[OPEN] 1/1: Personal Shadow Event

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SHAPESHIFTER

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→ PART ONE: REAL WORLD

On the morning of January 1st, someone wakes up in Akira Kurusu’s bed. It’s not Akira Kurusu. It looks exactly like him, talks with his voice, reads as him at a cellular and spiritual level on any supernatural or mundane tests. But it’s not Akira Kurusu.

During the daytime of the 1st and 2nd, he calls in sick to whatever work obligations he may have that day, and then leaves. On the first day he heads into town, making a point to avoid any other Persona-users he sees. There is definitely some picking fights with villagers who offend him, which is not unusual for Akira as of late, and the NPCs will complain to each other and the Persona-users about that awful boy with the glasses. On the second day, he will instead fuck off willingly into the ice-cold wilderness, looking around the mountains.

Things get worse during Lockdown. Both nights, the Nasty Crimeboy can be found skulking around town during Lockdown instead of in the dungeons like usual. He’s deliberately being stealthy and covering his tracks, even though the only people who are here to see him are a bunch of children who collectively share three brain cells, and Rio. On the first night he breaks into shops and takes their inventory, ostensibly for the purpose of obtaining things he needs that the villagers refuse to sell to him. Seamsters are missing a few winter garments, blacksmiths are down a pair of very high quality daggers and a sword, and the one gun shop in town is missing some of its stock of ammo — some for handguns, but some for other kinds too, so it’s not immediately apparent who took them. If someone checks Akira’s car in the Velvet Room after Lockdown, however, they will find the stolen goods hidden in various spots there.

Sometimes he gets in… other places. On the second night, both the mayor’s house and the police station are broken into. The mayor’s house is almost comedically simple to enter, because he has very little in the way of home security, and what he does have is completely useless during a Lockdown where he’s not physically there. Either way, the Crimeboy mostly takes any cash he can find from the mayor as well as valuables that could be inconspicuously sold to the shady folks who peddle phosphorus.

The station is unfortunately better protected, so eventually the Crimeboy realizes he has little option but brute force — so he locates the police chief’s office from the outside, and uses Mara to smash a hole in that wall. (The crash can be heard by any Persona-using prisoners who happen to be in the station at this time.) The next morning, the chief’s office looks like a tornado came through it. All cash and valuables either stolen or destroyed, all locked drawers or containers picked open, and so on. The chief’s desk has had everything knocked off of it onto the floor, and the word ROTTEN is carved deeply into the top of the wooden desk.

After Lockdown on the morning of January 3rd, the boy is nowhere to be seen or detected. You start to think that maybe something is wrong.

→ PART TWO: METAVERSE

School dungeon, third floor.

The entire floor is still on fire, but now there’s a new reason — lightning bolts. There is no rain; they just come down from the smoking skies. They strike environment, Persona-user, and Shadow alike, and become more and more frequent as you approach the palace. Some of the Shadows and FOEs are now on fire, having been struck by the bolts; their HP is lower, but their Attack is higher, and every hit has a chance of additional Fire damage. Any semblance of order that the FOEs may have had is gone, and they are now running around and attacking indiscriminately.



KOPPA TENGU
Type Shadow	Resists Wind	Weak Dark
These Tengu-based Shadows will flee once they see any sight of danger, including (especially) the lighting bolts. This means they tend to stay at the start of the floor, where the bolts are less common. They will fly high into the air and blow people away by conjuring large gusts of wind with their wings. They don't have a lot of attacks and their defense is low, so they are easy enough to defeat, assuming that they don't fly away first. Curiously enough, none of the other Shadows or F.O.E.s pay them much attention... A Tengu mask and a blank scroll can be collected as loot.





CHIMERA
Type F.O.E.	Null Fire, Light	Weak None
Larger than any other Shadow, these F.O.E.s act as guards of the dungeon. While the Shadows are the disposable troops that wander the area and simply attack whomever they see, the F.O.E.s specifically seek out intruders and attack with the sole purpose of killing them. They lurk throughout the dungeons, using their many eyes and noses to track down Persona users and charge without hesitation when they spot one. Also, they are on fire. Their physical strength is tremendous and a single swipe of their mighty paws or talons will surely knock out anyone who hasn’t been keeping up with their training. They are unaffected by fire or light-based attacks and they have no weaknesses. If a Chimera is on fire, its HP is not reduced at all, but its Attack is still higher and there’s still a chance of burn if it hits you. You might be strong enough to take them on, but these things are no joke…



Even from a distance, it becomes obvious that the palace is also on fire. Lightning strikes this building more than anywhere else. The gates around the palace have transformed, each stake now looking like the ribcage bone of some giant creature curling out from the ground. The gate itself hangs open and unattended.

