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

BOSS ENCOUNTER

[compendiem]

[ It's a large circular room, but a barren one save for flat stones lined up against the perimeter, and the tiny windows near the top of the vaulted ceiling that allows light to shine in and illuminate the dust floating about the room, but offers no view outside other than pure white.

It's quiet when the group steps in, empty until the very last one of them enters and the door shuts behind them, kicking up a swirl of dust that does not settle. Instead, voices echo throughout the room.

"...You let me die. I still had so much I wanted to do..."

"I want to go home. I want to see my family. I want to live..."

"You can still save us. Please... please save us. Please help us."

The dust comes together, almost solid but not quiet, taking on color and faces and entire bodies that stand and crowd the room, almost thirty ghosty bodies in all, some of them familiar, some of them not. Red and Cyrus stand shoulder to shoulder, silent and impassive, staring at their bodies on the ground. Mondo looks over at Terry, then casts his eyes away. Enkidu can barely move, clay falling apart in clumps. RO stands charred, skin peeling and metal gleaming. Mae stares out at the group with her nightmare eyes, Hibiki tries to smile at them all but doesn't quite manage it, Ryoji speaks up and says, "I'm glad to see you, Minato" but Lying Cat pipes up that it's a lie.

"Toki." Kano stands with his arm around Ellie's shoulder, thick blood dripping down his front from a gash in his throat, but the blood that splatters on the ground belongs to Ellie, whose face is a bloody mess, whose mouth opens as she strains against Kano's hold but all that spills from her mouth is blood. "...I'm sorry."

A stranger stands in the forefront of it all, arms slightly spread as if to protect all those behind him. "Naoya," Minato mumbles, and in return, he gets his acknowledgement. "Arisato. You signed that contract and sold your soul. So you had better make good on your promise." ]

[yokeye]

[Toki doesn't recognize any of the voices at first; and he's not entirely sure what's going on here. He's ready to summon Joroko, but then... Kano's voice. He'll never forget it. Kano who just... disappeared one day in Hirajiro.]

Kano! Where have you been!?

[It's a blessing he can't see Ellie's mangled face. The fact that Kano's apologizing is discarded, because Toki is assuming he's alive and just suddenly here in the dungeon.]

Did you get trapped in here like months ago!?

[suddenlybees]

[ Kano seems to relax when he hears Toki yell back at him, not quite meeting his eyes but that's okay because Toki can't find his eyes. His voice is wet because of all that blood which will never run dry, but at least he's faring better than Ellie he has to keep a hold on before she goes feral on everybody here. ]

How long has it been...? Huh. I dunno. It feels like forever when time doesn't move.

[yokeye]

[Kano sounds... strange, but Toki can't decipher why. Maybe it's because he hadn't heard Kano for... two months?]

I don't know how long it's been either... I should and I don't! Oh my god, I almost forgot about you!

[Toki will walk right over there to hug Kano if he can find him.]

[suddenlybees]

[ They've all lost about three weeks since they entered the dungeon, but it's always hard to tell when it comes to time— and when you're dead and all there is is darkness and nothingness and consciousness despite that. He backs off when Toki approaches, a step to the left and completely silent despite the blood that pools on the ground at his and Ellie's feet. Maybe Minato's training will have some use yet. ] You should've forgotten all about me. You're happier now, aren't you, Toki?

[elliexir]

[ In Ellie's blind search to find Nero or something, I don't know, for whatever reason, she manages to wander up to Toki instead. Reaching out, she feels an arm. Nice. She takes it and lifts it up so she can get a good bite out of Toki's hand. ]

[yokeye]

[For a moment, Toki assumes Ellie is Kano touching him, so he doesn't pull back. Then her teeth sink in and he screams, shaking his hand and trying to dislodge whatever monster has bitten him. It's oozing something; maybe some kind of slime monster. It's Ellie's blood dripping from her missing face, but Toki's picturing a gooey slug with teeth and spiral eyes.]

Get it off! Get it off!

