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Prismatic Mods ([personal profile] prismods) wrote in [community profile] prismaticrap2019-05-08 05:12 am
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▶ TDM .003


Tales from the Crypt
Moon Iris | top

You awaken amidst the darkness with only a faint light to greet you. Your body is hemmed in by shards of crystals, gently sparkling and possibly pricking your skin. The surrounding landscape is dyed in the pinks and purples of the dusk filled with crystals protruding from the ground, some as large as a skyscraper. Even the few shy moon creatures you find in the wild have strange crystal growths on their hides. This is far from home— perhaps a dream? You pinch your skin and slap your cheeks, yet nothing seems to do the trick. Searching for answers yields nothing but an endless expanse of purple dust as far as the eye can see. You have four options: one, panic; two, soil yourself; three, admire it all then soil yourself; or four, go into survival mode. Eventually, you’ll realize that you’re not alone.

After a day or two of living off the crystal wilderness, a group of people find you worse for wear. They are the gallant Moon Knights from the planet of Prismatica. After the strange phenomenon during the past months when scientists observed the sudden appearance of rainbow crystals in the sky, the government has been feverishly combing through the moon for more Moonblessed to be rescued. You’ll eventually be brought into Iris’s moon government center.

You all may have your usual inquiries — Where are we? Who are you? What's going on? Why did I eat those fifty cent street truck tacos last night? — and the Prismals are almost too eager to answer. They tell you about their world and about the first appearance of the Moonblessed as the medical staff give you an examination to make sure you’re not carrying any viruses or biological hazards. If you react violently, you may be restrained and nerfed with a specialized neurotransmitting gun that releases a numbing agent through the top of your spine. Once the examinations are over, you’re informed that you will be provided accommodations on their planet during your stay.

While waiting for transport to be prepared, you may freely roam around the government center. Alternatively, you can ask the staff about the moon base. They suggest that you visit one of their excavation sites nearby: an enormous hole known as the Glory. The scientists have been excavating this site carefully for years, searching for a legendary ancient tomb sleeping within. They’re accepting volunteers if anyone is inclined to aid in their efforts. Perhaps the Moonblessed have the knowledge they need to make it a success!

A ⬤ A chroma-powered lift made of magically fortified crystal is used to access the lower grounds. Be careful not to fall off! On the way down, some translucent caterpillars and crystals light your way. Be quiet and keep an eye out for Queen Bowie beetles: these glowing neon bugs are attracted to music, and a single note will send them flying into your clothes and hair. Putting the beetles under pressure is not advised, as they will explode and send their sticky insides flying throughout the airspace, potentially stinging your eyes. This will make moving around in dark, cramped spaces all the more difficult! Thankfully, they get bored if no one tries to sing for one whole minute.

B ⬤ Scientists, engineers, miners, and archeologists are at the unearthed antechambers, hard at work. They will assign you to different tasks: recording observations and taking down notes, digging with advanced excavation tools, or collecting fragile relics with metal and crystal detectors. The Moonblessed may also assist with solving riddles the ancients left in the tomb’s doors, chests and walls. Solving them may lead to either treasure rooms or trap walls that close in on unsuspecting grave robbers. Others, well...

Golden jellyfish statues line the walls, encrusted with glistening jewels all over, some worse for wear. Tall pillars have numerous ancient runes which the Prismals are struggling to decipher. Soon, an eerie whisper reaches your mind: “Wander no further. A curse awaits all who enter our kingdom. Disturb not those who slumber in the deep.” True enough, the floor from this point onward appears to be blue sand combed in the pattern of ocean waves... Are you brave enough to continue drilling through?

C ⬤ If that is not enough to send you scrambling out with moist underwear, perhaps the seismic jolt to the ground will. A slimy substance begins to ooze out the tomb’s cracks, glowing lilac like the Iris moon... The Prismals are quick to usher everyone out before the shaking gets worse. As the lift may be too dangerous, climbing equipment will be provided. Watch out for falling debris or collapsing rocks while assisting each other out of cramped passages and up the walls to safety. Try not to get stuck in the slime!

This little adventure might leaving you wondering what or who exactly lies deeper inside, but the Prismals are just as clueless as you are. Cave-ins happen from time to time, but this might have been the strongest one recorded on this site.

