JANUARY DUNGEON

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JANUARY DUNGEON

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→ 1/12 Lockdown: The Final Dungeon

When preparations are complete and the team is ready to tackle the dungeons, both Attendants can be found at the castle, with Minato sitting on the armrest of the throne with a plain short sword balanced on his knees, and Souji standing to the side with several backpacks full of food, water, and blankets at his feet. "Last chance to change your mind and join the Champions of the Just," Minato pipes up from where he's sitting. "They've got trail mix." The team he's heading, incidentally, he named the Legion of the Dead and there is no trail mix or any other supplies provided by Minato, because Souji is a responsible leader who comes prepared, and Minato just doesn't care.

A several day hiking trip up the mountains for the sake of team bonding was considered but ultimately vetoed, so Souji simply opens a portal up from the forest shrine's torii to the mountain shrine's, and from there, it's only a short trek through the drifting snow to reach the honden. At the stroke of midnight, each Attendant places their hand flat on their door, the surface glowing bright blue and turning translucent: a one-way barrier swallowing each person whole as they pass through the portals.



Legion of the Dead It's a straight ten-foot drop once you step through the ofuda door in the castle, with nothing to break your fall but hard stone— or Minato if you happen to be the next person after him. It's a large stone chamber, with two large indentations on the far wall the size and appearance of doors, but neither open when touched or attacked. The only other thing of note in the room is a pedestal at the center with three omamoris slowing burning in a weak flame, one with Rio's name and arcana, another with Kido's, and the last with Yamato's, the same ones that were thrown away at the forest shrine on New Years as a statement of rejection of the Kotengu and his lent powers. Really, it's just Rio and Yamato's, though, because Kido had two omamoris to start with and doesn't need this second one. But with nothing else in the room, the first choice is a time-limited one: will you save the omamoris from the fire so Rio and Yamato can have it to summon their Personas, or will you respect their decision and allow the omamoris to burn to ashes? Depending on your choice, one of two doors will open.

Champions of the Just Entering the honden brings the group to a large stone chamber reminiscent of the forest shrine dungeon: a circular hub with a dozen arches along the perimeter, clearly meant to entice the impatient to spread themselves thin. Instead of multiple Shadow ghosts appearing from the ether to ambush the group, however, there is only one: a semitransparent ghostly form of a young boy huddled against the archway on the opposite side of where everybody had entered. He looks to be around seven, with very little distinguishing features other than pale eyes staring at the group. The moment anybody takes a step closer to him, calls out to him, or tries to attack, he starts in fear and turns to run through the archway— anybody who gives chase is met with a barrier; in fact, every other archway is blocked by the same invisible barrier, cutting their potential routes in half. The rest of the room is empty. There should be a way to get the barriers to drop in one of the five available passageways... Will you proceed all together, or divide and conquer?

There is no Velvet Room within the dungeons, and using a traesto gem or goho-m will only bring you to the beginning of the dungeon in either main hub, not outside. Falling unconscious within the dungeons doesn't bring you anywhere to be revived either; all it means is that your unconscious body lies there to rot or get eaten by Shadows until somebody hopefully saves you. So look after one another in the dungeons, and don't be afraid to rely on your Attendants. Souji will keep everybody safe.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ Both dungeons are team-based and require some coordination with other members of their team, with some decisions involving the entire team (e.g. Legion of the Dead's first decision regarding the omamoris). The teams will make their way through several rooms to find the exit, either split up or all together, with each room containing a battle, puzzle, decision, or another obstacle. The team as a whole will bear the consequences of the actions taken, so please give each choice careful consideration. As actions may affect subsequent rooms, new rooms will become available after the previous are cleared, rather than all the information given at one time.
⬥ A toplevel for the boss will go up once a team ICly reaches the boss' chamber, and overall, this deadline is the end of the month to avoid IC consequences.

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If you have any questions, please leave them here!

PRE-DUNGEON MINGLE

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[tarotcards]

[ Souji has one backpack per member of his team, but he also brought more than his team needs because... ]

In case you didn't prepare, I have some extra bags that you can take.

[ He's shoving one into Minato's hand and some extra trail mix into his pocket. Also, this is a good time to ask him for any other supplies before you disappear with Minato. ]

[compendiem]

[ All this is just extra weight for one of the few people here who won't starve if he doesn't eat, but Minato takes what he gets, setting the backpack on the ground and opening up a bag of trail mix and starts eating it right there, because they have some time to burn before midnight so he might as well. ]

You should save them for yourself. You guys have to stay alive no matter what.

