FEBRUARY EVENT PT 1

[citta]

FEBRUARY EVENT PT 1

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→ 2/2 Infodump

Three weeks have passed in the outside world since everybody had first entered the dungeons, and they exit to find themselves back in Hirajiro. It's quiet, late at night, streets dry around both the house and the clubhouse as they all trudge on home. For the rest of the night, everybody is encouraged to sleep, waking up to breakfast and in the late afternoon on the 2nd, an official team meeting is called. This time, there is no enforcement for people to come or stay, and food will be served after the bulk of the discussion is dealt with. Those who care will take things seriously, and those who don't are free to walk away.

To start, each team shares what went on in each respective dungeon.

(click to expand details) From the castle dungeon:
⬥ Room 1: The team finds Rio's, Yamato's, and Kido's omamoris that had been returned to the shrine back on New Years, and allows them to burn.
⬥ Room 2: In a war between Hirajiro and a neighboring town, Terry kills a hundred of the other town's soldiers with a single arrow and saves Hirajiro.
⬥ Room 3: In the aftermath of the war, the townspeople praise the Kotengu for saving them. They say he came to power half a year ago and can strengthen people and bring them back from the dead. In the offertory box in the forest shrine, Cyrus, Sasuke, and Jiro find a scrap of paper.
⬥ Room 4: In the aftermath of the war, Terry, Rei, and Yamato fight through a horde of zombies: the townspeople that Terry killed with his arrows who have been brought back to life- but wrong.
⬥ Room 5: In the aftermath of the war, Minato, Nero, and Red help out the remains of the town that attacked Hirajiro. These townspeople blame themselves for attacking and underestimating the Kotengu's strength. Red falls into ego death.
⬥ Room 6: In a war between the Kotengu and Daitengu, Hirajiro has been destroyed by active earthquakes and rockslides triggered by the Daitengu after the townspeople decide to side with the Kotengu. The team gathers up the remaining townspeople and bring them to safety at the shrine, where the Kotengu spirits everybody away to safety. Cyrus falls into ego death. Sasuke receives a second scrap of paper.
⬥ Final Room: In the boss' chamber, the team is met with the ghosts of all their old teammates lost to ego death and permadeath. Minato fully remembers and explains his contract: he and Souji became Attendants to help their Guests defeat the Daitengu and free to Kotengu, after which the Kotengu will use his powers to bring their team back from death. The Kotengu has the ability to bring people back from the dead and has been doing so for the Persona users. The Daitengu have the ability to shatter people's souls, which is the reason why there are Persona users who permadied and did not revive, and will not reincarnate. To restore these souls, the Attendants planned to use the Kotengu's power to access the Sea of Souls. Sasuke receives a third scrap of paper.
(click to expand details) From the shrine dungeon:
⬥ Room 1: In the main hub, the team meets the ghost of a young human boy who runs away and seals half the doors. In the first room, everybody meets doppelgangers of each person in the team, but defeat them and find a fourth scrap of paper in Souji's doppelganger's bag.
⬥ Room 2: In modern-day Hirajiro, the townspeople turn against the Persona users and burn down the clubhouse. Jiro and Ala fight through the crowd of townspeople who attack them with torches and farming tools and chase the two until they escape into the forest.
⬥ Room 3: During the Kotengu's rise in power, the lake is polluted and turned into a dumping ground for scrap metal and other trash, and only a small handful of people remain who argue against industrialization and the destruction of nature. The townspeople attack and drive away 45, Kido, and the few people who dare to disagree with the Kotengu.
⬥ Room 4: During the Kotengu's rise in power, students learn about weaponsmithing and war tactics instead of the usual subjects like math and science. Souji and Iris meet the boy from the hub. He introduces himself as Hiroto, and agrees to lower the barrier in the main hub.
⬥ Room 5: During the Kotengu's rise in power, the forest around Hirajiro is being cut down to light iron furnaces for smithing weapons. The forest animals are displaced from their homes, and take refuge in the beginnings of the Kotengu's castle, where Akira, Rio, and Wei Wuxian find a fifth scrap of paper.
⬥ Room 6: In modern-day Hirajiro, the team lives out their daily lives believing they are natives to the town, until they pick up on the discrepancies such as the isolation of the town. With brainwashing from the Daitengu, this is the idyllic life they could have, if they choose it over reality.
⬥ Final Room: The team meets Miyamoto-no-Yamazaki, who reveals he was originally human and went by the name Hiroto. Daitengu can be born as a Daitengu, as in the case of the previous three Daitengu, or they can be born as a human and turn into one, as in Hiroto's case. In the middle of the discussion, Jiro goes into anaphylactic shock and Hiroto sends everybody out of the dungeon, saying that every time one of them dies and is revived, their soul becomes more and more corrupted. He will reopen the dungeon on the 3rd for the whole team to come back. Jiro falls into ego death.

