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OCTOBER EVENT PT 1

OCTOBER EVENT PT1

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→ 10/3 Rain, rain, go away

As summer draws to a close and the season turns to autumn, the forest gradually starts to warm into golds and reds, starting from the mountains and working inwards towards the town. The first few drops of rain bring with them relief from the heat that had taken hold of the summer months, and the intermittent showers turn into constant downpours by the weekend. For the rest of the month, the rain is unrelenting, the sky cast in heavy grey clouds that refuse to part for the sun for even the briefest of moments, leaving October a month of constant darkness both night and day.

Without an ocean to drain into, the rainwater instead runs down the streets and drags dirt and debris from the forest along with it, ultimately collecting in the lake at the center of town and turning it muddy grey. The children have fun splashing in the puddles, until the worms and snails come crawling out and then there's more terrified shrieking than shouts of laughter, but it's kind of nice sitting by a window with a cup of hot tea while listening to the sound of pattering rain/screaming children outside. Only, the rain doesn't stop, worrying the townspeople enough that they start to talk about preparations for flooding. There really is no higher ground to move to, unless people want to trek all the way up to the mountains, so efforts are instead focused on keeping the water level controlled. Everybody is encouraged to pitch in filling and setting sandbags to build dams around the buildings to keep the water out, to donate non-perishable food and other emergency supplies to make sure there's enough to distribute to those who need them, and to take in what stray cats they're able to care for so that none of them are put in danger of the rushing water outside.

For the duration of the month, both the inn and the school are allowing people to stay in the second floor of the inn and the second story classrooms, free of charge. It's hard to say whether the ghosts in the inn are happy about all the extra company, with the wailing in between the walls getting louder as the month progresses, and some people say they hear giggling at times, which stops the moment they get closer. At the school, there are the Seven School Mysteries to contend with instead. They're all the typical things: the painting of the school founder whose eyes follow you around as you walk down the entrance hall, the bust in the art room that cries blood and stains the stone red, an anatomical model from the science lab that suddenly comes to life and chases people out of the room, the piano in the music room that plays by itself when nobody is in the room, a ghost haunting the bathrooms that locks all the doors when you really have to go, a goat man roaming the halls who chases and knocks anybody out cold if they aren't in a classroom between 4:00-4:05 PM, and ghostly hands that grab your wrists and ankles if you try to enter the gymnasium after sundown.

All these things are real. School's haunted.

→ 10/11-10/12 Paantu Festival

As the lake fills up, more water starts to slosh out of it than what drains in, contaminating the drinking water, causing the townspeople to fall ill, and sapping all the light and the heat from the days. It's never rained this hard and this long before, people are saying. The gods must be angry. Something must have happened or somebody must have done something to curse the town, and now everybody is suffering the consequences of it.

While some people sit around and hope for the best, others decide to take matters in their own hands and revive a forgotten tradition in an effort to save the town: the Paantu Festival. For these two days, several dozen Paantu are seen roaming the streets, humanoid forms covered in branches and leaves stuck onto their bodies with thick, sticky mud, wearing wooden masks over their faces and carrying walking sticks as they chase after anybody still wandering outside. The Paantu scoop mud off the ground and smear them on people's houses, the shops and the school and even the hospital doesn't get spared. It's difficult to get anywhere in town without being ambushed and having a handful of mud thrown at your face, especially with how wet and slippery the streets have become.

As the Paantu are meant to spread good luck and scare away evil spirits, it's ill advised to attack the creatures, although some little kids inadvertently do as they kick and scream and try to get away, and doing so causes a day of bad luck to befall the attacker. When unmasked, some of the Paantu are revealed to be villagers playing the roles, but other times, the Paantu transforms into a cackling demon that jumps out and tries to grab onto your body. These demons cannot be destroyed, but if you're able to remove them, either by force or by persuasion, they'll leave behind a gold coin as thanks for playing with them. Unfortunately, the townspeople aren't able to see the demon Paantu, so if mud hits them on the back of the head and you're the only one standing there, they can only blame one person and that person is you. Better run, punk.