[ Minato's leading the Dead, so it doesn't matter if they get wiped. Souji's team is the one heading for the Daitengu's shrine. ]

[defragment]

[ 45 finds her team name hilarious because she is no champion of the just, or anything just. Anyway, she has a backpack of her own full of things that are better not listed and she's handing a status curing bead to everyone. ]

This is in case someone can't get to you fast enough. Healers might be working on double duty after all~

[tesa]

Thank you!!! [She's gonna go run up to 45 and give her a big hug. Iris is just that kind of person who wants to show appreciation. ]

I'll probably end up using it because my healing abilities are limited. It drains me out sometimes.


I bet you have all kinds of other stuff stashed away for an important occasion.

[yokeye]

[Toki isn't too prepared for this. He was planning to be, but ended up in the police station surrounded by bears for days. He had less time to train and think about strategies. He's brought no food, assuming that would be Rei's priority and leaving that sort of thing to her. What he has brought is the small plush Rilakkuma bag he arrived in Hirajiro with, mostly empty in case he finds important things that need to be taken out of the dungeon, or to hold gem stones. Inside the bag is simply his collapsible cane and two small silver keys he'd been given by crows. He has no idea what to do with them, but maybe something will come up.

He's not wearing any particularly warm, nor combat-ready, clothing; just a pastel hoodie, jeans, and sneakers. Though, he has thought it a good idea to utilize his old helmet dropped by the crows. In place of his cane at this point, Toki has a rusty pike from the castle weapons cache. It's not much, but any projectile weapons are a bad idea, and he gave his close-range electrified claw gloves to Red. Before they start, he has one question for Minato.]

Can we change the name!?

[Legion of the Dead makes him think that Minato's dead, and Rei's dead, and who else is dead? Are they all dead!?]

[flowerclips]

[ Toki is correct in assuming that Rei has packed all the food. She didn't go overboard because Terry warned her that she shouldn't drag too many things along, so she just packed things that are filling. She also has lots of water bottles. ]

"Legion of the dead" does sound scary...

[ Yeah, everyone's just dead. Welcome to purgatory. ]

[flowerclips]

[ Rei is extremely nervous for the new dungeons that she's a little quieter than usual. She had a big gift bag in her hands. ]

U-Umm, I made snack bags for everyone! So you don't get hungry in the dungeon.

[ Inside are big ziplock bags that contain smaller bags filled with various different snacks such as nuts, chocolate, candy, etc. Please take her hard-worked bags of treats. ]

LEGION OF THE DEAD

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[overstrain]

[ Terry has no problem with sudden ten foot drops, so he makes it on the ground just fine. He avoids stepping on Minato after he lands though, and summons Vassago to help carry the ones who can't handle jumping down from that height. ]

Vassago will help you guys down! Watch your step.

ROOM THREE (TEAM A)

[tarotcards]

[ Cyrus, Sasuke, and Toki are shoved through the first door. ]

[ The light is almost blinding when they stumble and fall through. It's now daytime. The sun is high in the sky and it's smoldering. The air is humid and hot and perhaps this is just an illusion, all fake just like the previous "room", but the heat is very real. Looking around, it's the same village that was once on fire. It might be difficult to tell, especially considering the mass destruction and mayhem that just engulfed it, but the structures and the general layout are the same. In fact, evidence from that night is still present, with some homes still burnt and destroyed, but the village is rebuilding and everyone is, surprising, in a good mood. There is a new abundance of crows that fly overhead and a few that stick close to some villagers, happily eating the scraps of food that are thrown at them. No one seems bothered by them. Instead, they smile. ]

[ Many cheer and chant as if it's their mantra. Bless the Kotengu! He saved us all! Let's welcome our God! We'll rebuild even stronger than before! ]

[ Despite that there are three separating groups of villagers, they all chant similar praises. These groups are A) one that stays behind in the village to assemble new homes and care for the children and elderly, B) one that heads off into the forest towards the shrine ("we must give our offerings and decorate the shrine appropriately"), and C) one that heads in another direction of the forest ("let us make a beautiful dwelling for the Kotengu"). ]

