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[open] there will always be a tomorrow

DUNGEON INTERLUDE

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→ 10/16 Lockdown

As of the lockdown phase on the 16th of October, Terrence Nowell has gone missing. He seems to have vanished without a trace--the trace of the cinnamon smell that he always gives off is nowhere to be found. Something is a little different about this Lockdown period. Despite how it's the middle of the month, a strong and powerful wind will flow towards the residential area, where it leads people to a very dark alleyway that's hard to see through. The wind seems to stop at an open sewer hole that's still draining whatever water that's left around it, but it seems that there's less water here than everywhere else. Was that there before? No, but it's there now, and it'll be there every time Lockdown occurs. Watch your step, lest you fall in... For those who don't like following the wind, they'll find themselves battered in the head with the occasional flying cats. Given enough time during the lockdown, these cats will pretty much infest every corner of Hirajiro with all their incessant meowing and rainbow trails as they fly around. Though, of course, they'll always be gone when Lockdown is lifted.

→ 1st Floor

If you dare to venture into the sewer hole, whether you fell in or took the ladder on the way down, you'll eventually find the floor that is covered in thick smoke. It can't be blown off due to the sheer amount there is. Luckily, the Velvet Room portal is right there at the foot of the ladder for easy access. The sky appears to be blue, but the weather feels strangely stagnant for some reason. The scenery might as well be some rendition of candyland, with lots of sweets everywhere used as building structure, a long path made of taffy over the small hills that doesn't seem to stick onto your shoes, lollipops for trees, cotton candy for bushes... you get the idea. You can try to eat the sweets, but they all taste like dusty metal and don't break off. It seems like a relatively happy place, but once you start looking for the stairwell that leads to the next floor, you can't seem to find it.

Things aren't always what they seem to be...

SOMNIUM
Type SHADOW	Resists NONE	Weak NUCLEAR
In the vast candyland, perhaps you'll be lucky enough to come across a fox-shaped shadow that has a mask over it with the chime of a bell. These are very small, quick, annoying to hit and very evasive. If your Persona's agility can surpass 10 or above, you'll be able to catch it or cast an AoE spell to cover for your lack of speed. It's fairly weak, so it'll most likely be killed in one or two shots. Only one will appear on the entire floor at a time. They respawn 5 minutes after the death of the previous one. More details below. Small yellow bells and black fox masks can be collected as loot.

MORSUS
Type SHADOW	Resists WIND	Weak FIRE, LIGHT
So, those flying cats that you saw? Once you kill a Somnium, the illusion breaks, revealing their true forms as bat-like Shadows. They come to attack in swarms, only casts Life Drain and Spirit Drain, and often perform those two skills all at once to suck the the majority of life and spirit out of a target in one go. Dangerous. They are also easy to kill, but you better have your AoE spells handy or you might get overwhelmed with sudden loss of HP and SP from sheer numbers. However, the above only applies when the illusion is broken. When under the guise of nyancats, they only smack people by running into them. Small clear pouches of sparkling rainbow glitter (as nyancat) or torn bat wings (as bats) can be collected as loot.

Once the illusion is shattered by killing a Somnium, the characters will realize that they had been walking through occasional giant puddles of blood on the ground when the smoke clears from the ground, the sky is red, and all the little structures of candy were wrecked buildings akin to a post-apocalyptic setting. However, the illusion rebuilds itself after five minutes of the fox shadow's death, turning the entire floor into candyland again with flying nyancats in which characters are forced to go hunt for the respawned Somnium again. It's a very vast floor.

During the five-minute window of the broken illusion, characters will be able to find the entrance to the stairwell to the next floor. When the illusion returns after five minutes, the stairwell entrance disappears and reappears in a different location when the illusion is broken again. That's not the only problem with the stairwell...

To get to the next floor, each character has to answer a very personal and guilt tripping question that will make them feel absolutely terrible after. The barrier will come in the form of an invisible wall that cannot be broken until the answer is given. The answer doesn’t necessarily have to be objectively true, but it can’t be a lie. The question will be announced out loud in the nearby characters' heads, but it will be addressed to the character themselves when asking. If in a group, the walls are stacked upon each other and each wall will break after everyone present in the group has answered their own personal questions. If everyone in the group hasn't answered their questions in five minutes, it's back to fox hunting for you guys.

