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

[yokeye]

[Toki isn't sure he believes Rei, but then he feels bad for doubting her assertion that she's fine. They're supposed to be honest. He holds the omamori tightly. Poor Joroko, discarded and almost burned in some dungeon hellfire. What was he thinking? Hopefully, she's not too angry. Toki summons her to make sure.

When Joroko emerges from his shadow, the first thing she does is slap him. But it hurt her too, so she only does it once. A quick glance inside the room shows her the last Eldritch is still standing. She relays the information on its position back to Toki, so he'll stop being so useless.

It wasn't the Shadows that hurt Rei, technically, but Toki doesn't know that and he's charging into the room with Joroko to fight the last one. He's unaffected by any ailments with Unshaken Will, and attempts to kill the Eldritch with having Joroko spam Psycho Force and Kouga. He may die.]

[overstrain]

[ Good thing it was severely weakened beforehand, so Toki and Joroko kill it off with their barrage of attacks. Terry just hears Toki charging in and it's a small room. maybe he'll bump into a wall? Anyway, he's still blind himself so he does some pinpointing of his own. ]

... Okay, the exit is on the other side. It should be open now.

[ It's probably obvious to the people who can see it for those who haven't entered the room, but Terry will say it for the ones who can't. Recover from your Victory Cry passives and Rei's Salvation healing before moving on. Anyway. The only ones who know about his blood lifespan are Minato, Sasuke, and Rei, so he'll just say it out loud anyway. ]

Can anyone let me recharge?

[compendiem]

[ Minato is the one with the mangled arms, so he trudges over to wherever Terry is, trips over his feet, and attempts to shove his arm at Terry's face.

Feast. ]

[devilshocker]

[Nero just spends a whole minute attempting to strangle one of the weaker shadows to death. It's taking 100 years to do it this way, but it's like he doesn't have any experience using persona. This is a very old fashioned way of fighting.


Anyway, once that's all out of the way and settled he just pauses and looks at Terry like.. what?]

What do you mean by recharge?

[overstrain]

[ Terry currently has his mouth full of Minato's arm, so he's not going to answer. He's also facing away from the people at the door, but he'll make this as quick as possible. Everyone come to the room already!! Be blind with them!!

Anyway, he took a lot from Minato and so quickly too. He probably won't get woozy from sudden blood loss. Maybe. Who knows. ]

Thanks. But don't do it again like that.

[ He can tell it's Minato who flopped on him... ]

[flowerclips]

[ Rei enters the room, feeling very uncomfortable at her sudden new blindness. It definitely gives her an idea of Toki's perspective (or lack of), though. Zhn walks up to her so guide her over to Toki so she doesn't bump into anything or go the wrong way. She casts one more Salvation for everyone and reaches out blindly (haha) to find Toki's arm. ]

You did a great job, Tokidoki. That was really cool!

[ Oh yeah, Terry and Minato also did a great job, but they're not as important. Also, hm, Nero just asked a question, but Rei doesn't want to out Terry's whole blood drinking thing so she'll make up an excuse. ]

Umm, recharging as in taking a break! Making sure that T-chan catches his breath! Yeah, so T-chan, I'll help you recharge next time so the person who just helped you can take a break.

[technical]

[Cyrus has been sticking to the back because he, too, does not like charging into situations without taking stock of them first, and maybe that was a good idea because he's still so weak he would have dropped immediately. So he stands in the doorway, observing...]

[ .................and passes out instantly from that Megidolaon. So does Honchkrow.]

[yokeye]

Really!?

[Rei's praise means a lot, even though she probably would have told him the same thing if he'd sucked too. Like Nero, Toki doesn't know what recharge means and he'll take the explanation given at face value. Joroko is recalled to her omamori in case she feels like yelling at him or hitting him again.]

Um, so next time, can just one person go in first!?

[Listen to him, please.]

[compendiem]

Terrence, you go.

[ Honestly, it should just be him and Terry heading this entire dungeon if he could have his way— falling back into old habits, but if it were just the two of them, Rei wouldn't have to waste her SP reviving weaklings who get killed just by collateral Megidolaon damage.

He'll bring up the rear this time. If they're all dead by the time he gets through the door, he figures he can kill everything first, and revive everybody who needs it at the end. ]

[overstrain]

[ Terry doesn't complain and walks ahead, since he knows where to go. He's been blind for several days before, so he knows what to do when he suddenly can't see. Summoning Vassago and having him out isn't a good idea when the room is already cramped and small, but he summons him anyway to cast Makarakarn on himself and Charge. Then Vassago gets dismissed. Sorry, dude. You're too big for the setting.

Then Terry opens the door and walks inside while on guard. He has a charm knife on him and ready to kill whatever's out there in one hit if they prove to be a threat.

What kind of horrors await this time? ]

[flowerclips]

[ As Terry passes through, his vision will return to him, but perhaps he'll soon regret it as before him is a massacre. In a burning village, defenseless villagers run and scream from armed intruders. They're cut down with swords, pierced by arrows, or burned with torches. There's chaos everywhere and dead bodies line the streets. Cries of horror, pleads, and anguish fill the night sky, though the fire that overtakes the homes makes it almost look like day. It's a slaughter and no one is spared. The young and old are killed as well. ]

[ Many of the villagers bellow and shriek for help while others direct everyone towards the shrine in the woods. The Kotengu will help us! We should have listened! Quick, there are weapons there! Hold on, they'll be back to fight off these fiends! ]

[ There is an exit around here. What will you do? Protect and heal the villagers or ignore them? ]

[overstrain]

[ Oh.

Hm.

Terry is in the front and he kinda doesn't want others to interfere. This might as well be fake, but he puts his charm knife away, resummons his longbow, and shoots an arrow that goes to track down "everyone who is attacking the villagers" to skewer through them. A single magical arrow akin to a long thick thread, creating a shishkabob of corpses. ]

Don't come here yet!

[ That's to everyone in the back. ]

[devilshocker]

[Nero's just gonna walk over to Rei and nod like, sure. He's buying it.

It's not like he knows anything about Terry's deal so he passes it off as normal. They've got more things to be concerned about.]

Whatever you say. Just try not to be stupid out there.

[It's so weird and he's not used to fighting in the back like this. Now he feels more like a peanut gallery with unnecessary commentary.]