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

[nocawsforconcern]

Um, I guess I could...

[She stops.]

I dunno. I'm supposed to be on my ship, so I super don't know where we are. A cave? Underground? Seems like! What's a Jed-Eye? Who's Jed? Whose knights?

[bastilashan]

Thank you. A Jedi is a guardian of the galaxy. We help those who cannot defend themselves. We fight evil. I was on my ship, the Ebon Hawk. Now I am in a cave? Underground? Do you know what that banging and clanking noise is?

[nocawsforconcern]

What's a galaxy? What kind of evil? What do you fight? Sounds unpleasant. Silly name for a ship.

[she's just. got no filter, and doesn't appear to be slowing down. Motormouth of the year over here.]

Pickaxes! Pickaxes. And minecarts? Digging tools. The tools are mining on their own. It's kind of neat. I wonder why?

[bastilashan]

So you do not know what is going on? [Well, that is just great. And who has not heard of the Jedi?]

A galaxy is a collection of stars and planets. We fight any evil [She does not care to go into the dark side or the Sith right now.] It can be unpleasant, but Jedi are trained and we take oaths. [She is going to ignore the slight on her ships name for now, she did not name it.]

So there are pickaxes and minecarts working on their own? [Let's get back the situation at hand.]

[nocawsforconcern]

That's right! I don't get it. But okay. They're mining shiny things. I want them.

[bastilashan]

Do you know what the crystals do? I sense power in them. [Perhaps she should know what they are before letting this stranger just take them.]

[nocawsforconcern]

Do? They're shiny. Is that what they do?

[bastilashan]

What is your name? Where are you from? [She has let slip too much already. Perhaps if she gets to know her, then she could tell her more]

[nocawsforconcern]

Enna, from Corvus!

[She salutes. It's. It's a shitty salute.]

[bastilashan]

Nice to meet you, Enna. [She says this very formally, but does not salute back because she cannot see the salute.]

I know you said that you do not know where we are, but do you have any idea how to get out of here? Perhaps we can take the crystals with us.

[nocawsforconcern]

Not a clue!

[She's pouting now.]

I asked Pyxis, but it couldn't find Neutrino, so... I dunno. I mean, I could proooobably blast a way out, but then we'd lose the treasure.

[bastilashan]

Blasting anything in a cave sounds like a bad idea anyway. If you want to take the crystals, then I will not stop you [she is not sure if she could in her condition, though she did train with a blindfold on before].

Once you have what you want, I would be grateful if you would lead the way to the left, though. It seems that the right has those tools and is lower down. Also, the ground slopes up to the left and the air feels fresher.

[nocawsforconcern]

Well, I'd blast upwards and then use Scutum to protect us...

To the left? Got it! Auriga, port side turn and let's go!

[There's the sounds of some minecarts rolling after her.]

You must be good at this navigating thing, Basty.

[bastilashan]

[She follows the sound of Enna's footsteps.]

I am well-trained [she is attempting to be modest]. Please do not call me "Basty." My name is Bastila [only a little coolness in her voice].

So, tell me about Corvus, Enna [she softens a little, she will need this woman's help].

[nocawsforconcern]

Caw... But that's a mouthful. 'Tila?

[She's nodding, though.]

I can navigate at sea, but down here is super hard. Well, Pyxis should be helping too, but...

Oh, Corvus was great! It was a smaller island, had five cities, but there were some smaller settlements kinda all over. Lots of hills, not much farming. Most food comes from trade. But we made better food with the traded ingredients than anyone else! And we had treasure. Lots of treasure. And the people are super loyal, too. Corvus flocks together!

[bastilashan]

Tila will be fine [if you must]. Farming, good food, loyal people, that sounds nice. Navigating has never been my strongest skill, but I have had a lot of practice getting around on various worlds [another attempt at modesty].

[nocawsforconcern]

[SHE MUST.]

Various... worlds? What do you mean?

[bastilashan]

[This passage definitely leads upward, but does it lead out?]

Yes, I mentioned that the galaxy has many stars? They look like points of light in the sky, but they are large balls of various gasses that burn and give off light. Well, there are planets or worlds, solid masses like what we are on now, surrounding those stars.

I have been to many worlds or planets before. I have met many types of beings. For example, I am human. My ancestors went from earth to Mars to Talravin.

[Why does she have to explain everything? Is she sharing too much?]

Have you never been on another world? What species are you? I take it you are not human by the cawing.

[nocawsforconcern]

[let's say it does so enna can store her crystals.]

That... doesn't make sense. What about the Argo Navis? Only Argo Navis can sail the stars. I'm human. Just from Corvus.

[bastilashan]

I am sorry if I offended you. I did not know you were human. I suppose I jump to conclusions too quickly sometimes. [She may be arrogant, but she is willing to apologize if it keeps the peace.]

Where I am from, any spaceship can travel between stars and any being can ride in a spaceship. I have not heard of the Argo Navis, but it sounds like a spaceship.

[nocawsforconcern]

I don't really care either way. It's fine.

That's not right. That's wrong. We need the Argo Navis. Gotta have the Worldship, because otherwise everything ends. World ends. People end. E-ve-ry-thing.

[bastilashan]

What do you mean? Why would the world end if you did not have the Argo Navis? What is a Worldship? Can you tell me more? [She has a lot of questions.]

Do you see any light yet? [We have got to be getting close by now.]

[nocawsforconcern]

Ugh... Too many questions! Slow down, one at a time, please!

[yeah they are

but don't overload her bird brain, okay]

[bastilashan]

I am sorry. So, What is a Worldship? [Yeah, we can take it one at a time.]

[nocawsforconcern]

How do you not know? It's the Worldship, the Worldship! It's how we arrived, it's how we'll leave. It's the origin and the final destination.

[That doesn't explain anything, but... She seems to think it does?]