The wall only needs to be broken once by a character. It won’t reform the next time they come back to the dungeon.

→ 2nd Floor

On the next floor, you will be greeted by the red sky, even darker than the previous floor's. You stand on a very sturdy white square pillar, about 20ft x 20ft in size. When you look forward, you can see similar huge square pillars alternating in white and black that have risen from the void, all apart at a set distance away from each other, but it's very clear that you can't make it by jumping. To get to the stairwell to the next floor, you either need to have some method of air transportation to get to there safely, or take the intended method.

The intended method from getting to pillar to pillar is kicking a can off the corner of the pillar, which makes a transparent skinny bridge to the next pillar that disintegrates very quickly over time. Only one person can cross a bridge at a time, unless you want to risk having people fall into the void. The can respawns at the same corner after the previous bridge fully disintegrates.

Those who fall off the pillars will fall unconscious and wake up in the exit of the dungeon (next to the sewer hole) with 1 HP and 0 SP and inflicted with a Forget debuff that lasts 15 minutes. Players have the choice to make their character forget whatever they want along with their Persona being skill sealed, whether that’s an important body function like breathing or a precious memory, or something trivial like what they ate for dinner last night. They’ll regain whatever they lost 15 minutes after waking up.

BLACK RAVEN
Type Shadow	Resists WIND	Weak ELECTRICITY
Remember me? These pesky Raven Shadows are back, lanterns and all. They mostly move together in huge flocks now instead of being separated. They shoot gusts of winds in an attempt to blow characters off the pillars or stick to their usual divebombing tactic. They sometimes flock around Alt-Vassago. Feathers and lanterns can be collected as loot.

ALT-VASSAGO
Type F.O.E.	Nulls PHYSICAL	Weak LIGHT
This strange demonic being riding a gator are on top of every black pillar. He is the F.O.E. of this dungeon. At first, he will only move to push the characters off the pillars. However, if you attack it, whether it hits or misses, it inflicts a Rage debuff on itself and ferociously attacks you and try to push you off. A single physical hit from it will probably knock you out in one shot if your endurance is 9 and lower. It has a ton of HP, so it's best to avoid the fight entirely and quickly move to the next pillar. However, if you need to buy some time, please take advantage of its messy rage debuff to lure and trick it into falling off the pillar. There will be one minute until the next one respawns on the same pillar, so you better get off the pillar fast. It also has a tendency to repeat "kill them all" in a very creepy voice when under the Rage debuff.

NOCEO
Type SHADOW	Repels LIGHT	Weak DARK, WIND
These smog shadows take on a humanoid shape, but their forms fizzes out often like static. They move slow like aimless zombies and stick together in hordes and respawn very often. They constantly have smog coming out of where their mouths are supposed to be. They're also very weak, but tends to cast Brainwash debuff very often so the characters can fight for them. They also tend to make a hideously loud emergency siren sound when dying or falling off the pillars. They're also bunched up a lot in the last several pillars before the stairwell to the next floor. Maybe flying was a better option after all. A small, black, still-beating heart can be collected as loot.

Just like the first floor, this stairwell has an invisible wall as well. Same things apply here, except you have all the time in the world... too bad you're on the same black pillar with all the Noceos and one Alt-Vassago. Better tell your friends to hurry it up before you get brainwashed or killed.

→ 3rd Floor

Once you finally arrive at the third floor, there is only a blinding, narrow, white room. It feels more accurate to say it might be a slightly wide corridor. It may be difficult to see, because of the absence of color on the walls. However, there is blood everywhere on the floor. The source is a humongous, tipped over blood container off to the side. The room reeks of the smell. Shadow Terry is at the opposite end of the room with his gold eyes and behind him is a low cage where the real Terry is trapped in with his powers sealed. There is no trace of the cinnamon smell whatsoever in this room. There seems to be another door behind where the Shadow is, marred with plain visible scratch marks with little blood here and there.

There's also a familiar melody (0.25x speed) for those who have heard it before that seems to echo, almost as if fading away, but it never quite leaves.

Shadow Terry tends to look slightly different than the Terry everyone knows aside from his eye color. He has a sharper look, but right now, it's hard to see. He's kneeling next to the cage that Terry is trapped in and quietly cries. When Shadow Terry hears you coming in, he turns to you, looking a little desperate from where he is when he sees you for the first time.

"Please help. I want Terrence to accept me."

