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

[cicadashell]

[Jiro does have a phone, which he knows how to use. However, it's for the old man reason of "emergencies only".

When Ala arrives, it's Mr. Kamijou who answers the door. He looks over Ala approvingly.]

Good morning, Ala-chan~! Come in, come in~!

[His shirt is stained with something or other, perhaps from this breakfast or something last week. No one knows. He'll lead Ala inside to the kitchen where there are not enough chairs for all the kids, and two of them sit on the counter with plates in their laps. It's fish and rice with a questionable sauce. Jiro is nowhere to be seen at the moment.]

Did you bring the jam!?

[Hanami waves from her spot at the table. She looks excited about jam, and the others echo "Jam! Jam!"]

[parhellia]

Good morning~!

[ Jiro has no room to talk about weirdly happy families when this is how his is, everybody so lively so early in the morning and Ala comes inside and feels right at home. ]

I brought the jam~ Do you guys want some on your fish? It'll look so pretty as just a topping for rice, too!

[ It's bright bright bright bright candy red, and when she opens the jar it smells likes sweet strawberry. The kick is when you eat it. ]

[cicadashell]

["Yes! Yes!" The chorus of voices all approve of the sweet-smelling jam. Mr. Kamijou laughs as he spreads some on the kids' fish and rice. "It was nice of you to bring a gift, Ala-chan~!" The first to try the jam is eight year old Misaki. He takes a giant bite, as much as he can stuff into his mouth, squeals and then spits it out all over the table. Exclamations of amusement and disgust follow.]

You're all so fucking loud!

[Jiro has no room to talk there, but he admonishes them anyway. He's late for breakfast because he actually took a shower this morning. Not for Ala or anything.]

[parhellia]

[ Ala laughs along with everybody else, though she grabs some napkins from the table to help clean that up. ]

Morning, Jiro~! Want some jam?

[ After that reaction to it? Eat it. Breakfast is the most important part of the day, and all. ]

[cicadashell]

Yeah.

[He grabs two plates to fill with the remainder of the fish and rice, handing one to Ala. Then he'll try the jam on the fish, like everyone else. Jiro doesn't have an immediate reaction like Misaki, but starts coughing after three bites of fish. His eyes are watering and he grabs the nearest glass of... grape juice, apparently.]

What the fuck is in this shit!?

[parhellia]

[ Grape juice and strawberry jam... Ala helpfully holds out some napkins, in case Jiro needs to spit it out, but it's the bunch of napkins already covered with jam and Misaki's spit. ]

Strawberry and habanero! Dad sometimes has a spoonful plain, or spreads it on bread and stuff... is it no good on fish?

[ The fish must be the problem. She reaches out and dips her finger into the jam on Jiro's fish and licks it off. ...There's the kick, and her eyes immediately water. ]

Ohh... I think he put less sugar in this one, since the strawberries were so ripe.

[cicadashell]

[Jiro ignores the napkins, but he slides his plate over to Ala after she samples the jam. She can have it.]

Peppers don't go in jam!

[Make fucking salsa and label it accordingly next time.]

Just... have your breakfast. I'll find the fucking cat.

[He leaves the kitchen to loudly stomp through the house. He'll return five minutes later with Rago. The cat flops limply in Jiro's arms, but his ears flick when he sees Ala.]

[parhellia]

[ She doesn't want jam on fish, that's gross. Jam doesn't go on fish. While Jiro's out, she carefully dissects the fish so she can eat the underside of it that isn't touching any jam, and eats some of the rice that isn't touching anything either. The chopsticks are still spicy, though, and her eyes still water. She downs the rest of Jiro's grape juice.

Everything gets abandoned when Jiro returns with Rago. ]

Rago! Good morning~

[ She bounds up close to Jiro so she can pat Rago on the head. ]

I saved some breakfast for you, Jiro! You gotta eat too.

[cicadashell]

[Rago leans into her hand; the pats are acceptable. Jiro hands him over to Ala.]

You left all the jam, didn't you?

[He knows.]

Why the fuck is Itsuki having a cat cafe with actual cats? What are they going to do?

[parhellia]

Hehe~

[ She left all the jam. But he really can't blame her for it.

Rago gets taken into her arms and immediately set on top of her head so he can perch up high and she can do her best not to move around and unbalance him. ]

Mm, it's a get rich quick scheme! Everybody in town likes cats, so they'd definitely go to a cute cat cafe with real cats, right? They're so cute~ Rago's so cute~

[ People will absolutely pay good money for this sort of gimmick, even when the town is flooded with cats already and anybody can go outside and sit on the sidewalk with a sandwich and be surrounded by cats within minutes. ]

[cicadashell]

[Rago purrs, settling in to his new spot. Jiro pets him from there.]

They are cute... You'll make some money.

[He can't deny that. Probably not enough for a cruise, though. Jiro looks away when he makes a suggestion.]

The cats should have ribbons.

[Like Anko-chan.]

[parhellia]

Oh...! Ribbons. That's such a good idea, Jiro, nobody would be able to resist a cat with ribbons!

[ She can already see Rago wearing a soft pink one. He would be so cute. ]

Do any of your sisters have any? Or maybe we can find some at school...

[cicadashell]

I'm sure they-

["Ribbons! I'll get them!" Mirai abandons her breakfast to run off and gather her and her sisters' hair ribbons.]

