TEST DRIVE 006

[phantasmods]

Hello and welcome to Phantasmal Rift's Test Drive Meme!

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 test drive takes place in the Telovia Mines, an extremely abandoned magical crystal mine and the town and infrastructure that one supported it. The tunnels are in reasonably good condition and would be reasonably navigable... Except for one thing.

ONE MINOR THING

The magical effects of the Fissure cause those within it to lose something when they arrive - for most people, it's a sense such as touch or hearing, but it's also possible to lose a more esoteric sense (such as your sense of balance or temperature, but NOT things like "sense of morals" or "sense of style"), the ability to speak, or the ability to recognize faces. As a general guideline, whatever characters lose should be non-supernatural in nature, and something they would have taken for granted as a part of their ability to function.

ODDS AND ENDS

Just because the mines are empty of people doesn't mean that they've gone still. While for the most part, the carts full of crystals remain in one place, the huge amount of magic has left more than a few of the miners' abandoned tools still going through their motions. Rusted pickaxes swing at the walls, and dead lanterns swing from the ceiling. Crystals occasionally free themselves from shards of rock to pile into bins, which then empty into already-overflowing mine carts.

As long as you leave them to their jobs, everything will be fine. If you try to stop the tools (and it is the tools themselves, for anyone who might be looking for ghosts) from doing their jobs, they'll chase you down until you leave their general vicinity.

Of course, the eternally working tools don't care much about the structural integrity of the mine tunnels...

THEY ALL PILE UP

...And so, inevitably, there are cave-ins.

Most of them are fairly minor, and you can see them (well, if you can see) enough to just work around them. Some of them are big enough that you're going to have to dig through them first, if you can.

And then there's the handful that block passages entirely. But don't panic! The tunnels are designed around the possibility of this happening - rather than coming to an end, the majority of them loop back around to the main arteries of the mine.

E... ventually...

But you and whoever is stuck with you on this side of the cave-in might be wandering for quite a while before you get there. Hopefully one of you still has a sense of direction, assuming either of you ever had one in the first place.

Comments

[fifthreplacement]

A couple of months now, I believe. On how this world does months anyway, which are short as anything. So awhile. Apparently the Fissure effects have exists for years, according to the androids, but it only just starting grabbing people from worlds.

[dralchemist]

Hmm... ok, I have to ask. Anybody else around here claiming to be from the Dragon Empire?

[Izzy stops again and flips back in her extensively used notebook, pulling out a map and unfolding it in front of Sync's eyes.] Any of these names familiar from conversation?

[fifthreplacement]

[He examines the map with a good deal of curiosity. Sync has always been a information person, after all. But as he does, he shakes his head, and eventually responds]

Not that I've experienced. Those who aren't human and don't look it aren't common here. Most people at least seem to be human in some way.

[dralchemist]

Oh. So no other dragonkin around, huh. Or half-orcs.

Hooray, I'm special. [And swiftly back to sarcasm. She folds the map back into the notebook and stashes it in her hip-slung bag, clinking against various glass bottles held within.]

Any idea how much longer to go?

[fifthreplacement]

You'd probably get along with the troll that's around.

We're nearly there.

[And they should indeed be nearly there, which is nice. Sync would like to be able to walk under his own power without falling over for awhile]

[dralchemist]

Why. A troll? Like, big dude, canniballistic, not the brightest, can shrug any damage off except fire, that kinda troll?

[Izzy narrows her eyes, half out of annoyance at the implication, and half out of the brighter light coming from the end of the main mine artery.]

[fifthreplacement]

Nah. Human height, grey skin, smart enough to be one of the two main medics in the station. Dry sense of humour.

[The light is good, and he can feel his balance coming back thanks to the stabilisers, so he pulls away from Izzy and tests it, then sighs in relief as they continue walking] Fissures suck...

[dralchemist]

[And getting closer also means that Izzy's sense of hearing is coming back, her ears perking up on autopilot as they start to pick up noise. She holds a hand up and snaps, listening to it echo down the mineshaft.] Halle-fuckin'-lujah.

Two things. One, hey, my name's Izzy and I just realized that I didn't tell you that earlier. And if you said your name, I definitely didn't get it. Two, that doesn't sound like any troll I've ever heard of, and now I'm actually intrigued. Three, are these, uh, Fissures always this bad?

Three things, sorry. I meant three things.

[fifthreplacement]

I never mentioned it. My name's Sync.

[He turns his headset off now that he doesn't need it] You'll probably find Jetshard pretty easily. If she's not here, you'll find her in the station infirmary pretty easy.

This is only the second Fissure I've been to, but from what I can tell, they are. Last one was stuck in a time loop - the city is was over set itself on fire every night, burning the whole surface area down, only to reset back to normal during the day.

[dralchemist]

"Sync", huh. That sure is a name. And "Jetshard", too. [just gonna gloss over the phoenixfire event, huh, izzy?]

Well, one way or another. It's nice to meet you, even if the circumstances aren't exactly the best. You seem at least relatively sane for being stuck in this situation.

[fifthreplacement]

It's not a name I chose. The guy who named me gave it to me for a reason. He was an asshole like that.