→ Notes

⬥ There will be a time limit on subduing the Shadow. Terry needs to drink blood to extend his lifespan, which he hasn't done in a while, so characters will only have until the end of the 23rd (IC and OOC, 11:59PM EST) before Terry falls into a pseudo-death coma state. If characters manage to subdue his Shadow before that happens, they'll have a chance to persuade him into accepting the Shadow. There will also be a chance that Terry won't accept it, depending on how the persuasion goes. A new top-level will go up on the 24th if the Shadow hasn't been accepted by then. A note on any late Shadow interactions are here!
⬥ Since Shadow Terry and Dark Vassago are hard to deal with, characters are encouraged to fight, retreat, and try to fight them multiple times.
⬥ Since IC dates are very important, please include them at the start of each thread when posting under the Shadow thread.
⬥ Threads from this dungeon post can serve as Dungeon requirements for AC.

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[ 45 grabs Kido's hand and gets into the stairwell, because it would be a real shame if it disappeared again when they both finally broke their walls. Even if they could find the stairwell after it vanishes, she wouldn't really want to do this again with a different question, and she bets Kido wouldn't either, so. They're in the stairwell now, the bridge that connects between the two floors. ]

Need a break before you go any further?

No.

[ She hates this feeling. It's something she should have gotten over with by now, and she'd thought she put it behind her, before this thing dragged all that baggage back up again. Both yes and no, it's the same as not caring whether she lives or dies, and she can feel the tips of her fingers getting colder at the thought, and she can feel Nekogami's irritation too. Wanting to die is so stupid, when her being alive against all odds is already a miracle. Sorry, Nekogami. Kido knows he wants her to live, to never give up living, but her answer is resolute this time.

Resolution is enough. Without her even touching her omamori, Nekogami appears beside her, draping himself over her shoulders and pressing his heads against her cheek, and she leans her face against his cool, soft fur. ]

I'm alright now. We don't have time to waste, so if you're alright to go, let's keep going.

[ Does Kido actually still feel that way after getting out of novel route... this is so sad Card 8(

That's the only thing they can do right now, isn't it? Just to keep going. 45 nods and heads up the stairs. Just shove aside the wall question for later for her to dwell on. Malphas is feeling very :'( right now and 45 can feel it. Ugh. It's okay. It'll be okay. It has been long since settled...

She opens the exit of the stairwell and sees a very... odd floor. It's full of pillars. The sky is darker than the first, but still red. There's a lot of blood motifs in this place, huh.

It's easy to think of a chessboard when it's easily alternating between black and white as far as the eyes can see. ]

If only Malphas was strong enough to pick up both of us.

[ (': Novel route Kido is all "Yeah! Azami's going to save everybody! When I get out of here, everybody's going to be there waiting for me!" Death's something to look forward to, but it's not like she'll chase after it. Maybe. ]

That's fine. He can carry us one at a time, and Nekogami can cover him. Where's the next stairwell?

It's pretty far from here. I'm guessing it has something to do with the conglomeration of black smoke in the distance.

[ That sure is a lot of Noceos at the furthest pillar. There's a lot of pillars between that one and the starting pillar too. Not to mention seeing the weird things riding on gators strike 45 as suspicious. Also, nice. Kido can summon Nekogami again. At least this floor seems more straightforward than the last one.

Malphas appears and looks ready to carry! ]

[ Straightforward, but kind of dangerous, isn't it? Nekogami arches his back in a stretch before lifting off Kido's shoulders in his light ghosty form. He hasn't been out for a month, but he's still strong and is itching to blast things away. ]

Looks like you're good to go. Good luck out there.

[ 45 is being volunteer to go first. This is simple self-preservation. ]

[ 45 looks ahead. She doesn't mind going first and unlatches the gun from her back and makes sure it's loaded with the appropriate bullets. ]

Let's go, Malphas.

[ Malphas hugs 45 around her stomach and goes to flyyy awaaaay... Kido can spot 45 shooting down any Ravens that try to swerve them off course. Malphas needs some stats in strength some time in the future because he's still weak. lmao... Once they land on the next white pillar, Malphas goes back to the starting pillar to pick up Kido. ]

[ It looks like it's so far so good, with Nekogami helping to keep the birds off Malphas' back too, but not going out of his way to take down every single Shadow in the area, just picking off the ones that are in their way. The normal ones that don't die in one hit get frozen, unable to move until somebody comes by to shatter or melt the ice, so they can lay on the pillars uselessly until one or the other happens.

