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.

Comments

[flowerclips]

[ Rei absolutely needs help getting down because a sudden ten-foot drop is definitely not something she can manage. She'll be holding onto Toki's hand the entire time they're in the dungeon and will definitely need Vassago's help getting down. ]

I-It's so deep...

[ They're only at the beginning of the dungeon but she's already nervous. ]

[yokeye]

[Toki will take help from whichever dragon, as he hasn't summoned Joroko yet. There's no sounds of fighting and voices are echo-y, so he's going to assume the absence of Shadows.]

What's in here?

[overstrain]

It looks like there are two doors? Or something like that.

[ By now, Terry ventured further into the chamber as Vassago continues to help people get down safely. ]

And there are several omamoris burning on a pedestal. Rio, Yamato, and Kido's.

[ Ominous. ]

[flowerclips]

[ Ominous... ]

Oh, they're burning up! Should we put out the fire?!

[yokeye]

Maybe it's a trap!

[Toki was with Rio when she and her Persona decided together to get rid of the omamori and continue on without the Kotengu's influence. This could be an effort on the bird's part to get them back under his power.]

[overstrain]

[ Terry doesn't know about the thing with Rio, but he knows Kido has a spare omamori she can use anyway. Yamato's here, so he may as well answer for himself whether he wants it. ]

What do you mean by trap? If I take it, a pit will open up or something?

[yokeye]

A pit!? Aren't we in a pit!?

[They went down, and that's all Toki knows. Akira's dungeon had a pit too.]

I meant like, trying to get them to reconsider and like swear allegiance to the Kotangu! Or something like that. That kind of trap.

[overstrain]

[ Terry thinks there could be more pits like how there are more dungeon floors.

But. ]

Most of us still have our charms though.

[ What's that supposed to make them?? ]

[yokeye]

[Terry's right. They're all being influenced by the Kotengu somehow. Even now, it could be controlling their thoughts. He shouldn't need an omamori to summon Joroko - she's a piece of him. Toki walks closer to the quiet crackling of the fire and the smoke smell. Without hesitation, he tosses his omamori on the pedestal.]

We have to be free!

[flowerclips]

[ Holy shit, Rei should actually be holding both of Toki's hands to prevent him from doing anything. They've only been here for two seconds and she's already screaming. ]

Tokidoki, why did you throw your omamori in?!

[ Terry, please grab it before Rei does. ]

[overstrain]

[ Terry was already near the pedestal by the time Toki made his way over and grabbed the omamori when he tossed it before it touched the fire. He had a feeling he'd do this...

He doesn't give the omamori back in case Toki might do it again, and pockets it while walking over to the indentations of where the door-like things are. ]

[yokeye]

Because we don't need them to summon parts of ourselves!

[He's answering Rei, having no idea Terry took his omamori. He thinks it's burning.]

Right?

[compendiem]

Technically, yeah.

[ Minato has no stakes in the omamori, and is instead hanging around at the doors running his hand down the surface of them as if trying to coax them open like he did the ofuda door. ]

You can force them out through another medium like I used to do. Or call for them naturally, like Souji and the rest of my senpai could do. I dunno anything about the process, so you're outta luck for now.

[ Part willpower, part being touched by a mystical being, whatever. It's second nature to Minato now, summoning without a medium, so he can't explain it at all, because his Personas are always there right at his side whether visible or not. ]

Anyways, are we going to let these burn? If we wait any longer, they're going to be too damaged to use even if they're saved.

[overstrain]

There's probably a reason why they're here.

[ Terry eyes the fire and then back at the "entrance". ]

One of these belongs to someone who's still back there.

[yokeye]

Minato just said we don't need them!

[That's what he's taking from that explanation.]

We should all burn ours!

[overstrain]

[ It hasn't even been five minutes and Terry feels like he's getting a headache. ]

We don't have another medium and Minato just said he doesn't know the process of naturally summoning them, so we're not burning anything. When a Persona forcefully comes out without all that, that means you're having issues with your Persona, and that's the last thing we need right now.

[compendiem]

Terrence is right. If you want to stick it to the Kotengu, burn your omamoris after leaving this place and figuring out another way. Freedom from the Kotengu doesn't matter if you die here.

[ Minato walks up to the pedestal and pokes Kido's omamori into the center of the fire so it can burn first. This really can't go on forever, maybe another handful of tags or until Eon wakes up and has Yamato chime in on the fate of his own omamori. ]

[technical]

...These three sacrificed their omamori themselves, before any of us were involved.

[Hi guys, Cyrus has been here the entire time just watching. The drop was fairly small and not a huge issue with Honchkrow's assistance, so now man and bird are just standing with the rest. Honchkrow is looking at the omamori, or the fire, or both — perhaps it wants to take the objects, or perhaps it's just intrigued by the flames.]

Barring the one still coming through, who can decide perfectly well on their own, I don't see any reason to take the objects back.

[devilshocker]

It's already burned to a crisp.

[Nero lightly pokes Minato in the back with his prosthetic hand. Rude.]

Sometimes a sacrifice is necessary. Do whatever the hell you need to do. I suck at teamwork.

[compendiem]

[ "I suck at teamwork." Terry's going to have an aneurysm at this rate. But Minato just nods, because that's what he does: whatever the hell he needs to do. And right now, that thing to do is to stop wasting time, so he summons Orpheus at his side to hurry up the burning process. ]

If it's a trap, I'll take responsibility.

[laconism]

[Red simply watches everything unfold quietly, so it's probably safe to assume that he agrees with this course of action. Charizard pitches in a Flamethrower to help out with the burning as well.]

[not_that_sasuke]

[Sasuke's here, and he's actually got a lightweight bag with him - which he's using to carry all the healing stuff Rio got for the teams.]

...They decided on it...

[It was something that occurred to him as well, but in the end, he didn't have the courage to try.]

[astralchain]

[ Yamato is a bit slow on the movement due to looking around. He can't sense anything both physically and... well.... you know, an attempt at spiritually, but. ]

Leave mine there.

[ He folds his arms, an uncharacteristic bitter undertone to his voice. ]

I chose to not use it.

[ Being weak to Fire means he can't help with the burning process, but everyone is getting it lit real fast so they should be able to move on soon. ]

[devilshocker]

[Looks like they've settled on it. Nero's not joking when he says he's bad at teamwork. He feels that his opinions won't weigh on too heavily so he decides to not comment. The Holy Knights used to critisize him for having a fowl mouth. Perhaps it's best to just let them carry on in their own way.

Still, he gets restless waiting for the burning process to finish. It feels like it's taking forever.

Then he pulls out his revolver and starts charging it incase something comes out to threaten them.]

[overstrain]

[ Cool. Goodbye, omamoris. They really don't have time to waste. Once they're completely burned to nothing but ashes, the door on the right opens.

Terry takes cautious steps into whatever is past the door. ]