry about him)

[personal profile] bloodyashes 2018-07-22 12:26 pm (UTC)(link)
And a better idea of their numbers. The islands had... maybe fifty? But a lot of people came and went.