For the sake of refreshing everybody's memories, Akira and Kido then go over everything they have learned about this world and how it's time to make a decision for how to bring everything to an end.

The Kotengu and Daitengu vied for power in the past, with the Daitengu being guardians of nature and peace and the Kotengu bringing war and advancement. The Kotengu was sealed away but has the power to bring in people from other worlds and make them Persona users. The last group include Minato and Souji, whose entire team was killed except for Minato: he was saved by the Kotengu, and signed a contract promising to lead the new Persona users to kill the Daitengu and free the Kotengu. In return, he and Souji were made into Attendants, and upon completion of the contract, the Kotengu will restore their team's shattered souls and bring them back to life.

Supported by multiple sources, the ofuda door in the castle is their way home. Both teams have been gathering up torn parts of the same ofuda, with five pieces out of six in their possession, and one more piece will complete the last ofuda needed to go home. All the ofudas, complete and incomplete, are given to Akira for safekeeping. As the Kotengu controls the passage, they may be able to open the door and leave without fighting, while the Kotengu is busy fighting the last Daitengu. If they stay and fight the Kotengu as originally planned, however, they must be aware that 1) the Kotengu may be able to seal the omamori he created, and 2) each time somebody is brought back to life by the Kotengu, he corrupts their souls. In the past, Souji and the rest of his team were able to summon their Personas without a medium like Minato's team required, and Souji promises to help figure out the mechanics so they no longer require the omamori. As for the second point... there's already been too many casualties, and it's unclear what corruption means, only that it terrified Hiroto.

Along with whether to kill the Kotengu (somehow) or forge a deal with him, they must decide on what to do with the last Daitengu. If they kill Hiroto, it's hinted that the Daitengu will never truly disappear from the world because humans with high spiritual energy may turn into Daitengu. Souta, the grandson of the occult shop owners, is a prime candidate for this, and the town may never be free of a Daitengu's influence. For those who want to stay in Hirajiro when everything is over, the world may retain its prison system and constantly try to boot any remaining Persona users out unless Hiroto or another Daitengu can rework the system.

And then there's the Sea of Souls, the possibility of bringing everybody back to life— Mondo and Hibiki and Naoya and all the dozens upon dozens of people who were dragged into this war against their will. Shattered souls, corrupted souls, they could all be saved. All this time, ever since they arrived here in the summer, the team battled for their lives and their freedom against the Daitengu and the Kotengu, pledging to kill the fucking birds and forge their own paths. But they need the Kotengu to go home. They need the Daitengu to stay in Hirajiro. It isn't so easy to drop the convictions they've poured so much into already. What shall they do?

Tomorrow, they speak with Hiroto, and make their first decision of whether to work together, or make a stand and fight.