[ Ask around. You may find some clues, though Cyrus and Sasuke will quickly realize that they have lost either their hearing or their speech as soon as they were shoved through the door. Toki is completely fine, though, so looks like he got a lucky break, but good luck communicating with each other and gathering clues this way! ]

ROOM FOUR (TEAM B)

[tarotcards]

[ Rei, Terry, and Yamato are shoved through the second door. ]

[ It's dark. Unlike the previous "room" that had the flames to light up night, there is only a pale full moon that looms overhead the river that the team falls into. The waters are swallow, only coming up a few feet, but it's cold and slows down their movements. It's impossible to climb out of the river as the lands on either side stretch upwards like tall walls. The only way to move is forward. ]

[ And through a hoard of the undead. ]

[ A hundred of dead humans, lumbering through the water and moaning. It doesn't take long to recognize these men as the ones that previously invaded the village; the ones that Terry viciously slaughtered. As proof, they have a deep hole through their chests that his arrow penetrated. They all point and scream at him, asking how could he do this to them? Why didn't he show them mercy? They had families too. ]

[ They all converge on Terry, ignoring Rei and Yamato unless they intervene. They're not that strong. They're rotten and their flesh is starting to falling apart. Some of them are already missing limbs, so it's their sheer number that you'd have to be concerned about, but a single attack from Terry should blow them away, right? ]

[ No. As soon as the three fell through the door, they have lost all of their offensive regain bonuses. Did you have super strength? It's been stripped away. Did you have an ally who can help? They cannot be brought forth. Furthermore, your Personas are bound by a strange curse that rendered all of their strength and attacks useless. Only support and passive skills can be used. Rely on them and whatever items you might have brought along. You can either fight them all or push through to the end. ]

ROOM FIVE (TEAM C)

[tarotcards]

[ Minato, Nero, and Red are shoved through the third door. ]

[ The sun hangs low and there's a chill in the air. Cold breezes of air roll over and freeze those underdressed. Glancing around, it's another destroyed village, but not the one in the previous "room". This one is far larger and appears to be destroyed by something akin to a tornado. Homes laid scattered into pieces and parts of a regular life in the village is ripped apart. It must have been recent as there are still fresh bodies underneath rubble and on the dirt streets. Only a few survivors remain, all huddled up together, but injured and sick. They will not survive another night. ]

[ They mumble, talking about a monster who skewered all of their men in the village over the mountains and their new God doing this to their home. They shouldn't have attacked. They brought this upon themselves. The other village only attacked in self-defense. ]

[ They warily look at the unfamiliar team, but they're too weak to do anything. They can't keep their head up and some are shivering so hard that they can't speak without biting their tongue. When they die out, this village will die as well and whatever knowledge that they might have possessed. ]

[ It may seem easy enough to simply heal them with a Persona, but they're sealed away. As soon as all three were thrown through the door, their Personas have gone silent and remain locked away. Helping these people will not be easy. Assuming that you actually want to lend a hand and not walk away. ]

[compendiem]

[ Not everybody comes out at the same time, but when each team exits through their respective doors, they find themselves spat out in the same room:

Rei, Terry, and Yamato are the first to arrive, completely drenched and dripping water all over the floor.

Minato, Nero, and Red come tumbling out after, bursting through the door and sliding a good several feet across the ground in a mess of limbs they have to untangle themselves from in order to stand up. Red does not get up.

Cyrus, Sasuke, and Toki are the last to arrive, but they're the ones with something actually worthwhile to share, so it's just as well that everybody's decided to wait for them, whether that's to drip-dry or to recover from a concussion. ]

[citta]

[ It's the village once again. As quickly established, this is Hirajiro. A distant one far from the past, but Hirajiro nevertheless. It has been rebuilt since its attack and evidence of any fire has disappeared, but yet another tragedy strikes them. ]

[ The earth underneath shakes violently, throwing people to the ground and collapsing homes. Heaps of dirt, rocks, and broken trees from the mountains being to bury parts of the village. Everyone screams, running and taking whatever little valuables they have, some with bits of food while others with their own children. Mass panic overtakes them and all the cries are mixed into one, making it difficult to understand any of them. Keywords such as "Daitengu", "punishment", "Kotengu", and "shrine" are repeated, but eventually, it turns into a unified howl that they must get to the shrine in the forest. The Kotengu will transport them away to somewhere safe, but he can only do it once. As many people as possible need to get to the shrine or risk being left behind.]

