MARCH DUNGEON

[citta]

MARCH DUNGEON

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→ 3/1 3:33 PM

There is nothing important about the time. It just happens to be later in the afternoon when everybody meets up at the castle in the forest, all crowded together on the first floor around the ofuda door. Souji stands in front of the Velvet Room door, back straight and hands clasped behind his back. Minato is perched up on the throne, sitting on one of the arms with his feet on the seat, slouched and yawning. Hiroto paces nervously at the edge of the crowd, fiddling with his sleeves and shifting his weight from one foot to the other as he tries to see what's going on through between people's legs.

Akira does the honors, placing the last two ofudas in the slots on the door where they give off a faint blue glow around the edges before the paper turns into stone, fusing with rest of the stone door.

A beat.

And then the world goes dark.

Light disappears from the Velvet Room door to leave behind an empty frame as the ground shudders beneath their feet. Turning to stare up at the sky, everybody can see the blazing sun in the sky crumbling and breaking apart, blue-white fire raining down over the town and leaving behind a pulsing mass of darkness at the core. At the same time, there's a rush of wind at their backs as black sludge pours out of the ofuda door and rushes away from the castle like a flood.

Without another word, Hiroto tears himself away from the group, fan brandished to conjure up a gust of wind that intercepts the flames before they can strike the town, trying to gather the fire and send it back up but he's too small and he's struggling. "Get up there!" he shouts, staring wide-eyed up at the core in the sky, "The Kotengu- make him stop!"

"We'll take care of the Shadows," Souji says, already summoning Izanagi to stem the flow still pouring endlessly out of the ofuda door, Minato with a laser gun hoisted over his shoulder and Orpheus at his back as he runs off into the woods in pursuit of the Shadows that have already escaped. "We won't let any of them reach town. Get to the Kotengu. We'll meet you up there."

→ Kotengu Encounter

With the remains of the sun hanging suspended in the sky, the team will have to rely on rely on those Personas who can fly— but trying to summon their Personas with the omamori proves to be useless, the Personas do not come out, just as they had expected. And with that expectation, the team has prepared for this moment, practicing how to summon without the use of an omamori. The Persona is their own power, after all, and when united by a common goal, all one needs to do is to look inward and take their partner by the hand, call their name, and command them to come forth and fight side by side in one last battle.



KOTENGU (小天狗)
Type BOSS	Reflects Light, Dark	Absorbs Fire
『 Pesky little Daitengu... I have suffered enough by your hands— now it is your turn to die! 』 Floating in the sky at the center of the core, the Kotengu spreads his arms, white-blue fire forming in his palms before they shoot down at the ground in pursuit of the Daitengu trying to blow the fire away from the town, the flames turning away from the barrier he sets up surrounding the town but it's not going to last, not forever. The flames bounce off the invisible barrier and streak across the sky, liable to hit any of the Persona users flying up towards the Kotengu. 『 Do you mean to interfere? Leave. I have no further use for you. 』 Without batting an eye, he gestures to the void behind him. The passage home...? You will have to take the plunge in order to find out. Those who wish to leave may run away and throw themselves into the void, leaving those who wish to fight to stay behind and try to reason with the Kotengu. Any attempts to talk, however, are only met with a hoarse barking laugh, the Kotengu brandishing his scythe and swinging it at anybody who invades his space, blade leaving behind a trail of darkness that lingers in the air and burns like fire if touched. The darkness and the flames around him grow, slowly spreading across the sky, the darkness dripping off his scythe poison to anybody who touches it, and the cursed fire draining people of their strength the longer they linger near it. 『 I have been imprisoned long enough! Do not get in my way! 』 For those who have died or have fallen into ego death three or more times, their Persona begins to be surrounded by black smoke, struggling and going on a rampage in an attempt to break free of the Kotengu's influence. With their power boosted but attacking wildly and at random, they pose a threat to the rest of the team who must help get them under control. Even with the host knocked out, the Persona remains manifested, eyes glowing the same gold as the Kotengu, and it is clear who they must defeat to calm the Personas down. 『 I gave you the chance to walk away. Now you must die. 』