[Van was not good with names]

Being relatively sane was a requirement for the job I used to do, and it sounds boring to go insane. At least this way when actual interesting things happen, I can investigate them.

[dralchemist]

You know what, that's entirely fair on all accounts.

Except the "boring to go insane" bit, though I don't have any data points for or against it to say either way, so. [Now that she's actually in a place where she can rest, Izzy grabs the closest available thing to a seat and opens her pack, taking out a glass flask filled with some kind of clear liquid, uncorking it and taking a swig.]

[fifthreplacement]

I'm pretty sure it is, given I feel like I'm going insane here sometimes. There's so much downtime inbetween Fissures that it's boring as anything.

[He eyes the flask, but doesn't ask. Who is he to judge, on whatever it may be?] I guess this is the point where I ask what you actually are, since I've never seen a creature like you before.

[dralchemist]

[spoilers:

it's just distilled water.]

Well! At least you have the tact to actually ask, instead of just grabbing my tail or horns or poking me and asking me if I'm real. [This has happened. She's not bitter about it, what are you talking about.]

Iiiii am what's known as a "dragonkin", which scholars of earlier ages are in disagreement about the origins of. Some say we were borne of the Red Wastes, a byproduct of a massive arcane explosion blighting the land in a previous age. Some say we're all the offspring of One Horny Dragon that got with One Horny Human and created the Empire's most fucked-up family tree. Then there are the nutjobs that think that dragonkin are imbued with the power of the Original Wyrms and have a holy duty to blah blah yadda yadda.

[Another sip of water.] We're relatively more rare around the Empire than the standard sapient species, y'know. Humans, the elf trio, dwarves, etc. Only outclassed in rarity by independent Forgeborn and maybe, maybe aasimar/tiefling split. But it's not a big deal.

[fifthreplacement]

That sounds like a good way to lose an eye or break an arm, doing that. [Whoever was dumb enough to grab people at random and ask dumb questions got whatever was coming to them.

He listens with curiosity, head tilted to one side as he leans against a nearby wall] Interesting. A lot of worlds seem to have multiple sentient species, it seems. Auldrant just has humans and replicas. Though I guess monsters are kind of sentient, but not in the same way...

[dralchemist]

The sentience of monsters is, uh, dubiously known at best? Like, with the sheer diversity of Things That Want To Fuck Your Entire Day Up out there, of course there's gonna be the difference between, uh, like.

[Thinking for a sec.] Between a bulette that's just defending its territory and a Rakshasa that takes personal delight in ruining your day in the most sadistic way possible. Shades of grey. Just gotta take it on a case-by-case basis.

[And another sip.] Like, one of my best friends back home is a relatively sentient slime that's inhabiting a stolen suit of armor. [sorry, sloop, but she's at least relatively sure that this doesn't count as blowing cover]

[fifthreplacement]

Sounds fair. The monsters on Auldrant are varying sorts, but one of my ex-allies had learned their language and fought alongside them often. None were human-smart, but they had varying degrees of understanding, from what I'd experienced.

A slime in a suit of armour is a new one, I'll admit. But it doesn't sound like a half-bad idea, if you were a slime.

[dralchemist]

What kinda monsters are we talking here? You seem like you're coming from a place with far more advanced tech, so I'd be interested to know what the fauna's like.

Yeah, uh... Sloop's a unique one. Only sentient slime I've ever met, or even heard about. The only one that they knew too, actually, which makes the sort of an oddity...

[fifthreplacement]

Varying sorts. The ally I mentioned used to fight alongside ligers a lot, four-legged felines, along with assorted types of wyverns and gryphons. There's also various kinds of plant monsters, aggressive forms of basic animals...Auldrant was mostly occupied by monsters, the human population was fairly small for the size of the planet.

[He tilts his head in thought, curious despite himself] One of a kind, huh. [He wonders what might've caused that, though it really doesn't matter here]

[dralchemist]

Wyverns, gryphons, malicious plants, dire animals... yeah, that sounds about the same. Good to hear that there's at least some commonality there.

[After corking up her flask and putting it back in her satchel, Izzy looks like she's about to take off for the base camp proper... but stops herself.] Uh. Quick question, Sync.

How long have you been here?

[fifthreplacement]

By what calendar?

[It's a little snarky, but he's mostly amused] By how this world counts it, a little over a month now, I believe. Why? [He saw her stopping herself and it makes him believe that something might be up]

[dralchemist]

How long have other people been here, if you've heard any word?

I'm just... worried. Got shit to do back home, a business to keep up. A month's not bad, but any longer than that and people are gonna get real worried.

[fifthreplacement]

Hm...I think it's been four, five months now?

[He calculates in his head for a moment, trying to work it out to a calendar he's still not used to] Closer to five, I think. There's been no word on anyone managing to get back home, aside from people disappearing as randomly as they appear.

[dralchemist]

Eugh. [Izzy grimaces, ears flattening against the side of her face in annoyance.] That's way too long for my taste. And I bet there's no rhyme or reason to either appearing or disappearing, huh.

[fifthreplacement]

Not that anyone's noticed. Though some have apparently made some sort of discovery of something that's apparently looking for something, that may be why we're getting dragged here. It's the closest thing anyone has to an actual reason.