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

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If you have any questions, please leave them here!

I - return of the dragon taxi

[ It doesn't take long for Terry to summon Vassago. Terry has practiced summoning him, and there were times when Vassago would just come out on his own, like him being exasperated at him and then dismissing himself. This time, Orien joins the fray. He seems... bigger than usual. ]

Vassago can take you up there!

[ He tries to look assuring by summoning his longbow in his hand. He's a magical archer. It'll be fine. Probably.

"I'll catch anyone if they fall. I can also take hits for you if need be."

And that's Orien's cue to turn into a huge snake, just like that the time before he ate Kano, leaving a huge imprint in the forest with his sheer size. He'll be careful not to wreck any structures or people on the ground. ]

II - a day in the limelight

[ Terry doesn't need a dragon taxi to be able to take shots at the Kotengu. He's staying on the ground with his longbow, firing seeking arrows, rain of million arrows, etc while making sure the arrows are avoiding his allies. He does a good job of doing that, so there won't be any close calls.

This is why he's standing on the ground, nocking another arrow while sipping on a plastic red... juice box? When released, the arrows forms into a thread that skewers multiple Shadows at once to help the others every once in a while.

Then he uses the limelight to attract Shadows' attention to himself--he's hoping the Kotengu is affected too in order to take his attention away from everyone else who's up in the air. However, the mob Shadows get to him first and he kicks one away like a kickball. It's probably gonna hit someone in the face if they're not careful. ]

III - some sort of side story

[ Meanwhile, there's Terry 2 who's still in town and watching the battle unfold. He stole some weapons from Terry's arsenal--namely the ziodyne taser and the shortbow with reusable kouha arrows. He stole some of Terry's tools too, which he throws at the horde of Shadows. It's a hypno mist, and they all start sleeping.

Neato. ]

wildcard

[ hmu ]

Edited 2020-03-03 20:06 (UTC)

I - fights in the sky

[ Malphas is going around casting Thermopylae and refreshing it every time the buff wears off and casting Debilitate debuff on the Kotengu and whichever Persona that's going rogue. It looks like Malphas is running solo as he does so, casting Atomic Flare every now and then at the Kotengu from a distance and dodging attacks. He'll occasionally heal allies suffering from wounds with a Diarahan too. If you need assistance in the air, he's your guy. ]

II - fights on land

[ 45 looks a little different today. That as in, she's no longer wearing the Attendant clothes and back to her default ones--and the obvious arm. 45 isn't going to be the facing the Kotengu head on, because she sees the exit, even if it's swarming with Shadows. ]

Out of the way!

[ If she's not rapidly shooting her submachine gun, she throws a marble at one of the Shadows and it catches on fire. Then the nearby trees catch on fire too. A thick, flaming branch is being hurled at the Shadows like a javelin. Fuck Shadows. ]

III -

[ 45 finally stands before the opened ofuda door. Malphas is dismissed from battle. His role is finished here, and so is hers. Whatever happens to everyone else and this world has nothing to do with her. She'll go back to her world, and go back to the usual routine of being in Team 404.

She raises her gun at the person who's nearby with a smile on her face, since she's assuming that they want to stop her. ]

Hm? Are you lost?

i.
[ It's a 2-for-1 combo, both Kido and Ala up here in the sky, Kido on dragon!Ala's back while the latter weaves in and out of the sky, Kido screaming because Ala loves her unnecessary loops and figure eights as she dodges streams of fire and magic arrows.

The real threat is Nekogami, but honestly, it's not as bad as it could be. The sole reason? He is no longer a cute little ghostly longcat and instead he's a large fire tiger which cannot fly and has to resort to leaping from one place to another, trying to tackle the dragons and snake and other Personas out of the air as he rears up to spray fire or ice everywhere in the sky. He flickers in and out of existence, and the next time he does, he's on top of Kido and pinning her down onto Ala's back— she reaches forward and grabs his cheeks and pulls. ]

Stupid, your enemy is over there!

[ She turns Nekogami's head towards the Kotengu just as he unleashes a blizzard from his mouth. This is how we're fighting the Kotengu. If Personas aren't listening, you grab the reins and make them. ]

wc.
[ There is only one real prompt for the battle, but if feel free to tag into a wildcard scenario if your character needs a ride up to the Kotengu and wants to fight alongside Ala, or if your character chose to stay back in the forest and would run across Minato there! ]

i. 3:33 PM

[Akira was ready. Everyone was ready, he made sure of it; he did his best to ensure the entire group was well fed and armed to the teeth with infiltration tools. Last night's dinner had been quiet, with the understanding that they would be hard pressed to celebrate under the circumstances.]

[Dark sludge seeps from the door so that he can feel it all over his legs and arms and face, and above him the sun splinters to pieces, the gaseous form cracking like a stone egg. Below them, the eggshells become meteors.]

[Make him stop, the bird--Hiroto says, and that's enough of an invitation. Akira doesn't bother reaching for the omamori, of course. He jumps up a little and into the arms of this mechanical motherfucker. Somewhere off to the side, the Pokémon are released as well; Venusaur and Blastoise are too bulky to transport into the air, so they're going to remain on the ground, providing support and offense for the town. Charizard is looking to the sky, Pikachu and Espeon standing upon him -- but he has room for a few more passengers.]