There’s smoke pouring out of the palace windows, and the tallest tower has fallen off, lying in a blazing heap in the courtyard below. Investigating this tower will take you to the empty boss room where the Daitengu used to be, but there’s nothing of note there. The front entrance of the palace itself is clearly where you need to go; forget about sneaking in the side, because the front doors have transformed into an accursed portal, the strange obsidian-like material creeping into the stone walls like a virus.

Upon entering, the interior of the palace has changed drastically, and there’s nowhere to go but down. There is only one spiral path apart from a straight drop down the middle; it’s a very long one that leaves you in an indefensible position, and hiding in the darkness, the tobi tengu are all waiting to ambush you from land and air. Sometimes if you look over you can see their eyes staring from within a spinal column.



TOBI TENGU
Type Shadow	Resists Light, Wind	Weak Ice
Although they are solidary creatures, this Shadow is accomplanied by smaller versions of itself. It strays away from the other packs of Shadows and spends its company with a minimum of one to a maximum of three mini-versions, flying around the lower depths of the dungeon. It doesn't attack characters directly. Instead, it uses its mini-versions to cast a wide range of status ailments that either causes team members to fight among themselves or hinders their progress, such as sleep, confusion, charm, or rage. After you are incapacitated, it will rush in with Dark-based attacks, but as soon as you are able to snap out of your afflictions, it will retreat and send its minions to immobilize you and your team once more. A Tengu mask and magical healing leaves can be collected as loot. The masks they wear and drop are different than normal, but Crow’s is by far the most common.



If you can make it past all the birdfolk and ominous skeleton imagery, you’ll reach the bottom, where that awful orange glow comes from. It’s a vague approximation of Tokyo, where the sky is searing orange and all of the buildings are built out of that same black and red-veined obsidian material. There are giant bones sticking out of the ground and snaking through buildings, reaching up into the sky, some of them even taller than the full size skyscrapers around them. Somewhere in this hellhole, if you search for long enough, you’ll find a boy in a long black coat…

→ PART THREE: NOTES

⬥ ICly, this dungeon appears on January 1st, and one way or the other the event will conclude by the 5th, though of course you can backtag and fit things into this span of time.
⬥ There are certain conditions that must be achieved for this event's good ending. Failing to meet these conditions will not result in Akira's ego-death; rather, it will result in Joker becoming a permanent fixture of the game.
⬥ Since Joker and Akira share a body, any damage Joker sustains will of course affect Akira long-term as well. Killing Joker is not recommended.
⬥ The Nasty Crimeboy will be evasive and try to get out of all conversations with others as quickly as possible, but if you would like to speak to him, let me know and we can set up a toplevel.
⬥ Ganba, everyone.

Comments

[yokeye]

Yes!

[It will be easier for everyone if Joroko isn't along for the ride with her awkward spider body. She returns to Toki's shadow for the descent.]

[parhellia]

[ Oh- Joroko disappears before Ala can ask her for some sticky webbing to ensure that Toki doesn't fall off Ala's back, but maybe that's demeaning and just because Toki can't see, doesn't mean his arms don't work and he can't maintain a good grip. ]

Okay, I'm gonna turn into a dragon now, Toki. I can't talk while I'm like that, so if you need help getting up and hanging on, Joroko will help you out! I'll let you down once we're at the bottom of this pit.

[yokeye]

It's fine!

[It will take a few tries to get on Ala's back, and he does end up summoning Joroko again. Once situated, Toki will cling desperately and do his best not to fall off because scales are hard to hold onto.]

[parhellia]

[ She'll fly as slowly as she can down the pit, which is harder than it looks because she wants to dive down headfirst but there would be no way for Toki to hang on if she just freefalls like that. So it's slow but a little jerky and eventually, and awkwardly, they make it to the bottom and the next time Ala's doing this, she's going to make her passenger wrap their arms around her neck and cling for dear life while she nosedives down this pit.