Parents jokingly tell their kids that the Paantu will take them away if they misbehave, but as the last of the Paantu are caught and unmasked, it's found that some people have disappeared in the chaos, old and young alike. Even in the days after the festival, the mud gets washed away, but missing posters go up— including those for the owners of the occult shop so many of you rely on for income, and the shop is temporarily closed. So much for driving out bad luck.

→ 10/13-10/27 No, seriously, please go away

If anything, things just seem to get worse after the festival. With the lake saturated and nowhere else for the water to go, the town starts to flood, two feet by mid-month, with the water level rising exponentially higher until the town is drowning in eight feet of water by the end of the month, rendering all those sandbags useless. Although the water is largely still now instead of rushing towards the center of town, it's still mixed with the toxins from the lake and those who fall in or try to swim in it will eventually become ill, suffering chills and a fever and pressure in their chest that makes it difficult to breathe. Souji and Minato will be glad to have you over for tea any time to get rid of that poison, but unfortunately the tea doesn't help those who aren't Persona users. In order to make a tea that will help the townspeople, you'll have to help the Attendants gather the ingredients for it and fill their request.

On the 14th, the power goes out everywhere except the hospital, which has emergency generators, but those won't last forever either. In the following days, thunder roars in the distance, and lightning begins to flash across the sky, providing the only light now that both the sun and the moon are hidden above the clouds. By some miracle, the lightning never hits the town and electrocutes everybody in it, but it does hit the mountains from time to time, breaking the rock and causing avalanches to fall and smother the forest. At times, little pebbles of hail fall from the sky, and other times, it's frogs and fish that plop down into the water despite there being no ocean in Hirajiro.

Throughout the month, rain continues to fall even during Lockdown. The moon still cannot be seen, but in the area around the lake, faint blue light glows underwater to guide people towards the dungeon, and no Shadows leave this dungeon or the school dungeon to swim through town. For those taking shelter in the school, it still transforms into the previous dungeon during Lockdown, spitting people out onto a random floor and separating those who were together when midnight strikes. In these two dungeons, characters may find some reprieve from the rain, but none of the floors have a sun or a moon to provide light, and it becomes very humid. Yeah. You thought the fourth floor of the lake dungeon was hell already, but now it's 122°F/50°C with 100% humidity.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ We're doing great, guys. In order to fight the lake dungeon boss, 2 more coin threads must be completed and submitted by 10/14.
⬥ To determine the outcome of the boss battle, a minimum of 10 threads across the entire player base from September's dungeon post is required, with a maximum of 2 threads turned in per player, containing at least 5 comments for each character. These threads may not overlap with coin threads but may be threads started in September or October. The deadline for defeating the boss is 10/31.
⬥ The raining and flooding will continue through the month until 10/27, with part 2 of the event going up on 10/28, but the pouring rain will noticeably lessen once the boss is defeated and the ofuda is returned to the castle. At the worst of the flooding, single story buildings in town will be almost fully submerged, but the water level does not extend as high in the forest and both the castle and shrine will be left untouched by the flood during the month, although they'll still get rained on.
⬥ This month, the full moon (despite not being visible) occurs on 10/12-10/14, and Personas may behave strangely and disobey orders. This is an optional mechanic.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Whatever I am", huh?

[ 45 hops off the lab table. ]

Let's just settle for "Kido" now. You're okay with that, aren't you? By the way, are you still not summoning your Persona? I can probably help with that if it's still a problem.

[ Don't fall for it, Kido... ]

[ She absolutely falls for it, mentally kicking herself over how overly desperate she must look, loud voice and wide eyes and leaning forward as she is. ]

Do you know how to make it work?! Tell me!

[ She knew 45 was the better Attendant. And there was Souji telling her to work through her trauma, hah, she doesn't need to do that. ]

It might hurt, but--

[ 45's smile grows and Malphas appears behind her, since her omamori is in her sleeve. With how the cuffs are, the omamori won't fall out and she can summon Malphas at her leisure. Convenient. ]

--let's play a game of demon tag.

[ She actually doesn't know if this will work, and what problem Kido has with her Persona, but it's an idea similar to if their owner is in grave peril, their summon will appear to protect them at the last second. ]

Starting now.

