TEST DRIVE 005

[phantasmods]

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...

Comments

Meredith Baker | Bliss Stage | Tabletop OC

[hurt_comforting]

1 - Day - All that's here is what you left behind
This place reminds Meredith Baker more of San Francisco than of Oakland, but it's clearly neither. The skyline is all wrong. The signs, too - which aren't in English, yet she can read them; and being able to read them at all rules out dreaming.

Which is more comforting than it ought to be.

She pulls her jacket around herself tighter and heads into the stores, one hand discreetly tucked into a holster hidden under her sash. She's gotten good at separating treasure from trash, and prioritizes things of immediate practical value - she has a checklist, a real one, that she refers to. Into the All The Pretty Little Horses - branded backpack they go. Shelf-stable foods, useful tools, toiletries, batteries, packets of seeds... she has a system.

"Where is everyone?" she asks, not expecting an answer.

2 - Day - I will carry you and give you life
The impossible fountain makes her frown and pinch herself; all she gets out of it is pain. That just raises further questions.

Well. This fairground is a good place to camp for a while, cook for a while. Salvage was always thirsty and hungry work. Walking, tiresome. Her boots were made for walking, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't get off them once in a while.

So she does, behind a kebab stand, where she proceeds to carefully check the food inside it - distressingly fresh, but she's not worrying about it yet - and start to cook some chicken and vegetable skewers, singing to herself. The Arcade Fire, in fact.

"Sleeping is giving in, no matter what the time is..."

3 - Dusk - I will cover you and show you the way
Hahaha yeah no, Merry's not rescuing anyone. Stronger than she looks isn't 'strong.' But she is stationed at a station, taking people down, making sure they're unhurt, and rummaging in her pack for three things: Water, packets of salt and sugar, and burn cream - mostly aloe.

She opens up a bottle of water, dumps in the electrolyte mixture, and shakes it up - then takes a sip to make sure the balance is right (and assuage paranoia), then hands it to the latest newcomer.

"Drink this," she says. "It will get water into your system faster than the water alone."

4 - Night - I'm the night sky, I'm the fire in your eyes
...Merry's flashlight falls on a monster and she recoils. She's absolutely caught it's attention.

A flaming dog? May as well call the thing a hellhound, then.

"Nice doggy, good doggy," she says soothingly, palms up.

It snarls and tenses up. Merry tenses up too, backpedaling, hand in her sash, and - ah.

"Well, I tried the soft touch," she says dully, as she raises her police pistol.

Night

[joyinastrangeplace]

[What a strange gun. Smaller than he's used to, probably, if he's mostly seen old service revolvers or rifles. The woman likely knows how to use it, however, and so he does not remove the sword from the cane, instead standing with it half-unsheathed.
He's in more shadows than he should be.]

Some things cannot be soothed.

They do remind of home, however. More than the city itself.

[The animal must be in pain from all the fire. It is like rabies, some part of him thinks.]

I am assuming you do not need help with that?

CW man on animal violence

[hurt_comforting]

Oh, I'd appreciate any help I can get, but I can handle a gun just fine.

[She glances back to the man - a man, not a young man; she doubletakes for a moment - and her eyes fall on his sword.]

You're probably best off fighting at range, though. We've had enough burns for one day.

[One of the hellhounds jumps. She fires, both hands on the grip making the gun hop instead of buck - and again once it's back in place. For all the police 9mm is a small gun, it's a respectable one, and there's a yip of pain and one set of dog-shaped flames limps back. The other growls.]

Re: CW man on animal violence

[joyinastrangeplace]

[A warning shot? Meant to maim, instead of kill? He is not sure.]

Your concern is appreciated, but utterly unnecessary.

[As long as they're not trying to kill the dogs outright, he keeps the sword as is.]

Now, I believe I can scare the dogs off, but I would prefer not causing you to run as well.

[Is she police? Watson has never met a mundane policewoman before, at least not one who admits her gender.]

