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DECEMBER EVENT PT 1

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→ 12/3 Lockdown

The wind picks up at midnight, flowing through the streets but softened by the snowflakes that drift down from the sky. Over the full hour of Lockdown, the snowfall dampens the wind and makes it harder to follow the stream than before, blowing out from the forest and towards the center of town where a snowdrift builds up against the shut doors of the hospital's main entrance. Defeat the Daitengu, and the next dungeon appears the month after... During Lockdown, black blobs of Shadows continue to seep out of the hospital, shrine, lake, and school, but with the third Daitengu defeated, the wind doesn't howl as strongly and the snowfall is light, leaving the town dusted with snow the next morning that easily melts by mid-day. The town is cold, quiet, and still, almost as if holding its breath, but perhaps it's an illusion created by the townspeople staying indoors to keep out of the cold, and that everybody who had arrived from the alternate Hirajiro has been spirited away overnight, gone without fanfare by the time the wind dies down at the end of Lockdown. The only thing left behind is a complete deck of tarot cards with no duplicates, neatly stacked and set by the entrance of the honden, with a heavy stone on top to keep the cards from blowing away in the wind.

With the wind picking up around the shrine, a slow, deep ringing can be heard from a large bell that has been tied up above the offertory box with a thick rope, swinging with the wind; the offertory box itself is emptied of gemstones at the beginning of the month, but will slowly fill back up if the Persona users continue to donate the stones dropped by defeated Shadows, with the understanding that any boon they receive comes with strengthening the Kotengu as well. As if called by the toll of the bell, it seems like all of the crows in town have congregated around the shrine for the winter, perched on the rooftops, lit stone lanterns, and even the torii, all peering down at whoever enters the shrine and keeping an eye on them all the while they stand on sacred land. Although the crows seem unbothered by the ringing bell, the resident fox skitters away whenever it hears the noise, although it will always return when the wind dies down, or if the bell is otherwise bound and still. The sign that's supposed to contain the shrine deity's name still lacks the name, but this time, the sign is painted over with solid black, the paint layered on so thickly, you can see where the trails of paint are pulled to the bottom of the sign, under which dry spots of black paint can be seen before covered by the dusting of snow.

Near the path leading from the shrine to the castle, a large area of trees has been demolished in a vaguely serpentine shape, the trees lying splintered and fallen but far enough to pose no danger to the castle. Unlike the shrine, there are little to no crows that hang around the structure, the same two stories with the broken stairs up to the incomplete third floor becoming hazardous to climb with the falling snow and the wind that blows through the open windows of the second floor, making the castle howl. The throne sports a new cushion and a thick woollen blanket draped over the back of it, but with the ofuda door containing just the same two as before, the castle remains stuck in time, and the night goes on.

→ 12/3 - 1/2 Town events

It snows on and off over the next few days, getting steadily colder as the month progresses. While the snow is powdery and easy to clear, there's a lot of it that piles right back up by the end of the day, creating a constant demand for help shoveling the roads around the neighborhoods and marketplace to keep them clear, although the Persona users will have to keep the path to the castle and shrine clear on their own, as none of the townspeople are concerned about the forest in general. In town, all the extra snow initially gets pushed towards the center to dump into the lake, but after the lake freezes over after the first week of the month, the excess snow gets piled into a large hill and packed down to be perfect for sledding, with makeshift sleds ranging from laundry baskets to trash can lids left lying around for people to grab and slide— and pray they don't veer off course and crash straight through the ice covering the lake. A Persona may be able to thicken the ice and make it safer to skate on, but in the meanwhile, people will just have to watch out for the spots where the ice is thin and easily broken. Please don't fall in, unless it's near midnight and you fall straight into a random floor of the lake dungeon.

Strings of plain white Christmas lights adorn the trees in town and around the outskirts where it borders the forest, leaving the entire town lit with a soft glow after sundown. Throughout town, the decorations are similarly subtle, with fancier decorations seen in storefronts rather than people's homes, and instead of a single Christmas tree towering over the town, a set of four smaller trees line the back of a large stage set on the lakefront across the school building, which has made its appearance for summer festivals in the past. Surrounding the stage are many stalls that make up a holiday craft market that will be open all month. For a small fee, anybody can purchase a spot at the craft market to sell their own crafts, most of which are intended to be decorations for people's homes or to be given as gifts for Christmas and the New Year. Among the crafts are traditional gifts like knit scarves and sweaters, as well as clay figurines, beaded crafts, painted plates, and any manner of handmade items people have to offer. Although the main focus of the market is for crafts, there are also stalls selling refreshments such as hot chocolate and baked goods.

