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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[(jughead vc) In case you hadn't noticed, I'm weird. I'm a weirdo. I don't fit in and I don't want to fit in. Have you ever seen me without this stupid cat on my shoulder? That's weird.]

Come on, Azuma, think. Why would I ever do something like that.

[Jiro probably thinks he punched a teacher in middle school, too. Which he did not, but he also never made any attempt to dispel the notion.]

[The fuck?]

I just made that shit up right now! I don't think you're burying body parts!

Really? Damn.

[Maybe it's his fault for believing everything Jiro says. Akira doesn't sound too fussed about it either way.]

You got me. Though I guess real rumours start the same way... just people making shit up.

[Finally he turns around to look at Jiro, picking up Morganya so he can hold the cat in his arms.]

Why the fuck do you let people say shit about you all the time anyway?

[Does Akira really not care about any of it? He's probably going to spend the rest of his life in Hirajiro like everyone else around here; he won't escape them. Rumours build on each other when they're not contested.]

They'll keep coming, no matter what you do. They used to do it to try and make me upset, but when that didn't work, they just started using me to tell stories.

[Akira moves a little bit to lean against the non-glass wall of the store, still holding Morgana; his smile has slowly but surely faded. The cat is displeased that he's been taken out of his warm bag, but Akira's warm arms are an acceptable substitute, so he just makes himself comfortable and idly watches Jiro.]

I have friends and I have Morgana, so I'm okay like this. Maybe one day I'll just pack up all our stuff and leave, and let the rumours... fill up everything.

[Where will he go, if not Hirajiro? Akira's not sure.]

[The idea of leaving is strange. Jiro had a conversation with Ala about it and they couldn't... decide where to go; like everyone's content to be in Hirajiro, though maybe they shouldn't be. He brushes that thought aside, because it's pointless wondering.]

"They'll keep coming." That sounds like a shit argument to me. Maybe you wouldn't be easy prey for that if you had a fucking backbone.

Bullshit.

[He snaps the word out quickly. Jiro's trying to rile him up.]

There's a difference between not having a backbone and knowing when to pick your battles.

...Besides, it's not like they ever stopped talking about you, either.

[Jiro disagrees there, but that's no surprise.]

What are they saying now?

[Who does he have to beat up, and for what?]

...Well, they shouldn't be saying anything, right?

You already stopped them. You have a backbone.

[Now Akira is definitely mocking him. Stopping rumours has absolutely nothing to do with how much you scream at random people; it just creates more rumours.]

It's more about your siblings than you now, anyway. Suddenly everyone has a little brother who never shuts up about how mean they are.

I didn't fucking mean they'd stop just because you told them to!

[Jiro is terrible at expressing himself, because he's never specific enough.]

I meant that you should at least fucking try to do something about it. Doing nothing at all is what's stupid...

[He's probably been making the rumour mill worse for a few years now. Soon to also be worse for his siblings, now that he knows.]

They're not fucking mean; they're standing up for themselves!

[They probably say "fuck" a lot too. Jiro doesn't see either thing as a problem.]

What do you think this is, Jiro? You think I let them keep doing it because I'm scared of a bunch of small-town assholes?

[Both Akira and Morgana are looking at Jiro's face now. Akira's expression is getting steadily harder.]

If I wanted them to stop, I'd make them stop.

What they want out of me is either my attention, or to make themselves feel like an insider by making me an outsider. Humans are always going to shit on other humans to make them feel better about themselves, but I can deprive them of my attention.

They don't mean anything to me. Their opinions mean less than nothing to me.

[That's exactly what he thought. That Akira was scared. But if he wants to ramble on about human nature, that's... fine.]

Right. You've got it all figured out. Have fun with your cat.

[He'll just go home.]

I've got more of it figured out than you.

All you do is scream without thinking.

[He will have fun with his cat, thanks.]

JANUARY DUNGEON

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→ 1/12 Lockdown: The Final Dungeon

Legion of the Dead

Champions of the Just

→ MOD NOTES

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