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

[reveilation]

[ That's a proper reaction to a customer, whereas Kido's under the assumption that he got caught stealing from the register or something because his family needed the money, because that's what people usually get fired for. ]

You better watch yourself... It's a small enough town that you're not going to get hired anywhere if you keep getting laid off. Do you want me to ask Seto to put in a good word for you somewhere? He could stand to give you one of his jobs, he has so many.

[ They don't even need the money, despite having to feed six mouths. Her dad's a teacher at the high school and her mother's a scientist of sorts. She studies myths like medusas and tengus. ]

[cicadashell]

[He's done that too, but never got caught. Aya-chan was fired for it instead. She cried in the store.]

Hn. That's...

[Jiro hadn't thought about the very real future of running out of places that would hire him with such a bad track record already. Seto will have 20 jobs and Jiro will be begging in the street.]

Yeah, if he would.

[It's quiet, and he can't look at Kido.]

[reveilation]

[ Wow, Jiro is trash. ]

...He probably wouldn't give you any of his jobs. [ He hoards them, like a squirrel gathering too much food for the winter. ] But he's a good guy and can likely get you a position somewhere alongside him. He'll look out for you.

[ aka watch your sticky hands whenever they're near the register. ]

[cicadashell]

[He'll take things when Seto's on break.]

Great. Don't let him call any former employers.

[That needs to be said, considering the mop incident and the "threatening" of the owners of the occult shop.]

[reveilation]

[ Jiro's going to realize this world is a fake once he gets exiled out into the mountains and finds there is no other town besides Hirajiro. ]

He's not the one who's going to be calling. What the hell did you do? Is your current employer alright?

[ Please do not be on the brink of termination while turning for Seto to work miracles, that's her brother's reputation on the line too if he's going to make recommendations. ]

[cicadashell]

Yeah, for the most part.

[He's getting on the nerves of some of maids and butlers, whose jobs involve being overly courteous and accommodating. Jiro is neither and he clashes with those personality types. He's also going on 14 wrong orders filled at this point. It's only a matter of time, especially after he fucks off during someone else's break time to eat a parfait with Ala.]

I didn't steal shit there yet!

[reveilation]

Don't steal shit at all!

[ Don't make her regret the recommendation, Jiro. Seto knows what he's like too, though, so he'll probably find some way to apologize for Jiro's past behavior and dress it up as having to do with circumstances or something. ]

Anyways, you owe me for this, so treat me to something when we get there, okay?

[cicadashell]

Just come back to the kitchen and take whatever.

[It's a short walk to the cafe and as soon as they get in the door there's muttering about Jiro being late again. He flips off somebody in the back and continues to the kitchen.]

[reveilation]

You're going to make me cook my own meal...?

[ Jiro... Customers aren't allowed in the kitchen, but Kido enters anyways, greeting the other workers there by name and hanging back without touching anything, watching Jiro catch up and go back to work. Since she's here, she's going to supervise and make sure he's actually making things properly and don't use anything that's dropped on the floor or any of that.

The manager might as well fire Jiro and hire Kido or the job, if she cared at all to have it. ]

[cicadashell]

I meant... take something from the fridge.

[Leftovers from the night before. Things that were sent back, things they made too much of. But Kido can cook if she wants... Customers are absolutely not allowed back here and Kido's self-appointed supervisory position is creeping him out. Jiro thought she would eat and go back to school, or go home, but no.

With her looking over everything, he makes more mistakes, which leads to yelling at coworkers, the stove, utensils, and screaming out the door at customers who say "this isn't what I ordered".]

[reveilation]

[ She sure is getting her fill of things that get sent back now, freshly cooked and tastes sort of weird. It really pisses her off, though, when people make a mess of food and it can't be eaten. ]

Calm down. Why are you freaking out?

[ How did you get hired in the first place? The manager couldn't be this desperate. ]

[cicadashell]

I'm not freaking out!

[This is a normal day for him. He's completely unaware of how much of a dick he is, and maybe this is how he'll escape the AU. No one would hire someone like him if he did this at work. Akira has told him his siblings are being talked about at school; they're mean and no one likes them. The happy family is an obvious lie.]

They should just eat what the fuck they get.

[Jiro never knew how to cook before, maybe the skill hasn't transferred over.]