Eventually you’re called to the docks and led onto a large transport vessel. Destination: Prismatica.




Those Kicks were Fast as Lightning
Higher Lunatia, Level 1 | top

Welcome to Prismatica’s hub, Lunatia, the city of your dreams! A bustling metropolis lush with bright lights, vibrant colors, luxuriant plant life, and all the conveniences of technology absent from your own world… It seems like paradise to all the uninitiated.

With the end of Harvest Boon, the city is calm once more. The streets of Level 1 and 2 are now sparkling clean as always, but Level 3 is still in the process of cleaning up. There are confetti and deflated balloons strewn all over the streets, but Swiffy bots are on the scene, sweeping up whatever waste they can get their hands on. Sometimes, they might even play tug-of-war with you for it. At one of the train stations, a Prismal doomsayer screams about the apocalypse returning. Passersby shrug at the conspiracy theory and move on.

A ⬤ In response to the unexpected rough events during Harvest Boon, the Moon Knights decided to hold free-for-all self-defense seminars at a large park near Lunatia Square. The live demonstrations include proper monster-wrangling procedures and how to efficiently keep a rogue moonheld (read: transformed under the moon) Prismal away. Participants are encouraged to learn and interact with each other to learn various safety practices and techniques. The training visors provided enhance the seminar experience, changing whoever your eyes focus on into a cerberus or other rogue moonheld Prismal on the visor’s display. Don’t use the visors for too long, or you’ll be seeing everyone as a cerberus well after you take the visors off! Fortunately, the effects only last for an hour. Energy drinks and free snacks are available to any worn-out Prismal or Moonblessed.

B ⬤ Virtual lunar conditions are also available via multiplayer VR pods in Lunar Scientia headquarters, simulating the Moonblessed/moonheld experience under full moons. Mental exercises and magic practice sessions are accessible in the virtual spaces, allowing people to test out their magical abilities and transformations. Simulation participants can either train by themselves, with a partner, or through a tutorial of instruction-based movements. However, the program is still in beta. You may experience errors or bugs like lagging, NPCs phasing into things they shouldn’t, weird physics, or body glitches.



Meas Trees are the Bee’s Knees
Middle Lunatia, Level 2 | top

The rows of Meas trees planted this Harvest Boon are blossoming beautifully into view, painting the fields in Level 2 with colors of spring. Meas tree saplings each have a small sign next to them, displaying their owners’ written wish if they chose to disclose it. Interestingly, the color and aroma of each flower depends on the owners; fiery personalities might have red or orange flowers, those born in a coastal town might have flowers that smell like the sea near their hometown, and so on. Maybe you’ll encounter a familiar aroma if you’re lucky enough.

The Moonblessed who were most active with moonlacing the past few weeks have the largest trees, nearly rivaling the oldest Meas trees around. The older trees planted by Prismals over time can be seen in the next field, standing majestically with their swaying branches and flying petals.

A ⬤ Picnic grounds for flower viewings can be found near the fields. There are plenty of stalls selling homemade bruschettas, crostinis, sandwiches, wines, cheeses, and other enjoyable finger food. Notably, some wines may give you an insatiable desire to whisper things in someone’s ear. Sweet nothings, death threats, your secret kinks—no matter the words, you’ll want to kill someone softly with them.

B ⬤ The Swiffy bots that are assigned to the parks and gardens in Level 2 help keep things spick and span, but they’re due for maintenance and may attempt to sweep off any unfortunate picnics with their high-powered vacuums or leaf blowers. As they zoom across the paths, they chirrup about not treading on the grass and take off with picnic blankets, table cloths, and people’s clothes. Any nearby maintenance staff (who are all desperately trying to chase the bots) yell that a conk on the head will immobilize them. Once the malfunctioning bots are stopped, the staff approach to wheel them away while apologising profusely for the mayhem.

Questions

If you have any questions regarding this test drive meme, please ask them in the Questions thread below.
the_archivist: (Curiosity)

Kicks were fast as lightning

[personal profile] the_archivist 2019-05-12 03:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[It is the light that catches his attention, that strange, shifting green-gold light emanating from one of the rooms. It's a good distraction when he finds the virtual reality headsets a little disorienting and he needs a break. He'd really just prefer a book of instructions but those are in short supply.

