JANUARY DUNGEON

[citta]

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

[overstrain]

[ Even with his one arm held on to by Rei, he still kicks and punches with his other hand and leg at the burning horde of zombies if they get too close. He's no longer charging in and he would never hurt Rei with the small amount of self control that he still has. He looks over at Yamato who's been helping out and pretty much dealing with this side drama. Sorry, dude.

Terry clicks his tongue and summons Vassago. He looks so done with Terry but he doesn't disappear. Instead, he grabs Terry, Yamato, and Rei and flies over the group of burning zombies. ]

[flowerclips]

Thank you, T-chan...

[ The zombies can't do much against a flying dragon, but they still point and scream. It'll be a long ride as this river seems to go on forever, so Rei is glad that they're no longer trekking through the waters. However, she's completely soaked and freezing, so she puts her arms around herself. ]

You don't smell like cinnamon anymore...

[overstrain]

[ Terry doesn't even consider Rei's discomfort if he does this, so he just goes ahead and hugs her from the back because she looks cold. ]

I didn't smell like cinnamon either when I looked like someone else, remember?

[ As if that matters. ]

[flowerclips]

[ She doesn't mind it. She's still concerned and a part of her still does wonder if this is the real Terry, but since he summoned Vassago, she's pretty sure that this is him. ]

That's true, but you were still acting funny... is it because you're worried about neechan?

[overstrain]

No.

[ Terry knows Rei has a neechan, but who that person is? No clue. Therefore, he can't be worried about a person he doesn't know. ]

People always tell me I'm weird or whatever, so don't let it get to you too much.

[flowerclips]

Okay...

[ She still can't shake off that something is off, but she doesn't want to keep prodding him so she says nothing. She just hopes that they can escape this terrible room and luckily, they'll find their end destination. The river has split up into two paths with a door on the floor of each stream. They're hardly visible in the darkness of the night, but the water is perfectly clear and a keen eye might spot them out. However, they'll be difficult to open due to the water resistance and the team will have to go underwater to pass through. That might have been an easy feat if the waters were still steep, but it became progressively deeper and deeper the further the river went so it'd be a deep dive to reach them. Even besides that, which door is the correct one? There are no indications on what lies behind each door. ]

[overstrain]

[ Terry isn't the one that's paying attention, but Vassago is. He spots the door on the floor of the riverbed. Vassago hovers over one of the doors, because it's not like he can tell the difference between either one, so it's no use fretting over which one to go to when there are no differences they can tell from here.

When Vassago stops moving on, Terry peeks over from the dragon's back after letting Rei go. ]

Huh. We gotta dive. Do you still have the water breathing charm?

[flowerclips]

[ ... oh, that's what she was forgetting. ]

I... didn't bring it.

[overstrain]

[ Terry will give Rei his. Here you go. It's a miracle that his breathing charm still exists from how fragile it is, and how much he gets hurt on a weekly basis. He puts it into her hand and assumes Yamato can swim because he looks like a capable guy. ]

I'm gonna go first to open the door!

[ And without hearing back from either of the two, Terry dives into the water in an attempt to open the door. ]

[flowerclips]

[ He sure just dove right into that idea pretty quickly... Rei honestly has absolutely no time to say anything like how they should all go down together or that she has no idea how to swim so what is diving? Do you just wait to sink? The lake dungeon was easy because she would literally just walk until it got deeper and deeper but this is already deep... oh well, she'll figure it out. ]

[ The door is heavy. The water pressure makes it difficult to open, especially as it swings outwards rather than indoors. If Terry manages to open it, there'd be nothing to see asides from a bright yellow glow. There'd be no knowing what the team will literally jump into, but at least they can take their time to decide on it. Despite being open, none of the water funnels through the exit. ]

[overstrain]

[ Terry manages to open it, but it was a very hard struggle. He gave his water breathing charm to Rei, but it's not like he'll die no matter how long he's in there, but he feel his strength sapping the longer he's underwater--he still needs to be in stable condition, after all. He manages to float back up to the surface and pokes his head out of the water. ]

I opened it!! Come dive in so you can swim less!