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phantasmemes2018-10-18 11:48 pm
phantasmods) wrote in phantasmemes2018-10-18 11:48 pm
Entry tags:
TEST DRIVE MEME - OCTOBER 2018
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 Silvereagle Manor. Once upon a time, this castlelike home was the refuge of a family of magical nobility straddling the line between church and liege. Then, some centuries after the family itself died out or dispersed to the winds, the building was restored and preserved as a historical heritage site, complete with lots of little museum plaques and a ticket counter in the huge entrance hall. Then after that, an apocalypse of sorts happened, and now the building's stood empty for a century, surrounded by magical distortions with quite interesting effects.
SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
One of these effects will be immediately apparent to those who find themselves in the manor or upon the grounds, as it affects near all who enter within, whether they arrive through the shifting of dimensions or more mundane means. It is, after all, quite a sudden change to not be in the body you instinctively recognize as your own.
Though the changes will be significantly greater for some than others, and nearly everyone will be basically recognizable as themselves, they will find that the type of being they are as has shifted. They might be an alien, or a robot, or a fantasy creature - or, if they're not normally human, they might suddenly find themselves to be such. With luck, the experience isn't too disorienting, but...
Well, any new arrivals are likely to be glad of the veterans hanging around to explain that this is surely only temporary, aren't they?
GARDEN OF TRUTH
The forward grounds of the manor, once a well-cared for path up to the building complete with a fountain and carriage loop, are now almost entirely coated in creeping ivy. It climbs the remains of ornamental trees and the scattered lamp posts around the grounds - some of which still attempt to flicker weakly in response to the passage of travellers, magical lights lighting no more than a few feet in a circle around them against the rain.
Did I mention that it's raining? Whether it's a steady drizzle or something more intense, the gardens are constantly under cloud and experiencing the wet weather of autumn more often than not. You may end up wanting to run for the cover of the front stairs of the manor house itself, which provides more than enough cover for those not willing to venture into the ruined building itself.
But whether you're on the stairs or out in the wet, you'll feel a tickle in the back of your throat... All characters in the entry garden will find themselves compelled to tell the truth to whoever they're talking to. Lying is nearly impossible, and even if you manage it, it won't reach the ears of the listener as anything more than mumbling - and attempts to simply omit the truth will cause the itch in your throat to increase to the point that it becomes unbearable. Better get ready to spill your guts.
PUT ON YOUR DANCING SHOES
Inside those doors, beyond the entrance hall and its abandoned ticket counters, you'll be able to follow a thread of music to another set of grand doors, and opening those reveals a beautiful, pristine ballroom. This room is obviously affected by the magic of the building in some kind of way - even if it were not for the music, the unnatural cleanliness of the room compared to the disrepair of the rest of the building, there's the translucent shadows of dancers spinning around the floor. Engaged in waltzes and pavanes to the music, they are largely indistinct to those who are flesh and blood.
If you choose to enter in among the sweeping ballgowns and robes - possibly with your clothes having suddenly manifested into appropriately matching attire themselves by the magic of this place - you're likely to find that one of the specters takes your hands to lead or by led in the dance. No good comes from dancing without a partner, after all! The images, for all their wispiness, are surprisingly forceful in this matter, with unnaturally strong grips and a penchant for steering through the middle of the group, and it might be a while until you can lead your new partner back to the edge of the dance floor in order to beg off. However, those who enter the dancefloor with a partner already in hand will find themselves ignored by the dancers, as are those who enter with the intention of sweeping someone already inside off their feet.
SPOOKY SCARY...
The dancers aren't the only haunted things having fun around the first floor. While there's any number of magically animated brooms and dusters fighting a doomed battle against cobwebs and mildew, they're not the only thing moving about. With the music from the ballroom filtering across the whole floor, you might occasionally hear the clack-clack of something hard hitting the floor.
Where the skeletons come from is a question for another day. Because they're certainly... here... and they've come to dance themselves right into the dust, since they have, apparently, already danced their hearts out.
Unlike the ballroom dancers, the skeletons are performers - many of them have questionable hats, capes made of drapes, or other accessories to dance with, and once they realize they have an audience, they'll do their best to insert themselves into the line of a character's vision as much as possible. They're actually rather friendly and nonviolent, as much as skeletons can be, and rather than fighting over the spotlight, most of them will coordinate their dancing if they wind up sharing someone's attention. If you ever wanted to see how many synchronized cha-cha-ing skeletons you can collect into a single room... Well, now you have a chance to live out that extremely specific fantasy, I guess.
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 Silvereagle Manor. Once upon a time, this castlelike home was the refuge of a family of magical nobility straddling the line between church and liege. Then, some centuries after the family itself died out or dispersed to the winds, the building was restored and preserved as a historical heritage site, complete with lots of little museum plaques and a ticket counter in the huge entrance hall. Then after that, an apocalypse of sorts happened, and now the building's stood empty for a century, surrounded by magical distortions with quite interesting effects.
SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT
One of these effects will be immediately apparent to those who find themselves in the manor or upon the grounds, as it affects near all who enter within, whether they arrive through the shifting of dimensions or more mundane means. It is, after all, quite a sudden change to not be in the body you instinctively recognize as your own.