[ One of the sickles that Malphas was holding is flung past Kido's head, probably lobbing a few strands of her side fringe. If Kido tries to run elsewhere in the room, she'll have to do her best not to slip, because the floor is coated with grease other than their area. 45 planned this beforehand... ]

[ NEVER MIND, ALL THE ATTENDANTS SUCK

Kido yelps and pulls away, nearly slipping on the ground and then grabbing for 45 reflexively to steady herself, and then to hide behind her because fuck off, demons ]

[ Malphas casts Sukunda on Kido as he gets closer to Kido, despite 45 being right there. She doesn't seem all that fazed as the tall Persona pretty looms over Kido threatening with its bird mask and, well, its demonic crow everything. He opens his mouth and his voice comes out, all distorted with the usual accents upon the wrong syllable sort of speech:

dOn't RUn aWay . . .

As he holds the sickle overhead, ready to slam it down but giving Kido time to summon Nekogami if she can. ]

Edited 2019-10-06 22:58 (UTC)

[ Honestly, she doesn't even think to summon Nekogami at this point, considering how long it would take to grab her omamori and beg the Persona to come out and be ignored either way. If she can't fight, then all she can do is run, trying to duck behind 45— all she has to do is get out of Malphas' line of sight for a second, and she can hide. She can continue running away. ]

[ Well, Kido ends up getting away from Malphas's line of sight, but not 45's. She's just relaying to him where to go at this point, and he casts Mafrei to pretty much make all the lab tables explode so that Kido won't have anywhere to hide if she leaves 45's side. ]

Summon your Persona, Kido, if you don't want to die.

[ That's what this is for, after all. ]

[ If she could do that, she would have!! But even when she finally grabs her omamori, Nekogami doesn't make an appearance. She can't fight and she has nowhere to run and there's nothing she can—-

that's not true, is it? Even without Nekogami, she isn't completely useless, and she can't be caught screaming and crying forever, so when the tables are blasted out of the way, it doesn't only clear the way for Malphas, but it does for Kido too, who rushes forward to aim a side kick at Malphas.

Too bad it won't do much, even if it does connect. But birds have hollow bones so the theory is that they'll be easy to snap... ]

[ 45 will be cheering you on from the sidelines, Kido!! Keep trying!!

The theory would be sound if Malphas wasn't a demon, even if he's half bird or whatever. 45 is surprised that Sukunda barely managed to do anything, because Kido was pretty fast--maybe it's Nekogami's stats talking here. That's an interesting thing she looks out for and keeps the info stored away for later. Malphas ends up grabbing Kido's ankle with his bony hands and lifts her up to throw her off. He didn't throw her hard enough for her to hit the wall, but enough for her to get back on her feet, but at a distance. When he caught her ankle, the Concealing Eyes power broke and he can see her again! 45's mental commands are pretty efficient, since she's the leader of a black ops team and is used to ordering people around.

Malphas picks up the sickle he threw earlier that whizzed through Kido's head and throws it at her again, aiming for her leg this time. ]

[ She feels like throwing up when the world turns around like that, but the pain barely registers when she's thrown and hits the wall, stumbling a bit but then she's on her feet in time to see the sickle come.

Fuck you, Malphas? She needs her leg and pulls it back, but instead of stepping back, she steps sideways, throwing her weight into the kick that'll send the sickle off course. She is going to pick up that sickle and stab you full of holes, demon, fuck off. ]

[ Malphas, internally:

Hang in there, Malphas. 45 continues to instruct him what to do. This is for Kido's good. You can do it. I'm guessing this is a physical attack, so Malphas isn't as fazed by the sickle hole, but Kido. :'( 45 feels the damage too, but Malphas uses Dia on himself and gets its bony free hand and tries to catch Kido's face.