On the stage itself, each of the four trees is topped with a bird-like angel painted in soft reds, blacks, and golds, and rather than lights and ornaments, the trees have emas hung on the branches, with wishes written on the small wooden plaques. While emas are traditionally hung at a shrine for the kami to receive them, the emas here are for the community to offer and receive: for every wish you hang up, you're encouraged to take at least one other ema and fulfill that wish in return. Some of the wishes are very general, such as asking people to do good deeds to make the world a better place, wishing for the exams at school to be a little easier next year, or hoping everybody in the hospital will get better. Other wishes are more personal, such as wanting to learn a new skill, receive a certain toy, or help cleaning out a basement, and these personal wishes contain the person's name and contact information to indicate who to report to grant the wish. Not all wishes can be granted directly, but the effort put towards them still counts. There is no payment or other incentives to fulfill multiple wishes other than good karma, which will surely be returned to you in the new year.

→ MOD NOTES

⬥ Each character may make one free ema wish in the top-level below and the mods will reply with how the wish is fulfilled. Note that personal wishes will be signed for everybody to see, and while ICly all wishes will be fulfilled by the townspeople and not the Kotengu, for this first wish, a crow will occasionally swoop down and take an ema, so you guys can get your stat boosts and skill upgrades.
⬥ Additional ema wishes may be made for every thread reported that involves fulfilling one of the townspeople's wishes and must have a minimum of 5 comments from you. There is no limit to how many ema wishes that can be made, but all threads are due by 1/3/2020 when January's dungeon log goes up. These extra wishes will be fulfilled by the townspeople, so they might not know what to do with wishes like "+1 to all stats." You are still welcome to try, though, and they will do their best.
⬥ Part 2 of December's event will go up on 12/15 to encompass Christmas, New Years, and tragedy.
⬥ This month, the full moon occurs on 12/11 - 12/13. While Personas are stronger around the time of the full moon, they are more difficult to control and may behave strangely and disobey orders around these dates. This is an optional mechanic.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Yamato nods again. He figures he should be forthcoming about why he's worried. ]

I fought things like these, back home. They would poison everything they touch... good that it isn't as bad here, but be careful.

[ He's lost count of how many Aberrations he's had to kill. Each one of them used to be a human. Someone with a family. ]

[ It would make sense for Shadows to do that, so Kido nods her understanding. He is a Persona senpai after all; how lucky. ]

Every month or two, there's a new Shadow I've never seen, so there's bound to be one like that someday. Most people fight with their Personas, so they never touch anything directly, and maybe that's better.

[ Either way... Kido holds the feathers out for Yamato to take, because she decides she doesn't want to take any chances with poison and he should hold onto them instead, haha. Sell them for $$$ ]

[ So far, everything seems less severe than the clusterfuck that is back home, so that's at least a blessing. ]

I see.

[ He takes the feathers, puts them in a pocket. Good thing these pants have pockets. Though, maybe he should bring his utility belt next time.

With these Shadows out of the way, they can advance through the maze. Yamato is thorough, so they should get through it quickly barring anymore ambushes. ]

[ It's been a while since Kido had gone through the maze properly; it's one of the few layouts that change in the dungeon, so there's no use drawing a map. More recently, she's been able to handle fighting the Shadows here, so she just kicked the walls down and dealt with the Shadows that way. As long as they do the maze properly, though, there are few to no Shadows... they're mostly there to attack the cheaters. ]

Huh... I noticed it back when you were fighting the Ravens, but you seem pretty used to this sort of thing. You must have had a lot of experience with this back home? Fighting monsters in strange places, and that sort of thing?

Yeah, you could say that.

[ A memory comes unbidden, Jin commenting on how much he's changed despite how long had passed: sixteen days. Sixteen days of his world turning upside down. ]

There are differences between here and back home, though. Best to be careful.

[ He can't help but feel that there's something terrible waiting for them at the end of whatever all this is. ]

[ Differences aren't too surprising, even amongst Persona users. Kido nods and turns her attention back to the maze, agreeing that it's best to be careful. The door to the next floor is at the center of the maze, with a stairwell leading further down to the next floor. While they're still in the darkness of the stairwell, Kido gives the next debriefing. ]

The Shadows here can't open the doors or climb the stairs, so if you ever need to retreat, head back here, or if you're closer to the door on the other side, run towards that exit.

[ So they are to go underground again. Yamato isn't too fond of fighting in small spaces, but his circumstances have never been ones he could actively choose. ]

Alright.

[ He descends first, the X-Baton held out in front of him in case anything jumps out at them. They manage to make it to the other stairwell without interruptions, and... it's another field instead of the dreary hallway he was expecting.

He shakes his head. ]

Where to now?

