[open; 11/11 - 11/15] Personal Shadow Event

[reveilation]

WRATH OF BONGOGAMI

premise ⬥ taken ⬥ faq ⬥ navigation

→ Lake dungeon, 2nd floor

No wind from outside blows towards the lake, no other indication that there's any reason to be down here. Sleet falls endlessly from above on the second floor, scattering ice pellets across the frozen ground and sticking to any wet surface from the passage out of the lake, and the sub-zero temperatures seem to have plummeted even lower. The Shadows on this floor seem constantly agitated these days, and several have peeled off from the main group to crowd around a new hole that has opened up in the middle of the area, but will ignore those who simply want to bypass them to get to the next floor.

ONIKUMA
Type Shadow	Resists Ice, Physical	Weak None
Giant Onikuma loom around the hole trying to swat anybody nearby down into it, whether Persona user or Shadow. Strong and durable, these Shadows are difficult to defeat, and their roars cause anybody who hears it to become Enraged, lashing out indiscriminately until calmed down by a status healing spell or item, or are knocked out. Indestructible claws can be collected as loot.

ARCTOS
Type Shadow	Resists Ice	Weak Fire
Packs of Arctos also mill around the hole, hunting in groups with fangs that Charm their foes with the slightest nick, causing them to fight on the Arctos' side while the Arctos attack from behind. Rather than trying to drive people into the hole, they're simply out for blood. Fangs that cause Charm, and small gems that heal any status ailment once can be collected as loot.

It would be advisable to stay away from the Shadows, but if, for whatever reason, you fight your way to the hole they're protecting, you're faced with a pit five feet wide and lined with spikes of stone and ice that protrude from the walls and jut out towards the center. Unlike the ice elsewhere on the floor, these spikes cannot be melted with fire, and the sleet continuously raining down makes them slick and hard to grasp. The hole is only thirty feet deep, but unless you climb down carefully, there's the danger of slipping and being skewered.

→ 2nd floor, ???

Upon reaching the bottom of the pit, you find yourself in a large cavern filled with floating doors, sets of stairs leading up to each one and seemingly infinite from the way the place stretches on without boundary. The area is just as frigid as the space above ground, but is lit by blue-white flames that provide no heat with their light. Touching the flames causes unprotected skin to blister similar to frostbite, and staying too long around them will sap your strength and life energy, but while they float around the cavern and are drawn towards people, they're slow enough to be outrun.

Each door looks exactly the same, some accessible from the stairwells, while some hang in mid-air and must be flown to in order to open them. Each door that is opened, there is nothing but empty space behind it, nothing more than a door frame with false promise of an exit. Because Ichi has great ideas, there is a small chance of opening a door and getting drawn into one of the memory or fear floors like in the shrine dungeon. It doesn't matter which doors are opened, in what order, or if the same one is slammed open and closed multiple times; on the 107th door that's opened on each given night, you can finally see through to the other side, at a pure white and empty room with Nekogami sitting at the center, tail swishing back and forth, the tips of his fur dark grey like soot. At the very back of the room, Shadow Kido is seated upon a throne of ice, staring back with golden eyes.

In your head, you hear her voice, soft and slow: "What would you sacrifice to get her back?"

There is nothing preventing you from walking through the door without another word. But when approaching an Emperor and a cat god, perhaps you should follow tradition and make an offering.

You know what? Fuck it. As of 11/13, the room is covered with copious amounts of blood and there is no barrier to talk to the Shadow and nobody is allowed to sacrifice anything wtf. She's still there on her throne, but she has zombie Rei on her lap and Nekogami on Rei's lap and everything sucks.

→ NOTES

⬥ ICly, this dungeon will appear on 11/11 and the event is expected to conclude by 11/15, although the dungeon itself will remain until the end of the month. OOCly there is no deadline for getting Kido to accept her Shadow, but if the Shadow is killed at any time even once, the end result will be ego death. If this happens, Kido will not be able to be revived and will remain a zombie for the rest of the game.
⬥ Character must engage with Nekogami first before he will step aside to allow passage to Kido's Shadow, but there are ways to convince him without fighting depending on 1) who the character is, 2) their first action, and 3) whether and what they choose to "sacrifice."
⬥ The "sacrifice" may be physically offered or spoken out loud, but Nekogami will take whatever is offered, whether it is something tangible or conceptual. Depending on the nature of the sacrifice, Nekogami may be appeased and easier to reason with, or enraged and prompted to begin the fight. Sacrifices may or may not be returned at the end of the battle.
⬥ The toplevel to interact with Shadow Kido will be unscreened after the first time Nekogami is either defeated, or convinced to let a character through. Shadow Kido will only interact with those recognized by Nekogami, either through a thread or otherwise discussed. This is to establish how the interaction with Nekogami will affect the interaction with Shadow Kido.
⬥ Kido will unavailable until her Shadow is either 1) persuaded to let her go and be accepted, or 2) killed, resulting in an ego death.
⬥ This month, the full moon occurs on 11/11 - 11/13, so... haha.

Comments

[overstrain]

Are you sure? The stairs are really slippery and we probably shouldn't touch those weird flames. They tend to follow you.

[ All he has is worry for Rei, and he does think it'll be nice is Rei helps open doors too, but... he'd rather open them all if it keeps her safe. ]

[flowerclips]

[ she nods. ]

Mmhm, I want to help too. I'll be careful.

[ she'll take tiny steps and try not to slip. she just doesn't want to sit down and do nothing, feel like a burden. ]

[overstrain]

... Okay. If there's something wrong, call for me. I'll hear it and come right away.