[elliexir]

[ Oh, that's the wrong person. She can tell that much by the voice. That's her bad. She actually does let go because she only bites assholes. ] [ She opens her mouth to try and explain, probably saying something like oh shit, that's her bad, case of mistaken identity, how's your hand, but it's just a terrible gurgling sound instead and blood gets splattered everywhere. ]

[flowerclips]

[ Rei is still passed out when she's brought into the new room. In fact, she doesn't wake up until a little after Naoya speaks. She gets up slowly with a hand to her head. She's still light-headed after using up nearly all of her SP and because she actually never defeated something in battle, Victory Cry doesn't restore her back to normal. It might be a while before she can stand properly. ]

[ Definitely for a while because when she sees Enkidu falling apart, RO looking like the Terminator, and Ellie with her bear-eaten face, she screams. ]

[ She will talk with those whom she knows (Neku, Cardia, Killua, Leon, Red, Cyrus, Mondo, Enkidu, RO, Hibiki, Ryoji), but she'll also talk with those whom she doesn't know. She just... needs a moment to calm down because this is a lot for her tired head. Also because she'll cry about some of the people whom she recognizes. Also also, I am here for Ellie biting people and Kokichi being bitter as fuck so tag here if you want them. ]

[suddenlybees]

[ Ellie. Hey. Stop.

Kano's trying to have this last conversation with people but it's kind of hard when more than half his attention is keeping Ellie from jumping at people's throats. Without a face, Ellie can't even see, so she's just jabbing him hard in the side with her fingers trying to get at his pockets. ]

[elliexir]

[ Yeah, if Ellie can't have any final words then Kano can't have them either. She knows for sure that one of these assholes is going to say something stupid or attack them so she needs to have her knife. She can't see, but she can feel around for his pockets. ]

[ She attempts to open her mouth again to ask where the hell are his pockets and if a bunch of monkeys made his clothes but it just comes out as a disturbing gurgle and blood being sprayed all over him. ]

[suddenlybees]

Gahh—-!

[ This is so gross?? God. Gross, he can feel the blood spill out of his own throat when he cries out, and this sucks because he really wants to reach over and clamp his hands over Ellie's mouth to make that stop, he can't, he really doesn't want to touch her face. ]

Stop that! Stop! Hey!

I AM HERE FOR ELLIE

[devilshocker]

[None of this seems particularly real to Nero. He's quick to brush it off as a hallucination or some kind of dream.

This is still weird though. One of these ghosts is missing their face. It's pretty hard for him to distinguish Ellie's apparent age like that. He makes a gesture that can be taken as an insult.]

What the fuck are you supposed to be? It's too early for halloween. We're in the middle of fucking January.

I'll give you candy if you leave me alone.

[elliexir]

[ Yep. She was right. Here is that asshole who is saying something stupid. Kano will be grateful that she somehow and probably back her knife. ]

[ She follows the sound of Nero's dumb voice and when she feels like she's close enough to him, she'll just use her switchblade to stab him. She'll immediately bite him afterwards when she has a good idea where he is. ]

[devilshocker]

[He absolutely gets hit by the switchblade. It's sad how this isn't the first time he's been stabbed. The feeling is familiar to him and he just sighs. ]

You're supposed to greet people with handshakes not switchblades!! If that's all you got then I could sit here all day.

[No, leave the Ellie ghost alone. He's just begging for a bad time.]

[overstrain]

[ I need a thread here so I guess this will be it.

Terry stands by Rei, making sure she's not too lightheaded to walk around and stays by her side in case if she does fall. RO, Mondo, and Hibiki are there. At least Mondo and Hibiki look well enough, instead of RO whose limbs are pretty much in a perpetual state of barely melting off. Leon is there too. None of them are smiling.

Terry has a complicated expression on his face. They took Hibiki in and cared so much for him in the Black Cat house. He promised Mondo that he'd protect him and that they'd live no matter what. The last time he saw Leon was when his Shadow killed him in the dungeon.

...

They're all like this.

RO is the one who speaks up first, "I was prepared to have these sort of consequences happen, but I still can't help but to feel bitter about dying at the hands at humans that I protected."

Terry would be like Big Mood if he remembered, but he doesn't. ]

[flowerclips]

[ Rei is absolutely terrible when it comes to confrontations like this. This is why she hasn't talked to too many Shadows. She just doesn't know what to say or what to do without doubting herself or feeling like there's much for her to contribute. She only recently started living her life so it's not like she has a lot of life experience to pull from, but she's here and she has to help. ]

[ She reaches out to hold onto Terry's hand, squeezing it tightly. ]

I-- I'm sorry... you didn't deserve to die like that...