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ Characters have the option of: 1) remaining in the forest and town to defeat normal Shadows and protect the town, and optionally join the Kotengu battle later; 2) waiting for the flood of Shadows exiting the ofuda door to end and leaving through the door to go home; 3) leaving through the void behind the Kotengu to go home at any time during the battle, or 4) immediately fight against the Kotengu.
⬥ Characters who are corrupted by the Kotengu (having died or fallen into ego death at least 3 times) will find that their Persona does not listen to them. The Personas will not actively target other characters, but rather, they become overpowered and go on a rampage and become destructive to everything around them. Harming the Kotengu loosens his influences over the Personas.
⬥ Once the Kotengu has been defeated, a new mod posted toplevel will go up for speaking with the Kotengu and Daitengu together, to determine the fate of the world. The characters will be presented with their choice of endings: go home, remain in Hirajiro and help the town rebuild so they may live here, or follow the Attendants to the Sea of Souls (details to be posted in a separate log post-game).
⬥ This log marks the end of Cetana as a structured game, but the community will remain open as a sandbox for all players and characters. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much for playing with us and making Cetana such a wonderful experience. --Ichi & Cardori

Comments

KOTENGU AND DAITENGU ENCOUNTER

[citta]

[ Hiroto comes with Kido, who is shouting at everybody else to gather as they come by them, and eventually the group comes back together in the middle of the forest. The trees are splattered with black gunk, some of the leaves and patches of grass burning low, and Hiroto looks mildly distressed seeing the town and its nature like this.

But he puts on a brave face as he comes and takes the Kotengu from where he'd been shrunk down to the form of a little black crow. In between his hands, Hiroto creates a little cage of light, the arrow through the bird's chest dissolving and falling away as his injuries heal too, but as much as he caws and flaps his wings, he can't escape from the cage. ]

Thank you, [ Hiroto says, bowing at the waist to each person here] Thank you so much for stopping him. He- oh.

[ He pauses, listening to crow caw, looking surprised for a moment, and then his brows pinch together and he quickly looks away. ]

Oh... um... He says, um. F- fuck you. [ His voice dips and he immediately looks apologetic, before standing up a little taller and raising his voice again. ] But we can come to a compromise, I know we can! So nothing like this will happen again!

[not_that_sasuke]

[Hello, he exists again after a totally wild and offscreen fight with his own Persona, how you all doing.]

I guess... first we need to know what his terms are?

[compendiem]

[ There's some angry cawing from the puffball of a crow, while Hiroto keeps opening and shutting his mouth as he can't find a good place to cut in and translate. In the end, though, it all boils down to: ]

...freedom.

Like any of us, he just wants to live... to not be locked up alone in the darkness anymore. If he dies, he'll be reborn again, so the Daitengu had him locked up to prevent just that.

[not_that_sasuke]

All of us want that, too. The freedom to choose whether we stay here or return to our own worlds... and the freedom to act with our wits about us.

[Since the Kotengu was the one controlling his Persona, thanks.]

I don't think Hiroto wants you locked up forever either. Right?

[compendiem]

Right!

[ Hiroto is quick to agree, nodding to Sasuke and then dipping his head so he can look down at the cage and address the Kotengu inside too. ]

The other Daitengu... I don't think what everything that they did was right. I don't want to lock you up, and I understand your anger. But this town and its people are so precious to me, I don't want to let them be hurt either. I wish I knew what would make you less angry...

[ BESIDES the complete annihilation of the town, which was what that temper tantrum from before was. ]

[not_that_sasuke]

...Do you think it's safe enough to make the cage a little bigger? That way he can have a little more space, at least.

[compendiem]

Um...

[ Hiroto spreads his arms out so that they're on either side of him, and the cage grows that much bigger too, from palm to palm and about the same length out, a sphere of light that still isn't very big, on the account of Hiroto not being very big. ]

This is about as large as I can manage.

[not_that_sasuke]

Thank you. I just wanted to give him a little more wing space.

[Keeping the Kotengu in such a small cage probably won't help their argument, either...]

Kotengu... We all decided to help protect Hirajiro, as well as to save the souls of the others you brought here.

In the past... you wanted to protect people too, didn't you?

[compendiem]

[ The crow caws some more and hops around a bit, more insistent than angry this time around. Because he did, he really really did. All those things in the last dungeon (maybe they were a little biased BUT!!!!) they were still true, in some ways. ]

M- mm... He brought war to the town, but it was because he wanted to make the people strong, so they can defend themselves if something happened. But we thought that was too dangerous, and only led to pain and death, and so we stopped him.

[yokeye]

[Like Sasuke, Toki was off doing other things during the Kotengu battle. Only it was more along the lines of hiding instead of helping defend the town to any significant degree. Joroko was left to her own devices.]