→ 2/3 - 2/29 Around Town

Outside of the hidden hour, life goes on... Bundled up in coats and scarves, the townspeople flock outside for much of the month, catching up with each other and going shopping together, turning to the Persona users with warm smiles and exclamations that they're glad to see everybody recovered from their illnesses too— they've all been gone for weeks, after all, presumably stuck at home with the sniffles. The patients in the clinic have all started to recover over the past few weeks, with a little garden of medicinal plants started beside the community center now that there is no danger of frost, and construction is already underway to rebuild the hospital building.

For Setsubun on the 3rd, little bags of roasted soybeans and samples of ginger sake for the adults are given out in the marketplace, and at the mountain shrine, priests pass out sweets and small toys and envelopes of money to those who make the trek to the peak. Young men wearing nothing but loincloths parade around the lake before plunging into the freezing water for "purification." Tiny daruma with blank eyes are sold to grant wishes— daruma are so weird: you give the doll the gift of sight by painting in just one eye, write your wish down on its back, and then withhold filling in the other eye until the doll grants your wish through some mystical power. The townspeople believe in this sort of stuff, okay. But none of the townspeople seem to be able to see summoned Personas anymore, and when asked or shown anything out of the ordinary, the townspeople laugh and say you're silly, turning their attention back to the festivities. In the evening, a bonfire is raised by the lakefront with a stage set up next to it for musical performances, historical reenactments and dramas, and dancing all through the night until morning comes with the arrival of spring.

And sure enough, by morning, the snow has all melted, the sun shining brightly in a clear blue sky, though the air is crisp and the nights still get cold. Several townspeople have been hard at work building rowboats, which can be rented to paddle out into the lake, the water so clear one can see several meters into the depths where schools of freshwater fish now swim about, and birds can be seen floating on the surface until a boat comes too close and scares them away. At the community center, a soup kitchen has been set up by a group of volunteers, with hot stews and freshly baked bread served in a large room filled wall to wall with tables and benches, the townspeople enjoying lunches and dinners together with donations going towards the hospital and covering the costs of patients so no one needs to worry about affording treatment. The illness has abated and winter has ended, hope alight on each person's face.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ A lot of the information detailed in the infodump has been repeated ad nauseam over the course of the game, but is presented here for summary and completion, and so all characters will fully understand the situation and can make an informed decision about the ending. The team meeting does not have to the played out unless people are interested or have something they want to discuss.
⬥ The encounter with Hiroto on 2/3 will be threaded out in the toplevel below. Whether Hiroto lives or dies will be determined by the characters volunteering to talk to him, and they will receive the last ofuda piece from him regardless of their decision.
⬥ The townspeople have reverted back to their previously oblivious state regarding Personas or anything supernatural.
⬥ This month, the full moon occurs on 2/8 - 2/10, when Personas are stronger but more difficult to control. This is an optional mechanic.

Comments

wc. 2/11?

[yokeye]

[Toki arrives at the lake a couple of minutes before Lockdown. He hasn't been training as much as he should, and avoids the dungeons for the most part. Ala made it sound like this endeavour was extremely important, though, so he felt compelled to come.

Toki has learned at least from the last dungeon adventure; he's brought food this time, just in case. Leftover soybeans from earlier in the month, and burnt and stale pieces of his turtle bread stash. He'd made way too much. He also has the pike; still his weapon of choice at this point.]

Ala!? I brought what you wanted~!

[He missed a few things and really has no clue what's going on. Toki takes a pair of pink flipflops out of his Rilakkuma bag.]

I didn't see waraji, but like, these are close~! Why do you need sandals for the dungeon?

[parhellia]

[ A whole backpack full of things and also a weapon-- Toki is surprisingly prepared and taking this seriously, all things appreciated by Ala who stands at the lakefront completely empty handed. Anything she might need is in her pocket, a sword and several romance novels and a melting ice cube amongst them.