[ They're going underground, but they just reappear above ground again, complete with a sky and everything above their heads. Weird. Kido's stopped questioning it after the first few weeks. ]

At the other end of the field, there's a gate that will lead to the next floor. This place is a lot more open, so it'll be easier to spot the Shadows, but it'll also be easier for them to spot us. I could hide us if you want to play it safe, otherwise there's cover out there you can use.

[ She's here to be a spotter, essentially, thinking that if he's experienced, he doesn't need her to make them invisible and rely on sneak attacks. More often than not, she won't be there with him anyways, so he might as well go at it as if he were with somebody else. ]

Smell that stink in the air? That's an Onmoraki. There are also Shadows with a bunch of wings on them called Chimeras, but it's probably best if you avoid those for now. They're a lot stronger than anything else in this place.

Chimeras...

[ Not those chimeras. He takes a deep breath, immediately regretting it and wishing he had his gas mask with him. ]

Alright. I'll try taking a few on.

[ He crouches down a little, to make himself less visible, assuming Kido would just hide herself. A few Shadows mill about in the field ahead of them; he thinks he can probably kill a few if they don't call more reinforcements. Slowly making his way towards the stink birds, he readies his gun to fire. It seems he can't lure one away from the rest... time to summon his Persona and punch a few in the face. ]

[ She does hide herself, standing a little behind him with her hands casually in the pockets of her hoodie as if she's just a bystander- a ghost who can't interact with anything and she doesn't plan to.

The Onmoraki comes in a flock, Kido spotting at least three or four but it's hard to tell when they're all hidden in the dark smoke that chokes the air when they get near. If his gun and his Persona's attacks can connect, they should be able to hold their own against the Shadows, but the lack of visibility is going to make that hard, and with the Onmoraki breathing fire... that's not going to be in Yamato's favor. Weakness to fire sucks, because this whole dungeon is going to be on fire soon. Maybe Kido should have asked about strengths and weaknesses before throwing Yamato into the fray.

It's alright. He can handle it. It's a crash course in dungeon runs and she's here to keep him from dying. ]

[ When the fireballs come into contact with his Persona, he feels a lot more pain than before - he's not a stranger to being set on fire, but this hurts. The Persona manages to strike a few of the Onmoraki, but his movements are slowing down despite his best efforts ——

Initializing Advent Protocol.

The monotone drone of the Legatus unit startles him, and Bishamonten kneels down as if it had been hit. One of the Onmoraki spots him instead, flying down intent to peck out his eyes or something... but before that can happen, his Legion springs into existence and intercepts its attack with its bladed arms.

Yamato inhales sharply - feeling restored of all things, as his Legion comes back online. A shimmering blue chain connects the Legion's collar with his left arm, and energy sparks trail up his arm to over his neck and his hair. The Sword Legion quickly launches into a spin, pushing the Onmoraki away to give him some breathing room. ]

Edited 2019-12-10 17:58 (UTC)

[ Holy shit, Yamato truly is Persona senpai. Not only does he have multiple Personas, but he can sustain two of them at the same time, unlike Akira who needs time to switch between the ones in his set. Kido was about to jump in when she saw Yamato struggling, but she restrains herself, summoning Nekogami only to heal Yamato but doesn't let him jump into the fray and wipe out the Shadows. ]

If you can use both, do so! I won't let you die, so fight without worry! Give it all you got!

[ From what she's seen, he relies on physical attacks, and that's perfect. They aren't particularly powerful against these Shadows, but with Kido constantly topping off his health, Yamato can fight forever without running out of steam, compared if he had to dip into magic reserves to cast spells. ]

[ He doesn't have the breath to say it out loud now, but he appreciates Kido healing him. Back home, he always had to fight alone, relying on medicine and drugs to tough it out during long battles. Now, he can go all out without worrying about how he's going to drag his bruised body back to HQ.

Kido can observe that he's far more proficient with his Legion than his Persona - the blade-armed apparition moves in sync with him, leaping to strike at the Onmoraki. Yamato follows after, his X-Baton in one hand and the rapidly shortening Astral Chain tied to his other. It's an unusual battle style, with the two of them swinging around the field like a pair of yo-yos. Bishamonten seems a little out of place, but Yamato is determined to try his best, and so it ends up playing the role of punching whatever the other two can't beat into slime. ]

[ Healing doesn't get rid of any lost blood, but bruises she can handle and as long as the blood stays inside of Yamato's body and nothing gets broken, they're golden. But this is good. This is really really good— for all the battling Kido's seen of others, none of them have the same partnership as Yamato has with his Legion, moving around like a well seasoned partnership rather than just two beings fighting side by side. Even if it's a tactic unique to the two of them, this is the sort of stuff that they need in order to be a more coherent group.