That's the Kotengu!?

[He stares at the crow in the cage for a moment.]

He's so cute!

[compendiem]

[ Hiroto smiles a little, because the crow is pretty cute. A little baby one, that would fit in the palm of one's hand except for the fact that he would immediately bite off somebody's finger. ]

Yes, this is the Kotengu, but in a weakened state. When he has more power, he stands proud and tall, just like the rest of the Daitengu.

[ Except him. He will never have the body of a grown person, no matter how long he lives, and he will always be weak. ]

[yokeye]

But we can't give him power because he'll control us again, right?

[The Kotengu doesn't look scary at all right now.]

[compendiem]

[ There's no need to translate whatever the Kotengu's saying, so Hiroto tries his best to speak over the cawing and the irately flapping wings. Whatever the crow is saying, it's probably not very kind. ]

He won't need to control you anymore- I'm scared he will kill you! You were used to free him from this prison, after all, and now that he's gone... Even like this, I cannot hold him forever either.

[yokeye]

Kill us!?

[This part, he doesn't understand.]

Then why are we killing him!?

[compendiem]

You were stopping him.

[ There's that difference, that Hiroto tries to highlight. This battle was damage control; if the Kotengu were to stay dead, Terry could have done that and this entire log would have boiled down to a single tag of nuking arrows. ]

And he can't die- not truly. Like the Daitengu, the Kotengu will return, reincarnated back into the world.

[yokeye]

[laughs, it was supposed to be aren't...]

If he's reincarnated, then we have to keep him in the cage forever? Even if he's mean, I'll make sure he has enough seeds.

[compendiem]

[ asfdlkjh it got answered either way!! ]

Oh. Um... I wouldn't be able to keep this cage up forever, and normal ones wouldn't be able to hold him.

[ The cage is made of light, held between Hiroto's hands in the same way he'd made that barrier around the town earlier. He doesn't want to have to hold the cage forever either. ]

I think he would be mad if you kept him as a pet, though.

[ The crow caws loudly and hops in spot in the cage, as if to confirm. ]

[overstrain]

[ Terry's just glaring at the Kotengu and his fingers pinch a stray feather that was on the ground as if ready to do a plucking motion.

Behave. ]

[compendiem]

[ Hiroto sees this and sort of looks at Terry nervously. Please be nice to this evil bird!! ]

What do you think we should do...?

[overstrain]

[ Terry sighs, and looks over at Hiroto. He's no longer glaring--he just looks tired. ]

Personally, I'm going to stay here in Hirajiro.

[ He shoots the Kotengu a look, because no one can change his mind on this. ]

Being locked up is terrible, and I'd be fine with giving him his freedom as long as he doesn't interfere with my peaceful life in town.

[ It's not a request, but a thinly disguised demand and a condition. ]

[compendiem]

Hm...

[ Hiroto hugs the cage a little closer to his chest, looking down into it and then around at him, to the state of the town. ]

I wonder if he would promise that... He's so angry. Being locked up for all these years, that anger and resentment... Is that something anybody can let go of so easily?

[overstrain]

[ The reply is quick with no hesitance. ]

No, but he doesn't really have a choice.

[ :) ]

[compendiem]

[ "Stop being angry, or die."

I guess the Kotengu is dying. ]

...Oh. You would have to kill him, again and again. Every time he reincarnates. But you're staying, right?

[ It's not like population control, but it would be Terry with his scheduled murder every several years. He probably doesn't have a problem with that. ]

[overstrain]

[ Honestly, yeah. He doesn't have a problem with this kind of murder every several years. It's no big deal! Yeah! ]

Yeah, I'm pretty much immortal and I can find whatever form he's in wherever he might be. It won't be a problem even if he keeps being the way he is, because he'll just die for it.

[ What Terry says sounds absolutely awful, but he's so determined to get that peaceful life now that he'll do anything, and he doesn't like the Kotengu enough to make him hesitate on killing him on the spot if he has to. ]

He's not going to get in my way of what I want.

[compendiem]

[ Kido, in the background, listening to this:

It's fine. Hiroto just nods solemnly, though he doesn't look too happy about all this. It's not really ending the cycle at all... but maybe... ]

Would you kill him immediately? I think if... well... there's no guarantee...

[ There's A Route they could go for, but he hesitates, looking at the people around him, because it would mean they have to agree to it too. ]