[[OOC: Watson has a gheist, a spirit that lives in his head and can manifest itself and gives him powers. I have no idea if that would scare the dogs, and I also don't want to step on any toes, since last time I rped with any frequency there were people who had a habit of godmodding other people.]]

Re: CW man on animal violence

[hurt_comforting]

[[OOC: We talked about it in PM, but for the benefit of onlookers: weapons free my dude.]]

I'd like to get out of here without blood on my hands... that said, I'd also like a pony, and that's not happening.

[In other words, "do what you must and I won't blame you."

The other lunges, too close for comfort; the woman - no, young lady - sidesteps with obvious terror in her eyes but tracks the gun and fires down. At this range, though, it's a miss, and it bounds back and up. If he's offering help, now is the time.]

Re: CW man on animal violence

[joyinastrangeplace]

Hm, bloodshed.

[He sounds distracted, and the sword has vanished, replaced by a battered looking black medical bag. He looks at it, gripping it just a bit too tightly.]

Control yourself.

[Solid shadow manifests itself behind Watson, an almost man-shaped Thing with a hooked, beaklike protrusion on its head, a wide, heavy coat and the idea of a wooden stick clutched in a hand. It steps through Watson, and waves the stick at the dogs, hitting one across the snout, seemingly unbothered by the flames. It is very old, and does not look entirely present.]

Shoo!

[The voice is Watson's, but in that moment, is not entirely his own.]

[hurt_comforting]

[Well, this certainly spooks the Bad Dogs. They have no idea what to make of it, and run, yelping, with their tails between their legs.

The girl, however, shrieks in fright herself, scrambling away.]

[[OOC: It's a shame I don't have the icons to show her terrified.]]

[joyinastrangeplace]

[[OOC: I have so few icons at the moment, it's a travesty]]

[Now, this is what he was afraid of. At least the dogs are gone.
He asks the plague doctor to disperse, and it does, if begrudgingly.]

I will not hurt you.

[He looks... almost normal, now, nice clothes a little bit singed but otherwise not terribly unusual. He is merely... a man with a medical bag. A doctor.]

[hurt_comforting]

And neither will your pet Nightmare?

[This is snarled... and then she looks down, shakes her head, pulls herself up.]

...that's not what it is, is it? And not fair to you. I'm a stranger here, why couldn't you also be from elsewhere? And the physics here are wrong.

4

[fistsofchange]

Before Meredith could shoot, Bai Lin came down like a thunderbolt from somewhere overhead (which was odd, as there was no where to stand overhead.) and slammed a foot into the dog's back, with an unfortunate snapping noise, before rebounding away to a crouch nearby Meredith.

"Feral...too dangerous to try and capture it, unfortunately."

Re: 4

[hurt_comforting]

"Capture, nothing. I would have settled for it leaving us alone."

Merry may be staring at her dashing rescuer in awe, among other things. It's a good thing her blushing is subtle.

"I'd ask how on Earth you did that, but it's increasingly clear we aren't on Earth at all," she says, holstering her pistol - and then cinching a blue and silver sash, to conceal the holster.

[fistsofchange]

"Yeah, but it's always kind of sad to have to put them down. Even if it's full of magic fire, it's still a dog."

As it just seems to have been the one, Lin relaxed a bit and stretched her back. "You okay, by the way? I'm Bai Lin."

[hurt_comforting]

She considers the stranger's words, then nods in sad agreement. If nothing else, she offers her hand and arm for Bai Lin to hoist herself up by. "You can call me Merry, if you like," she says. "Short for Meredith." She's... not going to bring up that she's the second Bai Lin she's acquainted with, not yet.

"I wish this sort of situation wasn't so common," she says. "I'd rather build than break. It's trickier work."

"...At least this time," she sighs, "our enemy wasn't human."

[fistsofchange]

"Merry, then." She smiled, briefly, before looking a bit more somber again.

"Human or beast, sometimes you do what you have to rather than what you should. I hope its next life turns out better than this one did."