Without warning, Ala turns into smoke and dumps Toki the last two feet to the ground, since she can't speak anyways. And the first words out of her mouth when she reforms as a human is ]

Wow~! It's so beautiful here!!

[ The sky is orange and there's bones everywhere. Joroko, come out and see!! ]

[yokeye]

[Toki starts to scream, not knowing how far the fall will be, but it's cut off just as it starts with only a two foot drop. Beautiful is an unexpected description of a dungeon when things are usually on fire and full of monsters. Toki stands up and summons Joroko to look the place over for him.]

"It's... interesting."

[When Toki gets the approximation of imagery from Joroko, which is more of a psychic description than an accurate representation, he can't tell it's Tokyo. Bones coming out of buildings and light like the glow of fires.]

Is he here?

[Do they have to wander the streets of a hell city now? Oh my god, he should have gone home.]

[parhellia]

[ Fire and monsters are beautiful, when you're like Ala who comes from a realm where terrifying creatures are the norm along with darkness and isolation so that any source of light is something she finds herself gravitating towards, skipping out onto the street with her hands clasped behind her back and looking left and right and up at the sky above their heads before turning on her heels again to address Toki. ]

No clue!

[ Akira's not here in plain sight, anyways, but neither is any other Shadow as far as she can tell. ]

Why don't we split up and look around for a bit? It seems safe enough here, and if you need me, just call my name and maybe I'll show up right at your side.

[yokeye]

[Maybe she'll show up. Toki caught that. But this is fine. Joroko chooses a direction at random, much like Toki prefers to, and they'll wander around the city. Joroko is at least not going to deliberately lead Toki into danger anymore. If they find nothing of interest in fifteen minutes, she'll start climbing the buildings for an aerial view.]

[parhellia]

[ Maybe she'll be caught in the middle of something and won't show up; she didn't want to promise either way, seeing as she'd given her omamori to Wei Wuxian who hasn't used it yet and she summons herself whenever she wants. If she can't hear Toki, they're both out of luck.

Ala turns into a dragon and takes off into the air, does a little figure eight in the air before lazily drifting in and out around the buildings looking for Akira, gravitating slightly to the bones but taking her time with it.

Nothing in fifteen, twenty minutes... and then she spots him, and poofs into black smoke so she can reappear by Joroko, immediately wrapping her arms around one of Joroko's legs so she doesn't fall because oh boy this is high up. ]

...I found him!

[yokeye]

[Joroko startles at sudden appearance, and weight, of Ala. She loses her footing for a moment, and then they're dangling by a web. Luckily, Joroko left Toki down on the street.] Where? [She gets her hold back on the building, and starts climbing down.]

[parhellia]

[ Whoops. Maybe she should have gone for something smaller like a crow first, but not being able to talk unless she's a person is very inconvenient sometimes, so she does her best to stay as small and still as possible so they don't plummet to ...well, she can't die, and if Joroko takes enough damage, it's Toki who'll pass out, so this is for his sake. ]

Over in one of the alleyways. He's on the move, but I can lead us to the general area— I'll fly us over like before. ...Are you worried about Toki talking to Akira?

[yokeye]

I'm not worried about that. I don't think he'll help at all, but I don't think he's in much danger. [Her opinions on Akira are only that he tolerates Toki, which is the best she can hope for. At most, he'll be killed swiftly and they won't return to the dungeon for a second try. If by some turn of events, Akira goes for mental torment to get rid of Toki, Joroko will stop that nonsense before it goes too far. She reaches the street, and Toki.] Ala found him.

[parhellia]

[ That's the best Ala could hope to hear: either Toki helps or not, but either way he doesn't die. That's good enough for her, and she hops off the building as soon as she's within five feet of the ground and does her two-step phasing into a dragon again, expecting Toki to get on so they can zoom off without giving him a chance to reconsider what he's doing.

With a little shuffle and soft dragon growl, Ala waits impatiently for Toki to get on so they can go find mister Joker. ]

[yokeye]

[Joroko helps Toki onto Ala's back again, and this time she gets herself up there too. She doesn't want Toki to forget to summon her when they reach Akira. She needs to oversee that conversation, however it goes.]

[parhellia]

[ And away we gooooooo-- ]