He hangs out by 45 to be on alt-Vassago duty while Malphas picks Kido up and shuttles her over, her grip on Malphas kind of tight because she hates flying and has her eyes closed the entire time. Nekogami will do his best to keep an eye on the both of them. ]

[ Malphas does his best to hold Kido tight in return so that she doesn't fall. It looks like he really doesn't want Kido to fall, despite how scary she was. It's fine. She's a good person. That's what he believes anyway. It takes some time more than shuttling 45, because his energy is sapping, but he and Kido do make it to the pillar 45 is on safely. ]

Good job, good job~ Rest a bit now, will you?

[ Malphas returns to 45's shadow and she looks to the nearby pillars. They're currently on a white one, so they're relatively safe apart from the occasional ravens that try to blow them off. The closest pillars to them are both black, with an Alt-Vassago on each. ]

Can Nekogami freeze those too? Or outright destroy one? They look formidable.

[ She can't take it seriously though, because... why would you have a gator as a steed. And its face looks funny. ]

Might as well try. But we should keep moving in the meantime, instead of waiting to take those things down. If Malphas needs healing, Nekogami can provide that, otherwise just focus on flying and my Persona will take care of fighting. He'll get us through safely. Trust him on this.

[ Sorry, Malphas. No time to rest. 45 had wanted to see Kido use her Persona back then, didn't she? Well, now's the time for it. Let's see if Bongogami can kill a F.O.E. ]

[ Honestly, 45 is pretty interested. Sorry, Malphas. But you're on flying duty again. He comes back out. Why did you lie about a break!! He looks ahead at the Alt-Vassagos and is easy to accept that those are powerful enemies. Malphas looks over at Nekogami, staring at him for a few seconds before picking up 45 the same way as he did before and starts flying over to one of the black pillars. Do your thing, bongogami. ]

Edited 2019-10-19 02:28 (UTC)

[ Kido is a demanding drill sergeant who doesn't believe in breaks, sorry Malphas.

Nekogami is much like Ala in that he does what he wants because he can't rely on Kido to be able to direct him in battle and give him more specific commands than "Protect Malphas and 45." So he flies around to the other side to engage alt-Vassago so that the F.O.E. will focus on him and have his back to Malphas Express. His bufulas are pretty devastating despite only being a level 2 ice spell, but the ice that doesn't slam into alt-Vassago juts up from the ground to block the view of the nearest white pillar.

Don't just stop on that black one, Malphas, keep going until you get to a safer white pillar. 45 might have to defend herself while Malphas is en route, but she's more than capable of that. Kido, left alone on this pillar, thinks she'll also be okay, taser out and buzzing. ]

[ It's probably because Nekogami can be a floating ghost, but once Alt-Vassago is struck, all of his focus is on Nekogami while inflicted with Rage and attempts to attack him, but... then he just falls off the pillar on his own while trying to chase a floating ghost. 45 watches the F.O.E just fall over and it's hilarious. But it also gives her an idea. Malphas drops off 45 on the black pillar and immediately goes to get Kido. This time, he'll be flying her all the way to the white pillar instead. This is part of 45's directives. ]

[ Oh. Seeing the F.O.E. just tumble off the pillar like that is surprising, but it's a welcome surprise. What's not a welcome surprise is flying past 45 to the next pillar when she thought they would stay together— this wasn't part of the plan in her head, which she admittedly did not share out loud anyways, so it doesn't count.

Nekogami floats around 45's head, because he can always dream needle anything that gets in Malphas' taxi route. ]

[ Oh, it's kinda like having a wispy halo above her head. Neat. It takes Malphas well over a minute to take Kido to the white pillar, which gives another Alt-Vassago time to respawn on the same black pillar.

...

45 didn't think they'd actually respawn?! She immediately shoots it, gaining its attention as he starts screaming in that creepy voice, but 45 just slides out of the way. She's the dodge tank here. She's used to this. There goes another Alt-Vassago off the pillar. She can only laugh at how funny this is. ]

This is easier than I thought.

[ It's always nice when somebody is competent and you don't have to worry about them, Nekogami thinks to himself. Malphas sure is lucky... but it looks like he has his share of hardships too. With 45 taking care of Alt-Vassago, he's free to save his energy and just ghost around, anything that comes at him just harmlessly phasing through his body.