[ Villagers push and shove, nearly trampling each other as they scurry to run away from the landslide and to avoid the falling buildings. The weak, young, and elderly can't keep up and they beg anyone to take them. Perhaps the team can lend a hand, but something has changed. Your Persona, it has gotten weaker, or perhaps it's more fitting to say that they have lost all of their progress. Their skills, stats, evolutions, they have disappeared and they've reverted to the original state of when everyone first arrived. All those powers and strengths eventually regained over the past few weeks or months have also vanished and you are now no stronger or weaker than you were when you've first arrived in Hirajiro. ]

[ It's not only the villagers that are in trouble. You're now also stuck in this situation without any easy ways out. ]

BOSS ENCOUNTER

[compendiem]

[ It's a large circular room, but a barren one save for flat stones lined up against the perimeter, and the tiny windows near the top of the vaulted ceiling that allows light to shine in and illuminate the dust floating about the room, but offers no view outside other than pure white.

It's quiet when the group steps in, empty until the very last one of them enters and the door shuts behind them, kicking up a swirl of dust that does not settle. Instead, voices echo throughout the room.

"...You let me die. I still had so much I wanted to do..."

"I want to go home. I want to see my family. I want to live..."

"You can still save us. Please... please save us. Please help us."

The dust comes together, almost solid but not quiet, taking on color and faces and entire bodies that stand and crowd the room, almost thirty ghosty bodies in all, some of them familiar, some of them not. Red and Cyrus stand shoulder to shoulder, silent and impassive, staring at their bodies on the ground. Mondo looks over at Terry, then casts his eyes away. Enkidu can barely move, clay falling apart in clumps. RO stands charred, skin peeling and metal gleaming. Mae stares out at the group with her nightmare eyes, Hibiki tries to smile at them all but doesn't quite manage it, Ryoji speaks up and says, "I'm glad to see you, Minato" but Lying Cat pipes up that it's a lie.

"Toki." Kano stands with his arm around Ellie's shoulder, thick blood dripping down his front from a gash in his throat, but the blood that splatters on the ground belongs to Ellie, whose face is a bloody mess, whose mouth opens as she strains against Kano's hold but all that spills from her mouth is blood. "...I'm sorry."

A stranger stands in the forefront of it all, arms slightly spread as if to protect all those behind him. "Naoya," Minato mumbles, and in return, he gets his acknowledgement. "Arisato. You signed that contract and sold your soul. So you had better make good on your promise." ]

CHAMPIONS OF THE JUST

[citta]

[tarotcards]

Before we go any further, everyone should put this on.

[ Before they wander too far into the honden and get to the circular hub, Souji passes around shiny gold stickers. It's a cute crown sticker that has "CHAMPIONS OF THE JUST" written on it. Please put it on or else you're not following the group. ]

[parhellia]

[ Better late than never. Between the castle and the shrine, the obvious place to go is to the shrine in the mountains where the great birds are said to live— Ala would love to be in the castle with Terry and Vassago, but maybe it's best she doesn't hear about Terry going badshit insane with violence over there. She's only been out in the mountains here and there helping clear out the path, but it takes a while longer finding the shrine in the dead of night, Ala in her dragon form and Jiro on Priam landing in front of the torii.

She turns back to herself, rubbing her hands together and breathing on them. Cold... ]

Looks like everybody's inside already... Ready to go in? The crows said we're stuck inside until we finish, so if you need to pee or anything, you'd better do it now.

ROOM THREE (45, Kido)

[citta]

[ Passing through the door, 45 and Kido open their eyes to harsh, bright sunlight, shining down from the middle of a dusty blue— and looking over at one another, they may almost think they're seeing another doppleganger but done wrong, each other with black hair and brown eyes, none of their usual clothing or any of their equipment on them. Instead, it's rags and maybe a straw hat for shade, a corner of a fishing net in each of their hand with the bulk of it under the water.

