JANUARY DUNGEON

[citta]

JANUARY DUNGEON

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ 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 will make a silent prayer to the Kotengu to let the Persona users choose where they go when they leave Hirajiro... and then he'll attempt to politely interrupt the conversations about the other towns. What are they called? How many towns are in the area? Has anyone been to the other towns?]

[compendiem]

[ The Kotengu will hear that prayer, but it's up in the air whether it will be granted.

The townspeople say that there are a handful of other towns closest to Hirajiro, but they're all across the mountains so they're spread out and too difficult to travel to, so nobody goes to the other towns- and conversely, nobody comes across the mountains into Hirajiro either. The names Toki gets sound like normal old Japanese town names, some of which are familiar and some aren't names of known towns, if Toki knows his Japanese history/geography. Since Hirajiro is surrounded by mountains, these towns are on the other side of the expansive mountain range, maybe a dozen or so up against the mountain and the rest of the world further beyond. ]

[yokeye]

[Japanese history is Toki's worst subject ever, and he doesn't recognize any of those names. Geography is another failure for him. What he does get out of this, is that none of those towns may even exist because the Hirajiro townspeople have never gone there and no one comes here. The Kotengu manufactured this unrest with the imaginary other towns.

He thanks the townspeople for answering his questions in such detail, and casually wanders away to try and find Sasuke. Toki has to relay the information before he forgets, or mixes up, the town names. If he runs into Cyrus first, it will be useless.]

[not_that_sasuke]

[Toki looks like he's looking around for someone...? And now that he's done with his own investigations, he'll go over and take Toki's hand to trace the first phonetic character of his name on his palm, pause for that to sink in, and then trace a question mark.

What's up?]

[yokeye]

[Toki at least has the self-awareness to whisper at this point. Thanks, bonuses.]

I talked to a few of the townspeople about the neighbouring towns, and no one's ever been there. They also don't have people from those towns coming to Hirajiro.

[He'll list the town names, though one is wrong already.]

I think the Kotengu made them all up and nothing exists beyond the mountains and never has. The townspeople just don't know that.

[not_that_sasuke]

[Thank you bonuses... He absorbs this, raising Toki's hand to his head so he can feel Sasuke nod.

This next part is a bit painstaking, please bear with him while he writes out:]

Cy wants to see inside offer box

[And then gently pressing a single finger to Toki's lips. Please keep it quiet.]

[yokeye]

[It takes him a moment to string the sentence together, but it makes sense. Toki nods; he won't say anything loudly.]

Do we wait until they're gone?