[ He'll just be having Vassago opening the doors in midair, but he'll stay in Rei's vicinity anyway. Terry gently Rei down on the stairs. ]

[flowerclips]

[ she nods. as she's set down, she bends her legs a bit to try and keep her balance. ah, he's right, things do seem slippery... she'll have to walk very slowly and carefully. with her mind now calmer, summoning ananke is easier, though she isn't as solid and occasionally glitches out here and there. rei makes sure to hold onto ananke's hands tightly as she walks up and down the stairs, opening various doors. her pace is very slow, only opening a new door every minute or so. ]

I'm not finding anything...

[ she looks over at terry. has he found anything yet? anything requiring her to close her eyes... ]

[overstrain]

[ Terry is a little higher up, since he's been opening and closing doors rapidly. When Rei looks up at where Terry is, she'll say that Terry is staring at what's beyond the door while grimacing before closing the door. Rei doesn't need to see their charred corpses again.

He lets out a frustrated scream and kicks the closed door, a sound that echoes in the vastness of doors and stairs. ]

[flowerclips]

[ oh, that doesn't sound good... okay, time to head up to where terry is. ananke helps rei go up the stairs a bit faster than usual, before disappearing when she arrives. looking at terry, rei silently takes his hand into hers. it's okay, t-chan, they'll get through this. ]

[ she opens the door that he just kicked. has he checked this yet? she didn't see. ]

[overstrain]

[ Okay, Ichi. Since you asked for it, Once Rei opens the door, she'll get to see the hacksaw ending from what seems to be the top of the stairs. Everything is happening at the bottom of the stairs: Terry has a foldable hacksaw in his hands and he slams that down on Kido's arm, all those apologies that don't reach anyone's ears but Kido, and Nekogami being summoned to knock Terry down and aiming to kill him.

When Terry notices what the room is showing Rei, he immediately shuts it closed. He can't look up. ]

[flowerclips]

[ thanks, haki, for always helping to traumatize rei. she's going to have a real bad time. ananke is really going to disappear at this rate and she's going to get her dungeon way sooner. ]

[ terry can shut the door, but it's too late. rei already saw everything and once again, she's frozen still, shocked to her very core on what she just witnessed. her brain doesn't immediately put everything together and she can't move, think, or breathe at first. everything just slows down until it eventually stops with her continuing to stare at the door, head tilted as it was when she first looked down the stairs. she stays like that for a long twenty seconds, stationary, before something snaps and she suddenly reaches to grab the handle to pull the door open. ]

[ there she is. neechan is right there. she just need to go down the stairs and get her. ]

[overstrain]

[ Terry can't fucking believe this same door keeps displaying things that fucks him over: showing him the charred corpses once, and repeatedly showing the hacksaw ending. Terry grabs Rei and pulls her back and shuts the door. ]

... It's not real.

[ He's not sure how many times he has to see this scene. At least he doesn't have to relive it this time, but it doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt. ]

Kido's not there, Rei. She's... not there. Nothing in that door is real.

[ He keeps her in his hold tightly and his breath is shaky. ]

... I'm sorry.

[flowerclips]

[ she doesn't utter a sound. when terry grabs and holds her, she fights back. she tries to push him away, trying to reach for the door once more. in that first door, that neechan wasn't real. she was already gone and terry said that she's still alive. in this door, she's alive, but in pain. this has to be the right door. these dungeons are nothing but terrible, awful things that causes nothing but misery. she needs to get down and drag neechan out before it's too late. she can't be too late, she has to leave, she has to go, she pushes and tries to shove terry away. ]

[overstrain]

[ Terry doesn't let go of Rei no matter what. His head is lowered and each time when Rei tries to push him away, it hurts his nonexistent heart. He collapses on the icy floor and cries. ]

It's not real, Rei. Stop, please... I'm so sorry. It was all my fault...

[flowerclips]

[ she keeps trying to escape, wiggle herself away from his grip, but she stays exactly in the same spot, and it's not until a few moments after he collapses and cries that she does the same thing. his words finally get through and she sobs into her hands. ]

Why, T-chan--? Why?

[ her voice is muffled with her hands and her cries. ]

Where is neechan? Why isn't she here?

[overstrain]

[ Terry's nonexistent heart hurts. He feels terrible. He thought that the guilt would have washed away in those forty thousand years, but seeing Rei like this, them crying like this, it's enough to burst through the dam of tears and regret. ]

She's here! I'm sure of it! She's definitely here! I just... I can't find her... exactly...

[ He tries to hold back his sobs, but he only clings onto Rei tighter. ]

I'm sorry... I'm so sorry... I didn't want it to be like this...

[flowerclips]

[ she doesn't reply to terry's reassurances. she only continues to sob into her hands without any indication that she'll stop any time soon. it takes her at least a full minute before she can even utter another word from her tear filled hands. ]

W-- Where do we go...?

[ do they keep going? do they pull out? rei isn't strong enough to make this decision for the two of them. ]

[overstrain]

[ They can't continue like this. The minute is long enough for Terry to have calmed down a lot and tries to think rationally about this. ]

... We're going back home. We can't face Kido like this. We'll come back when we're better.

[ And so, he finally stands, still holding Rei close to him as he lifts her up too. ]

[flowerclips]

[ she just nods and takes off her hands, wiping them on her tights, before burying her face into terry's arms. she'll silently let him lead them out of this dungeon and back home. she won't say anything for the entire journey back, only muttering when they're back that she'd be going to be sleeping. she'd then just cry herself to sleep until they get up for their group planning and return back to the dungeon... ]

[ thanks, terry ]