While waiting for him to arrive, she was standing at the shore just deep enough that the water laps against her bare ankles, boots off for once but when she steps out of the water to greet Toki, black smoke wraps around her feet and reform the usual boots she wears. ]

'cause we have to swim through the first floor, silly~ Socks and shoes are gonna be all squishy and gross if you wear them in the water, so you should take them off now. After we get past the water, you can wear the sandals!

[ And freeze to death, because after the water floor is the tundra. ]

[yokeye]

Oh!

[That makes sense. Wet shoes and socks would be a hindrance, and flipflops are plastic, so they won't be a problem. Toki nods to himself; Ala is very smart. Any resemblance in personality to Kano is long forgotten and dismissed, and this Toki isn't going to be suspicious about anything she suggests or says. He sets the pike down and yanks his boots and socks off, flinging them a few feet away.]

Is the giant eel still there?

[Toki's been in the lake dungeon only once, for a pathetic attempt to save Kido. He survived the first floor Shadows somehow, and then almost died on the second floor when the hang-gliding experiment failed. He hasn't realized how useful he could be in the first floor now with Mahamaon.]

[parhellia]

Yep!

[ The Shadows all sort of come back after they're all killed, so she has no reason to believe it wouldn't be there. She doesn't need to breathe, so she pulls a little silver feather charm out of her pocket and sticks it into Toki's pants pocket— it's the breathing charm Kano got when he first came here, but Ala doesn't need it and while she doesn't know if Toki has one, doubling up won't hurt, and now he doesn't have to worry about breathing down in the water.

Everything else... should be set! Yeah! Fighting's going to have to be delegated to Toki until I decide what actual offensive spell to give Ala later, but she picks up Toki's pike and twirls it in her hands while she waits for the time to shift into Lockdown. ]

Are you a fast swimmer, Toki? I'm not too good in the water, so it'd be good if we can get past the first two floors quickly and not waste our time in them!

[ If it takes them the entire hour to get through the lake portion, she's going to be so disappointed. ]

[yokeye]

[Toki definitely didn't have a breathing charm. He's been here since October, yet he's still clueless about a lot of things. He'll summon Joroko as soon as they get inside and leave the majority of the fighting to her, now that she doesn't have to expend energy trying for any psychic links. Minato's navigator plan might never come to fruition with a Toki who doesn't have psychic powers.]

Not like the best swimmer, but I'm okay!

[He mostly has long limbs going for him.]

You can just grab onto me and Joroko will take care of the Shadows~! And if we die, well, she can bring us back!

[That's how Salvation works; he thinks, anyway.]

[parhellia]

[ It would be great if revival were that easy, huh? Ala just laughs and goes around behind Toki to wrap her arms around him from behind, so that when he swims, he'll have full use of his arms and legs and maybe this isn't the best idea right off the bat, but it's better than being dragged through the water. ]

Hmmm... If I get knocked out, I'm gonna disappear and there's nothing to bring back!

[ She's never actually gotten knocked out before, outside of the time she was with Kano and was linked to his life. But now? She's not sure what will happen- maybe she'll go to the Sea of Souls and be trapped there for a while until she recovers, but either way, she won't have a body to cast any revival spells on, so Toki would be on his own if something happens to her.

It'll be fine! Toki will be fine. Joroko will make sure of it. ]

Also, if you get knocked out, she'll disappear and can't bring you back! So we'll just have to try our best not to die~

[ And as if right on cue, the lights from the buildings around them snuff out, leaving just the moon reflected on the smooth surface of the lake. Ala marches him forward just hugging him like that. ]

[yokeye]

[Toki stares blankly as that information seeps in.]

She can't bring me back!

[Oh my god. They can't die. They can't die. Toki doesn't give much resistance as Ala directs him closer to the lake. He regrets this already, but he submerges them under the water, summoning Joroko the moment they're on the first floor. Hopefully, spamming Mahamaon and Psycho Blast is enough. Toki doesn't look back to find out, but swims straight down towards the hole. Ganba, Joroko.]