People are going to be tired of group meetings at this rate, but tough luck to them. They have new people and new things to talk about, so she thinks she can squeeze one in this month too to get everybody up to speed.

She watches the three of them fight, but it doesn't look like they're in any trouble at all. Experience really does make up for the lack of strength his Persona has starting out, and Bishamonten will only get stronger from here on out. ]

[ With the presence of his Legion, the Onmoraki are forced to spread out their attacks. He doesn't need to consciously command his Legion, only his Persona, and it lets him coordinate a makeshift triangle attack on the group. Using his Astral Chain, he surrounds two of them and binds them for a few moments, letting his Persona have a field day in punching their faces out. Actually, it's kind of therapeutic. But then again, most of Yamato's world-shattering problems have all be only solvable by brute violence, so maybe it's unavoidable this way.

After a while, their coordinate teamwork lets them take down every one, and Yamato dismisses both his summoned stands after he's sure none are going to pop out of the smoke anymore. He feels much less tired than he should be, and he attributes this to having help. ]

Hey... thanks.

[ He's wheezing a little, but he means it. ]

[ This is great. After this, Kido is going directly to Rio and having her include Yamato in all her battle plans, because he's practically one of the few people who even goes in with a battle plan. ]

No problem. I'm impressed, really. Whenever we get around to having training sessions together as a team, you'll have to help us out.

[ Don't ask her when the next session is. They haven't even started yet; it's been six months and they've fought as a team all of one time. ]

Of course. I'll do all I can.

[ Having a weakened member is worse than not having them at all. Someone untrained can drag down the entire team, this he knows painfully well. ]

I'm used to fighting carefully. If I have a healer partner, I can be more efficient.

[ I hope Yamato is prepared to work with a team where the majority had never fought in their lives before coming here, and of the ones who did, not all of them are even properly trained. ]

Lucky for you, we have a handful of healers on our team. We can figure out good partnerships and teams later, so you can focus on fighting and leave the healing to somebody else. Playing to one's strengths is better than trying to do everything oneself, right?

That's right.

[ He'll deal with it. He's had to deal with all sorts of ridiculous shit that he's numbed to stupidity already. Mostly. ]

Your Persona is really powerful, too. How did it become so strong?

Well, I've been here for almost six months now.

[ That's most likely the biggest contributor. But she didn't fight for all those months, especially since at the beginning, she lived with a host family who didn't charge her rent, so she didn't need to fight for loot to sell and could stay home most nights and sleep. ]

It's these stones that the Shadows drop when they're defeated. We've been giving them to the offertory box in the shrine and our Personas have been getting stronger through that. But we recently learned that doing so strengthens the Kotengu— the one that's keeping us all here captive. So, going forward...

[ She shrugs. As a whole, they're not sure what to do, whether giving offerings to the Kotengu is a good idea or not. Of all the Shadows she and Yamato defeated tonight, she hadn't touched a single one of the stones. Her Persona is plenty powerful, though; Yamato and the others are the ones who could use the power boosts. ]

[ Yamato frowns. ]

We should rely on him less.

[ He has a hunch that going up to him and beating the shit out of him might do something... but that's a plan for the future.

After a pause, he's reminded that stones exist and squat down to pick up the ones that the Onmoraki have dropped. It's a little gross. ]

[ It's a plan they all want to try, but they can't get at the Kotengu at the moment. Kido just sighs, rubbing a hand at the back of her head. ]

Yeah, it's going to be tough since we can't rely on him, but he's the one who can make our Personas stronger. What are you going to do with them? It would make more sense for you to make the offering and get stronger, than somebody like me whose Persona is pretty strong already.

I suppose...

[ He sighs. ]

I don't like relying on shady people. But it seems I have no choice.

[ Welcome to Cetana, where we're all shady people, even the ones on his team. ]

We'll have to figure out another way sooner or later, but for now, it'd be best to take advantage of it while we can. At least until you're strong enough to hold your own against the Shadows. You saw that, right? The second Persona you summoned wasn't as strong as the first. I'm guessing that must've been your original one.

[ So people can't just fight with the weapons they originally had; to be most effective against the Shadows, they have to use the Kotengu's provided Personas. It really is shady. ]

Yeah. I'd really prefer to use it over the new one, but I'm fine with adapting.

[ He has an emotional bond with his Legion, as well. Though, he could use both at once, so that's not too bad. Yamato isn't the talkative type, so once he's accepted something as inevitable, he tends to keep it within internal dialogue. ]

Has no one seen that Kotengu guy before?

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→ 12/3 Lockdown

→ 12/3 - 1/2 Town events

→ MOD NOTES

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