He sets aside his own studies and heads over towards the booth with the light and peers inside. There's a person in there, but it's the light he's more curious about. It feels like... something. He takes a step inside, and hears the click of a tape recorder, the tape recorder that has appeared near the man, despite Jon having left it at home. There's a staticky feeling in the air.]


Ah, excuse me? Sorry, I think I left something here.

[At least it gives him an excuse to be there.]
mischiefandice: (can you?)

[personal profile] mischiefandice 2019-05-13 09:56 pm (UTC)(link)
[Loki is captivated by the simulation and does not notice at once that he is being watched, his magic humming all around him, creating strange shadows on the wall. That's when he hears the click. It's louder than it should be to Loki's ears, even through the VR headset, and somehow registers within his magic as well, creating a small, uncanny disturbance.

He pushes the headset back just in time for the man who has stepped in to speak up, his eyes narrowing in suspicion. The man looks harmless enough but there is something... odd about him, something Loki can't quite pinpoint yet. His magic abates around the room, gathering inside Loki instead. He follows the man's gaze to the machine nearby, his eyebrows arching.]


This was not here before. [Loki says, slowly. He's quite sure the room was empty when he first came in. He steps down from the VR platform, hands in his back and shoulders squared.] Is it yours?

the_archivist: (Smile)

[personal profile] the_archivist 2019-05-13 10:12 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh, that's a shame, he thinks when the glow disappears. Probably not his wisest thought. But curiosity has taken him into exceptionally bad situations before.

He watches the man as he steps down off the platform, gaze darting to the tape recorder and then back to him.]


Yes. It must have gone astray.
mischiefandice: (considering - side look)

[personal profile] mischiefandice 2019-05-15 09:50 pm (UTC)(link)
[As it turns out, magic is one of the few subjects Loki is always willing to discuss, even with strangers, so Jon should feel free to ask if he is curious.

'Gone astray' is an unusual expression to talk about an inanimate object, Loki thinks. Unless it has its own mind, which immediately makes it a lot more interesting. He steps closer carefully, considering the tape recorder. He's never seen something like this (Asgard's recording technology is much more advanced) but he can see that it is on, a faint whir coming from it.]]


What is it doing? [He inquires carefully, glancing back towards Jon.]
the_archivist: (Curiosity)

[personal profile] the_archivist 2019-05-15 09:58 pm (UTC)(link)
[Jon is always curious, but he tamps it down for now, swallows down the glut of questions that he has.

His attention is pulled back to the tape recorder. He's not worried about it. He's sort of accepted that they will just come back to him. He hasn't ever run out of tape, which is lucky because cassettes are hard to procure. In the scale of weird things, this one doesn't much register anymore.]


Recording, it looks like.
mischiefandice: (can you?)

[personal profile] mischiefandice 2019-05-18 03:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Recording?

[Loki frowns, and reaches out for the small machine. His magic hums a little as he touches it, making a noise not unlike static. If nothing else happens he will lift it and bring it closer to examine it. There is what he assumes to be magnetic tape inside, slowly unrolling in an attempt to capture sound. How quaint.

He hands it back to Jon, looking curious.]


Why? [He inquires, arching his eyebrows. If he's being spied on by an unknown power, he would very much like to know.]
the_archivist: (Curiosity)

[personal profile] the_archivist 2019-05-18 03:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[Jon lets the man examine the recorder. He's not worried about it. He's given up being concerned about running out of tape or the recorders being destroyed. He takes it when offered and stops it. It immediately turns itself back on. That question though...]

That's just what it does. Records.
mischiefandice: (cunning)

[personal profile] mischiefandice 2019-05-22 10:32 pm (UTC)(link)
[There is definitely magic to the small machine, though Loki doesn't recognize what kind. He hums as Jon turns the recording off, only for it to turn itself back on, his eyebrows arching a little. He grins, amused.]

You have no idea how it works, do you?
the_archivist: (Earnest)

[personal profile] the_archivist 2019-05-22 10:40 pm (UTC)(link)
[Jon shrugs, his thumb running over the recorder. It's become so much part of his life that he doesn't really consider it anymore.]

I suspect. But I don't think it's possible to actually know how it works.

[He is sure that if he took it apart it would be nothing but mundane circuits and batteries. The same way that the Leitners, those books that have caused so much misery, are simply paper and text.]