[parhellia]

[ Really, ganba Joroko, because Mahamaon and Psycho Blast are all high cost spells and between that and the growing water pressure, Toki's going to be exhausted by the time he reaches the bottom of the lake.

There's not much Ala can do on the offensive front of things, so she just turns herself into a snake to wrap around Toki's waist to hold on better and not be so much extra weight, while keeping a lookout behind them for any stray spells that have gotten past Joroko's defenses, which Ala can absorb without harm and keep anything from getting to Toki. Just keep swimming...

Oh. There's the Velvet Room door right by the bottom of the lake. They could have taken that shortcut if either of them had remembered, but oh well, down they go through the hole. ]

[yokeye]

[Snake!Ala is much easier to swim with, but Toki has barely any energy left by the time they get the second floor. He's just going to lie on the ice and freeze. Instead of food, he should have brought extra clothes inside a waterproof bag.

Joroko attempts to dry them with Garu, but it's probably not warm wind.]

[parhellia]

[ The moment they get through to the other side, Ala disappears into smoke and reforms into the usual human body, clothes and hair and everything completely dry. For her, it's cold but a pleasant cold— like a cool breeze on a summer day, which is hard to reconcile with the fact that the sky is grey and heavy with clouds, and Toki is going to be an icicle in about two seconds because it's sleeting. ]

Joroko, save your energy! I'll carry Toki this time~

[ Walking around this place would be pretty treacherous with all the Shadows that they won't be able to run from, so she turns into a dragon to pick Toki up and lift him up into the air, wings spreading out to block a lot of the freezing rain too. She still doesn't have any offensive spells, but what she does is cast charm on one of the bears and make the Shadows fight amongst themselves. ]

[yokeye]

[Joroko retreats into Toki's shadow. Toki shrieks only once as Ala picks him up; then he closes his eyes as they fly over the bears and wolves. He never did put the flipflops on, and can't see how they'd be good on the ice anyway. He's never been to the third floor, and doesn't know what awaits.]

[parhellia]

[ With his eyes closed, Toki cuts himself off from knowing fully what's going on. He will be able to do is hear the sounds of fighting- snarls and roars, the yelp of a wolf being torn apart and then the piercing roar of one of the bears. Unless he had covered his eyes along with shutting his eyes, he'll feel rage bubble up within him as if drawn out by that roar, and Ala's grip on him only tightens.

They aren't descending down any hole; instead, they just sort of hover in place while the fighting continues below them, every once in a while Ala dipping and then pulling back up again. ]

[yokeye]

[He does indeed hear the roar, but... is unaffected. Unshaken Will is a good thing to have. They don't seem to be going anywhere, so Toki risks opening his eyes. The ice is covered with the black sludge of Shadows. The sleet continues to rain down, and he can't feel his fingers and toes anymore.]

Ala! It's cold!

[Don't just... hover.]

Can you breathe fire!?

[He may have already asked her that once, but he doesn't recall.]

[parhellia]

[ No fire, unfortunately, but it's fine! She's just been busy trying to get the Shadows away from the hole, and when Toki shouts up at her, she smacks a nearly Arctos away and drops Toki down it first—- she'll be right behind him, but first she wants to take care of some things, aka continue her collection of Shadow gems and such. She picks up an Arctos fang too, to see if Souji can forge it into a weapon for her, and also picks up some status curing beads because she doesn't have Unshaken Will and depending on how the next floor goes, she'll probably need them.

It's the forest next, which is also still raining but it's a light drizzle, and feels like springtime. Not warm, but still considerably warmer than the previous floor. ]

-—here I am! Don't touch any of the leaves or grass~

[yokeye]

What!? Why!?

[Toki freezes in place, so close to setting one of his bare feet on some grass a little off the path. He had been angling to get a better view of the castle. While he's not paying attention, a Waraji jumps out of the brambles beside him and attacks. Toki looks down at it and screams.]