Yeah, they have some.

[The excited girl runs over to Jiro with handfuls of ribbons. She bounces on the balls of her feet, looking up at Rago on Ala's head. "I want to put one on Rago~! He's co cute!"]

[parhellia]

He's so cute~

[ She has to echo that sentiment out loud now that it's been said, and she goes ahead and sits down on the floor right where she is so she can bring Rago down and hold him in her lap, to make it easier for Mirai to tie the ribbon. ]

Don't make it too tight, okay? Over my fingers so Rago will have room.

[ She helps Mirai wrap the ribbon around Rago's neck and the two fingers she keeps on the side of him, so when she slides her fingers out after the bow is tied, he'll have a comfortable amount of slack. ]

[cicadashell]

[Mirai squeals when she's done. Rago is adorable!]

Go finish your breakfast, and don't eat any more of the jam!

[She pouts, because she wants to just pet Rago all day, but she heads back to the table. Mirai slathers jam on her fish while looking pointedly at Jiro. He says nothing, shoving the rest of her ribbons in his pocket for the other cats.

Breakfast will be over in a few minutes and then they will be on their way.]

[parhellia]

[ It'll be a quick breakfast since everything's rendered inedible from the jam, but it's fine because it's festival day and they should be getting filled up with festival food. ]

Make sure to come to class 3-D's cafe, okay? You'll get to see Rago and all the other cute cats~

[ Gotta give a shoutout to 45's cafe... even though she cracked yesterday and ran off into the mountains in search for the "exit" to this fake world. It's what Ala should be doing too, she knows it, but she can't help but want to stay and have fun and... she glances over at Jiro and looks away quickly, hugging Rago to her chest and running her fingers down the back of his head. ]

...Let's have a good day today.

[ Just one good day, and then they can wake up and face reality. She deserves one good happy day, right? ]

[cicadashell]

[The kids will eventually be left at the cafe with Ala's friends for half of the festival, and then Ala can have her good happy day. If that's possible with Jiro.

It's awkward with his siblings gone, and he doesn't want to do anything in particular.]

What do you... want to do first?

[parhellia]

The haunted house!

[ Of course, the first attraction must be the doki attraction, and they can work up an appetite playing around and get lunch after. There's one on the second floor of the high school building, so Ala leads the way. As excited as she is about the whole thing, she's got the entire layout memorized. ]

You're not scared of that sorta stuff, are you, Jiro? Can I hold onto you? I'll keep you from punching the actors!

[ It's a legitimate concern. ]

[cicadashell]

[If Jiro knew Ala considered the haunted house "the doki attraction", he would run the other way. As it stands, he thinks they're boring and full of stupid jump scares for children.]

No, I'm not scared of that shit! And I'm not gonna punch anybody!

[He totally will, and he is pointedly ignoring the question of whether she can hold onto him.]

[parhellia]

I am, though~ I might need two hands to hold onto.

[ They wouldn't be able to walk, but that's okay, that's not a big deal. Ala isn't even really scared of things— she'll scream appropriately when something jumps out at her, but she doesn't dwell and haunted houses are fun for that sort of thing, to run and scream and try to find a way out. A doki attraction. ]

[cicadashell]

Maybe you'll need one to fight off a monster.

[When they get inside, however, Jiro will take her hand. In the dark, where no one can see.]

[parhellia]

[ Nobody but the costumed monsters who make sure that at least the path is dimly lit so nobody gets lost in this tiny haunted house that connects just two classrooms. It's a small town. Everybody's going to know by mid-day.

But one hand is more than what Ala expected and she takes it, holding it loosely so she can also be free to run and stop and skip forward at her own pace without jarring their arms, tugging Jiro's arm to point excitedly at the spiderwebs and fake fuzzy tarantulas, let out a yelp and a laugh as she spots the goatman standing in a nook waiting to scare people who pass by, and daring him to touch the blood seeping across the floor ahead of them that smells like iron and is warm to the touch. ]

[cicadashell]

[He'll find out by tomorrow that hand-holding was a mistake, when the rumours start. The further they go along, the more comfortable he's getting with Ala. Her laugh may even be kind of cute, but he will never tell her.

Jiro has a suspicious look for the goatman. Wasn't there some story about him? He can't quite remember. When Ala makes the blood dare, he can't say no. Jiro crouches and doesn't bother examining the substance before touching it.]

It's not syrup...

[Which he was kind of expecting it to be. The consistency is wrong and maybe it's because it's warm to keep from congealing, but it smells off too. Like... rust?]

[parhellia]

[ Fingers crossed they get out of this dungeon before tomorrow and the rumors won't even matter.

Ala crouches down next to the blood too and also pokes her finger at it, nose wrinkling when she brings it back warm and wet. Gross... and a little sticky in the same way blood is when she taps her thumb against her finger.

She holds her finger out to Jiro. ]

Dare you to lick it.

[ Tell her whether it's blood. ]

[cicadashell]

[A dare. How could she? They'll have to get out of the dungeon before people start talking about this too. Jiro takes Ala's hand and brings her finger to his mouth. He will absolutely lick this mystery substance off.]

It's blood. Why is there real blood in here?

[He thinks it's probably animal blood and someone decided to go to the butcher instead of making up batches of fake blood.]