Before they can do or say anything else, a voice calls to them from the lake side: "Tatsuda-san, Matsuoka-san," a man calls out, trotting up to them. He says he's here to help them clean up the lake, along with three or four others who have agreed to, and (looking around for a second before lowering his voice to a whisper) wonders whether they'll be okay to meet tonight at one of their houses. It's Tatsuda's turn to host, he reminds them, tilting a head towards 45. ]

ROOM FOUR (Souji, Iris)

[citta]

[ Everything is... so much larger, all of the sudden. Souji and Iris open their eyes to find themselves seated on uncomfortably hard wooden chairs, little hands folded in front of them in a classroom of twenty students, all of which seem to be around six or seven years old. The two of them are also six or seven, and if they make even a little peep of noise, the teacher up front tells them to shush, they're in the middle of a physiology lesson.

She calls a boy up to the front, and asks him to identify the vital points on the human body. He walks up to the front of the class and turns around, pointing silently to a spot on his side, his throat, his temple. The boy has very little distinguishing features, other than pale eyes that remain trained at the ground. ]

ROOM FIVE (Rio, Akira, Wei Wuxian)

[citta]

[ Yap, yap, you're a fox! Or a squirrel. Or a bear. Each person wakes up to find themselves as some sort of forest animal amongst groups of other animals— herds of deer pressed close together, a bear roaring and standing over a hole in a ground with two baby cubs poking their faces out of it. Almost the entire area has been cleared of trees except for this small patch of trees the animals have crowded together in, the rest of the forest now littered with tree stumps and dry dirt.

With all the trees felled, the entirety of Hirajiro can be seen without any trees in the way, and there's nothing to obscure the sight of the gathering of people at the outskirts of town, each person carrying a torch or an axe or a wheelbarrow, and it won't be long before they reach this last patch of forest. ]

FINAL ROOM

[citta]

[ Everybody returns to the main hub. 45 and Kido are out there first, blankets spread out on the ground and bags of trail mix open and half eaten beside them as they wait for the others to arrive. Souji and Iris return a while later, back to their typical appearance and reports that they met the boy they saw at the beginning of the dungeon, who says the barrier has now been lifted. And it appears that's exactly what happened, the team now able to pass through any of the other six doors in the hub. Akira, Rio, and Wei Wuxian bring up the rear, returning with an item that hasn't been oocly obtained yet, so it won't be touched upon here, but with the original group assembled, they have the choice of heading through one of the doors as a group, or to split up once more.

It really doesn't matter.

Even for Jiro and Ala who arrive days late and enter a random door, the result is the same; each door leads to the exact same place: a little town built around a sparkling lake, surrounded by a full forest at the peak of summer and tall mountains encompassing the area known as Hirajiro. The town is lively with chatter and the streets are bustling with open markets and stalls, with word of the school culture festival happening tomorrow and the summer festival next week everybody's busy preparing for.

Each character wakes up in a bed— in "their" bedroom, in "their" house, with "their" families. They get dressed to be ready for school or work, greet their neighbors by name and with a smile, and make time to pet a cat meowing at them on the street before rushing off to continue on with their day. A routine day in this town they've lived in their entire lives. ]

BOSS ENCOUNTER

[citta]

DAITENGU (大天狗) MIYAMOTO-NO-YAMAZAKI
Type BOSS	Blocks None	Resists Wind, Light
『 You kept your promise. I'm glad. It's good to see you again, Iris. Souji. 』 The final room is dark and devoid of all life. It is yet another stone chamber, but far smaller, able to contain no more than twenty adults standing shoulder-to-shoulder. There are also no arches or any other paths. The entrance is the only way in and out. Perched on top of a large pedistal, one pressed up against te furthest wall, is the boy from earlier. The one who ran away from the group earlier on, but now dressed in formal wear and with two small wings across his back. 『 I am the Daitengu, Miyamoto-no-Yamazaki, the emboidment of famine, but if it's too long or hard to say, you can call me Hiroto. 』 His voice is meek. It doesn't hold the same strength or pride that the previous Daitengus had. It's soft and full of hestiance, as if he's carefully trying to choose his words while he speaks. Sitting on the pillar, one that's barely four feet tall, his legs gently sway side to side as he looks at the group. Although tense, likely from nervousness, he holds no ill will towards the Persona users nor does he have any intentions to fight. His fan is placed by his side and he seems more preoccupied with his clothes, occassionally rolling up his long sleeves, only for them to just fall right back down. 『 I know that the other Daitengus weren't so nice, but can we talk? 』 He jumps off the pedestal, but he doesn't walk up to everyone. He's short. He's the same height as any elementary school child. He has to look up at everyone as he speaks. 『 I don't really like fighting, anyway... 』