Ẃ̶̯̼͇̌͒h̴͕͉̻̍͆̽̈́̈́̈́è̷̡͈̺̳̱̟́̌ͅr̸̺͎͊̑e̶̹̝̰̓̅̇̉̾ ̴̨̡̳̻̳͇̠̞̣̥̥̄̎͑̀͐̎͂̽̐i̴͇̪͇͈̇͋͑̓̋͠š̸̢͍̱͚̠̙͕̳͔̼͂͂̐̇̋̍ ̸̟̠̦́̌͆̾̂̇͂͐͝ͅy̴̛̫̭͒̒͊͌̀́̏͘ơ̷̧̮̳̝̰̝̪̞̰̔͆͆̈́̏͛̑͝ų̷̧̛̝̖̳̜͕̜̟͂͗́̉̃͗́͋̄r̵̖̹̻̹͈̭̈́͐̐͜ ̷͈̜̾̈̅̽̂ͅf̵̨͓̮̟̑̎̃̉̎̈̅͜͝r̶̥̫̬͓͙͕̈͑́͗̈́̆͛̇͐̕i̴̧͍̯̲͇͋͆͗̏̾̾͂́̾̈͗e̵̖̝̹͌͌͛̔̈́n̸̥͉͓̪̠̣̫̗̠̯̈̋̅͂d̸̝̰͓̮̹̤͉̃̔̀́̃̃̔͗̆̇́?

... ]

[ Ganba, Malphas. Even Kido can tell that her attacks aren't doing much damage, but that's to be expected when her opponent is something supernatural. Nekogami doesn't get a second thought as Kido hooks the sickle behind Malphas' neck and pulls— even if stabbing doesn't do anything, let's see what Malphas can do without a head. That'll shut him up, wouldn't it? ]

[ I̵̹͚̮̓́͋̂͐̂͌͊͐͝ ̵̧͓̙̣͓̥̣̤̤̈́̏ͅẉ̴̻̥̦͌͘a̷̡͖̼̼̯̺̫̠̩̹̅̚ͅn̶̢̞̬̫͖̘̰͌̂̓̏̀̾̈́̄̿̈́̉͘͘͝ṭ̵̖͚͎͉̭̟͇̗̘̲̪̣̎̌̔́̉͋̔̿ͅ ̵̡̛̛̲͎̮̯̹̩̪͕̫̆̔̓̈́͋̕t̷̬͈̞̩̺͚̝̣̳̦̯̘͑ȍ̶̢̨̺̤̣̖̠͚̟̺̙͔̦̱̄̇̓̐́͛̅͘ ̵͕̯͇͔͎̒̂̿͘͜͠s̸̰̻͂͊ĕ̷̢̤͍̬̗̗̘̗̖̪͐͗é̷̩̺̍̿͑̚ ̴̧̧̰̥̝̠̼̻̹̺̗͔͓̪͆̊͂̈́̔̋̆̽͘͜͠ŷ̷̢͚̣͙̯̗͚͕̜̦̗͙͛͐́͊̀̐́̕̚͜ͅȍ̶͈̲͓̖̅̍u̸̧̨̞̬̭̩͔̝̪͈͆͂̀̋̒͊̓͒̑͊̐ŗ̵̟̠̼͓̥́̈͛̅͋̈̉͑ ̶̤̹̅͑f̷̨͕̤̫͎̖̮͈͉̻̼̗̂̇͑̑̔̀̍̇̔͜͠͝ͅr̵̡̠̲̭̝̪̦̓̇̾̒͠͠i̵̧̡̢̛̱̺̜̳̺̼͌̅̋̀̒̈́́͒̈́͘͝è̷̮̜̩̭̜̖ͅn̷̢̨̧̥͍͓͙̣̘͙̩̄͐d̵̡͖̟͎̲̜̦͍̅̀̃̈́͌͑̓̃̾̃̆̆͘͘͜͝.̷̝̩̩̞̭͖̠͆́̎̇̓̽͑̔͊͒̉̍̆͝.̸̨̡̭͇̼̖͇̱͖̦̝̜͙̞̞̀̈̈̐̒͆̕̚.̸̧͕̓̑̀̄͑͜͝

The sickle hooks onto Malphas's neck. While it does cut, it doesn't seem to slice his neck entirely. So this is what near-beheading feels like, 45 thinks as she rubs the back of her neck a little. Malphas casts Frei between them to gain some distance. ]

Your Persona, Kido.

[ Kido pulls back without letting go of the weapon, even as the blast knocks her off her feet and she has to break her fall with her other hand. With the space between them, she glare up at Malphas even as she addresses 45, trying to catch her breath in between her words. ]

He won't come out. And I can't afford to sit around forever waiting for him, so if I have to fight by myself, I'll do it.