Though the changes will be significantly greater for some than others, and nearly everyone will be basically recognizable as themselves, they will find that the type of being they are as has shifted. They might be an alien, or a robot, or a fantasy creature - or, if they're not normally human, they might suddenly find themselves to be such. With luck, the experience isn't too disorienting, but...
Well, any new arrivals are likely to be glad of the veterans hanging around to explain that this is surely only temporary, aren't they?
GARDEN OF TRUTH
The forward grounds of the manor, once a well-cared for path up to the building complete with a fountain and carriage loop, are now almost entirely coated in creeping ivy. It climbs the remains of ornamental trees and the scattered lamp posts around the grounds - some of which still attempt to flicker weakly in response to the passage of travellers, magical lights lighting no more than a few feet in a circle around them against the rain.
Did I mention that it's raining? Whether it's a steady drizzle or something more intense, the gardens are constantly under cloud and experiencing the wet weather of autumn more often than not. You may end up wanting to run for the cover of the front stairs of the manor house itself, which provides more than enough cover for those not willing to venture into the ruined building itself.
But whether you're on the stairs or out in the wet, you'll feel a tickle in the back of your throat... All characters in the entry garden will find themselves compelled to tell the truth to whoever they're talking to. Lying is nearly impossible, and even if you manage it, it won't reach the ears of the listener as anything more than mumbling - and attempts to simply omit the truth will cause the itch in your throat to increase to the point that it becomes unbearable. Better get ready to spill your guts.
PUT ON YOUR DANCING SHOES
Inside those doors, beyond the entrance hall and its abandoned ticket counters, you'll be able to follow a thread of music to another set of grand doors, and opening those reveals a beautiful, pristine ballroom. This room is obviously affected by the magic of the building in some kind of way - even if it were not for the music, the unnatural cleanliness of the room compared to the disrepair of the rest of the building, there's the translucent shadows of dancers spinning around the floor. Engaged in waltzes and pavanes to the music, they are largely indistinct to those who are flesh and blood.
If you choose to enter in among the sweeping ballgowns and robes - possibly with your clothes having suddenly manifested into appropriately matching attire themselves by the magic of this place - you're likely to find that one of the specters takes your hands to lead or by led in the dance. No good comes from dancing without a partner, after all! The images, for all their wispiness, are surprisingly forceful in this matter, with unnaturally strong grips and a penchant for steering through the middle of the group, and it might be a while until you can lead your new partner back to the edge of the dance floor in order to beg off. However, those who enter the dancefloor with a partner already in hand will find themselves ignored by the dancers, as are those who enter with the intention of sweeping someone already inside off their feet.
SPOOKY SCARY...
The dancers aren't the only haunted things having fun around the first floor. While there's any number of magically animated brooms and dusters fighting a doomed battle against cobwebs and mildew, they're not the only thing moving about. With the music from the ballroom filtering across the whole floor, you might occasionally hear the clack-clack of something hard hitting the floor.
Where the skeletons come from is a question for another day. Because they're certainly... here... and they've come to dance themselves right into the dust, since they have, apparently, already danced their hearts out.
Unlike the ballroom dancers, the skeletons are performers - many of them have questionable hats, capes made of drapes, or other accessories to dance with, and once they realize they have an audience, they'll do their best to insert themselves into the line of a character's vision as much as possible. They're actually rather friendly and nonviolent, as much as skeletons can be, and rather than fighting over the spotlight, most of them will coordinate their dancing if they wind up sharing someone's attention. If you ever wanted to see how many synchronized cha-cha-ing skeletons you can collect into a single room... Well, now you have a chance to live out that extremely specific fantasy, I guess.
Spooky scary
Don’t mind if I do!
[It doesn’t take a great deal of deduction to work out what the man has in mind, but there’s one issue in the way of it.]
Here, hold this for me.
[From under his own arm, the clown holds out his own, severed head, waiting on Michael to stop dancing and take it.]
no subject
[Michael does so with no apparent compunction. He actually turns it once he's got it to see if that neck was cut cleanly or not. Because he is familiar enough to tell, and also to have opinions.]
no subject
[Gogol’s head grins as his body sweeps up a skeleton into a waltz. Upon inspection, his head is just cleanly off. Wherever it should’ve been severed at the neck is just a void.]
Liking what you see, Sir?
no subject
Very interesting! What happens if you stick something in there?
[Apparently shoving his damn fingers in there is actually too rude.]
no subject
Oho, I have no idea! Why not find out?
no subject
no subject
[As Gogol giggles, Michael will just feel nothing, no matter how far or in which direction he sticks his hand. It’s an expanse of emptiness, with absolutely no temperature or feeling at all.
Just the void.]
no subject
Real void-y in there.
no subject
[Gogol nods, satisfied, as much as he can whilst being a hand puppet.]
Say, Mister, did anything strange happen to you?
[From the look he got of him, Michael seemed pretty normal.]
no subject
[okay he knows you mean recently he's just being a problem]
I am feeling very human right now. It's not the most pleasant thing I've ever done.
no subject
[This would be the point where, if his body were altogether in one piece, he'd rest his chin on his hands and bat his eyelashes.]
Haha! A human! Oh, how dreadful! [An attempt is made to shake his head.] I'm really, very sorry.
no subject
I'm sure I'll find it funnier in a few years.
no subject