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]

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?]

[bastilashan]

[No, it does not explain anything at all].

I guess we are both from very different places. It is the origin and the final destination? Okay. Could you tell me more?

[nocawsforconcern]

Caw... Caw, caw.

[She's just going to make bird noises to herself for a minute as she thinks.]

Okay, um. Humans landed on the world a long, long, long time ago! Thousands of years.

[bastilashan]

Okay. And the ship that brought them will come back? That sounds like an origin story, I like stories!

[Who doesn't? It will pass the time while we walk.]

[nocawsforconcern]

And now that the world is ending, we have to summon the Argo Navis again, so we can escape the ending world and make it to another one.

[.... maybe she's not the best storyteller.]

[bastilashan]

Well, it does seem we are on another planet. Your world is ending? What is causing it?

[nocawsforconcern]

Being on another planet is bad! I gotta resurrect the Argo Navis. Can't do that here! Collected most of the Stars, still gotta get Corvus'. Cawwww. Caw!

[She's pouting, but.]

The edges are shrinking. Like the ocean's falling off the edge.

[bastilashan]

I am sorry. Perhaps we can find help to get you back your world. Maybe we can even find someone who can help you resurrect the Argo Navis. [Whatever that means.]

I was on an important mission myself. I need to get back as well. My companions need my guidance.

[nocawsforconcern]

[She nods, pouting.]

... If nothing else, Horologium might be able to help, but I hate using it. It gives me a headache... Really, really bad. And the headache lasts forever, too...

What kind of mission?

[bastilashan]

What or who is Horologium?

It is a very important and very secret mission. I cannot tell you any more right now.

[nocawsforconcern]

It's a spirit. I can borrow its power for a while. It's the spirit of the Clock, who controls time... But controlling time is such a pain! It's all tickticktickzoomzoom and it goes by whether you want it to or not, and then when you want it to go faster it slows down out of spite, and then sometimes you can't even tell it apart from itself. And every time I try to control it, there's just so much of it it hurts my head...

That just makes me wanna hear it more!

[bastilashan]

[She did not catch all of that, but she will try to understand. Bastila hates admitting she does not know.]

You can control time? That is a really rare ability. No wonder it gives you a headache. I have some Force powers, like Battle Meditation, but I cannot control time.

[nocawsforconcern]

What's Force? Force powers sounds weird. And controlling time is kinda... Not exactly. It's more like I just sorta... Stick my hands in a river of time, sorta? And I can splash to make it go faster or hold them still to make it go slower but...

[She pouts again, flapping her cloak.]

It's hard to explain but it sucks and I hate doing it.

[bastilashan]

I think I understand. That is still a very unique ability. [She is impressed in spite of herself and is beginning to respect this strange woman.]

The Force is the energy that flows through all of us. Some people can control it, or at least tap into it. They are force sensitive and may have certain powers. For example, my battle meditation allows me to encourage and strengthen my allies while demoralizing and weakening my foes. Another Force power is Force Push or Force Pull. That one allows me to push away or pull closer any object or person.

[nocawsforconcern]

People from Horologium have it better... But I'm not from there, so I can't. Caw...

[She listens to it, but...]

I don't get it. So you can encourage people super well?