[hurt_comforting]

It's next life. She's faithful, then. Buddhist? Possibly.

...She shouldn't presume.

Still. "That's the struggle, between the right thing and the good thing. Here's to an easier life, next go round."

She starts walking. "I've run into other strangers like me here. Some who can do things my home would think impossible. All have never known this city."

She brushes her hand against the graffiti on the subway wall. "I'm getting tired of apocalypse," she sighs. "I think I preferred mine to this place's. Mine had survivors."

[fistsofchange]

A moment of silence for the poor doggo...

...okay. Lin walked beside her. "This might be an apocalypse, but we think it's a fixable one."

She flashed a brief smile at Meredith. "Even if it's not, I'm gonna take a shot at it anyways. Something good might come of it."

[hurt_comforting]

"What happened, do you know?" she asks, quiet. "The empty streets, the untouched shops - and then the fires. Do you have any idea what happened here?"

Meredith smiles back. She's certainly a dashing woman. "Miss every shot you don't take, is how a... friend, put it." she says. "Mind, this was in the context of my turning him down."

#2: Day

[thecompletionofthings]

Harriet can sense the other girl before she hears her, hear her before she sees her, and she takes no particular care to remain silent. Rounding the corner of the line of food stands, she hails the stranger whose cooking efforts are already starting to smell delicious. Harriet's uncomfortably reminded that she fought an alien menace in low Earth orbit after lunch and hasn't had so much as a sip of water since.

"Hi," she hails the brown girl. "Arcade Fire? You from my part of reality?"

[hurt_comforting]

"That's possible," she says, looking over the new girl's clothes - the new girl's very new, very Before clothes. "Mine was a far different kind of desolate than this, though."

At the unasked question, she hands over a skewer. "Take it," she insists. "There's too much for one person - or two dozen, really - to put a dent in before it goes off."

[thecompletionofthings]

Harriet gratefully accepts the kebab, blows on it a bit to cool it, and carefully begins to eat. After she's put half of it away, she pauses and says, "Excuse me a moment."

Stepping between the food stands to get a view of the fountain, she interrogates shinma Dharma. Is that water pure enough to drink safely?

The answer is reassuring, and she returns to finish her kebab in the other girl's company. When she's done, she says, "If you're thirsty, I checked out the fountain. It's clean water—drinkable." She pauses. "I'm Harriet."

[hurt_comforting]

...Oh no, that's cute. Smiling, and absolutely not giggling, Merry reaches into the cart and retrieves two cold bottles of water.

The brand is unfamiliar, but the logo is of water in alchemy.

"I'll keep that in mind once the bottles run out," she drawls. "I think whatever you just did rules out my world, though. Meredith. A pleasure."

[thecompletionofthings]

Harriet raises an eyebrow, but accepts the bottle without comment and slugs half of it down. "Thanks," she gasps as she recaps it. "Not from my world, not from this world…are we Beyond the Gate after all, then?" She pauses, seeming to listen for something. "No," she decides. "Definitely not, though there's something weird going on. Something, I mean, weirder than both of us being here."

[hurt_comforting]

"No, far from home, and deeply weird," she agrees. "There are a lot of empty stores with full stocks, working fridges, nothing rotten or broken or aged... it's eerie."

She hefts a camper's backpack behind her. "I stocked up on durable foods and tools while I had the chance, and you might want to too."

She puts the bag down again. "...so tell me about your Gate?" she asks, grabbing her own skewer and leaning over the counter.

[thecompletionofthings]

"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?"

[hurt_comforting]

Meredith absorbs this in receptive, but increasingly confused, silence.

At the end of it, she has her fingertips over her mouth, as if in prayer, and really hopes she's smiling. (She isn't.)

"...I understood very little to none of that," she admits. "You are definitely not in Kansas anymore, if that means anything to you. I'll make some more kebabs and see if this rice is any good, then we can hit up the commercial district."