Kido's over there shouting at Malphas to hurry up and get 45 so they can keep going. His life sure is hard. ]

[

Malphas flies as fast as he can over to where 45 is and starts carrying her. Since Malphas is focusing on speed instead of watching for his surroundings, he'll count on Nekogami to have his back while 45 focuses on defense in the front. ]

[ Nekogami's got his back. He sticks to dream needles while Malphas is in the air and away from Alt-Vassago, because he can dia himself to replenish the strength needed to keep attacking. Kido sort of feels like she has the flu, getting weak and then being okay after a few moments, but that's what she gets for essentially being baggage at this point.

It's fine! It's a good system! They can continue on like this and hope the third floor isn't a pain. ]

[ Terry probably always feels like death whenever he fights using Vassago because he uses physical attacks 75% of the time lmao no wonder Victory Cry feels like some rush high after killing something...

When Malphas and 45 arrives at the white pillar with no problem, Malphas casts Dia on himself. He's ready to go again!! Except the next pillars, regardless of color, seems to be full of moving black smoke. It takes a moment to see that they form humanoid shapes occasionally and move incredibly slow. The stairwell is in sight, but it's on the same black pillar with a ton of those wispy things and one Alt-Vassago. ]

Sounds like we need a sweeper.

[ 45 looks at Nekogami. ]

Is it possible for Nekogami to create a pillar-wide wall and push it so everything falls off? It sounds the most efficient in terms of energy.

Uh.

[ Yeah. Kido doesn't offer much besides looking at Nekogami, who's already flying out there to do as 45 suggests.

It'd be a lot easier if he had multitarget spells, but oh well. The wall will have to be constructed piece by piece, splitting the pillar in half with one side clear and the other filled with Shadows— if they get in the way of his wall making, they can become part of the wall, trapped within the ice. Alt-Vassago is the one that's a pain, but Nekogami can make his wall while flitting around everywhere, so that the F.O.E. will have to twist this way and that to catch him, and lost his footing. ]

[ Goodbye, Alt-Vassago... you are truly the punching bag for Nekogami no matter what form you take...

Several Noceo get caught in the wall, but the swarm is still big on the pillar and they collectively use the brainwash debuff on Nekogami. 45 squints, because it just looks like a big black smog flitting around in the air like some magic trick.

...

She has a bad feeling. ]

[ ...Ah.

Kido can't really see well what's going on, but it looks like the wall's about done and Nekogami is coming back? Cool. Welcome back, Neko—- ]

Hey! Hey, Nekogami! Stop it!!

[ Can't stop won't stop his spray of dream needles at the trio of them. Go to sleep. ]

[ Malphas moves in to try and protect both of them, but he is completely out of his league, even with his innate resist phys. Even if the first two Dream Needles don't force him to sleep, he can't retain his form and 45 makes him retreat back in her shadow before he reaches 0 HP. Maybe in the long run, it's better that Malphas didn't end up casting Ominous Words at Nekogami anyway...

45 tries her best to dodge them, but Nekogami's hit rate is probably way up there too, due to his agility stat. She didn't think a mere needle could hit like a truck?! She can feel herself shutting down at the worst time as she's pushed over the edge by the force of the Dream Needles. She grabs onto the edge of the pillar as best as she can though, despite how her internal systems are in the process of giving up on her. ]

Edited 2019-10-19 04:01 (UTC)

[ Kido reaches out to grab 45's wrist to pull her up, but that just leaves her back exposed and when the needles hit, she can feel her eyelids drooping. She'll be no help to 45, but at least her being asleep means Nekogami also disappears. She can just lie there on top of the pillar regaining HP/SP while completely abandoning 45... ]

[ Well, Kido tried her best. 45 hurriedly resummons Malphas when she notices that Nekogami is gone. Even with a sliver of HP left, he manages to come back, quickly casts Dia on himself to regain enough strength in an attempt to pull 45 onto the pillar, but it's not good enough. 45's internal systems also go into sleep mode before Malphas can pull her all the way up, essentially making him disappear and 45 falls back into the void.

The last fleeting thought that processes through her neural cloud is that she's sorry to 40 that she couldn't keep her promise that no matter what, she must survive.

So much for that. ]

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reveilation - 2019-10-19 04:14 (UTC) - Expand

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