Someone go on Charizard!

[And with that, Akira and Raoul are off, dodging flares. Anyone who embarks on Charizard will follow closely behind. Persona and user have killed gods before -- it's just that this one is maybe a little more real than the others.]

ii. 3:39 PM

[You've got a couple of options once everyone's in the air. No matter what happens, Akira is laser-focused on the task at hand, and is liable to start barking orders.]

[A: I don't know who all has rogue Personas but if someone else does, we can all kick the shit out of them together. Or get our shit kicked. Who knows.]

[B: Akira will be diligently avoiding the dark void, and if someone else draws too near, he might just stop what he's doing and try to pull them back. You want to bail? He's not letting you.]

[C: Somehow avoiding all the other distractions and AOEs in this boss fight, the nasty crimeboys are trying to engage the Kotengu themselves. Akira keeps switching off Personas to apply healing, debuffs, and damage -- just like all the other birds, only Raoul and Akira's own hands will actually put a dent in him. Hopefully with all the human juggling, he doesn't miscalculate and go hurtling into you... or the Kotengu... or the void.]

i.
[Maybe you're just standing around or maybe you're in the middle of fighting a shadow. Nero's just going to drive his truck straight into the shadows themselves. It might help to stand back a bit. ]

Do you need a ride?

[ He doesn't want to run over the other persona users. They're welcome to just jump in the back or something. Lord help you if you have some kind of accident with this. ]

ii.

[ Nero doesn't seem to have any idea of what it means to stay calm. Even during his breaks he's just lightly sparring and throwing a punch or two into the air. ]

That should be good for a warm up. I have to keep moving or else I'll lose my momentum.

[ He'll throw you a small package of bread during a resting periods as well.]

Keep it.

wild card
[i dont know what rp is anymore, feel free to hit me up on a wild card.]

[BOMB!!]

[Yeah, she's catching a ride with anyone who will let her, although she's not above leaping from one Persona to another if she has to.]

I need to get high enough to drop this on him!

[It's... a bag? A bag with a lot of random bulges in it.

It's definitely bombs.

It's definitely lots of different bombs.

Time to see what happens if you hit him with various elements and also some C4. Fortunately, she waited long enough to see which elements were getting reflected, so those ones have already been removed.]

[Everything else]

[The fact that he absorbs fire means that she's mainly shooting at him with elemental bullets, but perhaps it's for the best since that allows her magic to restore itself. She'll heal people up with a well-timed Salvation as needed, or even a Makarakarn if it looks like the Kotengu will be aiming a spell at them next.]

[ 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!

[ A compromise... with no further loss of life. With the agreement in place, Hiroto lets the cage around the Kotengu dissolve away, light melting into the crow's back and making his feathers gleam when he unfurls his wings and shakes them out, flying to settle on top of Hiroto's head.

"We'll work things out," Hiroto says, "and if I need help, I know I can come find you! Or- I guess those of you who are staying...?"

Not all of them. Some have already left. Some have one more stop they have to make, before they can leave, and the Kotengu puffs himself up and caws.

"Oh. Um," Hiroto looks up, and then down, so he doesn't topple the crow off the top of his head. "He says that those of you who which to go elsewhere, he'll send you wherever you want. Whether that's your home or somewhere else, just get out of here. Uh- said in a nice way, I think?" He looks up at the Kotengu, who definitely didn't say 'get the hell outta here' in a nice way.

"Umm... Minato and Souji, he says that our— well, your- contract has been fulfilled." With those words, the gold in each of their eyes fades away to grey, and Minato and Souji are released from their Attendant duties. "The Kotengu says he'll keep his promise and open the gate to Kadath Mandala, in the Sea of Souls. He'll only open the gate once, and it— oh, it's dangerous in there, you know?" Hiroto steps forward and takes their hands, pouting a little. "If you let your guard down even the slightest, the demons will eat you, and you have so many fragments you need to collect..."

"That's fine," Minato says. "I won't leave until I save my senpai."

"-—And everybody else who was brought here too," Souji adds, before Minato just completely dismisses all the other Persona users that are still in town, buried in the turnip fields. He pats Hiroto on the head, the Kotengu hopping off irately and going to perch on Minato's shoulder instead, while he shifts his weight from foot to foot, eager to get going. "We'll save everybody, so you can count on us."

Hiroto isn't! very convinced!! but the head pats calm him down a little, and he nods. "I need to stay here and put the town back together. We need the sun back too..." He stares up at the sky... How do you regrow a sun? He'll have to figure it out.

As for everybody else, Souji turns to them, and smiles. "If you want to come with us, we won't turn down the help. We won't leave right away, if you have any business you need to settle first. But either way... Everybody, thank you for seeing this leg of the journey through to the end. You truly were remarkable guests."

Those who choose to follow the Attendants to the Sea of Souls, stick around to descend into hell. To everybody else... life goes on. Zombified Persona users wake up from ego death and the Daitengu and Kotengu offer their apologies and send them home. In the following days, the fires are put out, the trees start to take on new leaves, the townspeople come together to rebuild once more. Midnight comes and the lights stay on, the prison shut down and the full moon hanging bright in both the night sky and the day. Two gods stand side by side amongst the people until the end of days. ]

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KOTENGU AND DAITENGU ENCOUNTER