[parhellia]

[ Because Ala has no healing spells and Toki was this close to having several toes amputated on razor sharp blades of grass. Instead, he's going to get his fingers nibbled on by the Waraji, but the thing are tiny and weak and not as much danger as mother nature at the moment, so Ala takes his arm and tugs him a bit closer to the middle of the path away from all the grass and bushes, and tries to pick the Waraji up so it can gnaw harmlessly on her hand instead. ]

Here's what we're looking for! Think you can grab one of its legs, and just sorta dangle it without it biting you?

[yokeye]

I- they're-

[Toki looks intently at the waraji. That big eye, are they being watched right now?]

Ugh...

[He gingerly grabs one of the disgusting little chicken feet.]

How many do we need? We're not going to wear them right!?

[parhellia]

[ That large eye is whirling around angrily between the two of them, wide open and darting around and Ala just sort of laughs in its face before stepping back and looking around to see if any more are coming. ]

As many as we can get! They're for Souji, so he'll be sad if we squashed them.

[ She wouldn't want to wear them either... you'd have to step right on the eyeball, and just the thought of that sounds gross. ]

Have you ever met the bear here, Toki?

[yokeye]

[Toki doesn't want to keep holding the waraji's scaly foot. He takes it by the body instead, and slides the pike in between the sandal bottom and the strap, careful not to stab the Shadow in its creepy eye. There's room for quite a few more waraji, and he won't have to carry them in his hands.]

There's a bear!?

[parhellia]

There's a bear! But not like a real bear? It's sorta like, hm...

[ She finds another Waraji who turns and tries to run, and does her disappearing-reappearing trick to pop up right in front of it so it runs right into her waiting hands, for her to slip the strap onto Toki's pike too. They can fit so many on here, this is such a good idea. ]

I think it's a demon?

[yokeye]

[Toki will let Ala get all the warajis. His job is done.]

A different kind of demon than the Shadows?

[Demons in this Toki's world are much like Shadows, born of human negativity in concept. Not a race of beings living in a different dimension or however it was in Daybreak.]

[parhellia]

Hmm... I guess they're pretty much the same thing? At their core, demons and gods are the same as Shadows and Personas, but demons and gods were conceptualized a long long time ago, and exist in the Sea of Souls. When one is summoned to become a Persona, they leave the collective Sea of Souls and enter just one person's— like Joroko's in your personal Sea of Souls now.

[ They're separate things, a "collective unconscious" where things are unspoken and agreed upon by everybody in the world, like the general existence of gods and demons who have power over mankind, where concepts like fate and death and time are immortalized and given form. On the other side, there's the "personal unconscious," one's own mind and thoughts and beliefs, where memory and experiences and personality give rise to a Persona.

Persona lore is complicated and confusing and Ala waves another Waraji around dismissively before adding it to the pike. ]

So, yeah! They're sort of the same, but the bear sorta lives here instead of being summoned. Let's go say hi!

[yokeye]

[Toki's confused already at the concept of both a personal Sea of Souls and a general one. How many souls does Toki have inside him? Is this reincarnation stuff? Are they formless? Skeletons? Spiders?]

Um, okay.

[He's a bit apprehensive of the bear, given Ellie, but finding him will stop Toki from questioning all existence if he thinks too much about the Sea of Souls.]

[parhellia]

Great!

[ Still, Ala takes her sweet time walking along the path and plucking Warajis out of the grass. She still tells Toki to keep out of it and she makes him carry the pike too, while she gets to forage for the demon sandals.

They're not going to get to the end of the path until the castle's already half buried by rocks from the landslide triggered by the earthquake that rumbles underneath their feet now. ]

[yokeye]

[Toki keeps adjusting his grip on the pike because the warajis are getting restless. Then suddenly, they're making a huge ruckus, he thinks... but no, it's an earthquake.

He drops the pike and starts running back down the path. A couple of the warajis wriggle themselves off the pike and scamper back into the bushes.]