[overstrain]

[ RO was always professional, rigid, and serious. She tried not to let emotions get in the way of her duties, yet it doesn't surprise her that humans dragged her body in its weakened state and put her in a bonfire. There was no justice in planned murder. She was supposed to be the embodiment of justice--even her design and gun she was named after were connected to the police force in her world. Justice is dead. She looks over at Rei and doesn't get mad. Even after her death, she's still like this, even though she can feel the bitterness seeping into her mind.

"No one should. Humans always feared androids, and this was the same. However, there were some of you that I believed in who didn't treat us any differently, to the point that someone even treated one of my robot clones as if they were a real person."

Kido named RO's dummy and treated her like a person. Michi, the dummy, is probably still somewhere in town, forever no longer functional without the main body to receive orders from. RO closes her eyes and steps back. It's time for the others to talk with their complicated expressions on their faces.

Terry looks at the three, then shifts his gaze down. ]

I couldn't protect any of you no matter how much I wanted to...

[not_that_sasuke]

[He feels sick.

Confronted with those they've failed, and appearing as they do... He seriously feels sick, and takes him a moment to steel himself, looking over to Naoya.]

What do you mean, sold his soul?

[compendiem]

Gave it to the Kotengu.

[ It's Minato who speaks up, instead of Naoya, because it was his doing and his responsibility. ]

The contract I made, to be able to bring everybody back, I signed off my soul so he can do what he wanted with it, and he made me an Attendant. I dragged Souji into all this too.

[not_that_sasuke]

Do you know what the exact terms of the contract were, then...? For both sides.

[compendiem]

[ Minato nods. He didn't remember before, but he knows them now, the full contract and... how stupid he is, because he agreed to such open terms. ]

Upon becoming an Attendant, we're to help our Guests defeat the Daitengu and free to Kotengu. We set him free, and he uses his power to bring my old team back. Naoya, and Maya, and all of them.

[ He nods his chin towards some of the others nobody else will recognize but himself, his own team, who died by his hand and then they were gone- he thought forever, but he can still save them. ]

He can bring everybody here back. He has that sort of power. We need the Kotengu's power.

[ There was no promise about going home. If they want to go home, it'll be on separate terms than Minato's, who just wanted to give his senpai another chance at the life he stole from them. ]

[overstrain]

[ He heard bits and pieces of what Minato and Sasuke talked about, but it's relatively difficult to stay still and not want to go over to the ghosts of his friends instead. His self control has been in various levels, but half of what self control he didn't already lose has been operating at 100% in an attempt to hold Terry back from doing and saying utterly stupid.

The one thing that doesn't escape his notice is that Minato's teammates were so important to Minato to the point that Minato would offer his soul to some god and the Persona users were all lead around by the nose with no promises of returning home. He can't even say that he tricked them, because Terry doesn't feel betrayed by the notion. ]

But the Kotengu was mad at you for not doing your job properly. Does he still think the same?

[compendiem]

[ If there's any consolation, the promise to return home still exists, it just wasn't promised by the Kotengu to the current Persona users. But the door leads home— it's what the Attendants said even with their memories wiped to a clean slate, and the Daitengu had corroborated that- so they have at least that much to believe in.

As for their job... Minato scowls and nods his head towards everybody here in the room, all the ghosts of his failures, the people he had killed with his own hand back then, the people he had let die out of negligence this round too. ]

Take a look around you. What part of this looks like a good job?

[ He's an Attendant, a guide, and he's done nothing to make sure they were all physically safe or mentally sound. ]

[overstrain]

I mean, you were supposed to be a guide, but it's not like the Kotengu entrusted our safety to you. His contract with you was just so that the Daitengu are defeated and that he gains power, right?

[ Nothing about keeping the Guests safe. As long as there's some who can still do the job, Terry figures that would be enough for the Kotengu to consider a job well done because he doesn't think very highly of the bird. ]

I thought that the sacrifice you made to get your teammates back would have been made you work harder, but you lost your memories of that.

[ Maybe the Kotengu should have thought this through before erasing Minato's biggest motivator. ]