Keep calling for him in the meantime.

[ Maybe it'll change somewhere down the line. Kido has resolve to take Malphas down, which is a little concerning and not something 45 had planned, but perhaps this could work in her favor too.

Malphas flies on over to Kido to give her a punch to the shoulder with his... 2 strength stat. None of this is meant to kill Kido anyway. So it should be fine. ]

[ Sure, she'll do that but she no longer places her hopes in Nekogami; she can't rely on people forever, and one day she'll have to stand on her own. So it's with that omamori clenched in her fist that she stands to face Malphas, letting him get close enough to clip her shoulder before she aims an uppercut at Malphas' jaw. If he were a person, she'd make him bite off his tongue so he can stop saying creepy things in his creepy voice at her. ]

[ But they're completely innocent things, Kido!! Malphas feels like this is so one-sided and unfair, but it's okay. 45 keeps telling him that it's to help Kido. Endure it. Malphas has no problem getting to place to place because he can just fly/hover off the ground, but his bony hands grab onto Kido's shoulders and shoves her to the side where an anatomical doll is standing and it catches Kido by the sides of her arms and is pretty much all up in her face.

Oh.

45 did not expect that. ]

[ AAAAAAAA

Kido screeches when she careens into the doll, tears off its entire arm, and hurtles it at Malphas. This isn't going to get Nekogami to come out at all, this is just going to prompt Kido to try to run again, forgetting about the ground and slipping and bringing the entire model down with her. ]

[ Malphas gets smacked with the arm and just looks at it on the ground. It's wriggling. Gross. He casts Dia on himself and several times at Kido and basically flounces by disappearing back into 45's shadow. ;~; He's had enough!

Meanwhile, 45 slowly makes her way there, stepping on the debris so that she doesn't slip on the way. ]

Looks like your Persona didn't come out, though I have to applaud you on your willpower, persistence, and power on your own.

[ She smacks the anatomical doll off Kido as if she's playing croquet with her umbrella. Goodbye. You're the one getting booted out, doll. ]

Did you learn anything from this experience?

[ Ugh... It feels like she lost, getting toyed around like that and doing no apparent damage to Malphas. Once the doll is off her, Kido gets to her feet and hangs onto a desk or counter top or something to keep from slipping again. ]

...Something about this made Nekogami happy, but I can't tell what. It's just a warm feeling inside, where he is.

[ Her hands are still cold, though, and Nekogami had refused to come out even at the very end. ]

If that's the case, have you considered that maybe Nekogami is giving you a set of trials to improve yourself?

[ Something something being worthy of a cat god. ]

That's so unnecessary.

[ Is this a self-imposed version of Minato taking Terry's omamori? Kido didn't ask for this. And she doesn't like the implication that she's not good enough for him, that she's lacking in some way— that the way she'd been carrying on, watching from the sidelines instead of diving into the fray herself, is wrong.

At least this is better than duking it out with Nekogami himself. He's never turned on her, and must have a reason for all of this. ]

What sort of other trials am I supposed to be doing? Fighting in the dungeons all by myself??

[ Don't make her do this, she will die. ]

Maybe changing your way of thinking? Having allies aren't so bad and neither is depending on them from time to time.

[ Though she's only basing that off Kido saying something about not wasting time in trying to summon Nekogami, even though he's her ally. ]

Well, yeah, that's why I instated the rule to always take at least one other person into the dungeons with you.

[ Probably... not a lot of people follow this rule... But anyways, allies are fine! But Kido just considers people as allies and not Personas, really. Get along with your Persona and they'll help you out, is what she understands, and she and Nekogami are friends.

Nekogami's just temperamental because Kido is temperamental, maybe. ]

But I can't very well rely on people all the time, especially if I can't get Nekogami to listen. I'd just end up being a liability.

[ She wonders for a second... ]

Were you constantly carried by other people?

[ As in just following the stronger people without doing much herself. ]

OCTOBER EVENT PT 1

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ 10/3 Rain, rain, go away

→ 10/11-10/12 Paantu Festival

→ 10/13-10/27 No, seriously, please go away

→ MOD NOTES

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