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

[windbreakers]

[ Even in this AU, Seto is busy with his part-time jobs, but at least he doesn't show up late for school. He is a good student unlike a certain banchou, so he's going to text her in the middle of class, which is pretty much just a study period since everyone is so focused on the cultural festival, including the teachers. ]

Are you skipping today?

[reveilation]

[ Juggling both school and jobs... Seto is the golden child of this family, when Ayano struggles academically, Kido struggles in terms of attendance, and Kano does even worse than her in attendance, but he's smart and gets okay grades and that's just not fair. ]

Yeah. It would be too awkward to arrive in the middle of class, so I'm taking the day off.

[ Today and also tomorrow, where there are no classes at all because of the festival. She has to wonder why any of the other students even bother, if they're already mentally checked out for the day. ]

Kano was out of bed and left home even before you were. Is he not in class either? I was hoping we could at least have lunch on the roof together.

[windbreakers]

[ God, you're right. He's the one good child of the family while everyone else seems to be a disaster. At least he'll always have money in his pocket to buy snacks and drinks while Kido and Kano have to settle for boring homemade food and nothing else. ]

No, I haven't seen him, but I also didn't check the rooftop yet. Maybe he's already there?

[ He'd like to think that Kano would at least come to have lunch together. ]

[reveilation]

[ In this AU Kido's forced to learn how to be a really good cook early on because Seto won't buy her snacks /: ]

Maybe. It's warm and sunny and everybody's stuck downstairs preparing for the cultural festival, so there's a good chance he's up there.
I'll meet you on the roof. If Kano's not there, we'll just forget about him.

[windbreakers]

[ What has Kido done for Seto lately to deserve snacks? :/ ]

Poor Kano...
Okay, I'll see you soon.

[ Seto will head up to the rooftop as soon as class lets out. Will Kano be there? Does Card want to rp two characters? It is a mystery but Seto has brought snacks and drinks because he is too kind of a person. Kido and Kano don't deserve them but he buys them anyway with his own hard-earned money. ]

[suddenlybees]

[ Kido has done nothing, and neither has Kano, who only exists so Kido can see him one last time and never want to leave this fake world because she has her full family here, she gets to hang out with Seto and Kano and nobody is dead and nothing hurts. She gets to enjoy her family life for a couple of hours until 45 comes to her senses and knocks Kido out and drags her up the mountain.

Up here on the rooftop, it looks like both of them are already up here by the time Seto arrives, Kano curled up on the ground whining about something or other, and Kido's foot planted on one of his shoulders. She turns and waves at Seto when she hears him come. It's a usual situation. ]

[windbreakers]

[ The usual situation... Seto will miss this when he wakes up to the 18th day or something out in Hirajiro, where he's just waiting for everyone to return while he takes care of the homes and makes sure that none of the townspeople burn them down. ] [ He smiles and walks on over, sitting on the ground by Kano. He starts to pull out whatever Kano and Kido's favourite snacks and drinks are and set them on the ground. ] What's happening now?

[reveilation]

[ The usual situation, which is Kano grinning up at Seto from where he's still curled up on the ground, while Kido scoffs and sits down too. ]

Nothing. Don't listen to him.

[ "I'm just saying," Kano speaks anyways, flipping over onto his back so he can fold his arms under his head. "The cultural fest is a family thing, right? Kido can go with that guy any other time, tomorrow should be with us, right? Back me up, Seto!"

That guy. Aka Terry. Aka Kano would be just as petty towards Terry in this AU as he is towards Shintarou in canon, so it's good that he safely remains an npc to spare him the grief. ]

It's not that big a deal. Don't you just want the excuse to hang out with oneechan?

[ She gets a package of melon bread tossed at her face for that, but she deftly catches it. ]